PhotoPlus 5.0

PhotoPlus 5.0 Companion I Contents I Index EFTA00577879 01999 Serif. Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of Serif. Inc. All Serif product names are trademarks of Serif. Inc. Microsoft. Windows and the Windows logo am registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. All other trademarks acknowledged. Serif PhotoPlus 5.0 O1999 Serif. Inc. Companies and names used in samples are fictitious. Portions clipart and graphic content 01999 Nova Development Corporation and its licensors. All rights reserved. Portions graphics import/export technology Eastman Kodak Company & LEAD Technologies. Inc. EFTA00577880 Software License Agreement This Software License Agreement ("License Agreement") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and Serif. Inc. 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This Agreement shill he amended only by an mauled Inning by outhunted TCOMSCIOSOIS Cs of bells panes EFTA00577882 How to contact us Our main office (USA, Canada): The Software Center PO Box 803, Nashua NH 03061 USA Main (603) 889-8650 Registration (800) 232-2897 Single Unit Sales (800) 55-SERIF or 557.3743 Technical Support (603) 886-6642 Customer Service (800)489.6720 General Fax (603) 889-1127 Technical Support E-mail European office (UK, Europe): The Software Centre PO Box 2000, Nottingham, NG I 1 7GW, UK Main (0115) 914 2000 Registration (UK only) (0870) 727 3379 Registration (International) +44 (115) 914 5471 Sales (0800) 376 7070 Technical Support (UK only) (0870) 727 3380 Technical Support (International) +44 (115) 914 5472 Customer Service (0115) 914 9090 General Fax (0115) 914 2020 Technical Support E-mail [email protected] Online Visit us on the Web at International Please contact your local distributor/dealer. 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E-Mail ideas and comments! with your EFTA00577883 Contents 1 ♦ Welcome Introduction 3 About the Companion 3 Key PhotoPlus features 4 Registration, Upgrades, and Support 5 Installation 5 PhotoPlus system requirements 5 What you need to know 6 First-time install 6 Manual install/re-install 6 2 ♦ Getting Started Seven Key Concepts 9 1 Image size and canvas size 9 2 Interacting tools and tabs 9 3 Making a selection 10 4 Foreground and background colors 10 5 Layers 10 6 Opacity and transparency 11 7 Saving and exporting 12 Starting PhotoPlus 12 Getting your bearings 15 Introducing the interface 15 Setting preferences 18 Setting the view 18 How to Get an Image into PhotoPlus 19 Saving and Exporting Files 20 Printing 21 Getting Help 22 3 ♦ Manipulating Images HANDS ON: Captioning a Cat 27 Cropping the image 28 Adjusting brightness and contrast 28 Adding a caption 30 Making Selections 31 Selection options 31 Modifying the selection 33 Using the Move tool 34 Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete 35 EFTA00577884 Cropping 35 Flipping and Rotating 36 Adjusting Image Colors 37 Applying Effect Fitters 39 HANDS ON: Photo-painting 39 Multiple effects 40 HANDS ON: Antiquing a Photo 41 4 ♦ Working with Paint and Text Choosing Colors 45 HANDS ON: Step into the Sandbox I 46 Painting and Drawing 47 Using the basic Paintbrush tool 48 Choosing and customizing brush tips 48 Setting tool properties 49 Using the Airbrush tool 50 Using the Eraser tool 51 Using the Smudge tool 51 Using the Clone tool 52 Creating Lines and Shapes 53 Filling Regions 55 Working with Text 55 HANDS ON: Creating Filled Text 57 5 ♦ Using Layers and Masks Layers 61 Kinds of layers 61 Basic layer operations 62 Manipulating layers 63 Moving the contents of one or more layers 63 Clipboard operations invoMng layers 64 Rearranging standard layers in the stack 64 Merging layers 64 HANDS ON: Making a Montage 65 Masks 68 Mask-making 69 1 Creating the Mask 69 2 Editing on the Mask 70 3 Applying changes to the layer 71 HANDS ON: Vignetting 71 EFTA00577885 6 ♦ Preparing Web Graphics Formats for the Web 77 .GIF format 77 Recommended .GIF export settings 78 .JPG format 79 PNG format 79 Producing Web Animations 80 Layers and frames 80 HANDS ON: Follow the Bouncing Ball 82 Notes on animation 84 Image Slicing 85 Slicing an image 85 Image Maps 86 Creating hotspots 87 7 ♦ Color and Input/Output Options Color Concepts 91 Bitmaps 91 Bit depth 92 Bit depth in PhotoPlus 93 Resolution 93 Color modes 93 Color mode tips 95 Optimizing images 96 Palettes 96 Dithering 97 Compression 98 File Formats 98 Tips for Scanning 99 Advanced Printing 100 Scaling and tiling 100 Including printer marks 102 CMYK color separations 102 PhotoPlus as an OLE Server 103 PhotoPlus Keyboard Shortcuts 105 EFTA00577886 D ra7-24.111! Welcome EFTA00577887 Welcome 3 Introduction Welcome to Serif PhotoPlus 5.0—the best value in image creation and editing software for