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.
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Copyright © Almathera 1996