Unlike Android apps which can be installed using QR codes, there is currently no way to quickly install these WP7 apps. The only way would be to search for them in the Marketplace using your Windows Phone 7.

Google Voice

Google voice for Windows Phone 7 is an unofficial release by a third party. Users can view their inbox, call history and voicemails. According to the developer, Notifications and Live Tile will be coming in the next version shortly. ($2.99)

Poynt

Poynt is a location based app which lets you find local business, restaurants, movie theaters and local weather. The app works around your GPS and pulls down location, phone number,  websites, and map direction for these points of interest via Bing. The app also lets users reserve a table in restaurants and buy movie tickets. The app is currently only available for users in United States and Canada. (Free)

PhotoBucket

PhotoBucket is an official app that lets you upload photos and videos present on your WP7 device to your online PhotoBucket account. Access your online account, browse and search different available categories. You can also download content from PhotoBucket to use them as contact icons and wallpapers. (Free)

Yelp

Yelp is a popular location based service that lets you find and review local restaurants, shops, bars etc nearby. The app brings all of it to your WP7 device. Sadly, it doesn’t pull down content from your online Yelp account to view personalized bookmarks and favorites but will hopefully be included in the  next update. (Free)

Adobe Reader

Adobe Reader application lets you download and read PDF files from your Windows Phone 7 device. The app is capable of reading PDF email attachments and websites. Adobe Reader completely supports multi-touch gestures and accelerometer which helps with the view and orientation of PDF documentation. Hopefully search support, bookmarks and page jumps would be an added feature in the next update. (Free)

Fandango

Fandango lets you find local movies by using your GPS location. You can purchase and secure tickets from your WP7 device. Please note that you will have to create a Fandango account in order to make ticket purchases. The app provides a list of reviews and trailers of movies, and also lists upcoming movies. This free app is integrated with search and browsing tool for quick and easier access. (Free)

Outsider (Formerly ‘…i’m a WP7!’)

Outsider (formerly ‘…i’m a WP7!’) is one of the most popular apps on Windows Phone. Basically, Outsider is a social network made exclusively for Windows Phone users, but apart from that, it is a useful app to have on your device if you are new to the platform and want to familiarize yourself with the Metro UI and other aspects. Outsider has been responsible for the leaks of many firmware version details before their actual release, thanks to its ability to let users flaunt their device and operating system details. The app is continuously updated with new WP tips and tricks, wallpapers, ringtones and videos. The GamerHub in Outsider acts as a messenger for all users with an Xbox account, and also lets you share your gaming experiences with others. (Free)

Wallpapers

The famous wallpapers app from Android is now available for Windows Phone 7 as well, giving you access to more than 8000 wallpapers for free. The app contains 50 different categories in total and new wallpapers are added daily. Users can save images or set them directly as there phone’s wallpaper from this app. (Free)

AP

Get all your news with AP mobile. This app includes breaking news stories, exclusive photos, and videos from Associated Press. The news are gathered from more than 1200 news sources. The app is integrated with sharing capabilities with social networks like Twitter and Facebook. (Free)

Weather Bug

Weather Bug for Windows Phone 7 has similar functions when compared with that of Android and iOS. It includes local weather conditions, forecast, Doppler radar view, live weather cameras and more. Weather Bug app easily be added to the homescreen with an active live tile, showing the current and latest weather conditions. (Free)

Graphic.ly

Graphic.ly is a famous comic reader for desktop and iPads. There are more than thousand comics available to download for both platforms. And yes, this amazing tool is now available for Windows Phone 7. The deep zoom capability of inbuilt Silverlight, offers users a great comic book reading experience. Moreover, users can share comments about particular comics with friends list from within the app. (Free)

Netflix

Netflix, the famous movie streaming app for desktops, mobile and TV have an official app for Windows Phone 7. Users are enabled to browse selection, read synopsis, check rating and stream movies directly on there WP7 device. Netflix is completely equipped with show subscriptions and will use Microsoft’s Silverlight technology to stream shows and movies. (Free)

Shazam

The famous app for iPhone, Android, Nokia and Blackberry now comes to Windows Phone 7. Shazam lets you identify music immediately when you hear it and allows purchasing of songs via Zune marketplace. Sort and store tag option is available to quickly find and access your tagged music. (Free)

Voxofon

Voxofon allows users of WP7 to call Skype, Google talk and more right from their device. Calls to Skype and Gtalk are free, though you have to pay for other VoIP services being used. According to the developers, it works anywhere you have cell phone coverage and doesn’t require Wi-Fi connection. Call rates for Voxofon can be found here. (Free)

Oinc

Oinc is an foreign exchange rate app with currency converter. You can set a base currency for conversions and define currencies to be converted, similar to other currency converter apps for other mobile platforms. Coins available option in the app is basically the currencies it supports. It currently supports more than 60 different currencies. The exchange rates are updated automatically every 24 hours via Yahoo Finance. ($0.99)

Kindle

Amazon’s app for Windows Phone 7 gives user access to more than 725,000 books. It includes Whispersync technology which will automatically sync your place across kindle and kindle compatible devices including PC, Mac, iPad, Blackberry and Android phones. Some features include personalized book recommendations on the home screen and ability to send book suggestions to your friends from the app. Users would be able to read in both portrait and landscape mode with customized reading options varying from font sizes and backgrounds.  (Free)

MyThings

MyThings is a task management and productivity app for Windows Phone 7. You can store, manage and share created tasks and to-do lists easily. Tasks can be formatted within a project. Tasks can be shared via email and SMS instantly, and task-related addresses can be added based on locations. (Free)

Polyglot

The default Microsoft Translator in Windows Phone 7 only supports 5 languages. Polyglot on the other hand, supports more than 30 languages. Developers of this app call it ‘Your Personal Translator’. It is powered by Microsoft Translator with a dead-simple UI in both portrait and landscape orientations. It also plays back audio of the translation being a great companion for travellers. ($0.99)

PageOnce

PageOnce is one of the top ranked personal finance manager for mobile devices. It features account monitoring, transaction insights, bill tracking, spending history and real time alerts. Users can view their spending in terms of details as well as graphs. The user interface is stylish with all the information placed very neatly. (Free)

Password Padlock

Store passwords more securely with Password Padlock. It is a simple password manager app for Windows Phone 7. Users can use a single master password to encrypt all their saved passwords. Microsoft doesn’t let such tools integrate with the built-in browser but this app does encrypt all your password using AES encryption. ($0.99)

Foursquare

Foursquare is a location based social network that incorporates with gaming elements within the device. User share their location with friends via the app or a text message and points are awarded for checking in at various venues. Some added features from its counterpart include directions within the app and a society area. (Free)

Seesmic

Seesmic for Windows Phone 7 lets you easily access and manage your social networks (Facebook, Twitter etc.) in a very neat and straightforward interface. By using this app, you can share photos, locations, see inline previews, attach your location to your tweets, see your friends updates on a map, and much more. (Free)

Colorize

Give your pictures a dramatic look with Colorize. It lets you keep the desired picture detail in perspective, converting everything else in black and white, and can save multiple projects. Pictures can be uploaded to social hubs, such as, Facebook. ($1.29)

Draw

Draw is a simple finger drawing tool for Windows Phone 7. You can load pictures from your phone, camera or web and draw on them with different brushes. The app is loaded with colorful stamps for adding art such as animals, cars, planets etc. User can undo up to twenty actions and can shake their device to clear the screen. Moreover, the app has  support for multiple languages. ($0.99)

Pictures Lab

Pictures Lab is believed to be the ultimate image effects app for Windows Phone 7. It comes with more than 20 easy-to-use and controllable effects like vintage, lomo, soften, sharpen, comic, black & white, sepia etc. A quick list is created with dynamic previews of the effects making it easy to pick the desired effect. The app puts an effect in the original resolution of the picture making it possible to print. ($1.99)

Media Control

Media Control converts your Windows Phone 7 into a remote control for your media player. It supports Windows Media Center, Media Player, WinDVD, PowerDvD, iTunes, and VLC Media Player. Typical media controls are available such as play, pause, stop, next, previous, rewind, forward, and volume. It converts your phone into a networked device  connecting it to your PC. ($2.99)

gReadie

GReadie is a GoogleReader client for Windows Phone 7. Users can search for a feed using the URL or keywords. The app launches the browser to show the full story and can take you back once you hit the back button. Built in integration with Google reader lets users read, update and add feeds. It supports starred posts as well as tags and folders. Feeds can be emailed and shared on Twitter & Facebook. ($1.99)

HandyScan

HandyScan is your personal document scanner for Windows Phone 7. It enables you to use the phone’s camera to scan physical documents and send them via email in JPG or PDF format. Multiple pages can be scanned, aligned/rotated and cropped. Text can be added to documents, as in filling forms. Users can choose the size and quality of documents before sending them. ($4.99)

Torrent Remote

TorrentRemote is a Windows Phone 7 app which lets you remotely manage your uTorrent client on a PC. You can login with your credentials and add, start, stop, pause, delete, and change settings of torrents from your phone. ($1.99)

RoboPrint

RoboPrint allows WP7 users to print their documents to any configured printer, anywhere at anytime. Profiles can be created for different printers separately. It comes in with a Windows Host application that you install on the computer attached to the printer. Users can print Gmail, AOL mail, Yahoo Mail, PDF and images. It supports PDF, DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, TIFF, JPG, GIF, PNG, TXT and HTML files.

