: How to cycle through blend modes with instant preview? I'm watching a tutorial in which the instructor is cycling through blend modes for a pattern overlay and the shape layer instantly updates

@Murray976

If the "pattern overlay" was a layer with a pattern fill used as an overlay, you can use the following on the layer...

Option/Alt+Shift++ or -

This will cycle through Blend Modes within Photoshop for a highlighted layer with the Move Tool selected.

If you have a Painting Tool selected the same keyboard shortcut cycles through blend modes for that tool rather than the layer.

Note this does not work for items inside the Layer Styles dialog window. It only works on layers and tool settings.

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@Sarah814

Yes, one of the great features unkown to many Mac users is the ability for PC adobe users to instantly scroll through the options/values of many settings. Most important to me for quick and loose abstraction in photoshop is to have this ability to use my mouse scrollwheel to whiz through every blending mode with instant gratification. With Macs I am forced into a disruption of attention by having to click on the menu and select the next option each time, something I won't leave to pure muscle memory. Sure, you can kind of stick the Mac mouse pointer towards the bottom of the blending modes drop down menu and click to get a sort-of instant menu action, but it catches on the separator bars so you can't really test them all fluidly.

There was the argument I heard from my buddy in computer camp, back in '02 when he taught me some incredible tips, that you should just learn how the blending functions each work rather than relying on the scrolling. Well.. you should indeed know how each one works, but IMHO it is not practical to prevent play in a creative field.

If I'm not mistaken, it's a symptom of the OS rather than Adobe's decision.

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@Sent7350415

On a Mac, if you are talking about blend modes within the Pattern Overlay Effect, Shift +/- doesn't work as it does with blend modes for Layers in the Layers Palette.

On a PC though, you can click on the blend mode drop down, choose normal then use the up/down arrow keys to cycle through for layers and blend modes within effects.

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