Straighten an image or layer using the Straighten tool.

To rotate with the Straighten tool:

To straighten a layer (rather than the whole image), click the layer name on the Layer palette.

On the Tools toolbar, click the Straighten tool . A straightening bar with end handles appears on the image.

Click and drag each handle of the straightening bar to align it with the part of the image that you want to be straight.

On the Tool Options palette, choose from these options:

Auto

Paint Shop Pro automatically straightens the image based on the position of the straightening bar.

Make vertical

Rotates the image to make the straightening bar ver­tical.

Make horizontal

Rotates the image to make the straightening bar horizontal.

Angle

To choose a specific angle for the straightening bar enter a value with the numeric edit control.

Crop image

To crop the edges of the image to make it rectangular after straightening, mark the check box. Clear this check box to fill edge areas with the background color.

Rotate all layers

To straighten all layers in the image, mark this check box.

To apply the command, double-click the image or click Apply .

The Deform tool gives you the power to transform images interactively. Use the tool to scale, shear, distort, apply perspective, or rotate a layer as follows:

Scaling resizes the selection or layer horizontally, vertically, or proportionally.

Shearing skews a selection or layer vertically or horizontally.

Distorting stretches or contracts a selection or layer in any direction.

Applying perspective corrects the perspective or applies a false perspective on a selection or layer.

Rotating moves a selection or a layer around a pivot point.

Note: The Deform tool works on greyscale and 16 million color images only.

To deform an image:

Choose a layer by clicking its name on the Layer palette.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Deform tool .
A bounding box with handles appears on the selection or the layer.

To deform the image by clicking and dragging in the image, do one or more of the following:

To resize, click and drag one of the corner or edge handles.

To resize while keeping the current proportions, right-click and drag a corner handle.

To move the entire image within the canvas, click and drag anywhere within the bounding box.

To change the center of rotation, drag the rotation pivot point.

To rotate, drag the rotation handle.

To change perspective symmetrically, press Ctrl and drag a cor­ner handle horizontally or vertically.

To change perspective asymmetrically, press Shift and drag a corner handle.

To shear, press Shift while dragging a side handle.

To distort, press Ctrl and Shift while dragging a handle.

Note: To make the deform handles on a layer easier to see, drag the corner of the image window to make it larger than the image.

Adjust the deformation or view the deformation settings on the Tool Options palette.

To cancel previous deformations, choose Edit > Undo (Ctrl Z).

Note: By default, you must press the Shift and Ctrl keys to deform an image. To apply a deform operation without having to hold down keys, choose a different Mode from the Tool Options Palette:

Scale

The default setting; you must hold down a key or keys.

Shear (Shift)

Allows you to shear without holding down Shift.

Perspective (Ctrl)

Allows you to change perspective without hold­ing down Ctrl.

Free (Shift+Ctrl)

Allows you to distort without holding down Ctrl+Shift.

You can precisely control many of the deform settings. The following options appear on the Deform tool’s Tool Options palette:

Pivot X, Pivot Y

Sets the X and Y coordinates of the rotation pivot point.

Position X, Position Y

Sets the X and Y coordinates of the top left corner handle.

Scale X(%), Scale Y(%)

Sets the percentage change for the horizontal (X) and vertical (Y) resize. To resize a floating selection or layer and keep the same proportions, select the Deform tool and right-click and drag a corner handle of the bounding box.

Shear

The offset of a side. Enter positive values to shear to the right and negative values to shear to the left. At 0.5, a side shears 50% of its length.

Angle

The rotation around the pivot point. The image rotates clock-wise from 0 to 360 degrees.

Reset Rectangle

Resets the deformation rectangle to its original shape but keeps any current deformations.

Perspective X, Perspective Y

The best way to create and adjust perspective is by dragging the control handles. When you create a perspective effect with the control handles, you are manipulating many variables. Changing the values in the Perspective fields may affect the scale, shear, and position values.

When you take pictures of tall objects, the resulting photographs may have perspective distortion—the objects seem to be leaning or angled. This distortion happens when the camera is at an angle to the subjects.

Fix perspective distortion with two tools:

When you take pictures of tall objects, the resulting photographs may have perspective distortion—the objects seem to be leaning or angled. This distortion happens when the camera is at an angle to the subjects.

To use the Deform tool to correct perspective:

Select the layer to correct in the Layer palette.

Use grid lines to help you correct lines in your photograph that should be vertical or horizontal. To turn on the grid, choose View>Grid.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Deform tool .

