ANIMATED BOARDERS AND SIG

HOOTEYE APRIL 2008

This tutorial was wrote for Paint Shop Pro X, but I have also tested it in
PSP 8, any resemblance to any other tut on the web is purely coincidental.

I have tried to make the various steps easy to follow, so hopefully some of our
members who are fairly new to PSP will be encouraged to try out this tutorial.
after working through this tutorial you should end up with this type of result

( REMEMBER TO SAVE REGULARLY)

STEP (1)

Create a new Document 600 x 600 pixels with a transparent background,
right click on its Layer and name it D-1, making our document this big
will give us plenty of scope to trim it later to suit many image sizes

STEP (2)

Go to the Toolbar and select the Flood Fill Tool, then go to your
Material Palette, and click on the Foreground Color, this will
bring up your Material Properties Box, click Color, and make
these settings:- R 100, G 8, B 9, then click OK, go back to your
Material Palette, and this time click on the Background Color,
again your Material Properties Box will pop up, click Color, and
make these settings:- R 255, G 255, B 120, then click OK.

Note:- the colors selected for the Foreground and Background will
form the Gradient that we will be using for our animation, if you
prefer to work with different colors, you will find that the Gradient
works best when you have a good clear contrast between the two colors.

STEP (3)

With your Flood Fill Tool still selected, again go to your Material Palette,
and click on the Foreground Color, when the Material Properties Box
appears, make the settings highlighted in pink, then click OK

STEP (4)

With your Flood Fill Tool still selected, click and fill
your Document, your Document should now look like this.

STEP (5)

Go to your Layer Palette and right click on the D-1, Layer, and click
Duplicate, then right click on this Duplicated Layer and name it D-2,

STEP (6)

With D-2, Layer selected, go to your Toolbar and select the Pick Tool

(In PSP 8 you will need to select the Deform Tool to be able to make the following settings)

On the Overhead Bar change the setting for Position Y: to 4,(highlighted in pink) this is the only setting
we will be adjusting for each Layer we create, some settings will adjust them selves automatically

with D-2, Layer still selected you will see your Document has moved 4 pixels down.

STEP (7)

Right click on the D-2, Layer, and click Duplicate, and then right click
on this Duplicated Layer and name it D-3, With D-3, Layer and the Pick
Tool selected, again go to your Overhead Bar and increase the Position Y:
setting to 8, again you will see your Document move another 4 pixels down.

Step (8)

We need to follow this procedure 3 more times, which is:-

Right click on the D-3, Layer, and click Duplicate, and then right click
on this Duplicated Layer and name it D-4, With D-4, Layer and the Pick
Tool selected, again go to your Overhead Bar and increase the Position Y:
setting to 12, again you will see your Document move another 4 pixels down.

Right click on the D-4, Layer, and click Duplicate, and then right click
on this Duplicated Layer and name it D-5, With D-5, Layer and the Pick
Tool selected, again go to your Overhead Bar and increase the Position Y:
setting to 16, again you will see your Document move another 4 pixels down.

Right click on the D-5, Layer, and click Duplicate, and then right click
on this Duplicated Layer and name it D-6, With D-6, Layer and the Pick
Tool selected, again go to your Overhead Bar and increase the Position Y:
setting to 20, again you will see your Document move another 4 pixels down.

STEP (9)

On the Overhead Bar go to Image and in its drop-down menu, click Canvas Size
when its pop-up box appears change the Width and Height settings to 400, click Ok

Note:- if you wish to use different settings, its best to keep them under
550 pixels, this will then ensure your Document is sufficiently trimmed.

STEP (10)

On the Overhead Bar go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Select All

On the Overhead Bar again go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click
Clip to Canvas, this will make a Selection (Marching Ants) around your Document

On the Overhead Bar go to Image and in its drop-down menu, click Crop to Selection

Your Document should now look like this

STEP (11)

Arrange your Layer palette like this

Right click on the D-1, Layer, and click Duplicate, in turn select the other
5 Layers and Duplicate them also, your Layer Palette should now look like this

With Copy of D-6 Layer, selected, on the Overhead Bar go to Image and in its drop-down menu, click Mirror.

also in turn select and apply Mirror to:-

Copy of D-5 LAYER
Copy of D-4 LAYER
Copy of D-3 LAYER
Copy of D-2 LAYER
Copy of D-1 LAYER

STEP (12)

On the Overhead Bar go to Selections and in its drop-down menu,
click Select All, (or hold down your ctrl Key, and tap the A Key)
this will make a Selection (Marching Ants) around your Document

Again go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Modify/Contract,
when its pop up box appears set the number of pixels to 10 and click ok.

