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Some advanced tools are easy to use and fun with Adobe's Photoshop Elements 4.0. Here's a quick guide to what some of these tools do.

The Magic Wand tool will select pixels in a similar color range to the ones you click on your picture. This tool is great for erasing large areas of an image that is very similar in color. I used it in my example photo to erase the clouds of the picture. I clicked on the wand tool and then clicked an area that was basically all clouds. I then got a dotted line outlining most of the clouds in the sky, then erased them using my delete button.

After the clouds are gone you can fill the dotted area using the eyedropper tool and the paint filler, or bucket. Click on the eye dropper tool and then click on a portion of the sky that is the color you want the rest to be. Looking at the color selection at the lower left of the window you can see what the color will be when you use it. Clicking on this box will bring up a window that allows you to alter or change the color. Now click on the Paint Bucket Tool and then move the bucket into the dotted area and click. It will fill the area with that color, you then use the brush tool with to smooth and fill in the color on the rest of the areas that did not get erased.

To remove the dotted lines of your selected area you have to be in the Magic Wand selection, click on the Magic Wand tool and then right click anywhere to get rid of the dotted lines. You then click on the brush and color in the areas of clouds that you did not get rid of with the Magic Tool.

The Magic Want Selection Tool is a handy and easy way to select one particular color in the picture, but beware that you only have that color of the thing you want to get rid of or alter in the area you want to be altering. This will choose any of the same colors in the entire picture. For instance if you have a picture with a person wearing a white shirt with clouds in the background and you choose the clouds to get rid of them, the shirt may also be chosen if the color is close to the one you picked.

If you want to pick and choose an area with a similar color and only in that part of the picture you would use the Magic Selection Brush Tool. This tool picks the area that is similar based not only on color but on texture to the areas near it. You can use this brush to paint the sky, not having to be careful of getting close to the trees and such of the border and it will automatically select the entire sky. You can then select a color and fill in the area to create your own sky color. You can use this tool to change the color of objects easily and quickly.

The brush shows the color that you use to see what you are selecting, let's say someones shirt. You can change the color of the brush to anything else if it is too similar to what you are working on by using the toolbar at the top of the window. Clicking on the color block will pop up a color chart and you can choose a different color for the brush that helps you see the area you are choosing.

When you paint in an area using the brush you will have a dotted line on the edges of the areas that are similar in color and texture. Using the brush you don't have to get real close to the edges, just paint any areas that are similar with a quick line of the brush. You can then delete that color and area and fill in with another, changing someones shirt color easily. You can alter the color using the color fill and the opacity settings by just filling over the original color and having the opacity set somewhere below 100%. With this method you can tone down a too bright shirt and not alter any of the rest of a picture.

The Lasso, Polygon Lasso and Magnetic Lasso Tool is other useful tools that selects areas using a drawn line that follows either the brush you are using or snaps to the objects that you select depending on which feature you select. These tools are very useful but hard to use and takes a lot of practice. This is one of those advanced features that takes a lot of patience and practice to become adept at. Using these tools in conjunction with the features of the tools you can select objects that have varying colors and textures to alter or edit them. This is handy for things like selecting something like a basket with a bottle of wine in it that would be different textures and colors.

The Spot Healing Brush is another very easy to use tool but is one that takes patience to use. This brush replaces the color and texture with one that is appropriate to the one that yo choose using either of the options of the tool. If you choose Proximity Match it will color over the area of the brush with the color and texture that is near it. This is useful to hide or color over blemishes or other unwanted features on people skin. If you select Create Texture the tool will automatically use the colors under the brush to make a color and texture to replace the ones there. Another very useful function of this tool is to cover over distracting portions of a picture. I have pictures of my son we are going to use for his Senior Portraits. One has him sitting on a tree and there are some large brighter and darker colored areas and knots on the tree that is somewhat distracting. Using this healing tool you can get rid of those areas and replace them with colors and like textures that are of the bark near the areas we want to replace. This quickly and easily replaces those areas you don't want on a photo with the colors and textures near by or with ones created like the ones they are replacing.

Two other handy tools are the Blur and Dodge tools. The blur tool does just that, blurs the area under the brush at the strength that is selected at the top of the window. The size and the strength can be changed along with some other features like whether you want to darken or lighten the blur or if you want to change the color or other features like this. Blur is nice to use to highlight a person or object in a photo and make the background less busy. If the subject of your photo is in a busy background or if the colors in the background are similar to the ones of your subject you might want to blur the background to make the subject stand out more.

