Saving your Work
Introduction to .JPEG, .BMP, .WPB, and .WPE
File Format Types
-
There are 4 types of file formats you can save your work in using OpenCanvas. .JPG, .BMP, .WPB, and .WPE.
-
.JPG and .BMP are compressed images.
-
.WPB is a project file that saves your layers.
-
.WPE is an event file. For more about these, see Event Files.
File Saving Types
If you have not yet saved your current file, you can select Save OR Save As OR Save Copy.
Save is for the first time you are saving only. After that, each additional save rewrites over the previous one.
Save As is for saving a new copy of your file with a different name, while keeping the old copy the same as the last time you saved it. It is also for saving you current file with a different file format.
Save Copy saves a copy of your current work as a .JPG or .BMP.
There is almost no difference between Save As and Save Copy: Save As allows you to save as the additional file format .WPB.
There is a big difference between Save and Save As/Save Copy. It sets up the format and file name for your file the first time. Each additional time you hit save, you will not get a prompt window - instead it will rewrite the last saved copy of your file to the original format.
Save As/Save Copy will show a prompt window to name and select the file format every time.
Viewing Picture Saving Options
Video Bookmark
If you have not yet saved your current file, you can select Save OR Save As. Save is for the first time you are saving only. After that, each additional save rewrites over the previous one.
If you want to save a new copy of your file with a different name or save as a different file format, select Save As.
1. This is a new file that has not yet been saved, so I selected the Save option.
2. The three options available under Save are .JPG, .BMP, and .WPB.
3. .JPG is a more compressed version of .BMP, where the pixels are often lost or disincluded, so the image is grainier than a .BMP.
4. To change the quality of you saved .JPGs, See: How to Maximize JPG quality with OpenCanvas
How to Maximize JPG quality with OpenCanvas
1. Click File (F) in the top left corner.
2. Scroll down to Preference (P).
3. By default, the JPEG Save Quality is set to 80%. Slide the adjuster to 100% to get maximum quality out of your JPEGs.
4. Click OK. The program should remember this, but make sure to doublecheck each time.
Difference between Save/Save As
If you have not yet saved your current file, you can select Save OR Save As. Save is for the first time you are saving only. After that, each additional save rewrites over the previous one.
If you want to save a new copy of your file with a different name or save as a different file format, select Save As.
Saving a JPEG - a file you don't plan to edit
1. If you are not interested in editing your file later, click File (F) in the top left corner, and select Save Copy or Save As. The video shows you Save Copy. There is no difference between it or Save As for this step.
You can also use Save, but only if you have not yet saved your current work. Otherwise, clicking Save will rewrite over the previous saved file with its unique name/file format.
2. Select the JPG option from the Drop Down Menu.
3. Create a unique name for your file.
4. Click Save.
5. The system will prompt you that it has saved. Click OK.
Saving a Bitmap - A file you don't plan to edit
1. If you are not interested in editing your file later, click File (F) in the top left corner, and select Save Copy or Save As. The video shows you Save Copy. There is no difference between it or Save As for this step.
You can also use Save, but only if you have not yet saved your current work. Otherwise, clicking Save will rewrite over the previous saved file with its unique name/file format.
2. Select the BMP option from the Drop Down Menu.
3. Create a unique name for your file.
4. Click Save.
5. The system will prompt you that it has saved. Click OK.
Saving a WPB - A file you plan to edit
1. If you are not interested in editing your file later, click File (F) in the top left corner, and select Save As.
The video shows you Save As. You cannot select Save Copy for this step because .WPB is not available using it. You can also use Save, but only if you have not yet saved your current work. Otherwise, clicking Save will rewrite over the previous saved file with its unique name/file format.
