Saving and Exporting files

This chapter describes save and export your files for the web.

Saving documents

e-Picture automatically saves documents in the native e-Picture format (.ep). Saving a document in e-Picture format keeps all your layers and objects. If you want to be able to go back and edit individual layers or objects, always keep a copy of the document in the e-Picture format before you export it to any other file formats.

To save a document in e-Picture format:

Choose File > Save.

To save an e-Picture document with a different location or name:

1 Choose File > Save As.

2 Type a name or choose a location for the document.

Note: You can also name documents when you create them by entering a name in the New Document dialog box.

3 Click Save.

Exporting documents

When exporting e-Picture documents, you can choose to use both the internal handlers and the BeOS translators or you can limit your export formats to one or the other. (There are no specific export options for individual file formats when working with the BeOS translators.)

Warning: Exporting a document flattens the image. If you want to maintain your individual objects and layers, be sure to save a copy of the document in e-Picture format before exporting to another file format.


Internal handlers


BeOS Translators


PNG
GIF
Animated GIF
JPEG
TIFF
Java script


Targa
PPM
PNG
JPEG

Export File Formats

To limit export to the BeOS translators:

1 Choose File> Preferences> General & Startup.

2 From the Exporting menu, choose Only Use BeOS Image Translators.

To export a document:

1 Choose File> Export and choose a format from the menu.

2 In the dialog box, set the file format options:

3 Click Save As and enter a name and location for the document.

<<Export Wizard - TBD>>

Information options

The Information section of the export dialog boxes provides the current image size and an estimated file size. If you click Live Update, you see the effect of the options as you choose them. When you click Update Size, the file size is updated to reflect your current settings. The approximate download time is also displayed.

Generic options

The generic export options are found in every export file dialog box. Use Background Color exports the file using the current background color. Generate HTML file creates an HTML file that contains the file you're exporting.

Individual file format options

Most of the export file formats have one or two specific setting for that file type.


File type


Option name


Description


Animated GIF GIF Still Image
PNG


Interlace


Click to display the image gradually in increasing detail as it is downloaded


Animated GIF


Loop

Override Document Speed


Click to run the file continuously. Enter a number in Count to limit the repetitions.


JPEG


PNG Options


Progressive or set a percentage


PNG


Color Type


RGB


Targa


RLE Compression

Save Alpha



Java script


Events

Frames


Frame Picker

Color reduction options

When exporting files you can choose from color palettes, the number of colors, the reduction (compression) type, and the dithering method.

Note: Color reduction is not available for the JPEG, Targa, and Java script file formats.

To choose a color palette, do one of the following:

To choose the number of colors:

Choose a preset number of colors from the menu or choose User Specified and enter your own number of colors.

To choose the color reduction method:

Choose RGB Octree <<??>>

To use dithering in the color reduction:

Choose Yes from the menu.