Tutorial: AKVIS Magnifier

Workspace

AKVIS Magnifier can work independently as a standalone program as well as a plug-in to Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements. The plug-in version supports the "automate" function.

Unlike other AKVIS plugins, to call the Magnifier plugin in Adobe Photoshop select the menu item File -> Automate -> AKVIS Magnifier. To call the Magnifier plugin in Adobe Photoshop Elements use the command: File -> Automation tools -> AKVIS Magnifier. The plugin does not work with other image editors.

Attention! It is imperative that the layers must be merged before calling the plugin.

To launch the standalone version of AKVIS Magnifier, do the following:

• On Windows:

  - In Main menu: press the button Start and select AKVIS -> Magnifier in the pop-up menu All Programs.

  - Using the program's shortcut on the Desktop: put the cursor on the icon of AKVIS Magnifier and double-click it with the left button of the mouse.

• On Macintosh:

  - Using Finder: open the Applications folder on the side bar of Finder, select AKVIS Magnifier application and double-click on it.

The workspace of AKVIS Magnifier looks like this:

Workspace of AKVIS Magnifier

Parts of the program's window:

The left part of AKVIS Magnifier’s workspace is taken by the Image Window with two tabs Before and After. The Before tab displays the original image, the After tab shows the result. You can compare the original and the resulting images by just left-clicking on any point of the image.

In the upper part of the window you can see the Control Panel with the following controls:

• The button (only in the standalone version) opens an image for processing.
• The button (only in the standalone version) saves the image to the disk.
• The button (only in the standalone version) prints the image.
• The button (only in the plugin version) applies the result. When you press the button, the changes are applied to the image and the AKVIS Magnifier window closes.
• The button initiates image processing with specified set of parameters.
• The button calls information about the program.
• The button calls help files to the program.
• The button calls the Preferences dialog box.

Navigate and scale the image using the Navigation Window. In the Navigation Window 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 Navigation Window.

Navigation Window

Additionally, you can move the image in the Image Window with the scroll bars or by holding down the space bar, then holding down the left mouse button while moving the mouse. The mouse's scroll wheel can move the image up and down, and holding Ctrl ( in Macintosh) – while using the scroll wheel will move the image left and right. Holding Alt (Option in Macintosh) will 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 reduces.

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 fall-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 there is a Settings Panel with parameters of advanced image processing. To avoid distortion of details, it is recommended to scale the image to its original size (100%) before changing the settings of the program.

There are four groups of settings: New Size, Parameters, Unsharp Mask and Presets. By using the hot-key combination Alt (Mac: ) + underlined letter you can quickly move the focus into the corresponding entry field.

Besides, under the Settings Panel you can see hints: a brief description of AKVIS Magnifier (the first time you launch it) or the description of the active parameter.