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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This tutorial will work in any of these programs and will also work in most graphic programs that support layers and filters. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Filters and Materials needed VM Instant Art filters - Fog and Tripolis - entire set of VM filters 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. Colorize (optional) click here 3. Create the Stationery canvas click here 4. Fill the stationery canvas click here 5. Apply tube, object, png or psd file click here 6. Apply drop shadow, watermark, save click here |
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All Programs - steps 1 to
3 1. Open a new canvas, 200 X 200 pixels, white (if you want a larger pattern, make it 300X300 but then you need to make your stationery strip 300 high as well. No need to fill, the filter makes it black and white anyway. |
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2.
Go to Effects (or Filters)>VM Instant Art>Fog leave all at default  You will end up with this  |
3. Then Effects (or Filter)>VM Instant Art>Tripolis, apply
at default and then do it again. After first Tripolis application  You can use it at this point if you like. After second Tripolis application  If you want this simple black and silver tile, just skip the next part and go to making the stationery. Click here. If you want a different color, you will need to colorize it. Following are some various methods to color the tile. |
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4.
Coloring the tile (optional) Back to top |
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All
Programs Slide the sliders till you find one you like - hue changes the color and saturation makes the color less intense or more intense, PI has Lighten, which makes the color lighter or darker. PhotoImpact Go to Format>Hue and Saturation-check the colorize box  Photoshop/Photoshop Elements In Photoshop Elements go to Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue and Saturation. In Photoshop go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation.  Paint Shop Pro Go to Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Colorize  After colorizing  Back to top |
| 5. Making the Stationery |
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Open a new canvas
1280X300 (or about 25 pixels higher than your tube) |
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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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3 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 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) In Paint Shop Pro, go to Edit>Copy (or Control-C) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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 Back to top |
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Add a Drop Shadow (if you want) In PI, right click on the tube, click on Shadow, in the shadow window, click on the box shadow. Leave the type at default, change the H and V to 5, depending on tube, leave the rest at default. In 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 Low)  In Photoshop go to Layer>Layer Style>Drop Shadow. I usually change the opacity down to about 40 and leave the rest at default, but you can change it to your liking  In Paint Shop Pro, go to Effects>3D>Drop Shadow. V & H: 5, Opacity 50, Blur 8 (or whatever settings you prefer)  See below for the final results Back to top |
Your final
result should look something like this. Merge all (or flatten), watermark and 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 Stationery page and my Fantasy Stationery page, all of the trial stationery I made for this tutorial are available there (more than you see here), as well as in the Fairy and Fantasy Wallpaper pages Back to top |
Some more examples.
 In this one, done in PhotoImpact, in the layer palette of the tube, I changed the blend mode to soft light, and then applied FM Tile Tools>Blend Emboss at default settings once.  
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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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