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Credits This User Guide, and the software described in it, is furnished under an end user License Agreement, which is included with the product. The agreement specifies the permitted and prohibited uses. Trademarks Serif is a registered trademark of Serif (Europe) Ltd. PhotoPlus is a registered trademark of Serif (Europe) Ltd. All Serif product names are trademarks of Serif (Europe) Ltd. Microsoft, Windows and the Windows logo are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Contents Contents 1. Welcome ............................................................ 1 Welcome ................................................................................... 3 Existing features........................................................................ 4 Installation ............................................................................... 11 2. Getting Started ................................................. 13 Startup Wizard .................................................
Contents Overview: Applying special effects...........................................66 Using the Filter Gallery.............................................................67 Applying 2D layer effects .........................................................71 Applying 3D layer effects .........................................................73 Warp tool effects ......................................................................77 5. Manipulating Images .......................................
Contents 7. Making Images for the Web .......................... 147 Slicing images ....................................................................... 149 Creating image maps ............................................................ 150 8. Macros and Batch Processing....................... 153 Understanding macros .......................................................... 155 Batch processing................................................................... 161 9.
Contents 12. AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos .............. 201 Selecting thumbnails ..............................................................203 Thumbnail styles ....................................................................204 Resizing thumbnails ...............................................................207 Changing photo order ............................................................208 Rating your photos .................................................................
1 Welcome
2 Welcome
Welcome 3 Welcome Welcome to PhotoPlus Essentials from Serif—the best value in image creation and editing software for any home, school, organization, or growing business. PhotoPlus is the number one choice for working with photographs and painttype images, whether for the web, multimedia, or the printed page. PhotoPlus has the features you’ll need...
4 Welcome Existing features PhotoPlus power • Professional Input and Output Options Import an impressive selection of graphic files, including raw images from all the major manufacturers' cameras (and many more...). Support for Photoshop® (.psd), HD Photo, and Corel Paint Shop Pro® import! Export to an equally extensive choice of graphic file formats! • Preset Canvas Sizes If you're creating a new picture, adopt a preset canvas size selected from Photo, Video, Web or International/US Paper categories.
Welcome 5 • Special Erase Options Need to remove that blue sky and leave the clouds? Use the Flood Eraser to fill the blue regions with transparency. Want to isolate a shape from a flat color background? The Background Eraser samples pixels under the brush, so only unwanted colors drop out. • Quick-and-easy Cutouts Image Cutout Studio makes light work of cutting out parts of your active layer.
6 Welcome categories (watercolor, charcoal, paint, etc.). Stamp and Spray Picture Brush effects and stamps. PhotoPlus lets you create your own category and brush tips! Apply different colors, levels of transparency, blend modes, to any brush, all at varying flow rates. Built-in support for most pressure-sensitive graphics tablets. • Selection Power—by Brush! Create selection areas defined by your laid-down brush strokes.
Welcome 7 Effects • Filter Gallery The distort, blur, edge, sharpen, render, and stylistic effects can be applied singularly or in combination within Filter Gallery... guaranteed to keep you up late! The Gallery also incorporates the popular Instant Artist effects (Oil, Impressionist, Pencil, Watercolor, Paint and Ink, and more). • Third-party Plug-in Effects and Custom Effects Support for third-party Photoshop® plug-ins. You can even design your own custom filters.
8 Welcome Adjustments • Image Adjustments Apply professional, darkroom-style color and histogram adjustments to your images—giving you fingertip control over tones and colors. Adjust Shadow/Highlight/Midtone to calm down overexposed skies in one single operation without having to resort to manipulating curves and levels. Employ the Blur and Sharpen tools to enhance or reduce local detail... blend multiple layers more cleanly. There's even a dedicated tool for removing "red eye" from flash photos.
Welcome 9 Productivity/Workflow • Always-at-Hand Tools A Context toolbar improves your efficiency by allowing the viewing and editing of a tool's properties in context with the tool currently selected.
10 Welcome Print and Share • Easy Printing Print your project with powerful scaling and tiling options. • Print Studio PhotoPlus's unified Print Studio allows you to print single images, artistic and paper-saving layouts as well as contact sheets. Use the large range of built in layouts or quickly and easily create your own. • Publish to PDF Export your documents to PDF, with powerful options for professional printing (PDF/X-1 compatibility and prepress marks).
Welcome Installation System Requirements Minimum: • Windows-based PC with DVD/CD drive and mouse • Microsoft Windows® XP* SP2 (32 bit), Windows® Vista, or Windows® 7 operating system • 512MB RAM • 215MB free hard disk space; 415MB with AlbumPlus Organizer installed. • 1024 x 768 monitor resolution Additional disk resources and memory are required when editing large and/or complex images. * Requires Microsoft Windows Imaging Component.
12 Welcome First-time install To install PhotoPlus Essentials simply insert the PhotoPlus Essentials Program CD into your DVD/CD drive. The AutoRun feature automatically starts the Setup process. Just answer the on-screen questions to install the program. Re-install To re-install the software or to change the installation at a later date, select Control Panel from the Windows Start menu and then click on the Programs Uninstall a program option.
2 Getting Started
14 Getting Started
Getting Started 15 Startup Wizard Once PhotoPlus has been installed, you're ready to start! • The Setup routine during install adds a PhotoPlus Essentials entry to the Windows Start menu. Use the Windows Start button to pop up the Start Menu, click on All Programs and then click the PhotoPlus item. On program launch, the Startup Wizard is displayed which offers different routes into PhotoPlus: *Startup Wizard may differ in your program. • Click Create New Image, to start from scratch.
16 Getting Started Use the Choose Workspace drop-down menu to choose your workspace appearance (i.e., Studio tab positions, tab sizes, and show/hide tab status). You can adopt the default workspace profile , the last used profile , a range of pre-defined profiles, or a custom workspace profile you've previously saved. As you click on different profiles from the menu, your workspace will preview each tab layout in turn.
Getting Started 17 Although you can resize the image canvas size (width x height) later, it's usually best to allow some extra canvas area at first. 3. (Optional) Add a Resolution for the new image file. Leave the resolution as is unless you're sure a different value is required. 4. (Optional) Select a background type in the Background drop-down list. 5. • When painting from scratch, you'll normally choose White.
18 Getting Started To open a recently opened PhotoPlus Picture or graphic (via Startup Wizard): 1. From the Startup Wizard (at startup time or via File>New...), select your SPP file or graphic file from the Open section. The most recently opened file will be shown at the top of the list. To see a thumbnail preview of any file before opening, hover over its name in the list. 2. Click the file name to open it.
Getting Started 19 To open images by drag-and-drop: • Drag and drop an image file or preview thumbnail into PhotoPlus from Windows Explorer either: • into the current workspace (to create a new layer). OR • onto the Documents tab (to create a new image window). Getting images from cameras and scanners If your digital camera or scanner supports the industry-wide TWAIN standard, you can bring pictures from these devices directly into PhotoPlus.
20 Getting Started Saving a file The process of saving differs depending on the type of file you are working on, the file's current saved state and the file type you want to save. PhotoPlus lets you work on (and save) one of several file types: • An open PhotoPlus Picture (SPP) file is project-based and so preserves 'project' information (e.g., layers or masks) when saving the file. • For a currently open image file you can edit and save the image back to its original format.
Getting Started • If you've added layers or masks to your image, when you click a Save option you'll be asked if you want to preserve the "project" information. • In the dialog, click Yes to save your project information (as an SPP file). OR click No to save as a flattened image (i.e., without layers). To revert an image file: • 21 Click Revert from the File menu. The last saved version of your image is displayed.
22 Getting Started
3 Layers and Masks
24 Layers and Masks
Layers and Masks 25 Basics of using layers If you're accustomed to thinking of pictures as flat illustrations in books, or as photographic prints, the concept of image layers may take some getting used to. In fact, layers are hardly unique to electronic images. The emulsion of photographic film has separate layers, each sensitive to a different color—and we've all noticed multiple-image depth effects like store window reflections or mirrored interiors.
26 Layers and Masks You can create any number of new layers in your image. Each new one appears on top of the currently active layer, comprising a stack that you can view and manipulate with the Layers 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.
Layers and Masks 27 "master" Opacity setting that you can change at any time (with on-screen realtime preview), while the Background layer does not. A couple of examples will show how this rule is applied in PhotoPlus: • Suppose you are creating a new image. The New Image dialog provides three choices for Background: White, Background Color, and Transparent. If you pick White or Background Color, the Layers tab shows a single layer in the new image named "Background".
28 Layers and Masks Others, such as rearranging the order of layers in the stack, setting up different color interactions (blend modes and blend ranges) between layers, varying layer opacity (transparency), applying 2D layer effects and 3D layer effects, using depth maps, or masking, only work with standard layers. Once an image has more than just a background layer, the layer information can only be preserved by saving the image in the native PhotoPlus (.spp) format.
29 Layers and Masks • The Add Layer Mask button adds a mask to the currently selected layer. • The Add Layer Depth Map button creates a depth map for the selected layer. • The Add Layer Effects button creates a 2D or 3D effect on the layer. Right-click to copy/paste, clear or hide effects. • To remove one or more selected layers, click the Delete Layer button on the Layers tab. Hidden layers can also be deleted without prior selection by using Delete>Hidden Layers.
30 Layers and Masks To control layer content: • To select all layer content use Select>Select All or Ctrl+A. To select non-transparent regions on a layer, Ctrl-click on a layer thumbnail. Use Invert to selection transparent regions. • To move layer content, select one or more layers containing the content to be moved (from the Layers tab), then drag with the Move Tool with no selection area present (press Ctrl+D to remove any selection).
Layers and Masks 31 Using layer groups For greater management and efficiency it is possible to place selected layers into a created group. There are many reasons why you might want to use groups in addition to layers. Here are a few... • To create a self-contained group of layers which are all related, e.g. all the Retouch layers used in your photo. • To collect layers together which make up a specific photo feature, e.g. the beach components of a seaside shot.
