Photoline 16.50
The list of improvements, extensions, additions and - of course -
corrections has become quite long. In order to keep this text short
we are concentrating here on the highlights and most important details.
A lot of effort has been put in enhancing the user interface.
Many things should work now more inituitively. Additionally the
speed and quality of many functions have been improved.
Enhancements
Convert With Color Profile
This function is used to convert the color space of images or colors.
A common example is the conversion of RGB images to CMYK. A new feature
of this function is the ability to convert groups, pages or the
whole document in a single step.
Touchpad, Mac OS X
PhotoLine is now supporting the touchpad on Mac OS X:
- The zoom gesture allows to modify the zoom in documents and controls.
- The rotate gesture can rotate documents in 90° steps. Aside from
that some tools use it in a custom way.
- The swipe gestures can be used as shortcuts. The swipe shortcuts
can be used in combination with Shift, Ctrl, Alt and Cmd, too.
Full Screen Mode, Mac OS X
On Mac OS X (10.6 or better) document can now be viewed and edited in full screen
mode. This function is accessible in the menu with View/Full
Screen Mode.
Layer Tool, Distort Perspectively
If you were clicking and dragging a layer handle while holding the
Ctrl key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac OS X), you could distort
a layer perspectively. This is an old feature. Pressing Shift while
dragging allowed you to distort the corresponding corner simultaneously.
This is old, too. Now you can additionally press Alt+Shift in order
to move the dragged corner along a line.
Crop Tool
You can now use the crop tool to rotate an image, correct its
perspective and crop it in a single step.
QR-Code
The Barcode function could already create QR Codes, but now it is
supporting directly the creation of QR Codes containing SMS and
vCard information.
Adjustment Layer Palette
Commonly used adjustment layers can now be saved as presets.
Web Export With Clipboard Support
The Web Export can now put the result on the clipboard. This way
you no longer need to save an intermediate file.
You can also directly attach a sRGB color profile in order to
create a well-defined web file.
Furthermore the preview pictures are calculated in the background.
So the operation of the dialog is smoother.
Filter Dialogs
The best way to work with the filter dialogs is to hide the embedded
preview. This way the document window is the preview.
Now you can use the shortcuts for Zoom In, Zoom Out, Full View,
View 100% and Mark Extreme Values while working with a filter.
Protect Underlying Transparency
Optionally layers no longer modify the transparency created by the
previous layers.
Tools Brighter and Darker
The tools Brighter and Darker can now work in the ranges shadows,
midtones and lights.
Select Colors
The dialog shows now a list of all selected color ranges. These
allows editing or removing a single range afterwards.
Rotate Layer
Layers can now be rotated from -180° to 180°. The rotation will
always be clockwise.
Minor Enhancements
- Several dialogs have been simplified and the handling is now
more consistent.
- Better processing of raw files.
- ICC profiles are now forwarded to plug-ins.
- The plug-in support is now much better.
- The calculation of color palettes (Reduce Colors) has been enhanced.
- Extended context menu: in combination with the keys Shift and
Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS X) you get different context
menus offering different options.
- Calendars can now import special days from a CSV file.
- Better PDF import and export: PhotoLine can be used as a simple
PDF editor.
New in Version 16.00
Image Processing
The Adjustment Layer Palette
The Adjustment Layer palette is a new way for managing adjustment
layers. All possible operations are unified in a single dialog:
- You can create new adjustment layers.
- You can assign additional adjustments to a layer. This means
a layer can have more than one adjustment.
- Adjustments can be removed.
- The settings of the adjustments can be edited in-place.
The Adjustment Layer palette is in the menu at View/Palettes.
The Liquify Tool
The Liquify tool can be used to distort a picture by painting.
You can use this tool to convert a photo to a caricature or to
correct facial expressions.
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In PhotoLine Liquify is a lossless tool. If you are using it for
the first time with an image, a new layer will be created
gathering all the distortions. The original image will not be
modified. This way you can enhance your modifications later if
needed.
The Liquify tool can be found in the tool bar "beneath" the stamp tool:
The Color Filter
The Color Filter controls the visibility of a layer on a per pixel
base. The visibility can depend on the colors of the layer itself
and on the colors in the background.
The Color Filter is in the menu at Layer/Display and in the
context menu of the Layers panel.
Grain
Grain simulates film grain known from analogue photography.
