Help Index
  PhotoStar Help Index

This index lists all of the Help topics available for PhotoStar. Click on the topic you would like to see. To learn how to use Help, press the F1 key.

Commands

File Menu 	Load and print images

Edit Menu 	Cut, copy and paste images

View Menu 	Set image magnification

Associate Menu 	Add application icons to PhotoStar

Configure Menu 	Customize PhotoStar's features

Window Menu	Manage windows and device icons

Help Menu 	Get online help

Device Icons

 Library	Open library to access albums

 Photo CD 	Load images from a Photo CD

 Load 	Load images from disk

 Scanner 	Scan Images

 Printer	Print images

 Photo Show	Create a slide show

 Clip Art	Add clip art to images in albums

 Enhancer 	Enhance images in albums

 Accessory Box	Discard images from albums


File Menu
File Menu Commands

The commands in the File menu are for loading images into albums, backing up albums and printing images in albums.

New 	Create new album

Open 	Open existing album

Close 	Close Album

Backup 	Backup album

Restore 	Restore backed up albums

Photo CD 	Loads images from Photo CD

Load Photo 	Load images from disk

Acquire 	Access scanner

Select Source 	Select scanner

Print Photo 	Print images in albums

Print Thumbnail 	Print album thumbnails

Printer Setup 	Set up printer

Exit 	Exit PhotoStar


Edit Menu
Edit Menu Commands

The commands in the Edit menu allow you to copy images to the clipboard, select images and convert images from one file type to another.

Undo 	Undoes last action

Cut 	Cuts image from album

Copy 	Copies image to the clipboard

Paste 	Pastes image from clipboard

Delete 	Deletes thumbnail from album

Search 	Searches for images in albums

Edit Notes 	Write comments on images

Select All 	Select images in album

Invert Selection	Invert current selection of images

Discard Selection 	Discard current selection

Squeeze 	Fill all vacant places with images

Check Link 	Check album link to original image file

Convert Photo 	Change image's file type

Relocate Photo 	Move image file to different directory


View Menu
View Menu Commands

The commands in the View menu set the size and order that thumbnails are displayed in albums.

Full Page 	View entire album

Huge View 	Set thumbnail size to Huge

Large View 	Set thumbnail size to Large

Normal View 	Set thumbnail size to Normal

Small View 	Set thumbnail size to View

View by 	Sort images in album

Hide Index 	View in ascending sort order

Hide Album Status 	View in descending sort order


Associate Menu
Associate Menu Commands

The commands in the Associate menu allow you to add more application icons to the PhotoStar workspace.

Photo Show 	Create a slide show

Clip Art 	Add clip art to an image in an album

Acessory Box 	Remove image from an album

Photo Enhancer 	Enhance an image

Plug In 	Add more applications to PhotoStar


Configure Menu
Configure Menu Commands

The commands in the Configure menu allow you set up the default configuration for device icon locations, album size and JPEG compression levels.

Device Icon 	Arrange device icons

Directory 	Set default directories

Album 	Set default album configuration

Date 	Set default date format

JPEG Engine 	Set JPEG compression level

Preferences 	Set preferences


Window Menu
Window Menu Commands

The commands in the Window menu arrange the albums and icons in the PhotoStar workspace.

Tile	Display all open albums

Cascade 	Overlay all open albums

Close All 	Close all open albums

Arrange Album Icons 	Arrange album icons

Arrange Device Icon 	Arrange device icons in workspace

Hide Device Icon 	Hide device icons from workspace

Arrange Desktop Photos	Arrange photo icons in workspace


Help Menu
Help Menu Commands

The commands in the Help menu allow you to use PhotoStar's online help feature.

Contents	Displays online help directory

How to Use Help 	Information on using online help

About PhotoStar 	Displays PhotoStar's startup screen


New

The New command opens the Library device icon and creates a new album. Enter the name you want for the new album.


Open

The Open commands opens the Library device icon to open an existing album. Double click on the album to open it.


Close

The close command closes the active album. All images are saved when albums are closed. Use the Open command to reopen the album.


Backup

When you work with albums and images in PhotoStar, you are only working with thumbnails of the original files. Any action that will affect the originals is shown.

The Backup Album command is different. It is used for backing up your original images to another disk. With the originals backed up, you could then delete the originals from your hard drive to free up disk space. You would still be able to see what the originals looked like by glancing the thumbnails in the album.

PhotoStar supports several types of file compression to reduce the file size during backup. To backup an album, choose Backup Album command from the File menu.

Album Name	The default album name is the active album.

Required Size	Total disk space required for the album.

Photo Compression	The LZW compression method compresses the file to about half of its original size. Image quality when using LZW is not affected. JPEG provides more file compression. However, a certain amount of image quality is lost with JPEG. The higher the compression rate, the more image information is lost.

Delete	When backing up an album, you can choose to delete the files in the backup directory or the original files on the hard disk.

All files in backup directory: When this option is checked, all files in the directory used for the backup are deleted. To keep the files in the backup directory, leave this option unchecked.

Original image files and album: You can check this option to have all of the files being backed up automatically deleted after being transferred to the backup disk. Leave this option unchecked to keep the original files on the hard disk.

Using Backup with floppy disks and networks

The procedure for backing up albums onto floppies is the same. The only difference is that you will need to swap disks as they are filled up.

The PhotoStar Backup feature can be used on networks without any problems or limitations.

Related Topics:

Restore


Restore

Restore is used to move files back to the hard disk after they have been backed up with the Backup command.