32 Layers and Masks • In the dialog, enter group name, blend mode, opacity, and blend range for the group. • Click OK. To add one or more layers to a Layer Group: • Select the layer(s) you want to add to the group and drag onto the group name (a red line indicates where the layer is to be placed). The layer(s) will then appear indented under the group.
Layers and Masks 33 Using blend modes You can think of blend modes as different rules for putting pixels together to create a resulting color. In PhotoPlus, you'll encounter blend modes in several contexts: • As a property of individual tools, the tool's blend mode determines what happens if you use the tool to apply a new color pixel on top of an existing color pixel. Note that once you've applied paint to a region, that's it—you've changed the color of pixels there.
34 Layers and Masks To set a tool's blend mode: • Select the tool and use the drop-down list (displays Normal by default) on the tool's Context toolbar. To set a standard layer's blend mode: • Select the layer and choose the mode from the blend mode's dropdown list. It's also possible to include or exclude tones or colors to be included in any blending operation by using blend ranges. For more details, see PhotoPlus Help.
Layers and Masks 35 Adjusting opacity/transparency Varying opacity is rather like lighting a gauze backdrop in a theatre: depending on how light falls on it, it can be rendered either visible or invisible, or in between. Fully opaque pixels contribute their full color value to the image. Fully transparent pixels are invisible: they contribute nothing to the image. In-between pixels are called semi-transparent.
36 Layers and Masks To set a tool's opacity: • Select the tool (e.g., Paintbrush Tool) and from the Context toolbar either enter a percentage Opacity value directly or use the slider (click the option's right arrow button). To set a layer's opacity: • Select the layer in the Layers tab and adjust the Opacity setting at the top of the tab—either enter a percentage Opacity value directly or use the slider (click the option's right arrow button).
Layers and Masks 37 Using depth maps Depth maps let you add remarkable 3D realism to ordinary images. A standard "flat" image, of course, has only two dimensions: X and Y, or width and height. Adding a depth map to a layer gives you an extra channel that stores information for a third (Z-axis or depth) dimension, in effect adding "volume" to the image.
38 Layers and Masks To create a depth map: 1. Select the layer (or group) in the Layers tab and click Layer Depth Map. Add You'll see a thumbnail of the depth map appear to the right of the bitmap thumbnail. The Depth Map is initially selected. 2. Paint directly on your page (you're actually painting or erasing directly on the map).
Layers and Masks 39 You can also switch the depth map off and on to assess its contribution to the image, or subtract it for creative reasons. To switch the depth map off and on: • Shift-click its preview thumbnail, next to the layer name. When the depth map is switched off a red "X" appears across the thumbnail. To remove the depth map and cancel its effects on the layer: • Select the map thumbnail and click the layer tab's (Don't press the Delete key!) Delete button.
40 Layers and Masks By changing the grayscale values on the mask (using the paint tools and other devices), you can impose corresponding changes in the opacity of the underlying layer's pixels (values stored as the layer's alpha channel) . For example, by applying a gradient "blacking out" across the mask, you gradually render the layer's underlying pixels transparent, and they disappear from the image (see above).
Layers and Masks 41 To create a mask: 1. Select a layer in the Layers tab. This is the layer where you want to create the mask, and select specific region(s) if desired. 2. Then either: • Click the Add Layer Mask button to create a Reveal All mask (or Reveal Selection if there is one). Instead, Alt-click the button for a Hide All Mask (or Hide Selection).
42 Layers and Masks As long as you are editing the mask, you're only seeing a preview of changes on the layer. You can switch out of Edit Mask mode at any time to edit the active layer directly (or any other part of the image), then switch back to resume work on the mask. To edit the active layer: • Click the layer thumbnail to the left of the Mask thumbnail. The thumbnail is then bordered in white. To edit the active layer's mask: • Click the mask thumbnail, or check Edit Mask on the Layers menu.
Layers and Masks 43 White or light portions of the mask reveal layer pixels (make them more opaque). Black or dark portions hide layer pixels (making them more transparent). You can disable the mask to see how the layer looks without the mask's effects. Note that disabling the mask is not the same as cancelling Edit Mask mode—it only affects your view of the layer, not which plane (i.e. mask or layer) you're working on.
44 Layers and Masks To create a mask from a selection: 1. Choose Mask>Add Mask from the Layers menu. Remember you can't create a mask on a background layer! 2. To create a mask revealing the selected region, choose Reveal Selection from the submenu. Pixels outside the selection will be 100% masked. OR To create a mask hiding the selected region, choose Hide Selection from the submenu. Pixels outside the selection will be revealed.
4 Image Adjustments and Effects
46 Image Adjustments and Effects
Image Adjustments and Effects 47 Introduction to image adjustments A major part of photo-editing is making corrections (i.e., adjustments) to your own near-perfect images. Whether you’ve been snapping with your digital camera or you've just scanned a photograph, at some point you may need to call on PhotoPlus’s powerful photo-correction tools to fix some unforeseen problems. For photo-correction, several methods can be adopted.
48 Image Adjustments and Effects Here’s a summary of the available PhotoPlus image adjustments. • Levels displays a histogram plot of lightness values in the image, from which you can adjust the tonal range by shifting dark, light, and gamma values. • Curves displays lightness values in the image using a line graph, and lets you adjust points along the curve to fine-tune the tonal range. • Color Balance lets you adjust color and tonal balance for general color correction in the image.
Image Adjustments and Effects 49 • Lens Filter adjusts the color balance for warming or cooling down your photos. It digitally mimics the placement of a filter on the front of your camera lens. • Threshold creates a monochromatic (black and white) rendering. You can set the threshold, i.e. the lightness or gray value above which colors are inverted. • Equalize evenly distributes the lightness levels between existing bottom (darkest) and top (lightest) values.
50 Image Adjustments and Effects Using adjustment layers Adjustment layers are recommended for applying image adjustments experimentally and nondestructively to your image. An adjustment layer is created by selecting an adjustment from the Adjustments tab. As its name suggests, an adjustment layer is considered a layer so it will appear in the Layers tab on creation.
Image Adjustments and Effects 51 The following adjustments are available: • Levels: Adjust contrast and tonal range by shifting dark, light, and mid-tone values. • Curves: Fine-tune lightness (luminance) values in the image or color channel using a line graph. • Color Balance: Adjust color and tonal balance for general color correction in the image. • Brightness/Contrast: Vary brightness and/or contrast.
52 Image Adjustments and Effects To create an adjustment layer: 1. From the Adjustments tab, select an adjustment. OR Click New Adjustment Layer on the Layers tab, selecting an adjustment from the drop-down list. 2. In the Layers tab, the new adjustment layer is inserted above the active layer. The adjustment is applied to all underlying layers. 3. From the Adjustments tab, change the applied adjustment layer's settings to suit your requirements.
Image Adjustments and Effects 53 To modify an adjustment layer: 1. Click the adjustment layer's name in the Layers tab. 2. From the Adjustments tab, modify the applied adjustment layer's settings. To hide/show an adjustment layer: • Click Hide/Show Layer on the Layers tab. To delete an adjustment layer: • (via Layers tab) Select the adjustment layer and click Layer. Delete OR • (via Adjustments tab) Select the adjustment and click Delete Layer.
54 Image Adjustments and Effects On the Retouch Tools flyout: Red Eye Tool - for correcting the "red eye" phenomenon common in color snapshots Smudge Tool - for picking up color from the click point and "pushing" it in the brush stroke direction Blur Tool - for reducing contrast under the brush, softening edges without smearing colors Sharpen Tool - for increasing contrast under the brush, enhancing apparent sharpness Dodge Tool - for lightening an area Burn Tool - for darkening an area Sponge Tool - fo
Image Adjustments and Effects 55 Straightening a photo As an image adjustment, the Straighten Tool can be used to align a crooked image back to horizontal (e.g., restoring proper horizontal alignment in a scanned image that wasn't aligned correctly on the scanner). Use the tool to trace a new horizon against a line in the image—the image automatically orients itself to the drawn horizon.
56 Image Adjustments and Effects • Original Size - Displays the straightened image within the original canvas dimensions. The border area is filled with the current background color. On the image that needs straightening, look for a straight line on the image to which you can set the new horizon (e.g., the divide between the land and sea above). 3. (Optional) Uncheck Rotate All Layers to restrict the operation to the active layer only. Otherwise all layers are rotated. 4.
Image Adjustments and Effects 57 Using PhotoFix PhotoFix provides an image adjustment environment within PhotoPlus which simplifies the often complicated process of image correction. The studio environment offers the following key features: • Adjustment filters Apply tonal, color, lens, and sharpening filters. • Retouching filters Apply red-eye correction, spot repair, straightening, and cropping. • Powerful filter combinations Create combinations of mixed adjustment filters for savable workflows.
58 Image Adjustments and Effects To launch PhotoFix: • Click PhotoFix on the Photo Studio toolbar. Let's get familiar with the PhotoFix interface showing a non-default Split horizontal view.
Image Adjustments and Effects 59 Adjustments overview Adjustments are made available to the right of the main window from the Filters section. Here's a quick overview of all the adjustments hosted in PhotoFix, some tool-based and some available as filters. Retouch tools: • Red Eye Removes the dreaded red eye effect from subject's eyes—commonly encountered with flash photography. • Spot Repair Removes skin blemishes and other flaws.
60 Image Adjustments and Effects • HSL Adjust the Hue, Saturation, and Lightness of your image independently. • Black and White Film Intelligently apply grayscale by varying the gray tones of red, green or blue colors in your original image. Also apply color tints. • Chromatic Aberration Reduces red/cyan or blue/yellow fringing on object edges. • Lens Distortion Fixes barrelling and pincushion distortion encountered when photographing straight-edged objects at close range.
Image Adjustments and Effects 61 To apply an adjustment (using custom settings): 1. Review the available adjustments in the Filters section, before expanding the adjustment you want to apply by clicking Expand filter. 2. Modify the adjustment using sliders, check boxes, graph adjustments, and drop-down menus (you can also enter absolute values into available input boxes). The image will be adjusted automatically to reflect the new settings in the preview window.
