Edit Photos With Paint Shop Pro

Getting Started
When you first install PSP X2 the "Learning Center Palette" will be visible along the left side of your workspace, it is a valuable learning tool.

Tip: Open and close the Learning Center quickly using the shortcut key F10

Paint Shop Pro's learning center offers helpful tips on how to use its tools, so if you are a beginner keep this open and use it often. Once you understand how to effectively use tools like the paint brush, eraser and selection tools to name a few you will not need the learning center as much, but it's nice to know help is at your fingertips.

In this screen-shot I've opened nearly all toolbars and palettes to show you how cluttered things can get, and this leaves you with a small workspace. BUT there is a way to control which toolbars and palettes are opened at any given time.

While editing photos, you can set up the windows to fit your needs. With all the cool tools, effects and features available you will find that hiding or displaying toolbars and palettes as needed is easy and effective. Working in a cluttered space makes things awkward and confusing, so don't be afraid to make adjustments. Get comfortable so you can enjoy being creative!

To hide or display a window go to View - Toolbars or go to View - Palette

Go to File - Preferences - General Program Preferences a dialog pop up box opens with several options. From here you can adjust the following settings.

Undo quickly undo actions; View controls the zoom function; Display and Caching affects tool cursors, scaling quality and the effects browser thumbnails; Palettes controls how palettes act on the screen; Miscellaneous changes for recently opened file setting and PSP splash screen; Units options for rulers; Transparency and Shading controls display for cropping and using grids; PhotoSharing, Warnings, & Auto Actions are self explanatory; Multimedia affects the screen size for slide shows and other outputs; Organizer setting for organizing photos; Photo Downloader used to open images from a digital camera, memory card, scanner; Auto Preserve option to save a copy of your original file before saving any edits made to it.

You can change your program setting as often as you like, or set them back to their default values at any time.

Paint Shop Pro X2 has more than 50 drawing and editing tools for you to use, some you will probably use more than others, but it is good to be familiar with what is available.

Brief overview of the tool categories:

Viewing - Pan tool and Zoom tool
Movement - Pick tool used to re-size, shear and perspective changes; and Move tool
Selections - Selection tool, Freehand selection tool, Magic Wand
Dropper tool tells rgb color values when moved over photo, or to select color from picture when clicked
Editing - Crop, Straighten, Perspective, Red Eye, Makeover, Clone, Scratch Remover and Object Remover tools
Enhancements - Lighten/Darken, Dodge, Burn, Smudge, Push, Soften, Sharpen, Emboss, Saturation, Hue, Change to Target brushes and Color Replacer Tool
Eraser - Eraser tool and Background Eraser tool
Color - Flood Fill (bucket) tool and Color Changer tool
Shape - Picture Tube, Text, Preset Shape, Rectangle, Ellipse, Symmetric Shape and (my favorite) Pen tools
Distortion - Warp Brush and Mesh Warp tool
Art Media - Oil Brush, Chalk tool, Pastel tool, Crayon tool, Colored Pencil, Marker tool, Palette Knife tool, Smear tool and Art Eraser tool.

Note: Each time you select a tool its option menu will appear with all associated setting for that particular to; you can customize the setting to suit your needs for the project you are working on.

Assuming you have installed Paint Shop Pro and opened the program let's create a new project, this will be something basic. Go to "FILE - NEW" and you should see a menu box. Here is where you select the size, resolution and type of file you want to begin with.

Low resolutions such as 72 is good for viewing online, and higher like 300 is recommended for printing; higher resolutions require more system resources.

Raster - Most commonly used, pixel based images
Vector - Used for text, preset shapes and paths
Art - Used with the special art tools included

You can change the color, or check transparent for no b.g. color

For now you can leave all default setting, click ok.

After selecting NEW RASTER LAYER you should see a pop-up menu with options, for now just clidk ok.

When you do this you should see a new layer in the LAYER PALETTE right above the BACKGROUND LAYER that is named RASTER 1, the layer show is a transparent layer. Which means there is no data or pixels in it.

L-CLICK, hold and try to drag either layer; you can't. That is because the B.G. layer has to be promoted, R-CLICK in a grey area on the B.G. layer and choose PROMOTE BACKGROUND LAYER from the menu. The name will change to RASTER 2 and now you can drag and move the layers to re-order; give it a try.

When a new file is created you should see one layer in the LAYER PALETTE on the right; F8 opens the layer palette.

The top palette shown here is the MATERIALS PALETTE where you will choose, colors, gradients or patterns to work with. The default black square is the FORGROUND COLOR, and the white the BACKGROUND COLOR you can change either by clicking its box.

