TAKING THE SCAREY OUT OF VECTORS

I know that vectors scare some people. And they are tricksy and it takes some work getting used to them. But I am discovering that while vectors are different and you have to remember to do the steps in the right order, there are things to LOVE about vector drawing! Being able to change settings in the middle of the course is one thing. Everything you do is modify-able and often in one click.

I did two vector kitties last night. The first tut was written for PSP 6. That guy had a few dozen layers by the time I was finished. The second tut was written for 8 and 9. In one sense, it was simpler because the author used three basic layers and worked from them. Both were fun and both were tough.

I exported the second one as a pspshape. I learned that I missed a step or two in how I exported it. When I looked for the shape, my 3 vector layers showed up as individual shapes instead of the whole image. Pffffle! I need to learn how to export the whole thing, and when I do, I will share the information with you.

But, this was a happy accident. It gave me the idea of using those shapes for this tutorial.

This tut will show you how to use the three preset shapes to make the kitty above, tweak the layers a little and let you get more comfortable with vectors.. If you notice, the finished example is a little rough. I didn't get my lines smoothed and pretty. But, in that sense, you can feel more comfortable knowing that I am sharing what I learn as I learn it and I think the crooked tail adds character.

Supplies needed are included in the zip file.
Face 1 & 2 are tubes of the kitty face - different styles.
Both have two layers, one dark, one light.

Tigershape.pspimage - This is a pspimage of the vector layers.
The layers are named correctly now so you can find them easily.
I started to send the pspshape, but realized that some people are still using PSP 8.
I don't know if the shape made in PSP9 will import into PSP 8.
So, we'll all do this manually.

Open tigershape.pspimage. Click File > Export > Shape
Name it tigershape.

Open a new image 500 X 500. Choose Black or a dark color as your foreground and a contrasting color or pattern as your background. The foreground is your outline. The background is the fill for you cat.

Even though the kitty is tiger striped in the selection box, whatever background you choose will be the background of your drawing. For this example, I chose a grey carpet fill.

Click on your preset shape tool and look for 003tail.
Anti-alias checked
Create as vector checked
Line style: Solid
Width: 3

Starting at the upper left corner, left click and hold your mouse down and drag your mouse down and to the right. Don't worry about its position yet.

Click back on the preset shape choices, and select 002rear. Again, left click on your drawing and drag the box down and to the right to draw the hind legs. Your layer palette will look like this.

Next, choose 001front and draw the front layer over the other two.


Pretty cool, huh?
I was so proud that I saved it as a pspimage to use again and again.
Who knows when I might need a grey cat shape?

If you are like me, you're not satisfied with the positions of the layers and/or the sizes.
This is where we get to use those other handy vector tools that look so strange.
Click on any of the three layers in the layer palette. Click on the OBJECT SELECTOR TOOL.

In this example, I have the middle (rear) layer selected, so I can scrunch it down a little. Before, that fat cat was sprawled all over the screen, but by hovering your mouse over any of the nodes, a double pointed arrow will appear. You can resize the layer the same way you do a raster with the raster deform tool. Drag the node inward or outward. Height is changed by grabbing the node in the top middle or the bottom middle and dragging it to where you want it.

Hover your mouse over the middle node until it forms a + (crosshairs) to move the selection.

Change layers by clicking on the layer in the layer palette and adjust any or all of the shapes to fit to your liking.

When you have finished, pat yourself on the back. You just made your basic cat!

But, what if you don't like the heavy outline? Looks funny. Or what if you hate the pattern or color you selected? How do you change that?

Here's where vectors get FUN! This is so easy it's laughable!

Select one of the three layers.

Select the pen tool.

Choose the EDIT MODE. (The arrow under Mode:) If you want to change the thickness of your line, simply change it at the width.
To change the line color, change the color in your material palette.
To change the fill color or pattern, change it in the background of your material palette.

Too easy. Too much fun.

Now what? We got a faceless flat cat in three parts. Of course, there's more.

I wanted to keep my grey cat as a vector cat, so I saved it as a pspimage.
I duplicated the image and closed my fat cat.

Here's where it got a little tricky. I did not want to convert the vector layers to raster to decorate the cat. If you do, you lose the 3 separate shapes.

In the layer palette, hide the top two layers and select the bottom layer of your vector group... the tail.

Right click on the layer > Create Raster Selection.
Click on Inner Bevel and use these settings. I made a preset of it called cloudbutton because it's a soft setting.

By selecting a raster function, you create a new raster layer.
Hide the vector and raster TAIL layers.

Unhide the rear layer and create a raster selection with it.
Apply inner bevel. Hide both rear layers and do the same with the front layer.

Hide the vector layers completely.
(To get rid of the box around the selected layer, click on any raster tool in the tool bar.)
You can delete the vector layer now. We're working with rasters! Unhide all your raster layers.

I added a drop shadow to each of the layers to give it more depth.
Play with your settings to add a shadow or not. Your call.
Move the layers around, mirror the tail if you want, whatever you want to do to make your kitty more pleasant.

Open the two face tubes and check them out. Both have two layers. One is dark, one is white.
One is made for a narrow kitty face. The other is made for a fat cat face.

Choose one of the layers, copy and paste it as a new layer over your cat.
Position it with the mover tool. Stretch or compress it with the raster deform tool. Give it an innerbevel, colorize, add a drop shadow - play with it.

Add some jewelry, a bow, buttons, whatever you want. I added a necklace for mine out of an accent tube. (Don't ask! I was in a hurry!)

When you are finished, merge > merge visible. If you didn't add a goofy drop shadow to the tail like I did, you can export it as a gif file.

You can save it as a tube. You just did your first complex vector drawing!