Some basics in PaintShop Pro

You might want to review the graphics basics page first. Then you should probably print out the PSP orientation page, to refresh your memory of what the tool names are. Finally, you'll need to download these graphics:

To save these on your floppy using Netscape, right-click on the link and choose "Save link as." These exercises are repeated from or based on what we did in the spring.

Really basic basics

1. You can change colors by clicking on the appropriate color swatch of the foreground/background color selector. Click on the right angle to switch foreground and background colors.

2. Images will have different numbers of colors in their file information. Many operations require more (usually) or fewer (sometimes) colors. If you want to do something (like add a shadow), and you can't - maybe because options are grayed out on your menu, increase the color depth - go to menu Colors/Increase Color Depth/16 million colors.

3. If you want to do something, and you do it, and nothing happens, it's most likely because you had a selection activated somewhere else (so your operation only applied to the selection). To deselect, push Ctrl-D

Review making basic things

1. Crop stuff out of a graphic

  1. Open file "children_reading.jpg"
  2. Use the cropping tool to select desired area. Try cutting out some of the text and borders in the picture. When selected, double-click - the file will shrink to the cropped size.
  3. If you save the photo, use Save As and use a different name.

2. Resize a large graphic (make a thumbnail)

  1. Open file "children_reading.jpg"
  2. Go to menu Image/Resize (or Shift-S)
  3. Set Pixel width to 100; keep "aspect ratio" checked
  4. Voila! - If you save the photo, use Save As and use a different name.

    You can enlarge graphics, too, but results are not so good, particularly with web graphics. The general rule is: Do it and see what happens.


3. Add borders/Enlarge the canvas (preparation for adding a shadow)

  1. Open "headstand.jpg"
  2. Increase the color depth to the maximum amount - menu Colors/Increase Color Depth/16 million colors (you don't really, really need to do this for this example, but it's often necessary)
  3. Select white as your background color by double-clicking on the background color selector
  4. Go to menu Image/Add borders. Choose a value between, say, 10 and 20 pixels. Leave the box marked "Symmetric" checked

4. Add a shadow to a photo

  1. Open the photo from #3.
  2. Go to menu Colors/Increase color depth/16 million colors
  3. Use the rectangular selection tool to draw around the edges of the photo
  4. Go to menu Image/Effects/Drop Shadow
  5. Experiment with the shadow color and offsets - smaller (less than 5 pixels) offsets seem to work best for small and medium sized web-page pics.

5. Make a text banner

  1. Press Ctrl-N or go to menu File/New.
  2. You'll be prompted to enter a file size. Choose 580 x 100 (or anything else)
  3. Set the foreground color to white. Use the Fill tool to color your background to white
  4. Select another foreground color for your text. Use the text tool to write your name in the box. Try using a heavy font like Rockwell or Swiss, set to 36 points or higher. Experiment to find the right font and size.
  5. While your name is still selected (use Ctrl-Z if you deselected it), you can add a drop shadow.

    Below are some text doodles...

6. Play with layers

I won't try to do a whole self-paced lesson on layers; they just don't seem to have a lot of value for quick and dirty work. If you want to review what they look like and what you can do with them, pick up the file come_join.psp (remember that layers aren't supported in GIF and JPG; the PSP file won't display in your browser).

Open the file in PaintShop Pro and turn on the layers menu . The file should be blank, and the layers should look like this

Single-click on each column A gray rectangle Do this for all four layers. The layers are visiable now, yes?

Also try: Single-click and hold the column B gray label for the "Smiling girl" layer.Drag it over top of "Computer guy" and see what the graphic looks like. Pick up another label and repeat. See if you can get graphic to look like the finished product at

www.nvcc.edu/alexandria/