Loopt

Loopt is a location based social network app for Windows Phone 7. You can see your friends on the map, check photos and places they have been to, view updates and ping them to connect. On the top of that, it lets you discover places your friends would like to visit. You can quickly and easily share your updates, by uploading pictures and updating places.

MusixMatch

MusixMatch is a famous song lyrics search tool and has been incorporated with an app for Windows Phone 7.  It is a stand alone app for searching lyrics. This app is integrated with Zune media of your WP7 device. Simply play a song and slide over to add-on and the app will automatically launch to find the lyrics of the playing song. (Free)

Collecto

Collecto makes you store all your item collections on your WP7 device. With the help of creating your own collection type, you can manage your items, search them and monitor your loans. With inbuilt Facebook integration, share your items with your friends. You can authorize your friends to see your collection list and lend them items as well. (collecto)

XBMC Remote

XBMC Remote is a library browser and remote control developed for Windows Phone 7. You can mange unlimited XBMC installations from anywhere in the world. Build-in library browser includes both metadata and album art. You can send input to XBMC using the touch screen of your WP7. All relevant information is displayed in from a single panel. ($3.99)

Where is My Car?

This simple WP7 app allows you to save information of your parked car so that it becomes easier to find it. It does so by collaborating GPS location, picture, voice and description. Simple enter description, tag on the map, add a picture and save it. The app integrates itself with Microsoft’s Bing Maps. ($0.99)

Simple Audio Analyzer

Simple Audio Analyzer captures data from phone’s microphone and put forwards the data as FFT graph, meters and waveform. It includes three meters i.e. sound pressure level, peak and RMS. User can change the parameter by simply sliding the finger and tapping. Analyze captured audio signals in various ways with this free WP7 app. ($0.99)

Parcel Genie

You can now send gifts to your friends and family right from your device, using Parcel Genie for Windows Phone 7. Send gifts by using your email address or phone number and pay. Once sent, the recipient receives a text message and asks them for a delivery address. Simple as it could get! (Free)

iheartradio

iheartradio, famous music service by vertigo is now on Windows Phone 7. Users have access to more than 750 of America’s favorite local radio stations and celebrity hosted radio channels. Users can buy commercial free premium account to stay away from running advertisements. The build-in offline mode allows users to listen to podcasts without connectivity with the ability to toggle and skip. (Free)

Flickr Manager

Flickr Manager lets you manage your Flickr account on your WP7 device. Upload and manage photos, add comments, mark photos as favorites, and check basic account traffic, directly from your phone. (Free)

Sling Player

Sling Media launched Sling Player exclusively for Windows Phone 7. You can access shows  from Slingbox over both Wi-Fi and 3G connections. In addition of viewing TV right from your WP7 device, you get the ability to control DVR and stream recorded programs directly to your device. If you are a SlingBox user, then this app is definitely worth a try. ($29.99)

Conclusion

From what we can see above, most of the apps are initial release. More features will be added over time once the developers get used to this new platform. Moreover, we have only reviewed those apps which are new, ignoring the popular apps, such as, Facebook, Twitter, etc. If  there is an app that should have made the above list, let us know in the comments.

Read Top 40 Must Have Windows Phone 7 Apps [Marketplace] by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

This article is part of complete guide series, which also includes, complete guide to Photoshop Preferences, guide to Layers, guide to color channels and guide to Type in Photoshop.

Screen Mode

You can use the screen mode options by navigating to View > Screen Mode. Standard screen mode is selected as the default screen mode. Full Screen Mode with Menu Bar gives you a full-screen window with a menu bar and 50% gray background. Finally, Full Screen Mode displays a full-screen window with only a black background, no title bar, menu, scroll bars ,or panels. Most of the time, you’re working with standard screen mode with available menu bar, tool bar and panels. Full Screen Mode is mostly used to preview the final document, hiding everything else on the screen.

Hand Tool

Moving on, if you have opened an image and you’d like to view another area of the image; select the hand tool and drag it to pan over the image. You can use the hand tool with other selected tools as well by holding down spacebar as you drag in the image. Rotate View Tool helps you rotate the canvas without transforming the image. It can be useful when facilitating easier painting or drawing. OpenGL has to be enabled. To restore the canvas of your open document to the original angle, click Reset View.

Navigator Panel

Navigator Panel is used to quickly change view of your clipboard using a thumbnail display. To display Navigator Panel, select Window > Navigator. The colored box in the navigator also called the proxy view area corresponds to the currently viewable area in the window. To change the magnification, simply type in the value in the text box, click zoom in or zoom out , or drag the zoom slider. To move the view of an image, drag the proxy box in the image thumbnail. If you want to change the color of the proxy view area, click Panel menu button on the top right and select panel options. You can select a preset or custom color.

Zoom

You can also use the zoom tool to zoom in or out from the Tool Bar. When you use the zoom tool, each click magnifies or reduces the image to the next preset percentage and centers the display around the point clicked. The magnifying glass appears empty, when the image has reached its maximum magnification level of 3200% or size of a single pixel. As soon as you select the zoom tool, a tool bar appears at the top, giving you options to zoom in (default selected), zoom out, resize windows to fit, zoom all windows, scrubby zoom, actual pixels, fit screen, fill screen and print size.

To magnify a specific area in a document, select the zoom tool and drag over the part of the image that you want to magnify. The area inside the zoom marquee created is displayed at the highest possible magnification. To move the same sized marquee around in the document, hold down the spacebar and drag the marquee.

Automatically resize the window when zooming when the zoom tool is active. Select Resize windows to fit from the zoom options bar at the top. The window is resized when you magnify or reduce the view of the image. If it is deselected, the window maintains a constant size regardless of the image magnification. It becomes helpful when using small screens.

And not to forget, to temporarily zoom an image, hold down the H key, click in the image and hold down the mouse button. The image will return to the previous magnification and tools, once you release the mouse button and then the H key.

To zoom continuously, select Scrubby Zoom from the zoom options bar. Finally, you can set zoom tool preferences by navigation to Edit > Preferences > Performance.

Arrange Windows

Your opened images appear in the document window. You can open multiple windows to display different images or different views of the same one. A list appears in the Window menu. To bring an open image up front, choose the file name from the bottom of the Window menu. Memory plays a vital role in the opening of windows. It might limit the windows per image. Choose Window > Arrange to see available options.

Cascade will display undocked windows stacked and cascading from the upper-left to the lower right of the screen. Tile will display windows edge to edge. The open windows will be automatically resized to fill the available space, if any window closed. Float in window allows image to float freely. Float all in in windows lets all images float. To show one image in full screen and minimizes the other images to tabs select consolidate all to tabs. Match zoom will match the magnification level of all open windows. Match location will locate and display images from the same location.

Info Panel

The Info Panel shows the color values beneath the pointer and depending on the tool in use. It also display a hint on using the selected tool, document status information and can display 8-bit, 16-bit or 32-bit values. It displays information about an image and also provides feedback about the color values as you move pointer over an image. Choose Window > Info to reveal info panel. You can set the options for the information you want to be displayed by going in the Info Panel dialog box. For the first Color Readout, you have actual color, proof color, color mode, total ink and opacity.

