Tag: Photoshop

23 Apr

Top 10 Photoshop Plugins for Web Designers in 2016

by TBSCategories: News

Photoshop wasn’t created as a web design tool, but no one bothered telling us web designers that. Luckily, here are 10 plugins to make Photoshop do to web design what it’s intended to do to photographs.

Photoshop Plugins for Web Design

Suitcase Fusion 6

The perfect add-on for every font-aphile, Suitcase Fusion 6 keeps all your favorite fonts organized and within reaching distance, even in Photoshop. Compare fonts side-by-side and preview appearances to cut a lot of the busy work from finalizing typography.

Suitcase Fusion 6

Retinize It

Not long from now, we’ll all be working with HD devices. Retinize It lets designers slice and export from certain layers or groups as assets. That’s standard, but this plugin features the option to magnify the shapes or Smart Objects by 200% or 300%, preparing the image for retina and iOS displays.

Retinize It

Codly

Codly automatically codes your Photoshop mobile design, saving lots of work in development and allowing more room for experimentation. Using drag-and-drop usability, this plugin generates code for popular platforms like iOS, Android XML, Windows 10, and BlackBerry.

Codly

Random User Generator

The free, open-source API Random User Generator generates placeholder user data for forms and the like. According to the tagline, it’s “like Lorem Ipsum, but for people.” Data includes names, emails, birthdays, addresses, phone numbers, and passwords.

Random User Generator

Photoshop Prototyping Plugin

If you created your mockup in Photoshop, you usually need to rebuild it from scratch when you prototype.

Luckily, the prototyping app UXPin solves that problem with a plugin that allows complete integration. You can export your PSDs straight into the collaborative design platform, then add interactions to the mockup for feedback from all stakeholders and team members.

As an added bonus, the platform also preserves all layers for prototyping.

Photoshop Prototyping Plugin

LayerCraft

LayerCraft is the multi-purpose tool for exporting individual assets for PS layers. Export directly into iOS or Android, with options for scaling up to 200%, scaling down to 50%, duplicating, trimming, and removing empty pixels for .pngs.

LayerCraft

PSD Cleaner

When you don’t have time to organize your PSD files yourself, the $ 19.99 plugin PSD Cleaner does it for you. Spare yourself all the busy work of Photoshopping, like browsing for missed names or empty layers, so that you can focus all of your attention on designing without distraction.

PSD Cleaner

GuideGuide

Photoshop’s most installed extension, GuideGuide facilitates creating guides, with options based on canvas, artboards, and selected layers. That means instants guides from selections you already designed. There are also secondary options like sharing and duplicating. Making guides has never been faster or more customizable, and for expert users GuideGuide delivers on its promise of creating “custom grids that are too complex for other grid tools.”

GuideGuide

Perspective Mockups

One of the best advantages to designing in Photoshop is that your deliverables and presentation documents are visually stunning. Perspective Mockups takes this a step further by turning your PS files into an even more gorgeous presentation. This plugin allows you to rotate, tilt, stack, layer the perspective of the file to whatever your preferences. It’s like Photoshop for how your Photoshop file is viewed.

Perspective Mockups

Oven

Oven is a plugin that helps with other plugins.

When generating image assets from your layers with another plugin, you’ll often need them named correctly before exporting. Oven helps with that by “baking” your layers. You can export for iOS or Android, in either .jpg or .png, with a duplicate option to keep your original label names intact.

Oven

Conclusion

What’s your call for the next best Photoshop plugin? Don’t keep it to yourself — share your favorites in the comments now.


Onextrapixel – Web Design and Development Online Magazine

Adobe-Photoshop-Printing-1
23 Mar

Adobe Illustrator Vs Photoshop – Which is Best for Print Projects?

by TBSCategories: News

Digital projects don’t always translate perfectly into the print world. An entirely different color palette must be used and knowing which program is optimal for your project is also important. For example, digital projects should usually be done in RGB colors while commercial print projects should be done as CMYK.

The reason for this is the way that light affects color. However, if you are using a desktop printer, you can use RGB colors because most desktop printers internally convert RGB data into CMYK. You can go here to learn more about RGB vs. CMYK.

