I received this program over a month ago. Between the holidays and illness, it took me some time to finally sit down and play with it. I have discovered that Serif, has done an absolutely astounding job in anticipating a digital scrapbooker’s needs.
I was prepared to be courteous and say, yes – it’s a nice program, and good value for the cost; however, after playing with it more, I realize this program deserves so much more. At times, I was blown away by the tools and other times amazed that not only did Serif match Adobe Photoshop Elements with editing selections, they went beyond by making the editing process so much easier than Adobe PSE.
After installing, you open DSA to be greeted by a window asking if you want to use one of their digital scrapbooking kits to create a page or create your own. There is also an option to open saved work or even view tutorials.
If you choose to open one of their themes (there are two, Dollhouse and Enchanted), you will be given the option to choose one of either four or three pre-made templates. You then have the option of adding your own photographs and moving the current selection of embellishments, or remove and add your own.
The themed scrapbook pages are located within the Content Pack Manager. My only request at this point would be that Serif would eventually find a way to allow a digital scrapbooker to add their own stash of digital kits to make it easier to “drag and drop” from the selection menu on the left.
If you choose to work within the Content Pack Manager, you will see tabs on the left side for: Photos, Embellishments, Backgrounds, Frames, Materials, Letters, Layout. Within the themes, there are elements available for every tab. However, you cannot add, say, Suzy Q’s Fancy Flowers to the embellishment tab. The “Add” button only works for whatever is in the Content Pack Manager.
To use your own digital kits that are already on your hard drive, go to the Photos tab and click “Add.” Then you will have the opportunity to add as many images as you’d like.
A nice feature of the program is that it automatically sizes the page to a 12×12. You can also go into the Page Setup to choose 8×8 or a custom size. Once you have the size you want, you can then create your digital scrapbook page.
As I’ve often told my students, the reason why I like Serif’s software so much is because of its intuitiveness and ease-of-use for the beginner. Many would like to try digital scrapbookiing but are often intimidated by a program such as Adobe PSE. Adobe produces excellent software, but I’ve found that there is a rather large learning curve with their programs. With Serif, someone new to the hobby will have a relatively easy time adapting to the program and using its many features. Someone with more advanced skills will discover that Digital Scrapbook Artist can still provide a diverse array of tools to use. The beauty of Serif’s programs is that it uses what you bring with you – whether you’re a novice or an expert.
One feature that I was very curious about was the “Cutout Studio.” Those who have been attracted to digital scrapbook pages often wonder how someone was able to “cut out” an image from a photograph. Within a photo editing program, this technique is called “extraction.” It usually entails bringing up the tool and using the mouse to remove the background and also tools to “Keep” parts of a photograph that were accidentally removed.
DSA’s “Cutout Studio” did an excellent job in removing the background of a photograph. In fact, I found it a much smoother process than Adobe’s PSE. I especially liked the zoom bar in the bottom right of the preview program instead of having to click on a magnifying class to increase the size of the photograph (which is necessary for detailed removal of the photograph’s background). The “Keep” brush (which will add part of the photograph it automatically removed from the beginning if too much was removed) seemed to intuitively know what part of the photograph I wanted to keep. Once I held down the Shift key as I clicked with the “Keep” brush, the selection lines automatically joined to define the outline of the photograph I wanted to keep. The “Discard” brush was then used to clean up small areas I wanted to to remove.
Bottom line – the “Cutout Studio” was quicker and easier than Adobe Photoshop Elements. Plus, I now have the added bonus of having this feature available in my digital scrapbook designing software instead of having to bounce back between two programs. That to me was worth the price of admission!
Serif’s DSA has several features that I know will thrill the scrapbook artist. Included are collections of often used elements such as brushes and special effects. For those who are unfamiliar with a digital “brush,” think of it as a real paintbrush. It can be filled with color or, a pattern. In the case of DSA, there are brushes that are glitter, flowers, and even stitches. Let’s say you would like to surround a photograph border with stitches. In DSA, all you would need to do is click on the Paintbrush icon at the top of the page, choose from the selection of stitches located in the “Global” file under the Brushes tab, and then with your mouse, outline the area you want “stitched.” The program will then add those stitches exactly where you want them! And as always, there is that lovely “Undo” button if they weren’t placed in the exact spot you wanted.
Serif managed to do something that I have not seen before. In the toolbar, there is a tool called “Scissors.” Intrigued, I started to play with it. I am no expert with this tool, by any means, but what it did was amazing. Let’s say you have a digital paper that you like, but you wished you could only use a piece of it. Enter the “Scissors!” Using this tool, you will “cut” the paper in whatever shape you want. You have a choice of scalloped edges, zig-zag, square, straight and many, many others. You can then “cut” the paper into whatever shape you want. After, click the half of the paper you don’t want and voila! It disappears and you are left with a digital paper that looks as though it’s been cut with a pair of decorative scissors!
The “Scissors” tool also has preset scissors paths, such as the shape of a circle, square, flower, or arrow, to name a few. If you choose the preset option, all you need to do is size it on whatever you want “cut” and then click to remove the outside area. The tool will then immediately “cut” your image into the shape you want. Very quick and very, very easy!
Finally, I’d like to talk about the drop shadow feature. I’m a bit particular when it comes to drop shadows. Some digital designers include elements in their kits that are already shadowed. I like it if they have another set of elements without shadows because it allows me to play with my own preferences. Serif’s PagePlus X2 program has a nice drop shadow tool but the Digital Scrapbook Artist went even further.
Once you determine the intensity of your shadow, and the distance between the shadow and your image, you can then click on the “Advanced” button and click on the edge of the shadow. The tool enables the user to “pull” the shadow out or to the sides, placing the shadow exactly where they want it. Sometimes an off-set shadow looks more realistic. The Advanced feature allows a user to experiment until they get just the right effect.
I know that I have only touched the tip of the iceberg with describing what this program can do. There are a few quirks such as dragging a 12×12 sized digital paper onto the blank scrapbook page only to find it “lands” much larger and I have to resize it. However, this is only DSA 1.0 and I know Serif’s developers will be quickly working on improving on their features. Still, it is an absoutely impressive start. As I said, I was blown away by the sophistication of the program and adaptability for someone who has had experience with Serif’s desktop publishing program, PagePlus, Jasc’s PaintShop Pro, Adobe’s Photoshop Elements, and even Serif’s PhotoPlus programs. Here is a video that will show a few of the features I mentioned:
In essence, a digital scrapbooker can open Digital Scrapbook Artist to create a digital page and never need open a photo editing program. DSA does it all – from editing a photograph to extractions to adding special effects. A truly jaw-dropping value for $49.99. Click here to find out more.
