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. 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 Fantastic Machines Paint Engine - available free here FM Tile Tools - trial available here, Blend Emboss is one of the free ones in it 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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Here are some arrows you can drag and drop
where you need to mark your spots. |
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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 200X200 |
2.
Fill with chosen color-a bright one from your tube or your
choice. Keep in mind that the filters will dull and lighten it
somewhat. |
3. Effect or
Filter>Fantastic Machine>Paint Engine, Pastel Sponge preset,
wrap edges checked You can either match these settings in the screenshot or add this Setting01=pastel sponge;1,1,0,0,0,1,233,324,9,2,100,118,108,14,9,-1,0,0,2,1 to your fmachine.ini file you can find at C:\WINDOWS (right click and Open With Notepad, scroll down and copy and paste this setting at the bottom - you may need to change the setting number from Setting01 to a different number if your fmachine.ini already has a Setting01) It should look like this now. It's hard to see on red, if you've used a different color it will show up more.  Repeat the Pastel Sponge. It should look like this now  If you've made sure you have checked the box Wrap Edges, it will be seamless. |
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4. With the same color you used for
the tile initially, fill tile at 50% (PI) PSP-new raster layer, fill with the color and reduce transparency in the layer palette to 50% PS-PSE: click the new layer icon in the layer palette. Just hover over the icons, it will tell you what the icon is for. It should look like this now  Merge all layers |
5. FM Tile Tools>Blend Emboss at
default Repeat  |
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Your tile is done. Save it
now to back it up. If you're making the stationery, go on to the
next step. Back to top |
| 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 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.  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. 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 |
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Your final
result should look something like this. This one was done in PhotoImpact  The Pastel Sponge and the FM Tile Tools will change the colors somewhat. 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. As you can see here, I removed the ends of the ribbons to make the tube narrower.  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 |
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Some more examples.
Done in Photoshop Elements  Done in Photoshop..  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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