Actual color displays values in the current color mode. Proof color displays values for the output color space. Color mode simply displays the color values in that color mode. The total percentage of all CMYK ink at the pointer’s location, based on the values set in the CMYK setup box is displayed in Total Ink. Opacity display the opacity of the current layer.

Moreover, the status bar located at the bottom of every document window displays some useful information such as the current magnification, file size and brief instructions for using the active tool. You can change the file information view options any time from the pop-up menu. They include note, version cue, document sizes, document profile, document dimensions, measurement scale, scratch sizes, efficiency, timing, and 32-bit exposure.

Read A Complete Guide To Viewing Images In Photoshop by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

This article is part of complete guide series, which also includes, complete guide to Photoshop Preferences, guide to Layers and guide to Type in Photoshop.

Channels

Color information channels are automatically created as soon as you open a new image. The image’s color mode determines the number of color channels created. Alpha channels store selections as grayscale images. Alpha channels can be used to create and store masks, which will let you manipulate or protect certain parts of an image. Spot color channels specify additional information pates for printing with spot color inks. A single image can contain up to 56 channels. Keeping in mind, all new channels have the same number of pixels and dimensions as the original image. The file size depends on the pixel information in the channel. Certain file formats, including TIFF and Photoshop formats, compress channel information and can save a lot of space.

Color channels are preserved, as long as you save a file in a format supporting the image’s color mode. Alpha channels are saved when you save a file in Photoshop, PDF, TIFF, PSD or raw formats. Saving in any other format which may cause channel information to be discarded.

Channels Panel

Channels Panel lists all channels in the image. Composite channels appear on the top as soon as an image is opened. They are called color channels.

Spot channels are merged with color channels, splitting the spot color into its color channel components. Spot colors are special premixed inks used to process CMYK color inks. Each spot color requires its own plate on the process. Spot channels are required if you are planning to print an image with spot colors. They can be exported by saving document in DCS 2.0 or PDF format. Color and opacity for spot channels can be adjusted by double clicking on them, once created.

Masks are stored in alpha channels to save a selection more permanently. Alpha channel stores the selection as an editable grayscale mask in the channels panel. Once stored, you can reload the selection or even load it into another image at any time. Channels panel can be used to view any combination of channels in the document window. For instant, you can view an alpha and composite channel together to see how the changes affect and relate to the entire image. To show or hide a channel, click the eye column next to the channel. (composite, spot, or alpha).

As mentioned before, individual channels are displayed in grayscale. Individual channels in color can be viewed in RGB, CMYK or lab images. If more than one channel is active in the channels panel, the channels always appear in color. Default color can be changed by navigating to Edit > Preferences > Photoshop.

To select a channel, click the channel name. To edit, select it and use painting or editing tools to paint in the image. You can edit in only one channel at a time. Painting with white would add 100% intensity to selected channels and painting with gray will lower the intensity. To fully remove channel’s color, paint it with black.

Created Alpha or Spot channels can be moved above the default composite channels only if the image is in Multichannel mode. To do so navigate to Image > Mode > Multichannel. Drag channel up or down in the channels panel to change the order of alpha or spot channels. Remember, Spot colors are overprinted in the order of their appearance from top to bottom in the panel. And to rename, double click the channel’s name in the Channels panel and enter a new name.

You can always copy a channel and use it in the current document or any other image. Keeping in mind, when you are duplicating the channels, they must have identical pixel dimensions. You can not duplicate a channel to a BMP image. To duplicate, choose duplicate channel from the Channels panel menu. To reverse the selected and masked areas, select Invert. Drag the channel from the channels panel into the destination document to duplicate channel in another image. The duplicated channel will appear at the bottom of the Channels panel. You can adjust the order by dragging it.

You can split channels of flattened images only. It becomes useful when you want to retain individual channel information in a file format that doesn’t preserve channels. To split channels, choose Split Channels from the Channels panel menu. The original image file is closed automatically and the individual channel appears in a separate grayscale image window. You can save and edit the new images separately.

Multiple grayscale images can be merged as the channels of a single image. The images required to be merged must be flattened, open, in grayscale mode and with same pixel dimensions. Choose Merge Channels from the Channels panel menu to merge channels.

It becomes time consuming and difficult to separate images from the background because of pixel details involved within a document. Channels can help users mask out complex objects within a document with clean and sharp edges. Duplicating layers, switching to channels palette, adjusting the levels, fine tune the mask and toggle between different channel views will help you achieve that goal.

Read A Guide To Channels In Photoshop by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

This article is part of the complete guide series, which also includes, a complete guide to layers in photoshop and complete guide to type in photoshop.

You can open Preferences window by going to Edit > Preferences. Once you scroll down to Preferences, you will be able to see a list of options. But to make it easier, simply click General. All available preferences options will now be visible in a new window.

General

General tab will key out settings like color picker, HUD color picker, image interpolations, a number of general options and history log. Color picker outlines two algorithm options to choose from; either Windows or Adobe. By default it is set as Adobe and would certainly give you maximum colors to play with on your clipboard. HUD color picker option will appear in CS5 version. HUD stands for ‘Heads Up Display’. Options for HUD are set out as, Hue strip and Hue wheel. You can make the selection for your own ease and comfort. This is definitely a great plus for digital artists using Photoshop CS5.

Image Interpolation lets you decide which of the available algorithms to use when resizing images. Nearest Neighbor makes the pixels larger or smaller. Bilinear locates the average of pixels and creates a new pixel based on the acquired results. Bicubic is default setting, creating sharp edges and smooth gradients. Bicubic smoother is recommended for enlarging images and Sharper is optimum for reducing an image. Recommendation would be to leave the image interpolation on bicubic.

In CS5, the options include auto-updating open documents, beeping when done, dynamic color sliders, exporting clipboard, using shift key for tool switch, resizing image during place, animated zoom, zoom resizes windows, zoom with scroll wheel, zoom clicked point to center, enable flick panning, and placing or dragging raster images as smart objects.

History log comes useful in saving all spent its and bits when creating an image on the clipboard. It will give you key details of tools used, filters applied and other changes made while drawing an image. It also comes useful when writing tutorials and defining step by step guides. If you select Metadata, if will save the history log with the image making the file size bigger. It can be viewed in any software which is capable of reading image metadata. While selecting Text file, log will be saved in an external text file. You have the option to save the history log in both metadata and text file forms.

Interface

Interface tab lets you choose preferences for the general panel and document interfaces while working on the clipboard. You can make color and border changes to screen, full screen with menus and full screen mode depending on the comfort of colors around your working clipboard. Select show channels in colors, if you want individual color channels in the color palette. By default it is unchecked. Show menu colors is checked by default and it will show background colors in the menu. Tool Tips are tips that appear if you move your mouse point over anything in Photoshop. It is checked by default. If you are not comfortable about your tool tip changing again and again, kindly uncheck it. Auto-Collapse iconic panels will hide all your icon panels if you click anywhere else. Other added options include auto-show hidden panels, open documents as tab and enable floating document window docking. There labels pretty much clear out what they do. User Interface language and font size can be changed as well. Default language is the same as the one you selected when installing Photoshop. (CS5 in this case).

File Handling

File saving and compatibility options can be adjusted from the file handling preferences. Image Preview, is the thumb nail which appears when you click an image in explorer. Saving an image preview will slightly increase the file size. By default, it is set as always save and that’s what most users recommend. Other options include never save and ask when saving. File extensions can be set as either upper case or lower case and completely depends on the user.

In CS5 version of Photoshop, camera raw utility comes into action. By default, it is preferred to use Adobe Camera Raw extension for supported Raw files. When you’re saving a file, it asks you for maximum file compatibility. You can set it as ask (default), never and always. Lastly the recent file list, visible from the File menu is set to default as 10, you can increase the number provided you’re working with a number of files at the same time. And need a quick referral back to those files.

Performance

Performance of Photoshop, whether it comes to rendering huge sized files or files with a number of layer with them, plays a key role. You can assign the memory to Photoshop from the Memory Usage tab. By default, it is set to 60%. If you have a higher RAM space, i.e. 8GB DDR 3 then increase it to 70 or 80% to greatly increase the overall performance.

History and Cache takes the optimization of cache levels and till size for documents in account, mainly including your hardware configuration. History states (set as default to 20) are the maximum number of history states defined to retain in the history panel. Number of cached level of image data can be set from Cache Levels. It is used to improve screen redraw and histogram speed. It is recommended by developers and core users to use more cache levels for bigger documents with few layers and choose fewer cache levels for smaller documents with many layers. Cache tile size is the amount of data Photoshop stores and processes at once. Choose bigger tiles for faster processing of documents with large pixel dimensions and choose smaller tiles for documents with small pixel dimensions with many layers.

