Computer Lesson

1. CREATIVE SUITE

3. 
It contains the different menus and
commands that you need to start working
with your Photoshop project.

4. 

New in Photoshop CS4 is the Application Bar.
On a Windows system, you’ll find the
Application Bar combined with the Menu Bar
at the top of the screen.
It contains the necessary commands and
functions like Adobe Bridge, View Extras,
Hand Tool, and the different types of
Photoshop workspaces.

5. 
The Application Bar itself may be new, but many of
the options you’ll find here are not. The bar’s main
purpose is not really to wow us with new features
(although there are some new ones) but to give us
a central location for some commonly used
features, tools and options rather than having them
scattered throughout Photoshop. For example, the
first icon on the left (not counting the blue PS icon
in the Mac version) will quickly open Adobe Bridge:

6. 
To the right of that is the View Extras icon, giving
us easy access to Photoshop’s Guides, Grid and
Rulers.

7. 
Next is the Zoom Level icon which allows to quickly
choose from four preset zoom levels – 25%, 50%,
100% or 200%. You can also type your own zoom
level directly into the input box if none of the
presets work for you:

8. 
Also found in the Application Bar are Photoshop’s
standard Hand and Zoom Tools which have
traditionally been (and still are) found at the
bottom of the Tools panel:

9. 
The Rotate View Tool allows us to rotate our view
of the image on screen as if we were rotating a
photo on a desk or table, which can make it easier
to paint or edit certain areas. What’s great about it
is that since we’re only rotating our view of the
image, not the image itself, no pixels are harmed
by the rotation and the image will still save, print
and export upright.

10. 
New Multi Document
Layouts
Also new in Photoshop CS4
is the Arrange
Documents icon which gives
us lots of new layouts for
viewing multiple documents
on screen at once. You’ll
also find some standard
viewing options from the
Window menu like Match
Zoom and Match Location,
but the new multi document
layouts are a great new
feature and one we’ll look
at in more depth later:

11. 
Finally, rounding out the options in the new
Application Bar is the Screen Mode icon, allowing
us to quickly choose between Photoshop CS4′s
three screen modes – Standard, Full Screen with
Menu Bar and Full Screen Mode

12. 

The tool options bar changes its command
and functions base on the selected tools on
the Tools Panel
Every tool has its own set of options which
will always be available in the Options Bar.

13. 
Along the left side of the screen
is Photoshop’s Tools panel,
formerly known as the Tools
palette, and also (palettes are
now officially known as panels
in Photoshop CS4) commonly
referred to simply as the
Toolbox. This is where we find
all of the various tools we need
for working on our images. In
Photoshop CS4, you’ll find the
Tools panel displayed in a
single column, but I’ve split it
in half here just to make it
easier to fit on the page:

14. 
Single Or Double Column
Layout
Photoshop CS4, like CS3
before it, gives us a choice of
how we want the Tools panel
displayed. We can leave it in
the default single column, or
if you prefer, you can click on
the small double-arrow icon
at the top of the panel which
will switch it to a double
column layout, handy if
you’ve upgraded from
Photoshop CS2 or earlier and
you can’t get used to the new
single column design. Click
again on the icon to switch
back to a single column:

15. 
Accessing The Hidden Tools
Photoshop CS4, like earlier
versions, comes with so many
tools that if Adobe tried to display
them all at once, the Tools panel
would need its own scroll bar. So
instead, Adobe has grouped many
related tools together, with one
tool in the group visible in the
Tools panel and the others hidden
behind it. Whenever you see a tool
in the Tools panel with a small
arrow to the bottom right of the
icon, it means there are additional
tools behind it waiting to be
selected, and if you click and hold
your mouse button down on one
of these tools, a fly-out menu will
appear showing you the additional
tools.

16. 
For example, by clicking and holding on
the Rectangular Marquee Tool at the top of
the Tools panel, a fly-out menu appears
giving me access to the Elliptical Marquee
Tool, the Single Row Marquee Tool and
the Single Column Marquee Tool. Simply
move your mouse cursor over the name of
the tool you want, then release your mouse
button to select it.

17. 
There are several types of measurement that
you can use in Photoshop according to its
purpose. You use Pixel units if you intend to
use your image for web imaging since you
monitor dimensions are measured in pixels.
If you want to print your work later on, you
may use inches, centimeters, and picas since
they are the standard measurements
*pica-a unit of measurement for printing type,
equal to 12 points or 0.422 cm/0.166 in

18. 
One of the most commonly used panels in
Photoshop is the history palette. Unlike other
applications, you can only use the CTRL+Z
command or the undo command once in
Photoshop but you can always use the history
palette to go back to your previous work.
The default operation you can undo in the
history panel is 20 but you can set this up to
1000 operations by accessing the
Performance in the Preference window.