Corel PaintShop Pro - X8 User Guide
Corel® PaintShop® Pro X8 User Guide
Contents
Welcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What’s new in Corel PaintShop Pro X8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Installing and uninstalling Corel programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Starting and exiting the program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Registering Corel products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Updates and messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Corel Support Services. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
About Corel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The digital workflow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Learning how to use Corel PaintShop Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Documentation conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Using the Help system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide PDF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Using the Learning Center palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Learning with video tutorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Using Web-based resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Workspace tour . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Exploring the workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Switching between workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Choosing a workspace color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Using palettes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Using toolbars. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Using tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Customizing toolbars and palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Using dialog boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Contents i
Viewing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Using shortcut keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Using context menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Using rulers, grids, and guides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Getting started. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Getting photos into Corel PaintShop Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Connecting with image scanners. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Opening and closing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Saving images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Creating images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Viewing images and image information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Capturing images from the computer screen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Zooming and panning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Cutting, copying, and pasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Copying images into other applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Undoing and redoing actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Repeating commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Deleting images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Files supported by Corel PaintShop Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Reviewing, organizing,
and finding photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Setting up the Manage workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Browsing folders for photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Finding images on your computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Working with saved searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Adding keyword tags to images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Viewing photos by tags. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Using the calendar to find images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Finding people in your photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Adding location information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
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Working with thumbnails in the Manage workspace . . . . . . . . . 127
Capturing and applying edits to multiple photos . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Displaying and editing photo information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Using Quick Review to review photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Working with trays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Using the Adjust workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Opening the Adjust workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Working in the Adjust workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Tools and features in the Adjust workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Working with camera RAW photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Supported RAW file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Using the Camera RAW Lab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Applying edits to multiple RAW photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Converting RAW photos to another file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Working with XMP files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Adjusting images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Fixing common problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Rotating images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Cropping images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Straightening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Correcting photographic perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Making basic photo corrections automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Brightening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Darkening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Removing purple fringe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Removing digital noise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Removing chromatic aberrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
Using Lens Correction to fix distortion, chromatic aberration, and
vignetting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Correcting lens distortions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
Contents iii
Adjusting white balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Adjusting brightness, contrast, and clarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Adjusting hue and saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Adding or removing noise. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Controlling depth of field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Blurring images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
Sharpening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Softening images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
Resizing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Retouching and restoring images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Removing red-eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Applying cosmetic changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Removing scratches. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
Removing flaws and objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Using Magic Fill to erase image areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Moving selected areas with Magic Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Erasing image areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Cutting out image areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Retouching image areas by using brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Recoloring image areas for a realistic effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Replacing colors, gradients, or patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Filling areas with colors, gradients, or patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Flipping and mirroring images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Adding borders. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Scaling photos by using Smart Carver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Scaling and transforming photos using the Pick tool . . . . . . . . . 279
Resizing the canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
Merging exposures and content. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Understanding HDR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
Taking photos for HDR processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
iv Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
Combining photos by using HDR Exposure Merge . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Using Single RAW Photo to create an HDR effect. . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Merging batches of photos into HDR images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296
Combining photos with Photo Blend. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Working with selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
Creating selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304
Hiding and displaying the selection marquee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Moving, clipping, and rotating selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316
Modifying selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320
Inverting and clearing selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326
Using feathering with selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Using anti-aliasing with selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Modifying the edges of selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330
Creating custom patterns from selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Saving and loading selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
Working with layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339
Understanding layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
Using layers with photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345
Using layers with illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347
Using the Layers palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
Creating layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352
Promoting the background layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Deleting layers and clearing layer contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Duplicating and copying layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Renaming layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Viewing layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
Finding layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Organizing layers by color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Changing the order of layers in an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Moving layers on the canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Contents v
Grouping layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Linking layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364
Blending layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Setting layer opacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 370
Protecting transparent areas of raster layers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371
Merging layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372
Using adjustment layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
Using layer styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Working with masks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Understanding masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387
Displaying masks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388
Creating masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389
Deleting masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Editing masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395
Loading masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398
Saving masks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Working with colors and materials. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Using the Materials palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Choosing colors in the Material Properties dialog box . . . . . . . . 407
Choosing colors for paletted images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
Choosing colors from an image or the desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
Using gradients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
Editing gradients. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
Exporting and importing gradients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421
Using patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
Using textures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425
