Technical data

20 Getting Started
Whether you import the image via the Open dialog or the TWAIN
interface, it will appear in a new image window in PhotoPlus. Assuming
the image is not in the native PhotoPlus (.SPP) format, it will always
have just a single layer, called the Background layer (see “Seven Key
Concepts” earlier in the chapter). Chapter 5 will explore layers in
considerable detail; until then we’ll be focusing on techniques that work
perfectly well on one—or at most two—layers.
Saving and Exporting Files
PhotoPlus can save images in its own .SPP format, or export them to any
standard format (again, see “Seven Key Concepts”).
Use File/Save (or click the Save button) to save images in
PhotoPlus’s own .SPP format. Only .SPP images preserve information
such as multiple layers, masks, or image map data that would be lost in
conversion to another graphic format.
Use File/Save As… to save the image
as an .SPP file under a different path
or name. You can store files anywhere
on your system. It’s a good idea to
group your images, for example into
project-oriented or thematic folders.
Suppose you've opened a .BMP or .JPG file, done some editing (without
adding layers), and now wish to save it back to its original format. In this
case, you can use the File/Save Original or File/Save Original As...
commands. Using the former will overwrite the original file—so be sure
that’s what you want to do.
In many situations, you’ll want to save a file to one of the standard
graphics formats. In PhotoPlus, this is known as exporting. You can use
the Export Optimizer to preview image quality before at various settings
before going ahead with the export.
The File menu offers two ways of accessing the Optimizer. Either choose
File/Export Optimizer... to display it
directly, or choose File/Export... and then
click the Optimize button in the dialog.
The Export dialog itself is a standard file
dialog where you can specify the path,
name, and format for the image file.