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Adobe Photoshop

Photo Editing, Design, Digital Painting, Animation, Video Editing

Install Instructions

https://helpx.adobe.com/support/photoshop.html

Command Line Install

https://helpx.adobe.com/download-install/kb/creative-cloud-desktop-app-download.html

The direct downloads in the link above are recommended over the main download page or using chocolatey, as the binary is always signed by Adobe and can be handled programmatically with either bash or powershell:

# Latest macOS / Apple M1
curl -LfO 'https://ccmdl.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/KCCC/CCD/5_7_1/macarm64/ACCCx5_7_1_1.dmg'

# Latest Windows 10/11 x64
$ProgressPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri "https://ccmdl.adobe.com/AdobeProducts/KCCC/CCD/5_7_1/win64/ACCCx5_7_1_1.zip" -OutFile "C:\Windows\Temp\ACCC_latest.zip"
Expand-Archive -Path "C:\Windows\Temp\ACCC_latest.zip" -DestinationPath "C:\Your\Destination\Path"
& 'C:\Your\Destination\Path\Set-up.exe'

Better Keyboard Mappings

It's easy to forget [ and ] are the default brush size modifiers.

  • For right handed users: change these to a and s
  • For left handed users: change these to k and l

If you're right handed, remapping all of the keys around w, a, s, d makes a lot of sense, this is something computer games commonly do. You'll be able to access nearly all of the tools you'd need without needing to move your hand around the keyboard. This way you can keep drawing while switching tools intuitively.

If you're left handed you can do the same with i, j, k, l (though by default the [ + ] keys may feel natural). In this case you can move most of the key mappings over to the right side of the keyboard to achieve the same thing.

Creating Brushes

TO DO

  • Goal of the brush
  • Texture file
  • Brush settings
  • Exporting the brush to a file

Processing Files

Actions

  • Start "recording" with the record button
  • It will observe most of your actions in photoshop until you press the "stop" button
  • Pressing "play" will execute that sequence of actions again
  • Actions can be leveraged in batch processing

Batch Processing

Line Art Techiques

Generate, and overlay line art above color / b&w:

  • Ctrl+j duplicate the color / b&w layer
  • Filters > Filter Gallery > Sketch > Photocopy, Darkness: 8, Detail: 4
  • Layer blending mode = Multiply
  • Layer opacity = %

For diagrams or structural drawings it may help to have each section's line art in a single color.

  • Create the image with each element that needs to be separate, as separate layers
  • Shift+Left Click, then Ctrl+g to group a series of line art layers
  • Do this for each series of line art layers that need to be 'together'
  • For each group, create a new layer above filled with a single solid color
  • Change the color layers to blending mode = Color
  • Alt+Left Click between layers to adhere those color layers to the group folder itself
    • Mouse icon changes to something like ↵ while holding Alt
  • Change each group folder's blending mode to Multiply

This allows the color to only apply to each group's line art layers while each group of line art layers are visible

To recap:

 _Color Layer | Blending Mode: Color
|
Group 1
  |_ Line Art | Blending Mode: Multiply
  |_ Photo | Blending Mode: Normal

 _Color Layer | Blending Mode: Color
|
Group 2
  |_ Line Art | Blending Mode: Multiply
  |_ Photo | Blending Mode: Normal

Sample image credits:

  • https://unsplash.com/photos/LCJ9iOli-uE
  • https://unsplash.com/photos/ttS--i2y9Bo

Scaling Images

Image > Image Size > Resample

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raster_graphics

Option Use Case
Preserve Details 2.0 The best option for upscaling a raster, natural, (non vector-style) image
Bicubic Smoother (enlargement) Use this option if your image is mainly vector-style, smooth illustration
Bicubic Sharper (reduction) The default for downscaling large raster, natural (non vector) images
Nearest Neighbor (hard edges) Pixel art, this will preserve the edges of each pixel while scaling

Scaling Images In Batches

Starting with a folder of static images (png, jpg, etc)

  1. File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack... > Browse
  2. Navigate to the folder(s) with the files you wish to batch scale
  3. You can select a sequential group of files all at once by:
    • Sorting files by Type in the folder window
    • Clicking on the first file in the series of files you want to select
    • Shift+Clicking on the the furthest most file you want to select
    • All files in between those two points when using Shift+Click will be selected
    • You can select / deselect additional files to those selected while Ctrl+Clicking others
    • Navigating away from the window can / may deselect your files
  4. Click Open in the UI once your selection is made
    • To add more files from other folders to this batch, simply repeat the same steps
  5. Click OK once you're ready to load them all into photoshop
  6. Image > Image Size to resize the entire document (effectively all of the layers with it)
  7. Using the same Click, Shift+Click select all of the layers
  8. Layer > Export As... then make any other adjustments before exporting.
  9. You will need to strip the doubled file extension
    • You'll note *.jpg becomes *.jpg.PNG or similar

