The Basics of the Move Tool
In my previous blog post, You’ve Installed Photoshop… Now What? I stated in tip #5 that you should use the tools you know. No one tool is more important then the Move tool. That being said, my second post about Photoshop will highlight the basics of this tool. If you’re just starting out on Photoshop, I highly recommend reading this post. However, the advanced tips (next blog post) may also prove helpful in your learning experience.
Enough waiting… LETS GO!
1. Keyboard Shortcut
A really basic helper with the Move tool is the keyboard shortcut. I don’t think it’s necessary for you to know the shortcuts for every utility in Photoshop, but knowing it for the Move tool can save you a lot of time since it’s the most frequently used tool. The keyboard shortcut to activate the Move tool is simply ‘V,’ for both Windows and Mac.
2. Selecting Layers and Auto-Select
Now that we have the Move tool activated, lets go over ways to select a layer:
- Often times you will just simply click on the layer in the Layers Window. To help select which layer you want to work with, clearly label your layers and group them. You can also right click on any layer thumbnail to change the settings for the thumbnail display (I prefer ‘Medium Thumbnails’ and ‘Clip Thumbnails to Layer Bounds’).
- Photoshop has a feature which allows the user to ‘Auto-Select’ Layers or Groups (just my 2 cents, but I think Photoshop should get rid of the ‘Auto-Select Group’ feature). Enabling this will allow you to click on the layer within the workspace to select it.
- Another way to emulate the ‘Auto-Select’ feature without having it enabled is to use Ctrl+Click for Windows or Cmd+Click for Mac.
Personally, I don’t use ‘Auto-Select’ because I hate accidentally selecting another layer when all I want to do is move one.
3. How it Works
We all understand that the concept of the Move tool is for moving elements (layers and groups of layers) around the workspace, however, there are 2 ways to move things; dragging the mouse and using the arrow keys.
- Dragging elements will move them exactly as your cursor moves. If you hold Shift while dragging, it can lock the movement at 45-degree intervals in any direction (I only really use this to limit horizontal or vertical movement).
- If you’re using the arrow keys, you can move elements one pixel at a time, in any direction. Holding Shift simply makes it 10 pixels at a time.
4. Transform Controls
Another feature of the Move tool is the ability to scale and rotate elements. To use the Transform feature, you need to have the scaling bounding box displayed on an element. There are 2 ways to do this:
- Within Photoshop you can enable the ‘Show Transform Controls’ feature. This will display the bounding box and allow you to simply drag any of the nodes, or hover over a node and wait for the rotate feature to appear.
- Alternatively, you can use the shortcut, Ctrl+T or Cmd+T respectively for Windows and Mac.
I prefer the shortcut method only because I hated always having the bounding box displayed, randomly causing me to start scaling an element.
5. Simple Transform
Now that we have the bounding box displayed, lets explore some simple scaling and rotating. There are two methods to transform the element; by typing in the amounts or affecting the object directly:
- If you know the exact values for your transformation, entering the amounts directly into the transform bar at the top is the fastest method. You can change the x-position, y-position, width scaling, height scaling, rotation in degrees, horizontal slant in degrees, and vertical slant in degrees.
- If you want to just tweak the transformation manually, dragging the bounding box is the best method. Holding the Shift key while dragging will scale the object proportionately. Holding the Shift key while rotating will rotate the object in 15-degree intervals.
After you finish transforming, you can simply click the check box or use the shortcut, Ctrl+Enter or Cmd+Enter, for Windows or Mac. To cancel your changes, just click the cancel, or hit the Esc key.
Author: Team VaynerMedia