Using Restore is similar to using backup. Choose the Restore command from the File menu. The Restore Album dialog box appears.

Select the file to be restored. The file must be one that was created by the Backup command. Click on the OK button to start.

Info	Clicking the Info button displays information about the contents of the album to be restored.

Open Album	When checked, the album is automatically opened when the restore operation is complete. If the album exists in the directory, PhotoStar will ask you to select a choice from Replace, New and Cancel.

Related Topics:

Backup


Scanner

Install the Scan Module scanning software along with PhotoStar. Before scanning in an image, check with the scanner operation manual for installation and setup information.

There are three ways to scan in photos:

1.	Double click the Scanner device icon and scan an image. The image will be placed in the first blank position of the open album.

2.	Choose the Acquire command from the File menu and scan. The result is the same as when double-clicking the Scanner device icon.

3.	Drag the Scanner device icon into a blank thumbnail position in an opened album. The final scanned image will be place in that position.

Note:	If you have questions about how to use the scanning software, see the Scan Module User Guide.

When the scanning is completed, PhotoStar automatically assigns the file name SCAN001.TIF for the image, where 001 stands for the scan number. Each scan after that gets a higher number.

Related Topics:

Select Source


Select Source

The Select Source command is used to select between Twain compatible software drivers, such as the Scan Module program that controls your Microtek scanner.

After selecting a hardware driver, you can activate that driver with the Acquire command.

Select Source dialog box.

The Select Source dialog box opens when the Select Source command is selected.

Device list	Highlight the device you want to use.

Select	Click on the Select button to choose the device.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box

Related Topics:

Scanner


Load Photo

Double-click the Load Photo device icon, or choose the Load Photo command from the File menu to display the Load Image dialog box.

To load a photo:

1.	Select the image file by clicking on it. Then click the Load button. You can also see the file first before loading it by clicking on the Preview button.

2.	You can load more than one image at a time. Hold down the Shift key and click to select a range of images, or hold down the Ctrl or Shift key and click to select images in any order. After the images you want to load are select, click on the Load button.

The selected files are loaded into the album sequentially from the first blank position.


Photo CD

If you have a Photo CD driver installed in your PC, to load the images in the Photo CD disc, place the disc in the Photo CD driver. Double click the Photo CD device icon, or select CD command from the File menu to display the Photo CD Load Image dialog box.

Click the Create Album button. Type the album name, also choose a shelf to load all the images into album.

Limitations of using Photo CD images:

1.	Since Photo CD images are read-only, image edit in Enhancer is impossible unless you convert the original Photo CD.PCD image file to a PhotoStar compliant file format. Choose the Convert command from the Menu menu, then load the images into the album.

2.	Though unable to edit in enhancer, the Editing Notes command is still effective.0

3.	Other disabled functions for Photo CD.PCD image files are: Backup, Checklink, and Relocate.


Printer Setup

To select a printer, choose Printer Setup from the File menu. Select the printer you want and click the OK button. If you need to change the way the printer is set up, click the Options button.

For information on the available printer options, see your Microsoft Windows User's Guide. The changes you make to the printer options only affect PhotoStar printing. When you exit PhotoStar, the Printer Setup controls are restored to their previous settings.


Print Photo

When you have finished setting up the printer with the Printer Setup command, select Print Photo from the File menu.The Message Line at the top of the Print Shop window shows the number of images to be printed and the name of the album containing the images.

Image tiles, also called thumbnails, representing the images in the album contain a number showing the number of times the image is to be printed. To select an image, click the image tile with the left mouse button. A thumbnail of the selected image appears on the right. Click the image tile again with the left mouse button to increase the number of copies to be printed. Clicking the selected image tile with the right mouse button decreases the number of copies.

Fit image in paper	When Fit image in paper is unchecked, the image is printed at its normal size. If the image is larger than the paper size, the edges are trimmed to fit the paper. When checked, the image is enlarged or reduced to fit the size of the paper.

Preferences

The Preferences command lets you specify printed text attributes. Click the Preferences button to display the Preferences dialog box.

The Preferences dialog box displays the images the way they will be printed, along with any notes that accompany the images.

Clicking the Apply button displays the Photo Note Style dialog box. The Apply command lets you select how the notes will be printed with the photos.

All	If unchecked, you can set individual style for each item. If checked, all the individual items are automatically checked, and can't be modified.

PhotoStar will apply the notes style and its position to the selected photos of the album.

Notes	The available notes fields are: Title, Date, Place and Description. Each field includes its Style and Position. If Style or Position is checked, the current style or position is applied to all of the images when printed.

OK/Cancel	When finished, click the OK button to accept the settings. Click Cancel to close the dialog box without making any changes.

Notes attributes

The notes that can be printed with the photos are Title, Date, Place and Description. The notes themselves are entered in the Notes Editor found from the Edit menu. To change the notes, open the Edit menu and select Notes Editor.

Note:	If no notes have been entered in the Notes Editor, no text will appear with the image in the Preferences dialog box.

The text colors and shadows displayed are the defaults. To change the color or shadow of the notes text, double-click on the notes. The Print Notes Style dialog box lets you specify the attributes of the notes. Double-click on the notes to open the Print Notes Style dialog box.

Font	Select a font, type style and the point size for the notes. A point size of at least 10 looks best when the notes are printed.

Text Color	Select a color for the text from the list box.

Shadow Color	Select a shadow color for the text from the list box.

Display	To display the notes, check the Display check box. When unchecked, the notes are not displayed or printed.

Shadow	Check the Shadow check box to have the notes printed with drop shadows in the selected color.

