Merging into the background

1. Selections > Select All
2. Selections > Modify > Contract (try some 10 or 15 pixels)
3. Selections > Modify > Feather (also some 10 or 15 pixels)
4. Selections > Invert
5. Hit the delete key, repeat if necessary.

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Remember your background color

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Talent.8bf Plugin

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Making round-edged boxes

1. Create your square or rectangle.
2. Cut a equal-sized square from each of the corners.
3. Create an equal-sized circle in every corner, align so that the circle does not protrude from the box.
4. Cut away the bits of the circle that are inside the box.

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One Click Fill

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Good way to make it glow

1. Select what you want to glow.
2. Go image > Effects > Drop shadow
3. Set shadow color to white, blur to 25 (of less for a tighter glow) and both offsets to 0.
4. Gamma correct the results by a high number

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Extra color picker!

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Spotty Looking Images

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Unerase

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Quick background tile

1. Make a new image, about 200X200. Fill it with any color you want.
2. Go to Image > Noise > Add.. (In PSP4: Image > Special Filters > Noise). Choose Uniform, and play around with the amount. Then click OK.
3. Choose Image > Blur > Gaussian blur (In PSP4: Image > Blur > Blur more).

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PSP keeps acting very strange

• Your toolbars got lost, and they'll not come back by using CTR-Alt-I.
• You can't use any of your tubes.

Try resetting PSP by performing the following:

1. Close down PSP, and relaunch it. 
2. At the instant it launches, hold down CTRL+ALT (You may have to do this a number of times, because you only have a fraction of a second to grab the keys, and if your late or early PSP launches normally).
3. There will be questions about program registries and file associations: say Yes or OK: it concerns the PSP registries, and they may be the cause of your trouble.
4.  Let the program load, and just redo your preferences: tubes, plugins, brushes will all be OK now.

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Never work on the original graphics

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Many menu options are greyed out, why?

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Making thumbnails in PSP

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Adding simple watermark

1. Add a new layer to an existing image.
2. Add text or paste a copyright image into the layer. 
3. Now right-click on the floating selection in the layers palette, and choose Defloat.
4. In the layers palette, turn down the layer opacity slider until your watermark is only barely visible. 
5. Now go layers > Merge > Merge all.

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Zoom tool for precision work

1. Click the magnifying glass in the Tool Palette
2. Click in your image as often as you like. 

You'll see the individual pixels take shape, and you'll be able to change every pixel as you see fit. This works even better if you have a second window open with the same image.

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Turning paper art into graphics

1. Scan your original artwork.
2. Duplicate the picture in a new window, then save the original.  you'll be working on the duplicate.
3. Add a new layer.
4. Promote the original background to layer.
5. Now you just need to follow the lines of the original with your cursor to draw (not copy) that on the new layer using line-size and color of your liking (I usually start with very thin and faint lines, after having adjusted opacity to the point where the original is just barely visible).

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Text on a curve or circle

1. Create or open the image with the curve you want your text to follow.
2. Create a new image, write your text in there in the color you want it to be.
3. Deselect.
4. Divide the curve or circle by the number of letter spaces you'll need.
5. With the magic wand select the first letter, copy, and past in your image as selection at approximately the place you want it to be. Keep it selected!
6. Now go to image > rotate, and play with the number of degrees until the result is satisfactory.
7. The 'undo' function is essential here: just keep trying again, and dragging that letter, until it looks OK.

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Previewing an effect

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Removing the bands from a gradient fill

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Creating a custom gradient 

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Help Tips

• Hold the cursor over a tool button to see the name of the tool. Look at the status bar for a description of what it does.
• Place your cursor over a feature or button, then press the "F1" key. A Help file on that feature will pop up.

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Preference Tips

• Customizing your Toolbar. If you have more than one user profile on your computer, each user can set his own PSP preferences without affecting the other user's settings.
• Uncheck "Save Browser Files to disk" (Preferences/General Program Preferences/Browser tab) to save disk space. Browse files can be quite large. Also, if checked, every time you browse pictures on a CD, PSP will put a browse file in the main PSP directory. Delete them to regain disk space.
• Undo tab. Make sure that "Enable Undo System" and "Enable Redo System" are checked.
• Undo tab. Check "Update undo buffers for each brush stroke" or pressing the Undo button will make your image revert to your last save. Actually, it will undo everything you've done with the current tool.

  UPDATE: This tip only applies to versions of Paint Shop Pro 5 earlier than ver5.03. If you have version 5.03, this is the default setting and there's no need to change it.
  

• Under Dialogs and Palettes, you can change the size and style of the tool icons. You can make them larger or make them look like the old-style Windows buttons.
• Under the Miscellaneous tab, you can uncheck "Show splash screen when application starts".
• Rulers and Units tab. You can set the ruler to display either inches or pixels.
• Cursors and Tablets tab. Using the precise cursor makes it easier to line up image elements. Keep the standard cursor if you want to see at a glance which tool is currently selected.
• Cursors and Tablets tab. Checking "Show brush shape outline...", lets you see the size of your paintbrush while painting.
• Cursors and Tablets tab. If you have a drawing tablet, such as a Pen Partner, be sure to uncheck all pressure sensitivity options if you're working with Picture Tubes. They won't function properly with this turned on.
• If you have a scanner, you can save yourself from having to go to File/Import/TWAIN/Acquire, by adding the Acquire Image button to your Toolbar.

