I’ve forced myself to edit using Final Cut Pro X pretty much around the clock for the past 72 hours. At first it was annoying, difficult…maddening, even…. The insistence on changing names of common editing terms that have been in use since the turn of the 20th century. The peek-a-boo contextual (“you’ll actually have to consult the manual, big fella”) windows. The seemingly bizarre and random choices regarding placement of important controls…. It seemed like a loud, willful statement to all aging editors: “THIS IS A NEW DAY! INNOVATE OR DIE! WE’RE TIRED OF HOLDING YOUR HAND! NO GOING BACK! WE’VE BURNED THE SHIPS, SO START SWIMMING OR START LIVING ON THIS ISLAND!”

Well, I’m just now rendering (very quickly, I might add) the last 5 of 9 videos I’ve edited since Saturday night — with compositing, graphics, effects, color correction and Magic Bullet-style looks, all resident within FCP X, not requiring me to leave the application….OH MY GOODNESS, Final Cut Pro ROCKS. I also get the feeling there may be some artificial intelligence under the hood. Final Cut Pro X seems to be learning what I want…responding to my needs…making things happen just BEFORE my fingers get there. Don’t know if this can be verified, or perhaps it’s the glow of infatuation? Or sleep deprivation?

And if I want to go back to the past, or interface with other editors, colorists, etc., within the Final Cut Pro 7 environment… I still have my trusty old FCP on my trusty old(er) computer.

For right now, I just want to explore this setup even more over the coming days, weeks, and months. I’ll want to max out the Ram for my new i7, and I’m sold on getting Thunderbolt drives, since my new Mac sneers at my Firewire 800 drives and asks me if I can please get REAL drives. No SATA ports on the Mini (old technology…the ghost of “relentless innovation” Jobs breathes on) to plug into my 10, paid-for, E-Sata drives.

As some others have said, this is good – really good. Diane Modica (“Hey – it’s pretty good. You oughtta check it out”) and Kristen Salerno (“I’m never going back to FCP 7″). I’m sold on Final Cut Pro X.

This review from Roberto Mighty, who is a video professional in the Boston area, teaches Final Cut Pro Classes in Boston at AGI.

Layer panel improvements

Current Photoshop users will like the new layer filters, and new users will find that working with layers is an intuitive feature that will help them produce better, more exciting imagery.

The Photoshop CS6 Layers panel now has added filters that allow users to organize and find layers. The default filter is set to Kind and allows you to choose the type of layer you want to isolate (only show) in the Layers panel. You can choose a filter for the following types of layers: Pixel layers, Adjustment layers, Type layers, Shape layers, and Smart Objects.

You can now filter layers in the Layers panel.
A. Pixel. B. Adjustment. C. Type.
D. Shape. E. Smart Objects.

If you want to experiment with this feature and still have ps1403_work.psd open, follow these steps.

1 Choose the Shape layer filter button from the Kind filter to see that the pixel layer’s (Background) visibility is turned off and only the shape layer is visible.

2 Click and hold Kind; you see that a drop-down menu appears with many other filtering options, including Name, Effect, Mode, Attribute, and Color. When you select any of these filters, you can enter additional information to narrow the search results.

3 Click on the the Shape layer filter icon, and then select the Name filter. Type shape into the text box that appears; only the Shape 1 layer appears.

Select additional filters and enter information to give you more accurate results.

4 You can choose File > Save and File > Close.

More options for creating patterns

Even though Photoshop has offered the ability to include patterns for a long time, options beyond creating your own pattern and scaling the pattern were the limit. Now you can take advantage of filling with a pattern and applying a scripted fill. Some of the scripted fills include Cross Weave, Random Fill, Spiral, and Symmetry Fill. You will find these new Scripted Patterns in the Edit > Fill dialog box. Unfortunately, they are not in the Adjustment layer option at this point, which means that you will need to scale the pattern source before making the pattern. Follow the steps below to try out this new feature.

New Scripted Patterns have been added to the Fill dialog box.

1 Choose File > Browse in Bridge, locate and open the image called ps1404.psd. Since you will only be using this image to create a pattern, there is no need to save it as a work file.

