This section describes the tools and techniques you need to use e-Picture efficiently and effectively. Topics include opening, creating, and saving e-Picture documents and templates, an introduction to the e-Picture work area, and a discussion of the e-Picture panels.
By default, e-Picture opens displaying the New Document dialog box. You can change the appearance of the opening screen.
To change the opening display:
1 Choose File> Preferences > General & Startup... .
2 Choose an option from the e-Picture start-up menu:
The New Document dialog box lets you create a new document, open a new document using a template, create a new template, or open an existing document. You can have multiple documents open at one time.
When creating a new document, you enter the dimensions and select the background color in the New Document dialog box. The current settings remain in effect until you enter new values.
Note: All e-picture documents have a resolution of 72 dpi.
1 If necessary, choose File> New to display the New Document dialog box.
2 Enter a name for the document.
3 Enter the width and height in pixels.
Note: To change the color of the background once the document is created, choose Image> Change Background Color and choose a new color from the Color Panel.
You can open existing e-Picture documents in several ways:
e-Picture also allows you to import documents in other file formats. See Importing documents.
To switch between open documents:
Click in the document window or choose Window> Documents and choose the document from the list of open documents.
Choose File> Close. All open views of the document are closed.
Note: Clicking the close box closes the individual view of a document. You must use the Close command to close all open views.
e-Picture imports documents in many of the standard graphics and animation formats. You can also import a sequence of images, for example, you can import images from a 3D modeling program to use in an animation.
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2 Select the file you want to open.
1 Choose File> Import> Sequence.
e-Picture supplies templates that you can customize to create your own documents. You can also make any document into a template. Templates control the height, width, and background color of a document.
To create a document using an existing template:
1 If necessary, choose File> New to display the New Document dialog box.
2 Enter a name for your document.
3 Choose the template from the Template menu.
1 If necessary, choose File> New to display the New Document dialog box.
2 Enter a name for the template.
4 Enter the width and height in pixels.
6 Click Open. The new template is added to the template menu. <<TBD>>
Choose the template from the Template menu in the New Document dialog box and click Delete Template.
The e-Picture work area includes the command menus, the canvas area, and several panels that let you create and edit objects, layers, and animation in your e-Picture documents.
In e-Picture, an image refers to all the open views of a document. You use Image commands to set view mode, canvas size, image size, and background color. Image commands also control the cropping, flipping, and rotation of a document.
In the e-Picture window, the edges of the drawing area, or canvas, are shown by the intersection of two limits. You can change the limits to increase or decrease the canvas size. (Drawing is not limited to within the canvas area. For more information, see Drawing outside the canvas.)
To change the canvas size by dragging:
1 If necessary, unlock the limits by choosing View> Lock Export limits.
2 Select the arrow tool and drag one of the canvas limits.
To change the canvas size to specific dimensions:
2 Enter the dimensions in the Width and Height boxes.
3 Click a square in the placement box to indicate where to position the existing image on the new canvas. Added canvas appears in the same color as the transparency or background.
When you resize an image, the image scales to fit the new dimensions. Cropping an image deletes the areas outside of the selected area.
1 Use a selection tool to select the area you want keep.
2 Choose Image> Crop to Selection.
The background color of an image is set when you create the document. You can change the background for existing images.
To change the background color:
Choose Image> Change Background Color and select a new color from the Color panel. For more information, see Using the Color panel.
There will be times when you will want to combine one or more layers in a document, for example, you might need to decrease your file size in order to add additional layers. Merging an image combines all the layers, but the objects retain their individual properties. Flattening an image also combines all the layers but the layers and objects no longer have individual properties. A flattened image is simply a single bitmap.
Warning: Do not flatten images until you are sure you are finished editing them. Saving an image (exporting) in an file format other then e-Picture's .ep format automatically flattens a document.
All of the views for a document use the same view mode. By default, documents open in Full View mode, but you can set a different default. See Using views for information on setting individual view options such as magnification and palette.
To set the default opening view mode:
1 Choose File> Preferences >Startup.
2 Choose an view mode from the New Document View Mode menu.
To switch the mode for all views:
1 Choose Image> View Mode and then choose one of the following:
Each e-Picture document can have up to eight open views. Multiple views are useful, for example, when you want to display an image in different magnifications or with different grids.
