To replace the background material with the foreground material, double-click the left mouse button anywhere in the image. To replace the foreground material with the background material, double-click the right mouse button anywhere in the image.

To confine the color replacement to a specific area, select the area before painting with the Color Replacer.

To replace colors/materials using brush strokes, on the Tool Options palette choose the brush tip, size, opacity, and other options.

Note: This works using any painting tool, including the Eraser tool (which erases in a straight line).

When you want to get a perfectly horizontal or vertical line while using the Pen tool , use the Draw Lines and Polylines mode, and hold down the SHIFT key while drawing the line.

PSP recognizes many file types as masks - .psp, .pspmask, .pspimage, .jpg, .gif, .bmp, etc. It is not necessary to convert black and white or grayscale .jpg or .gif files to .msk files in order to use them as masks - just use them as they are. And you get the added benefit of a much smaller file as well - the .jpg or .gif file is much smaller, sometimes in the order of four to five times smaller.

Let's start with creating a file that can be used as a mask. Once the file to be used as the mask is selected, there are several ways you can create the mask. You can:

• Save the image as a .jpg file to your masks folder.
• Save the image as a .gif file to your masks folder.
• Save the image as a .bmp file to your masks folder.
• Save the image as a .psp or .PspImage file to your masks folder.

Then, you can load any of these files as a mask. That's right. PSP recognizes all these file types as masks. It also recognizes .msk files created in earlier versions of PSP as well as its own mask file type, with a .PspMask qualifier. But we'll get to that type in a moment. To use any of the above file types as a mask:

• Open your target image.
• Add a raster layer to the image and flood fill with whatever color, pattern, or gradient you want for the mask.
• Choose Layers...Load/Save Mask...Load Mask from Disk, and select your saved "mask" file from the drop-list.
• When you click OK, a new layer group will be created, containing two layers: the new mask layer, and the layer that was active when you loaded the mask.

To use an open black and white or grayscale image as a mask:

• Activate the target image.
• Add a raster layer to the image and flood fill with whatever color, pattern, or gradient you want for the mask.
• Add a mask layer by choosing Layers...New Mask Layer...From Image.
• In the Add Mask from Image dialog, select Source luminance in the Create mask from option. You may want to select Invert Mask Data, depending on your source image, but you can invert the mask later.
• When you click OK, a new layer group will be created, containing two layers: the new mask layer, and the layer that was active when you created the mask layer.

Lastly, how do you save the mask as a .PspMask file? Once you have created the mask layer by ANY of the above methods:

• Activate the mask layer.
• Choose Layers...Load/Save Mask...Save Mask to Disk.
• In the Save Mask to Disk dialog, enter the new mask name into the File Name box.
• When you click Save, the mask will be saved to your default Masks directory, as defined in File...Preferences...File Locations, with the new name you entered, and a .PspMask extension.

Final note - if you can achieve the same results with a .jpg file that you do with a .msk or .PspMask file, and the .jpg file is less than half the size of the mask file, than why go to all the bother of creating the PspMask file?

If you want to see the mask while you are editing it, choose Layers...View Overlay. By default, the mask overlay displays red semi-transparent pixels (50% opacity) to show the mask on the image. If a different color or opacity would make the overlay easier to see on an image, change the color or opacity for the mask layer using the Layer Properties dialog (right-click on the mask's Layer Name button and choose Properties).

Note: Painting on a mask with black adds to the mask area, effectively blocking the underlying area from being seen, while painting on a mask with white erases the mask, allowing the underlying layer to show. Painting on the mask with grays varies the level of masking.

• The top panel of that box contains the 10 most recently used colors.
• The center panel contains 10 common colors, including black, white, and two shades of gray.
• The bottom panel contains the Foreground and Background color boxes, and the Other button used to display the Color dialog.

In like manner, when you've replaced a Foreground or Background Material with another material, and you need a previous material, right-click on the material box and find your material in the Recent Materials dialog box that pops up. The top panel of that box contains the 10 most recently used materials; the center and bottom panels are the same as in the Recent Colors dialog box described above, except the Other button is used to display the Material Properties dialog, which lets you choose either a color, gradient, or pattern.

• Choose File...Import...Custom Brush
• On the Import Custom Brush dialog, click Open, and browse to the folder that contains the custom brush. This will open the brush file, and you'll see all the brushes in that file in the left hand window.
• Click the Add All button - all the brushes will move to the right window.
• Click the OK button, and the brushes will be added to the "save to folder" designated in your Preferences...File Locations.

