General:
Formats
Relative Size
Color and Format

Microsoft Tools:
Photo Editor
Image Composer - The Working Environment
Image Composer - Colors and Effects
Image Composer - Layers and Sprites

Paint Shop Pro:
Introduction
Opening/Acquiring
Editing
Layering
An insertion example
A lettering example
Saving

Images Applied:
The Web
PowerPoint (animations)

Elsewhere on this site:
General Instructional Technology
Presentation/Web
Imaging
Sound
Video
Home

Images Using Microsoft's Tools:  Image Composer - The Working Environment

Upon opening Image Composer, a framed blank space presents itself. This is the canvas - anything appearing inside this area will be included in the final picture, and any image or part of an image outside (in the gray area) will not - except when saved in Image Composer's own proprietary ".mic" format (see Saving your work). The canvas can be instantly resized at any time by dragging the dotted lines. When an existing picture is opened, the canvas, by default, exactly spans the  picture. Resizing the canvas does not affect the picture, and resizing the picture does not affect the canvas size, even if the parts of the picture now lie outside. Think of the canvas and image as two separate things (more in Layering). Cropping is accomplished by changing the size of the canvas relative to the image. If, at any time,  you want the canvas to exactly match an image, select "Fit Composition Space to Selection" in the "View" menu.

Resizing

It's important to remember that size is relative - to be certain of final size, use "Actual size" under "View" to see how the image will appear relative to others on your computer desktop. Zoom in to do detail work, but it's a good idea to always evaluate the results in actual size.  When one clicks on an image, small squares with arrows appear at each corner and edge. When you have more than one image in a project (see Layering), the one currently selected will have these boxes. Click on any image to select it. Drag one of the small squares to change the image size. Use care - unlike similar tools in other Microsoft products, using the corners for resizing does not automatically maintain aspect ratio - which means you can distort the picture easily.

Rotating

The upper-right corner is for rotating the image - drag this square to rotate the picture. The area of the picture will enlarge to accommodate the new, rotated picture, so you will have to resize the canvas to accommodate the picture if you want all of it to appear. Fixed 90-degree or 180-degree rotations, as well as "Flips" (mirror images) can be accomplished through the "Arrange" menu.

Saving your work

There are a wide variety of formats available in which to save.  In general, you should save ongoing projects or compositions you may want to modify later in Microsoft Image Composer's proprietary ".mic" format. This format cannot be read by any other software, so your final creation must be saved in another format. Of these, JPG is the most versatile, but for a better discussion of image formats, see Formats.

The ".mic" format saves all image information, regardless of canvas size or placement - even image information completely outside the canvas area. Each layer is saved separately, and hence can be edited later. Besides being useful for unfinished projects, the ".mic" format is also useful when you must create a large number of similar-looking things, such as menu icons, since you don't need to re-create the entire composition for each item - simply alter the one thing that's different (such as the text), "File/Save Copy As..." to the target format, and "Edit/Undo" to revert and re-enter the text of the next one. The only thing the ".mic" format doesn't save is "undo" information.

If you wish, "Save selection as..." saves only the object or layer (Image Composer calls them "sprites") currently selected - the one with the boxes on the corners.

"Save for the Web..." is a wizard - it will ask you a few questions dependent on the type of image you have.