I love shortcuts! For some reason, they feel much faster to me than digging into the extensive menu system in Photoshop. I have a few go-to shortcuts for working with transforming things while working in Photoshop that you may find useful.
What is transforming?
It is any time you resize, rotate or warp something in a Photoshop layer.
When is it used?
- creating clusters and borders
- creating stacked papers
- creating quick pages
- creating embellishments with multiple layers (like flowers with multiple layers or a button top of a flower)
- general scrapbooking
What’s the FASTEST way to start?
CTRL+T will bring activate the transform tool and enable you to start doing things like pulling on the handles/corners of the item to make it smaller or to rotate it.
{CU Egg from Easter Eggs by eqrAveziur}
What’s the hidden secret in the transform tool?
This is a gem, I think => when you right-click after activating the transform tool, you get a “hidden” menu of useful transformations right there! This is so useful for precise moves like exactly 90 degrees or exactly 180 degrees. Think how quick you can flip a border up to the top of a page like this! Or flip a paper over to the other side of a layout.
Give this a try and get familiar with ALL the items on this hidden menu and how they affect elements so you can get a better “handle” (get it?) on how to get things in just the right shape and orientation for your projects!
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It really is a shame the transform menu isn't as obvious as it should be! You can also access it by going to Edit > Transform, and you should have a fly-out menu when you hover your mouse over Transform. I'm using Photoshop CC - though I also own and used Photoshop CS6 Extended - on a Mac, so the Windows version may have a slightly different way of getting to it, but I know it's there :)
ReplyDeleteOver the years, I have found there a always multiple ways to do things in Photoshop! But I tend toward the shortcuts instead of digging into the menus for some reason
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