copyright 1998. Version 1.0.1, 28 July 1999
Note: This FAQ is not maintained by Jasc Software, the creators (and copyright holders) of Paint Shop Pro. Official information regarding Paint Shop Pro or other Jasc products can be obtained from Jasc, at http://www.jasc.com/. Mention of other vendors and/or trademarked names is generally intended for illustration or reference purposes, and does not imply any endorsement by Jasc, though it may imply unpaid endorsement by the author. No endorsements herein have been purchased.
This information is provided without warranty. I try to make this information as correct and current as possible, but errors may occur. If you spot any errors, please e-mail me the correction at the above address.
This page Lynx-enhanced.
CONTENTS:
0. What is comp.graphics.apps.paint-shop-pro?
0.1 Where can I get a copy of the group charter?
0.1.1 What is appropriate to post to the group?
0.1.2 What is "netiquette"?
0.1.3 This is really important, but it's not technically on-topic! What do I do?
0.1.4 Why shouldn't I post binaries to the group?
0.2 What is a FAQ?
0.2.1 What does this FAQ cover?
0.2.2 Who decides what goes in the FAQ?
0.2.3 How can I contribute to the FAQ?
0.2.4 Where can I find the latest version of the FAQ?
1.1 What is Shareware?
1.1.1 What is a Nag Screen, and how do I make it go
away?
1.1.2 Why should I pay for shareware?
1.1.3 Are there any other benefits to paying for PSP?
1.1.4 Where can I get cracks for PSP?
1.2 Where can I get PSP?
1.2.1 Can I register PSP 5.01 for less than $99?
1.2.2 How much does PSP 5.0 cost? Will I get
if free/at a discount if I have PSP 4?
1.2.3 How much will PSP 6 cost? Will I get
if free/at a discount if I have PSP 5?
1.3 What new features are in version 5?
1.3.1 How do layers work?
1.3.2 What is CMYK color?
1.3.3 What is the PSP (.psp) file format?
1.3.4 What is "Animation Shop"?
1.3.5 How do I get a transparent background in PSP 5?
1.3.6 How does multiple undo work in PSP 5?
1.4 What new features will be in version 6?
2.1 What is the difference between "vector" and "raster"
images?
2.1.1 Why can't PSP save in CDR or DXF (or CGM, DRW,
GEM, HGL, PIC, WPG) formats?
2.1.2What is the .psp image format?
2.1.3 What good is it?
2.1.4 How does PSP 5 use CMYK color?
2.2 Which image format is the best for my image?
2.2.1 Which image formats work in web-browsers?
2.2.2 Which format should I use for works-in-progress
and "masters"?
2.3 What is a GIF (.gif)?
2.3.1 How do I get transparency in a .gif?
2.3.2 How do I animate .gifs?
2.3.3 How do I use filters on .gifs?
2.3.4 How do save true color (24-bit) .gifs?
2.3.5 My scan looks terrible after I save it as a .gif.
Why?
2.3.6 What is the difference between interlaced and
non-interlaced .gifs?
2.3.7 What is the difference between GIF 87a and GIF
89a?
2.3.8 What is this Unisys licensing thing I hear about?
Does it affect me?
2.4 What is a JPEG/JFIF (.jpg)?
2.4.1 How do I get transparency in a .jpg
2.4.2 How do I animate .jpgs?
2.4.3 What is "lossy" compression?
2.4.4 How do I save the palette from a .jpg?
2.4.5 My drawing looks terrible after I save it as a
.jpg. Why?
2.4.6 What is a "progressive" .jpg?
2.5 What is a MSWindows/OS/2 Bitmap (.bmp)?
2.5.1 Why are my .bmp files so BIG?
2.5.2 How do I make images for the Windows95 boot and
shutdown screens?
2.5.3 How do I get that scrolling bar on the bottom
of the Windows95 boot screen?
2.6 What is a TIFF (.tif)?
2.6.1 What do the different types of compression do?
2.6.2 Why do people recommend saving works-in-progress
as TIFFs?
2.6.3 Why do people still use TIFFs?
2.6.4 What is this Unisys licensing thing I hear about?
Does it affect me?
2.7 What is a PNG (.png)?
2.7.1 How do I get transparency in a .png?
2.7.2 How do I animate .pngs?
2.7.3 What is the "alpha channel", and how do I use
it?
2.7.4 My (transparent) .png looks terrible in Netscape
Navigator. Why?
3.1 What versions of PSP are available, and which run on which OS?
3.2 What known bugs are there in PSP?
3.2.1 How do I fix the Linear Gradient Fill Bug?
3.2.2 How do I fix the msvcrt10.dll bug?
3.2.3 How do I fix the Kernel32.dll bug?
3.2.4 How do I fix the Adobe Type Manager bug?
3.2.5 What happened to my scanner with PSP 5?
3.2.6 What is the "Multiple Instances" bug, and how
do I fix it?
3.2.7 Help! Upgrading to 5.01 screwed things up!!!
3.2.8 Help! Where did my toolbar go?
3.2.9 How do I report bugs?
3.3 What other Jasc software works with PSP?
3.4 What third party software works with PSP?
3.4.1 Which Adobe Photoshop plugins work with PSP?
3.4.2 How do I make x plugin work with PSP?
3.4.3
4.2.1 How do I get text to follow a curve in PSP?
4.2.2 How do I make GIFs (and PNGs) with transparent
backgrounds?
4.2.3
FREQUENTLY GIVEN ANSWERS:
0. What is comp.graphics.apps.paint-shop-pro?
comp.graphics.apps.paint-shop-pro is a Usenet newsgroup for discussion of all issues regarding Paint Shop Pro. It is sometimes abbreviated c.g.a.psp
0.1 Where can I get a copy of the group charter?
It's been posted recently to c.g.a.psp. It may find a web home near this FAQ. If I find other addresses with it, I'll add them.
0.1.1 What is appropriate to post to the group?
Quoting the charter:
Paint Shop Pro topics in question would include, but are not limited to:
0.1.2 What is "netiquette"?
This is a broad topic, but it can be summed up as "Don't make life difficult for other readers of the group". There are numerous places where guides to basic netiquette are posted, including newsgroups news.answers and news.announce.newusers, someplace on AOL (try keyword:Netiquette - if this doesn't work, please let me know.) and in many books and websites. Try http://www.albion.com/netiquette/
Some additional advice, mostly cribbed from comp.os.ms-windows.win95.moderated:
0.1.3 This is really important, but it's not technically on-topic! What do I do?
If your posting isn't SPAM, advertising, etc., but will be of interest to most readers of the group, please begin your subject line with "OT" to signify off-topic.
0.1.4 Why shouldn't I post binaries to the group?
There are several reasons to not post binaries (encoded non-text files, like images) to this group. Binaries usually take up a lot of space, and take a while to download. Many News administrators treat groups with binaries and groups without differently - mainly by expiring articles in binaries groups much more quickly. Also, people will frequently set their newsreader to download all messages in a non-binaries group, and then waste a lot of time (and money in many places!) downloading a large image file.
0.2 What is a FAQ?
Cribbing again from the comp.os.ms-windows.win95.moderated FAQ:
FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. The list of frequently asked questions with answers is called 'the FAQ list', or 'the FAQ' for short. You can pronounce it as separate letters ('eff ay cue'), or as one word ('fack').