any home, school, organization, or growing business. PhotoPlus is your number one choice for working with photographs and paint-type images, whether for the Web, multimedia, or the printed page. PhotoPlus has the features you'll need... from importing or creating pictures and animations, through manipulating colors and effects all the way to final export. Built-in support for TWAIN scanners and cameras makes it easy to bring in your own photos, while comprehensive import filters let you open just about any standard bitmap image. Once you've got your image into PhotoPlus, you can enhance and alter its on-screen appearance with a diverse toolkit of functions and effects. A full range of export options (with special attention to Web graphics), plus powerful optimization capabilities, round out this high-performing package. About the Companion This Companion is your guide to getting started and getting results with PhotoPlus—from the basics to advanced techniques. The chapter sequence begins with basic concepts and proceeds gradually through various tools and features. Hands-on Projects are integrated each step of the way. We hope you'll take your time and enjoy the learning process. Here's a quick summary of chapter contents: 1 Welcome. There, we've said it again! 2 Getting Started. Will have you up and running in no time with an overview of key concepts and the PhotoPlus interface. 3 Manipulating Images. A rundown of basic techniques for selecting and operating on all or just part of an image. 4 Working with Paint and Text. How to proceed from the proverbial blank slate, using the PhotoPlus creation tools. 5 Using Layers and Masks. Understanding and mastering the creative possibilities of these more advanced features. 6 Preparing Web Graphics. A review of Web image formats and step•by-step guidance on animation and image preparation. 7 Color and Output Options. Combines essential background material and terminology with helpful tips to improve your images. EFTA00577888 4 Welcome Key PhotoPlus features PhotoPlus brings professional image editing to everyone—with features like these: ♦ Powerful Image Export Optimizer The Export Optimizer lets you see how your image will look (and how much space it will take up) before you save it! Its multi- window display provides side-by-side WYSIWYG previews of image quality at various output settings, so you can make the best choice every time. ♦ Web Animation Tools Now it's easy and fun to create or edit animations for the Web. You can import and export animated GIFs, and even let PhotoPlus create entire animations for you automatically. ♦ Editable Text Add formatted color text to an image, reposition and scale it, integrate it with your design. Text layers keep the contents separate so you can go back and alter the words or formatting at any time! ♦ Image Enhancement Apply professional, darkroom-style color and histogram adjustments to your images. ♦ Unique Selection Options PhotoPlus goes well beyond the basic rectangle and lasso tools, adding more than a dozen completely customizable selection shapes like polygons, spirals, and stars. Or define a selection shaped like text—using any font and style! Advanced options let you fine-tune the selection and its properties for precise effects. ♦ Smart Shapes Choose from a panoply of fully adjustable filled shapes to produce chevrons. beans, badges, teardrops. moons, zigzags, and many more. Just drag sliders to control each shape's appearance! ♦ Image Slicing and Image Maps Now it's not just the pros who can use these techniques to add links to Web graphics! Simply click to divide images into segments— each with its own hyperlink and popup text—or add hotspots to specific regions. PhotoPlus outputs the HTML code and lets you preview the results directly in your Web browser. ♦ Advanced Tools and Features Built-in support for most pressure-sensitive graphics tablets. RGB, CMYK, HSV, and Grayscale color modes. Robust and convenient layer management with pop-up preview and masking support. EFTA00577889 Welcome 5 • Professional Output Options Output using CMYK separations or print directly to your desktop printer with powerful controls. Include registration marks, crop marks, file information, grayscale and color bars, and tile or scale your output if required. • Productive MDI Interface Open and view multiple images and edit them simultaneously. Dockable, floating tab windows work in conjunction with convenient toolbars. The Layer Manager provides full control over all regions and planes. Each document stores a massive Undo range with dynamic memory and disk management, compressing information for optimized performance. And PhotoPlus remembers your preferred export settings, so your creative flow is undisturbed. And