One of the most enjoyable features in the Portraits & Prints Pro Edition is the ability to add masks to your photos. You can add a basic mask such as a rectangle or oval mask or, to make things even more fun, add a bitmap mask. Bitmap masks are simply grayscale images saved as JPEG files. The application comes with several bitmap masks for you to use. If you would like to have more, you can either create them yourself or you can download them. To create them yourself, you can use any painting program that can create a grayscale, bitmap image and save it as a JPEG. For those that are creatively challenged, bitmap masks are commonly available on the internet.

Where to Go

The best source we have found so far on the internet is http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/freedownloads/l/blframesmain.htm. This site has over 100 free frame masks for you to use for adding decorative borders to your photos in Portraits & Prints.

On the right-hand side of this page you will see a bulleted list of the pages of free masks (see example to the right). Select a page to view the masks on that page. For the sake of this example, we will use "Page 1".

Note. The website itself has very clear directions on how to dowload a bitmap image. This tips page can be used primarily as a cross-reference to this website page.

How to Get a Mask

After choosing the page link, you are brought to a page that has several mask images on it (see example to the left). If you find one that you like, click on the thumbnail image. Doing so brings you to another page that has the full image on it.

To download this mask, CONTROL-CLICK (or right click) on the image and choose "Save Image As...". Navigate to the Portraits & Prints "Masks" folder - Home/Library/Application Support/Portraits & Prints/Masks. Save the image to this folder and, voilà!, the mask is available to you through Portraits & Prints.

To see the mask in effect, open a template document in Portraits & Prints. Next, add a photo cell to it. With the photo cell selected, check the "Mask" option and then choose "Bitmap" from the "Mask" menu. This creates a second popup menu for you to choose the particular bitmap image you want. Once selected, you will see the mask appear on the photo cell.




Note. Be sure to save the full image and not the thumbnail image. Saving the thumbnail image will not work. When saved image is selected in Portraits & Prints, the photo cell appears "maskless".

A Tip Within A Tip

After you download several bitmap mask image files, your "Masks" folder may appear a bit unorganized. Within your "Masks" folder you can create folders and sub-folders to logically group your masks. Portraits & Prints is able to handle this hierarchy of masks. You will notice that Portraits & Prints creates sub-menus for each sub-menu that you create within the "Masks" folder.

That's It!
You can always find assistance under “Help” on the main menu or by downloading the manual. If you have any problems while using our products, contact us by using our support form. If you wish to share a tip with us, post it on our comment form.