For information about which fonts, programs, etc I used to construct my pages and my headers, click here.
|
|
|
|
|
For this tutorial you will need: ULead PhotoImpact - available for trial or purchase here or Adobe Photoshop - available for trial or purchase here or Adobe Photoshop Elements - available for trial or purchase here or Corel Paint Shop Pro (or Jasc PSP pre version X)- available for trial or purchase here ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I used PhotoImpact XL, Paint Shop Pro X, Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements 4 This tutorial will work in any of these programs and previous versions as well, and will also work in most graphic programs that support layers and filters. Since I rely heavily on 3rd party filters so the tutorial can be used in any program, it should be easily done in any version of the program as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filters and Materials needed Simple Filters-Centre Tile & Top Left Mirror - available free here Funhouse-Patch Ring - available free here RCS Filter Pack 1.0-Triple Exposure - available free here Tube, object, png or psd file ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I use a little program called the The Image Tiler to preview my tiles to see if they're seamless. Not necessary in PI but useful in the other programs. It's license says it's free to be redistributed and all of the links I found for it are dead, so I've uploaded it. Click here to download it. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My plugin windows may look different from yours as I use Filters Unlimited 2 to manage my plugins - available for purchase here. I am assuming you know the basics of your graphics program and where the tools can be located. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some abbreviations I use: PSP is Paint Shop Pro, PI is PhotoImpact, PS is Photoshop, and PSE is Photoshop Elements. |
|
Here are some arrows you can drag and drop
where you need to mark your spots. |
|
Let's get started!
|
|
Basic Steps 1. Create the basic tile (just below) 2. Create the stationery canvas click here 3. Fill the stationery canvas click here 4. Apply tube, object, png or psd file click here 5. Apply drop shadow, watermark, save click here |
|
All Programs - steps 1 to
3 1. Open tube or psd or ufo file Open canvas, white 300X300 |
|
2.
Apply gradient, the square one In PI, the second one from the end In PSP, the second one from the left In PS/PSE the diamond one with the angle adjusted to 45 PI: Edit>Fill>Gradient tab>Two-color  PS-PSE: Layer>New Fill Layer>Gradient-pick the Diamond one, adjust angle to 45 If your dark color is going on the inside, click the reverse box  PSP>Click on drop down arrow in material palette, pick Gradient and left click on the gradient window to change the gradient.  I used blue and white, white on the inside, color on the outside It should look like this now. If your dark color is on the inside, in PI click the little arrow between the two colors, in PSP click on Invert, in PS and PSE, click on reverse.  |
|
3. Effect or
Filter>Funhouse-Patch Ring - default of 24 It should look like this now.  |
|
4.
Effect or
Filter>Simple-Top Left Mirror It should look like this now.  |
|
5.
Effect or Filter>RCS
Triple Exposure It should look like this now.  (I stopped here for my Blue Roses Border stationery, see it below) |
|
6. Effect or
Filter>Simple>Center Tile It should look like this now.  When you tile it, it will have a beautiful lacy diamond effect If you use it for a strip that is 300 pixels high, resize this tile to 300X300 before filling the strip If you leave it at 200X200 and then fill a 300 high strip it will still be seamless but the tiles will be a mixture of small diamonds and large ones, try it, you may like it. If you create this tile at 300X300 (not make it at 200X200 and resize it to 300X300) it will look slightly different - the halo effect without the diamonds It would look like this (I reduced the size for easier loading on this page)  If your final tile isn't the color you want, colorize it PSP>Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Colorize or Shift-L PI>Photo>Hue and Saturation, check the colorize box PS-PSE Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue and Saturation, in the next window pick Colorize and make your adjustments. You can also colorize it after you apply the tube to the strip as long as you don't merge first and that you are in the background layer. |
|
Your tile is done. Save as jpg (to
back it up). If you are making stationery, go on to the next step. Back to top |
| 4. Making the Stationery |
|
Open a new canvas
1280X about 20-25 pixels higher than your tube) I usually check the width, if the tube is any wider than 350 maximum, it will be too wide in your stationery. So use that as your guide. |
|
Fill the
stationery canvas Paint Shop Pro In your color palette, pick pattern. Click on the color box to open the window to see the choice of patterns. At the top of the choices, you will see your new pattern. Choose it. Leave it at angle 0 and 100% In your new canvas, use the Paint Bucket to flood fill the stationery canvas. PhotoImpact Go to your tile, Edit>Copy; go to the new canvas, Go to Edit>Fill, click on Image and then check Clipboard>Tile the image.
Photoshop/Photoshop Elements |
Your strip should now
look similar to this |
|
5 Add the Tube,
Object, or PSD file Back to top Open up your tube, object, png or psd file. PSD files will work for any program. PNG files will work in any program as well, but do not always retain their layers and/or transparency. Objects (ufo) are for PhotoImpact. Tubes (tub, psp, pspimage, psptube) are for Paint Shop Pro but can also, in most, but not all cases, be used by Photoshop-Photoshop Elements or PhotoImpact as well. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Copy the open tube, object, or psd file, In Paint Shop Pro, go to Edit>Copy (or Control-C) In PhotoImpact, right click and copy (or Control-C) In Photoshop/Photoshop Elements go to Select>All, Edit>Copy (or Control-A to select all, then Control-C to copy) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Go to your stationery canvas and paste it as a layer. Control-V works in PhotoImpact and Photoshop/Photoshop Elements Control-L pastes it as a new layer in Paint Shop Pro Move the tube to the left side, make sure it's even between the top and bottom border.  I didn't add a drop shadow to this one as the tube was misted and it wouldn't have looked right. Back to top |
|
6 Add a Drop Shadow to tube
(optional) Back to top Paint Shop Pro, go to Effects>3D>Drop Shadow. V & H: 3, Opacity 50, Blur 10 (or whatever settings you prefer) Now repeat but with the V & H set to -3.  PhotoImpact: pick the all around shadow, 3rd from the right, change transparency to 45 and soft edge to 15, leave shadow size at 100  Photoshop Elements: go to the palette at the right side>Styles and Effects> Layer styles in left drop down menu>Drop shadows in right dropdown menu, pick Soft Edge Now with that layer selected, go to Layer>Layer Style>Style Settings and you can change the size of the shadow. I prefer it at 1 or 2, the default if you don't edit it is 5.  Photoshop: go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow. with your tube layer selected, go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow and use these settings: Leave all at default except change Opacity to 48%; Distance 5 pix, Spread 8%; Size 10 pix. Make sure Anti-Aliased is checked and Layer knocks out drop shadow  You may have to play with the shadow sizes to get what you like for that particular tube. See below for the final results Back to top |
|
Merge all (or flatten), watermark and you're done. Save as a jpg and don't forget to optimize. Optimizing PhotoImpact: I normally optimize the jpg at anywhere from 60-80, just check the preview window and see how it looks. I use 60 the most but sometimes you need it optimized less for a good graphic. Paint Shop Pro: I normally optimize at about 10-12 Photoshop/Photoshop Elements: I normally save at medium. ************************* If you have a large tube and want to use for a header, save it as a transparent gif, making sure to use the mask option in the save dialog and pick your tile to mask with. In LC, put it in the header tab and center it.. Back to top |
|
Some more examples.
Done in Photoshop Elements  Done in Photoshop..  Done in Paint Shop Pro  This one was done with the tile made just to the RCS Triple Exposure step, I did not do the Centre Tile step  Back to top |
|
If
you have any questions or suggestions, click on the email button
below to contact me. |
|
These tutorials are all my own creations. |
|
|
