Here are the basics of Paint Shop Pro. You will find here what buttons you will commonly use, the common functions of them, and so on. To download a free trial, full version of Paint Shop Pro, please go to www.jasc.com. And please don't email me asking that because its all over my site!

Also, do not be afraid to open the help section of Paint Shop Pro. All the information here is located in their help files, plus so much more!

This is the toolbar that usually appears on the left hand side of PSP when you open it (although its all one length, i've just cut it in half to save space)

1 - a tool used to zoom in and out 2 - cropping tool 3 - drags a selection around whatever you want in a shape form 4 - free form selection tool 5 - the Magic Wand tool works by selecting content rather than defining edges (won't be using all that much) 6 - color dropper which is used to select the active foreground and background solid colors 7 - paint brush - you will use this all the time most likely 8 - clone brush 9 - color replacer. I love this tool! All you do is make the color you want to replace the foreground color, and the color you want to be in its place the background color. Then right click anywhere in psp two times fast, and it happens! A real time saver 10 - retouch tool, has many functions, for the more advanced user 11 - scratch remover - won't be using this all that much 12 - eraser for when you make any mistakes 13 - tubes brush - each Picture Tube contains a collection of related objects or an object in a variety of settings 14 - the airbrush simulates painting with an airbrush or spray can 15 - paint can - flood fills an entire area with selected color 16 - text tool 17 - can draw lines in different ways 18 - draws all different types of shapes 19 - object selector - for use with vector objects, you won't use this all that much

This toolbar is usually on the left hand side of your PSP.

This toolbar is usually on the left hand side of your PSP. 1 - foreground color 2 - background color 3 - color palette 4,5 - different styles you can apply to the colors 6,7 - different textures you can apply to them 8 - the numbers for the red, green and blue to use to get that color

This is the top menu bar. The actual menu selections can explain themselves (i.e. File, View, Edit, ect.)

This is the overview window. It shows your whole image small so you can see what it looks like. To open this up right click on any of the tool bars and click on overview window.

This is the layer window. If you are working with layers (which is a more intermediate/advanced way to work with PSP) this shows you every layer you have, and you can toggle between layers, make some show up or choose to hide some, and so on.
The Tool Options palette displays the options for the Tool palette's active tool. The options change as you change tools. Some tools have two tabs with options, while others have one. The palette has a permanent tab for modifying the appearance of the cursor and the settings for a pressure sensitive tablet.

1 - shows size of the current brush 2 - shape you want the brush to be 3 - size of the brush 4 - hardness controls the sharpness of the brush edges. 5 - opacity controls how well the paint covers the image surface. Lowering the opacity is like diluting paint. At 100% opacity, the paint covers everything; at 1%, the paint is almost transparent. 6 - step controls the spacing of the discrete drops of paint, or how frequently the brush tip touches the image during a stroke 7 - density controls the amount of paint the brush applies with each stroke

The Build Up Brush feature simulates the effect of repeated brush strokes. Each time you move the brush over the same area of the image or layer, you apply more paint. When the option is inactive, the brush applies paint once; repainting an area has no effect. Select the check box to activate this feature. Clear the check box to make it inactive.