By doing this uniform parts of an image are looking livelier.
Blocky gradients can be enhanced, too.
Grain can be used as adjustment layer, too. It is in the menu at
Filter/Quality.
Rasterize Image
Rasterize Image will create an effect similar to the halftone
screening of newspapers or magazines.
Rasterize Image has several color modes:
- Image Mode
Every channel of the source image is rasterized. If the source
image is in Lab color space, the channels L, a and b will be
rasterized.
- Gray
The image will internally be converted to gray, and the gray
channel will be rasterized.
- RGB
The image will internally be converted to RGB, and the
channels R, G and B will be rasterized.
- CMYK
The image will internally be converted to CMYK, and the
channels C, M, Y and K will be rasterized.
Rasterize Image can be used as adjustment layer, too. It is in
the menu at Effects/Special Tools.
Maximum Round
Maximum Round is replacing - similar to the Maximum filter -
every pixel with its neighbour having the highest gray or color
value. The size of the neighbourhood is controlled by the filter
size. The examined are is circular.
Maximum Round produces a result similar to the Bokeh effect known
from photography.
Maximum Round can be used as adjustment layer, too. It is in the
menu at Filter/Other.
Paint Tool
- Brush Size
The brush size can now be adjusted quickly by holding the Ctrl
key (Windows) or the Command key (Mac OS X) and dragging with
the mouse.
- Mouse Smoothing
The mouse movements are now smoothed while drawing in order to
avoid jaggy lines.
Better User Interface
Palettes
- Context Menu
The title bars of palettes are now offering a direct access to
the context menu of these palettes.
- List Palettes
All list palettes are now supporting copy and paste.
Furthermore multiple selections are supported in order to
delete several entries in a single operation.
- Color And Brush List
The Color and the Brush List can now manage several separate lists.
Font Replacement List
PDF and PSD files can contain formatted text. If a font, that is
not installed on the computer, is used in this text, PhotoLine is
asking for a replacement font. Each font replacement is stored
internally, so that PhotoLine doesn't have to ask once more for
the same font.
With Font Replacement the current replacement list can be viewed
and edited..
The Font Replacement List is in the options dialog under the topic
Extended.
Mac OS X: Context Help
On Mac OS X there is now the menu entry Context Help. It can be
used to show the help corresponding to an user interface object.
On keyboards with a Help key, this key can be used, too.
Miscellaneous
Morph Marked Vector Layers
Morph Marked Vector Layers is used to create transitional steps
for 2 marked vector layers. The number of steps is adjustable:
Aside from the shape the following properties are blended, too:
- the fill and the line color
- the line width
- the layer intensity
Morph Marked Vector Layers is a dynamic effect. This means, that
the marked layers are not modified and can be edited afterwards
like before. The transitional steps are recalculated automatically
after each modification. The number of steps can be edited
afterwards, too.
Morph Marked Vector Layers is in the menu at Layout/Vector.
QR-Code
PhotoLine's built-in barcode function can now create QR Codes.
The barcode function is in the menu at Layout.
Fit in Vector Layer
Fit in Vector Layer will create a new rectangular vector layer
having the size and position of the active layer. The fill color
will be the foreground color and the line color will be
transparent.
This function is useful for various tasks, for example:
- For lossless image processing you can assign an adjustment to
the vector layer making it an adjustment layer.
- You can use the rectangle for coloring the background of a
text layer.
Fit in Vector Layer is in the menu at Layout/Vector.
Ghostscript Import
PhotoLine can only read simple EPS files, Postscript files are
not supported.
In order to enhance its import capabilities PhotoLine can utilize
Ghostscript.
On Windows you have to copy the Ghostscript DLL into PhotoLine's
Hlp directory. The 32-bit version of the DLL must be named
gsdll32.dll and the 64-bit version gsdll64.dll.
On Mac OS X you have to copy Ghostscript.framework to
/Library/Frameworks.
Mac OS X: Scanning With Image Capture
Until now on Mac OS X PhotoLine could only scan using the TWAIN
interface. As most scanners don't have a 64-bit TWAIN driver,
PhotoLine had to be started as 32-bit application for scanning.
But now PhotoLine can use the Image Capture interface for scanning
with Mac OS X 10.6 or better allowing scanning in 64-bit.
The function is in the menu at File/Import.