The Dodge tool is also a handy tool to change certain areas of a photo and keep the original texture and color, only lighten or darken the area. If you want to darken or lighten an area you would simply use this tool and paint the area. Using the brush size for the control to color the areas and dodge to lighten or burn to darken you can color an area of a photo to lighten or darken it. This is handy when an area of a picture is in shadow but you don't want it to be or if you want to create a shadow area.

The Sponge tool is a very similar tool that changes the color saturation of an area. This will make colors appear brighter or darker without coloring over them with a white or black as in the Dodge Tool. This is handy for toning down a color or brightening one without changing the actual color. The Dodge Tool changes the color of the object by adding or taking away from the color using black and white. The Sponge tool uses the same color only it moves up and down the color scale depending on whether you are brightening or darkening.

These tools are handy ways to edit and fix photos and make the subject in your photo stand out. They also help you separate your subject so you can work on areas that need to be altered without changing other parts of your photo. Adobe's Photoshop Elements comes with many handy tools to help you make the most of your digital imaging.

As a supplement to this technote, you'll need to patch 9.0 in the following sequence to get to 9.3.1. You cannot jump directly to 9.3. Here's the sequence for Acrobat…

9.0 > 9.1.0 > 9.1.2 > 9.2.0 > 9.3.0 > 9.3.1

If you are deploying Reader, you can download 9.3 and then simply patch that with 9.3.1.

 

What next? Time to add or fix fields

Acrobat doesn't always do a perfect job finding form fields.

• Acrobat may find too many fields
• Acrobat may not find all your fields
• Acrobat might add the wrong type of field
• Acrobat might make a field too big or too small

Deleting and Sizing Fields

• To delete a field, simply select it and hit the DELETE key.
• To make a field larger, simply drag one of the "handles" to the desired size.

 

Adding new Fields to the Form

Acrobat allows you stamp several kinds of fields on top of the form as needed.

Here are the types you will use most often are:

• Text Fields
  Allow your patient to type whatever they want into the field

• Check Boxes
  Allow the patient to tick off an item

• Radio Buttons
  Allow the patient to select only one out of a series of options

• Regular Buttons
  Allow the patient to clear fields or submit a form via email.

You can add additional fields by clicking the Add New Field button at the top of the window

Acrobat offers several types of form fields. Select the type you want from the list and stamp it on to the document.

Changing the Text Fields

Text fields in Acrobat can hold thousands of characters of text. By default, if the text doesn't fit the field, Acrobat makes it smaller until it is eight points high. After that, Acrobat can (optionally) scroll the text in the field.

If you double-click on a Text field, you can change various options for it:

1. Font, size, color of the text
2. Allow or disallow multiple lines of text
3. Limit the amount of text in a cell
4. Formatting (e.g. make all phone number conform to a style like (888) 999-0000 even if the patient didn't type it in that way

Adding or Changing Radio Buttons

Radio buttons offer a mutually exclusive set of choices to your form. By using a radio button, you can ensure that the patient only chooses one out of an allowable set of options. For example, you can be either married or single, but not both.

O the sample form, Acrobat did not create fields for minor, single, married, at the top of the form. I've marked them with the red lines below.

Adding radio buttons is a bit trickier because Acrobat maintains them as a group.

Here's how to add a set of radio buttons:

1. Click the Add New Field button and chose Radio Button from the list
2. Stamp a Radio Button on top of the document
3. A yellow options window appears:

   A) Fill in the name of the group of buttons
   B) Fill in the name of the button that is being clicked
   C) Click the Add another button to group and then add the next radio button

Adding an Email Button

HIPAA rules state that doctors and healthcare organizations need to be extremely careful when transmitting patient data.

Fortunately, patients are not covered entities and can choose to convey information to you the way in which they are comfortable, including email.

Here's how to add an email button:

1. Click the Add New Field button and chose Button from the list
2. Stamp the button onto the form (usually in the upper right)
3. Give the button in name in the yellow options window, then click the Show All Properties link
4. Click the Appearance tab in the Button Properties Window
   Change the fill and border colors to your taste
5. Click the Options tab of the Button Properties window
   Fill in the Label field with the text you want to appear on the button face

6. Click the Actions tab of the Button Properties window
   A) Choose Submit a form from the Trigger pop-up menu
   B) Click the Add button
7. Make the following changes . . .
   A) Enter mailto: followed by the email address you wish to receive the form
   B) Click PDF The complete document
   C) Click the OK button
   
8. Click the Close button

Reader-enabling the Form

Normally, a patient using the free Adobe Reader software can view, print and navigate a document, but cannot save any changes. This limitation includes saving data patients have typed into the form.

