How to use masks in PSP

Masks are usually monochrome jpg files

but you can also use png files with transparent background

You can find lots of masks on my mask blog HERE

First we will deal with how to use a jpg mask that is

already installed in your files

Download your chosen mask and place it in your masks folder

Open blank canvas 700 x 700

floodfill white

copy and paste as new layer a

 scrap paper of your choice

or 

new raster layer

floodfill with a color/gradient of your choice

layers - load/save mask - load mask from disk

click on the thumbnail and scroll through

until you find a mask you like

click on it

the settings I use are as follows

source luminance

fit to canvas

hide all mask

then click load

(Note:  if your mask is negative i.e. white background/black middle, you will 

need to check "Invert transparency")

now in your layer palette, right click on the mask layer

hover over merge, then click on merge group

now you are ready to add other elements/tube to your tag

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You can also use jpg masks as an image in PSP 

so you dont have to install every mask you use in your files.

Open the mask in your psp program

open blank canvas 700 x 700

floodfill white

copy and paste as new layer a

scrap paper of your choice 

or

new raster layer, 

floodfill with color/graident of your choice

layers - new mask layer - from image

choose the mask from the dropdown list

click ok

(Note:  If the mask has is negative i.e. white background and 

black middle, then you will need to check 

"Invert mask data" before clicking OK)

in your layer palette, right click on the mask layer

hover over merge, then click on merge group

Now you are ready to add other elements/tube to your tag

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OK now lets deal with using png images with a transparent background

There are a couple of ways of using these kind of images.

Open the png file in psp

Layers - Merge - Merge all (flatten)

once it is flattened it will look something like this

(now it has a white background)

continue to use the mask as an image as described above

Flattening png images, often gives them a white background so 

you will need to ensure that "Invert mask data" is checked

This is what happens if you dont check "invert mask data"

if this happens just hit undo and redo the mask

but check "invert mask data"

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The 2nd way to use png images is as follows

Open the png file in psp

open blank canvas 700 x 700

floodfill white

copy and paste the png image as a new layer

resize if necessary, to fit nicely in the center of your canvas

select all, float, defloat

copy and paste as new layer a 

scrap paper of your choice

or

new raster layer

floodfill with color/gradient of your choice

deselect

in your layer palette, delete the layer with the png mask on it.

you are now ready to add other elements/tube to your tag

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Entwined Words

Supplies needed:

My supplies HERE

Font(s) of choice I am using

An Unfortunate Event & Blueberry Oatmeal

Filter - Eye Candy 4 Gradient Glow

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This tutorial was written by Mizteeque on 18th February 2016

Written using psp9 but other versions should work just as well

Any similarity to other works is unintentional and purely coincidental

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open blank canvas 700 x 700 

floodfill white

text tool

Font of choice

I am using "An Unfortunate Event"

size 100, fore and back color black

stroke width 3

type the word "Sweet"

convert to raster

select all, float, defloat

new raster layer

floodfill with color/pattern/gradient of choice

expand by 3

new raster layer

floodfill with different color/pattern/gradient of choice

add noise 100, uniform & monochrome checked

deselect

drag this layer below your gradient layer

copy and paste roses as new layer

resize by 60

duplicate

I rotated the first one slightly to the right 

and positioned so it was diagonally across the end of my word

and the duplicate a position towards the bottom left of my word

merge the two rose layers together

make noise layer active

select all, float, defloat

now on your rose layer use your eraser to 

erase some of the roses

you may need to change the size of your eraser as you go

so you only erase the parts you want

in the image below I am going to erase the rose that has been cut off

Here it is erased

Keep erasing parts until you are happy that it looks

like the roses are entwined round the word

you should end up with something like this

Now copy and paste as many of the sweet treats as you wish

and position to your liking

I placed some in front of everything

and some behind the word "Sweet"

dropshadow the sweet treats, the roses & the noise layer

2,5,50,8,black

using a different font

I used Blueberry Oatmeal, size 100, color black

write out the word "Treats"

convert to raster

select all, float, defloat

new raster layer

floodfill with same gradient as before but change

the angle and repeats to 0

effects, eye candy 4, gradient glow

dropshadow as before

delete your white background layer

merge visible

crop and save as png

Word with Images inside

Supplies needed:

