Images

You can include image objects in the layout in several ways:

Default Image

The default image is the one you have open in EasyCopy when Montage is started (if any). It becomes an image object in the canvas automatically. This image does not have any special status compared to other images that you later put on the canvas.

Inserted Images

You can insert an image on the canvas by means of the Open Image toolbutton

. You can also use the Open Image command in the File menu or the keyboard accelerator CTRL+I.

They open the Open Image dialog to let you select an image.

Screen Capture

You can capture a window, an arbitrary rectangular region, a fixed region, or the complete screen by means of the Capture commands in the Capture menu.

You can also repeat the previous capture operation (capture the same window again, for example, after its contents has changed). Use the Capture Toolbutton for this.

Image Colors

All the device independent image color options that you can set in the Color Options dialog are available for each image separately.

These options include background removal, color output modes, reversal modes, color adjustment and tint balance.

To open the Color Options dialog proceed as follows:

Select the image
Use the Colors command in the Image menu.

If you have applied color replacement to the selected image the results of using Color Options may be surprising. The Color Options dialog does not take color replacement into account, so it will preview your original image, and the options you specify may conflict with the previously specified replacements.

If you need both color options and color replacement you should specify color options before color replacement to get consistent results.

Image Layout

When you import an image it is positioned and scaled according to your default settings in the Layout dialog.

You can change position and scale simply by moving or resizing the image object on the canvas.

You can also select an image and open the Layout dialog by means of the Layout command in the Image menu. The dialog allows you to change the size and position of the image.

This may have unforeseen side effects. The new settings you specify will apply to other images you insert, and you may change the orientation which may damage your layout.

Image Crop

To crop an image on the canvas do as follows:

Select the image and click on the Rubberband tool (a rubberband you draw with the crop tool cannot be used for anything until there is a selected image).
Draw the rubberband: move the mouse to the corner where you want to start the rubberband and click the left mouse button.
Move the mouse to the opposite corner and click the right mouse button. If you need to fine-adjust the rubberband you can move, scale, or stretch it with the mouse.
Click on the the Crop tool to crop the image.
You can now treat the cropped section as an image object, and - for instance - scale it to get a closer look.

You can get back to the uncropped image by selecting the image and using the Uncrop tool .

Color Replacement

You can replace a color in an image by another color.

This is done by means of the Color Pick tool in the Image Options tool box.

This tool is also available in the Replace Colors command in the Image menu.

The process takes the following steps:

In order to hit the right color in the image you may need to zoom into an enlarged view before you do color replacement.
Click on the Color Pick tool
Move the mouse cursor over the image. You will see that the two color samples in the Image Options tool box change to reflect the color at the actual cursor position.
Click the left mouse button to pick the color you want to replace.
Click on the lower color sample or the drop-down menu in the Image Options tool box. It will expand the image color selection box.

You can now select a new image color in three different ways:
- Click on one of the 18 colors in the image color palette, or
- Use the Color Dropper tool and pick a color anywhere on your desktop, or
- Press the More Colors button. It will open the Color Selection dialog by which you can get any color you want.
The image color palette contains the eight "pure" colors plus ten more colors. Whenever you get a new image color by means of the dropper or from the Color Selection dialog it will replace one of the colors in the image color palette, namely the one which at the given time has the smallest hit rate. This means that the palette always gives you quick access to the ten most used image colors and the "pure" colors.
The easiest way to select a new image color will normally be through the image color selection box. However, if you have hidden the Image Options toolbox you must use the Replace Colors command in the Image menu.

It only gives you the option that you can open the Color Selection dialog; it does not include the shortcut tools provided by the palette and the dropper.
When you select a new color any occurrence of the color you picked will be replaced by the the new color.

Transparent Color

"Transparent color" is a special replacement color.

This is quite different from image transparency by which you can make all colors in the image more or less transparent. The "transparent color" affects only one image color and makes it completely transparent.

To make an image color transparent do the following:

Start color replacement as described above.
Select the color you want to make transparent, for example a background color in a logo.
Press the Transparent button in the Image Options toolbox.
The color is now transparent.