Sometimes there is more than enough information about a product. Other times, there are not many books about the product. Just when you're about to give up on finding a concise tutorial, one appears on the horizon. Such is the case of the new book by Lori J. Davis. The title of the book isPaint Shop Pro 6 Power! The book was published by Muska & Lipman Publishing and copyrighted in 1999.
The first thing that I noticed (and liked) about this book is that it has color pictures in it. In fact, the entire book was done in color. This makes it a lot easier to understand some design elements when they are presented in full color.
Lori starts us out with the Paint Shop Pro Quick Start. This chapter takes you through the various elements of the Paint Shop Pro workspace. She covers the Tool Palette, the Color Palette and the Toolbar. At the end of the chapter there is a listing of the new features in version 6 and what chapter of the book covers each one.
Chapter 1 goes right into the tools that Paint Shop Pro has available. Learn about the Paintbrush and the Airbrush. The Preset Shapes Tool has all sorts of stars, arrows and rectangular shapes that you can draw on the screen. You can produce a filled shape or one that is hollow with a solid border. The chapter tells you about Bezier curves and what they do to make your drawing easier. Learn all the fancy things that you can do with text.
Chapter 2 covers some additional tools. There is the Eraser that allows for eliminating part or the entire picture. The Color Replacer is used to switch out one color in the picture with another. You learn how to use the Clone brush and how important this feature is in retouching a picture. The Retouch tool is also covered in relation to fixing up a picture.
Another feature covered in Chapter 2 is the Picture Tubes. These are files with various elements in them. Use them to paint additional images on to your picture. The chapter also covers the various flood fills that Paint Shop Pro has to offer.
Chapter 3 is called Being Selective. Here you learn all about how to use Paint Shop Pro's selection tools. It goes through using both standard and floating selections. The chapter takes you through the various editing operations that are used. Learn about my two favorite editing tools, cut and paste.
The fourth chapter is all about Layers and what they can do for your image. Lori shows how layers work and what they are used for. You can use layers to enhance an image and give it some cool effects. Learn about using blends to enhance or change an image.
Other chapters include Working With Vectors, PSP Effects and PSP Deformations. These chapters show the different design functions that Paint Shop Pro 6 has available to use. Learn about Cutout and Chisel effects. Learn what in the world inside and outside bevels are and what they can do to jazz up an element in your image. Learn about the Twirl deformation effect. Make a cool effect using the Mosaic feature on your image.
Chapter 8 takes you through the various filters that Paint Shop Pro 6 uses. This chapter even covers the User Defined Filters. This is where you get to decide specific elements to filter in an image. Chapter 9 is called making Adjustments. It covers things like making Brightness and Contrast changes in the image. Learn how to adjust the Color Balance of an image.
Chapter 12 covers Animation Workshop. This is a product that is shipped with Paint Shop Pro 6. It makes animated files from your images. This chapter shows you some of the things that Animation Workshop does and how to get around in the program.
The book has several appendixes at the back. The first covers acquiring images for use in Paint Shop Pro 6. This included scanning, screen capturing and downloading from a digital camera. The second appendix covers adjusting the depths of the colors that are used in the program. The third appendix deals with web graphics and how to set up your image to be used on the web. There is also a Resource appendix. This will help you gather some source material to play with.
Sprinkled through the book are tips, words of caution and things to take note of. Lori uses highlighted blocks of text and specific icons to indicate some additional information.
If you want a book that shows just what you can do with Paint Shop Pro 6 and how to get the most out of the program, then Paint Shop Pro 6 Power! is the book to add to your shopping list. The book covers all of the basic elements in the program and some additional things that other authors might not have thought of.
Paint Shop Pro 6 Power! is listed at $ 39.99. It can be found at most booksellers. You can also get it directly from Muska & Lipman Publishing. Check out their web site at www.muskalipman.com