How to Get Online 1996 Spring/HOW2GON.ISO/mac/Graphics/PhotoGIFv1.1.4/Using_PhotoGIFv1.1.4

Text File | 1996-01-12 | 8.2 KB | 180 lines | [TEXT/R*ch]

Useing PhotoGIFv1.1.4 © 1995 BoxTop Software. All Rights Reserved.

BoxTop Software
P.O. Box 2347
Starkville, MS 39760
1 [phone]
[e-mail]
http://www.aris.com/boxtop/PhotoGIF
ftp://aris.com/boxtop



1: System Requirements
2: Installation
3: Opening files
4: Saving As
5: Saving
6: Setting preferences
7: Anything I didn't cover



1: System Requirements

   Previous versions of PhotoGIF worked with Photoshop 2.5.1 and above.
PhotoGIFv1.1.2 and above require Photoshop 3.0 or higher. (I can just hear
all you 2.5.1 users gasp. Never fear. Although the 3.0 specific version
was done first because it let us add some nifty improvements and there are
more 3.0 users out there, we will be doing a new version for 2.5.1. In the
meantime v1.0b8 will still be available for 2.5.1 users.)

   PhotoGIF has no system dependencies that Photoshop doesn't have itself
so if you can run Photoshop 3.0, you can use PhotoGIFv1.1.4. There are no
known conflicts with any particular Macintosh model.

   Do note that PhotoGIF has not been tested with the latest LE version of
Photoshop.



2: Installation.

   Put it in the "File Formats" folder inside of your "Plug-ins" folder while
Photoshop is not open. When you open Photoshop again " PhotoGIF" will be an
available option in the file formats menu.



3: Opening files

   PhotoGIF overrides the "Compuserve GIF" plug-in that ships with Photoshop. You
don't have to do anything at all special to open a GIF file using PhotoGIF. Select
it in open dialog or double click it, if it's a GIF, PhotoGIF will be used to open
it.

   On the other hand to use the "Compuserve GIF" plug-in with PhotoGIF installed
to open a file you will have to do something special. In Photoshop's open dialog,
check 'show all types' then select "Compuserve GIF" from the pop-up menu that
appears to override PhotoGIF.



4: Saving as

   The first time you save a file after creating it, or when you need to change
transparency or interlacing settings in an existing file you need to 'save as'.

   Select 'save as' from Photoshop's file menu, the ' PhotoGIF' in the dialog's
format menu. It will be the third one from the top. Name your file and hit the
'save' button. PhotoGIF will analyze you image before showing it's own options
dialog. Before you have had a chance to set any preferences PhotoGIF will show a
progress bar while it's doing this.

   At the top of the options dialog there is a white box that contains information
about your image. To the left is the currently selected color's RGB value in decimal
and hexadecimal. (Hint, to find the right color for your Netscapified background just
hit the alpha radio button and drag the RGB sliders until you find a color you like.)

   In the middle the height and width of the image is shown. You might also want to
make a note of these for those extra Netscape tags. To the right you will see the
images bit depth and number of used colors.

   Below these are two radio buttons for setting the version of the GIF you are
saving. "GIF89a" and "GIF87a" and a check box for interlacing. If you just want to
save your image as interlaced and not transparent always set the version to GIF87a.
It will save a few bytes of file size.

   Below the version radio buttons is a group of buttons for transparency method.
"Alpha", "Color", and "None". The alpha button will be disabled in the dialog if
there isn't an alpha channel. (If your image has more than one alpha PhotoGIF will
be disabled in the file format menu, so there is no control to select the alpha
channel to use. PhotoGIF always uses the first alpha channel for the transparency
mask.)

   When the Alpha button is selected a set of RGB color sliders will appear for setting
the color that the transparent area of the image will be remapped to. You can select
any color you like. The preset default (before you set your own) is 198, 198, 198.

   When the "Color" button is selected a palette will appear. There are three small
buttons to the left of it "POP", "RGB" and "IMG". These are for the sorting order of
the displayed palette. "POP" is by popularity, with most common color first. "RGB" is
sorted by RGB color values with white first and black last. "IMG" is sorted in the
same order as the images palette is stored in Photoshop's look up tables.

   PhotoGIF will absolutely refuse to show a color that isn't actually used in the
image and empty spaces in the palette will be white with a dot in the middle. When
viewed by popularity or RGB all the unused colors are on the end of the palette, but
when viewed.

   The individual colors displayed in the palette are on the small side. The current
color is displayed much larger to the right of the palette and it's RGB values in the
white area at the top of the dialog. For A bigger view of any color in the palette
option-click on it and it will zoom to the full size of the palette and show the
colors RGB value. To un-zoom the color without changing the current color selected
just click anywhere besides the "SET" button. To set the zoomed color to the currently
selected on click on the "SET" button.

   If the layout of the buttons to the left of the palette seems a little odd, that's
because we've left room for an eye-dropper button. The eye-dropper color picker didn't
quite make it into this release, but the dialog was designed with it in mind.

   When you have the "None" button selected there are no other controls displayed.

   Underneath all of these in the bottom left of the dialog is a check box labeled
"Power Options". When you check it the dialog gets larger revealing many more
controls that you can use to set PhotoGIF's behavior.


5: Saving

   Hit 'Command S'. Whatever settings you made when you last 'saved as' will be used
to save the file. If you last saved using an alpha channel for transparency and have
since deleted that alpha channel PhotoGIF will use the transparent index that it set
for the transparency.

   This has no odd or ill effects if you open a file and immediately delete the alpha
channel, but if you have for example just used an alpha channel to set a portion of your
image containing many different colors to the transparent area the actual color used
for transparency won't be in Photoshop's look up tables until you open the file again.
So it's best not to delete an alpha channel in the middle of an editing session if
you've been using it for transparency. Strange things can happen.



6: Setting preferences

   PhotoGIF will allow you to set the default control settings for the options dialog
except the initial current color for transparency which is always the color of the
top, left pixel in the image and most times the one you want to use anyway. You can
also control which progress bars if any PhotoGIF displays in the course of opening,
analyzing, and saving images.

   To set default controls setting first set the dialog controls for version,
interlacing and transparency including which palette is displayed or RGB slider
positions to the defaults that you want. Then check the "Power Options" check box
at the bottom of the dialog. Checking "Power Options" will make PhotoGIF’s dialog
bigger revealing many more controls. At the bottom there is a large button "Set
Defaults Now" click it to set PhotoGIF's default dialog settings to the ones set
in the dialog. The next time the options dialog is displayed it will have the
settings in it that you made. This can save a lot of time if you save most of your
files the same way.

   The rest of the controls above the "Set Defaults Now" control dialog independent
behavior. You can chose whether you want PhotoGIF to create an alpha channel for
transparency or use the images transparent color when it opens files. (Not creating
an alpha is a little faster but somewhat less versatile than just remembering the
transparent color.)

   The next check box down "Show Progress" enables or disables all the progress
bars. Without the progress bars PhotoGIF goes much faster, but the downside is that
you don't have the option to cancel reading or writing. The three check boxes
under it control the separate progress bars individually. I suggest that you leave
the writing progress bar enabled unless you like to live dangerously.


7: Anything I didn't cover

   Just email. All questions are answered as best we can. You can also call, although
it is very tough to get through on the phone.