As a general tip, it is a good practice to run a test print with the colors that you intend to use, to ensure that the image on your screen is the same that is going to be produced by the printer. Always choose a reputable printing service to ensure that you get what you require.

Photoshop: Pros and Cons of Print

Photoshop: Pros and Cons of Print

Image credit: 123RF

Pros:

Photographs are the type of prints where Adobe Photoshop really shines. When preparing a photo for print, there really is no better option than a program specifically designed for this task. Photoshop makes it easy through filters and layer masks to adapt a photograph to suit any print project.

Using layers is a lot easier in Photoshop. These allow you to tweak pieces of your photo or design without destroying the original. You have a greater amount of control and can work with tiny selections of your image at a time. Layers also make it easy to make what-if scenarios when you make a change using a layer mask. This is because any layer you make can also be made invisible.

Cons:

Creating multiple layouts is a challenge with Photoshop. Generally one work area is used and changing its size affects your entire project.

Photoshop’s pixel-based files do not resize very well, and image data can be lost or appear blocky if it is scaled to a size that is too small or too large.

Tips for Printing with Photoshop

Usually it is best to “flatten” the image before printing. This means that you should save a version of your image with all the layers merged together. To flatten an image, use Layer > Flatten and then save the image as a .jpg or .gif file.

Print time can be decreased, if needed, by saving the image at a lower resolution. When you save your image, you can use the drop-down menu to choose another file format, such as .jpg, which will allow you to save at lower quality if needed.

You can use View > Gamut Warning to discover any unprintable parts of your image. They will show up as patches of gray. You can go here to learn what to do with colors that are out of gamut.

Illustrator: Pros and Cons of Print

Illustrator: Pros and Cons of Print

Pros:

Adobe Illustrator is especially good for images that are going to need to be resized before print, because this program specializes in vector drawings. A company logo that might need to appear on anything from a tiny business card to a large banner is a good example, because these vector images will always appear smooth and crisp when scaled to any size.

Type is also something that Illustrator excels at. Besides the fact that type should be vector-based so it can be scaled up and down at will, Illustrator has a lot of built-in functionality for type, allowing you to manipulate lettering in creative ways.

Cons:

Manipulating images is a lot more difficult in Illustrator than in Photoshop. Because the image is handled in large units, editing tiny parts of it is a lot more frustrating.

There aren’t a lot of filters in Illustrator and it’s difficult to use illustrator to edit an existing image. The lack of layer functionality makes it difficult to manipulate one aspect of the image at a time.

Tips for Printing with Illustrator

Keep the vectors as simple as you can. Using a lower number of anchor points means that the fidelity of the image is more likely to endure a lot of resizing.

Use Object > Path > Simplify in order to lower the amount of total anchor points in the document, making it more efficient.

If your artwork is not designed to “bleed” or extend beyond the edges of the print, leave ¼” of white space between the graphic and the edge of the artboard. If you do wish for it to “bleed”, you can ensure this by extending the image ⅛” beyond the edge of the artboard.

Conclusion

While both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator can be used for creating a print project, knowing which one is best for your particular project will ensure that you get the best look from your design. Remember also that in a lot of cases, it’s beneficial to use elements from both Photoshop and Illustrator and bring them together for your final prints. The possibilities are endless.


Onextrapixel – Web Design and Development Online Magazine

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22 Mar

The Retina Asset Workflow You’ve Always Wanted For Photoshop

by TBSCategories: News

  

If you’ve dreamed of the day when you could design more than one thing at once in Photoshop, the wait is over. You can now have multiple designs right next to each other. Design mobile layouts alongside your tablet and desktop layouts. And in this article, we’ll design an entire set of assets all at once.

Combine Generate And Artboards In Photoshop For The Retina Asset Workflow You’ve Always Wanted

What many Photoshop users have been hoping for — with a push from Sketch, no doubt — finally arrives in the form of artboards. No longer are you constrained to one canvas. Turning layer groups on and off, be gone. Create as many canvases as you like in one PSD.

The post The Retina Asset Workflow You’ve Always Wanted For Photoshop appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Smashing Magazine

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17 Feb

Free Photoshop Tools For Web Designers

by TBSCategories: News

  

Photoshop is still a favorite among a lot of web designers, and the right tools make it even more powerful as it already is. To help you boost productivity, save time, and, obviously, nerves, we have picked some valuable Photoshop resources, plugins, and scripts for you.

