GFX Writer From Incan Soft

G F X W R I T E R

U S E R G U I D E

VERSION HISTORY

●

V1.00 January 1, 2007 – 1st Release Candidate

●

V1.10 June17, 2007 – Maintenance Release

●

V2.00 November 23, 2007 – 2nd Release Candidate

DISCLAIMER AND/OR LEGAL NOTICES

The information in this document is copyrighted 2007 by Incan Soft

and is protected under US and International Law.

It may not be reprinted, copied, redistributed, retransmitted, photocopied, displayed, or stored electronically or by
any means whatsoever without the express written permission of the author. The information presented herein
represents the views of the author as of the date of publication and is for informational purposes only.

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Table of Contents

VERSION HISTORY............................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................3

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.....................................................................................................3

INSTALLATION................................................................................................................4

UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION................................................................................4

FIRST USE OF GFX WRITER.................................................................................................5

GETTING STARTED...........................................................................................................6

CHOOSING THE TYPE OF GRAPHIC TO CREATE.........................................................................7

WORKING WITH PROJECTS AND IMAGES.................................................................................8

UNDERSTANDING AND USING THE CLIPBOARD.........................................................................9

WORKING WITH FONTS AND TEXT........................................................................................9

ROTATING OBJECTS........................................................................................................10

REFINING AND MANIPULATING OBJECTS...............................................................................11

HEADER EXAMPLE #1 ......................................................................................................13

HEADER EXAMPLE #2......................................................................................................14

PRODUCT COVER EXAMPLES..............................................................................................15

OBTAINING TECHNICAL SUPPORT.......................................................................................16

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INTRODUCTION

GFX Writer is a small, but surprisingly powerful graphics program designed

specifically for those who lack the artistic or technical skills to work with more
advanced programs like Photoshop. The underlying concept to the program is

focused on working with existing graphic objects rather than creating them
from scratch.

By combining various graphic objects on the canvas, along with text and other

special effects, it becomes possible to create stunning layouts for headers,
various product covers and other visual elements you may need. You can easily

create entire mini site graphics within a few minutes, saving the expense of
outsourcing them.

The program is easy to use, forgiving in terms of mistakes and will make

anyone capable of copying and pasting into a competent designer in no time at
all. It's a FUN program to work with as well – experimenting with the controls

demonstrates it's true power and flexibility.

Before starting to work with GFX Writer, please be sure that you've downloaded
and installed all of the latest Windows and .NET Framework updates. For more

information about Windows Updates, you may visit

http://www.microsoft.com

or use the Microsoft Update applet from within Windows itself.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

●

Windows XP SP2, Vista

●

Internet Connection

NOTE: GFX Writer may work on earlier versions of Windows or on different
configurations. Please be aware that it has only been tested on Windows XP SP2

and Vista Home Premium edition.

Due to this, we are unable to provide support to Windows versions other than
those listed as we do not have test platforms available for debugging.

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INSTALLATION

After downloading the GFX Writer zip file, you'll extract or unzip it to your
Windows Desktop. The zip file contains two executables:

●

setup.exe

●

SetupHD.msi

Double-click the setup.exe file to begin the installation. A wizard style
interface will guide you through the various options – we recommend that you

accept all of the default settings to simplify updating the program later. When
the installation has completed, an icon will be located on your Windows

Desktop – double-click it to launch GFX-Writer.

UPGRADING FROM A PREVIOUS VERSION

Each time you launch GFX Writer, it will check our server to determine if any

updates are available.

As shown in the screen shot above, if an update is available you may click the

link to navigate to the update page on our server to download it. Updates are
provided free of charge for minor versions (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc.) while major

upgrades are provided at a discount to existing customers.

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FIRST USE OF GFX WRITER

The first time you run GFX Writer, you'll be prompted to enter your
Registration Key, provided to you at the time of purchase. After doing so, click

the Activate button to register the program on our server.

You will only need to perform the registration once, unless you've uninstalled
the program or are installing it on a new computer. Once registered, GFX

Writer will launch normally and you may begin working with it immediately.

If you should encounter difficulties with the registration process, please
contact our

Technical Support

staff for assistance.

Before doing so, please ensure that you have installed all of the latest updates

to Windows and the .NET Framework.

Additionally, check your firewall to be certain that GFX Writer is allowed to
access the Internet and that your computer is connected.

