Corel PaintShop Pro Photo - X3 Operation Manual
Contents
Welcome to Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What’s in this user guide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What’s new in Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Installing and uninstalling Corel programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Starting and exiting the program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Registering Corel products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Updating the program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Corel Support Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
About Corel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The digital workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Learning how to use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro . . . . . . . . 13
Using the Corel Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Using the Learning Center palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Using the Help system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Using Web-based resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Workspace tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Exploring the workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Switching between workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Using tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Getting started with Corel PaintShop Photo Pro . . . . . . . . 31
Contents i
Getting photos into Corel PaintShop Photo Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Opening and closing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Saving images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Deleting images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Reviewing, organizing, and finding images . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Setting up the Organizer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Finding images on your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Adding keyword tags to images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Finding tagged images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Using the calendar to find images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Browsing folders for images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Working with thumbnails in the Organizer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Capturing and applying edits to multiple images . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Displaying and editing image information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Using the Express Lab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Starting the Express Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Getting to know the Express Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Getting photos into the Express Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Exiting the Express Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Working with camera RAW photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Supported RAW file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Using the Camera RAW Lab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Applying edits to multiple RAW photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Converting RAW photos to another file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Adjusting images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Rotating images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
ii Corel PaintShop Photo Pro User Guide
Cropping images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Straightening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Making basic photo corrections automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Removing digital camera noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Combining bracketed photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Adjusting brightness and contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Adjusting hue and saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Creating an area of focus by controlling depth of field. . . . . . . . . 70
Retouching and restoring images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Removing red-eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Applying cosmetic corrections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Removing flaws and objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Cutting out image areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Recoloring image areas for a realistic effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Scaling photos by using Smart Carver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Working with selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Creating selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Modifying selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Inverting and clearing selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Working with layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Understanding layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Layers palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Creating layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Renaming layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Viewing layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Changing the order of layers in an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Contents iii
Applying effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Choosing effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Applying Photo Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Adding picture frames to images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Using the Picture Tube tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Warping images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Working with colors and materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Using the Materials palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Choosing colors by using the Color Picker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Choosing colors from an image or the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Working with text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Applying text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Formatting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Printing images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
E-mailing and sharing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
E-mailing photos, videos, and slideshows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Sending images to a photo-sharing service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
iv Corel PaintShop Photo Pro User Guide
Welcome to Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3
Corel® PaintShop Photo® Pro sets the standard for affordable,
professional image editing. You can organize and edit photos, work with
RAW image files, apply effects, and more — all with a set of easy-to-use
workspaces.
Some versions of the Corel PaintShop Photo Pro also include
Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator — an application that helps you
create photo and video projects, such as photo books, slideshows, cards,
calendars, and collages. It also helps you share and backup your projects.
This section presents the following topics:
• What’s in this user guide?
• What’s new in Corel® PaintShop Photo® Pro X3
• Installing and uninstalling Corel® programs
• Starting and exiting the program
• Registering Corel® products
• Updating the program
• Corel® Support Services™
•About Corel®
What’s in this user guide?
This user guide contains the information that you need to become
familiar with the Corel PaintShop Photo Pro workspace and to get started
Welcome to Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 1
with basic tasks and some creative possibilities. It is designed to
accompany the more comprehensive Help, which is available from within
the program, as well as other learning resources. For more information
about additional learning resources, see “Learning how to use
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro” on page 13.
What’s new in Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 offers affordable, powerful, professionalgrade tools and features. Photo enthusiasts — ranging from professional
photographers to digital camera newcomers — can take their projects to
a higher level with a toolset that yields astonishing results, yet is easy to
learn.
• Improved photo organization — Customize your digital workflow
with new photo management capabilities in the Organizer. Quickly
select photos and get multiple views, including thumbnails and
image previews. For more information, see “Reviewing, organizing,
and finding images” on page 37.
• Multi-photo editing — Make adjustments to one photo and then
easily apply the same changes to multiple photos. For more
information, see “Capturing and applying edits to multiple images”
on page 45.