Free Photoshop Tools For Web Designers

Some of them will speed up routine tasks so you can concentrate more on your actual work, others build a bridge between Photoshop and code so your design mockups can benefit from the best of both worlds. All resources are free to use.

The post Free Photoshop Tools For Web Designers appeared first on Smashing Magazine.

Smashing Magazine

Adobe-Photoshop-Printing-1
16 Feb

Adobe Illustrator Vs Photoshop – Which is Best for Print Projects?

by TBSCategories: News

Digital projects don’t always translate perfectly into the print world. An entirely different color palette must be used and knowing which program is optimal for your project is also important. For example, digital projects should usually be done in RGB colors while commercial print projects should be done as CMYK.

The reason for this is the way that light affects color. However, if you are using a desktop printer, you can use RGB colors because most desktop printers internally convert RGB data into CMYK. You can go here to learn more about RGB vs. CMYK.

As a general tip, it is a good practice to run a test print with the colors that you intend to use, to ensure that the image on your screen is the same that is going to be produced by the printer. Always choose a reputable printing service to ensure that you get what you require.

Photoshop: Pros and Cons of Print

Photoshop: Pros and Cons of Print

Pros:

Photographs are the type of prints where Adobe Photoshop really shines. When preparing a photo for print, there really is no better option than a program specifically designed for this task. Photoshop makes it easy through filters and layer masks to adapt a photograph to suit any print project.

Using layers is a lot easier in Photoshop. These allow you to tweak pieces of your photo or design without destroying the original. You have a greater amount of control and can work with tiny selections of your image at a time. Layers also make it easy to make what-if scenarios when you make a change using a layer mask. This is because any layer you make can also be made invisible.

Cons:

Creating multiple layouts is a challenge with Photoshop. Generally one work area is used and changing its size affects your entire project.

Photoshop’s pixel-based files do not resize very well, and image data can be lost or appear blocky if it is scaled to a size that is too small or too large.

Tips for Printing with Photoshop

Usually it is best to “flatten” the image before printing. This means that you should save a version of your image with all the layers merged together. To flatten an image, use Layer > Flatten and then save the image as a .jpg or .gif file.

Print time can be decreased, if needed, by saving the image at a lower resolution. When you save your image, you can use the drop-down menu to choose another file format, such as .jpg, which will allow you to save at lower quality if needed.

You can use View > Gamut Warning to discover any unprintable parts of your image. They will show up as patches of gray. You can go here to learn what to do with colors that are out of gamut.

Illustrator: Pros and Cons of Print

Illustrator: Pros and Cons of Print

Pros:

Adobe Illustrator is especially good for images that are going to need to be resized before print, because this program specializes in vector drawings. A company logo that might need to appear on anything from a tiny business card to a large banner is a good example, because these vector images will always appear smooth and crisp when scaled to any size.

Type is also something that Illustrator excels at. Besides the fact that type should be vector-based so it can be scaled up and down at will, Illustrator has a lot of built-in functionality for type, allowing you to manipulate lettering in creative ways.

Cons:

Manipulating images is a lot more difficult in Illustrator than in Photoshop. Because the image is handled in large units, editing tiny parts of it is a lot more frustrating.

There aren’t a lot of filters in Illustrator and it’s difficult to use illustrator to edit an existing image. The lack of layer functionality makes it difficult to manipulate one aspect of the image at a time.

Tips for Printing with Illustrator

Keep the vectors as simple as you can. Using a lower number of anchor points means that the fidelity of the image is more likely to endure a lot of resizing.

Use Object > Path > Simplify in order to lower the amount of total anchor points in the document, making it more efficient.

If your artwork is not designed to “bleed” or extend beyond the edges of the print, leave ¼” of white space between the graphic and the edge of the artboard. If you do wish for it to “bleed”, you can ensure this by extending the image ⅛” beyond the edge of the artboard.

Conclusion

While both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator can be used for creating a print project, knowing which one is best for your particular project will ensure that you get the best look from your design. Remember also that in a lot of cases, it’s beneficial to use elements from both Photoshop and Illustrator and bring them together for your final prints. The possibilities are endless.


Onextrapixel – Web Design and Development Online Magazine

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