Tutorial Four A

Using Layers

In the tutorial on toolbars and palettes, I mentioned that having the layers palette open on your workspace is an essential as it shows exactly what you placed on each layer, making changes easier. The screen shot below shows you a tag in progress with several layers.

If you look closely you will see that they are all created as raster layers, and each layer contains an individual element of the tag.

I have made this an image available to you to play around with, all I ask is that you leave the artist's copyright and my watermark intact on it. You will find it Here

Save the file to a folder on your hard drive, unzip it and open the file in PSP.

While you are learning , or until your feel confident , it's a good idea to name your layers so you know what each layer contains. To do this right click into a layer and go to rename:-

In this image I would rename from the bottom as follows:- Background, Mask, Gaussian Blur, Tube, Text, Taggers Mark, Copyright. Your layers palette should now look like this:-

Now highlight the tube layer by clicking into it on the Layers Palette.

Click on the eye in the layer palette and you will see that the tube disappears from the image in the workspace.

The eye will have a red X through it on the layer palette. Click on it again and the tube will reappear.

Now have a play and highlight the different layers , and make yourself familiar with each layer.

Now go to the tube layer again and look at the other little icon above the eye. A small thumbnail box will appear over the layers palette giving you a clearer picture of what that layer contains.

Now go to your top layer and right click into the layers palette. You will see your selections of available actions. At the very top you will see Open New Raster Layer.If a tutorial tell you to open a new layer, unless it specifies otherwise, always open a new "Raster" Layer. Click to open the new layer and a box will appear like this:-

Click OK and a new layer will have appeared in the layer palette, called Raster 7. Rename this Silver Ball.

Click on your tube tool and find the tube that looks like a silver ball, click your cursor into the tag where you would like the ball to be placed. I put mine above the lettering like this:-

Now go to File....... Save as

and then save the Image as a PSP Image, so you have it to work on in a future tutorial. Do not close the image yet.

Now go to your top menu bar and click on layers :-

Then click on Merge All (Flatten) . Your image on the screen will now look something like this:-

Now go back to save........, and this time save your tag as a jpeg in a folder of your choice.

Another option is to go to Export File as jpeg and save it as a jpeg from there.

Voila!......you have your first tag.

The next tutorial in this series will look at transparent backgrounds. Don't be put off by the sound of it, it is an important part of learning how to create your images, especially if you are going to go need them to blend in with a background.. 

 

This Tutorial was written in May 2010 by Helen Peachey, and the concept of the tutorial is copyrighted.
Please feel free to LINK to the tutorial and/or print it out for your personal use,
but please do not copy it in any way to put online, pass out or re-write without permission.
The image you create using this tutorial is for you to do what you wish except for monetary gains or for merchandising.
© Peachies Designs and Tutorials. Any Resemblance to another tutorial is purely coincidental.