Loading and Using Brushes/Custom Shapes in Photoshop

How to load and use Brushes and Custom Shapes in Photoshop(any Version)

The short and easy way that most people use is, just double clicking on that file that they downloaded, but that method works only for a short amount of time, when you restart photoshop the next time, you won’t see those brushes or shapes anymore.

The right way to install the brush(.abr) or the custom shape(.csh) file is to put them in their proper directories, depending upon your system if its 34-bit or 64-bit

The directories for Brushes are:

For 36-bit systems

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Presets\Brushes

For 64-bit systems

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\Brushes

The directories for Custom Shapes are:

For 36-bit systems

C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6\Presets\ Custom Shapes

For 64-bit systems

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS6 (64 Bit)\Presets\Custom Shapes

How to actually Load them:

Once you have downloaded the brushes or custom shapes, and put them in their respective directories, the next step is selecting the tool, in this case the brush tool (B)

Once you have the brush tool selected, the tool bar below File, Edit… gives you the brush properties,

Select the small arrow with the Brush Size, and then on the right side, it shows a small settings icon, once you click on that, it should show you the downloaded Brush name, just click on it to make the brushes come in the properties,

Sometimes the name might not be shown, in that case, click on Settings icon and then click on Replace Brushes, this should take you the place where you originally placed the brushes, and you can select the brushes from there.

And the same for Custom Shapes:

Hope this helped in some way, hit the comments section below for any questions and feedback,

Thanks!

3D Text in Photoshop

How to “fake” 3D text in Photoshop

The science behind faking a 3D Text effect in Photoshop is very simple, All you need is Duplicated text and a little bit of layer effects, Let’s get into it.

Let’s start by opening a new document. File>New

The dimensions can be anything, in this case I will be using Width: 1920px, Height: 1080px

Background colour/picture can be of your choice, I have noticed dark backgrounds work better in masking the effect,

I will be using a simple black background, to fill your canvas/page with the background color, use the shortcut Ctrl Backspace or Ctrl Delete (if you want to fill the canvas/page with the foreground color, use Alt Backspace or Alt Delete).

Once you have filled the canvas, Go to the Type tool (Shortcut: T), and type in the text,

Once you have typed in your text, we need to duplicate it by pressing Ctrl J or right click on the layer and select duplicate layer.

Now back to our original text, the color plays a very important role here, whichever text is on top needs to be a lighter color, and whichever is below needs to be a slightly darker shade of the color above it (Hide the text which is not in use to easily change color, to hide any layer, click on the small 'eye' icon in the layer palette, dont forget to turn it back on!)

Once you have the colors right, choose the original text layer, and move it slightly to the right, and then slightly down, if you are using arrow keys, hold Shift and the Right Arrow Key once, again hold Shift and the Down Arrow Key once (Holding shift and arrow keys performs double the position change rather than what you would achieve with only using the arrow keys), or whatever best adjusts you can perform with the font.

Once you have the position right, select the top text, and go into Layer>Layer Style>Inner Shadow (Alternatively you can double click on the text layer in the layer Palette to get the same option)

Once in Inner Shadow, you can experiment around with the properties to create really great effects,

And then add the default Drop Shadow settings, you can experiment around to create a better effect.

I chose the following settings:

If you are using two different texts like me, you can copy the layer styles and paste it onto the other layer, by selecting the layer which has the effects, go to Layer>layer styles>Copy Layer Style and then select the 2^nd layer from the layer palette and go back to Layer>layer styles>Paste Layer style (Alternatively you can also right click on the layer in the layer palette and achieve the same copy/paste layer style option from there)

Final Output:

Its a neat and really easy way to do 3D text, this idea came to me while doing a youtube channel art for a friend, you can check the artwork below, and dont forget to check out his Youtube Channel

In the above, i have added a background image, rest of the settings remain the same,
Hope this helped somehow, hit the comment section below for questions and feedback,
Until next time, Thanks a lot for reading!

Selective Coloring

Title: Selective Coloring
Difficulty: Beginner
Time: 15 minutes

What is Selective Coloring?

In the simplest of terms, a part of the picture remains in color while the rest is in black and white.

How to do it:

Pick a picture, and open it in Photoshop.

After you have chosen a picture, Click on the Background Layer and duplicate it by pressing Ctrl + J. This keeps your original picture safe in case you need to edit it again, or use a different part of the picture for the selective coloring.

Once you have duplicated the picture, you should see Background Copy in your layer palette.

Now in the tools palette, go ahead and select the Polygonal Lasso Tool (Shortcut: L)
(Usually you will only see the Lasso Tool in this tab when you first open photoshop, To actually get to the Polygonal Lasso Tool, click and hold the small arrow you see, this should bring up the rest of the tools in this particular tab, Alternatively you can use Shift and L to move between the tools in this tab)

Now on the picture, select the area you want colored with the help of the Polygonal Lasso Tool, Click once to activate the Polygonal Lasso tool, and then keep on clicking around the areas you want colored.

