Downloading
and Using Tubes in PSP7, 8 or 9 This
tutorial has lots of information as well as instructions to
follow. To help you find the instructions, they will be
marked as bullet points (they will have a large dot in front
of them). Please take time to read through all the
additional information as well as following the instructions. This
is a long web page... so if you have taken a break and need to
find a section, here are some links to jump further down this
page:
Downloading
Tubes Unzipping
Tubes Using
Tubes
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What
Are Tubes?
Tubes
are a special type of PSP file which contain graphics on a
single transparent layer. They can contain a single
image, or several images on a grid layout, which can be placed
at random or in sequence. If you open a tube file in PSP
they would look like one of the examples on the right.
Images
used in sequence are used to paint lengths of chain, garlands,
rope and anything that has a repetitive pattern. Images
to be placed at random could be things like water drops,
sparkles, stars, nuts, assorted flowers - anything you might
get different types or sizes of.
Because
tubes are on a transparent background, you can use them on top
of a background image or another tube.
Here
are some examples of how the different types of tubes can be
used. |
single image tube
images that would be placed at random
images that would be used in continuous sequence
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Here the Blue Bow is used around a teddy
bear's neck. |
Here the water drops have been used by
clicking in various places to make rain falling on
the flowers. The variation in size gives a more natural
look than if they were all identical. |
Here the garland tube has been used in
continuous lines (by dragging with the mouse) to make
Christmas tinsel garlands. |
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Paint Shop Pro comes with some tubes but you can get lots more
from many web sites. Many of the sites offering tubes allow
you to use them freely for any non-commercial purpose, but
others have terms of use which require you to give a link back
to their site whenever you display something made using their
tubes. Its best to avoid tubes from sites requiring link
back when making signature tags as its not practical to give a
link every time tags are used. You should always read
the Terms of Use on sites offering tubes or tutorials. |
Getting Tubes From Web Sites (Downloading Tubes)
Most web sites offering tubes have them in PSP Tube format,
but "Zipped" into compressed files to save space. These
files will need to be "Unzipped" once you have
downloaded them. But, once they are unzipped into an
appropriate folder they are ready to use straight away with
the tube tool. They will have a .tub or .PspTube file
extension.
Some sites offer their tubes in PSP Image format - when
unzipped these files have .psp or .PspImage file
extension. These files cannot be used straight away in
PSP with the tube tool.
Some sites will have files which do not need to be
unzipped. Read the information on pages about the format
of the files and look at the extension of the file you
download. If the extension is .zip then you will
need to "unzip" the file. If it's .tub, .PspTube,
.psp or .PspImage then you don't need to unzip them.
It is best to store tubes downloaded from web sites in a separate
folder to those that come with PSP and you may want to set up
different folders for different categories e.g. Christmas,
Flowers, Animals. NB. In PSP 7 you can only have 3
folders, including the one the Jasc supplied tubes are
in. In PSP 8 or higher you can have as many
folders as you want. Don't panic if you've already added
tubes to the PSP Tubes folder - I'm only making suggestions to
make organizing your tube collection easier as it grows.
For the purpose of this tutorial, we will set up one new
folder for tubes. You can move tubes into
additional folders at a later time when you have so many that
it gets hard to find what you want.
If you are not confident navigating and creating folders
then you can get more help at http://www.jegsworks.com/Lessons/win/filesandfolders/index.html
If you have Windows 98, ME or 2000 you will also need
WinZip which you can get HERE
(it is shareware) or you can try this freeware alternative
product HERE.
Windows XP has a built in compressed file extraction. |
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Create a folder under My Documents called
Downloads. This will be where we store zipped
files temporarily.
If you have PSP 8 or higher, you will have a Paint Shop Pro
folder under My Documents. This already has a folder
called My Tubes, but you might want to keep that for creating
tubes from things you draw (you will be learning how).
If you have PSP 7, then you can create a Paint Shop Pro folder
in My Documents, to store all your PSP bits and
pieces.
It doesn't have to be under My Documents\Paint Shop Pro,
but somewhere you need to create a "Downloaded
Tubes" folder. Make sure you know where you create
it.
Now... go to these web pages and download some tubes,
saving them in the Downloads folder which you have just
created.....don't spend too many hours downloading all the
tubes now - you can always make a return visit to the
sites. Normally you click on the example of a tube,
and get a window asking if you want to open or save
it. You should click on Save and navigate to your
Downloads folder to save. Do not change the filename of
tubes. Do NOT right click the example and save -
that will only save a copy of the example and not the tube
file itself.
http://dixielady.com/tubes/tubes.html
http://CcdsTubeHeaven.com
http://majesticartistry.com/tubesmenu.html
http://www.rosepetaldesign.com/tubes.htm
UnZipping Tubes
- In Windows Explorer, go to your Downloads folder (where you
saved your tubes). Now we need to unzip (extract)
each of the files in turn.
