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My old hobbyhorse re the old version of PSP X-4 is the feature in “Enhance Photo” which allows you to see all layers together in the main window, and then be able to balance contrast and colour (via “Smart Photo fix” and “Color Balnce”) of each layer, and judge their combined relative effect, so that they become a coherent total picture (I am not sure if I express myself clearly here, but I don’t know how to do better…). PSP X-3 and X-4 had that feature, and then it disapeared, so if a new version of PSP has it once more, I can finally switch to W10 or W11. Any news here?
Alas, alas, I will still have to continue working with X-3 then, so Corel will not earn any money from me….
Thanks for checking this, Cassel.
Hello Cassel and Forum Members,
I got a notification for a new version of PSP, 2021. To revisit my problem of trying to match a seperate layer with differing tone and colour in relation to the other layers, which is possible in PSP X3, where all layers stay visible while you adjust that one layer with enhance Photo/Smart Photo Fix, my question is, has anybody checked the new 2021 version to see if this feature is back again?
A detailed descripton of this problem is in the topic “PSP 2018 Layers” of July 2018 in this forum.
I look forward to your views on this subject.
Regards,
Robert
Alas, so no PSP 2020 for me. I’ll keep working on PSP X-3.
Thanks for the quick response, Carole.
Regards,
Robert
Cam you activate a compatibility mode in W 10 so that it pretends to be an older windows OS? If so, can you then install PSP9?
It’s a shame that W10 will not allow older PSP’s to install.
Succes.
Robert
Ok, thanks. I read somewhere, that in W10 you could activitate a semi W7 mode, so that older programs will work in that mode. Any info on that?
Ok, thanks for the responses on this subject. I’ll stick with X-3 for the time being. Hopefully Corel will add this way of displaying before and after together with the whole workspace in later versions.
Robert
The commands I use for matching layers with each other is under Enhance Photo in the main menu strip atop the Editor. Clicking it will show a drop-down menu with a.o. Smart Photo Fix and Colour Balance.
Smart Photo Fix allows you to alter a layer for Brightness (with sliders for Overall, Shadows and Highlights), Saturation (with a slider for Less or More Colourfull) and Focus (with a slider fo Original to Sharper.
Colour Balnce using Advance Options show a first section called Optional Fine Tune with Temperature (with a slider for Cool and Warm) and Tint (with a slider for Purple and Green) and then a section called Enhance Color Balance with Temparature (with a slider Cooler and Warmer) and Tint (with a slider Purple and Green).
Every slider, when opened, show a preview with two panes, showing the original condition and the condition after you have moved a slider. Thes panes are called Before and After. You must check the little Preview on Image box, to be able to see the changes in the whole document.
Note that in the working space I have a document, that consists of a Background and one or more layers. Each layer contains a part of the total picture that I am composing. These layers may come from various other documents, in which I selected the specific part I need, so the layers in the document at hand will typically all have different contrasts, colour saturation and tints. To amalgate my document, all these layers must match each other in tint, colour and contrast, so that when all are merged, it is a coherent picture.
To do that, you need to see the panes of change in the commands together with the main document and all of its layers. In X-3 you can see that combination (Document in workspace, the layers palette with all the layers, and the command that I am using (such as Cooler and Warmer)). In X-6 that I once tried, with one of the commands as described above, such as Cooler and Warmer, you do not see the workspace any more, it is replaced by a full screen showing the pane with Before and After. So, X-6 is useless for this sort of matching to produce a coherent picture, and I think all subsequent PSP programmes are dito. Am I right?
I hope this makes any sense.
Robert
Yes, I overlooked that, so you still can select advance options in X-8. But it is as Cassell said, you cannot see the two panes with the before and after of the change, AND the whole document, so as to compare the before and after and compare the colours of a layer while seeing simultaneously the whole document. So I understand that still hasn’t been addressed by Corel. My feeling is, it is not an annoyance, but an essential. I don’t believe, PSP 2018 will help me, so it is a no-buy.
I don’t have X-8, so I can’t check. The white balance is the default position in Enhance Photo/Colour Balance (in X-3). In Colour Balance, you can also select Advanced Options, and then you get the sliders for purple/green and warmer/cooler etc.
In your example pictures, it seems that the leaves is a separate layer, that you are changing w.r.t. colour and Smart Photo Fix (ie. light/dark and more/less colour0), is that correct?
Ah, I just clicked your pics and saw the large ones. In the X-8 nr 1, I notice, that there is ONLY White Balance under the Enhance Pphoto menu, and not Colour Balance. Does that mean, that you can not change the colour of the leaves in layer 1? More purple, or more green, or more warm etc?
Robert
No, it is not the tabbed images question, that is clear, and I never use tabbed documents. And I always use fit window to image.
I have another example which explains my question perhaps better.
In X-3, I have opened document, see pic 1, a face of a woman, and I want to add hands to that picture. So from another source, I found a pair of hands that I want to use, see pic 1-1. I copy the hands and put them in pic 1 as a new layer, see pic 2, and you see that the hands and face do not match in colour. Next to that document, I have opened the palette Layers, and you see the hands as a separate layer. Using Enhance Photo/Colour Balance, while having selected the hands layer, I move the sliders to warmer, and the hands now match the face, I can check that because in X-3 you keep seeing the document with both face and hands and you see the change in colour in the hands as you move the slider, untill the colours of the layers match, see pic 3.
Now the problem with later versions of PSP is, when you have selected a layer you want to adjust, and you then open Enhance Photo, the workspace disappears and the layer appears fully on the screen. Changing the colour of the hands is now difficult, because the face of pic 1 is gone and so you cannot judge the level of colour change of the hands. Therefore my question is, can PSP 2018 do this in the same way as X-3?
Has anybody tried this? Do I make sense here, or did i miss something?
I look forward to your findings
Robert
Strange. I responded to your question, but since I pressed the button twice, the response was dispalayed double. Selecting the last one and clicking delete, both responses were deleted, so I’ll try again.
To change a layer, I use the menu Enhance Photo/Smart Photo Fix, where you can change light/dark and colour intensityper layer. Also in the same menu, there is Colour Balance, where you can make colours cooler or warmer, or change green/purple levels, also in each layer seperately.
See screen shots. The picture on the right is the original photo and I want to change the tone and colour of the seperate elements (i.e. river, tower, ship etc). So, I have layered the river, the tower, the ship and the trees, and set them on the background, i.e. the original photo. Now, I have first darkened the original pic, of which you only see the sky, the rest is covered by the layers, see left picture in the first screen shot. Next, I can change the the tower to a darker shade and I can compare it to the sky, see the left picture in the second screen shot. I use the sliders in the menu Smart Photo Fix. Note, that the Editor remains visible, so that the picture with the changing layers is fully and complete (layers-wise) visible.
In the later PSP programmes, you cannot do this: if you select a layer to change light or dark etc, the complete picture disappears, and the Editor shows only the layer that you are changing. You see what I mean? You cannot assess the changes in one layer with respect to the others. I discussed this earlier with Cassell, and she said, that Corel said “Too bad” , therefore my question is, did Corel put this property back in PSP 2018??
thanks, Robert