Custom brushes have two parts - a PspBrush file, which contains an image defining the shape of the custom brush, and a PspScript file, which defines the settings in the Tool Options and Variance palettes for the brush. These files are in the following format:

BrushTip_xxxxxx.PspScript
xxxxxx.PspBrush

where xxxxxx is the name the user chose for the brush.

Both parts are essential to using a brush in PSP. Occasionally, one of these two parts gets lost, with these results:

• If the PspScript file gets lost, the brush will not appear in the list of brushes. You can recreate the script file by moving the PspBrush file out of the Brushes paths as defined in File Locations and importing the brush again.
• If the PspBrush file gets lost, the brush will appear in the list of brushes as a big blob. If you cannot find the associated PspBrush file, you will need to delete the PspScript file and re-import the brush from the original .jbr file.

• Resize it - use the Pick tool.
• Paint on it - painting with white adds to the selection, and painting with black removes areas from the selection.
• Erase part of it - erasing with white removes from the selection, while erasing with black adds to the selection.
• Rotate it - use Image...Rotate, or use the Pick tool..
• Move it - use the Pick tool, or the Move tool.
• Warp it - with the Mesh Warp Brush tool or the Warp Brush tool.
• Tile it seamlessly - use Effects...Image Effects...Seamless Tiling.
• Clone parts of it using the Clone Brush tool.
• And even apply effects to it - use any filter that works on a grayscale image. For example, Gaussian Blur feathers the selection; the wave effect can produce some neat edge masks.
• You can even add a tube to a selection.

To do all this cool stuff, once you've made a selection, enter into edit selection mode by choosing Selections...Edit Selection (ALT + S) or clicking on the Edit Selection button () on the Layers palette. A new Selection layer is added to the image:

and a ruby overlay replaces the selection.

Do whatever you want to that ruby overlay, using any of the tools and available PSP effects. When you are finished editing the selection, choose Selections...Edit Selection (ALT + S) again to display the selection marquee, or just click on any layer in the Layers palette. Then do what you want with your selection.

Note: You can also enter Edit Selection without having a previous selection, and then use the painting tools to create the selection.

Here are some examples of what you can do. I started with a 100-pixel square selection. In each row, I've included the edited selection and a brief explanation of what I did to the selection. Finally, I included another image showing what the selection looked like after I exited selection edit and flood filled the selection with black:

	Paint Brush Tool Clicked with round paintbrush once along top right edge with black (left-click), then once along bottom right edge with white (right-click).
	Eraser Tool Clicked with square eraser once along top right edge with black (left-click), then once along bottom right edge with white (right-click).
	Fine Leather Texture Applied Effects...Texture Effects...Fine Leather, Crackle preset.
	Gaussian Blur Applied Gaussian Blur with a radius of 3.00.
	Mesh Warp Brush Tool Used the Mesh Warp Brush tool to change the shape of the selection.
	Wave Effect Applied wave effect, both amplitudes = 1, both wavelengths = 4.
	Added Picture Tube Added a tube of one of my hibiscus blossoms.

• Set your background material to Color, and set the Background (Fill) Color to the color of the background you want to merge into.
• Select the image (Selections...Select All, or CTRL + A).
• Contract the selection by 10-15 pixels (Selections...Modify...Contract).
• Feather the selection by 10-15 pixels (Selections...Modify...Feather).
• Invert selection (Selections...Invert or CTRL + SHIFT + I).
• Hit the delete key, repeating if necessary.

Here are a few other ways to fade the edges of an image into the background:

• Use the eraser tool with a very soft, large, round brush on the edges. If you make a mistake, you can unerase with the right mouse button.
• Apply a simple Gaussian blur.
• Use a black and white gradient mask.
• Use a large, soft Airbrush loaded with the color of the background - apply this color on a new layer.
• Select the edge you want to fade into the background and apply an inside/outside feather to it. Then copy, deselect, and paste to a new layer. Move the faded edge into place, and you have a neat feathered edge.

• A raster layer if either layer is a raster layer.
• A vector layer, if both layers are vector layers.
• A mask layer, if both layers are mask layers.
• A background layer, if the layer to be merged with is a background layer.

Alternate method: Right-click on topmost of the two layers to be merged and select Merge...Merge Down from the context menu.

Note: If the merge you attempt is not legal, the Merge Down command will be grayed out. One such illegal merge I have found is trying to merge a raster layer into a vector layer - that won't work. However, you can merge a vector layer down into a raster layer with no problem.

And here's another important item - the merged layer will take its name from the name of the layer merged into, the bottom of the two layers. So if you name your layers wisely, you won't lose the layer names.