Working with custom palettes and swatches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427
Applying effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
Choosing effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432
Applying 3D effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438
vi Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
Applying Art Media effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445
Applying Artistic effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449
Applying environment maps and bump maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 466
Applying Distortion effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467
Using the Displacement Map effect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
Applying Edge effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Applying Geometric effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484
Applying Illumination effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488
Applying Image effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491
Applying Photo effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494
Using Retro Lab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
Applying a gradient with the Graduated Filter effect . . . . . . . . . 504
Creating vintage-style photos with the Time Machine . . . . . . . . 505
Applying film and filter effects to photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
Applying Reflection effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 512
Applying Texture effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 517
Adding picture frames to images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
Creating your own effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 534
Combining images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 535
Using the Picture Tube tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537
Warping images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 543
Working with deformation maps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 546
Working with text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Applying text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
Formatting text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 553
Fitting text to a path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 558
Wrapping text within a selection or shape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 562
Moving text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 563
Applying effects to text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 564
Converting text to curves. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Contents vii
Creating a text cutout filled with an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 566
Filling text with image patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567
Sizing and transforming text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 569
Displaying captions and info text on images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Drawing and editing vector objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 573
Understanding raster and vector objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 574
Selecting vector objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 576
Drawing rectangles and squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 577
Drawing circles and ellipses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
Drawing symmetric shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 580
Creating preset shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 582
Filling cutout shapes with images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 583
Editing shapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 585
Saving shapes as presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
Working with nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
Sizing, shaping, and rotating vector objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 594
Aligning, distributing, and arranging vector objects. . . . . . . . . . 595
Grouping and ungrouping vector objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599
Converting objects to paths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600
Adding and closing contours. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 601
Editing contours and paths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602
Drawing lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
Saving custom line styles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 608
Drawing curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 610
Modifying lines and curves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 613
Copying and moving vector objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615
Working with brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 617
Choosing brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 618
Choosing brush options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 619
Using brushes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 622
viii Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
Customizing brush settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 624
Creating brush tips and presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 626
Importing and sharing brush tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 629
Painting and drawing with the Art Media tools. . . . . . . . 631
Working with Art Media layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 632
Working with the Mixer palette . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 633
Working with Art Media tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 638
Using the Oil Brush tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
Using the Chalk tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
Using the Pastel tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Using the Crayon tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645
Using the Colored Pencil tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Using the Marker tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 647
Using the Watercolor Brush tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
Using the Palette Knife tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 650
Using the Smear tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 651
Using the Art Eraser tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 652
Working with advanced color features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
Understanding color depth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653
Viewing color depth information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
Increasing the color depth of an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 656
Decreasing the color depth of an image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 657
Understanding color reduction methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Understanding palette options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 664
Working with image palettes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 665
Understanding color and color models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 671
Understanding how monitor colors and print colors differ . . . . . 674
Calibrating your monitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 676
Working with color management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 677
Using color channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 679
Contents ix
Customizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 683
Viewing and hiding toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 684
Using custom workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 685
Customizing the menu system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 688
Customizing toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 689
Creating custom toolbars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 690
Customizing keyboard shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
Setting Undo preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 694
Setting View preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 695
Setting Display and Caching preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 696
Setting Palettes preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 699
Setting Units preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
Setting Transparency and Shading preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . 702
Setting Warnings preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Setting Auto Action preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703
Setting Miscellaneous preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 704
Setting Manage workspace preferences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707
Setting Auto-Preserve preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709
Choosing a default workspace. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
Setting file format preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
Setting file format associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 716
Setting file locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 717
Managing resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
Setting plug-in preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
Selecting Web browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724
Setting Autosave preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 725
Resetting all preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726
Switching languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 727
Adjusting general viewing options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
Accessing tools and commands from previous versions of Corel
PaintShop Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 729
x Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
Protecting and restoring the Corel PaintShop Pro database . . . . 729
Automating tasks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
Scripting basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
Working with scripting tools and features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 733
Recording and saving a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735
Running saved scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 739
Stopping or undoing a script. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
Editing scripts in Corel PaintShop Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 742
Editing scripts using a text-editing application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 744
Troubleshooting a script . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 745
Assigning icons to scripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 746
Using and creating presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
Processing files in batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 749
Renaming files in batches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 755
Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Printing images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Creating layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 765
Editing templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 770
Editing and saving layouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 772
Printing CMYK color separations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Understanding printing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 776
Sharing photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
E-mailing photos. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 779
Uploading photos to a sharing site . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 781
Creating Share My Trip projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 784
Creating images for the Web. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Saving images for the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787
Working with GIF files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 789
Working with JPEG files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 796
Contents xi
Working with PNG files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 798
Previewing images in Web browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801
Slicing images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 803
Mapping images. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 808
Creating image rollovers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813
Using digital watermarks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814
Adding visible watermarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 818
xii Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
Welcome
For people with a passion for photography, Corel® PaintShop® Pro is
an easy-to-use, professionally powered, image-editing software that
helps you achieve stunning photos and creative designs.
