collecting images for a new project

[garjobo]

Ive spent hours checking youtube and various tutorials..gathered some knowledge but as usual the questions i really want answered I cant seem to find..hence this thread...

Simple enough really..but im used to Photoimpact and havent really 'managed photo files' before.

I want to bring into one new blank project about 12 images, resize them, mess about with them, reposition them etc...easy enough...BUT im stuck as stage one. I cant seem to simply bring in more than 1 image..next image appears on a new sheet...Clearly im using the wrong method...cant someone please put me straight?

OPen new project, decide on size of project/paper. Then i click on....what....to bring in a photo....and then...to bring in another photo etc...

advice welcome.

[LeviFiction]

If you want to bring photos in on separate layers I can recommend a script for you.

This script can be used to open up multiple images at once and then place them as individual layers in the image that was active when you ran the script.

http://creationcassel.com/store/index.p ... cts_id=254

[hartpaul]

You have not mentioned what version of paintshop pro you are using.
I will assume you are using X4 or X5 and that part of your problem in displaying more than one image in your workspace is due to the Tabbed Documents setting.
Here is the method I would use if I was putting say 4 images on a canvas.
1. Move the 4 images to a new windows folder on my desktop.
2. Open up the X4 program and then click the desktop folder so it overlies the X4 workspace.
3. Drag the 4 images onto the workspace. If they show as only one iage and are tabbed go to Windows--> and untick Tabbed Documents and you will see your images cascaded in the workspace.
4. Select each image in turn and roll the mouse wheel in and out to get the image the size ou want for display on your workspace.
Repest for each of the other images.
5. Work on each image to crop, change colour saturation contrast lightness until you are happy with it. Click the Save button and that work will be saved in your desktop folder (its a copy anyway so does not matter if overwritten with your finished work)

6. Prepare your new canvas to whatever size you want . File--> New (or click the New button below File) and in the New File Dialog box I would choose say 1000 pixels for the width and height. Meave as a raster layer and select if you want that layer transparent of coloured and fill with your preferred colour / pattern/ texture.

7. Make sure your layers palette is open and it will show your new canvas as background.
8. in turn select each image (click on title bar) and observe that the layers palette now shows that image. Drag and drop that images layer thumbnail onto your new canvas and it will show as a new layer above the background.
9 Repeat with each of the other 4 images.

Each of the four images is on a separate layersitting on top of each other and is able to be moved independently with the move tool . You can then move each image to its preferred position on the background canvas and can still use the pick tool to resize or distort the image to suit.

When finished go to Layers-->merge all(Flatten) and Save As to save your work.

[garjobo]

Once again THANK YOU thats exactly what I was after ( using x4 btw ) but yes..seems even i cant go wrong following these instructions.

[garjobo]

Have come to using this method Hartpaul mentioned..of saving images to desktop then bring them one by one into X4. All well and good..and thanks once again for screenshots..always helps.

But the niggle is...i can't believe that this 'cumbersome' method ( placing images onto your desktop etc ) is REALLY the 'proper' way of bringing a few images into one document. I mean, surely to goodness, the whole point of a photo editor is you will have more often than not more than a single image to work on..whether its combing images for landscapes...or indeed..creating a poster - using 2 or more photos...or like what i am doing, creating dvd covers.

Anyone be able to tell me a perhaps..more efficient..or offial way....or is the method of saving to desktop etc ok to do ( not losing any quality doing it this way? )

thanks
g

[LeviFiction]

Moving the images to your desktop is not a requirement. It's just something Hartpaul does to quickly grab all of the images and bring them into PSP before copying them over to the new image.

You don't even have to turn off tabbed documents if you like them. If you don't like them then please feel free to do so. XD

You can also use the Organizer/Manager to search for and load images in one at a time before copying them over to the new image. Using PSP's image trays to hold the images you want to work on is also a handy feature.

But PSP does not have a quick and easy way built in to open up individual images as layers inside of a larger image. The normal way is what Hartpaul showed. Open all of the images you want to use, then create a new image. Finally copy all of the currently opened images into the new image. You can do this via the drag and drop feature that Hartpaul showed.

Or you can do a simple copy and paste method. Copy the current image to the clipboard, go back to your main image and paste it as a new layer.

Not very efficient but it works well. I however, do not use that method myself. I use a script to handle this for me.

The OpenAsLayer script I showed you is my personal preferred way to open up multiple images as individual layers. It cuts down on the overall work for me personally. And I wrote it specifically for a friend who was used to the GIMP's Open As Layer command.

[hartpaul]

Hi Garjobo,
Sorry about the difficult ways I suggested, but that was based upon your terms "12 images, resize them, mess about with them, reposition them etc".
As well I did not know what experience level you were up to, having heard nightmare stories of people going to their originals folder, preparing and saving images for an email send and then finding that they had overwritten their originals and lost the original full size images.
Thus my method has avoided me having to explain about the organiser and its intricacies (I don't even bother to use it) hoping that most people are familiar with creating new folders on their desktop and making copies of files in there avoids mistakes.
"mess about with them" was so vague that I gave the option of using the full editor to normalise the images , change them with whatever artistic licence you wanted and still in the end be able to add the images to a CD cover where you could have one large semi transparent image and a couple of smaller treated images (think music video covers) . So again as the terms were vague I gave a general solution to suit most applications.

You are probably after something that will automatically grab a bunch of images and resise and present them in a print out display with some basic editing features . This is more the peruse of a specialist program and not what paintshop pro was originally intended for.

[Cassel]

If you want to just place all the photos onto your work and manipulate them, you can use the script that Levifiction mentioned, refering to this one:
http://creationcassel.com/store/index.p ... cts_id=254

It is a script (free) and using a script might seem like several steps, but you can also bind the script and have it available anywhere in your workspace. You can follow this tutorial on how to bind scripts.
http://scrapbookcampus.com/tips-tricks/ ... tshop-pro/

This will make the process in fewer clicks.

If you want to put photos in a mosaic arrangement, there is also this script (not free):
http://creationcassel.com/store/index.p ... cts_id=190

Or if you want the photos to automatically be placed inside various shapes of a layered template, you can use this script (not free either):
http://creationcassel.com/store/index.p ... cts_id=195