Set your scratch disk to act with fast drives, be it internal or an external interface but not your boot drive. Users prove that any drive with sufficient available space works.

In GPU settings, enabling OpenGL drawing activates certain features and interface enhancements in Photoshop. Features include rotate view tool, Birdseye zooming, pixel grid, panning preference, scrubby zoom, HUD color picker, sampling ring, on-canvas brush resizing & hardness, bristle tip preview and Adobe Repousse (extended versions only).

OpenGL enhancements include smooth pan and zoom, drop shadow for canvas border, 3D interaction acceleration, 3D axis widget and 3D overlays. Most 3D preferences are disabled if OpenGL drawing is disabled.

Cursors

Cursors comes in effect to change brush or painting cursors. The painting tools have three possible cursors; standard cursor, cross hair cursor, and cursor that matches the size and shape of selected brush tip. From the painting cursors tab, you can select the desired cursors. Sample cursor appears to reflect the choice being made. Normal brush tip restricts the cursor size to areas of the brush stroke that have more than 50% of opacity. While, Full size brush tip sizes the cursor to the entire area affected by the brush stroke. For soft brushes, it will produce a larger cursor size than default settings, to include the areas of the brush stroke with lighter opacity. By default it is set as normal brush tip. You can furthermore enable show crosshair in brush tip and show only crosshair while painting.

Transparency & Gamut

Transparency settings can be changed in terms of grid size and colors. Grid size can be kept as none, small, medium and large. By default it is set to Medium. Grid colors can be customized to light, medium and dark. And in colors; red, orange, green, blue and purple. You can set custom colors for the grid as well. Gamut is a range of colors that a system can display or print. A color that can be displayed in RGB could be out of gamut, and unprintable. All pixels outside the gamut of the current profile space are highlight in gray by default. You can change this gamut warning color from these settings as well.

Units & Rulers

Rulers help you position images, elements and shapes precisely. They appear along the top and left side of the active document. Markers display the pointer’s position when you move it. You can measure specific point by changing the ruler origin on the image. Rulers unit of measurement can be changed from these preferences.

Column size measurement provides information needed to create documents in the column and width of a document. Column width and gutter size can be adjusted in terms of inches, cm, mm, points and picas. It is set to points by default. If working with the same document size again and again, create a document preset resolution, currently set to 300 for print resolution and 72 for screen resolution. 300 pixels/inch is recommended by all designers when printing documents.

Postscript (72points/inch) sets a unit size compatible for printing to a PostScript printer and traditional uses regular points/inch for normal printing.

Guides, Grids & Slices

Guides and grids help you position your shapes and elements. They appear as non printing lines that float over the clipboard. You can set a specific color and style for these guides from this tab.

Smart Guides help you align shapes, slices and selection. The color is set to Magenta by default but just like other preferences, you can always change it.

After you establish the four nodes, and perspective plane is active on the clipboard, you can see a bounding box and a grid (commonly seen when transforming objects, shapes etc.). You can adjust the grid size in terms of color, style, spacing and subdivisions. It will make it easier for you to count elements on the image, if necessary.

Slicing comes in as a key part when you’re design websites in Photoshop. Slice color is set to light blue as default. Customize slicing color and also enable / disable show slice numbers.

Plug-ins

Photoshop supports a number of third party plugins. Most plugins have there own extension panels. You can specify additional plug-ins folder as well as allow extensions to connect to the internet for upgrade and other purposes if required.

Type

Earlier this week, we posted a complete guide to Type. For type options, within preferences you can enable the usage of smart quotes, Asian text options, missing glyph protect, font names visibility and font preview size.

3D

From 3D preferences, you can allocate space for VRAM. For this, OpenGL Drawing must be enabled. It doesn’t affect OS and general Photoshop VRAM (video memory) allocation. It strictly sets the maximum VRAM 3D is allowed to use. Large allowance will help with faster 3D interaction, especially with high resolution images. 3D overlay can be specified in terms of colors for guides for highlighting 3D scene components during 3D operations. Parameters for Ground Plane guide can be set in terms of plane size, grid spacing and color during 3D operations in Photoshop. Image quality threshold that defines the quality of ray traced rendering when Quality menu item in 3D scene panel is set to ray traced final can be set via Ray Tracer. Finally, specific behaviors can be adjusted when 3D files are loaded in terms of active light source limit and default diffuse texture limit.

Adjust your preferences mode properly depending on your Photoshop usage to get key rendering results and faster speed.

Read A Complete Guide To Photoshop Preferences by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Type Layers

Type layers is only supported on documents with layers. They aren’t created for images in Multichannel, Bitmap, or Indexed mode. Why? Because they simply don’t support layers. When you create type, a new type layer is added to the Layers panel. You can edit the type and apply different blending options. Simple Type style, even with applied blending options will stay vector-based. But if you were to apply filters and certain effects, it will convert to pixels loosing its key vector-based abilities. In a single Type layer, you can change the orientation of type, apply anti-aliasing, convert between point type and paragraph type, create a work path, apply transformation (except for perspective and distort), use layer style, use fill shortcuts and warp type to conform a variety of shapes.

There are three ways in which a type can be created: at a point, inside a paragraph, and along a path. Point type is a horizontal or vertical line of text that begins wherever you click on the clipboard or image. It becomes useful if you only want to add few words to your created image.

Paragraph type uses boundaries to control the flow of entered characters, horizontally or vertically. This becomes useful when creating brochures. Type on a path flows along the edges of an open or closed path. When text is entered horizontally, characters appear along the path perpendicular to the baseline. And when entered vertically, they appear parallel to the baseline. The text will flow in the direction in which the points were added to the created path.

To edit type, simply click an image with a type tool. When in edit mode, you can enter and edit text and perform other commands which we will look into further. Select Move Tool to go back to normal working mode. You can convert point type to paragraph type to adjust the flow of characters properly within a box. Similarly, you can convert paragraph type to point type to make each text line flow independently. To do so select the type layer in the Layers panel. Choose Layer > Type > Convert to Point Text / Paragraph Text.

Horizontal & Vertical Type Tools

Type Tool can be used as horizontal and vertical type tool. Masking type tool come in action in both same ways as well. Simply select one of them as required and enter text on the clipboard or working area. Users can specify curly or straight quotes for quotation marks, apostrophes and abbreviations (feet and inches). Select or deselect Smart Quotes under type options to use them.

Text Tool Bar

The main text tool gives you the features like tool preset picker, text orientation, font family, font style and size, anti-aliasing method, align, text color, create warped text and character & paragraph panel. We have reviewed the tool preset picker above as horizontal and vertical type tools. Toggle text orientation is a quick shortcut to it. It determines the direction of type lines in relation to the document window or the bounding box. When a type layer is vertical, the type flows up and down; when horizontal, the type flows from left to right. You can simple enter a type and adjust it to vertical or horizontal orientation. Font family, style and size are to the point when making type selections.

Anti-aliasing produces smooth-edged type by partially filling the edges. As a result, the edges of the type blend to the background layer. When creating images for the web, anti-aliasing greatly increases the number of colors in the original images. It reduces users ability to reduce the size of image file. The anti-aliasing options available are sharp, crisp, strong and smooth. Moreover Text can be aligned and color can be set.

You can create warped text to add certain affects to your text layer. It wont rasterize your text layer and you can make additions to your text later on when required as well. Text wrapping styles include arc, arc lower, arc upper, arch, bulge, shell lower, shell upper, flag, wave, fish, rise, fisheye, inflate, squeeze and Twist. Settings can be done by further modifying the orientation (horizontal & vertical), bend, and distortion (horizontal & vertical).

Character Panel

Formatting options for characters can be done from the Character panel. It can be displayed by choosing Window > Character or simply clicking the character panel tab if it is open but not visible. Apart from the basic font settings like font family, style, and size; adjustments like vertical scale, horizontal scale, tsume option, tracking, baseline shift and kerning options are also available. Change type color, underline or strike through the text, all caps or small caps, and specify superscript or subscript characters. Superscript and subscript text is reduced-size text that is raised or lowered in relation to the font’s baseline.