OK	Click OK to accept the selected text attributes, or Cancel to close the dialog box without making the changes.


Print thumbnail

To print thumbnails of the photos, choose the Print Thumbnail command from the File menu. The Print Thumbnail dialog box is displayed.

Layout	Layout lets you select the number of thumbnails printed on a page. The number of thumbnails that can be printed depends on the paper size, border and number of notes to be printed with the images.

If the number of thumbnails exceeds the page size, you will be informed of the maximum number when you click on the Print button.

Print Border	To print a border around each thumbnail click the check box.

Print Header	To print the header of an album, click the check box. Information in the header includes the album directory, album name with other data.

Print Notes	Check notes if you want to print the notes along with the thumbnails.

Print/Cancel	When ready, click on the Print button to print the thumbnails. To cancel printing, click Cancel.


Exit

The Exit command closes PhotoStar. All albums are saved, so that the next time you start up PhotoStar, the images are still in the albums.


Undo

The Undo command undoes the last Cut or Paste command performed in PhotoStar.


Cut and Copy

Standard Windows cut and copy functions can be carried out in the Album Window. When an image is cut, the original location becomes blank and the image is moved to the Microsoft Windows clipboard in DIB (Data Image Bitmap) format. If you copy an image, the image is copied to the same clipboard, with the same clipboard image file format.


Paste

Once you have carried out the Cut or Copy command, you can paste the photo into any active album by choosing the Paste command from the Edit menu. In the Album Window, PhotoStar always pastes the photo from the clipboard into the first empty position.


Delete

The delete command removes the selected thumbnail image from the active album.


Squeeze

When you rearrange the location of images, some vacancies maybe left. To fill up these blank spaces, choose the Squeeze command from the Edit menu.


Selecting photos

There are several keys that you can use to make loading images faster. A simple click selects an image; for multiple image selection, click the first photo, then hold down the Shift key while clicking the last image. The Discard, Inverse and Select All commands can be made from the Edit menu as well.

If you have several albums open together, there are key commands you can use when dragging images between albums.

You may drag photos to many places: another open albums, the desktop and the Accessory Box. Since the "Ctrl + drag" command does not duplicate the image source file, we recommend you execute the check link command afterwards. This will keep the new thumbnail current when changes are made to the original.

Arranging photos

When photos are placed on the desktop, the functions of the keyboard commands are a little different. Because there are no numbers in the workspace, the "Shift + drag" and "Alt + drag" commands are the same as the simple drag.


Select All

Choose the Select All command to select all the photos in active album.

The keyboard equivalent Select All command is achieved by pressing Ctrl + A.

Related Topics:

Invert Selection

Discard Selection

Selecting Photos


Invert Selection

To invert current selection of photos in the avtive opened album, choose the Invert Selection command. The previously selected photos become unselected; and the unselected photos are now selected. The keyboard equivalent command is achieved by pressing Ctrl + I.

Related Topics:

Select All

Discard Selection

Selecting Photos


Discard Selection

Choose the discard command to deselect photo selections regardless of whatever photos were previously selected. The keyboard equivalent command  is achieved by pressing Ctrl + D.

Related Topics:

Select All

Invert Selection

Selecting Photos


Search

The image itself is a bitmap form, unable to choose any identification for searching. Once you have entered some notes in the Notes Editor, you can try to find the image again with the Search command.

To start the search, select the Search command from the Edit menu. The Smart Search dialog box is displayed.

Find Field	Select a field to search. Field selections include Title, Date, Place, Description and All. With the All selection, it can search for specific text in every field at once.

Where	Choices for the Where selections are Current active album and All opened albums. So be sure to open the albums you want before the search begins.

With Text	The With Text field is used to search for a description, Title and Place. Enter the text string you want. The limit for Description is 64 characters; for Title and Place the limit is 32 characters.

From ___ To: ___	The From... To fields are for searching the Date field for a specific date range.

Match case	When the Match Case check box is checked, the character in the search string must be of the same case before a match is found. If upper and lower cases do not matter, do not check the Match Case check box.

Whole field	If unchecked, an image is found when the text string matches partially or completely. If checked, the text string you entered must exactly match the contents of the field.

Click GO! to start searching, or Cancel to quit without searching.

The images which match the text are displayed. The status line lists the total number of found images, and the Album names where the images are located.

When the Smart Search dialog box shows the photos found by the Search command, you can sort by clicking on the Sort By command. You can also specify whether the search is to be in ascending/descending order.

Sort By	You can sort the images by any of these fields: Title, Date, Place or Description.

Ascending	If unchecked, the sorting order is descending; if checked, ascending is used. When the sort key is Date, PhotoStar recognizes the order regardless of the date format you entered.

Locate	Clicking the Locate button starts the search. Found images are displayed in the album window with a red bullet.

The Locate command only searches for an image. If you select multiple photos, file name of the designated image is shown by a dotted border.

Collect	The Collect command allows you to collect the found images into a new album. Select the photos in the search window, then click the Collect button. The thumbnail of each photo is linked to the new album, removing that thumbnail from the original album.


Edit Notes

In PhotoStar, you can write notes about each image to make it easier to find the image later. The notes can be used for many different PhotoStar functions, such as searching, sorting, collecting, printing and presenting slide shows.

Choose the Edit Notes command from the Edit menu to begin. The Notes Editor dialog box appears.

If the image you want to add notes to is not currently displayed in the dialog box, click or drag the scroll bar to find it. Thumbnails of the photo are shown in the Edit Notes dialog box. When the note editing is completed, click OK to confirm, or Cancel to abandon.


