Mother's Day Tutorial

(Text on a Path)

By: ©LismibaebisCreations
May 2005

This tutorial is dedicated to my Mum.
The music is her favourite hymn. If you don't want to listen to it, you can turn it off at the bottom of the tutorial.

Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate
No outside filters

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

This tutorial is not just for Mother's Day, you can choose any text you want

Needed

Paint Shop Pro 8 (Tutorial should 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
Tube of choice

Pattern
Goldfill
(Or a Goldpattern of your choice)

Texture
Backdrop

Goldfill Pattern and Backdrop Texture are available here

Font
Choose a nice decorative font for the text
(I used the font Dupree, available here)

Performance Notes
The settings for different Tools will stay the same throughout the tutorial, unless new setting instructions are given

Don't forget to save your work often

Let's Start

1) Download the Mothers_Day.zip file, unzip it and move the Goldfill Pattern to your Pattern Folder and the Backdrop Texture to your Texture Folder
(I have a Folder called "PSP Extras" with many Subfolders in "My Documents" as too many extras will slow down PSP
See here how I have organized it)

2) Open tube of choice in PSP

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

4) Image > Resize
Settings:
Lock aspect ratio = Checked
Resolution = 72.000
Resample using = Bicubic
Width = No greater than 450 pixels
Height = No greater than 450 pixels
Resize all layers = Checked
(My example is 450 x 440 pixels)

5) Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen
(If necessary)

6) Edit > Copy

7) Dropper Tool (E)
Pick a light color as Foreground Color (will be used as background) and a dark color as Background Color (will be used for the text)
(I choose #f8e4db and 742c04)

8) File > New
Settings:
Width = 200 pixels
Height = 200 pixels
Transparent

9) Flood Fill Tool (F)
Settings:
Match mode = None
Sample merged = Not checked
Blend mode = Normal
Opacity = 100 %

10) Left click to flood fill with Foreground Color

11) Effects > Texture Effects > Texture > Backdrop
Settings:
Size = 100 %, Smoothness = 0
Depth = 1, Ambience = 0
Shininess = 0, Angle = 315
Intensity = 50, Elevation = 30
Color = White

12) Layers > Merge > Merge All (Flatten)

13) Effects > Image Effects > Seamless Tiling
Settings:
Default Setting

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

14) File > Export > JPEG Optimizer
Settings:
Compression = 25
Chroma subsampling = YCbCr 1x1 1x1 1x1 (None)
Save Exif data = Not checked

15) Minimize the file
Do not close yet

16) Materials Palette
Settings:
Click in Foreground Color, click on Pattern tab and choose the Goldfill
Angle = 0, Scale = 100
Texture = NOT checked

17) File > New
Settings:
Width = 900 pixels
Height = 900 pixels
Transparent

18) Edit > Paste > Paste as New Layer

19) Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow
Settings:
Vertical & Horizontal = 2
Opacity = 70, Blur = 5.00
Color = Black or your (dark) Background Color
Shadow on New Layer = Not checked

20) Materials Palette
Turn off Background Color

21) Preset Shape Tool (P)
Settings:
Shape = Ellipse
Retain style = Not checked
Anti-alias = Checked
Create as vector = Checked
Width = 1.00

22) Hold down shift key and start drawing a circle from the top left to the bottom right
Make sure all of the tube is within the circle
If it isn't, Undo Last Command (Ctrl + Z) and try again

23) Objects > Align > Center in Canvas
If necessary, move circle, so that the tube is nicely in the middle
Move cursor over the middle of the circle and you should have 4 arrows appearing, now you can move it

24) Materials Palette
Turn Background Color back on

25) Text Tool (T)
Settings:
Create as = Floating
Font = Your choice, I used Dupree
Size = According to font, I used 72
Stroke width = 2.5, Anti-alias = Checked
Alignment = Center, Font Style = Bold
Auto kern = Checked, Leading = 0

26) At the top of the circle, move slightly to the right until you can see "A" and a small curved line below it and mouse click

(The arrow indicates roughly where you should point the cursor)

27) Write your text and click on Apply

28) Layers Palette
Activate Vector Layer

29) Layers > Delete
Answer yes to delete the layer

30) Layers Palette
Activate Floating Layer

31) Effects > 3D Effects > Inner Bevel
Settings:
Bevel #2, Width = 6
Smoothness = 0, Depth = 5
Ambience = 0, Shininess = 0
Angle = 315
Intensity = 50, Elevation = 30
Color = White

32) Selections > Select None

33) Layers > Merge > Merge visible

34) Crop Tool (R)
Choose your tube and text and a little bit extra on all sides
Double click within the chosen area in order to crop selected area

35) Layers > New Raster Layer

36) Layers > Arrange > Send to Bottom

37) Materials Palette
Change Foreground Pattern from Goldfill to the background pattern you created earlier
(Steps 8 - 13)
Settings:
Angle = 0, Scale = 100
Texture = NOT checked

38) Flood Fill Tool
Left click to flood fill new layer with Background pattern

39) Layers > New Raster Layer

40) Add Watermark(s)
If you have a watermark tube, see Step #40a)
If not, follow Step #40b)

40a) Place your tube and continue with Step #42

40b) Text Tool (T)
Create as Vector
Write your watermark

41) Layers > Convert to Raster Layer

42a) File > Export > JPEG Optimizer

42b) Depending on the amount of text you have, instead of using the JPEG Optimizer, you might want to save your Header like this:
File > Save as > Save as type
CompuServe Graphics Interchange (*.gif)
Try out which works best for your Header

43) Minimize or close the file

Letter Creator

44) Open Letter Creator

45) Header > Image
Look for the JPEG file of your frame
Alignment = Center

46) Body > Image
Look for the background JPEG file
Click on "Tile"
Choose Font and Font Size
Choose Text Color
Choose Link Color
Margins: Top 0, Left 10, Right 10

47) Footer
Your Name
Reference and link (if available) to tube used
Name of tutorial "Mother's Day Tutorial" and link to this page
Date you created the stat

48) 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 to the Testers from the Hootyworkshop.
Without you and Hooty's KnT Lessons I would never have got this far.