STEP 1
Setting up Selection Folders for selection tutorials is really very simple in PSP 8. However, if you don't set them up correctly in your Preferences, you may get more selections than you want when you start a selections tutorial. In addition, PSP 8 does not support duplicate names for selections, and will only show the first one it comes to with a certain name. So if you have many folders for selections tutorials, and several of them have selections called top.sel or front.sel, chances are slim that you'll get the one you need for the tutorial you're working on.
In PSP 7, you chose Selections...Load from Disk, and then browsed to the folder where you had stored your selections. In PSP 8, selections are included in the user folders that are set up from File...Preferences...File Locations. You'll see it works out just about the same, if you get the initial environment set up correctly.
First of all, in case you have not been doing this, make it a practice to set up a new folder for EACH selection tutorial you do. You can store these folders anywhere you want them, but use some consistency, and store them in one central location. You might want to use the folder created by the PSP 8 installation - C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections - or you may have your own system. Either way, make a new subfolder for each new tutorial.
Let's set up preferences for selections to simplify things. Choose File...Preferences...File Locations. Scroll down to Selections (circled in red) in the File types list. This is what that screen looks like, out of the box, from Jasc:
Partial Screen
The three icons (boxed in blue) on the left side of the Selection file folders panel tell you what the columns in the table are for. Checking or unchecking items in each column allows you to control how PSP handles your selections folders. As labeled in the image:
- The first icon/column is for indicating your Save To folder.
- The second icon/column is for indicating whether you want PSP to scan the subfolders of a folder.
- The third icon/column is for enabling the folder - allowing PSP to scan it.
To make loading selections in PSP 8 work similarly to PSP 7, you need to do 2 things on this panel:
- Disable the Jasc folder entirely by clearing all checkboxes.
- Disable Scan Subfolders for the C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections folder by clearing the checkbox in the second column.
Note:There should be only 2 folders listed here - the Jasc folder and your folder, whatever you have called it. For this tutorial, I'm using the C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections folder. Yours may be different, but the procedure is the same no matter what it's called. Just substitute your folder name each time I use the My PSP8 Files folder.
When you have finished, your screen should look like this:
Partial Screen
Click OK to save your changes and exit the File Locations dialog.
STEP 2
If you have not already downloaded the sample selections for this tutorial, do so now. Create a new folder called "sample" in your selections folder, which in my case is C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections, and unzip the selections into that folder.
Open a 300 x 300 transparent image.
Here is the procedure you will follow when you are ready to do a selections tutorial in PSP 8:
- Place the folder containing the selections in your selections folder - we just did that, creating the "sample" folder, and unzipping the supplied sample selections into it.
- When you are ready to load a selection, choose Selections...Load/Save Selection...Load Selection From Disk:
- On the Load Selection From Disk dialog, click the Edit Paths button:
- On the File Locations dialog screen, click the C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections folder - notice the black box that now surrounds the path name:
Partial Screen
Then click the Browse button.
- In the Browse for Folder dialog, click the folder containing your selections and then click the OK button at the bottom of the dialog:
Partial Screen
This folder now becomes the default directory for selections, and appears in the File Locations dialog for Selections, until you change it.
Partial Screen
Click the OK button to save your changes and exit the dialog.
- Back on the Load Selection From Disk dialog, choose the selection from the drop-down list (red arrow) in the Selection panel:
And there's a nice Preview (green arrow), too, that shows the chosen selection as it will appear on the canvas. This is a great improvement over PSP 7. Click the OK button.
- When you go to load the next selection, you'll be returned to the Load Selection dialog, and the selections from your chosen folder will be listed - just find the selection in the drop-down list.
When you start another tutorial, repeat the process - edit the path to set the new selections folder, and you're in business! You'll get just one folder of selections each time - no confusion, no problems. It's really not any more complicated than it was in PSP 7 to set up your selection folders - it's just different! You'll get used to it, and pretty soon it will be as natural as signing your name (I hope!).
If at some point in time you want to use the selections provided by Jasc, just enable the C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 8\Selections path by clicking the checkbox in the third column before that folder name.
STEP 3
Saving selections to disk works the same way. You can set up the folder before entering the Save dialog, or create it as you save. Let's go through the process:
- Create a new folder for the selections you are going to save. The obvious choice for the location of this folder is the C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections folder, but it can really be anywhere.
- When you are ready to save a selection, choose Selections...Load/Save Selection...Save Selection To Disk:
- On the Save Selection To Disk dialog, click the Edit Paths button:
- On the File Locations dialog screen, note that the default folder is the last one you used, in this case C:\My Documents\My PSP8 Files\Selections\sample. Click on that folder name, and then on the Browse button to change this folder.
Partial Screen
- In the Browse for Folder dialog, click the folder you added at the beginning of this step. If you did not add a folder, click the Selections folder, and then the Create a new folder button (circled below). A folder called New Folder will be added to your Selections folder - change the name to one you want.
Partial Screen
Click the OK button at the bottom of the dialog. This folder now becomes the default directory for selections, and appears in the File Locations dialog for Selections, until you change it. Click the OK button to save your dhanges and exit the dialog.
- Back on the Save Selection To Disk dialog, enter the name for your selection in the File name box and click the Save button.
When you go to save the next selection, you'll be returned to the Save Selection To Disk dialog, and the selections from the default folder will be listed:
- You can review the selections you've saved by checking in the drop-down list.
- You can replace a selection that's already there by using the same name.
- You can save a new selection by typing a new name in the File name box.
That's the basic process for saving selections - it's the same every time. Just set the new path, and save away!
STEP 4
Here's one last tip - to make things work even faster, add the icons for loading and saving selections to one of your toolbars, or to your Layer palette, as I've done:
Then a quick click and you're into the Load / Save Selection dialog! See my Customizing Toolbars in PSP 8 tutorial for more tips on adding tools and commands to toolbars and palettes.
If you have any problems, comments, or questions, please do not hesitate to Email me.
