Installation notes for preset shapes on Vista / Paint Shop Pro ® Photo X2
The location for the preset shapes has varied from version to version of PSP (used to be just in the preset shapes folder beneath PSP 8 etc). To find the location of the installation folder, go to the file > preferences > file locations command
Go to the preset shapes panel via the file types. You will see a list of preset shapes file folders. This may vary from version to version (the panel and the file locations command has been a feature of psp for a while). You may have added your own file locations and the installation will have added its own as well. The most common ones being the users account 'documents' 'my psp files' (or in the case of XP, Documents and settings). You may wish to add the preset shapes to the program files location but then you will have to change permissions. The benefit of the user account location is that it will probably be just as valid for the next version, X3 and X4 etc as with X2 and you don't have to worry about copying files to your own account folders. If the user account entry is not there, you may wish to add the entry via the add button and browse / create a new folder.
Go to the documents folder (beneath your user account) on XP, this is 'documents and settings'.
Go to the 'my psp files' folder and select the preset shapes folder
Copy any pspShape files into this folder. The file type is listed slightly different and is listed as 'Corel PSP PresetShapes'. Many 100s of pspshape files can be added to this file location. You can always swap items in and out of the preset shapes folder.
Start up Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and then go to the toolbox and select the 'Preset Shape' command
Now you will be able to display the available shapes via the tool options (you might have to go to the view > palettes menu to display the tool options, though by default the toolbar is displayed). The tool options will show all the shapes. You can also change the category but the third party preset shapes are only displayed when the category is ALL or PRESET SHAPES. You can also specify the file location for the shapes from this palette as well as how the thumbnails are dispayed. Select a preset shape from the palette
Use the preset shape tool to draw the vector design on the current document. There are a number of options available via the presets tool bar and these include anti alias, retain style, create as vector etc. If the retain style is checked then the preset shape will look as stored in the preset shape file (depending on the color etc at the time of creation)
If you wish to change the color of the design, then set the retain style to OFF and then re-draw the shape and the shape will then take the current material color. You can also modify the color any time via the objects menu 'properties...'
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