Contents Welcome to Corel PaintShop Pro X7 . 1 The digital workflow . 9 Learning how to use Corel PaintShop Pro . 15 Workspace tour . 23 Getting started . 59 Reviewing, organizing, and finding photos . 99 Using the Adjust workspace . 139 Working with camera RAW photos . 143 Adjusting images. 149 Retouching and restoring images . 229 Merging exposures and content . 273 Working with selections . 291 Working with layers. 325 Working with masks . 369 Working with colors and materials . 385 Applying effects . 413 Working with text . 531 Drawing and editing vector objects. 551 Working with brushes . 593 Painting and drawing with the Art Media tools. 607 Contents i Working with advanced color features. 629 Customizing Corel PaintShop Pro . 657 Automating tasks . 705 Printing . 729 Sharing photos. 749 Creating images for the Web . 757 ii Corel PaintShop Pro X7 User Guide Welcome to Corel PaintShop Pro X7 For people with a passion for photography, Corel® PaintShop® Pro is an easy-to-use, professionally powered, image-editing software that helps you achieve stunning photos and creative designs. This section presents the following topics: • What’s new in Corel PaintShop Pro X7 • Installing and uninstalling Corel programs • Starting and exiting the program • Registering Corel products • Updates and messages • Corel Support Services •About Corel The availability of features depends on the version of the software you have. What’s new in Corel PaintShop Pro X7 Corel PaintShop Pro X7 is defined by better performance, new tools that help you focus on enjoying the creative journey, and enhanced functionality in key areas. As always, working closely with our users was an essential part of creating this version of the easy-to-use photo- editing tool that many professional and enthusiast photographers and designers have come to rely upon. Welcome to Corel PaintShop Pro X7 1 New! Magic Fill Magic Fill is a content-aware feature that can make unwanted elements of your photos vanish. Use your favorite selection tools to select an area or object that you want to remove and apply Magic Fill to replace the selection with a background that matches the surrounding area—even when the surrounding area is textured or varied. For more information, see “Using Magic Fill to erase image areas” on page 243. New! Shape Cutter and Text Cutter tool options Create photo objects instantly with the Shape Cutter and Text Cutter. The cutouts are filled with the underlying photo or imagery and placed in a new image with a transparent background—perfect for collage, scrapbook, and other creative photo projects. For more information, see “Filling cutout shapes with images” on page 561 and “Creating a text cutout filled with an image” on page 546. New & Enhanced!Materials palette, custom palettes, and color harmonies The redesigned Materials palette makes it easier to select colors, and for the first time, you can build custom color palettes for your projects. A built-in dropper tool lets you sample colors in your images or from any application or Web page displayed on your desktop. Color swatches for the most recently used colors display automatically at the bottom of the palette and color harmonies help you choose colors that look great together. For more information, see “Working with colors and materials” on page 385. Enhanced! Performance Many areas of PaintShop Pro have seen performance improvements. Some notable examples: Switching between workspaces is smoother, RAW image processing is speedier, and some brushes are up to 30% faster (Paint Brush, Airbrush, and the retouch brushes). 2 Corel PaintShop Pro X7 User Guide New! Smart Edge technology for brushes The Smart Edge brush mode lets you tap into content-aware technology to apply brush strokes only to specific areas that match the brush stroke sample area—no path or selection required. Smart Edge is available from the Tool Options palette for many brush-based tools. For more information, see “Choosing brush options” on page 595. New & Enhanced!Drag-and-drop layers Building on the popular drag-and-drop improvements to layers in the last version of PaintShop Pro, PaintShop Pro X7 gives you even more control by letting you drag a layer from one image to another and drop it between or above a specific layer in the Layers palette. New & Enhanced!A better way to start creative projects The New Image dialog box has been redesigned with new category buttons that help you find the right preset for your project. A new visual display helps you view the dimensions and proportions. For custom sizes and settings, you still have access to a full range of controls. Enhanced! Redesigned Adjust and Effect dialog boxes Eight popular Adjust and Effect filters have been updated with a new layout: Selective Focus, Vignette, Retro Lab, Graduated Filter, Depth of Field, Red