Working with Images

In Business Card Composer you can either use the images supplied with the program (clipart), import an image from a graphic file, use pictures from your iPhoto library, add them using drawing tools from the toolbar or search and download images from the Internet.

Some operations common for different objects are described in Basic Operations on Objects.

On how to import and insert images automatically see Automated Image Importing and Insertion.

Adding an Image

To insert an image from the internal clipart collection:

1. Open the Clipart Collection tab on the Clipart panel or select the Window > Clipart > Clipart Collection menu item.
2. Select an image category in the pop-up menu.
3. Click on a picture on the pane or drag it to the document. It will be placed in the center of the document.

To insert an image from the iPhoto library:

1. Open the iPhoto tab on the Clipart panel or select the Window > Clipart > iPhoto Library menu item.
2. Thumbnails of your photos will be displayed on the tab. This may take a while if your iPhoto library contains many pictures.
3. Drag & drop a picture from the iPhoto tab to the document. Or click on it to have it placed in the center of the document.

To insert an image from a file on the disk:

1. Choose the Insert > Image > From File menu item, or click the Insert Picture button on the toolbar.
2. In the Open dialog, navigate to the graphic file you want to open and click the Open button. Images in JPEG, PDF, EPS, GIF, PNG, TIFF and some other formats are supported.
3. The image will be placed in the center of the document.

To insert multiple images from a single folder, use the Custom Folder tab on the Clipart panel.

To search and download an image from the Internet:

1. Choose Search on the Internet... from the Insert > Image menu.
2. In the dialog, type the keywords that describe the image you need and hit OK. Business Card Composer uses Google image search engine.
3. The result will be displayed on the Clipart panel as images are downloaded. Click on the image you need to insert it into the document window. Or drag & drop it to the document.

Generating and inserting images

The images, generated in Business Card Composer, are mainly intended for the card background. The program has built-in image generator. If the Image Tricks program was installed on your computer, Business Card Composer uses its generator plug-in for creating images.

To generate and insert an image, choose Insert > Random Image in the menu.
The built-in generator will insert an image immediately (you cannot adjust parameters of the image generator).
The Image Tricks plug-in will open its own dialog, letting you choose one of multiple generators and adjust its parameters.

Replacing One Image with Another

You can replace an existing image with a new one from the Clipart so that the new image will take exactly the space of the existing image and the card layout will not change. Images from iPhoto, Custom Folder and from the built-in collection are supported. If the existing and new images have different side proportion, the new one will be cropped to fit the size of the existing one. The feature may be helpful when you have several images and want match one with your design.

To replace an image:

• Select an image on your card.
• Choose a new image on the iPhoto tab, Custom Folder tab or in the built-in collection.
• Drag a new image onto the existing one. When the existing image is highlighted wit a blue frame, drop the new image.

For more information, see Automated Image Importing and Insertion.

Image Attributes

On the Image tab of the Inspector window (menu: Window > Inspector > Image) you can enable and disable the tint option and set a tint color for an image.

To change transparency of an image, use the Opacity slider.

Tile Image tool creates multiple down-scaled copies of the image in the rectangle which that image takes. This feature can be used for decorating your designs.
To tile an image, select it and choose Format > Image > Tile in the menu or tick Tile in Inspector. Use the Tile slide bar to adjust number of tiles and their size.

Mask Image

To apply some interesting effects to your images, use the Mask Image option from the Image tab of Inspector.

Select an image, check the Mask Image checkbox and select a mask from the collection on the Image tab.

If you want to use some other picture as a mask click the Browse button and select an image file. Or simply drag an image into the mask preview box located to the left from the Browse button.

Crop Image

From time to time you may need to use only a small part of an image. For instance, you have a photo, part of which you want to use in your design. In this case you will have to use the Crop Image tool. To apply this tool, select an image and click the Edit button on the Image tab of Inspector or simply double click on the image. The Edit Image window will come up. Set the appropriate scale and then select the area to crop and click OK. The selected part of the image will appear on your document.

To change crop area, double-click on the cropped image and make necessary changes in the dialog.

Note: if you work on Mac OS 10.4 or later and have Image Tricks application installed, for working with Core Image filters, make sure that the Crop tool is selected in the Edit Image window.

To crop an image in-place (without using the pop-up image editor):

1. Open the Image tab of the Inspector.
2. Select the image and click the Crop button in the Inspector. The handles of the image selection frame will turn to red color.
3. Drag a handle as you do for resizing.
4. To disable the crop tool, click the Crop button again.

Core Image Filters

The Core Image filters are available for users of Mac OS 10.4 and later (you'll need to install Image Tricks for using them).

Double-click an image to modify it with Core Image filters.

The set of filters is organized into filter categories (color, blur, etc.). Some filters have adjustable parameters. If such a filter is selected, corresponding controls will be enabled at the bottom of the window: slide bars and the Color button (it opens the Colors panel).

The picture in the preview area immediately changes after selecting a filter or if you change parameters of the selected filter. Every time you select a filter, you'll see the result applied to the original picture.

Some filters have an additional parameter. Effects that have such a parameter allow you to edit images with a mouse click directly on the image. Mouse click will be the base of distortion or other effect. When you move the mouse pointer on the image with the button pressed (the left button for a 2-button mouse), the image changes in real time (the reaction depends on the performance of your computer and of your graphics card).

The filters for which you can select such point, are marked in the filter list by the crosshair icon on the right. When such a filter is selected, the mouse pointer also looks like the crosshair.

Another type of filters is marked with a colored ball icon. This means that such a filter has color as a parameter. Selecting such filter will enable the Color button.

To access Core Image filters via the Edit Image window, install the free Image Tricks application. More information, related to Core Image filters, can be found on Image Tricks Web page:
http://www.belightsoft.com/imagetricks