Tube(s) of choice

Filter - Eye Candy 5 Impact

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This tutorial was written by Mizteeque on 18th February 2016

Written using psp9 but other versions should work just as well

Any similarity to other works is unintentional and purely coincidental

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One of my forum members asked me how I make names with images in them

so here is how I make them.  There are probably a dozen different ways to do 

this but this is just one way that i know and find easiest.

Open blank canvas 700 x 700 

floodfill white

text tool

use a blocky font

I am using GramophoneNF

size 120, color black

create as vector

convert to raster

select all, float, defloat

choose two colors from your tube(s)

make a fore/back gradient

linear, angle 45, repeats 4

new raster layer

floodfill with your gradient

copy your tube(s)

paste as new layer(s)

resize & position to your liking

selections invert

hit delete on each tube layer

merge all tube layers together

change blend mode to lumincance

duplicate

adjust blur, gaussian blur 8

change blend mode to screen (or whatever you like)

selections expand by 2

new raster layer

floodfill with background colour

add noise, 100, uniform & monochrome checked
drag this layer below your gradient layer

selections contract by 2

new raster layer

drag this layer to the top of your layer palette

effects, eye candy 5 Impact, glass

make noise layer active

add dropshadow 2,5,50,8,black

add name and copyright information 

delete white background layer

and black name layer

merge visible

crop and save as png

Be Mine - forum set

Supplies needed:

Tube of choice, I am using the beautiful artwork of Arthur Crowe

you can purchase his tubes from his store HERE

A tube with several sizes is preferable 

Fonts of choice - I used Century Gothic and Inspiration

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This tutorial was written by Mizteeque on 21st January 2016

Written using psp9 but other versions should work just as well

Any similarity to other works is unintentional and purely coincidental

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open blank canvas 700 x 250

floodfill with gradient made from two colours from your tube

linear, angle 0, repeats 0

c/p small tube

 move to right slightly, so its just off center

duplicate, image, mirror

c/p medium tube

move to far right

duplicate,

image, mirror

merge all tubes together

change blend mode to lumincance

duplicate

adjust blur, gaussian blur 8

change blend mode to screen

merge visible

new raster layer

floodfill white

layers, arrange, send to bottom

lower opacity of merged layer to between 60 - 65

Effects, Texure effects, blinds

width 3, opacity 30, color white, horizontal checked

c/p close up tube 

resize if necessary, but ensure it is still larger than other tubes

d/s 2,5,50,8,black

merge visible

preset shape tool

heart

line width 1

foreground color light one from your tube

draw out a tiny heart

convert to raster

copy

paste as new selection next to the first heart

repeat paste 3 more times so you have a line of 5 hearts

position bottom left corner of tag

duplicate, image, mirror

merge down

d/s 2,2,50,3,black

using century gothic font, size 16

background color the same as your hearts

type out "BE MINE"

convert to raster

duplicate

position above hearts

merge visible

new raster layer

floodfill with gradient you used at the start, but change the

angle to 45, repeats to 5

select all, contract by 3

hit delete on your keyboard

add name, license and copyright information

merge all

save as jpg

To make matching Avatar

custom selection tool

top & left 0, right & bottom 200

selections, edit selection

move red square to a point on your tag that you like

edit selection

copy

paste as new image

add same border as we did for the banner

add name, license & copyright info

merge all 

save as jpg

Rock the music

Supplies needed:

Tube of choice, I am using the artwork of Elias Chatzoudis which 

you can purchase from his store HERE

Scrapkit - Music of the Night from Jens Sweet Temptations

Mask of choice 

Font of choice

My supplies HERE

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This tutorial was written by Mizteeque on 14th January 2016