2. Select the WPB option from the Drop Down Menu.
3. Create a unique name for your file.
4. Click Save.
5. The system will prompt you that it has saved. Click OK.
Saving a WPE - A file you plan to re-watch the progress of
1. Click File (F) in the top left corner, and select Export Event File (E).
2. Leave WPE selected - there are no other options.
3. Create a unique name for your file.
4. Click Save.
5. The system will prompt you that it has saved. Click OK.
Saving your file to a directory
1. Make sure you are not in a rush when saving - it might be hard to find your file later.
2. Click File (F) in the top left corner, and select Save/Save As/Save Copy/Export Event File (E).
3. Check to see what directory your file is being Saved In, so you can remember later.
4. You can change directories by clicking a different folder, and enter subdirectories by clicking one of the folders below the current one.'
5. When you are satisfied with the location, create a unique name for your file below.
6. Click Save.
7. The system will prompt you that it has saved. Click OK.
Video Transcript
Hi I'm Amber and today I'm going to be showing you how to save your work using OpenCanvas.
To start, you want to go into the top left corner and select File. Go down to Save, click there. You'll see at the bottom there are 3 different options to choose from in order to save your file. You may be familiar with the last two options, .BMP (Bitmap) and .JPG.
A JPEG is the smallest and lowest quality of image you can save using OpenCanvas. This is because there is a slight loss of quality due to compression, where some of the pixels are either lost or overlooked after saving. You can avoid most of the noticeable differences and changes by saving your image as a higher quality format.
In order to do this, we need to cancel the Save file. Go to the File window in the top corner, scroll down to Preference, and click that. As you can see, we now have a sliding scale to determine the Saved quality of your image. Slide the scale to the right at 100%, click OK. Now if you save your image as a JPEG, it will be top quality, and you will not need to worry about the compression of the pixels.
To return to where we were before, go to the File menu and click Save. You may notice that there are 2 different options Save and Save As. Save As is for when you want to save another copy of the same File, save is for the first time you save when you choose the default format. Because I have already saved this file, and want to change the format, I'm going to click Save As and choose from one of our 3 options.
The other two options besides JPEG are higher quality, one of which is Bitmap. Bitmap does not compress the image the same way as JPEG. It renders each image pixel by pixel, but compresses the layers. Layers are important because if you ever want to be able to edit your image again, you will need to save it as a .WPB. For those of you who know Photoshop, this is similar to a .PSD. It saves your work as a project, rather than a finalized image.
If you're not interested in editing your image when you are finished with it, you can use the Save Copy option, instead of Save or Save As. Save Copy gives you 2 options, .BMP and .JPEG. You select which one you want. To start, we'll select .JPEG.
Click the Down arrow and select the option that is not currently selected, .JPEG. Because I have already saved this file, it already has a title. I will type in a new one: " Hello this is a jpeg" Click Save, and the program will prompt you that it has saved your image. Click OK.
The other option for Save Copy is .BMP. Go to the File window, select Save Copy again. This time, for me, it will be stuck on .JPG, because of my last save. I have to switch to .BMP. Then you can name the file. "Hello this is a bitmap, and it is higher quality than a jpeg". As before, click Save, and the program will prompt you that it has saved your image. Click OK.
The last file format to discuss in terms of pictures is the .WPB. This is again like a Photoshop Project file. This time you want to click Save As in order to get this option, because it's not available under Save Copy. Click the arrow, make sure you have .WPB selected, and type in a title for your file. "This file has layers". Click Save. You'll be prompted that you've Saved the image. Then click OK.
There is actually one other option and this is the Export Event File. This exports a file where you can see each individual action that has occurred while painting your work, as you do it. This time, I'm saving it as "This is an Event File". Click Save, and you'll be prompted once more on the program that you have saved your file.
The last thing I want to mention is that it's important to know where you've saved your file. Sometimes when you're working too quickly, you might forget where you've saved your file. To make sure, click File, click Save As, and look at the top where it tells you where you Save In. I always save in the Documents, but you can also save on your Desktop, or one of the many other folders that it lists as available.
That's all there is to know about saving your file using OpenCanvas!
© 2015 by TRAN 4330 Group Amber, Charley, Michelle