Certain questions are asked again and again on newsgroups. They may be perfectly sensible questions, but each time they are asked, the same answers are given - both right and wrong.
To save on bandwidth and reader time, not to mention annoyance to regular readers, these common questions (and the definitive answers given) are put in the FAQ for the group, so that discussion can move on to more constructive topics without continual regression to first principles. Often, reading the FAQ before posting a question will save you and other people time!
0.2.1 What does this FAQ cover?
It covers mainly those questions which get asked a lot with which
the FAQ author is familiar. Currently, there are 5 main sections: 0.2.2 Who decides what goes in the FAQ?
The author (Anthony Argyriou).
This FAQ is my creation, and I am sole judge of what goes in. That said, however,
I'm kind of desperate for more material, especially in the last section.
0.2.3 How can I contribute to the FAQ?
Send me an e-mail. Give me a question and an answer. I'll check it to
the best of my ability, then, in my copious free time, I'll add it.
0.2.4 Where can I find the latest version of the FAQ?
At http://www.alphageo.com/psp/faq.html.
The other address is still working, but it may not always get updated right away.
I may take it down, one of these days. Eventually, the FAQ may end up on the
RTFM server and faqs.org. Right now, only the FAQ pointer message is in those archives.
Paint Shop Pro is a raster image editing program. Examples of other
raster image editing programs include MS Paint (which comes with Windows),
Corel PhotoPaint, MacPaint (for Macintoshes), etc. Paint Shop Pro
is available as shareware, so you can use it for evaluation before purchasing.
Paint Shop Pro allows you to edit images on a pixel-by-pixel level or
by applying transformations to a region or an entire image.
Paint Shop Pro also has extensive file format support.
Shareware gives users the opportunity to try
a program before buying it. The user is supposed to determine within a limited
time period whether to keep the program and register it, or to uninstall the
program, and not use it. If the user keeps the program, s/he should register
it properly (including paying for it). In addition to the warm and fuzzy feeling
you get from doing the right thing by registering, most shareware developers
only provide support to registered (paying!) customers.
Technically, PSP 4.14 and 5.0x are "trialware", since they will stop
working after a fixed period of time (30 to 90 days), but the concept is
similar.
While PSP 4.14 does stop working after the trial period, it does not
uninstall itself, so it will continue to take up space on your hard-drive
and in your registry. If you aren't going to buy it, uninstall it
after it expires. PSP 5 exhibits the same behavior.
PSP 6 is currently in "beta", and the downloads are time-limited to prevent
people from keeping old, buggy, betas on their system.
1.1.1 What is a Nag Screen, and how do I make it go
away?
The "nag" screen is a screen which pops up when starting an unregistered
version of PSP which reminds you that you have been using the program for
X days out of your Y day free trial, and encourage you to register the
program. PSP colors that bar red when X > Y. PSP 5 will generally keep working for
30 days after the evaluation "expires".
The PSP nag screen gives you the choice of starting the program or registering.
To make it go away, buy the program.
The only real problem I've encountered with the nag screen before I
bought PSP was that if I wanted to fax an image using MSFax (part of MS
Exchange in Windows 95), and PSP was not already open, MSFax would return
an error, or hang. If PSP is open before trying to send the fax, MSFax
would work as well as MSFax ever does.
1.1.2 Why should I pay for shareware?
There are several reasons to pay for shareware. The first is that it
is the right thing to do. If you decide you don't like PSP, and delete
it from your system, don't pay; but if you continue to use it, you really
ought to reward the folks who put together such a great program. Second
is enlightened self-interest: if people keep paying for shareware they
use, developers will continue to make good programs available cheaply.
By going the shareware route, the folks at Jasc have reached many more
of us, for less money, than if they had done an advertising blitz in the
trade press. More units sold means a lower price for the product.
1.1.3 Are there any other benefits to paying for PSP?
If you buy the program from Jasc, you get their manual, which is very
helpful, and a CD with the program, so you don't have to go through a long
download if you wipe out critical files. Also, if you have PSP 4.14 or
5.0, which is "trialware", it will expire after 30 to 90 days.
1.1.4 Where can I get cracks for PSP?
Even though I don't work for Jasc, I'm NOT going to help you with this.
Many cracks available on Usenet or the web are virus-infected, and some
supposed cracks are just viri. If you ask for a crack on c.g.a.psp, expect
to get flamed by the regulars, and maybe have someone tell Jasc about you.
If you don't know where to look, you're not trying.
You can mail-order from Jasc at POBox 44997, Eden Prairie, MN
55344, call toll-free (within US and Canada?) at 800-622-2793, or order
from their website.
1.2.1 Can I register PSP 5.03 for less than $99?
Check messages posted in c.g.a.psp, there are plenty of places which
buy in bulk from Jasc then pass on their savings to their customers.
Try any on-line software store, or your local computer discount warehouse.
1.2.2 How much does PSP 5.0 cost? Will I get
if free/at a discount if I have PSP 4?
PSP 5.0 is $99 (US) if purchased from Jasc. The upgrade price for people
who already have PSP (4.14 or earlier) is $39. These prices are for people
buying directly from Jasc, and don't include shipping & handling. You
may want to try the sites in the question above for deals on PSP 5. Many
have a rebate setup for owners of earlier versions of PSP.
1.2.3 How much will PSP 6.0 cost? Will I get
if free/at a discount if I have PSP 5?
PSP 6.0 is US$109 (Can$169) for the box if purchased from Jasc, US$99 for the download.
Jasc is offering a deal where if you buy PSP 5 now, they'll send you PSP 6 for free.
These prices are for people
buying directly from Jasc, and don't include shipping & handling.
If you're a registered user of PSP 5, you can get PSP 6 direct from Jasc
for $49 (Can$79).
There will also be a $30 mail-in rebate available from JASC if you buy PSP 6 in a store
and are a registered user of PSP 5.
1.3 What new features are in version 5?
In addition to incorporating a number of bug fixes, version 5 has the
capability of working with layers, working with CMYK color separations,
a new (.psp) file format, and Animation Shop. There are also more options
for some effects and operations, multiple undo, and far superior transparency
support.
If you are familiar with Photoshop or CorelDRAW!, PSP's layer support
is very similar. Each layer contains images, and may have a transparent
background. The sample "Timber Wolf.psp" file demonstrates the use of layers
- there is a background, and several layers with different elements of
the final image. If you want to remove part of the image, you can turn
off or delete that layer. If you want to experiment with placement of an
object on a background, you can place it in its own layer, so you can move
it around without damaging the background image.
When an image is saved in a format which doesn't support layers (all
of them except PSD and PSP), the layers are "flattened" and only the final
image is saved.
CMYK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and blacK,
which are the common ink colors in 4-color printing processes. In a pure
CMYK system, the black is unnecessary, and the other three colors are the
exact inverse of Red, Green and Blue. Since real inks never quite work
this way, some adjustments have to be made. The main one is adding black,
since mixing cyan, magenta and yellow inks usually results in a muddy brown
rather than a black.
PSP 5 can perform CMYK separations, which give 4 grayscale images which
correspond to the four ink colors. Details of the separation process can
be controlled through the File/Preferences/CMYK Conversion Preferences
dialogs.