In this tutorial, i decided to go with the 'sail'

Once you have selected the area, end the selection at the same point that you started on, by doing this correctly, you should see a dotted line across the area you chose, this indicates that area of the picture is now selected.

While the area is still selected, press Ctrl J to duplicate it. This should appear as Layer 1.

Now, select the layer Background copy and right below in the layer palette you should see, Adjustments, click and select Hue/Saturation.

Make the Saturation -100, to turn the picture into grey scale/black and white, make sure that the Hue and saturation adjustment is below the ‘Layer 1’ (You can just click and drag layers to place them on top or below the other layers)

For extra effect, we can use Curves, to make it look more darker; you can experiment with the settings of the curve to achieve desired results.

Final Output:

Thats it! Hope this tutorial helped out in certain ways, hit the comments section for any questions and feedback, Thanks!

Top 5 Android Browsers

We all like to browse the internet for information, listening to music, watch a movie online or even if we are confused about a recipe we search it online, and the best thing is that we have browsers on our mobile phones. Which is easy to use and which can be used anywhere at any time. We just need an internet connection to browse the web. There are so many browsers available for you to use, we have picked top 5 browsers as per user ratings from the Play Store which will help you decide better which one to use.  

Here are top 5 browsers

1. Chrome:

The chrome is a free browser developed by Google. It can be used on windows, iOS, and android. It was released on 2^nd September, 2008. Google releases the majority of Chrome's source code as an open-source project Chromium.

Features:

·         Sync Devices: The app has a sync feature which helps you to save your browser history, bookmarks, etc. With this feature you can also continue browsing from where you left on your computer or laptop to mobile phone or tablet without any issues.

·         Data is saved: Which helps you to save up to 50% of data usage while browsing.

·         Browse Faster

·         Voice Search: You can search information with the help of voice.  Just say it and Google will search it.

·         Translate: Google Chrome will translate any web page into a desired language that you speak with the help of Google Translator.

·         Browse Easily: You can browse easily through as many tabs you want. Its hassle free browsing.

·         Incognito Mode: This feature of Google Chrome protects your privacy; it lets you browse without saving it in your browser history.

P.S. - Going incognito doesn't hide your browsing from your employer, your internet service provider or the websites that you visit.

Link to app: Download Chrome Here

2.  Dolphin:

Dolphin is developed by Mobotap, it can be used with android and iOS. Believe it or not Dolphin was one of the 1st to introduce as an alternative browser for android platform. It supports multi-touch gestures, runs adobe flash and uses webkit engine. Dolphin with its lighting fast speed makes your web surfing experience fun and better.

Features:   

·         Gesture: You can create a personal gesture which you use the most to make your web surfing easy.

·         Voice Search: this feature in the browser is known as “sonar” you can search, share and navigate with this feature.

·         Supports Flash

·         Browse through tabs

·         Add-ons: it’s a feature that can convert web to pdf.

·         Sync: you can sync it with any browser(Chrome, Firefox, Safari) of your laptop or computer using Dolphin Connect.

·         Speed Dials: Pin the most visited website to your home screen.

·         Share any post or tweet easily.

·         Themes Available

·         It has its own web app store

Link to app: Download Dolphin Here

3. CM Browser:

CM (Clean Master) browser is a light weight mobile browser which can protect you from malicious threats and also give you lighting fast browsing.

Features:

·         Takes less space: it’s just takes 1.7mb

·         Speedy: Pre-load mechanism and acceleration for web browsing to make surfing a breeze.

·         Secure: Since it’s powered by antivirus engine, rated by AV-Test. It protects and warns you from phishing attacks, malicious websites and also scans the downloaded apps for trojans, adware, and other viruses.

·         Stunning User Interface: The user interface gives you handy gesture controls, a customizable speed dial for your favourite sites, personalized bookmarks to track the sites you want to visit, and Card Tabs animation lets you manage multiple web pages intuitively.

·         Translator

·         Search engine switch

·         Font size adjustment

Link to app: Download CM Browser Here

4. Firefox:

Firefox is developed by Mozilla. Mozilla is a non-profit organization which tends to keep the power of web in people’s hands. Firefox is fast, smart and safe.

Features:

·         Customizable home panel

·         Sync

·         Add-ons: You can customize your web browser, the way you want it – which includes password manager.

·         Speed

·         Can translate over 59 supported languages

·         HTML5

·         Mobile Video: The app supports wide range of video formats including H.264

·         Security: You can control your privacy, and keep your browsing safe and secure.

Link to app: Download Firefox Here

5.   Opera Browser:

 The Opera Browser for smart phones and PDAs is developed by opera software. With opera you can keep your favorite sites on speed dial, its right there where you want them on your home screen. Opera also has a page where you can get the latest news. Downloading music and pictures gets easier with Opera. You can save your data by using the Turbo mode of Opera.

Features:

·         Sync: Sync your bookmarks, tabs and speed dials on all devices.

·         Private Browsing: Browse privately with the help of private tabs.

·         Search easily and quickly

·         Save data with the help of turbo mode

·         Stay updated with the latest news
·         Organize your home page with your favorite websites 

Link to app: Download Opera Browser Here