This section presents the following topics:
• What’s new in Corel PaintShop Pro X8
• Installing and uninstalling Corel programs
• Starting and exiting the program
• Registering Corel products
• Updates and messages
• Corel Support Services
• About Corel
The availability of features depends on the version of the
software you have.
What’s new in Corel PaintShop Pro X8
Corel PaintShop Pro X8 is defined by new tools, enhanced features,
and performance gains that help you focus on enjoying the creative
journey. As always, working closely with our users was an essential part
of creating this version of the versatile photo-editing tool that many
professional and enthusiast photographers and designers have come
to rely upon.
Welcome 1
New! Text wrapping
Corel PaintShop Pro X8 makes it easy to use text as a design element
in your creative projects. New
Text Wra pping lets you wrap text inside
any vector shape or selection. Simply choose your shape or draw your
selection using any of the selection tools, and type your text. The text
automatically wraps within the shape. This is an ideal effect for posters,
scrapbooking, brochures, collages, websites and other projects. For
more information, see
“Wrapping text within a selection or shape” on
page 562.
New! Move people or objects with Magic Move
Accelerate editing with Magic Move, a new content-aware tool that
automatically replaces the background when you move an object or
person. Simply select an area and drag it to a new position. The empty
area left behind is automatically filled to match the surrounding
background. For more information, see
“Moving selected areas with
Magic Move” on page 254.
Enhanced! Batch processing—powerful and easy
Save time by applying common actions to multiple photos with the
new Batch Process wizard. Resize, add watermarks and picture frames,
apply scripts, and control the file names, formats, security-related
information, and more--the wizard makes it easy. For more
information, see “Processing files in batches” on page 749.
New & Enhanced!More precise selections
Fast and accurate selection tools are a must for any photo editor. The
enhanced
Smart Selection Brush now includes a Tol er an ce setting for
more precise selections across areas that are close in tone or hue. New
Selection Style options for the Selection Tool let you define a selection
size by typing height and width values, or you can define a fixed aspect
ratio for the selection. You can also choose from a list of popular aspect
2 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
ratios and resolutions. For more information, see “Creating selections”
on page 304.
Enhanced! More power and speed than ever before
The new Corel PaintShop Pro includes performance gains that save you
time and make editing tasks more responsive and enjoyable:
• "Faster brushes for a more responsive feel — Enjoy speed gains of
30 - 60% for brushes, including
brushes (
brushes (
Dodge, Burn, Sharpen and others), and art media
Oil Brush, Chalk, Marker and others)
Paint Brush, Air Brush, retouch
• "Larger maximum brush size — Cover more area, more quickly
with an increased maximum brush size of 3,000 pixels
•"Enhanced Smart Edge — See up to 50% faster performance
when using the Smart Edge feature, which works with several
tools help keep your brushstrokes "inside the lines"
• "Faster saving — our native Corel PaintShop Pro image file format
(*.pspimage) saves up to 50% faster, to keep you in your creative
groove
New! High resolution 4K monitor support
Pair Corel PaintShop Pro X8 with a high resolution monitor for the
best-looking PaintShop Pro ever. See each detail, read more clearly and
easily, and appreciate every aspect of your photo or composition in a
beautifully rendered high resolution interface. All-new icons and
enhanced workspaces are compatible with Ultra HD displays (up to
250% zoom with 4K resolution).
