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PhotoStudio Manual
for Windows
ArcSoft, Inc.
PhotoStudio Manual
Table of Contents
Introduction |
2 |
Basic things you need to know before you start.
Palettes |
4 |
The Quick Access Bar |
4 |
Shortcuts for opening and saving photos, plus other common functions. |
|
The Tools Palette |
12 |
The heart of the program—tools need to create and modify your photos. |
|
The Tool Options Palette |
23 |
Various settings available for each different editing tool. |
|
The Layers Palette |
23 |
Stack photo components and text to create cool images. Learn all about layers. |
|
The Navigation Palette |
25 |
Focus on specific areas of an image that’s too big to fit on your screen. |
|
The Status Bar |
25 |
See various image information and tool tips as you move your mouse over various commands. |
|
The Browser & ArcSoft Albums |
26 |
Conveniently locate files stored on your system or in ArcSoft albums. |
|
Menus |
29 |
Organized lists of commands, functions, and miscellaneous program options. |
|
Tips & Tricks |
38 |
Just a few pointers to help you out. |
|
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PhotoStudio Manual
Introduction
Welcome to PhotoStudio! PhotoStudio is an advanced image editing program. That sounds scary, but don’t worry—it’s designed for use by general consumers just like you. You don’t need to be an expert artist to enhance your photos or create neat graphic designs. It’ll help if you read through this manual completely while you’re using the program. The knowledge here is insightful, but it’s best absorbed if you’re working hands-on. Plus, it’s more fun that way!
This manual was written with the assumption that you understand basic Windows commands and features. Again—don’t get scared off just yet… If you’re new to computers or haven’t quite grasped what “files,” “folders,” “right-clicking,” “directories,” “saving files” and whatnot mean, don’t worry. Viewing, enhancing, and sharing digital photos isn’t something that’s exclusively for computer savvy types… anyone can do it. You’ll just need to have a little more patience. Take your time and you’ll be just fine. You’ll learn plenty, and a little knowledge never hurt anyone.
We know, you want to get started working on your photos. However, it’s fairly important that you understand some basic things. At the very least, it’s important that you learn about the various components that you see when you run the program. We’ll start by talking about these components, called “palettes.” From there, we’ll talk about the “file browser” and various menu options. The final section will be something of an index of various tips and tricks. If you’re familiar enough with photo editing, feel free to skip back there to find what you need.
Cool Photo Vocabulary
It’s a good idea to understand these elementary terms. You’ve probably already heard lots of words about computers and such that don’t make sense. Here’s a small list that may help with regards to photo editing. The definitions here are very broad, but at the very least, you can impress some friends by showing off your expanded computer vocabulary:
•Digital photo/image/picture: The words “photo,” “image,” and “picture” can be used interchangeably. Basically, any photo that you have on your computer is considered digital. Once you scan a photo and it becomes a file on your computer—bingo—it’s now a digital photo. The same can be said for documents. Text files are considered “digital documents.” Once you print them out, they become “hardcopy.” It works the same way with photos. They’re digital photos on your computer or digital camera until they’re printed out, at which point they become “prints” or “posters” or whatever you print them out as.
•Thumbnail: A thumbnail is simply a small version of a photo, mainly used for previewing.
•RGB: This stands for “Red, Green, Blue.” Your images can basically be separated into these three standard “channels.” You’ll notice that when you use some of the enhancement tools in PhotoStudio, you’ll be able to separately modify each of these channels. For example, if the reds in your image are too dull but the greens and blues look okay, you can increase the brightness of only the red channel. The three combined make up your entire image. There are other types of channel configurations such as CMYK and HSV, but you’ll primarily be concerned with RGB.
•Pixels: Pixels are the “unit of measurement” for screens such as your television or computer monitor. Imagine a grid of hundreds or thousands of tiny squares covering your monitor. Each individual square is a pixel. You’ve probably noticed that when you zoom into a picture, it becomes blocky, with rough edges. This is because you’re getting closer and closer to seeing the individual pixels that make up the image.
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PhotoStudio Manual
•Resolution: The size of a digital image on your screen is measured in pixels. Resolution is simply the measurement of an image’s width and height. For example, an image that has a resolution of 100 x 100 means that it is 100 pixels high by 100 pixels wide. A 100 x 100 image may still look different on different monitors. This is because your monitor has a resolution as well. Some people have their monitor resolution set at 640 x 480; others have it as high as 1600 x 1200! In general, monitors with a higher resolution will make pictures look much smaller than on a monitor with a lower resolution. Why? A 100 x 100 image will take up approximately 1/6 of the screen width of a monitor with a resolution of 640 x 480. By comparison, the image will only take up 1/16 of the screen width of a monitor with a resolution of 1600 x1200. It’s the same image, but because of the different screen resolutions of the two monitors, they appear different in size.
