How to set up photoshop cs6 for drawing. Setting up and managing panels in Photoshop CS6. Maximum compatibility of PSD and PSB files

Photoshop is very customizable. In addition to the settings of each palette, tool or panel, we can make significant changes to the basic parameters of the program itself, affecting all of its functionality.

Photoshop settings allow you to enable or disable functions, change the operating modes of tools, and adjust the operation of the program on your computer.

Such changes occur in a window called Settings. To open, select menu command Editing - Settings - Basic or press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+K.

As you can see, there are other commands in this menu. These are all the categories of Photoshop settings. Bypassing unnecessary mouse clicks, you can immediately go to a specific category.

Let's take a closer look at each category separately and their basic settings.

Category "Basic"

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General provides access to settings that do not fit into other categories. Most of the parameters are self-explanatory, for example the parameter Zoom with mouse wheel.

By default, Photoshop will display a dialog box Color palette every time you choose a color. If you prefer to use the operating system's color picker instead, you can select the appropriate option from the Color Picker drop-down list.

If you download and install other color palettes, such as the Painter palette, they will also appear in this menu. But because the Adobe Color Picker is designed to work with Photoshop and all its built-in features, using a different palette may mean losing quick access to critical features like color libraries.

Parameter History of changes - e If you check this box, Photoshop will track everything that happens to the images. This is an invaluable tool for people who need to show, for example, what they did to an image when invoicing clients, or to create legal documentation for all the edits they made to an image.

Another significant parameter in this regard concerns two interesting functions called Scaling with animation And Capture drawing. If your computer is running slowly, try disabling one or both of these features by unchecking the appropriate boxes.

Category "Interface"

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Interface settings allow you to change the appearance of Photoshop. You can improve performance on a slow computer by selecting groups from the drop-down lists Border options Do not show. This way, it won't waste processing power creating those shadows around document windows or around the program window itself.

Also, if you know all the tools and don't want to see the little yellow tooltips that appear when you hover over them or the mouse pointer controls, then uncheck Show hints. If you want new documents to open in separate windows rather than new tabs, clear the checkbox Open documents in tabs.

Category "File Processing"

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Thanks to the settings, by default, every time you save a file, the program displays a dialog box asking if you want to save the images as compatible as possible with PSD and PSB files. Saving documents with maximum compatibility increases the likelihood that they will be supported by other programs such as Adobe InDesign. If the annoying window annoys you, select from the drop-down list Maximize PSD and PSB file compatibility option Always and you will never see this dialog box again.

Another useful option is at the very bottom, with which you can change the number of documents that the program will display in the Recent Documents menu. The value of this field is automatically set to 10, but you can change it.

Category "Performance"

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Settings Productivity(Performance) affect how effectively Photoshop runs on your computer. For example, the amount of memory a program is allowed to work with affects its performance. In Group Memory usage, in field Employed under Photoshop It is initially set that the program will use up to 70 percent of the available RAM. If you want to increase the value to 100 percent for better performance, don't do it. Other programs also require the computer's memory, and leaving the value set at 60-70 percent ensures that they all get their fair share.

You can also change the number of completed actions that the program remembers.

If you don't have enough space on your computer's hard drive, consider adding another hard drive that Photoshop can use as a scratch drive to record temporary files created when editing images, such as various states. When you add a new internal hard drive or connect an external drive, it appears in the list of scratch drives. You can allow the program to use it by checking the box next to the drive name in the column Active and dragging it up to the first position. If you go this route, Photoshop will work a little more energetically, since the program instead of one has two hard drives from which you can read and write information.

If you need to improve program performance, clear the checkbox Enable rendering. The disadvantage of turning this option off is that you won't be able to use features that depend on it, such as drawing capture and view rotation.

Category "Cursors"

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Category Options Cursors(Cursors) allow you to determine the type of mouse cursors when working with images. There is no right or wrong option here, try different cursor display options and see which one suits you.

The program has two types of cursors: drawing And other. As you select different options, Photoshop shows a sample of what each cursor looks like. There is a color indicator at the bottom of the dialog box View brush, which controls the color of the brush swatch that appears when you change the brush size using a keyboard shortcut Alt+right mouse button and dragging the mouse left or right. to change the color of the sample, click on the indicator, select a new color in the dialog box Select a color to preview the brush, and then click OK.