Line character and spacing can be adjusted by setting a lead. You can open the character panel right next to your clipboard and see the changes in effect instantly. Kerning is the process of adding or subtracting space between specific pairs of characters in a text layer. You can automatically kern type using metrics kerning or optical kerning. Metric kerning uses kern pairs to notify about the spacing of specific pairs of letters set by font style. However, when a font includes only minimal kerning or none at all, or you use different type faces in the same type layer, you might want to use optical kerning.  It adjusts the spacing between characters based on their shapes.

Use baseline shift to move selected characters up or down relative to the baseline of the text surrounded by it. It is useful when you are adjusting the position of a visible font. Select the characters or type objects and set the baseline shift option. Positive values move the baseline above the original baseline and negative values move it below the baseline.

To turn on tsume option, you must select Show Asian Text Options in the Type Preferences to appear in the character panel.

Formatting Paragraphs

For Type point type, each line is a separate paragraph. Each paragraph can have multiple lines, depending on the dimensions of the box. You can select paragraphs and then use the Paragraph panel to set formatting options for single, multiple or all paragraphs in a type layer. Paragraph panel is to be used for the formatting of columns and paragraphs. Choose Window > Paragraph to show the panel. Paragraph panel options include Alignment and justification, left indent, first line left indent, space before paragraph, hyphenation, right indent and space after paragraph. Changes can be made to the values by using the arrow keys and hitting Enter. To align, select a type layer and choose one of alignment options available in the Paragraph panel.

The settings you are going to choose for hyphenation will affect the horizontal spacing of lines and the overall appeal of type on the clipboard. It determines whether words can be hyphenated or not. Choose Hyphenation from the paragraph panel and specify the option which include hyphen limits, zones, capitalized words etc. These settings only be applied to some characters.

Words can be prevented from breaking at the end of each line. Select the characters you want to prevent from breaking and choose No Break from the character panel menu. The text might wrap, if you apply no break rule to a adjacent characters.

Type Effects

A number of effects can be applied to type layers to change their appearance. We already mentioned above using the wrap effect from the text tool bar. You can convert type to shapes, add drop shadow, inner glow and a number of other options from layers blending panel. Type characters can be used as vector shapes by converting them to a work path. It is a temporary path that appears in the Paths panel and defines the outlines of the shape. You can save it and manipulate it after creating a work path. To do so, select a type layer and choose Layer > Type > Create Work Path.

Some examples of type effects using blending options like drop shadow, bevel and emboss, inner & outer glow, pattern overlay etc. Click the layer style button on the Layers Panel or simply right-click and enter into Blending Options. You can fill type with an image by applying a mask to an image layer placed above a type layer in the layers panel. Click here to read a full review.

Rasterizing

Some tools applied in Photoshop, such as filter effects and painting tools are not available for type layers. You must rasterize your type layer before applying any such effects. Rasterizing converts the type layer into a normal layer which makes its content editable to any extent. Once you try to apply such an effect on type layer, a warning message will appear stating that the it requires to be rasterized. Most warning messages provide an OK button, which will rasterize your text layer.

There is much more achievable just for type interfaces in Photoshop. All you have to do is play with all the basic options available including characters, paragraphs, styles, and blending options.

Read A Complete Guide To Type In Photoshop [Tutorial] by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

The software is half an MB in size. As soon as you open Dydelf, a clean and simple interface appears. Open an image file from the actions columns. Preview of the original image is available at all times while you’re doing processing to the image. Before we get into the core part of Dydelf, it is recommended by the developer to resize images if they are too big, because after posterizing, reducing image size can destroy the outline created by the image processor.

Actions contains all the key buttons from opening an image to finalizing your effect. Automate option lets you convert contents of an entire folder. Once clicked, file explorer will ask you to locate the source and destination of the folder. Processed images can only be saved as BMP files. Lastly ‘oPosterize’, starts to outline posterizing of loaded images.

Colors are always the basic step whenever applying effects. And it hugely impacts the file size as well, less colors, smaller file size; more colors larger file size. In Dydelf you have a range of regular 8 to 256 color selection bar.

Palette bar lets you select outline color and background color. To make color selection simply click on the color box. You can use pre-defined colors or define a color using the palette bar, which can be done by clicking define custom colors.

Checking no outline turns off edge detection for an image. No outline will be drawn around flat color areas. Checking solid background removes color areas from posterized image. Outline will be drawn on solid background. Isolated pixels can be removed by checking remove isolated pixels. Greyscale converts opened image into shades of gray. Anti-aliasing minimizes the distortion of different facts within the image.

A simple and straight forward tool to quickly posterize your images. The only drawback is it only saves in BMP format which take up more space than other formats. However, it is not much of a big deal since you can use ImageTuner or one of the many image converters we have reviewed before to change the format.

Download Dydelf

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Layers

Layers in Photoshop are like sheets of fabric. Transparent areas can be seen through the layers to the layers below it. You can move a layer, just like sliding a sheet from one to another. Opacity and fill can be changed to make content partially transparent as well. For instance, if you simply import a new layer from the web, it has one layer. Number of additional layers, its effects and sets are limited only to your computer’s memory.

You work with layers in the Layers Panel. Creating layer groups help you organize and manage layer for the ease of usage and saves time when moving layers, visibility, and blending options. These created groups can be nested within other groups and so on. These same groups can be used to apply different attributes and masks to multiple layers simultaneously. Sometimes layers don’t contain any content. An adjustment layer holds only color or tonal adjustments that affect the layers below it. Rather than editing the image directly, you can simply edit the adjustment layer to get the necessary effect.

Smart Objects, basically contain one or more layers of the content. Transformation can be done in terms of scale, skew, and reshape without directly editing image pixels. Smart Objects can be edited as a separate image even after placing it in Photoshop clipboard. Just like layers smart objects can also contain smart filter effects, which simply allow you to apply filters to images so that you can later tweak filter effects.

Video layers can be added to add video to an image. After importing, video layer can be masked, transformed, with options to layer effects, painting individual frame and convert it to a standard layer. Timeline panel can be used to play the video within an image or accessing individual frames.

Selecting & Grouping Layers

Layers can be selected in terms of layers panel, document window, or/and in a group. You can select one or more layers to work on them. For activities like painting, making color, and tonal adjustments, you can work only on one layer at a time. A single selected layer is called active layer. The name appears in the title bar of the document window. For other activities such as moving, aligning, transforming, or applying styles, you can select multiple layers at a time. It can be done using the move tool. Or simply select layers by holding the Shift or Ctrl key.

Click a layer to select a layer in the layers panel. To select multiple desired layers, click the first layer and then shift-click the other layers to be selected. To select a number of layers, use  Ctrl + Click in the layers panel. To select all layers, choose Select > All Layers. To deselect a layer Ctrl + click. And to have no layer selected, click in the layers panel below the background layer or simply choose Select > Deselect Layers.

Stacking & Locking Layers

To change the stack order of layers and group, simply drag the layer or group up or down in the layers panel. Release the mouse button when the highlighted line appears where you want to place the layer or group. You can place layers within groups, or groups within groups. To move a layer to a group, simply drag the layer and place it inside the group. To reverse the order of selected layers, choose Layer > Arrange, and choose a command from the sub menu. To enable these options you must have to select at least two layers.

Showing the edges of the layer can help you move and align content as required. Transform handles can be displayed for selected layer, layers, and groups with Ctrl + T to resize, move or rotate them.To display the edges of content in selected layer, choose View > Show > Layer Edges.

To display transform handles in a selected layer, select the Move tool or from the options bar, select Show Transform Controls or simply press Ctrl + T after selecting the layer.

To Align objects on different layers use the Move tool. Layers can be aligned in terms of single layer, multiple layers, and groups. Choose Layer > Align or Layer > Align Layers to Selection and choose a command from the sub-menu. Same commands are available as Alignment buttons in the Move tool options bar including, Top Edges, Vertical Centers, Bottom Edges, Left Edges, Horizontal Centers and Right Edges. Distribution of layers and groups evenly can be done using the same commands.

The Auto-Align Layers command can automatically align layers based on similar content in different layers, such as corners and edges. Using the Auto-Align command, you can combine images by replacing or deleting parts of images and sticking images together. After doing Auto-Align you can use Edit > Free Transform or Ctrl + T to fine tune the final alignment. Use Auto-Blend layers to stitch or combine images with decent and smooth transitions in the final image. It applies layer masks as needed to each layer to mask out over or underexposed areas of image.

