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User Interface Overview
This chapter outlines the general features of the Blow Up user interface including command menus, the preview window, buttons and the navigation thumbnail. The resizing controls are described in detail in the Resizing Controls section.
Menus (A)
Command menus are accessible when you launch Blow Up. Macintosh users will see the menus in place of their usual menu bar. Windows users will see the menus at the top of the plug-in window.
Edit Menu
The Edit menu provides an unlimited number of undos and redos. If you experiment with the sliders and find that you prefer a previous group of settings, select the Undo command from the Edit menu, or click Command+Z (Control+Z on Windows machines) to back up as many times as necessary. The Edit menu also lets you copy, cut, and paste values from parameter fields.
Clicking Edit>Preferences lets you change UpToDate settings. See the UpToDate System section for details.
Help Menu
The Help menu leads to local documentation and online Web pages. Clicking Help>Help... accesses documentation on the resizing controls. The same assistance can be reached by pressing F1 (Windows) or Help (Macintosh).
To access a Table of Contents for the online Help file, click Help>Contents.
Preview (B)
The Preview fills most of the Blow Up window. This area shows what your image will look like after resizing. The Preview is fixed at 100% magnification to avoid confusion between zooming and actual resizing of the image. If the resized image is larger than the preview area then you can move it by clicking in the Preview and dragging. For large images, navigation is much easier with the Navigation Thumbnail.
Only the currently selected layer is previewed. However, clicking OK will resize every layer in the document.
You can make the Preview larger by resizing the Blow Up window. The Blow Up window is resized just like any other standard window on your system. On Macintosh, grab and drag the lower right corner of the window. On Windows, grab and drag any side of the window.
Resizing Controls (C)
These controls set the size and quality of your final image. They are documented in detail in the Resizing Controls section.
OK and Cancel Buttons (D)
Clicking OK resizes the document with the current settings. Clicking Cancel closes Blow Up without changing the document.
UpToDate Message Indicator (E)
When you see this visual cue, you have a new message from Alien Skin Software. Click the UpToDate button to see your messages. See the UpToDate System section for more details.
Navigation Thumbnail (F)
The Navigation Thumbnail is a copy of your image in the lower right corner of the Blow Up window. The red rectangle in the thumbnail indicates the part of your image that is being displayed in the Preview. To move the preview area, simply click anywhere in the Navigation Thumbnail. This is the easiest way to navigate around large images.
Mouseover Help Area (G)
As you mouse over most parts of the Blow Up window, short, helpful descriptions appear here.
Progress Bar (H)
This rectangle fills as the preview is rendered.