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The Preview Window


Slider Controls (A)
Slider controls and radio buttons appear along the left side of the filter window. These controls perform most functions in our filters. Refer to the filter chapters for detailed slider descriptions.

Thumbnail Navigation (B)
Click and drag the movable red box to move the preview to any spot in the selected layer.

Move, Zoom, Show Original and In-preview Controls (C)
The Move (hand), Zoom (magnifying glass) and Show Original buttons are found above the preview window. Click the hand to enable the Move tool, then click and drag to move around the preview image.

Click the magnifying glass to enable the Zoom tool. Click in the preview window to zoom into your image; Command + click to zoom out (Alt + click for Windows users). Double-clicking the Zoom tool at any time resets the preview window to 100% magnification.


The Show Original button toggles the preview between filtered and unfiltered versions of your image. Click and hold the button to view the unaffected image. Release the button to preview the effect.

The Arrow button activates in-preview controls, which provide special functionality, or group and simplify the use of sliders.

When you encounter an arrow button, click Help > Filter Help in the Eye Candy user interface for detailed instructions on how use the in-preview control.
Note: Only Backlight, Extrude, Motion Trail, Perspective Shadow and Super Star employ in-preview controls.

UpToDate Message Indicator (D)
When you see this visual cue, you have a new message from Alien Skin Software. See frequently asked questions about UpToDate for more details.

Preview Background (E)
Eye Candy 5 offers some handy new preview options. You can choose a standard Photoshop-style grid to fill transparent backgrounds, custom colored grids, or even solid colors. See Setting Preview Background Options for instructions on how change your preview background.

OK and Cancel Buttons (F)
Clicking the OK button applies the filter with the current settings. Clicking Cancel closes the filter window without applying the effect.

Preview Window Area (G)
Preview the effect on your image here. The preview area can be resized by clicking and dragging any corner or edge of the filter window.

Mouseover Help String Area (H)
Elements in each filter have mouseover help text. Whenever you move your cursor over a user interface element, a short description appears in the bottom left corner of the window.

Progress Bar (I)
The rectangle to the left of the magnification indicator displays the percentage of rendering completed.

Magnification Indicator (J)
The current level of magnification is shown to the right of the render status bar at the lower right corner of the filter window.

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