Adobe Photoshop CS - Setting Transparency and Gamut Preferences - Task 4

How To Setting Transparency and Gamut Preferences 

In Adobe Photoshop CS

The grid has become somewhat of a culture icon to many Photoshop users.
It’s been a part of Photoshop for a long, long time to help users determine
the level of transparency in their images. But now you get the chance to modify
the appearance of this checkerboard-like grid to your own individual tastes.
In the Transparency & Gamut preferences dialog box, you not only get to
define the color for the out-of-gamut warning, but also customize the size of
the classic Photoshop grid.

1. To bring up the Transparency and Gamut preferences dialog box on
the Macintosh platform, go to the Photoshop menu and select
Preferences ➪ Transparency & Gamut. On the Windows platform,
select Edit ➪ Preferences and select Transparency & Gamut. If you
are in the dialog box from the previous task, select Transparency &
Gamut from the drop-down menu at the top of the dialog box.

2. To adjust the size of the checkerboard pattern, select Small, Medium,
or Large from the Grid Size drop-down menu under Transparency
Settings (see Figure 4-1). If you don’t want to see a checkerboard
pattern, select None. You will see a preview of the grid in the preview
square that’s off to the right under Transparency Settings.

Figure 4-1: The Transparency & Gamut dialog box

 

3. The Grid Colors drop-down menu enables you to pick from a predetermined

set of colors and shades for the checkerboard grid pattern.

Your preset options are categorized in two groups: shades and colors.

The first group includes Light, Medium, and Dark options. The

color options include Red, Orange, Green, Blue, and Purple colors.

4. To create a custom-colored checkerboard pattern for the grid, select

Custom from the Grid Colors drop-down menu.

5. Click the swatch colors below the Grid Colors drop-down menu to

bring up the Color Picker dialog box as shown in Figure 4-2. Pick

the colors you want and then press OK. The colors you picked are

displayed in the preview square.

Figure 4-2: Choosing a color for the Photoshop grid

6. If your graphics card supports the overlay of images on top of a live

video signal and you want to make use of this feature, select the Use

Video Alpha checkbox.

7. To change the color that’s used to indicate a gamut warning, click the

Color swatch under Gamut Warning. This brings up the Color

Picker dialog box. Pick the color you want and then click OK.

8. To adjust the opacity of the gamut warning color, enter a percentage

in the Opacity text field or click the triangle and adjust the slider.

tips

• If you don’t like the default sizes for the Photoshop grid, or if the image you are

working on uses whites and grays and it’s hard to tell what’s transparent from the

image, adjust the grid to your tastes.

• Changing the gamut color is always a good idea if you can’t readily discern the

warning color from a color in your work.

cross-reference

• To learn more about out of- gamut warning, check out Task 46 about proofing colors.