Using bash:

for file in ./*\.*.jpg.PNG; do mv "$file" $(echo "$file" | sed 's/\.jpg\.PNG/\.PNG/g'); done

Using PowerShell:

Get-ChildItem *.jpg.PNG | Rename-Item -NewName { $_.Name -replace '.jpg.PNG','.PNG' }

Animation

You can create cel and sprite-based frame animation in photoshop from layers:

  • Window > Timeline > Create Frame Animation

  • [Timeline Menu] > Make Frames From Layers

  • Adjust the timing of each frame in the Timeline by clicking the v arrow next to the time value
  • Choose Other... to enter a custom value

  • 0.08 second delay works well for most pixel art

  • Each frame can have different layers visible or hidden

    • e.g. background always visible

  • The same Shift+Left Click shortcuts apply to these frames as they do with layers

    • Shift+Left Click select every frame, make the background visible
    • Shift+Left Click select every frame, hide the character layers
    • Invidivdually make each character layer visible, one per frame

Example hiding / showing layer(s) across all frames:

The resulting GIF:

Exporting Sprite Layers to PNGs

This section includes Krita as part of the workflow. This is optional, however:

  • Photoshop > [Select/highlight all layers] > Layer > Export As... > PNG files

  • Photoshop > Scripts > Load files into Stack... > Select PNG Files

  • Krita > Render Animation > Images > PNG Files

  • Krita > Import Animation Frames > Select PNG Files

Photoshop's Export As... function crops the PNGs down to the largest visible sprite.

Krita's Render Animation maintains the overall canvas pixel dimensions for each sprite.

Quality wise both exported PNG sprites are exactly the same.

Scripting

Scripting and automation features in Photoshop

TO DO

Backup / Restore Photoshop Preferences and Settings

This section explains exactly how to backup and restore specific settings to files that you can store safely on an external drive or in a cloud. This is good to know if for example adobe's cloud ever has an issue automagically syncing all of your hundreds of settings, you're not left wondering how to recover.

Preference and Settings File Locations

Backup Brushes

TO DO

Backup Keyboard Shortcuts

BACKUP: Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts... > 'Create a new set based on the current set of shortcuts'

NOTE: if you have multiple sets of keyboard shortcuts, choose the one you want to backup here:

This button's icon is just above the 'Accept' button on the top right, has the down arrow onto what looks like a computer hard drive, and three '...' underneath of it. It will save a .kys file.

RESTORE: Double-Click any .kys file.

Photoshop will automatically open it and apply the shortcuts to your current set.

You can then save this configuration (the other 'save' button in the Keyboard Shortcuts menu)

RESTORE: Alternatively you can do this with PowerShell or bash.

Photoshop will have your presets loaded into the menus next time you launch it:

# Windows
Copy-Item -Path .\your-keyboard-shortcuts.kys -Destination 'C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]\Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings\Keyboard Shortcuts\'

# macOS
cp ./your-keyboard-shortcuts.kys '/Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings/Keyboard Shortcuts/'

Backup Menus

BACKUP: Edit > Menus... > 'Create a new set based on the current set of shortcuts'

This is the same button / icon as we used to save the keyboard shortcuts, only here it's in the top middle of the window. It will save a .mnu file.

RESTORE: Double-Click any .mnu file.

Photoshop will automatically open it and apply the shortcuts to your current set.

RESTORE: Alternatively you can do this with PowerShell or bash.

Photoshop will have your presets loaded into the menus next time you launch it:

# Windows
Copy-Item -Path .\your-custom-menus.mnu -Destination 'C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]\Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings\Menu Customization\'

# macOS
cp ./your-custom-menus.mnu '/Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings/Menu Customization/'

Backup Workspaces

BACKUP: Copy the [workspace-name].psw file at: 

C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]\Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings\WorkSpaces

RESTORE: Edit > Presets > Import / Export Presets... > Import Presets Tab > Select Import Folder

Choose the folder storing your backed up .psw files you'd like to restore from.

Double click the .psw file to move it to the right column.

Click Import Presets

RESTORE: Alternatively you can do this with PowerShell or bash.

Photoshop will have your presets loaded into the menus next time you launch it:

# Windows
Copy-Item -Path .\your-custom-workspace.psw -Destination 'C:\Users\[user name]\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop [version]\Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings\WorkSpaces\'

# macOS
cp ./your-custom-workspace.psw '/Users/[user name]/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop [version] Settings/WorkSpaces/'

Troubleshooting

Pressure Sensitivity on Windows 10

This bug was introduced around the time Windows Ink was new, the fix is kept here for historical reference.

Place the following text into a file named PSUserConfig.txt located at: 

C:\Users/User/AppData/Roaming/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop CC 20xx/Adobe Photoshop CC 20xx Settings/PSUserConfig.txt

This will prevent the pressure sensativity bug from persisting on some older Windows 10 machines.

# Use WinTab
UseSystemStylus 0