Tips and Tutorials for PSP 8

Green 3 Gradient Trick

This tutorial is NOT to be scripted or made into a "Quick Guide" unless it is for your own personal use.

To do this tutorial you will need a working knowledge of PSP. If you are new to PSP, or have a problem doing this tutorial, you can find me at Raven's PSP Forum, be happy to help you out.

Click here to download my Green3 Gradient
Unzip the file and extract to your PSP 8 gradients folder.

This is an easy tutorial, I've included many screen shots to try to show each step in detail

Step 1

Start with an image 500 X 500 pixels.

Step 2

Click on your Foreground Color to open your Materials Palette.
Click on Gradient and find the "mqc Green3" gradient.
For "Style" click on Linear.
Set the "Repeats" to 1.

.
Flood Fill your background.

( Shown at 50% )

Step 3

Go to Layers>New Raster Layer.
Open your Materials Palette and change the settings for the gradient.
For "Style" click on Radial.
Set the "Repeats" to 6.
Set the Horizontal Center Point to 50.
Set the Vertical Center Point to 0.

Flood Fill your new layer.

( Shown at 50% )

Step 4

Open your Layer Palette.
Go to Raster 2 and click the small arrow next to "Normal".
Go to the Layer Blend Mode "Hard Light"

Go to Layers>Merge>Merge Down.
Go to Adjust>Sharpness>Unsharp Mask.
Use the default settings.

( Shown at 50% )

Note: If you'd rather have a metallic look, set your foreground color to White.
            Go to Effects>Artistic Effects>Hot Wax Coating.
            Go to Effects>artistic Effects>Chrome.
            Use these settings.

Step 5

Go to Layers>Duplicate.
Go to your tool bar and click on the Deform tool.

Grab the handle at the top center of your image and pull down.

Pull it down to the bottom quarter of your image.

Step 6

Click on Flood Fill to deactivate the Deform tool.
Open your Layer Palette, click on Raster 1 to make it the active layer.

Go to Image>Flip.

Step 7

Go to Layers>Duplicate.
Go to Effects>Geometric Effects>Circle.

Step 8

Go to Layers>Duplicate.
Go to Layers>Arrange>Bring to Top.
Go to Image>Resize.
Resize by 50 %.
Make sure it's set to Percent not Pixels and make sure to Uncheck "Resize all Layers".

Step 9

Go to Layers>Duplicate.
Go to Adjust>Brightness and Contrast>Threshold.

Step 10

Click on your Deform tool and drag down the top of the black circle.
You want to flip it over.

Step 11

Deactivate the Deform Tool.
Go to Effects>Geometric Effects>Skew

Step 12

Go to Adjust>Blur>Motion Blur.

Open your Layer Palette and move the slider on the circle layer to lower the opacity.
Use the Deform tool to adjust the position.
Deactivate the Deform tool.

Step 13

Go to Copy of Raster 1(the large orb) and set the Layer Blend Mode to Difference.
If you don't name your layers, you can hover your mouse over the layer to see what it is.
It's a good habit to name your layers, it's not one of my good habits though.:-)

Step 14

You can go to Adjust>Softness>Soft Focus to add a glow to the smaller orb, if you want it to stand out more.

Click the eye next to the layer for the smaller orb to hide it, if you want to add other objects to your image.

That's it, you're done.:)

Experiment, and have fun!

Tutorial Index

Tips and Tutorials for PSP 8