PSP 9 Introduction

Nearly all of the PSP 9 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.  

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.  Where tools have a tiny arrow alongside them, that indicates a group of tools.  You click the arrow to see the other tools in the group.

On the right side you should have the materials pallet (near the top), and the layers pallet (at the bottom).  You may also have an "overview" window.

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/psp_lessons, saving and others.  Below that there is the Tool Options pallet. 

The Tool Options Pallet changes, depending on which tool is selected.  It is used 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 materials 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.  

You can choose to have the rainbow shown as it is here, as a colour frame or as swatches of recently used materials.  You switch between the 3 views using the tabs that stick up above the rainbow area.

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, click the big block (not the small block) for whichever one you want to change, and a new window comes up where you can make your choices.

To turn off either the foreground or background material, click the no-entry sign below the big colour block.

Click on the little arrow just next to the Paint Brush tool. A panel slides out with 3 options on it.  Click on the Airbrush tool to choose it from that list.

Now look at the Options Pallet (along the top of the workspace).

Make all your settings the same as those shown below.

Tools Options Pallet (for Airbrush) shown on 2 lines here due to page width restrictions.

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 -15 (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