• Enhanced Express Lab — Edit your photos quickly in this
speed-editing mode. Quickly adjust contrast, local tone mapping,
noise, and sharpen photos. Manipulate levels, contrast, color
balance, and more. For more information, see “Using the Express
Lab” on page 49.
• Improved performance — Get more speed and editing power with
more multi-threading support for multi-core processors.
• Smart Carver™ — A new seam carving tool lets you seamlessly
remove objects from an image. You can also scale or remove objects
2 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
without distortion. For more information, see “Scaling photos by
using Smart Carver” on page 84.
• Support for additional RAW formats — Make RAW adjustments
during the loading process and work with even more RAW camera
formats. For more information, see “Working with camera RAW
photos” on page 53.
• Vibrancy — The Vibrancy feature helps to boost color in less
saturated parts of an image without significantly altering skin tones.
For more information, see “Adjusting hue and saturation” on
page 69.
• Object Extractor — The new integrated Object Extractor isolates
objects so that they can be copied to a new background or a new
background can be pasted behind an object. For more information,
see “Cutting out image areas” on page 80.
• On-image text editing — The updated text engine lets you add text
directly in the image window. Adjust font, color, placement,
position, size, and wrapping of the text in the context of the image.
For more information, see “Working with text” on page 115.
• Easy sharing — Share photos and videos where and how you want,
by using e-mail, Flickr®, Facebook®, and YouTube™. Print at home
or online. For more information, see the
Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator Help.
• Integrated creative projects — Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator
lets you make great-looking photo books, collages, cards and more.
It also includes easy online sharing options. For more information,
see the Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator Help.
• HD video — The application now supports high definition (HD)
video. Create HD slideshows and movies of your photos and videos.
For more information, see the Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator
Help.
Welcome to Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 3
• Windows® 7 compatibility — Corel PaintShop Photo Pro is fully
compatible with Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, and
Windows® 7.
Installing and uninstalling Corel programs
The Installer makes it easy to install and uninstall Corel applications and
components.
Before installing:
• Quit all open applications. Note that antivirus software and firewall
applications may affect installation.
• Ensure that you are logged in to your computer as Administrator or
as a user with local administrative rights.
To install Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
1 Close any open applications.
2 Insert the DVD in the drive.
If the setup does not start automatically, navigate to the DVD drive
on your computer, and double-click Setup.exe.
3 Follow the instructions on your screen.
Note that you must install Corel PaintShop Photo Pro and
Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator separately.
To install Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator
1 Insert the DVD in the drive.
If the Installer does not start automatically, navigate to the DVD drive
on your computer and double-click the Setup file (Setup.exe). Skip
the next step.
2 Click Install PaintShop Photo Project Creator.
3 Follow the instructions.
4 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
Please note, some versions of Corel PaintShop Photo Pro do not
include the Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator application.
To uninstall Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
1 On the Windows® taskbar, click Start ` Control Panel.
2 Do one of the following:
• (Windows Vista or Windows 7) In the Programs category, click the
Uninstall a program link.
• (Windows XP) Click the Add or Remove Programs icon.
3 From the list of applications, choose Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3,
and click Uninstall/Change or Remove.
4 Follow the instructions on your screen.
You can remove user-created files, such as presets, during the
uninstall process. Mark the Clear all personal settings in
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 check box, and click Remove.
Starting and exiting the program
You can start Corel PaintShop Photo Pro from the Windows taskbar and
exit the program from the File menu.
The first time you start Corel PaintShop Photo Pro, you are prompted to
assign file formats to the program so that your computer always uses
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro to open files in those formats. For more
information, see “Setting file format associations” in the Help.
To start Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
• On the Windows taskbar, click Start ` All Programs `
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 ` Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3.
Welcome to Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 5
If you associate specific file formats, such as JPEG and TIFF, with
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro, you can double-click the associated
file to start the program.
To exit Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
• Choose File ` Exit.
Registering Corel products
Registering Corel products is important to ensure that you receive timely
access to the latest product updates, as well as valuable information
about product releases. Registration also gives you access to free
downloads, articles, tips and tricks, and special offers.
