September means Back-To-School!

It’s back to school time at my house like I’m sure it is in many parts of the world. The difference is I thought I was finished with all of that. Since my daughters have graduated from high school and I retired from homeschooling I figured I was off the hook. Seems I was wrong. The trouble is, once an educator, always an educator and I find myself with my fingers stuck in many educational pies. On the home front, I am training my own service dog. So I’m only semi-retired from homeschooling…lol! And then here in the digi world I am enjoying my first month of Digiscrapping with ACDSee Photo Editor classes at Digital Scrapbooking Classes while the new round of Organizing with ACDSee Photo Manager is just getting started at Jessica Sprague’s. I love being Heidi’s teaching assistant. I feel like I’m the Padawan learner to Heidi’s Jedi Master…just when I think I’m getting the hang of it, someone comes up with a question that just stumps me and Heidi pops up with a simple bit of wisdom I’d never have figured out on my own. But then, that’s what makes me happy…learning new things and helping others learn new things. I guess September will always be ‘back-to-school’ time around here, no matter where the kids have gone. I’m a teacher at heart and will always be…even if I am my only student.

• Organizing with ACDSee Photo Manager…cost $25, registration almost over so hurry!
• Digiscrapping 101 with ACDSee Photo Editor…cost $25, use coupon code DSClassWelcome to get $5 off…registration open through the 15th…we just started week 2 so come and catch up with the class!

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Create a new image from contents in clipboard in ACDSee Photo Editor 2008

If you have copied an image from somewhere or have done a screenshot (prtsnc button) then you most likely have an image in your clipboard (your computers memory about the last thing you copied.)    Here’s how to get it into ACDSee Photo Editor so you can edit it if you wish:

1. Copy an image from someplace  (the web, a file, etc.) so that it is in your clipboard.
2. In ACDSee Photo Editor, go to File | New
3. In the Size box, choose From Clipboard
4. The dimensions automatically change to fit the image in your clipboard. 
5. Click OK.  and then you will be asked if you want to paste in the image from the clipboard.  Select it and choose OK 
6. And you have a new image from the contents in your clipboard!  

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Sale on ACDSee Photo Editor 2008

15% off ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 with coupon code 08PE15.

ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 is ACDSee’s digital photo editing software that can easily do photo layouts.  It features templates by Andrea Gold, Maggie Lamarre and Vicki Stegall. 

Text on a path is easy to do… 

Here’s my latest layout using ACDSee Photo Editor 2008:

Credits:

• Template: Janet Phillips from her not-so-fat-pack 2
• Paper & Elements by Jessica Bolton from Pastiche kit

And another layout using Chase-ing Ryan from Studio Flergs, and fonts used:  DJB Chalk it up, Dirty Bakers Dozen, Desdemona

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Extractions Using Object Masks

I’ve been using selection tools and my delete key to do extractions but sometimes I get frustrated with deleting too much and having to undo then redo so much of the work.  So I decided to explore Photo Editor’s automatic object mask feature.  And wow, has that made a difference in my extractions!  Let me show you what I love about object masks.

Here’s a picture of my house from when we first bought it.  I decided to do something fun with it but I wanted to remove the sky and the foreground grass so I could put my house someplace more interesting.

1. In the object palette, next to the thumbnail of the photo is a white square…that’s your mask.  Double-click on that white square so that it has a double-lined frame around it.  Then make sure you have a paintbrush tool selected and the color black is on your color picker’s top square.

2. Begin ‘painting’ the area you don’t want to show up anymore.  You aren’t deleting it, just masking it.

3. Feel free to zoom in and vary your brush size, hardness, roundness, and angle to get into the nooks and crannies of your extraction margins.  I like to start large and use smaller and softer brushes as I reach the edges of my masked area.  When you paint over the edge, just reverse the colors on the toolbar using the small color swap icon and ‘paint’ with white to reveal the part you didn’t mean to mask.

Have fun playing with your object masks and see how easy it is to correct your mistakes.  Here’s the layout featuring my extracted house as well as an extraction of an x-wing fighter from our trip to the Star Wars exhibit in Ft. Worth last year.

Credits can be found by clicking on the layout.

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Tutorial- Blending an image into a background using ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta

We’re going to explore a few different ways to blend a picture into the background using ACDSee Photo Editor 2008. I was amazed to discover how easy it was when I learned how to do it. Ready?

1. Start with a solid background paper with some texture. I used the black solid from Tangie Baxter’s new “Timeless Masters” kit.

2. Drag and drop the image you want to use into your work area. We’re using a picture of my daughter from her dance recital.

3. I went ahead and reduced my opacity to 80% on the image, but this is optional.

4. Next to the opacity, click on the pull down menu next to Transfer. You will have the following options: Normal, Multiply, Screen, Overlay, Soft Light, Hard Light, Darken, Lighten, Difference, Burn, and Dodge. Play with each of these and select the option you like the best. For this example, I used soft light.

5. I did this first with the image uncropped to see what the effect would be. I will show you some other options as well.

6. I didn’t do this to this image, but you can also apply a vignette and manipulate that as well. Try playing with the vignette option by itself, as well as with the transfer option.

7. I didn’t end up liking the look of the uncropped image- the black didn’t blend in as well as I thought, so I decided to extract my daughter out of the background.

8. If you extracted your image, drag and drop the image onto your background.

9. We’re going to apply a slight gaussian blur to soften the image a little. From the adjustments pull down menu to the right of your workspace, select gaussian blur.

10. Adjust the slider bar at the bottom until you’re happy with the result. Remember to go for a very slight blur- just to soften the edges.

11. Repeat Step 4 to blend the extraction using the transfer menu, and adjust the opacity to your liking.

12. That’s it! Here’s my finished layout:

I also ended up blending the ballet dancer jpeg into the black background as well.

13. Have fun with your blending! Remember that it’s a very broad field, and there are many different effects you can use to achieve the look you want. Play with it and experiment with different methods to find one that works best for you.

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Creating text on a Custom Path in ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta

Ever wanted to make a custom text path yourself? Easily??? Well ACDSee Photo Editor 2008 Beta does just that. Let me show you….

First let’s learn the easiest way to draw paths…

1. Change your colors to Top Color: No color and Bottom Color: Black
   1. How to Choose No Color for Top Color:
2. Then select the Smooth Polygon Tool for curved paths.
3. Then to use the tool: click in your work area, move slightly click again and continue drawing to get a desired path.
4. Tip: When you the edit drawing mode, you can click the Selection Tool and adjust any of the blue points as needed.
5. Important Tip: Do not connect the end of the path with beginning of the path.
6. When done, click on Done or Esc key.
7. Select the shape in the work area, right click and choose Make Text Path
8. 

Tip: You can also use the Polygon tool for straight lines. Just remember not to let the start and end point meet otherwise you got yourself a shape and not a path.

Now Let’s use your new text path:

1. Type in your text.
2. Select your text and choose Path
3. 
4. In the Text Path box, scroll down to find your path and which way you want your text to go (look at the arrows.) Select your path and set your Pen size to 0. Click OK
5. 
6. 

Tip: To delete text paths. When you are in the Text Path box, right click on a path and choose Remove.

I have our ACDSee team busy making you some layouts to show you this feature. So examples will come soon!

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