User Guide

CHAPTER 2
26
Looking at the Work Area
Using the toolbox
The tools in the toolbox let you select, paint, edit,
and view images. Other controls choose
foreground and background colors, create quick
masks, and change the screen display mode. Most
tools have associated Brushes and Options
palettes, which let you define the tools’ painting
and editing effects. (See “Using the Options
palette” on page 29.)
For information on the foreground and
background color controls, see page 214; on Quick
Mask mode control, see page 250.
For an overview of each tool, see
online help.
To display the toolbox:
Choose Window > Show Tools.
To move the toolbox:
Drag the toolbox by its title bar.
Selecting tools
You select a tool by clicking its icon in the toolbox.
A small triangle to the right of a tool icon indicates
a pull-out menu of hidden tools.
To select a tool:
Do one of the following:
• To select a visible tool, click its icon.
• To select a hidden tool, position the pointer on
the visible tool, and drag to highlight the tool
you want.
Use these shortcuts to select tools:
• To select a tool quickly, press its shortcut
key on the keyboard. These keys appear in the
illustration on page 25.
• To cycle through a set of hidden tools, press Alt
(Windows) or Option (Mac OS) and click the
visible tool; or hold down Shift and press the
visible tool’s shortcut key.
To display the active tool name:
Position the pointer over the triangle in the
bottom border of the program window
(Windows) or image window (Mac OS), hold
down the mouse button, and choose Current Tool
from the menu.
The name of the currently selected tool appears in
the lower left of the window.
Using the tool pointers
When you select most tools, the mouse pointer
matches the tool’s icon. This is the default
standard tool pointer. The marquee, line, and
gradient pointers appear by default as crosshairs.