Menus


Many of the functions in Photogenics can be selected from the menu bar. Photogenics uses a standard Amiga pull-down menu system. Use the right mouse button to select your menu item. Each menu item is described below.

Project Menu

New

Black Page

Opens a requester asking for the image size and opens a blank black image.

White Page

Opens a requester asking for the image size and opens a blank white image.

Soft white

Opens a requester asking for the image size and opens a blank image coloured soft white (Which is often a better background for drawings than the normal bright white).

Select colour

Opens a requester asking for the image size and opens a blank image coloured in the current selected colour.

New Virtual Image

Opens requester asking for size and opens a new blank Virtual Image.

Open

Select a file and attempt to load it into Photogenics. The file type will automatically be detected by the program where possible.

Open as

Secondary

Loads the selected file. The file is then automatically selected as the secondary image.

Alpha Channel

Loads the selected file. The file is then automatically selected as the current alpha channel.

Hidden

Loads the selected file. The file is loaded but no window is opened. Its icon will appear in images window, so you can select it and apply operations to it (or use the Show/Hide menu option to reveal it).

Other

The Loaders window is opened. This can be used to explicitly specify loader format or to select special loaders such as loaders to control digitisers. Use the right mouse button on the list provided to open the popup - select LOAD from this to load with the selected loader.

Open Virtual Image

Opens the requested file into a Virtual Image buffer.

Save

Save the active image over the existing file. This is only available where the original loaded image was a 24-bit file (to avoid you overwriting files with incompatible formats).

Save as

IFF-DEEP

Save the active image in IFF-DEEP format.

IFF-24

Save the active image in IFF-24 format.

JPEG

Save the active image in JPEG format.

Other

The Savers window is opened. This can be used to explicitly specify savers such as 24-bit graphic card displayers and other file formats. Use the Right mouse button over a list entry to bring up the pop-up, and select SAVE from that pop-up to activate.

Print

Via preferences printer

The current image is sent to the printer using the currently selected system printer driver. You can adjust printer options by using the Printer and PrinterGfx control panels in your system 'Preferences' drawer. See Getting the Best from your Printer for further information.

Via Studio II

The current image is set to the Studio II application for printing. Studio II offers far better quality printing than standard system printer drivers. The Studio II package is required for this option to work (not supplied with Photogenics). See Getting the Best from your Printer for further information.

Via TurboPrint

The current image is set to the TurboPrint application for printing. TurboPrint offers far better quality printing than standard system printer drivers. The TurboPrint package is required for this option to work (not supplied with Photogenics). See Getting the Best from your Printer for further information.

Clone

This makes an identical copy of the currently active image.

Rename

This option allows you to choose a new name for the currently selected image.

Hide/Show window

The currently selected image is hidden (the window is closed). Closing the window this way does NOT affect the image data and does not lose the changes you have made to the image. This option can be reversed by double clicking on the image icon in the images window to reopen the picture window, or by reselecting this option.

Close

The currently selected image is closed. All changes will be lost if your image has not been saved.

Close Other

Close Secondary

The current secondary image, if there is one, is closed.

Close Alpha

The current Alpha image, if there is one, is closed.

Close All

All images in Photogenics are closed.

Image Information

This displays some useful information about the currently selected image.

About

This displays interesting information about the program, the authors and other useful facts.

Quit

After confirmation the program quits.

Options Menu

Undo/Redo

This undoes the last permanent changes. You cannot undo a paint operation which has not been fixed, simply use the right mouse button to 'unpaint'. You can use it to undo a scale, a warp, a fix, an effect or similar operations.

Discard Undo

This releases the Undo buffer of the active image to free memory. The option is ghosted if the active image has not had any changes FIXed.

Discard All Undos

This releases all the Undo buffers for all images. Use this if you are running low on memory.

Use as Image

This option reverts the selected image back to a normal image window if it has previously been selected as either the alpha channel or the secondary image. If the currently selected image is not the secondary or alpha channel this option does nothing.

Use as Secondary

The currently selected image is set as the secondary image. This image can then be used with compose or with paintmodes requiring a secondary image (eg, RubThru).