Press Ctrl and click and drag a corner handle. The image updates when you release the mouse button. Continue adjusting the perspective until the image looks correct.

Note: If the correction causes some image data to fall outside the image canvas, you can restore that data by increasing the size of the canvas.

When you take pictures of tall objects, the resulting photographs may have perspective distortion—the objects seem to be leaning or angled. This distortion happens when the camera is at an angle to the subjects.

To use the Perspective Correction tool to correct perspective:

On the Tools toolbar, select the Perspective Correction tool .
A bounding box with corner handles appears on the image.

On the Tool Options palette, select from these options:

Grid lines

To display grid lines in the box, enter the number of lines to display.

Crop image

Mark this check box to crop the image back to its original size after the perspective is applied. Areas of the image that fall outside the original image size are deleted.

Drag each handle to the corner of a feature that is supposed to be rectangular. For example, the feature may be a building with sides that are angled but should be straight.

On the Tool Options palette, fine-tune the position of the bounding box by specifying the X and Y positions of the four corner handles.

Double-click the image or click Apply.

Note: To reset the perspective correction box to the original rect­angle, click Reset on the Tool Options palette.

The warp brushes create strokes that produce a warping effect on image pixels. You can twirl areas of images, contract or expand parts of images, and create many interesting effects.

Note: To reset brush options to their default values, on the Tool Options palette click the Presets drop-down list and choose Default, or click the Reset to Default button .

To use the Warp Brush:

On the Tool palette, choose the Warp Brush . (It may be hidden under the Paint Brush or Airbrush.)

Specify the brush options such as shape, size, and hardness.

For the Strength value, enter a percentage (0 to 100) that specifies how strong the warping effect is. Full strength is 100%; minimum strength is 1%.

Under Warp Modes, choose the type of warp:

Push pushes pixels in the direction of the stroke (similar to smearing paint) in a time-independent way.

Expand pushes pixels away from the center of the brush in a time-dependent way.

Contract pulls pixels into the center of the brush in a time-dependent way.

Right Twirl rotates pixels clockwise around the center of the brush in a time-dependent way.

Left Twirl rotates pixels counter-clockwise around the cen­ter of the brush in a time-dependent way.

Noise causes random movements of pixels under the brush in a time-dependent way.

Iron Out removes unapplied warps in a time-independent way.

Unwarp removes unapplied warps in a time-dependent way.

Select an Edge mode, a Draft mode quality, and Final apply mode quality.

Do one or both of the following to warp the image:

Click and drag in the image.

For the time-dependent modes, place the cursor at one position and hold down the mouse button to repeat the effect at one area.

To unwarp an area, choose the Iron Out or Unwarp option under Warp Mode, and then click over the area you want to restore. Con­tinue clicking or holding the mouse button down until the original pixel position is restored.

Use the Mesh Warp tool to deform images, layers, and selections. Clicking the tool places a grid, or mesh, on the image. The grid intersections have mesh points, or nodes, that you drag to create deformations.

The Mesh Warp tool is limited to deforming the interior of a selection. Use the Warp brush when you want to blend the selection into the rest of the image.

To use the Mesh Warp tool:

On the Tools toolbar, select the Mesh Warp tool .

Drag the nodes to deform the image:

Click and drag a node to move it.

Press Shift while dragging a node to move the entire row or column.

Press Ctrl while dragging a node to deform the row or column into a smooth curve.

Choose settings from the Tool Options palette:

Draft quality

Choose the quality of the preview that displays while you edit the mesh nodes. Increasing the quality can slow the warping process in large images.

Final apply Clear the Best Quality check box to create a finished mesh warp at the lower quality of the mesh preview.

Mesh horizontal and Mesh vertical

The values indicate the number of mesh lines within the frame. The border lines are not counted. You can change the grid size as you work. Entering new Mesh values reconfigures the grid and returns it to the original position. The image retains any deformations you have made.

Symmetric Mark this check box to create a grid that evenly covers the image. If you image is not square, there will be different values for Mesh horizontal and Mesh vertical. Clear this check box to adjust the Mesh horizontal and Mesh vertical independently.

Show grid Clear the check box to hide the mesh warp grid.

You can save the position of the mesh nodes (the deformation map) to apply the deformation to other images.

Use Edit > Undo to undo changes to the mesh as you edit.

To apply the mesh warp, double-click the image or click Apply . To cancel the mesh warp, click Cancel .