When opened, a document appears in Full View view mode, but you can set a different default view mode. To change the default view mode or the current view mode for all open views, see Setting view modes.
Choose View> New View. A new window opens with the name of the document followed by the view number, for example, My Document: 1.
Click in the view or choose Window> Viewers and choose the view from the list of open views.
Click the close box or choose View> Close View.
Note: To close all open views, choose File> Close.
To set the Outline option for a view:
Click the Outline box in the lower right corner of the document window or choose View> Outline. The Outline option displays the outline of an object as you pass the cursor over any part of the object.
To set the Overscan option for a view:
Click the Overscan box in the lower right corner of the document window. For more information on using overscan, see Drawing outside the canvas.
The limits define the edge of the drawing canvas. You can choose to display or hide the limits in each view. You can also choose to allow them to be used for changing the canvas size or to lock them to prevent resizing.
Note: When you change the canvas size in one view, it is changed for all views. Locking the limits means that you cannot change the canvas size by dragging in that specific view.
To display or hide the limits:
Choose View> Lock Export limits.
Each view can show the image in a different palette. This lets you preview the various palettes that you may use in different browsers.
To change the palette for a view:
Choose View> Palettes and choose a palette option.
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Choose View> RGB. This returns the view to 32-bit color.
The zoom controls and the zoom tool let you magnify or decrease the display in any view.
To magnify or decrease the display, do one of the following:
To scroll in a magnified view:
Select the hand tool and drag in the window or use the scroll bars.
Each view of a document appears in a separate window. You can easily arrange the display of open windows.
To arrange multiple windows, do one of the following:
e-Picture provides several panels to keep frequently used options readily available. You can move, close, and rearrange these panels to provide the best placement for your work patterns. By default, panels appear in the e-Picture format. You can choose to display then in the BeOS format instead.
<<TBD - opening position of panels and if it can be changed>>
1 Choose File> Preferences> General & Startup.
2 From the Floating Panels Look menu, choose BeOS Floating Panels.
Choose the panel name from the Windows menu.
Drag the panel by its title bar.
To collapse a panel vertically:
Double-click its title bar. Double-click again to open the panel.
To collapse a panel horizontally:
Click the left-pointing triangle at the right edge of the title bar. The panel title bar appears at the edge of the screen with the name visible. To open the panel, click the right-pointing triangle.
The icons in the toolbox represent the tools you use in e-Picture. Click to select a tool. Once a tool is selected, the Tool Inspector changes to display the options for that tool. After you've drawn an object, clicking the object in the Objects panel select it and changes the Tool Inspector to edit mode. For more information, see Selecting objects and Editing with the Tool Inspector.
When you're drawing or editing objects, you choose colors from the Tool Inspector. When you're choosing background colors or selecting colors for a gradient, you use the Color panel.
Note: The top half of the color box in the Color panel displays the current color; the bottom half displays the nearest web-safe color.
The Color panel uses the same color models found in the Tool Inspector, with the addition of an Extras tab. You use the Extras panel to limit the color selection to web-safe colors. For information on the other color models, see Drawing with a solid color.
The preference for gamma adjustment lets you calibrate the color balance or your monitor. These setting help you eliminate color casts in your monitor so that the images you create look the same on other monitors and systems.
1 Make sure your monitor has been on for at least 30 minutes to stabilize the color.
2 Turn off any desktop patterns and change your desktop to a neutral gray so it doesn't interfere with your color perception.
3 Choose File> Preferences> Monitor Gamma Adjustment.
4 Drag the sliders or type in values to adjust the red, green, and blue color channels. To adjust the colors individually, deselect the Link Channels option.
5 Click OK. The new gamma settings take effect the next time your start e-Picture.
Plug-in modules are software programs developed by other software developers that add features to e-Picture. Some plug-ins come with the program. You can also use plug-ins designed for other programs, such as Adobe Photoshop, with e-Picture.
A number of program settings are stored in the e-Picture preference file, located in the Home/Configure/Settings/Beatware/e-picture folder. These setting include general display options, startup options, guides and grids options, and Gamma adjustment.
To open a preferences dialog box:
1 Choose File > Preferences and choose the desired preferences from the menu.
2 Select the options you want to change and click OK. Individual preference settings are discussed in their relevant sections.
To restore all preferences to their default settings: