Nuance ScanSoft Kai's Photo Soap - 2.0 Instruction Manual

User Guide

for Windows® and Macintosh

Trademarks

Kai’s Photo Soap 2 is a trademark of ScanSoft, Inc.

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® ScanSoft, Inc.

9 Centennial Drive Peabody, Massachusetts 01960

Kai’s Photo Soap 2 User’s Guide

August 2000

Welcome to Kai’s Photo Soap 2 7

12 What’s New? 13 Getting Help 14 Starting and Quitting Soap 2 15 Exploring Kai’s Photo Soap 2 22 The Soap 2 Transporter 23 Undo, Apply, and Save 25 Using Albums 26 Exporting Photos 27 Expanding Soap 2’s Power

Installing Kai’s Photo Soap 2 29

Organizing Photos 31

TABLE OF

Fixing Photos 48

32 Overview 32 Loading Photos 33 Working with Thumbnails 37 Previewing Photos 38 Getting File Information 39 Removing Image Files from your Computer 40 Switching Views 41 Working with Desktops 43 Sorting and Se arching for Photos

49 Overview 50 What Kai’s Photo Soap 2 Can Fix 50 Using the Tools

iii

Composing Images 91

54 Rotating and Sizing Photos 59 Adjusting Color 71 Automatically Fixing Photos 74 Healing Flaws 77 Smoothing and Sharpening 79 Removing Red Eye 80 Removing date and time stamps 81 Duplicating photo elements 83 Other Fun Effects 86 Having Fun with Masks

92 Building Compositions 93 Working with Composition Layers 104 Adding Photos to your Composition 105 Adding Text 107 Adding Objects, Backgrounds, and Edges 108 Adding Shadows to Layers 110 Adding a Canvas Color 111 Saving and Reloading a Compos ition

Using Albums 114

115 Overview 116 Selecting an Album Style 117 Changing the Layout 118 Loading Photos 119 Adding Text 121 Printing Albums

122 Saving Albums 122 Viewing Album Information 122 Shar ing Albums

Printing Photos 123

125 Overview 126 Printing a Single Photo 127 Printing in Rows and Columns 128 Printing to Popular Sizes 128 Supported Avery and Kodak Paper s 128 Loading Special Papers Correctly 129 Print i ng to Perforat ed Paper 130 Printing to Special Designs 132 Printing Posters

TABLE OF

133 Adding Backgrounds or Frames 134 Scaling Up or Down 135 Rotating Photos to Fit 135 Flipping for Iron-Ons 136 Repeating Images on a Page 136 Printi ng Page Text 136 Printing Filenames, Dates, and Headers 137 Setting Margins 137 Keeping Settings 138 Previewing 138 Page Setup

Sharing Photos 139

139 Sending Photos with E-mail

141 Exporting a Desktop as a Web Page 143 Exporting an Album as a Web page 145 Exporting Photos as a PhotoCube Web Page

(PC only)

Using Plug-Ins 147

Appendix A:Tips About Photos 151

152 Tips About Scanning 152 Selecting Photos

Appendix B:Key Shortcuts 154

154 Using Soap 2 Keyboard Shortcuts

Appendix C: Supported Papers 155

Glossary 156

Index 162

Welcome to Kai’s Photo Soap 2

Kai’s Photo Soap 2 is the next generation of Kai ’s Power Soap. Load photos from your computer’s hard drive, a digital camera, a scanner, a picture CD, or right off the Internet. Collect photos, correct them, then tweak them with special tools and filters. Present photos in digital pho to albums and sl ideshows. Print ph otos and even output them r eady for the Web!

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Some of the many things yo u can do with Soap 2.

What Can You Do with Soap 2?

With Soap 2, you can:

• organize your photos

• display and share photos in Soap 2 electronic photo albums

• repair damaged old photos

• create fun special effects

• add clip art, text, or cartoons to a photo composit ion

• create artful collages, using multiple photos

• export photos or albums to use on the WEB

• prepare photos to send over e-mail or in an interactive slideshow

• view photos in several ways

You can see your photos on a Soap 2 “desktop” or “lightbox”.

• print photos in rows and columns, or in popular sizes

You can print in rows or in popular sizes.

• crop and rotate photos

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

No more messing with scissors to trim a photo to the correct size. You can rotate or crop photos easily in Soap 2.

• rescue torn, faded, dusty, or wrinkled photos

Yo u can rescue torn, faded, dusty, or wrinkled photos.

• make a photo brighter or sharper.

Adjust the brightness or tweak the contrast to get a better look.

• fix red eye or even remove a time/date stamp

Get rid of red-eye.

• create fun projects—working wi th multiple ph otos, using plug-in f ilters, adding clip art, text, backgrounds or frames.

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Get creative!.

What’s New?

For those using Version 1 of Kai’s Photo Soap, there are so many cool new features in Kai’s Photo Soap 2 that you’ll want to explore the entire program. Here are a few of the things you’ll find:

• The image window is sizable and Soap 2 now lets you work wi th multiple ph otos, so you can fix and clone like crazy. Think of the possibilities.

• A Transporter lets you move photos between the Organize, Clean, Compose, and Print areas of the product. Just drop photos into the Transporter then drag them out when you want to work with them.

• You can fix color problems wit h the new QuickColor tool, use Auto Enhance—a way to handle some photo color problems one cl ick at a ti me, paint r ight on a pho to, and colorize photos for cool effects.

• There are multiple levels of Undo, so you can experiment... change your mind.. . and use the Undo command to step back through your changes.

• You can greatly expand Soap 2 capabiliti es by using PhotoSh op compliant f ilters. Apply these kinds of effects to the entire photo or brush them on to specific p arts of the picture.

• There are new ways to share photos. Layouts from leaders i n photo technology (like Avery and Kodak) help turn your computer into a mini-darkroom! Prin t sheets of photos, greeting cards, collages, and even posters— right from Kai’s Photo Soap 2 .

Getting Help

You will find the answers to most of your questio ns within the pages of this User Guide. If you need further assistance, con tact ScanSoft Technical Support on the World Wide

We b at:

www.scansoft.com

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Starting and Quitt ing Soap 2

To start Soap 2:

✤

Double-click the Kai’s Photo Soap 2 logo.

To quit Soap 2

✤

Choose Output menu > Quit Soap 2 or Input menu > Quit Soap 2. (You can also Press Ctrl

+ Q on Windows or Cmd + Q on a Macintosh).

If you’ve made changes to a photo, Soap 2 asks if you want to save your work before quitting. Refer to “Saving your Work” on page 24 for more about the ways you can save your work. As a rule of thumb, if you aren’ t ready to actual ly make changes to the photo file you’re modifying, save your work using a new file name or save i t as work in progress (a Soap 2 project or composition file).

To access your computer’s operating system while using Soap 2:

✤

Click in the upper right or upper left portion of the Soap 2 scr een.

You can quit/minimize Soap 2 ( Win). You can h ide, select another program, or u se the Apple menu (Mac).

Exploring Kai’s Photo Soap 2

No more dusty boxes of pictur es! Photo So ap 2 makes it easy to store photos. The Organize tab opens an area where you can load, view, and sort your photos. Select a photo, then drop it in the Transporter to work with it. From here, you can save a thumbnail desktop arrangement for l ater Soap 2 sessions; ex port a desktop of thumbnails as a Web page; print selected photos; see a quick photo “slideshow” and prepare photos to send with an e-mail.Soap 2

Click the Organize tab to open, view, or sort photos.

Print, make slideshows, send photos over e-mail, export f or the Web, or Quit Soap 2 p rogram.

Converse with other Photo Soap 2 users.

View photos in different ways.

Sort photos.

Help answers your questions.

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Open photos.

Drop photos on the Transporter, then move them to other areas in Soap 2.

Load, view, and sort your photos in the Organize area.

In Contact Sheet view, you can study photos i n a popular ph otographers’ review sheet layout. Export this desktop view to HTML and drop it on a browser for a great way to pass photos around for review. From here, you can also print selected photos, make slideshows and send selected photos via e-mail.

Choose a Contact Sheet view from the View menu.

Drop photos on the Transporter, then move them to other areas in Soap 2.

Look at photos in Contact Sheet view for easy recognition.

Soap 2 Albums make it easy to display photo s. Pick an Album style and just drop ph otos into place. Add some text and your album’s complete. From here, you can pr int your Album or export an Album to use on the Web.

Click Album, then put photos into Albums or Frames to be presented, printed, e-mailed, or posted on the Web.

Choose an Album or Frame style, then click the Select button.

Click Prev and Next for more Album styles.

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Drag photos from the Transporter into empty Album slots.

Display or print photos in cool electronic Albums.

You can fix or enhance a photo in the Clean area. From here, you can also print or export a photo for use on the Web.

