Masked Amaryllis SB Tutorial

By ©LismibaebisCreations
17 March 2006

Skill Level Beginner
No Outside Filters
Knowledge of Masks necessary
(Hints available here)

Please do not script my tutorials
This tutorial is my own creation; any resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental

Needed

Paint Shop Pro 9 (Tutorial should also work with other PSP versions, some adjustments might be necessary)
Free 30-day PSP trial from Corel, available here
Letter Creator from Incredimail (optional), available here

Graphic
Graphic of choice

Masks
Mask lbm26, available here
Mask 179, available here
(Instead of Mask 179, you could use another mask of your choice)

Let's start

1) Open both masks and minimize;
(You might want to save them to your mask folder, but it is not necessary in order to do this tutorial)

2) Open graphic

3) Window > Duplicate (Shift + D)
Close original

4) Dropper Tool (E)
Choose a light color as Foreground color
(I choose #CAD7C9)

5) Image > Resize
Settings:
First set Resolution to 72.000
Width = 375 pixels
Height = will adjust itself
Lock aspect ratio = Checked
Resize all layers = Checked
Write down new height
(My example has a height of 281 pixels)

6) Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen (if necessary)

7) Edit > Copy

8) File > New
Settings:
Width = 1024
Height = Height of your graphic plus 50 pixels
Transparent
(My example is 1024 x 331 pixels)

9) Selections > Select All

10) Edit > Paste > Paste into Selection

11) Selections > Select None

12) Effects > Image Effects > Seamless Tiling > Default Setting

If you click on the icon indicated by the hand, PSP will set it to default

13) Adjust > Blur > Average
Settings:
Filter Aperture = 23

14) Layers > New Raster Layer

15) Flood Fill Tool (F)
Settings:
Match mode = None
Sample merged = Unchecked
Blend mode = Normal
Opacity = 100

16) Flood fill new layer with Foreground Color

17) Layers > Arrange > Move Down

18) Layers Palette
Make sure that the Top Layer (Raster 1) is highlighted

19) Layers > New Mask Layer > From Image
Settings:
Source window = lbm26
Source luminance = Checked
Invert mask data = Checked

20) Layers > Merge > Merge All (Flatten)

21) Layers > Promote Background Layer

22) Effects > Image Effects > Seamless Tiling
Settings:
Corner
Bidirectional
Horizontal offset (%) = 50
Vertical offset (%) = 50
Transition (%) = 50
Corner style = Linear

23) Layers > New Raster Layer

24) Flood Fill Tool (F)

25) Flood fill new Layer with Foreground Color

26) Layers Palette
Reduce opacity of floodfilled layer down to 50

27) Minimize tile

28) Maximize graphic

29) Layers > New Mask Layer > From Image
Settings:
Source window = 179
Source luminance = Checked
Invert mask data = NOT checked

30) Edit > Copy Merged

31) Minimize graphic

32) Maximize tile

33) Edit > Paste > Paste as New Layer

34) Move Tool (M)
Move masked graphic to left of tile

35) Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow
Settings:
Vertical = 3
Horizontal = 5
Opacity = 15, Blur = 10.0
Color = Black
Shadow on new layer = Not checked
(or a Drop Shadow of your choice)

36) Layers > New Raster Layer

37) Add Watermark:
If you have a watermark tube, see Step #37a)
If not, follow Step #37b)

37a) Place your tube and continue with Step #39

37b) Text Tool (T) Create as Vector; write your watermark (I like to use the font Chinacat at size 8 – 10, Stroke Width 0.0, Font Style Bold

38) Layers > Convert to Raster Layer

39) Move Tool (M);
Move text to where you want it

40) If necessary, reduce opacity of text layer

41) File > Export > JPEG Optimizer
Settings:
Compression 25

Letter Creator

42) Open Letter Creator

43) Body > Image > look for the JPEG file.
Click on “Tile”.
Choose Font and Font Size
Choose Text Color
Choose Link Color
Margins:
Top 10, Left 375, Right 10

44) Footer
Your Name
Reference and link to the graphic you used
Name of tutorial ”Masked Amaryllis" and link to this page
Date you created this stat

45) Finish
Choose Letter Name and Collection Name
Save Project
Add to Incredimail

I hope that you enjoyed doing this tutorial. If you have any questions, please email me at Barbara @ Lismibaebi.com.
I would love to see what you create with my tutorial.

A big "Thank you" goes to my testers. I couldn't do it without your help and support.