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The Photoshop CS3 Tool Bar

ThePhotoshopToolBaristheheartofthePhotoshopCS3imageeditingprogram. Learningwhatthetoolsareandwhattheycandoisoneoftheveryfirstthingsthatanew Photoshopusershoulddo.ThisdocumentisdiscussestheToolBarin PhotoshopCS3. UserswhoareswitchingfromanearlierversionofPhotoshoptoCS3willfindsome differences.However,thesedifferencesarenotasseriousastheyfirstappear,andusers shouldbecomecomfortablewithlatestversioninashortperiodoftime. ThePhotoshopToolBar IftheToolBarisnotvisible,clickWindowontheMenubaratthetopofthescreen.A dropdownmenuwillappear.Then click ToolsandtheToolBarwillbedisplayed. TheToolBarisillustratedbelow.Notethattheactualtoolsdisplayedwilldependonthe settingsleftbythelastuser.Inmostinstances,clickingandholdingononeofthe buttonscanaccessseveraltools.Thisillustrationshowsmanyofthetypicaltools. In PhotoshopCS3theToolBarmaybedisplayedinoneoftwoways.Alongnarrow toolbarmayappearwhentheToolsoptionisselectedfromthemenuunderWindow. TheToolBarcanalsobesettoahaveamorecompactappearance.Theimagesbelow illustrate thedifferences.

Photoshop Tool Bar extended

Photoshop Tool Bar compact

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AsmallpairofarrowheadsaboveandtotheleftoftheToolBarcontrol whethertheToolBarisextendedorcompact.Whenthearrowspointin to theleft,theToolBariscompact.Whentheypointtotheright,the Toolbarisextended. Compact display Extended display

Compact display

Marquee tools Lasso tools Crop tool Photo repair tools Stamp tools Eraser tools Blur, sharpen, and smudge tools Pen tools Path and direction tools Dodge, burn, and sponge tools Notes tools Grab tools Color tools Mask tools Mode tools
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Move tool Move tool Slice tools Brush tools History brush tools Fill tools

Text tools Vector drawing tools Eye dropper, ruler, sampler, and count tools Zooming tool

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Manyofthebuttonsonthetoolbarcontrolmorethanonetoolordifferentmodesforthe sametool.Asanexample,thePaintBuckettoolbutton hidesthebuttonforthe Gradienttool. Click eitherthe PaintBucketbuttonortheGradient toolbutton, whicheverisdisplayed.Apopout menuwillappear.Thatmenuisillustratedontheright.

Selecteitherofthebuttons.ThatbuttonwillnowbecomeactiveontheToolBarandyou cannowworkwiththattool. Theillustrationbelowindicatestheadditionaltoolsormodesthatareavailable.

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Experimentwiththeothertoolbuttonsandseewhattoolsandmodesareavailable.
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UsingTools Touseanytool,simplyclickonceontheappropriatebuttontoselectit.Thetoolwill thenbecomeactiveandcanbeusedinthePhotoshopworkspace.Manytoolscanbe modifiedoradjusteddependingonthetask.ThePhotoshopHelporreferencebookswill assistinperfectinggoodtooltechniquesandmethods. FunctionsofPopularTools BecausePhotoshophassomanyfeatures,andbecauseitcanbehighlycomplex,itisnot possibletodiscusseverytoolandoptionavailableinthisdocument.However, descriptionsofseveralofthemostpopulartoolsfollow.

RectangularMarquee Thistoolallowstheusertoselectrectangularshaped areaswithinanimage. Theareascanthenbecopiedorcutandthenpastedintonew layers.Thetoolalsocanbecomeaboundingborderfor"pouring"colorwiththePaint BucketorGradienttools.Othermarqueetoolsareavailablebyclickingandholdingthe button. Movetool TheMovetoolisusedtomoveselectedlayersaround.Clickingand holdingthemousebuttoncanadjustthepositionsoflayerelements.Thistoolisalso usedtosetandmoveGuideLines. LassoTool Thistoolisusedtoselectpartsofalayerforediting.Thereareother typesoflassosavailable,includingaMagneticLassoandPolygonalLasso. MagicWand TheMagicWandisusedtoselectportionsof animagebasedon color.Sectionsofthesamecolorareselectedwhenthewandittouchedonthedesired colorandthemouseifleftclicked. CropTool TheCroptoolisanimportanttoolformakingadjustmentstotheoverall sizeofanimage.UsingtheCroptoolaffectsthesizeofthewholeimage,notjusta singlelayer.Thisisapowerfultoolandmustbeusedcarefully. HealingTool Thisisanespeciallyhelpfultoolthatisnewstartingin Photoshop.It isusedtoremovedustmarksandscratchesfromphotographs.ThePatchtoolisfoundat thesamepositionontheToolBar,butisusedtorepairareasofaphotographthatare largerthanthetypicalscratch.

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CloneTool TheClonetoolisusedtocopyportionsofalayerfromoneareato another.ItissimilartotheRubberStamptoolfoundinearlierversionsofPhotoshop. PaintBucket Thistoolisusedto"pour"areasofcolorontoalayer.Itis especiallyusefulwhenusedwithamarquee.TheGradienttoolisfoundinthesame location. Eraser TheEraserisusedtoremoveportionsofalayer.Itssizecanbeadjustedso thatitcanbeusedverydelicatelyorquitegrossly. BlurTool TheBlurtoolisusedtoselectivelyblurareasofalayer.Theamountof blurcanbecontrolled.Itisespeciallyhandywhenblendingcolorsorobjects. TextTool Thisisthetoolthatisusedtoaddtoanimageandtoeditexistingtext. Size,color,andotherattributesofthetextcanbespecifiedandadjusted. EyeDropper TheEyeDropperisusedtoselectcolor. Thecolorthatis"picked up"bytheEyeDropperappearsasthenewforegroundcolor. ZoomTool Thisisaveryhandytoolusedtoquicklyzoominoroutofanimage.

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