Auto Blend is only available for RGB and Grayscale images. It would not work with smart objects, video layers, 3D layers or background layers. To do so, copy or place the images you want to combine in the same document. Each image will come in as a separate layer. Select the layers you want to blend. With the layers selected choose Edit > Auto Blend layers. Panorama and Stack images are the objectives processed in Auto Blend mode. Panorama blends overlapping layers into a panorama image and Stack Images blends the best available details in each corresponding area.

Layers can be locked fully or partially to protect the content. To lock, select a layer or group and click the Lock All option in the layers panel. Partially lock can be done in terms of transparent pixels, image, pixels and image position, from the same layers panel.

Masking Layers

Masking comes in as a great tool in Photoshop for layers. You can add a mask to a layer and use them to hide certain portions of the layer. It helps to reveal the layers below. Masking layers is a valuable compositing technique for combining multiple photos into a single image or for making color and tonal adjustments to the layer. When adding a layer mask, you have the option to hide or show all of the layers, or simply base it on transparency.

Later, you can paint on the mask to hide portions of the layers, revealing the layers below it. To add a mask, click Add Layer Mask in the layers panel or choose Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal all. To add a layer mask that hides part of a layer Alt + Click the add layer mask button.

To create a mask from layer transparency, choose Layer > Layer Mask > From Transparency. Photoshop automatically converts transparency into an opaque color, hidden by the newly created mask. The color depends upon the filters and processing applied previously on the layer. Lastly, to apply a layer mask to another layer, simply move the mask to another layer by dragging it. To disable or enable a created mask, click the Disable/Enable Mask button in the Masks panel or select the layer and choose Layer > Layer Mask > Disable or layer > Layer Mask > Enable. A red ‘X’ will appear on the mask once its disabled.

Vector masks can be created using the pen or shape tool. To create a vector mask that reveals the entire layer, click Vector Mask button in the Masks panel, or simply choose Layer > Vector Mask > Reveal All. To add a vector mask that shows the contents of a shape, select the layer and a path or use one of the shape or pen tools to draw a path and click the vector mask button in the Masks panel. To edit the created vector mask, select the mask you want to edit and you shape or pen tool to make changes to the created paths.

To load a layer mask’s boundaries as a selection, select all non transparent areas on a layer. It becomes useful when you want to select text or image content that is contained by transparent areas. Ctrl + Click the layer thumbnail in the layers panel. If a selection already exists and you want to add pixels to it, press Ctrl + Shift and click the layer thumbnail in the layers panel. To subtract a selection, press Alt + Shift, and to load the intersection of the pixels and existing selection, press Ctrl + Alt + Shift and click the layer thumbnail from the layers panel.

Managing Layers

Layers management can be done in terms of renaming a layer or group, assign a specific color, rasterizing layers, delete a layer or group, export layers, track file size and merge and stamp layers. To rename a layer or group, double click the layer or group name and enter a new name or press Alt and double click the layer or group name. To assign a separate color other than default, choose Layer Properties or press Alt and double click. Layers can be rasterized into a flat or raster image by selected the layers you want to rasterize and choose Layer > Rasterize and select options from the sub-menu like type, shape, fill content, vector mask, smart object, video, 3D, layer and all layers or Ctrl + E after selecting the layers.To delete a layer or a group, select and press the trash bin or choose Layers > Delete > Layer or Delete layer or hit Delete from keyboard. To delete hidden layers, choose Layers > Delete > Hidden Layers.

Opacity & Blending Options

Opacity and Blending options lets you specifiy overall and fill opacity for selected layers, blending mode for a layer or a group of layers, filling new layers with a neutral color, creating a knockout, excluding channels from blending mode, group blend effects and specify a tonal range for blending range.

A layer’s overall opacity determines to what degree it obscures or reveals the layers below it. A layer with 1% opacity will be almost transparent, whereas layer with 100% opacity will appear completely opaque.  Changing opacity and fill values can be done from the layers panel. You must select a certain layer or group to make changes.

A layers blending mode determines the way its pixels will blend with underlying pixels of different layers in the overall image. A number of special effects can be created using the blending modes. By default the blending mode of layers is set as Pass Through, which means that the group has zero blending properties of its own.

You can effectively change the order in which the images (layers) are put together by using different blending modes. When you apply a certain blending mode to a group, it effectively changes the order in which the image layers are put together. The composite group is treated as a single image and is blended with the rest of the image using the selected blended mode.

To add a blending option, select a layer or group from the layers panel, choose a blending mode which can be normal, dissolve, darken, multiply, color burn, linear burn, darker color, lighten, screen, color dodge, linear dodge, lighter color, overlay, soft light, hard light, vivid light, linear light, pin light, hard mix, difference, exclusion, subtract, divide, hue, saturation, color and luminosity. Or choose Layer > Layer Style > Blending Options and then choose an option from the Blend Mode menu. The easiest and quickest way is to select a layer and choose the blending option from the layers panel.

You can fill new layers with neutral colors. Certainly, you cannot apply filters to layers with no pixels or data in them. Selecting Fill with neutral color in a newly created layer resolves the problem. The new neutral color is assigned according to the layer’s specified blending mode. The fill with neutral color option is not available for layers that use normal, dissolve, hard light, hue, saturation, color or luminosity blending modes.

Layer Effects & Styles

Photoshop provides a number of effects that change the appearance of a layer’s contents. Layer effects are always linked to the layer contents. When you edit the layer content, same effects are applied to the modified version. For instance, if you add a drop shadow to a text layer, and add a new text, the shadow is automatically added to the new text as well. You can apply preset styles provided in Photoshop or create custom styles using the Layer Style box. The layer effects icon appears to the right of the layer’s name in the Layers panel. You can expand the style in the layers panel to view or edit the styles.  You can open the Blending options to customize the layer style by double click on the layer or right-click and select Blending Options.

Layer Style dialog box displays all available effect options which can be completely customized. You can create custom styles using drop shadow, inner shadow, outer glow and inner glow, bevel and emboss, satin, color, gradient and pattern overlay and stroke. When modifying layer effects, you can use contours to control the shape of applied effects over a given range. You can select, reset, delete or change the preview of contours in the contour pop-up panel and present manager.

Preset styles can be applied from the Styles Panel. (Window > Styles). The preset styles are grouped into libraries. Click a preset style and apply it to selected layer by dragging it to the document window. To apply a created style to another layer, Alt + Drag the style from layers effect list to copy it to another layer. You can change how the preset styles are displayed by clicking the triangle in the Styles panel.

All created and applied layer styles can be displayed or hidden by clicking the eye next to the effects. You can select a single effect or simply enable / disable all the effects applied to a certain layer. To delete a layer effect, simply drag it to the Delete icon in the layers panel. Lastly, you can convert created layer style to image layers. You can enhance the result by applying filters. But you can no longer edit the layer style on the original layer and the layer style. Choose Layer > Layer Style > Create Layers. Modification can be done to the newly created layers in the same way as regular layers.

Adjustment & Fill Layers

Adjustment Layers in Photoshop applies color and tonal adjustments to your images / layers without changing pixel values. Rather than making a level, color, or curves adjustment directly to your image, you can create a adjustment layers from the layers panel. Once created with customized settings, it is applied to all layers beneath it. The benefit is that you can correct multiple layers by making a single adjustment rather than adjusting each layer separately.  Using adjustment layers provides users nondestructive edits to their images with selective editing and ability to apply adjustments to multiple images. On the other hand Fill layers, let you fill a layer with a solid color, a gradient or a pattern. Fill layers do not affect the layers beneath them. Adjustment layers contain adjustment data rather than pixels, they increase the file size far less than standard pixel layers. If you are working with large sized files, you can reduce file size by merging adjustment layers into pixel layers.

Adjustment and fill layers have the same opacity and blending modes like regular image layers. You can always rearrange, delete, hide and duplicate them. To create an adjustment layer, click the adjustment icon from the layers panel or choose Layer > New Adjustment Layer and choose an option. Fill layer can be created the same way by choosing a fill layer type (solid color, gradient and pattern). Adjustments can be modified at any time by double clicking on the adjustment layer icon.

As soon as you create an adjustment or fill layer, they automatically act as layer masks, indicated by the mask icon. You can create and adjustment or fill layer by using a selection, path or a color range.

