Hidden Power Free Tools for Elements 5 (PC Only)

This page contains download and release information for the free Hidden Power tools for Elements 5. Please read download instructions before downloading. Release information is included for your convenience as well as with the download.

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To download the free Hidden Power tools for Elements 5.0, please choose one of the following options. Donations are not necessary, but appreciated; they will help ensure free tools will be available for future versions of Photoshop Elements. Before attempting to download, be sure you are using either Firefox or Internet Explorer.

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HPPE Free Tools v. 5.1.0
Release Notes/Instructions

Contents

I. Overview
II. Licensing
III. Installation
IV. Application
V. Tool Descriptions

I. Overview

Hidden Power for Elements has been around since Elements 1, bringing you powerful techniques and tool additions to Photoshop Elements. The purpose of these books and tools is to extend the functionality and enhance the capabilities of Photoshop Elements without resorting to plugins, using native elements functionality. The books show how to use the tools in real-world scenarios that allow you to improve any image. Hidden Power has done the impossible with each version of Elements, adding functionality like curves, channel mixer, channels, CMYK separations, layer masks, color balance, snapshots, healing/mend, guides, alignment tools, and many other functions.

Hidden Power books and tools are available for Elements 1&2 (The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 2), Elements 3 (The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 3), and Elements 4 (The Hidden Power of Photoshop Elements 4). Tools are included on the CD with the books, and distributed separately from the Hidden Power website (http://www.hiddenelements.com). Additional Hidden Power tools can be found on the website, and free tools are available for every version of the program. Visit the download pages to find out what is available for your version of Elements: http://www.hiddenelements.com/downloads.html. It is recommended that you use only the tools created for your version of Elements to achieve the most predictable results.

This free tool set contains 10 tools as a sampling of the type of useful tools you'll find in the Hidden Power packages, and this set was created specifically for Elements 5.

Please feel free to contact me with questions about the tools and suggestions for additions.

Copyright © 2006 Richard Lynch, Hidden Power

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Hidden Power Free tools for Elements 5 are copyrighted by Richard Lynch: Copyright © 2006. A single user license for this product allows the license owner to use the tool on one machine concurrently. That is, if the owner of the license has several computers, the tool can be in use on any one of these at any time, and can be installed on each. The tools can not be redistributed, altered for distribution under another name, or resold.

For questions about permissions, site licenses, functionality or enhancement, please contact Richard Lynch directly: thebookdoc@aol.com or through the website: http://hiddenelements.com. Support for the tools can be discussed in the forum at retouchpro.com:

http://retouchpro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=172

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Installation has changed for Elements 5 from previous versions. Please follow the new instructions for the Elements 5 installer as they appear here.

1. Unzip the HPFT5.zip file. If you do not have an unzip utility, you can get one on the internet.

2. Execute the EXE file that results from unzipping by double-clicking the file. Read all screens as they appear and follow the instructions that appear on screen. Do not change the defaults for the installer unless you know exactly what you are doing. Changes will likely cause the installation to fail. The default installation is to the C: drive, and components of the installation are copied to the System file structure, NOT into the Elements program folder. If you have installed Elements to another drive, it should not matter to the installer. If installation fails, change the drive letter (only) to the drive where your system files are located. The option to change the drive letter will occur during the installation. Edit the "Extract to Folder" field when it appears on screen by changing the drive letter at the beginning of the installation path. Changes in other parts of the installation path will cause the installation to fail.

3. Restart Elements. The Elements program will recognize that new items were installed and you will see a progress bar as the program rebuilds the Artwork and Effects cache automatically.

For troubleshooting information, please visit the hiddenelements.com website.

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IV. Application

After following the installation instructions, you will be able to apply any one of the 10 new tools you have installed. Applying the tools will require restarting Elements and opening an image

1. Open the Styles and Effects palette.The palette may be located in the palette well or you can open it by choosing Styles and Effects from the Windows menu (Windows>Styles and Effects).

2. Choose Free_Hidden_Power from the drop list at the upper left of te palette.

3. (Optional) Change the preview setting of the Styles and Effects palette to List View. To make this change, click on the More button at the top right of the palette, and select List View from the menu that appears.

4. Open an image that you would like to apply one of the tools to.

5. Run any of the tools on the list by double-clicking the name of the tool on the Styles and Effects palette.

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The following is a list of the tools in this package. The descriptions contain some information about how the tools are meant to be applied and what they do.

Color Picker
This action creates a Color Picker as a separate image that can be left open in your work area. Change to the sampling tool by pressing I, and click in the Color Picker to change the foreground swatch color; hold the Shift key and click to change the background swatch color.

Component Blue
This tool creates a Blue Component layer in the layers palette that represents the blue light channel. The component appears as grayscale in the layers, but works effectively as a channel within the image. Changes grouped to the Blue Component channel will affect only the blue component in the image; group layers to the Blue Component layer by staking the layer you want to group just above the component layer and pressing Ctrl+G. To view the channel in color, shut off the view for the Background layer.

Component Green
This tool creates a Green Component layer in the layers palette that represents the green light channel. The component appears as grayscale in the layers, but works effectively as a channel within the image. Changes grouped to the Green Component channel will affect only the green component in the image; group layers to the Green Component layer by staking the layer you want to group just above the component layer and pressing Ctrl+G. To view the channel in color, shut off the view for the Background layer.

Component Red
This tool creates a Red Component layer in the layers palette that represents the red light channel. The component appears as grayscale in the layers, but works effectively as a channel within the image. Changes grouped to the Red Component channel will affect only the red component in the image; group layers to the Red Component layer by staking the layer you want to group just above the component layer and pressing Ctrl+G. To view the channel in color, shut off the view for the Background layer.

Layer Mask
This tool adds a layer mask to any layer (cannot be applied to Background layers). Masks can be painted with black to hide layer content without actually removing it from the image.

Luminosity and Color
This tool will flatten and convert your image to 8-bit RGB before converting the layer scheme to separate luminosity (grayscale) from color. You may want to work with a copy of the current image if it contains important layered corrections. This separations allows you to adjust image tone independently from image color. Group adjustments (Ctrl+G) to the layer you want to affect to isolate the changes.

Mask Highlights
The Highlight Mask tool creates a selection of the shadows in the image, masking the highlights from change. Adjustment layers added while the selection is active will automatically be masked so that only shadows will be affected by changes.

Mask Shadows
The Shadow Mask tool creates a selection of the highlights in the image, masking the shadows from change. Adjustment layers added while the selection is active will automatically be masked so that only highlights will be affected by changes.

Simple Channel Mixer
This tool will create a multi-layer scenario for mixing color channels into a monochrome (black-and-white) image, with -100 to 100% of any component. The image will be converted to 8-bit RGB and flattened. Use the Opacity slider for Add and Subtract layers to add and subtract component results and create new black-and-white representations of your current image.

Transform Selection
This tool will allow you to apply transformations to a current selection (e.g, resize, rotate, distort, etc.). Be sure the selection is currently active in your image before using the tool. Adjust the bounding box using handles and the Shift, Alt and Ctrl keys.

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Copyright © 2006 Richard Lynch, Hidden Power