However, if you have Acrobat 9 (Standard or Pro), you have PDF superpowers. You can "bless" a PDF for your patients so that they can save their information in the form.

This process is called Reader-enabling the document.

Here's how:

1. Open the form you wish to Reader-enable

2. Next choose the appropriate option based on which version of Acrobat you have:
   
   Acrobat 9 Pro:   Advanced> Extend Features in Adobe Reader . . .
   Acrobat 9 Standard: Advanced> Extend Forms Fill-in & Save in Adobe Reader . . .

3. Acrobat will prompt you to save the form.

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In this Photoshop Tutorial I will show you how to create a Red Gel Butterfly. The gel effects can make some nice looking icons and graphics. You can create this butterfly any size that you want. You can make a small icon out of it or you can create a nice graphic from it. I will write the first part of this tutorial for beginners and the second part for the advance Photoshop users. If you are an advance user, please skip down to the advance part of this tutorial.

How to Create a Red Gel Butterfly in Photoshop for Beginners

Open Photoshop and let it load. Then click File > New at the top of your Photoshop window to create a new canvas. Create your canvas 150 pixels by 150 pixels. Set your background to white and click OK.

Create a new layer in your Layers Panel. If you do not see your Layers Panel then press F7 on your keyboard. Click the icon in the bottom of the Layers Panel that looks like a sheet of paper with the corner curled up.

Click on your Shape Tool in your toolbar and hold it down until the menu drops down. Then click Custom Shape Tool. At the top of your window you will see Shape and a drop down box. Click the arrow to drop the box down. On the right side of the box you will see a little arrow. Click that arrow and select All from the drop down menu. This will load all of your shapes in your shape box. Now select the Butterfly Shape Tool. Draw your butterfly on your canvas whatever size you want it.

Right click on your Shape Layer and click Rasterize Layer from the pop up menu. Right click on the Shape Layer again and click Blending Options from the pop up menu. This will open your Blending Options window and this is where you will apply all of your effects to get the Gel Butterfly.

Blending Option Panel

Inner Shadow

Blend Mode – Multiply
Color – # a13333
Opacity – 50
Angle – 65
Distance – 11
Choke – 25
Size – 23
Contour – Linear
Anti-aliased – Unchecked
Noise – 0

Inner Glow

Blend Mode – Multiply
Opacity – 20
Noise – 0
Color – # 600000
Technique – Softer
Source – Edge
Choke – 0
Size – 8
Contour – Linear
Anti-aliased – Unchecked
Range – 50
Jitter – 0

Bevel and Emboss

Style – Inner Bevel
Technique – Smooth
Depth – 90
Direction – Up
Size – 12
Soften – 4
Angle – 90
Use Global Light – Unchecked
Attitude – 67
Gloss Contour – Linear
Anti-aliased – Checked
Highlight Mode – Screen
Color – White
Opacity – 100
Shadow Mode – Multiply
Color – Black
Opacity – 0

Satin

Blend Mode – Overlay
Color – fa0f0f
Opacity – 100%
Angle – 70
Distance – 38
Size – 38
Contour – Ring
Anti-aliased – Checked
Invert -Checked

Color Overlay

Blend Mode – Normal
Color – # f70303
Opacity – 100%

Stroke

Size – 1
Position – Outside
Blend Mode – Normal
Opacity – 100%
Fill Type – Color
Color – Black

You can apply a Drop Shadow to your butterfly if you want to by clicking on the Drop Shadow effect. Click OK on the Blending Options window once you are done. Your butterfly should look like the one in my image. If you have any problems with this Photoshop tutorial, please feel free to contact me using the contact button at the top of this page.

How to Create a Red Gel Butterfly in Photoshop for the Advance

Create a new canvas 150px by 150 px. Set your background to white.

Create a new layer.

Select your Custom Shape Tool and change your shape to the butterfly.

Draw your butterfly on your canvas whatever size you want.

Rasterize your Layer.