For colorizing pictures, if you need the Hue, Saturation
and Luminance values for Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, Mark S. Ransom
reported that:
1.3.3 What is the .psp file format?
The PSP (.psp) file format is Jasc's special format for saving all the
information in an image without any loss. PSP files include each layer
and all transparency information (including masks) that is generated while
working on an image. They can optionally be compressed via run-length encoding
or LZ77 encoding. While PSP files are ideal for saving complex images,
they can only be viewed by PSP 5, so you'll have to convert your images
to put them up on the web or share them with people who don't have Paint
Shop Pro 5.
A recent discussion regarding the layout of the PSP file format included
a statement from Jasc that they are considering releasing the specs of the
format, to allow other developers to write programs which will view .psp files.
1.3.4 What is "Animation Shop"?
Animation Shop is Jasc's latest product, which comes bundled with PSP
5. It is a program which can create animated images in both GIF and a specialized
form of MNG formats. It contains tools for making transitions from one
frame of an animation to another, and allows setting of transparency and
frame delays.
The MNG format which PSP saves animations in preserves 24-bit color,
which GIF does not. However, Animation Shop doesn't view all MNG animations,
nor are there many Windows or Macintosh based full-featured MNG viewers.
So, like the PSP format, MNG is best used for saving "masters" from which
derivatives (GIFs) are created.
1.3.5 How do I get a transparent background in PSP 5?
To start a new image with a transparent background, go to File/New,
and make sure you're creating an image with 16.7 Million Colors (24 bit)
or Grayscale (8 bit). For creating transparency with palettized images
(GIFs, 256-color PNGs and TIFFs, etc.), see question 2.3.1.
For creating transparency with 16.7-million-color images (PNGs and TIFFs,
etc.), using masks, see question 2.7.1.
1.4 What new features will be in version 6?
The top 5 new features (as
listed on the Jasc website) are:
2. What are all those different image formats for?
Many image formats were developed before transmission of images via
the internet became commonplace. Many are proprietary formats meaning that
only software made by a particular company can read or write that format.
Corel, Claris, Adobe, Aldus and Targa all came out with their own image
formats. The variety of images also reflects a variety of different compromises
made for different audiences. The Autocad formats are designed to do those
things which drafters like to do, namely allow unlimited scaling, layers,
and represent geometric objects easily. The GIF format developed by Compuserve
was a good compromise when most people had monitors which couldn't support
very high color depth. JPEG is a good compromise for "natural" or
photographic images, where a slight blurring and slight loss of red and
blue data in exchange for substantially smaller files is acceptable.
A number of formats, like Autodesk's DWG, Corel's CDR, DXF, and CGM
are "vector" formats which allow for easy scaling, but make it nearly impossible
to render things in photographic detail. Some formats support both vector
and raster data. Most vector formats are proprietary, which is why there
are so many of them.
2.1 What is the difference between "vector" and "raster"
images?
A vector image is constructed as a collection of abstract mathematical
shapes, and these shapes preserve their identity when you scale the image
or add or delete a shape. So, a vector image is resolution-independent.
But rendering the image on a screen or
a raster printer (both laser printers and ink-jet printers are raster printers)
requires calculating an equivalent bitmap, which is slow. Vector
images are usually easier for pen plotters to work with, though, and it's
much easier to find a pen plotter which can handle a 24" x 36" sheet than
a laser-printer of the same size.
A raster image is an array of color values, one for each pixel (dot)
in the image, so it can be displayed or printed directly on a screen or
raster printer that has a corresponding dot spacing. But scaling
the image to a different dot spacing (resolution) requires a lot of calculation
and is inherently inaccurate: you have to interpolate between existing
dot values. If you scale up enough to see the original dots clearly,
the image will generally not look good. The MSWindows/OS2 and X Window (UNIX-based)
bitmaps (and pixelmaps) are uncompressed, and contain image size (in pixels)
and a description of each pixel. Most other raster image types perform
some kind of compression to minimize file size, since most image data is
fairly repetitive (it takes far fewer bytes to describe a one-color border
as "10 rows all yellow, then first 10 and last 10 of each row yellow down
to last 10 rows all yellow" than is would to repeat the code for yellow
for each and every pixel).
The MS "Windows MetaFile" (.wmf), Apple PICT, and CorelDraw (.cdr) formats
can contain both vector and raster data.
2.1.1 Why can't PSP save in CDR or DXF (or CGM, DRW,
GEM, HPGL, WPG) formats?
These formats are vector-based, and several are proprietary. Paint Shop
Pro is a raster-based program, and stores images that way. PSP can open
these files, because it is relatively easier to read such a file and translate
it into a raster image than it is to translate raster images into vector
formats. When PSP saves into WMF or PIC formats, it uses only the raster
capabilities of those formats, even if the original data was vector-based
from one of these formats.
2.1.2 What is the PSP (.psp) image format?
The PSP (.psp)image format is Jasc's special format for saving all the
information in an image without any loss. PSP files include each layer
and all transparency information (including masks) that is generated while
working on an image. They can optionally be compressed via run-length encoding
or LZ77 encoding. While PSP files are ideal for saving complex images,
they can only be viewed by PSP 5, so you'll have to convert your images,
or use the File/Save Copy As to put them up
on the web or share them with people who don't have Paint Shop Pro 5.
Images saved in PSP format by PSP 6 will not be fully readable
in PSP 5 if they contain features not found in PSP 5 (mainly vector
stuff).
The main advantage to the new PSP format is that it keeps all your layer
data, which most other common formats (except Photoshop .psd) do not. It
also allows from lossless compression using the LZ77 method, which can
significantly compress images. (Or run-length encoding, which is useful
if you have big areas of solid color, and almost useless otherwise.) Saving
files as PSP is ideal for saving "masters" or works-in-progress which don't
need to be shared with non-PSP5 users.
2.1.4 How does PSP 5 use CMYK color?
CMYK color is unavailable in PSP through version 4.14. Version 5 has
some support for CMYK color, including:
2.2 Which image format is the best for my image?
This depends on what the image is, and where and when it will be used.
You may need one format for web use, another for a "master image" for future
editing, and another for dropping into an OCR program.
For saving works in progress, you should always save in a 24-color format
with lossless (or no) compression. These include Windows bitmap (.bmp),
TIFF (.tif), PNG (.png), and PSP (.psp) in Paint Shop Pro 5. Saving in
GIF format before a project is complete will cause loss of color depth,
and should only be done if the image has few colors. Saving in JPEG format
will cause minor errors from the lossy compression, which will be compounded
every time the file is resaved.
If you're working with PSP 5 and using
layers, you should save masters as PSP images, to preserve your layers.
(You should use LZ77 compression, to minimize file-size, too.)
For web use, overall file size is usually the overriding concern, since
most of the world is connected at 28.8 to 33.6 kbps. JPEG almost always
gives smaller file sizes, but doesn't support transparency, and some graphics
may compress better as GIF or PNG. Almost all browsers will display GIF
and JPEG. Netscape 4.0 and MS Internet Explorer 4.0 display PNG,
but not everyone has the 4.0 versions yet. (And won't for a while - they're
huge memory hogs!)
For use with other programs, check compatibility. Some OCR programs
will only take certain kinds of TIFF files as inputs. Windows requires
Windows Bitmaps for desktop tiles and wallpaper. Other programs may have
other limitations.
