Introduction Congratulations on purchasing Mister Retro's Machine Wash Image Filters! We've prepared this Quick Start guide and tutorial to teach you the basics of using our filters. Once you're comfortable with basic filter application procedures, read the Pro User Tutorial to learn additional filtering techniques. We know you're anxious to use the filters, so let's begin. Setup and Installation To begin, we need to load the Machine Wash Action into your Actions palette. Launch Photoshop and display the Actions palette by selecting Window > Actions (or you can click Alt + F9). You'll notice a small, right-facing arrow in the upper right hand corner of the palette. Click this arrow and select the Load Actions command. You'll be prompted to find the action you wish to install. Browse the Machine Wash CD and open the Actions folder. Now, open the folder that corresponds to the version of Photoshop you're using. Highlight the MachineWash.atn file and click the Open button. Now, you should notice a folder in your Actions palette called Machine Wash, which means you've installed the actions properly. We are ready to start washing! Please note you do not need to copy the Machine Wash Filters to your hard drive, as they will occupy over 600 MB of hard drive space. We recommend you access them directly from the Machine Wash CD. Getting Started In Photoshop, open or create a layered image. Make sure that the active layer the highlighted layer in the Layers palette contains the image you wish to wash. If you want to wash a type layer, you must render it before the wash can be applied. Select Layers > Type > Render Layer to render your type layer. Next, make sure you have created an opaque background layer. Remember, anything in the background layer will show through in the active layer once the wash has been applied. Do NOT apply filters to the background layer; you must make sure there is at least one layer below the active layer or the filter will produce no results. In most cases, we recommend a solid color as the background layer. Next, select either the Regular Cycle or Heavy Cycle in the Machine Wash Actions Folder. Click on the right facing arrow in the upper right hand corner of the Actions palette and scroll down to the Play command to run the action. (Refer to image of Actions palette above for details.) (NOTE: The Regular Cycle Action dissolves the active layer, revealing the background color, while the Heavy Cycle Action creates a layer between the active and background layers to create a rusted appearance.) When you play either Machine Wash Action, a window will pop up looking for the location of the filter you'd like to apply to your image. On the Machine Wash CD, open the Filters folder and select the filter (PDF file) you'd like to apply. Use the Filters Directory HTML file (directory.html) on this CD to preview the filters. When you play a Machine Wash Action, Photoshop displays a selection box in the active layer, constrained to the canvas size of the image. You may need to scale this box to cover the entire image. Should you need to scale the filter to cover the image, make sure you constrain its proportions. To constrain the filter's proportions while you are scaling it larger or smaller, hold down the Option or Alt key along with the Shift key and drag the corner points of the selection box to proportionally scale the filter over your image. If you do not hold down these keys, the filter output will appear disproportionately stretched. You can also use the scaling feature to enlarge filter textures to create a sparser, heavier or larger distressed effect on your image. As soon as you are done scaling the filter, hit the Enter or Return key and the filter scaling will be applied to your image. The action will continue to run automatically until its cycle has completed and your image has been successfully washed! Want to Try Another Wash? No Problem! Machine Wash Filters create a distressed look using Layer Masks while preserving your original image. At any time, if you do not like a particular effect, you can drag the Layer Mask to the trash, choosing not to apply the mask, and your original image will be restored. (NOTE: The only time when this is not the case, is if you choose to render or apply the Layer Mask, or you flatten the affected layer.) During each Machine Wash cycle performed, the Machine Wash action creates a new channel in the Channels palette. You'll need to open the Channels palette and delete these unused channels to keep file size to a minimum. If you're not sure which channels to delete, keep the channel with the italicized name. If you're ready to take your washing skills to the next level, read the Pro User Tutorial on this CD to learn advanced Machine Washing techniques!