How to use scripts

In this tutorial, you will learn how to use scripts in PaintShop Pro. PaintShop Pro comes with many scripts that you can use, but you can also purchase more to add to your collection. For the examples used in this tutorial, the High Key Black and White script can be downloaded free from the tutorial page. The Colorized Sketch script and Soft Dream script can be purchased from the Store tab of the PaintShop Pro welcome screen.

Click on any of the images below to view full-size.

Example 1: Simple “one-click” script

• Open PaintShop Pro under the Edit tab with the photograph you want to run a script on. 
• Turn on the Script toolbar by going to View > Toolbars > Script.

• Click on the dropdown menu to view the scripts you have available to run.
  • Choose the High Key Black White Script to run on this photograph of a dog.

• Click the blue Run Selected Script button.

And just in a matter of seconds, we’ve transformed our image using this high key script to help get rid of the shadows and make the photo look brighter, and more professional.

Example 2: Interactive scripts

In this second example, we’ll run an interactive script which requires some input as it runs. For this example, we’ll use the Colorized Sketch script that’s included in the Photo Sketch script bundle.

• Select the Colorized Sketch from the dropdown menu of the Script toolbar.
• Click the Run Script button to run the selected script.

The script will run but a few seconds in, it will require you to adjust the Threshold to your desired level.

• Play around with this level until you see visible lines outlining the subject which will vary from photo to photo.
• For this example, set the Threshold level to 250 and then press OK. 

When the script finishes running, we’re left with a beautiful colorized sketch of this woman.

In the Layers palette, you can toggle the Visibility icon (eye) on the layer produced by the script on and off to view the difference between the original photograph and the colorized sketch.

• At the top of the Layers palette, you can adjust the Opacity level of the layer: decreasing the opacity will allow more of the original photo to show through.
• In this example, we adjusted the Opacity level to 55.

And now you’ll see the photograph has a bit more color filled in within the sketch!

Example 3: Adjusting script output

In our final example, you’ll learn how to make adjustments to the script output.  We’ll use the Soft Dream script.

• Select the Soft Dream script from the dropdown menu.
• Then click the Run Script icon.

After the script has finished running, you can see several layers have been created which we can make adjustments to.

The default script has added a soft dreamy-like quality to the landscape image with a light blue hue over top.

But we can make some adjustments and change the hue, so it better matches our image using the Flood Fill tool to fill the Filter layer with a new color.

• Make sure the Filter layer is selected in the Layers palette.
• Activate the Flood Fill tool.
• Then choose your desired color from the Materials palette. 
• Click on the image to fill the Filter layer with your chosen color.

Experiment with as many colors as you’d like until you’re happy with the end result.

These are just a few ways you can easily enhance your photos and get creative with the click of a button using scripts!