User manual?

[TT1]

Is there an online PL user manual? The one included with PL won't display the content on a computer with IE6. Unfortunately, upgrading IE is not possible on this system, so I am unable to understand and use many of the program's features. Alternatively, is there a way to 'recompile' the help file (PhotoLine.chm) to work with IE6? Or, is there an 'older' version of the manual that will work? Thanks.

[bkh]

Being a Mac user, I can't comment on the manual which comes with the Windows version.

However, you can download a pdf version of the manual from the Download page (or just use this link.

But of course it would be useful to have the html version of the manual online somewhere — the Mac version seems to include a full html manual, and I would be surprised if IE6 wasn't able to use that. If you want to give it a try, you could download the Mac version and look for it — decompress the .zip archive and look for PhotoLine.app -> Contents -> Resources -> English.lproj -> PhotoLine Help -> plmain.htm.

Cheers

Burkhard.

[TT1]

Thanks, Burkhard. Both the Mac version and the PDF work ok, as far as the 'information' is concerned. Of course. the advantage of the local chm file is the context sensitive help it provides (using the "?" button). When I click the button and then click, say, a tool, the help screen opens, the index is there, and the page headings are there, but there is no textural content. Everything below the blue header is blank. So, it 'almost' works. Is there a setting or something that can be set when the CHM file is created that could make it work with 'older' versions of IE?

[emri]

Thanks; glad to know there's a (sort of) manual available. The crap 'help' included with the program should be deleted entirely.

Looking through the "help" and the "manual," I see references to a "The Line Style Field" -- can anyone tell me where to find this in the program?

[gmhofmann]

Just double click on the line style popup in the layer window (if you have choosen a line before): the line editor opens... sorry, I have only the german version

[bkh]

Looking through the "help" and the "manual," I see references to a "The Line Style Field" -- can anyone tell me where to find this in the program?

Once you have selected a vector layer (e.g., one containing a vector line), the line style field (circled in green below) will show up in the toolbar:

Line style.png

Double click in the main field to get to the Line Style Editor. Alternatively, there's a line style field in the Attributes panel ("Vector" line, third combo box).

Cheers

Burkhard.

[emri]

Thanks Burkhard and gmhofman!

[Hoogo]

Though vectors are the more useful tool for lines most of the time, you can also draw lines with the brush-tools based on pixels. Hold down the shift-key, click and hold the mouse button, release shift, drag with the mouse. If you hold shift all the time, you can only draw lines of 90° and 45°.

[emri]

What I'm trying to do is highlight details in images with arrows.

This is what PhotoLine offers:

temp01.png

But a far more satisfactory solution is using Evernote Skitch (free):

temp02.png

I don't mean this as criticism of PhotoLine; just offering a better solution in case someone else has the same need.

[Hoogo]

Like this?
-Enable antialiasing for the arrow to smooth its edges. Looks really terrible without.
-Add the shadow with "Efects > Layer stile > shadow outside". You find a button at the bottom of the layer list as a shortcut.
-For the perspective effect I had to group the vector layer and distort the group. For distortion I used the usual layer tool (Q). Hold Ctrl when you point at a corner to enable perspective distortion.

[emri]

Hoogo,

Thanks; sent me on some fun experimenting.

It came out sort of OK, though I have no idea yet how to crop for what I actually want, which is the white area:

arrow-test.png

I tried a second time and oops:

arrow in PL.png

Skitch makes it MUCH easier

[Hoogo]

...though I have no idea yet how to crop for what I actually want, which is the white area:

Better dont try to crop

Skitch makes it MUCH easier

OK

[bkh]

I tried a second time and oops:

arrow in PL.png

Skitch makes it MUCH easier

Looks like you converted the vector shape to a bitmap layer without transparency somehow …

Anyway, for fancy arrow shapes, I'd create a vector layer with the rotation point at the tip. You can even add it to PL's shape list and use it as a custom shape ("clip") in the toolbox.

Skitch makes it MUCH easier

Just had a look at Skitch … Seems rather limited, even as far as annotations go, like its style or use another program, any chance to switch to another arrow style? (There's nothing wrong with a special purpose program, though, as long as it gets you what you want quickly.)

Cheers

Burkhard.

[emri]

Looks like you converted the vector shape to a bitmap layer without transparency somehow …

Looks to me like I have no idea what the hell I'm doing

Anyway, for fancy arrow shapes, I'd create a vector layer with the rotation point at the tip. You can even add it to PL's shape list and use it as a custom shape ("clip") in the toolbox.

I'll get there one day! I'm working my way through the manual, a very unusual step or me. I really want PhotoLine to work.

Just had a look at Skitch … Seems rather limited, even as far as annotations go, like its style or use another program, any chance to switch to another arrow style? (There's nothing wrong with a special purpose program, though, as long as it gets you what you want quickly.)

Oh, indeed limited. If you're talking to (or being) tech support I know of no better way to quickly and attractively annotate a screen shot. I happen to need that feature for an ebook I'm creating as well, and I find that arrow style very pleasing for my purposes. You can avoid the Evernote infrastructure/environment by just dragging the finished image to a directory on your computer (which took me a little too long to figure out).

[emri]

-Enable antialiasing for the arrow to smooth its edges. Looks really terrible without.

Is there a way to set the default antialias to "always" so that every vector object doesn't have to be manually converted?