that's only part of the The PhotoPlus feature set includes all the standard capabilities expect in a photo editor. Tools like Paintbrush, Airbrush, Clone, Smudge, and Erase. Customizable brush tips and opacity settings. Flip, rotate, and crop. Anti-aliasing. TWAIN support for scanner and digital camera input. A full range of supported file formats for both import and export. In short, more features for the price than allowed by law in some jurisdictions (but don't tell anyone)... Registration, Upgrades, and Support If you see the Registration Wizard when you launch PhotoPlus, please take a moment to complete the registration process. Just call Serif and provide the installation number and code shown. We'll give you a personalized registration number in return. Remember, if you need technical support please contact us. We aim to provide fast, friendly service and knowledgeable help. Installation PhotoPlus system requirements PhotoPlus runs with Windows 95 or later, so you'll need a PC setup which runs Windows adequately. If you need help installing Windows, or setting up your printer, see Windows documentation and help. • IBM compatible Pentium PC with CD-ROM drive and mouse (or other Microsoft compatible pointing device) • Microsoft Windows® 95, 98, 98 SE, 2000, or Windows NT® 4.0 or later operating system EFTA00577890 6 Welcome ♦ 16MB (Windows 95/98), 24MB (Windows 98 SE), 32MB (Windows NT), or 64MB (Windows 2000) RAM ♦ 20MB (minimum install) free hard disk space. ♦ SVGA display (16•bit color or higher) Additional disk resources and memory required when editing large and/or complex images Optional: ♦ Windows-compatible printer ♦ TWAIN-compatible scanner and/or digital camera ♦ Stylus or other input device, including pressure sensitive pens ♦ Internet account and connection required for accessing online resources. What you need to know PhotoPlus is very easy to use, and you don't need to have any prior design experience. However, if you're new to Windows computing, you will find it much easier if, before installing and using PhotoPlus, you spend a little time becoming familiar with the Windows operating environment. O From the Windows desktop, click the Start button at the lower left and choose Help. First-time install To install PhotoPlus. simply insert the Program CD-ROM into your CD-ROM drive. The AutoRun feature automatically starts the Setup process and all you need to do is select the PhotoPlus Install option and answer the on-screen questions. If the AutoRun does not start the install, use the manual install instructions below. Manual install/re-install To re-install the software or to change any part of the installation at a later date, select Settings/Control Panel from the Windows Start menu and then click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. Make sure the correct CD-ROM is inserted into your CD-ROM drive, click the Install... button, and then simply follow the on-screen instructions. To install just one particular component to your hard drive, choose the Custom option and check only that component. EFTA00577891 2i 1-i.ii ,„,r Getting Started EFTA00577892 Getting Started 9 Seven Key Concepts If you're new to photo editing programs, or perhaps have only worked with a basic painting program like Microsoft Paint, a number of the concepts in PhotoPlus may be new to you. Don't be daunted! Many thousands of artists have made the leap—the rewards are well worth it! This section collects in one place some background material that will hopefully provide a concise introduction and save you some "head- scratching" later on. We recommend you read through it before racing ahead to the rest of the chapter. 1 Image size and canvas size Sometimes a tricky distinction if you haven't encountered it before, it's an important one when working with digital pictures. You probably know that image dimensions are given in pixels (think of pixels as the "dots of paint" that comprise a screen image)—say, 640 wide by 480 high. If you want to change these dimensions, there are two ways to go about it, and that's where image and canvas come into play. Changing the image size (I) means scaling the whole image or just a selected region up or down. Changing the canvas size (C) means adding or taking away pixels at the edges of the image—rather like adding a border around a mounted photo, or taking a pair of scissors and cropping the photo to a smaller size. Either way, after resizing, the image and canvas dimensions are once again identical. O 2 Interacting tools and tabs The Tools toolbar (See the PholoPlas Toolbars and Tabs diagram later in this chapter) is at the heart of PhotoPlus. Among its many offerings you'll find several basic painting/drawing tools, plus tools for erasing. filling