Paintshop Pro tips


Making a Mask Masking An Image 2 techniques Working With Layers Creating Tubes
Using Tubes Transparent Gifs Filters Christmas Ornament
Colorizing an Image Double Borders Satin Ribbons Animated Christmas Tree
Neon Text Multiple Selections Leigh's Colorizing Tutorial




Read Making Masks in PSP or View the tutorial
Masks from an existing image
1. Create a new folder for your masks on your harddrive and give it a descriptive name (My Masks etc.)

2. Open an existing image in PSP.

3. Under "Window" choose "Duplicate". This prevents you from altering the original. Close the original image.

4. Under "Colors" choose "Grey Scale".

5. Under "Masks" choose "New" / "From Image". A box will pop up titled "Add Mask From Image". Choose "This Window" as the "Source Window" (if there is only one image open this will be your only choice). Under "Create Mask From:" choose "Source luminance. Click OK.

6. Under "Masks" choose "Save To Disk". Save in your Masks folder, give the mask a descriptive name and click Save. Your Mask is ready to use.

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Masking An Image in PSP
1. Open the image you wish to mask.

2. Under "Window" choose "Duplicate". Close the original image.

3. You should see two floating boxes labeled "Layers" and "Controls". If not open "Layers" from the top toolbar (the icon looks like 2 overlapping pages, one red, one blue).

4. In the "Layers" box you should see Background. At the bottom of the "Layers" box you will find an icon (2 pages) click on the icon to bring up the "Layer Properties" window. Make certain that "Masks is enabled for this layer" has a check mark. I also check "Mask is locked with layer". Click OK. You should now see Layer 1 and Background.

5. Under "Masks" choose "Load From Disk". Navigate to your mask folder on your harddrive and select the mask you made earlier. Click OK.

6. To see the mask click on "Masks" and choose "View Mask". the mask will show as transparent red. The red portion will be the part of the image that you will "keep". You can play with "Invert" under masks. This reverses the fill area.

7. From the side toolbar choose the "fill" (bucket) option. You will now be working with the "Controls" box. Choose any "fill style" you wish. If you plan to isolate the masked image for transparency you need to choose a solid color. Click on the image. All but the red will be filled.

8. Under "Masks" choose "Delete". A popup window will ask "Would you like this mask merged into the current layer?". Choose "yes". The red is now removed and you are left with a masked image.

9. Under "Layers" (at the top not the floating box) choose "Merge" / "Merge All (Flatten)". Notice you now have only 1 layer (Background) in the "Layers" box.

10. To separate the masked image from the background (if you filled with a solid color), choose from the sidebar the "Magic Wand". Click on the solid background. Under "Selections" choose "Invert". Only the masked part of the image will be surrounded. Under "Edit" choose "Copy". Back to "Edit" choose "Paste" / "As a new image". You now have a masked image that you may use as a transparent gif.

Connie's version
Using masks as an edge treatment on images/photos. 1. Open the image that you want to use in the header. 2. Open the mask image. 3. Make sure that you have the main header image selected then go to masks tool bar at the top), scroll to new, then select from image...this is where you will see your main image and the mask.jpg image (select the mask one) then ok (source luminance is checked in the box also). 4. Next, go back to masks and select delete..say ok. 5. Here's the part that makes it work :) Go to layers then duplicate (once will work, but you can do it as many times as you want). 6. Pull up your Layers Pallette (view, tools, layer palette selected). 7. Choose the color or background tile that you want behind the image. Select the flood fill bucket..then go to the layer pallette to make sure that you are working on the background and not the actual image part. Then flood fill over the image. 8. Layers...merge and voila you're done! *Note: if you want to add drop shadow..do so before you merge the layers. Top of Page



Working With Layers
The ability to work with layers is what makes PSP a powerful tool. Layering allows you to change the properties of an image indirectly. Each new layer is a separate editable "image" until merged and may be manipulated separtely without disturbing the original image or any other layers. Even the order of the layers may be rearranged.

Open an image in Psp. Click on the new layer icon found at the bottom of the "Layers" floating box. This will bringto view the "Layer Properties" window. You may name the layer anything you wish. It is helpful if you plan to use several layers if the "names are descriptive. I rarely name the layers I leave them as "Layer 1, 2 nd so on. If you choose not to name layers you can rest the mouse on the layer you wish to see and a small graphic will pop up to show you what is on that particular layer.

Experiment with the different settings found in the "Layer Properties" window. You may change the properties at any time by double clicking on the chosen layer, this will take you back to "Layer Properties". I have never used the "Group" or "Blend Ranges" and I am really not sure what it is they do. If anyone knows and would like to share send me an email.

If you have created several layers and would like to view only the effects of Layers 1, 4, and 6, you can click on the "Link Mask Toggle" button (looks like a chain) located to the right of the Layer name. If the "chain" is broken that layer is turned off and vice versa. At any time you may turn on or off any combination.

There is a button to protect the transparency of a layer (looks like a padlock). This is especially useful when creating tubes.

