Skull-Licious (PTU)

I wrote this tutorial using PSPX2 and Animation Shop 3

This tut is written for those with a working knowledge of PSP and AS3 (Although, I do try to write them in a way that, those of you who are new, can understand and follow them too).

I am using a gorgeous tube by Lix.  You must have a license to use her work and you get it, along with the purchase of the tube at PTE

The scrap kit I am using is yet another aweome kit, called Pinki, by Tamie and you can purchase it at Dreams-N-Digital

The Mask I am using is Vix_Mask404 and you can get it here

Plug-Ins Used:

Xenofex / Constellation

dsb flux / Bright Noise

Eye Candy 4000 / Gradient Glow

Font Used:

Annabelle

**c&p=Copy and Paste As New Layer (I almost always c&p as a top layer so I can see what I’m doing, then arrange the layer where I want it)

**When working with duplicate layers, I always refer to them as 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd…and so on, from the bottom up.

Remember to save often!!

Open a New Image at 750 X 750 and flood fill with white

Main Tube & CU: c&p both into your new canvas and mirror the CU

Grab your copyright info too c&p and name this layer “©” (Alt+0169). Move it to one of the far corners or edges, for now; keeping it one layer above/below your main tube.

From Tamies Awesome Kit

chainframe: c&p, Resize 90%, arrange below your Main Tube, position your Main Tube to liking, make sure your CU is layer is below the frame

Activate the frame layer and grab your Magic Wand with these settings

 Click once inside your frame, Expand (Selections>Modify>Expand) 2, Invert (Selection>Invert), activate your white background layer.

p3: I used this paper but there are other great papers to choose from, c&p, hit delete on your keyboard, Select>None.

Position the CU to your liking and Duplicate, lock the 2 CU layers together

Activate the 1^st CU and apply Xero / Radiance with the default settings, change the Blend Mode of both CU’s to Soft Light

Activate the paper layer and, with your Magic Wand, select the transparent area around it

Activate the 1^st CU, hit Delete on the keyboard and repeat for the 2^nd CU (I did it in this order and had you lock your CU’s, just in case you wanted to move them around a little, once you saw how it looked with the Radiance and Soft Light)

splatter: c&p, Rotate 80^o Left, Flip, position to your liking and arrange the layer just above your background layer

Duplicate, Mirror and position to liking.  I erased a little here and there…do what you like best

starscatters: c&p, Resize 80%, position, to your liking, at top of frame, arrange above frame layer, Duplicate and move the 2^nd layer down to the bottom of the frame and position to your liking

bow4: c&p, Resize 65%, position to liking, arrange above Starscatters

teddy: c&p, Resize 60%, position to liking, arrange above bow4

ribbon: c&p, Rotate 90^o Right, Resize 85%, position to liking and arrange layer above teddy and below the main tube

keychain: c&p, position at upper right corner of frame, name this layer “0”

butterfly: c&p, Resize 50%. Rotate 15^o Right, position to liking over the ring on the chain.

Mask: open Vix mask and minimize, activate the white background, open New Raster Layer and flood fill with a color of your choice, right click on the layer, over in the layers palette, scroll up to New Mask Layer>From Image and select Vix mask from the drop down menu

 

the mask is the active layer in the group, you can use your pick tool to adjust the mask to your liking.  Once you are satisfied with your mask, right click on one of the layers in the group and Merge>Merge Group

Name: Choose a color of your choice for the background color and make your foreground #000000 (black).  Make sure that the stroke is set to “0”.  Type out your name, click on apply, Rotate 15o Left and position it to your liking.  (for WWO’s, name this layer Name Vector, Duplicate, hide the vector) Convert to Raster, Duplicate and lock the 2 name layers together (lock the vector too, if you are saving one); you might want to find yourself re-positioning them after this next step, especially if you are working with a long name. like mine.

 Activate the 1st name layer and apply Gradient Glow with these settings

OK…we are getting ready to add the animation.  If you want Drop Shadows on the chainframe or the butterfly, add the Drop Shadows now on a separate layer, check the box that is circled

(these are not necessarily the settings that I used…this is just a commonly used screen shot)

You can add Drop Shadows, on the same layer, to any layers that are not animated, including bow4 because the only animation is away from the edges.  So, you just un-check the box that is circled in the above screen shot

** I wait until I am done with the rotation and positioning of my dangly (keychain, in this case) before I add the shadows to it. 

Find a good place for the copyright and your license #.  I suggest that you place it in a way that it can not be removed or altered without being obvious.  Also, I learned awhile back, that a slight Gradient Glow with a light color, will help in making your info more visible.

Lets Animate

First, merge together all the non animated layers that are between the animated layers.