a region, and cloning a region (all covered in detail in Chapter 4). As you try each of these tools, keep in mind that the Tool Properties tab and Brush Tip tab +3=n extend each tool's functionality by letting you +0= customize its settings. Only with the aid of the tabs can you choose a wide brush as opposed to a pencil point, or experiment with the full range of effects each tool can command. I r. C4 EFTA00577893 10 Getting Started 3 Making a selection In any photo editing program, the selection tools (see Chapter 3) are as significant as any of the basic brush tools or commands. The basic principle is simple: quite often you'll want to perform an operation on just a portion of the image. The wide range of selection options in PhotoPlus lets you: • Define just about any selection shape • Modify the extent or properties of the selection • Carry out various manipulations on the selected pixels, including cut, copy, paste, rotate, adjust colors, etc. Although the techniques for using each selection tool vary a bit, the end result of making a selection is always the same: a portion of the image has been roped off from the rest of the image. The boundary is visible as a broken line or marquee around the selected region. 4 Foreground and background colors At any given time, PhotoPlus allows you to work with just two colors—a foreground color and a lb • background color. These are always visible as two swatches on the Color tab. Electronic artists expend much of their creative energy deciding which of the millions of available colors should fill those two slots. The actual steps involved, however, can be quite simple (see Chapter 4). 5 Layers If you're accustomed to thinking of pictures as flat illustrations in books, ♦ or photographic prints, the concept of image layers may take some getting used to. In a typical PhotoPlus image—for example, a photograph you've scanned in, a new picture file you've just created, or a bitmap file you've opened—there is one layer that behaves like a conventional "flat" image. This is called the Background layer, and you can think of it as having paint overlaid on an opaque, solid color surface. EFTA00577894 Getting Started 11 On top of the Background layer, you can create any number of new layers in your image. Each new one appears on top of another, comprising a stack of layers that you can view and manipulate with the Layer Manager tab. We call these additional layers standard layers to differentiate them from the Background layer. Standard layers behave like transparent sheets through which the underlying layers are visible. There's a third kind of layer, called a text layer (see Chapter 4), which resembles a standard transparent layer but can only contain text. Text layers keep blocks of text editable so you can go back and change the font or retype characters. With few exceptions, you will work on just one layer at any given time, clicking in the Layer Manager tab to select the current or active layer. Selections (see above) and layers are related concepts. Whenever there's a selection, certain tools and commands operate only on the pixels inside the selection—as opposed to a condition where nothing is selected, in which case those functions generally affect the entire active layer. If your image has multiple layers, and you switch to another layer, the selection doesn't stay on the previous layer—it follows you to the new active layer. This makes sense when you realize that the selection doesn't actually include image content—it just describes a region with boundaries. And following the old advice "Don't confuse the map with the territory," you can think of the selection as a kind of outline map, and the active layer as the territory. We'll first encounter layers later in this chapter. Chapter 5 provides in• depth coverage. 6 Opacity and transparency Opacity and transparency are complementary — two sides of the same coin. They both refer to the degree to which a particular pixel's color contributes to the overall color at that point in the image. (Pixels again are the "screen dots" that comprise a bitmap image in PhotoPlus.) Varying opacity is rather like lighting a stage backdrop (scrim) in a theater: depending on how you light the fine gauze sheet, you can render the backdrop either visible or invisible. Fully opaque pixels contribute their full color value to the image. Fully transparent pixels are invisible: they contribute nothing to the image. EFTA00577895 12 Getting Started You'll primarily encounter these terms in one of two contexts. First, as a property of the pixels laid down by individual paint tools, which can be more or less opaque, depending on the tool's opacity setting. Second, as a property of individual layers, where opacity works