The first thing to determine is the required color depth. Black and
white "line drawing" type images only require 2 colors. Logos may only
require 16 colors, and many created images only require 256 colors. Black
and white "grayscale" images require "256 grays". Many black and white
images can be reduced to 16 colors, which will save a lot of space. Lifelike
images or images with many continuously varying colors or shadings require
15-bit, 16-bit, or 24-bit color to look good. Many monitors don't display
24-bit color, but PSP can't save as 15-bit or 16-bit color. GIFs are limited
to no more than 256 colors (or grays) on a palette, while JPEGs can be
24-bit color or 256 grays. TIFFs can be 24-bit color, 256 grays,or 2 to
256 colors using a palette. PNGs can be 24-bit color or 256 grays, or 2
to 256 colors, using a palette. (PNGs are capable of greater color and
grayscale depth, but PSP can't save them.)
Another factor to consider is where the image will be used, and how
often. Most compressed file types require a bit of computation time to
render properly, but for Web use, the download time is usually much higher.
For Web use, minimizing file size is usually the overriding consideration.
For other uses, different considerations may apply.
JPEG usually gives the smallest file size for photos and other truecolor
graphics, but GIF or PNG will usually beat JPEG for images with few colors
and relatively simple layouts, like buttons or logos. PNG outperforms GIF
for most 256-or-fewer-color images, and can also store truecolor (though
truecolor PNGs are likely to be much larger than JPEGs or 256-color PNGs,
and somewhat larger than
256-color GIFs ). TIFF creates somewhat larger files than PNG for full-depth
color, but TIFF files can be used by many other applications, including
faxing and OCR software. However, the TIFF standard allows for lots of
extensions, and many programs only support a few of these, and almost none
support all of them. (Even Adobe Photoshop can't handle everything that
qualifies as a TIFF!) If you are creating "wallpaper" or icons for your
Windows system, or images (buttons, dialog boxes, etc.) for Windows programs,
you must use Windows bitmaps.
The third factor is the type of image and transparency. Images with
lots of sharp edges or borders will lose some of that sharpness if saved
as a JPEG, due to the nature of JPEGs compression. Some images require
"transparency", where the computer rendering them will allow some background
to show through parts of the image. Transparency is not available in the
JPEG or Windows BMP format, limited (all-or-nothing) transparency is available
in GIFs and palettized PNGs and TIFFs, and PNG and TIFF support "alpha
channel", or varying levels of transparency (which almost no web browsers
render properly).
2.2.1 Which image formats work in web browsers?
There is no standard which says "Browsers must support image type X".
There are official "Internet Media Type" specifications, which state how
various image formats are supposed to behave . Almost all browsers (except
Lynx) can render GIFs and JPEGs. Netscape Navigator 3.01 can view X bitmaps
(.xbm) natively as well. Netscape Communicator 4.04 and later is able
to view PNGs in-line as well. MS Internet Explorer 3 can view MS bitmaps
(.bmp) in addition to GIF
and JPEG images, and Internet Explorer 4 is supposed to be able to view
PNGs, too.
Until 4.0 browsers become common, you may want to stick with JPEGs and
GIFs, or at least provide alternate GIF or JPEG images for people who can't
view PNGs. See any good HTML reference for how to do this.
2.2.2 Which format should I use for works-in-progress
and "masters"?
For saving works in progress, you should always save in a 24-color format
with lossless (or no) compression. These include Windows bitmap (.bmp),
TIFF (.tif), PNG (.png), and PSP (.psp). Saving in GIF format before a
project is complete will cause loss of color depth, and should only be
done if the image has few colors. Saving in JPEG format will cause minor
errors from the lossy compression, which will be compounded every time
the file is resaved.
Windows Bitmaps and uncompressed TIFFs are the largest for any given file.
TIFFs can be set up with several different compression options, but some aspects of some
TIFFs aren't readable by other software. TIFFs can be saved in CMYK color
format in PSP 5. PNGs have fewer options, and the PNG standard doesn't
allow developers to pick and choose which features will work, therefore,
any feature usable in PNG should be readable by any program which can render
or edit PNGs. The one feature of PNG which is not supported by many applications
is 48-bit color (and 16-bit grayscale). PSP format allows 24-bit color,
transparency, and allows you to preserve multiple layers, but is only viewable
by PSP 5.
GIF stands for Graphic Interchange Format, and was developed by/for
Compuserve for compact storage of images. As most Compuserve customers
didn't have very fancy screens in the early days of the service, the developers
decided to use a "palette" of up to 256 colors for each image, which allows
an image to take up one-third as much space. They also used a compression
algorithm to further reduce the size of image files. GIFS are excellent
for storing created images with 256 or fewer colors, especially if there
are large regions of solid color and sharp borders between colors.
GIFs also support transparency and animation. Transparency requires
choosing a "transparent color" - a color which will be rendered transparent
anywhere it appears in the image. Animation consists of storing multiple
frames in the same file, along with time-delay information and repeat information.
2.3.1 How do I get transparency in a .gif?
If you are creating a brand-new .gif, start with a background color
not likely to appear anywhere else in the image, and preferrably very distinct
from the image, draw your image, and when saving it, select the option
to "set transparent color" to your background color. If you are editing
an existing image, you will have to be careful about selecting a color,
and finding all occurences of it, or you may get holes in your image.
Things are different in PSP 5. From Jasc's PSP 5 readme.doc file:
You can't do all of this with Paint Shop Pro. However, you can
do this with Animation Shop, which comes bundled with PSP 5. If you don't
yet have this, you can start by creating each frame of the animation in
PSP. Use identical sizes identical palettes and the same transparent color
for each frame. Then use another GIF Animator program (Microsoft used to
give one away. In a fit of originality, it was called MS Gif Animator)
to assemble the frames and set the timing.
Jasc's Animation shop allows you to perform transformations on existing
frames to develop new frames, like fades, blends, etc., a feature not available
in some other programs.
2.3.3 How do I use filters on .gifs?
Many of PSPs effects, including the filters, only work on images with
a color depth of 16 million colors (24-bit color), or occasionally, 256-grays.
If you open a GIF, it will have a palette with up to 256 colors. To fix
this, go to Colors / Increase Color Depth / 16 Million
Colors (24 bit), then try using the filters. Unfortunately, most
filters will leave you with more than the 256 colors your image started
with, and you will have to reduce the color depth to resave the image as
a GIF. This may partially undo the effect you were trying to achieve, or
otherwise damage the image. Save your master in a safe place before you
try this.
2.3.4 How do save true color (24-bit) .gifs?
You can't. The format doesn't allow it. If you want to keep the lossless
compression, you can save as a PNG or TIF file, both of which support 24-bit
color. The newer versions (4.0) of Netscape Navigator and MS Internet Explorer
both support inline PNG images, though both don't support everything that
PNGs can do. There may be plugins available for version 3 of both browsers.
However, if you are web publishing, be aware that many people don't have
the 4.0 versions. (And many refuse to get MSIE 4 - it's an OS upgrade as
well as a browser.)
2.3.5 My scan looks terrible after I save it as a
.gif. Why?
Probably because of the 256 color limitation. You can make this worse
by forcing PSP to use a specific palette when decreasing the color depth.