Use the Image menu to correct color, paint, crop, rotate, or add effects to your photo.

Click Clean to make changes to a photo.

Zoom in or out.

Click to

Fix or enhance parts of your photo, using the Soap 2 tools.

access features

Choose an effect.

Adjust brush size.

Drag a photo from the Transporter.

Fix or enhance photos in Soap 2’s Clean area.

Move the photo in the window.

To make fast adjustments to brightness, contrast, hue, saturatio n, red balance, green balance, or blue balance in y our photo , choose Image menu > Quick color. The Qui ck color selector first lets you select what you want to change, then gives you variati ons or selections from which to choo se. Pick what looks best to YOU.

Each time you click a variation, new variations are displayed . Click unt il you get the look you like best. Hit Reset anytime you want to start over. And, be sure to try the Auto Enhance button!

Choose Quick color.

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Compare selections with your original photo.

Try t he Auto Enhance button!

Click the selection that looks best.

Select what you want to change.

QuickColor lets you adjust brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, as well as red, blue, and green balance in your photo. Make quick adjustments with QuickColor!

The Compose tab opens an area wh ere you can really get creative. After you’ve fixed or modified photos, you can creat e compositions by dropping one or more phot os onto the canvas, adding objects (like cartoon elements), put in a litt le text, and gener ally hav e fun. From here, you can prin t, export for use on the Web.

Control layer transparency. Set up shadows

Preview layers. Hide/Show layers.

Set background color

Edit layers. Stretch, move rotate a layer.

Add text to composition .Set text attributes

In the Compose area, you can build a picture. Drop photos on the canvas. Resize or stretch them. Rotate elements. Add some text. Put a cartoon in for fun. Add a background. Have FUN!

The Print tab opens an area where you can choo se from a variety of ways t o print your photos. You can even create posters or a sheet full of wal let sized photos. It’s like having a darkroom in your very own home!

Click to set margins

Image filename

Click to rotate, scale, or edit images

Click to add text to your images

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Click to setup printer page

Click to print

Drag to set margins Print Preview

The Print area gives you a p r evie w of wh at you’re printing and offers lots of gr eat w ays to prin t your photos.

The Soap 2 Transporter

Using the Transporter

Use the Transporter to move thumbnails to other areas of Soap 2.

Kai’s Photo Soap 2 Transporter is an important part of Soap 2. The Transporter lets y ou move thumbnails around in the application, to work with them. Once you’ ve loaded photos into Soap 2 and arranged them on the desktop, just drop a photo or group of photos onto the transporter.

From the Transporter, you can:

• drop thumbnails into ph oto position s in Albums. Refer to “Using Albums” on page 114 for more about using Albums.

• drop one onto the Soap area, to fix or enhance it. Refer to “Fixing Photos” on page 48 for more about fixing photos.

• drop one or more onto the Soap composition area to get creative. Refer to “Composing

Images” on page 91 for more about composing p ictures with photos.

• drop them onto pages in the Print area. Re fer to “Pr inting Photos” on page 123 fo r more about printing photos.

If you open a photo in the Clean, C ompose, Print areas, a thumbnail for that photo is automatically added to the Transporter. Any thumbnail added to the T ran sporter is also added to your Organize area des ktop.

Undo, Apply, and Save

An important difference between Soap 2 and other photo manipulation programs is that in Soap 2, all of your chan ges are done to a copy of your photo. Thi s means that you can experiment freely, make changes, and THEN decide to ei ther save or d iscard your work. Your orig inal image file remains intact unti l you choose to change it.

Using Undo

If you change your mind while you’re working with a photo , just Undo it! Undo reverses the last thing you did. For example: if you paint something on a photo , you can Undo what you painted. If you resize, delete, or drop a thumbnail on the transporter... you can Undo it.

Soap 2 even lets you Undo more than one time, so you can Undo or Redo a series of steps while you’re working. Soap 2 gives yo u 5 levels of Undo ( meaning yo u can Undo a series of five actions). You can change the number of times in a row that you can Undo actions.

If memory is a concern (which it often is), set the number of times in a row that you can use Undo to a small number. The more times in a row that you can Undo actions, the more memory Soap 2 required.

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

To Undo an action:

✤

Choose Edit menu > Undo. It’s just that easy!

Refer to “Using the Tools” on page 50 for information about using the Soap 2 Eraser to make detailed changes to effects you’re brushing onto part of a photo.

To Redo an action:

✤

Choose Edi t menu > Redo.

