Snagit Learning Center

Snagit 9 Tutorial:

10 Tips and Tricks for Creating Great Images

This tutorial contains some of the tips and tricks the User Assistance team at TechSmith uses to create great graphics. 

In this tutorial, learn how to:

• Cut Out Unimportant Stuff
• Use Stamps to "Tell Your Story"
• Use Arrows to Show Direction & Motion
• Spotlight the Area of Importance
• Cut Out the Middle
• Add a Drop Shadow for Instant Professional Polish
• Save Your Work as a Snagit Capture File
• Save the Stuff You Love
• Cut Out the Empty Space
• Save Time! Drag from Tray to Combine Images

1. Cut Out the Unimportant Stuff

Occasionally, when you take a screen capture, areas included in the capture can detract from what is really important.

Rather than leaving the “extra” portions of the screen in the graphic, why not remove them? It is quick and easy to do by dragging the edge of the canvas inward and over top of the unwanted areas.

To drag the canvas, simply grab a handle along the outside edge of the graphic and drag. Release when you have reached the edge of the unwanted space.

2. Use Stamps to “Tell Your Story”

A good picture really is worth a thousand words and that’s why Snagit Stamps are so useful. Stamps can visually enhance your images and positively reinforce any written instructions.

When your instructions include commands such as “click OK” or “right-click”, or, you need to show very specific areas on the screen, stamps help show your audience exactly what you mean. Here are a few examples:

Snagit includes several stamp sets and you can download more for free from the TechSmith website. Or, make your own.

1. Select the Stamp tool. Draw tab >Drawing Tools group > Stamp button .
2. Click the down arrow in the Gallery to expose the various stamps. Scroll through the list and select a category of stamps. The stamps are loaded into the Gallery.
3. Select a category and scroll through the Gallery to choose a stamp. The Gallery closes.
4. Click on the canvas to place the stamp. Drag the stamp to the desired location.
5. Choose Download More to go the TechSmith website and get more stamps.

Save your image as a Snagit Capture File (.snag) so you can make changes later.

1. Click the Application button.
2. Hover over Save As to expose the menu.
3. Click Snagit Capture File.

3. Use Arrows to Show Direction & Motion

Arrows are a great way to show direction and motion – two concepts that are often difficult to explain but are easy to illustrate. Find out more about using Snagit Editor arrows.

• Use the Bezier Curve arrow to shows the opening of dropdown menus, dialog boxes.



• Use an arrow with a dashed line to show a dragging or moving motion.



• Use a straight arrow to show direction or to point out something important.

4. Spotlight the Area of Importance

The spotlight feature emphasizes the most important part of your graphic by dimming the background. You can also blur the background and magnify the selection.

Here’s an example of a background that was dimmed causing the selected area to stand out.

1. Make a selection on the canvas.
2. Select the Spotlight & Magnify tool. Image tab >Modify group > Spotlight & Magnify button.

5. Cut Out the Middle

You may have come across this problem: You need to show options at the top and bottom of a large dialog box or screen but you don’t need anything in-between those two points.

Using large web pages, screens, and dialog boxes can detract from the areas you want to show and can take up too much space. A great solution is to cut out the middle allowing your viewers to focus on what’s important. Adding the torn effect on the edges of the two pieces creates a visual cue that there was something in between the two pieces but it was not needed.

1. Draw a selection around the top part of the image.
2. Apply the torn edge effect. Image tab >Image Style group > Edges button > Torn Edge Options.
3. Click on the right facing arrow to deselect it. Click OK.
4. Drag a selection around the area to remove. Press the <Delete> key on the keyboard.
5. Drag a selection around the bottom portion and move it up toward the top image keeping the sides aligned.



6. Drag a close selection around the bottom and apply the torn edge effect. Image tab >Image Style group > Edges button > Torn Edge Options.
7. Click on the bottom and right facing arrows to deselect them and click the top arrow to select it.



8. Click OK.
9. If your sections are too far apart, drag a selection around one of the pieces and move it closer.

6. Add a Drop Shadow for Instant Professional Polish

Adding a drop shadow to your images gives them instant curb appeal. It also provides an anchor or frame for images that might not have a border.

1. Trim the image or draw a selection around it with the Selection tool.
2. Choose Image tab >Image Style group > Effects button > Shadow. Pick from the available preset options or, choose More Shadows to create a custom shadow with a border.

7. Save Your Work as a Snagit Capture File

Have you ever created a great graphic with a screenshot, arrows, and callouts and then a change was made to the screen? If so, you know the pain of having to start over again from scratch.

But, if you saved your image as a .SNAG file, you could have just swapped out the screenshot and not have had to redo all the callouts and arrows.

The .SNAG file format is a Snagit Editor-only file that retains vector-based objects. Vector-based objects include arrows, text boxes, callouts, stamps, shapes, and more. If you save your image first as a Snagit Capture File, all vector objects remain in place and can be changed, moved, sized, and deleted when the image is opened again.

To use your image outside of Snagit environment, in Microsoft Word or PowerPoint for example, you just save the final .snag file as the image format of your choice – say a .png or .jpg.

When saving in these other file formats, the vector objects will be flattened and made a permanent part of the image.

To save your image as a Snagit Capture File:

1. Click the Application button.
2. Hover over Save As to expose the menu.
3. Click Snagit Capture File.

8. Save the Stuff You Love

Do you have a favorite arrow you like to use? Or a terrific callout you want to include in every graphic?

Well, Snagit Editor makes it easy for you to save your stuff in the Gallery so you can use it over and over with ease.

1. Create the object you want to save including the color, shadow, width, etc. This can be an arrow, callout, shape, text box, pen object, or highlight color. For callouts and text boxes, the text is not saved – but the font attributes are.
2. Right-click the object and choose Add to Quick Styles.

The object is immediately added to the bottom of the Gallery and is ready to use.

9. Cut out the Empty Space

When documenting large screens, dialog boxes, or web pages, often times there’s unused space you can removed to make the graphic smaller and more compact while maintaining the integrity of the whole image.

The Cut Out tool is designed for such an occasion – it cuts out the selection and joins the two remaining pieces together.

Here’s an example of horizontal space removed between the buttons.

10. Save time! Drag from Tray to Combine Images

You can take a series of captures, apply all of you effects, and then quickly combine them into one graphic by dragging them onto the canvas from the tray. No copying and pasting needed!