This file is relatively small, but if you wanted to make a smaller pattern, you would have to use Image > Image Size at this point to scale it.

Since you will choose the entire image for the pattern, you do not have to make a selection; typically, you would use the Rectangular Marquee tool () to define the area of an image that you want to define as a pattern.

2 Choose Edit > Define Pattern. The Pattern Name dialog box appears. Keep the default pattern name, which is the file name, and click OK.

Define a pattern from the ps1404.psd image.

3 Choose File > Browse in Bridge, select the image called ps1405.psd, and open it in Photoshop CS6. An image of a girl kicking a soccer ball appears.

4 If the Layers panel is not visible, choose Window > Layers to see that this file contains a Background and two additional layers.

5 Make sure that the second layer, called Put Pattern Here, is active and then choose Edit > Fill. The Fill dialog box appears.

6 Select Pattern from the Content drop-down menu, and then choose your newly created pattern from the Custom Pattern drop-down menu.

7 Check Scripted Patterns, select a Scripted Pattern from the drop-down menu, and click OK. The pattern is applied.

Select the pattern and a Scripted Pattern. The pattern is applied to the layer as a fill.

8 Experiment by pressing Ctrl + Z (Windows) or Command + Z (Mac OS) and try other scripted patterns.

9 When you are finished experimenting, you can choose File > Close. You do not have to save this file.

New and improved 3D features

The 3D features in Photoshop are extensive enough to write another book, but in this section, you will be introduced to some of the important features that can help you find the tools you need when working in 3D. Keep in mind that Lesson 13 includes a step-by-step exercise to help you get started using this incredibly intense feature.

Some of the new 3D features are described next.

OpenGL is now required

OpenGL is now required in Photoshop CS6. Although OpenGL is the industry’s most widely used, supported, and best documented 2D/3D graphics Application Program Interface (API), it could stop some of your experimenting before you begin. Check to see if you have the option available by selecting Edit > Preferences > Performance. If Use Graphics Processor is an option, you can use 3D; if it is greyed out, you may need to update your hardware or software to work in 3D using Photoshop CS6. Find more information about OpenGL and Photoshop at Search for OpenGL Support. On Adobe’s site, you find information about preferences that you can change, as well as information on how to check your video card drivers.

Better tool unification

Now in Photoshop CS6, the 3D environment has its own workspace, making it easy to find the tools you need when you want them. Enter this workspace by selecting Window > 3D.

3D Widgets

In Photoshop CS6, 3D widgets are automatically enabled to help you get a better sense of your 3D environment and perform tasks such as directly manipulating your shadows. Once you have created a 3D object, you can Shift and drag to change the light of the object and also its shadow.

3D Merge improved

In Photoshop CS6, you can now merge more than two 3D layers; the handling is better for 3D layers with different scales and positions.

The best way to find out what works with 3D is to experiment with your files. If 3D is new to you, select a layer and then right-click (Windows) or Control + click (Mac OS) and select Postcard. You are now in the 3D workspace where you can experiment with various Properties in the Properties panel, as well as options in the 3D panel.

More Photoshop books

If you enjoyed this free preview, turn to the Digital Classroom for a range of Photoshop Books which are updated as soon as new versions of Photoshop are available.

New content-aware tools

In previous versions, you were able to take advantage of two incredible content-aware features, the content-aware scale and content-aware retouching. Now in Photoshop CS6, you have the content-aware Move tool and the improved Patch tool that includes content-aware features. Locate the Patch tool by clicking and holding the Spot Healing Brush tool in the Tools panel, and then selecting the Patch tool.

The Patch tool is helpful when patching (or replacing) large areas of an image. This could be the background of a scratched image, or a section of someone’s skin. To use the Patch tool, click and drag the Patch tool over a section of an image that you want to clone (and blend) into another section of your image. After making your selection, click and drag that section to another part of the image. Follow the next steps for hands-on experience of this tool.

1 Choose File > Browse in Bridge, locate the PSCS6Beta_lessons folder, and open the image called ps1401.psd. An image of a soldier appears.

2 Choose File Save As and name the file ps1401_work. Keep it in the .PSD format and save it into the PSCS6Beta_lessons folder.