like a "master setting" that you can vary after paint has been laid down. 7 Saving and exporting Saving a file in PhotoPlus means storing the image in the native PhotoPlus file format, using the .SPP extension. This format preserves image SPP El information, such as multiple layers, masks, or *ALE image map data, that would be lost in conversion to another graphic format. On the other hand, suppose you've opened a .BMP or .JPG file and want to save it back to its original format. In this case, use the Save Original command. In yet another instance, you may be ready to save an .SPP file (or convert some other image type) to one of the standard graphics formats. In PhotoPlus, this is known as exporting. PhotoPlus includes a powerful Export Optimizer that serves as your "command center" for exporting images to various formats. It not only provides a variety of options for each supported format, but also lets you compare image quality using different settings and even retains your preferred settings for each format! There's more on saving and exporting later in this chapter, and Chapter 7 includes details on file formats and optimizing images. Starting PhotoPlus Enough boring lecture—on to the demonstrations! (We'll skip the quiz.) It's time to begin exploring PhotoPlus. r NOTE: Throughout the Companion, we'll use 0 checkbox bullets to mark actual the ongoing tutorial thread: steps like you to complete as you follow along with the text. You'll come across many other descriptions and examples of commands, tools, and procedures (and of course you're encouraged to experiment). But remember —unless a step has a checkbox, it's entirely optional! The Setup routine adds a Serif PhotoPlus item to the Programs submenu of the Windows Start menu. EFTA00577896 Getting Started 13 ❑ Use the Windows Start button to pop up the Start Menu and click on the PhotoPlus item. PhotoPlus launches and displays the Startup Wizard, with a variety of choices: ♦ Open Saved Work displays a browser that lets you preview and open saved image files—pictures in any supported format as well as animated GIFs (see Chapter 3). ♦ Create New Picture opens a new image window using a size and background color you specify (see Chapter 4). ♦ Create New Animation opens a new image window and displays the Animation tab, with controls for creating animation frames (see Chapter 6). ♦ Import from TWAIN lets you bring in pictures from devices like scanners and digital cameras (see Chapters 3 and 7). ♦ View Samples opens the gallery of PhotoPlus images. ♦ Online Resources offers direct access to roductivity tools and reference sources, including If you don't care to see the Startup Wizard again, uncheck the "Use the Startup Wizard next time" box. However, we suggest you leave it checked until you're familiar with the equivalent PhotoPlus commands. ❑ Click Open Saved Work and then click the Browse button in the dialog. EFTA00577897 14 Getting Started ttop Ro AM;a1JJFt -M P • .e Mg CP ore :I^ .4 4n 4/ IMR 2.1 O PhotoPlus is set to initially display the contents of the PhotoPlus PROJECTS folder, located on your hard disk. If the Open dialog displays a different folder, browse to PROGRAM FILESNSERIAPHOTOP501PROJECTS. NOTE: Whether or not you use the Projects folder to store your own work, remember its location so you'll know where to find Companion source files when they're needed later on. O Select the file CAT.JPG in the Projects folder and click Open. The cat photograph opens in a new image window (your precise screen layout may vary somewhat from the illustration). O • a EFTA00577898 Getting Started 15 Getting your bearings Now that you've got an image open, and the PhotoPlus menus and tools are available, let's take a quick look around the PhotoPlus environment. Even if you're in a rush to start working, don't skip the rest of the chapter! At the very least, take note of what's here so you'll know where to find the information when you need it later. Introducing the interface PhotoPlus is an MDI application. MDI stands for Multiple Document Interface and it means that you can have multiple documents —images, in PhotoPlus terms—open at the same time. Each image window contains one image, with the image's name shown in the window's titlebar. At any given time, one image window will be active in front of any others, with its name shown in the main PhotoPlus titlebar. You can use commands from the Window menu to arrange the image windows. If you have more than one image open, then you can switch to another window using the Window menu or the keyboard shortcut Ctri+Tab. Double-click on an image window's titlebar to maximize it. The PhotoPlus toolbars and tab windows (tabs for short) are essential features of the PhotoPlus environment. The