Appleworks 6 and photos, like, how are you doing that?

Factual Questions
1

Hello there, I am just another gray haired newbie destined to spend my days trying to keep up to technology. And I’ve made my peace with that. I have had Macs for a few years now.

I’ve become kind of hooked on working with photos, mostly in Adobe Photodeluxe.
I’ve been having lots of fun and doing cool things for myself and my friends. But the truth is I know I barely scrape the surface of all it can do.

Recently I upgraded to this lovely new(ish) G4, got a CD burner, and a graphics tablet. Oh, the fun I’m having.

I am determined to learn more about how to work both Photodelux and Appleworks. I know they possess skills I have never accessed. So I bought the Missing Manual for Appleworks 6 and have been pouring over it. Also I have been surfing all over the net looking for answers. And have spent most of the past weekend stumbling around both these programs and trying things I’d ignored before. And with some interesting results I’d like to add.

I’ve hit a couple of roadblocks I can’t seem to get past and I’m hoping someone else who works with photos in this program has some advice for me.

First I discovered that a lot of the help files targeted for my questions are in pdf format which I cannot read - as yet. I believe with a translator like Prolink I can solve this one.

What I’m confused by is the AW manual says it accepts Photodeluxe format photos but when I try and drag it into a document (drawing) it says I need photoshop 3 to view it. Huh?

I think there is something really obvious I’m missing. Here’s another thing that’s happening and causing me confusion. I scan a photo into Photodelux, tweak it so it’s what I want (save as a tiff, open in AW drawing), if I print the photo at this stage it is the exact quality of when it was in Photodelux. But as soon as I add anything like text or lines, and print again the photo quality suffers terribly, it gets all pixelated, (hope that’s the right word).

I have managed to confuse myself over the weekend to the point where I fear my head might explode.

I’ve finally begun to wonder if I’m even barking up the right tree. Up until now I have done my photo manipulation in Photo delux, printed it, then run it through the printer a second time to lay the word processing over the top. All along I assumed there was an easier/better way, and one day I’d figure it out. And I thought the solution lay in Appleworks. But maybe that’s not how it’s done out in the real world.

I also have Photoshop Elements loaded on my machine but have yet to wade into those waters. Seriously, I don’t want my head to explode.

Are you using photos in appleworks? How are you doing that?

Any advice for me?

Oh yeah, one other question, are Photoshop, Photodelux, Elements formatted files interchangable? If you can use one can you use the other?

Thank you for taking the time to read through this, and thanks in advance for any help you can offer me.

2
  1. You can read pdf files with acrobat reader (free at www.adobe.com) OR the PREVIEW program that comes with Panther (not sure what OS you have)
  2. Can I ask what you’re using AppleWorks to DO with your photos?

I’m not familiar with PhotoDeluxe, but you can certainly add lines and words with Photoshop Elements… I would suggest using that software, it’s not too hard to pick up the basics.

  1. AppleWorks also has a PAINT mode, it may make a difference in terms of working with graphics files…maybe importing into that mode will make a difference.

  2. Another suggestion…download Graphic Convertor here . This will allow you to convert from pretty much any graphic format (except AOL graphic files, I thnk) to any other format. It’s a shareware program…free to try out and invaluable in your graphic toolbox.

3

Using AppleWorks to adjust photos and images is like using a hammer to remove screws. It sorta works, but is the wrong tool for the job.

Definitely look into using either GraphicConverter or Photoshop Elements. I recommend Elements myself; it’s not too complicated to use, and you can Undo repeatedly to avoid mistakes. There are a couple of “Photoshop Elements for Dummies” books on the market that will help.

Photoshop and Photoshop Elements files are interchangable (and are almost essentially the same program). I don’t know what format PhotoDeluxe uses, but since they’re all made by Adobe, I would be surprised if Photoshop/Photoshop Elements can’t open them.

Also, you didn’t say how you were getting your photos into the computer, but you might be able to import the picture directly into Photoshop Elements and skip PhotoDeluxe all together (thus saving a step in conversion). I have a plug-in for my scanner, for instance, so I can open Photoshop Elements, have it activate the scanner, then scan the image directly into Photoshop for me to play with.

4

Thanks so much for the imput, I really appreciate it very much.

I am now of the opinion that not finding the word ‘Photo’ in the index of the Appleworks 6 manual, was the first clue to the truth, as I suspected all along.

You will be pleased to know that I have made the jump to Photo Elements, I was so obsessed with finally learning AW6 and Photodelux that I entirely overlooked Elements.

On closer examination, I think it may well address all of my needs.
(And may, one day, come to replace Photodelux in my heart.)

So many things to learn, it’s easy for a newbie to become confused.

I have always resisted Photoshop, knowing it was WAY too much for me to operate.

But now it seems that Elements is my next logical step.

I was sooo very frustrated thinking there was something I wasn’t doing right.

But I’m feeling much better now.

Thanks again,

5

Forget the other stuff, and learn Photoshop. You’ll be amazed at the possibilities.