Shapes are pre-defined vector graphics  in photoshop.The advantage of vector graphics is that they can be scaled without  any loss of image quality.

The shape tool can be enabled by clicking the “Custom shape tool” or simply by pressing “U”.

Some of the tools  present are ‘Rectangle Tool’ , ’Rounded Rectangle Tool’ ,  ‘Ellipse Tool’ ,’Polygon Tool’ , ‘Line Tool’ , and ‘Custom Shape Tool’.

ohhh so boring…….

Are you bored of the default shapes in Photoshop???  Well there are lots of different shapes available which we can import into Photoshop.Human silhouettes,figures,animals,birds,trees,vehicles,swirls and lots more.

Here are links of some of the websites which I came across that offers a lot of exciting shapes.

www.1stwebdesigner.com

http://naldzgraphics.net

www.deviantart.com 

www.smashingmagazine.com

http://vandelaydesign.com

http://myphotoshopbrushes.com/custom_shapes

How to import/add these shapes into Photoshop?

After downloading the custom shapes ,unzip the file.Then paste the files in the  ’Shapes’  folder where you have installed your photoshop.

For eg : C – > program files – > Adobe -> adobe photoshop -> Presets -> Shapes

Then re-open Photoshop to find the shapes present under the  ’Custom shape tool’ menu.

Please feel free to leave your comments !

Go grab your t-shirt @ redbubble : http://goo.gl/TVyVg

The same feature is called “Resyntesizer ” in GIMP.

Here is the screenshot which was taken before and after using the plug-in “Resyntesizer”  in GIMP.

The original image :

After applying the “Resyntesizer” feature

Amazing huh?.I thought so too. You can download this Resyntesizer plug-in here.

we are gonna see one by one with some tutorials on  how to use them with colorful samples.

Let’s start with the ‘Pen tool’.

Today we are going to use the ‘pen tool’ and select a particular object from an image and do some magic.

You can take any image you want .I have taken a cute image from the movie ‘Cars’.

Today’s task :  To change the color of the car using pen tool selection.

Step 1 : Open “Adobe Photoshop” and click the pen tool

or simply press “p’ on your keyboard.

Step 2:  Add the image which you want to use and in the “layers tab” ,right-click your  image and click “Duplicate layer”.Now a copy is created.Here,you can see all the layers which u will be using in this task.

Step 3:  Using the pen tool click the area on the duplicate layer carefully for which u want to change the color.Afetr doing so,right-click and select “make selection”.

Step 4:  Now the selection is made, now click Image Menu->Adjustments ->Hue/Saturation.

Step 5:  Now move the “hue” slider from left  to right until u get the desired color which you want.

Step 6:  You can now notice that the selected area has changed its color.but it looks a bit artificial.In order to blend it right into our image without looking odd,we have to change its’ layer blending properties’.

Step 7 :  Now select the option “Overlay”

Step 8 :  Now you can see that the color of the car has been modified.

Step 9:  Have fun by playing with any color you want and save your file.

Here is the comparison of the image before and after editing.

Google has had several logos.Google holds a Doodle4Google competition for students in grades K–12 to create their own Google doodle.

This is a competition where google invites K-12 students to work their artistic will upon google’s homepage logo.

The topic for the present competition is

“If I Could Do Anything, I Would …”

Here is the snapshot of the competition.

You can vote your favourite doodle here

Content aware filling is a new feature introduced in Adobe Photoshop CS5.Adobe claims it as a magical feature and I too feel the same!!

What’s so magical about it??

I know this question might have raised in your mind. Let me show you a couple of images before you start guessing about this magical feature.

I guess most of you might have got it right.These images are not two different images. The second image is digitally re-created in Photoshop using the first one.

Let me quote the exact text given in adobe.com about Content aware filling

“Remove any image detail or object and watch as Content-Aware Fill magically fills in the space left behind. This breakthrough technology matches lighting, tone, and noise so it looks as if the removed content never existed”

This is definitely an amazing feature, which will make designers all over the world remember the ‘white rabbit’ for the several more years.

I am sure you might have a question in mind, why can’t this same effect be created with a magic wand + Clone Stamp. Yeah you are absolutely right, even I had the same question in mind, but only before trying out this new feature.

I created the sample which I have mentioned above in less than 2 minutes !! unbelievable isn’t it ?

Let me take you though the step by step procedure :

Step 1 :

Open the picture, in which you wanna try this amazing feature

Step 2 :

Select the ‘Quick selection’ tool from the tool box

Step 3 :

Select  the object you wanna make it disappear using the quick selection tool ( in my case it’s the yellow sports bike)

Step 4 :

I am pretty sure you might have got some extra portion from the background while selecting, as the quick selection tool is not always 100% intelligent.

You may add or subtract the portions from the selection using the “add to selection “ and “subtract from selection” icons present below the menu (In default layout)

Step 5 :

Select the ‘Fill’ from the ‘Edit’ menu.

Step 6:

Select the ‘Content – Aware’ from the ‘Use’ drop down.

Be ready to witness the magic.Wow the object disappeared !!!

You can also watch an interesting video about the same feature in the  official website of Photoshop.

There are lot more exciting features in the White rabbit. Grab your trial version here to experience it

1.Code snippet panel:

This feature is going to be a boon for the beginners and novice designers .Pre-built code for most common actions can be included with  just a click.

