Plug-ins

Plug-in modules are small software programs that extend or add features to Adobe Photoshop CS2 and ImageReady® CS2 software. Once installed, plug-in modules appear as options in the Import or Export menu; as file formats in the Open, Save As, and Export Original (ImageReady) dialog boxes; or as filters in the Filter submenus. Photoshop and ImageReady can accommodate a large number of plug-ins — which is a good thing because your software comes with 80 plug-ins preinstalled.

Here are just a few:

• Pointillize breaks up the color in an image into randomly placed dots, as in a pointillist painting, and uses the background color as a canvas area between the dots.
• Photomerge combines several photographs into one continuous image. For example, you can take five overlapping photographs of a city skyline, and then assemble them into a panorama.
• Displace uses an image, called a displacement map, to determine how to distort a selection. For example, using a parabola-shaped displacement map, you can create an image that appears to be printed on a cloth held up by its corners.
• Glass makes an image appear as if it were being viewed through different types of glass. You can choose a glass effect or create your own glass surface as a Photoshop file and apply it.
• Ripple creates an undulating pattern on a selection, like ripples on the surface of a pond. For greater control, use the Wave filter. Options include the number and size of ripples.

To view more information about installed plug-ins, check the Adobe Help Center (from the Help menu).

Presets

Presets comprises a wide variety of useful tools, including brushes, swatches, gradients, styles, patterns, contours, custom shapes, and more.

The best way to access and explore these tools is via the Preset Manager (in the Photoshop CS2 Edit menu). After you load a library in the Preset Manager, you can access the library’s items in locations such as the options bar, palettes, dialog boxes, and so on.

The presets in Photoshop CS2 include:

• Brushes allow you to apply paint strokes that simulate different painting and drawing techniques or to add custom shapes and symbols. Be sure to check out the great sets for Calligraphy, Faux Finishes, Special Effects, and more. You can even create your custom brushes and share them with others.
• Color swatches are available for a number of color systems and applications including Web-safe palettes, PANTONE®, TRUMATCH, and more. Gradients create a gradual blend between multiple colors. The gradient library contains a variety of blends for metals, pastels, special effects, and more.
• Styles can be any of a variety of effects — such as shadows, glows, bevels, overlays, and strokes — that let you quickly change the appearance of a layer’s contents. Photoshop CS2 comes packed with some great preset styles for creating photographic effects, rollovers, text effects, and more.
• Patterns are images that are repeated, or tiled, when you use them to fill a layer or selection. Photoshop and ImageReady come with a variety of preset patterns, including nature patterns, colored paper, and textured fills.
• Contours are used to control the shape of a Drop Shadow, Inner Shadow, Inner Glow, Outer Glow, Bevel and Emboss, or a Satin effect. Use a Custom contour to create a unique shadow transition. Custom contours created in Photoshop can be used in ImageReady.
• Custom shapes makes it easy to add shapes to any image. Create your own or select from a large assortment of predrawn shape sets such as animals, arrows, objects, and more.
• Actions are a series of commands that you can record and play back on a single file or a batch of files. Both Photoshop and ImageReady include over 100 predefined actions, including handy routines for creating clipping paths, making vignettes, exporting to PDF, or even creating a DVD slide show. To explore actions, select the Actions palette (from the Window menu); choose Load Actions from the Actions palette menu. In addition, thousands more actions are available for download in Adobe Studio Exchange.
• Web photo gallery templates are included for easy customization. Choose from 20 template variations or create your own.
• Workspaces let you customize the location of palettes and tool options to suit your own personal style. Photoshop comes with nine preset workspaces (access via the Window > Workspace menu), including specialized sets for Web design, image analysis, working with type, and more.

Samples

A number of sample files are included to demonstrate new features and to let you experiment risk free with new imaging innovations such as Smart Objects, Vanishing Point, Photomerge, and more. Simply click the image with the name of the feature you’d like to explore. Other files in this folder can help you get more out of existing features. Here are a few highlights:

• Droplets are small applications that apply an action to one or more images. Simply drag your files onto the Droplet icon in Photoshop or ImageReady. Among the 25 ImageReady and Photoshop droplets available, you’ll find time-saving routines for resizing images, batch converting to GIF and JPEG formats, creating thumbnails, saving as PDF, and much more.
• Adobe Digital Negative (DNG) is a file format that contains the raw image data from a digital camera. Adobe’s publicly available, archival format for camera raw files, DNG is designed to provide compatibility and decrease the current proliferation of camera raw file formats. Three sample DNG files are included for you to explore.

Scripting

In addition to comprehensive scripting documentation, more than 50 timesaving sample scripts are included in AppleScript, Visual Basic, and JavaScript formats. Highlights include:

• Alpha Channel From Text demonstrates how to create a new text item and convert it into an alpha channel.
• Batch conversion saves documents as JPEG files and creates thumbnails. Convert Colors converts CMYK to RGB, a foreground color to an RGB color, or an RGB color to its hexadecimal equivalent.
• Link Layers creates two new art layers and then links the second layer to the first.
• Save as TIFF creates a new document and saves it as a TIFF file, using TIFF save options. Plus many more!