You can register the program when you install it, or you can register at a
later date.
You can register the program in one of the following ways:
• online — If you are connected to the Internet when you install the
Corel graphics program, you can launch the online registration. If no
Internet connection is detected, you are presented with a list of
options.
• by phone — You can call the Corel Customer Service Center nearest
you.
For more information about registering a Corel product, visit
www.corel.com/support/register.
Updating the program
You can check for product updates. Updates notify you of important new
information about your program.
6 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
To update your program
• Choose Help ` Check for Updates.
You can turn automatic program updates on or off by clicking
Help ` Corel Guide. In the Corel® Guide, click the Product
information and preferences
preferences. Mark the options that you want.
button , and choose Message
Corel Support Services
Corel Support Services can provide you with prompt and accurate
information about product features, specifications, pricing, availability,
services, and technical support. For the most current information on
available support and professional services for your Corel product, please
visit www.corel.com/support.
Warranty support
Corel’s warranty support is designed to help customers with technical
issues related to installation and product defects, including crashes and
errors caused by Corel software.
Personal telephone support
Many customers choose to speak directly to a Corel support technician
over the telephone. Live person-to-person support on a toll-free line is
available as a paid service and is designed for individual, small business,
academic, trial version, and OEM users.
A support incident is the resolution of one technical question, problem,
or issue, regardless of the number of telephone calls required to resolve
it. Support includes assistance with understanding how features work
and how they are applied to a sample document; troubleshooting
technical issues and documents; installation, configuration, and setup on
Welcome to Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 7
standalone computers; and migration from one software version to
another. Please note that support does not include how to implement
features within your files.
About Corel
Corel is one of the world’s top software companies, with more than 100
million active users in over 75 countries. We develop software that helps
people express their ideas and share their stories in more exciting,
creative, and persuasive ways. Through the years, we’ve built a reputation
for delivering innovative, trusted products that are easy to learn and use,
helping people achieve new levels of productivity. The industry has
responded with hundreds of awards for software innovation, design, and
value.
Our award-winning product portfolio includes some of the world's most
widely recognized and popular software brands, including CorelDRAW®
Graphics Suite, Corel® Painter™, Corel DESIGNER® Technical Suite,
Corel® PaintShop Photo® Pro, Corel® VideoStudio®, Corel®
WinDVD®, Corel® WordPerfect® Office, WinZip®, and the recently
released Corel® Digital Studio™ 2010. Our global headquarters are in
Ottawa, Canada, and major offices are in the United States, the United
Kingdom, Germany, China, Taiwan, and Japan.
8 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
The digital workflow
The digital workflow outlined below can help you understand how to
use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro. It suggests a sequence for working with
your digital images. Whether you want to organize, retouch, or put
together a photo book or slideshow, you can use the workflow
described below as a guide.
The digital workflow in Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
Get photos
Your first step is to transfer photos from your digital camera, memory
card, or other storage device to your computer. You can also access
scanned images from within the program.
When you install Corel PaintShop Photo Pro, the
Corel Photo Downloader is installed automatically. When you plug a
The digital workflow 9
camera or storage device into your computer, the
Corel Photo Downloader detects the device and helps you transfer your
photos and video clips.
For more information, see the following topics in the Help:
• Getting photos into Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
• Connecting with image scanners
Get organized
Digital photography gives you the freedom to shoot many photos. With
this freedom comes a large number of digital files, so photographers
understand the need to manage those files by culling their photos as early
in the process as possible and by identifying the photos that they want to
keep.
The Organizer workspace lets you access all the tools you need to cull,
rate, tag, and prepare newly downloaded files for editing or sharing.
Search options and collections make it easy to find and work with the
photos that you currently store on your computer.
For more information, see “Reviewing, organizing, and finding images”
on page 37.
Quick adjustments
After you decide which photos that you want to keep, you might want to
make some quick adjustments and touchups. From the Organizer, you
can access the following options:
• Express Lab — A workspace that lets you edit individual photos
quickly. You can fix red-eye, exposure, color, sharpness, and noise
issues. You can also make fast touchups to the people and objects in
your photos.
