ANIMATED STAR BOARDERS

Hooteye May 2008

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 concept

This Tutorial is fairly basic, but a little repetitive, after working
through it you should end up with these type of animated star effects.

STEP (1)

Download the Brush Tips (Square Star Frame) here

Download the Brush tips (Round Star Frame) here

The Brush Tips used in this Tutorial were created by me using Photoshop
and 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.

In order to keep the steps in this Tutorial to a minimum
we will only be working with the Square Star Brush Tips.

STEP (2)

(Make sure your PSP program is NOT open)

Double click on the downloaded starbrushtips-square 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 500 x 500 pixels, with
a transparent background, right click on its layer and name it Background.

Step (4)

Go to the Toolbar and select the Paint Brush, then go to the overhead Brush Tip
drop-down list and check to see the 16 Square Star brush tips are showing.

Step (5)

Go to the Toolbar and select the Flood Fill Tool, then go to
the Material Palette and select a color or pattern of your
choice,( I have selected Black) click your Document to fill it.

STEP (6)

Go to your Layer Palette and create 16 Rasher layers.

Step (7)

On the overhead bar go to View and in its drop-down menu, click Grid and
Snap to Grid, they will go to light blue, which indicates they are both active

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

STEP (8)

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

The Grid Lines on your Document should now look like this.

STEP (9)

Arrange your Layer palette like this

STEP (10)

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

NOTE:-
Care should be taken when selecting the 16 square stars,
brush tips as they may not appear in numerical order.

STEP (11)

Go to the Material Palette and choose a color or pattern for your Brush tips,
then go to your Document, and where the Grid lines cross, click your little Paint Brush
icon (one or two times), the Square Stars Brush Tip, will accurately snap into position.

Your Document should now look like this

NOTE:- for this tutorial I am using the default size of the
brush tips which is 500, you can if you wish choose your own size

STEP (12)

We are now coming to the repetitive part of the tutorial, so before
we proceed any further I would like to emphasise the importance of :-

(A) That the Snap to Grid is active, (see Step 7)
(B) Applying the Square Stars Brush Tips, in the right order

I found it helpful making a list then crossing them off after I applied each brush tip

So apply the other 15 Star Brush Tips, in this order:-

2 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 2 Layer
3 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 3 Layer
4 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 4 Layer
5 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 5 Layer
6 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 6 Layer
7 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 7 Layer
8 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 8 Layer
9 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 9 Layer
10 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 10 Layer
11 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 11 Layer
12 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 12 Layer
13 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 13 Layer
14 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 14 Layer
15 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 15 Layer
16 Square Stars Brush Tip, apply to Rasher 16 Layer

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 here

Animating your PSP work with Ulead GIF Animator here

NOTE:- With the 16 Square star brush tips installed, we now have
the advantage of being able to select a color, rotate, and size our
Star Frame, which in turn will give lots of design possibilities.