ABC PSP - Tutorial 6 Part 2

Layers / Move Tool

Part 2

This is Lesson 6 Part 2 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

Needed

Paint Shop Pro X
Free 30 day PSP trial from Corel, 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 abc5pict.pspimage (if you haven't done already during Part 1 of this lesson) and save into your ABC Folder

Let's Start

1) File > Open (Ctrl + O)

Look for your abc5pict.pspimage and open it

2) Window > Duplicate (Shift + D)

3) Close original picture

This is what you should see:
(the border around the picture is only on the website, so that you can see it better)

What could be hidden?

In the Layers Palette you should have the following Layers (from top to bottom):

Star
Background
Yellow
Trunk
Blue
Needles
Pink

4) Layers > Arrange

Arrange your Layers until they are from top to bottom:

Star
Yellow
Blue
Pink
Needles
Trunk
Background

You can also move the layers by left clicking, holding down and dragging the layers about in the Layers Palette

Your picture should now look like this:

This is a lot better, but still not ok

Move Tool

With the Move Tool we can move things around.
In the Layers Palette highlight the Layer you want to work on. Then either put the cursor on the object you want to move and move the cursor to the new location (the object should move with it) or use the arrows on the keyboard

Sometimes you have to put the cursor on the object and click in order to move it with the arrow keys

5) Move Tool (M)

6) Layers Palette
Highlight Needles Layer

Move the green "tree" and position it into the middle of the image (this is probably easiest with the arrows on the keyboard)

7) Layers Palette
Highlight Trunk Layer

Move the trunk to the middle of the tree, you might also want to move it down a bit to make a longer trunk. Make sure that the "branches" are hidden below the green

8) Layers Palette
Highlight Star Layer

Move it to the top of your tree.

You might have to move the tree and the trunk to make it all fit.
Just remember to always first highlight the layer you want to work on.

You might wish to rearrange the layers and have the Star Layer below the Tree Layer

9) Layers Palette
Highlight Yellow Layer

Move the yellow "baubles" onto the tree

10) Layers Palette
Highlight Blue Layer

Move the blue "baubles" onto the tree

11) Layers Palette
Highlight Pink Layer

Move the pink "baubles" onto the tree

It should now look something like this:

12) Layers Palette
Highlight Needles layer

We can reduce opacity of individual layers. This is something I often do when making backgrounds for stationery. I add one or more flood filled layers to make the pattern more textfriendly and then reduce opacity until I have a result I like.

The hand shows to the little arrow you need to move to change opacity of a layer

Can you see the trunk and branches apprearing?

You are done with this lesson!

As you practice, you will get more and more familiar with layers and other things in PSP.
If you do find it difficult, I would like to recommend that you keep doing the lessons over and over again until you can just about do them in your sleep

Close image as it is no longer needed.

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

I hope that you have found this tutorial helpful.
If you have any questions, please email me at: Barbara @ Lismibaebi.com

I would like to thank my Testers at LismibaebisCreations Testers:
Your help, support and patience made this possible