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Scroll down for more examples |
For this tutorial you will need:
ULead PhotoImpact, Adobe Photoshop,
Adobe Photoshop Elements, or
Corel or Jasc Paint Shop Pro
This tutorial will work in any of these programs and
in most graphic programs that support layers and filters.
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Filters and Materials needed
VM Instant Art
filters - Wired - entire set of VM filters available free
here
http://www.ellies-treasures.com/files/plugins/Visual%20Manipulation.zip
Tube, object, png or
psd file
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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.
Download link:
http://www.ellies-treasures.com/files/plugins/The%20Image%20Tiler%20v3.0.zip
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My plugin windows may look different from yours as I use Filters
Unlimited 2 to manage my plugins - available for purchase
here
http://www.icnet.de/filters_unlimited/
I am assuming you know the basics of your graphics program and where
the tools can be located.
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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!
It's not as long as it looks, it's just that it's for 3
different programs.
Just follow the links at the end of each step for the next step
for your program.
I always put in lots of screenshots too, to make things
perfectly clear. It's actually a very easy quick tutorial. |
Basic Steps
1. Create the basic tile (just below)
2. Colorize (optional)
3. Create the Stationery canvas
4. Fill the stationery canvas
5. Apply tube, object, png or psd file
6. Apply drop shadow, watermark, save |
All Programs - steps 1 to 4
1. Open a new canvas, 200 X 200 pixels, white.
No need to fill, the filter makes it black and white anyway. |
2.
Go to Effects (or Filters)>VM Instant Art>Wired
leave all at default except change the mode to 129
It will be 84, 84, 54, 54, 4, 4, 0, 129
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3. You will end up
with this. You just need to crop a very small amount from the
right and bottom.
It will look ok but if you look closely it is not quite seamless
and that bothers me. LOL
It does show very much when you color it though, so if you are
coloring it, crop it.
See my arrows in the next shot. It's pointing at the exact
middle part of the diamond, where it is at it's widest.
That's where you crop, bottom and right only.
You can do this now or after you color the tile, it doesn't
matter.

If you want this simple black and silver tile, just skip the next part and go to
making the stationery.
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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5.
Coloring the tile (optional) |
PhotoImpact
Method 1
Using the Object Background Eraser
After making your black and white tile, copy it, then
open another canvas, same size,
fill with color of your choice, copy your wire canvas and paste
as a layer on the colored canvas.
Click on the Object Magic Eraser, select by line, similarity set
to 5, trans to 0,
uncheck the search connected pixels, check anti-aliasing,

Now click on a black spot and it will all change to the color
underneath.
The cross-lines will be black and grey and very thin, dotted.
You can either leave them the color they are or, making sure you
are in that layer,
go to Hue-Saturation, click on colorize and change the color to
one that will harmonize with your tile.
Certain portions of the line will change color (the grey parts)
and the black parts will remain black.

Once done, crop if needed, but you have already done this in
step 3 so it may not be necessary.
Check if it's seamless (go to File>Preview in browser)
You can stop here if only making a tile.
Method 2
Colorize
Go to Format>Hue and Saturation-check the colorize box, and colorize it
the way you want.
Most of the black will remain but the cross-wires will be
colorized.


Now click on the Magic Wand tool (behind the selection tool),
set the similarity to
100 or more, uncheck search selected pixels, check
by Area.

Click on one of the black strips that make up the diamonds,

you will now have a selection like this

Pick a color that goes with the color you've made the "wires",
and go to Edit>Fill and fill the selection.
Magic wand was set at similarity of 100 for the first one, and
at 150 for the second one below.

You can also do the color replacement, as in method 3, and then
colorize the entire tile afterward as shown at the end of Method
3.
Method 3
Color Replacement and Colorize
With the original tile made, go to Format>Color Replacement
In the color replacement window, pick the eyedropper and with it
click on the black in the before view.
Now play with the sliders to get what you want. You have to
increase the Lightness a lot to see the color change.
As you see, I moved it all the way up to 79.


If you click on the grey or black lines and set the sliders all
the way over to the far right
you will get silver lines. It won't change the color of them
though. Just from black and grey to silver.

After color replacing the tile above, as shown, I colorized the
entire tile (not just the lines) and came up with this
Colorize is Format>Hue and Saturation-check the colorize box,
and colorize it the way you want

Photoshop/Photoshop Elements
Method 1
Color Range
After applying the wire filter, I went to Select>Color Range, in
the Color Range box I checked image,
which made the lines appear in the pattern. Make sure Select is
set to sampled colors. Fuzziness was set at 40.
Click on one of the faint lines in the pattern. This will select
them all. Now go to Edit>Fill
(you can't use the paint bucket for this). I picked foreground
color. This changed all of the background to that color
(not the lines, but the lines appeared gold) That's a very nice
effect. It has little sparkly white spots in the center of each
diamond.
Again I had to crop just a little bit to make it entirely
seamless. I just looked at the diamond shape at the top and left
and cut off enough at bottom and right to match it, a matter of
a few pixel just off the bottom and the right.
Once selected, just go to Edit>Crop to remove the excess.

