UNBOUND!
Saving and loading selections with Alpha Channels
Skill Level: Intermediate. This tutorial is graphics intensive, so a beginner can follow the steps if you work carefully.
This is a long tut - the purpose being to teach you how to save and reuse alpha channel selections. Once you have finished, you will have a chain tube that will interlock to make a frame or to extend the length.
You will also have a finished tag to use however you want.
And a canvas ready to save as a transparent layer with three selections saved to the alpha channel to create your own chains and tags however you want.
Materials needed:
- Paintshop Pro - I use PSP9, but the tut will work in other versions.
- A metallic gradient or pattern of choice.
- A tube and font of choice for the tag.
http://pspuremagicians.com/tut/Ornament/guides.html
Here is a detailed description on setting and using guides, how to open the guide property window and set the position and color for accuracy. For this tut, you need multiple guides set at exact intervals.
Open a new image 500 X 500 pixels-
Floodfill with a neutral color so you can see your work easier.
**Note. Off whites or soft pastels are best to work against when you are doing details that take time to complete. It is easier on the eyes than stark white.
As you work, zoom your canvas so it is large enough to see the small selections you'll work with. (the center scroll of my mouse zooms the image in and out.)
I am going to set a series of guides in multiples of ten, just to make it easier to do the math as I add new guides.
Starting from the left, I click/hold on the ruler and drag my first guide to 30 pixels on the top ruler. No matter how carefully I place a guide, when I release the mouse, it can jump a pixel either way. Double click on the guide handle to bring up the guide property window. You can re-set the position in this window and choose the color of the guide.
First guide -30 pixels.
Second guide 80 pixels.
Guide 3 - 90
Guide 4 - 140
Guide 5 - 150
****Repeat the 50:10 guide ratio across the canvas.
Set two vertical guides, click/hold/drag your mouse from the top ruler down to 50 on your vertical ruler
The second guide is 80 pixels.
Selection Tool - Rectangle - Feather 0, Antialias Checked. Custom Selection
Top:50, Left: 30, Right: 80, Bottom: 80
This will place the selection inside the first large rectangle in the guides.
Selections > Modify > Select Selection Borders - Inside, Border width: 4, Anti-alias Checked.
Layers > New Raster Layer
Floodfill the selection with a bright solid color that contrasts with the guide color and it's clearly visible.
Selections > Select None
Layers > Duplicate.
Select your Mover tool and click on the top rectangle, but don't drag it. Repeatedly tap your Right Arrow Key on your keyboard to move the top rectangle to the right until it is positioned in the next wide guide rectangle. By using your arrow keys to move it, you avoid jiggling the box up and down.
Hide your background layer.
Layers > Merge > Merge Visible.
Layers > Duplicate
Unhide the background layer.
Move the top layer to the right.
Each time you duplicate a layer, you have to tap the top layer with the mover tool before moving it with the keypad.
Fill the rest of the guide boxes the same way until you have a whole row of boxes across your canvas.
Hide your background layer again.
Layers > Merge visible.
Unhide the background layer.
Make sure that the top layer (the row of boxes) is selected in your layer palette.
Selections > Select All
Selections > Float
Selections > Defloat
Selections > Load\Save Selection > Save Selection to Alpha Channel
Name the first selection LINKS
Selections > Select None
Layers > New Raster Layer
Zoom your canvas to about 300% and work in the upper corner of the huge screen for this next step.
Drag a guide from the top ruler down to 57 pixels and a second one to 73 pixels.
With your Rectangle selection tool, draw a small rectangle between and overlapping the first two rectangles. Floodfill it with a contrasting color. I chose the default green.
Select None.
Duplicate the top layer. Use your mover tool and keyboard right arrow key to move the duplicated layer to the next space between the links. Hide the background and the pink layers.
Layers > Merge Visible
Unhide the other layers.
Duplicate the Merged Layer and move the top layer to the next open spaces. Repeat until all of your narrow gaps are filled. Make sure that the last green link extends past the end of the last pink box so that the chain has one end blank and the other end with an extended link. (Boy, this can get hard to explain, so see the example below.)
