Technical data

12 Getting Started
You’ll primarily encounter these terms in one of two contexts. First, as a
property of the pixels laid down by individual paint tools, which can be
more or less opaque, depending on the tool’s opacity setting. Second, as
a property of individual layers, where opacity works like a “master
setting” that you can vary after paint has been laid down.
7 Saving and exporting
Saving a file in PhotoPlus means storing the
image in the native PhotoPlus file format, using
the .SPP extension. This format preserves image
information, such as multiple layers, masks, or
image map data, that would be lost in conversion
to another graphic format. On the other hand, suppose you’ve opened a
.BMP or .JPG file and want to save it back to its original format. In this
case, use the Save Original command.
In yet another instance, you may be ready to save an .SPP file (or convert
some other image type) to one of the standard graphics formats. In
PhotoPlus, this is known as exporting. PhotoPlus includes a powerful
Export Optimizer that serves as your “command center” for exporting
images to various formats. It not only provides a variety of options for
each supported format, but also lets you compare image quality using
different settings and even retains your preferred settings for each
format!
There’s more on saving and exporting later in this chapter, and Chapter 7
includes details on file formats and optimizing images.
Starting PhotoPlus
Enough boring lecture—on to the demonstrations! (We’ll skip the quiz.)
It’s time to begin exploring PhotoPlus.
F NOTE: Throughout the Companion, we’ll use q checkbox
bullets to mark actual the ongoing tutorial thread: steps we’d like
you to complete as you follow along with the text. You’ll come
across many other descriptions and examples of commands, tools,
and procedures (and of course you’re encouraged to experiment).
But remember—unless a step has a checkbox, it’s entirely
optional!
The Setup routine adds a Serif PhotoPlus item to the Programs
submenu of the Windows Start menu.