PhotoPlus Toolbars and Tabs diagram identifies each tab and provides an overview of what it does. To display the related online help topic for any tab, first click the Help button on the top toolbar, then click the tab. When you first launch PhotoPlus, it opens with the PhotoPlus toolbars and tabs all visible in default positions, with certain tabs "docked" or joined together. You can hide, show, or move them individually as needed, and dock or undock the tabs. Chances are you'll want to keep the Tools toolbar visible, but if your display area is large enough you might consider moving it to a horizontal position alongside the top (Standard) toolbar—or "floating" it as a separate palette. Remember, there's nothing fixed about the PhotoPlus interface, so feel free to try different arrangements until you're satisfied. EFTA00577899 16 Getting Started PhotoPlus Toolbars and Tabs DSWa -1 Standard toolbar Provides standard file and Clipboard commands. Click the [7], then any tab, for context-sensitive help! Tool Properties El Tool Properties] l Opacity:F0 Z Mill. r , Fade: I 0 steps ,Styluxr Size r Opacity Tool Properties tab Lets you customize the settings for many of the tools on the Tools toolbar Brush T Brush Tip] • • • • • • • • • • 35 • 45 • 65 • 100 Tools toolbar Features tools for selecting regions of the screen, painting and erasing, cropping selections, creating Web graphics... and more Brush Tip tab Lets you choose and customize brush tips for the painting tools EFTA00577900 Getting Started 17 Color Color] C0101 Mode - RGB R I G Layer Manager tab Includes controls for creating, deleting, arranging, merging, and setting properties of layers in the image Color tab Lets you select foreground and background colors and change the color mode Layer Manager Layer Manager' Opacity. Fro v L 1 I*5 3-d- Background Y Aseleatiail FlarreDelaY Total ire Ch 050; Loop 7-;" vl A > 11 CD Li> Animation tab Provides controls for editing animation files (only appears in Animation mode) EFTA00577901 18 Getting Started To turn off a tab, click the a Close button in its titlebar. To turn a tab or toolbar off or on, uncheck or check its name on the View menu. If you need more room on-screen for a particular operation, press the Tab key to turn all the visible tabs off, and again to turn them back on. To dock or undock a tab, click on its label and drag to the new position, either floating independently or docked in a window next to another tab. It's easy to get online help in PhotoPlus. For a summary, see the "Getting Help" section at the end of this chapter. Setting preferences To specify the ruler units, grid interval, and other preferences, choose Preferences... from the File menu to open the Preferences dialog. Select the appropriate options on the Undo, Transparency, Layout and/or Startup tab of the dialog. When you have made your choices, click the OK button to save your changes or click Cancel to abandon them. Setting the view Zooming (changing the relative size of the image in relation to its window) and panning (moving the image in relation to its window) are essential when you're operating at different levels of detail, or on different portions or an image. PhotoPlus provides standard Zoom and Pan tools. liTo change the image scale, choose the Zoom tool from the Tools toolbar. To zoom in, left-click on the image. To zoom out, right-click on the image. The current zoom ratio appears in the titlebar of the image window, next to the file name. You can also set a specific zoom ratio by choosing Zoom In or Zoom Out from the View menu, then selecting a ratio from the submenu. To restore a 1:1 viewing ratio, choose Normal Viewing from the View menu. ® To pan, Choose the Pan tool from the Tools toolbar and drag the image to move it in relation to its window. EFTA00577902 Getting Started 19 How to Get an Image into PhotoPlus Before you can manipulate an image, you'll need something to work with! PhotoPlus can open images saved in a wide variety of industry- standard file formats, and acquire images from your TWAIN-compliant digital camera or scanner. To get a saved image into PhotoPlus, you select Open Saved Work from the Startup Wizard. The dialog displays image files you've recently worked on; select a file or click the Browse button to locate other saved files. As an alternative to using the Startup Wizard, you can select the name of a recently opened file from the File menu or choose File/Open... to display the Open dialog. The Open dialog shows dimensions and bit depth (see Chapter 7) information for each selected image. To display a thumbnail of the image, check Show preview (this may slow down the display somewhat). If your scanner or digital camera supports the industry-wide TWAIN standard, you can