If you want to repeat an effect or action you've recently used for one image on any other image:

1. Activate the History Palette (F3).
2. Activate the image where you used the command you want to repeat.
3. Drag the action for the command you want to repeat from the History palette and drop it onto the image where you want to repeat that command.

This is especially handy if you've applied an effect, for example a Drop Shadow effect, to an image, and you want to apply that same Drop Shadow to another image, but you've since changed the Drop Shadow dialog several times. All you have to do is activate the image with the Drop Shadow you like and drag the Drop Shadow action from the History palette for that image (see red arrow in image below) and drop it on the image where you want to repeat that command.

If you want to apply an effect or action you've recently used on all open images:

1. Activate the History Palette (F3).
2. Activate the image where you used the effect you want to repeat.
3. Right click on the action you want to repeat and choose 'Apply to other open documents' from the context menu.

• Select all.
• Choose Selection...Modify...Select Color Range.
• Select the Subtract color range option.
• Choose the color you want removed.
• Click OK when you have the settings as you want them.
• Invert the selection and delete.

This new facility does a lot more than the Remove Black and Remove White filters, because it works on any color, and it allows you to specify a color tolerance, and the amount of softness for the referenced color. As a Jasc PSP guru once said, "Select Color Range is your friend."

• Choose File...Preferences...File Format Associations.
• In the File Type window, scroll down to and highlight "PSPIMAGE Paint Shop Pro Image".
• Click the Extension button (lower right hand side of panel) to open the Extensions dialog. The preferred extension (the one PSP is currently using to save files) is at the top of the list.
• To make psp the preferred extension, select psp in the list and click the Preferred button. The psp extension will move to the top of the list.
• Click OK to save your changes.
• In the File Format Associations dialog, click OK to save all changes made, or Cancel to close the dialog without saving any changes.

The background eraser allows you to selectively erase pixels from the background while leaving an image intact. Its purpose is to erase background you don't want that lies around an object you want to keep. Place the center of the brush on the background you want to remove and overlap the edge of the brush onto the object you want to keep. Now trace around your object.

The Background Eraser performs its magic by erasing pixels similar to those under the brush, while leaving the other pixels unchanged. It constantly samples the pixels under its center, and uses complex algorithms to erase similar pixels in the surrounding area defined by the brush. In this way, you can easily isolate a puppy from the grass, or a balloon from the sky. The key is to keep the center of the brush away from the graphic you are trying to isolate. The edges of the brush can (and should) overlap the graphic as you erase, but the center of the brush always remains outside the graphic.

While you are in the Background Eraser tool, the left mouse button will erase based on the definition of the background and the right mouse button will unerase, or restore erased pixels, based on that same definition, but not completely. Holding down the BACKSPACE key and using the left mouse button will erase unconditionally, just as the regular Eraser does. Additionally, holding down the BACKSPACE key and using the right mouse button unconditionally unerases. For the lifetime of the tool the original image colors are remembered in the transparent areas, even though actual colors in these areas are changing. So, you want to stay with the Background Eraser tool until you are completely done.

And now, here are some of the tips I've gleaned from the "masters":

• For the most part, use the default settings for the brush - these seldom need to be changed.
  

• You will find if very helpful to enable Show brush outlines on the Display and Caching tab, General Program Preferences.
• When you have an image with internal holes containing background, use Discontiguous Limits rather than Contiguous.
• If you have trouble preserving edges use Find Edges for Limits.
• If the brush seems to consistently bite into your object, increase the Sharpness setting slightly to 80 or maybe 90.
• For preserving subtle edges, setting Limits to Contiguous is better than Discontiguous, and setting Find Edges is even better then Contiguous.
• You can get a better differentiation of object and background by increasing the Sharpness setting - do this in a restricted fashion since it is a very sensitive control.
• When either your object is vividly colored but your background is unsaturated, or when you have a rather unsaturated object on a brilliantly colored background, consider checking Ignore Lightness.
• For very careful detail work, switch off Auto Tolerance and manually set the Tolerance. It is difficult to do this better than the tool does itself, especially with a background and/or object where colors vary a lot.
• If you have areas you need to unconditionally erase, stay with the Background Eraser tool, and hold down the BACKSPACE key. Otherwise you will lose remembered data in case you need to unerase, and you might get some truly psychedelic data on unerase.
• Keep the brush center away from the subject you are preserving.
• When the background is textured (variegated in color) but the object is relatively uniform near its edges, backspace erase unconditionally along the edge. Then right-mouse unerase just inside the object. You can get better results this way than trying to erase the background selectively.