If you like to use your current brush and erase with it, it’s annoying to have to switch to the eraser and then pick the same brush from the brushes palette, or create duplicate of all your brushes set to erase.

Just switch your brush blending mode to “Clear” and voila, now you’r erasing with your current brush. A quick shortcut to change brush blending mode to clear is control+shift+r and then control+shift+n to go back to normal mode. You can also flip through the blending modes with control+shift and then use plus and minus keys to scroll through the modes. This works with layer blend modes to, just make sure you have to move tool selected. (v)

First download a free copy of Autohotkey

Save a textfile called “cs3resize.ahk” and copy and paste the code below into that file and save it. Then doubleclick it to run the script.

By default the script uses the M key to trigger, you can change that by looking at the comments in the code below.

Select the brush tool, then hit M and move your mouse or pen up and down (NOT left and right) on the screen and watch your brush resized on the fly. Hit M again to return to normal drawing mode.

The script simply sends out the left and right bracket keys when the mouse/pen is moved up and down. You can easily make copies and this script and bind other hotkeys for brush hardness or anything else in photoshop that has increasing and decreasing values.


;CS3 Brush Resize on the fly
#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{

}


There’s a free program that allows you to use keys such as TAB, numlock, scrolllock, printscreen or the break key and map it to something usefull. That program is called AutohotKey. You can download it for free and unleash all that power here: Download Autohotkey

For example here’s how you would map the numlock key to send out F11 which you could map to whatever in photoshop. I like everything on my numerical keyboard so I can just keep my hand there and have everything I need in reach.

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
NumLock::
{
Send {F11}
Sleep, 100
return
}
}

If you look at your numerical keyboard and place your hand there, look at how many usefull keys are in reach of your fingers without mocing your hand.

Numpad minus
Numpad plus
Numpad divide
Numpad multiply
Numpad comma
Numlock
Printscreen
Scrolllock
Break key
page up
page down
home
end
insert
delete

All those keys are sitting there useless when you could bind them to all the stuff you use all the time and never have to move your hand.

That’s not all, you can also bind the mouse buttons to something usefull. Here a couple of scripts I use:

Bind your pen up button to W and now you can rotate the canvas by dragging the pen around.
#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
w::
{
send {r down}
Loop
{
sleep, 10
GetKeyState, state, w, p
if state = u
break
}
send {b}
return
}
}

Bind your pen down button to S and resize the brush on the fly by dragging left and right.
#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
s::
{
send {alt down}
mouseclick, right,,, 1, 0, d
Loop
{
sleep, 10
GetKeyState, state, s, p
if state = u
break
}
mouseclick, right,,, 1, 0, U
send {alt up}
return
}
}

Here’s an example of using the insert key to send out control+shift+n, use the photoshop keyboard editor to bind that to something you need. You can modify this script and make copies of it to match Numlock, printscreen or any other key.
#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
insert::
{
send {Control down} {Shift down} n {Shift up} {Control up}
return
}

}

Here’s some examples for numlock and printscreen:


#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
PrintScreen::
{
Send {Control down}{Alt down}{LShift down}h{LShift up}{Alt up}{Control up}
Sleep, 100
return
}
}

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
NumLock::
{
Send {F11}
Sleep, 100
return
}
}

But that’s not all, this one is going to blow your mind baby so don’t skip it!

Since I like everything around the numerical keyboard I want to be able to bind as much stuff to those keys. AutoHotKey also allows you to create your own modifier keys.

A modifier key is a key that while held down modifies any other key, like ALT+S, while ALT is held down S works differently.

How about we make numpad divide a modifier key looking for another press of numpad multiply?

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
NumpadDiv & NumPadMult::
{
Send, {control down}{F8}{control up}
Sleep, 100
return
}

}

The only drawback is that the first key (The modifier) looses its normal function unless you make another script to handle that.

In the example above, in photoshop the numpad divide key would lose its ability to work, so we write a new script to catch that.

