Title: Creating Paintbrushes for PSP(7+)
Description: Difficulty: *
Description: Difficulty: *
BlindTaleTeller - February 22, 2007 06:03 PM (GMT)
Paint Shop Pro (7+) Tools Tutorial: Personalized Brushes
Making your Own Brushes
This one is easy, and though commonly known by those who are intimately familiar with Paint Shop Pro 7; it's sometimes overlooked by those who don't read the manual --for whatever reason-- or are still just plain getting used to the program and either haven't noticed the option, or haven't figured out how to make it work yet. Your brushes can be useful for making banners and backgrounds, if not quick senseless transparent overlays with little to no trouble.
First things first though! Let's make sure your toolbars are set up correctly for easy access. Here's what I usually use:
To get this to show up, navigate your menu bar View--->Toolbars: and this will come up. Check the boxes accordingly, but don't click on too much crap just because you can. The more you have on your bar, the less editting space you have for larger projects, without having to scroll. Here's an example of what the box should look like:
Okay lets get started!!
1. Once you've got your tools and controls set up, choose the image or shape you want to use as a paint/air brush or eraser. I usually use this for placing quick artistic samples of Clan and Bloodline Symbols/Sigils: and it's easier to use a pre-existing .gif format (whether you just made it into a .gif or it's been in use/waiting for use for a while, that's covered in another section: something with a transparent background works best, and is a lot less hassle) so I chose a pre-cut Giovanni Symbol I made for this particular Tutorial.
---1.a. If you have problems opening a .gif as a transparent (and some of the earlier versions of this software does have that problem) there are two fast ways around it. A: Preview the image in windows or on the net, right click the image and select "copy image", then paste it in PSP " as a new image ". B: Open the transparent in Jasc Animation Shop, copy it from there and paste it into PSP: again, "as a new image ".
-----1.b. With animated .gif's, you have to open the animation in ani shop and choose a frame in the animation to copy. There isn't much other option in this case. When PSP (especially 7) opens an animation, it only captures the first frame. Kay. Lets move on.
(The Giovanni template)
2. Clicking your selection tool (not the lasso, the rectangle of dotted lines) maximize the .gif image and select the entire thing by clicking outside the checkerboard from one corner to the opposite. Once that's done, put the image window back to normal.
3. Still on your selection tool, double click the tool in the center of the image. If the image has other 'cuts' in it, like the giovanni template I'm using, then this will select every edge, instead of just the image borders, making the brush/eraser the exact cut of the image when you're done. Otherwise, this brush would just look like a square. Nothing special about that.
---3.a. Now here, is where you make a decision -- or, you can do both really -- If I want my brush to have the same 3-D lighting (which I do in this case,) I just skip step 4 and move on to step 5. If I don't, and just want the simple outline without the raised wax texture: I go through with step 5. In this case I want a brush of each, so I'll follow only step 5, and then follow through with 4 AND 5 after I've made the first brush. I hope that wasn't too confusing! lol ^_^
----3.b. You can add texturing to any 'flat' looking .gif or floating/selection BEFORE you turn it into a paintbrush by using your Effects menu in the Taskbar (I particularly like the plug-ins, Eyecandy 3-4000.)If you do this, definitely skip finalizing step four until you have the textured version in your brush lineup. Sometimes it's nice to have two versions: a solid, and a texture.. so you can do both using the "undo" command, a lot lol!
4. After your double-click, click on your flood fill tool to use it. It doesn't matter what color you use to fill it that I know of: though I usually use black myself. Only do this if you want the simple shape, without any texturing you've done or that previously existed.
5. Select your paintbrush, airbrush, or eraser tool; depending on which tool you had intended the shape/cutout to be for, if not all of the above. Go to this tool's options palette, and make sure the image is still fully selected. In the upper right hand corner of the Tool Options Palette are two Icons you may have previously overlooked: one is a paintbrush with a small arrow, the other a magnifying glass. You want the Paintbrush; and when you click on it, a small menu will appear. Select 'Custom' and another small window will appear giving you the option to use what custom brushes are already saves in the program, etc. Simply click on the 'Create' button, and you should be done. When the program creates a new brush, it's image should appear in the brush shape thumbnail on the Tool Options Palette.
Here's an idea of how the brush would look in use on a CPB, only the Giovanni brush example was used, at different opacities and step:
Finito! Now you can use your new paintbrush on anything! Yup, it's as simple as five base steps.