You can save the deformations you have created to warp other images. Paint Shop Pro creates a Deformation Map file that contains the positions of the nodes and the number of mesh lines. Save the mesh during the warping process or after you have applied the deformation. Once you have saved a deformation map, you can load it into other images.

You can save the deformations you have created to warp other images. Paint Shop Pro creates a Deformation Map file that contains the positions of the nodes and the number of mesh lines. Save the mesh during the warping process or after you have applied the deformation.

To save a deformation map:

On the Mesh Warp Tool Options palette, in the Deformation map group box, click Save to open the Save Deformation Map dialog.

In the New deformation map group box, type a name for the map file.

In the Checkerboard size drop-down list, choose a checkerboard size that helps you preview the deformation effect. This informa­tion is not saved with the map file.

Click Save to add the file to the default Deformation Maps folder. Click the Edit Paths button to choose a different folder for saving the deformation maps.

Once you have saved a deformation map, you can load it into other images.

To load a deformation map:

On the Mesh Warp Tool Options palette, select an option under Edge mode:

Background or transparency fill

The areas between the edge of the image and the edge of the warp are filled with: the current background color if the areas are on a background, transparency if the areas are on a layer.

Fixed

The edge pixels are replicated to fill in the areas between the edge of the image and the edge of the warp.

Wraparound

The areas between the edge of the image and the edge of the warp are filled with material from the opposite side of the image.

Note: The Edge Mode setting determines what happens if there is a gap between the border of the image and the edge of the image.

Click Open Deformation Map to open the Load Deformation Map dialog.

In the Deformation map group box, choose a map from the drop-down list. Click the Edit Paths button to load a map from a different folder.

In the Operation group box, select how you want the map to be added:

Replace current map

Replaces the existing mesh nodes with the new map. Any adjustments you have made but not applied are lost.

Add to current map

Adds the settings from the new deformation map to the mesh nodes. Any adjustments you have made are retained.

In the Mapping group box, select how Paint Shop Pro should adjust the size of the map to fit to the layer or image:

Fit to canvas

The map size adjusts to fit the image canvas.

Fit to layer

The map size adjusts to fit the current layer.

Current size centered on

The map retains its original size and is positioned in the center of the Canvas or Layer.

In the Preview group box, choose a Checkerboard size from the drop-down list to obtain the best preview of the deformation.

Click Load.

Use the Add Borders command to add a colored frame around an image. The border increases the dimensions of the image by the width of the border.

For multi-layer images, Paint Shop Pro prompts you to flatten the image first. To add colored borders without flattening an image, use the Canvas Size command instead.

To add borders:

Choose Image> Add Borders to open the Add Borders dialog.

Mark the Symmetric check box to create an equal width border on all sides. Clear the check box to enter each border width independently.

In the Size in pixels group box, select the dimensions of the border.

Note: To change the dimensions from pixels, select the units in the drop-down list in the Original Dimensions group box.

Click the Color box to choose the color for the border.

Note: Right-click the color box to pick from the Recent Colors dialog.

Click OK.

Paint Shop Pro can combine two images into a third image. The new image is the product of the color data from the two source images. The color data from the two images is combined on a pixel-by-pixel basis according to the function you select.

To combine two images:

Open the two images you want to combine.

Choose Image > Arithmetic to open the Image Arithmetic dialog.

Choose an image for Image #1 from the drop-down list. The size of Image #1 determines the size of the new image.

Choose an image for Image #2 from the drop-down list.

From the Function group box, select a method for combining the images:

Add

Image 1 Value + Image 2 Value

Subtract Image

1 Value - Image 2 Value

Multiply

Image 1 Value x Image 2 Value

Difference

Absolute Value of (Image 1 Value - Image 2 Value)

Lightest

Maximum of (Image 1 Value, Image 2 Value)

Darkest

Minimum of (Image 1 Value, Image 2 Value)

Average

(Image 1 value + Image 2 Value)/2

OR

Binary Or

AND

Binary And

XOR

Binary And/Or

From the Channel group box, select the color channel from each image to use for combination. Mark the All channels check box to use all the color channels in both images. This will produce a 24-bit image.

In the Modifiers group box, choose modifier options. The modifi­ers are applied to the color values produced by the Function and the Channel selections.

Divisor

This number is used to divide the color values. It can reduce the effects of the other selections.

Bias

This number shifts each color value by a fixed amount. The number is added to the color value produced by the Function, Channel, and Divisor selections.

Clip color values

This check box determines how Paint Shop Pro handles final color values greater than 255 and less than 0.

Click OK.