Keyboard Shortcuts | Cartooning & Illustration Blog: Coghillustration

Tag Archive for 'keyboard shortcuts'

Creative Suite CS4: Custom Keyboard Shortcut Woes

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on November 13, 2008

in Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop

. 0 Comments

Just a quick tip for those out there getting ready to upgrade to the new Adobe Creative Suite CS4: I discovered after the upgrade that CS3 customized keyboard shortcut files do not transition into CS4.

This is a huge bummer, as there is no easy way that I know of to display what you have changed compared to the default set. I can only speak for Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4 and InDesign CS4 as I do not use the rest of the programs in the Design Premium suite enough to customize keyboard shortcuts.

I can’t recall if this is the case with previous Creative Suite upgrades as well or if this is a CS4-only situation.

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Adobe Illustrator’s Tilde Key Trick

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George Coghill

on December 26, 2007

in Adobe Illustrator

. 0 Comments

Just saw this over at design blog BittBox: when drawing with the Shape tools in Illustrator (rectangle, circle etc.), holding the tilde key (the squiggle key to the left of the 1 key on U.S. keyboards) and then dragging the mouse will result in lots of duplicates of the shape following the trail of your mouse pointer.

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Default Folder X - Essential Mac Productivity Utility Software

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George Coghill

on September 9, 2007

in OS X, keyboard shortcuts, productivity, reviews, shareware, software and tools

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Default Folder X is one of those shareware utility applications that seem pretty handy while you are demoing, but until you use another Mac without Default Folder installed (or the demo runs out), you don’t realize exactly how perfect the software actually is.

I constantly run across these “714 Absolutely Essential Mac Applications” blog posts that always leave this one out. And I think the only reason is that the author is unaware of it’s existence. There’s no other explanation. Half of the time the apps I see on those lists are so-so anyways.

So what is this so-called “Default Folder” anyways? In short, it’s a way for you to access — from the Open/Save dialog windows — not only commonly used folders, but also recently used folders and open Finder windows, all with (mostly) user-defined keyboard shortcuts.

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by George Coghill -
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OS X Tip: Move Windows In The Background Without Activating Them

Published

George Coghill

on August 12, 2007

in OS X, keyboard shortcuts, productivity and tips

. 1 Comment

Here’s a quick tip for you Mac OS X users out there: you can move any window behind the currently active window (also known as the window that has “focus”) without activating it/bringing it to the front.

This one’s real simple: hold down the Command (Apple) key, and then click on the background window’s title bar area (as you normally would) and voilÃ - you’re moving the window in the background. You can even grab the scroll bar and move it if you have access to it.

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by George Coghill -
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Adobe Pen Tool Cheatsheet: Free Download

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George Coghill

on August 7, 2007

in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, keyboard shortcuts, productivity and tips

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Adobe Pen Tool 3Ã—5 index card Cheatsheet preview image Here’s a cool little idea from the geniuses at CreativeTechs.com: “cheatsheets” for Adobe software that are designed to print on a 3×5 index card, complete with space reserved to punch holes for a binder. Designed with the GTD/Hipster PDA crowd in mind. And they’re free!

This link is to the PDF cheatsheet for the Adobe pen tool, since most (or all) of it’s features work the same across the Creative Suite. A real cool visual reference guide, and just one in a series of cheatsheets for Adobe apps as well as other computer and Mac related info that you just sometimes need at your fingertips.

Looks like they are just starting out with these, so be sure to subcribe to the RSS feed and collect ‘em all!

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5 Obscure Illustrator Keyboard Shortcuts That Shouldn’t Be Obscure

Published

George Coghill

on August 2, 2007

in Adobe Illustrator, OS X, productivity and tips

. 1 Comment

So I was digging around in Illustrator’s Keyboard Shortcut preferences, and discovered some interesting commands available that I was totally unaware of, as well as some commands I had been wishing were available.

Some of these are my own fault for not exploring Illustrator’s menus properly, but others are just locked away in limbo, hidden from all but us intrepid (and geeky) explorers. And some of the commands are available, but with no default keyboard shortcut assigned to them, but they are available for you to add your own.

These are sure to be productivity boosters once you get the muscle-memory flowing for them. I know just coming back here to finish up this post after working in Illustrator I had already forgotten most of these. It’s weird how you get used to working within the limitations of the software even when you know a better way. I am just now getting used to using my fancy-schmancy new “Zoom to Selection” Illustrator plugin after having it installed for over a month and using Illustrator just about every day since then.

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18 Exceptionally Useful Photoshop Shortcuts

Published

George Coghill

on July 27, 2007

in Adobe Photoshop, OS X, keyboard shortcuts, productivity and tips

. 0 Comments

Apple Command Key symbol From Digital Photography School (via Lifehacker): a quick list of 18 of the author’s most commonly used Photoshop shortcuts, broken out into three groups: simple, intermediate, and advanced.

Although this is from a photography site, these shortcuts apply to just about any Photoshop user. A quick list of my faves, and a followup of additional shortcuts from myself as well as from the user comments on the tip page. Sure to enhance your productivity.

My faves, which I am trying to embed in muscle memory:

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Annotated Keyboard Graphic With Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts

Published

George Coghill

on July 20, 2007

in Adobe Photoshop, productivity, software and tips

. 2 Comments

annotated keyboard for photoshop shortcuts Here’s a pretty handy little reference graphic: an annotated keyboard with Photoshop’s keyboard shortcuts. And even an extended text-based shortcut chart on the bottom!

This makes me think that not only could it use a bit of spicing up in the visual sense, but also that this would be pretty handy for Illustrator users as well… maybe even incorporating Modifier key shortcuts to boot.

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Free Printable Keyboard Shortcut Cards for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop & More

Published

George Coghill

on July 20, 2007

in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, productivity and tips

. 4 Comments

Computer Arts illustrator shortcuts preview 02 A set of free, printable keyboard shortcuts cards for Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and more are available for download over at ComputerArts.co.uk.

The set includes keyboard shortcut cards for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator CS, Macromedia Freehand, Cinema 4D and 3D Studio Max. These are CS1 versions, but from what I can gather the shorcuts should be pretty much the same for the newer versions. Not too sure about the Macromedia apps (which are now Adobe apps) as I have never used any of them.

As anyone who has read this blog can tell, I am a huge keyboard shortcut junkie, and you should be one as well. I cannot even begin to emphasize how much knowing these will enhance not only your pleasure on using graphics software (and software in general), but how much of a marked increase in productivity you’ll see.

I cringe in geek pain when I see a fellow Photoshop or Illustrator user laboriously hauling their mouse over to the Tools palette, or even to the menubar for anything but the most arcane of Menu items.

Download. Print. Learn. Kick massive butt.

â€¢ Keyboard Protective Cover With Photoshop Shortcuts

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Tip: OS X Window Switching Keyboard Shortcuts for Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign)

Published

George Coghill

on July 1, 2007

in Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Illustration, OS X, design, productivity and tips

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Here are some super handy keyboard shortcuts for switching between open document windows when working within the Adobe Creative Suite applications (Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign). These are Macintosh-only keyboard shortcuts since I do not have access to a Windows machine. Sure to increase your productivity.

Illustrator: Command (Apple) + ~ (that’s the “tilde” key, to the left of the numeral one, otherwise known as “the little squiggly line thing”)

InDesign: same as Illustrator

Photoshop: Control + Tab

Continue reading 'Tip: OS X Window Switching Keyboard Shortcuts for Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign)'OS X Window Switching Keyboard Shortcuts for Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop & InDesign)’

by George Coghill -
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