10 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
• Capture and Apply — A feature that saves you time by letting you
capture the edits to one photo, and apply the changes to multiple
photos.
For more information, see the following topics in the Help:
• Using the Express Lab
• Capturing and applying edits to multiple images
Advanced editing and RAW files
Professional-level tools and features are available in the Full Editor
workspace. For example, you can apply effects and add text. You can also
use layers to create highly flexible composite images, isolate image areas
with selections and masks, and access tone curves, histograms, and other
advanced adjustment tools.
If you like the full control of working with RAW files, you can use the
Camera RAW Lab to process your photos.
For more information, explore the following topics in the Help:
• Adjusting images
• Retouching and restoring images
• Working with selections
•Working with layers
• Applying effects
•Working with text
• Working with camera RAW photos
Share photos and projects
After you adjust and polish your photos, you’ll want to share them. Along
with the traditional printing, layout, and e-mailing options, some versions
of the application include Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator — an
The digital workflow 11
application that makes it easy to order prints and create projects, such as
photo books, calendars, cards, and collages. You can also create beautiful
multimedia slideshows that combine your photos and video clips. This is
a great way to share HD video clips from your camera.
Sharing options are built into Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator, so
you can easily upload your photos and projects to Facebook, Flickr, and
YouTube.
For more information, see the following topics in the Help:
•Printing
• E-mailing and sharing images
For more information about Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator,
please refer to the Help within the Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator
application.
Backup and archive
Ensuring your photos and video clips are protected is a very important
step in the digital workflow. If your media files are stored only in one
location, you could lose all your photos and videos if your computer or
storage device fails.
Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator offers you an easy way to backup
your files to a CD or DVD. For more information, please see “Creating
backup discs” in the Corel PaintShop Photo Project Creator Help.
12 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
Learning how to use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
You can learn how to use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro in various ways: by
accessing the Help and the Corel Guide, by using the Learning Center
palette, or by exploring the resources on the Corel Web site
(www.corel.com), where you can access tips, tutorials, and information
about training.
This section presents the following topics:
• Using the Corel Guide
• Using the Learning Center palette
• Using the Help system
• Using Web-based resources
Using the Corel Guide
The Corel Guide provides the most up-to-date information and content
for your program. You can find tips and tricks, download new styles and
content for your projects, explore new ways to share your photos and
videos, and access the latest updates for your program.
To access the Corel Guide
• Choose Help ` Corel Guide.
Learning how to use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro 13
Using the Learning Center palette
The Learning Center palette contains helpful information about
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro tasks, commands, and tools to help first-time
users as well as experienced users get their work done faster. The Home
page of the Learning Center palette provides a task-based workflow,
which begins with getting your photos into the program. From there, the
workflow takes you through tasks such as finding and organizing your
image files, adjusting and retouching photos, creating collages, adding
text, graphics, and effects, and printing and sharing your creations.
To display or hide the Learning Center palette
Full Editor workspace
• Choose View ` Palettes ` Learning Center.
The Learning Center palette is displayed by default. It appears
along the left side of the Full Editor workspace.
To use the Learning Center palette
Full Editor workspace
1 From the Home page, click a task.
The topics related to the task appear.
2 Click a topic.
The procedure related to the topic appears.
• For topics describing a tool, the tool becomes active. The Tool
Options palette and any other relevant palette appear.
• For topics describing a command associated with a dialog box, the
dialog box appears.
3 Read the procedure for using the tool or command.
14 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
Some tasks and commands are not available unless an image is
open.
Using the Help system
The Help that is available from within the program is the most
comprehensive source of information for Corel PaintShop Photo Pro. The
Help system provides two ways to find information. You can choose a
topic from the Contents page, or use the Search page to search for
specific words and phrases.
Note that you need to have an Internet connection to be able to access
the Help system.
To use the Help system
1 Do one of the following:
• In the Organizer or the Full Editor, click Help
• In the Express Lab, click Help topics from the toolbar.
