BOXED GRADIENT TUTORIAL




SKILLS/LEVEL
Advanced Beginner/Intermediate

NEEDED
  • tube of your choice
  • PSP & Letter Creator

    PREPARING
  • Chose tube: height and width maximum: 380 pixels
  • Duplicate(shift-D)your tube
  • Close out original
  • Chose a light color from the tube for your foregroundcolor box in your materialbox
  • Chose a darker color for your background color.
  • Edit - Copy
  • Minimize tube

    BACKGROUND PATTERN
  • File � New Image: 300 x 300
  • On the tool task bar chose the Selection Tool with the following settings:
  • Chose custom selection with the following settings: top 0, left 0, right 100 and bottom: 300
  • Floodfill your selection with your light foreground color
  • Selections � Select none
  • Layers � New Raster Layer (transparent)
  • On the tool task bar chose the Selection Tool with the same settings as before
  • Chose custom selection with the following settings: top: 0, left: 200, right : 300, bottom: 300
  • Floodfill your selection with your darker background color
  • Selections � Select none
  • Layers � New Raster Layer
  • Selection Tool with the following settings: Top: 0, Left: 100, Right: 200, Bottom: 300
  • We will floodfill this selection with a gradient we are going to make: In your materialbox set background to gradient (see arrow on image)
  • Left click your backgroundbox you can set your gradientsettings in the material properties box.
    settings: Angle: 45, Repeats: 3, Invert not checked, Style: lineair
  • You can now floodfill your selection
  • Selections � Select none
  • Layers � Merge � Merge Visible
  • Layers � Duplicate
  • Image � Free rotate: settings: Direction right, Free 90,00, Rotate single layer around canvas center checked
  • Change opacity of copy layer to 50
  • Layers � Merge � Merge All (Flatten)
  • Image � Resize: Height-Width: 200 pixels � bicubic
  • Adjust � Sharpness - Sharpen
  • Your background image is now ready

    TOP BORDER
  • Activate your tube
  • Image � Canvas Size with the following settings : width 512, height 400, placement center middle.
  • Layers � New Raster layer
  • In Material box change the foreground to the just created Background Pattern

  • Floodfill Header image with gradient
  • Layers � Arrange � Send to bottom
  • Activate top layer with tube
  • Effects � 3d effects � dropshadow: settings to your liking (I used H/V: 4, Opacity: 45, Blur: 10)
  • Layers � Merge � Merge visible
  • Image � Canvas Size � Change width to 1024, Height remains 400 pixels. Placement left center
  • Layers � duplicate
  • Image � mirror
  • Layers � Merge � Merge all (flatten)
  • Image � Add borders: symmetric unchecked, color white Top: 0, Left: 0, Right: 0, Bottom: 20
  • Select border with your magic wand
  • Floodfill with your gradient
  • Effects � 3d Effects � Inner Bevel with the following settings:

    Settings: Bevel: 11, Width: 8, Smoothness: 0, Depth: 20, Ambience: 0, Shininess: 0, Angle: 315, Intensity: 50, Elevation: 30, Color: white
  • In your toolspalette get your deformation/picker tool and drag the sides of the border out of the image... drag the left side further to the left with the two sided white arrow. And to the right drag with the white double sided arrow further to the right.
  • Effects � 3d Effects � Dropshadow with the following settings: Vertical and Horizontal 1, Opacity: 100, Blur: 1, color Black, Shadow on new layer checked.
  • Image � Add Borders � Top, Left, Right = 0. Bottom = 40. Symmetric not checked. Color is dark backgroundcolor.
  • Optional: (select border with your magic wand first, then)Effects � Texture effects � (Texture) chose a texture if you want
  • Selections � Select none
  • Image � Add borders: symmetric unchecked, color white Top: 0, Left: 0, Right: 0, Bottom: 20
  • Select border with your magic wand
  • Floodfill with your gradient
  • Effects � 3d Effects � Inner Bevel with the same settings as before
  • In your toolspalette get your deformation/picker tool and drag the sides of the border out of the image... drag the left side further to the left with the two sided white arrow. And to the right drag with the white double sided arrow further to the right.
  • Effects � 3d Effects � Dropshadow with the following settings: Vertical: 8 and Horizontal 0, Opacity: 55, Blur: 10, color Black, Shadow on new layer checked.
  • Selections - Select none
  • Promote background to raster layer (if necessary)
  • Image - Canvas Size � Width stays 1024, Height change to 1200 Pixels. Placement: Top, middle.
  • Layers � New Raster Layer
  • Floodfill with your light color
  • Optional: Effects � Texture Effects � (Texture) chose a texture if you want
  • Layers � Arrange � Send to Bottom
  • Activate top layer
  • Add new rasterlayer
  • Add your Watermark
  • Layers � Merge � Merge all (flatten)

    LETTER CREATOR
  • Export with a compression of 20
  • Open in your body, tile
  • Aknowledge credits in Footer
  • Finish letter

    I hope you enjoyed making this letter. I would love to see the results. You can mail them to me at:
    [email protected] My tutorials can be found in my groupfiles:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cuteIMlettersandtagsbyJetty
    You can also visit my website:
    http://www.geocities.com/ladyluna37/

    With thanks to the brilliant women who have given me lessons in PSP and Incredimail letters. Many of the things I learnt have been used by me in creating my letters.
    Any resemblance to other tutorials is purely coincidental. Special thanks to my testers...

    You are free to share my tutorials. If you want to use them for lessons or a groupshare please ask me and please awknowledge it as my tutorial.

    Hugs
    Jetty

    Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

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