bring pictures from these devices directly into PhotoPlus. (To set up your TWAIN device for importing, see the documentation supplied with the device for operating instructions.) To begin scanning a picture into PhotoPlus, either select the Import From TWAIN option in the Startup Wizard, or, if the program is already running, choose Import from the File menu and then select Acquire. (If PhotoPlus is running but there's no image window open, choose New from the File menu to display the Startup Wizard.) If you have more than one TWAIN-compatible device installed, you may be prompted to select one as the source—or you can specify a different source by choosing Import/Select Source from the File menu. The acquisition software for the selected device will start up and display its window, and you can then carry out the scan, possibly having made a few basic adjustments. Note that the features available in image acquisition software vary widely and are not under the control of PhotoPlus. Usually, you will at least be able to adjust settings for the image source (such as a color photograph, black and white photograph. or color halftone) and the resolution at which the image is to be scanned. For color theory and tips on scanning, see Chapter 7. EFTA00577903 20 Getting Started Whether you import the image via the Open dialog or the TWAIN interface, it will appear in a new image window in PhotoPlus. Assuming the image is not in the native PhotoPlus (.SPP) format, it will always have just a single layer, called the Background layer (see "Seven Key Concepts" earlier in the chapter). Chapter 5 will explore layers in considerable detail; until then we'll be focusing on techniques that work perfectly well on one—or at most two—layers. Saving and Exporting Files PhotoPlus can save images in its own .SPP format, or export them to any standard format (again, see "Seven Key Concepts"). Use File/Save (or click the Save button) to save images in PhotoPlus's own .SPP format. Only .SPP images preserve information such as multiple layers, masks, or image map data that would be lost in conversion to another graphic format. Use File/Save As... to save the image as an .SPP file under a different path or name. You can store files anywhere on your system. It's a good idea to group your images, for example into project-oriented or thematic folders. Suppose you've opened a .BMP or .JPG file, done some editing (without adding layers), and now wish to save it back to its original format. In this case, you can use the File/Save Original or File/Save Original As... commands. Using the former will overwrite the original file—so be sure that's what you want to do. In many situations, you'll want to save a file to one of the standard graphics formats. In PhotoPlus, this is known as exporting. You can use the Export Optimizer to preview image quality before at various settings before going ahead with the export. The File menu offers two ways of accessing the O timizer. Either choose Fib/Export Optimizer... to display it directly, or choose File/Export... and then click the Optimize button in the dialog. The Export dialog itself is a standard file dialog where you can specify the path, name, and format for the image file. EFTA00577904 Getting Started 21 The Export Optimizer consists of a left-hand settings region and a right- hand preview display, with additional buttons along the bottom of the dialog. In animation mode, there's an extra tab for changing output settings. To display a different portion of the image. drag the image in the preview pane. To change the display scale, click the Zoom In or Zoom Out buttons at the lower left. To adjust the preview display, click one of the View buttons at the lower left to select Single, Double, or Quad display. The illustration above shows Single view. The multi-pane (Double and Quad) settings let you compare different export settings for one or more file formats. Just click one of the display panes to select it as the active pane, and then use the Options panel at the left to choose an export format and specific settings. Each time you make a new choice, the active pane updates to show the effect of filtering using the new settings, as well as the estimated file size! When you've picked the optimum export settings, click the dialog's Export or OK button to proceed to the Export dialog. For details on image file formats and optimization, see Chapter 7. Printing Printing is controlled from the Print dialog, which you can access by choosing Print... from the File menu, clicking the Print button on the Standard toolbar, or pressing Ctrl+P. EFTA00577905 22 Getting Started Pion Nan, •^L Li Boobies Vila Diva pont Twit HP lalo RICL Min 0'0 Urn& f 1111 brit Pinhinp Corm r. gl Nam epos.. r-Leknxa