[felix]

@ Zakura Angel64

You could also just add some snow to any other font. ^^
Just create a new layer and give it inner shadow, make it somewhat soft and then with a soft brush paint snow aver the text like it would look if it fell from the sky.

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Some Basic Tips & Tricks

I won't go too deep, I'll only mention some basic stuff that generally is missed by newbies.

Tip 1 - Your layout is organised in pallets and all your visible pallets are placed in a window. You have 5 options.

1. You can link a pallet to another pallet by draging it just under the other pallet but not outside of it's container window. (you should see some sort of visual hint that the position you are placing them at is going to result in a link). When pallets are linked if you substract space for one it increases space for the other etcetera.
2. You can Group a Pallet by draging it in the window of another pallet or a group.
3. You can ungroup a pallet by dragging it out of the window of the group.
4. You can Close a pallet by draging it out of it's group and closing that window.
5. You can Minimize-Up a pallet by duable clicking it.

Spoiler for Example Layout:

//Note - Please use the default layout for the tutorials here ^^

Tip 2 - To work more freely go into full-screen mode.. and get used to working like that..
Usefull things to know..

1. The F toggles full-screen-mode..
2. When you hold down the Space-Bar the Hand Tool is temporarly selected.. so if your not confortable with the position of the Canvas (or Stage or Work Are.. call it what you like) then while your working just hold space a little and move it..
3. The Tab key toggles pallets.. so if your pallets are cluttering the screen.. and you don't need them hit Tab.. you can call them back by tapping Tab again.
4. The Caps Lock key toggles the cursor.. some tools have images for cursors.. hit caps lock to toggle a more appropiate one..
5. Pessing the Windows-Key + D will minimize all windows (in a sense).. it technicly forces focus on the desktop regardless of what window program you are in.. hit it again to toggle back to your previous state..

Tip 3 - Removing a Character From a pic

Basic Rule: If it takes more then 90 seconds to remove a charcter from a pic (regardless of the complexity of the background or color diffrences) then you are doing it fukin' wrong!!!

Fastest method to remove a charcter is to use the Magic Wand.
Some things that nubies miss:[list=1]A very very important setting for the wand tool is Tolarence, many will just start using the wand too find that it at some point selects too much or too little and then abandon it and go for a more complicated time consumining method. So set low tolerence if you start selecting too much, set high tolarence if your selecting too little.

Also remember to add a 1px to 2px (max) feather to your selection. By doing this you are adding nice little transparency to black gradient, allowing the image to blend perfectly within it's new space, and you are also fixing any posible lighting-generated-error along the way. (for example contrast between super-thik/thin lines etcetera)

Tip 4 - Stamping..

The basic tool for stamping is probably the Clone-Stamp-Tool. But please don't use this if your facing a lighting problem.

So what to use.. the answer is the Healing Brush Tool, don't think of the name, this tool is basicly an Adv. Clone-Stamo tool. It essentially will copy texture and not pixels.. and will also blend them on the spot. Remember that if you come close to edges it will blur them. You can fix them with the Patch-Tool (also the best choise for mass pixel Clone-Stamping..)

Tip 5 - The Diffrence Between Fill and Transparency

Well some people actually don't know..
The diffrence is that Fill affect only the object, so if you have a red circle with a shadow (as a special effect), then if you lower the transparency the circle and shadow start becoming transparency, but if you lower the fill then only the red circle will become more transparent..

Tip 6 - Chanells..

A simple thing that sounds complicated.. I'll just explain it from a down to earth POV
A channel is a very simple thing.. it's basicly a blue-print for intensity (that looks like a Black and White image).. If you open you channel pallet you should see 4 chanells.. they each are a image in blackand white where black means more of that color and white means less. An alpha channel is just a lil diffrent. it's a channel for visibility where black is opac and white invisible.

When you make selections you are making Channels ;)
Same of a layer mask, it's just a alpha chanel..

Now channels are all tech and scifi for the computer but you should just think of them as a black and white image..
So for example lets say you want you pic to go to completly transparent on one side.. simple.. first you create a new alpha channel (so just click the mask tool), now make sure you alpha channel is selected and not your image, it's a lil tricky since it may be hard to imagine it's there.. click on the thumb-nail next to the layer-thumb-nail just to make sure.. now reset your colors to black and white.. and select the gradient tool (it's under the bucket tool). Now, from the edge draw a liniar white to black liniar gradiant.. all done.. ^^

Tip 7 - Warping..

