(This is a continuation of a series. If you missed previous installments, you can find them on my blog under the Digital Scrapbooking category.)
We are now going to cover a topic that often strikes fear in the heartiest Photoshop or Photoshop Elements user: How to manage and back-up the styles, brushes, custom shapes, actions, patterns, and so forth that you use while digital scrapbooking. This is a long tutorial, so get prepared. It has to be because one topic leads to another, which leads to another... so bear with me. You'll be glad you did.
Because Presets are normally installed in the software's folder filing system, they feel like they are hidden in dark, deep closets. And now, the closets are harder to get around because it is common for the newer versions of the software to have two - or even three versions - of the same sets of folders. It can feel overwhelming to find all of your special items so that you can back them up. This is even harder to do if you don't understand how your software wants to do it. The newer versions, such as Photoshop CS3 or *Photoshop Elements 6, are trickier in their Presets management setup and it is incredibly easy to lose things.
I'm going to try to help you avoid losing things.
Oh my words... this is hard to explain and there is a good reason for it. We are talking about having multiple sets of folders spread around your computer. All of them appear the same on the outside, but they aren't the same at all.
Let me show you the set of folders we are talking about. The top folder’s name is: Presets.
(Photoshop Elements users: You don't have as many folders inside of your main Presets folder because your software can't do as many things as Photoshop can.)
The path I took to find this folder was: C> Program Files> Adobe> Adobe Photoshop CS3> Presets. I am using a Vista computer, but the XP path is the same. As you can see, there are many folders inside of the Presets folder. This is where I usually install my brushes, styles, actions, etc.
(PSE 5 and 6 users, it doesn't work to install styles and actions using the Program Files path, so don't attempt to do it. Even though things are in those folders, PSE 6 won't recognize anything new that you put into the folders. Please consult the installation instructions that accompany your Scrap Girls product deliveries to understand where to locate these items. Each type of item is installed in completely different locations in the various versions of Photoshop Elements. Discussing that entire topic would be a massive tutorial by itself.)
In older versions of Photoshop (older than *CS3), Photoshop saved any new brush sets in the Brush folder located in this particular Presets location. But guess what, Photoshop fans? It doesn't do that anymore... and neither does Photoshop Elements 6. Instead, the brand-new, unique items that you create yourself get saved to an identical folder set located here: C> Users> User Name (Rozanne Paxman, in my case)> App Data> Roaming> Adobe CS3> Presets. The “App Data” folder is a hidden folder so you have to tell your computer to allow you to see it.
To make your computer allow you to see hidden folders (on Vista), do the following:
- Go to Control Panel.
- Go to “Folder Options.”
- Choose the “View” tab.
- Select the option to “Show hidden files and folders.”
- Click the “OK” button.
Now, let's go back to the Presets folder we have just found in this hidden location. I call it the “Roaming” Presets folder. When you create new sets of brushes, styles or other unique settings, this is the location in which Photoshop wants to save them - unless you actively start saving them somewhere else.
(Photoshop Elements users, you are only allowed to create new sets of brushes. Photoshop users can do more things.)
Until I figured this out, I thought I was going crazy. I knew I had created some style sets... but where were they? Maybe I had lost them when I closed Photoshop. Maybe I dreamed I had saved them. I hoped I had saved them. But I couldn't find them anywhere and I wanted to cry. Imagine my relief to find that I had, indeed, saved my creations! They were just located in a completely unexpected location!
I'm telling you all of this so that you will know how to find anything you might have saved and assumed that you lost because they seemed to disappear.
Now I'm going to tell you how to prevent the problem altogether.
You will create a wonderful folder on your desktop named “Goodies.” This is what my Goodie folder looks like.
Inside of this folder, you will create sub-folders such as “Brushes,” “Styles,” “Actions,” “Patterns,” “Custom Shapes,” etc. Once you create your own Goodie folder, you will load your Preset items into Photoshop from this location and save new Preset items into it so that your life is simpler.
