Free Your Dreams

Filters and programs used in this tutorial :-
Paint Shop Pro
VM Toolbox - Radial Mosaic
FM Tile Tools Blend Emboss

Materials :-
Tube of your choice
My wordart tube, mask and gradient (optional) Here
Put the gradient into your gradient folder and the mask in
your mask folder.
I have included a shapes file from psp8 in the zip in case it's
not in your version of psp, if you haven't already got it, put
it in your Preset Shapes folder.

some images have been made smaller to shorten file size

Step 1.
Open a New Image 350 X 350
On your materials palette change the Background to
Gradient and choose a gradient of your choice, to
compliment your tube. I used sg_Candikissed which is
included in the supplies zip.
Style=Sunburst
Repeats=0
Invert=not ticked
Centre point Horizontal=50, Vertical=50
Link Centre and focal points=ticked
Make the foreground on your palette Transparent.

Activate the Preset Shapes Tool and choose the Star 7 shape,

or shape of your choice
Retain style=unticked
Anti-alias=ticked
Create as vector=ticked
Starting near the top left corner, drag out
the shape so that it amost fills the image
Go to Objects...Align...Center in Canvas
Layer...Convert to Raster...

step 2.
Go to Image...Canvas size...
In the placement section choose the centre and change the
size of your canvas to 400 X 400 transparent background

Duplicate the layer 5 times so that you have 6 layers with
your shape on, plus a transparent layer at the bottom.
To make it easier to keep track later on, rename the shape
layers (double click the layer on the layers palette and type
in the new name)from the bottom upwards, Shape 1, Shape 2, etc

Go to Layers...View...Current Only...
PSP will hide all the layers except the currently active one,
this should be the one at the top (Shape 6)

Step 3.
Go to Effects...Plugins...VM Toolbox...Radial Mosaic...
I changed the Angle setting and left the Radius and Adjust
settings at the defaults, but feel free to experiment
with any of the settings for different results
These are the settings that I used for this layer:-
Angle=8
Radius=94
Adjust=128

Hide the layer by clicking the eye (Visibility Toggle) on the
layers palette, go to the next layer down (Shape 5), to make that
the active layer and make it visible by clicking the eye

Repeat this step on each of the layers down to the
'Shape 1' layer, changing the setting each time.
I only changed the Angle. These are the settings that I used:-
Shape 5 - Angle=16 Radius=94 Adjust=128
Shape 4 - Angle=35 Radius=94 Adjust=128
Shape 3 - Angle=45 Radius=94 Adjust=128
Shape 2 - Angle=54 Radius=94 Adjust=128
Shape 1 - Angle=72 Radius=94 Adjust=128

Step 4.
Next we will change the canvas size
Go to Image...Canvas Size...
Change the canvas size to 600 X 500
Top=50
Bottom=50
Left=25
Right=175

The shape will be to the left of centre
This screenshot shows my 'Shape 1' layer

Step 5.
Starting with your Shape 1 layer
(at the moment this should be the only visible
layer, as the others are still hidden).
Go to Effects...Plugins...FM Tile Tools...Blend Emboss
use the default settings
Then go to Effects...3D Effects...Drop Shadow...
Vertical and Horizontal=minus 6 (-6)
Opacity=50
Blur=5

Working your way up, make each of the Shape layers active in
turn and apply the same Blend Emboss and Drop Shadow to each of
them. It's up to you whether you make them visible first or not, as
long as you are on the correct layer, the effects will work anyway.

Step 6.
Next we will fill the transparent bottom
layer (Raster 1) so make that layer active
Then go to Layers...View...Current Only...

We are going to use the same gradient as before, but change
the setting slightly, so click on the background and fill
properties box to open the dialog box and change the
Center Point Horizontal setting to 37.
The other settings stay the same as before

Flood fill the layer with your gradient

Go to Adjust...Blur...Gaussian Blur...
Radius=20

Step 7.
Make the top layer (Shape 6) active and visible
Open the tube that you are going to use.
I've used a tube created by Anna Ridzi
Go to Edit...Copy...
The tube can now be closed
Go to Edit...Paste As New Layer...
If necessary go to Image...Resize... and resize
your tube layer to suit (all layers unticked)

Move your tube into position using the Mover Tool
and add a drop shadow I used these settings
Vertical=5
Horizontal=minus 5 (-5)
Opacity=50
Blur=10

Step 8.
Change the foreground on your palette to color
and make the colour white. Add a new layer and flood fill
Go to Layers...Load/Save Mask...Load Mask From Disk...
Choose the sg_Stardust mask (or an edges mask of your choice)
Create mask from: Source luminance
Orientation = Fit to canvas
Options:- Hide all mask
Invert transparency = ticked
(if you are using a different mask you may
need to untick the 'invert transparency)

Go to Layers...Merge...Merge Group...
I added a drop shadow, but this is optional
Go to Effects...3D Effects...Drop Shadow...
Vertical and horizontal=1
Opacity=50
Blur=5

Step 9.
Make both the foreground and background of your palette
color and choose a dark colour that goes with your image for the
foreground and a light colour for the background.

I've included my wordart tube in the supplies zip, but you
can use your own wordart, brushes, or text if you prefer
(or you could add your name instead)

Open the sg_dreams.psp, this has 2 layers.
on the 'Dreams are Free' layer, go to Edit...Copy...
Back on your main image go to Edit...Paste As New Layer...
Move it in the top right corner, or wherever works best with
your tube. You can adjust the position of your tube if neccesary

Lock the transparency of the layer by clicking
the padlock on the layers palette

Activate the Paintbrush Tool, use a square, or round brush
size about 100 and paint over the writing with your dark colour,
as the transparency is locked only the words will change colour,
the transparent parts will stay transparent. Then click the
padlock again to unlock the transparency of the layer
Go to Layers...Duplicate...Lock the transparency (as you
did on the previous layer)paint with your light colour
Then unlock the transparency again.

Go to Effects...Image Effects...Offset...
Custom
Horizontal=2
Vertical=2
Edge Mode=Transparent

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

Go to Effects...3D Effects...Drop Shadow... Vertical=3
Horizontal=minus 3 (-3)
Opacity=50
Blur=5

Step 10.
Repeat step 9 using the other layer from the sg_dreams.psp,
placing the wordart in the bottom left corner of your image

You can move the two wordart layers below the tube layer by dragging
them down in the layers palette if you prefer them below the tube.

Step 11.
There is one more thing I did before animating my
image I changed the Blend Mode on all of my Shape
layers to Soft Light. This step is optional, you can
leave the Blend modes at Normal if you prefer

Step 12.
To get ready for the animation start with
the layers Shape 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 hidden.
All the other layers including Shape 6 should be visible.

Go to Edit...Copy Merged...(Ctrl+Shift+C)
Open Animation Shop...Edit...Paste as a New Animation (Ctrl+V)

Go back to PSP
Hide Shape 6
Make Shape 5 visible
Copy Merged again
Then go back to Animation Shop
Paste after current frame (Shift+Ctrl+L)

Carry on in the same way, in PSP hiding the Shape and making
the next one visible, Copy merged, then back to Animation Shop
and pasting after the current frame, until all the shape layers
have been used. You should have 6 frames in Animation Shop
To view what your animation will look like go to View... Animation...

If you want to resize your animation go to
Animation...Resize...
Then you can save it

Here is another example

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

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