PhotoLine FAQ: Frequently asked Questions
1. I am searching for the rectangle lasso or circle lasso, but I find only the free lasso. 
PhotoLine 32 has so much functions that the tool bar would not be large enough. So we made icons with a little red point on the bottom right side. This icons have several functions. Click on the icon and hold down the left mouse key for a second. A popup appears and you can select the function you want.

2. The toolbar shows not the normal tools like brush and rubber, what can I do?
PhotoLine 32 only shows that tools, which can be used with the current layer tool. If a text layer is active, you don’t have access to the drawing tools. If you can’t find a certain tool and you have ensured that it isn’t a multiple icon, check, whether you have selected the right layer.

Toolbar for raster images.

Toolbar for vector images.

3. Every text field in PhotoLine 32 shows values in pixel. But I want other units like inches.
You can change the units of every size field and of the rulers in PhotoLine 32. Right-click (on Windows) or Ctrl-click (on Mac OS) on the field and you will get a popup with the selectable units. You can do this also with the font size, but here you have to right-click on the arrow beside the value on Windows. You can calculate in all fields with units.

4. I want to crop an image, but I don't know how this works.
First of all you have to create a lasso around the area that you want to crop. Then you press "Crop" in the Tool Settings or in the context menu. You can create a "Soft Edge" with the corresponding setting in the Tool Settings. If you hold Shift while cropping, the cropped area will be shown in a new window.

5. Starting PhotoLine 32 From An USB-Stick
You can start PhotoLine 32 from an USB-stick without any problem. First you have to copy the installed PhotoLine 32 folder from your harddisk to the USB-stick. Now you can start PhotoLine 32 from the USB-Stick, but the settings are still saved to the harddisk. In order to fix this, you have to create a folder named "UserSettings" in the PhotoLine 32 folder on your USB-stick. On Windows the "UserSettings"-folder has to be directly in the application folder, on mac OS it must be in the application package in "Contents/Resources". If PhotoLine 32 finds "UserSettings" on starting, it will read and write its settings to it.

6. How can I delete all drawings of an image to get a white sheet?
Select the rubber icon and then press "Work on whole picture". If there is a mask, you should first select Tool/Mask/Delete.
 

7. Create An Alpha Channel/Transparency
I want, that using the rubber makes the image transparent. How do I do that? The rubber usually uses the background color. But if an image has an alpha channel/transparency, using the rubber makes an image transparent. An alpha channel/transparency is created by the function Layer Properties. In this dialog there is a switch named Use Transparency which allows to both create and remove an alpha channel/transparency.

8. How do I draw straight lines?
You can draw straight lines with all painting tools and the "Stamp" and "Finger" option by holding down the Ctrl-key simultaneously.

9. How can I rotate a layer (not background layer) or a lasso?
Click on one of the edges of the layer or lasso and press the Ctrl-key before you drag the mouse.

10. Can I enlarge the image area? 
To enlarge the image area select "Layer/Change Layer Size" and fill in the new values for width and height.

11. I have third party plug-in filters, but I do not see them!
Be sure that the path to the folder which contains the plug-in filters is correctly specified at "Options/Extended/Plug in Moduls" and the filters are set active. The filter files have an "8bf" suffix. If your filters do not appear in spite of this check if you have a file called PLUGIN.DLL and MSVCRT10.DLL in your windows or system folder. Plug-in filters often want to have this dll.

12. Why is there no screen capture function in PhotoLine?;
Windows 95/98/NT has a built-in snapshot function. Press Print to copy the whole screen into the clipboard, and Alt+Print to copy the active window. After that you can insert the clipboard content in PhotoLine 32. On the Mac OS Shift+Command+3 copies the whole screen and Shift+Command+4 copies the active window. If you press additionally the Ctrl key you will get the image in the clipboard.

13. There is a red frame or red rectangle respectively around my text layer. Furthermore every time I hit a key I hear a sound.
If the above is happening, then the text layer is to small for its text. PhotoLine 32 will show the text nevertheless, but it is marking the layer with red to signal the error. To solve the problem simply enlarge the text layer or reduce the text size.

14. PhotoLine 32 has so many function, but I don't understand how to use them.
The first way to get information about a function is to read the description at the statur bar when the mouse is on the function. If this is not enough, press the Help key (Windows: F1) and get the online help. You should try to read the Tutorial of PhotoLine 32. You can find it at www.pl32.com It shows many basic functions of PhotoLine 32.

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Please email questions and suggestions on these tips to Gerhard Huber.