EASY! You will need Paint Shop Pro (any
version) and my selections
file which is
an empty psp file with alpha selections to make it fast and easy; a basic knowledge
of where to find the Layers palette and Alpha Channel selections in your version of PSP.
Will mention, my selection file may not be posted anywhere, it's
mine - anything you create using it is YOURS to do with as you please.
If you don't need the images, you can use TEXT ONLY to print.
HERE WE GO!
Step 1 Open the csgBrandySnifferSELECTIONSfile.psp file in PSP. It is a large image. If you look at the layer palette, you will notice a few of the layers have the layer opacity preset with a starting point - this is for ease of developing the image - you will adjust them later according to you own likes and uses. If your Layers palette isn't visible, activate it (in PSP versions 6 & 7 by pressing the L key). Find your Selections Alpha Channel (in PSP versions 6 & 7, it's under the Selections menu/Load from Alpha Channel).
Step 2 Select a color for your glass, dark, medium or light - doesn't matter - I used #3D280B for the image above, which I created as a walk through for this tutorial.
Step 3 The selection file defaults to layer sniffer-Layer1; Load from Alpha Channel, sniffer-Layer1 and flood fill selection with your chosen color, deselect..
Step 4 Activate layer snifferLayer2, Load selection from Alpha Channel, sniffer-Layer2 and flood fill with same color, deselect.
Step 5 Change color to a darker shade of the same color, I used #0B0803. Activate layer stemContour and load stemShadow selection from Alpha Channel, flood fill and deselect. This is a good place to use SAVE AS to save your file with a different name so you don't overwrite your template! You can name it myBrandySniffer or whatever else you prefer.
Step 6 Change color to a bright gold, I used #E5A701. Activate layer goldenHighlights and load goldenHighlights from Alpha Channel, flood fill and deselect.
Step 7 Change color to creme or white, I used #FBF3EB. Activate layer cremeHighlights and load cremeHighlights from Alpha, flood fill and deselect. SAVE!!!
Step 8 If you don't want liquid in the glass, you can skip to Step 12 NOW; otherwise, select a color for your liquid, I used #F6E6C4. Activate layer liquidLevelliquidLevel from Alpha, flood fill and deselect.
Step 9 Activate layer liquidTop and load liquidLevelTop from Alpha, flood fill with same color; DO NOT deselect. Activate liquidLevel layer, hit the delete key, then deselect.
Step 10 Activate layer liquidLevelHighlight and load liquidLevelHighlight from Alpha, flood fill with same color; DO NOT deselect. Contract selection by 2, hit the delete key, then deselect.
Step 11 Activate layer bubbles and load bubbles from Alpha, flood fill with same color and deselect. SAVE!!!
Step 12 and load If you skipped the liquid steps, RESUME here! Activate layer YOUR CONTENT and find an image to copy/paste to this layer. Positioning, editing of water layers and adjustments to adjusted layers may be necessary depending on the image you select. *When changing opacity levels, always make sure layers sniffer-Layer1 and snifferLayer 2 are set to the same opacity level. *The translucency of the image will be lost when a solid color background is applied, so you might prefer to use a patterned background.
***For this image, I chose a frog on a lily pad which meant I had to erase parts of the liquid layers. I did that by pasting the image to the layer, then resizing it by resizing ONLY that layer; then I used the rectangle tool with anti-alias UNCHECKED to drag a selection around the tube and set the selection by clicking once inside the selected area; I saved that selection to Alpha Channel (from the Selections menu) and deselected. I activated the liquidLevel layer and loaded the new selection so I could erase the image area, being careful to not erase and of the lower liquidLevelHighlight line; then I activated the liquidTop layer and deleted the area of that layer that was above the lower liquidLeveHightlight line; then I activated the liquidLevelHightlight layer and erased the top line; then I deselected. To finish off the image so that it is as it appears at the top of the tutorial, I activated snifferLayer2 and started decreasing the opacity until I was happy with the way the frog showed through the glass - I decided 60 was a good place to stop for this image, so I changed the sniffer-Layer1 opacity to 60 also. Those two layers need to be the same opacity regardless of what other opacity levels you might set for the other layers.
For the image without liquid below, I added the image to YOUR CONTENT layer, reduced opacity of sniffer-Layer1 and snifferLayer2 to 60. You can see that the glass doesn't appear as translucent on a solid color background, but who cares? I don't! LOL
If you don't need the images, you can use TEXT ONLY to print.
HERE WE GO!
Step 1 Open the csgBrandySnifferSELECTIONSfile.psp file in PSP. It is a large image. If you look at the layer palette, you will notice a few of the layers have the layer opacity preset with a starting point - this is for ease of developing the image - you will adjust them later according to you own likes and uses. If your Layers palette isn't visible, activate it (in PSP versions 6 & 7 by pressing the L key). Find your Selections Alpha Channel (in PSP versions 6 & 7, it's under the Selections menu/Load from Alpha Channel).
