Ellie's Treasures Tuts-Zoom-Xaggerate Tile

Click here or scroll down to see alternate tiles They will both open in a new window and print out on standard 8½" X 11" paper For information about which fonts, programs, etc I used to construct my pages and my headers, click here.
For this tutorial you will need: Graphics Program: Any graphics program that allows 3rd party filters, such as the ones used here. You can even do it in free programs that use filters, such as IrfanView. There are instructions on their home site about adding filters to the program. Filters: VM Natural - Zoom Blur available free here (in VM Toolbox) Funhouse filters - Xaggerate - available free here (in Funhouse 2 filters) Simple filters - Offset by 3 and Quick Tile- available free here Image: If you want to use the hollyhocks I used, right click the flower png in step 1 and copy, it's a transparent png. ~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~ I am assuming you know the basics of your graphics program and where the tools can be located. Some shortcuts I use are*: PSP-Paint Shop Pro; PS-Photoshop; PSE-Photoshop Elements; PI-PhotoImpact This is an extremely easy tutorial and can be done by beginners.
Here are some arrows and bars you can drag and drop where you need to mark or underline where you are. . Just left click and drag to where you want it then let go. They will stay where you put them until you close your browser.
1. Open a new canvas, 250 X 250. Open the graphic you will be making the background for or you can use a psp graphic, psd graphic, tube, gif, jpg. If you would like to use the same graphic I did, right click and save this png file. It's on a transparent background and on a layer.
2. Using eyedropper, choose a pale to medium color from your graphic. I used pink #E581B2. Flood fill the tile with your color. This is just in case you miss a spot in the pasting.
3. Copy your chosen graphic or tube or copy a portion of it with the colors you want. If using a graphic, select with a soft edge of about 10 so it blends well. Fill your tile with the graphic, re-pasting if necessary until the colors in the tile are to your satisfaction. Alternately, you can go to selections, select all and then paste the graphic into the selection. This may stretch out the graphic but it doesn't matter here. Each way will give a different effect as will the choice of graphic used. Merge all (or flatten) if it's on a layer.
4. Go to Effects>Funhouse>Xaggerate, both lines set at 255. Apply. It should look similar to this
5. Go to Effects>Visual Manipulation>Toolbox>Zoom Blur, (if using Filters Unlimited for this plugin, I found it under VM Stylize at the very bottom of the list) Amount set at 39, Adjust set at 60 (default settings). Apply.
6. Go to Effects>Simple>Offset by 3.
7. Go to Effects>Simple>Quick Tile. You can use it now or you can go on to the next step to lighten or mute the color.
8. Create a new layer and fill with color at 50% transparency PSP: Create new raster layer. PS/PSE: Go to layer, new layer, color none, mode normal, opacity 100% PSP & PS/PSE: Using the same color you filled your tile with in step 1 or use white, flood fill the new layer. PI: you don't need to add a new layer, just Go to Edit, Fill and fill with the same color you used in step 2, transparency set at 50. ~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~ PSP: Go to the layer palette and turn the opacity of this layer down to 50 (use the slider where you see the 100, slide it down to 50). PS/PSE*: Go to layer palette and turn opacity down to 50%, leave other settings at default. I used the same pink as in step 2 for the fill layer. It should now look similar to this. See some variations below.
You're done! Don't forget to optimize PSP: (File>Export>Jpeg Optimizer). I usually optimize at about 10. PI: I usually optimize at about 90 PS and PSE: I usually save at about 8. Or you can save as a png file, which is what I usually do lately. The quality is much better, especially with reds, but the file size is bigger.
More versions
I colorized the tile from the tut without muting the color I used this one in the header of the tut, after applying Simple>Zoom Out and Flip to it.	For this one I filled tile with a diagonal blue gradient, then did the steps as the tut and after muting I applied FM Tile Tools>Blend Emboss at default once	I filled the canvas with a yellow and orange gradient here, muted it with light orange, then applied Simple>Zoom Out and Flip to it.
If you have any questions or suggestions, click on the email button below to contact me. Have a wonderful day! Back to top
Tutorial was written in 2005 ~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~.::.~ 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 do not need my permission to share a text link only to this tutorial. 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. If not available, save as Web Page, complete (.htm, *.html). This will save it with the pictures in a separate folder) or print it out for your own personal use. ©2003-2010 Ellie's Treasures Discount Coupons

Back to top Webpage Design Information This webpage background was made in PhotoImpact with a tutorial by Deb DeHaven Sadly, she passed away and her site is gone. The font I used for all of the text on the buttons is BrockScript The font I used for the "Zoom-Xaggerate Tile" tutorial header is DT Linuss. Click on the font name to download the font. I use PhotoImpact to make all of my headers due to the amazing 3D text it has and the wonderful presets available free online Most of the presets I use are either the ones that come with PhotoImpact, usually the Gel ones, or from Deb's PI Tutorials and More (see below) or Carol Oyl's site This is the address to Deb's old pages http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/millenit/1716/pitutorials/objects/presets/presets1.html I can't find any links to her new pages but the presets are still on this page for download. For more sites to find PI Presets, take a look at my Great Beginnings page.