62 Image Adjustments and Effects Using PhotoFix masks Masks in PhotoFix adopt the same principles as layer masks (see p. 39). In PhotoFix however, masking is used to apply adjustment filters to selected "painted" regions of your image or to protect painted regions from change. Painting is used exclusively to create PhotoFix masks. Each new mask comprises the selected mask region, plus a set of adjustments applied to that mask. You can change the adjustments associated with the mask at a later date.
Image Adjustments and Effects 63 To apply a mask: Create Mask from the main toolbar. 1. Select 2. In the Mask Brush pane, select the 3. Adjust the settings to suit your requirements. For example, adjust Brush Size to paint larger or more intricate regions. 4. In the Mode drop-down menu, choose one of the following options: 5. Add Region tool. • Select: Choose this if you want to apply the filter only to the regions you paint. This is the default setting.
64 Image Adjustments and Effects Accept. 6. Click 7. Apply your adjustments as described previously, which will make a change to your masked regions. Adding multiple masks So far we've looked at an individual mask applied to an image. However, PhotoFix also supports multiple masks where a different set of adjustments can be applied to each mask. You can therefore build up a patchwork of masked regions for absolute and selective control of image adjustments. To apply additional masks: 1.
Image Adjustments and Effects 65 To edit a mask: 1. From the down arrow on the Filters heading, select your mask name (a check indicates selection). 2. Modify your adjustments as described previously. Saving favorites If there's a specific filter setting (or combination of filters) you want to keep for future use it's easy to save it as a favorite. PhotoFix stores preset and custom favorites together in the Favorites tab. You can even create your own categories (e.g.
66 Image Adjustments and Effects To save a filter(s) as a new favorite: Save Filter on the modified filter's pane. 1. Click 2. From the dialog, enter a favorite name and pick a category to save the filter to. Optionally, click to save to a new category. If you want to further manage your favorites into user-defined categories, click Manage Favorites... on the Favorites tab's Tab Menu. When increasing the Exposure value, use the histogram to check that your highlights aren't clipped (i.e.
Image Adjustments and Effects 67 Using the Filter Gallery The Filter Gallery offers a one-stop studio environment for applying single or multiple filter effects. The gallery hosts sets of filter thumbnails which are categorized into different effect categories (e.g., Distort, Blur, Sharpen, Edge, Artistic, Noise, Render, etc.). Thumbnails are shown in expandable categories. The Filter Gallery offers the following key features: • Application of individual or multiple filter effects simultaneously.
68 Image Adjustments and Effects To view the Filter Gallery: • Click Filter Gallery on the Photo Studio toolbar. For some effects hosted on the Effects menu, the Filter Gallery will automatically be launched with the effect already applied. To add a filter in the Filter Gallery: 1. Expand your chosen effect category by clicking the (click to collapse). 2. Click on an effect thumbnail to apply it to your image.
Image Adjustments and Effects 69 Use the Undo button to undo recent changes to the filter (or the Redo button to re-apply the changes). 3. Adjust sliders (or enter input values) until your filter suits your requirements. Some filters offer check boxes, drop-down menus, and additional controls (e.g., Advanced settings). The large preview window updates automatically as you adjust any values.
70 Image Adjustments and Effects To collapse/expand filter properties: • To collapse, click the expand again, click the button preceding the filter effect name. To button. To replace a filter: 1. Ensure Replace selected is checked. 2. Select the filter you wish to replace by clicking anywhere in the filter's pane. On selection, the selected filter shows a lighter background, e.g, Gaussian below. 3. Select a replacement filter from an effect category.
Image Adjustments and Effects 71 To reorder filters: • Drag and drop your filter into any position in the stack. A dotted line indicates the new position in which the entry will be placed on mouse release. Applying 2D layer effects Layer effects can be applied to the contents of standard (transparent) layers, text layers, or shape layers. Standard or "2D" layer effects like shadow, glow, bevel, and emboss are particularly well adapted to text, while 3D layer effects (covered elsewhere; p.
72 Image Adjustments and Effects • Drop Shadow adds a diffused shadow "behind" solid regions on a layer. • Inner Shadow adds a diffused shadow effect inside the edge of an object. • Outer Glow adds a color border outside the edge of an object. • Inner Glow adds a color border inside the edge of an object. • Bevel and Emboss/Inner Bevel adds a rounded-edge effect inside an object. • Bevel and Emboss/Outer Bevel adds a rounded-edge effect (resembling a drop shadow) outside an object.
Image Adjustments and Effects 73 3. To adjust the properties of a specific effect, select its name and adjust the dialog controls. Adjust the sliders, drop-down menu, or enter specific values to vary each effect. Options differ from one effect to another. 4. Click OK to apply the effect or Cancel to abandon changes. Applying 3D layer effects 3D layer effects are just as easy to apply, but they’re a bit more complex than their 2D cousins (see p. 71).
74 Image Adjustments and Effects To apply an Instant Effect to the active layer: • From the Instant Effects tab, select a category, then click a gallery thumbnail. • To make the effect appear smaller or larger in relation to the image, drag the Scale slider or type a value in the tab. You can apply an effect from the Instant Effects tab preset, edit it (using the Layer Effects dialog) and then save it as a custom preset in a user-defined category (you'll have to create and select the category first).
Image Adjustments and Effects 75 • 3D Lighting provides a "light source" without which any depth information in the effect wouldn’t be visible. The lighting settings let you illuminate your 3D landscape and vary its reflective properties. To apply 3D Effects: • Click Add Layer Effects on the Layers tab and check 3D Effects in the Layer Effects dialog. Adjust the "master control" sliders here to vary the overall properties of any individual 3D effects you select.
76 Image Adjustments and Effects 3D Lighting + Layer Opacity 50% 3D Lighting + Transparency effect 3D Reflection Map The 3D Reflection Map effect is used to simulate mirrored surfaces by selection of a pattern (i.e., a bitmap which possesses a shiny surface) which "wraps around" a selected object. Patterns which simulate various realistic indoor and outdoor environments can be adopted, with optional use of 3D lighting to further reflect off object edges.
Image Adjustments and Effects 77 Warp tool effects The entries on the Tools Toolbar's Warp Tools flyout work as a group. Note that these are brush-on effects rather than dialog-based filters. Most of the tools shift pixels that the brush passes over, while the Unwarp brush undoes the effects of the other tools. The actual amount of pixel displacement depends on the direction or amount of brush movement, the brush tip, and the tool's settings selectable from the brush context toolbar.
78 Image Adjustments and Effects The Twirl Tools produce a "spin art" effect— liquid paint on a surface revolving either clockwise or counter-clockwise around a central point. Wiggle the brush in the region you want to change. Thick/Thin Warp The Tool shifts pixels 90º to the right of the brush direction, which has the effect of spreading or compressing edges along the stroke.
5 Manipulating Images
80 Manipulating Images
Manipulating Images 81 Making a selection In any photo editing program, the selection tools and techniques 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. To do this you must define an active selection area. The wide range of selection options in PhotoPlus lets you: • Define just about any selection shape, using various drawing and painting techniques.
82 Manipulating Images You may occasionally (especially if the marquee is hidden) find yourself using a tool or command that seems to have no effect... it's probably because there's still a selection somewhere, and you're trying to work outside the selection. In this case, just cancel the selection. To cancel the selection (select nothing): • Right-click and choose Deselect, use the Select menu or press Ctrl+D.
Manipulating Images 83 Selection tool options PhotoPlus offers a very wide range of other selection methods, and a variety of commands for modifying the extent or properties of the selected pixels—all available from the Tools toolbar. Note that the selection tools work on Background and standard layers, but not on text layers or shape layers.
84 Manipulating Images directly from toolbar Text Tools flyout Selection Brush Tool—lets you paint your selection as a series of brush strokes. Text Selection Tool—lets you create a selection in the form of text. Click with the tool to display the Text cursor. Type your text, format as needed, and click OK. (See Creating and Editing text.
Manipulating Images 85 Selecting layer opacity/transparency New layers are transparent (they have an alpha channel), but once you've placed pixels on the layer you'll be able to select between the layer's pixels (i.e., their opacity) and remaining transparency. To create a selection from a layer's opacity/transparency: • For selection of Opacity: In the Layers tab, Ctrl-click on the layer’s image thumbnail. • For selection of Transparency: As above, but additionally select Invert from the Select menu.
86 Manipulating Images Modifying a selection Once you've used a selection tool to select a region on the active layer, you can carry out a number of additional steps to fine-tune the selection before you actually apply an effect or manipulation to the selected pixels. Transforming the selection The Selection Deform Tool on the Tools toolbar's Deform Tools flyout lets you transform, scale or rotate any already drawn selection area.
Manipulating Images 87 To add or subtract to/from the existing selection with a selection tool: • Select the tool and drag while holding down the Shift or Alt key, respectively. The newly selected pixels don't have to adjoin the current selection—it's possible to select two or more separate regions on the active layer. Modifying the selection Once you've made a selection, several modify selection operations can be used in combination to alter the selection area.
88 Manipulating Images 3. • Feather: Use to apply feathering "after the fact" to an existing selection (but before applying any editing changes). Enter the width (in pixels) of the transition area. A higher value produces a wider, more gradual fade-out. See Soft-edged and hard-edged selections below. • Smooth: If the selected region has ragged edges or discontinuous regions (for example, if you've just used the Magic Wand Tool), use the option to control the extent of smoothing.
Manipulating Images 89 Soft-edged and hard-edged selections Antialiasing and feathering are different ways of controlling what happens at the edges of a selection. Both produce softer edges that result in smoother blending of elements that are being combined in the image. You can control either option for the Standard and QuickShape Selection tools, using the Feather input box (or slider) and Antialias check box on the Context toolbar.
90 Manipulating Images Manipulating a selection Moving the selection marquee Sometimes, you need to adjust the position of the marquee without affecting the underlying pixels. Any time you're using one of the selection tools, the cursor over a selected region changes to the Move Marquee cursor, which lets you drag the marquee outline to reposition it. You’re only moving the selection outline—not the image content inside it. You can also use the keyboard arrows to "nudge" the selection marquee.
