PSP8 Survival Kit: Page 5

5. The Open New Image Box. Right from the minute you open a new image you will notice how things have changed. This is the dialogue box you will now be confronted with when creating a new image:

Most of these options are pretty self-explanatory, but there's a couple of things worthy of note. Firstly, the new image box now features a Color box which displays the last color used (see mine above: the red square). So, until you change it again, every new image you open will always default to this color.

Secondly, it features one of the most valuable tools you'll ever work with: Presets! (See below). Presets are also offered in the tool option palettes (which we've already covered...what...forgotten already? ;-) and let me tell you right now, they are fantastic. You can save several preferences and use your tools with them any time you like. It's going to be a real timesaver for tools such as the text tool, and I'm sure people are going to take to this new feature like ducks to water. Again I suggest you have a good play around with this stuff.....it's a very impressive feature.

O.k. back to the Open New Image box. Besides letting you create your own presets (for instance, let's say you always print business cards: in the Open New Image box you can now save the exact size and color of every new image you open and even leave the resolution the same if you like) it also comes with several others. It has over 20 presets built-in (see right). Some of them are going to be really useful, such as the '125 x 125 button' and if you burn your own CD's there's even a 'CD insert' preset.....but there's also something on that list called 'Panorama' which is over two thousand pixels wide....I have no idea who this would be of use to, as it's so huge there's no way it would ever fit on a web page. Ummmm...perhaps it's a print industry format?

6. Scripting. I debated whether to include this section here, or place it on the list I've drawn up of what I consider to be the best of the new tools (of what I've seen so far, that is, see page 6) however, I thought since this is such a major feature it deserved a whole section to itself. Well, where to start? There's a big buzz going around the PSP community at the moment, because with the introduction of V8 Jasc have incorporated a feature into PSP that's going to become indespensible for a lot of users: Scripting. Now, I know there are going to be two groups of people out there, one of which will understand the concept quite well from using similar tools in other programs, and others who will be scratching their heads at this word. Worst of all, once they understand what it's all about, some may find themselves just little intimidated by the whole thing. My words of advice: don't be! Just give it a few days and you'll wonder how you ever did without them, trust me.

Here's a very brief description. Scripts (I used to know them as 'macros' - an old word processing term from when I first started using computers way back when) basically do this: they allow you to record your keystrokes and commands. Therefore, you can record a series of commands in PSP8 and keep a permanent record of them, just as you would record your favourite TV shows with your VCR, or how you would record your favourite music onto audiotape or burn it to a CD-Rom. They are a permanent copy of a specific set of actions, in a specific order, which can be used again and again, which reminds me..... This is another innovation bringing PSP a little closer to Photoshop: scripts have been in PS for quite a while ; there they are known as 'Actions'.

Now, I am NOT up to speed on PSP8 scripting just yet, so won't even attempt to pretend I know what I'm talking about, but if they work exactly the same as other scripts/macros then that's exactly what they will do. The greatest thing about this of course is that the possibilities are literally quite endless. You can use them for just about anything and everything, and kiss goodbye to all that repetitive drudgery of the past (hallelujah to that!)

I've played around a little with it, and have written a script that allows you to open a new image, select new background and foreground colors, change one of them to a gradient, add an eclipse selection and fill it with the gradient, and then save the image. Hardly earth-shattering stuff, I know (there are already a number of people out there writing scripts to share with others, and they'll be writing much more sophisticated ones than that one ;-) however, this hopefully gives you a brief introduction as to what you can do with them. Similar to the presets, PSP8 comes already with some built-in scripts for you to take a look at, and you can access them via the File menu, by going to File>Script>Run (as shown above).

So, if Scripts are going to be so whizz-bang and the greatest gift to PSP users since sliced bread, then what's not to like about them? Well, because of the way in which scripts can be exchanged, (not to mention the programming language used to write them with - a well-respected language called Python) there is, according to Jasc, the potential for malicious scripts to be passed around. However Jasc has found a way to get around this problem. The scripts are stored in two distinct folders: 'Trusted Scripts' and 'Restricted Scripts'. If you trust absolutely the script's source (i.e. it's a Jasc one, or you yourself, or someone you know well has written it) then pop it into the 'Trusted' folder. You would then use the 'Restricted' folder for scripts that you aren't so sure about it (i.e. downloaded from somewhere online, or obtained from other third-party sources).

However despite this, scripting IMHO, has the potential to take over from tubes as the most swapped and shared Paint Shop Pro resource since the program istself was first developed. Again, the best experience is your own....so go start playing with them and see what you can come up with. If you're new to scripting and macros, don't be put off by them, they're truly much easier to use than you think, and their potential is amazing. If you come up with something really interesting, let me know about it huh? Go on, throw me a crumb! ;-)

Still with me? Wow....you are a Survivor! I'm sorry, but at the end of this Survival Kit there is no $1,000,000 to take home just because you've outplayed, outwitted and outlasted the new features of PSP8; if you haven't taken one already, may I suggest a coffee break right now?? Who knows, by the time you get back here, Jeff Probst maybe waiting for you......;-) Ready now? O.k, here we go again...