This tutorial is my own creation. Any resemblance to another is purely co-incidental. Please do not pull it apart and claim it as your own. Do not copy, translate or place on another site without my written permission. You are more than welcome to use this tutorial in a group setting, but please link to this page only.

Tools needed to complete this tutorial:

PSP 9

A tube of your choice.
The tube I have used for this tutorial is used with permission from Pat Jaffarian.

Xero Filters

Simple Filters

VM Toolbox

1. Open your tube and go to edit copy.

2. Close your tube off.

3. Open a new 400 x 400 transparent image.

4. Edit, paste as new layer. Resize if necessary.

5. Right click on the tube layer in your layer palette and duplicate four times.

6. Close the four duplicate layers by clicking on the eye next to them.

7. Making sure that the raster 2 layer is the active layer, go to Effects, Plugins, Xero, Titanium and use the default settings.

8. Open Copy of Raster 2 by clicking on the eye beside it and make sure it is the selected layer.

9. Effects, Plugins, Xero, Moonlight and use the default settings.

10. Set the blend mode on this layer to Dissolve and lower the opacity to 72.

11. Open copy (2) of Raster 2 by clicking on the eye beside it and make sure it is the selected layer.

12. Effects, Plugins, Xero, Emphasis and use the default settings.

13. Set the blend mode on this layer to lighten and lower the opacity to 84.

14. Open copy (3) of Raster 2 by clicking on the eye beside it and make sure it is the selected layer.

15. Effects, Plugins, VM Toolbox, Mezzontinto Tre… and use the default settings.

16. Lower the opacity of this layer to 34%.

17. You should now have the top layer closed still. Close Raster 1 also.

18. Making sure one of the middle layers is the active layer, right click in your layer palette and merge visible.

19. You can now open all layers.

20. Making sure that the merged layer is the active layer, effects, Reflection Effects, Rotating Mirror and use the following settings:-
    • Horizontal offset and rotational angle set to 0.
      
    • Reflect checked.

21. Effects, Texture Effects, Sandstone and use the following settings;-
    • Blur:      70
      
    • Detail:      180
      
    • Luminance:      12
      
    • Angle:      45
      
    • Color:      White

22. Highlight the top layer to make it the active layer.

23. Image, Resize and resize by 85%, all layers Unchecked.

24. Effects, 3D effects, Inner Bevel and use the following settings:-
    • Pie Bevel
      
    • Width:      20
      
    • Smoothness:      10
      
    • Depth:      3
      
    • Ambience:      0
      
    • Shininess:      15
      
    • Color:      White
      
    • Angle:      0
      
    • Intensity:      60
      
    • Elevation:      25

25. Effects, 3D Effects, Drop shadow and use the following settings:-
    • Vertical:      7
      
    • Horizontal:      15
      
    • Opacity:      45
      
    • Blur:      15
      
    • Color:      Black
      
    • Shadow on new layer:      Unchecked.

26. Using your eye dropper, chose a colour from your tube.

27. Flood fill raster 1, the bottom layer.

28. Effects, 3D Effects, Texture Effects, and chose a texture of your choice.

29. Merge all, flatten.

30. In your colour palette, keep the colour chosen earlier, but pick a dark complimenting colour also.

31. Image, add border and add a 2 pixel border using the darker of your two colours.

32. Image, add border and add a 2 pixel border using the ligher colour.

33. Image, add border and add a 2 pixel border using the darker colour.

34. Selections, select all.

35. Selections, modify, contract by 6.

36. Selections, invert.

37. Effects, 3D Effects, Drop shadow and use the following settings:-
    • Vertical & Horizontal:      2
      
    • Opacity:      45
      
    • Blur:      2
      
    • Color:      Black

38. Repeat the drop shadow changing the vertical and horizontal to –2 (minus).

39. Deselect.

40. Image, add border and make sure that symmetric is Unchecked.

41. Set your left and right margins to 35 and your top and bottom to 10, colour set to white.

42. Using your magic wand click inside the white border.

43. Effects, Plugins, Simple, Zoom out and Flip.

44. Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur and use a setting of 10.

45. Deselect.

46. Image, add border and add a 2 pixel symmetric border using the darker colour.

47. Image, add border and add a 2 pixel border using the lighter colour.

48. Image, add border and add a 5 pixel border using the darker colour.

49. Selections, select all.

50. Selections, modify, contract by 9.

51. Selections invert.

52. Add the two drop shadows that we used previously.

53. Deselect.

54. Add a new layer for your watermark.

55. Merge all, flatten.

56. Resize if necessary.

57. Windows duplicate.

58. Effects, Image Effects, Seamless tiling and use the following settings:-
    • Corner checked
      
    • Bidirectional checked
      
    • Transition:      100%
      
    • Curved checked.

59. Minimize the tiled graphic for now.

60. Set your foreground to pattern and search for the pattern that we just made.

61. Back to our original framed image.

62. Add a new layer.

63. Click on your pen tool and set it to Draw lines and Polylines. Chose the line style Fleur de lis Dashed, width set to 3.

64. Holding down the shift key so that your line stays straight, draw a line from roughly 50 pixels from the top to roughly 50 pixels from the bottom on the right hand side of your graphic in the blurred part of the frame.

65. Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel and use the same settings as before.

66. Effects, 3D Effects, Drop shadow and use the the following settings:-
    • Vertical:      0
      
    • Horizontal:      2
      
    • Opacity:      45
      
    • Blur:      2
      
    • Color:      Black
      
    • Shadow on new layer:      Unchecked.

67. Edit, copy.

68. Edit, paste as new image.

69. Export, gif optimizer and save this as your side borders.

70. Back to our framed image and merge all flatten. Save as a jpeg.

71. Back to our seamless image.

72. Right click in your layer palette and promote background layer.

73. Lower the opacity to around 35% or whatever suits you.

74. Merge all, flatten and save as your background.

    You can now put it all together in letter Creator, which comes with the IncrediMail program.

    © An Aushorty Creation – March 2005