Hidden Power Free Tools for Elements 7 (PC & Mac)

This page contains download and release information for the free Hidden Power tools for Elements 7. 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 7.0, 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. 7.0
Release Notes/Instructions

Contents

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

I. Overview

The free Hidden Power tools for Elements 7 are actions especially made to enhance functionality in Photoshop Elements 7. These tools are created and distributed by Richard Lynch through the hiddenelements.com Web site and can be used in conjunction with that program on Windows XP, Vista, and Mac OS (10.5 and above). They are provided free of charge as an introduction to Richard's other tool sets and add-ons. Donations are appreciated to help keep the site running. Packages distributed with or without the donation are exactly the same.

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II. Licensing

Hidden Power Free tools for Elements 7 are copyrighted by Richard Lynch: Copyright © 2009. 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, resold, or repackaged in any way without consent.

For questions about permissions, site licenses, functionality or enhancement, please contact Richard Lynch directly: thebookdoc@aol.com.

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III. Installation Instructions

[NOTE: Installation instructions are supplied here for the sake of convenience and reference. The readme file included with the download package contains version-specific installation instructions as well.]

1. Download the tools and unzip the files. There should be one folder and a readme file:

• readme.html
• effects (includes 10 .png files, 10 .atn files, and 10 .xml files)

[NOTE: If you have trouble with the extraction or you do not get all the files, it will likely be an issue with the decompression. You should try using another download utility like AlZip, which is free (altools.com)]

2. Open the "effects" folder and copy the 30 files by selecting all (Ctrl+A / Command+A [pc / mac]) and copying (Ctrl+C / Command+C).
   
   
3. Locate the Photo Effects folder and paste the files into it. The folder should be located here:

on Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\7.0\Photo Creations\photo effects

on Vista:
C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\7.0\Photo Creations\photo effects

on Mac OS 10.4+:
[your system drive]:Library:Application Support:Adobe:Photoshop Elements:7.0:Photo Creations:photo effects:

[NOTE: If you cannot access the path on PC via the file system, you will have to change your folder preferences to show hidden files. To do this:
a. Choose Folder Options from the Tools menu in Explorer.
b. Change the Hidden files and Folders option to Show Hidden Files and Folders, then Apply and click OK.]

4. Delete the MediaDatabase.db3 file.

on Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\7.0\Locale\en_US

on Vista:
C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\7.0\Locale\en_US

on Mac OS 10.4+:
[your system drive]:Library:Application Support:Adobe:Photoshop Elements:7.0:Locale:en_US:

5. Restart Elements 7.

When you restart Elements, the MediaDatabase file will be rebuilt. During this process, a progress bar will appear. This update can take a few minutes. Please wait for it to complete or else the tools will not install. When the progress bar terminates, installation is complete and the tools can be used.

Support for the tools can be discussed in the forum at retouchpro.com:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/hidden-power-support/

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IV. Locate and Apply the Tools

When the update is complete you will be able to locate the new effects in the Effects palette. To do this:

1. Open Elements.
2. Open an image (an image must be open for Effects to run).
3. Display the Effects palette (Window>Effects).
4. Click the Photo Effects button at the top of the Effects palette.
5. Choose Hidden Power Freebees from the drop list at the right of the Photo Effects button.
6. Double-click the tool you want to apply.

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V. Troubleshooting

These tools have been around a long time and have been installed successfully by many levels of user. If the tools do not appear in the Effects palette you have not done the installation as directed, and you need to revisit and repeat the steps. There is a troubleshooting page that covers potential oddities in installing the Hidden Power tools in more depth. As an alternative you can visit the support forum at retouchpro: http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/hidden-power-support/

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VI. Tool Descriptions

[NOTE: Tools with an asterisk have changed since the release of the free tools for Elements 6. Details are included in the descriptions below.]

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 / Command+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 / Command+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 / Command+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. For version 7, steps were added to convert an active selection to a mask as is done in Photoshop. Can be used with Select Shadows and Select Highlights to create highlight and shadow masks.

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 / Command+G) to the layer you want to affect to isolate the changes.

Select Highlights* — Previously named Mask Shadows. The Select Highlight tool creates a selection of the highlights in the image, masking the shadows from change. The selection enables you to copy highlights to their own layer, or create a mask that reveals layer highlights by running the Layer Mask tool. Adjustment layers added while the selection is active will automatically be masked so that only highlights will be affected by changes.

Select Shadows* — Previously named Mask Highlights. The Select Shadows tool creates a selection of the shadows in the image, masking the highlights from change. The selection enables you to copy shadows to their own layer, or create a mask that reveals layer shadows by running the Layer Mask tool. Adjustment layers added while the selection is active will automatically be masked so that only shadows 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, so you may want to work on a copy to save important layered changes. 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. In this release the process starts with duplicating the current image as part of the process so there is no worry about losing editing work.

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 / Shift, Alt / Option and Ctrl / Command keys.

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Copyright © 2009 Richard Lynch, Hidden Power