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GETTING STARTED

Each time you launch GFX Writer it starts out in New Project Mode. As shown in

the screen shot below, all of the various features and controls are located on
the ribbon bar above the drawing canvas.

From here, you're going to take different steps depending upon what type of
graphics you want to create, so the following pages will detail the basic

possibilities for you.

WARNING: When obtaining and copying any graphics from the Internet, please
make absolutely certain that you have a legal right to use them, whether the

entire image or any part of it.

Copyright violations, especially where graphics are concerned, are frequently
pursued aggressively through legal channels, so use due diligence!

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CHOOSING THE TYPE OF GRAPHIC TO CREATE

By default, GFX Writer loads a generic canvas for you
to work with, which allows you to work in “Free Form”

mode, i.e.; creating any size 2-dimensional image.
This mode is also the preset for working with a header

graphic.

If you wish to work on a Product Cover, clicking that icon on the ribbon will
load the the last template used. You may then click the Cover Template icon,

which will display a drop-down menu of the eight Cover Templates currently
supported.

WORKING WITH PROJECTS AND IMAGES

At any point in your work, you can scrap the project by

clicking the Project Icon and selecting New Project from
the drop-down menu. This has the effect of re-launching

the program. The Project icon also provides the means to
Save or Open a Project.

NOTE: A “Project” is not the final image output by GFX Writer. A Project file is

analogous to a Photoshop PSD file in that it contains all of the information
necessary to re-open the graphics in GFX Writer to continue working with

them.

The Insert Picture icon on the ribbon is used in several different ways,
depending upon the type of graphics being created. The first choice on the

drop-down menu, Insert Header Graphic, loads the header you select onto the
canvas and automatically resizes the canvas to fit it. If you're working with a

Product Cover Template, this option is ignored.

The next option, Add New Picture, allows you to import images to use as part
of your design. This option works with any type of graphics you may be

creating.

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The final option, Page Size, is used to establish the size of the canvas for

headers and free form designs. It's ignored when working with Product Cover
Templates as these are pre-defined already.

Clicking the Export Image icon on the ribbon provides two options for exporting

your project into one of four image formats. The first option, Export Image,
creates the image in exactly the dimensions you created it in.

The Second Option, Export & Resize is used when you want to actually change

the size of the final image. Resizing in this case is based on the canvas or page
dimensions and is done proportionally.

UNDERSTANDING AND USING THE CLIPBOARD

GFX Writer uses a localized Clipboard object that
should not be confused with the Windows Clipboard.

When you copy something in Windows, you are not
able to paste it directly into the program. Instead, it

must be loaded via the Add New Image menu item.

The reason for this is simply because GFX Writer needs to create a special
graphics object for use within the program. It cannot do so for elements pasted

through the Windows Clipboard as some data is not available to GFX Writer in
this case.

Each of the icons on the Clipboard work with each object you place on the

canvas itself. For example, selecting an object, clicking the Copy icon and then
the Paste icon will copy and paste that object onto the canvas.

Objects in GFX Writer have a third dimension, if you visual how objects are

stacked on top of each other. By selecting an object you can then click Bring
Forward or Send Backward to change it's position within the stack. Clicking

Remove All Objects simple clears the canvas of any objects you've previously
added to it.

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WORKING WITH FONTS AND TEXT

With one exception (discussed later), Fonts
are used in exactly the same way they are

used in any word processor. You select a font
from the Font Family drop-down list, set the

Font Size and Style in preparation for adding

a text object. The Font Style includes the basic choices of Color, Bold, Italics

and Underline.

The Styles icon is used to add a variety of special effect to text and graphic
objects in much the same way as is done with MS Word's Word Art feature.

We'll discuss this section later when walking through examples of creating
different graphics.

The last item on the ribbon is the dialog used to

actually enter and create a text object. Simply
type in the text of your choice and click the

Insert Text icon. The text object will be placed
on the canvas for you to continue working with.

Note that by selecting a text object and changing the Font parameters will

automatically update the text object with your selections.

GFX Writer was originally designed specifically for the purpose of adding text
to blank header graphics. You've probably got hundreds or thousands of these

laying around on your computer now.

By simply adding text and then tweaking the Fonts and Styles used, it's a piece
of cake to come up with absolutely gorgeous headers that are completely

unique from what anyone else is using.

So experiment with different combinations of settings to achieved the desired
effect.