3 Use the Zoom tool to zoom into the lower-left part of this image. Notice some artifacts in the image: a random dot and a stain. You will use the patch tool to replace those sections.

Zoom into the lower-left section of the image.

4 Select the Patch tool that is hidden in the Spot Healing Brush tool.

5 In the Options bar, select the Patch drop-down menu and choose Content-Aware.

6 Click and drag around the area of the image that contains the black spot.

7 Drag the patch selection to a part of the image that is not marked with artifacts. The original selection is not only replaced with the clean section of the image, but it is blended in a manner that makes it difficult to see your original selection.

Click and drag to replace the selected patch area. The result.

As a default, the options for this tool are to replace the source with the area that you are dragging to.

8 On your own, try replacing the stained section of the wall with a clean section. When you are finished, choose File > Save, and then File > Close.

Investigating the Content-Aware Move tool

This new content-aware tool is likely to become a favorite. Using the Content-Aware Move tool, you can select and relocate a section of your image without leaving a hole in your image. Try it by following the next steps.

1 Choose File > Browse in Bridge and locate the image called ps1402.psd in the PSCS6Beta_lessons folder. An image of a bird appears.

2 Choose File Save As and name the image ps1402_work. Keep the format as .PSD and choose to save it in the PSCS6Beta_lessons folder.

3 Select the Content-Aware Move tool located under the Patch tool, and click and drag to select the bird that is sitting on the branch.

Click and drag to create a selection around the bird.

4 With the Content-Aware Move tool still selected, click and drag the bird selection to the left, and then release. The image area behind the bird is replaced with sky image.

Clicking and dragging using the Content-Aware Move tool leaves no hole in your image.

5 Choose File > Save and then File > Close.

Stroke and fills

Even though you have been able to apply fills and different types of strokes in previous versions of Photoshop, it was not very intuitive, and many options were lacking. In Photoshop CS6, you can now take advantage of features that you would expect in Adobe Illustrator, such as applying a stroke to the inside, middle, or outside of a vector shape, the creation of dashed strokes, and the ability to change the caps and joints of a stroke.

If you want to experiment, try the following steps:

1 Choose File > Open and open the image called ps1403.psd.

2 Choose File > Save As, name the file ps1403_work, and keep the file in .psd format. Choose Save and an image of someone typing appears. Next, you will create a vector shape using the custom shape tools.

3 Click and hold the Vector Shape tool (the default is the Rectangle tool) and select the Custom Shape tool.

Select the Custom Shape tool.

4 From the Shape drop-down menu in the Options bar, select the shape called Arrow 9.

Select Arrow 9 from the custom shape drop-down menu.

5 Click and drag to create an arrow shape anywhere on the image; any size is fine.

6 Look for Fill and Stroke in the Options bar at the top of the workspace, and then select Fill to see the swatches appear. In this example, you will sample a color from the image, so you will need the Color Picker.

7 Click the Color Picker icon; the Color Picker dialog box appears.

Open the Color Picker to select a color.

8 With the Color Picker open, choose any of the blue tones in the shirt on the right side, and then click OK. The fill of the arrow now matches the blue tone.

9 Now click Stroke in the Options bar and select Black from the Swatches panel that appears.

10 Type 1.33 into the stroke Width textbox, and then click the Set shape stroke type drop-down menu; the Stroke options appear.

You now have additional stroke options in Photoshop.

11 Choose Center from the Align window. The Align feature allows you to align your stroke on the inside, center, or outside of a shape.

Notice that you can also change the caps and corners in the Stroke options window.

12 Take the graphic one step further by applying transparency to the fill only. If you do not see the Layers panel, choose Windows > Layers now. Make sure that the shape layer that you just created is active, and then change the Fill to 50% by clicking and dragging the slider to the left until you reach the 50% mark. Note that the fill is semi-transparent, but the stroke is still at 100%.

Continue reading: Photoshop CS6 new features: Part 3 which discusses these new Photoshop CS6 features; layer panel improvements, additional options for creating patterns, and 3D features.

