The Photoshop CS2 Help Desk Book

Here are a few things that have changed from Photoshop CS to CS2:

Activation

The Mac and Windows versions of Photoshop CS2 require activation, and both have restrictions on installation and transferring between machines. Activation is a one-time process that is required within 30 days of purchase of the product. According to Adobe, all they get during activation is the software serial number and a random number that is a unique ID for your computer.

You can install the software on two computers, but can only use one at a time. In addition, it is possible to deactivate the software on one machinethat's not the same as uninstallingso you can activate it on another computer. Let's say that you have one workstation at your work office and another workstation in your home office, and you install Photoshop CS2 on both machines. Then you purchase a laptop for on-the-road work. In order to use Photoshop CS2 on your laptop, you would transfer the activation (using Help>Transfer Activation). So you're really deactivating Photoshop CS2 on one workstation and then activating it on the laptop. If you needed to work on the two office workstations again, you would have to deactivate the laptop and activate the workstation.

The File Browser is gone, replaced with Bridge. Although Bridge is very similar in many ways, there are some significant differences, including the following:

• Bridge is a separate, standalone application that can be accessed from any application in the Adobe Creative Suite.

• You no longer flag files but now use a star ranking system and/or color coding.

• There are four built-in workspaces and the ability to make your own, plus you can use the View menu to hide any panel in Bridge.

• There's a different keyboard shortcut to open Bridge as opposed to the File Browser: Command-Option-O (PC: Control-Alt-O).

• You can work with Camera Raw within Bridge or launch it in Photoshop.

• Folders now appear in alphabetical order and can be deleted (in the File Browser it was not possible to delete a folder unless it was empty).

• The result of pressing Command-D (PC: Control-D) has changed: In the File Browser it deselected all selected thumbnails; in Bridge it duplicates the selected thumbnail(s). To deselect, you now press Command-Shift-A (PC: Control-Shift-A).

• Bridge has a Slide Show feature that lets you rank images as you view the slide show.

• The Search feature in the File Browser is now the Find command, with the easy-to-remember shortcut Command-F (PC: Control-F).

Layers

There have been some fundamental changes to the way that the Layers palette operatesand therefore how you work with layers. Changes include:

• Sets are now known as Groups, but otherwise function in the same way.

• There is now a keyboard shortcut for creating a Group. Select the layers you want in the Group and then press Command-G (PC: Control-G).

• The shortcut for creating a clipping mask was Command-G (PC: Control-G); now it is Command-Option-G (PC: Control-Alt-G).

• The Links column in the Layers palette (beside the Eye icons) is goneinstead you now have two options: If you need to move multiple layers at once, you do not need to link them. Simply select the layers in the Layers palette and move them using the Move tool (V) within your document. How-ever, the layers are not linked, so as soon as you select another layer, the originally selected layers will not move together. If you want a more "permanent" form of linking, select the layers and then click on the Link icon, which appears on the bottom-left corner of the Layers palette. The Link icon will then appear to the right of the layer, indicating that these layers are linkedand will remain linked until you unlink them. To unlink layers, select any one of the linked layers and click on the Link icon at the bottom of the palette.

• To perform Stamp Visible (sometimes referred to as Copy Merged), it's no longer necessary to make a blank layer first. Now just hide any layer you don't want to include, target the top layer, and press Command-Option-Shift-E (PC: Control-Alt-Shift-E).

• It's much easier to copy a layer mask from one layer to anotherjust hold down Option (PC: Alt), click on the layer mask thumbnail, and drag-and-drop it onto another layer.

• Now you can simply move a layer mask to a different layer by clicking on the layer mask thumbnail and dragging it to the appropriate layer.

• In Photoshop CS, you dragged a layer style to copy it to another layer. Now if you drag the layer effect, it will move it to the other layer. To copy the layer style, hold down Option (PC: Alt), click on the Layer Effects icon (it looks like the letter " ") to the right of the layer, and drag it to the appropriate layer.

• Another method of duplicating a layer has been added to Photoshop CS2just hold down Option (PC: Alt) and drag the layer within the Layers palette to duplicate it (and position it).