Font Frame Tutorial

Filters and programs used in this tutorial :-
Paint Shop Pro
Mura Meister Copies

Materials :-
Speckle goldfill pattern and an image of your choice to frame. I have used
some poppy photos taken in my garden, that I applied one of the Topaz filter to.
I have included them in the materials zip, so feel free to use them if you want to. Materials
Cornucopia Ornaments Three font available from DaFont in the Dingbats/Shapes section

some images have been made smaller to shorten file size

Step 1.
This tutorial makes a square frame.

You can get lots of variations on this frame, by using
different fonts, so I hope you will experiment

Open a new image 800 x 800 Raster Background, Transparent.
Select the Flood Fill tool, then set up your materials palette as follows:-

For the Foreground and Stroke Properties use 'Pattern' and make
the pattern 'Speckle Goldfill' (or a gold pattern of your choice).
The 'Texture' should be 'None'.

For the Background and Fill Properties use 'Colour' and make the
colour Black (#000000). The 'Texture' should be 'None'.
Flood fill your image with black using the right mouse button.

Select the Text tool and use the following settings:- Create as=Vector
Direction=it doesn't matter
Font=Cornucopia of Ornaments Three Regular
Size=300 pixels
Stroke Width=2 Font Style=Bold
Antialias=Smooth
Make the Background on your materials palette 'Transparent'.

As we are using Vector text psp will automatically place it on
it's own vector layer, so we don't need to add a layer.

Click on your image with the Text tool. Type a capitol
letter (uppercase) U
Then click 'Apply'

I've cropped the edges from my screenshot, your
gold image will have more black around it

Go to Objects...Align...Center in Canvas...
Then go to Layers...Convert to Raster Layer

Step 2.
Select the Magic Wand tool and use these settings:-
Mode=Replace
Match mode=RGB Value
Tolerance = 20
Use all layers = Unticked
contiguous = Ticked
Feather = 0
Antialias = Ticked
Outside
Click once in the empty area outside your gold image.
Go to Selections...Invert...

go to Selections...Modify...Contract...
and contract the selection by 1 pixel

Activate the bottom layer of your image (Raster 1)
Go to Layers...New Raster Layer...
Change the Foreground and Stroke Properties of your materials
palette to dark red (#400000), or another fairly dark colour
of your choice. Flood fill the selection
Select None

Go to Effects...3D Effects...Inner bevel...
Use these settings:-

Make the top layer (containing the gold font) active.

Go to Layers...Merge...Merge Down...

Step 3.
Go to effects...Plugins...Mura Meister...Copies...
From the dropdown list of presets (bottom left) choose Line,
change the bottom of the of the three settings in the centre to Lighten
(this will let the gold show through the dark red where images overlap in the line)
and change the 'Number' setting (top right)to 12.

Click OK

Step 4.
Activate the Text tool, we will use the same font as before,
but change the letter and size used. Change the font size to 150 pixels,
click on your image and type the letter (lowercase) i
Layers... Convert to Raster Layer...

We want this font to be upside-down, so go to
Image... Flip... Flip Vertical...
Use the mover tool to position it so that the centre touches the bottom
of one of the fonts in the original layer like in this screenshot
I zoomed in to make positioning easier.

Go to Effects...Plugins...Mura Meister...Copies...
Use the same settings as before, but this time change the 'Number' setting to 24

Go to Layers... Merge Down

Step 5.
Go to Effects... Reflection Effects... Kaleidoscope...

If you use a different font it might be better to use 0 as the horizontal offset

As a variation you could make the edge mode = wrap and change the scale to minus 49 (-49)
This will reverse the pattern so that the pointed edge is on the inside of the frame

Step 6
With the magic Wand select the blank area inside the frame
Go to Selections... Modify... Expand... expand the selection by 1 pixel
This selection will be needed again later, so go to
Selections... Load/Save Selection... Save Selection to Alpha Channel
Make the bottom (black) layer active and press the delete key

If you want to change the colour of the edge that shows from behind the font frame
Go to Selections... Invert... and flood fill with your chosen colour, then Select None.
For my second example I chose a light green.
If you use a light colour you will need to add a drop shadow to the font frame,
so make the top layer active and go to Effects...3D Effects... Drop Shadow...
If you keep it black the drop shadow isn't necessary, but you can add it if you want to

I used these settings. Vertical and Horizontal = 1
Opacity = 75
Blur = 5
Colour = Black Here is my example 2

Step 7
Open the picture that you want to put into your frame.
go to Edit... Copy...
On your frame image go to Edit... Paste as New Layer...
Go to Layers... Arrange... Send to Bottom...
If your picture is too large you will need to resize the layer to fit into the frame

Add a new layer... Go to Selections... Load/Save Sellections...
Load Selection from Alpha Channel... and load the selection you saved earlier
Go to Effects... 3D Effects... Cutout...

Here is my second example

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Thank you to my great testers

To see my other tutorials click Here

If you wish to contact me you can find an email address to use included on my Site Map
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