The Digital Matte Painting Handbook

Photoshop Panels

Let’s look at the icons, panels, and tools in the workspace that contribute to your work as a matte painter.

Toolbar

Much of Photoshop’s versatility resides in its robust set of tools. The following section lists a select set of the tools that a matte artist will regularly use. For information on any tool not covered here, refer to Photoshop’s documentation.

Any tool with a triangle in the lower-right corner has subtools that you can view and select by clicking and holding the icon. The keyboard shortcut is indicated after the main tool on the list, and the subtools are indented below the main tool. Pressing Shift and the keyboard shortcut sequences through the subtools. For example, if you select the Lasso tool and press Shift+L, ...