Creating Assets for Your Photoshop Library

Note: The following catalog of content covered in this webinar is time stamped to allow you to follow along or skip to sections of the video that are relevant to your questions. You can also search for content on this page using the FIND command in your browser (CTRL + F in Windows, Command + F in Mac OS.)

• Intro/TOC
• Overview of Creative Cloud Libraries for Photoshop
• Resources for Assets
• Adding and Editing Assets in Your Library
• Creating Assets from Photos
• Working with the Library

0:00 – 2:28: Intro/TOC

2:29 – 6:08: Overview of Creative Cloud Libraries for Photoshop

Creative Cloud libraries allow users to store graphical assets that can be accessed easily in Photoshop and other Adobe programs.

Why use libraries? (2:43)

• Prep your assets once and save time.
• No need to search through your folders for objects – you can access them easily within Photoshop.
• If you use any other Adobe design products, you can use the same assets.

Example: library of Land F/X graphical standards (3:25)

Which items can be saved? (4:29)

Assets you can add to your library include:

• Text character styles
• Layer styles
• Layer groups
• Graphics
• Colors
• Color themes
• Patterns
• Shapes
• Gradients
• Probably more

Recommended assets for landscape renderings (5:08):

• Text styles: Any commonly used font, font size, and character settings
• Layer styles: Items such as drop shadow settings
• Graphics
• Vector graphics as smart objects such as logos
• Cutouts of objects such as plants, people, animals, site amenities, etc.
• Textures such as stone, paving, concrete, groundcover, etc.
• Colors
• Color themes

6:09 – 11:00: Resources for Assets

Free stock photos:

• Pexels
• Pixabay

"Free" cutout resources:

• Mr. Cutout (free trial, paid subscription)
• freecutout (decently large library for $5 as of webinar time)

Paid stock and cutout photos:

• Adobe Stock (everything at a premium)
• Shutterstock (everything at a premium)
• Tony Textures: Large library of trees, textures, etc. geared toward architects and landscape architects

Disclaimer: When using images from a website, make sure to check the licensing terms. (9:23)

11:01 – 30:34: Adding and Editing Assets in Your Library

List of saved libraries (11:30)

Setting up a new library (12:30)

Adding items to a library (example: character style) (13:30)

Adding a color theme (15:53)

Adding graphics (19:40)

Saving a group of layers into a library (21:10)

Editing library items (23:28)

Creating an entire library from a single document (24:16)

Accessing libraries in the Creative Cloud Library app (25:43)

Organizing the libraries (26:50)

• Organizing the libraries by adding a group
• Organizing the libraries by adding multiple selected items

Adding assets by dragging and dropping them into a library (27:50)

Exporting libraries to import into additional Adobe accounts (29:08)

30:35 – 55:39: Creating Assets from Photos

Creating a tree asset (31:18)

Grabbing a tree from a tree photo (31:18)

Cutting roughly around an object using the Lasso tool (32:20)

Selecting the entire background for removal using the Color Range setting (32:46)

Adjusting the fuzziness (32:24)

Further refining the selection using a mask (36:18)

Inverting the selection (36:50)

Using the Brush tool to touch up some details in the selection (37:10)

Using the Refine Edge tool to fine-tune an edge of a selected object (37:50)

Saving the asset to a library (40:15)

Creating a person asset (40:37)

Using the Quick Select tool to select a person in a photo (41:32)

Adding a mask to mask out items that weren't selected (47:00)

Changing the mask color to contrast with selected items (47:20)

Dropping the opacity of the mask (47:45)

Adding items back into the selection using the polygonal lasso tool or brush tool (47:55)

Using the Refine Edge tool to fine-tune edges (49:25)

Saving the person asset into a library (50:30)

Creating a site amenity asset (example: bench) (50:35)

Using the Pen tool to draw a selection around an object (50:50)

Using the Quick Selection tool to expand a selection (52:15)

Using the Alt or Option key to create adjustable grip points on a selection (52:40)

Creating a work path and turning it into a selection (53:30)

Adding a mask and fine-tuning the selection details (54:40)

55:40 – end: Working with the Library

Placing assets into a Photoshop project (55:40)

Question: How does Adobe Bridge fit into the Creative Cloud suite? (57:20)

Answer: It's an additional Adobe project that allows you to use your assets across multiple Adobe platforms.

Question: Is there a benefit to adding smart objects as opposed to rasterized objects in a library? (58:13)

Answer: Paul uses smart objects for vector objects (such as logos), which means the image information is defined by geometry rather than pixels, allowing for resizing the object without pixellation.

Adding a texture to a wall (59:40)