The RGB Model
Paint Shop Pro
Jasc Paint Shop Pro takes image editing to a new level of functionality and ease of use. Designed for users who want control, power, and flexibility, Paint Shop Pro delivers the tools you need to easily capture, create, enhance, and optimize your graphics projects. A full copy of Animation Shop is included free with Paint Shop Pro Versions.
This application was conceived in 1990 and the first version was offered in 1992 as shareware on electronic bulletin boards (ancestors of the Web). The Jasc Software company has stayed true to their roots, their commitment has been to serve the customers. They are committed to making software solutions that are both powerful and affordable. Paint Shop Pro is software for both image and photo editing. Due to the early introduction of the software there was no necessary reasons to create company specific terminology (hence no buzz words to avoid copyright lawsuits). This software does not require a lifetime or a full time employment to master. It is for the casual user who enjoys working on graphics for personal enjoyment.
The program has been continually upgraded to take advantage of all recent advances in hardware capability. These advances in PC speed and memory have led to the use of such features as layers, masks, vector graphics, and animations. Animation Shop is a special software program that comes free with Paint Shop Pro. We will address as many of these features as time will allow. Many other good graphics programs are available. Some specialize in drawing and others in photography. In my opinion this application offers the best software for both drawing and photo work, it integrates these two endeavors in an easy to use manner. A trial version of the program is available over the internet. Before you download the software be sure your computer has the necessary equipment. Any system manufactured and purchased within the last three years should be adequate.
Installation of a Free Trial Version . . .
For use during this course you may install a free trial version of the software for evaluation.
Note: These are fully functional evaluation versions for Windows 95, 98 or Windows NT 4.0 operating systems only. Paint Shop Pro 7 is also certified for Windows Me and 2000.
What is an Evaluation Version?While evaluation versions are copyrighted, and the copyright holder retains all rights, the author specifically grants a user the right to freely evaluate and distribute the program, with limited exceptions.
After using the evaluation version for the defined trial period, the user must purchase a licensed copy or remove the evaluation version from their system.
Jasc Software has granted authorization to allow distribution of the Evaluation Software on this CD.
Instructions...
A self extracting executable is available in the folder labeled "Jasc" on this CD. Open this folder and click on "psp810entr" to install Paint Shop Pro 8.
These evaluation versions are valid for which ever comes first, 30 days or 20 uses. At the end of this period the software will no longer be useable without purchase. This is plenty of time to evaluate this software. Please do not install these versions until we begin introducing their capabilities in the class room. We will spend approximately the last half of the course with this software. This may be as long as four weeks depending on where the course is presented. The instructor will tell when to install the software.
Paint Shop Pro 8 Minimum System Requirements
Paint Shop Pro 8 Recommended Configuration
This is an external link and Internet access is required. Below is a link to Jasc's home page. Other information about their products is available at this online site. http://www.jasc.com/
Exploring the Tools and Menus . . .
Never forget that the capability is in "TWO SETS of HANDS". Never expect the software to allow you to perform tasks which the programmer did include in the stored instructions. It is your responsibly to learn to use the stored instructions which the programmer included. Explore and play with all the tools provided, you never have to save your trials or share them with anyone. Always experiment on new files or copies of work you have saved. This application has a very good set of help menus.
We will now proceed to learn features of Paint Shop Pro.. Many of these features perform the same tasks as those learned previously. Notice the different terms and menus which are used. The best way to become aquatinted with any piece of software is to experiment and play around with it's features. Don't forget to read the aids or descriptions of the tools or features provided in the remarks space at the bottom of the screen. Paint Shop Pro is one of the more popular mid-priced graphics packages.
PSP 8 has incorporated a "Product Tour" under the Help menu. This is a good place to start learning. There is a lot of capability. Do not become overwhelmed by all of the tools and their many options. Learn and experiment with basic things first. Remember to always eat your elephant one bite at a time. It is suggested that you spend a few minutes with this product tour the first several times you use PSP. It will "wet" your appetite to learn new things.
The "Browser" tool on the file menu is very helpful in locating pictures or objects you which to open. It's use is self evident. On the file menu just select the Browser command and then direct the dialog window to the folder you wish to explore. You can change the size of the "Thumbnails" by using the file and preferences commands, then look at the browser tab. This is a good time to look at all the other preferences tabs. Notice the flexibility available for use. Use the Browser tool now to explore the graphic images available in your class folders in the laboratory. If you are in a different location see if the computer you are on contains graphics files. The temporary internet files in the windows folder can be a source of many graphics. The Browser is a good tool for viewing them.
There are many special effects which need to be explored from the Image and Colors Menus. There are filters and effects of many types. Take a graphic and experiment with them. You can use the Edit and Undo menu to negate you effect such that another may be tried. Have fun and gain confidence. You will probably remember that these effects are available at some future time when you need them. Practice and explore, there is no other door. It is the best way to learn and retain. Have Fun.
Three Methods for Describing Color
The RGB model is the one used to emit light on computer monitors. It has three primary colors of Red, Green, and Blue. All colors you see on your monitor screen are achieved by combining these colors in varying proportions. The strength of each of these colors is described by numerical values ranging from 0 to 255. See the example below.
........................RED.......GREEN........BLUE.........Color Produced
Strength.............0.................0...................0............Pure
Black
Strength.........255.................0...................0............Pure Red
Strength.............0.............255...................0............Pure Green
Strength.............0.................0...............255............Pure Blue
Strength.........255.............255...............255............Pure White
Red, green, and blue are referred to a additive because they combine to yield white. The absence of any emitted color is black, this is the color of a blank screen or your monitors screen when there is no power.