2 In the Help window, click one of the following tabs:
• Contents — lets you browse through topics in the Help
• Search — lets you search the full text of the Help for a particular
word or phrase. For example, if you are looking for information
about a specific tool or command, you can type the name of the
tool or command, such as Backlighting, to display a list of relevant
topics.
` Help topics.
You can also
View Help for a dialog box Click Help in the bottom of the
dialog box.
Learning how to use Corel PaintShop Photo Pro 15
You can also
Access information and
troubleshooting tips on the Corel
Web site
In the Organizer or Full Editor,
choose Help
Resources.
` Online Support and
Using Web-based resources
From the Corel PaintShop Photo Pro Help menu, you can access a
number of Web pages dedicated to customer support.
To access Web-based resources
•From the Help menu, select one of the following Web site links:
• Contact Information — this link takes you to a Customer Support
page listing customer service and technical support contact
information
• Online Support and Resources — lets you access the Corel Support
Services page to search for answers in the Corel Knowledgebase
and newsgroups, submit questions to Technical Support, provide
feedback, or look for software updates
• Check for Updates — checks the Corel Update Service to see if
there are updates to your copy of Corel PaintShop Photo Pro
16 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
Workspace tour
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro includes three main workspaces that let you
organize and edit your images: the Organizer, the Express Lab, and the
Full Editor.
This section presents the following topics:
• Exploring the workspaces
• Switching between workspaces
•Using palettes
•Using toolbars
•Using tools
Exploring the workspaces
Each of the main Corel PaintShop Photo Pro workspaces, the Organizer,
the Full Editor, and the Express Lab, contain specific tools and controls to
help you accomplish your task at hand quickly and efficiently.
You can save the Organizer and the Full Editor workspaces, including all
open images and their magnifications and screen positions, as well as
positions and preferences of palettes, toolbars, dialog boxes, and
windows. For information about using custom workspaces, see “Using
custom workspaces” in the Help. Note that you cannot customize the
Express Lab.
Workspace tour 17
The Organizer
General Info panelTree panel
Thumbnails panel
Preview window
Organizer toolbar
When you open the application, the Organizer appears as your default
workspace.
The Organizer in Preview mode
It contains the following four panels that let you preview, organize, and
catalogue your images:
• Tree pan el — consists of two tabs that let you display the folders on
your computer or virtual folders and tags for cataloging and sorting
your images
18 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
• Thumbnails panel — displays all images from the folder selected in
Tool settings area
Previous and Next buttons Get Photos button
Media Tray
Status bar
the Tree panel, and a toolbar with common commands such as
batch processing, sort, view, search, and refresh view
• Preview window — displays the image of the thumbnail that is
selected in the Thumbnails panel
• General info panel — displays additional information about the
selected image, such as file name and size, creation date, image size,
rating and tags, and EXIF data
The Express Lab
The Express lab is your workspace for speed-editing. It lets you quickly fix
and enhance your photos by offering a set of the most commonly-used
tools for editing, viewing, and managing your photos.
A photo displayed in the Express Lab
Workspace tour 19
The Express Lab workspace includes the following components:
• Preview window — displays the photo selected in the Media tray
• Previous and Next buttons — let you scroll through the photos in the
selected folder
• Star Ratings control — appears in the bottom right corner of the
preview window and lets you assign ratings to each photo, so that
you can quickly find your favorites
• Tool ba r — displays the buttons for accessing the most common
save, view, and edit commands
• Tool settings area — displays the settings for the tool that you have
selected on the toolbar
• Media tray — displays the photos from the selected folder
• Status bar — displays information about the selected tool
• Get Photos button — lets you navigate to the folder containing the
photos you want to edit
• Exit Express Lab button — lets you switch to the Organizer or Full
Editor workspaces
The Full Editor
The Full Editor is your workspace for in-depth advanced editing. It
includes menus, tools, and palettes that you can use to create and edit
images. In addition to photo editing, it lets you accomplish your painting
and drawing tasks.
