PhotoImpact 12 has several preset work modes. For this tutorial, we will be using the Full Edit mode so all of the tools in PhotoImpact will be available to you.

As you work, use your mouse to drag this along with you to mark your place.

LET'S GET STARTED

Note: If you are using a different version of PhotoImpact, you may not have the same images in your Easy Palette that are used in this tutorial. If that is the case, you will need to Download this small zip file that contains the images.

A general rule of thumb for saving images is, when saving a photograph, save as a .jpg, otherwise save as a .gif. An image saved as a .jpg can have millions of colors but cannot have a transparent background. Images saved as a .gif can only have a max of 256 colors but they can have a transparent background. While you are still working on an image, it's best to save it as a .ufo so you can make changes if needed.

1. Open a new image 300x300 with a white background. Rather than drawing an image, let's use something from the Easy Palette.

2. Open the Easy Palette and click on the Libraries tab. Find the Seastar in the Nature category. Using your left mouse button, drag the Seastar into the new image you opened in step 1.
   

3. Notice, your Seastar has a selection line (a line of dashes) around it. For this image, we want to save only the selected object (the Seastar) and not the white background. On the menu, click Web\Image Optimizer. On the next screen, you have a choice of saving the entire image or just the selected object. If it is not already selected, click Selected Objects, OK.
   

4. There are several file type choices on the next screen. We are going to save this one in .gif format (256 colors). When saving a single object, you will automatically get a transparent background behind your image. The white background will disappear leaving only the Seastar. Click Save As and navigate to the folder where you save your images. Type in a file name and save.
   

5. Repeat the above steps but select the Strawberry instead of the Seastar. This time, click anywhere inside the image to un-select the Strawberry. Click Web\Image Optimizer. This time, you will not be asked if you want to save just the selection because you do not have a selection. It will save the strawberry along with the white background. Even though you are saving the entire image, there are ways to make the background transparent when saving as a .gif but those methods are beyond the scope of this tutorial. You don't have to save this image. The objective was so you could see the difference in saving an image with and without a selection.
   

6. Repeat the above steps again but this time select Leaf 1, Seashell 2 and Butterfly 1. Put them all in the same image by dragging them out of the EasyPalette and into the image as shown below. Notice, the leaf doesn't quite fit into the image. It's slightly larger. You will need to resize the leaf using the Transform tool. If you don't resize the image, the resulting image after you save will be larger than the 300x300 because you will saving only the objects and not the entire image.

   To resize an image, click on the Transform tool located on the tool panel.

   

   Make sure the lock on the menu bar is locked. If it's open, just click it to lock. The lock will keep the object's perspective. While your object is still selected, use your mouse to drag the nodes on the bounding box inward until the leaf fits inside the edges. The bounding box is the black line you see around the image. The small black squares that are on the lines are called nodes.

   

7. Click on the Seashell to select it. The other two objects will not be selected. On the menu, click Web\Image Optimizer. On the next screen, pick Selected Object, OK. Even though we have 3 objects in our image, only the Seashell is in the save window. Where did our other objects go?
   

   Since we elected to save the selected objects, we got exactly what we asked for, the Seashell! It was the only object selected so that's all that will be saved. Again, you do not need to actually save this image.

8. Going back to the same image, click on any object within the image. Right-click and pick Select All Objects from the menu. Next, click Web\Image Optimizer. Since we have selected the objects to be saved, pick Selected Objects on next screen. Select the .gif button as the file type. Navigate to your work folder and save this image using the file name my-gif (you will need it later). Note: this file will most likely be smaller than the next two files (the .jpg and .ufo files) because you are not saving it with the background. You are saving the objects only which will result in a smaller size. Once this file has been saved, all of the individual objects will be merged into one image without a background.

As you can see, the way you save your image depends on what you want as an end result.

This is the preferred format for saving photographs since they can have millions of colors whereas a .gif can only have 256 colors. However, the downside is, each time you save an image as a .jpg, it will "degrade". Over time, it will become "fuzzy" and have a lot of ugly artifacts in the image.

1. Using the same image with the three objects, click on Web\Image Optimizer. If objects are selected, pick Entire Image from the small menu. On the Optimizer screen, click the .jpg button. Navigate to your work folder and save this image using the file name my-jpg (you will need it later). Once this file has been saved, all of the individual objects will be merged into the background as a single image.