Layer

A layer is simply one image stacked on top of another. Imagine I have a piece of paper and I paint it green wave. Then I take a peice of clear cellophane and paint a purple butterfly, and lay it over the paper. take another peice of clear cellophane and paint a red heart. Then take another peice of cellophane and paint blue text and lay that on top of the red heart. Just like in the picture below.

The layer List is located on the right side of the software, as thumbnails displayed for each layer, the layer thumbnail that currently being edited will take a blue frame, click the round green button in thumbnail to display or hide layers.

Layers List displays the layers are arranged in bottom to up order, you can click the thumbnail and drag it to change their hierarchy.

The upper picture is a layer list screenshots.

Crop Image
1 ) Use select tool to select region

2 ) Menu "Select" -> "Crop"

Crop by fixed ratio : check "Fixed Ratio", input ratio value, such as : 4:3 , 16:9

Capture Screen
1 ) Press Print Screen key to capture the current screen in the clipboard ( Holding down the ALT key can just capture the window where the mouse point ) PrtSc general located in the upper right area of the keyboard

2 ) Menu "File" -> "From Clipboard" ( can use shortcut Key Ctrl + B )

Cutout
The most commonly used tool for cutout are free select , first we select the outline of object rough, then

zoom in, fix some details of the local by using "Add Select" and "Subtract Select" The Magic Wand tool can help us to select an area color similar, such as the background, then select

object by using menu "Select" -> "Invert" After selected, we can use copy (Ctrl + C) and paste (Ctrl + V) the same as word processing to deal with it, we can also save it as png files with transparency, put it to clip art folder.

Example :

Use Clip Art

Double-click the thumbnail in Clip Art dialog to add it on image Clip art will be automatically placed in a new layer, the initial position is always in the top left corner of the image Select move tool Select transform tool Select fade tool , drag to move clip art , drag control point to resize or rotate it , drag to add fade

Clip art is a normal layer in fact, all image effects can be applied on it, such as : "Soft Edge" , "Add Shadow" , "Splash" , "Twist" etc

Custom Clip Art, Texture, Stamp

Menu "Tool" -> "Open Material Folder" , put your material image into the appropriate directory

The purpose of the directory as follows :

texture - store texture used by

stamp - store stamp used by

shape - store shape used by

material - store clip art , each directory under it correspond to a label on the clip art dialog

Shortcut Key
Open Image Close Current Image Save Save As Exit Help From Clipboard Ctrl + O Ctrl + F4 Ctrl + S Shift + S Ctrl + Q F1 Ctrl + B

Undo Redo Cut Copy Paste Clear Image Resize New Layer

Ctrl + Z Ctrl + Y Ctrl + X Ctrl + C Ctrl + V DEL F2 Shift + N

Select All Invert Select Clear Select

Ctrl + A Ctrl + I Ctrl + N

Zoom In Zoom Out Actual View Fit In Window

+ 1 Ctrl + W

Batch Watermark Create text watermark :

1 ) menu "File" -> "New", set both width and height to 200 2 ) click right mouse button on image to pop menu, select "Cut" 3 ) add text : WordArt Topic 4 ) menu "Tool" -> "Batch Watermark", the text will appears in the watermark box

Example : this example rotate text, set text layer's transparency to 50%, use Tile to fill watermark

Tips : batch convert image's format

remove step 3) , that is to use a complete transparent image as watermark, select output image's format, then we can start convert

Add Text

Tip : 1 ) Text is always placed in a new layer, and initial position at the top-left of the image, you can click and drag to move it. 2 ) Modify text in the input box to change the text layer. if you want to put text in new layer, click to select a non-text layer in layer list, then enter the text in the input box.

Shadow Text
Menu "Image" -> "Add Shadow"

Example : 1 ) add shadow first, then gradient fill ( the shadow be filled )

2 ) gradient fill first, then add shadow

Gradient Text
1 ) Add Text 2 ) Select gradient tool , click and drag to fill

Example :

Texture Text
1 ) Add Text 2 ) Select pattern fill tool , choose a texture, click on image to fill

Example :

Rotate Text
1 ) Add Text 2 ) Select transform tool , set type of transformation, click and drag control point

Shear :

Rotate :

Movie Subtitle
1 ) Add multiple lines of text, here to write four line PhoXo 2 ) Select transform tool , set perspective , drag the top control point to the middle area

Example :

Blur Text
1 ) Add Text 2 ) Menu "Image" -> "Blur" -> "Blur"

Example :

3D Shadow Text
1 ) Add Text, set color to gray RGB (128,128,128) 2 ) Select transform tool 3 ) set shear 4 ) set stretch , 45-degree shear to the right , shrink down to half

5 ) optional : you can antialias text by using "Blur" effect 6 ) click another non-text layer in layer list, add same text, move it to align their bottom edges

Example :

Fade Text
1 ) Add Text, set color to gray RGB (128,128,128) 2 ) Select fade tool , click and drag to add fade

Example :

Wave Text
1 ) add text 2 ) menu "Effect" -> "Distort" -> "Ribbon"

Example :

Radial Text
1 ) add text 2 ) menu "Image" -> "Blur" -> "Zoom Blur"

Example :

Scanline Text
1 ) add text 2 ) menu "Effect" -> "Light" -> "Blinds", set width to 2, set color to white

Example :

Ripple Text
1 ) add text 2 ) menu "Effect" -> "Distort" -> "Shift"

Example :

Carving Effect

1 ) open image, such as :

2 ) menu "Effect" -> "Art" -> "Emboss" 3 ) menu "File" -> "Save As", save as a jpg file to desktop 4 ) menu "Tool" -> "Open Material Folder", move last file to directory texture 5 ) menu "File" -> "New", create new image which size same to last image 6 ) select pattern fill tool , select a wood texture, fill

7 ) then find the embossed texture, check "Texture", fill

Example :

Local Mosaic
1 ) open image 2 ) Ctrl + C copy image to clipboard 3 ) menu "Image" -> "Color" -> "Mosaic" this step we can also apply "Color Tone" , "Splash" , "Black White" , "Pencil Sketch" , "Emboss" etc. 4 ) Ctrl + V paste image from clipboard 5 ) select eraser tool 6 ) merge all layers , click and drag on image

Example :

Local Glass :

Draw line, arrow with shadow

shadow can only be added on layers, therefore, we must draw line on a new layer 1 ) layer menu "New Layer", set fill to "Transparent" and "Upper" to the current layer 2 ) use to draw line, arrow, stamp

3 ) menu "Image" -> "Add Shadow"

Example :

Blured Frame
1 ) open image 2 ) menu "Select" -> "All" 3 ) menu "Select" -> "Border", set size 30 4 ) set foreground color to white 5 ) select fill color tool filled white color 6 ) menu "Select" -> "None" to clear selection 7 ) select draw line tool , set width 1, rectangle shape, draw line along the white edge ( it's better to , set opacity 50%, click left mouse button on image, the border of image will be

zoom in image before draw line )

Example :

Widescreen TV
1 ) open image 2 ) menu "Image" -> "Adjust Border", set top and bottom to 30, set left and right to 0 3 ) layer list "New Layer" -> set fill black color and "Under" to the current layer 4 ) change foreground color to white, use to add text

Shapecut Frame
1 ) open image 2 ) select shape tool , click and drag on image to add shape ( after that you can use "Add Shadow" or

"Soft Edge" to add effect ) 3 ) layer list "New Layer", set fill "Transparent" and "Under" to the current layer 4 ) select fill pattern tool , press fill transparent areas button, click on image to fill pattern

Example :

Example :