In the LAYERS PALETTE you have some tools that will effect the active layer; active layers are highlighted when clicked. Here you see a white square which represents what is in your work space, your image. By default the first layer created is named BACKGROUND. Also, note that the b.g. layer has some limitations.

Also, notice in the bottom right corner there is information about your image.

New layers can be added, moved, renamed, visible or invisible, duplicated and more. To add a new layer R-CLICK on the b.g. layer in the grey area. From the pop-up menu select NEW RASTER LAYER.

Select the PAINT TOOL (refer to previous references if you need to), make sure the B.G. layer is highlighted and active, now click and drag inside your work space.

Next, click the FOREGROUND COLOR in the MATERIALS PALETTE and select a new color from the pop-up menu, then L-CLICK on a grey area in RASTER 1 to make it active and paint in your work space.

Notice the black FOREGROUND box changes to the new color, and that the BACKGROUND LAYER contains only what you painted on that layer while the top, RASTER 1, layer contains only what you painted in that layer, but everything is showing in your work space.

Keyboard Map - Shortcut Keys

You will find that working in Paint Shop Pro X2 (or other versions) that you are using many of the same tools and commands repeatedly. Well, there are a number of shortcut keys to help make things quick and easy. A shortcut key is keyboard commands, they can be a single letter, or a combination of a few keys. With most shortcuts you will hold down the first key then press the next one; i.e. Ctrl+F4 requires you to press the "Ctrl" key and hold it, then press the "F4" key to perform the desired task.

Single letter short cuts only require you to press a key on your keyboard; some shortcuts have more than one shortcut or may have a three key combination; i.e. Shift+Alt+S

Learning and memorizing your favorite shortcuts will help you work faster, because as you improve your photo editing skills you will use tools and commands over and over. Digital art work is no different than other art in a sense, just like a painter switches brushes, uses his palette and knife to mix colors, erases and replaces things so do artist who work with photo editing software. Thus, knowing shortcuts comes in handy. This list may seem long, but you can pick and chose which ones you need and want to use.

Shortcuts Related to Files

Ctrl+F4 - Close image
Ctrl+Delete - Delete image file from the disk
Shift+Alt+D - Deletes a previously saved workspace
Shift+Alt+D - Deletes a previously saved workspace
Ctrl+N - Create new image
Ctrl+O - Open an existing document
Ctrl+P - Print the active document
Ctrl+S - Save the active document
F12 - Save the active document with a new name
Ctrl+F12 - Save a copy of the active document with a new name
Shift+F12 - Save for Office
Shift+Alt+S - Saves the current workspace
Shift+C - Start a screen capture

Shortcuts for Editing

Delete - Clear the selection or image
Ctrl+C; Ctrl+Insert - Copy the selection into the clipboard
Shift+Delete; Ctrl+X - Cut out the selection and put it into the clipboard
Ctrl+Shift+V; Shift+Insert - Paste data in clipboard as new image
Ctrl+L; Ctrl+V - Paste the clipboard contents into the active document as a new layer
Ctrl+E - Paste data in the clipboard into the current image as a new selection
Ctrl+G - Paste vector data in clipboard into the current image as a new vector selection
Ctrl+Shift+E - Paste data from clipboard into the current image using b.g. color as transparent
Ctrl+Shift+L - Paste data from clipboard into the selected area
Shift+Alt+Backspace; Ctrl+Alt+Z - Redo the last command
Ctrl+Y - Repeat the last action
Alt+Backspace; Ctrl+Z - Undo the last command

View Related Shortcuts

F11 - Show or hide the brush variance palette
Shift+A - Edit the current document using all available screen space
Ctrl+Shift+A - View the current document full screen (Press to exit preview mode)
Ctrl+Alt+G - Show or hide the grid
F7 - Show or hide the histogram palette
F3 - Show or hide the history palette
F8 - Show or hide the layers palette
F10 - Show or hide the learning center palette
Ctrl+Alt+M - Show or hide the magnifier window
F6 - Show or hide the materials palette
Shift+F6 - Show or hide the mixer palette
Ctrl+B - Toggle the image organizer
F9 - Show or hide the overview window
Ctrl+W - Toggle Photo Tray
Ctrl+Alt+R - Show or hide the rulers
Shift+F3 - Show or hide the script output palette
Ctrl+Shift+G - Snaps cursor position to the grid
Shift+Alt+G - Snaps cursor position to the guides
F4 - Show or hide the tool options palette
Num + Zoom - in (increases the apparent size)
Num - Zoom - out (decreases the apparent size)
Ctrl+Alt+N - View the image normally, with no zoom factor

