This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Easter Eggs
It's a tradition in Macintosh software to include Easter Eggs—those wacky little undocumented, nonutilitarian features that serve only to amuse the programmer and (they hope) the user. Note that if your friends think you have no sense of humor, you might want to skip this section; it might just annoy you.
There are (at least) three Easter Eggs in Photoshop—two hidden screens and one quote list.
Liquid Sky. A tradition even more venerable than Easter Eggs is code names. Almost all software has a code name that the developers use before the product is christened with a real shipping name. Photoshop 4 was code-named Big Electric Cat (it's an Adrian Belew reference, if you care). Photoshop 5 was code-named Strange Cargo. Photoshop 6 was called Venus in Furs. Photoshop 7 was called Liquid Sky. To see the original Liquid Sky splash screen, hold down the Command key while selecting About Photoshop from the Apple menu (Mac OS 9) or the Photoshop menu (Mac OS X). In Photoshop for Windows, press Control-Alt and select About Photoshop from the Help menu.
Quotes. If you watch either the standard About Photoshop screen or the Liquid Sky splash screen, you'll notice that the credits at the bottom of the screen start to scroll by, thanking everyone and their dog for participating in the development process. Don't get impatient—the last person on the list is someone special. (Actually, if you are the impatient type, try holding down the Option or Alt key once the credits start rolling; that speeds them up.) At any time before or during the rolling credits, try clicking once just above the first line of credits (like above the name Thomas Knoll or Mark Hamburg). If the screen disappears, you've clicked in the wrong place. If nothing happens, you've done it right. Now just wait until the scrolling credits are finished, and you'll be treated to some very funny quotations.
Merlin lives! Finally (at least, this is the last one we know about), there's a little hidden dialog box nestled away. When you hold down the Option key while selecting Palette Options from the popout menus in either the Paths, Layers, or Channels palettes, Merlin happily jumps out. If you're on a Mac, don't forget to try clicking on Merlin for that extra kick.
The World of Photoshop
If our publisher weren't screaming bloody murder to get this book to the printer, we'd still be writing tips. But instead of waiting until the next edition of the book, try finding them for yourself. The more you play with Photoshop, the more you'll be rewarded with treasures from the deep.