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
NumpadDiv::
{
Send, {control down}{F5}{control up}
Sleep, 100
return
}

}

Now AutoHotKey knows that if you press and then release the divide key then it catches that key, if you press divide and multiply then it knows that it has to catch that instead.

If you sit and let all this sink in for a while, imagine all the combinations of keys you can bind to the numerical keyboard, you can operate every single thing in photoshop without moving your hand of the numerical keyboard.

The only keys on the numerical side of the keyboard you should leave alone is the numbers 0-9 as they are used to control transparency of the brush and layers. That doesn’t stop you from making modifier combos out of them. Just catch numpad1 & numpad2, then make sure you also create a section for numpad1 and send out numpad1 so that when you only press and release numpad1 it works like normal.

You could be sneaky and make your arrow keys your modifiers, so that when you press arrow left + numpad1 it’s one thing, when you press arrow up + numpad1 it’s another and so on, that’s 104 combos worth of keys right at your fingertips.

Se also: Changing Photoshop Hardcoded Shotcut Keys

Go to your mouse control panel and turn on mouse trails. Adjust the trail length to the maximum.

Now to back to your drawing program and without actually pressing the draw button (With a pen just hover above the canvas) and use the mouse trails to previsualize your strokes.

For example to draw an elipse just practice it and look at the trails, as soon as you have the major and minor axis’s down, gently press to draw.

Need to draw a perfect line to connect 2 points? Draw your fantom line in the air and press to draw when you have visualized it using the mouse trail.

My hit percentage went way up using this technique. It’s not cheating in my opinion because you do the same with pen and paper, it’s just that with a tablet your are disconnected from your drawing surface because you draw on the table/tablet instead of directly on the screen so you can’t do this as well. With mouse trails turned on you can.

No matter. Go download the program Autohotkeys, it’s free and awesome.
Autohotkey allows you to trap keys before a program gets control and send some other keycode intirely and throw away the trapped keycode.

This means that you can now just bind commands in photoshop to whatever random keycode and then setup autohotkey to watch for say “w” and translate that into the keycode photoshop expects.

Not clear enough yet? Ok here’s a sequence of what would happen. In this example want the curves dialog shortcut to just be “c” which photoshop won’t allow.

Autohotkey is watching for the key C to be pressed.
I press C.
Autohotkey catches that I pressed C and discards that, so photoshop doensn’t know C has been pressed.
Autohotkey sends control+m
Photoshop brings up the curves dialog because it sees control+m.

Here’s a simple code snippet you can change around to map out shortcut keys in photoshop.

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
NumLock::
{
Send {F11}
Sleep, 100
return
}
}

Let’s look at what’s going on here:

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop

This is a section; So this only gets triggered when photoshop has the focus.

NumLock::

We watch for and catch the numlock key. Look in AHK helpfile for a table of keycodes.

We enter another section that only gets triggered when AHK sees that numlock has been pressed.

Send {F11}

AHK sends out the F11 key that you bind to whatever you want to happen in photoshop when you press the numlock key.

Sleep, 100

AHK pauses for 100ms just to give the program some time to react and returns.

Holding down keys

Say you want to simulate that you hold down alt+shift+m. This is done by by putting the keys you want to press and hold within brackets using the Send command.

Here’s a Send command that presses and holds down control+shift while pressing the M key:

Send {Control down}{Shift down}m{Shift up}{Control up}

The {Keycode up}{Keycode down} trick works for all keys.

Creating toggle dialogs (you will love this)

A toggle dialog is a popup window like the curves dialog where the same key that brings up the dialog will also close the dialog. Using a toggle dialog speeds up your workflow a lot. So say you bind the C key to bring up curves, adjust the curves and hit C again to accept the changes and close the curves dialog. So instead of pressing control+m, adjust, press enter you just to “C, adjust curves, C” done. MUCH faster.

First create a watch for whatever key you want and bind it to a command that brings up a dialog window.

Now look at this dialog window and notice the titlebar text. For example the curves dialog will say simply “Curves”

Here’s the code to handle a dialog toggle. Just change the “#IfWinActive, Curves” to whatever the dialog titlebar says. And also change the “c::” part to the same key that brings up the dialog.