Use as Alpha Channel

The currently selected image is set as the alpha channel image. This image is then used as a 'mask' for painting operations on other images.

Restore Window Size

The image window is resized back to the size that Photogenics thinks is best for display on the current screen mode. Normally this will fit without covering up too much of the screen, but will be no bigger than the actual size of the image.

Image Menu

Scale

Scale the image to a new size. Once the image size has been decided, you can select either standard or smooth scaling. Standard scaling is fast but generates sharp pixellised images. Smooth scaling is slower but generates smoother, higher quality, images.

Select New Size

You can select the new size by moving the sliders or by selecting a preset size (as with the New image request) or you can specify the new size as being 25%, 50%, 100%, 200% or 400% of the original size in either the X and/or Y directions. You can select to ignore the aspect (both X and Y can be scaled by different percentages), to keep the aspect locked when changing the size of one dimension the other dimension is resized to keep the aspect ratio the same, or to keep the size (the area of the original picture is kept - when increasing one axis the other axis gets smaller).

Double Size

The image size is doubled.

Double Vertical

The image height is doubled.

Double Horizontal

The image width is doubled.

Halve Size

The image size is halved.

Halve Vertical

The image height is halved.

Halve Horizontal

The image width is halved.

Resize Tiled

The image size is changed, but instead of being scaled the original image is tiled to fit the dimensions of the new page size. If your original image was 100x100 pixels and you chose a new size of 400x200, the new image would consist of eight copies of the original, four across and two deep.

Crop

Crop allows you to cut away the borders of an image by selecting an area you wish to keep and discarding the rest of the image. Crop opens up a new window on the Photogenics screen which has six gadgets. The X Offset, Y Offset, Width and Height gadgets define the position and the size of the area you want to keep. This is shown on the window by a box similar to that used with the Compose system (see section on Compose). You can drag the corners of the box and move the box (drag from the middle of the box) to select an area without having to type in co-ordinates. Select the OK gadget in the Crop window to crop the image, or Cancel to abort the operation.

Add Space

Add Space allows the user to add extra working area onto an image. The user can specify the amount of space to add on any of the four sides of the image. The space will be added as the selected colour shown at the top of the toolbar.

Rotate

90 degrees

The whole image is rotated 90 degrees clockwise.

180 degrees

The whole image is rotated 180 degrees clockwise.

270 degrees

The whole image is rotated 270 degrees clockwise (or 90 degrees counter-clockwise).

Other angle

The whole image is rotated by a user-specified angle.

Shear

Options are given to shear the currently selected image in both the X and/or Y directions.

Clear to

Black

Clears the active image to black.

White

Clears the image to white.

Soft White

Clears the image to soft white.

Select Colour

Clear image to current selected colour.

Select Similar

These options fill areas of the image with the current effect based on the colour of each pixel. This operates in a similar way to the Fill tool but no boundary checking is done - the whole screen is filled according to the tolerance and smoothness settings. Once filled this selection can then be applied with any effect by changing the paint mode, or converted into an Alpha Channel by using the 'Move Paint Layer to Alpha' option.

Similar to Current Colour

All pixels similar to the currently selected colour are selected (painted over).

Similar to Pixel Colour

Using the colour picker, you choose a colour from your image. All pixels similar to this colour are selected (painted over.)

Options

This allows editing of the Tolerance and Smoothness parameters for Select Similar. They work in exactly the same way as the parameters for the Fill Tool. The Tolerance defines how 'near' a colour has to be to the specified colour for it to be selected. The 'Smoothness' determines how transparent the selection will be. With smoothness high, pixels that are very close to the chosen colour will be set with a low transparency, and pixels that are not as close will be filled with a higher transparency. This gives smooth edges to filled areas.

Text entry

Text entry will add text to your image into the paint layer, so you can alter the text further (by appling effets to the paintlayer)

Compose

Please refer to the section on Compose.

Alpha/Paint Layer Menu

Load Paint Layer

The un-FIXed paint layer can be loaded back onto an image. See reference section on Paint Layers for more detail.

Save Paint Layer

The un-FIXed paint layer can be Saved from the selected image window. See reference section on Paint layer for more detail.