Open the Blending Options for your Shape Layer and apply the following effects.

Blending Option Panel

Inner Shadow

Blend Mode – Multiply
Color – # a13333
Opacity – 50
Angle – 65
Distance – 11
Choke – 25
Size – 23
Contour – Linear
Anti-aliased – Unchecked
Noise – 0

Inner Glow

Blend Mode – Multiply
Opacity – 20
Noise – 0
Color – # 600000
Technique – Softer
Source – Edge
Choke – 0
Size – 8
Contour – Linear
Anti-aliased – Unchecked
Range – 50
Jitter – 0

Bevel and Emboss

Style – Inner Bevel
Technique – Smooth
Depth – 90
Direction – Up
Size – 12
Soften – 4
Angle – 90
Use Global Light – Unchecked
Attitude – 67
Gloss Contour – Linear
Anti-aliased – Checked
Highlight Mode – Screen
Color – White
Opacity – 100
Shadow Mode – Multiply
Color – Black
Opacity – 0

Satin

Blend Mode – Overlay
Color – fa0f0f
Opacity – 100%
Angle – 70
Distance – 38
Size – 38
Contour – Ring
Anti-aliased – Checked
Invert -Checked

Color Overlay

Blend Mode – Normal
Color – # f70303
Opacity – 100%

Stroke

Size – 1
Position – Outside
Blend Mode – Normal
Opacity – 100%
Fill Type – Color
Color – Black

Click OK when you are done. If you have any problems with this Photoshop tutorial please feel free to contact me.

In response to two critical vulnerabilities in Acrobat and Adobe Reader 9.3, yesterday Adobe released the 9.3.1 update for both applications; users of the older 8.x versions can update to 8.2.1 to resolve the security issues. One of the two vulnerabilities addressed would allow a malicious PDF to make unauthorized cross-domain requests; the other could crash the PDF application and possibly allow an attacker to gain access to other parts of the system.

The first flaw is related to a Flash Player issue that was revealed last week; if you have not updated Flash to the latest version (10.0.45.2 as of this moment, see your version & current versions here) & you aren't blocking Flash, you should go get the latest build right away. Although you can configure auto-update notifications in Flash Player, it's not clear if Mac OS X clients are consistently getting these reminders to update.

Even though Mac users are far less likely to be targeted by malware than our Windows-using friends and family, vigilance is still critical. Security analysis firm ScanSafe reported that it saw the percentage of exploits delivered via PDF files rise from 56% at the beginning of 2009 all the way up to 80% in the 4th quarter, so keeping those Adobe apps current — or, better yet, using Apple's Preview app as the default PDF reader on Mac OS X — is only prudent.

Today, a Security Bulletin has been posted for Adobe Reader and Acrobat. The update addresses critical security issues in the products. Adobe recommends that users apply the updates for their product installations.

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties and confers no rights.

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Are you just starting out on Photoshop? Do you have absolutely no idea where to begin? I was exactly where you were not too long ago. After hours of research and exploring Photoshop I've finally got a strong grasp and you can too! In this first tutorial, you'll learn the basics of Photoshop. You'll be a pro in no time!

First, I'd like for you to open up Photoshop and start with a blank canvas. To do that you must go to file. From file you go to new and then create a new image. It'll offer you the option to make the image a preferred size. If you make a mistake, much like many other programs you can go to the top at “edit” and it'll offer you the option to undo the last thing that you did. 

The best thing you can do as a graphic artist is create intricate art in layers. To work in layers, there is a section on the right side of your Photoshop window that's dedicated to them. You click the “new layer” option. This will help in the long run if you want to take something out of the image. 

If you would like to edit a certain section of the image you use the rectangle selection tool. After selecting it, do whatever you would like to edit that specific selection. Do you know how to select a color? Well, if you don't-I can help you. On the right side there is a box that has two boxes with colors in them. The one box that is the top is black. The other one below that is white. Click on one of them and a chart of colors will pop up. You can select from there. If you want to switch between whatever color is in either the top box or the bottom box, just click the arrows and they'll switch. The top box will be the color that you're using. Another thing that you can do to make your life easier is fill in an area with the preferred color with just one click. On the left side of the screen there will be a bucket pouring paint out. Click that button. Select the color you'd like to use and then left click the mouse in the spot you'd like to be that color. If you would like to add text to your image click the “T” button on the left side and click where you'd like add it. You'll notice a box that offers a chance to change the size, font, and color of the text if you would like to.

