Digital Light & Color

PW 8.397, 8.429
(hmm . . . 30+ releases in six months)

Hello -
a1) Line and arrow tool with text dlg: There is a font size {up + down arrows} button next to running man. Not included in text box help file; duplicates font size control.
a2) Line and arrow tool with text dlg probably should have a [cancel] button.
a3) Line & arrow tool has button for broken line and button for curve line. Broken line button creates solid line. How to create the broken line?

Short answer or work around is create each line or line + text box as separate transform, then works fine. But if user creates line + text box, then shift+click to create new line control point:
b1) add text to line no. one; shift+click to create new line, then new line two duplicates text box of line one.
b2) R click above (b1) second control point does not have option to remove text box.
b3) ctrl+click to delete control point with text, then text box moves to next (or previous) control point
b4) it seems that when add text to a control point, then create second control point, then the [T]ext box button on line + arrow dlg is disabled. So must exit from both text & line dlgs to create a new line with no text box.

So I want a letter size page with several images placed on it. (Started with composite, but clearly layout is better.)
c) Composite handles are very small & hard to see on a busy image. If need to make composite image smaller, must drag handles off the image, sometimes way off, & this is difficult to manage - the output window may be on top of the handle. Must zoom out on composite image to put handles on screen.

d1) Layout panel; '+' to add new image panel - can you put something (wider bar or double bar?) to separate background panel controls from image panel controls? Or should the background panel and image panels have their own tabs to select?
d2) Layout panel. Put a few png image panels on layout. One image needs to crop, so save or hit [OK] btn on layout. Select image to crop in image browser window; Menu transform/geometry/crop transform, then Crop dialog opens the layout, not selected image.
d3) Use Text tab on layout dlg to create text label for the image panel (no image selected). This should have a background color control for the text box. '+' to add new image panel; go to text tab & add text - this has gray background; no option to change background.

e) DL&C message board & web pages
forum support page - Both 'stickies' at top of board are 'download links.' Suggest one sticky msg at top of board with registration note (suggest add a link to support page); second sticky msg with download links for PW 7, PW 8 downloads page, support items, etc. And a summary of items on downloads page would help. eg: The release msgs mention the 'update log' but that does not make it clear that the update log notes link is on the downloads page. And new users will know where to look for reference manuals. But ...
Things like ref manuals, help & tutorial files are technically download files but they really belong on the support page - that's where most users would expect to find them? Or on both pages.
And on subject of the 'update log' pdf - that file is getting pretty large 160+ pages. Suggest one file for 2018-22(+/-) updates, and second pdf for more recent 2023- updates?
thx.

Thanks for the suggestions. Here are some fixes for problems you were having:

a1) Line and arrow tool with text dlg: There is a font size {up + down arrows} button next to running man. Not included in text box help file; duplicates font size control.

The first control changes the text size in the output image. The second control simply enlarges the text size in the edit box since some fonts are hard to read otherwise. This second control does not affect the size of text in the output image.

a3) Line & arrow tool has button for broken line and button for curve

A broken line is simply a line consisting of straight line segments as distinct from a curved line which is smooth. PWP does not currently support dotted or dashed lines.

b2) R click above (b1) second control point does not have option to remove text box.

To remove the text box, click the T button in the main dialog box and select Remove Text Box from the drop-down menu.

c) Composite handles are very small & hard to see on a busy image. If need to make composite image smaller, must drag handles off the image, sometimes way off, & this is difficult to manage - the output window may be on top of the handle. Must zoom out on composite image to put handles on screen. The normal way to adjust the size of a composited image is to first set control points at the edges of the overlay image and then set corresponding control points in the base image where you want the overlay image to appear. This avoids having to move control point outside the overlay image. To switch between images, use the 2-button In/Ov tool bar.

To quickly locate a control point, type its number on the keyboard. This will scroll it into view.

d2) Layout panel. Put a few png image panels on layout. One image needs to crop, so save or hit [OK] btn on layout. Select image to crop in image browser window; Menu transform/geometry/crop transform, then Crop dialog opens the layout, not selected image.

To crop an image in a panel, click on the button to display the input image (the circle filled with gray) at the top of the Layout dialog box. This displays the input image with a crop box over it. Adjust the crop box as desired. Otherwise you will need to crop the image before you select it into a panel.

Continued from previous message...

d3) Use Text tab on layout dlg to create text label for the image panel (no image selected). This should have a background color control for the text box. '+' to add new image panel; go to text tab & add text - this has gray background; no option to change background.

To change the text background color, go back to the Background tab, click on the Color/Image button and pick Select Solid Color from the drop-down menu. For a transparent background, use the Panel control to select Transparent.