Move Paint Layer to Alpha

The opposite of Move Alpha to Paint layer. The changes in the paint layer are moved into a new image that is then used as the alpha channel.

Invert Alpha

The alpha channel image is inverted - light areas become dark and dark areas become light.

Move Alpha to Paint Layer

The opposite of Move Paint Layer to Alpha. The image designated as the alpha channel is moved into the paint layer applying the current colour and effect. Dark areas will be transparent, light areas will be opaque.

Invert Paint Layer

The paint layer is inverted - opaque areas will become transparent, transparent areas will become opaque.

Fix Paint Layer

Same as FIX on Toolbox. The paint layer is FIXed to the image and cleared.

Fix & Keep Paint Layer

The paint layer is FIXed to the image and kept. Use this operation to build up effects on selected areas of an image.

Blur Paint Layer

Some paint fill options many leave hard edges, this option blurs the paint layer and produces a smoother edge.

Clear Paint Layer

Same as clear icon on Toolbox. The paint layer is cleared.

Windows Menu

Selector

Opens the Selector list window, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open.

Loaders

Opens the Loaders list window. To keep it open permanently on screen, click on the 'page' gadget in the top left hand corner, which will then show a folded corner to indicate it should be left open.

Savers

Opens the Savers list window.

Modes

Opens the Modes window. You can also press Right Amiga-M on your keyboard to select this.

Effects

Opens the Effects list window, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open.

Toolbox

Opens the Toolbox window, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open.

Image bar

Opens the Image bar icons preview, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open.

Palette

Opens the Palette window, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open. The Palette window can also be opened by clicking on the current colour in the Toolbox, or by pressing the 'P' key.

Colours

Opens the Colours window, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open.

Co-ords

Opens the Co-ords window, or brings it to the front of the screen if it is already open.

Trans. Gradient

Opens the Transparency Gradients window. Transparency Gradients affect solid drawing operations (eg, Fill screen, Rectangle, Filled Circle) and allow smooth gradients to be applied to the image. See the chapter on Transparency Gradients for more information.

Settings Menu

Screen Mode...

Select which screen mode you want to run Photogenics in. Note that the screen mode is purely used for the visual display and does not affect the quality of the image you are creating - you can still create high-resolution 24-bit colour images even when running on a low resolution 16-colour screen.

Preview Mode

Fast Ham8

If this option is available you can switch to using a fast Ham8 screen display. Ham8 offers far more colours on screen than 256 colour screen mode, but has a lower horizontal resolution. 256 Colour This mode uses 256 colours (dithered) to provide a good approximation of the 24-bit display. It is slower than Ham8 but will work better with third party display cards (eg, Picasso II, Retina) and has a better horizontal resolution. You can also switch quickly between 256 colour and Greyscale 256 modes.

16 Colour

This mode uses 16 dithered colours to approximate the 24-bit image. It is a fast mode that uses less memory than most other modes. 16 Colour and Greyscale 16 are the only modes that can be used on older (pre AGA) Amiga standard displays.

Greyscale 256

The screen is displayed in 256 shades of grey. This provides a more accurate representation of image detail than 256 colour, but without the colour content.

Greyscale 16

The screen is displayed in 16 shades of grey, dithered to provide a better quality image. This is fast and uses less memory than any other preview mode.

CyberGraphX

Photogenics supports the CyberGraphX 15/16/24-bit graphics standard. This allows Photogenics to directly support working in much higher quality on supported 24-bit graphics cards. At time of writing CyberGraphX currently supports CyberVision 64, Retina Z3, Picasso II, GVP Spectrum and Piccolo Z2 and Piccolo SD64. drivers. These drivers are not supplied with Photogenics and must be purchased separately. Note this flag is for information only - to select a CyberGraphX mode you should select a 32K, 64K or 16M screen mode from the screen mode requester. To switch back to another preview mode you will need to change back to another screenmode.

Select Font

Allows you to select your own custom font for Photogenics.

Preferences

The preferences menu option opens up a requester with various options

Undo Enabled

On low memory systems it may be necessary to disable the undo feature. This will free memory for loading more/larger images but the undo feature will not be available.