• New Photoshop CS6 User Interface
• Finding Photoshop CS6 Brush tips
• Using the new content-aware tools in Photoshop CS6
• All about strokes and fills
• New layer filter features
• Applying new pattern scripts
• New Photoshop CS6 features for 3D

In this preview book excerpt from the authors of the Photoshop Digital Classroom book, you’ll discover some of the new features of the Photoshop CS6 Beta. The features that are covered are far-reaching and include improvements that affect print, web, 3D, and multimedia designers. This lesson summarizes the new features so you can quickly find out what’s new in the Photoshop CS6 beta. Don’t worry about understanding all the new features, since many of these features and other workflow improvements are incorporated into the lessons that we hope to share with you in an upcoming edition of the complete Photoshop Digital Classroom.

About this Photoshop CS6 Beta book excerpt

This tutorial is an introductory lesson covering new features in the Photoshop CS6 Beta. When the final version of Photoshop CS6 is released, turn to the Digital Classroom for Photoshop Books that cover all the new features. If you are a teacher or educator, contact your Wiley educational representative for additional tools available for using the Photoshop Digital Classroom for teaching Photoshop and digital imaging classes.

Starting up

This lesson is an introduction to new features in Photoshop CS6. Some of the features are major, such as the newly-added, content-aware Move and Patch tools, and the options for vector strokes and fills. Other new features may seem minor to new users, but current users will recognize them as important improvements. An example of an important improvement is the Layers panel and its new options for keeping track of complicated layered images. This lesson does not include step-by-step exercises for each feature that is discussed, but you will learn about some of the features that will likely have the most impact on the way you work in Photoshop. Keep in mind that some of the new features that are discussed are existing features that have been renamed or made more prominent and easier to find in the user interface.

Before starting, make sure that your tools and panels are consistent by resetting your preferences. To do this, press and hold the Ctrl+Alt+Shift keys (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift keys (Mac OS). Continue to hold these keys while launching Photoshop. A dialogue box appears verifying that you want to delete the Adobe Photoshop settings file. Release the keys, then click OK.

Download the free lesson files for this Photoshop CS6 tutorial

You will work with several files from the PSCS6Beta_lessons folder in this lesson. Register here to gain access to the lesson files.

New Look and Feel

When you open Photoshop CS6, you will immediately notice the new, darker UI (User Interface). This is a modern look for Photoshop. The new look is easy to get used to, but you can change to a lighter UI by selecting Edit > Preferences > Interface and choosing a lighter Color Theme.

Sketch and paint with new brush tips

There seems to be a resurgence of the pencil. Many designers are rediscovering the benefits and the appeal of a sketch. Now you can achieve that same sketch-look in Photoshop by using one of the new erodible brush tips. These tips actually wear down as you paint with them. Find the Erodible brushes by selecting a painting tool, such as the Brush tool, selecting Windows > Brush, and locating one of the tips that look like a pencil and provide you a tool tip that includes Erodible in the name.

One of the new Erodible brush tips.

While you are in the Brush panel, look for the new airbrush tools. Airbrush tools are different than regular brushes because you have options that help your brush tool work more like a real-life airbrush. You can also locate the Airbrush tools in the Brush panel by passing the cursor over the brush tips until you see Airbrush appear in the Tool tip. When you click on an Airbrush tip, the settings at the bottom of the Brushes panel reflect options specific to that brush tip.

The new Airbrush tip offers options that make your brush work more like a real airbrush.

Once you select a brush tip, create a new blank document (using the default Photoshop preset) and use the Brush tool to paint on the canvas. Experiment with the Erodible brush and watch as the strokes become less defined as you continue brushing. To sharpen your tip again, click Sharpen Point in the Brushes panel.

When using the airbrush tip, experiment with some of the settings, such as Granularity, which adjusts how grainy the paint spray is, or Spatter Amount, which can be reduced to create a more definite stroke.

Continue reading: Photoshop CS6 new features: Part 2 which discusses these new Photoshop CS6 features; content aware tool and stroke and fills.

• Discover ways to work more efficiently with creative software
• Create more interesting and advanced artwork
• Find out how to easily move content between print, on-line, and interactive projects

Five conference tracks, over 35 sessions
At crē8 you’ll have access to five conference tracks covering Illustration & Design, Photoshop, Web & Interactive, InDesign, and Acrobat & PDF. You can attend any session in any track. The crē8 conference is filled with useful information and ideas that help you work more effectively while inspiring your creativity.

Our most popular sessions this year include Drawing in Perspective in Illustrator CS5, What’s New in Dreamweaver CS5.5, Photoshop Retouching Beyond the Clone tool, Taking InDesign CS5.5 to the Max, and Photoshop Color Correction Essentials. Sessions are led by authors of best-selling design books, and prominent leaders in the world of design and publishing.

Register Online Today! $399 for the Total Access pass or call 800 851-9237.

The Past
I’m stretching the definition of “the past” a bit , but in my session Styling Text for the Web Using CSS, I will talk about how you can take the traditional typographic techniques you might be very familiar with in print (such as leading and kerning) and translate them to the Web using Cascading Style Sheets. I’ll also take a quick look at Web Fonts, which are a new and exciting development allowing web designers to use more and higher quality fonts than ever before.

The Present
Dreamweaver is the world’s most popular WSYWIG web editor and Adobe seems committed to updating it as quickly as possible in order to keep up with the rapidly changing world of the web. In my session What’s New in Dreamweaver CS 5.5, I discuss and demonstrate new features largely relating to mobile design. I’ll spend a fair amount of time talking about the Multiscreen Preview which helps you design pages for mobile phone and tablet devices.

The Future
Take a thrilling look into where the Web is headed. HTML5 and CSS3 are where you’ll be spending some time with me in my session Future of the Web:HTML5. Here, you’ll take a look at features that can be used today to make websites and web applications more useful and visually interesting such as Geolocation and Web Fonts. You’ll also see the more experimental and evolving features that aren’t ready to be used today, but might be a part of your web future!

To attend the web-focused seminars mentioned above along with over 30 other design based seminars covering InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop and more, join us in Miami for the annual Graphic of the Americas Conference on March 1-3, 2012. Register now!

Step Nine: Import Graphics

Graphics can be placed into your InDesign template using the Place command. If the image you’re importing contains layers (as in a .PSD or .AI file), you can choose which layers are visible on import.

Importing native graphic files enables you to choose layer visibility.

1. In your new InDesign template, and using your Master Page guides for reference, create new picture frames using the Rectangular Frame tool.
2. Select one of your new frames.
3. Choose File > Place.
4. In the Place dialog box, navigate to the graphic’s location on your hard drive.
5. Check the Show Import Options checkbox, and then click the Open button.
6. In the Image Import Options dialog box, click on the Layers button, and select the layers you want to be visible by clicking in the column to the left of each one.
7. Click OK to place the graphic, and size as necessary using the Control panel or Fitting options.

Step Ten: Save an InDesign Template

The ultimate goal of the template conversion process is to take existing QuarkXPress content and repurpose it into the more workable InDesign format for future catalog creation. InDesign’s template format makes this even more practical by creating a file that can be opened and changed without altering the original template.

Saving as an InDesign template will prevent overwriting of template files.

1. When you’ve finished placing content in the new InDesigntemplate, choose Save As… from the file menu.
2. In the Save As dialog that appears, add Template to the file name.
3. Choose the InDesign CS5.5 template setting from the Format menu. This will change the file extension to .indt.
4. Make sure that the Always Save Preview Images with Documents option is checked to ensure accurate previews of your text and graphics.
5. Save the new template to your hard drive, and test it by double-clicking on it at the Finder level. The file should open as Untitled, demonstrating that the original template file will remain untouched, despite any changes made.

Step Seven: Create New Master Pages

Central to the template conversion process is the rebuilding of InDesign Master Pages to match those in the existing Quark template. Like Colors and Styles, InDesign can load Master Pages from other InDesign documents, so this will only need to be done once for shared Masters.

Quark allows you to easily access Master Guide location data.