Written using psp9 but other versions should work just as well

Any similarity to other works is unintentional and purely coincidental

Note:  This tut has instructions for both animated and non animated versions

Open blank canvas 700 x 700

floodfill white

c/p paper 7 

apply mask

merge group

resize by 85

c/p Notes1

position at bottom of mask layer

c/p speaker 1

resize by 70

c/p piano

rotate left 25

position at bottom of speaker, but ensure you dont cover the notes1

c/p notes

position just above speaker

c/p speaker 2

resize by 70

position to the left

duplicate

image, mirror

c/p music cross

resize by 50

rotate left 25

position bottom left corner of left speaker

c/p headphones

resize by 50

rotate right 25

position top right corner of right speaker

c/p tube as new layer

resize to fit

dropshadow all layers except mask

2,5,50,8,black

If you are NOT animating your tag then 

add name, license and copyright information

delete white background layer

merge visible, crop and save as png.

If you ARE animating your tag...

Hide your tube, just so we can see what we are doing

Make large center speaker active

duplicate

selection tool, circle, feather 0

draw a circle out from middle of speaker to the outside edge of the black edge

effects, distortion effects, punch, strength 10

duplicate

repeat punch

deselect

unhide tube

Add name, license and copyright information

hide top 2 speaker layers

copy merged

Open animation shop

paste as new animation

back in psp unhide middle speaker layer

copy merged

In AS paste after current frame

back in psp unhide top speaker layer

copy merged

In AS paste after current frame

Select all frames (ctrl & A)

copy

click on frame 3 

paste after current frame

click on frame 6

paste after current frame

click on frame 9

paste after current frame

You should now have 12 frames

Open notesani

select all, 

copy

Make tag active, select all, 

paste into selected frames

click to position to your liking

play animation to make sure you like what you see

if not just hit undo and redo

save as gif

Kittie Angel

Supplies needed:

Tube of choice - I am using the beautiful artwork of Laguna

which can be purchased from Pics For Design

Scrapkit  of choice - The one used is a Taggers Inn Exclusive

My Template 78 HERE

Mask of choice

Font Broken Kiss 

Filter - Carolaine & Sensibility 

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This tutorial was written by Mizteeque on 17th January 2016

Written using psp9 but other versions should work just as well

Any similarity to other works is unintentional and purely coincidental

Open template, shift & D to duplicate and close original

delete credits layer

image, canvas size, 800 x 800

Follow these steps on the following layers

Select all, float, defloat

c/p paper as new layer

invert selection

hit delete on keyboard

deselect

delete original layer

layer 2, 7, 11 & 15

paper 2

Layers 4, 9, 13 & 17

paper 7

Now make layer 3 active

select all, float, defloat

new raster layer

floodfill with linear gradient made from two colours from your tube

repeats 4, angle 45

deselect

delete original layer

repeat for layers 

5, 8, 12, 16, 19 & 20

Then go back over the same layers and apply

Carolaine & Sensibiity - CSLDots

default settings

make sure you are on the top layer

c/p elements 60 & 64

resize by 50 

duplicate one of them

now rotate left using your deform tool and arrange

in a small cluster to your liking

c/p element 56

resize by 50

rotate, duplicate and position under your roses

dropshadow each element 2,5,50,8,black, 

merge them all together

drag this merged layer to just below layer 14 (the large glittered circle)

and to the left so it is poking out from behind the glittered circle

duplicate

image, mirror

Make layer 18 active (small circle of hearts)

you can floodfill these with a colour, gradient, paper of your choice

or leave them as they are (I left mine)

make top layer active

c/p tube 

resize to fit

d/s 

Now go back and d/s each template layer 0,0,30,8,black

Make BG layer active

c/p paper 7 

apply mask 

merge group

Add name, license and copyright information

Delete white BG layer

merge visible

Crop and save as png

Here is another example