New features in “PSP X2”

In this course we use “Paint Shop Pro X2” version. In case you are working with an earlier version, there’s no problem.  95% of this course is compatible with earlier versions of “PSP”.

Let me first give you an overview of some important new features in version “X2”.

The first and most obvious one is the new user interface.

The user interface has clearly undergone a metamorphosis. This is now quite dark and gives a clearer picture (ie contrast) of the image that is open.

If you want to work in a white environment, click the “View” button in the menu bar and select “Graphite Workspace Theme”. Then the color of the user interface changes to white.

 

We also have a new enhanced functionality for assembling photos which is used for panoramic photos. We face a problem when adjacent pictures are exposed differently. In the “X2” version we can correct this automatically.

 

The greatest novelty, however, I think is the “Express Lab” with which we can perform some simple operations on multiple photos, including “Crop”, “Rotate”, “Red eye correction” of photos.

 

Also we have different new “Layer styles”.
With these you can easily add a “Shadow”, a “Glow”, a “Relief” and other effects to your photos or texts.

We also have the “Narrowing” option which ensures that with one click the people in your photos look slimmer than they actually are.

You have the new function “Crop As New Image”. With this function, the cropped portion of the picture automatically saves in a new document, so we can just continue working on the original scan.

Other innovations are “Visible watermarks”, improved conversion of a color photo to black and white plus a bunch of new makeover tools. With these tools we can eliminate unwanted spots on a face or ensure teeth whitening with a single click.

We also have several new Picture Tubes and some new frames.

 

There are many new words, which I will discuss in this course. But let us first look at the new work environment.

 

The working environment

Let us see what happens when we first open the “PSP”.

At the top we have the title Bar (1) just as in any application, on the left we have the “Name” and “Version” of the program, and on the right “Minimize” “Maximize” and “Close” buttons.
Below that we have the menu bar (2).
In the menu bar, we find many names, which we call commands.

If we click on these commands, we get a drop-down menu from which we can choose any function. If we choose a command an arrow behind it opens a second drop down box..
Below the menu bar, we find the Standard Toolbar (3).
In the Standard toolbar, we find the most frequently used commands. For example, “New”, “Save,” “Open” file, “Zoom In” and “Zoom Out” are the most commonly used options.
Under the Standard toolbar, we find the Toolbar Tool Options (4).
The various options in this toolbar will change depending on which tool is currently selected in the Tool Bar (5).
Left of the Tool Bar we find the option “Learning Center”.
The “Learning Center” gives you tips and help about the selected tool in the Tool Bar.
Thus, for example, you can read that when the “Zoom Tool” is selected in the toolbar, you can zoom in and out with the scroll wheel of your mouse.
For clarity, I’m talking about the computer mouse.
At the bottom we have the Status Bar (6).
The “Status” gives us information about the tools that we use our if we move over the mouse in the Tool bar.

 

• We have the “Work”, option which is present in most of the applications. Here we open our pictures and edit them.  We also have the palette “Organizer”.

More on the palette “Organizer” in Lesson 3 of this course.

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