Help with scrapping in Photoshop CS6

maryinaz

maryinaz

New member
Gosh, sorry I'm so needy lately!

So, I'm attempting to scrap with CS6 and I have a lot of dumb - REALLY dumb - questions. Does anyone know if there is a tutorial or helpful tips somewhere? I'm really struggling and want my Elements back! :crying:
 
Oh thanks Sara! Some of this is probably in my settings somewhere and I probably won't use all the correct terminology, but here goes.

I got all my shadow styles (had to re-buy Jenn's since I could not find the file) and actions installed. But when I click on an action, nothing happens. Shadows are working OK, but boy are those style icons tiny.

When I try to resize something, the shape doesn't stay constant.

And how to I drop from one tab into another? I'm doing OK with the mini-bridge - I can drag up from that - but is there a way to drag something that is open in a tab to another tab?

I appreciate the help! And I will probably have more questions as I go along.
 
Mary, Im also using CS6... your welcome to post here or even email me and I'll try my best to help... Im sure you'll get lots of help here as well, you all are so helpful!
 
Mary, as for the icons being tiny... click on the fly out menu on the right side of the style panel... choose which one you want - small thumbnail, large, small list, large list.... etc.. that will help a lot with that!
 
When you are talking about the shape not staying 'constant' do you mean it's going wacky on ya when resizing? Ha.. love my choice of words?! Try holding SHIFT down while you resize...
 
As for the dropping from one tab to another... click on the one you want to drag, and drag it to the tab your wanting to put it into and let go... it should show up now in that tab...
 
when you resize you have to hold shift to keep the proportions

you can change the thumbnails size for your styles/etc by clicking the little icon to top right corner of the box (looks like horizontal lines with an arrow pointing down next to it) - towards the top are the thumbnail options

i don't like the tabs, lol. if you grab the top bar of the tab you want & drag the whole thing out to "unlock" it from the tab bar then you can drag that onto another document...if you don't like the tabs - go to edit>preferences>interface & unclick the "open documents in tabs" box.
 
& here is how to go back & forth with tabs or no tabs easily :)

tabs.jpg
 
Mary, also, you can change the thumbnail size of your layer panel thumbnail, channels, etc... in each panel, to the right is that little lined box, click that to get your fly out menu... then choose PANEL OPTIONS and choose your flavor.. I mean.. size... lol :-)
 
One of the big things in CS6 too is that all of your adjustment effects (curves, etc) are all done in the new Properties Panel (which I actually really like!)
 
I know huh, many people are not happy about it... Obviously it's not HARD to go to Windows>Arrange, but it's just more steps... and that is what ppl are not happy about.
 
OK, next question. I decided to work with a template to try and minimize my frustration as I'm learning. Control G is not working. I selected the layer, and drag the photo onto the canvas and Control G. It does not crop to the layer I selected.

See how dumb these questions are? I never would have even attempted scrapping with CS if I hadn't lost my PSE. :(
 
Im on a Mac, so forgive me if some of this is alittle 'off'....

Try putting your cursor on the line btwn the two layers (the photo and the one your trying to crop it to) and then hit ALT... you'll see a box with an arrow (this little cursor is new in CS6.. in CS5 and before it was a wacky one...) once you have that cursor, click.. it will then 'clip' the photo to the template layer...
 
Mary, I started on PSE... I now can't imagine going back to PSE.. in time you'll get use to CS and maybe you will feel the same way as I do... just takes a little time to learn the new commands, etc. but you'll get there!
 
Control G .. or Cmd G on a mac... should still work... highlight your layers in the layers panel that your wanting to group and then try doing your Cntrl G ... I just tried it and it does work in CS6 still...
 
OK, I got it to work, but not sure I can do it again. Man, that REALLY sucks. Really. Not nearly as simple as C+G.

I hope you are right because so far, I'm really not convinced I will like this better. The program just seems too "big" for what I want to do with it.
 
C+G will work... Im just not sure why it's not working for you... and I'm not a great instructor either... LOL!
On a Mac it's Cmd + G, and it worked perfectly fine for me a second ago, so at least we know the option is still there... just got to find out why it's not working for ya...

I personally love the Alt + Click ... I rarely use Cmd + G..
 
Thanks all of you for all your help. I will work with this more - I really have no other choice right now! LOL
 
Thank you Julie - I will check it out! I did look through the tutorials before posting, but I missed this one. Of course! ;)
 
maryinaz said:
OK, next question. I decided to work with a template to try and minimize my frustration as I'm learning. Control G is not working. I selected the layer, and drag the photo onto the canvas and Control G. It does not crop to the layer I selected.