Some people don't notice this option..
Go into Free Transoft Mode using Ctrl+T (or via Edit), now in your tool settings on the right next ot the pallet well you should see a little button called 'Switch between free transofrm and warp mode' click it.. now you may twist or reshape your image as you please, note that you can also modify the vector points as well as add new ones..

Tip 8 - Vanishing Points..

A very powerfull and simple tool.. (oh it's located in the fillter menu btw :P no idea why)

The Vanishing Point tool is basicly a stamping brushing tool.. now you might be wondering what's so special about it.. ^^
Well lets say you have piece of road.. and you want to use the clone stamp to meke it look like it's really long and heading to the horizon... the basic problem you would face is perspective..
What vanishing point allows you to do is set a grid representing basicly the view plane field.. so for our road we first would take the Create Plane tool and draw a square on the ground.. now remember your not drawing a square.. on your monitor it should be a square, more like a trapeaze, but if your were looking at a picture then that would look to you like 'a square on the ground' ^__^.
Now when you clone stamp (for example) the roud will get tighter as it heads to the horizon..

Tip 9 - The Anchor..

First.. how to turn an image.. if you move to the cursor next to a corner of an image you'll notice that it turns to a rounded arrow.. hold and move the mouse.. that's how you turn an image..

When you use the crop tool, for example, you'll notice that there's a little circle in the middle.. now what does that do..
That circle is called the anchor and it marks the center of the image.. for example lets suppose you move that little point to the left corner.. then when you try to turn the image you will notice that it the image turns around the corner..
That's what the anchor does it marks the center..

Tip 10 - Basic Shorcuts..

Some of the most important shorcuts in Photoshop are the Alt, Ctrl and Shift keys.. with these keys you can do lots of neet things..
For exmple if you hold down the Alt key and drag a layer down or up it will create a duplicate of that layer.. or if you hold down the shift key while draging a image into your canvas it will center it.. etcetera..

Other shorcuts you should know:

• D (reset colors to black and white)
• X (reverse background/foreground colors)
• v (select tool)
• p (pen) [ Alt >> free-move-plce-point; Ctrl>>Move-Anchor; Ctrl+Alt>>Adv. Anchor-Tweeking-Editing; Ctrl+Shift>>Wave-Editing; Shift>>Axis-Snap ]
• Ctrl+W (close project)
• z (zoom) [ Alt>>Zoom-Out ] select are to zoom it..
• c (crop) [ Shift>>Square-Shape; Alt>>Anchor-Lock ]
  Trick - In full screen-mode.. select everything for crop.. you'll notice is snaps to the edges.. but now if you go to edit the vector points you'll notice you can moce them outside the image.. when you crop on an area greater then the image you are not cutting out of the image but adding to the canvas
• [b]G[b] or Shift+G bucket/gradient tool.. basicly if you hold shift and press the shorcut for a key you select the one underneath it.. note that if it's not the selected tool Shift +Key will only select it..
• T (type tool)
  Note: Some people don't notice, but there are 2 types of type.. the first is charchter type (for quotes names in sigs this is what you always should use), you use this by selecting the type tool and only clicking once on a point on the screen (the type won't be limited by any limits not even the canvas), then threse paragraph type, use this if you are going to write tons and tons of type (read: pages) you use this by draging a box on the screen.. (the type will be limited by that box..)
  Charchter-Type Trick - Create a vector shape.. now if you select the type tool and hover over a line of that shape you'll notice a little line appears on the cursor.. click and now the type is locked on that shape.. basically now the type follows the contur of the shape
• E (Eraser) [Ctrl+Alt>>Quick-Duplicate.. just in case you want to go back but you might be better off doing a Undo-Snapshot (photo icon in the history pallet , it saves the current state, in case you over-do things)]
• I (Sample tool) [ Alt>>Foreground-Sample; Alt+Shift>>Color-Sampler ]
  Sampler Trick/Bug - Hold down somewhere in your canvas.. now while holding drag anywhere.. you now can sample photoshop.. or if you made the photoshop window smaller you can sample windows etcetera..
• B (brush tool/pencil-tool) [ Alt>>Sample; Alt+Shift>>Sampler Point; Ctrl+Alt+Shift>>Quick-Copy ] just in case your wondering what the History-Brush does.. if you look in history you'll notice there's a little brush icon there (by default it's on the Default-Start-Shot..) if you move it to one of the history states when you brush with the tool it will sample that state as a layer (shot, whatever)... for example if you messed with the colors in the image with the History brush you can paint the original colors by selecting a State-Layer before that.. (btw did you know history eats your tons of system resources you do now..)

*getting lazzy tired..*
Ok I'll write some more next time