Check Link

Sometimes you may need to check if the album photos are still in the original directory. The photos in your album file could possibly be changed in Enhancer, or other image editing applications such as ImageStar II or PhotoStyler.

Even though the thumbnail is shown, you can't be sure of the presence of the original file without using the Check Link command. Select the image, then execute the Check Link command from the Edit menu. When the Check Link command is executed, PhotoStar reloads the image source file. Select photos before your use Check Link. If no image are selected, the Check Link command is inactive.


Convert Photos

PhotoStar lets you convert images from one file format to another. Choose image files by selecting them from open albums. Select Convert Photo from the Edit menu to begin.

To Format	Select the target file format. The available file formats are: TIF, PCX, BMP and JPEG. The TIF image format permits compression. Make your compression selection by checking or unchecking the Compress box. The JPEG image compression ratio is specified by the JPEG Engine command from the Configure menu.

Directory	Select or type the directory name for the converted files. If you are uncertain of the directory you want, click the Browse button to choose.

Update Link	If unchecked, each photo in the album is linked to the original image file. If checked, the thumbnails are linked to the newly converted files.

Delete Original Files	This option lets you delete the original file after creating the new one.


Relocate Photos

You can take images from existing albums and put them in other albums. You can also move original image files from one directory to another. Open the albums you want and select the images by clicking. You can use Ctrl-click and Shift-click to select groups of images. Then choose Relocate Photo command from the Edit menu. The Relocate Photo dialog box appears.

To Directory	Select a directory, or type the directory name for image file transfer. If you are uncertain where you want to store the images, click the Browse button to choose. If the directory doesn't exist, PhotoStar will create it for you. The default directory name is named image inside the PhotoStar directory.

Delete Original Files	The Delete Original Files option lets you copy or transfer your image file. If the option is unchecked, the original files are copied. If the option is checked, the original files are deleted from the old directory after they are copied.

To Album	Select an album for storage. To find the album you want, open the list box and choose it.

Keep Original Link option

If unchecked, the thumbnail photo and the image files are transferred to the new album. If checked, the thumbnail photo remains in the original album.

The Duplicate files for Destination Album option

If unchecked, the thumbnail photo and the image files are transferred to the new album. If checked, the image files duplicated to default directory to the new album. The default directory is set by the Directory command in the Configure menu.


Full Page

Full Page is the maximized size of the Album Window. If the photos can only be partially seen, selecting Full Page will let you see all of the photo miniatures.


View Scale

The view scale sets the size the image thumbnail is displayed in the album. The default view scale for new albums can be set with the Album command in the Configure menu.


Photo Sort

The Sort By command rearranges the order of photos in the active album. In the sorting process, four sort keys are available: Title, Date, Place and Description. Choose one of the sort keys to start. Text of the sort fields are entered with the Edit Notes command in the Edit menu.

The sorting order can be either Ascending or Descending. The default is Ascending. When the sort key is Date, PhotoStar recognizes the order regardless of the date format you entered.

Related Topics:

Search


Hide Index

Select the Hide Index command to hide the numbers that appear in the album to indicate the number of each image.

When hidden, the command changes to Show Index. Select it to display the index numbers.


Hide Album Status

Select the Hide Album Status command to hide the image information that appears at the bottom of each album.

When hidden, the command changes to Show Album Status. Select it to display the status bar.


Clip Art

Clip Art works as a clip art bank. With Clip Art, you may pick up the image from Clip Art window then paste it in the open Album or Enhancer. In photo pasting, resizing the clip art is easy. The Clip Art makes the presentation much impressive.

The Clip Art window displays the thumbnails it holds. To load logos into Clip Art windows, click the Add Clip Art button and the Load Image dialog box appears.

The image file format of clip art is limited as 24-bit True Color or 256 levels of gray. If your scanned image is neither of them, be sure to convert the image file format before placing it into the Clip Art Window. The size of the clip art should be smaller than the photo you are going to paste. If it is too big, Enhancer rejects it.

To load photos into Clip Art

You load images much as you do photos, except that in Clip Art, images are all converted to JPEG format regardless of original format. The converted image files are saved in a clipart directory set in the Configure menu.

To paste a clip art into an image

Drag the selected clip art to one of these destinations:

1.	A thumbnail image in the opened album.

2.	An image in the opened Enhancer Window.

When you drag the clip art onto a photo, the clip art becomes a floating image in Enhancer. If you drag the clip art into an opened album, the image is automatically opened in Enhancer.

Move the clip art to the desired place in the working window, resize the floating image to suit your needs by dragging one of the eight handles around the clip art, then click anywhere except the floating area to paste the clipart on it.

To rename a photo in Clip Art window

Click the photo in Clip Art window, holding down the Alt key then press Enter to bring up the clip art properties dialog box. Type the new name for the photo and click OK or press the Enter key to accept.

To delete a photo in Clip Art

Drag it to the Accessory Box icon or Accessory Box window.


Accessary Box
Accessory Box

The Accessory Box is a temporary storage place. It stores these objects:

1.	Empty shelves

2.	Unopened albums

3.	Thumbnail photos (in the album or on the desktop)

4.	Clip art

You have these ways to place objects in the Accessory Box.

1.	Drag the objects into the Accessory Box icon. To check the presence of objects, you may double click the Accessory Box icon to view.

2.	Open the Accessory Box window by choosing the Accessory Box command from the Associate menu. Drag the objects into the Accessory Box window.

