GRFX Studio is a photo editing
program that includes hundreds of
effects that you can apply to your
photos. Several Corel programs, including
PaintShop Pro Ultimate, CorelDRAW, Corel
PHOTO-PAINT and Corel Painter include
the free version of GRFX Studio as a
plugin. The Pro version of GRFX studio,
offering nearly twice as many effects, is
available for purchase in the Get More
window of the welcome screen of your
Corel software. In this tutorial I'll
give an overview of how to use GRFX Studio
as a PaintShop Pro plugin. You'll
see how easy it is to quickly generate
sophisticated photo effects. Before we
get started, if you're watching this
video on YouTube you'll find a link in
the description below that will take you
to our tutorial page on Corel's Discovery
Center. Here you can also download a
written copy of this tutorial
along with the sample images you can
download to try out the steps yourself.
I have this image open in PaintShop Pro
and the free Corel edition of GRFX
Studio installed. Before using the
plug-in I'll make sure my Layers palette
is displayed and I'll right-click on the
background layer to duplicate it. I'll
name this new layer GRFX.
I'll keep this layer active because the
active layer is what will be used in the
plugin. To access the plugin I'll choose
Effects > Plugins > Auto FX software >
GRFX Studio Corel edition.
From the Effects menu I'll choose Add
Effect. There are four effects categories:
photo, light, edge and art, each of which
with its own subcategories. For a simple
example I'll choose Art FX which
has the Watercolor option. When I select
Watercolor and click Apply Effect the
photo takes on a watercolor appearance.
In the FX Palette I can adjust the
strength, darken or lighten, or adjust the
intensity of the stroke or color. By
default this effect is applied to the
entire image but the toolbar options
across the top enable me to control
where the effect takes place. For example
I can use the brush set to OFF and paint
over this plant to lessen the effect. I
can repeat to reduce the effect further.
I'll clear those brushstrokes and add a
gradient line. I'll drag the line to be
horizontal and now the effect goes from
zero at the left to full intensity at
the right. When I hover over the line an
X will appear which I can click to
remove the line and return the effect to
the entire image. To combine watercolor
with another effect I'll click Add
Effect. From Photo FX I'll open the
Black and White options, click Cyanotype
and apply. After adjusting a few settings
I have what looks like a watercolor
painting of a desert evening. I can turn
each effect on and off or use the X icon
to remove an effect. To compare the image
before and after the effects I can click
See Original. If I wanted to use this set
of effects on other photos I could
choose Presets > Save Effects as Preset(s)
then for the next photo I'd use the Load
Preset option or I could find this
preset in the Presets tab. When finished
I'll click OK and now the image in
PaintShop Pro has the new effects. I can hide
the GRFX layer to get my original
back and I could create more layers for
going back to the plugin and trying out
and comparing different effects.
For another example I'll start in
GRFX Studio Corel Edition with this
street scene. To change this from a
bright daytime scene to a darker time of
day I'll open the Shading category and
apply the Shade effect. I'll make a first
pass with the brush over the entire
image then go over just the sky a couple
of times. I'll darken everything with the
Strength slider. The next effect is in
the Light FX tab in the Light Beams
category. I'll position the T-path so
that the light pours down from the
closer streetlamp and reduce the
Opacity and Spread. I can also change the
light color by clicking on Cast Color.
Here I could choose my own color or
click Pick Screen Color and match the
yellowish lights from another point in
the . To add a fainter light beam to
the next streetlamp I could apply a new
beam from scratch or I can save the
current effects as a preset, which
includes both the light and shading. When
I load the preset both effects are
repeated. I can delete the extra shading
and move and adjust the second light
beam. GRFX Studio Pro has a wider
selection of effects than the free Corel
version. For example, I can open the
Weather FX tab and apply rain
everywhere and I can find a dramatic sky
that looks stormy and apply it to the
entire image. Another fitting effect here
would be a rain puddle
which I can remove by brush everywhere
except the sidewalk.
The Pro version also has some really
nice focal effects, such as Focal Brush
in which I can brush over areas I want
in sharper focus.
Or I can try Vintage Color from the
Camera category, or HDR Color Pop from
the Color category. This brings us to the
end of this tutorial on GRFX Studio.
If you've been watching this video on
YouTube please follow the link in the
description below which will take you to
our tutorial page on Corel's Discovery
Center.
Here you'll find a written version of
this tutorial along with the sample
images you can download and follow along.