Getting around in PSP

This tutorial will help you become more knowledgeable about the program
Paint Shop Pro. I use PSP X3, so that is what these screen shots show.
Your version of the program may look a little different, but all the
important things are there.

This is what your screen will look like when you open up PSP:


Take note of the shortcuts: these will save you a few seconds when opening/saving.

Now let's look at the tools more closely:


You
may not have all the tools I have shown, but the most important ones
will be there. We will go over what these tools are used for.
Pan Tool: let's you copy and paste objects. Lets you move the entire project.
Pick
tool: Used to move individual objects on the canvas. (Note to move them
up or down in order you will use the Layers palette)
Magic wand/Selction tool: Lets you make a selection for editing.
Dropper Tool: The most common use is for picking a certain color from your workspace.
Crop tool: Allows you to remove excess white space from around your work when you are done.
Red eye tool: use to remove red eye from photographs
Clone tool: Use to copy a certain part of the canvas over and over again.
Paint brush: Used to apply brushes. You can choose a variety of shapes and choose the colors they print in.
Change
to Target: Changes the color of an object to a color you have selected.
This will have an additional menu of different tools to change the
appearance of your work.
Eraser and background eraser: Used to erase certain parts of the canvas.
Fill tool: Used to flood fill the canvas or a selection.
Tube tool: Used to paste predone picture tubes onto the canvas. There are several kinds preloaded with PSP.
Text
tool: Used to place text on the canvas. When in use you will have a
toolbar across the top where you can change font, size, stroke width and
other items.
Rectangle tool: Used to create new shapes on the
canvas. These shapes are on vector layers and while in that form you
can click on your text tool and click the edge of the shape and have
your text wrap around that shape.
Pen tool: Used to draw a variety of lines on the canvas.
Warp brush and oil brush: used to apply textures, changes and effects to your work.

Now
let's go through the menus one by one. The file menu is the same as
any other as is the help menu, so there are no screen shots of those.

First is the Edit menu. Here you can undo or redo things, copy and paste or clear your canvas or clipboard.


Next is the View menu. Here you can zoom in or out. Make the guides, grids and palettes appear and so on.


Next is the Image menu. Here you can change canvas size or resize projects.


Next
is the Adjust menu. Here you can adjust color and tone. You will also
use this menu to add noise to projects and to blur or sharpen.


Next
is the Effects menu. It does just what it says, houses all the
different effects you can do to your image. This is also where you will
find your plug ins.


Next
is the Layers menu. You can create new kinds of layers here and also
to merge layers. You will also use this menu to work with masks.


Next is the Objects menu. You will use this to align things in PSP.


Next
is the Selections menu. You can use this menu to select your canvas
and to manage and change selections you have made with the selection
tool.


Next is the Window menu. You can use this to move between open projects.


Now
onto what will be different in other programs: Scripts. You may have a
toolbar for running your scripts. If so, you just choose your script
from the drop down and hit the run button. In X3 it is different. In
the screen shot below you hit the little button that is in the red box
and it will bring up the menu you see. You then select scripts and
choose what script to run.