Manipulating Images 91 Using the Move Tool The Move Tool is for pushing actual pixels around. With it, you can drag the content of a selection from one place to another, rather than just moving the selection outline. To use it, simply click on the selection and drag to the new location. The selected part of the image moves also. • If nothing is selected, dragging with the Move Tool moves the entire active layer.
92 Manipulating Images Cut/Copy/Delete/Paste Cut and copy operations on selections involving the Clipboard work just as in other Windows programs. • To copy pixels in the selected region, press Ctrl-C or click the Copy button on the Standard toolbar. (You can also choose Copy from the Edit menu.) • To cut the selected pixels, press Ctrl-X or choose Cut from the Edit menu. • To delete the selected pixels, press the Delete key or choose Clear from the Edit menu.
Manipulating Images • 93 To duplicate part of the active layer on the same layer, press the Alt key and click, then drag with the Move Tool. (Or if you're working with a selection tool, press Ctrl+Alt and drag to duplicate.) Changing image and canvas size You probably know that image dimensions are given in pixels (think of pixels as the "dots of paint" that comprise a screen image)—say, 1024 wide by 768 high.
94 Manipulating Images Changing image size The Image Size dialog lets you specify a new size for the whole image, in terms of its screen dimensions and/or printed dimensions. To resize the whole image: 1. Choose Image Size... from the Image menu. 2. To specify just the printed dimensions, uncheck Resize layers. Check the box to link the Pixel Size (screen) settings to the Print Size or Resolution settings. 3. To retain the current image proportions, check Maintain aspect ratio.
Manipulating Images 95 To change canvas size: 1. Choose Canvas Size... from the Image menu. 2. Enter New Width and/or New Height values (the current values are also shown for comparison). Alternatively, select the Relative check box to enter the number of units you want to add or subtract from the existing width and height values—for example, 5 pixels, 1 cm, 100 points, 10 percent, and so on. 3. 4.
96 Manipulating Images Cropping an image Cropping is the electronic equivalent of taking a pair of scissors to a photograph, except of course with a pair of scissors there is no second chance! Cropping deletes all of the pixels outside the crop selection area, and then resizes the image canvas so that only the area inside the crop selection remains. Use it to focus on an area of interest—either for practical reasons or to improve photo composition.
Manipulating Images 97 The Shading check box and Opacity option on the Context toolbar sets the shade color and transparency of the unwanted region outside the rectangle, respectively. Uncheck Shading to view only the rectangle, with no shading and full transparency. Cropping with the Crop Tool affects all image layers. Everything outside the designated region is eliminated. If there's a marqueebased selection, it is ignored and deselected during cropping.
98 Manipulating Images Moving and resizing the grid allows the main subject of your photo (in this case a big wheel) to be offset and balanced against a foreground or background feature within the photo (e.g., the sky as background). Position a main item of interest in the photo where any two lines intersect within the crop grid (four intersections are possible). This is known as the "rule of thirds" which will help you find the most balanced composition where your eyes are drawn to the main subject.
Manipulating Images 99 To crop the image to the selection: • Choose Crop to Selection from the Image menu. If the selection region is non-rectangular, the left-over surrounding region will be either transparent (on a standard layer) or the current background color (e.g., white). Cropping to the selection affects all image layers. Everything outside the selected region is eliminated.
100 Manipulating Images To flip: • Choose either Flip Horizontally or Flip Vertically from the Image menu, then select Image, Layer, or Selection from the submenu. To rotate: 1. Choose Rotate from the Image menu. 2. From the flyout menu, select an option based on the object (Image, Layer, or Selection), rotation angle (90º or 180º), and the direction (Clockwise or Counterclockwise) required. 3. You can also select Custom...
Manipulating Images 101 Deforming The Deform Tool lets you move, scale, rotate, or skew a selection or layer. Start by making a selection if desired, then choose the Deform Tool. For either selection or layer, a rectangle appears with handles at its corners and edges, and a fixed point (initially in the center of the region). If there's no selection, the rectangle includes the whole active layer. For example, a layer can be deformed using scale and skew operations.
102 Manipulating Images • Over a corner handle: • Drag to scale region in two dimensions (height and width). • To maintain constant proportions, drag with the Shift key down. • To scale the region relative to the fixed point, drag with the Alt key down. Pixels further from the fixed point will move further than those close to it. • To freely distort the region from one corner, drag with the Ctrl key down. • To scale relative to the fixed point with constant proportions, drag while pressing Shift+Alt.
Manipulating Images 103 To rotate the region about the fixed point, drag from just outside a corner. To constrain rotation in 15degree steps, press the Shift key after you've begun rotation, and hold it down until after you release the mouse button. You can change the location of the fixed point (see below). To reposition the fixed point, move the cursor to the exact center until a small target appears, then drag. The fixed point can be moved anywhere—even outside the deformation region.
104 Manipulating Images The straight line segments are actually bendable curves. When you alter the contours of the mesh and distort the initial rectangular grid, the underlying image deforms accordingly. To change the mesh, you simply move nodes, node attractor handles, or connecting lines; add or subtract nodes as needed; and/or edit nodes to change the curvature of adjoining lines. To select a mesh node: • Click it. (Shift-click or drag a marquee to select multiple nodes.
Manipulating Images 105 To delete one or more nodes: 1. Select the node(s). 2. Press Delete. OR Click the toolbar. Delete node(s) button on the displayed Context Deleting a node also deletes lines and nodes connected to it. If you delete a corner or edge node, the overall mesh area will decrease. To delete a specific grid line and its nodes, click to place a marker on the line, then press Delete. The bendability of line segments depends on the type of nodes at either end.
106 Manipulating Images Smooth means that the slope of the curve is the same on both sides of the node, but the depth of the contours on either side can differ. Symmetric nodes join curves with the same slope and depth on both sides of the node. To reset the mesh to full-frame and rectangular: • Click the Reset Mesh button on the Mesh Context toolbar. To hide the mesh for a better preview of the image: • Click the Hide/Show Mesh button on the Mesh Context toolbar.
Manipulating Images 107 To deform the mesh systematically: 1. Shift-click or drag a marquee to select multiple nodes. 2. Click the Deform Mesh button on the Mesh Warp Tool's Context toolbar. A red selection rectangle appears around the designated nodes (you may need to zoom in to see this), with a fixed point in the center and handles at its corners, sides, and center. 3. • To deform the mesh region, drag from any corner or midpoint handle.
108 Manipulating Images The latter background removal method is illustrated in the following multiimage example. The white initial background is discarded, leaving interim checkerboard transparency, from which another image can be used as a more attractive background. A red tint on the second image's background is used to indicate areas to be discarded. Image Cutout Studio works on Background and standard layers, but not on text layers or shape layers. To launch Image Cutout Studio: 1.
Manipulating Images 109 To change output settings: 1. Drag the Width slider to set the extent (in pixels) to which "alpha" blending is applied inside the cutout edge. This creates an offset region within which blending occurs. 2. Adjust the Blur slider to apply a level of smoothing to the region created by the above Width setting. You'll need to click Preview in order to check output setting adjustments each time.
110 Manipulating Images To select areas for keeping/discarding: 1. In Image Cutout Studio, click either Keep Brush Tool or Discard Brush Tool from the left of the Studio workspace. 2. (Optional) Pick a Brush size suitable for the area to be worked on. 3. (Optional) Set a Grow tolerance value to automatically expand the selected area under the cursor (by detecting colors similar to those within the current selection). The greater the value the more the selected area will grow. 4.
Manipulating Images 111 Refining your cutout area Erase and Restore touch-up tools can be used to refine the cutout area within the studio before completing your cutout. The touch-up tools are brush based and are only to be used to finetune your almost complete cutout—use your Keep and Discard brush tools for the bulk of your work! To restore or remove portions of your cutout: 1. With your cutout areas already defined, click Preview (Output settings tab).
112 Manipulating Images For example, we'll use the composite RGB channel for clarity (although you'll get all colors by default). Think of the histogram as being split into three portions—(A) Shadows, (B) Midtones, and (C) Highlights. pixel count 0<------------tonal range----------->255 For any channel, the horizontal X axis represents the range of tones, each tone is at a specific level. The vertical Y axis is the relative pixel count at each of the levels on the X axis described above.
6 Painting and Drawing
114 Painting and Drawing
Painting and Drawing 115 Choosing colors Foreground and background colors At any given time, PhotoPlus allows you to work with just two colors—a foreground color and a background color. These are always visible as two swatches on the Color tab indicated opposite (ringed). The foreground color is set to green (RGB 63:173:73) and the background color to black.
116 Painting and Drawing • However, the black text in the design could be created after swapping foreground and background colors over using the tab's button. Loading the foreground and background color with two frequently used colors is a great way to boost productivity when painting and drawing.
Painting and Drawing 117 To switch temporarily to the Color Pickup Tool from a paint, line, shape, fill, or text tool, hold down the Alt key, then click to define the foreground color. OR 1. On the Color tab, move the mouse pointer (dropper cursor) around the Color Spectrum. As you move the dropper cursor around the spectrum, the tab's active color swatch updates to the color at the cursor position. 2.
118 Painting and Drawing Storing colors If you want to save colors that you want to work with frequently, you can store them in the Swatches tab as thumbnails (this avoids continually defining colors in the Color tab). The Swatches tab hosts galleries of categorized color thumbnails. If hidden, make this tab visible via Window>Studio Tabs. You can store your currently selected foreground color (in Color tab) to the currently selected category (e.g.
Painting and Drawing 119 To apply a color from the Swatches tab: • Select any gallery thumbnail then paint, draw, fill, etc. Note that a thumbnail click will change the Color tab's foreground color. Painting The Paintbrush Tool and Pencil Tool on the Tools toolbar are the basic tools for painting and drawing freehand lines on the active layer. They work on Background and standard layers, but not on text layers or shape layers. The tools work by changing pixels on the layer.