A photo of say, a person, will have many intermediate shades, which grade
smoothly from one to the next. By reducing the color depth to 256, that
smoothness is lost, and you can get "contour patterns". If your picture
is, for example, of a person's face against a plain background, you can
get reasonable results when reducing color depth by selecting "optimized
palette" instead of "standard palette". However, you are probably better
off using JPG or PNG for photographic scans.
2.3.6 What is the difference between interlaced and
non-interlaced .gifs?
An interlaced GIF is one which has been saved in a way which has rough
image data at the beginning of the file, so that a blurry, grainy version
of the entire image loads first, coming progressively into focus.
This is useful for people with slow internet connections (especially with
large images), to allow them to get an idea of what the image is about
without waiting for the entire download. However, for small images, most
people won't see the difference.
2.3.7 What is the difference between GIF 87a and GIF
89a?
GIF 87a is the original production GIF format, and doesn't support many
of the features of GIF 89a. Particularly, GIF 87a does not support transparency,
interlacing, or animation. The only advantage to GIF 87a is a marginally
smaller file size for some images.
2.6.4 What is this Unisys licensing thing I hear about?
Does it affect me?
Unisys developed a compression algorithm called LZW, which is used in
GIF files and in some TIFF files. They patented it, but did not enforce
their patent for several years. Essentially, the patent covers software
which produces LZW-compressed data. Unisys is licensing software
to use this compression technique for a fee. Unisys does not collect
royalties on GIF or TIFF images.
More information from the file-format FAQ:
1) Unisys considers all software created or modified before January
1,
2) However, Unisys expects developers of commercial or for-profit
3) Unisys does not require licensing of non-commercial, not-for-profit
4) With respect to TIFF, if a license is entered before July 1,
1995,
Unisys has drafted licenses for several different applications of the
LZW
2.4 What is a JPEG/JFIF (.jpg)?
JPEG is the "Joint Photographic Experts Group", which has developed
a format called JFIF (JPEG File Interchange Format), which is usually saved
as .jpg (or sometimes .jpeg on systems which support long filenames). The
format allows for 24-bit color, but trades off a bit of accuracy to achieve
compact file sizes. The JPEG studied what the eye actually sees in photographic
images, and created the format to be more sensitive to those things to
which the eye is more sensitive. The eye is most sensitive in the green
region of the spectrum, and is more sensitive to small brightness chnges
than to small color changes, so the JPEG standard keeps more of the green
information and brightness level information, while skimping on the red
and blue information. Also, since most natural scenes have many smooth
transitions and few sharp edges, the format allows a little blurring to
compress the data as efficiently as possible. Finally, the JPEG standard
allows for varying compression levels, so that you can select your own
tradeoff between filesize and image quality. Tom Lane has prepared
a FAQ for JPEGs, available at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/jpeg-faq/
(and has contributed a lot to this FAQ. Thanks, Tom!).
Technically, the image format is "JFIF", but almost everyone calls it
JPEG. There is a proposed standard coming from the TIFF people which
would allow JPEG compression in a TIFF (TIFF-JPEG). This will serve
to expand the range of things which some TIFF applications won't support,
and to confuse lots of people.
2.4.1 How do I get transparency in a .jpg?
You don't. The standard does not support transparency at all. To get
transparent 24-bit color images, you need to use PNG (or TIFF).
You don't. There is a standard called MPEG (Motion Picture Expert Group)
which does this. MPEG uses JPEG-like compression, but also save about 3/4
of all frames as "difference frames", only storing the change from the
previous frame. MPEG also supports sound in its newer incarnations.
See the MPEG FAQ at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/mpeg-faq/part0/
for more information about MPEG.
2.4.3 What is "lossy" compression?
As described above, the JPEG standard allows some minor blurring and
loss of color detail in order to obtain smaller file sizes. When an image
is converted to JPEG, it is scanned in 8x8 (or 16x16) blocks, and a function
is developed which approximately describes the pixels in that block. If
changing the color values of some pixels slightly makes the function much
simpler, then the pixel is changed. Different compression levels control
how much the pixels may be changed during the compression process.
2.4.4 How do I save the palette from a .jpg?
There is no palette in a .jpg. If you have an image with relatively
few colors which has been saved as a .jpg, you can decrease color depth
to 256 (or 16 or 4), and save the resulting palette.
2.4.5 My drawing looks terrible after I save it as
a .jpg. Why?
There are two easy mistakes with .jpgs - too much compression and using
images which don't do JPEG well. Images with sharp edges, or large blocks
of solid color, or text, do poorly with .jpg compression, because it wasn't
designed to handle abrupt changes in color values.
You can either resave the original image again with lower compression,
or use a different format (PNG or TIFF). Once you've saved an image as
a .jpg, with a specific "compression level", resaving it at any other compression
level, even a lower one, will degrade the image further.
2.4.6 What is a "progressive" JPEG?
A progressive JPEG is not a JPEG from Berkeley. It is a JPEG image
which has been saved in a way which has rough image data at the beginning
of the file, so that a blurry, grainy version of the entire image loads
first, coming progressively into focus. This is useful for people
with slow internet connections (especially with large images), to allow
them to get an idea of what the image is about without waiting for the
entire download.
2.5 What is a MSWindows/OS/2 Bitmap (.bmp)?
A BMP file has a complete description of the color at each pixel in
an image. As a result, Windows (and OS/2) require almost no computation
to display these files. A bitmap can be either 256 colors, with a
palette, or truecolor, with 24-bit color (16.7 million colors).
2.5.1 Why are my .bmp files so BIG?
A .bmp uses one or three bytes per pixel, with no compression.
Most images have lots of redundant information, which any compression scheme
can use to significantly reduce the file size. Bitmaps don't even
bother. Images can be saved with "Run-length encoding", a very simple compression
scheme, to reduce file size. Run-length encoding works best with large
blocks or long rows of identical color.
2.5.2 How do I make images for the Windows95 boot
and shutdown screens?
See http://www.annoyances.org/win95/win95ann2.html#03
for this information. It's pretty easy, you just need to create 256-color
bitmaps of a specific size, and give them specific names.
2.5.3 How do I get that scrolling bar on the bottom
of the Windows95 boot screen?
This is another one of those Microsoft undocumented features - MS Bitmaps
aren't supposed to be able to do that. There was an answer posted
either in this group or in comp.os.windows.win95.moderated, but I've lost
the reference. If you have it, please e-mail
me with it.
According to the folks at Adobe:
2.6.1 What do the different types of compression do?
I don't really know. LZW is a pretty efficient compression algorithm,
but there are better ones available now. The FAX-CCITT compression
is the same as used by fax machines, and only works on one-bit images (black
and white with no gray). Your faxing program and OCR programs should
be happiest with fax-compressed images, but most recent ones can handle
many kinds of TIFF files. If you really need to know, look in the comp.compression
FAQ at http://www.faqs.org/faqs/by-newsgroup/comp/comp.compression.html,
or find a textbook on data compression.
2.6.2 Why do people recommend saving works-in-progress
as TIFFs?
Because TIFF allows saving 24-bit color with lossless compression.
Before PNG was developed, TIFF was pretty much the only way to do this,
as .bmp doesn't compress, GIF only keeps 256 colors, and JPEG is lossy.