Close Workbench

Photogenics will try and close the Workbench screen to free memory (or to open it again if it has already been closed). WARNING! Certain Amiga configurations running 3.0 and 3.1 Kickstart are affected by a bug in Kickstart that can cause your computer to crash if you try and re-open Workbench once closed (or if you quit the program once Workbench has been closed). Make sure you save your files before using this option if you have not tried it before!

Memory Display

Enable or disable the memory display in the title bar.

Clock

Enable or disable the clock display in the title bar.

Close Image warnings

When disabled you will NOT receive any warnings before image buffers are closed.

Use System redraw routines

By default Photogenics uses fast custom code to convert the image data into a format to display on screen. This is in general faster than the operating system equivalent functions. However, if you own a CD32 (with the Aikiko chip) or you are running Photogenics on a 24-bit graphics card (eg, Picasso II) you may find that the system redraw routines are faster, and should select this option. This option has no effect when the CyberGraphX Hi/Truecolour mode is selected. In general, it is best to select this if you are using any third party display device (Picasso II, CyberVision 64 etc.) in 256 colours or less.

Cut to secondary

When this option is enabled, if you cut out an image with the scissors or scalpel tool the resultant image is automatically selected as secondary. This, when used with Compose (and if using irregular shapes the 'Transparent Black' option in Compose), makes it quick and simple to cut out one part of an image and paste it down somewhere else on the picture.

Create .bak files

Normally, if you overwrite a file with another image, the old file is lost forever. With this option enabled the old file will be renamed as .bak before the new file is saved. If you are running from hard disk and have plenty of free space you will probably prefer to select this option.

Lock image aspect

When windows are resized the image remains at the same aspect ratio and more or less of the image is displayed depending on the new window dimensions. However, if this option is disabled the image is scaled to fit the window dimensions, allowing you to squash or stretch the preview image (this only affects the preview, not the real image data).

Tablet Mode

Some graphic tablets or non-standard input devices (a mouse attached to the serial port, for example) will not work correctly with Photogenics unless this option is set. With Tablet Mode enabled Photogenics uses slightly slower routines that will work correctly with such devices.

Large Toolbar

If you are using a high resolution screen mode (400 pixels high or more) then you may prefer to use the larger toolbar. This is double the height of the normal toolbar. You cannot switch toolbars while running Photogenics, you must save your settings, quit, and reboot Photogenics.

Web Browser Command

Enter the string to execute the on-line help. If you change your web browser (but AWeb is the fastest - we don't recommend changing!) then you'll need to edit this string to get it working.

Editor for Macros

Enter the command name to load your prefered text editor, which is used to alter or write macros for Photogenics Arexx. You could set it up to open automatically on the Photogenics public screen, for example. See your editor documentation for information on how to do this. Substitute %s for the filename in this command string.

Set NewIcon Size

If you have the NewIcon system installed, this option allows you to select the size for the NewIcon images.

Set NewIcon Type

16 Colour

NewIcons are saved in 16 colours.

64 Colour

NewIcons are saved in 64 colours. This is the default setting as it is a good compromise between image quality and speed.

256 Colour

NewIcons are saved in 256 colours. This gives the highest quality, but Workbench can be quite slow when dealing with 256 colour icons, especially when there are many in a single directory.

Greyscale

NewIcons are saved in 16 shades of grey.

Add NewIcons to directory

This option allows you to select a directory and automatically add NewIcon images to every image in the directory that Photogenics can read.

Save Settings

The current settings will be saved to disk. If you do not save your settings then all the options you have selected from this menu will have to be reset every time you load Photogenics.

Macros

F1 - F10

Configurable ARexx hot-key commands.

Install a Macro

Requester for installing an ARexx script into one of the F1 to F10 hot-keys.

Remove a Macro

Requester for Removing an ARexx script from one of the F1 to F10 hot-keys.

Edit Macro

Loads selected ARexx script into a text editor for editing.

Run Macro

Runs a un-installed ARexx.

Back to Online Help Main Index


Copyright © Almathera 1996