Serif PhotoPlus from Serif Ltd (FreeWare)
This is an image editor which features an export optimizer, editable text, image slicing and image maps, selection tools, smart shapes, and image enhancement tools. This image editor is capable of working with image layers and image animations.
The program is shipped in two versions: freeware (up to the version 6.0) and commercial (beginning from the version 8.0 and upwards). Downloading of the PhotoPlus 6.0 is available at the Download link.
While installing the program you have two options: US Standard (Letter size paper) and UK and the rest of the world (A4 paper).
Here is the PhotoPlus web-site
If you select the task of creating a new image, the program opens a small window requesting you to set dimensions of the image (length and width) in pixels, resolution of the picture in pixels per inch or in pixels per centimeter, as well as the type of background (white, background color, or transparent). You can set and clear the animation flag, too. After opening the image (the existing one or a blank) there appears the application toolbar in the right part of the Main window of the application.
But even the freeware version of the program demands on-line registration. In the process of this on-line registration the installer informs you about the product identification number. You must complete the registration by typing the registration key which is supplied over the Internet. The developer of the program warns that by completing the on-line registration you give him permission to send to your e-mail box various materials about new releases, patches, etc. But you can unsubscribe later. After completion of the registration process the application is unlocked and ready for use.
After starting the application the program brings out a window with starting options. The window has intuitively understable pictures and buttons for the following tasks: Open Saved Work, Create New Picture, Create New Animation, Import From TWAIN, View Samples, On-Line Resources. You can select and choose the needed task from this window or simply close it; if you close it without selecting the task, you can do it later in the Main Menu of the application.
After opening the image (the existing one or a created blank) there appear three other windows in the right part of the Main window of the application. These are: the Tool Properties window, the Color window, and the Layer Manager window. The content of the Tool Properties window at every moment depends from the currently selected application tool. If the tool has no available options for setting at the Tool Properties window there appears the Message “No options available“.
There is a toolbar on the left side of the Main application window. The toolbar contains buttons for editing tasks; some buttons may bring out small associated with combo-boxes toolbar palettes (for example, the button for selecting options). You can relocate the toolbar to the other place in the Main window.
Under the Main menu of the application there is the taskbar of the program containing buttons for creating, opening, saving and closing image files, printing images, copying and pasting, as well as undoing and redoing changes. There is the button ? standing for Help.
The Main Menu of the program contains eight options: File, Edit, Image, Layers, Select, View, Window and Help.
The File option opens File Dialog. In the File Dialog popup there are options for file opening, saving and closing. There are some peculiarities. The options Save and Save As support saving only in the native PhotoPlus .spp-format. Saving the currently opened image in the original format is being done by using options Save Original and Save Original As. While opening images the program supports a number of image formats including Bitmap (*.bmp), Truevision Targa (*.tga), Windows MetaFile (*.wmf), PaintBrush (*.pcx), GIF (*.gif), JPEG (*.jpg), Portable Network Graphic (*.png) and more. Converting the format of the original image is being done by options Export… and Export Optimizer…. The latter option allows to set some options for the output image in a special optimizer window (for example, the quality of the JPEG image).
You can import images from some outer source with the option Import.The option Print stands for printing images;it opens the print manager window. The options Preferences allows setting working preferences and options such as enabling/disabling Undo system, setting grid size, setting the directory for plugins and much more. The program supports a list of recently opened files.
The option Edit opens Edit Dialog containing standard editing options such as Copy, Cut, Paste, Undo/Redo and Clear.
With the option Layers you can handle layers in the picture; you can apply effects to them, arrange them, mask and unmask them. The option Properties opens the Layer Information window. You can also delete and merge layers.
The option Select of the Main Menu deals with selection options. You can select, deselect and invert selections. There is a special sub-popup for modifying the current selection (for example, contracting or expanding).
The option View manages zooming in and out of the image as well as visibility of various toolbar windows and palettes of the program. It also manages tool tabs within pageframes in the tool windows.
The option Window stands for a usual window handling popup (cascading and tiling windows as well as choosing the window by a number and name).
The option Help of the Main Menu brings out the Help popup containing the Help-system in the Microsoft Help Format as well as links for the PhotoPlus and Serif Web-sites. And there is a Registration Wizard… option in this popup which allows to go through the registration process if you didn’t do that while installing the program. If you select this option with the registration already complete there appears an information window saying the registration is already complete and showing phone numbers for online support in the US, UK and for the rest of the world. And finally there is a standard About option with the developer’s logo.
For better work with PhotoPlus you can download a Tutorial in a .pdf format from the developer’s web-site.