General PSP questions

[Top Chef]

I have both PSP 7 and 9. Currently, I am working with 7 on my laptop (I think??!) and everytime I ask it to add a new layer, it does nothing. :shocked: I have to paste each and every picture or item and it does not work like I want it to work. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong. I'd hoped to download it here at work but there is an admin control that won't allow me to install. ERggghh, what do they think I'm supposed to be doing-working? :D anyway, ANY help would be greatly appreciated.

My siggie pic is so far the only digi scrap I've made. I know which tools I need and how to use them but not with the program I have, if that makes sense! Is there another program (free or cheap) that I could use that would help better? I've seen something about a layout program but know nothing about what those are or the difference between that and PSP or Photoshop (which I don't have and can't afford)

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!
~Michele~

[debbers]

PSP 9 is SO much better than 7. Use it, by all means.

I've had installations of PSP go south and random things just stop working. Complete new installs didn't even work. A new version, or a new computer was ultimately the only thing that fixed it.

So I'm wondering if something yukky like that happened to you - where everything worked fine one day, and then WHAM, something random just didn't work.

Really, switch to PSP 9. There were some major improvements in 8 and 9.

deb

[debbers]

P.S. you'll find a number of tutorials here at DSP (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/tutorials/tutorials.shtml), including your first layouts with PSP. You don't need to buy another program at all. PSP is awesome!

deb

[Muma]

I've had that happen with PSP to ...... luckily I have XI so it was an easy question to the customer service and a little program to totally clean my PC including registry and a fixed install that corrected it. Then I got Vista and PSP XI seems to be pretty stable on that.

I'm sorry that this does not help you but I would follow Debs advice and use 9 if 7 is messing up.

[Dani B]

PSP Pro 8 is my favorite for my desktop PC with Windows XP - but my notebook has vista 64 bit and I have to use PSP XI and so far its stable on the notebook.

The only thing I remember haveing to do once was to tell Norton to allow PSP to run? I never had a problem after that. I think it was because PSP uses scripting?

[Top Chef]

Ok, I am now using 9 and I like it except that, yup, something went WHAM and now one of my major tool bars is missing-the font one. AND I have no idea how to use the layer pallette to make changes...and it seems to have disappeared as well. errrghhh!!

When I save changes, what .ext should I use bc this last time (after clipping alot at a rapid pace of only 2 hours this time!) I managed to complete a really cute Halloween montage of my kiddos and yet when I saved it and uploaded it, only part of it came thru. ???? 3/4 of the sheet is solid black, with the top 1/4 showing the work I've done. ???????

[JayandJillsmom]

I think you should save in PSP's native format: .pspimage. That should help. I had the problem you described in which I opened a file I created and it came up black in parts. I think the mistake I made was when I saved it I kept it as a .png file, which was the file extension on the template I was using. PSP didn't like it. Clearly, that shouldn't happen but I think when you're dealing with such large files, you want to accomodate the software (and the computer gods) as much as possible. Good luck!

Jackie

[debbers]

I always save in the native format, too - sometimes I'll save in PSD if it's a file that I would need to share with someone who isn't using PSP. But there are features that a PSD file can't save. A PSPIMAGE file saves text, vectors, masks, art layers, just everything, exactly like you worked on it.

Remember that when you upload an image, you need to save it out to a different file name and a JPEG, and you need to resize it too.

I'm pretty sure there's a tutorial for PSP in the DSP "Campus" section up across the top of the screen about how to get from a full sized 12 x 12 image to an upload, without compromising your original, and with the resulting file being clear.

Your toolbars and palettes are probably just hiding ... look on your VIEW menu up at the top of your PSP screen, and select toolbars ... then turn on the one(s) you want. That's also where your palettes are turned on or off, on the View menu.

deb

[Top Chef]

Jackie & Deb,
Thank you oh so much!! I'll try both those tonight when I get home!
~Michele~