For information about which fonts, programs, etc I used to construct my pages and my headers, click here.
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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. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filters and Materials needed Simple Filters-Quick Tile - 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. |
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Let's get started!
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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 |
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All Programs - steps 1 to
3 1. Open tube or psd or ufo file Open canvas, white - it must be the height or half the height of the strip you will use and be square. My tube is 280 high so I want to make the strip 300 high, thus I will make the tile 150X150. I could have also made it 300 for bigger diamonds. Your tile must divide evenly into the strip. So if you want it 400 high, you can make the tile 100, 200 or 400 square. With the smaller tiles, of course, you get smaller diamonds. I tried a tile at 300X300 and one at 150X150 and liked the smaller diamonds better for this particular stat. |
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2.
Fill with Gradient very subtle, colors close together, the gradient that's a circle in the middle graduating outward The first palette is PhotoImpact, the second palette is PSP. See how closely the colors match? 
 Paint Shop Pro: in the color palette, change the foreground to gradient, click on it to bring up the window and use the Foreground-Background gradient and use the style 2nd from the right, change horizontal to 52 and vertical to 46, 0 repeats PhotoImpact: go to Edit>Fill>Gradient, the gradient is the last one to the right and for the two colors, put the lighter one in the left box. Photoshop/Photoshop Elements: create tile, Layer>New Fill Layer>Gradient, click on the arrow next to the gradient window and pick the first option at top left for foreground-background and pick radial style; apply and in the layer palette, right click and flatten image 
 Your tile should look like this one.  If your color isn't in the middle, in the gradient window just check the box Invert or Reverse in PSP, PS or PSE. In PI you will have to reverse the colors in your palette and do it again. But if you put your colors in as I described you shouldn't have that problem. |
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3. Then Effects (or Filter)>Simple>Quick Tile and
apply. It should look like this now.  To check if it's seamless, a little trick I use for Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop and Photoshop Elements is to open a new canvas, usually about 800X800 and in PSP, pick the pattern, in PS/PSE define the pattern, and fill the larger canvas, this will show up any problems with the seamless tile. In PI, all you have to do is go to File>Preview in Browser>As Tiled Background and it will open a window in your default browser with the tiled background. |
| 4. Making the Stationery |
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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. |
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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 |
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5 Add the Tube,
Object, or PSD file 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. Back to top |
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6 Add a Drop Shadow 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)  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 |
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Your final
result should look something like this. This one was done in PhotoImpact  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. Check out my Fairy, Cats & Dogs, Birds, and Floral (the newest ones go at the end, so I'm not sure what page the floral ones will be on, as I have to redo them, the link will take you to the Floral index page) stationery pages for all of the stationery I made in trying out this tutorial. as well as in the Desktop Wallpaper pages in the same categories. Note: If they're not there yet, I haven't uploaded them yet. Check a bit later. Wallpaper is uploaded already. Back to top |
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Some more examples.
Done in Photoshop Elements  In this one, done in Photoshop, in the layer palette of the tube, I changed the blend mode to soft light.  Done in Paint Shop Pro  |
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If
you have any questions or suggestions, click on the email button
below to contact me. |
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These tutorials are all my own creations. |
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