Accelerate your photography workflow Getting Started Guide
ACD Systems International Inc. 2009 All rights reserved. Notice of Liability The information in this document is distributed on an “As Is” basis, without any representation or warranty of any kind whether express or implied, including any implied warranty of merchantability, title or fitness for a particular purpose or use.
TIFF support based on LibTIFF, Copyright © 1988-1997 Sam Leffler, Copyright © 1991-1997 Silicon Graphics, Inc. This notice must appear in all copies of the Software and related documentation. The names of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics may not be used in any advertising or publicity relating to the software without the specific, prior written permission of Sam Leffler and Silicon Graphics.
Contents Welcome to ACDSee Pro About ACDSee Pro ACDSee Pro modes Manage Overview Browse Folders, Calendar, and Favorites Filter, Group, Sort, View, Select Search Database Properties Import Organize Categorize Tag Rate View Overview Full screen Zoom Organize Process Workflow Develop Save, Done, Cancel Tune Detail Geometry Copy settings Restore originals Edit Save, Done, Cancel Selections Repair Text 1 2 2 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 11 11 12 13 15 16 16 17 18 19 20 22 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 28 29 30 32 Contents
Online Overview Create an ACDSee Online account Login Upload images What’s next? vi | ACDSee Pro 3 Getting Started Guide 33 34 34 34 34 37
Welcome to ACDSee Pro Congratulations on choosing ACDSee Pro Photo Manager 3, the industry-leading photo management software. ACDSee Pro is fast, powerful, and so easy to use that it is essential for managing, viewing, processing, and sharing your digital photos.
About ACDSee Pro ACDSee Pro provides a wealth of tools to help you manage, view, process, and share your images, to accelerate your photography workflow. ▪▪ Browse and organize images on your computer, or import photos from a camera, memory card, or other device. ▪▪ View the images and tag the ones that need further processing. ▪▪ Use the powerful Process tools to enhance the images, fix distortions, exposure and lighting, or add a watermark, borders, or other special effects.
Manage Manage mode is the main browsing and managing component of ACDSee Pro. In Manage mode, you can find, move, preview, and filter files located on your hard drive or removable storage device. You can also organize your files by adding categories, keywords and other metadata to make your files easier to search.
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Manage In Manage mode, you can browse the files on your hard drive or removable storage device, import images from a camera or other device, and organize the images using categories, ratings, and other file properties, or you can tag your images for further processing.
Overview Manage mode is the default view in ACDSee Pro, where you can browse and organize your files and images. You can perform sophisticated searches and filtering operations, and view thumbnail previews of images. Browse ACDSee Pro gives you the ability to browse the files on your hard drive or a removable storage device. There is no need to import files into ACDSee Pro—simply navigate to the files you want to view.
Folders, Calendar, and Favorites The easiest way to browse your files, is to use the Folders pane, much like you would use the folder tree in Windows Explorer. Doubleclick folders to expand them, or use the + and - icons to expand or collapse folders. The files and sub-folders in the selected folder are displayed in the File List pane. Once you have browsed your files and ACDSee Pro has added them to the database, you can use the Calendar pane to easily find files or images by date.
Search ACDSee Pro also provides a sophisticated search tool to help you find the files you are looking for. You can perform a simple search, entering a single search parameter, or narrow your criteria by specifying folders or categories to search within. If you find yourself performing the same search more than once, you can save the search to reuse the next time. To open the Search pane: Click View | Search.
Import If your images are still on your camera or removable storage device and you want to move them to your computer, you can use ACDSee Pro to import them. In ACDSee Pro, importing refers to the process of copying or transferring images from your camera or removable storage device to your computer. As well as importing your files, the Import wizard lets you: ▪▪ Create and name one or more folders. ▪▪ Create a duplicate set of folders and photos as a backup copy.
4 When the Import dialog box opens, select how you want to filter the images on the device, by Date or File Type. 5 Select or clear the check boxes in the left pane by date or file type. For example, if you want to import just the photos you took last weekend, select the check boxes for those dates. 6 To view just the images you have selected, click the View selected radio button. 7 You can also select the photos you want to import individually or in groups in the preview pane.