Category "Transparency and color gamut"

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Category settings Transparency & Gamut allow you to adjust the appearance of transparent areas. Like cursor settings, these options are purely cosmetic, so don't be afraid to experiment.

Indicator in group Out-of-gamut warning Lets you set a highlight color that shows where in the image colors fall outside the safe range of the color mode you're working with or the printer you're using.

Category "Units of measurement and rulers"

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Units of measurement and rulers(Units & Rulers) allow you to define the units of measurement that will be used in the program. Drop-down list Rulers allows you to select the units of measurement for document rulers. You can select units of measurement such as pixels, inches, centimeters, millimeters, points, picas or percentages.

If you work with a lot of printable documents, centimeters or picas are probably your best choice. If you're creating images primarily for the web, choose pixels.

In the dropdown list Text Select items if you don't need to work with text measured in pixels or millimeters, which can be useful when you need to align text for a web page layout.

Group settings Column are useful when creating graphics that need to fit into a specific column size in a program like Adobe InDesign.

Category: Guides, Grid and Slices

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Setting up a group Guides, Grid, and Slices(Guides, Grid & Stices) allow you to choose the colors of the guides, grids and cutting fragments. You can also set the spacing between grid lines and the number of divisions that appear between thick grid lines by entering values ​​in the Line Every and Internal Division By fields, respectively.

To really save time, adjust settings in a group Default resolution for new documents. From now on, Photoshop will automatically install in the dialog box New settings specified here.

Category "External modules"

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You can do even more interesting things in Photoshop by installing third-party programs called external modules(Plugins).

Controls in this category allow you to access plug-ins located outside of the Photoshop folder, which can help you avoid losing them if you have to reinstall the program.

Category "Fonts"

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Category controls Fonts(Type) allow you to enable or disable the mode Straight quotes, and also manage the parameter , used in the font menu in the attributes panel and in the palette Symbol. Because viewing the font typeface is so useful when selecting a font, this option is enabled by default in CS5.

If you want to see font samples, uncheck the box Font preview size, and Photoshop will only display the font names.

If you are working with Asian characters, check the Show Asian text options and make sure the checkbox is Enable missing glyph protection also installed. Now, if you try to use a letter or symbol from a font that is not installed on your computer, you will not get strange hieroglyphs or squares.

If you notice an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thank you!

The reason for writing this material was the repeated questions on forums and in personal messages by e-mail. The fact is that with non-optimal settings, both slowdown of the program and various other problems may occur, for example, the inability to work with individual filters or tools.

So let's get started.

First, let's configure the basic parameters of the program itself, and then move on to the color management settings.

In order to open the settings dialog, you need to either go to the menu Editing – Settings – Basic (Edit –Preferences –General) CTRL+K.

The following settings window will appear (by clicking on the picture you can view a larger image).

Here I usually set the default interpolation algorithm Bicubic (best for smooth gradients). This algorithm is the most universal and is suitable for both reducing and increasing the size of an image. However, after reduction you will have to increase the sharpness. If you mainly reduce images, you can set the algorithm Bilinear. Then, in most cases, you will not have to sharpen after reduction, or you will have to do it much less often.

Also I uncheck the option Changing tool with keySHIFT. This speeds up your work, as it allows you to quickly switch between tools of the same subgroup (for example, between a regular and a mix brush) by pressing just one key, rather than two.

Now let's move on to the next tab Interface

Here the settings concern mainly visual effects (circled in red). I turn them off because it interferes with my work. The color of the interface is a matter of taste, but I’m used to working in a light interface the old fashioned way.

I don’t use the next tab, since the settings synchronization function is not yet sufficiently developed. I'm not making any changes to it.

Go to the tab File processing

Here I change the setting Maximize file compatibilityPSD andP.S.B.. I set the value Always so that a window with this request does not appear every time you save.

Next tab – Performance.

Here you need to set the amount of RAM that will be used by the program, the number of file change history steps available in the palette Story, scratch disks, and also configure the settings for using the GPU (video card). Let's go through it in order.

It is better to set RAM within the range recommended by the program so as not to slow down the operation of the operating system and other programs and processes running in parallel.

You need to select a working disk other than the system disk (the one on which the operating system is installed). The scratch disk is used for temporary files that Photoshop creates while working. It is very good if it is an SSD drive, in this case many operations will be performed faster.