20 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
Image window
Tool Options palette
Standard toolbar
Menu bar
Learning Center palette
Tools toolbar
Status bar
The Full Editor workspace includes the following components:
• Menu bar — displays commands for performing tasks. For example,
the Effects menu contains commands for applying effects to images.
• Toolbars — display buttons for common commands. For more
information, see “Using toolbars” on page 24.
• Palettes — display image information and help you select tools,
modify options, manage layers, select colors, and perform other
editing tasks. For more information, see “Using palettes” on
page 22.
• Status bar — displays information about the selected tool or menu
command, as well as information about image dimensions, color
Workspace tour 21
A photo displayed in the Full Editor workspace
depth, and pointer position. The status bar appears at the bottom of
the main program window, and unlike other toolbars, it cannot be
customized or moved.
Switching between workspaces
Corel PaintShop Photo Pro lets you switch between different workspaces
quickly and easily so that you can accomplish your photo managing and
editing tasks in the most efficient manner.
To switch between workplaces
• Do one of the following:
• To open the Organizer, click Organizer in the top-right corner of
the Full Editor or Exit Express Lab in the bottom-right corner of the
Express Lab.
• To open the Express Lab, click Express Lab in the top-right corner
of the Organizer or the Full Editor.
• To open the Full Editor, click Full Editor in the top-right corner of
the Organizer or Exit Express Lab in the bottom-right corner of the
Express Lab.
Clicking Exit Express Lab takes you to the workspace that you were
using before you opened the Express Lab.
Using palettes
The Full Editor workspace contains many palettes that organize
information and commands to help you edit your images. Some palettes
appear automatically when you start the Full Editor, others appear when
you activate certain tools, and some palettes appear only when you
choose to open them. You can easily turn a palette on and off by using
22 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
the Palettes drop-list on the Standard toolbar, or by choosing View `
Palettes.
Palettes display information and may contain both controls and
command buttons. Like toolbars, palettes can be moved from their
default docked position.
Palette Description
Learning Center Displays information about workflow, tools, and
commands to help you complete common tasks
quickly and efficiently
Media Tray Lets you gather photos from various folders so
that you can edit, e-mail, or print them. You can
add, remove, and rename trays within the Media
Tray palette to match your workflow.
Tool Options Displays settings and controls for the active tool
Materials Lets you choose colors and materials for painting,
drawing, filling, and retouching
Layers Lets you view, organize, and adjust settings for
image layers
Overview Displays a thumbnail of the active image; lets you
set a zoom level, and displays image information
History Lists the actions applied to the active image; lets
you undo and redo adjacent or nonadjacent
actions, and lets you create a Quickscript that can
be instantly applied to other open images
Histogram Displays a graph of the distribution of red, green,
blue, grayscale, hue, saturation, and lightness
values in an image. You can analyze the
distribution of detail in the shadows, midtones,
and highlights to help you decide how to make
corrections.
Workspace tour 23
Palette Description
Brush Variance Lets you set additional brush options when you
use a paint brush or any other raster painting tool.
This palette is particularly useful when you use a
pressure-sensitive tablet or a four-dimensional
mouse. For example, you can vary the opacity of a
brushstroke by applying pressure with the stylus.
Some options also work well with a mouse.
Mixer Lets you place and mix pigments to use with the
Oil Brush tool and the Palette Knife tool, allowing
you to create realistic strokes with oil paints on
Art Media layers
Script Output Displays a list of your actions and results when you
run scripts
To display or hide a palette
Full Editor workspace
• Choose View ` Palettes, and then click a palette check box.
Palettes that are currently displayed are denoted with a check
mark .
Using toolbars
All three workspaces contain toolbars with buttons that are useful for
performing common tasks. When you position the pointer over a button,
its name appears in a tooltip, and the status bar displays additional
information about the command. In addition, in the Full Editor, the
Learning Center provides advice on using the tool.
As your main workspace for image creating and advanced editing, the
Full Editor contains the following toolbars:
• Effects — displays commands for applying effects to your images
24 Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3 User Guide
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