Merge Down the 1st CU onto your paper, followed by the 2nd (it’s important that you do it in this order and, if you don’t understand why, try it the other way, starting with your frame drop shadow (if you have one) and then the 2^nd CU Merged Down onto the 1^st CU and you will see the difference).

Now, if you have a frame Drop Shadow, merge that layer down onto your merged paper and CU’s and continue to Merge Down to the white background.

Merge together all of your layers that are between the chainframe and the keychain

  and your layers palette should look like this.

(you’ll have to excuse some of my layer names…that’s how I keep track of what I do)

Activate the chainframe and Duplicate 7X

Activate the 1st layer and apply Constellation with these settings

Repeat for the 2^nd through the 8^th layers, clicking on Random seed for each new layer

bow4 (this is the bow with the skull hanging from it) should be merged with all the layers between the frame and the keychain

Activate this layer, zoom in on the skull and grab your Magic Wand with these settings

Select the eyes, like this

Duplicate the layer 7X, activate the 1^st layer and apply Constellation with these settings

Repeat for the 2^nd through the 8^th layers, clicking on Random seed for each new layer (there were some that I didn’t like so well so I clicked on Random seed a few times until I got the look that I wanted)

Make the butterfly and it’s Drop Shadow/s, if you have any, Invisible

Activate the keychain “0” layer and Duplicate, name this layer 15 Right; Rotate 15^o Right, line up the rings, at the top, with each other; like this

Activate the keychain “0” layer, Duplicate, arrange above the 15 Right layer, name the layer 30 Right, Rotate 30^o Right and line it up just like the one before

Duplicate the 15 Right layer, arrange layer above the 30 Right layer

Duplicate the “0” layer, arrange above the 2^nd 15 Right layer (it should now be the top keychain layer)

Duplicate the “0” layer again, name it 15 left, Rotate 15^o Left and line up the ring with the others

Duplicate the “0” layer again, arrange above 15 left, name it 30 Left and, yep…you guessed it…Rotate 30^o Left and line up the ring

Duplicate 15 left and arrange it above 30 Left

We now have a swinging keychain which should look like this

This is where I added drop shadows on the same layer

(V+H = -1, O = 35, B = 3 & V+H = 2, O = 50, B = 5)

Lock your keychain layers together

Tip: if you right click on the lock button, it will automatically go to the next new lock, rather than left clicking until you are not locked to anything else, once you have done that with your 1^st layer, just activate each keychain layer and hit (Ctrl+Y) on your keyboard until you have locked them all together

Make your butterfly and Drop Shadow/s (if you have any), Visible and move it to cover the ring; if you locked your keychain layers together, you can play around with the butterfly and keychains until you are satisfied with their positions

Activate the butterfly layer and grab you Magic Wand with these settings

Select all the red parts of the butterfly, like this

If you have Drop Shadow/s, Merge Down the butterfly onto it (or them) and Duplicate this layer 7X

Activate your 1^st layer and apply Bright Noise with these settings

Repeat for the 2^nd through the 8^th layers, clicking on Mix 2X for each new layer

  (if you are saving as a WWO, you will want to skip this name part and just merge your other layers and save as a .pspimage)

Activate the 2^nd name layer, Select>All, Select>Float, Select>Defloat

Merge Down onto the name layer with the Gradient Glow, Duplicate 7X

Activate the 1^st layer and apply Bright Noise with these settings

Repeat for the 2^nd through the 8^th layers, clicking on Mix 2X for each new layer

Now, Duplicate the background layer 7X; you should now have 8 layers of everything

Activate your 1^st background layer (the very bottom layer in your layers palette), right click, View>Current Only

Now, make ONLY the 1^st layer of each group visible, right click on your visible background layer, Merge>Merge Visible. 

Make this merged layer invisible and make the next layer in each group visible, right click on your visible background layer, Merge>Merge Visible make this layer invisible and repeat these steps for the next 6 layers in each group

If you are saving as a WWO, your layers palette should like this

  If you are just doing one name, your layers palette should look like this

View>All, Crop, Resize to your liking and save as a .psd or .psp (animation shop)…I always save as a .psd and a .pspimage (for the WWO’s...I only Crop; DO NOT Resize because the settings will be off when you add a different name)

Animation Shop 3

Open your image in AS3, Select>All (Ctrl+A), Frame Properties (Alt+Enter) and change the value to 13, hit Enter on the keyboard.  and Optimize (Shift+Z)

Walla…there you have it!  

I would love to see your version or results of my tut and would like to add them to my blog.  Feel free to email them to me; just make sure that you put “tut results” or something to that effect, in the subject or I will delete it without opening it

©X's & O's Dzynz and Tutorials

This Tutorial was written in August, 2011 by me, MsGoddess2U, and the concept of the tutorial is copyrighted.
See my TOU for further details