Step 2 Select a color for your glass, dark, medium or light - doesn't matter - I used #3D280B for the image above, which I created as a walk through for this tutorial.
Step 3 The selection file defaults to layer sniffer-Layer1; Load from Alpha Channel, sniffer-Layer1 and flood fill selection with your chosen color, deselect..
Step 4 Activate layer snifferLayer2, Load selection from Alpha Channel, sniffer-Layer2 and flood fill with same color, deselect.
Step 5 Change color to a darker shade of the same color, I used #0B0803. Activate layer stemContour and load stemShadow selection from Alpha Channel, flood fill and deselect. This is a good place to use SAVE AS to save your file with a different name so you don't overwrite your template! You can name it myBrandySniffer or whatever else you prefer.
Step 6 Change color to a bright gold, I used #E5A701. Activate layer goldenHighlights and load goldenHighlights from Alpha Channel, flood fill and deselect.
Step 7 Change color to creme or white, I used #FBF3EB. Activate layer cremeHighlights and load cremeHighlights from Alpha, flood fill and deselect. SAVE!!!
Step 8 If you don't want liquid in the glass, you can skip to Step 12 NOW; otherwise, select a color for your liquid, I used #F6E6C4. Activate layer liquidLevelliquidLevel from Alpha, flood fill and deselect.
Step 9 Activate layer liquidTop and load liquidLevelTop from Alpha, flood fill with same color; DO NOT deselect. Activate liquidLevel layer, hit the delete key, then deselect.
Step 10 Activate layer liquidLevelHighlight and load liquidLevelHighlight from Alpha, flood fill with same color; DO NOT deselect. Contract selection by 2, hit the delete key, then deselect.
Step 11 Activate layer bubbles and load bubbles from Alpha, flood fill with same color and deselect. SAVE!!!
Step 12 and load If you skipped the liquid steps, RESUME here! Activate layer YOUR CONTENT and find an image to copy/paste to this layer. Positioning, editing of water layers and adjustments to adjusted layers may be necessary depending on the image you select. *When changing opacity levels, always make sure layers sniffer-Layer1 and snifferLayer 2 are set to the same opacity level. *The translucency of the image will be lost when a solid color background is applied, so you might prefer to use a patterned background.
***For this image, I chose a frog on a lily pad which meant I had to erase parts of the liquid layers. I did that by pasting the image to the layer, then resizing it by resizing ONLY that layer; then I used the rectangle tool with anti-alias UNCHECKED to drag a selection around the tube and set the selection by clicking once inside the selected area; I saved that selection to Alpha Channel (from the Selections menu) and deselected. I activated the liquidLevel layer and loaded the new selection so I could erase the image area, being careful to not erase and of the lower liquidLevelHighlight line; then I activated the liquidTop layer and deleted the area of that layer that was above the lower liquidLeveHightlight line; then I activated the liquidLevelHightlight layer and erased the top line; then I deselected. To finish off the image so that it is as it appears at the top of the tutorial, I activated snifferLayer2 and started decreasing the opacity until I was happy with the way the frog showed through the glass - I decided 60 was a good place to stop for this image, so I changed the sniffer-Layer1 opacity to 60 also. Those two layers need to be the same opacity regardless of what other opacity levels you might set for the other layers.
For the image without liquid below, I added the image to YOUR CONTENT layer, reduced opacity of sniffer-Layer1 and snifferLayer2 to 60. You can see that the glass doesn't appear as translucent on a solid color background, but who cares? I don't! LOL
Once you've been through the tutorial, you can
make all kinds of personal changes from color, to making your own highlights,
to adding trims on the merged image. You can even save the brandy
sniffer by sandwiching it so you can change the contents again and again. To
do that, you hide the snifferLayer-1
and the YOUR CONTENT
layers, activate a different layer and merge all other layers using
Layers/Merge/Merge Visible menu,
then make snifferLayer-1
and the YOUR CONTENT layers visible
again, activate the YOUR CONTENT
layer and then SAVE-AS or just SAVE since you already renamed the file.
When you open it again, all you have to do is flop a different image in it and use
SAVE AS so your sandwich file isn't destroyed.
WARNING:: Would do no good to save sandwich of image with liquids because the liquids
would have to be changed for image changes! Finished. Close window when Finished. * I do not generally compress my
graphics but for the sake of loading time - the tutorial graphics are
compressed!
Some EXAMPLES made by others.
(opens in a new window)
Tutorial by CSGreen
June 10, 2004