120 Painting and Drawing You can also create your own brush from within the tab. If you scroll down the gallery, you’ll note that some brushes have hard edges, while others appear fuzzy, with soft edges. The hardness of a brush is expressed as a percentage of its full diameter. If less than 100%, the brush has a soft edge region within which the opacity of applied color falls off gradually.
Painting and Drawing 121 Painting using pen tablets Brush strokes can be applied directly to the page by using your mouse or, if available, a pen tablet; the latter method is ideally suited for applying pressuresensitive strokes to your project. PhotoPlus supports pressure sensitivity, with tablet calibration and key assignment possible directly from within the program (via Pressure Studio).
122 Painting and Drawing Note that Diameter isn't an absolute setting, but a relative one. Each picture brush stores its own pre-defined elements, and this scaling determines how the tool scales elements up or down when drawing. The actual size of stored elements varies between brushes, so you may need to adjust the image diameter when switching between different brushes. 4. To "stamp" single images at specific points, click in various places on your canvas.
Painting and Drawing 123 The Background Eraser Tool for erasing pixels similar to a sampled reference color underlying the cursor crosshair—great for painting out unwanted background colors. The Flood Eraser Tool for filling a region with transparency, erasing pixels similar to the color under the cursor when you first click. In general, you can set tool properties for each tool including brush characteristics, opacity, tolerance, flow, and choose a brush tip.
124 Painting and Drawing To erase with the Background Eraser: 1. Select Background Eraser from the Tools toolbar's Eraser Tools flyout. 2. (Optional) Change properties on the Context toolbar as described above. 3. Drag with the tool on the active layer to erase pixels similar to a sampled reference color directly under the brush tip.
Painting and Drawing • 125 You also have the option of protecting the current foreground color from erasure (Protect foreground). If you use the tool on the Background layer, it's promoted to a standard layer. To erase with the Flood Eraser: Flood Eraser from the Tools toolbar's Eraser Tools 1. Select flyout. 2. (Optional) Change properties on the Context toolbar. 3.
126 Painting and Drawing Using patterns The Pattern Tool lets you paint a pattern directly onto your canvas. In effect, it "clones" any pattern bitmap you’ve selected while providing the flexibility to paint wherever you wish, and control opacity, blend mode, and so on. Like the Clone Tool, the Pattern brush picks up pixels from a source—in this case, the bitmap pattern—and deposits them where you’re drawing.
Painting and Drawing 127 The Aligned check box in the Context toolbar determines what happens each time you begin brushing in a new place. If checked, the pattern extends itself seamlessly with each new brush stroke; if unchecked, it begins again each time you click the mouse. Creating your own patterns The built-in selection of patterns in the Patterns dialog provides a useful starting point, but you can also create your own patterns from any selection, or even the whole image.
128 Painting and Drawing The Fill Tools flyout on the Tools toolbar includes two tools for filling regions with color and/or transparency: Flood Fill and Gradient Fill. In addition, you can use the Edit>Fill... command to apply either a color or pattern fill. As with paint tools, if there is a selection, the Fill tools only affect pixels within the selected region. If you’re operating on a shape or text layer, a single fill affects the interior of the object(s) on the layer.
Painting and Drawing • 3. 129 A pattern can be applied as a fill from the Context toolbar by picking a Pattern (click the thumbnail) from the gallery, then choosing the Fill drop down list to be "Pattern". Click with the tool where you want to start the fill. The Edit>Fill... command lets you flood-fill a region on a standard layer using any color, not just the foreground color. On the other hand, it’s strictly a solid color flood without the subtleties of the Flood Fill Tool’s properties.
130 Painting and Drawing • Specify the blend mode and opacity of the fill. If you check Preserve Transparency, transparent areas will resist the flood color; otherwise, everything in the selection or layer will be equally washed with the fill. • For a Pattern fill, set the Type to Pattern. The blend options are the same, but in this mode instead of choosing a color you can fill a region with any pattern stored in the Patterns dialog.
Painting and Drawing 131 Applying a gradient fill on any kind of layer entails selecting one of the fill types, editing the fill colors and/or transparency in a Gradient dialog, then applying the fill. However, gradient fills behave differently depending on the kind of layer you're working on. On standard and Background layers, the tool creates a "spectrum" effect, filling the active layer or selection with colors spreading between the key colors in the selected gradient fill.
132 Painting and Drawing To apply a gradient fill: Gradient Fill Tool from the Tools toolbar's Fill Tools 1. Select flyout. 2. Select a fill type from the Context toolbar. Choose Linear, Radial, Conical or Square. 3. To choose a preset or to edit the fill's colors and/or transparency values, click the color sample on the Context toolbar. The Gradient dialog appears, where you can select a preset fill from the default gallery or right-click and choose a fill from different predefined categories (e.
Painting and Drawing 133 Either option lets you choose a fill type, and/or click the color (or gradient) sample to edit the fill. On text or shape layers, the fill path (the line in the illustration above) remains visible even after you’ve applied the fill, and you can adjust the fill’s placement after the fact by dragging the fill path’s end nodes with the Gradient Fill Tool. Cloning a region The Clone Tool is like two magic brushes locked together.
134 Painting and Drawing To clone a region: 1. From the Tools toolbar's Clone Tool. Clone Tools flyout, select the 2. Change properties, if necessary, on the Context toolbar. For example: • Reducing the tool's Opacity setting results in a "ghosted" copy of the original pixels. • For additional brush strokes, to always reuse the original pickup point, keep Aligned unchecked.
Painting and Drawing 135 Creating and editing text PhotoPlus makes use of two text tools, i.e. • The Text Tool, for entering solid text on a new layer. Use for eye-catching or subtle captioning (opposite) and titling equally. • The Text Selection Tool, for creating a selection in the shape of text (for filling with unusual fills). The Layers tab designates text layers with a symbol.
136 Painting and Drawing To edit existing text: 1. With the text layer to be edited as the active layer, choose the standard Text Tool and move the mouse pointer over the text until it changes to the (I-beam) cursor. 2. Click on or drag to select areas of text—this lets you insert or overwrite selected text, respectively.
Painting and Drawing 137 To create a text selection: 1. Click the Text Tools flyout (Tools toolbar) and choose the Text Selection Tool. 2. Click at the location on the image where you want to begin the selection. OR Drag across the page to size your text selection according to requirements. Release the mouse button to set the point size. 3. (Optional) On the Text Context toolbar, set the selection text attributes to be adopted by the new selection (e.g., the font and point size). 4.
138 Painting and Drawing Overview Each of the drawing tools has its own creation and editing rules, as detailed below. Before continuing, let's cover some things that all shape objects have in common: • Shapes have outlines known as paths. In a nutshell, shapes as discussed here are filled lines (i.e., they’re closed, with color inside). The various drawing tools are all path-drawing tools, applicable to both the filled and unfilled kind of line.
Painting and Drawing 139 Assuming you’re working on a non-shape layer when you create a shape, the new shape appears on a new shape layer. But what about the next shape you create? Shape layers can store more than one shape, and it’s up to you where the next one will go. This decision is made easy by use of the Context toolbar when the QuickShape or line tool is selected.
140 Painting and Drawing Creating and editing QuickShapes QuickShapes in PhotoPlus are pre-designed, filled contours that let you instantly add all kinds of shapes to your page, then adjust and vary them using control handles—for innumerable possibilities! The QuickShape Tools flyout lets you choose from a wide variety of commonly used shapes, including boxes, ovals, arrows, polygons, stars, and more. Each shape has its own built-in "intelligent" properties, which you can use to customize the basic shape.
Painting and Drawing 141 Each QuickShape is adjustable, so you can experiment before committing to a particular figure and edit it later—with innumerable possibilities! If you switch to the Node Edit Tool, you can adjust the shape. The number of displayed "edit" control handles varies according to the shape; for example, the rectangle has just one control, the polygon has two, and the star has four.
142 Painting and Drawing (If you only have one shape on a layer, you can use the Move Tool and Deform Tool.) To resize without constraint, you can drag any shape's handle; to constrain the shape's proportions, hold down the Shift key while dragging. To deform the shape, drag a node while the Ctrl key is pressed. Creating and editing lines Lines can be drawn by using dedicated tools from the Tools toolbar's Line Tools flyout.
Painting and Drawing 143 To edit a line: 1. Click its layer name to select the layer. 2. To move, resize, scale, skew, or rotate the line, choose the Shape Edit Tool. This deform tool works by manipulation of the bounding box around the line—drag on a corner or edge. (For details on its use, see Deforming on p. 101.) 3. To reshape the line, choose the Node Edit Tool. The line consists of line segments and nodes (points where the line segments meet).
144 Painting and Drawing Symmetric Corner nodes join line segments with the same slope and depth on both sides of the node. To edit a node: 1. Select it with the Node Edit Tool. 2. Drag its control handle(s) to fine-tune the curve. You can also use the context toolbar to define a line segment as either straight or curved. To add a node, double-click on a line segment. To remove a selected node, press the Delete key. Use the straight.
Painting and Drawing 145 For any outline, you can set the outline width, solid color, opacity, and choose a blend mode. The outline can also sit inside, outside, or be centered on the selection or object edge.
146 Painting and Drawing To create outlines on a layer (as a layer effect): 1. From the Layers tab, select a layer to which outlines will be applied. Note that all objects (Shapes, Text, or lines) on the layer will be affected. 2. Click the Layer Effects button on the Layers tab and check Outline in the Layer Effects dialog. 3. (Optional) From the Blend Mode drop-down menu, pick a blend mode, which controls how the outline color and underlying pixels blend to make a combined resulting color.
7 Making Images for the Web
148 Making Images for the Web
Making Images for the Web 149 Slicing images Image slicing and image maps are two convenient ways to create navigation bars and clickable graphics for web pages. With image slicing, a graphic is carved up into smaller graphics—each of which can have its own link, like any web graphic—and PhotoPlus saves the sections as separate files when you export the image. The process also exports HTML tags describing a table containing the separate graphics, allowing a web browser to reassemble them seamlessly.
