Welcome to Corel PHOTO-PAINT!

This tutorial introduces you to some of the new features included in Corel PHOTO-PAINT 8.

Select a topic:

On-screen look and feel

Productivity and performance

Interactive tools

Object tools

Image editing and special effects

Color and printing

Object/document/file management

Internet features

The interface of Corel PHOTO-PAINT 8 has a new "flat look." On-screen elements, such as buttons, look three-dimensional as you position your cursor over them.

Customize a specific configuration of settings, called a Workspace, using the Options dialog box (Tools menu).You can save multiple Workspaces for specific users or specific tasks and then apply them when you require.

Docker windows give you quick access to frequently used functions. They are similar to Roll-Ups, but you can also dock them to the side of the Application Window.

If you use the Microsoft IntelliMouse, you can now use it to zoom in and out of your image

CorelTUTOR is also included in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. Its tutorials provide interactive step-by-step instructions to help you complete dozens of tasks, from saving files to creating your own Web page.

You can control the placement and content of the toolbars in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. You can resize or move the toolbars anywhere inside the Application Window. Add, remove, and rearrange toolbar controls, or create your own toolbars containing the controls you use most often.

Use the new Image Info Roll-Up to view information about your image as you work on it. The Image Info Roll-Up displays the primary and secondary color models used to display the image and the cursor's coordinates as it moves on the image.

The Recorder and Scripts Docker windows give you quick access to controls that let you automate a series of actions that you want to repeat on the same image or on several different images.

If you are working with very large images, you can speed up your editing tasks and improve efficiency by opening a low-resolution version of the image. You can edit this smaller, low-resolution copy without the delays that you often experience when editing large, high-resolution image files.

Corel PHOTO-PAINT offers extensive keyboard accelerator support. Define combinations of keys to activate commands that you use frequently. You can change built-in keyboard assignments or assign new key combinations to any command.

You can now use symmetrical painting with the brush tools by using the new Brush Symmetry Roll-Up. In Symmetry mode, satellite brush nibs, called "points," revolve around a center point.

You can also create orbits with the brush tools to apply amazing paint twists, pods, rings, and more. There are several preset orbits to choose from, and you can also create and save your own.

Resize any brush-tool nib on screen by holding SHIFT and dragging the mouse.

If you have installed a pressure-sensitive pen and tablet on your computer, you can use the pen to access commands and create your images in Corel PHOTO-PAINT. The Pen Settings Roll-Up (View menu) lets you control the relationship between the pressure you apply to the tablet with the pen and the effect produced by the brush tools.

The new Dodge/Burn Effect tool lets you darken or lighten areas of your image. You can choose to apply the effect to the highlights, midtones, or shadows of your image.

Use the Clone From Fill tool to paint using the current fill, or use the Interactive Fill tool to apply a graduated color blend that changes the transparency from the start color to the end color.

Use the Object Transparency tools to apply local transparency edits directly on an object. You can apply a flat transparency, a gradient transparency, or make selected colors in an object transparent.

Clip masks allow you to vary the transparency of pixels in an object without working on the object directly. A clip mask covers the object like an invisible sheet, so you can cancel changes to the transparency even after saving the image.

Lenses are special kinds of objects used to apply effects filters. The pixels in the image are not changed by the lens; they only "look" different because you see them through the lens. Lenses are objects listed in the Objects Docker window, and you can edit them as you would any object.

A drop shadow is an object that looks like the shadow of another object. Drop shadows are completely customizable and are also listed in the Objects Docker window.

The new Align And Distribute command (Object menu) lets you align objects to other image elements or distribute objects by spacing them evenly over the image.

You can now preview special effects filters directly in the Image Window. The On-Screen Preview button included in most effects dialog boxes allows you to preview the effect on screen.

There are many image adjustment filters included in Corel PHOTO-PAINT that you can use to retouch and refine images. Also included are several special effects filters that you can use to completely change the look of images and to achieve amazing results.

You can combine or stitch two or more images together using the Image Stitch command (Image menu). Stitching lets you merge two or more source images to create a third, composite image.

Use the Fade command (Edit menu) to partially undo operations on an image. When you fade a command, the visual effect is gradually removed from the image.

Use the powerful animation controls in Corel PHOTO-PAINT to make movies for use as customized screen savers or to add color and motion to Web pages.

Corel PHOTO-PAINT now offers support for the PostScript 3 format. PostScript 3 is an advanced PostScript language that lets you use JPEG compression to compress the bitmaps in your print job to make the file size smaller.

The new Palettes Docker window lets you browse through a series of predefined color palettes and choose the one you want to use. To access the Palettes Docker window, click View menu, Color Palette, Load Palette.

You can use color harmonies to choose a paint, paper, or fill color. Color harmonies are most useful when you are selecting several colors and working with custom palettes.

Corel PHOTO-PAINT now supports 16-bit Grayscale and 48-bit RGB images. You can covert images to these color modes using the Convert To command (Image menu). You can also use this command to convert images to the NTSC video color mode.

Use color correction to adjust screen colors so that they are displayed as accurately as possible. The Color Management page of the Options dialog box gives you access to color correction options.

When saving an image as a .GIF or .JPG file, you can now interactively preview the image with the current export options.

You can also import vector images, such as CorelDRAW (.CDR) files, as paths. Each point on the vector becomes a node that you can manipulate with the Path Node Edit tool.

Corel PHOTO-PAINT now offers support for importing and exporting Kodak FlashPix Image files (.FPX).

The Font Navigator (included in the CorelDRAW 8 graphics suite) is a font manager for Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0. It gives you a quick and easy way to find fonts, install fonts, organize fonts into manageable groups, and view and print font samples.

The two most common image file formats for the Internet are Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) and Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG). Corel PHOTO-PAINT offers support for both of these file formats and for the relatively new graphics file format, Portable Network Graphics (PNG). The PNG file format is used as an alternative to .GIF and .JPG files.

The Paletted 8-bit color mode displays images using up to 256 colors and significantly reduces file size. Images must be converted to this color mode before saving them as .GIF files.

The GIF file format supports image transparency, interlacing, and animation capabilities.

Use the new Publish To Internet command (File menu) to create image maps for use on the World Wide Web. The Tag WWW URL command (Object menu) lets you define objects in an image as clickable areas for the Internet.

The FTP Sites page of the Scrapbook Docker window lets you connect to any File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site from Corel PHOTO-PAINT. After you connect to a site, you can browse its contents for files you want to include in your document. When you find a file you want to use, you can import it directly into your document or download a copy to your local drive.

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