some questions from a newbie

[tearyied]

I had some questions.. (hope you guys don't mind me asking..) First off, when you download some kind of brush (stamp, i.e. katie pertiet's free 'beauty' quote), do you guys always install it or just use the png file that comes with it? What is the difference? I feel like if I install all the brushes, it'll add up and I'll never be able to find the one I need.., kwim?

Secondly, when working with photoshop, do you always use 300 dpi or resize the elements to 72 and then start working on it? I've used 300 dpi but realized that the pds files are extremely large..

well, hope my questions made sense to you guys.. : and thanks in advance!!

-cindee

[susancurtis]

We love questions! We have some great experts around here (not me!), but since I'm the first person on the scene, I'll tell you what little I know about this...everyone else please add anything you want!

I know that a lot of brushes in a folder affect Photoshop's performance, too. You can actually "point" Photoshop to a different brush folder than its default one. It is a bit of a hassle, though. (Just remember where the default brush folder is so you can get back to it again when you need it!)

1. select brush tool
2. In bar at top, click on the 2nd small arrowhead (from left side) pointing down.
3. In next pop up, click on cute tiny arrow in a circle symbol (on the top right side).
4. In next menu choose "load brushes".
5. At the very top of the "load" window that now pops up, you can manuever to whichever folder you happen to have a brush in. Select that brush, click "ok" and you're good to go--the new brushes will show up at the bottom of the brushes that you can choose from.

I stick with 300 dpi until I'm ready to make a thumbnail version of my LO for for the gallery. And yes, it takes up a lot of room! So I'm also very interested to see what the others have to say about this. All I can think of is to recommend looking around for good external hard drives soon!

Susan
Hope this made a little sense!

[SAHMom]

No expert here either, but agreeing with Susan. There are certain brushes I use all the time, so I have them installed. Then the ones I use on occassion, I just "load" as needed, so they aren't bogging down PS and the brush folder.

You'll want to stick with 300 dpi for printing. When I resize for the web, I use 72 dpi.. and then also use the "Save for Web" option. And I save it in a different folder than my original so as not to overwrite it.

[katie pertiet]

I agree with susan--some I install because I use all the time--okay, actually, I have quite a powerhouse of a machine so I have a ton of brushes loaded.

As far as the files, we include a .png and .abr file because not every image editing program supports .abr files.

And because I like to be able to print all my pages in high quallity, I work at 300 dpi and since that's the standard print resolution that's why the brushes are the sizes they are. Yes, the files can get large, some over 500MB, but that's my personal preference.

I hope that's answered your question. Please let me know if that wasn't clear or if we missed the boat! thanks!

[Andibean]

Great questions! I have certainly learned a lot in this thread!