Flip Layers

I am using Photoshop CS3 Ext and can not find how to flip layers, image yes but not layers. It is driving me mental. Please help.
No doubt just a simple key combi but CTRL+F does not work.

Did you try Select All and then Edit >> Transform >> Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical? So long as you selected only one layer, everything in it (and nothing else) should flip nicely.

You actually don't even have to hit Select All. Just activate the layer you want to affect ("activate" means click on it once in the Layers palette, so that it is highlighted there), and then click Edit -> Transform -> Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical. If nothing is selected, the whole layer will be affected.

Alternatively, you can hit ctrl-T for Free Transform, and then just type in -100 in the horizontal of vertical scale field, in the settings bar at the top of the screen. It's quicker than going through the menus.

Personally, I'm in the habit of hitting Ctrl + A for almost all such transforms. I know you don't have to all the time, but some transforms don't work in some cases without Ctrl + A. I think the big one is doing seperate RGB work in the Chans palette. A lot of the things that I fiddle with require seperate RGB manips. Since my left-hand is constantly at the lower-left of my keyboard with my fingers on the trigger, it became habit to just do it.

Do you have to? Of course not. Just keep it in mind in case your transforms suddenly become unavailable. Might save you from pulling out some hair.

I'm PS CS2 and Ctrl + F is Filter > Last Filter by default. Unless you changed it for your flow.

Beauty of Photoshop: a hundred ways to do everything

It's interesting how personal preferences develop.

I might be inclined to use CS12 more often on my PC but I never worked out how to draw a path without all that rigmarole about vector masks. So I stick to Photoshop 6.0 on my geriatric Mac.

CS12? Is your laptop from the future, Ephraim?

In any case, what did you mean by "rigmarole about vector masks"? A path is a component of a vector mask, but a vector mask is not required in order for a path to exist. A path is a vector. Whether or not that vector becomes part of a mask is secondary. A mask is just one of any number of possible uses for a vector path.

To create a path, simply grab the Pen tool, set it to path mode, and start drawing, just as you would in any other vector application. Alternatively, you can use the Shape tool to create pre-existing path shapes, and then, if necessary, modify them by adding, subtracting, converting, and moving points around. Again, this is the same behavior you'll find in any other vector application, from Illustrator to Flash to Fireworks and beyond. Heck, even MS Word's drawing tools exhibit this same behavior.

So where is it you've been getting stuck? I'm sure you've probably just been missing something small. Whatever it is, we can straighten it out, if you want to.

Also, what is it about Photoshop 6's implementation of paths that you feel is so different from that of more modern versions? Paths were introduced with Photoshop 2, and as far as I know, have not changed much since.

hit-n-run

Chosen - where are the other shapes? I can't find even the circle. Thanks.

Photoshop's toolbox stacks buttons to save screen space. Every button that has others stacked underneath it has a little black triangle in the lower right corner. Similar tools are stacked together.

To access what's underneath a button, click and hold on it, to reveal the others. Then click on the one you want from the list. That one will move to the top of the stack, to become visible in the toolbox.

Here's what happens if you click and hold on the vector shapes stack:



By default, the Line tool is on top. As you can see, all the other shapes are stacked underneath. Just grab the one you want.

You'll also want to check out what's under the Pen tool and under the Path Selection tool. Under the Pen are the tools for adding, subtracting, and converting points. Under Path Select is Direct Select, which is what allows you to select individual points and segments instead of selecting an entire path at once.


EDIT: Fun with animation. Here are all the buttons in the vector section of the toolbox:

My apologies, Chosen, I completely missed your response to my whinging post above.


I'm usually fairly good about proofing before I post but I guess I hit both 1 and 2 at the same time there. Never gave it a second thought.


On both the Mac and the PC I do exactly the same thing, which is basic Photoshop stuff using the pen tool to draw a path. However, CS2 on the PC fills that path as I draw around the part of the image I want to select, obscuring more and more of the selected area as I go.

More precisely, it creates an automatic layer, say 'Shape 1', for instance, which I need to delete in order to dispose of the fill and *see* what I'm doing. The path itself will be called 'Shape 1 Vector Mask' and I have to save that in the Paths dialog before I delete the 'Shape 1' layer or else it will be deleted along with the shape layer.

This does not happen on my Mac where I use Photoshop 6.0. I draw a path. It is generated as a temporary 'Working path' with no fill nonsense at all on a layer or otherwise. To save that path, all I have to do is double click on it in the Path dialog, rename it or just save it with a default name such as 'Path 1', and Bob's your uncle.

I'm quite ready to accept that there is something I might do in CS2 'Preferences' in order to stop this unnecessarily complicated procedure, the said "rigmarole about vector masks", but I have never been able to find the settings. That 'Shape 1' layer just does not make sense to me as a useful feature. As it stands it is counterproductive when all I want to do is draw a path.

Note: I should mention that I continue to use my old G3 not because I'm some kind of Luddite but because Apple technology is so poorly supported in my neck of the woods. For instance, I had to buy a new keyboard recently and the page break key and the letter 'w' are reversed because the locals are so Goddamn laissez-faire about getting things right. I also had to forget about most of the shortcuts for Adobe Illustrator and Quark XPress on the original keyboard because the qwerty layout was screwed up unnecessarily in the conversion to an f-layout without any thought for the implications.

I will upgrade when I move back to the other side of Europe in the hopefully not-to-distant future but until then, the G3 running OS8.6 is an otherwise remarkably stable machine (I think Adobe Illustrator 8.0 crashed two years ago and Photoshop crashes maybe once every six months). In eight years I have never had to service the machine other than install a new battery on one occasion.

When I need more recent features like Adobe Bridge, a fancy brush file or whatever, I open documents on the PC but I do as little editing in CS2 as I absolutely need.

That said, I have never gotten comfortable with Photoshop on my PC because I invariably depress the Windows key out of habit, collapsing the application and all the files even as I work: I am unconsciously going for the alt key on my Mac to modify whatever tool I happen to be using, you see, and I just cannot shake the habit. Strangely enough the right and left clicking mouse also feels very odd to me in Photoshop whereas I'm happy as Larry with it in any other application I run on the PC.

I can't remember the CS2 interface specifics, but in CS3 for Windows you can switch between shape layers and paths on the top toolbar. Selecting the Paths gives the workflow you expect. I can't remember if CS2 had that bar or if it was somewhere else, but you should have that switching functionality somewhere if I remember.

Thanks for that, Terminus. So it seems I have to begin with the Paths palette and actually choose a 'New Path' before I draw a single point. The advantage is that the path is saved from the outset because a dialog opens with the default name 'Path 1' before I can do anything else. On one or two occasions in the past I have erased a 'Working Path' in the old version of Photoshop by starting a new path without saving the one I had already drawn.

If I don't select a 'New Path', Photoshop reverts to the 'Shape' layer shenanigans as soon as I begin to use the pen tool. It's just a matter of getting used to what's happening. My habit has always been to break off after drawing a few points and save the path if I am certain I intend to keep it, which is a clumsy way of working, I know. I suppose this is an improvement but I was thrown by the need to go into the Paths dialog first. On my old system, I just hit 'P' for pen and start drawing.

When you select any of the vector tools, take a look at the tool settings bar at the top of the screen. The first three buttons you'll see up there are the three different things vectors can be used for: plain old paths, shape layers, and fill pixels. It sounds like you've had your CS2 set to shape layers the whole time. Set it to paths, and it will work just like you had it before in 6.