Welcome Plaque

For this tutorial
you will need:

This zip file containing the plaque selection. Unzip the file and save in your PSP Selections folder. If you do not have a Selections folder, make one now.

Also included in the zip file is the floral image and wood fill that I used; open these in psp and minimize.

Tutorial Index

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Written January 10, 2003
© Jan's Designs

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January 2003

Welcome Plaque

This tutorial was written using PSP7, but can probably be done in earlier versions with a few adjustments.

** Remember to save your work often! **

1. Open a transparent image 500 x 300. Set your foreground to #F4F3EE and your background to texture . Select the wood fill (scale 100% - angle 0). If you use a different wood pattern, you may need to adjust the scale and angle.

2. Add a new Raster Layer (all layers will be Raster layers) and name it "frame". Load the "jd-plaque" selection (Selections - Load from Disk). Flood fill with your wood pattern. Go to Selections - Modify - Contract by 25; then Edit - Cut.

3. Go to Selections - Select All; then Selections - Float. Go to Effects - 3D Effects - Inner Bevel and use these settings:

4. Selections - Select None. Using your magic wand , Tolerence and Feather set to 0 and Sample Merged UNchecked, click inside the frame. Go to Selections - Modify - Expand by 3.

5. Add a new layer and name it "inside". Go to Layers - Arrange - Move Down. Flood fill with your foreground color. Keep selected.

6. Change your foreground color to #CCC6AC. On your Textures palette (see below), click on the top rectangle and choose Dither 75 pt. from the drop-down list. Fill your selection. Once filled, make your texture palette null again. Keep selected.

7. Add a new layer and name it "cutout". Go to Effects - 3D Effects - Cutout and use these settings:

Color Black
Opacity 75
Blur 30
Vertical and Horizontal 0.

8. Selections - Select None. Open the tube you are using and resize as necessary. If you are using the one I supplied, it will not need to be resized. Edit - Copy; then back on your frame image Edit - Paste as New Layer. Use your Mover Tool to position your tube.

9. On your Layer Pallette, lower the opacity on this layer by moving the slider over to 80. Go to Selections - Select All; then Selections - Float. Go to Effects - 3D Effects - Cutout and use these settings:

Color Black
Opacity 100
Blur 3
Vertical and Horizontal 1

10. Go to Effects - 3D Effects - Drop Shadow and use these settings:

Color White
Opacity 100
Blur 1
Vertical and Horizontal 1

11. In your color palette, make your background null and change your foreground color to something dark. It doesn't matter what color since this layer will be deleted later.....just choose a color that will show against the light color in the plaque (as in the screen shot below). Go to View - Rulers. Using your Draw Tool set to Bezier Curve, Width 2, Solid Line, Create as Vector Checked, place your cursor at 100, 130. Click once and hold down the mouse button. Move the cursor across to 400, 130 and let the button go. Place the cursor at 200, 100 and click once, then at 300, 100 and click once. This is what you should have:

12. Add a new layer and name it "text". Make your foreground null and change your background color to one you want to use for your text. Using your Text Tool , place your cursor on your image until you see the little A with a half-circle under it. Click to open your text box. Type your text (make sure Floating and Antialias are checked) and click OK. Keep selected and add the same Cutout and Drop Shadow used in steps #9 and #10. Selections - Select None. Use your Mover Tool if you need to move the text.

13. You can delete the layer with the guide line on it. Layers - Merge - Merge Visible. Your plaque can now be saved in psp format or exported as a tube (File - Export - Picture Tube). Below is one done differently......just use your imagination.

A very special Thank You to Suz for testing this tutorial for me :-)

All tutorials on this site are written and created by Jan Riley and copyrighted by law to Jan's Designs. You may provide a link only to these tutorials, or print them out for personal off-line use. You may not remove any images, HTML or zip files for the purpose of reproducing these tutorials in any way. You may not store or archive these pages in any YahooGroups files, or any mailing list sites. These pages may not be sent through any email groups. These tutorials may not be translated and placed on any site without my written permission. Please Contact me if you would like to use any of my tutorials for group lessons. All selection files, original images, original tubes and all other originals created by me are copyrighted to Jan's Designs. Anything you make from these tutorials belongs to you.