New & Enhanced!More creative and flexible layer workflow
Layers are fundamental to advanced photo editing, compositing and
graphic design. The following features make it easier to work with
multi-layer projects:
Welcome 3
• Quick Search — find the right layer in seconds when you search
for it by name. This is especially useful for projects with many
layers
• Merge layers — now you can merge selected layers or create a
new layer from selected or visible layers
• Expand or collapse all layer groups — easily expand and view all
layers in your project
For more information, see “Working with layers” on page 339.
New! Lens Correction
Lens Correction helps correct the distortions, vignetting and chromatic
aberrations that are commonly introduced by most camera lenses.
Whether you're in the
apply
Lens Correction tools automatically, taking advantage of the
wide range of lens profiles included in Corel
Edit workspace or the Camera RAW Lab, you can
PaintShop Pro, or take full
control and apply corrections manually. For more information, see
“Using Lens Correction to fix distortion, chromatic aberration, and
vignetting” on page 187.
Enhanced! Camera RAW Lab
Inspired by insights from Corel PaintShop Pro users, the Camera RAW
offers an enhanced layout, including before and after views, and a
Lab
bigger preview to make working with RAW images easier. You can also
add more photos without having to close the RAW Lab, and apply lens
corrections. As always, we continue to add support for latest camera
models. For more information, see
“Using the Camera RAW Lab” on
page 150.
New! Enhancements suggested by our users
We love getting suggestions from Corel PaintShop Pro users. As part of
our ongoing commitment to empower creativity, we have included the
following improvements, suggested by our users:
4 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
• Show Original button in the Adjust workspace — quickly see what
you have changed versus the original by holding the button. For
more information, see
“To view original image” on page 145.
•New Save behavior and Save As dialog box — see and adjust
compression settings to ensure that your image looks right
• Swatches in the Material Properties window — access all the
swatches you have created more easily
• Cutter Preview for Shape Cutter and Text Cutter — a semitransparent overlay lets you preview the area you are cutting
before you apply your cutout.
• Gradient Preview - now you can view gradient updates on your
image as you make the changes in the Material Properties.
Installing and uninstalling Corel programs
The Installer makes it easy to install Corel® programs and components.
Before installing
• Close all open programs. 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.
64-bit and 32-bit installation options
The Corel PaintShop Pro installer installs the 32-bit or 64-bit version of
the application by detecting and matching the version to your
operating system. For 64-bit systems, after the initial installation, you
can choose to add the 32-bit version. This will let you use any 32-bit
plug-ins or other 32-bit compatible software with the 32-bit version of
Corel PaintShop Pro, but still work with the 64-bit version of the
Welcome 5
application to take advantage of 6 or more GB RAM and other 64-bit
optimized features.
Note: If you install 64-bit and 32-bit versions, the programs are listed
separately and launched separately from the Windows Start menu or
Start screen.
To install Corel PaintShop Pro
1 Close any open applications.
2 Insert the DVD in the DVD drive or double-click the associated .exe
file that you downloaded.
If the DVD setup does not start automatically, navigate to the DVD
drive on your computer, and double-click
3 Follow the instructions on your screen.
Setup.exe.
To uninstall Corel PaintShop Pro
1 Open the Windows Control Panel.
2In the Programs category, click the Uninstall a program link.
3In the Programs and Features window, click
Corel PaintShop Pro X8 in the list of applications.
4 Click Uninstall/Change.
5 Follow the instructions on your screen.
Starting and exiting the program
You c an s tar t Co rel PaintShop Pro from the Windows taskbar or your
desktop icon, and exit the program from the File menu.
To start Corel PaintShop Pro
•From the Start menu, choose All Programs
Corel PaintShop Pro X8 or use the Corel PaintShop Pro X8
6 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
application icon or tile on your desktop or Start screen.
If you associate specific file formats, such as JP EG an d T IF F, with
PaintShop Pro, you can double-click the associated file to
Corel
start the program. For information about setting file format
associations, see “Setting file format associations” on
page 716.
To exit Corel PaintShop 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 immediately after 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 are
prompted to register, 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.
Welcome 7
Updates and messages
Notification messages provide you with important information about
your program.You can turn automatic program updates and
messaging on or off. You can choose to check for updates and
messages manually.
