Grassy...about plugins

[Flagryl]

2 things are important. One, make sure you set PSP to find the location/folder where you installed the plugins. Two, make sure you have the dlls in your system folder. I also keep copies of these in my plugin folders to archive.
1. Open PSP
2. Go to File>Preferences>File locations.
3. Check the box, Enable Plugins – allow the use of external Adobe compatible plugins.
4. Highlight Plugins in the window on the left.
5. If you want to keep previously installed plugins within PSP, Browse to that folder and subfolder and check mark it.
6. To add the path to your newly installed plugin, click the Browse button and go to the folder on your computer where you store your plugins. Make sure subfolders are checked.
7. Click OK.

You may need to close PSP and reopen for your plugins to work.

To Use the filters, open PSP and open your image. Select Effects>Plugins and you should see the menu of the plugins you have installed. Select the filter and particular effect. Some apply the filter automatically and others require settings. Remember to copy and paste the the needed .dll files into your appropriate Windows/System or System 32 folder.

I think this is a good description with screen shots even if it's for PSP 7: moonsdesigns.com/tutorials/plugins.html

You can get them here: pspug.org/filters/filterinstall.shtml They also have plugin installation screen shots.

Here's more info about storage of plugins. They refer to Photoshop, but the info is the same: graphicssoft.about.com/od/photoshop/qt/pluginshortcuts.htm

[Deleted]

OOooooooh thanks! Filters are so great! You just expanded my possibilities so much! THANK YOU!

Does that work on brushes too if I do the same way but in the brushes folder, or are you not supposed to use Photoshop brushes with Paint Shop Pro?

[Suzie]

Grassy, the Photoshop brushes will have an extension on the end of .abr and they will not work in PSP. I have seen somewhere that there is a way to convert them so they can be used in PSP, but I don't know how to do it.

[Deleted]

Thanks Suzie! I thought there was a way to convert them. Maybe there is a lesson on that somewhere and I can work it out, but PSP has lots of nice ones too, so it's all good.

[Suzie]

You're Welcome Grassy. Sorry I couldn't have been more help.

[Flagryl]

Converting brushes is a process. Sometimes you can just rename them and that works. However, I use the Abr Viewer: abrviewer.sourceforge.net/ to convert. You also have to resize them to no larger than 500 pixels on the longest side.

[Deleted]

Oh my goodness! I totally forgot that I did that on some a while ago! I think I have that ABR viewer still installed on my computer too!
I wonder if I did something wrong, though because instead of getting opaque brushes, I got kind of misty ones. Or is that just the brush itself and I did not do anything wrong? How can I make a misty brush like that opaque so I can do say a silhouette?

[Flagryl]

Sometimes brushes are misty and frankly that's what the author intends. If you want something opaque, I'd use a Mask.

By the way, the use the Abr Viewer, you just open the abr brush set, they all appear. And, then you export them to your folder. Then bring them up in PSP, resize to 500 on longest side, sharpen if you want. Then File, export to your PSP brush folder.

[Deleted]

You just answered my question! Yay! Thank you for anticipating my needs!