Mashup User Guide  v.3.5

Mashup is a free open source Linux program for making a photo montage (arrangement of images and text), which may be printed or saved as an image.

License and Warranty
Mashup is licensed under the GNU General Public License V3 (Free Software Foundation). Mashup is not warranted for any purpose, but if you find a bug, I will try to fix it.

Origin and Contact
Mashup originates from the author's web site at  http://kornelix.squarespace.com/mashup
Other web sites may offer it for download. Modifications may have been made.
If you have questions, suggestions, or a bug to report, contact  kornelix2@gmail.com

Using mashup
Start mashup from the menu or with the command: mashup. The window will show a blank layout.

The button [+image] opens a standard file selection dialog. Click an image file, then click somewhere on the layout. The image is depositied on the layout. You can also drag and drop an image from the file selection dialog or from Nautilus or other file browser. Drag the image to the desired position in the layout. Drag any corner of the image to make it bigger or smaller. To rotate the image, use the [rotate] button. To add a simple frame around the image, use the [frame] button. You can select a rectangular area within an image by using the [trimI] (trim image) button.

Use the button [+text] to add blocks of text to the layout. Enter text, then click on an empty space in the layout. The text is deposited on the layout. Drag the text into final position. Drag from either end of the text to change its size. Move the text and images around and change their sizes as desired. If "transparent" is selected when the text is deposited, the text background will be transparent (for writing on top of an image). Blocks of text may also be dragged into the layout from applications that support this functionality (gedit, evince). Text may also be rotated the same way as an image.

Use the toolbar [pack] button to pack and align the images. Images that are nearly packed together (with only small gaps or overlaps) are shifted to eliminate the gaps and overlaps. Where image corners almost come together, the images are shifted or resized into alignment. This cannot be generally perfect, but straight lines of images can be achieved in most cases, without the need for fine mouse tweaking. Use [pack] repeatedly to pack the images in stages.

Use the toolbar [format] button to select a paper format for printing. This also sets the width/height of the window layout to match the selected paper format. Choose [print] to print the completed layout. Use the printer properties dialog (a separate admin function) to select the correct paper size, otherwise printing may fail with a "paper mismatch" error.

Use the [trimL] (trim layout) button to cut off unused parts of the layout before printing or saving to a file.

Use the [save] button to save the layout as an image file (PNG).

Further Tips
1. Later images overlap those added earlier. Click on an image to bring it to the top.
2. Text strings are actually images of text, and are handled the same as images.
3. An image or text can be deleted by right-clicking on it.
4. The [rotate] and [frame] buttons apply to the last image or text inserted, clicked, or moved.
5. The dialogs for adding images and text may be used in parallel.

Translations
See the text file /usr/share/doc/mashup/translations for guidance on how to create or modify a translation.