To turn notification messages on or off
1 Click Help Message Preference.
2 Mark only the check boxes for the updates or messages that you
want to receive.
To update your program
• Choose Help Check for Updates.
To check for messages
• Click Help Messages.
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.
8 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
About Corel
Corel is one of the world’s top software companies, boasting some of
the industry’s best-known graphics, productivity and digital media
products. We've built a reputation for giving customers more choice,
and delivering solutions that are easy to learn and use. Our mission is
simple: help people achieve new levels of creativity and productivity.
Corel’s product lines include CorelDRAW® Graphics Suite, Corel®
Painter®, Corel® PaintShop® Pro, Corel® VideoStudio®, Corel®
WordPerfect® Office, Pinnacle Studio™, Roxio Creator®, Roxio®
Toast® and WinZip®. For more information on Corel, please visit
www.corel.com.
Welcome 9
10 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
The digital workflow
The digital workflow outlined below can help you understand how to
best use Corel PaintShop Pro. It suggests a sequence for working with
your digital images. Whether you want to organize, retouch, print or
share, you can use the workflow described below as a guide.
Bring photos into Corel PaintShop Pro
Bringing photos into Corel PaintShop Pro is as simple as opening the
application in the Manage workspace and navigating to your favorite
photo folders on your computer. The application automatically
catalogs the folders that you navigate to, essentially “importing” them
into the application, without duplicating any files.
The digital workflow 11
For more information, see “Getting photos into Corel PaintShop Pro”
on page 62.
Manage your photos
Digital photography gives you the freedom to experiment. The result is
a large number of digital files, so photographers understand the need
to manage those files by reviewing, culling, and identifying photos as
early in the process as possible.
The Manage workspace lets you access all the tools you need to cull,
rate, tag, and prepare photos for editing or sharing. Double-clicking a
thumbnail opens a full-screen review mode called Quick Review. Search
options and collections make it easy to find and work with the photos
that you currently store on your computer.
Quick Review is a full-screen review mode that opens when
you double-click a thumbnail in the Manage workspace. You
can use arrow keys to zoom and navigate.
12 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
For more information, see “Reviewing, organizing, and finding
The Adjust pane in the Adjust
workspace gives you quick access
to commonly-used editing options.
photos” on page 101.
Adjust photos quickly
The challenge for many photographers is finding the time to edit
photos, so the Adjust workspace lets you move from photo to photo
quickly and puts commonly-used editing tools at your fingertips. In
some cases, this will be all the editing your photos will need.
The digital workflow 13
After you edit photos, you can return to the Manage workspace to take
advantage of multi-photo editing features such as Capture editing and
Apply editing. Capture and Apply editing lets you copy edits made to
a single photo and apply the edits to multiple photos. Images
photographed under similar conditions can be fixed with amazing
speed — no scripting required.
For more information, see the following topics:
• “The Adjust workspace” on page 28
• “Capturing and applying edits to multiple photos” on page 132
Advanced editing and RAW files
Professional-level tools and features are available in the Edit
workspace. For example, you can apply effects, add text, and use
custom painting tools. You can also use layers to create highly editable
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.
14 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
For more information, explore the following topics:
• “Adjusting images” on page 155
• “Retouching and restoring images” on page 239
• “Working with selections” on page 303
• “Working with layers” on page 339
• “Applying effects” on page 431
• “Working with text” on page 549
• “Working with camera RAW photos” on page 149
Share photos
After you adjust and enhance your photos, you’ll want to share them.
Along with printing, layout, and e-mailing options, there are sharing
options that let you post directly to popular sharing sites, such as
Facebook, Flickr, and Google+.
For more information, see the following topics:
• “Printing” on page 759
• “Sharing photos” on page 779
Expanded creative options for DSLR photography
Many DSLR (digital single-lens reflex) camera owners are expanding
their knowledge and looking for creative options. HDR (high dynamic
The digital workflow 15
range) features in Corel PaintShop Pro help you take advantage of
bracketing features on your camera. You can also combine multiple
photos with Photo Blend.
For more information, see the following topics:
• “Taking photos for HDR processing” on page 287
• “Combining photos by using HDR Exposure Merge” on page 288
• “Merging batches of photos into HDR images” on page 296
• “Combining photos with Photo Blend” on page 298
16 Corel PaintShop Pro X8 User Guide
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