TIFF also allows various blocks of non-image information (like copyright
notices) to be stored.
2.6.3 Why do people still use TIFFs?
TIFF has been around a long time, and as a result, there are lots of
TIFF images, and lots of programs which work with or depend on TIFF images.
The developers of PNG hope to replace GIF and many applications of TIFF,
but there are some uses where TIFF is probably superior. I don't
know what they are, but they do exist.
2.6.4 What is this Unisys licensing thing I hear about?
Does it affect me?
Unisys developed a compression algorithm called LZW, which is used in
GIF files and in some TIFF files. They patented it, but did not enforce
their patent for several years. Essentially, the patent covers software
which produces LZW-compressed data. Unisys is licensing software
to use this compression technique for a fee. Unisys does not collect
royalties on GIF or TIFF images. See the GIF section
for more information.
According to the official PNG home page (http://www.cdrom.com/pub/png/):
PNG transparency is a bit more complicated than GIF transparency. PNG
can use a transparent color in images with no more than 256 colors (palette
images), and it supports an "alpha channel", which specifies how transparent
each pixel is supposed to be. Possible values range from 0 (opaque) to
255 (completely transparent). PNG can also assign a different transparency
value to each color in a palette, but PSP does not appear to be able to
take advantage of that.
For a palette (256 or fewer colors) PNG, transparency consists of selecting
a transparent color, and saving it, just like in GIFs.
For a 16.7-million (24-bit) color PNG, transparency comes from an alpha
channel. This works like a mask in Paint Shop Pro, and PSP uses masks to
do this job with PNGs. To save an alpha channel with a 16.7-million color
PNG, create a mask that gives you the desired transparency, and save the
file. If you open a PNG with alpha channel information, PSP converts this
to a mask.
You don't. There is a developing standard for "MNG", Multi-image Network
Graphics, with a release version now out. (The MNG homepage is at
http://www.cdrom.com/pub/mng/)
PSP does not support it,just like they don't support GIF animation, but Animation
Shop (which comes with PSP 5) gives it partial support. In fact, Animation
Shop uses a subset of MNG for its default file type. Unfortunately, Animation
Shop does not support everything that MNG does, and cannot render some
of the sample MNG images available at the MNG homepage.
2.7.3 What is the "alpha channel", and how do I use
it?
An alpha channel is like a mask. It describes the transparency of the
image, on a scale of 0 (opaque) to 255 (completely transparent). PSP 4
doesn't show transparency, except with the "preview" option, but PSP 5
does have ways to show transparency, and many other programs do, especially
web browsers.
To use an alpha channel with a PNG (and TIFF and TGA image), create
a mask in PSP to do the transparency you want, then save the image. The
mask will automatically be saved as an alpha channel.
2.7.4 My (transparent) .png looks terrible in Netscape
Navigator. Why?
PSP has versions which run on Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows
NT 3.51, NT 4.0, and NT 5.0 (Assuming that NT 5.0 actually runs.)
3.1 What versions of PSP are available, and which
run on which OS?
PSP Version 3.0 through 3.12 and PSP 4.10, 4.12,and 4.14 are widely
used. The final version of PSP 5.0 is now available, too. Only 3.12, 4.14,
and 5.01 are available from the Jasc website last time I checked.
Upgrade patches are available for registered users of 3.1 and 3.11 to
upgrade to 3.12, and for registered users of 4.10 and 4.12 to upgrade to
4.14 (3.1 to 3.12 and 4.10 to 4.14 requires two patches, applied in order.)
PSP 3.x runs on Windows 3.x. and NT 3.51. (And under Win95/NT 4?) PSP
4.x runs only under Windows95 and NT 4.0 or better. PSP 5.0 runs under
Windows95/98, and NT 4.0/5.0, but has features (ICM 2.0, whatever that
is) which only work under Windows98 or NT 5.0. I don't know if 3.x will
run under Windows 3.1 over OS/2. I also don't know if PSP 3 or 4 will run
under Wine on Linux (I haven't been able to get PSP 5 to work this way).
3.2 What known bugs are there in PSP?
There are several common bugs found in PSP 4:
The Linear Gradient Fill bug - PSP crashes when you try to select options
for linear gradient fill
PSP 5.0 seems to be nearly bug-free, except for the Adobe Type Manager bug,
some flakiness with TWAIN scanners, and the "Multiple Instances" bug. Some
minor bugs/features were corrected in the PSP 5.01 upgrade patch. Be sure you got the
second version of the patch - there were problems with the first one.
There are some conflicts with MS Internet Explorer 5 beta, but that's to
be expected - it's a beta of a major OS component. Those aren't PSP bugs,
they're IE 5 bugs.
3.2.1 How do I fix the Linear Gradient Fill Bug?
Get PSP v 4.14, where the bug is fixed, or upgrade to PSP 5.01.
There was no fix prior to version 4.14.
3.2.2 How do I fix the msvcrt10.dll bug?
Get a copy of mscvrt10.dll from the Jasc
website, and place it in the same directory as psp.exe . PSP will
look for this dll there first, then in the Windows and Windows\System directories.
If you replace the one you have in your Windows directory, you may adversely
affect other programs.
3.2.3 How do I fix the Kernel32.dll bug?
Get a new copy of Kernel32.dll from Microsoft.
Somewhere. (They keep re-doing their site, and I can't even find the Knowledge
Base article about this bug any more.)
3.2.4 How do I fix the Adobe Type Manager bug?
Go into the Adobe Type Manger Control Panel, and turn off Font Smoothing.
3.2.5 What happened to my scanner with PSP 5?
Some people have reported problems with their scanner being incompatible
with Paint Shop Pro 5. Sometimes, reloading or replacing the TWAIN drivers
fixes this problem. Other times, it doesn't. Jasc is working on this problem,
and hopes to have a fix out soon. This appears to have been fixed in 5.01.
3.2.6 What is the "Multiple Instances" bug, and how
do I fix it?
If you have PSP 5 associated (in Windows95) with any image file types,
and you call multiple images from another program (like a newsreader),
PSP starts up multiple instances of the program, rather than opening multiple
image windows in one program window.
This has been fixed in version 5.01.
In general, using PSP as an image viewer is pretty inefficient, because
you have to load up all that editing power just to look at pictures. Favorite
image viewers include VuePrint ( http://www.hamrick.com/),
and ACDSee (http://www.acdsystems.com/products/acdsee/index.htm).
3.2.7 Help! Upgrading to 5.01 screwed things
up!!!
The original patch to upgrade from version 5.00 to version 5.01 had
some problems which were fixed in the 5.01 patch b. If you experienced
problems with PSP during or after installing the 5.01 patch, download it
again, and try again. If that doesn't work, uninstall PSP 5 completely,
erase any stray copies of psp.exe on your system, turn off your virus checker,
re-install PSP 5, then apply the patch. Be sure you got psp5501b.exe
- if the name is a little different, it may be the bad patch.
3.2.8 Help! Where did my toolbar go?
If you are using MS Internet Explorer 5 beta, you will get some problems
with PSP 5. In particular, toolbars disappear. This is an IE5 bug, not a
PSP bug! It is reportedly fixed in the beta 2 of IE5. There are
patches which involve hacking the registry, which is far less dangerous, IMO,
than installing a beta of an operating system component.
