PSP 7 Introduction

Nearly all of the PSP 7 tools are "greyed out" until you have an image open in the workspace.

Start by creating a new image, to experiment on, by clicking the page symbol in the top, left corner (see picture)

Use these settings to get you started.

For the Background Colour, click the pull down list to choose your background colour.  If you choose either the Foreground or Background options, the colour is taken from the Colour Pallet. If you need to start with a transparent background, you'll find that option at the bottom of the list of colours.

Unless you are following a tutorial to make something which tells you to do otherwise, its a good idea to add a new raster layer, before you start.  Doing this will make it easy for you to adjust the size and position of anything you put on the raster layer.  To add a new layer, click Layers on the Menu, and select New Raster Layer.

You should now be able to see the tools down the left side of the workspace.

At the top of the PSP window, you have the menu, with a tool bar underneath it, with icons for creating a new image, opening images, saving and others.  

On the right side you should have the Color Pallet (near the top).  The other Pallets "float" that means they can be moved around.  They can also shrink down to just their title bar until you move your mouse over them.  

Pressing L on the keyboard turns the layer pallet on/off.  If you can't see it, try pressing L a few times to see where it is and make it visible.  Do the same for the Tool Options Pallet.

The Tool Options Pallet changes, depending on which tool is selected.  It is used for making settings specific to the tool you are using.  For example, with Brush tools you use it to select the size and shape of the brush, and with the Tube tool, you use it to select which tube image to use and how big it should be.

Lets take a look at the Color pallet:

On the left of the materials pallet is the a rainbow from which you can choose colours and on the right there are boxes showing the colours that are currently selected.

The little squares of colour in the top right corner show the actual colours that are selected.  The larger colour blocks show you if that colour is being used as part of a gradient or if a fill pattern is selected as the material.

The upper box is the Foreground Colour and the lower box is the Background Colour.   The Foreground colour is selected on the rainbow with the left mouse button and the Background colour is selected on the rainbow by clicking the right mouse button.

If you want to set your Material to be a gradient or pattern, instead of solid colour, first click the black arrow on the large colour block for the one you want to change, and select gradient or pattern from the pop-out strip.  Then, click on the colour block - another window opens for you to make your choice and settings.

To turn off either the foreground or background material, click the black arrow on the large colour block and then click the no-entry sign on the pop-out strip.

If a tutorial gives a number for a color, click on the colour block and enter it in the box labeled "HTML Color"

Note: In later versions of PSP, the Color Pallet becomes the Materials Pallet.

Click on the Airbrush tool.

Now look at the Options Pallet (If you can't see it try pressing O on the keyboard to toggle it on/off).

Make all your settings the same as those shown.

Move your mouse pointer over the Image window and hold down your right mouse button to paint.  Make some lines and squiggles - it doesn't matter how random it is.

Change the colour (by clicking another place on the Rainbow) and paint some more lines and squiggles.

Change colour once more and do even more lines and squiggles.

It starts with File, Edit and a few items along you will see "Effects".

Click on Effects and a menu drops down.  On the drop down menu, click Reflection Effects - a slide out menu pops out - Click on Kaleidoscope.

You'll get a window similar to the one shown below.  First turn on the Preview Lock (see picture) so you can see the effect on your image. Change the settings on yours to match the ones shown, and then experiment with the "Rotation Angle" setting, until you get an interesting pattern.  If the settings window is in the way of your image too much, point at the blue bar at the top of the window (where it says Kaleidoscope) and drag it (keeping your mouse button down) over to the side.

Note: Scale Factor is -8 (less than 0) to reduce the size of the pattern so that it fits your image space.

The final step is to save your image.  

Click File on the menu, then Save

Choose where to save the image - "My Documents" is fine, but if you have another place you want to keep things you make then its OK to save in whatever folder you want to.

Enter a name e.g. pattern1

In the file type box, click the arrow at the end and choose "JPEG - JIFF compliant" from the drop down list.

Click the Options button.  Change the number in the "Compression Factor" box to 1. Then click OK. 

Then click the SAVE button.

Note: Only certain types of files can be view on the web - jpg, gif, and png.  If you want to share what you make on message boards you need to save in one of those formats.

© AnotherJo