[Jeff Hinkle]

Not sure I fully understand what’s happening. How are you zooming? With the Zoom tool (clicking or dragging?), or the keyboard shortcuts? And when it zooms in, the problem is it’s repositioning the entire image so its center point is centered in the window instead of centering on the area you clicked?

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Well, there’s View > Print size, where Photoshop will do its best to show you the size an image will be when you print it to paper. But for Photoshop to automatically display things at their real-world size? To the best of my knowledge, there’s no automated way to do this. To use your example, if you open a photo of a quarter, Photoshop doesn’t know A.) it’s a quarter and B.) how big it’s supposed to be. All it sees is a grid of pixels.

I suppose if you know your monitor’s native resolution (usually 72ppi or 96ppi) and set up a new document at that resolution, you could get 1 monitor inch to roughly equal 1 real-world inch, but you’d be locked into only viewing at 100% magnification, and anything you print will be jagged and pixelated. Plus you’d still have to do scaling of any element you brought into the document to get it to the right size.

By and large, Photoshop doesn’t care about inches, or any physical measurement. All it cares about are the number of pixels.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

It looks like those aren’t stored as individual files the way actions are. They appear to be written to a preferences file in ~/Library/Preferences/Adobe Photoshop CS6 Settings/New Doc Sizes.psp

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Be aware that any increase in size will result in a loss of resolution and sharpness. Depending on your source file and your final output needs, you can make a new document with the same dimensions but a lower resolution and place your original file in that document. If your original is, say, 5″x8″ at 300ppi, you could make a 5″x8″ document at 200ppi, drop in the original and then scale down until it’s framed the way you want.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Not sure what exactly you’re trying to do. Placing a ruler against the screen really won’t tell you anything as you’ll get different results based on your screen resolution, document resolution, level of magnification, etc.

Photoshop gives you lots of tools to determine how big things will be when they print. Rulers are the simplest of the bunch (Ctl/Command-R). Think of it as placing a digital ruler against your screen. You can see exactly how large your printed elements will be, with Photoshop compensating for resolution and magnification.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

If I’m understanding you correctly, you want a square hole in the first minute, then a rectangular hole the second? You can set a Hold keyframe at 00:00 for your Mask Path as a square, then at the 1:00 mark, change the shape of the mask to a rectangle. A second hold keyframe will be created and when the time indicator reaches that point, the mask will immediately change to the new shape without any in-between animation and stay that way until the end of the comp (or you change the shape again).

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Is the angle of the foot on the leg important? If not, just leave the sock as-is and paint out the sockless foot and edge of the heel poking out.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Check your Z position of the anchor point. It might look right in the corner in the active camera view, but if it’s moved way back in Z-space, the rotation will look wonky. Check it numerically and in the top or side view.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Hit the “Toggle Switches/Modes” button at the bottom of the timeline window. If that still doesn’t do the trick, try right-clicking on the column bar (the strip that has the eyeball/audio/solo/lock icons) in the timeline window, choose the Columns flyout and make sure “Switches” has a checkmark by it.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.

[Jeff Hinkle]

Put each face on its own layer. For sake of example, we’ll say the human is the top layer, the cyber-zombie is underneath. If you just want a fast, easy transition, add a layer mask to your human layer and do a black-to-white gradient in the layer mask. Where it’s black, you’ll see through to the cyber-zombie, where it’s white, you’ll see the human. Be a nice, smooth (but very straight) blend between the two.

If you want it to look a little more natural, you can use the Pen tool to draw the dividing line between the two, following the curves of the forehead, nose, chin, etc. Create a selection from the path, feather it heavily, and use that selection to make your layer mask. You can blur the mask further if the edge isn’t smooth enough for your liking. You can also go in with a soft-edged brush to adjust the mask in certain areas if you’d like.

—
It is easier to destroy than to create.
More fun, too.