iPhone Photo Keys is an interesting iPhone/iPod Touch Photoshop helper application available on the iTunes App Store.

Photo Keys turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a Photoshop companion tool by putting the entire Photoshop toolbar, as well as many useful shortcuts right at your fingertips. If your iPhone or iPod Touch is nearby that is.

After downloading the iPhone app from the Apple app store, you also must install a server app on your computer so that the Photo Keys app can connect to it via wi-fi. The main toolbar screen contains all the tools in the Photoshop toolbar palette. Simple click any tool to select it in Photoshop. For tools that contain multiple tools, such as the Rectangular Marquee tool, you can cycle through the tools by clicking the same tool multiple times.

 There is also an Edit screen which contains 4 rows of commonly used editing shortcuts. Following these keys, there are 8 fully customizable hotkeys that you can configure in the server setup. These can be used to preform any Photoshop keyboard shortcut or trigger custom Photoshop Actions.

Finally there is a Move screen. This screen contains four arrow keys, which are used the same way as the ones on your keyboard. Below the arrow keys is a selector, which allows you to specifiy how you want the arrow keys to work, this is similar to holding down modifier keys while using the arrow keys on your keyboard. Tapping an arrow with 1 finger will move the selection 1 pixel, tapping with 2 fingers will move it 10 pixels. The benefit of having arrow keys in this tool is that it allows you to use them with your left hand, so you don’t have to take your hand off the mouse like you do when using the keyboard arrow keys.

Feature list:

• Full screen Photoshop tool bar. 
• 20 useful editing keyboard shotcuts, such as Cut/Copy/Paste, Undo/Redo, Open/Save, and many more. 
• 8 Fully customizable hot keys. Useful for defining your own keyboard shortcuts or custom Photoshop Actions. 
• Arrow keys with 3 selection movement modes. 
• Zoom bar, allows you to zoom in and out by sliding your finger across the bar or by clicking the + or – magnifying glass icons. 
• Supports Bonjour for auto-configuration.

I have not used this app, so I can’t vouch for it’s usefulness. However I did purchase the company’s other iPhone app Air Mouse, which turns your iPhone/iPod touch into a virtual mouse and Air Mouse is excellent an well thought out piece of software. I can only imagine that Photo Keys has the same amount of polish and attention.

Photo Keys has server software for both Mac & PC. Photo Keys is only $3.99 at the App Store (iTunes Store link).

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Photo Keys: Photoshop Toolbars On Your iPhone is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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I don’t own a Wacom Cintiq graphics tablet, but I have heard quite a bit of grumbling from Cintiq owners about the way the cursor is displayed: I guess it’s offset a bit with the idea that your hand would obscure the cursor so Wacom has offset it a bit, which takes some getting used to.

But those Cintiq users are in luck: there’s a utility out there that might just ease your pain.

Although not designed with this particular use in mind, Mac OS X utility software Cursorcerer from Doomlaser allows the user to hide the cursor by use of a global hotkey. It can also autohide an idle cursor and bring it back as soon as you move the mouse. Just install the Preference Pane, set your preferences and you’re all set for Cintiq bliss.

via Ray Frenden on Twitter.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
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Cursorcerer: Hide Your Cintiq Cursor is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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Here are a few handy keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop for those of you out there like me who spend an inordinate amount of time in the Creative Suite primarily using Illustrator. These are not keyboard shortcuts that you can use in Illustrator, but rather are keyboard shortcuts providing methods of doing things in Photoshop that you are used to doing in Illustrator that at first it might seem isn’t possible, like click directly on an object to select it, drag to a new layer, etc.

Key commands are formatted for Macintosh; Windows users swap out “Command” for “Control” & “Option” for “Alt”

Create A New Layer: Command (Apple key)-Shift-N
Illustrator bonus tip: I used to think you couldn’t do this in Illustrator using a keyboard command, but I was recently digging into the Keyboard Shortcuts prefs and discovered the keyboard shortcut for creating a new Layer: Command-L. Awesome!

Jump to the next/previous layer: Option – ] or [
This would be similar to selecting an object

Move The Selected Layer Up or Down: Command - ] or [
This would be similar to moving an object up or down

Copy A Selection To A New Layer: Command – J
Similar to an option-drag to copy an item

Select Any Object, Regardless of the Current Layer:
Similar to selecting Illustrator’s Selection tool and selecting/moving an object. When using Photoshop’s Move tool, hold the Command key and click on the object. That object’s layer will be selected as well. The Move tool’s options allow you to set this as the default behavior, but I find it odd to work that way. I much prefer using the modifier key to enable the feature.

Manipulate An Object With Transform Handles:
Highlight the layer whose object you wish to  manipulate, then hit Command-T. The Transform box will appear, and you can then drag the object around as well as resize with the transform handles.

