Workspace AKVIS Coloriage can work independently as a standalone program and as a plug-in to a photo editor.
To call the AKVIS
Coloriage plug-in in Adobe
Photoshop and Adobe Photoshop Elements select the menu item
Filter -> AKVIS -> Coloriage; in Corel
Photo-Paint select the menu item Effects -> AKVIS -> Coloriage.
To launch the standalone version of AKVIS Coloriage
follow the instructions:
- On a Windows computer:
- In the main menu: press the button Start
and select from the pop-up menu the command AKVIS -> Coloriage.
- Using the program's shortcut on the Desktop: put
the cursor on the icon of the program AKVIS Coloriage
and double-click it with the left mouse button.
- On a Macintosh computer:
- Using Finder: select the folder Applications
on the side bar of the Finder window, select
the application AKVIS Coloriage and double-click it.
The AKVIS Coloriage program window looks
like this:
Most of the AKVIS
Coloriage window is taken by the Image Window with two tabs: Before and
After.
Under the Before tab you can see the original photo, to which you
apply color strokes with the Pencil tool. The After tab
shows the resulting image.
In the upper part of the window you can see the Control Panel with the following buttons:
-
The button
 opens the home page of AKVIS Coloriage.
- The button
 (only in the standalone version) opens an image for processing. The hot-keys for the command are Ctrl+O on Windows,  +O on Macintosh.
- The button
 (only in the standalone version) saves an image to the disk. The hot-keys are Ctrl+S on Windows, +S on Macintosh.
- The button
 (only in the standalone version) prints the image. The hot-keys are Ctrl+P on Windows, +P on Macintosh.
- The button
 opens files with the .strokes extention. These are the files where you save strokes drawn on an image.
- The button
 saves color strokes drawn on an image into a file with the .strokes extension. It is helpful when you want to edit the photo later, for
example, if you have to interrupt your work before you have drawn the
strokes for all objects.
- The button
 cancels
the last operation. It is possible to cancel several operations in a
row. The hotkey for the command is Ctrl+Z
(+Z on Macintosh).
- The button
 returns
the last cancelled operation. It is possible to return several operations
in a row. The hotkey for the command is Ctrl+Y (+Y on
Macintosh).
- The buttons
 /  switch between the types of strokes. When the button appears as , it indicates that normal mode is active, where all strokes are displayed in the chosen color, i.e. various tones of the same color will look the same. When it appears as , it indicates that Brightness Preview mode is active. In this mode when strokes are drawn they are displayed taking into account the brightness of pixels of the original image and the given brightness range. It shows, without having to go through the calculation process, how the chosen colors will appear if processed.
- Press the button
 to start the colorization process. The shortcut to start the colorization from the keyboard is Ctrl+R (+R on Macintosh). The resulting image is shown in the After tab.
- The button
 (only in the plugin version) applies the result of the colorization. When you press the button,
the changes are applied to the image and the AKVIS Coloriage window
closes.
- The button
 shows information about the program.
- The button
 opens the help files of the program.
-
The button
 calls the Preferences dialog box for changing the program's options.
To the left of the Image Window there is a Toolbar with the following tools:
The settings of the active tool are shown in the floating window that appears when you click on the tool button or when you right-click on any part of the Image Window. If you click outside of the floating window, it disappears.
To change the brush size of the Pencil, Keep Color Pencil, Eraser and Recolor Brush tools, move the slider on the scale in the floating window or use hot keys [ (to reduce the brush size) and ] (to increase the brush size).
In the right part of the program window you can see the Navigator and
the Color Selection Area.
Navigate and scale the image using the Navigator. In the Navigator you can see the reduced copy of the image. The red frame shows the part of the image that is now visible in the Image Window; the areas outside the frame will be shaded. Drag the frame to make other parts of the image visible. To move the frame, bring the cursor inside the frame, press the left mouse button and, keeping it pressed, move the frame in the Navigator.
To scroll the image in the Image Window you can press the spacebar on the keyboard and drag the image with the left mouse button. Use the scroll wheel of the mouse to move the image up/down, by keeping the Ctrl key pressed (Macintosh: ) – to the left/to the right, by keeping the Alt key pressed (Macintosh: Option) − scale the image. Right-click on the scroll bar to activate the quick navigation menu.
Use the slider or the buttons  and  , to scale the image in the Image Window. When you click on the button or move the slider to the right, the image scale increases. When you click on the button or move the slider to the left, the image scale decreases.
You can also change the image scale by entering a new coefficient into the scale field and pressing the button Enter (Return in Macintosh). The drop-down menu shows some frequently used coefficients.
You can use hot-keys to change the image scale + and Ctrl++ (++ in Macintosh) to increase the image scale and - and Ctrl+- (+- in Macintosh) to reduce the scale.
Under the Navigation window you can see the Color
Selection Area with the Color Library and the palettes: Color, Swatches, and Multicolor.
The Color Library contains gradations of colors
that frequently appear on photos. For example, color patterns of skin, hair,
lips, grass, trees, stones. It helps users to select a natural-looking
color.
Changes in the Color can be made via a gradient or by entering numerical values for color components and their settings.
The Swatches palette contains a set of frequently used colors and allows you to choose a color simply by clicking on any of the colors in the palette.
The Multicolor palette allows one to work in Multicolor mode — to apply more than one color at once. This mode is only available for advanced licenses (Deluxe, Business).
| 
calls
the
Pencil tool. Apply color strokes with this tool to assign a color
to every object. The shortcut for the Pencil is the B key.
To draw a straight line you should activate the Pencil tool, press
the Shift-key and left-click on the start point of the line and then click on the finish
point. If you want to continue drawing, just hold down the Shift key
and click to set points for additional segments. 
calls
the Eraser tool that erases strokes and lines. The shortcut for the Eraser is the E key.
The properties of the tool vary according to the processing stage: on the first stage (drawing strokes in the Before tab) the Eraser tool can have only a hard edge, on the second stage (applying the Recolor Brush) the hardness of the Eraser brush can be adjusted.
activates
the Keep Color Pencil. This tool is used to mark
image areas, the color of which should stay the same. The Keep Color
Pencil is useful when working with color images, especially when you
want to replace colors of one object without touching the others. 
calls
the
Tube tool that changes the color of a drawn stroke (the brightness range of the color is taken into account too).
The shortcut for the Tube is
the G key.
calls
the Magic Tube tool that recolors all strokes
having the same color and the same brightness range. To recolor all strokes having the same color regardless of the brightness range, use this tool with the Ctrl-key pressed on the keyboard (
calls
the Eyedropper tool that selects a color from the image.
You can also select a color with a click
of the middle mouse button when the Pencil or
the Keep Color Pencil tool is activated. The shortcut for the
Eyedropper is the I key. 
activates the Recolor Brush. This brush colors the image manually by applying semitransparent soft strokes.
— Workspace