Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic, The: Automating Photoshop to Get Twice the Work Done in Half the Time

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The Photoshop CS2 Speed Clinic chapter 9

T U R BO BOOST

REDUCING

CLUTTER WITH

LAYER COMPS

Think of layer comps as a way to keep your Photoshop documents

and computer clean, much like you keep your desk clean. When it’s

clean you tend to know exactly where things are, right? The same

holds true for your computer and Photoshop fi les. If you’re working

on a project and you save fi les like Logo1, Logo2, Logo3, Logo1Final,

Logo1ReallyFinal, and so forth (come on…you know you do it), in the

end it takes a lot of time when you fi nally do need to fi nd that logo a

few months later. Here’s a way around that problem.

Step One:

Open or create a Photoshop docu-

ment with multiple layers. Choose

Window>Layer Comps to bring up the

Layer Comps palette. The Layer Comps

palette helps you create and keep track

of your layer comps. You can turn them

on or off in the palette to switch between

different compositions.

If you want to cycle through a view of only

some of your document’s layer comps,

Command-click (PC: Control-click) on

their names in the Layer Comps palette

and click the Next and Previous icons at

the bottom of the palette.

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general workfl ow speed tips

T U R BO BOOST

Step Two:

In the Layer Comps palette, click the Create

New Layer Comp icon at the bottom of the

palette to create a new comp based on the

current state of layers in the Layers palette.

In the New Layer Comp dialog, give the

comp a descriptive name (you can even

add comments if you’d like) and choose

the options you want to apply to the layers

(Visibility, Position, and Appearance). Then

click OK.

Step Three:

Next, try moving around a few layers, or

hiding and showing other layers to create

another version of the image. Notice how

the active Layer Comp icon in the palette

returns to the Last Document State at the

top. Go ahead and set your document up

for the next comp or version of the image

you want to save. To record a new comp

that shows the changes you’ve made, click

the Create New Layer Comp icon at the

bottom of the Layer Comps palette once

again. Give it another descriptive name

and choose the same options you chose

last time. Click OK when you’re done.

Step Four:

To view the various layer comps, click the

Layer Comp icon next to a selected comp

in the palette. To cycle through a view of

all the layer comps, just click the Previous

and Next icons at the bottom of the Layer

Comps palette.

Remember that clicking on the

name of the comp only selects

it. You’ll need to click to the left

of a comp to actually apply that comp.

Making changes to a layer comp is easy.

Just select the comp and make your

changes, then click the Update Layer

Comp icon at the bottom of the Layer

Comps palette.

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