(Photoshop Elements users: You will use these folders to store copies of your Preset items so that you can easily back them up. Photoshop Elements only allows you to browse outside of the software folders to get Brushes. Other items must be installed where Adobe wants them to be or they won't work. Photoshop users have more flexibility this way.)
The advantages of a Goodie folder include:
-
A single location for easy backup, saving and installation of special items when you want to use them in your software.
-
The software starts faster because it doesn't need to load up all of your Presets as it is opening. Photoshop looks in the folders for the contents and prepares them for use. If there aren't many there to think about, it runs faster.
-
Increased ability to file your special items in a way that will allow you to access them well. This is particularly helpful if you have a lot of certain items. For instance, I have tons of brushes. If I put them all in one folder, it is hard to get through the list. I have simplified my life by filing them under the designer's initials.
(Photoshop Elements users: Because it is common to have a lot of brushes, it will be to your advantage to keep your brush sets in this Goodie folder, as well. Remember, brushes are the only Preset items you can load in and out of from your desktop Goodie folder.)
This is my Brush folder. I have named the individual folder with the designers SKU indicator. This will be very helpful to me as I locate a brush set I want to use while digital scrapbooking, as I will demonstrate in a bit. (Hang in there!)
This is the folder that holds the brushes by Thao Cosgrove, as indicated by the TCS at the beginning of the brush set name. As you can see, the Scrap Girls designers are careful about how they name their brush sets so that you can locate the one you want to use.
Okay - let's use the Goodie Folder in Photoshop!
I had multiple reasons for coming up with this system. I was having problems backing up my cool Presets. I was having a hard time locating them. I was being driven completely batty by Photoshop CS3's insistence on displaying my entire list of Preset items on the fly-out menus. Since I have so many sets of Presets, the item names would flood my screen. In fact, I have so many brush sets that Photoshop couldn't handle all of them and the list wouldn't completely display. The brush functions were hard to concentrate on because that big fly-out menu was distracting me. I found that I was using brushes less often because the situation annoyed me so much.
I finally decided to figure out how to get rid of the problem once and for all.
I tried using the subfolder method that worked for me when using Photoshop CS. I was dismayed when I saw it didn't work in CS3. Photoshop CS3 simply stuck a line between the various folder contents to show me that I had filed my items in subfolders.
Ugh! That's not what I wanted.
I tried moving them around between the different sets of Preset folders, but that didn't work either. Photoshop CS3 is trained to find all of the brushes located anywhere in the Photoshop CS3 filing system and display them to you on the fly-out.
I hated it.
Check out this Styles fly-out and it is positively empty in comparison to my old brush fly-out. If I would have shown you the brush fly-out, you would have been frightened. (Ha!)
I decided to try moving everything except the items that came with Photoshop out into a new folder on my desktop. I decided it actually might solve a different problem I was having... extreme laziness about using my special Presets. (I have loads of textures but never used them because I was too lazy to browse and find one when I needed it. My face is red admitting that to you.)
I hated navigating through the maze of files to get from one place to another while I was inside of Photoshop. And, as I've discussed, Photoshop started throwing things around when CS3 came out.
I was staring at my computer and had a “Eureka!” moment. Because, there it was... my solution: The desktop. Alongside every single “Open File” dialogue was that handy-dandy little desktop icon. It would be so easy to get to the desktop! So fast! Yes, the desktop would solve my problem.
This is my nice, tidy Styles fly-out menu after I moved my Styles into my Desktop Goodie folder. Ahhhh!
Loading Preset Items Into the Software From Your Goodie Folder
I'm going to show you how easy it is to load a Style set from my desktop Goodie folder.