3.	Open the Accessory Box window by double clicking the Accessory Box icon. Drag the objects into the Accessory Box window.

If the Accessory Box contains any objects, the device icon changes to indicate the fact.

By double-clicking the Accessory Box device icon, your objects are all shown in the Accessory Box window. To remove shelves, unopened albums, clip art and thumbnails from the Accessory Box forever, click the Empty button. As for thumbnails or photos in the Enhancer window, PhotoStar asks you for confirmation. Clicking Yes deletes the original image file as well as the thumbnail, No deletes the thumbnail only, and Cancel abandons the operation.

Apply to all means your selection to Yes, No or Cancel applies to other photo images in the album.


Photo Enhancer

PhotoStar lets you edit the photos you have placed in albums. The Enhancer makes modifications to images. If you need more advanced editing features, use the PhotoStar Plug-in command to load your favorite image processing application into PhotoStar.

Enhancer loads photos from albums in the PhotoStar workspace. There are several ways to open photos in Enhancer.

1.	Double-click a photo when its album is opened.

2.	Drag a photo into the Enhancer icon.

3.	Double-click the Enhancer icon without selecting a photo. Enhancer loads the first photo in the album.

4.	Double-click the thumbnail picture icon on working desktop.

5.	In the Enhancer window, double-clicking a photo in an album brings the newly selected photo into Enhancer. PhotoStar will ask if you want to save the changes made to the current photo if it has been edited in Enhancer.

Note:	If your image file is read-only or directly loaded from a Photo CD disc, functions of Enhancer are disabled.

Photo Retouching

Once you have brought up Enhancer and loaded a photo, the photo is ready to edit and enhance.

Enhancer provides 8 tools on the left side of the Enhancer window: Undo, Zoom in, Zoom out, Cut, Copy, Paste, Paste Control and Optimize.

To change only a selected part of the image, drag the cursor over the image area, then select one of the 8 tools. Without making a rectangular, the image enhancement applies to the entire image.

Undo	 Undoes the modification you just have just made. Only the last change is undone. Multiple undo's are not possible. To find out what has been undone previously, place the cursor on the Undo tool, and press the right mouse button. Certain actions can't be undone: Resize a rectangular area, reselect an area, Zoom in and Zoom out.

Zoom In	 Each time the Zoom In tool is clicked, the image area is enlarged 200%. The maximum is 800% of the original image. The image itself is not changed by zooming in, only the way it is displayed is changed.

Zoom Out	 Each time the Zoom Out tool is clicked, the image area is reduced by 50%. The maximum reduction is 25% of the original image. The image itself is not changed by zooming out, only the way it is displayed is changed.

Cut	 Drag a rectangular area, then click the Cut Tool to copy the selected area to the Microsoft Windows clipboard. The cut-out area is left blank.

To cut the entire image from one photo to another, quit Enhancer and do it in the Album window.

Copy	 First select the area to be copied by dragging the pointer over the image area to create a frame. The frame size can be adjusted by dragging the handles on the frame. Then click the Copy tool to copy the selected area to the clipboard. The copied area is unchanged.

To copy an entire image from one photo to another, quit Enhancer and use the Copy command from inside the Album window.

Paste	 The Paste tool pastes the image from the clipboard into the image in Enhancer. The image was placed on the clipboard with the Cut or Copy command.

The pasted image becomes floating until you click anywhere outside the floating area.

Paste Controls	 Before pasting the following, you can adjust how to paste operation is performed. Click the Paste Control tool to display the Paste Control dialog box. The following paste attributes can be set. The Paste Control parameters will take effect when the pasted image is not floating.

Paste Mode controls how the fill color or fill patterns merge with the selected area of the image to be pasted into. Choose one of the four Paste modes: Normal, Darken Only, Lighten Only and Color Only.

Normal is the default setting. Normal replaces the entire selected area with the new image.

Darken Only compares the pixels of the selected area with those in the clipboard image. If the pixel in the clipboard image is darker then the one in the selected area, then the pixel in the selected area is replaced.

Lighten Only compares the pixels of the selected area with those in the clipboard image. If the pixel in the clipboard image is lighter than the one in the selected area, then the pixel in the selected area is replaced.

Color Only (for use with 24-bit true color) replaces the hue and saturation values of the pixels in the selected area with the hue and saturation values of the pixels in the clipboard image.

Optimize	 The Optimize tool enhances the hue, color and brightness of the selected image. Click it once to enhance the image. You can click the Optimize tool more than once, but the results may not be as good the first time it is used.

Image Effect tools

Enhancer provides 5 Image Effect tools across the bottom of the Enhancer window: Brightness, Contrast, Hue, Saturation and the Blur/Sharpen tool. To hide or show the Image Effects tools, click on the toggle icon at the lower left of the Enhancer window.

To use one of the Image Effect tools, check on the icon of the tool you want, and drag the slider on the intensity bar. The farther you drag the slider, the stronger the effect of the tool.

To change only a selected area of the image, drag the pointer over the image area to create a frame. You can adjust the frame size by dragging the handles on the frame. When no area is selected, the entire image is modified by the Image Effect tools.

Slider	 Control the strength of the effects.

Toggle Icon	 Show Image Effects tools.

Brightness	 Make image brighter or darker.

Contrast	 Change the contrast of the image.

Hue	 Adjust the color of the image.

Saturation	 Change the intensity of the colors.

Blur/Sharpen	 Make the image appear to be more in focus or less in focus.

Photo Information

In Enhancer, pressing the right button does not display image information. Choose the Information command from the Enhancer close box instead.

