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JennaMac

Beginner Tutorial for PSP

This is written for the beginner PSP tagger. So we are looking at the same stuff, choose View at the top - Toolbars select, Standard, Status, Tools Palettes select, Layers, Materials, Tool Options  Files, new, width 650, height 650, raster background marked, transparent checked. OK Use your preset shape tool near the bottom on the left side (4th from the bottom) under the word view at the top is a box with the preset shapes, click it and choose Arrow 14, this comes with PSP, anti alias ck, create as a vector ck, line style - solid, width 3 On the right, Materials, two large color boxes the top box is Foreground the bottom is Background, set the Background to Null using the tiny box under the color on the right, hover and it will say Transparent, set the Background to black. Now draw out the arrow on your blank image to your liking, if you need to redo, just use edit, undo. right click that layer and convert to raster - using your Pick tool or Arrow, move it to the upper center and if you need to make it wider or taller, this is the time. There is no perfect image for this, just eyeball it. Using the magic wand and click inside the arrow, Selection at top, Modify, Expand by 3, OK Click the Flood Fill bucket on the left and go to your Materials to create a gradient. Click the small black circle under Foreground, the middle selection is Gradient and should change the box colors, now click the box, choose Edit, choose New and give it a name. click the solid black rectangle and choose a color from your tube now click the small box on the right end of the gradient line - the rectangle turns black again, click it to add another color from your tube. CLOSE, YES The angle is 45 - Repeat 1 (you can play with the repeat) Style Linear. OK Create a new raster below the arrow and click inside the arrow. Selections - Select None. You should have the arrow layer and the FF - Flood Fill layer SAVE as a PSPIMAGE Copy and paste your tube as a new layer, Image,  resize, I did mine by 65% - Pixel dimensions choose percent, advanced settings ck, Resample using ck, Smart Size, Lock aspect Ratio 1.0000 to 1 OK This will be a default setting the only thing you will change is the % until a later time. Place your tube above the FF gradient and place to your liking, right click and duplicate, Image, Mirror merge the two tube layers. Again use the magic wand inside the arrow and again expand by 3. With the tube layer active go to Selections, Invert - on the keyboard hit delete. Selections, Select None. At the top, Effects, Texture Effects, Blinds Width 2, Opacity 20, Color black, both boxes ck'd OK SAVE Back to the layers palette the blend mode is set to Normal, I changed mine to Luminance, you can select the one you like the best, try them out. R click on any layer and merge visible. R click Duplicate, at the top Image, Flip. R click and Merge Visible Back to the Preset Shape Tool - this time choose the rectangle set the Foreground to black and the background to null, line style Solid, width 5 Draw out a long thing rectangle like I did - convert to raster and position in the center. Using the magic wand click inside, selections, modify, expand by 3, create a new raster below the rectangle and FF with the gradient. Selections, select none. SAVE At the top, Adjust, Add/remove Noise, Add Noise Gaussian ck Noise 24 Monochrome ck OK Choose a font, I chose 1Snappy DNA size 16 black no stroke, anti alias - smooth write a saying in the rectangle, change the size if you need to and center in the rectangle, convert to raster. This layer should be above the FF and below the rectangle outline.  Add a slight DS-dropshadow -at the top, Effects, 3D Effects, Dropshadow vertical 0, horizontal 0, opacity 85, blur 5, color black Merge visible layers SAVE Copy and Paste tube as a new layer on top, resize to your liking and position. Add the same DS to the tube and the arrow layer. You should have 2 layers, the tube and the arrow layer. I'm adding a mask, it's your choice. Add a new raster and move it to the bottom layer, FF with color of choice, I'm using grey. Drag the mask from your computer to PSP and minimize. Click the bottom FF layer to activate it. At the top, Layers, New Mask Layer, From Image, "source window" dropdown Choose the name of your mask, source luminance ck and invert should NOT be ck OK R click on any layer of the mask and merge group Add your copyright and name. SAVE Save as a png to offer or to put in your PB account. Thanks