On the end note, Layers in Photoshop plays a big role, no matter if you’re a beginner or a pro user. The ability to use layers properly can give you outstanding results in your projects by saving you time and securing your work.

Read A Complete Guide To Layers In Photoshop [Tutorial] by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

As soon as you open Kinovea, the integrated File Explorer lets you browse your video collection visually just like any simple video editor. All the supported files are displayed as thumbnails. Bookmarks can be saved via a shortcut manager for faster look up. The build-in video controls let you focus on a particular action within the video by exploring the motion frame by frame or in slow motion. The best part about this software is that it would play almost all native formats and codecs.

Users can add enriched content to their videos by using the drawing tool, which lets them add different shapes like lines and arrows with added description to key positions. The build-in line and chronometer tools let you measure distance and time. You can follow motion path and measure speeds by using the semi automated tracking tool. The Dual-screen mode allows you to compare two videos side by side. Dynamic comparison can be done by synchronizing on a common event. Saving back to video or multiple images, and saving the analysis data to a spreadsheet format for further processing are some exporting options available.

1. Main Menu

Main menu previews the list of basic commands available in Kinovea like choose a video file, list previously opened videos, close specified videos, save working files or key images, save analysis in spreadsheets, file explorer, one or two playback screen, invert video positions and show / hide common controls and more.

2. File Explorer

File explorer has two panels on the left side of the screen. Folder gives you direct view of your system explorer tree. And Videos files are shortcuts allowing you to frequently bookmark folders and files.

3. Video Preview

The video loaded by you will be previewed in this core part of the entire software workplace.

4. Image Controls

In this tab, you can see the key image controls for your video. You can add a key image, move a drawing or image when zoomed, show the comments window, add text label, hand drawing, line or arrow, cross market, angle measure, stopwatch, grid visibility, magnifier visible and color profiles for drawing tools.

Click Add Key Image to add key control to the position of interest. The key images toolbar unfolds and a thumbnail of the current image will appear on the screen. Remember, each image (frame) from the video can be tuned into a key image. Comments can be added one each image by clicking the comment button.

To draw on an image, click any drawing tool and then click anywhere in the image. Simply a drawing is added on the image. You can always change the color and style of the drawing using right-click, move and resize it as well.

5. Playback Controls

You can set the working zone and control the video from this panel. Lock / unlock the working zone start and end. Set the selected image as the start or end of the work place environment. Selection bar, navigation cursor, markers for key images, stop watch, path tracking, synchronization point, navigation controls, loop, save a snapshot or sequence of snapshots and video.

Viewing Videos

To open and play videos, use the file explorer to navigate. The thumbnails panel on the right displays the files that can be opened. Simply double-click on a thumbnail to open the video in a player screen. With the help of selection cursors set a working zone for your project. If you’re working zone is short, the software will automatically switch to Analysis Mode. It will help by extracting the frames composition for faster access and giving you full control on the timeline.

Zoom feature allows you to zoom on certain selected objects in the video. Click zoom and a small screen will appear on the top left of your preview screen. Move the zoomed image by dragging it around using the hand tool. Click on the magnified zone to fix the source. Transform feature comes in to resize the selected zone. You can always move the source zone to focus on other objects or details in the video. Magnification factor can be changed by right-clicking on the source.

You can change the magnification from 1.5x to 2.5x or simply switch to direct zoom.

The software automatically tries to detect the aspect radio from the file. If it fails or you want to change the aspect ratio it can be done by navigation to Image > Image format , and choose one of the available presets.

Specify the captured frame rate by right-clicking on the video source and select ‘configure original speed’. It will give you the default frames per second rate of the video but you can always increase it to make the scene slow motion. Make it work like a high speed camera recording!.

When comparing videos, use the mirror function available in Kinovea. This quick effect can be achieved by navigating to Image > Mirror.

Use overlay grids to make observations on a plane perpendicular to camera axis. Grid can be moved by drag / drop and can be resized by using the circular handles at each corner. Grid colors can be changed by double clicking on the grid overlay to have a better contrast with the video in the background.

Videos can be summarized with the overview function (Motion > Overview). Set the number of images to use for the composition and orientation (left to right or right to left). All playback controls are disabled once in overview. It can be saved by right clicking on the image and using save current image file to. To return the to the regular workplace, go back to Motion > Overview or choose the close button on the screen. Motion video can be played in reverse by navigation to Menu > Reverse. It will simply revert the order of images in the working zone.

To track an object, right-click an object to track. Move the video forward by using the Play button or hit enter key. Adjust point location when required during the path creation. Once done, to finish tracking, right-click and use Menu > End Path Tracking. Additional information on total distance or speed can be displayed by choosing the criteria.

To add stopwatch or timer, click stopwatch button from the drawings toolbar. Click anywhere to add a timer and it will become visible. Right-click on it to configure color, font size and label. To start it simply right-click on it and click ‘start stopwatch’. Play the video and stop the watch proceeding the same method. You can hide the stopwatch using the Hide StopWatch option after the measured event. A number of stopwatch can be separated by simply labeling them.

Distance measurement can be done by using the line tool. Set the physical length of a visible object by a adding a line over it. Right-click on the line and set the calibration measures in terms of centimeters, meters, inches, feet and yards. Distance can be measured over several images by using the tracking tool. The path will be displayed by the total distance between start and present point.

Tracking tool also supports the display of the speed at tracked point. Select Speed in measurement options from the configuration menu. The speed indication is the average speed of the segment between the previous and current point. Preferred speed units can be set from the preferences dialog.

Lastly, all the data from the video in terms of key image positions, path tracking and stop watch values can be exported in a list to an OpenDocument, XML, XHTML or simple text file. (File > export to spreadsheet).

Saving can be done in terms of analysis, still images, videos and special videos. All the saving options are available on the bottom right of your playback controls or from the file menu. Save a single image or sequenced images, videos with key images, tracked objects or added stopwatches, all basic additions you’ve done to your video can be saved with complete analysis.

It works on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7. Testing was done on Windows 7 64-bit system.

Download Kinovea

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After installing the app, it will ask you to enter the passcode which is set as ‘hello’ by default. User Interface is neat and seamless (however some users are complaining that it is buddy). You can turn on safety by tapping on the ‘Application Safer ON/OFF’ on app’s top right corner.

Third party and default apps can be locked by a single tap on the lock icon right next to their name. Unlock mode can be set to either passcode or pattern lock via the settings. Unlock status can be set as lock every time, keep unlock status until screen off, unlock once for all apps until screen off, keep unlock status until reboot, and unlock once for all apps until reboot. Notification icon can be enabled or disabled via the same settings.

After completing the settings, give it a try by opening a locked app on your Android. And it will ask you for a passcode or pattern unlock (whatever mode you have adjusted). It’s a simple app and does what it says.

Install Application Safer from AppBrain or scan the QR code.

Read Lock Your Android Apps With Application Safer by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

AndFTP – Android FTP, FTPS and SFTP client

FTP apps are something every developer uses. Whether it comes to giving quick updates to your clients, or just to test certain aspects of your project, if you need access to the contents residing in server, ANDFTP is a powerful app and a robust utility. It’s a fast and securely manageable client.

It gives you the options to quickly manage files with a built in device and FTP file browser. Just key in your credentials for multiple accounts, choose the one to access and the app will pull up your file tree with very easy to navigate interface.

It supports download and upload features with the support of easy download resuming. The app also supports FTP, SFTP and FTPS connections as well. You can read a detailed review of this app, here.

Connectbot – Secure Shell Client

A lot of developers use SSH client to connect to a remote computer. Just to add a little background, SSH is a network protocol that allows user to exchange data using a secure channel between two networked devices. It is primarily used on Linux and Unix based systems to access shell accounts.

Connectbot is a free app for Android that creates a secure connection through which you can use a shell on a remote machine and transfer files back and forth to your device.

It can manage several SSH sessions and create secure tunnels. Users can copy / paste between other apps as well. This utility comes in with a number of keyboard shortcuts for hardware and virtual keyboards. Users can access SSH, telnet and local server. Direct shortcuts can be created to frequently used SSH accounts on the home screen.

Overall, a great free SSH client for Android that gives you almost the exact same features that are available in a desktop SSH client.