Exit Enhancer

When you have made your changes, choose the Close command from the Enhancer close box, or double-click on the close box. The Save Image File dialog box appears.

Click Yes to save the changes made to the image, No to close the Save File dialog box without saving the changes or Cancel to abandon changes you have made in the Enhancer. When you save the changes, the original image file is changed, and the photo thumbnail in the album is updated.


Photo Show

When images have been loaded into an album, you can present them in Photo Show, PhotoStar's built-in slide show feature. Photo Show supports colored text, multiple transition effects to both notes and images, and manual or automatic slide changing.

If a sound adapter card has been installed in your PC, PhotoStar allows you to load a sound file for each image. This adds a whole new dimension to your photo show.

Before you begin

Photo Show presents photos in the active album in normal, minimized or maximized form.

If you have selected some photos in an album, Photo Show presents the selected ones only. With no images selected, all the photos in the album are displayed in sequence.

Starting Photo Show

Select Photo Show from the Associate menu, or double-click the Photo Show icon. The Photo Show dialog box displays.

Fit Image in Screen	If unchecked, the photo is displayed at its true size if it is smaller than the screen. When larger than the monitor, PhotoStar reduces it to fit the screen. When this box is checked, PhotoStar enlarges or reduces the photo to match the size of the screen.

Time Interval	This option is valid for auto show only. Time Interval specifies the time between each photo. Depending on the image file size and the computer clock speed, loading a photo may take several seconds. Reducing the time interval doesn't speed up the photo loading time. If a sound file is loaded with an image, PhotoStar waits until the sound is played through before advancing to the next photo. In manual show, advancing or reversing a photo is set by clicking the left and right buttons, and the time interval setting is ignored.

Photo Show Preferences

The Preferences command lets you specify display text attributes, image transition effects and the sound file you want for each image. Click the Preferences button to display the Show Preferences dialog box.

Notes attributes

The notes shown on the screen are: Title, Date, Place and Description. The contents of notes are typed in the Notes Editor. The text colors and the shadow colors are set to the default settings. To change the contents of the notes, enter the Notes Editor, to change the other attributes of the notes, just double-click it on the text you want to change.

The Photo Show Notes Style dialog box lets you specify the attributes of the note you double-click on.

Font	Selects font name, type face and the point size. An inch has 72 points. When displaying images on a monitor, point sizes of 14 or more generally look better.

Text Color	Select the text color you want from the list box.

Shadow Color	Select a shadow color from the list box.

Transparency Text	Enter a transparency level. 0% indicates opaque, and 100% indicates totally transparent.

Transparency Shadow	Sets the transparency level of the shadow. 0% indicates opaque, and 100% indicates totally transparent.

Display	When unchecked, the text of the notes is not shown in Photo Show. Check the box to have the notes displayed.

Shadow	When this box is checked, the notes are displayed with shadows around the text.

Transition Type	The Transition type selection sets how the text is shown. Select a choice from the list box.

Click OK to accept the attributes you specified, or Cancel to abandon.

Photo attributes

To set the photo attributes, double-click the image area. The Photo Show Style dialog box appears.

Transition Type	The Transition type selection concerns how each image is shown. Choose a transition style from the list box.

Sound	You can have sound played with each image when this box is checked. Choose the sound file from the list box. You must have a compatible sound card installed in your PC to use this option.

Load	Load the sound file for the photo. The sound format in PhotoStar is compliant with the Microsoft Windows MPC standard. See your Microsoft Windows 3.1 User Guide for details.

Photo number indicator

You can click on the spin buttons to set the photo number. When you release the mouse button, the screen displays the image with that photo number.

The Apply Command

Once you have set the attributes of the notes and the image, you can click the Apply button to which notes the attributes will apply to. The Apply command lets you specify the attributes of notes and photo to the selected photos in the album.

All	If unchecked, you can set individual style of each item. If checked, all the individual items are automatically checked, and unable to modify.

PhotoStar will apply the notes style, position, transition type and sound to the selected photos of the album.

Notes	Notes covers 4 fields: Title, Date, Place and Description. Each field includes its Style and Position. The Style is set in the Photo Show Style dialog box. Position is the freehand drag-and-move you made to the notes in the Show Preferences dialog box.

Photo	Photo includes Transition Type and Sound. Both the Transition Type and the Sound are set in the Photo Show Style dialog box.

Clicking OK to accept or Cancel to abandon.

Playing Photo Show

Now that you have selected all preferences and clicked OK, the Photo Show Preference dialog box displays.

Click the Show button to display the Player Control Panel.

Current	Shows the current photo number.

Hide	Hides the Player Control Panel, and enters the Photo Show background player mode.

Stop	Click the Stop button to stop playing. The Photo Show does not end, only the current photo remains on screen.

Backward	Click the Backward button to show the previous photo.

Play	Hide the control panel and start the auto player. Press the Enter key to return to show mode. To pause the background playing mode, press the space bar.

Forward	Click the Forward button to show the next photo.

Loop	If clicked, the photo show starts from current photo number. When the last photo has been shown, the player restarts from the beginning. The Loop button shows a never ending presentation until you pressed the Esc key or click the Loop button again.

Channel triangle	Drag the "channel" triangle to the photo number required. The purpose of this is much like the Current indicator except that it is shown at real time. While you drag the channel triangle, the number of the current indicator is changed accordingly. Once released, the player begins to show from the photo number selected.

Total	Displays the number of photos in the active album.

Exit	Returns to album window status. This function is the same as pressing the Esc key.