•DPI: This can be a bit confusing, but in principle it’s very simple. When printing within PhotoStudio, the size of the printed image is directly dependent on two things: resolution and DPI (dots per inch). By setting the DPI for a photo, you determine how many pixels will be contained in each inch that is printed. For example, if you have a photo that is 1000 x 1000 and print at a DPI of 100, you’ll get a 10” x 10” image. Because the image is 1000 pixels high and you’re printing 100 pixels in an inch, you’ll have a print that is 10” high. Here’s the confusing part. The DPI that you see in PhotoStudio that is used to set your print size is not the same as the DPI used to describe the capabilities of your printer. For example, some printers can print at a DPI of 2000. This means that for each inch that the printer prints, it will shoot out 2000 individual dots of ink. Within the software, DPI refers to pixels printed per inch; with respect to your printer, it refers to the number of individual ink dots the cartridge puts on the paper within a single inch. A printer my use several dots of ink to make one single pixel of the photo.
•Image Acquisition Device: An “image acquisition device” is any hardware device that you can connect to your computer so you can download, or “acquire” images. These include digital cameras, scanners, and webcams. It’s basically a fancy term that has been adopted to describe these things.
•Driver: Drivers are actually programs or files that are placed on your computer whenever you install a CD that comes with a piece of hardware. A driver basically tells the computer what device you have, and is responsible for transferring data back and forth from the device to your computer. Every piece of hardware you have on your computer has a driver. Your printer, your video card, your modem, your sound card… all of these devices have a driver installed on your computer that tell it exactly what the device is, what it does, and how it does it. When you installed your flashy new digital camera software, the drivers for the camera were installed as well. You can acquire photos from your devices through PhotoStudio, but the program is basically a spectator during the actual download or acquire process. Whenever you acquire photos, PhotoStudio basically sits and waits while the driver for your device goes to work. If you’re having problems downloading/acquiring images, contact the manufacturer of your camera (or other hardware device) to see if they have an update. Most companies have their drivers available for free download on their Web site, and update them whenever issues arise.
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PhotoStudio Manual
Palettes
“Palettes” are sections of the program desktop that can be moved around or hidden so that your work area looks and feels the way you want. Each different palette has a different set of information that will help you when you work with your photos. Some people prefer to have every single option and button available at all times. Other people like having as much free space as possible to see their images. You can freely move each of these components, or hide them completely when you don’t need them.
Here’s a list of the available palettes and moveable components of the PhotoStudio desktop:
•The Quick Access Bar
•The Tools Palette
•The Tool Options Palette
•The Layers Palette
•The Navigation Palette
•The Status Bar
The Quick Access Bar
The Quick Access Bar contains buttons that serve as shortcuts to some of the most common functions and options that PhotoStudio offers. As you move your mouse over the icons, a popup with the button name will appear. Not all of the buttons will be available at all times. Sometimes you’ll need to have an image open in order for a button to become active. Depending on the image properties, some options may be unavailable as well.
Here’s a list of what you’ll find on the Quick Access Bar:
New: Click this button to create a new, blank image. You can define all the characteristics about the new image, including the data format, size, and resolution. Basically, clicking this button creates a blank canvas for you to work on. The color of the canvas is dependent on the colors selected in the Tools Palette. This button is a shortcut to the “New” command under the File menu.
Open: Clicking here opens the standard Windows Open window. From here you can search your system for any image file to be displayed within the program. This button is a shortcut to the “Open” command under the File menu.
Browser: The Browser offers a “tree view” of the files on your system, as well as your ArcSoft albums. The Browser and albums are discussed further in their own section. You can also open the Browser by accessing the “Open Browser” command under the File menu.
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PhotoStudio Manual
Acquire: Use this button to run the driver for your selected image acquisition device. What’s that mean? Basically, click this button when you want to scan a picture, take a snapshot with your webcam, or download a photo from your digital camera. Because you may have one or more of these types of devices (for example, you may have a scanner and a digital camera connected), you’ll need to choose which device you want to use when this button is clicked. Go to the File menu and choose “Select Source.” A window will appear with a list of every compatible driver on your system. Select the one you want, then click this icon to run the driver and acquire your photo.
