ABC PSP - Tutorial 6 Part 1

Layers / Move Tool

By ©LismibaebisCreations
January 2006

Skill Level: Absolute Beginner using PSP

This tutorial is my own creation, any resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental

This is Lesson 6 Part 1 of a series of tutorials for the absolute beginner with PSP.
It is recommended that you complete the tutorials in numerical order, as each new one will build on the knowledge gained by the previous tutorials

Program shortcuts will be given in parentheses

Settings are written out below the screen shots

Needed

Paint Shop Pro X
Free 30 day PSP trial from Corel, available here

Image abc3pict.jpg,
(you should have it in your ABC Folder, if not it's available here)

Image abc5pict.pspimage, available here

(If you have PSP 9 and do not understand the screen shots, email me and I will send you screen shots for the PSP version you are using).

Preparation

Download the abc3pict.jpg (if necessary) and abc5pict.pspimage and save into your ABC Folder

A Paint Shop Pro Image (*.pspimage) can have one or more layers.
Most Tools will only work on the layer which is highlighted.
As long as the image is open in PSP or saved as a *.pspimage, we can go back anytime and make more changes.

The Layers Palette is just below the Materials Palette on the right hand side of PSP.
We can see how many layers our image has. We have to highlight the layer we want to work on.

1) File > Open (Ctrl + O)
Find your abc3pict.jpg

2) Window > Duplicate (Shift + D)

3) Close original picture

4) Layers > Duplicate

5) Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur

Settings:
Radius = 30.00
ok

Your image should now be blurred

6) Layers Palette
Turn off visibility of top layer "Copy of Background" by left clicking on the eye

You can see that our bottom layer did not get blurred

7) Layers Palette
Turn on visibility of layer by left clicking on eye

8) Layers > New Raster Layer

Settings:
Name = Green
Blend Mode = Normal
Opacity = 100
Highlight in layers palette = Unchecked
Layer is visible = Checked
Lock transparency = Unchecked
ok

It is good to get into the habit of naming/renaming your layers. (The versions before PSP X do not show a picture of the layer in the Layers Palette)

9) Materials Palette
Left click in Foreground Color to open Material Properties

Make sure the Color tab is clicked

Settings:
HTML = #53624d
ok

10) Flood Fill Tool (F)
Settings:
Match mode = None
Use all layers = Checked
Blend mode = Normal
Opacity = 100

11) Flood Fill by left clicking on image

12) Layers Palette
Highlight bottom Layer (Background) by left clicking on it

13) Layers > Promote Background Layer

(it is now named Raster 1)

14) Layers Palette
Right click on "Raster 1"" and choose Rename

Rename it "Picture"

(As you can see this is a kind of shortcut for other things, including the "Promote Background Layer" we just did)

15) Layers > Arrange > Bring to Top

Right click in Layer "Picture" and

Arrange > Bring to Top

(look at Screenshot on Step #14)

In the Layers Palette, we should now have (from top to bottom):

Picture
Green
Copy of Background

16) Image > Resize (Shift + S)

Settings:
Resize all layers = NOT checked
Width = 66 % (the hand points to the arrow where you can change pixels to Percent)
Resample using = Bicubic
Lock aspect ratio = Checked

17) Layers Palette
left click on "Green" Layer to activate it

18) Image > Resize (Shift + S)
Settings:
Resize all layers = NOT checked
Width = 78 %
Resample using = Bicubic
Lock aspect ratio = Checked

Your picture should now look like this:

19) Close Image as it is no longer needed.

Optional:
You may save your newly created image to your ABC folder if you like

Now on to Part 2