Introduction Congratulations on purchasing the Machine Wash Image Filters! We've prepared this Quick Start guide and tutorial to teach you the basics of using these great filters to wash your designs in Photoshop. Once you've gotten comfortable using the filters, expand the scope of your Machine Wash Filters by reading the Pro User Tutorial for more advanced filter techniques. We know you're anxious to get started applying these great filters to all your images, so let's begin . . . Setup and Installation To begin, we need to first load the Machine Wash Action into your copy of Adobe Photoshop. Launch Photoshop and view the Actions palette from the Windows menu listing. You'll notice a small right facing arrow in the upper right hand corner of the palette. Click on this arrow and scroll down to the Load Actions command. You will then be prompted to find the location of the action you wish to install. Select the Machine Wash CD and locate a folder called Actions. Open the Actions folder, and then the folder that contains the version of Photoshop you're using. Select the MachineWash.atn file and click the 'Open' button. You should now notice a folder in your Actions palette called Machine Wash which means you've installed the actions properly and we are now ready to start washing! Please note, there is no need to copy the actual Machine Wash Filters to your hard drive as they will take up over 600Mb of hard drive space. We recommend you use them directly from the Machine Wash CD. Getting Started In Photoshop, open the layered image you wish to work with making sure that the active layer, (ie: the highlighted layer in the Layers palette) contains the image you wish to "wash". If you have created a layer which is simply type, you must render the Type layer before the wash can be applied. You can access this function using Layers > Type > Render Layer from the main menu. Next, you need to make sure you have created a background you wish to knock out of the design in the active layer - Remember anything in the layer beneath the active layer will show through once the wash has been applied. Do NOT apply these filters to the Background layer, you must make sure there is at least one layer below the active layer or the filter will produce no results. In many cases we recommend a solid color as the background layer. With the active layer selected in the Layers palette, select the wash cycle you'd like to run under the Machine Wash Actions Folder, either the Regular Cycle or Heavy Cycle, and click on the right facing arrow in the upper right hand corner of the Actions palette and scroll down to the 'Play' command to run the action. (Refer to image of Action palette above for details) (NOTE: The Regular Cycle Action washes distress through your design to the background layer color below, while Heavy Cycle Action creates a rusted layer beneath the design being washed to create a distressed rusted appearance.) When you play either Machine Wash Action, a window will pop up looking for the location of the filter you'd like to apply to your image. On the Machine Wash CD, open a folder called Filters and select the filter you'd like to apply. Use the Filters Directory on this CD to preview and select the filters you'd like to apply to your image. By default, Photoshop will automatically display a selection box on your active layer image constrained to the maximum canvas size of the image which may need to be scaled to cover the entire image. Should you need to scale the filter to cover the image, make sure you constrain the proportions of the filter when you are scaling it. To proportionately constrain the filter while you are scaling it larger or smaller, hold down the Option or Alt key along with the Shift key and and drag the corner points of the selection box to proportionally scale the filter over your image. If you do not hold down these keys, the effect will appear stretched and distorted. You can also use the filter scaling feature to enlarge the texture of the filter or to gain a larger for a more sparse, heavy, or larger distressed effect on your image. As soon as you are done scaling the filter, hit the Enter or Return key and the filter scaling will be applied to your image. The Action will continue to run automatically until its cycle has completed and your image has been successfully washed! Want to Try Another Wash? No Problem! Machine Wash Filters create a distressed look using Layer Masks while actually preserving your original image. At any time, if you do not like a particular effect, you can drag the Layer Mask to the trash, choosing not to apply the mask, and your original image will be restored. (NOTE: The only time when this is not the case, is if you choose to render or apply the Layer Mask, or you flatten the affected layer) During each Machine Wash cycle performed, the Machine Wash action creates a new channel in the Channels palette. You'll need to open the Channels palette and delete these unused channels to keep file size to a minimum. If you're not sure which channels to delete, keep the channel with the italicized name. Once you've gotten comfortable using these filters, and are ready to take it to the next level, read our Pro User Tutorial on this CD and find out more advanced techniques you can use to enhance your Machine Wash Filters!