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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Macbook Pro, Photoshop
Leslie Billman, Photographer
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Annapolis | Md | USA | Posted: 6:59 PM on 12.17.07 |
->> last week I gave up in my war against Windows Vista and software compatibility problems, and switched over to a MacBook Pro laptop. I loveitloveitloveit, and wonder why I didn't do this 5 years ago. However, I'm having a problem with Photoshop. When I open an image in PS (CS3), the photo is fine, but the PS window is completely transparent, resulting in my seeing the image on top of whatever else is opened on the computer, or the desktop, or a careening screensaver. What I want is a nice, neutral gray surrounding the image. I've been able to solve the problem on an image-by-image basis by going into the Views menu and selecting Screens and then Full Screen, etc., but that's a pain in the tail to do for each image. I can't get it to default to that. I've got Leopard as the operating system. Any suggestions appreciated.
thnx |
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Daniel Berman, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | US | Posted: 7:17 PM on 12.17.07 |
->> I know this doesn't completely help you, but the keyboard shortcut to enable full screen mode is simply the 'F' key, once you have an image open. At least this way you don't have to deal with the whole menu business.
Daniel |
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Mitch Stringer, Photographer
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Towson | MD | USA | Posted: 7:39 PM on 12.17.07 |
| ->> Hey Leslie, did you buy all new software or were you successful in getting your PC software companies to "give" you Mac software either free or at a discount? I am considering the switch myself. |
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Mitch Stringer, Photographer
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Towson | MD | USA | Posted: 7:40 PM on 12.17.07 |
| ->> What Mac model screen size, and specs did you choose? |
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Rodrigo Pena, Photographer
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Palm Desert | CA | USA | Posted: 7:45 PM on 12.17.07 |
->> Leslie, Daniel gave a good tip, just to warn you, the "f" key is a toggle between gray, black and then back to regular screen.
Also, if you want a quick way to get your photo to the full-size of your screen, I use command (apple key) + 0 (Zero). This will make your photo as big as possible without putting it under any tools windows that you may have open.
Another quick shortcut to reduce the size of your photo is command (apple) with the "minus sign" at the same time. To enlarge your photo you can also use command (apple) with the "plus sign" at the same time.
To toggle between brush sizes, you can use command (apple) with the "[" key to make the brush size smaller or command with "]" to make the brush size larger. These save me a bunch of time. I hope they help you as well. Best wishes, Rigo |
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Leslie Billman, Photographer
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Annapolis | Md | USA | Posted: 9:18 PM on 12.17.07 |
->> to answer Mitch's question, I called Adobe, told them I had licenses for not one, but two Windows versions, and with what seemed like an inordinate amount of hassle, sent me a FREE conversion. Had to sign an affidavit, fax it, reveal legacy license numbers, on and on, but in the end it was a free conversion. I used a trial download till they got it all straight.
I'm liking the "f" key idea, as much as I like anything that isn't the default. If anyone's out there who hasn't logged in and has the magic answer, I'd love to hear it. thanks to all who have responded so far.
L. |
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Gray Quetti, Photographer
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Jacksonville | Fl | USA | Posted: 10:45 PM on 12.17.07 |
| ->> Leslie, I asked the same question here when I converted over to a MBP and CS3. Apparently, CS3 places the image on top of whatever you have open in the background. The F key thing works pretty good but I keep a solid color background so not to be so distracting. |
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Leslie Billman, Photographer
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Annapolis | Md | USA | Posted: 6:49 AM on 12.18.07 |
->> Guess I'll have to do the f key, which is pretty cool to know about, but doesn't really solve the annoyance factor...
to answer Mitch's question, I called Apple and they have a long drawn out process for converting a license, including phone calls, assigning numbers, and faxing affidavits. I can't complain - got the conversion to Mac free, and used trial software while I was waiting for the new box to come. As for Mitch's other question, it's a Mac Book Pro, 17 inch. I swapped in 4 gigs of RAM for the two that it came with and it purrs happily all the time.
thanks, all, for the quick help and suggestions. |
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Mark Sutton, Photographer
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Herndon | VA | USA | Posted: 7:06 AM on 12.18.07 |
| ->> Try View>Screen Mode at the top of the menus bar. You have four options to choose from. Hope this helps... |
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Kevin Smith, Photographer
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Lockport | IL | US | Posted: 3:32 PM on 12.19.07 |
->> I just made the switch to Mac about a month ago and have been wondering the same thing with PS. So far, I just deal with it.
The only problem I've had after the switch is now at my day job I find myself trying to use Mac keyboard shortcuts on my PC. |
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Carl Auer, Photographer
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Eagle River | AK | USA | Posted: 5:52 PM on 12.19.07 |
->> If you have CS3 for one platform, all you have to do is pay shipping to trade it to CS3 for another program. Noise Ninja and Photo Mechanic are ok because the same serial number works for both platforms. There are a few programs out there that there is a cross platform fee (Capture One) and some that do not even know what a cross platform upgrade is. You just need to talk to someone who knows what you are trying to do. When I called Adobe, it took all of 5 minutes on the phone, a couple minutes to fill out a form and fax it back to them, and 3 days later I got my FedEx package with a full version of CS3 for Mac. Now if I could only convince Microsoft to transfer my office to Mac.....
