Configure Highlight Analysis

Press the [Preferences] button on the Main Dialog to see these options.

The option selections in the Highlight Analysis section of the Preferences Dialog allow you to determine when and how highlight analysis is performed.

Automatic Analysis

Choose Automatic Analysis to cause StarSpikes Pro 4 to automatically locate the highlights in your image. Automatic Analysis is enabled by default when the plug-in is installed.

Automatic Analysis makes StarSpikes Pro 4 easier to use and will be the best choice for most users. Analysis will occur when the plug-in is started so all you have to do is to adjust the controls to determine how many of the highlights will display effects and what those effects will look like as described in the Getting Started section of this manual.

Manual Analysis

Choose Manual Analysis to allow you to control when StarSpikes Pro 4 will locate the highlights in your image. When Manual Analysis is selected, an [ Analyze ] button will appear on the Main Dialog that will allow you to initiate an analysis of your image if you choose to do so.

An advanced user will find Manual Analysis useful in some specialized situations:

You wish to manually add all of the effects in the image using the Effects Editor. In this case, you place each effect where you want it and adjust its appearance using the editor's controls. No other highlights will receive effects. Since Highlight Analysis can be time consuming, this approach allows you to edit your images more quickly when only a limited number of effects are required.
You wish to create a Action which contains manual edits using the Show Tool, Hide Tool, and/or Edit Effects Tool. In this case, you could press the [ Analyze ] button, adjust the appearance of the effects that were found automatically, and add additional effects or remove existing effects as desired. When executed, the Action will always produce the effects exactly as you have specified.

Photoshop supports the inclusion of edits done with the Hide, Show, and Edit tools in an Action or Smart Filter but not all image editors can do this. If your image editor lacks this support, edits done with the Hide, Show, and Edit tools while recording an Action or Smart Filter will not appear in the image when the Action or Smart Filter is executed.

The above approach can also be useful when StarSpikes Pro 4 is a member of a Smart Filter stack, particularly if the plug-in appears in the stack more than once. You could, for example, have the first plug-in analyze the image automatically to generate effects and the second plug-in overlay the image with a number of fixed effects.