To set how many times in a row you can use Undo:

✤

Choose Edit menu > Preferences and set the number of times you can use Undo.

Applying Changes

When you’ve experimented with a photo and found a look that you like, it’s probably time to Apply your changes. The Apply button al ters the pix els (shor t for picture el ements—or those little tiny squares that make up your picture when i t’s displayed on your computer’s monitor) in the copy of your photo. Apply does not affect your actual image file. You can click the Apply button as many times as you want, without changi ng your original image file. Refer to “Saving your Work” on page 24 for informati on about how t o save your work .

Apply sets a new baseline, so that future changes are based upon the effects you’ve “applied”. Reset returns your photo to the last time you clicked Apply. But don’t worry! If you change your mind, you can even Undo an Apply. Apply sometimes makes it easier for you to work on different areas of a photo. Say, for example, that you’ve modified the color of Luc’s shirt in a photo. Click Apply to set a new baseline. T hen, start wor k on his hair color. That way, if you don’t like what you’ ve done to his hair, you can Reset, without changing the color you applied to his shirt.

To apply changes:

✤

Click Apply.

Saving your Work

When you’re finished modifying a photo and ready to save your work, you can replace your original image file, save what you’ve done in a file with a new name, or save what you’re doing as a work in p rogress. The opti ons to save your work depend on in which area of Soap 2 you’re currently working.

To revert to what was last saved:

✤

Choose Output> Revert to Saved.

To save a desktop arrangement (from the Organize area):

✤

Choose Output menu > S ave Desktop.

Use the Output menu > Save Desktop As command to save it using a new file name—without overwriting an existing file.

To save an image file (from the Clean area):

✤

Choose Output menu > Save Image.

Use the Output menu > Save Image As command to save it using a new file name—without overwriting an existing file.

To save a composition, so that it can be edited at a later time (from the Compose area):

✤

Choose Output menu > Save Composition.

Use the Output menu > Save Composition As command to save it using a new file name—without overwriting an existing file.

To save a composition as a flat image file (from the Compose area):

✤

Choose Output menu > Build Image. Although you can certainly open and work with

the resulting image in Soap 2, any layers you created in the compose area are not saved. This is sometimes referred to as a “flattened” image, since layers can no longer be edited. Refer to “Working with Composition Laye rs” on page 93 for more information about usin g layers in a composition.

To save an Album (from the Album area):

✤

Choose Output menu > Save Album.

Use the Output menu > Save Album As command to save it using a new file name—without overwriting an ex isting file.

Photo files can get large, contai ning a lot of information. Keep track of how many photos you save on your computer or just keep photos you want to work with. Mov e others to storage. Too many photos can cause your hard drive to g et full.

Using Albums

Displaying photos in Albums

You can display or present your pho tos in Soap 2 electronic Albums. Albums are professionally drawn illustr ations that l ook like a v ariety of albums (or picture frames). To use Albums, you just select an Album style, then drag photos from the Transporter and drop them into availabl e ph oto posi tions. It’s that easy! Add some text and y our Alb um is complete. Refer to “Using Albums” on page 114 for more information about using Albums. (Advanced users can even create their own Album styles to use with Kai’s Photo Soap 2.)

Once you’ve placed photos into an Al bum, you can:

• save the album and open it later

• export your Album to HTML to put i t on your Web site, refer to “Exporting an Album as

a Web page” on page 143 for more about exporting an Album as HTML pages

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

• print an Album as a complete book or as indi vidual album pages.

Displaying photo s in an Album.

Exporting Photos

Exporting Photos for E-mail

With Soap 2, it’s easy to send photos over the internet. S oap 2 saves your p hotos in an Internet friendly format, so all you have to do is attach them to an e-mail message. They’ll travel over the Internet in a self-contained mini-program. Once received, your friends, relatives, or clients can double-click the PhotoMail er and browse through a "slideshow" of your most recent creations. Refer to “Sending Photos with E-mail” on

page 139 for more informati on about sending photos as e-mail at tachments.

Exporting a Desktop as a Web page

Here’s a quick way to make your own personal Home page in a snap, using your favorite photos! You can post a desktop full of ph otos as your Web site, all with the help of Kai’s Photo Soap 2.

The HTML page that Soap 2 creates is int eractive! Visitors to your site can move thumbnails around on the exported "desktop" or double-click thu mbnails to see a full-size view of that photo. Refer to “Exporti ng a Desktop as a Web Page” on page 141 for more information about exporting desktops as HTML pages.