To permantely delete a layer select the layer and click on the garbage can found at the bottom.
Finally once you are satisfied with the image you may merge. Click on "Layers" at the top and choose "Merge" then it is your choice. If you are not yet satisfied but must water the garden save the images without merging. When you return and open the image will still have the aditable layers. Is editable a word?

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Creating Tubes
(Note: you must create a new file folder in PSP labeled "Tubes". Under tubes you can create folders for organizing tubes you download and tubes you make.)

1. Open or create an image that you would like to use to make a tube. Under "View" check the "Image Information" and make a note of the dimensions. (ex: 100 x 100 pixels)

2. Create a new image (the page icon located in the upper left-hand corner). If you are making a tube with more than one image, multiply the dimensions by the number of images you plan to use. If the images are different sizes use the dimensions of the largest. (EX: Original image is 100 x 100 and you are using 8 images, the new page dimensions should be 400 x 200. This would be 4 images across and 2 images down. If you were only using 7 images your new dimensions would still be 400 x 200, there has to be an even number of cells.

3. Create a grid pattern in the new window (the sections are called cells) by clicking on "File" / "Preferences" / "Rulers and Units". In "Rulers and Units" you will change the Grid dimensions to Horizontal spacing 100, Vertical Spacing 100. The "Units" should be pixels.

4. Under "View" click on "Grid". Your new image should have 3 vertical lines and 1 horizontal line.

5. Fill each cell with an image by copying and pasting into the new image.

6. Go to the "File" menu, select "Export" / "Picture Tube".

7. Type in the number of cells that are in the image. (EX: cells across - 4, cells down - 2.

8. Name the tube, but be careful because you are not warned if you overwrite an existing tube. Click OK. Your tube is ready to use.

(Note: when you download a tube from the Internet you open the tube in PSP and follow step 6-8 to place your tubes in the folder.)

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Using Tubes
1. Create a new image any size, say 400 x 400. The background can be any color.

2. Choose the tube button on the sidebar (icon is a stamp and brush). The tube list will be visible in the "Controls" box. Choose your new tube. Play with scale and Options. (Hint: Change the stepsize to half the size of an individual tube to make the tubes overlap when you drag the mouse across the image).

3. with a click of the mouse your tubes magically appear.

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Transparent Gifs
1. Open, create or select (a portion) an image in PSP. Choose a background color (usually white). The background color should be a color that is not used in the image. Make sure that this color is selected on the "Color Palette" as the background (the bottom box) color. The "Color Palette is located on the right side of the screen.

2. Under the "Colors" menu choose "Set Palette Transparency". A popup box will ask if you would like to reduce to 1 layer and 256 colors. Click "Yes".

3. A second box labeled "Decrease Color Depth - 256 Colors" will appear. Under "Palette" I usually choose the first option "Optimized Median Cut" and under "Reduction Method" I choose "Error Diffusion". Normally I ignore "Options" but you can play to learn. (To be honest I really do not know what these options actually do I just know that these selections work for me.) Click OK.

4. In the third popup box labeled "Set Palette Transparency" choose "Set the transparency value to the current background color". Click OK.

5. To view your transparency, and I always do this out of habit) choose "View Palette Transparency" under the "Colors" menu.

6. Save as a .gif file.

Note: Sometimes the image will have a white halo. this is usually caused from Anti-aliasing (especially text). To correct this (while in the view transparency mode), make white the foreground color on the "Color Palette". with the "dropper" tool right click on the halo to select this color as the background color. (sometimes you need to enlarge the image to see the difference). Choose the "Color Replacer" button and click on the image. Continue to do this until the halo disappears.

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Angel's Glowing Neon Text
Click here to learn how to create neon text in PSP.

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Angel's Christmas Ornament
Angel has graciously provided a tutorial for her beautiful Christmas Ornament.

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Colorizing
Angel gives Conway Twitty a new wardrobe and shows you how it's done. Colorizing Images

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Double Borders
Angel shows us how to make Double Borders to dress up our pages.

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Satin Ribbons
Angel shows us how to make Satin Ribbons using filters.

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Animated Christmas Tree
Animated Christmas Trees are a snap when you use this tutorial by Angel. Your Christmas pages will be most lively.

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Filters
There are hundreds of free filters available on the net, most of them compatable with Psp. Download the filters to a temporary file. Make a new folder in Psp labeled Plugins. To help keep the filters organized you can add subfolders. Unzip the filters into this folder. I use PICO ,a great program to convert, create, preview, enable and disable filters. The enable/disable feature is important because Psp can crash if you have too many filters loaded at once. After installing the filters into Psp you will be able to access them from the image menu / plugins. Make sure that the image you are using is 16m colors or the filters will be grayed and unusable. Filters are great tools for creating original graphics and adding effects. I have also included links to free filters on the web.

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Making Multiple Selections
This little trick I have discovered saves me a lot of grief and work. To make multiple selections in an image with the magic wand, press the shift tab on the keyboard. Hold the shift key down until your selections are complete, if you let up you will need to start over. Give it a try.

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Leigh's Colorizing Technique
You may remember Mirna's colorized version of the victorian woman on the board, just beautiful! Diana was so intrigued, she asked for permission to link to the site. Click on the linked title and learn something new!

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