User Guide

CHAPTER 8
146
Painting
3 Enter a name for the pattern in the Pattern
Name dialog box.
4 To deselect the rectangle, choose Select >
Deselect.
Note: If you apply a pattern from one image to
another in a different color mode, Photoshop
Elements converts the pattern’s color mode to the
current image’s color mode.
To use a preset pattern from the PostScript Patterns
folder:
1 Choose File > Open. Each preset file in the
PostScript Patterns folder (located in Photoshop
Elements 2/Presets/Patterns/PostScript Patterns/)
contains a single pattern in the Adobe Illustrator
format. You can scale and render these patterns at
any resolution.
2 Select the pattern file you want to use, and
click Open.
3 Select any rasterizing options. (See “Using the
File Browser” on page 44.)
4 Click OK.
5 Choose Select > All, or make a rectangular
selection around the pattern with Feather set to 0
px in the options bar.
6 Choose Edit > Define Pattern. The pattern is
defined as an Adobe Photoshop Elements pattern.
7 Enter a name for the pattern in the Pattern
Name dialog box.
8 Click OK.
Managing patterns
To manage patterns, you use the Pattern pop-up
palette, which appears in the options bar for the
pattern stamp tool and the paint bucket tool. You
can change how that palette displays patterns (See
“Using pop-up palettes” on page 28.), and you can
load or save patterns using the Preset Manager.
(See “Working with preset options” on page 27.)
Exiting Photoshop Elements saves the contents of
the Pattern pop-up palette in the Preferences file.
Tracing a selection or layer with color
You can use the Stroke command to automatically
trace a colored border around a selection or layer.
To stroke a selection or layer:
1 Select the area or layer you want to stroke.
2 Choose Edit > Stroke.
3 In the Stroke dialog box, specify the width of
the hard-edged border. Values can range from 1 to
250 pixels.
4 To set the stroke color, click the color swatch to
select a color in the color picker.
5 For Location, specify whether to place the
border inside, outside, or centered over the
selection or layer boundaries.
6 Specify a blending mode and an opacity.
(See “Setting options for painting and editing
tools” on page 135.)
7 To stroke only areas containing opaque pixels
on a layer, select Preserve Transparency. (If your
image has no transparency, this option isn’t
available.)