User manual NUANCE KAI S PHOTO SOAP 2

1 User Guide for Windows and Macintosh® ® Trademarks Kai's Photo Soap 2 is a trademark of ScanSoft, Inc. "Macintosh" is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Incorporated. "Windows" and "PowerPoint" are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. "Pentium" is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation. All other product names mentioned in the manual and other documentation are used for identification purposes only and may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Registered and unregistered trademarks used herein are the exclusive property of their respective owners. ScanSoft, Inc. makes no claim to any such marks, nor willingly or knowingly misused or misapplied such marks. Copyright Copyright © 1998­2000 by ScanSoft, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be transmitted, transcribed, reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or translated into any language or computer language in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of ScanSoft, Inc., 9 Centennial Drive, Peabody, Massachusetts 01960. Printed both in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The software described in this book is furnished under license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Important Notice ScanSoft, Inc. provides this publication "as is" without warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including but not lim-ited to the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particu-lar purpose. Some states or jurisdictions do not allow disclaimer of ex-press or implied warranties in certain transactions; therefore, this statement may not apply to you. ScanSoft reserves the right to revise this publication and to make changes from time to time in the content hereof without obligation of ScanSoft to notify any person of such revision or changes. ® ScanSoft, Inc. 9 Centennial Drive Peabody, Massachusetts 01960 Kai's Photo Soap 2 User's Guide August 2000 2 TA B L E O F Welcome to Kai's Photo Soap 2 7 12 13 14 15 22 23 25 26 27 What's New? Getting Help Starting and Quitting Soap 2 Exploring Kai's Photo Soap 2 The Soap 2 Transporter Undo, Apply, and Save Using Albums Exporting Photos Expanding Soap 2's Power Installing Kai's Photo Soap 2 29 Organizing Photos 31 32 32 33 37 38 39 40 41 43 Overview Loading Photos Working with Thumbnails Previewing Photos Getting File Information Removing Image Files from your Computer Switching Views Working with Desktops Sorting and Searching for Photos Fixing Photos 48 49 50 50 Overview What Kai's Photo Soap 2 Can Fix Using the Tools iii 54 59 71 74 77 79 80 81 83 86 Rotating and Sizing Photos Adjusting Color Automatically Fixing Photos Healing Flaws Smoothing and Sharpening Removing Red Eye Removing date and time stamps Duplicating photo elements Other Fun Effects Having Fun with Masks Composing Images 91 92 93 104 105 107 108 110 111 Building Compositions Working with Composition Layers Adding Photos to your Composition Adding Text Adding Objects, Backgrounds, and Edges Adding Shadows to Layers Adding a Canvas Color Saving and Reloading a Composition Using Albums 114 115 116 117 118 119 121 Overview Selecting an Album Style Changing the Layout Loading Photos Adding Text Printing Albums iv TA B L E O F 122 122 122 Saving Albums Viewing Album Information Sharing Albums Printing Photos 123 125 126 127 128 128 128 129 130 132 133 134 135 135 136 136 136 137 137 138 138 Overview Printing a Single Photo Printing in Rows and Columns Printing to Popular Sizes Supported Avery and Kodak Papers Loading Special Papers Correctly Printing to Perforated Paper Printing to Special Designs Printing Posters Adding Backgrounds or Frames Scaling Up or Down Rotating Photos to Fit Flipping for Iron-Ons Repeating Images on a Page Printing Page Text Printing Filenames, Dates, and Headers Setting Margins Keeping Settings Previewing Page Setup Sharing Photos 139 139 Sending Photos with E-mail v 141 143 Exporting a Desktop as a Web Page Exporting an Album as a Web page 145 Exporting Photos as a PhotoCube Web Page (PC only) Using Plug-Ins 147 Appendix A:Tips About Photos 151 152 152 Tips About Scanning Selecting Photos Appendix B:Key Shortcuts 154 154 Using Soap 2 Keyboard Shortcuts Appendix C: Supported Papers 155 Glossary Index 156 162 vi I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 Wel c o m e to K a i 's Ph o to S o a p 2 Kai's Photo Soap 2 is the next generation of Kai's Power Soap. Load photos from your computer's hard drive, a digital camera, a scanner, a picture CD, or right off the Internet. Collect photos, correct them, then tweak them with special tools and filters. Present photos in digital photo albums and slideshows. Print photos and even output them ready for the Web! Some of the many things you can do with Soap 2. 7 What Can You Do with Soap 2? With Soap 2, you can: · organize your photos · display and share photos in Soap 2 electronic photo albums · repair damaged old photos · create fun special effects · add clip art, text, or cartoons to a photo composition · create artful collages, using multiple photos · export photos or albums to use on the WEB · prepare photos to send over e-mail or in an interactive slideshow · view photos in several ways You can see your photos on a Soap 2 "desktop" or "lightbox". 8 I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 · print photos in rows and columns, or in popular sizes You can print in rows or in popular sizes. · crop and rotate photos No more messing with scissors to trim a photo to the correct size. You can rotate or crop photos easily in Soap 2. 9 · rescue torn, faded, dusty, or wrinkled photos You can rescue torn, faded, dusty, or wrinkled photos. · make a photo brighter or sharper. Adjust the brightness or tweak the contrast to get a better look. 10 I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 · fix red eye or even remove a time/date stamp Get rid of red-eye. · create fun projects--working with multiple photos, using plug-in filters, adding clip art, text, backgrounds or frames. Get creative!. 