Exporting an Album as Web pages

Here’s a neat way to make your own personal Home page. You can post an Album full of photos as your Web site. The HTML page that Soap 2 creates is interactive! Visitors to your site can flip pages in the Album, or they can double-click on a phot o in the Alb um to see a full-size view of it. Refer to “Exporting an Album as a Web page” on page 143 for mo re information about exportin g desktops as HTML pages.

Exporting Photos as a PhotoCube Web Page (PC only)

You can export photo s as a 3D PhotoCube, which allows you to display them as a six-sided three-dimensional cu be. Note that the P hotoCube ex por t feat ure is support ed on the PC platform only and requires that you download a free MetaStream plug-in to view the cube as a 3D object.

The MetaStream™ 3D technology is a new open PC file format announced jointl y by

Corporation and MetaCr eations Corporation . It enables delivery and v iewing of

Intel scalable 3D graphics.

To view a 3D PhotoCube, you and those with whom you share the PhotoCube need to install the MetaStream plug-in. You can find the plug-in at the following Web site:

www.metastream.com Refer to “Exporting Photos as a PhotoCube Web Page (PC only)” on page 145 for more

information about export ing photos as a PhotoCub e.

INTRODUCING SOAP 2

Expanding Soap 2’s Power

Using Plug-ins

Plug-ins are extra features that plug into Soap 2. Plug-ins offer special effects and extra tools that greatly expand the power of Soap 2.

With Soap 2, you can do something most other programs can’t do. You can brush an effect onto just part of your photo, just like any other Soap 2 effect!

Filter Plug-ins

Usually, a plug-in applies an effect or a range of effects, like:

• creating a variety of spheres (Spheroid Designer)

• bend, twist, multiply, or otherwise manipulate g radients or blends between two co lors or tints of a color (Gradient Designer)

• creating textures for backgr ounds and designs ( Texture Explorer )

• create glass, curls, tiles, welds, twirls, feedback, vortexes, and stereo noise (Compact Filters)

• camera lens effects (Lens f/x Filters)

Acquire Plug-ins

Other plug-ins let you load o r export ph otos, like l oading photos fr om your digital camera, scanner, or using special printing options.

Free Plug-ins

Soap 2 includes three of the four famous Kai’s Power Tools 3 (KPT 3) special effect plug-ins. Refer to Us ing Plug-I ns for m ore in formation about using p lug-ins w ith Kai’s Photo Soap 2.

An example of a plug-in filter effect.

Installing Kai’s Photo Soap 2

Installation instructions are provided for b oth Windows and Macintosh. Follow th e instructions appropriate to your system.

Kai’s Photo Soap 2 is intended for local installation only. Do not attempt to install it onto a network server.

System Requirements (Windows)

Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3 or later; 32 mb RAM for Windows 95/98; 64 mb RAM for Windows NT; 100 mb of hard-disk space; CD drive; 16 or 24 bit color (24 bit preferred).

System Requirements (Macintosh)

INSTALLING SOAP 2

Power PC; System 8.1 or later; 32 mb RAM; 100 mb hard-disk space; CD drive; 16 or 24 bit color (24 preferred).

Windows Installation

To install Soap 2 on a Windows computer:

1 Launch Windows. 2 Insert the Kai’s Photo Soap 2 CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive. The

Install Soap 2 dialog appears. 3 Double-click the Kai’s Photo Soap 2 logo. 4 Follow the instructions pr ovided by the installer. 5 The installation dialog displays an important ReadMe. Click “Continue” after

reading the complete ReadMe.

Macintosh Installation

To install Soap 2 on a Macintosh:

1 Insert the Kai’s Photo Soap 2 CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive. The

Install Soap 2 dialog appears. 2 Double-click the Kai’s Photo Soap 2 logo.

3 Follow the instructions provided by the installer. 4 The installation dialog displays an important ReadMe. Cli ck “Continue” after

reading the complete ReadMe.

Soap 2 Installation Tips

• If you plan to print ph otos, adjust t he color on y our monitor so that it matches t he output of your printer. That way, when a photo looks great on your monitor you can print it without disappointmen t.

• Wor king with p hotos requires a l ot of memory ( RAM). For best re sults when working on a Macintosh, increase the RAM available to Kai’s Photo Soap 2 by allocating unused RAM to Kai’s Photo Soap 2, thus al lowing it to r un faster an d handle larger files more efficiently.

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