PhotoSpills was developed and tested on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.  It is expected to work fine on everything from Windows 95 and newer. Please let us know about your experiences with any of the older OS's.
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After selecting the design and returning to the Finishing Touches window, check the Evolve box (if present) and uncheck the Match box.  This will adjust the design template to fit your selected photos.
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You can make your custom selections in just a few seconds, but you can take a couple of minutes tweaking the finishing touches, depending on the complexity of the design.  Check out the Help -> Getting started command to see how quickly you can create a collage.

The amount of time it takes to generate the collage depends on a number of variables.  For one, the power of your PC will dictate how fast the images get processed.  The complexity of the design and the number of photos used are also a factor.  Scattered photos take longer because the image needs to be turned before it is placed in yuor collage.  But usually, you can expect to see your artwork within a minute or two.
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PhotoSpills doesn't impose a limit on the number of photos in your matrix.  The largest grid used for testing was 35 rows by 70 columns (2450 photos).  On a low-end laptop, that test took 15 minutes to generate the collage.

In the Rows and Columns dropdowns, click to highlight the actual number setting.  You can then type in any number you want.
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This message indicates that your photos are all of the same orientation (either portrait or landscape).  The design is looking for a photo with the missing orientation.  To fix this, include photos of both orientations.

With some designs, the Evolve check box may be available in the Finishing Touches screen.  If you check that box, PhotoSpills will adjust the design to accomodate your photos so that a portrait photo will be used insted of a landscape photo.  This is probably easier that adding photos, but will give the design a different look.  Also, this solution is only available for certain designs.
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First, check the Download tab on the PhotoSpills web site to see if the right icon is already available.  If not, then you can create one from an existing image.

If the logo image you want to use is freely available on the Internet, you can ask to see if we would make the icon for you.  Time permitting, we would be glad to make an icon for you if we think it will be of general interest.

You can also create your own icons by converting an image or creating a .bmp file.  If you are comfortable doing that or just feeling adventurous, basic instructions can be found in the PhotoSpills Help -> Help topics command.  The topic to read is Icons for your custom frames.
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If PhotoSpills has used all of your photos that match, it will start using the same ones again.  It will continue to repeat photos until the collage is complete.

So even though you have a folder of 15 photos to use for a 9 photo collage, you may have repeats if the photo orientations don't match right.  Your collage may want 8 landscape photos, but your folder has only 6 landscape photos.  Thus, two of the landscape photos will get used twice.

What can you do?  Try one of these solutions:

1.  Add more photos to the folder or photo list.

2.  In the Finishing Touches window, uncheck the Match box (if available).  This will let PhotoSpills use either orientation when placing a photo.  Such photos will be cropped to fit.

3.  When doing a 'Scatter' design, the Finishing Touches window will have an Evolve check box.  Checking that box means that PhotoSpills will alter the design to place landscape photos for portrait photos as needed... and vice versa.

Before reusing photos, the software will ask if you want to shuffle the photos.  Answering 'yes' will help keep patterns from emerging.
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You can use the software for 25 days without registering and create as many collages as you like... to see how your photos might look in various designs. But, you can print, save or view just one full size collage. The software will give a warning when you are about to use up that first collage. Once you create that first collage, the Print, Save and View options are taken away until you register.

After 25 days PhotoSpills will automatically ask you to register.

When registering, you are asked for an email address and shown a web page that lets you select a free registration key. At that time, you are also given the opportunity to donate $5 USD to one of three charities. Donations are made using PayPal.

There is only one version of the software. So all features are available during the trial and no matter how you choose to register. Once you make your selection, your license key is sent to the email address you provided. To complete the registration, you enter that key in PhotoSpills where you submitted your email address.

We only use your email address for a welcome to PhotoSpills and to contact you about issues/upgrades with the software. Your information is never given to anyone else and we won't send emails about anything other than PhotoSpills.

If you prefer to stay anonymous and not receive any emails from us, you can use a temporary email address to register PhotoSpills. There are several free web sites that provide temporary email. Try Googling "free temporary email address".
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We only use your email address for a welcome to PhotoSpills and to contact you about issues/upgrades with the software. Your information is never given to anyone else and we won't send emails about anything other than PhotoSpills.

If you prefer to stay anonymous and not receive any emails from us, you can use a temporary email address to register PhotoSpills. There are several free web sites that provide temporary email. Try Googling "free temporary email address".
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