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For this tutorial you will need: ULead PhotoImpact - available for purchase here or Adobe Photoshop - available for purchase here or Adobe Photoshop Elements - available for purchase here or Jasc Paint Shop Pro - available for purchase here This tutorial will work in any of these programs. Filters and Materials needed Simple filters - Quick Tile, Blintz, Diamonds and 4 Way Average - available free here Tube, PI Object or Adobe PSD file (a psd file can be opened in any of the programs, with transparency and in layers) Some abbreviations I used: 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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1. Open canvas
1280X300 Open your tube, object or psd file |
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2. Apply a
diagonal-gradient angled slightly to the left, one that will
match the colors in your tube count the ripples across, there should be about 7 to 7 1/2 If there aren't enough ridges of color, the finished product won't flow together as nicely, too many harsh angles although you may like it like that! PSP Angle 75-repeats 4. Some gradients vary in size so you may have to adjust the repeat until you get the right amount of ripples  PhotoImpact Use the Magic Gradient (using the regular 2 or 3 color gradient won't let you adjust the number of repeats). Pick the color wheel you want by clicking on the edit button and choosing a color wheel For Mode, choose the first thumbnail as shown below. Change the repeat to 4, and change the slope to 161 Some gradients vary in size so you may have to adjust the repeat until you get the right amount of ripples  Photoshop and Photoshop Elements see this page if you don't know how to apply a gradient (it will open in a separate window) Set the style to linear or reflected (reflected may give you a more obvious ripple) Angle at around 160, scale can be adjusted to give you more ripples Check Dither and Align with Layer. Checking Reverse may also give you more of a ripple effect Most of the gradients in PS and PSE don't give you a very pronounced ripple effect meaning you don't have enough shadows and highlights, just bands of color What I did was edit the gradient by using the Gradient Editor (double left click on the gradient color box in the toolbar and it will open) and setting more stops but if that's too complicated, just select 1/2 of the canvas, apply the gradient, then inverse the selection and apply the gradient again. If there is an obvious line between the two, use your clone or smudge tool, something to blend the two together. It doesn't have to be perfect.  It should look similar to this now. I used Bice Fairylight 3 for the gradient. To see more of their gradients, click here (click on Akzeptieren, in next page Freeware, in next page PSP-Zubehör and from there you can see their categories)  The hardest part is over, and if you knew how to apply a gradient, that wasn't hard at all! LOL |
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4. Apply the Simple
filters in this order (a) Quick Tile (I left this step out in the PSE one, see at the bottom of the page, I didn't leave it out on purpose, I forgot, but it looked ok LOL)  (b) Blintz  ( c) Diamonds  (d) Quick Tile again  (e) 4 Way Average  |
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5. Open your tube,
object or psd file; resize if necessary; Copy, then paste into the stationery canvas as a new layer (PSP), an object (PI), or in PS and PSE just paste it, it will make it's own layer. In PS/PSE, to copy and paste an image you have to go to Select>All, Edit>Copy, Edit>Paste I had to feather this tube as the bottom edge was too harsh for this stationery. I feathered it before I copied it  |
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6 Duplicate layer,
mirror (if you want to), and move to the right side PSP: Layer Palette>Duplicate layer, Image>Mirror if you want the right image mirrored, If you mirror, the image will be in the right spot, if you don't mirror, just move it to the right. PI: in layer palette, with the tube layer selected, right click and duplicate. Move this tube to the far right side. If you want it mirrored, click on the transform tool, and click on the flip horizontal icon. PS: Go to the layer palette, right click and duplicate layer. Move the image to the far right. If you want it mirrored, go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal. PSE: Go to the layer palette>Duplicate layer. Move the image to the far right. If you want it mirrored, go to Image>Rotate>Flip Layer Horizontal. |
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7. Lower opacity of
right border graphic Making sure you are still in the right hand tube layer, lower opacity down to somewhere between 20-30 (PSP, PS, PSE). I have mine down to 20 for this one. PI is always opposite. I moved mine down by 75 in that program. Changing the blend mode is nice too. Multiply, overlay, soft light, gives a nice effect. I chose to keep it at normal as I wanted that extra bit of color in the face. In all of the programs you lower the opacity and/or the blend mode in the layer palette. Most of the layer palettes look like this,  In PSP, before 10, it had the transparency and blend mode on the same line as the layer, starting with v10 it's similar to the screenshot above You should have something similar to this now.  |
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7 You're all done! Merge all,
watermark, and save as a jpg In the layer palette, right click and merge all (or flatten image), watermark and save as jpg. In PSP and PhotoImpact, don't forget to use the image optimizer to optimize the image and make it smaller. In PSP, that's found in File>Export>jpg optimizer I usually set mine at about 25-30 and it's still nice In PI, it's found in the Web menu, but it will also pop up automatically when you save if you have the box checked in the save window to enable the optimizer.  I usually set my optimization at about 60 in PI PS and PSE automatically give you the choice of saving at different quality levels. Medium is often the best compromise here. |
Done in PhotoImpact Gives you this  |
Also done in
PhotoImpact Gives you this  |
Done in Photoshop
Gives you this |
Done in Photoshop
Elements Gives you this  |
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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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