Paint Shop Pro 5 Tutorial

Chapter Two

We are going to play with making some buttons. These will be basic buttons. Buttons that you can make without any added filters or fonts. We are going to play with "Layers", "Cutouts", and text on these buttons. Later on we will get into some even more exciting buttons. Open an image: click on "white paper icon", then set the width to 100 and the height to 50, and click on ok.

On the right side of your screen pick a background color and a foreground color. Make sure there is a good contrast between the two colors.

Once you have your image open, click on the "Layers" menu. Click on new. Then in the first field type in "Background Color". Then click ok. Now, if you click on the layers menu again, you will see at the bottom of the menu, Layer 1 - "Background" and Layer 2 - "Background Color". (You can do this easier by clicking on the "Layer" icon on the toolbar which will open a window that shows the layers and if you run your mouse over the layers another little temp window will open to show you what is on each layer.) I work with it open sometimes, and sometimes I don't. Personal preference here.

You need to make a layer for foreground color in the same way you made the first one. Click on the "Layer" menu, then new, then in the first field type in "Foreground Color/Cutout", and click ok.

Then make two more layers. One named "DropShadow1" and the other named "DropShadow2".

Now, we are going to make this a template for future use. But, before we do that we are going to make a record for copyright information. Do do that click on the "View" menu. Then click on "Image Information" and then click on the tab "Creator Information".

Fill in all the information in this window and then click on ok. Now, save the file, from the file menu, File/Save As... and save it as a .psp file. Name it whatever you want and save it to whatever folder you want to.

Now, since normally when you make buttons for a site you want them all to match, we are going to duplicate this original button. You never want to alter the original .psp file. You open it and then duplicate it and work on the duplicated file. After I make my first duplicate I click on the X in the upper right corner of the original file to close it so I won't accidentally alter it.

To duplicate an image, click on the "Window" menu, then on "Duplicate". That will copy the file to a new image. To start with, let's make two duplicates. Drag them to position them one next to the other in a line.

On one of the images, make sure the top bar where the filename of the image is (will just say "image#") highlighted. That will be the file you work on first. From the Layers menu click on the layer that says "Layer 2 - Background Color". That means that we will be working on that layer first. Run you mouse over the toolbar to find the "flood Fill" tool. It looks like a paint can. Click on that. Make sure your darker color on the right side is in the top box and then move your cursor over your image and left click. That will fill the image with the darker color. Now, from the Layers menu, click on the layer that says "Layer 3 - Foreground Color/Cutout". Make sure that your lighter color is in the top box on the right of the screen. Move your cursor over your image and left click with your mouse. That will fill the image with the lighter color.

Find your selection tool my slowly running your mouse over the toolbars. When you are over the correct tool the pop up will say "selection". Click on that tool. Then on the other tool bar run your mouse over the tools until you get a pop up that says "toggle control pallette". Click on that. When the controls window comes up make sure that you are looking at the "Tool Controls" tab. There will be an options box named "Selection Type". Choose "Ellipse", and in the Feather options choose "0". Also be sure that Antialias is checked.

When that is done move your cursor over the image you are working on. Watch the bottom left corner of your screen, where it shows the coordinates. Move your mouse over your image until the coordinates read "50,25". Depress the left mouse button and drag your mouse until the coordinates read "7,43". Then release the mouse.

You should now have an ellipse shape (dotted lines). If the dotted lines annoy you, as they do me :), you can turn those off by using the "Selections" menu, and clicking on "Hide Marquee".

Now, from the "Image" menu, click on "effects" then on "cutout". When the Cutout window opens, these are the settings you want to have right now:

Attributes
Fill interior with color - Unchecked
Interior Color - Black
Shadow Color - Black
Opacity - 100
Blur - 0.8
Offset
Vertical - 1
Horizontal - 1

Click on ok. You will now see that your image looks cutout, with the darker color inside and the lighter color outside of the ellipse selection you made.

Click on the "Layers" menu and choose "Layer 4 - DropShadow1". Now, go back to the "Image" menu and click on "Effects" again, but this time click on "Drop Shadow". You will want the following settings:

Attributes
Color - White
Opacity - 100
Blur - 7.3
Offset
Vertical - 1
Horizontal - 1

Click on ok. Now at the bottom of your ellipse selection you will see a little bit of white.

Click on the "Layers" menu and choose "Layer 5 - DropShadow2". Click on the "Image" menu again, then "Effects", then "Drop Shadow" again. This time change only the "Offset" to these settings:

Vertical - -1
Horizontal - -1

Click on ok. Now your ellipse will have a little bit of a white shadow at the top which softens the edges of the ellipse.

Ok, now let's add some text to this. Click on the "Selections" menu and then click on "Select None". Then on the right side of the screen click on the top color box and pick a much darker color than what you have been using for the background colors. Try to stay in the same color line or choose black. Click on the "A" on the toolbar. Move your mouse to coordinates "50,25" over your image. Remember you can see those coordinates on the lower left side of your screen. Left click with your mouse and the text box comes up. Choose a font and a size. I used the font "Amaze" and the font size 20. Once you click ok, you will see the text now on your button.

To add a little life to your text, click on the "Image" menu, then "Effects", and then "DropShadow" again. Leave all your settings except change the Color Attribute to the Background Color, being sure that you have the lighter of your two colors in the bottom box. Then click on ok. That makes your text stand up just a bit. (I have included a look at the four shapes you can make with the selection tool.)

Now, let's take that same shape and make it look raised off the surface instead of cut into it. Highlight the next duplicate image you made.

From the "Layers" menu choose "Layer 3 - Foreground Color/Cutout". Use the "Selection Tool" to make an ellipse shape starting at coordinates "50,25" and ending at coordinates "7,43".

Now from the "Layers" menu choose "Layer 4 - DropShadow1". Use the "Image" menu, then choose "Effects", then "DropShadow". You want then shadow color to be your darker color and the Offset to be Vertical 1 and Horizontal 1 and Blur at 7.3.

From the "Layers" menu choose "Layer 5 - DropShadow2". The only thing you will change here is the Vertical to -1 and the Horizontal to -1. Then click on ok.

Now, we need to round this off a bit. So, from the "Layers" menu click on "New". Name the new layer Cutout2 and click ok. From the "Image" menu, click on "Effects", then Cutout. Change the "Interior Color" to White and the "Shadow Color" to white. Change the Blur to 7.3. Both "Offsets" should be set at 1. Click on ok. You should have a more rounded looking button now.

Add some text and a drop shadow to the text, and wallah, you now have another type of button. Let's move on and try something else. Highlight the next duplicate image you created at the beginning.

Using the "Ellipse" selection tool, create a selection the same as before, starting at coordinates "50,25" and ending at "7,43". Once that is done, place your cursor over the image and hold down the left mouse button, drag the image just a little bit until you see your darker color at the top of the image. You can now add "Drop Shadows" at different "Offsets" and "Cutouts" with different settings to get many varied effects.