Next, I would like to tell you about the History Brush tool. We've all been there, we've made mistakes and want to revert back to the previous step. I've already told you about the undo option, but there's another option of finding up to 20 steps of history. Really, the only problem I've found with this is that it uses memory up. If you would like to change how many steps back it'll go whether smaller or bigger (assuming you've got a lot of ram) go to Edit, Preferences, General – History States. 

That's it for now, but please look forward to my other tutorials that I plan on creating. Hopefully this has helped you.

Download Adobe Reader 9.3 for Windows from Fileforum now.

Usually on a Patch Tuesday, the discussion turns to Microsoft; but amid a very light round of Windows fixes, it's Adobe in the spotlight today. Last month, a serious and potentially easily exploitable vulnerability was found in a JavaScript API call, DocMedia.NewPlayer — a situation where an intentionally crafted PDF file could invoke the call, deallocate the memory allocated when the media player is generated, and then execute the code in that de-allocated memory, without need for privilege.

Adobe Reader 9.3 was released today, right on schedule, to address this issue. In the meantime, the company is realizing the changing nature of the platform business, and how Reader/Acrobat and Flash are now just as susceptible to potential attacks as any other platform, including Windows. Interestingly, the cross-platform nature of the Acrobat platform means that Mac users were just as susceptible to this exploit as Windows users.

Beyond today's update, Adobe is busy working on non-improvised means for improving its platform users' security long-term. Already last October, it began implementing what it calls the JavaScript Blacklist Framework — a way for its platforms to maintain actively updated lists of non-trusted sources for executable content. Last month, Adobe advised users to use this Framework to effectively blacklist the API call — a way of turning off the vulnerable function (which was rarely in use anyway) as an alternative to disabling JavaScript.

Meanwhile, beta testers are working on a potential update to today's update: a new version of the Reader that replaces its current updating mechanism. Today, Reader automatically checks for updates whenever it starts. But as Adobe Senior Security Researcher Kyle Randolph blogged this morning, testers are examining the efficacy of an always-resident mechanism instead — something that could silently update Reader and Acrobat (and perhaps Flash as well) in the background.

“The new updater improves the user experience and helps users stay up to date with the new option of receiving security updates automatically, via background updates, which have been shown to have better patch adoption,” Randolph wrote. “Some customers, such as corporate IT administrators, need to know and manage which updates are installed and when. But a lot of customers, particularly consumers and individuals who don't have the autopilot luxury of a managed desktop environment, just want to have the most secure and up-to-date version, and don't want to be interrupted when it is time to install an update. By allowing customers to select an update process that automatically runs in the background, we can help protect more users from attacks against known, patched vulnerabilities.”

It would be yet another always-present driver in the system, which in the case of Windows might go against the company's new architecture. Last November at Microsoft's PDC 2009 conference, Technical Fellow Mark Russinovich introduced Windows 7 developers to the Unified Background Process Manager — a service that leverages the task scheduling system to enable processes to do their jobs and leave memory without staying resident all the time. At the show, Russinovich explained several reasons why this new architecture was not only more efficient, but conceivably more secure.

Adobe already uses one stay-resident utility, Speed Launcher, whose efficacy at performing its stated task has been somewhat variable — more accurately, Adobe uses one Launcher for Reader and another for Acrobat. Having both on the same Windows XP-based system was the cause of a problem Betanews encountered a few years ago.

I'm so glad I ditched Adobe Reader a long time ago. It's a real POS.

A little bird told me that part of the reason for compulsory updates is so Adobe can keep an eye on other Adobe software installed on a users system. Using the reader as a kind of trojan horse to get in and send back information about the keys to Adobe apps like Photoshop. This is of course just a rumour, one I may, or may not have started.

Here's a typical user case scenario for the viewing of a PDF document. User gets out of bed. User wants to read PDF's, has heard Adobe Reader will do that. User goes to download it and instead of getting the download, first has to go through installing a new download system. After lunch user finally has the 16 gigabyte install for the reader software done, along with some extra software they didn't ask for. User goes to read PDF document but now there are updates, these are important security updates. User believes they must have these. After dinner user tries again to read the PDF document and the crowd goes wild, he shoots, he succeeds!

Cue Jingle

|At Adobe Dynamics, we make simple tasks stupidly hard, because we can.

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