Windows XP -
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Double click on a file -
A new explorer window opens.
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In
the pane on the left hand side, click on "Extract All
Files". The "Compressed (zipped) Folders
Extraction Wizard" will open.
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Click
on Next
-
Click
the Browse button and then navigate to your
"Downloaded Tubes" folder and click OK
-
Click
on Next
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Untick
"Show Extracted Files"
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Click
on Finish.
Other Windows versions (not
Windows XP) .....
If
you are using Winzip:
- Double
Click on a file.
- When the Winzip Wizard starts,
click the button for Winzip Classic, then click on the
Extract button.
- Use the folder tree to browse to your
"Downloaded Tubes" folder. Make sure the
"Use Folders" box is not ticked.
- Click
on the Extract button
- Close
the Winzip window.
If you are using
CAM UnZip:
- Double
Click on a file.
- Click the box with ... at the end of the
"Extract To:" box, and browse to your
"Downloaded Tubes" folder.
- When you've set the folder to extract to, click the
"Extract" button.
- If
necessary close the CAM UnZip window.
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Tell PSP where
to find your downloaded tubes:
We need to
tell PSP which folder/s we are storing tube files in.
- Click the
File menu, Preferences, File Locations
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PSP
8/9/x/XI:
- In the Left
pane, click on Picture Tubes.
- Click the
Add button, then Browse. (PSP XI you don't have to click
browse)
- Locate your
Downloaded Tubes folder and click OK.
- Click the
OK button at the bottom of the File Locations window.
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PSP 7:
- Click on
the Tubes tab.
- Click on
the second Browse button down.
- Locate your
Downloaded Tubes folder and click OK.
- Click the
OK button at the bottom of the File Locations window.
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Your tubes
should now be ready to use. You only need to create new
file locations when you set up new tube folders that are not a
sub-folder of your Downloaded Tubes folder. You don't need to
create a new file location every time you download and unzip
tubes. |
Using
Tubes In Paint Shop Pro
Try this
exercise to see how it all works....
- Create a
new image 300 x 300 pixels with a White background.
Its best to
put each tube on its own layer.....
- Layers
menu, New Raster Layer
- Click on
the Tube Tool
(PSP Photo XI)
(PSP 8/9)
(PSP 7)
On the
tool options pallet you should be able to see a pull down
list.
PSP
8/9/X/XI Tool Options Pallet
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PSP
7 Tool Options Pallet
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You
should be able to see the tubes you have downloaded if you
scroll to the bottom of the list.
- Click on
one of the tubes you've downloaded (In the examples below
I've used a floral tube from Moedog's web site - the last
link on the list of tube sites given above but you don't
have to use the same tube)
- Click in
the center of your canvas. If the tube is too big to
fit, click the Undo button
on the tool bar, reduce the scale and try clicking again.
- Click on
the Deformation Tool
if you are using PSP 7, 8 or 9.
- If you
are using PSP X or PSP Photo XI click on the Pick tool .
The Pick tool shares its space on tool pallet with the
Move tool. The Move tool does not allow you to rotate or
adjust the size of a tube so make sure you have the Pick
tool.
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You should see
a box around your tube like the one shown. The small
squares on the corners and edges are called handles.
You can use
the spot at the center of the box to drag your tube into a new
position.
You can use
the handle sticking out to the right of the center to rotate
the tube - drag the handle around.
You can use
the handles on the corners and edges to adjust the size of the
tube a little. But, if you want the tube more than
slightly larger, you should use the tube tool with the scale
set to a larger size.
If you need
to you can erase everything on a layer by pressing the Del key
on the keyboard or using Edit menu, Clear.
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- Move
your tube into the top left corner.
- Add a
new raster layer (Layers menu, New Raster Layer)
- Click on
the Tube tool again and reduce the scale setting by 20
- Click in
the center of your image to place the tube.
- Click on
the deformation tool. (Pick tool in PSP Photo XI) Rotate the tube and then move
it into the bottom right corner of the canvas.
- Add
another raster layer (Layers menu, New Raster Layer)
- Click on
the Tube Tool.
- Find the rope
tube. This is a tube that is used like a brush in a
continuous line - by dragging with the mouse.
- Use the
tube to draw some lengths of rope in the bottom left
and top right corners of your canvas.
- When you
have finished save your image in .jpg format. You will get
a warning message about limitations of the file format - click YES
to continue and save your work.
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© AnotherJo
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