Ambient Design Ltd.

In order to save our settings at a given point when we decide we have something really good it's important to be able to add a preset, just as it's important that if we get sick and tired of that preset at a later date we are able to get rid of it! It helps to understand how KPT stores presets before we go ahead with this. The categories down the left hand side of the preset manager are actually single files containing all of the presets in that category, like a single page of a book. When we create a new category a new file is created. When we create a new preset, new information is added to an existing category.

KPT plugins store their presets in a folder, one for each plugin. For example, let's say we use the preset manager from KPT Lightning from the tutorial introduction ( here is it again! )

	Down the left hand side we have three preset categories. They are imaginatively called "Category 2", "Category 3" and "Lightning". This means that on disk we have three files called Category 2, Category 3, and Lightning respectively. These files are located in the folder .../KPTfx/Presets/Lightning. The "..." in this case represents the location you installed KPT effects to, usually in the plugins folder of whatever package you are using with KPT, be it Adobe Photoshop, Paintshop Pro or others. This becomes useful to know for reasons that will become apparent as we go on with the tutorial.

Adding a Preset

With that out of the way, let's add a new preset. Go into your favorite KPT plugin and mess about until you have something you like the look of. Now click the preset manager button and enter the preset manager.

Now that we are in the preset manager you will see your current effect in the preview window at the top left. The title at the moment will read "New Preset".

It's important that we name the preset and provide a description for it before we press the "Add Preset" button down the bottom of the preset manager, or we'll get a preset with no name and no description.

Click on the text "New Preset" in the title bar. Type in a name for your preset. When you've done this press the enter key.

Now click below the new title and you'll see another box to enter a description into. Type a short description for your preset and press the enter key again. Once you have added this preset you will be unable to edit it's name or description.

Now that you've labelled your new preset, just click the add preset button! This will add your preset to the category that is currently being displayed in the preset manager.

Removing a Preset

Deleting a preset is as simple as clicking on the preset you want to delete so that its name appears in the title bar, and it's preview is at the top left of the preset manager, and clicking the "Delete Preset Button".

Adding a Category

Adding a preset is all very well, but sooner or later we are going to run out of space in the category that we are trying to add our new presets to and get an error message.

In the KPT preset manager the options menu can be found up at the top right hand corner. It's a white arrow and when you click it you'll see:

Choosing this option creates a new category that will appear in the categories panel to the left called "Presets 0" and ready to edit. Type the name for your new category. I've decided for some strange reason that I want to make tonnes of blue lightning bolts so I'm simply going to call it "Blue".

	Press enter and we're all done! Now we have a new category that we can add further presets to.

	Removing a Category You'll notice that there are no buttons available in the preset manager to delete a category. The only way to remove an entire preset category is to delete the category file from disk. Let's say I'm now tired of blue lightning bolts and want to get rid of my collection entirely, including the category "Blue". After making sure I know the name of the category I am going to remove, I exit KPT and browse to the correct folder. e.g. C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 6.0\Plug-ins\KPTfx\Presets\Lightning\. Inside that folder I can see the file "Blue" so I simply go ahead and delete it. The most important thing about removing preset categories is to make absolutely sure that you have the correct name for the category you are going to delete before you go ahead. That just about covers adding and removing presets and categories. Now we'll look at importing and exporting them!

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