Background Player Mode

To enter the background player mode, there are two ways: Click the Hide button, or press the Enter key.

To exit from the background player mode to control panel player, press Enter. Pressing the Esc key exits from Photo Show to the Album Window status.


Plug In

You can bring up other application programs inside PhotoStar. If the application runs under Windows, its icon can be placed in the PhotoStar workspace just like the other device icons. Adding applications is done through the Plug-In command in the Associate window. Up to 16 applications can be added at one time.

Loading other applications

Follow these steps to load your plug-in application.

1.	Open the Associate menu and select the Plug-In command.

This opens the Plug-In window.

2.	Click on the Plug-In window's Add button.

The Associate Properties dialog box will open.

3.	Click on the Browse button.

The Browse Associate dialog box appears. The List Files of Type window has two options: Program and All. The Program option displays only the files which have the .EXE or .COM file name extension. The All option lists all the files in the directory.

4.	Use the Browse Associate dialog box to find the directory of your application and the EXE file that is launched to start it up. Double-click on the EXE file to select it.

5.	Click OK to confirm loading the application.

6.	Click on the OK button to close the Plug-In window.

Properties

Clicking the Properties button displays the Associate Properties dialog box.

Description	This is the title of the application. The title is displayed under the device icon of the application. Use the default name, or enter a new one.

Command Line and Working Directory

These two lines are shown once you have selected the program name in the Browse Associate dialog box.

Show Associate Icon

If this option is checked, the application icon is displayed in the PhotoStar workspace. If unchecked, the plug-in program can only be accessed from the Associate menu.

7.	At the right side of the screen, the new application icon is displayed. You can also click the Associate menu to see the program name.

Execute the application

To execute the application program, simply double-click it. For launching image editing programs, the easiest way is dragging the selected photo from the album to the device icon. The selected photo will be opened in the application. Multiple file opening is permissible if the application supports this feature.

Related Topics:

Device Icon


Device Icons
Device Icon

To set the location of the device icons, choose Device Icon from the Configure menu. The Device Icon Setup dialog box appears.

Left/Buffer/Right	The three icon windows show the current positions of the device icons. The default side for the Open, Photo CD, Load, Scan and Print device icons is on the left. The Show, Clip Art, Enhancer and Accessory Box icons are on the right. The icons of application programs that are added from the Associate menu are placed on the right side of the PhotoStar workspace.

To change the location of a device icon, drag the scroll bar to find it, then drag the icon to the side you want it. When you drag a device icon to the buffer in the middle, it becomes invisible, although you can still access it through the Associate menu. To remove a plug-in icon from PhotoStar, exit from the Device Icon Setup dialog box and choose the Plug-In command from the Associate menu.

Icon Name	If Icon Name is checked in the Device Icon Setup dialog box, the name of the device icon is displayed under the icon itself. If unchecked, device icons are shown without their names.

Align to Grid	When Align to Grid is checked, the device icons snap into position when moved. When unchecked, device icons are positioned exactly where they are placed with the mouse.

Auto Arrange	When the PhotoStar application workspace is resized, the device icons are automatically arranged to fit into the new window if the Auto Arrange box is checked. If unchecked, the device icons do not change position when the window size is changed.

OK	Click on OK to accept the changes.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box without making changes.


Directory

Choose Directory from the Configure menu to set the default directory names. The Directory Configuration dialog box appears.

Default Work Path	The work path is the directory that contains the PhotoStar application program and the working files. The name of the default work path is specified when you install PhotoStar. During operation, PhotoStar needs to store some system and temporary files. Temporary files are deleted on exit from PhotoStar.

Default Album Path	This directory holds the album files.

Default Image Path	This directory holds the image files. Image files can be created from file duplication or file import.

Default Clip Art Path	This directory holds the clip art files.

Browse	If you can't remember the name of a specific file, click this button to search for it.

Default	Clicking Default resets the directory names to their initial settings.

OK	Click on OK to accept the changes.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box without making changes.


Album

With the Album Window Configuration command, you can adjust how albums appear on the screen, and how images fit into the albums.

Note:	Currently opened albums are not affected by the Album Window Configuration command. This command is used to set how future albums will appear.

Choose the Album command from the Configure menu to select your preferences from the choices given in the Album Window Configuration dialog box.

Photo Space	The Photo Space command is used to set the default number of rows that will appear in newly created albums. From 1 to 6 rows can be selected.

If, for example, you choose to display 2 rows of photos and then end up needing more than that, the number of rows is automatically increased.

Thumbnail Size	This option specifies size of the miniature photos in Album Window. The available four sizes are identical to the view selections from the View menu.

The file size of thumbnails is about 30K for color images and about 10K for grayscale images. This is regardless of the file size of the originals.

Show Status Line	Check the Show Status Line box to display the information in the Status Line. When unchecked, the Status Line is hidden.

Show Photo Space Number

To display the photo numbers next to each image in the album, check the Show Photo Space Number box. Uncheck the box to hide the photo numbers.

Status Line Fields	When the Show Status Line option is checked, you can select which information you want displayed there. Because space on the Status Line is limited, not all of the fields can appear on the Status Line at one time.

There are two types of Status Line fields, display only and user entry. In fields for display only, the field information is provided by the computer. As for the user entry type of field, you enter the information yourself with the Edit Notes command in the Edit menu.

Click on the fields you would like to include in the Status Line. Up to 9 fields can be selected. If there is more information than can be displayed in the Status Line, you will not be able to see it all at once. Use the spin button at the right end of the Status Line to scroll the fields.

