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Gradient
Squares
| This
tutorial is written for Paint Shop Pro 8,
but can done in versions 7 or 9.
Some commands may be on different
menus to those given in the instructions. |
You can
use just about any tube for this tag, but it looks
best if the tube has an irregular shape and will
overhang the edge of the center square in some
places but not others. If you want to use
the bird tube I have used, you can download from
my Bird and Animals
Tubes page.
The
font I've used is Adorable - you can download it
from this site HERE,
or use a font of your choice.
| New image 300 x
300, Transparent Background, Raster
|
| Layers menu, New
Raster Layer
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|
| Click on the Tube
tool, select the tube you want to use and
click on the center of the image. If
the tube is too big, Undo and adjust the
Scale, and then click again. I used a
scale setting of 60 with my bird tube.
If
you have altered the scale of your tube from
100, then:
Adjust
menu, Sharpness, Sharpen
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|
| On the Layer Pallet, click on the bottom
layer (Raster1) |
|
| Click on the
Flood Fill tool.
Set up the materials (color) pallet:
Set the foreground color to a very dark
color from your tube.
Set the background color to a very light
shade of the same colour (almost white but
with just a hint of color).
|
|
| Set the foreground material to Gradient,
and then click on the large block to set the
gradient options.
Set the Gradient
type to Foreground-Background
Style = Radial
Angle = 0
Repeats = 7
make sure "Invert" is NOT ticked.
Horizontal=50
Vertical = 50
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|
| Fill the canvas
with the gradient.
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 |
| Selections menu,
Select All
Selections menu, Modify,
Contract 50
|
 |
| On the materials
pallet, click on the swatch with the
gradient, and then tick the Invert box
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|
| Fill the selected
area with the gradient |
|
Effects menu, 3D
Effects, Drop Shadow
Horizontal = 2
Vertical = 2
Opacity = 50
Blur = 2
Color = Black
Effects menu, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow
Horizontal = -2
Vertical = -2
Opacity = 50
Blur = 2
Color = Black
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|
| Selections menu,
Select None
On the Layer
Pallet, Click on the top layer (Raster 2) Click
on the Mover tool (Picker tool in PSP Photo
XI) and use it to adjust the
position of your tube if you need to.
I found the straight bottom of my bird tube
looked best lined up with the bottom of the
inner square of gradient. |
|
|
Effects menu, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow
Horizontal = 2
Vertical = 2
Opacity = 50
Blur = 2
Color = Black
|
|
| Layers
menu, Merge, Merge All (Flatten)
On
PSP 7, switch your dark colour to be your
background color.
Image
menu, Add Borders
Right
click on the color swatch and choose your
dark color shade. (PSP 7 uses whatever the
background color is set to)
Width
= 1 (in all 4 boxes)
Layers
menu, New Vector Layer
Click
on the Text tool
Set
the foreground material/colour to White and solid colour
Set
the background colour to null (no-entry sign)
|
Click
in the bottom center area of the image.
Font
= Adorable
Size = 48 to 72 depending on length of name
Stroke Width = 2
Alignment = Centre
Anti-Alias = ticked (set to smooth on PSP9)
Enter
name in the text box and click Apply
Click
on the Object Selector tool (Picker tool in PSP Photo
XI), and move the text into
position below your tube. You can
also stretch or squeeze the text to get a good fit,
using the handles on the text selection frame.
When
you are happy with the size/position of the text.....
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|
| Layers
menu, Convert To Raster Layer
Effects menu, 3D
Effects, Drop Shadow
Horizontal = 2
Vertical = 2
Opacity = 70
Blur = 2
Color = Black
Layers
menu, Merge, Merge All (Flatten)
Save
in .jpg format
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Another example, made using a different tube
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