[question]learning Photoshop At School With Mac...

Hi my girlfriend is learning photoshop at school with a mac, she really likes it but isn't used to it yet of course since she just started 4 days ago. The thing is she needs to be able to work on these projects at home but she doesn't have a mac and can't really afford one unless she really has to get one. I know that the files she works on at school on the mac will work just fine at home on photoshop for windows. But she says the commands are different inside photoshop(I've never really used a mac for much so I don't know)

So I was wondering if maybe there was a way to customise windows to completely act like the mac as far as keyboard shortcuts and everything and to have photoshop for windows act like the mac as far as keyboard shortcuts and such. If so then I'll just do that for her as that will save her a considerable sum of money (art degrees are expensive she had to spend 200 on books, 300 on inks and pads and such, 250 on a camera and 300 on film and mounting boards and such, and either a new 1000 dollar or so pc or 2000 dollar mac I'm glad my degree didn't require anything like that) and setup the keymap or whatever else it would take to make them pretty much identical.

She isn't too sure of herself when working on a computer so she isn't going to understand if they aren't pretty much exactly the same behaviour. She isnt' allowed to use the mouse for much either their teacher wants them to be able to do pretty much everything with keyboard shortcuts(which makes sense).

Thanks for any replies I'm sorry if somethign similar has been posted I tried searching but didnt' really know what to put in as my search terms I tried clone mac, replicate mac commands, mac commands. I know there's pear pc but she is going to be working with some pretty hefty files eventually and so she'll need all the speed and memory she can get.

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// Seph

#204778

Dunno if there's a way to customize commands in photoshop, but she can go to "help"

and in the commands part, just compare them with the ones in the mac (every command is the same, just the keyboard keys change) It wouldn't be too hard I think

#204789

Yea like CTRL+C is Apple+C, not hard.

// Lou

#204793

i've never had a problem going and working at school on macs, and at home...Its virtually the same, except i enjoy working on the mac version more.

#204796

yeah I know how to find out what the command differences are and her instruction sheets even give both the windows and mac commands but she doesn't want to get confused when coming home and just sitting down to work on something quick after having been at a mac all day. I myself wouldn't even worry about it but she doesn't like things to be any more complicated than they have to be.

I thought maybe there was something that could be done to make the win key act like the mac key and/or maybe even use a mac keyboard( I imagine that wouldnt' work though as the ascii numbers the mac keyboards send, if macs even use ascii, would be different and windows wouldn't recognise it period or something similar)

#204814

One way that you can also do it is to get a mac keyboard and use the appleK driver with it which would swap around the keys. I myself use this combination and it works great on my computer. There are no real issues with using a Mac keyboard on a PC because it's a standard USB keyboard as is most of their parts besides the motherboard\cpu.

But I don't think it's too hard to translate anyway on a win keyboard.

#204821

If you don't want to purchase an apple keyboard, you can always paint over the Ctrl & Alt buttons to match their Mac counterparts. Use whiteout and then clear nailpolish to protect it.

#204828

its not very complicated, the keys are right next to each othr , she'll get

#204854

I use PS on a pc (very crappy may i add) on my work's computer and PS on my mac...

It just takes some time to get used to shifting the keyboard mapping in your mind but after a week you get used to it

As it has been said, they next to eachother anyway hehehe

#204860

i use photoshop on a pc since my mac broke which had photoshop 4 i believe (its a really old mac. performa6116CD/66/48/<1gig) but i never got confused with it but then again i didn't start using photoshop much until then. just try and remember it. as seph said you get used to it in around a week.

#204884

This is also cross platform software discussion, why would it be Aqua DIscussion?

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// Seph

#204886

thanks for all the replies, I had put it in customization because it was a windows customization post I thought, since I wanted to customize windows.

If it was me taking the classes I wouldn't even consider it an issue I would just adjust back and forth but she will get too upset and flustered at least at first when she's not sure of what she is doing. So we're gonna do either the mac keyboard or modify the keys I think. Thanks again for the replies.

#204905

I thought someone would have mentioned that Photoshop CS has completely customisable shortcuts.... :S

I would also say that she should concentrate on learning how to use the program before worrying about shortcuts!

#204953

her instructors are making them learn the shortcuts right off the bat which I kind of agree with, why show them anything else when the shortcuts are the fastest way to get anything done.

She is learning the cs version so I guess I'll customise the shortcuts. Probably be the easiest thing.

#204964

You could teach an animal to use shortcuts - doesnt mean they can design. The main purpose of Photoshop is a tool for creativity - not something to be used quickly... shortcuts do obviously benefit users when they know what they are trying to create - but I would have to disagree with the point of teaching someone shortcuts "off the bat".

Photoshop is one of the most powerful graphic tools; I have been using it for over 10 years (since V3) and I still learn new tricks/features. Distracting people by worrying about shortcuts will only take away the focus from Photoshops powerful features.

#204982

Originally posted by DoubleD@Aug 20 2004, 06:47 PM

You could teach an animal to use shortcuts - doesnt mean they can design. The main purpose of Photoshop is a tool for creativity - not something to be used quickly... shortcuts do obviously benefit users when they know what they are trying to create - but I would have to disagree with the point of teaching someone shortcuts "off the bat".

Photoshop is one of the most powerful graphic tools; I have been using it for over 10 years (since V3) and I still learn new tricks/features. Distracting people by worrying about shortcuts will only take away the focus from Photoshops powerful features.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

i agree.

#205031

eh I think if they know the shortcuts right away, its about the same as learning to go up to the menu bar as far as understanding the command, they still have to know what the shortcut they are hitting does and understand it. Its not like she will be blindly hitting shortcuts hoping it does something interesting . And this way she will be used to doing it as opposed to a class where they teach you the menu way first and then say you see that letter there you can press it in combination with the ctrl key and it'll do the same thing. Alot of students would probably never take the time to learn the commands.

#205049

Well either way I hope your girlfriend enjoys using PS and creates some great art/designs. If she ever wants any help there are lots of people here who can offer help.

#205157

thanks she should hopefully.

#205324