Photoshop CS3 Essential Preference Settings

Photoshop CS3 Essential Preferences: Cursors

Click on the Cursors category on the left to bring up the "Cursors" options:

The "Cursors" category in Photoshop CS3 used to be called "Display & Cursors" in previous versions of Photoshop, but other than the slight name change, the options are mostly the same. As we already saw, the old "Color Channels in Color" option has now been moved to the "Interface" category and renamed "Show Channels in Color", and Adobe has removed the "Use Pixel Doubling" option completely in CS3, since no one knew what it was for anyway.

We won't find any options here that will impact performance, but there is one option we should look at, Show Crosshair in Brush Tip, along with the two options directly above it, Normal Brush Tip and Full Size Brush Tip. I like to have "Show Crosshair in Brush Tip" turned on because it tells Photoshop to display a small crosshair icon directly in the middle of my brush as I'm painting so I always know exactly where the center of my brush is, and I'd recommend you turn it on as well.

As for the two options above it, it's really a personal choice. With "Full Size Brush Tip" selected, which is the option I prefer to use, Photoshop will make the brush cursor the full size of the brush so you can see exactly how large your brush is, regardless of whether you're using a hard-edge or soft-edge brush. With "Normal Brush Tip" selected, if you're using a soft-edge brush, Photoshop reduces the size of the brush cursor to include only the areas where the pixel opacity is 50% or higher, which means the edges of the brush will extend out beyond the size of the brush cursor. Again, it's really a personal preference. Regardless of which type of brush tip you use though, I'd definitely recommend turning "Show Crosshair in Brush Tip" on.

There's just one more Preferences category we need to look at - Units & Rulers.

Photoshop CS3 Essential Preferences: Units & Rulers

Click on the Units & Rulers category on the left to bring up the "Units & Rulers" options:

The "Units & Rulers" category has been around for a long time in Photoshop, and yet every time a new version of Photoshop comes out, one option is always set wrong, and that's the one at the very top, Rulers. Set your rulers to use pixels, not inches, centimeters, or anything else. Photoshop is a pixel-based program. Everything inside Photoshop deals with pixels. There's a time and a place for worrying about how large your image will print in inches, and this isn't it, so make sure you set your rulers to use pixels.

And that wraps up our look at the essential Preferences settings in Photoshop CS3! Obviously, there's quite a few options we didn't look at, but none of them are worth worrying about. We covered the ones that have the greatest impact on Photoshop's performance and on our ability to work efficiently inside the program. When you're done making your changes to the Preferences, make sure you close out of Photoshop and then relaunch it for your changes to take affect.