Organize You can organize your images in Manage mode or View mode, adding categories and ratings, or tagging images to apply organize settings to more than one image at a time. Once you have organized your images, you will be able to quickly find just the image you are looking for. Categorize Categories can organize and group your images so that you do not need to create extra copies or move files into different folders.
To assign images to a category: 1 2 Select one or more images in the File List. Do one of the following: ▪▪ Select the check box next to the category in the Organize pane. ▪▪ Drag the images from the File List and drop them onto the category name in the Organize pane. To view images in a category: In the Organize pane, click the name of a category. To remove images from a category: 1 2 In the File List, select the images you want to remove from a category. Clear the check box for the category.
Rate You can also rate your images so that you can easily find the best ones when you need to send someone a sample of your work or gather images for a special project. You can either select single images to rate, or tag a group of images that you want to rate. To rate a photo: 1 2 Select one or more images in the File List. Do one of the following: ▪▪ Select the radio button next to the numbered rating in the Organize pane.
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View If you want to view your images in full screen, or zoom in to see the details of an image, you can switch to View mode. Use the Properties pane to organize your images.
Overview If you like to view your images at full size or magnify part of the image to see the details, you can use View mode to scroll through selected images. A filmstrip at the bottom of the screen lets you quickly move to the image you want to view, and then you can use full screen, zoom in on your image, or organize your images by tagging them, or applying ratings or categories.
Use the mouse wheel or keyboard shortcuts to view the next or previous image. To exit full screen: Press the F key. Zoom In View mode you can view images at full size, or you can use the zoom tools to zoom in and out on your images. To zoom in or out on an image: ▪▪ Click Tools | Zoom, and then select one of the Zoom menu options.
Organize You can organize your images in View mode using the same tools that are available in Manage mode, including categories, tags and ratings. To rate, tag, or categorize images: 1 2 3 Click View | Properties to open the Properties pane. Use the filmstrip to scroll through your images. When you see an image you want to rate or categorize, do one or more of the following: ▪▪ To apply a rating, click a numbered rating in the Properties pane. ▪▪ To apply a tag, select the Tagged check box.
Process Use Process mode to adjust your images using the nondestructive Develop tools, or fix and enhance images using the pixel-based Edit tools. The Develop sub-mode provides three groups of tools: Tune tools for adjusting exposure, vibrance, white balance, lighting, color, and tone; Detail tools for sharpening and noise reduction; and Geometry tools for lens distortion, rotating, fixing perspective, and cropping.
Workflow The Process mode workflow makes it simple to develop and edit your images. 1 2 First, make any adjustments or corrections to the entire image using the Develop tools. Next, touch up selected parts of the image, or add borders, text, watermarks, or special effects using the Edit tools. Pane Purpose Develop Use the Develop tools to make adjustments to the entire image: crop, rotate, apply color or lighting adjustments, sharpen, reduce noise, and fix perspective distortion.
Pane Purpose Edit Use the Edit tools to touch up selected parts of the image, or add borders, text, watermarks and other creative effects. You will also find geometry, exposure/lighting, and color tools in the Edit pane. You can use these tools, in combination with the Selections tool, to edit selected areas of the image or to tweak the changes you made in the Develop pane. These types of changes are pixel-based edits, meaning that the pixels in the image are changed when you save the file.
Develop Using the Develop tools, you can make global adjustments or corrections to your image. The Develop sub-mode provides three groups of tools: Tune tools for adjusting exposure, vibrance, white balance, lighting, color, and tone; Detail tools for sharpening and noise reduction; and Geometry tools for lens distortion, rotating, fixing perspective, and cropping. As you make adjustments, the preview in the right pane shows the changes.
Button Description Save Save as: Saves a copy of the image with the adjustments. Export: Exports the image with the adjustments to a different file format and a specific resolution. Copy to clipboard: Copies the image with the adjustments to the clipboard so that you can paste it into another program. Cancel Cancels the adjustments to the image. If you have adjusted more than one image, just the changes to the current image are canceled and the other items in the queue are processed and saved.
To use the Tune tools: 1 2 In Process mode, click Develop. In the Develop pane, select the Tune tab. As you make adjustments using the Develop tools, click the Show Original button to compare your image before and after adjustments. Detail You can define details and add clarity to your images using the Sharpening sliders. To use the Detail tools: 1 2 In Process mode, click Develop. In the Develop pane, select the Detail tab. Use the preview area on the left to view part of the image at 100%.
