Adding borders

You can use the Borders tool to add one or more borders and edge effects to your images. You can set the size of each side of the border, change the color and texture of the border or pick up a color from within the image by clicking on that color in the image.

There are libraries of edges and textures to get you started, but you can save your own textures or edges to the ACDSee folder so that they appear in the library for you to use.

You can also use Edge blur to soften the edges or blend the image into the background texture. You can also add a third dimension to your images using the Drop Shadow and Raised edge effects.

Using combinations of multiple borders and edge effects can add to the mood and atmosphere of a photo, emphasize contrast, and enhance color.

You can save your border settings as a preset to use again.

To add a border to an image:

1. In Edit mode, in the Add group, click Borders.
2. Create the border by selecting its size, color, texture, edge, or edge effects as described in the Borders options below.
3. Do one of the following:
   • Click Done to apply your changes and close the Border tool.
   • Click Cancel to discard all changes and close the tool.
4. To add another border, restart the border tool and repeat these steps.

Click Reset to clear your changes and reset to default settings. If you saved your changes, you cannot reset your settings.

Borders options

Eyedropper	Picks up the color beneath the cursor when you click on the image. The border changes to the clicked color, which also appears in the Color box on the Borders pane so that you can adjust it if you open the Color dialog box. The eyedropper is not available when you are using a texture.
Border	Size	Sets the size of all the sides of the border simultaneously. Drag the slider left and right to adjust the width of the border. You can also type in a different number or use the up and down arrows to change the size of the border. The text below the Size field shows the final size of your image with the border added. The final size changes dynamically as you adjust the size of the border.
	Advanced size controls	Opens a fly-out of advanced size controls. Use the sliders, up- and down-arrow keys, or type in a number, to set the size of each side of the border individually. For example, you can set the bottom border to be larger to include a space for copyright information. Click on the arrow beside the Size slider to open the advanced size controls menu.
	Color box	Activates when you select the Color radio button. Do any of the following: Click on a color in the image to make the border that color. The clicked color appears in the Color box. Click on the color in the middle of the Color box to open the Colors dialog, where you can adjust the color in multiple ways. Click the down-arrow beside the box and hover over the quick-color box until you find a color you like. When you click inside the quick color box, the picked color appears in the Color box and the border changes to the selected color.
	Texture box	Activates when you select the Texture radio button. Do any of the following: Click the side arrow to open the texture library and view thumbnails of textures to select. Click the forward and back arrows to browse through the textures one at a time, without opening the library.
Edge	Straight	Sets the edge of the border to be a straight line.
	Irregular	Activates when you select the Irregular radio button. Do any of the following: Click the side arrow beside the edge box to open the edge library and view thumbnails of edges to select. Click the forward and back arrows to browse through the edges one at a time, without opening the library.
	Edge blur	Blurs the edges of the edge of the image into the border. Drag the slider to the right to increase the blur, or to the left to decrease the blur.
Edge effects	Drop shadow	Adds a drop-shadow to the image that appears to lift it off the page. The drop shadow appears behind the image, between it and the border. You can adjust the depth of the blur on the edge of the shadow, and the transparency of the shadow, which affects how much of the border shows through the shadow. You can also change the direction of the imaginary source of light by dragging the glow on the Light Source ball. Blur: Adjusts the blur on the edge of the shadow when you drag the slider. Opacity: Adjusts the transparency of the drop shadow when you drag the slider.
	Raised	Adds a raised edge to the image that appears to raise it above the border, giving it a 3D look. The raised effect is applied to the image, between it and the border. You can change the direction of the imaginary source of light of the raised edge by dragging the glow on the Light Source ball. You can also adjust the size, strength, and color of the raised edge in the following ways: Size: Drag the slider to the right to increase the size of the raised edge so that it appears higher. The greater the size the more rounded the effect. Strength: Drag the slider to the right to increase the 3D effect of the raised edge. Colored: Select this option to apply the border color to the raised edge.
Light Source	Activates when you click either the Drop shadow or Raised check boxes. Click and drag the glow on the ball to reposition the imaginary light source for the 3D effect of the Drop shadow or Raised edge effects.

Adding your own textures or edges

It is possible to add custom textures and edges to the libraries in the Borders tool. If you make your own edges or textures, or own a collection from the Internet, you can add them to the texture and edge libraries. You can also delete existing files from the libraries to make room for others.

The textures or edges have to be in the following file formats with these extensions:

• BMP
• EMF
• GIF
• JPG
• GIF
• PNG
• TIF

Textures

The textures are tiled, so they should be images that can be tiled seamlessly. The files are used at their full resolution, not scaled up or down. For example, if your texture image is 100 x 100 pixels and you are creating a bordered image that is 1000 x 1000 pixels, then your texture file will be tiled 10 times. If you use a texture file that is 1000 x 1000 pixels, then there would just be the one texture tile for the whole border.

To add your own textures to the texture library:

1. In ACDSee 12, close the Borders tool if it is open.
2. In Manage mode, copy and paste your texture files into this folder:

3. C:\Program Files\Common Files\ACD Systems\borders\textures

4. In Manage mode, select the image you want to use and then click Tools | Edit.
5. In the Add group, click Borders.
6. Select the Texture radio button and then click the arrow on the right side of the texture box to open the texture library.

7. Thumbnails of the textures display for you to select.

Edges

Edge files are grayscale images that are resized to fit the image. The image file shows through any areas in the edge file that are white, and does not show through any black areas. Pixels that are tones of gray in the edge file show through with relative opacity depending on how close the pixels are to black or white (in other words, the darker the gray pixel, the less it shows through).

To add your own edges to the edges library:

1. In ACDSee 12, close the Borders tool if it is open.
2. In Manage mode, copy and paste your edge files into this folder:

3. C:\Program Files\Common Files\ACD Systems\borders\edges

4. In Manage mode, select the image you want to use and then click Tools | Edit.
5. In the Add group, click Borders.
6. Select the Irregular radio button and then click the arrow on the right side of the edge box to open the edge library.

7. Thumbnails of the edges display for you to select.

If you open an image with borders already applied, another border will be applied to the image.

See Also:

• Using Edit mode
• Using the Color dialog box

Adding borders