Dave's Tip #8

[Dave Cross]

It's still madness in the world of NAPP, preparing for "new stuff" and all, but I'll try to get back to adding tips on a more regular basis...

This one's a little longer, but It's a great way to deal with "fringes" of color on layers. This happens when you select an object and drag it into a different document and you notice a very slight edge of the original background around the layer (you know what I'm talking about, right?)

Here's how to "fix" that.
1. In the Layers palette, Control click (Mac: Command click) on the name of the layer you dragged over. This will load a selection of the layer
2. From the Select menu, choose Modify>Contract. Use 1 pixel most of the time (2-3 for higher res images)
3. From the Select menu, choose Inverse. (This selects just that 1 pixel border around the layer)
Optional step: press Control H (Mac Command H) to hide the selection edge
4. Either a) press backspace (Mac delete); b) Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur of less than one; or c) from the Edit menu, choose Fill and change the Blending mode to Clear and the Opacity to 50%
5. Deselect.

This works not only to remove a fringe, but also can help make a dragged layer blend in a little better with its surroundings - especially when you use the Gaussian Blur filter.

Til next time
Dave

[Jodi Frye]

Dave, I feel kind of good about myself when you post a tip that I already knew ;)

Aren't I terrible ? Thanks

:)

[Dave Cross]

Jodi,
That's great - I know what you mean about that being a good feeling. My ultimate hope is that I'll run out of tips becuase everyone knows them already!

[Lorace Graham]

Keep tipping, Dave. I have a long way to go before I "know it all."

Very interesting. I'll have to go to the old messages and catch up on these.

You wouldn't believe the book I'm acquiring by printing many of these tips/answers on this forum.

It's the easiest forum I've ever used.

Thanks,
Lorace