After installing Screen Imp you are presented with the Camera window set to Desktop View. The camera window shows an active view of the desktop. The view can be paused and restarted with the Run and Pause controls.
The main functions.
The main functions of Screen Imp
The Status Bar at the bottom, displays the free view icon on the far left. Use the second mouse button to click on the icon, and a menu appears with the other choices of view.
Clicking the second mouse button over the view icon pops up the view menu
Use the second mouse button to see other drop-down menus where available.
The Help window can be activated at any time by pressing F1.
The views all show a fixed part of the desktop except Free View mode. In free view mode, the camera always points at the current mouse position. Also, the image size is governed by the size of the camera view window.
When using Fixed Position view, the keyboard command (default F) is used to fix and release the view. The view is the same as Free View, but the position is fixed to where the pointer was when the view was invoked.
With Monitor View, the view is fixed to the screen that the mouse pointer is inside (default M). Again, use the same key to release the view of the monitor, and go back to free view.
When using Window View, (default W) the view is fixed to the active application window. The view stays fixed to the window even if Screen Imp is used. If another window is activated, the view changes to the new active window rather than one of Screen Imp's.
Initially the camera is set to capture pictures of the current view by using one of the capture commands. These are the Windows "Print Screen" key, keyboard command (default C) and hot key sequence, or click on the toolbar capture button (camera). The Capture Options enable you to change the way the snapshot is taken. After a 6 second delay, for example.
Choosing from the capture options menu
After taking the snapshots, the images can be viewed page by page in the Image List view, or all together with the Thumbnail View window.
In the next picture, the last captured image in the list is in view, and the Drag Box (rubber band) tool is measuring out a 32 pixel square.
Incidentally, with the drag box tool disabled, large images can be scrolled around more easily, by dragging the image with the mouse.
Using the drag box tool to crop out a section of the picture
Taking a snapshot with the drag box tool visible, will capture an image containing just the interior area of the drag box.
Perhaps we now want to print that area. After selecting the new image in the Image List, the image can be printed.
Use the Print Preview window to set up margins and other printer related settings before printing.
Applying margin sizes with the page setup window in print preview
Pressing the Lens button changes operations to lens mode. The lens view is actually an inactive snapshot of the desktop, when the lens was last activated.
Screen Imp changing modes
Click on the lens with the second mouse button to see the menu. The lens also has buttons that appear when hovered over, but don't forget the keyboard can be used to operate the lens.
Measurement and layout tools, ruler, grid, ellipse, and protractor, overlay the view in the selected scale. The measurement tools overlay the active view in camera mode, see Tutorial 4.
The ruler grid and ellipse tools are all adjustable with the mouse wheel. Hover the mouse over an axis or axes and scroll the mouse wheel. Hold down the Shift key for bigger steps. Hold down Control or Shift in Camera Mode.
Bear in mind the shift keys (Control and Shift) often alter the behaviour of Screen Imp functions.
Use the Keyboard Controls window as a key reference, and also to program your own keys and hot-keys
Choosing to enable hot keys
The captured picture above of the keyboard controls window was taken in Window View. The Capture Options used were, 6 second Delay, Activate Window, and Shaped Window. The Original is saved as a 24bit Bitmap file. The image copy above is a 65% JPG file.
All the pictures in the site could be file path name entries in a text file. The text file can be dropped onto Screen Imp to load the files. Some pictures could have been updated by pasting in changes, and saved as the new original. Then all the images in the list can be saved as new jpg files at 75%, or maybe as PNGs for the website.