1. In the unconverted QuarkXPress template, choose Guides from the Window menu to access the Guides panel.
2. Double-click each Master Page and record the positioning of all ruler guides from the Location column.
3. Using the X/Y fields in Quark’s Measurements palette, record the positioning of all header and footer boxes.
4. In your new InDesign template, create new Master Pages using the New Master command from the Pages panel menu.
5. Make sure that rulers are currently showing in InDesign by choosing View > Show Rulers.
6. Drag ruler guides from the horizontal and vertical rulers to match the settings recorded in Quark.
7. Use the Frame tools in InDesign to create header and footer frames in approximately the same positions as in Quark.
8. Select the header and footer frames, and use the X and Y coordinates in InDesign’s Control panel to match their Quark positioning.

Step Eight: Import Text

Now that the Master Pages, Styles, Colors and Dictionary have been converted over to your new InDesign template, you can begin to add content in the form of text. Thankfully, text can be copied and pasted from QuarkXPress (without its styles) into InDesign. Then it can be formatted using the InDesign Styles you created earlier.

Text can be copied from Quark and pasted into InDesign (without its styles).

1. In your new InDesign template, and using your Master Page guides for reference, create a new text frame using the Rectangular Frame tool (or, alternatively, the Type tool).
2. In the unconverted Quark template, click-drag to select the text from an individual text box with the Text Content Tool.
3. Choose Edit > Copy (or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd-C).
4. Back in InDesign, click in the corresponding text frame with the Type tool. You should see a blinking insertion cursor inside the frame.
5. Choose Edit > Paste (or use the keyboard shortcut Cmd-V).
6. If necessary, open the Character and Paragraph Styles panels from the Type menu, and apply the appropriate Styles to your placed text.
7. Repeat steps 1-6 to import text from each text box in your uncoverted Quark template into your new InDesign template.

Stay tuned. In the next post, you will learn how to import graphics and save an InDesign template.

Step Five: Build Colors

Since you cannot import color palettes from a Quark document into an InDesign file, you’ll need to rebuild all CMYK and Pantone colors used with InDesign’s Swatches panel. Thankfully, you’ll only have to do this once for templates that share a common palette.

Quark color palettes will need to be rebuilt in InDesign... at least once.

1. With the unconverted template file open in Quark, choose Edit > Colors and record the CMYK percentages (and/or Pantone numbers) of each color used in the template.
2. Switch to your new InDesign file, and choose New Color Swatch in the Swatches panel menu.
3. For Color Type, choose Process for CMYK colors and Spot for Pantone colors.
4. If you chose Process as the color type deselect Name With Color Value under Swatch Name, and enter the CMYK name exactly as it appeared in Quark.
5. If you chose Spot, the PMS number of the Pantone color will be added automatically.
6. For Color Mode, choose either CMYK or a Pantone library to define the mode.
7. For process builds, enter the numeric CMYK values from Quark in the text boxes next to the color sliders.
8. For spot colors, choose from the Pantone libraries in the Color Mode menu.
9. Click Add to add the swatch and define another one. Click Done when finished.

Note: To add swatches from anther InDesign template (with a common color palette), choose Load Swatches from the Swatches panel menu.

Step Six: Recreate Styles

In InDesign, Style Sheets are simply called Styles, and because they will be indispensable to the formatting of type in your new InDesign template, they must be translated from Quark. Again, this manual process will only need to be completed once for templates that use common Styles.

Style Sheets must also be recreated in InDesign (as Styles).

1. With the unconverted template open in Quark, choose Edit > Style Sheets.
2. For each Style Sheet in Quark, click on the Edit button and record all settings from the General, Formats, Tabs and Rules sections. Be sure to include whether they are Character or Paragraph Style Sheets to make the translation to InDesign go more smoothly.
3. In InDesign, choose Type > Character Styles to access both the Character and Paragraph Style panels.
4. Choose New Paragraph Style from the Paragraph Styles panel menu, or choose New Character Style from the Character Styles panel menu.
5. For Style Name, type exactly the same name as it had in Quark for your new style.
6. Enter all settings gathered from the Quark Style Sheets by choosing the corresponding categories from the left side of the New Style dialog.
7. If necessary, convert existing template fonts to new template fonts, paying close attention to styles and weights as you do so.

In our next post, we will explain how to create new Master Pages in InDesign and importing text from QuarkXPress.