To view information on an individual image, simply click the thumbnail of the image to display its information on the Status Line. Selecting multiple images in an album will show the album information on the Status Line.

Title	The title is the name of the image, and can be a maximum of 32 characters. When you add images to an album, the default name of the image is the image's original file name. You can change the default title with the Edit Note command in the Edit menu.

Place	This field displays the text you have entered with the Edit Notes command in the Edit menu. The maximum number of characters for the place is 32. This field is intended to hold the name of the place where the photograph was shot, but you can put anything you like in this field.

Date	This field displays the date entered with the Edit Notes command. Date format is either in long (Nov. 12, 1992) or short (11/12/92), specified in Date Configuration.

Description	This field displays the text you entered with the Edit Notes command to describe the image. The maximum number of characters for the Description is 64.

File Size	File Size is the disk capacity of the original photo. When checked, PhotoStar displays the information for you.

File Extension	This field displays the image file extension name. The available file extensions are: .TIF, .PCX, .JPG or .BMP.

Image Type	Data Type is the image data information of the original photo. The available data types are 24-bit true color and 256-level grayscale images.

The Data Type field is display only. If checked, PhotoStar goes to the original image file and displays the information for you.

Dimension	Dimension shows the size of the original image in pixels.

Resolution 	Resolution shows the resolution of the original image in dots per inch.

OK	Click on OK to accept the changes.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box without making changes.


Date

Choose the Date command from the Configure menu to set the date format. You can choose from several date formats.

Order	Meaning of the three digits are M for month, D for date and Y, the year.

Separator	Lists the three available separators.

Leading Zero	If you would like to have leading zeros for days and months that start with 1 through 9 (so they appear as 01 through 09), check the Leading Zero box. If you want single digit months (or dates) from 1 through 9, leave the box unchecked.

2 Digit Year	If you would like to indicate the year with just 2 digits, check the 2 Digit Year box. If unchecked, you will need to use 4 digits (such as "1992") to enter the year.

This Century Always	If checked, any year you enter will be assumed to be in this century. If uncheck, the number entered could be in any century. For example, if This Century Always is checked, the entry "93" will be assumed to mean 1993, not A.D. 93.

OK	Click on OK to accept the changes.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box without making changes.

Related Topics:

Edit Notes


JPEG Engine

Choose the JPEG Engine command from the Configure menu to set the compression level. This compression level applies every time a file is saved on disk with PhotoStar. Some examples of file compression occur during file conversion, file backup, photo file loading in an opened album and clip art importing in Clip Art.

Compression Level	The available compression level range is from 5 to 30. The higher the compression level, the greater the reduction in file size, and the more image information that is lost.

Save some files and look at the amount of detail lost in the compressed image and compare that with the amount of file space that is saved. This way you can determine the best setting. The default is 15, which is suitable for most cases.

Clip Art	Clip Art is automatically compressed by the JPEG engine before it is loaded into Clip Art.

OK	Click on OK to accept the changes.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box without making changes.


Preferences

You can control some of the options of PhotoStar with the Preferences command in the Configure menu. You can adjust the appearance of the Accessory Box, hide/show the Library and set the sound effects.

Show animation on startup

You can see the animated PhotoStar startup screen each time you run the program by checking this box.

If unchecked, when you load PhotoStar, the animated PhotoStar logo is skipped, and PhotoStar immediately sets up the device icons and desktop work area.

Hide library after opening album

Check this box if you would like the Library window to close every time you open an album. This way you can quickly open several albums. Leave the box unchecked to have the Library window close automatically when an album is opened.

Sound effects enabled on Photo Show

You can have sound effects accompany PhotoStar by checking the Sound Effects box. To get sound effects, you need to have one of many popular sound effects cards installed in your PC, or you need to have your PC upgraded to MPC level.

OK	Click on OK to accept the changes.

Cancel	Click on the Cancel button to close the dialog box without making changes.


Tile

The Tile command sizes all open windows and places them in tile format on the screen.


Cascade

The Cascade command stacks all open Albums on the screen, arranging the windows like a pile of cards. Clicking any album brings it to the top.


Arrange Album Icons

Closed albums are minimized and automatically placed at the lower left corner of the desktop. If you have dragged the icons to new locations, choosing this command resets them to their default positions.


Close All

Closes all opened albums. When an album is closed, it is always saved at the same time, regardless of how the album is closed.


Arrange Device Icons

If the device icons have been dragged to other places on the desktop, selecting the Arrange Icon command brings them back their default positions. The default is determined by the Device Icon command in the Configure menu.


Hide Device Icon

If the icons are distracting, selecting the Hide Device Icon command hides all the device icons. When the device icons are hidden, you can select the commands form the Associate menu instead.


Arrange Desktop Icons
Arrange Desktop Photos

If some photos are dragged onto the desktop, selecting the Arrange Device Icon command will display the thumbnail image at their smallest size, and displayed in lines from the upper left corner on the screen.


Active album

The names of opened albums are listed under the Window menu. The active album can be noticed by either the hightlighted text or the color of the album title bar. Clicking on an album makes it active.

You can also select an album from the Window menu or click the opened album. Clicking any album not only makes it active, but also brings it to the top.


How to Use Help

To find out more about the Microsoft Windows Help system, press the F1 key anytime.

To get instant help on any ImageStar II menu command:

1.	Drag the pointer over a menu command.

2.	Press F1.

The help information that appears will apply to the command you have selected.

Related Topics:

Help Index


About PhotoStar

The About PhotoStar command displays copyright and version information on PhotoStar.

Related Topics:

Help Index