Palettes

| Layers | Channels | Paths | Navigator |
| Info | Options | Color | Swatches |
| Brushes | History/Actions |

Now lets take a quick tour of the various windows in Photoshop. There are a number of small, special windows called "palettes." If a palette is not showing, pull down the "Window" menu to the one you want. Likewise, you can hide them when they get in the way. You can also move them wherever you need them.

Layers/Channels/Paths

Layers - Allows you to stack and move around layers of images, to create an effect that's just right. A layer is selected when its name is in black reverse. You change the layers' name, order, hide or show them, lock them, and change transparency over an entire layer, as well as several other actions we won't get into here. Each time you paste something into a Photoshop document, or create a new piece of type, it creates a new layer.

Channels - You won't need to worry too much about channels at this point. This shows you each of the three colors, Red, Green and Blue, plus all three combined, or RGB. Almost always, you will work with "RGB" selected. If you have a special ones called "Alpha" channels, used for transparency or selection, they will show up here.

Paths — This palette controls a special and very handy tool for making accurate selections, and lots of other fun stuff. We'll get into Paths more in the Photoshop 2 class.

Navigator/Info/Options

Navigator - Shows you where you are on the document. I don't use it much.

Info - This provides information about the colors and linear sizes. You probably won't use it much at this stage.

Options - On the other hand, "Options" is a heavy-use function. Most of the tools in the toolbar have options settings that control how they work. We'll talk more about this when we use some tools.

Color/Swatches/Brushes

Color and Swatches - Both let you pick colors for use with your tools. But I usually just click on the color chip.

Brushes - This is where you select the size, shape and softness of your brushes, in combination with many of the tools.

History/Actions

These are handy, but a bit advanced. Don't worry about them for now.

Previous | Home | Next