The RGB Model
The CMYK model is one of the Subtractive Color Models which is based on light being absorbed and reflected by paint or ink. This model is used for printing. The primary colors are Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. When all three are combined they produce black. Because of impurities in ink it is difficult to produce a true black. This is why they have added a fourth color blacK; hence the K in CMYK. This is the reason some ink jet printers have a black cartridge in addition to the color one. You can now begin to see why it is difficult to obtain an exact match of the colors viewed on the monitor to the colors printed on paper. Also different papers absorb various inks at different rates. Also monitors, like TV screens, have adjustments which can vary the appearance of shades and colors. Another contributing factor is that different people see colors differently.
The CMYK Model
This model defines color using Hue, Saturation, and Lightness. These are also measured on a scale of 0 to 255.
Hue
distinguishes the various colors such as Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Cyan, Blue, Magenta, and finally back to Red. These are the colors you would experience as you move through the color spectrum. Red has a value of either 0 or 255. Yellow is a value of 45, green is at 85, and Cyan is the opposite or inverse of red and it is at a value of 128. Blue is 170, Magenta is 212. Notice that Blue is opposite of Yellow and Magenta is the opposite of Green on this color scale or wheel.Saturation
is the strength of a hue, or the amount of gray it contains. Vivid colors (very little gray) has a high saturation level or number. As the saturation decreases the amount of gray increases.Lightness
is the amount of perceived intensity of light. A value of 0 is total darkness or black. A value of 255 is total lightness or white. On this scale a value of 127 (50% lightness) is considered a pure hue.
In Paint Shop Pro the removal of hue from an image is referred to as Gray Scale. A gray scale image contains 256 levels of gray or lightness. This is similar to the old black and white TVs.
Color Channels
are planes of color which images are organized in. An RGB image has three channels while a CMYK image has four. Graphics programs usually contain instructions for the computer to allow conversion from one type to another. All printer software must have this capability if it prints graphics.A selection is a temporarily isolated area of an image that you can edit without altering the non-selected area. A selection is identified by a border of black and white dashes called a marquee. You can make selections using any one of three selection tools on the tool palette. The freehand tool, which makes a selection of an irregular shape. The selection tool, which makes a selection of a precise shape. The Magic Wand tool, which makes a selection of a range of color, hue, or brightness. The selection tool has 4 precise shapes; Rectangle, Square, Ellipse, or Circle. As with most tools there are a variety of options.
To make freehand selecting tool easier to use there are two nice features. One is the Point to Point selection and the other is the Smart Edge selection. Experiment with them both. To select multiple non-connecting areas try holding down the Shift Key when making new selections. Also one way to deselect a section is to use the selection menu command and select none. Notice all the commands available to you from the Selections drop down menu. Try these various items to see their effects. Don't forget to watch the description text at the bottom of the screen, it will tell you what the menu item will accomplish.
The magic wand selection tool is very useful but it requires some learning to use it's features. You must select the match mode, tolerance, and feathering you desire. Selections can be edited in a multitude of ways. Some of them are; Inverting, Growing, Adding to, Subtracting from, Floating, and many more. You can never remember all of the options and tools available to you. It is recommended that you try these many things from time to time such that you will remember they are available. When you need one of them you can peruse the various menus until you recall the one you need.
Feathering controls the sharpness of a selection's edges. It fades a set number of pixels along the edges to produce a transition between the selection and the surrounding area. This fading helps blend the selection into the background. You can feather when you make the selection or after it has been created. When using the crop image tool this feathering produces a nice bordering effect, try it.
Antialiasing is similar to feathering, but more precise. It produces a smooth edged selection by partially filling in pixels along the edge, making them semi-transparent. These two features are on the controls dialog box when a selection tool has been selected. Try both of these features and notice their corresponding effects.
There are many tools to enhance photographs. They include all the commands on the top of the Effects menu. These include Blur, Sharpen, Edge, Noise, and Enhance Photo. Many of the commands on the Enhance Photo pop up menu can be used in either the automatic or manual mode. These include Color Balance, Contrast Enhancement, Saturation Enhancement, Deinterlace, JPEG Artifact Removal, Moire Pattern Removal, Small Scratch Removal, Clarify, Fade Correction, Color Correction, and Red Eye Removal. Each of these enhancing effects have attributes which can be set when they are selected, another pop-up menu appears. There is a feature which allows you to preview the effect before you enable it. You may also use the Edit and Undo commands if the effect is not what you desired. The manual feature will allow you to create some very interesting effects. There are many tutorial sites on the Internet associated with Paint Shop Pro. One of these sites shows how these features can be utilized to turn daylight photos into moon lit scenes. The only way to learn about this myriads of effects is to try each of them on various photographs with various degrees of enhancement. Experience is the only way to learn. Only work on copies of pictures you do not wish to destroy.
Exercise 5 – Photos and Graphics Combined
In this exercise you will become familiar with some of the more common features and tools provided with Paint Shop Pro. The task is to combine two images and then add some stored graphic content. This is a fairly long and extensive exercise. It can be accomplished in several sessions. It is designed to enforce concepts learned in previous lessons.
As you work through the exercises you will notice that the instructions become less detailed, this is to encourage you to develop a self learning capability by using a "try me" approach. Any time you have a question, it can usually be answered by trying to do it. Remember there is no set way or correct procedure. There are many ways to accomplish the same task.
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