Eye Removal, Smart Photo Fix, and Digital Noise Removal. Bigger preview areas and an improved layout for the controls make it easier to get the results you want. New! XMP support for RAW files Corel PaintShop Pro can now read and import data saved in XMP files. XMP sidecar files are created by many RAW image-editing applications, such as Corel® AfterShot™ Pro, as a way of saving image metadata without affecting the original RAW files. After editing in PaintShop Pro, Welcome to Corel PaintShop Pro X7 3 you can save the metadata to the associated XMP files. For more information, see “Working with XMP files” on page 147. Installing and uninstalling Corel programs The Installer makes it easy to install Corel® programs and components. Before installing • Close all open programs. Note that antivirus software and firewall applications may affect installation. • Ensure that you are logged in to your computer as Administrator or as a user with local administrative rights. 64-bit and 32-bit installation options When you install the application, you have the option of installing the 64-bit version, the 32-bit version, or both versions. Which version should you choose? It really depends on your computer system and the plug-ins and other devices you use. If you have a 64-bit operating system, 4 or more GB of RAM, and lots of free disk space (need more than 700 MB free), then the most flexible option is to install the 64-bit and 32-bit versions. This will let you use any 32-bit plug-ins or other 32-bit compatible software with the 32-bit version of Corel PaintShop Pro, but still work with the 64-bit version of the application to take advantage of 6 or more GB RAM and other 64-bit optimized features. Note: If you install 64-bit and 32-bit versions, the programs are listed separately and launched separately from the Windows Start menu or Start screen. To install Corel PaintShop Pro 1 Close any open applications. 4 Corel PaintShop Pro X7 User Guide 2 Insert the DVD in the DVD drive or double-click the associated .exe file that you downloaded. If the setup does not start automatically, navigate to the DVD drive on your computer, and double-click Setup.exe. 3 Follow the instructions on your screen. To uninstall Corel PaintShop Pro 1 Open the Windows Control Panel. 2In the Programs category, click the Uninstall a program link. 3In the Programs and Features window, click Corel PaintShop Pro X7 in the list of applications. 4 Click Uninstall/Change. 5 Follow the instructions on your screen. Starting and exiting the program You can start Corel PaintShop Pro from the Windows taskbar or your desktop icon, and exit the program from the File menu. To start Corel PaintShop Pro •From the Start menu, choose All Programs Corel PaintShop Pro X7 or use the Corel PaintShop Pro X7 application icon or tile on your desktop or Start screen. If you installed the 64-bit version of the application, the name is listed as Corel PaintShop Pro X7 (64-bit). If you associate specific file formats, such as JPEG and TIFF, with Corel PaintShop Pro, you can double-click the associated file to start the program. For information about setting file format associations, see “Setting file format associations” on page 690. Welcome to Corel PaintShop Pro X7 5 To exit Corel PaintShop Pro • Choose File Exit. Registering Corel products Registering Corel products is important to ensure that you receive timely access to the latest product updates, as well as valuable information about product releases. Registration also gives you access to free downloads, articles, tips and tricks, and special offers. You can register the program immediately after you install it, or you can register at a later date. You can register the program in one of the following ways: • online — If you are connected to the Internet when you are prompted to register, you can launch the online registration. If no Internet connection is detected, you are presented with a list of options. • by phone — You can call the Corel Customer Service Center nearest you. For more information about registering a Corel product, visit www.corel.com/support/register. Updates and messages Notification messages provide you with important information about your program.You can turn automatic program updates and messaging on or off. You can choose to check for updates and messages manually. To turn notification messages on or off 1 Click Help Message Preference. 6 Corel PaintShop Pro X7 User Guide 2 Mark only the check boxes for the updates or messages that you want to receive. To update your program • Choose Help Check for Updates. To check for messages • Click Help Messages. Corel Support Services Corel® Support Services™ can provide you with prompt and accurate information about product features, specifications, pricing, availability, services, and technical support.