150 Making Images for the Web To specify the alternate text and/or link: • Right-click an image slice (any area enclosed by horizontal and vertical slice guides) and enter the alternate Text and URL (link) information in the dialog. Once you've sliced up your image you have to export it to make the image slices understandable to a web visitor's browser.
Making Images for the Web 151 You assign each hotspot its own target—for example, the URL of a web page. Hotspots aren't attached to a particular image, but become part of a larger "map" that gets exported (p. 185) along with an image and turns into HTML code. It's then up to the web developer to embed the image map code properly into the web page.
152 Making Images for the Web To edit a hotspot: 1. Click the Image Map Tools flyout and choose the Selection tool. Image Map 2. Select your hotspot on the page, which then offers you several editing options. • To resize the hotspot, drag the displayed square nodes. • To move the hotspot, drag from the center. • Right-click the hotspot to set hotspot Properties.... Enter hoverover Text and add an associated target URL.
8 Macros and Batch Processing
154 Macros and Batch Processing
Macros and Batch Processing 155 Understanding macros If there are operations that you want to repeatedly perform in PhotoPlus, you can apply a macro. Put simply, a macro is a saved sequence of commands that can be stored and then recalled at a later date. Macros can be used for: • Downsampling • Reformatting • Applying effects • Applying adjustments • Framing and vignetting PhotoPlus offers a wide range of pre-recorded macros ready for your use.
156 Macros and Batch Processing You can cut, copy, paste or even duplicate any macro. This allows you to modify preset macros once pasted into your own user-defined categories. Recording Macros Of course at some point you may want to record your own macro. It’s probably a good idea to create a new category into which you can save your newly recorded macros—this keeps them separate from the pre-recorded macros supplied with PhotoPlus.
Macros and Batch Processing 157 To record a macro: 1. In the Macros tab, select a category from the drop-down list of category names. 2. Click the New Macro button at the bottom of the Macros tab, enter a macro name in advance of recording your macro, then click OK. The macro name appears at the bottom of the list of macros in the currently displayed category. 3. Select the Start Recording button. Any command that can be saved in a macro will be stored while recording is in progress. 4.
158 Macros and Batch Processing Modifying Macros Once you’ve recorded and played back your macro it's possible to modify the macro’s saved sequence of commands. These are listed in the order they were recorded and may be enabled, disabled, reordered or made interactive "on the fly". Macro commands are enabled by default. In the command list, the command order can be rearranged by simple drag and drop of any command into a new position.
Macros and Batch Processing 159 To switch a command off: 1. Click the icon next to the macro name to reveal the macro’s command list in the drop-down menu. 2. Each list entry begins with a check box which switches on or off the relevant command. Uncheck the box to switch the command off.
160 Macros and Batch Processing for doing this—your macro can’t record selections or operations that are particular to each photo so manual selection is essential in some instances, or maybe you want to add a helpful note (e.g., "perform a brush stroke") or warning in advance of a required action or dialog. 1. Right-click on a command in a custom macro's command list and select Insert Pause... from the flyout menu. 2.
Macros and Batch Processing 161 User-defined macros and their associated commands can also be duplicated (or deleted) by right-click and selection of the Duplicate (or Delete) command. Batch processing The batch processing feature is especially useful if you want to repeat the same operation again and again... Batch processing allows you to: • Use Macros: uses preset or custom macros as part of the batch process.
162 Macros and Batch Processing If you don’t select a destination folder, the source files will be processed and your original files will be overwritten! To save you time, PhotoPlus will remember previously selected Source and Destination folders while PhotoPlus is loaded. You may be wondering how batch processing affects photos currently loaded in PhotoPlus. PhotoPlus’s batch processing only operates on source folder contents and not on the currently loaded photos themselves—so these remain unaffected.
Macros and Batch Processing 163 Changing image size As well as changing file formats, PhotoPlus can use batch processing to alter image sizes in bulk (using a choice of resampling methods) via Resize Images. Typically, this is a quick and easy way to make your images scale to a maximum image dimension (height or width) with aspect ratio maintained, to absolute image dimensions (with stretching/shrinking to fit), scale by percentage, and scale by resolution (DPI).
164 Macros and Batch Processing Pick a method from the drop-down list. Use Nearest Pixel for hardedge images, Bilinear Interpolation when shrinking photos, Bicubic Interpolation when enlarging photos, and Lanczos3 Window when best quality results are expected. The list is ordered according to processing times (fastest to slowest). Changing file names It is also possible to define a Destination File Name for the files to be processed by selecting the dialog's Modify... button.
9 Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets
166 Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets
Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets 167 Pressure sensitivity Pressure sensitivity is a property of individual brushes, and is only applicable if you're a pen tablet user wanting to: Using: • retouch photos by painting out specific Paintbrush Tool • retouch photos by erasing specific areas. Standard Eraser Tool Background Eraser Tool • retouch photos to lighten and darken Dodge Tool Burn Tool • creatively paint over photos for stylistic Paintbrush Tool areas. areas. effect (e.g.
168 Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets Using pen tablets You can either draw or paint with your mouse or, for a more natural experience, use a pen tablet. A pen tablet is comprised of an intelligent electronic pad equipped with pressure-sensitive input devices (e.g., Pressure Stylus and Eraser). A rectangular "active" area responds to pressure applied by that input device.
Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets 169 The studio offers: • a practice area for automatically calibrating your tablet's input devices (Pressure Stylus, Eraser, Airbrush, etc.) by drawing soft/firm strokes. Manual calibration for fine-tuning is also possible. As you swap between each device (e.g., between stylus and eraser) the pressure response curve for that device is displayed accordingly. • Management of pressure response profiles.
170 Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets To launch Pressure Studio: • Select Pressure Studio from the Standard toolbar. Before calibration, practice drawing with your input device in the practice area! The calibration process is described in detail in the online Help. Function key assignment If your pen tablet is equipped with ExpressKeys (or equivalent), Pressure Studio lets you assign your tablet's keys to PhotoPlus tools.
Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets 171 To customize your function keys: 1. With the Functions tab in view, select an alternative tool from the drop-down list. Pressing the appropriate key on your tablet will activate that tool in PhotoPlus. 2. Click OK. To revert to the tablet's default key assignment: 1. Select the "Tablet Default" option from a specific key's drop-down list. 2. Click OK.
172 Pressure Sensitivity and Pen Tablets
10 Printing and Exporting
174 Printing and Exporting
Printing and Exporting 175 Printing For basic printing primarily to desktop printers, Print Studio offers an exciting, comprehensive, and versatile printing solution for your photos. The easy-to-use studio environment lets you select from a variety of print templates, each designed for either single- or multi-image printing.
176 Printing and Exporting For any mode, you can also create your own custom template from an existing template. Currently open documents will be used for printing, although you can add more directly within Print Studio. To print (using templates): 1. Click the Print button on the Standard toolbar. The Print Studio appears. 2. From the right-hand templates list, select a template category, e.g. Single Images (Portrait). 3.
Printing and Exporting 4. 5. 177 Depending on print mode, decide on which image(s) are to be used for printing, i.e. • For Single Image templates, you can select a different image from the lower image gallery. • For Print Layout templates, right-click a gallery thumbnail and select Fill Layout with Image. All occupied or empty cells in your layout are replaced. Alternatively, to fill an individual cell, drag a replacement image from the lower image gallery onto the "target" cell.
178 Printing and Exporting To open additional images for printing, click Add Images.... Select a photo for addition then click Open.... The image is added as a thumbnail to the gallery. If you want to create your own layouts instead of templates you can switch print modes and customize settings for that mode. To print using your own layouts: 1. Click the Print button on the Standard toolbar. The Print Studio appears. 2. From the Mode drop-down list, select Single Image, Print Layout, or Contact Sheet.
Printing and Exporting 179 Print modes are reset each time PhotoPlus is restarted. Changes you make during a session are only "remembered" for the duration of the session. Sizing and rotating images in cells The Print dialog helps you size or rotate your image(s) to fit a cell(s) according to Image Options settings. When the dialog is opened, the default settings above will be adopted. It's likely that some fine tuning might be needed, e.g.
180 Printing and Exporting • Rotate for best fit You can re-orient your image to fit cells using the Rotate for best fit check box—great for fitting a portrait image into landscapeoriented cells (and vice versa). Rotate for best fit unchecked Rotate for best fit checked Cropping images in cells If you're looking to be more specific about which areas of your image to print, you can crop your image instead of using the above Image Options.
Printing and Exporting Before 181 After Unconstrained Cell Image (default) Custom (e.g., 1.00 x 1.00 in) 3. Drag a crop area's corner to size your crop according to requirements, then move the grid around the image to choose the preferred image area to be cropped. To revert, click Clear to reset your crop grid. 4. Click OK.
182 Printing and Exporting If your image is already present in your layout then it will update automatically to reflect the new cropping applied. If it hasn't yet been used, the crop is still applied to the image in the image gallery. Setting viewing options The following global viewing options will be applied to every page. Show Cells Show Margins When checked, each cell border is displayed within which the image is placed. When checked, margin guides are shown in blue.
Printing and Exporting 183 Publishing a PDF file PDF (Portable Document Format) is a cross-platform file format developed by Adobe. In a relatively short time, PDF has evolved into a worldwide standard for document distribution which works equally well for electronic or paper publishing. PDF documents are uniformly supported in the Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX® environments.
184 Printing and Exporting 2. Set basic output options on the dialog’s General tab (shown). • Checking Fit to complete page or Fit to page width to set the default page view when the PDF is opened in Acrobat Reader. • Checking Preview PDF file automatically opens the PDF in a compatible PDF viewer after it’s been created, so you can review it immediately. (If anything looks amiss, you’ll need to fix the problems in the file and regenerate the PDF.
Printing and Exporting 185 Exporting to another file format In many situations, you’ll want to save a file to one of the standard graphics formats. In PhotoPlus, this is known as exporting. Exporting an image means converting it to a specified graphic file format other than the native PhotoPlus (.spp) format. This flattens the image, removing layer information.