First, shut down all other programs, then try to repeat the buggy behavior.
If it doesn't happen again, you have a weird interaction. If it does,
try it again with different file(s) open, to make sure you're not dealing
with a corrupt file. If the bug is still recurring, re-boot and try
again. If it is still happening, document the error messages you
get. This includes the "details" available if Windows gives you an
error dialog box which lets you see the details. Next, compile a
description of your system. Which processor, how much RAM, which
version and sub-version of Windows, which version of PSP, exact versions
of any other software that has to be running to make the bug manifest itself,
and about how much HD space you have left.
Then, post to comp.graphics.apps.paint-shop-pro with a description of
the behavior, what triggers it, all error messages, and your system description,
and/or e-mail support@jasc.com for help.
3.3 What other Jasc software works with PSP?
This depends on what you mean by "works with". Jasc's other programs
all produce images readable by PSP, and you can use PSP's screen capture
on other Jasc programs. [Anyone wishing to contribute a more specific
answer to this, feel free to do so!]
Animation Shop will automatically (?) call up PSP5 if you want to edit
a particular frame in ways other than offered by Animation Shop. You can
also start Animation Shop from inside PSP 5.
3.4 What third party software works with PSP?
Adobe Photoshop-compatible image-processing filters (plug-ins) work
with PSP, as do Aldus-compatible import filters. Someone has reported
that Photoshop "brushes" work, too. Others? Let me know.
3.4.1 Which Adobe Photoshop plugins work with PSP?
All Adobe-compatible and Aldus-compatible filters/plug-ins should work
with PSP, but they must be "code-compatible". This means that they must
be 32-bit for PSP 4 and 5, and 16-bit for PSP 3. 32-bit filters usually
have the extension ".8bf".
Certain plugins require an extra DLL file such as msvcrt10.dll
which can be obtained from
3.4.2 How do I make x plugin work with PSP?
I don't know generally. If the plugin is an .8be or .8bf file, put it into the
"plugins" directory, and try it. If you have msvcrt10.dll and plugin.dll,
and it still doesn't work, I can't help you. But someone on the
group probably can.
Some additional advice, from the newsgroup:
4 Where can I get help with drawing technique?
What do I look like, an art teacher? There are several ways to get help.
E-mailing me is NOT one of them. Jasc has a page on its website with links
to various tutorials and to other people's tutorial pages, at http://www.jasc.com/studio.html
Many people have put up tutorial pages which are not listed there.
A partial list (which may duplicate some on the Jasc list) is included
below.
http://www.scantips.com(very useful scanning hints)
There are on-line courses. The Oxford site above is one, and Ziff-Davis
University at http://www.zdu.com/ is
another. ZDU is $7/month for as many courses as you'd like to take.
They frequently offer PSP courses.
You can also read books. The PSP manual from Jasc is pretty basic, and
concentrates on how the program works, but some understanding of what PSP
does can give you ideas for how to make it do what you want it to do. There
have been comments in the group that the PSP 5 manual is better in this
regard. There are also several other books about PSP, including one recommended
over and over:
You can also search ftp sites using ftp-search at http://ftpsearch.lycos.com/
, searching for psp501ev.zip. You may want to look for *psp501.*,
as some sites rename files. Older versions of PSP may be found using this also -
look for psp414*.exe or .zip
There are also many, many more new features, in addition to lots of new
stuff in Animation Shop 2
CMYK is almost useless for video/monitor display, and isn't likely to be
used by people primarily interested in web graphics. CMYK color is mainly
useful for print work, since traditional printers inks are in those
colors.
The method used to create Transparent GIF files has changed
considerably from version 4. To set the transparent color, known and referred
to in Paint Shop Pro 5 as "Palette Transparency," choose Set Palette Transparency
from the Colors menu. If the image you are working on is currently not
paletted, you will be prompted to convert the image to 256 colors. After
conversion (if needed), a dialog box that allows you to set the transparent
color will open. Simply move the cursor to the desired color in the image
(you will notice your cursor changes to an eye dropper) and click the left
mouse button to set the color underneath the dropper to transparent. To
see the effect before committing to the change, click the Proof button.
Click OK to set the selected color to transparent. If the image needs some
touching up, you can actually edit the image with transparency enabled
by choosing View Palette Transparency from the Colors menu. Once you are
satisfied with the image, open the File menu and choose Save As. In the
file type drop-down list, select "CompuServe GIF" and click the OK button.
Save GIFs with transparency as one of the 89a subtypes - the 87 subtype
reportedly does not support transparency, or makes black the transparent
color.
In 1995, America Online Services and Prodigy Services Company
also entered
What this appears to mean, is that producing GIF and LZW-compressed
TIFF images is ok, and royalty-free, provided that the program is properly
licensed, or exempt. Creating your own program to make LZW-compressed
images requires payment of a license fee.
license agreements with Unisys for the utilization of LZW. Published
information indicates that Unisys' licensing policies are as follows:
1995 that supports the GIF and/or TIFF-LZW formats
to be
inadvertently infringing upon its patent; Unisys
will therefore not
require a license for GIF software products delivered
before January
1, 1995. Unisys will therefore not pursue legal
actions against such
pre-1995 software products.
software to obtain a GIF-LZW license agreement from
Unisys if, after
December 31, 1994, the developer creates new software
or updates or
modifies existing software, or issues a new release
of software that
supports the GIF file format.
software applications that support the GIF file
format.
there will be no liability for pre-1995 software
with respect to
that software's support of TIFF which uses LZW.
algorithm. The two license agreements of most interest in this FAQ
are
applicable to software supporting the GIF file format alone and the
agreement applicable to software supporting both GIF and the TIFF file
format's LZW compression feature.
TIFF is a tag-based image file format that is designed to promote
the interchange of digital image data. The TIFF format originated in 1986
when Aldus Corporation and leading scanner vendors worked together to create
a standard file format for images used in desktop publishing. The first
version of the specification was published in July, 1986. Version 5.0 of
the specification was completed in August, 1988.
TIFF supports color depths up to 24-bit, or 32-bit CMYK color, allows transparency
in some color depths, supports a variety of compression schemes, and allows
for thumbnail images and indexing text. TIFF tries to do just about
everything you, or anyone else, could want an image format to do.
As a result, the spec is very complex, and many programs will render only
some TIFFs successfully. Even Adobe Photoshop can't read TIFF images
which use a particular type of compression (group 4 compression).
PNG (pronounced ``ping'') is the Portable Network Graphics
format, a format for storing images on computers. Unofficially its acronym
stands for ``PNG's Not GIF.'' PNG was designed to be the successor to the
once-popular GIF format, which became decidedly less popular right around
New Year's Day 1995 when Unisys and CompuServe suddenly announced that
programs implementing GIF would require royalties, because of Unisys' patent
on the LZW compression method used in GIF. Since GIF had been showing its
age in a number of ways even prior to that, the announcement only catalyzed
the development of a new and much-improved replacement format. PNG is the
result.
PNG has a variety of features. Once again, quoting the PNG home page:
2.7.1 How do I get transparency in a .png?
Because Netscape's PNG support is broken, and doesn't render alpha
channels (transparency) properly. This is supposed to be fixed in
Mozilla 5, but hasn't been yet.