11 What's New? For those using Version 1 of Kai's Photo Soap, there are so many cool new features in Kai's Photo Soap 2 that you'll want to explore the entire program. Here are a few of the things you'll find: · The image window is sizable and Soap 2 now lets you work with multiple photos, so you can fix and clone like crazy. Think of the possibilities. · A Transporter lets you move photos between the Organize, Clean, Compose, and Print areas of the product. Just drop photos into the Transporter then drag them out when you want to work with them. · You can fix color problems with the new QuickColor tool, use Auto Enhance--a way to handle some photo color problems one click at a time, paint right on a photo, and colorize photos for cool effects. · There are multiple levels of Undo, so you can experiment... change your mind... and use the Undo command to step back through your changes. · You can greatly expand Soap 2 capabilities by using PhotoShop compliant filters. Apply these kinds of effects to the entire photo or brush them onto specific parts of the picture. · There are new ways to share photos. Layouts from leaders in photo technology (like Avery and Kodak) help turn your computer into a mini-darkroom! Print sheets of photos, greeting cards, collages, and even posters--right from Kai's Photo Soap 2. 12 I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 Getting Help You will find the answers to most of your questions within the pages of this User Guide. If you need further assistance, contact ScanSoft Technical Support on the World Wide Web at: www.scansoft.com 13 Starting and Quitting Soap 2 To start Soap 2: Double-click the Kai's Photo Soap 2 logo. To quit Soap 2 Choose Output menu > Quit Soap 2 or Input menu > Quit Soap 2. (You can also Press Ctrl + Q on Windows or Cmd + Q on a Macintosh). If you've made changes to a photo, Soap 2 asks if you want to save your work before quitting. Refer to "Saving your Work" on page 24 for more about the ways you can save your work. As a rule of thumb, if you aren't ready to actually make changes to the photo file you're modifying, save your work using a new file name or save it as work in progress (a Soap 2 project or composition file). To access your computer's operating system while using Soap 2: Click in the upper right or upper left portion of the Soap 2 screen. You can quit/minimize Soap 2 (Win). You can hide, select another program, or use the Apple menu (Mac). 14 I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 Exploring Kai's Photo Soap 2 No more dusty boxes of pictures! Photo Soap 2 makes it easy to store photos. The Organize tab opens an area where you can load, view, and sort your photos. Select a photo, then drop it in the Transporter to work with it. From here, you can save a thumbnail desktop arrangement for later Soap 2 sessions; export a desktop of thumbnails as a Web page; print selected photos; see a quick photo "slideshow" and prepare photos to send with an e-mail.Soap 2 Click the Organize tab to open, view, or sort photos. Print, make slideshows, send photos over e-mail, export for the Web, or Quit Soap 2 program. Converse with other Photo Soap 2 users. View photos in different ways. Sort photos. Open photos. Help answers your questions. Drop photos on the Transporter, then move them to other areas in Soap 2. Load, view, and sort your photos in the Organize area. 15 In Contact Sheet view, you can study photos in a popular photographers' review sheet layout. Export this desktop view to HTML and drop it on a browser for a great way to pass photos around for review. From here, you can also print selected photos, make slideshows and send selected photos via e-mail. Choose a Contact Sheet view from the View menu. Drop photos on the Transporter, then move them to other areas in Soap 2. Look at photos in Contact Sheet view for easy recognition. 16 I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 Soap 2 Albums make it easy to display photos. Pick an Album style and just drop photos into place. Add some text and your album's complete. From here, you can print your Album or export an Album to use on the Web. Click Album, then put photos into Albums or Frames to be presented, printed, e-mailed, or posted on the Web. Choose an Album or Frame style, then click the Select button. Click Prev and Next for more Album styles. Drag photos from the Transporter into empty Album slots. Display or print photos in cool electronic Albums. 17 You can fix or enhance a photo in the Clean area. From here, you can also print or export a photo for use on the Web. Use the Image menu to correct color, paint, crop, rotate, or add effects to your photo. Click Clean to make changes to a photo. Zoom in or out. Click to access features Fix or enhance parts of your photo, using the Soap 2 tools. Choose an effect. Move the photo in the window. Adjust brush size. Drag a photo from the Transporter. Fix or enhance photos in Soap 2's Clean area. 18 I N T RO D U C I N G S O A P 2 To make fast adjustments to brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, red balance, green balance, or blue balance in your photo, choose Image menu > Quick color. The Quick color selector first lets you select what you want to change, then gives you variations or selections from which to choose. Pick what looks best to YOU. Each time you click a variation, new variations are displayed. Click until you get the look you like best. Hit Reset anytime you want to start over. And, be sure to try the Auto Enhance button! Choose Quick color. Compare selections with your original photo. Click the selection that looks best. Select what you want to change. Try the Auto Enhance button! QuickColor lets you adjust brightness, contrast, hue, saturation, as well as red, blue, and green balance in your photo. Make quick adjustments with QuickColor! 19 The Compose tab opens an area where you can really get creative. After you've fixed or modified photos, you can create compositions by dropping one or more photos onto the canvas, adding objects (like cartoon elements), put in a little text, and generally have fun. From here, you can print, export for use on the Web. Preview layers. Hide/Show layers. Edit layers. Stretch, move rotate a layer. Add text to composition .Set text attributes Control layer transparency. Set up shadows Set background color In the Compose area, you can build a picture. Drop photos on the canvas. Resize or stretch them. Rotate elements. Add some text. Put a cartoon in for fun. Add a background. Have FUN! 20