186 Printing and Exporting The Export dialog includes additional options for use with web images (see Slicing images and Creating image maps on p. 149 and p. 150). You can also open the Export Optimizer first and (at your discretion) proceed to the exporting step after checking your settings. You can access the Export Optimizer at any time—not just at export time—to compare image quality using different settings (your settings are retained for each format).
Printing and Exporting 187 To open the Export Optimizer: 1. Click Export Optimizer... from the File menu. 2. From the Export Optimizer dialog, use the Options section to specify the file Format, and format-specific options such as bit depth, dithering, palette, and compression. The Size section lets you scale, stretch, or squash the image, while setting an export Quality setting (e.g., a resampling method such as Bicubic). 3. Review your optimized image, and when you're happy with it, click Export.
188 Printing and Exporting 3. In the Options section, 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. 4. To compare settings, select a different display pane and repeat the process. The Export Optimizer lets you experiment freely and evaluate the results. To revert back to a single pane, click Single. To proceed with exporting: 1.
11 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started
190 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started
AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 191 Organizing photos AlbumPlus Organizer is Serif's powerful photo management application that can be used alongside PhotoPlus. From your collection of photos you can create your own named photo albums and perform a range of management and searching operations. For more information, see Managing your photos (p. 201) and Searching for photos (p. 229).
192 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started • In PhotoPlus, if you save a photo previously launched from AlbumPlus Organizer using Save As... (File menu), you'll be asked if you want to add the new photo into AlbumPlus Organizer. Creating a new album To help you get started quickly on your photo album, AlbumPlus Organizer comes equipped with a simple two-step Startup Wizard. This will set up your album project name and its location on your computer and optionally add photos automatically to your album.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 193 To create an AlbumPlus Organizer album: 1. In Step 1 of the wizard, enable Create new album, choose an album name and a location for your proposed album file, e.g. C:\Photos\2010\. • Your album name is based on a standard prefix "My Album" and, if the album name already exists, an additional "[0]", "[1]", "[2]" etc. Of course, you can replace the album name with your own choice—as we’ll see later. Your album will always be saved in the Serif AlbumPlus (*.
194 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started • In the Search text box, select the drive/device containing your media files from the drop-down menu; choose the Browse... button at the bottom of the list to navigate to your folder location. • In the For text box, select the type of file to be added from the drop-down menu.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 195 To open an AlbumPlus Organizer album: PhotoPlus will automatically reload the album that was last used. However, you can open a different album at any time. 1. Select Open... from the File menu. 2. From the dialog, navigate to the AlbumPlus Organizer file you want to open. 3. Select the file and click the Open button. Adding photos to your album Media is linked to an album in AlbumPlus Organizer—the media remains stored in its original location.
196 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 4. (Optional) In the Files of Type field select the type of file to be added from the drop-down menu. Option File types included Common Media Files Includes all Image, Audio, or Video files listed below All Image Files bmp, cur, emf, gif (includes animated), ico, img, j2k, jp2, jpeg, jpg, pcx, png, tif, tiff, wmf, spp (Serif PhotoPlus files).
AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 197 If adding tagged photos, you will be prompted to decide how to deal with the tags—ignore, create as new, or map to existing tags. CD Import As photos are linked to an album in AlbumPlus Organizer, a CD Import dialog provides a Copy item to hard drive option to copy photos onto the hard disk— this makes the photos available at all times. If the check box remains unchecked, then photos are still added to your album but will remain on your CD/DVD.
198 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 5. Specify a Destination Folder for your photos to be copied to. You can either edit the Folder name in the field or use the Browse... button to navigate and specify a new location, e.g. C:\Photos\2010\. 6. Click OK. This copying process may also retrieve archived photos back into your current working environment.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started 199 The user is informed of any of the above by the display of an Import Report dialog. This will only be displayed if an error occurs. A tree display will indicate error counts for duplicate, corrupt and invalid photos (not shown). In the above example, for Duplicate Photos, the parent photo listed above the child photo is not added to the album, as the child photo already exists.
200 AlbumPlus Organizer: Getting Started To add photos from your camera, scanner or removable USB drive: Get Media button on the main toolbar. 1. Click the 2. From the drop-down menu, select Add photos from other sources. 3. From the dialog, select a source for your files (if more than one source exists). The following example imports photos from a Canon IXUS 800 IS digital camera. 4. Enter a Name, e.g. Photo, which will make up the file name of each added photo.
12 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos
202 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 203 Selecting thumbnails Before looking at each of the operations that can be used to manage your photos it’s worthwhile familiarizing yourself with the different options available for selecting thumbnails. Selection is the pre-cursor to performing an operation. • Single click: If you hover over a thumbnail with your mouse, a thin border will appear around your thumbnail.
204 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos Alternatively, you can choose a function without selecting any photos at all. AlbumPlus Organizer will assume that the requested action (e.g., Slideshow, rotate, print, and email) will be applied to only the current photos in view (excluding photos not visible in the window). Thumbnail styles The media files that appear in any AlbumPlus Organizer mode will be displayed as thumbnails representing the original media.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 205 My Projects Slideshow Project Calendar Project Photo Album Project Greetings Card Project Postcard Project Print Project Flash Slideshow Project If an operation is being performed on a photo, a padlock symbol may appear in the top-left corner of the thumbnail (the thumbnail will also be grayed out). Once the operation is complete the item is unlocked and the padlock icon will disappear.
206 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos Thumbnail details 'on': Thumbnails can be displayed with or without the extra detail—the default thumbnail style is Thumbnail Details on. A - Caption (or filename if no caption E - Geo-Tagged - click to switch to exists) PhotoMap View (see AlbumPlus Organizer Help) B - Media type F - Photo time C - Tags G - Star rating D - Photo date H - Comment marker Additional information is displayed alongside the thumbnail.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 207 Thumbnail details 'off': This view is useful if you want to quickly see your album photos and you don't need the additional information. In the Display menu, select or clear the Thumbnail Details option to toggle the thumbnail details view. To view photo information: • Click Display on the main toolbar and select Photo Information from the drop-down list to view file names/locations, file sizes, metadata, comments, tags, histogram, and EXIF information.
208 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos • • Choose a pre-defined size: from the menu or via keyboard shortcuts. • Click Display then click Thumbnail size and choose a size from the list. OR • Use the keyboard shortcuts: Ctrl+1, +2, and +3 for Small, Medium and Large respectively. Use the magnification slider in the Status Bar to zoom in or out. Alternatively, click on the Zoom In and Zoom Out icons for magnification in increments. The aspect ratio for each thumbnail is maintained.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 209 Photos can be ordered in ascending order which shows the oldest photos first and descending order which shows the newest. If sorted by Caption, photos are sorted numerically and then alphabetically. To change photo order: Display on the main toolbar and then click Sort. 1. Click 2. Select a different sort type. 3. (Optional) To reverse the order, select Descending. Rating your photos Any photo can be allocated its own star rating.
210 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 4. Click the mouse button to assign. Use your keyboard's numeric keys 1-5 to assign 1 to 5 stars to any selected photos. To rate your photos in Full Screen View: Full Screen View. 1. In any mode, click 2. On the toolbar, click the desired star rating, e.g. To unassign a star rating: • Right-click the selected thumbnail(s) and choose Ratings>Clear from the flyout menu.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 211 Changing dates and time When Thumbnail Details are on, the date and time is displayed beneath the thumbnail. The date and time displayed will either be Photo Time (date and time that photo was taken; from Exif) if available, or File Creation Time (time copied to hard disk) if not.
212 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos To change a photo date: 1. Click on the date display in the lower left corner of the thumbnail. 2. Click the down arrow to display a calendar flyout. 3. Click the date that you want to set for the photo. (You can navigate to different months of the year using the left and right arrows.) 4. Click away from the thumbnail to save the change. To change a photo time: 1. Click the time display in the lower right corner of the thumbnail. 2.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 213 Adding captions You can add a caption to any of your photos or projects quickly and easily from the Photos pane. Once added, these can be used to quickly search your photos (see Searching by text p. 235). To add a caption: 1. Click to select the photo or project thumbnail and then, click on the filename. 2. Click and drag on the text to select it. 3. Type your new caption and press Enter. The caption is updated.
214 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos Click Display and then click Sort>Caption to order your photos by caption (or filename). Adding comments and file information to photos Why would you add comments? You may already be using tags to identify your photos (see Using the Tags pane on p. 220) but comments can add more detailed photo-specific notes about the file.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 215 To add comments or file information to a photo: 1. In the Photos pane, click to select a photo thumbnail. 2. Click 3. In the displayed dialog, click 4. Click to the right of any Title, Subject, Authors, Copyright, or Comment and type into the displayed white box. Display and then click Photo Information. to show the file information. It is possible to update the Title, Subject, Authors, Copyright, or Comment information on multiple photos all at once.
216 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos • The Navigation buttons on the Status Bar allow you to step through your photos one by one (either forwards or backwards). Try this when your thumbnails are maximised to the Photos pane. Alternatively, use the Page Up or Page Down button. • Your mouse may have a wheel which will allow you to scroll up/down your thumbnail window or jump to the next or previous photo. • Create & Share.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 217 To remove a photo from your album: 1. Select your photo(s). 2. From the Edit menu, choose Delete from Album. Remember that you're not deleting your original photo, but the link to the album! To remove a photo from album and disk simultaneously: This method will permanently delete the original file from disc. 1. Select your photo(s). 2. From the Edit menu, choose Delete. You'll get a confirmation message asking if you want to delete your photos from disk.
218 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos However, for legacy digital content, photo acquisition from more basic cameras, and scanned images, you'll have to manually rotate your photo to its intended orientation; typically by a rotation of 90° clockwise. Of course, you may choose to rotate any photo for artistic reasons at any time. To rotate a selected photo: Fix & Enhance on the main toolbar. 1. Click 2. Click OR Rotate Right 90° for clockwise rotation in 90° intervals.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 219 (using up your valuable disk capacity!). However, if you need to perform any Fix & Enhance or Create & Share operations on photos you need to make them available by inserting the appropriate CD/DVD. To access photos from CD: 1. Select the photo(s) for use. 2. Choose an operation from the Fix & Enhance or Create & Share options. 3. If the item is unavailable, you'll be asked if you want to resolve the issues. 4.
