<p>Paint Shop Pro: Image slicing (v7)</p><p>Most images are used just as they come, that is to say, 100% of their surface. Up until now, whenever you wanted to use just part of an image, you had to define the area using the selection rectangle, then click on Image/Crop the selection to eliminate the parts you didn't want. That was the only option, until version 7.0 of Paint Shop Pro. But things have changed ...</p><p>Why Slice?</p><p>Paint Shop Pro 7.0's image slicing function allows you to cut an image into several contiguous areas. This function, which is also offered by the program's Photoshop 6.0 rival (Slice tool), is basically used in three situations:</p><p> The cutting up of an image into smaller pieces for loading one after the other. This option is an attractive alternative to loading an image in interlaced mode, especially for large-size images. The visitor discovers the image one panel after another (interlacing is also possible), thus keeping the person interested and making sure he/she doesn't want to leave too soon.</p><p> The division of an image into perfectly contiguous hotspots. This function allows you to quickly create a block of buttons by designing them all in a single image, which is then sliced into hotspots.</p><p> The creation of a consistent set of buttons, bars, texts, etc. Rather than having to create buttons, bars and texts in separate files, repeating the same actions on each image every time, the image slicing function allows you to first of all create all these forms in a single document. You can then apply colours, filters, special effects, etc. on the file as a whole, split the various components that make up the image and save each part with a separate file name.</p><p>The Web Tools Bar</p><p>Image slicing is a Web function. It does not appear in Paint Shop Pro 7's main menu, but in one of the program's numerous tool bars. To activate this function:</p><p>1. Click on View > ToolBars. The tool bar option dialog box appears. 1. Check the Web ToolBar box and then close the dialog box. The Web tool bar is added to those already displayed.</p><p>Tip The right bar in the right place. Thanks to the double vertical lines situated to the left of the tool bar, you can move and position the Web tool bar anywhere you like on Paint Shop Pro's interface as a floating tool palette. It can also easily be docked to the left, to the right or at the bottom of your workspace. </p><p>The image slicing button is situated at the far left of the tool bar. Now one of Paint Shop Pro's regular features, the tool bar is displayed every time the program is opened.</p><p>Creating the Image</p><p>We are now going to create a block of four buttons. Each button in the block will measure 90 x 30 pixels and will be associated to a link. The purpose of the exercise is the slicing, so our buttons will be very simple.</p><p>1. Click on File > New and create an image measuring 90 pixels wide by 120 pixels high. 2. Scroll the Background Colour pull-down menu and select White as the image's background colour. 3. Make sure that the Image Type is in 16.7 million colours mode. If this is not the case, most of the special effects and filters will not be accessible.</p><p>4. Leave the resolution at 72 points per inch (the default value for computer screens). 5. Using the Text tool, position the menu texts at an equal distance to each other. To help you position the texts, activate the grid by clicking on View > Grid.</p><p>And there you are, your menu block is finished. The next step is the actual slicing.</p><p>Slicing the Image</p><p>Now let's move on to the serious stuff with the Image Slicer tool:</p><p>1. Click on the Image Slicer button on the Web tools bar. Paint Shop Pro 7 opens the Image Slicer dialog box.</p><p>2. Click on the small loop-shaped button, at the bottom-right of the window, to make the document bigger. The Pan tool, on the far right, allows you to move the image inside the window. 1. Click on the Slicer Tool button in the Tools area, to the top-left of the panel. 2. Now drag the mouse pointer over the image zone: the pointer becomes a knife. 3. Take note of the X and Y values, shown in the bottom-left of the window: X indicates the pointer's position on the horizontal plane, Y the position on the vertical plane. Don't worry about the X value, bring the pointer to Y = 30, then click. Note how Paint Shop Pro 7 draws a horizontal or vertical black line, depending on whether the pointer is moved towards the top or the bottom, or towards the right or the left.</p><p>4. Release the button: the image has been sliced at level Y = 30. Now you have to do the same for coordinates Y = 60 and Y = 90. The image has now been sliced into four equal parts.</p><p>If you make a mistake, erase the slicing line by activating the Delete tool - it looks like an eraser - then click on the line to delete it.</p><p>Creating Links</p><p>Each of the four zones that we have just defined may receive a link. This is very simple:</p><p>1. Activate the Arrow tool and click in the part of the image that is to receive a link. The outline of the selected area becomes slightly bigger (though you really have to look hard to notice the difference).</p><p>2. Enter the link Web address (another page or site) in the URL field. 3. In the Alt_text field, enter the text to appear in the tooltip that explains the link in the Web browser. If the browser has been set up not to load images, this text will be displayed instead of the image.</p><p>4. Don't put anything in the Target field, as the default option is set to _parent. This area allows you to specify the frame where the image is to open.</p><p>Now all you have to do is repeat these steps for each area of the menu and associate a different URL to each button.</p><p>To view the end result, click on the eye-shaped button at the bottom of the dialog box. This button opens a window in your default Web browser, with your sliced image as the content. Move the mouse pointer and check the links are in place by looking at the tooltip and reading the URL name on the status line at the bottom left of the browser.</p><p>Now all you have to do is save your image. Child's play after all you have just gone through! Simply click on the Save As button on Paint Shop Pro's interface! </p><p>Windows' standard dialog box appears. Note that the file type is not a graphics format, but an HTML format (with a .htm extension). Simply name your file and select a destination folder (preferably that of your Web site project), then click on Save. All that remains now is to paste the code obtained in this way into the page of your choice. This is just standard HTML editing.</p><p>Tip The right format. By default, the image slicer module offers to save the image in GIF format. You may choose another format (JPEG or PNG), if you wish, in the format field. </p>