1. Choose to Load the Preset item you are interested in (Brushes, Styles, etc.).
2. When the Open dialogue comes up, click on the Desktop icon.
3. Choose your Goodie folder.
4. Choose the Preset item you are loading. I'm going to load a Style.
5. I've got a lot of Style sets so I filed them by designer. I'll choose the correct folder now.
6. I'm choosing one of Cheryl Barber's Grunged Metals Style sets.
7. Now it's all loaded.
You may be saying, “Well, that's a lot of bother. Why would I want to do that? It looks like a lot of navigation from folder to folder to me.”
No worries!
Photoshop remembers which folder you were in while working with a certain type of Preset. It will take you back there the next time you want to work with that Preset again. So all you need to do is navigate to the correct Preset folder located in a neighbor Goodie folder.
One last thing - I’m going to solve another problem for you that is associated with Presets, which is...
How on Earth Do You Know What the Presets Look Like So You Can Decide Which One to Use While Digital Scrapbooking?
Contact sheets.
Here is a super fast way to print contact sheets. I’d recommend that you use the Firefox browser because it handles this type of operation so easily.
All you need to do is right-click on the image, choose “Save Image As,” choose the location (you only have to do this once), and then hit Enter. Then go to the next image and right-click, choose “Save Image As,” hit your Enter key.
You'll get into a rhythm and end up with your brush images fast. This is how to get caught up, of course. The best way to keep your contact sheets current is to download the image at the same time you are checking out in the Boutique. They are available in the shopping cart.
You’ll want the images to go into a single file folder. This will make printing out the contact sheet easy - no extra software is necessary. Software just slows down the process of making contact sheets. Use your Operating System's print function because it is easier and faster.
Here's how to do it:
1. Go to the folder where the images are located.
2. Select all of them (in Vista, you select them under the “Option” drop-down).
3. Choose the “Print” option. In Vista, I do this by right-clicking on an image.
4. When you get to the print dialogue, select the “Contact sheet” option and uncheck the “Fit picture to frame” option. You need to uncheck it so that the images don't stretch out sideways. (I didn't have to do this when printing from XP.)
5. After I print them out, I put them in sheet protectors in a binder. This makes them easy to flip through.
6. As you can see, I can see the designer's SKU initials, the name of the product (both in the image name and on the image itself) and see the brushes. This is because Scrap Girls is very careful about how we name everything associated with a product release. Our methodology will make it incredibly easy for you to find the brush set you want to use while creating your digital scrapbooking layouts!
I'm going to do this same thing for my Styles, Custom Shapes and other Preset items. Why? Because I have a hard time remembering what they look like without loading them in and out. The computer won’t display them to me. Printing contact sheets will solve my problem. Hope it solves yours, too.
What Do You Do After You Have Your Goodie Folder Set Up?
BACK IT UP!
*Note about the versions I am referring to in this tutorial:
Everything I teach you to do with the Goodie file works perfectly for Photoshop CS and up. If anyone has Photoshop 7, I'd be interested to learn if it is true for you, as well. While I have a lot of software, I don't own all of the versions of every single software title so I can't check them all out personally.
- Ro
Muse: To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation. Not intended to solve the world's problems, another person's problems, or to cover topics completely. One does not have to agree with musings to enjoy them, just as one does not have to be the same as someone else to appreciate who they are.
Note from Ro: Would you like to earn a $20 Gift Certificate? Send your own muse to [email protected]. If it is selected for publication in the Scrap Girls newsletter, you'll get to have fun shopping!
Ro is now spotlighting various Scrap Girls members, showing layouts, and running contests in her blog. If you end up being spotlighted in it, you'll get a little gift from her. Subscribe to her blog so you don't miss what is going on!
Ro has recently spotlighted Pireps, CharleneJ and Soozlou. |
|
Scrap Girls is giving away birthday gifts to our message board members! Of course, it is a surprise what you will get because birthday presents are always surprises! But you will like it for sure because most people like money... Oops! Did I say that? No. You did NOT hear me say that. Anyway, make sure your message board email address is current and that you have the correct date entered into your profile to participate.