220 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos Consider a two-CD scenario involving unavailable items on a "Fireworks" CD and a "Flowers" CD. Before CD Insert Insert CD "Flowers" After CD Insert After inserting the "Flowers" CD the flowers photos are made available for use (and removed from the list) but photos on the "Fireworks" CD are still unavailable. Subsequently, inserting the Fireworks CD will automatically resolve this, and remove the dialog.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 221 The Tags pane can be displayed/hidden by clicking the respective black arrow at the left of your AlbumPlus Organizer workspace. It enables you to manage your tags and to control which photos are displayed in the Photos pane. Any new album will be set up with a default tag structure that you can modify at any time.
222 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos When a previously tagged photo is imported, you can also import the associated tags. This can either create new tags or map to existing tags. See PhotoPlus Help for more information. To navigate the search tags: In the Tags pane, click to see more tags. To see fewer tags, click . To create search tags: Add Tag button at the top of the Tags pane. 1. Click the 2. The current tag structure is displayed. Click collapse the tag list. 3.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 223 To delete a tag: • In the Tags pane, select the tag and click Delete Tag. When you delete a tag from the Tags pane, it does not remove that tag from the associated images. Tags must be manually detached from any image that they are assigned to. To reorganize search tags: You can reorganize your tags by clicking on the tag name and dragging the tag entry to its new location while holding down the mouse button.
224 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos To remove tags from thumbnails: • Right-click on one or more selected thumbnails, select Detach Tag, then select the tag to be removed. Tag icons Every tag that is created can be assigned a unique icon. These appear on the lefthand side of the photo thumbnail when details are turned on, and give a quick visual reference when viewing your photos in the Photos pane. Any tag that doesn't have an icon assigned will be represented by a 'paper tags' icon.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos 225 Geo-Tagging tags Tags can also be assigned a Geo-Tag. When a Geo-Tag is added to the tag, any photo or project that is associated with the tag can be located in the PhotoMap View (see AlbumPlus Organizer Help). To display your tags in the PhotoMap View, click the button. Show on Map For more information about adding Geo-Tags to your tags, see AlbumPlus Organizer Help.
226 AlbumPlus Organizer: Managing Photos You can also view and search XMP metadata and, in particular, modify information such as the photo's descriptive Title, Subject, Authors, Copyright, and Comments. To display XMP metadata for a selected photo: • Click Display and then select Photo Information from the drop-down list to open the Photo Information dialog. • Click at the top of the dialog to show XMP metadata for the selected photo.
13 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching Photos
228 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos
AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 229 Searching for photos A range of diverse methods to search for photos exist within AlbumPlus Organizer: • Tag: Photos are retrieved by matching tags previously assigned to your photos. • Media Type: This searches for different media formats. • Rating: Searches for personal ratings assigned to your photos. • Import History: Retrieves photos from photo import session logs.
230 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 3. Click to select the box next to a tag name to include that tag. It will display a green check mark , e.g., all photos tagged with "Children". OR Select multiple tag entries to perform multi-tag searches, e.g., all photos tagged with "Children" and/or "Pets". OR Ctrl-click to select the box next to a tag name to exclude that tag. It will display a red cross , e.g., all photos tagged with "Children" but not the ones that also include the "Pets" tag. 4.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 231 Refining a multi-tag search The Match All Tags or Match Any Tags options shown after a multi-tag search (see example below) indicates the search results for a) photos containing all selected tags, or b) photos containing one or more of the selected tags (default behavior). Using the "Family and Friends" example above, Match All Tags displays photos tagged with both "Children" AND "Pets" tags.
232 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos Unassigned status The Unassigned tag will let you view photos that have no tags assigned. This can be used to separate your "processed" photos from "unprocessed" photos— newly imported photos will often not have assigned tags. As you process your photos you can keep checking the unassigned status to check your progress.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 233 To search for photo ratings: Search button on the main toolbar. 1. Click the 2. On the Search toolbar, select Rating and click on a star rating level. 3. (Optional) By default, the search displays items with "at least" the number of stars set. Click the accompanying button to change this to "at most", "exactly", or "unrated" items from a Filter by Rating dialog. (You can also set the star rating by clicking on a star shown in the dialog.) 4.
234 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos To search by import history: Search button on the main toolbar. 1. Click the 2. On the Search toolbar, select the Import History search option to view just the last set of photos imported. 3. Alternatively, to retrieve a previous import session, click the accompanying button and select an import session from the displayed dialog.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 235 If thumbnails have been deleted or have had their "added to album" date modified then there may be a discrepancy between the number or date of the photos displayed in the log information and those shown in the AlbumPlus Organizer workspace. Searching by text A text search can be performed on added photo comments (XMP), metadata (XMP, IPTC, EXIF), tags, folder paths, captions and/or file names.
236 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 3. For multiple words and phrases, check either Search for all words or Search for any words. For the former, all words/phrases must be present; for the latter, any of the words/phrases can be present. 4. Click OK. Searching by photo properties The file properties for any photo can be searched on by using a Filter by Properties dialog.
AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 237 In the above example, all photos in your album in excess of 5 Megabytes will be shown. This will enable you to keep track of your high resolution digital photos (e.g., those in RAW format). Searching by date The Search feature lets you search for dates when photos were taken, files created or files modified most recently or over a specified time period. In addition, searches can be made on dates on which photos were added to your photo album.
238 AlbumPlus Organizer: Searching for Photos 4. 5. Tick the check box next to the type of date search you want to use (combinations can be made), i.e. • Photo: Photo Time (time that photo was taken; from EXIF) • Album: Album Time (time photo added to album) • Creation: File Creation Time (time copied to hard disk) • Modified: File Modification Time Click OK.
14 Index
240 Index
Index .PSD format, 17 .PSP format, 17 .
242 Index custom brushes, 120 canvas sizes, 16 colors, 115 workspaces, 16 Cut/Copy commands, 92 Eraser tools, 122 erasing, 122 pressure-sensitive, 167 Export Optimizer, 185 exporting an image, 185 extracting images, 107 cutouts, 107 Deform Tool, 101 deforming, 101 meshes, 104 selections, 86 depth maps, 37 Deselect command, 82 digital cameras, 19 Disable Mask command, 43 Documents tab, 19 Dodge Tool, 54 pressure-sensitive, 167 feathering, 89 features, 4 fills, 127 flood, 128 gradient, 130 pattern, 128 F
Index image acquiring TWAIN, 19 creating new, 16 cutting out, 107 exporting, 185 fixing, 57 opening file, 18 saving file, 20 sharing by email, 188 Image Cutout Studio, 107 Image Map tools, 151 image size, 93, 163 Image Slice Tool, 149 Import from Twain, 15, 19 Inner Bevel (layer effect), 71 Inner Glow (layer effect), 71 Inner Shadow (layer effect), 71 installation, 12 Instant Effects tab, 73 Invert (selection) command, 88 Layer to Background command, 29 layers, 25 adjustment, 50 Background layer, 92 blend
244 Index Move Tool, 91 New Adjustment Layer command, 52 New Layer command, 28 New Layer Group command, 31 Node Edit Tool, 141 nodes (Mesh Warp Tool), 104 opacity, 35 layer, 26 selecting, 85 on masks, 40 Open, 15 opening an image file, 18 Outer Bevel (layer effect), 71 Outer Glow (layer effect), 71 Outline (layer effect), 71 outlines, 144 on layers, 146 on selection areas, 145 Paintbrush Tool, 119 painting, 119 in 3D, 37 pressure-sensitive, 167 palettes color, 118 Paste command, 92 Patch Tool, 54 paths, 1
Index 245 Rasterize, 29, 136 rectangle, 137 placing hotspot, 151 selecting, 83 red eye (removing), 54, 59 Red Eye Tool, 54 selection cropping to, 99 defining region, 83, 84 deforming, 86 deselecting, 82 duplicating, 91 registration, 3 Replace Color Tool, 54 resampling, 163 resizing images, 94 in bulk, 163 selections, 86 shapes, 141 resolution, 94 changing (via Batch processing), 161 Retouch tools, 54 Revert, 21 rotating, 99 Rule of thirds, 97 Saturate (Sponge tool), 54 from mask, 43 making, 81 manipula
246 Index Solid fill, 130 special effects, 66 Sponge Tool, 54 spot repair, 59 square, 137 placing hotspot, 151 selecting, 83 Square (gradient fill), 130 stamping pictures, 121 standard layers, 26 Startup Wizard, 15, 16, 18 statistics in histograms, 111 Store Selection command, 85 Straighten Tool, 55 straightening, 55, 59 Swatches tab, 118 system requirements, 11 tablet, 168 text, 135 adjusting size and position of, 136 creating selection from, 137 layers, 26, 135 typographic control, 136 using layer effec
AlbumPlus Organizer Index 247 AlbumPlus Organizer Index albums creating new, 192 Autoplay, 198 camera adding photos from, 199 captions adding, 213 searching, 235 comments adding, 214 searching, 235 dates media types, 194 searching, 232 metadata, 225 searching, 235 path names searching, 235 photos adding, 195 changing order of, 208 copying/moving, 217 date management of, 212 deleting, 216 changing photo, 212 searching for, 237 duplicates, 198 EXIF, 226 searching, 235 file management, 218 file names searc
248 AlbumPlus Organizer Index rotating, 218 SAP files, 194 scanner adding photos from, 199 tags, 220 assigning, 223 creating, 222 EXIF, 226 modifying, 223 removing, 224 searching, 229 XMP, 225 thumbnails adding captions to, 213 assigning tags to, 223 changing order of, 208 removing tags from, 224 resizing, 207 selecting, 203 styles for, 204 times changing photo, 212 unassigned photos, 232 viewing your photos, 215 XMP, 225