The msvcrt10.dll bug - Certain actions trigger a crash which says something
like "Page Fault in msvcrt10.dll"
The Kernel32.dll bug - Certain actions trigger a crash which says something
like "Page Fault in Kernel32.dll"
The Adobe Type Manager bug - selecting a font in PSP will crash if you have
Adobe Type Manager with font smoothing enabled.
http://www.jasc.com/psp4tech.html.
Other plugins apparently require plugin.dll
from Adobe to work, and it can make plugins work better. This .dll is not
available from Jasc, and is an Adobe proprietary product. It is available
in most Adobe programs, and sometimes comes bundled with scanner software.
http://www.pspro.ml.org/
http://art-ifact.com/kquinn/
http://www.sumrallworks.com/freebies/buttonhole/psp/tutorials/link2g.htm
http://www.grafx-design.com/psp_tut.html
http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/9584/psptutor.html
http://www.casema.net/~jbodde
http://hem1.passagen.se/grafoman/
http://mardiweb.com/web/
http://www.mccannas.com/
primarily Photoshop, but many PSP techniques, too.
http://www.webweaverxxi.com/psp40/
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/9871/PSPlinks.html
- just links to PSP tutorials
http://art-ifact.com/kquinn/
Paint Shop Pro Web Techniques
another book sometimes mentioned is:
by T. Michael Clark
Published by New Riders Publishing, Indianapolis, Indiana
ISBN 1-56205-756-1Creating Your Own Web Graphics with Paint Shop Pro 2nd Edition
Both can be ordered from Amazon.com,
or your local bookstore. Andy Shafran's book is also available through
The book by Clark got many positive reviews in the group a while ago. The
first edition of the book by Shafran & Oliver was the subject of some
heated discussion, as many people were very dissatisfied by it. The second
edition has received better reviews in the newsgroup, and Andy Shafran
has stated he is much more satisfied with it than he was with the first.
by Andy Shafran
published by QUE.
4.1 My scanned images look bad. Why? What can I do about this?
There are all kinds of problems that can come up. One is a poor quality source image. All you can do for that is to try to fix it after you've scanned it. A lot also depends on your scanner software. Some scanners are known to scan too light or too dark. These are relatively easy to fix in PSP, or, you may be able to change some settings on your scanner software to fix this.
4.1.1 What dpi setting should I use for scanning?
That depends on what you are scanning. Magazine images should not be scanned at much over 100 dpi, because the ink dots used in the image are about that size (anyone know exactly?) and you will get pre-dithered images if you use a finer scanner setting. Newspapers are coarser still, and I wouldn't try anything finer than 60 dpi.
For photographs or other non-pixellated images, figure out what pixel size you want the final image to be, and set your scan to match that, or, set your scan to be an exact integer multiple of that, and resample down after you've scanned. Hint - after resampling, most images can be drastically improved by using the "sharpen" filter. Sometimes repeatedly.
It is also suggested that you use integer divisors of your scanners "optical" (not "interpolated") resolution, so if your scanner has 300x300 dpi, you should use 300, 150, 100, 75, 60, 50, etc dpi only. I use 120 dpi on a 300 dpi scanner with very little trouble, but keeping to integer, or half-integer, divisors does seem to help.
4.1.2 What is "interpolated" resolution on a scanner?
Many scanners claim things like 4800dpi "interpolated" resolution. If you didn't pay thousands of dollars, this resolution isn't really there, and isn't really that useful. Unless you're trying to get really fine details out of a small piece of a photo that's in really sharp focus, more than 300 dpi is usually a waste of time and memory. Interpolated resolution means that the scanner will scan one line 1/300th of an inch wide, then move 1/4800th of an inch, then scan the next 1/300th-inch line, then subtract the difference. This doesn't always work perfectly, and takes up lots of resources. Having said all that, there are expensive scanners, particularly "slide" scanners, which do have incredibly fine resolution. Using such fine resolution should be limited to very small images or parts of images, otherwise your file size will get huge, quickly. A scanner which does 8000dpi (they exist!), scanning an image one millimiter square, will produce a 315-by-315 pixel image, which will require 291kB memory. A one-inch-square image will be 8000x8000, and will require 183MB to store.
4.1.3 What good is 30-bit color scanning if PSP (and most other programs) only use 24-bit color?
This is actually a fairly complex question. The answer has to do with how the eye and film see light, versus how electronics see light. The eye (and film) have a "logarithmic" response. That is, the eye sees the same difference between 4 units and 8 units as between 16 units and 32 units. Electronic devices have a linear response - that is, the difference between 4 units and 8 units is the same as the difference between 16 units and 20 units. A 24-bit-color scanner detects 256 different levels each of red, blue, and green, then performing some kind of transformation to make those linear levels more closely approximate the logarithmic response we expect. By scanning an extra two bits per channel, the scanner can make finer distinctions in the dark end of each range, and deliver better scan quality. For some images, this will matter. For others, it won't. Think about what you will use your scanner for when evaluating various features and claims before you buy one.
4.2.1 How do I get text to follow a curve in PSP?
The short answer is that you don't. If all you really want is to turn the text at an angle, in PSP5, open the layer toolbox, use the text tool, enter your text, and make sure that "floating selection" checked. Then select the "Floating selection" layer in the layer toolbox, go to Image/Rotate, enter your rotation, and make sure "Rotate all Layers" is UNchecked. Then go to Selections/Select None, and your text will be set on the image. (You can also keep it as a separate layer if you wish.)
For anything more complicated, you need to either place the letters individually, placing and rotating each one at a time, or use an outside program to create the effect you're looking for, then import it into PSP. Several people on the newsgroup (including the author) favor using MS Word Art, which comes with newer versions of MS Word, for creating initial curved text. A brief run through Corel's Text Art (from the WordPerfect Suite 8) shows it to be more powerful than the WordArt which came with Office95. I haven't seen the Office 97/98 versions of WordArt yet to compare.
4.2.2 How do I make GIFs (and PNGs) with transparent backgrounds?
If you are starting a new GIF image, go to File/New, select "256 colors (8 bit)", and a background color which will stand out from the rest of your image. Click the "eyedropper" tool, and right-click on the blank image. Then go to Colors/Set Palette Transparency, and select "Set the transparency value to the current background color" and click "OK". To see the transparency, go to Colors/View Palette Transparency.
If you are starting a new PNG or TIFF image, go to File/New, select "16.7 million colors (24 bit)" or "Grayscale (8-bit)", and select "Transparent Background" in the background color selector. Before you save, go to Masks/New/From Image, select "source opacity", and uncheck "invert mask data". After you've saved your image, go to Masks/Save to Alpha Channel. This will attach the transparency information to the image file.
If you are starting with an existing non-transparent image, and want to make a transparent GIF, first, reduce the color depth to 256 colors (Colors/Decrease Color Depth/256 Colors using your preferred options), select the area you want to keep as part of the image using the lasso tool, then go to Selections/Invert Selection, then use the Flood Fill tool to fill the background with a solid color which does not occur elsewhere in your image. Using the eyedropper, right-click on the new solid-color fill, then go to Colors/Set Palette Transparency, and select "Set the transparency value to the current background color" and click "OK". To see the transparency, go to Colors/View Palette Transparency.