Diamond Frame Tutorial PSP 7 This tutorial was created 11th Dec. 2002©Copyright Artwork by EssexGirl please do not copy it, or put it anywhere else without my written permission. *NOTE* Sometimes the links for filters change, it's difficult (and a lot of work) to keep changing them on individual pages, so I have created a page with links to filters and programs that I have used in my tutorials. That way it is easier for me, because when there are changes I will only have one page to update and hopefully better for you, because I'm less likely to miss a page out when doing the updates :) You will find links to filters/programs used in this tutorial Here the link will open in a new window Filters and programs used in this tutorial :- Paint Shop Pro Super Blade Pro Materials :- There is a text file included in the zip, if you don't know where to place the items. My sg_silver SBP preset Here some images have been made smaller to shorten file size

Step 1. Make the foreground colour on your palette white and the style solid fill. Open the picture that you want to frame. My picture measures 360 x 270 pixels, you can use any size you wish, but the frame will seem narrower in comparison if you use a much larger image. The frame will add 100 pixels to both the height and depth of the image.

Step 2. Open the layer palette and see if your picture is on a layer, or a background. If it is a background, go to Layers...Promote to layer... Double click on the layer in the layers palette and rename it 'picture' Go to Image...Canvas size... Tick both the centre vertically and horizontally boxes. In the dimensions section you will see the current size of the image. Add 100 to each of these figures and put the new size in the boxes at the top. This was my screenshot, if you have used a different image the figures will probably be different in yours. You should have a transparent area around your picture.

Step 3. Go to Edit...Copy...(ctrl+C) Go to Layers...and add a new layer, naming it 'mosaic' Go to Selections...Select All...(ctrl+A) Then to Edit...Paste...Into Selection...(shift+ctrl+L) The image may be a little distorted as the proportions are slightly different to the original, but this doesn't matter in this case, as we are only going to be using the colouring for the mosaic border. De-select. Go to Layers...Arrange...Send to Bottom... With the 'mosaic' layer active, go to Effects...Texture Effects...Mosaic-Glass... We want to use the default settings, so click on the button at the bottom right (arrowed in the screenshot), this will return the settings to the default ones. The image should look something like this

Step 4. Add a new layer, naming it 'rectangle frame', then go to Layers...Arrange...Bring to Top... (or drag it to the top in the layers palette) Flood fill this layer with white. Select all (ctrl+A) We are going to modify the selection several times and alternately delete or flood fill, so don't de-select until I tell you to. Go to Selections...Modify...Contract... Contract by 5 pixels, then press the delete key. Selections...Modify...Contract...5 pixels Now flood fill with white. Contract by another 5 pixels and delete. This time contract by 20 pixels. Flood fill with white Contract by 5 pixels and delete. Contract by 5 and flood fill with white. Last time :) Contract by 5 pixels and delete. Now you can de-select. You should have this.

Step 5. Select all (ctrl+A) Float (ctrl+F) Go to Effects...Plugin Filters... Flaming Pear...SuperBladePro... Apply the sg_silver preset. De-select. Add a new layer naming it 'diamond frame' Activate the Preset Shapes tool and in the tool options click on the window to open up the dropdown box. Choose Diamond 2 from the list of shapes. It's quite a long way down the list, you'll find it with the hearts, clubs and spades. Use line width=5, line style=solid, antialias ticked. On the palette use white solid fill for the foreground and null for the background. I will show two methods of placing the diamond shape. The first uses the co-ordinates, which you can see at the bottom left of the screen as the mouse moves over your image. This method places the shape exactly where you want it without any need to make adjustments afterwards. The second method places the diamond anywhere on the layer and is then stretched into shape and moved into position with the deformation tool. You can use whichever method you find easiest.

Step 6. Method 1 Before placing the diamond we will determine the co-ordinates to be used for it's positioning. If you're not sure, or can't remember the current size of your image, go to Image...Image Information...(shift+I) Make a note of the image dimensions in pixels. I like working with nice round figures, and wanted my diamond to just reach the outer double lines of the rectangular frame, so I started my shape at 10,10. If you want to make your diamond smaller, start further inwards and make a note of your starting co-ordinates (they should both be the same number) then deduct that number from the width and height of your image to find the finishing co-ordinates. You will be able to see the co-ordinates at the bottom left of the screen My image is 460 x 370 so deducting 10 from each of those made my finishing co-ordinates 450, 360. Right, that's the explanation out of the way, now let's get on with it :) Watch the co-ordinates in the bottom left corner, place the curser at your starting point (mine was 10,10), hold down the right mouse button dragging down and to the right until the second set of figures (arrowed the next screenshot) gives your finishing co-ordinates (mine are 450,360). Your image should look something like this If you prefer to use method 2 go to step 7, if you have used method 1 go straight on to step 8

Step 7. With the Preset Shapes tool and the diamond frame layer active draw a diamond shape anywhere on your image. Click on the Deformation Tool and the deformation box will appear around your diamond shape. Use the handles at the sides and top and bottom, pulling each one outwards (or inwards) to stretch the diamond to the position and size that you want it to be. You can also use the centre handle to move the whole shape. The deformation box doesn't show up very well in the next screenshot, but I have circled the handles that you use to change the shape, to help you to see where they are.

Step 8. Select all (ctrl+A) Float (ctrl+F) Apply the SuperBladePro sg_silver preset. We want to select the trianglular area at each corner between the rectangular and diamond shaped frames. These frames are on separate layers and it's not time to merge them yet, so we need to make the Magic Wand treat them as one layer. We can do this by turning off the visibility of all the other layers and ticking the sample merged box on the tool options, so activate the Magic Wand and use these settings Match Mode=RGB Value Tolerance=0 Feather=0 Sample Merged box ticked Turn off the visibility of the 'mosaic' and 'picture' layers by clicking the glasses in the layer palette. Hold down the shift key and click once in each of the corner triangles (arrowed in the screenshot). *note- When you finish, you may want to reset the Magic Wand with the sample merge unticked ready for when you use it again. Add a new layer naming it 'mirror glass' Go to Selections...Modify...Expand... Expand the selection by 1 pixel. This is just to make sure there are no gaps around the edges when we flood fill, any overlap will be covered because we will be moving this layer below the frames. Click the little arrow on the foreground styles box and change to gradient fill. Click the syles box and in the dialogue box choose these settings Flood fill the selection with gradient and de-select. Turn the visibility of all layers back on, lower the transparency of the 'mirror glass' layer to 55 by moving the slider of that layer in the layers palette and drag the layer down so that it is between the 'picture' and 'rectangle frame' layers. The layer palette should look like this and the image like this.

Step 9. Make the 'diamond frame' layer active, then go to Effects...3D Effects...Drop Shadow... Vertical=0, Horizontal=0, Opacity=80, Blur=12.3 Make the 'rectangle frame' layer active and apply the same drop shadow to that. Go to Layers...Merge...Merge all If you resize your image don't forget to sharpen it afterwards (Image...Sharpen...Sharpen...) Here is an example that I made using a star shape instead of the diamond. The star to use for this is the star 2 with the double edge, you will find this one about halfway down the list, see this screenshot. Try experimenting with different shapes.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Thankyou to my great testers To see my other tutorials click Here

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