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• An easy way to add a new color to your Custom Colors palette, is to right-click on the color swatch, drag the cursor over to one of the Custom Color boxes until it becomes a pitcher, then release the mouse button to fill the box.

• To flood fill a text selection one letter at a time, set the Match Mode in the Control Palette to "RGB Value". To flood fill all the letters at once, set the Match Mode to "None".
• To undock a toolbar or palette, double-click on a blank area of it. Double-clicking on an undocked toolbar's title bar will restore it to its last docked position.
• Hold an undocked toolbar near an edge of the work area to dock it in a new position.
• Pressing the Tab key will hide any undocked toolbars and palettes. Press Tab again to unhide.
• Use shortcut keys to hide and unhide individual toolbars and palettes, whether docked or undocked (use lowercase letters):
  • Color Palette (C)
  • Toolbar (T)
  • Tool Palette (P)
  • Control Palette (O)
  • Layers Palette (L)
• Double-clicking on the Deformation Tool, the Cropping Tool, or the Selection Tool, will bring up a dialog box where you can make precise adjustments.
• Use the Arrow Tool to move a large or zoomed-in image around in its window.
• Pressing the "Ctrl" key turns most tools into the Dropper Tool for quick color picking from your image.
• To add to a selection, hold down the "Shift" key while dragging the cursor. To subtract from a selection, hold down the "Ctrl" key while dragging the cursor.
• To draw a line, with the Line Tool, at fixed angles in 45 degree increments, press the Shift key while drawing the line.
• Use the right mouse button to maintain the aspect ratio when resizing an image with the Deformation Tool.
• To paint straight lines:
  1. Click with the Paintbrush Tool at the starting point of your line.
  2. Press the Shift key and keep holding it down while you click at the end point of your line.
  3. You can continue adding lines by holding Shift and clicking a new end point.

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• Does PSP seem to be slowing down as you work? You may want to free up some memory by going to Edit/Empty/clipboard and/or Undo Buffers. BE CAREFUL! If you empty the buffers, you won't be able to undo any changes you've made up to that point.
• Go to Edit/Undo History to undo several changes at once. Better yet, add the Undo History button to your Toolbar.

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• When you save a new image file by going to File/Save As (F12 key), the default file format is ".psp". If you prefer to save your images in some other format, such as ".jpg", most of the time, use File/Save Copy As (Ctrl+F12 key). The default format will be the last format you used. Save Copy As is also useful for saving your work in stages.
• If you see an asterisk to the right of your image's file name on its title bar, it means that you haven't saved your most recent changes.
• Always remember to look under Options when saving a file. You may have several settings to choose from. Also, you may have changed an option, during your last session, which would not be appropriate for your current image.
• If you save your image in ".psp" format, you can go to View/Image Information, then click the Creator Information tab. Type in any notes you'd like for future reference. Be sure to save the changes. This appears to add only about 1KB to the file size.
• When you go to File/Save As..., the default file format is ".psp". To prevent having to scroll through the list of formats, simply type the first letter of the format you want (such as "j" for .jpg). If more than one file format begins with that letter, continue typing the first letter and it will cycle through all formats beginning with that letter. Note that the ".gif" format doesn't begin with a "g", it's actually a "c" for CompuServe Graphics Interchange.

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• To see how your image looks full screen on a solid background, go to View/Full Screen Preview or click its button on the Toolbar. Click your mouse to return to normal view.
• To maximize your work area, click the Edit Full Screen button to hide the title bar, menu bar and status bars. Click the button again for normal view. While in Full Screen Edit, the menus can be accessed by clicking near the top of the screen.
• If you've zoomed your image in or out, you can quickly set it back to actual size by clicking the Normal Viewing button.
• Sometimes it's easier to see how your selection has been affected by temporarily hiding the marquee. Either click the Hide Marquee button or go to Selections/Hide Marquee. Don't forget to unhide the selection before proceeding.
• When you're zoomed in close to work on your picture, you can go to Window/New Window to open a second copy of your image at a different zoom level. Any changes you make affect both views. This is not a separate file, just another view of the current image.
• When you have the Grid turned on, don't maximize your image or the grid lines won't line up correctly. Note: this problem has been fixed in the new Paint Shop Pro 6 (Due to be released in September 1999).
• You can use the "+" and "-" keys, on the number key pad of your keyboard, to zoom in and out on your image.

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• When using an italic-type script font, you may need to put a space before the first character in each line so that the left side isn't cut off.
• When you add text to your image, you're not limited to the sizes listed. For a custom font size, simply type in the size you want.
• Use the Shift and arrow keys to nudge floating text into position.
• OUTLINING TEXT. Insert some non-floating text into your image. Go to Selections/Save to Alpha Channel. Click OK twice. Now go to Selections/Modify/Expand. Expand by the number of pixels wide you'd like for your outline. Flood Fill the text with your outline color. Next go to Selections/Load from Alpha Channel. Click OK. Flood Fill the inner part of your text with your desired color.