2. Integration of Flash and Flash Builder :

Flex builder became Flash builder and as expected Flash builder can now be used as a primary action script editor for Flash !!!

3.XML – based source file :

The FLA source files are going to be based on one of the best data  exchange formats  – the  XML.

4.Text Engine :

Operating text in flash is gonna be easy with the all new text engine, also this text engine promises a print quality typography.

5. Interoperability with other Creative suite products

I have always admired the beauty of Flash consuming a .pdf  file , and in Flash CS5 , its still more advanced .

Other interesting feature in this version is

Bones : Yeah, the inverse kinematic effects which was introduced in Flash CS4, gets a new   lift with new motion attributes added to it

Adobe Flash CS5 is expected to be released on mid of May.Register here to get the notification about the trail products and its downloads.

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=product_notify&promoid=FDTFP

Have a look at the comparison chart from Adobe website :

Here is yet another platform for the designers to showcase the talent, Mozilla has announced its t-shirt design contest this year. The contest doesn’t want the designers to concentrate only on Firefox instead on the entire community and idea of the brand Mozilla. Also they want the designers to be as abstract as possible.

Clear instructions along with the samples such as t-shirt template, high resolution Mozilla logo are provided in the contest website

The contest closes on April 30, 2010 , the top five designs will be selected by the internal Mozilla team and the winner will be decided among the top five by public voting

• F (Cycle Screen Modes) — Switch between normal screen, full screen with task bar without title bar, and full screen with black background. Works great when used in conjunction with Tab to hide toolbars — maximum working space, no distractions.
• X (Switch Colors) — Swap your foreground and background colors. Very handy when working with masks.
• D (Default Colors) — Reset your foreground and background colors to black and white, respectively.
• Ctrl + ‘+’/’-’ (Zoom In/Out) — Quickly zoom in or out without changing your current tool.
• Alt + Mouse Scroll (Zoom In/Out) — Fastest way to zoom — scroll up to zoom in, and scroll down to zoom out.
• Ctrl + Alt + Z (Step Back) — Ctrl + Z is OK if you catch a mistake immediately after it happens, but this command will continue to march its way up the history tree.
• Ctrl + S (Save) — You should get in the habit of just hitting this combo on impulse about every 5 to 10 minutes. Also use Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S to bring up the save for web dialog.
• Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N (New Layer No Dialog) — Quickly insert a new empty layer on top of the active layer. Get rid of the Alt key to bring up the new layer dialog for more options.

• Shift + Click Mask (Enable/Disable Layer Mask) — When working with masks it’s typically done in small increments. Disabling the mask allows you to check the results of your masking against the original.
• Alt + Click Mask (Toggle Mask Visibility) — Doing this will bring up the mask as a grayscale image so you can see what you’re working with. Useful if you have areas that need to be filled in or smoothed out.
• Ctrl + Click Mask (Load Mask As Selection) — Selects the white part of the mask (grays are partially selected). Useful if you want to duplicate a mask or it’s inverse. Using Ctrl + Click on a layer without a mask will select the non-transparent pixels in that layer.
• Ctrl + J (New Layer Via Copy) — Can be used to duplicate the active layer into a new layer. If a selection is made, this command will only copy the selected area into the new layer.
• Caps Lock (Toggle Cross Hairs) — Switch between the standard tool icon and a set of precision cross hairs. Useful for spot-on selections.
• Shift + Backspace (Fill Dialog) — Good time saver when working with masks. Also, use the Ctrl + Backspace to fill with background color and Alt + Backspace to fill with foreground color.
• Ctrl + H (Hide Selection Lines) — When working with selections, use this command to hide the “marching ants” while keeping the selection.
• Ctrl + I (Invert Selection) — Select the opposite of what is already selected. Also a good tool when working with mask creation.
• Ctrl + D (Deselect) — After working with your selection, use this combo to discard it.

• Ctrl + G (Group Layers) — This command groups selected layers in the layer tree. Adding Shift to this combo will ungroup layers when the grouped layer is selected.
• Ctrl + A (Select All) — Creates a selection around the entire canvas.
• Ctrl + T (Free Transform) — Brings up the free transform tool for resizing, rotating, and skewing the image using a dragable outline.
• Ctrl + E (Merge Layers) — Merges selected layer with the layer directly below it. If multiple layers are selected, only those will be merged.
• Crtl + Shift + E (Merge Visible) — Merges all visible layers into one. Not recommended practice in typical photo editing because you’ll lose layer information.
• Ctrl + Alt + E (Stamp Down) — Merges all selected layers into one new layer. Add the Shift modifier to this combo and you’ll get a new layer containing a merged representation of all visible layers (handy for sharpening adjustments)
• Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R (Rotate Arbitrary Dialog) — bring up the rotate dialog to straighten out your horizon… but it’s not typically used since we all take perfect photos, right?
• Side Note: Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) has the ability to straighten photos before they ever make it into Photoshop. When straightening, you draw a line you’d like as your horizontal and ACR will take care of the rotation and crop for you.
• CTRL + ALT + DEL (Kill Photoshop) — Quite useful when Photoshop takes your computer hostage. Must have used the Ctrl + S command prior to the hostile takeover in order to prevent mental breakdown.