#IfWinActive, Curves
{
c::
{
Send, {ENTER}
Sleep, 100
return
}
}

What’s going on here then? Since the curves dialog is now on top of photoshop, it no longer has the focus, so the watch that brings up curves won’t trigger, because these are all inside “#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop” sections that only triggers when photoshop has the front focus. So now the “#IfWinActive, Curves” section will trigger instead; see that you pressed C, and send ENTER instead which will close the curves dialog window.

Holding down a mouse button while pressing keys

Special shortcuts in programs like photoshop or corel painter allows you to hold down a key combination and click and drag to rotate the canvas or resize your brushes.

Let’s see how we can emulate this and even make it better:

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
s::
{
send {alt down}
mouseclick, right,,, 1, 0, d
Loop
{
sleep, 10
GetKeyState, state, s, p
if state = u
break
}
mouseclick, right,,, 1, 0, U
send {alt up}
return
}
}

This script presses the ALT key while holding down the right mouse button so all you need to do is press the shortcut key (S) and move the mouse, no need to click and drag.

To change the shortcut that is watched, simply change the key (S in this example) and also change the S in the line that says “GetKeyState, state, s, p ”

You can add other modifiers, for example press control+alt, just change the 2 Send lines or chage the right mouse key to the left mouse key as in the example below that presses control+alt while holding down the right mousebutton:

#ifWinActive ahk_class Photoshop
{
w::
{
send {alt down}+{Control down}
mouseclick, left,,, 1, 0, d
Loop
{
sleep, 10
GetKeyState, state, w, p
if state = u
break
}
mouseclick, left,,, 1, 0, U
send {Control up}+{alt up}
return
}
}

See also: Photoshop and AutoHotKey the Perfect Pair

Until one day a light-bulb went of… That plastic surface on the tablet that you rest your palm on is not paper. Paper is nice and slippery and absorbs the moisture from your hands. When your hands get just a little bit sweaty the plastic surface on the tablet will cause increased and random friction and that is what messes up your nice precise lines ellipsis and circles so they look all wrinkly and horrible.

Go out and buy a stack of those thin cotton gloves for ladies, silk is even better if you can afford them. Cut of the fingers and never mind looking like MJ hehe. You can try out the difference right now by getting a piece of paper and resting your palm on it, then slide around on the tablet surface. It will be quite easy to feel the difference.

Now your palm will slide with no friction on the tablet plastic and you can draw straight lines WAY better. For me it was like night and day so try it out.

Let’s make that process a little bit easier until the day photoshop gets some proper perspective tools built in (No, vanishing point isn’t an option.)

First create a new document. Depending on what format you work in the dimensions will vary for you but let’s start out with 100×100 pixels, background should be set to white.

Now go to stroke and select black for the stroke color.

Now we got a white square stroked with black at the edges. Hit control+a to select all and then go to Edit/Define Pattern and OK after giving your pattern a name, go with “100×100 grid” or something like that so it’s easy to locate if you create other sizes for larger or smaller documents.

Now create a new layer and hit D to reset your colors. Select the paint bucket tool and set the options drop down that by default will say “Foreground” and set it to pattern. Select the pattern you just create and click on the layer.

Voila, there’s a grid. It’s not in perspective yet though. Hit control+t and select distort by context clicking inside the transformation rectangle, yes… distort, perspective won’t work.

Now drag the corners handles and watch as your flat grid becomes a perspective grid. You can drag the corners around or the middle handles and model the grid into any perspective you need.

Here’s an example:

By default this just strokes the path with a shitty little 1 pixel harsh pen.

To enable dynamic brush strokes, click on the stroke path icon while holding down the ALT key. This allows you to select the tool to stroke the path with, but more importantly – allows you to put a checkmark in the Simulate Pressure checkbox.

Now when you stroke the path the brush settings such as the bush tip shape and other brush dynamics will be simulated according to the direction of the path and your path will now be painted with dynamic brush stokes.