Hide the pink links layer and the bottom layer again so only the row of connecting link layers is visible.
Layers >Merge visible.
Selections > Select All
Selections > Float
Selections > Defloat
Selections > Load\Save Selection > Save Selection to Alpha Channel
Name this selection Crosslinks
Select none.
Unhide the bottom layers again.
New raster layer.
Use your rectangle selection tool to draw another rectangle inside the first green one, this time the same length, but narrower.
Floodfill it with another contrasting color. I chose black.
Select none.
Duplicate the top layer and move the black rectangle (using the right arrow keys) over the top of the next green rectangle. Hide all layers but the two black rectangles. Merge visible. Duplicate the layer and move it into position over the next set of green rectangles. Repeat the same way you did the green rectangles until all the green rectangles have a black rectangle in the middle. Hide all the layers except for the black rectangles.
Layers > Merge Visible.
Selections > Select All
Selections > Float
Selections > Defloat
Selections > Load\Save Selection > Save Selection to Alpha Channel
Name this selection Crosslinks2.
Select none.
Ohhhh... ugly.
View > DESELECT Guides to hide them.
Get rid of those layers!
Delete the top three layers - that's right. Delete the pink, green and black links.
***Or merge the chain layers (making sure the background layer is hidden) and move them to the bottom of your screen to them out of the way! I left mine at the bottom of my canvas so I had the pattern while I worked at the top of the canvas again.
New Raster Layer
Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection from Alpha Channel.
Choose the selection named Links.
Floodfill this selection with a metallic pattern or gradient.
Add an inner bevel to this layer of links.
New Raster Layer
Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection from Alpha Channel.
Choose the selection named Crosslinks.
Floodfill this selection with the same metallic pattern or gradient.
Add the same innerbevel to this layer of links.
Add a drop shadow to this layer.
New Raster Layer
Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection from Alpha Channel.
Choose the selection named Crosslinks2.
Floodfill this selection with the same metallic pattern or gradient.
Change the layer properties to Multiply and Lower the opacity to 75%.
Hide all layers but your metal chain.
Layers > Merge > Merge visible.
Edit > Copy
Edit > Paste > As a New Image.
You now have a chain tube that you can resize and use for multiple projects.
Save your chain as a pspimage to use later. Here's an example of a frame I made using the chain.
Back to the original. Lets make a tag!
Floodfill your bottom layer with black.
Ahhh, much better than that off white. Chain looks great now, doesn't it?
Duplicate your chain layer.
Image > Flip
Image > Mirror
Now you have a canvas and accents to work on.
Copy your tube and paste it as a new layer. Move it below the chain layers but above the background layer.
Effects > Reflection effects > Kaleidoscope - use whatever settings you like to create a background pattern for your tube.
Change the Layer Properties to Hard Light and Lower the opacity to 20%.
Edit > Paste > Paste as a New Layer.
(This should paste your tube into your image again.)
Decide where you want your tube and chains to fit on the page and use the mover tool to place them where you think they look best.
Now is the time to duplicate your image, add your text to the duplicate the way you want it, resize the tag for emailing and merge all layers. Export your tag as a jpg.
(That was the fun and easy part! Whoo! Can we do that again?)
Save a second duplicate of your original as your pspimage to rework the tubes or accents again later. (Remember, I am the world's greatest layer saver! I save everything!)
Move back to the original. OK, here's the scarey part. All that work. Now, start deleting layers. All of them. Start at the top of your layer palette and use the delete layer icon in the layer palette or Layer>Delete... click through each layer until you get to the bottom layer... it won't delete. Tap the delete key to delete all color. You have one transparent layer left. Nothing on it. Save your transparent layer with a name you will remember as an alpha selection image. I named mine alphachanbackgrnd.pspimage.
Close it after you save it. Reopen your alphabackground image - and give it a trial run. Your alpha channels will still be there. Before you reuse it, use Shift+D to duplicate it and make as many chains as your heart desires.
vetch
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