Geometry The Geometry tab provides tools for fixing lens distortion and perspective, and for rotating and cropping. To use the Geometry tools: 1 2 In Process mode, click Develop. In the Develop pane, select the Geometry tab.
Copy settings If you have taken several photos and want to apply the same adjustments to each of them, you can easily copy and paste the settings from one image to another. To copy and paste settings: 1 2 3 4 5 6 In Process mode, make the adjustments to the first image, and save the image. Switch to Manage mode and select the image which you have just processed. Click Tools | Process | Copy Settings. In the Copy settings dialog box, select the develop settings you want to copy, and then click OK.
Restore originals Once you have developed an image, the settings you used are saved in the ACDSee Pro database, and they will be available each time you open the file. You can remove the develop settings from your images one at a time, or you can select a group of images and remove the develop settings from all the selected images. To remove develop settings from your images: 1 2 In Manage or View mode, select one or more images. Click Tools | Process | Restore to Original.
Edit Using the Edit tools, you can touch up your images. You will find some of the same tools as in Develop, but in Edit you can use these tools in combination with selections to fine tune particular areas of an image. You can also add special effects, borders, a watermark, or text to the image. A few of these tools are described on the following pages. Be sure to explore ACDSee Pro to find all the tools that are available, and review the ACDSee Pro 3 Help for additional instructions.
Button Description Cancel Cancels the edits on the image. If you have edited more than one image, just the changes to the current image are canceled and the other items in the queue are processed and saved. Selections Use selections to isolate an area of an image and then apply edits or filters to only that area. There are two ways of using selections in ACDSee Pro: ▪▪ Open an Edit tool, such as Advanced Color, and then while you are using the tool, click Create Selection to make the selection.
In the example, the Magic Wand was used to select the yellow motor scooter in the foreground, and then using the Advanced Color tool, the hue was adjusted so that the scooter now appears green. To use the Selections tool: 1 2 3 4 5 6 In Process mode, click Edit. Select one of the Edit tools. For example, in the Color group, click Advanced Color. Click Create Selection. Select one of the selection tools to select an area of the image. When you have finished making your selection, click Done.
To remove flaws from a photo: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 In Process mode, click Edit. In the Repair group, click Repair Tool. Drag the Zoom slider to zoom in on the area you want to repair. Select Heal or Clone. Do one or both of the following: ▪▪ Drag the Nib Width slider to set the width of the brush. ▪▪ Drag the Feathering slider to set the amount of feather on the edge to prevent sharp transitions between the original and the healed part of the photo. Right-click the image to set a source location.
Text You can use the Text tool to add a caption to a photo. You can move the text to any position on the photo. To add text to an image: 1 2 3 4 5 6 In Process mode, click Edit. In the Add group, click Text. A text box appears in the center of the image. In the Add Text pane, type a caption. Adjust the font attributes and other text effects. Click and drag the text box to position it anywhere on your image.
Online Online mode provides an easy way to upload images to ACDSee Online to share with your contacts or the public. In Online mode, you can select the images on your computer and then drag and drop them directly into your ACDSee Online account.
Overview ACDSee Online is an image sharing and storage service located online at: www.acdseeonline.com Using Online mode, you can upload and browse through your online images directly from inside ACDSee Pro. Simply create an ACDSee Online account, log in, and then begin uploading your images. Create an ACDSee Online account Before you can upload images to ACDSee Online, you must create an account.
To upload your images: 1 2 3 In Online mode, click Transfer. The ACDSee Pro window splits in two—the bottom section of the window displays images on your computer, and the top section displays your images online. Select a resolution from the drop-down list in the top right corner. It is recommended that you select the lowest resolution (1024x768). This results in faster transfers and allows you to upload more photos to your account.
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What’s next?
Explore ACDSee Pro is packed with many more useful features and tools—more than we can cover in this simple guide. Hopefully, these instructions have given you some ideas on how the program can help you manage your collection of photos or other files. We encourage you to explore the rest of ACDSee Pro, and to experiment with some of the features for yourself.
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