This tut is graphics intensive. I wrote it this way so that a beginner can see step by step what tools to use and where to look for them. This is a beginner's tutorial for working with layers. Layers are the backbone of Paintshop Pro. They may seem intimidating at first, but once you learn to work with layers, you will wonder how in the world anyone could work in PSP without a handful of layers to merge and blend.

We will be working with three different kinds of layers in this tut. Background, raster and text vector layers.

First things first.

Supplies Needed:

Paintshop Pro. (I used PSP 9, but other versions will work.)
A graphic of your choice. You can use mine. It is a photo of a flower in my back yard.

Download and open the zip file with the materials for this tut.
Move the justpeachy.pspgradient to your gradient folder.
It is usually found under My Documents/My PSP Files/Gradients.

PSP Addicts Rule #1 -
When you open an image in PSP, duplicate the image by pressing Shift + D on your keyboard.
Close the original to save it for another day. Work with your duplicates. Make this a habit!

(Layer Type #1 - Background - Flat Layer)
Make sure your Layer Palette is open. If it's not, press F8 to open it.

Open Florafauna 016.jpg. Look at your layer palette. There is one layer, and it's named Background. Hover your mouse over the word Background. You get a preview of what is on the layer.

Background layers are solid filled layers. All .jpgs and .bmps will open as a background layer. They are limited in what you can do with them. To give them more workable options, convert the background layer to a raster layer.

(Layer Type #2 - Raster Layers)

Right-click on the word Background and a flyout window will appear.
Select Promote Background Layer.

This converts the Background Layer to a Raster Layer. These are words the beginner will soon begin to dream about. Let's ensure that the dreams aren't nightmares!

Just for kicks and giggles, click and hold your mouse over the little slider nodes in the box behind 100. Drag the slider to the left to lower the opacity of the layer. Watch what the changes do to your picture.

Right click on the word Raster 1 and select New Raster Layer.
You will see this screen.

Type in a name for the new layer. I plan to make this the Bottom layer, so I named it Bottom.

In the layer palette, right-click on the word Background and select Arrange > Send to Bottom.

It will be the highlighted, showing that it's the selected layer.

Click on the Eye behind the word Raster 1. This hides the top layer so all you see is a blank screen. (Probably grey and white checker board.)

In your Material Palette, Click on the round dot on the top color selection and choose Gradient.

Scroll to the gradient JustPeachy. Set the angle to 45, the repeats to 2, and choose the Linear Style.

Select the Floodfill tool and floodfill your empty layer with the justpeachy gradient.

Unhide the top layer by clicking on the eye that is X'd out.
Lower the opacity to around 40% so you get a misty sunbeam effect.

Select your Selection tool from the tool bar.

Change the Selection type to Ellipse, Mode: Add (or Replace) Feather: 10

Put your cursor somewhere in the middle and drag your mouse outward to make an ellipse around the blossom, but not all the way to the edges. Because there is a FEATHER setting, the line you draw will expand outward, so make the selection a little smaller than what you want the selection to be.

If you don't get the right size and position when you make the selection, you can right click with the tool still selected to get rid of the marching ants and try again.

Selections > Invert.

Tap the Delete Key and it will cut the outside of the selection from the picture.

Selections > Select None.

Note here that the outside of the ellipse is transparent and the background shows through. This is the benefit of working with raster layers.

Add a drop shadow to the top layer.
Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow

Right click on either of the layers in the Palette.
Merge > Merge All (Flatten)

Layer Type #3 -Vector Layers-
I'm notorious for working something vector into a tut. I don't use Text in any other format if I can help it. Vectors are so much more flexible than floating or raster text layers.

Material Palette:
Left Click on the Top color box to bring up the material properties window. Change the color to: #b1531f

Left click on the second box and select justpeachy gradient.

Click on the text tool to bring up your text properties. Select a font that you like from the drop down list. Use these settings: Create as: Vector. Size 48, Stroke width: 2

Type in the words you want to use. Click Apply. Look at the position and size of your text.

The fastest way to position your text uniformly is to click Objects > Align > Center in Canvas.

From there, you can drag the text box anywhere you want.

Is it the size you want for your greeting? If not, let's fix it.

In the Layer Palette, click the + next to Vector 1 to show the vector line below it. Double-click on the line with the big A & your words.

It brings up the text entry box again, and this time the letters will be highlighted. You can change colors in the material palette, the font, size, stroke width, font-style, etc. to your liking. Once you have something you like, click apply in the text box on your screen again.

You can also make your text larger, smaller, stretched by grabbing the nodes in the box around the text with your mouse and dragging them up, down, in and out.

Right click on Vector 1 (in the layer palette) and choose Convert to Raster Layer.

Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow, using the same settings as before.

Image > Add Borders - Pixels
Make sure Symmetric is checked.
Top to 2. All the sides will be the same as the Top.
Color: Black

Image > Add Borders
Change the size to 10
Right click on the Black Color box and pick a light color from recent colors.

Use your Magic wand with these settings to click once on the border you just added:

Marching ants should surround the entire border you just added.

Floodfill with the justpeachy gradient.

Selections > Select None

Image > Add border > Size 2, Color - Black.

You can use your text tool to add your name to the tag. I usually use a much smaller text size and add my name to the bottom right of the tag. Add a drop shadow to your name with the same settings as before except change the vertical and horizontal settings to 2.

Once you have your name positioned, click on one of the layers and merge all (flatten).

Save your tag as a .jpg at a compression of 8. You are done! Pat yourself on the back and put your feet up!

vetch