odd questions

Hi gang! Yes, I'm new here, and I have a lot to learn. From time to time, I may ask what undoubtedly appears to you as odd questions, but this is the only way I'll learn, so please forgive me and humour me . . .
What are "plugins"?
how and when is a mask used?
Thanx to whomever replies.
Shirley Q

Hi Shirley -- welcome. Short and sweet:

Plugins are auxiliary "programs" that add additional functionality to the program that uses them. Plugins in PI are typically addons that allow you to do specific effects to an image.

A mask allows you to isolate a portion of an image so that anything you do is restricted to that portion of the image.

I know that's sketchy, but that's the gist of it.

Thanx Lonnie. I understand the plugins, I think. Picture It! allowed one to emboss without altering the content, and I could never understand why PI didn't. So if I could have captured that one item and put it into PI, that would be a plugin...right?
How does one do that?

Re the mask, I think I can grasp what you said, but I still need to have an example....I can't imagine myself using it.
I thank you for your response!
Shirley Q

Ya find online somewhere, the plugin you require, and download it to a folder... you open up pi, and go to File>Preferences>general (or simply hit F6) and then click on plugins... then click the little box on the right to look for your file... choose it, then reboot... should be good to go http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Hmm, masks... don't really make use of em myself... sorry... I sure hope someone is able to assist you in this http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Thank you gidgit! I understand it better and will attempt to do the exercise....but how will I find anything? If you've done this, tell me exactly what you did, starting with where you found the plugin.

I'm also new to the online aspect of computers, mainly because the cost was drastically reduced here, and that's why I don't understand all the navigation terminology.

It sure was nice of you to respond - I truly appreciate your help.

Shirley Q

http://www.cybia.co.uk/emboss.htm

A link to an emboss filter. Just do a search for emboss plugin or try a few other key words. This one appeared to be free. This was a zip file. Just means it is compressed, and needs to be decompressed. You might look at WinZip if your not familiar with archive files. You would extract ,unzip , decompress the file to a folder. Then point PI to that folder. PI said it could use Photoshop compatible plugins. This one should have an 8bf extension. Rich

Hi shirely,
If you use Windows XP you will have the zip (compress) and unzip (extract/decompress) built in, which is a doddle to use. Just right click on the file, click on send to, then click on compress (zipped) folder. This is extremely useful for sending files via email or exporting to another location, saving to disk etc.
If you want to unzip (extract/decompress) then right click on the file and extract to a chosen folder, such as my downloads or web downloads.

Hope this helps.

Most Photoshop compatible filters/plugins will work in PI. Just do a google of "photoshop plugins" or "photoshop filters" and you'll find literally hundreds of websites that provide the same -- many for free. The PI help system is the easiest and clearest source for learning how to install them to work in PI. (I know that's a bit of a cop-out, but surprisingly, some people don't even seem to know about using application "help").

Regarding masking, it is one of the most powerful and useful abilities of any graphics editing software. A quick google of "masking tutorials" returned 112,000 results. Don't discount it too quickly Shirley. One you "get it", you'll use it all the time.

Think of it like a cardboard stencil. When you spray paint, the paint only goes on where there are openings in the stencil. The rest is blocked, or "masked" by the stencil.