Also, see method just below the PSE method that's next
Method 2
Magic Eraser
After making the basic black and white tile as in Step 2, select
all, copy, paste
into new canvas the color you want the background.
Click on the magic eraser tool (behind the eraser tool), uncheck
the contiguous box, and click once on the black.


You can also leave the tile as it was, without copying onto
another background, then, after getting rid of the black,
leaving you with just the lines, colorize the lines before you
move it over to the colored canvas.
Crop the tile. Merge all.
Method 3
Colorize
Make the tile as in step 2.
In Photoshop Elements go to Enhance>Adjust Color>Adjust Hue and
Saturation.
In Photoshop go to Image>Adjustments>Hue and Saturation.
Click the colorize box and slide the sliders till you find what
you like.


Paint Shop Pro
Method 1
Color Replacer Tool
Make the tile as in Step 2, then go to the Color Replacer Tool
to change the black to the color you want.

Make black your background color and the color you want as the
foreground color.
Pick a large brush size, 100 or so and, holding down the left
mouse button, just paint over the entire tile.
It will replace the black with the color you want.

Play with the tolerance to see what you like.
I found that 43 gave me what I wanted.

You can then sample one of the lines with the eye dropper and
make that color the background color.
Pick a darker version of the background color and make it the
foreground color.
I left the tolerance at 43. I then went over the canvas again in
the same way
it changed the lines to the new color. Quick and easy!
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Method 2
Colorize
Go to Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Colorize
Play with the sliders until you see something you like. this
will only color the lines and not the black background


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Method 3
Subtract Color Range 1
Make the basic tile. Control-A to select all
Selections>Modify>Select Color Range.
Tolerance at 30, Softness at 20, reference color black, Subtract
Color Range selected.

When you click OK, you will see that the tile now has
lines selected.
Open a new canvas, same size, fill with color you want,
over to old tile, Edit>Copy, to new tile Edit>Paste and you will
get this.

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Subtract Color Range 2
As above but first colorize your tile (go to Adjust>Hue and
Saturation>Colorize). Click ok.
You will see that your lines are colored. Select the black part
with the
Magic Wand (behind the selection tool)set at tolerance of 20.
You will see your lines are now selected
Go to Selections>Modify>Select Color Range
check Subtract Color Range, make the reference color black,
tolerance 30, softness 20

Now you will open a new canvas the color you want,
back to the old tile, Edit>Copy,
to the new tile Edit>Paste as new layer.
This is the result, with the lines colorized to fuschia and then
pasted onto a dark blue canvas.

Check to see if it's seamless. Sometimes in the coloring, you
may
have to crop a couple of pixels from the right and bottom again. |
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Making the Stationery |
Open a new canvas
1280X300 (or about 25 pixels higher than your tube) |
2 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
Go to Edit>Define Pattern-name the tile pattern you just made.

Go to a new canvas 1280X300 (or whatever height you need for
your tube plus about 25),
In PSE, go to Edit>Fill Layer>choose pattern - in PS it's
Edit>Fill,
and in the next window click on the dropdown menu and pick the
pattern you just made to fill the new 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. |
Your stationery
canvas should look similar to this or to one of the versions in
this tutorial or in the samples below
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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.
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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)
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Go to your stationery canvas and paste it down.
Control V works in PhotoImpact and Photoshop/Photoshop Elements
Control-L pastes it as a new layer in Paint Shop Pro |
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)

Your stationery strip should now look something like this or
similar to the examples below.

This one was made in Photoshop |
Merge all (or flatten), watermark and done.
Save as a jpg and don't forget to optimize.
PI: 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.
PSP: 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 |
Some more examples.


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If
you have any questions or suggestions, email me at this page
http://www.ellies-treasures.com/email/email.html
Have a wonderful day! |
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These tutorials are all my own creations.
Any resemblance to any other tutorial is purely coincidental and
unintentional.
Feel free to share any of my tutorials on this site by a link
back to my site,
but do not copy and send the entire tutorial to anyone or any
group.
You may also save it to your hard drive (go to File>Save As, and
save as an mht file-
this will save the pictures with the page in one single file and
will open in a browser)
or print it out for your own personal use.
©2003-2006 Ellie's Treasures |
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