A bonus, non-keyboard tip for resizing just a Selection: make your selection using the Marquee tool (or any other selection tool), then go to the Select menu and choose “Transform Selection” to get the transform handles.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
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6 Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts For Illustrator Users is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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It’s happened to all of us digital creatives. The dreaded day when you just cannot get one of your Adobe applications to launch. Usually there’s a deadline looming (of course). You’ve restarted your computer (three times) and still you cannot get Photoshop to launch. You’ve tried a few tips from some Google searches, but still nothing. Your geek cred is showing it’s limitations. And your deadline isn’t getting any further away.

What if I told you this could be avoided, virtually forever? And also, that you can get back to work with all your settings just the way you like them?

That’s a strong claim, but I am going to back it up by showing you how. You’ll be able to get back to work exactly where you left off — all your preferences, settings & palette locations will be just the way you like them, all with a clean start.

Typically on computers (on a Mac at least), the standard answer when things seem too far gone is to “trash the prefs”, or in other words delete the preferences file for that piece of software. The reason behind this logic is the fact that the software, not finding the prefs where they are supposed to be, will create a brand new preferences file for you when you next launch the application.

The big problem here is that all your settings — well your preferences, actually — are stored in this file (go figure). Creating a new preferences file from scratch will also result in losing all the customization you’ve done for that particular piece of software. But there is a pretty simple solution to both these situations.

Simply put, you just need to save a duplicate/backup version of the preferences file/folder, and replace that when things get weird. The trick however is to set up your software just the way you like things before you do this. This is the trick to getting a “new” set of prefs with everything set up with all your customizations. This customized setup is best done with a brand-new set of preferences, so as to ensure your working with a clean, error-free version. At the very least, backing up your prefs right now with a working version set to just how you like things is better than nothing.

Here are the locations of the preferences files for Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (Mac and PC). If you need to do this for other apps, you can reverse-engineer the locations pretty easily to find anything else.

Mac OS X:

Illustrator: Users>(username)>Library>Preferences>Adobe Illustrator CS[x] Settings>Adobe Illustrator Prefs

Photoshop: Users>(username)>Library>Preferences>Adobe Photoshop CS[x] Settings

InDesign: Users>(username)>Library>Preferences>Adobe InDesign>Version [x].0

Windows (XP & 2000):

Illustrator: Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Adobe\Adobe Illustrator[Version][Settings].

Photoshop: Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop\[version #]\Adobe Photoshop [version #] Settings

InDesign: Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Adobe\InDesign>Version [x].0

(Note: to locate the file from Windows Explorer it may be necessary to set Explorer Folder options > View to “View Hidden Files and Folders”)

What I like to do it to save a backup copy of the preferences in the exact same folder where the actual preferences are, renamed to something different. I usually just append the word “backup” to the folder name. For example, “Adobe Illustrator Prefs” would be saved as “Adobe Illustrator Prefs backup“.

On a Mac I can confirm that leaving this backup folder in the same folder will do no harm. I am not a Windows guy so you may want to check further to see if this is a safe option.

What I like about this is the fact that my backup is right there where I need it — no searching necessary. I just make a copy of the backup folder, trash the “problem” version and rename the copy of the backup.

Because I am extra cautious, I usually drag the problem preferences folder to the Desktop instead of trashing it immediately, just in case I need to go back for some reason (you never know). After a week or so of things working fine I will then go back and trash the faulty folder.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it actually is, and you’ll be glad you set this up if you ever need to use it, trust me.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Adobe Apps: Backup Your Prefs is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Another brief video in my series introducing some great new features in Photoshop CS4 for artists, cartoonists, illustrators and anyone else who sketches or draws using Photoshop.

This video features the excellent new keyoard shortcuts that allow you to drag-resize the size of the brushes using the mouse pointer.

The drag-resize brush cursor feature was one of the top three features that enticed me to upgrade to the Adobe Creative Suite CS4 (Design Premium). While I primarily work with vector art in Adobe Illustrator (at least for my final artwork), I do a lot of sketching within Photoshop using my Wacom Intuos3 graphics tablet.

As any Photoshop user will know, resizing the brushes can interrupt your workflow, especially when you are drawing or sketching. Not having to think about your tools is a big deal to me — I like to have the computer and the software get out of my way as much as possible.

With the new drag-resize brush cursor keyboard shortcuts, my productivity is very much increased now that I can — on the fly and exactly where I am working — change my brush size (as well as the hardness) of the brush. As a keyboard shortcut junkie, I am already used to having my left hand by the modifier keys on the Mac keyboard, so learning these required very little muscle memory.

I love being able resize the brushes with a gesture as opposed to having to stop what I am doing and size the brush up or down, then move the cursor back to where I was working (and repeat if necessary). As I mentioned, the hardness of the brush can also be controlled with keyboard shortcuts (the brush hardness is how soft the edges of the brush are).

Between the Spacebar for the Hand tool and these new shortcuts, for the most part I can almost work without needing to think about what I am doing at all. I also have the eraser tool mapped to one of the Wacom stylus buttons so I can quickly erase without switching tools.

