As a scrapbooker, I spend a lot of time eyeballing things.
“That looks good” is all right with me…most of the time.
For those times when rough estimates are not good enough, I will often turn to Adobe’s alignment and distribution tools.
These sweet little devices take on the job of lining things up and spreading them out…no eyeballing required. Let me give you an example…
Step 1: Open
- Open (File > Open) a digi element. Choose an element that would look good with a lot of repetition. A brad or gem is usually a good choice. I’ve chosen to use a small square of paper.
- Get the Move tool and drag your element onto your scrapbook page.
- Place it where you want your row of elements to start.
Step 2: Duplicate
Tip: When you have the Move tool, pressing the Alt (Opt) key will cause your cursor to turn into a double headed arrow. The double headed arrow indicates that duplication is about to happen.
- Holding down the Alt key (Mac: Opt key), click on or near your element and drag it to the right. The new element will drag along with your cursor, leaving the old element behind. Let go of your mouse button when your new element is about where you wanted it.
- Repeat the previous step until you have duplicated enough times to achieve the look you are going for.
Step 3: Align
- In the Layers panel, click on the top element layer, then shift click on the bottom element layer. All your element layers should be selected. See the image below.
- With the Move tool active, click on Align > Align Vertical Centers in the Options Bar. This will make all your elements be in a straight line.
- Next click on Distribute > Distribute Horizontal Centers in the Options Bar. This will evenly distribute your elements – so that there is the exact amount of space between each element.
Hint: If you are creating an up-down (instead of a left-right) row of elements, you will need to choose Align Horizontal Centers and Distribute Vertical Centers.
Yay! Now I’m off to finish the rest of my scrapbook page! Hope to see your finished page along with mine in the Tip of the Week gallery at Scrapper’s Guide.
Credits: Tip and scrapbook page by Jen White created with Photoshop Elements 8.0. Supplies were “Seaside” kit by Digital Scrapper Designs and “Beach Bound” kit by Eva Kipler. Both of these kits are available at ScrappersGuide.com. Font is Prestige Elite Std.
Download a PDF version of this “Eliminating Eyeballing” tutorial.
Windows: Right click on the link and choose “Save Target As” or a similar command.
Mac: Click on the link to download the file.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Terrific! I knew about the align tool and use it often — a real timesaver. But I wasn’t aware of the distribute tool. What a great tip!
THANK YOU!! We started using Adobe for our little school’s annual book and I was in charge (because supposedly I knew the most about Photoshop). This was one thing we hadn’t figured out – it will help us out a LOT next year! By the way, we used your CD tutorials to get us through the project. THANKS so much!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this lesson. I finally understand the Distribute and Align buttons. Your instructions are perfect!
Thanks for the clear instructions. This is something I’ve been doing for some time now, and I’m sure others will find useful to know too.
I love it when I learn a new timesaving tip!! I knew about align and distribute, but not about duplicating by using the Alt key. Thanks — I’ll use that a lot!
THANK YOU!! Loved the clear concise directions! It was so easy…how did I live without this knowledge?
I look forward to your TOTW while I am recuperating from a serious incurable sickness. Hopefully, I will be able to scrap some day in the future. Thanks for bringing scrapping joy into my life. LUV!!
ok, i had NO idea about the distribute… that will make things SO much easier! Thanks!
Thanks. I can never remember how to do this. Now all I’ll have to do is refer to my TIPS. Thanks for putting all this in one lesson where I will always be able to find it and for explaining it so clearly.
Wondering if alignment and distribution is available on PSE 4.0 for Mac. I’ve looked previously but could not find the menu. Would be helpful I’m sure.