previews

Saturday 20 February 2016

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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Thursday 18 February 2016

Entwined Words

Supplies needed:

My supplies HERE
Font(s) of choice I am using
Filter - Eye Candy 4 Gradient Glow

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

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

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



Monday 8 February 2016

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 

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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