Save: This is a pretty standard function. Basically, click it to save your work. You probably know this already, but power outages, computer crashes, and other accidents seem to creep up at the worst possible time. Don’t learn the hard way—save your work often!
When saving a new image, the standard “Save As” window will appear. You’ll need to do three things:
1.Choose the save location: Navigate through your system to select the folder in which you want the image saved. It’s generally a good idea to manage your files by grouping them together. Keep all of your photos in one location and create subfolders to organize them into different categories. The “My Documents” folder is a great place to start because it’s always readily accessible and easy to find and remember.
2.Give the file a name: Type in a file name that’s descriptive of the actual image, or at the very least, easy to remember.
3.Choose the file format: The program supports a wide range of file formats. Choose the one that’s the most convenient for you. Different formats may have additional save options, so make sure you know enough about the format you want before choosing it.
Print: One of the main reasons you’re using PhotoStudio is to print your photos. This button provides a shortcut to the Print Screen. You can also get to the Print Screen by choosing “Print” from the File menu. The Print Setup button lets you view and configure your printer settings.
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PhotoStudio Manual
There are several things you can do on the Print Screen:
1.Positioning the photo: Click and drag the photo to position it anywhere on the page. Check the “Center Photo” checkbox to re-center it.
2.Adjusting the photo size: Use the slider to adjust the width/height of the image. Notice the “Output” value above the slider. Here’s where your knowledge of resolution and DPI will come in handy (you remember the Introduction, right?). For good quality prints, you probably shouldn’t print below 200 DPI. Use the slider to find a good compromise between size and quality. If you find that you inevitably need to continually shrink your images to get them to print out at a good quality, consider maximizing the resolution of your digital camera or scanning at a higher DPI with your scanner.
3.Adding a title: Check the “Add Title” box to include text header with your print. When the box is checked, you’ll see a box appear on the print preview that says “Double click to edit text.” Double-click in this box to enter in a title. You’ll be able to choose the font, size, and style of the text. When you’re done, you can click and drag the text box to any location on the page. Check the “Center Title” box to move it to the center of the vertical axis.
4.Adding a frame: Check the “Add Frame” box to include a black outline around your print. You may want one added for stylistic purposes, or just as a guideline to use if you happen to be cutting the picture out.
Cut, Copy, and Paste: These next three buttons are very closely related. Make sure to read all three. Though these are fairly common operations throughout Windows and many Windows programs, we’ll talk about how they could be used in photo editing.
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PhotoStudio Manual
Cut: When you “cut” a part of a photo (or an entire photo), the area is removed and placed into “Clipboard memory.” What this means is the image data is stored so you can then “paste” the part you cut into another location. Clipboard memory isn’t infinite, nor can image data remain there forever. It’s best to use the Paste option soon after using the Cut option. You can perform the command by clicking this button, or choosing “Cut” from the Edit menu.
Copy: This works similarly to the Cut command, but instead of removing the image data, it simply places a copy of it into Clipboard memory. You can access the Copy command by clicking this button or choosing “Copy” from the Edit menu.
Paste: When you use this command, any image data stored in Clipboard memory is pasted onto the current image. Click this button to paste, or choose “Paste” from the Edit menu.
These three tools (Cut, Copy, and Paste) are extremely useful. For example, you can “cut” or “copy” a section of an image, then “paste” it in another location, or on an entirely different image.
Undo: You’re bound to make mistakes when editing your photo. Or, you may end up applying effects that you end up not liking once you see the end result. The Undo command is just what you need. With a single click, you can reverse the last action you’ve performed. You can perform this command multiple times. The exact amount is dependent on you. Go to the Edit menu and select “Preferences.” You’ll see in the Preferences Window that you can modify the “Undo level.” It can be set as high as 99. This means that you can perform 99 functions, then undo each one individually.
Redo: This command has become a necessary complement to the Undo command. While the Undo command reverses a function, the Redo command re-implements a command that was undone. For example, lets say that you raised the brightness and contrast of a photo. You’re not entirely sure that you like the way it looks, so you click the Undo button. Now let’s say that you’d like to see how it looked with the enhancement, but you forgot exactly what values you used to modify the picture. No problem—just click the Redo button. In effect, it will “undo” the Undo command.
Using the Undo/Redo commands are great for “going back and forth in time” to see your image at various stages of development. You can go back and forth to see the various changes that you’ve made.
