Friday, January 7, 2011

Cloudy Skies (PTU) Tutorial

Cloudy Skies - Dianna


This tutorial was written by Dianna Richards of Digicats (and Dogs)/Di Before Dawn Tutorials. Any resemblance to any other tutorial, published or unpublished, living, dead or undead, is purely coincidental.

Please do not rebroadcast, redistribute or otherwise claim this tutorial or any part there of as your own work.




Items you will need to complete this project:

The Ghosts in the Machine taggers kit by Digcats (& Dogs). This is a PTU kit that can be purchased EXCLUSIVELY at Scraps and the City.com.

Tube of choice. I am using Cloud Burst, by ©Myka Jelina. This is a PTU tube, and you must have a license to use this tube, which is available at Myka's Graphics.com.

Mask of choice. I am using Grate by Nik's Scripts & Scraps which is part of her PSP Masks Mega Pack.

Font(s) choice. I am using Century Gothic which is a Windows System font. If you do not have it, you can download it HERE.

Optional Alpha of choice. The PTU Old News Alpha by Scrapper Girl Designs. I have no idea where you can get this one at, as the blog referenced in the TOU is no longer active. You may choose to use a font to add your name to the tag instead.




Note that H# and V# refer to Horizontal and vertical coordinates on your canvas grid. Make sure you have View, Rulers checked in order to see the ruler grid.

When I say "Add to your canvas" I expect that you will copy and paste it as a new layer, unless otherwise state in the tutorial.

This tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP. It was written using PSP X3, but should work in PSP 8 and up.

To begin, open a new raster layer canvas, 800 x 800 pxl, flood fill white.

Open paper of choice. I am using DCD_GitM_Paper09. Layers -> Load/Save Mask -> Load Mask from Disk and select mask of choice. I am using Grate, by Nik's Scripts & Scraps. Make sure the fit to canvas box is checked, then click on load.

Edit -> Copy Special -> Copy Merged and add to main canvas, centered.

Open DCD_GitM_Barbed Wire01, and add to main canvas, centered at V400, H550.

On the layers pallet, click on Raster 1 the paper layer to activate. Using your Magic Wand tool, click anywhere outside the masked paper area to select. With the Grate Mask, you will need to set your mode to Add (Shift) and click in several places to get the whole outside area selected.

With the area still selected, click on Raster 2, and press the delete key.

Selections -> Select None.

Open DCD_GitM-Airship, resize to 75% and add to main canvas, centered at H200, V350.

Open DCD_Gitm-Pipeworks and resize to 75%. Add to main canvas, centered at H500, V450.

Open DCD_GitM-Frame05 and add to the main canvas, centered at H500, V400.

Open tube of choice. I am using "Cloud Burst" by Myka Jelina. Copy Layer 3, and add to main canvas, centered at H500, V400.

On the layers pallet, right click on Raster 5, the frame layer, and duplicate. Right Click on the Copy of Raster 5 -> Arrange - Bring to top.

With your selection tool set to rectangle - replace, select the top half the frame copy, Copy of Raster 5, and delete.

Selections -> Select None.

Using your eraser tool erase any part of the pipeworks, Raster 4, that falls outside the frame area.

Open DCD_GitM_Threadbow 03, rotate left, and resize to 75%. Add to main canvas, centered at H700, V400.

Open DCD_GitM-Light02 and mirror. Add to main canvas, centered at H300, V550.

Open DCD-GitM-Barbed Wire02 and resize to 75%. Add to main canvas, centered at H400, V650.

Open DCD_GitM_Gears1 and resize to 50%. Add to main canvas, centered at H600, V575.

Open DCD_GitM_Tag05, and rotate left. Using font of choice add the copyright information, background credits and tagged by info to the tag. For the Cloud Burst tube, that information is:

©Myka Jelina mykasgraphics.com Your MJ License#

I am using Century Gothic, 4 points, bold and centered, and then used my pick tool to resize downward just a bit to fit everything on the tag.

Merge visible, and rotate right. Add to the main canvas, centered at H700, V380.

Using your eraser tool, erase the top bit of Tag02 to make it look like the bow has the tag tied to the frame.

(The cheat for this is to click on Raster 7, the threadbow layer, to activate. Using your selection tool set to rectangle - replace, select just a little bit of the bow knot. Selection -> Promote Selection to Layer. Right click on the Promoted Selection layer -> Arrange -> Bring to top. If you use this method do NOT add a drop shadow the Promoted Selection in the next step.)

Starting with Raster 2, the first Barbed Wire layer, and working upward, add a drop shadow of choice to each of the elements on your main canvas, except for the frame layer copy, Copy of Raster 5.

I am using offsets, vertical and horizontal of 5 each, opacity of 75%, blur of 15 and color black (#000000).

Open DCD_GitM_Mist and resize to 75%. On your layers pallet, click on Raster 9, the second Barbed Wire layer to activate. Add the Mist to your main canvas, centered at H400, V550. Using either your eraser tool or your smudge tool, or a combination of both, smudge out the left edge of the mist a bit so it looks more natural and is not a straight edge.

I used mainly the eraser tool, and then did just a little bit of smudging around the top of the mist to blend it.

You should now save the artist's copy of your tag as a .pspimage file.

Using font or alpha of choice, add desired name to tag. Being Queen of Alphas, I am using the Old New Alpha by Scrapper Girl Designs. I have the name centered at H300, V600, and have added drop shadow to match the rest of the tag.

Drop your white background layer and merge visible. Resize to 75% (600 x 600 pixels) and save as a .png file, and you are all done!

Note that for forum use, I am resizing by 75% again to reduce the tag to 450 x 450 pixels. For Facebook, I am saving the tag as a .jpg, with a white background.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you should have a problem, please feel free to E-Mail Me and I'll be happy to help you out.

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