Tips Paint Shop

Select File/New to create a new image; select File/Open to open an existing image.You can view all of the images in a directory at one time by selecting File/Browse.The function of each tool on the various Toolbars is described at the bottom of the Paint Shop Pro window whenever the cursor is over the tool.You can select a new color to paint with by clicking inside the Color Palette's color spectrum.You can zoom in on a portion of an image by left-clicking on the image with the Zoom Tool (magnifying glass icon). Right clicking with the Zoom Tool will zoom out.If you make a mistake, you can undo the last thing you did by selecting Edit/Undo, or by pressing the Undo button on the Main Toolbar.Selection areas allow you to alter only the portions of the image you have selected.You can use the Selection tool to make square, rectangular, circular, and elliptical selections, by choosing the selection type in the Style Bar.More complex selection areas can be created by holding down the shift or control keys while making a selection.You can move a selection along with its contents by left clicking and dragging with the mouse when any selection tool is active.You can move the outline of a selection area by right clicking and dragging with the mouse when the Mover Tool (hand icon) is active.You can make the edges of a selection area "softer" by increasing the Feather value on the Style Bar for the selection tool you want to use.You can always undo all changes made to an image since it was last saved by selecting File/Revert.A quick way to zoom in and out on an image is to use the + and - keys on the numeric keypad.Zooming in and out only changes how "close" you are to the image. If you want to change the actual size of a image, select Image/Resize (or Image/Resample for images with greater than 256 colors).To add a shadow to text, place the text on the image and leave it as a selection, then select Image/Special Effects/Add Drop Shadow.You can easily swap the foreground and background colors in the Color Palette by clicking on the arrow.You can select a new foreground and background color using many of the painting tools, by holding down the Control key and clicking on the image with either mouse button.Use the line tool to draw straight lines. Hold down the Shift key to draw lines which are exactly horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Hold down the Alt key to draw polygonal lines (lines which connect the locations where you click with the mouse).To select a transparent color for GIF files (e.g., for use on an Internet web page), use the Eyedropper Tool to select the background color, then click on the Options button in the Save As Dialog and choose "Set the transparency value to the background color".If an image effect is not available, try: (1) increasing the image color depth to 16 million colors, or (2) making a selection in the image.When using the Hot Wax Coating special effect, the foreground color determines the color of the "wax".When using the Flood Fill Tool, you can reverse the colors of any of the Gradient Fill styles by clicking with the secondary mouse button.You can save a selection out of an image and then load it into a different image, by using Selections/Save and Selections/Load. You can also do the same thing with a mask, by using Masks/Save and Masks/Load.When using the Color Replacer Tool, you can instantly apply the tool to the entire image by double clicking with the mouse.You can perform more than one screen capture at a time before returning to the Paint Shop Pro window. Just select Capture/Setup and fill the Multiple Captures checkbox.You can obtain information about your system by selecting Help/About Paint Shop Pro and then scrolling through the System Information window at the bottom of the dialog box.If your system is low on memory, you can decrease the amount of memory which Paint Shop Pro uses for each image by selecting File/Preferences/General Program Preferences and setting Undo to either the To Disk or Disabled options.To increase or decrease the maximum number of files which appear in the Recent Files List (at the bottom of the File menu) select File/Preferences/General Program Preferences/Misc. You can have as few as 1 and as many as 10.You can change how the window reacts to zooming, new images, and changes in the size of an image, by selecting File/Preferences/General Program Preferences/Viewing.To change how color values are displayed in the Color Palette select File/Preferences/General Program Preferences/Palettes. The color values can be displayed as RGB or HSL, using either Decimal or Hexadecimal numbers.By selecting File/Preferences/Customize Toolbar, you can customize the Main Toolbar to show only the buttons you want, in whatever order you like.This is the last tip. You can turn them off now.