Image Shortcuts

Ctrl+Shift+8 - Increase the number of colors to 16
Ctrl+Shift+2 - Decrease the number of colors to 16
Ctrl+Shift+1 - Decrease the number of colors to 2
Ctrl+Shift+9 - Increase the number of colors to 256
Ctrl+Shift+3 - Decrease the number of colors to 256
Ctrl+Shift+4 - Decrease the number of colors to 32K
Ctrl+Shift+5 - Decrease the number of colors to 64K
Shift+R - Crops the image to the current selection
Shift+P - Edit the palette for the current picture
Ctrl+I - Flip image
Ctrl+R - Apply rotation to image
Shift+I - View details about the current image
Shift+O - Load a palette from disk, and apply to the current image
Ctrl+M - Apply mirror to image
Shift+S - Change the size of the image
Ctrl+Shift+0 - Increase the number of colors to 16 million (24 bit)
Shift+V - View the background through the transparent color
Ctrl+Shift+6 - Decrease the number of colors to a value you select

Adjustment Shortcuts (image)

Shift+B - Adjust brightness and/or contrast
Shift+L - Colorize the image
Shift+M - Adjust the brightness of the highlights and shadows
Ctrl+Shift+H - Adjust the image while viewing the histogram
Shift+E - Equalize the relative brightness of the current image
Shift+T - Stretch the contrast of the current image so that all possible values are used
Shift+H - Adjust the hue, saturation and/or lightness
Shift+U - Adjust the red, green, and/or blue

Shortcuts Related to Layers

Shift+Y - Make a new mask that obscures the entire layer
Shift+K - Invert the current mask or adjustment layer
Ctrl+Alt+V - Toggle the overlay for the currently layer

Shortcuts for Selections

Ctrl+Shift+F - Place the current floating selection into the image
Ctrl+H - Feather the existing selection
Ctrl+F - Convert the current regular selection into a floating selection
Ctrl+Shift+S - Create a new selection from the current mask channel
Ctrl+Shift+B - Create a raster selection from a vector selection
Ctrl+Shift+M - Keep the selection marquee from appearing on the image
Ctrl+Shift+I - Invert the current selection area
Ctrl+Shift+P - Promote a floating selection to a new layer
Ctrl+A - Select entire image
Ctrl+D - Remove the current selection

Window Shortcuts

Shift+D - Duplicate the current image
Ctrl+W - Fit the window to the image
Shift+W - Open another window for the active document

Help Shortcuts

F10 - Show or hide the learning center palette
Alt+H then H - Help Files

Shortcuts to Tools

C - Clone Brush: Use to create brush strokes that duplicate part of an image
R - Crop Tool: Use to eliminate or crop areas of an image
D - Raster Deform Tool: Use to rotate, resize, skew, and distort layers or images
J - Dodge Brush: Use to bring out details in areas that are in shadow
E - Dropper Tool: Use to select active foreground and background colors
Q - Ellipse Tool: Draw Ellipse Primitive
X - Eraser Tool: Use to replace colors in image with background color or transparency
F - Flood Fill Tool: Use to fill an area with a color, pattern, or gradient
L - Lighten/Darken Brush: Use to increase or decrease lightness (affects HSL value)
M - Move Tool: Use to move a layer or selection marquee.
O - Object Selection Tool: Use to select, move, resize, reshape, and rotate vector objects
B - Paint Brush: Use to paint strokes on a raster layer
A - Pan Tool: Use to pan large images.
V - Pen Tool: Draws lines, polylines, point to point, and freehand
K - Pick Tool: Use to select, move, resize, reshape, and rotate layers and vector objects
I - Picture Tube Tool: Use to paint with pictures
P - Preset Shape Tool: Use to place shapes as raster or vector objects on raster or vector layers
G - Rectangle Tool: Draw rectangles and rounded rectangles
S - Selection Tool: Use to create selections of precise shapes
H - Symmetric Shape Tool: Draws symmetric shapes
T - Start a text editing session
Z - Zoom Tool: Use to zoom in and out of images

Rarely Used Shortcuts

Ctrl+K - Edit the closest mask layer
Shift+G - Apply gamma correction to the image
F2 - Hide the palettes
Ctrl+Num + - Magnify window zoom in by 1
Ctrl+Num - - Magnify window zoom out by 1
Ctrl+Shift+F6 - Resets materials to solid black and white
Ctrl+Shift+T - Show all toolbars
Ctrl+Alt+F6 - Swaps foreground and background materials in the material palette