REFLECTIONS

Hooteye November 2009

This Tutorial will show you how to achieve the Reflection effect shown in the
below tag, as it is only a 6 Frame Animation, it should prove quick and easy to do

This Tutorial was wrote for PSP8 but I have also tested it in PSP X
any resemblance to any other tut on the web is purely coincidental.

As demonstrated in some of my other Tuts, we will again be using Brush Tips and Grid
Lines as far as I know I am the originator for making animations using this method.

The Brush Tips used in this Tutorial were created by me using
PSP 8, they will therefore work in all higher versions of PSP.

There are no restrictions on my Brush Tips but if you share them
with other groups, will you kindly keep my file names intact.

For those interested in seeing how I made the Brush tips, check out my Tutorial here

OK HERE WE GO.

( REMEMBER TO SAVE REGULARLY)

STEP (1)

Download the Reflection Brush Tips here

STEP (2)

(Make sure your PSP program is NOT open)

Double click on the downloaded Reflection Brush Tips zip folder, extract the files and then
copy or move all the files to your Brushes Folder usually found in My Documents/My PSP Files

STEP (3)

Open up your PSP program, and create a new Document 400 x 400 pixels, with
a transparent background, right click on its Layer and name it Background

Go to the Overhead Bar, then go to File and in its drop-down menu, click Save, when
its pop-up box appears name your file, I have named it "Reflections" then click Save

STEP (4)

Go to the Toolbar and select the Paint Brush, then go to the overhead Brush Tips
drop-down list and check to see the 6 Reflection brush tips are showing like this

STEP (5)

Go to the Toolbar and select the Flood Fill Tool, then on your Keyboard
hold down the shift key and ctrl key, and tap down the f6 key, this
will make the Foreground color black, click your Document to fill it

Note:- later on in the Tutorial, this black Background
will be replaced with a Background of your choice

STEP (6)

Go to your Layer Palette and create 6 Rasher layers

STEP (7)

Go to the Overhead Bar, then go to View and in its drop-down menu, tick Grid and Snap to Grid

Note:- Your animation will result in being jumpy, if the Snap to Grid is not on

Again go to View and in its drop-down menu, click on Change Grid, Guide & Snap Properties, when
the pop-up box appears change the current image settings to these, (the Grid color is optional)

The Grid Lines on your Document should now look like this

STEP (8)

Arrange your Layer palette like this

STEP (9)

Go to the Toolbar and select the Paint Brush, then go to the overhead
Brush Tip drop down list, and select the 1 Reflection, Brush Tip and click ok

Go to the overhead bar and make these settings for your Brush Tip

Go to your Material Palette and select a color or
pattern for your Brush Tip, I used a gold pattern

Go to your Document, and where the Grid lines cross, click your little Paint Brush
icon (once only), the Reflection Brush Tip, will accurately snap into position

NOTE:- you do not need to click the exact centre of the grid
lines, as the influence of the "Snap To Grid" will automatically
align your Reflection Brush Tip 100% to the Grid Line Centre

Your Document should now look like this

Following the above procedure apply the other 5 Reflection, Brush Tips, in this order:-

Select 2 Reflection, Brush Tip, size 400, apply it to Rasher 2, Layer,

Select 3 Reflection, Brush Tip, size 400, apply it to Rasher 3, Layer,

Select 4 Reflection, Brush Tip, size 400, apply it to Rasher 4, Layer,

Select 5 Reflection, Brush Tip, size 400, apply it to Rasher 5, Layer,

Select 6 Reflection, Brush Tip, size 400, apply it to Rasher 6, Layer,

STEP (10)

On the overhead bar go to View and in its drop-down menu, click
Grid, the Grid lines are no longer showing on your Document

Go to the Overhead Bar, then go to Image and in its drop-down menu,
click Resize, when this pop-up box appears, un-tick the "Lock Aspect Ratio"
box, and change the "Height" setting to 100 (highlighted in pink) click OK

Again go to the Overhead Bar, then go to Image and in its drop-down menu, click Canvas
Size, when its pop-up box appears, change the Width and Height to 500 pixels, click OK

Go to your Layer Palette and select the Background Layer, then on your
Keyboard tap down the Delete Key, to remove the black from the Layer

Go to the Toolbar and select the Flood Fill Tool, then go to the Material Palette
and select a Color/Gradient/Pattern of your choice, click your Document to fill it

You can if you wish use my Background from here

With your Layer Palette arranged like this

Your Document should look similar to this

STEP (11)

Right Click on the "Orb Bottom" image, when its menu appears, click on
"Save Picture As", when its pop-up box appears save it to "My Pictures" or
a folder of your choice, Click "Save", do the same for the "Orb Top image

Note:- both Images are in PNG format, so they will have
transparent Backgrounds when opened in your PSP program

Now back in your PSP Program, on the overhead bar go to File and in
its drop-down menu, click Open, when its pop-up box appears look
in My Pictures and select the "Orb Bottom" png image, Click Open

You will now have two Documents open in your PSP work space, the
"Reflections" Document and now also the "Orb Bottom" Document

Click on the top of the Orb Bottom Document, to make sure its the active Document

Go to the Overhead Bar, then go to Edit, and in its drop-down menu, click Copy

Click on the top of the "Reflections" Document, to make it the active Document

Go to the Overhead Bar, then go to Edit, and in its drop-down menu, click Paste As New Layer

Go to your Layer Palette and double click on the Pasted Layer and rename it "Orb Bottom"

Carry out the same above Copy/Paste procedure for the "Orb Top Image

STEP (12)

Go to your Layer Palette, holding down your mouse drag,
and arrange the "Orb Bottom" and "Orb Top" Layers like this

Your Document should now look something like this

We now need to align both half's of the Orb, so go to your Layer Palette
and make the "Orb Top" Layer invisible by clicking its Eye Icon

Still on your Layer Palette select the "Orb Bottom" Layer

Go to the Toolbar select the Deform Tool

On your Keyboard hold down the ctrl Key, then using your
Arrow keys move the "Orb Bottom" Layer to this position

Go to your Layer Palette and select the "Orb Top" Layer, click its Eye Icon to make it visible

Go to the Toolbar select the Deform Tool

Again On your Keyboard hold down the ctrl Key, then using your Arrow keys
move the "Orb Top" Layer until it neatly aligns up over the Orb Bottom

Your Document should now look like this

STEP (13)

We now need to move our Orb and Reflection Rings to the top part of our Document

Go to your Layer Palette and arrange it like this, click on the
Layer Link Toggle for all Layers except the Background Layer

Go to your Toolbar and select the Move Tool, then go your Document, holding down
your mouse move the Orb and Reflections Rings to the upper part of the Document

Note:- As their Layers are Linked, they will all move accurately together

With all the Layer Eye Icons on, your Document should now look like this

STEP (14)

Go to the Overhead Bar, then go to Image and in its drop-down
menu, click Resize, when its pop-up box appears, make sure
the "Lock Aspect Ratio" box, is ticked and change the Document
size to your requirements, (I sized mine to 400X400 pixels)

That's it we are done, all you need to do now is add a tube etc,and
take it into Animation Shop, set the display times for all frames to 1

If you need some help Animating your Layers, check out my Tutorials:-

Animating your PSP work with Jasc Animation Shop (Method 1) here

Animating your PSP work with Jasc Animation Shop (Method 2) here

Animating your PSP work with Ulead GIF Animator (Free Trial) here