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Image Composer Introduction

Introduction
Obtaining Image Composer
What is Microsoft Image Composer?
Screenshot of Image Composer
Installation 

Introduction!

The capabilities of the Microsoft Image Composer are similar to those of other graphics editors such as Adobe's Photoshop, Corel's Photopaint, and JASC's Paintshop Pro. Image Composer's logic is slightly different, however, in a way that makes the application very easy to learn and use.

In the other image editor's mentioned above all the image's that you work with are bound by a frame. However when you work with Image Composer you have a infinite workspace where you can move your images around. This allows you ease of use you don't get with the other editors. For instance you can store work that is in progress. Or back up copies of images that your working with or even work on more than one image at a time.

Image Composer is also made for web graphics and is specifically designed to edit online images. Pictures are automatically optimised for Web pages. Image composer takes out all the hard work and images are easily added to FrontPage

This guide will introduce you to the basic features and operations of Image Composer, and walk you through a few samples to help you get started. For further details on the use of the application, you should consult the Image Composer help file, which includes a tutorial.

Obtaining Image Composer!

Image Composer 1.0 is included in the Bonus Pack bundled with both Microsoft Front Page 97 and Visual Interdev. Image Composer 1.5 is available only with the FrontPage 2000 stand - alone version and is shipped with FrontPage 98. Users of Office 2000 Premium receive Microsoft PhotoDraw 2000 business graphics software which combines powerful illustration and photo editing in one easy-to-use program.

It is not available as a standalone application and Microsoft do not intend to develop the application any further. For more information, see Microsoft's Image Composer web site. Purchasing FrontPage 2000 just for Image Composer is considerably less expensive than editors such as Photoshop or Corel Draw (which are somewhat more full-featured editors, but also more difficult to learn than Image Composer).

What is Microsoft Image Composer?!

Image Composer makes it easy to create images for on-screen delivery to Web sites, CD - ROMs, videos, and more you can:

Microsoft Image Composer is an application for creating compositions for display on Web sites, CD-ROMs, games, or other on-screen destinations. Use existing images in a wide variety of formats or create new art. Image Composer offers a combination of powerful tools, a huge workspace , and sample images to help anyone produce professional-looking images.

Image Composer was designed for experimentation. You can apply effects easily, view the results, and then modify or undo those effects to achieve the result you seek. You enjoy the following advantages when you work with Image Composer:

You can use Image Composer to work with a wide variety of popular file formats, including TIFF (.tif), CompuServe GIF (.gif), Portable Network Graphics (.png), Targa (.tga), JPEG (.jpg), Adobe Photoshop (.psd), and more. For scanned images, Image Composer supports the TWAIN interface.

In addition to standard menus and toolbars, Image Composer functions are divided into groups and placed on tool palettes. For example, all paint tools are grouped on the Paint palette.

Image Composer includes the Impressionist plug-in with dozens of effects and filters, and  supports the use of popular plug-ins that adhere to the Adobe Photoshop Plug-In Interface standard.

Browse the images in the Sample Sprites Catalogue by clicking Sample Sprites Catalogue on the Help menu and insert them into your composition. These images include scenes of nature, animals, plants, textures, buttons, and more.

Creating buttons takes just a few mouse clicks with the Button Wizard. Choose from a variety of shapes, colours, and textures. Save compositions for Web sites by using the Save for the  Web wizard.

Screenshot of Image Composer!

Screenshot of Image Composer ApplicationClick to view

Installation!

System Requirements 

To use Microsoft Image Composer 1.5, you need:

486/66 processor or higher (Pentium processor recommended)
Windows 95 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0
16 MB of memory (32 MB recommended)
20-254 MB of available hard-disk space required; 30-44 MB required for typical installation, depending upon configuration

640x480 16-bit color (Super VGA, 800x600 24-bit TrueColor with 2 MB of video memory recommended)

Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device. Microsoft IntelliMouse is supported.

Microsoft Image Composer options:

Windows-compatible tablet with mouse emulation for basic mouse support, or WinTab-compatible tablet for Full Pressure support
TWAIN-compatible scanners or digital cameras

Special Notes and Known Problems for Installation

At the end of an install or uninstall, you may be presented with a dialog prompting you to either restart Windows or exit setup. ALWAYS choose to restart Windows. Doing otherwise can result in an incomplete installation and make it difficult to re-install correctly.

Microsoft Image Composer 1.5 does not support Microsoft Windows NT 3.51.

Installing the German or Japanese versions of Image Composer 1.5 to an operating system other than German or Japanese, respectively, can cause undesirable results. This type of installation should be avoided.

You may not be able to properly install Image Composer 1.5 using an NEC 3X  CD-ROM.

Microsoft GIF Animator is now included in the Typical and Custom install options of Microsoft Image Composer 1.5. If you have a previous version of Microsoft GIF Animator, you will be prompted that the previous version will be deleted.

All user settings are preserved when upgrading from any of the 1.0 versions of Microsoft Image Composer to version 1.5