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ROTATING OBJECTS

If you select any object (text or graphics), right-click and holding while
dragging your mouse will rotate the object around an imaginary pivot point in

the upper, left-hand corner of the object.

After rotating the object to the desired angle, simply drag it into it's final

position and you're done!

REFINING AND MANIPULATING OBJECTS

Perhaps the best new addition to GFX Writer is the addition of the Object

Toolbox provided from version 2.0 of the program. Each time you select an
object, whether text or graphics, the Object Toolbox automatically loads on

the right-hand side of the page.

The purpose of the Object Toolbox is to provide a robust set of controls to
allow you to refine the appearance of any object in your graphics. As shown in

the image below, each tool is described in order:

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Adjustment Control – allows you to manipulate

the Brightness, Contrast and Saturation of a given
object.

Transparency Effect – Changes the level of Alpha

Transparency for the entire object, with 100
being opaque and 0 being invisible.

Colorize Your Image – Choosing a base color will

Colorize the entire object in that color.

Other – This can be used to create a Negative
Image, Grayscale Image as well as Flipping and

Mirroring the object.

Image Resize – Resizes the selected object
according to the pixel sizes entered. Ticking Keep

Proportions will resize the image proportionally.

NOTE: Each time you click one of the Apply
buttons in the Object Toolbox, a COPY of the

object is made with those changes applied to it.

This allows you to preserve and view each
subsequent change in case you need to back up

and revert to a previous copy. When the desired effect in reached, simply
delete object copies and position the final object appropriately.

WARNING: If you've selected the background image and made a change via the

Object Toolbox, you're basically saying apply this to all layers so all of the
objects are automatically merged with the background image.

Experiment with the Object Toolbox – an amazing number of variations and

effects can be achieved with just a few minutes work!

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HEADER EXAMPLE #1

In this example we took a stock header graphic and added some simple text to
it. We added a text border, shadow, and a transparency to tone the colors a

bit. The original header graphic is unmodified so we can use it again.

To recreate this header, follow the steps below:

1. Click Project | New Project
2. Click Insert Picture | Add header Graphic
3. Select Comic Sans MS as the Font
4. Set the Font Size to 26 and click Bold
5. Enter the Text and Insert
6. Select Dark Green From the Font Color Palette
7. Select Styles | Border Effect | Border Text
8. Select Styles | Border Effect | Border Color and Choose Light Green
9. Select Styles | Text Shadow
10.Select Transparency Effect on the object Toolbox and Adjust to 70
11.Delete Original Image and Position Transparent Image
12.Select Grey scale on the Object Toolbox.
13.Delete Original Image and Position Grey scaled Image

NOTE: As you change various settings, GFX Writer remembers them, which

simplifies adding text in the same format.

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HEADER EXAMPLE #2

In this example we started from scratch rather using a blank header graphic.
We added a gradient background, an image from our stock photo library and

text.

To recreate this header, follow the steps below:

1. Click Project | New Project
2. Click Insert Picture | Page Size and Set To 750x150
3. Click Styles | Draw Shapes
4. Tick Auto Size, Gradient and Select a Dark/Light Brown Gradient
5. Click OK and the Header is Filled with the Gradient.
6. Click Insert Picture | Add New Picture of Radio
7. Select Radio object and set Transparency 50%
8. Enter the Text and Insert
9. Select Dark Brown From the Font Color Palette
10. Select Styles | Border Effect | Border Text
11. Select Styles | Border Effect | Border Color and Choose Light Yellow
12. Select Styles | Text Shadow

By combining a built-in gradient, an image of an antique radio and styling some

text, we end up with a really terrific header for a website about radios, all in
about 5 minutes time!

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PRODUCT COVER EXAMPLES

Creating a Product Cover to go along with your header is
just as easy as can be. When you select a product Cover, a

pre-defined template is displayed to allow you to work on
a flat surface. Some of the templates include a Left Side

surface as well, which you also create on a flat surface.

Clicking the Preview tab on your template will render the
Product Cover so you can check it throughout the design

process.

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OBTAINING TECHNICAL SUPPORT

If you should encounter difficulties with the registration process, please
contact our

Technical Support

staff for assistance.

Before doing so, please ensure that you have installed all of the latest updates

to Windows and the .NET Framework. Additionally, check your firewall to be
certain that GFX Writer is allowed to access the Internet and that your

computer is connected.

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Page 15 of 15

Document Outline