I leave the number of steps in the history at 20 by default, since I practically don’t use the change history. Why? Yes, because after just a couple of minutes of retouching, even 500 history steps will already be used, and storing history requires large resources, which can lead to a slowdown in the program.

Therefore, instead of turning to history, you just need to organize your work correctly: perform operations on copies of layers, use the principles of non-destructive editing.

In the GPU settings block, you need to check that the checkbox is enabled Use GPU. For more detailed settings, click the button Extra options

Check that the settings are the same as in the figure. Pay special attention to two checkboxes - Use GPU to speed up calculations and UseOpenCL. Disabling these features results in the inability to use many operations and filters.

Of the following tabs, the tab that is of practical importance is External modules. The block flags must be enabled Filters and Extension Panels. Then all filters will be shown in the menu, and various extension panels will work.

Now let's configure the color management system parameters. To do this you need to either go to the menu Editing – Color Settings (Edit –ColorSettings) or press the key combination SHIFT+CTRL+K. The settings window will open

In line Settings select from the drop-down list Universal settings for Europe. Thus, the main working space for the RGB model will be sRGB IEC61966-2.1. This completes the color adjustment.

You can use a pre-installed environment as a working environment Photo. You can select it in the upper right corner of the program window. You can then customize the program's palettes as you wish.

Now you need to restart the program and you can get to work.

More detailed information can be obtained from video course "Photoshop for the photographer - 2013".

The described installation instructions make it possible to use the official version of the Photoshop cs6 editor. But there is a newer version of the editor, this is Photoshop CC, you can download it with installation instructions for free by clicking on the link in the menu on the right, at the moment this is the latest Photoshop editor from Adobe.

Despite the fact that support for the cs6 version has been stopped, it is possible to download it at the office. If you dig around the website, below are instructions on how to download and install. It was downloaded in 2015 and then re-uploaded because on the website the speed is terrible, and there are no instructions as such. And so let's get started...

P.S. When installing Photoshop cs6 below the points given, the Internet must be turned on!

2. Open the archive (if downloaded from the official site) with any 7z or winrar archiver and go to the folder Adobe CS6 launch Set-up.exe(if you follow link 1, then everything will be unpacked automatically)

3. After initializing the installation programs, in the window that appears, select "trial version".

4. You will be required to sign in. Click login.

5. Click create Adobe ID, you can register to a fictitious email(mail) as well as other parameters.

6. Select the components for Cs6, language, location, and click on the button “ Install«

To summarize, we can say that by installing this method you will receive the latest version of Photoshop cs6. All you have to do is follow the above link, which will take you to instructions for activation and free use.

Before you start using Photoshop, it needs to be configured correctly for it to work correctly. Don't worry if anything is unclear, just follow the instructions below. We will analyze each setting item separately. Then, when you understand each item and understand the process of its operation, you will independently understand which settings are best for you.

So, first of all, let’s go to settings Edit → Settings → Basic

I don’t think the clipboard export function is necessary, it just takes up space. Therefore, I advise you to uncheck this item. Everything else is fine, feel free to move on!

Interface

File processing

First of all, uncheck the box next to "Display a warning before saving files in TIFF format", it displays a warning that the number of layers increases the size of the output file. You can also cancel maximizing the compatibility of PSD and PSB files by changing the option to “Never”.

Performance

This is one of the important Photoshop settings that decides a lot)

  • Memory usage

It all directly depends on your RAM. On average, if you don’t use other programs when working in Photoshop, you should separate 70-80%, as you can see, I separated a little more than 80%, and Photoshop can handle it completely.

  • History and caching

At this stage, I strongly advise you to change the action history item. This parameter is very important for everyone; it is responsible for the number of steps in the story. That is, how many times can you press undo actions Ctrl + Z. For full-fledged work, I think 500 is completely enough, but don’t take into account the maximum you can only do is 1000. The longer the history of actions, the more RAM is required.

  • Working disks

I won’t talk about how this parameter works and how important it is, for too long. Let me just say that this affects the speed of work. For these purposes, preferably indicate a separate disk where there is no OS. +20gb is enough to complete most tasks.

  • GPU Settings

You must check the box next to "OpenCL". This feature is not required for full functionality; it makes navigation and editing of files (such as visualization, effects) smoother. Unfortunately, my video card does not allow me to use this feature, which I really regret.

