What SnagIt does!

As mentioned in the previous post, SnagIt is used for image capturing. You can capture anything on the screen with this software. See the picture below to get familiarized with its interface:















The above picture too was captured using SnagIt!

If you can see in the picture, there are some basic colour profiles. All you have to do is select any one of the profiles and click on capture to start taking screenshots. Let me explain each of the profiles briefly:

1. Region: With this profile you can capture a region according to your preference. It can be used for capturing an image from a website, a logo etc.
2. Window: As the name suggests, you can capture a window with this profile.
3. Full Screen: This profile does the job of a conventional desktop feature “Print Screen”.
4. Scrolling Window: If you want to capture a full length of a page of a website which scrolls to 2-3 pages or more, you must use this profile.
5. Web page: This profile helps you to capture a webpage.

Now let us discuss the other Capture Profiles available in SnagIt:

1. Scrolling window to pdf: Capture an image from a scrolling window and convert to a pdf using this profile.
   
2. Menu with time Delay: If you want to want some time before you take a shot, use this profile. For example, if you want to capture the sub-menu too while taking a screenshot this profile comes in handy.
   
3. Object: If you want to capture only a particular object on the screen like a banner, a box etc this profile captures the object with precision.
4. Images from a web page: Very often we find some websites with beautiful images and want to capture them all and use as wallpapers for our desktops. Using this profile you can do just that.
5. Text from window: If all that you want from a webpage is its text, make use of this profile.
6. Record Screen Window: Yes, you can create video tutorials using this profile. It may not compare with other video creation software but it is good!

Photoshop Tutorial

Photoshop as you may already know is a graphic editing software. It is the lifeline of Graphic and Web Designers. Technical Writers too need the software for their image manipulation needs. It can help in editing the minutest of defects in an image. As Photoshop uses layers, editing becomes all the more easier. Now, let us learn the tools in Photoshop which are useful for technical writers:

Marquee Tool: It is probably the most useful tool which is used for selection. It is also called as the selection tool. It helps to select a region on an image. To use this tool, select the Marquee Tool and click and drag across an image. See the figure below:












Move Tool: This tool helps in moving a selection. To use this tool, select the Marquee Tool and click and drag across an image. Then select the Move Tool and click and drag the selection to move. See the figure below:









Crop Tool: Once you are done with image editing, you can crop your image with this tool. Simply select the region and press Enter.










Text Tool: If you want to add text on your image, select the Text tool and click on the image and start typing.