Feel free to link to this tutorial and print for your personal use but please do not copy it to place online, re-write or claim as your own.
Thanks! -Diamond Debbie- January 5th, 2003
( Any resemblance to any other tutorial like this one is purely coincidental.)
I am using Paint Shop Pro 7.0, but this can be done, though maybe a little different on any version of PSP.
I am no Pro at this.. This is only my second tutorial. I am just showing you the way I did this.. I am sure there are probably easier ways to go about it. lol You will need at least a basic understanding of PSP and how it works before attempting this tutorial. I would rate this tutorial Intermediate.
** Note: I am not providing any zip files or tub files for you to download. I figured this way, you will be forced to do it "your own way" There are tons of sites out there you can find tubes.. but you probably already have that perfect one in your psp tubes folder... If you want to search for a specific tube I recommend Google. Just type in psp tubes.. that should get ya started. ;)
**NOTICE: You are going to need a heart preset shape for this tutorial. Seems some people do not have this preset shape in their PSP, so please see if you have any heart shapes in your preset tools. If you don't see any there, you can download a set of presets with the hearts included at the Jasc website. Click Here This is also where you need to go to download a free trial of Paint Shop Pro!
With that said......
Open up PSP and lets get started!
Ok, first thing you need to do is create your "Name Slat". ;)
Open a new image. - Transparent, 500 x 400 should be sufficient.
Add new Raster Layer.
Now, Set both your foreground and background colors to black.
Choose the font you would like to use.
For this tutorial we will be using Coventry Garden. You can find this font Here
Click on the text tool and add your name to your canvas. Capital Letters have more loopy curvy things on the bottom then lowercase. I did mine with only the D capitalized. Size 72 - Vector - Anialias Checked
At this point, you can stretch or pull your text to where you like it. Once you are satisfied, Layers/ convert to raster layer.
Ok, Now go to your Preset Shapes Tool and find a shape that you would like to use.. for this tut, I am using the Heart Shape (Heart 3)
Line width = 5
Vector and Antialias checked.
Draw your heart anywhere on your canvas.. you can resize it and move it where you want later. After resizing mine, I used the little box connected to the box in the center to tilt mine to the side a little and then position it on top of my B.
Layers / Convert to Raster.
Ok.. Now you should have a total of 4 Layers -
Go to your heart layer, (layer 4) and right click then duplicate it.
- Image / Mirror. Now your second heart should be showing up... move it to the location on your text you would like it to be. This time I put my second heart on my second B. ;)
Ok.. Now it is time to add your lines. (optional)
Set your background color to Null.. leaving the black as your stroke color.
Go to your Draw Tool and use the #1 style solid line -
Type = Freehand
Width = 7
Vector and Antialiased checked.
Now draw lines wherever you may want to add them.. As you see in my sample, I drew them from the D to the heart and then from the last E to the other heart. I didn't have to add any layers for this.. it does it itself. Remember, these are vectors, so you can pull those little boxes to help get it just right. Once you have all your lines placed, you may want to add a bow like I did. To do this, You simply draw the bow in place. I added the loops first, then added each end seperately. Once you have your slat the way you like it, Layers/ Convert to Raster.
Ok.. Now go to your Layer Palette and X out your very first layer - Highlight any other layer and then Layers/ Merge/ Merge Visible.
Now minimize your slat for now. Go to your layer palette and drag and drop your merged slat onto your psp screen. File / Export / Picture Tube. Give this slat a name and save it as a tube for future use! ;) Now you can close that one and maximize your original again.
With your merged layer highlighted, add a new raster layer. At this point you may want to resize the slat, if so, go to Image / Resize. I resized mine to 80% , Effects / Sharpen - Sharpen... or you can leave it as is. Remember, you can now use your Mover tool and grab the slat and drag it to a different location on your canvas if you need too.
Now it is time to add your tube of choice. You can use anything you want here. (dollz, animals, whatever..)
For this tutorial I am using a pin-up girl tube. ;)
Place this tub anywhere you like near your slat.. NOT inside the hearts... yet. ;) Make sure you are on layer 2 and not your merged layer. The bottom layer is for your background color.
Once you have your tube in place, Open up a New Canvas.. same settings are fine.. you will be cropping it anyway....
Now.. put whatever you want to show up in the hearts on this canvas.... Crop the part of the same tube you used or whatever you decided on and then place it to the side for now. What I did was enlarge my pin-up girl and cropped out the area I wanted to use.
Ok.. Now.. Highlight your merged layer.
Choose your Magic Wand Tool -
Tolerance = 0 , Feather = 0 and holding down the *shift* key, click on the insides of both of the hearts. Selections / Modify / Expand by 1.
Grab your cropped image and copy it. (control + C) then go back to your original and paste as New Layer. Now drag this cropped image into your hearts and place it however you think it looks best. If you need too, you can always undo and resize again, or add a different tube to get the look you want.
Once you have your heart image set, go to Selections / Invert.
Click on your eraser tool - All settings at 100 except step size... it doesn't really matter.. Erase all the areas outside of the heart. The marching ants will keep you from erasing inside of the hearts. ;) Selections / Select None. You may now close your cropped image or minimize if you want just in case. ;)
Ok, Now you can merge both of your tube layers.. leaving your Name Slat and your bottom layer.
Do this by going to your layer palette, X out your bottom layer and merged layer and with one of the tube layers lighlighted, Layers / Merge Merge Visible.
Now Un- X your X'd layers and highlight your "Name Slat" Layer.
Selections / Select All , Selections / Float. Now your name slat should be surrounded with marching ants.
Now you can set your foreground color and floodfill this with a solid color, blade-pro preset, gradient.. you may choose to add a bevel or a glassy effect.. whatever your creative little mind comes up with! ;) I am going to use a Blade-pro preset called "Strawberry Milkshake". :) yummmm. lol
Ok.. Selections None once you have your slat all prettied up.
Now.. X out only your bottom layer and with your Name Slat highlighted, merge visible your other two layers. Now you can move your image freely on your transparent background. You can either decorate it some more at this point.. or move on.
( I added a little bead on my bow and a couple flower accents. )
Again.. just merge visible all layers except for bottom layer.. the background.
With your merged layer highlighted, Selections / Select All / Selections Float. Now add your drop shadow.
Effects / 3d Effects / Drop Shadow...
Use whatever settings you like. The settings I used were as below;
Vertical -6 Horizontal -6 Opacity 60 Blur 7.4 Color Black
Selections / Select None.
Ok.. Now you do one of two things..
Delete your background layer and save your image as a transparant image...
Or you can floodfill your background with whatever color background you will be using this graphic on. You may also want to floodfill the background with a gradient or texture and frame it.. All up to you!
I decided to just floodfill with white this time.. Of course.. now I can go to Layers, Merge All since I want the white background anyway.
I personally think that the drop shadow looks better on a background color no matter what optimizations you use. This is just my personal opinion.
Your tag is finished. :) Crop it if you need too and save it as .jpg or add sparkles, glitter or any kind of animation and save as a .gif.
I hope you had fun and found this tutorial fairly easy. Enjoy your new tag.