Cursors
  • Paint brushes

Set the brush tip to full size. I advise you to check the box opposite to show the crosshair on the tip of the brush purely for convenience.

  • Other cursors

Leave it as "Standard". To accurately display the cursor, use Caps lock.

Transparency and color gamut

You can leave it at default; there are no vital items here.

Units of measurement and rulers

  • Units

Since I mainly use Photoshop for the web, my ruler is displayed in pixels. If you are working in a different direction, you can select the appropriate ruler format from the drop-down list.

  • Column

You don't need to change anything, you can leave it as is.

  • Default permissions for new documents

The print resolution is quite normal, so we'll leave it as it is. The screen resolution can be raised to 80 ppi if you are working with web images.

  • Point/Spade Size

Let's leave it as it is, that's enough

Guides, Grid, and Slices

External modules

The only thing you can do here to speed up the work is to specify another folder for external modules. How can this help me? Very simple. By default, all plugins are installed in the system plugins folder, and the more new plugins there are, the slower Photoshop loads. By specifying a new location for plugins, Photoshop will load them as they are activated, which accordingly speeds up the loading of the program.

Fonts

You can leave the default settings here

3D

I rarely use this function, so I can’t give specific advice. But in those cases when I used it, the default settings suit me.

In custody.

OK it's all over Now! Now you have configured your Photoshop for a more normal and convenient work in it. If you have any questions with any point, write! Let's figure it out together...

The popularity of Photoshop is only growing every day. For stable and fast operation of the program, increasingly powerful computers are needed. For example, the latest 2015 release of Photoshop CC requires a computer with at least a dual-core processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM (up to 8 GB of RAM is recommended), and at least 2 gigabytes of free local disk space.

A monitor with a resolution of 1280x800 is also recommended. Even if you have a computer with such parameters, it is necessary to configure the Photoshop program itself for more comfortable work with it. So, today you will learn how to make important settings in Photoshop.

Setting up Photoshop CC

In the example, we will configure the Photoshop version of Photoshop CC. These settings will help you make working in your favorite program faster and more comfortable. First, we need to go to the main settings of the Photoshop program.

In the top menu of the program we find the item: Editing - Settings - Basic

Or press the key combination Ctrl+K

A window with Photoshop settings opens in front of us.

In this window, you can immediately configure the useful “Scale with mouse wheel” function.

Click OK to apply the settings. The OK button is located in the upper right corner of the settings window.

Interface settings

In the interface settings window that opens, set the “Standard window” mode. In the “Border” item, select “Do not show” and click the “OK” button.

After this adjustment, we see our edited image as it is, without shadows or strokes.


We made this setting in order to be sure that the shadow of the picture is not from the program settings, but from the effects that we applied during the editing process.

First, we need to establish how much RAM will be allocated by the computer resource for working with the program.

Setting the RAM size for Photoshop work

For more comfortable work with Photoshop, it is recommended to set the maximum volume to 100%. This is necessary so that the program does not freeze or slow down.

Secondly, you need to make a setting in the “Working disks” item. Here we indicate the working disk on which temporary Photoshop files will be saved.

Setting up a story in Photoshop

Thirdly, we need to make an important “Action History” setting. The essence of this setting is that the Photoshop program records all the steps that we take during the work process. And the more of these steps-actions are recorded, the more opportunity we have to correct the mistakes made. It is enough to select any action where you want to return for editing.

Fourthly, if you have a computer with a video card, be sure to check the box next to “Use graphics processor.” This will allow you to use the video card resource in Photoshop. And it will make working with the program faster and more comfortable.

Setting units of measurement

At this point we set the default units of measurement.

  • One important thing to note is that because we are working with graphics, the smallest element of an image is a pixel, so the unit of measurement is set to the pixel.
  • Press the key combination Ctrl+K in the settings window that opens and select the item: “Units of measurement and rulers.”
  • In the item “Units of Measurement”, Rulers and Text, set the units of measurement to Pixels.
  • In the “Columns” item we also set the units of measurement - Pixels, here they are designated as “peaks”.
  • In the “Default resolution for new documents” item, set the optimal resolution: for printing 300 pixels/inch, for displaying 72 pixels/inch. And don’t forget to click on the “OK” button to save the settings.

That's all. The basic settings of the Photoshop program are completed.