See how dumb these questions are? I never would have even attempted scrapping with CS if I hadn't lost my PSE. :(
Click to expand...

again - using CS5...but i have to hit ctl+alt+g to clip things :)
 
erica zane said:
again - using CS5...but i have to hit ctl+alt+g to clip things :)
Click to expand...

I'm using the CS6 beta right now, and it's still ctrl+alt+g. Ctrl+g groups layers.

When resizing, you have 2 choices to keep proportions consistent. One is to hold shift, but I prefer to click the little button. Here's how to do that:
When you do CTRL+T (or get there through the menus) and the transforming options show up at the top of the screen, you'll see W for width and H for height. In between them is a button that looks like (-). Click it, and the aspect ratio won't change when you type in the W/H boxes or pull from the corner.

ETA: Mary--if you prefer scrapping with PSE, can you download the 30 day trial version to use while you decide what to get? Or do you think you want to switch to PS and this is forcing you to learn? I scrapped with PhotoImpact for 7 years before being forced to switch to PS 2 years ago. There are many things I love about PS and I wouldn't want to switch back, but there are times I miss knowing my program inside and out the way I did PI.

One last thing-Here's a link to a post on Penny's blog where Mamabee shared a sheet with all the PS keyboard shortcuts.
 
Last edited:
rach3975 said:
I'm using the CS6 beta right now, and it's still ctrl+alt+g. Ctrl+g groups layers.

When resizing, you have 2 choices to keep proportions consistent. One is to hold shift, but I prefer to click the little button. Here's how to do that:
When you do CTRL+T (or get there through the menus) and the transforming options show up at the top of the screen, you'll see W for width and H for height. In between them is a button that looks like (-). Click it, and the aspect ratio won't change when you type in the W/H boxes or pull from the corner.

ETA: Mary--if you prefer scrapping with PSE, can you download the 30 day trial version to use while you decide what to get? Or do you think you want to switch to PS and this is forcing you to learn? I scrapped with PhotoImpact for 7 years before being forced to switch to PS 2 years ago. There are many things I love about PS and I wouldn't want to switch back, but there are times I miss knowing my program inside and out the way I did PI.

One last thing-Here's a link to a post on Penny's blog where Mamabee shared a sheet with all the PS keyboard shortcuts.
Click to expand...
Thanks Erica and Rachel - I will try ctl+alt+g and see if that works better for me.

Rachel - since I lost both PSE and CS3 suite (which obviously I was not scrapping with!) I have to replace with something. Since I need the creative suite I was trying to avoid buying that AND PSE again. So I'm seeing if I can get over that learning curve with CS6 and just use that for everything. I've got 59 days left on the trial, so I'm trying to make myself use it. I really think I need a class in it though!

And thanks for the links to the shortcuts and the sizing tip!

Anyone have any idea why my actions don't work when I click on them?
 
maryinaz said:
Rachel - since I lost both PSE and CS3 suite (which obviously I was not scrapping with!) I have to replace with something. Since I need the creative suite I was trying to avoid buying that AND PSE again. So I'm seeing if I can get over that learning curve with CS6 and just use that for everything. I've got 59 days left on the trial, so I'm trying to make myself use it. I really think I need a class in it though!

And thanks for the links to the shortcuts and the sizing tip!

Anyone have any idea why my actions don't work when I click on them?
Click to expand...

That's right, I forgot you said you needed the suite. If you're forced to stick with PS for a few weeks because you don't have PSE anymore, you'll learn it.

As for your actions, are they PS compatible? If so, does anything happen when you click on them?
 
They are actions I had in CS3 - some from Pioneer Woman and some from 4 Hens. And when I click on one, nothing happens. It's probably something silly, like I don't have something selected. I just tried what worked in CS3 and that was just clicking on the action.
 
maryinaz said:
OK, next question. I decided to work with a template to try and minimize my frustration as I'm learning. Control G is not working. I selected the layer, and drag the photo onto the canvas and Control G. It does not crop to the layer I selected.

See how dumb these questions are? I never would have even attempted scrapping with CS if I hadn't lost my PSE. :(
Click to expand...

This still gets me every stinking time!!! I've been using CS5 for almost a week and I still hit CTRL + G every time!!! One of my biggest frustrations!!! :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Community platform by XenForo® © 2010-2026 XenForo Ltd.
Back
Top