The hardest thing for me coming from Windows was the way there was no gray background for Photoshop like in Windows. I was glad to read on a CS3 blog about hitting the F key to get the background to change. Although, I rarely do it any more. I am really liking the look of the Mac environment for all programs over the Windows environment. |
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Garrett Hubbard, Photographer
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 6:14 PM on 12.19.07 |
->> Leslie-
the "transparent background" is not a CS3 thing. It's been on the mac since I switched over to Mac when CS came out. Who knows how long it's been around. Like you I thought it was distracting and I was totally weirded out by it. But toggling the screen modes with "f" is part of my workflow.
blessings,
-Garrett |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 9:01 PM on 12.19.07 |
->> It's just a Mac thing.
The point is no one program dominates the screen and it makes going between programs easy. If you've ever had to copy a lot of stuff from something like a Word window to an e-mail window being able to put them next to each other and then just click back and forth is great. Better than having to go to the bottom of the screen every time you want to activate another window.
Frankly, since I've pretty much always used Macs it doesn't bother me and using Windows where each screen takes over everything bugs me.
If a busy background bothers you you can do several things. The easiest is to keep a clean desktop and you can change the desktop picture to something neutral.
Create a jpeg file in PS that is gray, or the shade you like, that is the same size as the pixel dimensions of your screen. Then make that picture your desktop image and you have a nice, neutral background. Just minimize any other windows to the dock, select the hide dock option and when you're in PS you have a clean background all the time. |
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Jon Buder, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Aztec | NM | USA | Posted: 9:48 PM on 12.19.07 |
->> Do you really make a habit of using more than one program at a time? It's not like there's two mouse pointers, so one window is always going to be active. If you tile them, the two OSes work equally well IMO, but you still have to switch between them.
My favorite method is switching between maximized windows, because it really doesn't take that long to move the mouse down and click on a tab. It also beats having to nudge windows around to show the parts you want, especially on a slower computer.
Even if you have a few windows that only take up part of the screen each, switching between them in Windows can be simpler because the menu bar for each is with the actual window. For example, say you've got a big window in the middle of the screen, andone in the bottom right, which is half covered by the first one. In Mac OS, If you want to open the menu for the bottom right one, you have to go down to the bottom right, click on it (or hit alt-tab or whatever the key where alt should be is called), then go all the way up to the top of the screen to get to the menu. In Windows, you could just click on it, and click on the menu bar that's right there.
Although I'm used to Windows, I can't really say I'm thrilled at any of the available OSes right now. Sometimes I think we were better off in the Windows 3.11 (for workgroups!) days... maybe that's why I'm no longer an IT major. |
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Gary Slickman, Photographer
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Natick | MA | United States | Posted: 9:25 AM on 12.20.07 |
| ->> If you have multiple applications open and you like keeping them maximized- try holding down the 'command key' and then use the 'tab key' to toggle through all open programs. Saves you some mouse clicks... |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 9:53 AM on 12.20.07 |
->> ---- Do you really make a habit of using more than one program at a time? --
Well, yes.
Just this morning I had to transcribe something from a web page to e-mail and having both windows side-by-side and being able to click between them makes that task simple.
And when trying to file quickly on deadline I keep my PhotoMechanic window open so when I finish a photo and close it, all I have to do is tap the mouse without moving it, my PM window is active and I can select the next picture instantly. |
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Leslie Billman, Photographer
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Annapolis | Md | USA | Posted: 9:18 PM on 12.22.07 |
->> At the risk of being thought a total nut-case, my desktop image is, well, my dogs. Winsome eyes, serious countenance, but I love looking at that photo when I'm traveling and working, and what better way to have that image readily available. So with the Mac, I've got one of them peering around the edges of the open image. Disconcerting, to say the least.
I'm not having much luck with the "f" toggle - is it command F? Can't make it work. |
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Rodrigo Pena, Photographer
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Palm Desert | CA | USA | Posted: 9:47 PM on 12.22.07 |
->> Leslie, I'm not sure why your "f" key is not working. I'll state the obvious, first I need to have a photo open in Photoshop CS3. It does not matter if I use the "f" key in caps lock or not, it toggles between two gray screens, one black screen and one regular screen.
I noticed that the "f" key does NOT work if the numbers lock is depressed. For me the number lock is the "F6" button.
I don't need to depress the command key or any other key, just the "f" key to toggle.
Like others have said before, the gray screen thing is not a CS3 function, just the difference between Macs & PC's.
Yes, you're nuts!
AND, your dogs are driving you nuts! hahahahaa Just kidding. |
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Eirik Urke, Photographer
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Oslo | Norway | Norway | Posted: 8:39 AM on 12.24.07 |
->> Leslie,
there is a new function in Leopard called "Spaces", that makes it possible to switch between different desktop setups. I use a separate space/desktop for Photoshop, which gives me a clean desktop even when other programs are open. When needed, I toggle through the programs with the command+tab function. It is also easy to toggle through the spaces.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/spaces.html
You can of course also run the Windows version on the Mac via software like WMware fusion, Parallels or Boot Camp (included). |
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