If you work like I do, you’ll want to seriously consider an upgrade for this feature. It’s that great, honestly.

Oh — the other features in Photoshop CS4 that I upgraded for? The Rotate View tool and the Spring-Loaded Keys.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Video: Photoshop CS4 Drag-Resize Brush Keyboard Shortcut is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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Hold down the Option key when erasing using the Eraser Brush, and you’ll get a marquee that you can drag to erase a perfectly rectangular area.

Bonus Eraser Tool tip: edit the keyboard shortcuts so the Eraser uses the “E” key, and remap the Free Transform tool to Shift-E (essentially swapping the keyboard shortcuts for the two tools). Seems much more intuitive this way.

Both tips via FreeTransform

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Adobe Illustrator Eraser Brush Tip: Option-Erase is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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Wacom has a new online service and free companion software tool download called  Bamboo Dock. The apps available so far are basic — a drawing/doodling app, a map you can draw on and a handwriting recognition app. The others I couldn’t demo as a Wacom Bamboo serial number is required.

The online service is a sort of virtual sketchpad, allowing you to doodle, draw, scrapbook and upload files to “spaces” which are like collections, and inside of each one can add multiple canvases with different contents, themes and such.

I am having a hard time imagining a use for the online portion, but the companion apps look like they might be handy and should be interesting to see how things progress as new tools are developed/released.

The Bamboo Dock also allows you to add applications on your hard drive to the Bamboo Dock as shortcuts. So far the Doodler app seems the most handy — just a quick sketchpad type application.

Bamboo Dock is based on the Adobe Air platform, so it runs on Mac or PC and of course requires Adobe Air to be installed. On my Mac running OS X, the Bamboo Dock takes up 100 MB of RAM at idle, so I doubt I will be running this thing often unfortunately. Seems all the Adobe Air apps have the same issue — lots of RAM hogging.

via Atomos

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

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Wacom has updated their tablet driver software for the USB versions of all Intuos3 (PTZ), Intuos2 (XD), Intuos (GD), CintiqPartner (PTU) and Graphire2 (ET-0405A) pen tablets and the Cintiq 12WX, 20WSX, 21UX, 18SX, and 15X pen displays.

Get the Mac OS X (10.4 & 10.5) version, the Windows XP version or the Windows Vista version. Or visit the main Wacom driver download page for other operating systems.

The Mac OS X version is 6.1.0-4 and the Windows versions are 6.1.0-3a.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Wacom Tablet Drivers Updated is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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I didn’t know about this – and don’t ever plan to switch to Windows – but I thought it might be worth passing on the info that you can indeed switch from Windows to Mac (or Mac to Windows if that’s your desire) and take your Adobe software right along with you without paying for another software license.

Supposedly there is a misonception (and one that I had as well) that once you bought a license for either Mac or Windows, you had to buy another brand new license for the new platform you switched to.

Not so, and really it seems to make the most sense on Adobe’s part. If you paid for the software and switched, most likely if you contact Adobe about this you’re not trying to swindle them – if that was your intention, there’s plenty of options out there for those who don’t feel they have to pay for the software they use.

Via John Nack, Principle Product Manager for Adobe Photoshop:

Q. Can I switch my product from Windows to Mac or vice-versa?

A. Yes. Just call Adobe Customer Service (800-833-6687 in the US; 020 7365 0733 in the UK; more country-by-country numbers here) for assistance. The process, as I understand it, involves signing an agreement stating that you’ve destroyed the product on one platform, and in return Adobe will send you the product for the other platform.  According to the service folks, there may be a cost involved; verification of product is required; and restrictions apply.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Adobe Software: Switching From Windows To Mac (or vice versa) is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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While I had no idea that Photoshop had a 3GB RAM limit, a clever user over at MacOSXHints.com has figured out a hack/solution/workaround using a RAM disk as a virtual scratch disk. Clever.

Seems Photoshop only lets one use 1GB of RAM for the application itself, and another 3GB of RAM for files. But, since Phtoshop also lets one assign scratch disks, you can set up a RAM disk as a Photoshop scratch disk with whatever available RAM you can assign to it.

RAM disks are not faster than actual RAM, but much faster than a physical hard drive according to the author of the tip. He also suggests it’s best suited for someone with 8GB or more RAM installed.

Me, I have yet to hit the ceiling as far as I can tell with the 6GB RAM installed on my MacPro. But I thought I would spread the word for those of you who might benefit from this.

Oh, and while we’re on the subject – more RAM is always better. If you are using the memory chips that shipped with your computer – Mac or PC – get more. At the very least double it. Ideally you should max it out if financially feasible. Check out a site such as DealRam to get good comparison pricing on RAM modules.

by George Coghill -
View my cartoon character and mascot illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Photoshop’s 3GB RAM Limit – A Workaround For OS X Users is a post from: Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

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