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• Press the Shift key while clicking the New Layer button to create a new layer without opening the dialog box.
• To paste one image into another and have it centered, paste it as a New Layer (Edit/Paste/As a new layer). PSP will automatically place it in the center of your image.
• Image thumbnails can be dragged from the Browser onto another image as a new layer.
• You can also drag a layer from one picture into another picture. If the picture you're adding to has multiple layers, either activate the layer just below where you want to add the new layer, or just re-arrange the layers afterwards. With the Layers Palette open, make the picture you're copying from the active image. Click the cursor on its layer button in the palette, then drag the button onto the picture you're copying to.
• To quickly select multiple objects on an active layer, Select All, then left-click any object on the layer using any Selection Tool. The marquee will shrink to surround the objects.
• To select just one of multiple items on an active layer, roughly go around it with the Freehand Tool, then click on the object to shrink the marquee. You can now use the Mover Tool to move that object around independantly from the other objects on that layer.
• MUTED BACKGROUND IMAGE. Create a new layer above the background and Flood Fill it with white or a pale color. Adjust the opacity slider until the background image shows through as desired.

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1. Menu> File> Export> GIF Export

2. Select the Eyedropper Tool from the Toolbar and right click on what-ever color in the image you want to make transparent ( normally the background color ) If you have multiple colors on the background, choose the color that is most used for the background color.

3. Go to the Colors Menu> Set Palette Transparency. 

4. Choose the Set the transparency value to the current background color.

5. Use the Proof button to see the how the transparency is going to look, or you can can go to Colors> View Palette Transparency > Transparent view. 

6. What ever is going to be transparent will be displayed by a checker board. If you are satisfied with the results, click OK to close the Palette Transparency options.

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1. Open a new image 10x10 with a transparent background. 

2. Choose View> Zoom in by 5. 

3. Make sure you have rulers on ( View > Rulers). 

4. Select the Draw tool and in the Tool Options palette choose Point to Point, width set to 2, Antialias checked, Create as Vector and Close Path unchecked. 

5. Set foreground color to black and turn off background color. 

6. On your image do a point to point line both horizontal and vertical at the midway point on your image ( 5 on the ruler ) from one edge of your image to the other. 

7. What you will end up with is the plus ( + ) sign. DO NOT MERGE AND FLATTEN!

8. Save as a PSP image for later use but don't close the image. 

9. Open up a new image that you want to put a transparent grid on, add a new layer and flood fill with your grid pattern (this will be a pattern fill selected from patterns in the styles palette ). 

This will give you a transparent grid over your image. You can also change the grid size by changing scale in the pattern palette making the grid either larger or smaller. You can even change the color of your grid by selecting the solid line on the grid [may want to zoom up for this] with the magic wand and then flood fill with the color of your choice.

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Go to Selections > Modify > Feather, and set your feather values. The bigger the number the softer the edge. Once you are complete, press Ctrl+Shift+I (Invert Selection) Press delete, about three or four times. The more you press delete, the more of the image gets erased or "softened".

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Vector creates the text as a Vector layer. This means that you can stretch and resize the layer as often as you like without losing quality. It also means you can later click on the layer with the Text tool selected, and re-edit the text (changing the words, font, size etc). Usually you'll want to select Vector.

Selection creates the text in the form of a selection marquee. You can then fill this selection, use it to cut something out, etc. Note that the actual text is not placed on the image; only a selection is created.

Floating creates the text as a floating selection. This places the actual text as a raster (non-vector) graphic on your image, but it "floats" above your image, a bit like a layer, so you can move it around. If you want, you can choose Selections > Promote to Layer (Shift+Ctrl+P) to turn this floating graphic into a proper layer.

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PSP 8 New Tools

There are new effects and filters also! They include:

Black and White Points Feature:
You can set the tonal range of photographs and bring out image detail without losing information.

Lens Distortion Correction:
You can correct images that have that pincushion, barrel, or fisheye distorted look.

Balls and Bubbles:
Check this out! It takes just seconds to create balls and bubbles in which you can set transparency, light, shine, etc.

Halftone:
Create halftones with your images

Soft Focus:
Create glamour shots with this effect.

Magnifying Lens:
Create a magnify effect with much effort.

Lens Distortion:
Create fisheye, barrel or pincushion effects

Offset:
Create more precise seamless patterns

Seamless Tiling:
Although we were able to create easy seamless tiles in previous versions of Paint Shop Pro, the new tool works much better and has more options.

Other features include Enhanced Print Layout, more file types (JPEG 2000, PDF, WBMP), EXIF photo information, WIA Support along with more new presets, scripting, enhanced batch processing and new file extensions that make them easier to recognize. And there's more, but what you really need to do is download the demo and try it out for yourself.

Check out the Jasc web site for much more information on Paint Shop Pro 8.

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