Making your Own Brushes
This one is easy, and though commonly known by those who are intimately familiar with Paint Shop Pro 7; it's sometimes overlooked by those who don't read the manual --for whatever reason-- or are still just plain getting used to the program and either haven't noticed the option, or haven't figured out how to make it work yet. Your brushes can be useful for making banners and backgrounds, if not quick senseless transparent overlays with little to no trouble.
First things first though! Let's make sure your toolbars are set up correctly for easy access. Here's what I usually use:
To get this to show up, navigate your menu bar View--->Toolbars: and this will come up. Check the boxes accordingly, but don't click on too much crap just because you can. The more you have on your bar, the less editting space you have for larger projects, without having to scroll. Here's an example of what the box should look like:
Okay lets get started!!
1. Once you've got your tools and controls set up, choose the image or shape you want to use as a paint/air brush or eraser. I usually use this for placing quick artistic samples of Clan and Bloodline Symbols/Sigils: and it's easier to use a pre-existing .gif format (whether you just made it into a .gif or it's been in use/waiting for use for a while, that's covered in another section: something with a transparent background works best, and is a lot less hassle) so I chose a pre-cut Giovanni Symbol I made for this particular Tutorial.
---1.a. If you have problems opening a .gif as a transparent (and some of the earlier versions of this software does have that problem) there are two fast ways around it. A: Preview the image in windows or on the net, right click the image and select "copy image", then paste it in PSP " as a new image ". B: Open the transparent in Jasc Animation Shop, copy it from there and paste it into PSP: again, "as a new image ".
-----1.b. With animated .gif's, you have to open the animation in ani shop and choose a frame in the animation to copy. There isn't much other option in this case. When PSP (especially 7) opens an animation, it only captures the first frame. Kay. Lets move on.
(The Giovanni template)
2. Clicking your selection tool (not the lasso, the rectangle of dotted lines) maximize the .gif image and select the entire thing by clicking outside the checkerboard from one corner to the opposite. Once that's done, put the image window back to normal.
3. Still on your selection tool, double click the tool in the center of the image. If the image has other 'cuts' in it, like the giovanni template I'm using, then this will select every edge, instead of just the image borders, making the brush/eraser the exact cut of the image when you're done. Otherwise, this brush would just look like a square. Nothing special about that.
---3.a. Now here, is where you make a decision -- or, you can do both really -- If I want my brush to have the same 3-D lighting (which I do in this case,) I just skip step 4 and move on to step 5. If I don't, and just want the simple outline without the raised wax texture: I go through with step 5. In this case I want a brush of each, so I'll follow only step 5, and then follow through with 4 AND 5 after I've made the first brush. I hope that wasn't too confusing! lol ^_^
----3.b. You can add texturing to any 'flat' looking .gif or floating/selection BEFORE you turn it into a paintbrush by using your Effects menu in the Taskbar (I particularly like the plug-ins, Eyecandy 3-4000.)If you do this, definitely skip finalizing step four until you have the textured version in your brush lineup. Sometimes it's nice to have two versions: a solid, and a texture.. so you can do both using the "undo" command, a lot lol!
4. After your double-click, click on your flood fill tool to use it. It doesn't matter what color you use to fill it that I know of: though I usually use black myself. Only do this if you want the simple shape, without any texturing you've done or that previously existed.
5. Select your paintbrush, airbrush, or eraser tool; depending on which tool you had intended the shape/cutout to be for, if not all of the above. Go to this tool's options palette, and make sure the image is still fully selected. In the upper right hand corner of the Tool Options Palette are two Icons you may have previously overlooked: one is a paintbrush with a small arrow, the other a magnifying glass. You want the Paintbrush; and when you click on it, a small menu will appear. Select 'Custom' and another small window will appear giving you the option to use what custom brushes are already saves in the program, etc. Simply click on the 'Create' button, and you should be done. When the program creates a new brush, it's image should appear in the brush shape thumbnail on the Tool Options Palette.
Here's an idea of how the brush would look in use on a CPB, only the Giovanni brush example was used, at different opacities and step:
Finito! Now you can use your new paintbrush on anything! Yup, it's as simple as five base steps.
lusvell - February 22, 2007 07:41 PM (GMT)
do you have one for PS? I've been trying to create some. I got the textures down, but the shapes arent coming the way I want them to.
BlindTaleTeller - February 22, 2007 07:55 PM (GMT)
scratches head~ hmm I might on disk somewhere. If not I can probably find one lickity split..