Importing Images

To use StudioLine for your images, they need to be imported into the StudioLine Image Archive. StudioLine will safe-keep the originally imported master-copy in the Image Archive, so that you can safely experiment with the effects of the various StudioLine functions and not worry about losing your master-copy.

To import images, click "Load" on the QuickStep Bar. This will open a StudioLine Explorer panel for "Desktop" and the appropriate hint panel.

Understanding the Terminology

Disk Drives

Computers and digital cameras store images as files. With Microsoft Windows, files are saved to disk drives. Each disk is labeled with a unique drive letter (followed by a colon) and usually represents a physical device - either internal to your computer or some external unit. Most commonly, drive letters "A:" and "B:" are used for diskette or ZIP drives, "C:" is the hard disk. Other drive letters ("D:", "E:",...) may be assigned to additional hard disks or your computer's CD-ROM or DVD drive.

Digital Cameras

There are two common interfaces to connect digital cameras to your computer. One method treats your camera like a scanner and uses the TWAIN interface. Most cameras are treated by Windows as if they were simply another removable disk drive and are assigned an available drive letter (e.g., "E:") as soon as your camera is connected to the PC. In StudioLine, your camera will thus appear as a removable disk drive.

Folders

Managing hundreds or thousands of images, documents, programs and other files on your computer would quickly become confusing. That's why you can create folders and sub-folders to organize your files.

Locating Your Images

The StudioLine Explorer “Desktop” shows a list of all drives connected to your computer.

Double-click the drive letter that contains your images, e.g. "Removable Disk (E:)" for your digital camera, or "Compact Disc (D:)" for a photo CD-ROM.

The left pane of the StudioLine Explorer panel lists any folders on the selected drive. The right "content" pane lists folders, images and other files in the top-level "root" folder on the selected drive.

Typically, digital cameras store about 100 images per folder. Several image folders are then grouped together in a parent folder. To locate your first 100 images, you would have to double-click on drive letter, e.g., "E:", then on the parent folder "DCIM" and finally on the image folder, e.g., "100abc". (Of course, you would have to substitute the drive letter and the folder names with the appropriate letters and names applicable to your computer and camera.) To view the next 100 images, you would first have to return to the parent folder by pressing the button "One Level Up".

Then click on the folder containing the next set of images, e.g., "101abc".

Importing Your Images

Once you have located the images on your digital camera or your computer, you can drag them from the StudioLine Explorer panel and drop them onto the Image Archive workspace:

You can also import multiple images at once. To select more than one image, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking the left mouse button on the desired images. You may also click between images, hold down the mouse button and drag it across the desired images to create a selector band around them. You can still add additional images to your overall selection, by using the Ctrl key.

See the chapter on Selecting Objects, for further information.

Scanning Images

StudioLine will access a scanner via the standard "TWAIN" interface. To scan images, select "Import" from the "File" menu. You will see a list of any scanners and other TWAIN devices available to your PC. Click a scanner to start the scanner software provided by your scanner manufacturer. After images have been scanned, they will appear in the currently open folder of the StudioLine Image Archive.

Organizing Images

You can create folders in the Image Archive to better organize your images.

See the chapter on Creating Folders for further information.

Viewing the Image Archive

Once you have imported your images, they'll appear as thumbnail pictures in the Image Archive content pane. Don't be alarmed by the small appearance - the images are stored full size and you can edit them directly in Thumbnail view. To magnify an image, use the "Zoom" button on the toolbar, or double-click the image to open the StudioLine Image Viewer.

See the chapter Working on Images for further information.