DESCRIPTION: Learn a few tips to make using PhotoImpact fun and a little easier.

TIP ONE: COLOUR MATCH YOUR SHAPES

This is fun when you're making a kit and want your shapes in matching colours of the same hue.

1. Open up your Color Picker by clicking the foreground colour box in the Tool Panel. Click on the far left box. Pick a colour you want. I like the purpley blues.

2. Press the PrintScreen key on your keyboard to copy what's onscreen to the clipboard. Close the Color Picker.

3. Open a new document (I choose Standard 1024x768 for PrintScreens and then crop). Ctrl V to paste. Object / Merge All.

4. Using the Standard Selection Tool in the Tool Panel, select only the top half of the colours in the box .

5. With your Easy Palette open, drag this selected object over to it to store a copy for later use. Close your PrintScreen document without saving.

6. Double click on your swatch in your Easy Palette to bring it out into a new document window.

7. In another new document, create the shape you want with the Path Tool.

8. With the shape active, click on the Color box in the Attribute Bar and select Color on Screen in the menu that comes up.

9. Use the Eyedropper that becomes available to pick a colour from your swatch. Your shape will change to that colour. Do this with any other shapes you make so that you have different shades of the colour and each shape is clearly visible in the kit.

TIP TWO: CUTTING OUT THE EASY WAY

1. Open your photo.

2. Select the Path Drawing Tool on the toolbar. In the Attribute Toolbar choose Shape / Freehand and Mode / Selection.

3. Select your way around the part you want to "cut out" by clicking and holding with the mouse or "drawing" with the tablet (keep pen to tablet til shape is completely drawn):

4. "Ctrl / Shift / O" to convert the selection to object. Set your background colour to black on the toolbar
and with the Pick Tool drag your object out into the workspace to create a new document.

5. Deselect the object (Enter in PIXL) and see how smooth your object's outline is - the black shows this up really well. This is because the object was cut out with the Path Tool rather than with the Lasso Tool.

Comment by a PI user:
The only thing I find difficult about this method is when you're trying to cut out something with a lot of detail. Because you can't click your way around you have to make the selection all in one click from beginning to end - but it gives the best results.

My response:
The pen tablet makes this exercise a lot easier.

Check out PI Tips on the PhotoImpact International board. You may need to register with ezboard to view this page.

Hillie © 2005