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Gradient Squares

This tutorial is written for Paint Shop Pro 8, but can done in versions 7 or 9.  Some commands may be on different menus to those given in the instructions.

You can use just about any tube for this tag, but it looks best if the tube has an irregular shape and will overhang the edge of the center square in some places but not others.  If you want to use the bird tube I have used, you can download from my Bird and Animals Tubes page.

The font I've used is Adorable - you can download it from this site HERE, or use a font of your choice.

New image 300 x 300, Transparent Background, Raster

 

Layers menu, New Raster Layer

 

Click on the Tube tool, select the tube you want to use and click on the center of the image.  If the tube is too big, Undo and adjust the Scale, and then click again.  I used a scale setting of 60 with my bird tube.

If you have altered the scale of your tube from 100, then:

Adjust menu, Sharpness, Sharpen

 

 

On the Layer Pallet, click on the bottom layer (Raster1)

Click on the Flood Fill tool.

Set up the materials (color) pallet:

Set the foreground color to a very dark color from your tube.

Set the background color to a very light shade of the same colour (almost white but with just a hint of color).

 

 

Set the foreground material to Gradient, and then click on the large block to set the gradient options.

Set the Gradient type to Foreground-Background
Style = Radial
Angle = 0
Repeats = 7
make sure "Invert" is NOT ticked.
Horizontal=50
Vertical = 50

 

Fill the canvas with the gradient.

 

Selections menu, Select All

Selections menu, Modify, Contract   50

 

On the materials pallet, click on the swatch with the gradient, and then tick the Invert box

 

Fill the selected area with the gradient

Effects menu, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow

Horizontal = 2
Vertical = 2
Opacity = 50
Blur = 2
Color = Black

Effects menu, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow

Horizontal = -2
Vertical = -2
Opacity = 50
Blur = 2
Color = Black

 

Selections menu, Select None

On the Layer Pallet, Click on the top layer (Raster 2)

Click on the Mover tool (Picker tool in PSP Photo XI) and use it to adjust the position of your tube if you need to.  I found the straight bottom of my bird tube looked best lined up with the bottom of the inner square of gradient.

 

Effects menu, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow

Horizontal = 2
Vertical = 2
Opacity = 50
Blur = 2
Color = Black

Layers menu, Merge, Merge All (Flatten)

On PSP 7, switch your dark colour to be your background color.

Image menu, Add Borders

Right click on the color swatch and choose your dark color shade. (PSP 7 uses whatever the background color is set to)

Width = 1 (in all 4 boxes)

Layers menu, New Vector Layer

Click on the Text tool

Set the foreground material/colour to White and solid colour

Set the background colour to null (no-entry sign)

 

Click in the bottom center area of the image.

Font = Adorable
Size = 48 to 72 depending on length of name
Stroke Width = 2
Alignment = Centre
Anti-Alias = ticked (set to smooth on PSP9)

Enter name in the text box and click Apply

Click on the Object Selector tool (Picker tool in PSP Photo XI), and move the text into position below your tube. You can also stretch or squeeze the text to get a good fit, using the handles on the text selection frame.

When you are happy with the size/position of the text.....

 


Layers menu, Convert To Raster Layer

Effects menu, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow

Horizontal = 2
Vertical = 2
Opacity = 70
Blur = 2
Color = Black

Layers menu, Merge, Merge All (Flatten)

Save in .jpg format

 

Another example, made using a different tube