Magic Color Picker – Color Selection

Color selection is essential for developers and designers when creating beautiful user interfaces, logos, banners, and so on. Suppose you’re in a quick meeting with your client, and color selection pops up as a topic. Pick your Device, and Open Magic Color Picker. It’s a free tool for quickly selecting suitable colors by using a number of different color models.

This app supports 7 different modes and 4 models including RGB, HSV, HSL and YUV. You can use either palette or sliders to adjust and create colors. Colors are shown in decimal and HEX.

Having wheel of web colors on your device will save you a lot of time. You can make color selection for projects on the go. The only drawback of this app is not able to export, bookmark or email your selections.

HTML Editor – Test HTML, JS and CSS

Whether it comes to basic HTML codes, java scripting or configuring CSS style sheets, quick code editors comes in as a great help. HTMLeditor is a free app that lets you code and test HTML, JavaScript and CSS sheets.

The typed code can be saved to memory card and can also be previewed in the mobile browser. Base file location can be changed via Settings.

Developers of this app recommend usage of hardware keyboard. It does give you the option to type in from the virtual keyboard with added assistance to show the programmed special keys on the screen.

A great app for developers to quickly test small scripting modifications for their projects.

ActionScript Reference – Find AS3 Classes

Are you a Adobe Flash and Flex developer? If yes, then you must be familiar with Action Script 3 and the help docs it comes with. You will surely appreciate this free app called ActionScript Reference. It will save you a lot of time on the go with quick access to up-to-date AS3 classes.

It indexes all available AS3 helpdocs for Flash and Flex developers right in your device. Users can view all classes and search them by class names.

Typography Junkies – All About Type

Designers have some source of inspiration when constructing different designs. Typography is an art and technique of arranging type, and type design becomes a core part of every design.

Typography Junkies is a great app which every designer should carry. This free app keeps you up-to-date about latest font types with added videos and image.

Moreover, the types are collaborated with different sort of images, videos and social media content.

Thinking Space – Mind Mapping

Brainstorming on the go, who doesn’t do it? Being a developer / designer, there are tons of ideas roaming around. Thinking Space is an awesome mind mapping app to note down all ideas quickly and make connections between them.

The extremely good user interface will make you dig more into this app. Users can export their created maps as images and send them via email.

You can use this app for tasks, planning, meetings, and so on. As an added feature, you can upload and download maps to your device via Thinking Space Web Portal.

Thinking Space is also compatible with famous Freemind software for PC, Mac, and Linux.

Wrap Up

So be it quick coding, looking for AS3 classes, selecting the perfect color, making your life much easier when dealing with clients or just playing with typography, these apps would definitely save you time and keep you active while on the go. We would love to hear about any replacement for these apps, if any!

Read 7 Best Free Android Apps For Developers On The Go by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Always Check Your Battery Usage

The key step is to know what aspects of your device are being used and keeping a check on battery usage. To find what part of the device is using the most percentage of battery, go to Settings > About phone > Battery Use.

You will be able to see how much battery is being consumed by display, cell standby, Android System and Phone idle. Apart from these defaults, third party apps or controls will be displayed as well with the battery ratio being consumed by them.

The biggest power consumer is the display itself, having a bigger touch screen means more power consumption. Simple widgets are available in the Market like Battery Use Widget, which can give you a quick update via home screen on what’s consuming the battery.

Reduce Phone Brightness

As you can see from the battery usage level, most of the battery is being consumed by the device display. Backlight in these devices adds up to more power consumption. Brightness can be adjusted by going to Settings > Sound and Display > Brightness.

Automatic brightness adjustment is also available but it is not recommended by most users. Reasons being it being unable to adjust brightness at times. It is preferred to move the adjustment slider to the left. Adjust it accordingly if you’re unable to see the phone.

Depending on light conditions, you can use Brightness Level Widget for home screen. It helps to set brightness in five different percentages. If you’re not satisfied, make the adjustments from the slider present on the widget.

Adjust The Delay In Screen Timeout

You can adjust your screen timeout settings so when not in use the display automatically gets turned off. Go to Settings > Sound and Display > Screen timeout. It can be set from 15 seconds to 30 minutes.

Naturally, the smaller the number, the higher your device will last on a single charge. If you want to leave your phone on, just place a widget on your home screen like Toggle Screen Timeout. It becomes useful just because you wont have to go to settings over and over again. This widget collaborates with the default preferences available in the phone for screen timeout.

Keep A Check On Connectivity

Connections, such as, data, Wifi, Bluetooth and GPS, are all power hungry. They are consuming battery because they are turned on, not just because they are being used. It doesn’t matter if they are being used or not. The best practice it to only enable them when they are needed, otherwise they are better kept disabled.

Installation of widgets like One Click Widget comes in as a great help. You can put all these connection shortcuts on the screen and simply turn them on / off with a single tap. Most Android phones comes with default connection widget which can be seen in the screenshot on the right.

Conclusion

Finally, the key points to remember are screen and connectivity. The less they are in use, the more battery you’re going to save. Everything else, including task managers to kill apps are useless. If users keep these both basic aspects in mind every time they are using their devices,  they can end up using their devices for a longer period of time.

Read The Basic Guide To Saving Your Android Phone’s Battery Life by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter

Backup Your Contacts

Most of the users, just like me are not used to backing up their contacts to SIM manually. Of course, there is hardly any storage on those little chips. And yes, those days are gone when contacts were to be written down on a specific contact diary. In case your phone dies, you have no one to get in touch with. Android has a great in built utility by which contacts can be synced with Gmail, which is just awesome!

No doubt, it’s a Google phone! Go to your Contacts menu > More > Accounts, and check Background Data and Auto-sync. It will backup your contacts to Gmail contacts with all the details. On the other hand, any new contact added on either side (phone or Gmail) will appear in the contacts list. So you won’t have to give a second thought while entering a contact that it should be saved somewhere else as well.

You can also export your contacts to SD card. But again, it has to be done manually.

Backup Your Messages

Remember those days when your phone will alert you to delete some SMS messages once the memory is full. Today, devices can carry unlimited SMS messaging entries with the added external memory.

On Android devices , you can set storage limits provided you want to delete the old messages. Although there is no build-in structure which would backup your messages. In case your phone wipes out for who-knows-what-reason, you will lose all important messages in no time.

We reviewed SMS backup Utility called SMSBackup, which will automatically backup all your messages to Gmail account. Its as simple as setting an SMS folder on your Gmail and all your messages get copied into that folder automatically. Read full review and setup guide here.

Backup Your Apps

If you’ve been using your Android for quite some time now, and have created a collection of best apps after hunting them down in the Android Market for months. You will probably want to create a list of them so that they can be installed again easily on a new device.

Android has no default app backup function. Though, 2.2 Froyo comes in with the capability of installing apps directly to SD card.

Astro File Manager, which we have reviewed previously is a great tool to backup apps to the memory card. It’s a free backup utility and task manager in a single package. A recommended tool by many for quick backup of default and third party apps to the SD card.

But the better alternative would be to use AppBrain. By using AppBrain you can create a list of your favorite apps and install them in any Android device with a simple sync. This also helps in installing your favorite apps in a new device when the old one gets lost or stolen.

Backup Your Settings (Including Calendar, HomeScreen, and Photos/Videos)

Backup of customized phone and home screen settings can be done as well. Full customization of home screen, we all do it! If you’re porting to a new device, or just upgrading the firmware, you do want to backup your home screen.

If a disaster happens within your phone, you definitely don’t want to waste huge amount of time configuring widgets, shortcuts and settings again. Knowing how to restore these settings can save you lot of time. MyBackup Pro is a great app by Rerware for just $4.99. You can download the 30 day trial version just to know what it can do for you. You can backup to SD Card or an online account with this app. It lets you backup applications, contacts, call log, bookmarks, SMS, MMS, system settings, home screen, alarms, dictionary, calendar and music playlist.

If you’re looking for a free tool, Titanium Backup is the right one. But it works only with rooted devices. So either root your device or simply spend five bucks to buy MyBackup. Your choice!

On the end note, tools like MyBackup and Titanium Backup can do all sorts of backup for you. We have recommended some individual apps if that’s what you’re looking for. Rooting ofcourse, makes you do way more with your phone in terms of a full backup. Usage of complete backup tools will make your life much easier in many ways.

Did we miss something? Feel free to leave a comment!

Read The Basic Guide To Backup Your Android Phone [For Beginners] by Saad Sadiq on AddictiveTips - Tech tips to make you smarter