IMAGEREADY TIPS

by Trevor Morris

1. Drag any document view tab (e.g. Original, Optimized, 2-Up, or 4-Up) away from the document window to create a New View of the current image. Note: Alternatively, you may select View » New View from the menus.
2. To duplicate the current document, hold the Alt key and drag the Original view tab away from the document window (or choose Image » Duplicate).
3. Hold the Alt key and press the right / left arrow (cursor) keys to move to the next / previous frame, respectively. Note: Using these hotkeys in conjunction with one of the following tools may produce undesirable results: Move tool [V] (will duplicate the pixels in the current layer or selection), Image Map Select tool [P] (will duplicate the active image map - or cause an error if none are selected), Slice Select tool [K] (will duplicate the active slice).
4. When creating an action that includes styles (layer effects), each setting is recorded as a separate action step. To record the style in a single step, drag the style from the Layers palette [F7] (Window » Show Layers) into the Action palette [F9] (Window » Show Actions).
5. Use the Eyedropper tool [ I ] to select a color from anywhere on the screen. Click inside the current image window, hold the mouse button down, and drag anywhere on the desktop (or even over another application window): release the mouse button to select the desired color. Note: This feature only works provided that the ImageReady application remains active (i.e. in the foreground).
6. ImageReady allows you to select colors based on a selection marquee. Make a selection in the current image and choose Select All From Selection from the Color Table palette menu (Window » Show Color Table).
7. To view the occurrence(s) of a color in the Optimized Image window [Ctrl+Y] (View » Show Optimized), click and hold the mouse button over a color in the Color Table palette (Window » Show Color Table). The selected color will remain temporarily inverted (until you release the mouse button). Tip: This also works for multiple selected colors! To view a contiguous group of colors, select a color and Shift-click and hold another color. For non-contiguous colors, Ctrl-click to select additional colors, then hold the mouse button to temporarily inverted the selected colors.
8. (ImageReady 3) To copy the hexadecimal value of a color to the Clipboard, choose a color with the Eyedropper tool [ I ], then right-click over the image window and choose Copy Foreground Color as HTML from the context menu. You may then paste the color value into your favorite editor. Note: You may also choose Edit » Copy Foreground Color as HTML from the menus.
9. Drag a droplet onto the Actions palette [F9] (Window » Show Actions) to create an action step (containing all the optimization settings of the droplet). Alternatively, you can select Insert Set Optimization Settings to Image Format from the Actions palette menu. Tip: You can also drag a droplet onto a slice to apply the optimization settings to the slice.
10. Drag a command from the History palette (Window » Show History) to the Actions palette [F9] (Window » Show Actions) to create an action step (with or without pressing the Record button).
11. When creating / saving animations, enable the Transparency option in the Optimize palette [F10] (Window » Show Optimize) to see what effect it has on the file size – even if your animation does not contain any transparent regions. By combining transparency, frame disposal (see below), and the Optimize Animation options (see below), it is possible to significantly decrease the file size of the animation. Note: Ensure that the disposal method is set to Automatic or Restore to Background. To set the disposal method, right-click on a frame (in the Animation palette) and choose an option from the context menu. Note: The above technique only works if Bounding Box and /or Redundant Pixel Removal are enabled (from Animation palette menu » Optimize Animation…).
12. Click the inverted arrow icon in the status bar (at the bottom of each document window) to choose from a list of information options. Note: In 2-Up and 4-Up view modes, an additional Zoom Level icon is added.
13. To see what your image / animation will look like on a PC / Mac, use the View » Preview submenu (and choose a display type). Note: To permanently adjust your image / animation, use Image » Adjust » Gamma…
14. To center the current layer on the canvas, choose Layer » Set Layer Position and enter Horizontal: Center, 0 pixels and Vertical: Center, 0 pixels. You may also use the Set Layer Position command to align the current layer to any canvas edge or corner. That's it! I hope that you found the above tutorial comprehensive and easy to follow. Please, if you have any comments about this tutorial (or any other), send me an email with your comments (good or bad).