Auto Enhance: This command opens a window that displays multiple versions of your picture, each one modified in a variety of ways. Usually there are minor color corrections made. If you
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PhotoStudio Manual
want, you can select one of the preformatted options and apply those effects to your photo. Basically, it’s a fast and simple way to enhance your photo with some mild effects.
Effect Browser: A variety of effects can be previewed and applied to a photo using the Effect Browser. At the top of the browser is a pull-down that lets you select the desired enhancement or effect.
Different enhancements/effects will have different options available. In the sample above, a dull picture is being made a bit brighter. As you can see, you have convenient before/after images so you can preview each effect. Use the zoom buttons (+ and -) to focus on a specific area. Click and drag within the previews to view areas of the image that may not fit in the preview. You can also fully preview any effect on your actual image if the Preview box is checked at the bottom of the Effect Browser.
Stitch: This command lets you “stitch” two photos together into one. You must have at least two images open in order to use this function (unless you want to stitch the same image to itself).
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PhotoStudio Manual
1.Choose your images: The “Principal” image the current image that you have in the foreground of the program. If you have more than one other image open, use the Secondary pull-down to select the one you want to stitch to the Principal image.
2.Choose the stitch type: Use the On pull-down to choose where you want to stitch the Secondary image (choose Left, Right, Top, or Bottom).
3.Set the blend: Use the Blend slider to adjust the amount of blend you want between the stitched images. Choose “100” for the smoothest blend.
4.Set the stitch points: The stitch points are the spots where the two images will be merged. All you need to do is click on either image to set the point. Use the zoom tools so you can set these points precisely. Once they’re set, click the Adjust button. The program will automatically attempt to match the points of both images to a similar location.
5.When you’re ready, click OK. The images will be stitched together as a new image.
Play Macro: A macro is a custom set of commands that can be applied with a single click. Don’t worry—it’s not as complicated as it sounds, and once you learn how to use them, macros are invaluable timesavers. Before you can use a macro, you’ll need to create one first. We’ll make one that’s really basic. Let’s say that you have an entire batch of images that look overly dark. You find that you keep increasing the brightness of each photo by the same amount. Instead of selecting the Brightness and Contrast enhancement and adjusting the brightness slider for each photo, you can create a macro and apply the brightness enhancement to each photo with a single click. Here’s how to do it:
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PhotoStudio Manual
1.Open an image.
2.Go to Enhance and select “Brightness and Contrast.” Adjust the brightness and/or contrast to your liking and click OK.
3.Go to Edit and choose “Select Macro.” The Macro Window will appear.
4.The command you did (“Brightness and Contrast”) is displayed on the right. The macro is new, and currently labeled “Unsaved Macro.” You can type in a unique name for it. We typed in “Brightness.” After you’ve typed in a name, click Save. Your macro is now saved.
5.Highlight your macro on the list, then click Select. Now, whenever you click the Play Macro button on the Quick Access Bar, the commands under the macro (in this case, a “Brightness and Contrast” enhancement) will be used on the open image.
You can create numerous macros. Only one can be assigned to the Play Macro button at any given time. So, remember to open the Macro Window whenever you want to change macros.
One other note about the Macro Window… The Record button can also be used to create a macro. Basically, after you click it, the Macro Window will disappear so you can perform the commands that you want to use in the macro. When you’re done, the commands you’ve performed will appear in the “Commands in macro” list the next time you open the Macro Window. You can then save the commands as a new macro.
Play around with PhotoStudio for a while to see if you find yourself performing the same commands over and over. If you are, a macro can be just the thing you need to save you time. Note that not all functions can be used in a macro.
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PhotoStudio Manual
PDA Sync: If you have a PDA, this command can be a timesaver. What it does is it transfers images that you currently have open to the Sync folder on your system. Then, when you synchronize your PDA with your desktop, the images will be transferred over to your handheld. You’ll be given the option to have PhotoStudio automatically resize your photos for ideal viewing on your handheld.
3D Text Factory: 3D Text Factory is a great addition to PhotoStudio. It’s a separate plug-in that can be used to add three-dimensional text to your photos. It contains numerous bevel and texture options for your text. You can even adjust three independent light sources for limitless color and shading options. 3D Text Factory has it’s own Help file that will explain all of the various options. Any text added with 3D Text Factory will be included on a new layer of your photo (you’ll learn about layers a bit later—they give you the ability to stack individual image components within a single image file—trust us, it’s not as confusing as it sounds!).
Help: Clicking here launches the program Help file.
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