Introduction

Ability Photopaint Studio, simply referred to as Photopaint for the rest of the documentation, is an image editing and creation program that allows you to perform a wide range of design tasks, from editing of family photographs for fun to creation of subtle effects in the design of advertisements to promote your business. To this end you will find all the necessary tools for manipulating and experimenting with images, allowing you to paint, tone, erase, edit and apply special filter effects.

The secret of successful image editing and creation lies in the use of two important Photopaint features: selections (see Selections) and layers (see Layers).

Most of the time when you begin to work with any image, you will find it useful to select some area that you want to concentrate on, while leaving the rest of the image untouched. (Selections can be seen as similar in concept to the highlighting of text in a word processor before changing a font.) In Photopaint you can select the whole image or drag the mouse over a rectangular or other shaped area. Once an initial selection is made, you can change the shape of that selection, proceed to select all other parts of the image of a similar color, and so on. Moreover, once you have made a selection you can then zoom in on the selected area, thereby making it easier to apply delicate and subtle effects. There are many powerful tools to help you select exactly what you want.

Although a printed image is a two-dimensional arrangement of colors, the creation of the image can utilize a feature called layers. Layers allow you to create a finished image by adding to and editing the image on different levels, which can be understood on the analogy of several panes of glass stacked together. They have a certain (controllable) transparency, and different images can be painted on each layer, the overall effect depending on what order you use to stack the layers. The order of the layers can be changed as you see fit. Mastering layers simplifies the task of combining component images.

So, the basic elements of Photopaint are:

Selections

Paint and draw tools

Filters

Layers