Peaked your interest? Think about your hands never leaving the photo to press shortcuts, never going to menus or toolbars, mouse gestures control everything.

Want to try it?

First you need the free program called StrokeIt

After you install StrokeIt you need to define the application:

Then you add an action:

And finally the command:

The way I do it is that I define the actions to be the letter of the shortcut for toolbar things, like B for brush, O for dodge and burn, P for the pen and so on.

I also use up/left, down/left, Down/left, Down/right, Up, Down for brush sizing, undo/redo. Finally I have things like Curves, calculations, screen modes (F) and toggle pallettes (TAB) on whatever feels right.

I recommend starting out with a few commands and slowly working your way up until you have everything you use in your workflow on mouse gestures.

It took me about a month to become totally proficient without misfires, some gestures are harder but now I never get misfires at all and it’s total bliss to be able to control photoshop completely with mouse gestures.

Notice that I use a pen for this, don’t try this with the mouse because it’s not precise enough and you will get constant misfires. I started out trying to use a mouse and got the impression that mouse gestures was never going to work. Then I switched to a wacom intuous3 pen and it was like night and day.

Not everyone likes to use shortcuts, in fact some hate them, tis ok, everyone’s different.

But there’s a few shortcuts that are just flat out stupid not to learn.

Brush resizing. How can you stand constantly moving your cursor to bring up a pop up, then drag a goddamn slider, just to size your brush?

Hit the left and right bracket keys and voila. Same for brush hardness, just throw in shift+left/right bracket to change the brush hardness.

Just these 2 shortcuts will save you so much time it’s not even funny.

Change brush opacity. Couldn’t be easier, hit the keys on your numerical keyboard. Hit 1 to set the opacity to 10, hit 0, then 5 quickly to set the opacity to 05, hit 0 to reset opacity back to 100%

Again this saves endless amount of time.

Hold down ALT while clicking add new layer and up comes the dialog to name the layer and other options. Why would you want to add the layer, then doubleclick on it just to rename it? Waste of time.

Hold down control while adding a new layer to add the layer below the current layer, why add it first, THEN drag it down?

Want to add a mask that reveals all? Hold down ALT and click add new layer mask.

Want to add a new layer that contains all the current visible layers? Hit control+alt+shift+e

Want to check your r, g, and b channels? Hit control+1/2/3, hit tilde to go back to the RGB composite view, that’s called channel walking btw. If you have alpha channels you can even get to them just by using control and numbers from 4-9. Hey, while we are at it.. want to select the pixels in the channel you just selected with control+number? Just hold down alt+control+number, no more need to even use the channels palette most of the time.

Want to draw a straight line with any brush tool? Click once, hold down shift, then click at the endpoint of the line you want to draw, voila, straight line.

Hit F 2 times, now your canvas is not constrained to the current window, hold down spacebar and drag it anywhere. Hit F a couple times more to get back to normal view.

Ok, lets get out of “I just got photoshop” territory and into some real goodies…

I work in full screen mode allmost all the time and it’s a pain to hit TAB to get your palletes back just to work with layers so here’s a few that will help you out if you work like that.

ALT+Left/Right brackets will select next/previous layers.
Control+Left/Right brackets will move the currently selected layer.
Control+Shift+Left/Right bracket will throw the currently selected layer to the top or the bottom of all layers.

Some selection magic..

Make a selection don’t let of of the mouse, now hold down spacebar and you can move the selection, release space while keeping the mouse button down and you can continue to resize.

Make a selection, now hold down shift and draw another selection intersecting the previous, let go of the mouse and you add to the selection. Hold down ALT to subtract from the selection instead.

Hold down ALT+Shift and you will intersect from the selection, meaning that everything in the selection that you draw over the existing selection will be intersected, try it out and it becomes much clearer to understand. Remember that when adding, substracting or intersecting a selection you can still press space to move the selection you are currently drawing, so you can hold down control+shift+spacebar or control+alt+spacebar. Practice this because it comes in realy handy once you got it down.