Glossary of Terms

anti-alias

Available for the Text Tool.
Anti-alias softens the jagged edges, using different shades of the text's color.
It is only available for for color depths greater than 256 and 256 grey scale.

brightness/contrast

Brightness lightens or darkens the entire image or selection. (The Brightness Setting shifts the entire histogram).
Contrast increases or decreases the range of luminance. (The Contrast Setting stretches or compresses the histogram).

Capture

Color Palette

There are two active colors. In the image to the right, green is the foreground color and black is the background color in the active color box
To change just one of the colors, click within either the foreground or background color box, in the active color box, depending on which color you wish to change
To switch the colors, one with the other, click on the little "L" shaped arrow beside the color boxes in the active color box
To choose a random color, run your mouse over the color panel, clicking on it when the desired color appears in the current color box.

deformations

These effects are achieved by moving image data from one area to another.
The image is altered or "deformed" according to which deformation filter is applied
Deformation filters are located under image/deformations on the menu bar

deselect

To 'unchoose' an area so that any editing will affect the entire window rather than a selected area.
How to deselect:
- Choose "Select None" from the Selections Menu
- Click anywhere within the window with the right mouse button

Dither

Dithering is a process whereby missing colors are represented by intermingling pixels of two or more colors in the images palette .
Tutorial

feather

filters

When a filter is applied, each pixel's color is altered based on it's current color and the color of neighboring colors. Img. 1 shows a pixel, Img. 2 shows a solid black line, and img. 3 shows the same black line with a hotwax coating applied.
Changes to individual pixels can vary from slight to drastic, depending on the filter applied.

Histogram

The Histogram Functions modify an image or a selection within that image based upon its luminance histogram.
See the Histogram Tutorial for more detail.

Hue

Luminance

mask

A 256 color grey scale bitmap similar to a stencil.
It has "open" areas that allow changes to the image and "closed" areas, that do not.
white is a completely "open" area, black is completely "closed" and shades of grey allow varying degrees of changes to be made to the image.
Mask Tutorials

Opacity

determines how opaque (see-thru) the selection is.
A higher setting is more difficult to see thru, while a lower settins is easier to see thru.
Tutorial

resize/resample

Changing the images height and width
There are two methods for doing this, the resize and the resample
resize:
- duplicates or deletes pixels
- should be used with sixteen colors or less
- best results for simple or hard-edged images
resample:
- Resampling smooths out rough spots by estimating how the "missing" pixels should appear, and filling them with the appropriate color.
- Resample photos and photo-realistic images or complex images.
- Available for grey scale images and images with color depths greater than 256
See the tutorial on Resizing vs. Resampling

retouch

The Retouch Tool allows you to make adjustments to certain areas of your image, rather than to the entire image.
See the tutorial on the Retouch Tool

Saturation

select

To choose a specific area to edit in the active window
selection tools:
freehand - Allows you to 'draw' your own selection in rather than using a pre-defined shape or color as your selection. Selections can be moved, copied, edited or deleted.
shape - With the shape tool you can draw a rectangle, square, circle or ellipse.
magic wand - The magic wand can be used to select a specific area based on either the the color, the hue or the brightness.
What Does a Selection Look Like? The selected area has a moving dotted line around it. Professionals refer to this line as the "marquee" since it resembles the flashing lights around a marquee sign.
- Floating Selection - A floating selection is not yet part of the image, but rather 'floats' above the image. You can move it or alter it without affecting the underlying image
- Standard Selection - A standard selection is part of the underlying image, if you move it you will alter the image below.
invert the selection
- To switch the image's selected and non-selected areas.
- Two ways to invert the selection:
  - choose "Invert" from the Selections Menu
  - press the Shift+V key on your keyboard

stylebar

tolerance

tolerance settings effect the way the selected tool performs it's function on an image. High tolerance settings will effect a larger area of the image than low tolerance settings.
See the tutorial on Tolerance Settings

toolbar

tool palette

Transparent Function

(not to be confused with saving a transparent selection)
When you choose a transparent color, Paint Shop Pro deselects all of the pixels in the selection that match the color you chose.
Tutorial