Once more go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Invert

Go to your Layer Palette and select Copy of D-6 Layer, and tap down your Delete Key

Also In turn select and carry out this Delete step to:-

Copy of D-5 LAYER
Copy of D-4 LAYER
Copy of D-3 LAYER
Copy of D-2 LAYER
Copy of D-1 LAYER

Holding down your ctrl Key, tap down your D Key, this will deselect your Document (stop the marching ants)

STEP (13)

We now need to Merge our Layers, with the Layer Palette arranged like this

Right Click on Copy of D-6 Layer, and click Merge/Merge Down

also In turn Merge Down:-

Copy of D-5 LAYER
Copy of D-4 LAYER
Copy of D-3 LAYER
Copy of D-2 LAYER
Copy of D-1 LAYER

Your Document and Layer Palette should now look like this

STEP (14)

Go to your Layer Palette and select Layer D-6, then create a new Rasher Layer, and name it "Overlay"

With The "Overlay" Layer selected, go to the Toolbar and select the Flood Fill Tool,
then go to the Material Palette and choose a color or pattern of you choice and
click your Document to fill it, then Right click on the "Overlay" layer and click
Duplicate, your duplicated layer will automatically be named "Copy of Overlay".

STEP (15)

With the "Copy of Overlay" Layer selected, on the Overhead Bar go to Selections and in its drop-down
menu, click Select All, this will make a Selection (Marching Ants) around your Document

Again go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Modify/Contract, when
its pop up box appears set the number of pixels to 7 and click ok, then tap
down your Delete Key to remove the inside of your selection (marching ants)

With the Selection (marching ants) still active, select the "Overlay Layer", then
On the Overhead Bar go to Selection and in its drop-down menu, click Invert, then
tap down the delete Key to remove the outside of your selection (Marching ants)
NEXT

Select the "Copy of Overlay" Layer, on the Overhead Bar go to Selections and in its drop-down
menu, click Invert, again go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Modify/Expand, when
its pop up box appears set the number of pixels to 1 and click ok, then tap down your Delete Key

Holding down your ctrl Key, tap down your D Key, this will deselect your Document (stop the marching ants)

With "Copy of Overlay" Layer, still selected, Right Click on it, and then Click Merge/Merge Down

Your Document and Layer Palette should now look like this

STEP (16)

This step is very similar to STEP (15)

On your Layer Palette, right click on the Overlay Layer, and then click on Duplicate,
again your duplicated layer will automatically be named "Copy of Overlay".

With the "Copy of Overlay" Layer selected, on the Overhead Bar go to Selections and in its drop-down
menu, click Select All, this will make a Selection (Marching Ants) around your Document

Again go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Modify/Contract, when
its pop up box appears set the number of pixels to 14 and click ok, then tap
down your Delete Key to remove the inside of your selection (marching ants)

Holding down your ctrl Key, tap down your D Key, this will deselect your Document (stop the marching ants)

With "Copy of Overlay" Layer, still selected, Right Click on it, and then Click Merge/Merge Down

Your Document should now look like this

STEP (17)

With the Overlay Layer selected, go to your Toolbar and select the Text Tool,
and make these settings, you can if you wish select a font of you choice

In PSP 8 set the Font size to 30

Go to your Document, then position and click your curser where you want to
locate your Text, when the Text pop-up box appears type in your Text and click
Apply, you should now have a Selection (Marching Ants) around your Text

Your Document should look something like this.

If the (Marching Ants) Text is not in the exact position you want it to be, go to the
Overhead Bar and go to Selections and in its drop-down menu, click Edit Selection
the (Marching Ants) will stop and your Text will go red, go to your Toolbar and select
your Move Tool, and with your Arrow Keys, position your Text to where you want it to be,

NOTE:- In PSP 8 to move your Text, you will need to:- Select the Deform tool,
hold down the ctrl Key, and position the Text using your Arrow Keys

then go back to the Overhead Bar and go to Selections and in its drop-down menu,
again click Edit Selection, the (Marching Ants) will be back around your Text,
now tap down your Delete key to cut out the Text on the "Overlay Layer"

Holding down your ctrl Key, tap down your D Key, this will deselect your Text (stop the marching ants)

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