LLap OK caned I Choose the printer to use from the drop•down list. If necessary, click the Properties... button to set up the printer for the correct page size, etc. It's very important to set up your printer correctly to get the best results. Click the Options... button if you need to set special print options such as scaling, tiling, or CMYK color separations. (The various print options are detailed in Chapter 7.) After setting the printer properties and the print options, click on OK in the main print dialog to send the image to the printer. Depending on the size and complexity of the image, and the printer you're using, it may take several minutes before the printed page emerges. Getting Help The PhotoPlus online help system is designed to work for you. Whatever your background, you'll find it easy to navigate. • To begin learning about PhotoPlus tools and menus, just move the mouse pointer around the screen. Watch the HintLine at the lower right for capsule descriptions of each feature. Event Tips pop up as you try new tools and actions. • For help on interface elements like toolbars and tab windows, click the Help button on the top toolbar, then click on an element. • For help on dialog boxes, click their internal Help button. Several Help menu choices take you to key features of online help: • Choose Contents to display the main help menu screen, including links to the Welcome and Support pages. • Choose Index to pop up the alphabetical list of help topics. EFTA00577906 Getting Started 23 ♦ Choose Effects Gallery to display a visual sampler of color adjustments and special effects — cross•referenced to help topics (see Chapter 3 for more). Once inside online help, choose Visual Reference or How To to peruse help information using either a graphical or step-by-step approach— whichever you prefer. Each section displays its own table of contents in the main window, while help topics appear in a second window. Extensive cross-references make sure all the information is interlinked. EFTA00577907 Manipulating Images EFTA00577908 Manipulating Images 27 This chapter will focus on ways of manipulating existing pictures, especially photos. We'll begin with a Hands-on Project using the "cat" image you briefly opened in the previous chapter. Note that all of the techniques described here can also be applied to images created from scratch, and to animations. There are many reasons why you might want to manipulate a photo, including: ♦ Cleaning up an old, damaged photo ♦ Removing an unwanted item or slogan from the background ♦ Preparing an image for printing, use on the World Wide Web or in another package If you agree that it's time to do something about that smug-looking cat from the previous chapter, here's a Hands-on Project that provides an introduction to manipulating images. Remember, the bullet checkboxes denote the actual steps you should complete; anything else is optional. HANDS ON: Captioning a Cat ❑ Open CATJPG in the PhotoPlus PROJECTS folder, if it's not already open. (See the section "Starting PhotoPlus.") EFTA00577909 28 Manipulating Images Cropping the image Cropping is one of the easiest ways to improve the appearance of a photograph —by creating a more pleasing composition of its main elements. In this particular photo, there's just one main element, and it fills the whole image! However, there are a couple of problems with leaving the image uncropped. One is the rather boring curtain in the background; the other is the large blurry tail in front. So let's crop away everything except the cat's face. PhotoPlus offers two basic ways of cropping an image. You can either select a region of pixels, using any of the various selection tools, and then use the Image/Crop to Selection command. We'll cover this method later in the chapter. If you're cropping to a rectangular shape its generally easier to use the Crop tool. ❑ Choose the Crop tool from the Tools toolbar and drag out a crop selection around the cat's head, as in the illustration. Start at one corner and drag to the other. Once you release the mouse button, you can adjust the selection rectangle by dragging its edges or corners, or from the center to move it. ❑ Once you've selected the correct area, double-click within the selection rectangle to complete the cropping. By the way, if you make a mistake, don't worry. Most actions in PhotoPlus can be undone using Undo from the Edit menu, the Undo button on the Standard toolbar, or the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Z. You can even undo an "undo"—use Redo on the Edit menu, the Standard toolbar, or with Ctrl+Y. (The File/Preferences... dialog lets you set options for the Undo function.) Adjusting brightness and contrast You may have noticed that thi