Never Stop Believing

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 darling tube by an artist I have just discovered, Al Rio

You must have a license to use his art and you can purchase his art at Taggers Delight

I am using an older but gorgeous kit by Tamie, called Magic Box.  You can purchase it at Dreams-N-Digital

Masks used are jojogrungyheart1 from Srappy Moments 

  Don't forget to leave some love;)

and I am still having problems with Mediafire so here's the one that I made for this tag, just right click and save

Plug-Ins Used:

Xenofex / Constellation

dsb flux / Bright Noise

Eye Candy 4000 / Gradient Glow

Fonts Used:

James Fajardo

HandmadeScript

**c&p=Copy and Paste As New Layer (I 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!!

Ali Rio Fairy: c&p as New Image, Resize Height to 500 pixels Resize Canvas 750 X 750 Centered

  

Open New Raster Layer, arrange below the tube layer and flood fill with white, name it Background

From Tamie’s Kit

Leaf Heart: c&p, Resize 80%, Desaturate (Adjust>Hue and Saturation>Hue/Saturation/Lightness)

Use your Manual Color Correction tool with these settings Source:#c0bcba, Target:#a7a814

Apply Brightness and Contrast (Adjust<Brightness and Contrast>Brightness/Contrast)

 

Duplicate and lock the 2 heart leaf layers together, arrange one below the tube and the other above.  Position the tube so that the flowers are just barely under the edge of the leaf heart, so that the blunt edge is not visible

First, you are going to erase the tree branch, on the tube, that is sticking out of the leaf heart. Next, erase most of the 2^nd leaf heart, except for the parts that are at the edges of the branch, on the left and at the edges of the flowers, on the right.  

 My 2^nd leaf heart layer looked like this

If you are satisfied with what you have, merge the remainder of the 2^nd layer down onto the tube layer; leave your 1^st heart leaf layer standing alone, you can add a Drop Shadow on the same layer.

If you are adding drop shadows to the Tube, make sure you add them on a separate layer.  Most of the time, I add a slighter shadow one direction (V & H: -1 or -2 (depending on the tube), O: between 20 & 50, B: is 3, some times less, just depends on the design).  The second shadow I add is darker and comes out more for example (V & H: 3, O: 60, B: 5)…all depends on personal taste

Activate the Background layer, grab your Preset Shapes tool and draw out a heart that is within the leaf heart dimensions (if you don’t have one, you can find some here).

Mine looked like this

Convert To Raster, with your Magic Wand, click on the heart Select>Modify>Feather:40, Invert Selection. Make the heart Invisible.

 P11: c&p, hit delete on your keyboard, Select>None

p12: activate your background layer again, c&p p12, duplicate this paper and Resize the 1^st layer by 110% and make it invisible, for now.

Open the jojogrungyheart1 mask and minimize.  Right click on the visible paper layer, in the Layers Palette, scroll up to New Mask Layer>From Image and choose the jojogrungyheart1 mask from the drop down menu

The mask layer is automatically activated; use your Pick tool set to Scale to bring it in to the edges of your leaf heart, right click on one of the layers in the group and Merge>Merge Group, Duplicate and Merge Down, to make it darker.  Now, make your tube invisible and grab your rectangular selection tool and select half of the heart on the right side, like this

Hit Delete on the keyboard, Select>None, Duplicate, Mirror and Merge Down, Add Drop Shadows On A New Layer

(this is not the shadow settings that I used, this is just a commonly used screen shot)

 1^st shadow V&H: -1, O: 100, B; 3, Color #7f5a75 / 2^nd shadow, change only V&H: 1, all the other settings the same.  Once you have done this, change the shadow color back to black

diamondrain: c&p, this one is all up to you…I cut and pasted different strands and parts of strands until I got what I wanted. Merged the layers together, arranged below my jojogrungyheart1 mask; activated the heart layer that I made with my preset shapes and, with my Magic Wand, clicked on the transparent part of the layer, activated the diamondrain layer and hit delete on the keyboard and added a Drop Shadow (V & H: 0, O: 50, B: 5 Color: Black) on a separate layer to make them show up more (we are going to add constellation to them)

Butterflies: c&p, Manual Color Correction Tool Source: #928fa4, Target: #148eb3, I arranged my original butterfly layer just above my jojogrungyheart1 mask, I cut a few and pasted them on new layers and moved them around to different places and arranged some layers above the tube, just do what you like with them

  

Flowers: c&p, Desaturate, Manual Color Correction tool Source: #393939, Target: #144465, Rotate 45^o Right, position at the bottom of the leaf heart and arrange layer just above the tube, Duplicate, Mirror, arrange layer down above the leaf heart layer. I added light drop shadows to these, on the same layer, just to give them more depth, simply un-tick the box that is circled in the above screenshot

On your 2^nd layer, grab your Lasso, set to Selection type: Point to Point, Mode: Add, Feather: 0, Smoothing: 0. Activate the 2^nd layer of flowers and select the flowers that are covering her foot and a little more, to allow for tube Drop Shadow, Cut, activate 1^st flowers layer, Edit>Paste Into Selection, Select>None

Flower: c&p, Desaturate, Manual Color Correction tool Source: #4c4c4c, Target: #145376, Resize 30%, Mirror, position to liking, arrange above 1^st flowers layers

Flower2: desaturate, Manual Color Correction tool, same settings, Resize 25%, position to liking, arrange above flower layer, Duplicate and position to liking

ribbonndpearls:  c&p, position and arrange above the leaf heart, Drop Shadow on same layer, Duplicate, arrange above tube, activate tube layer, Select>All, Select>Float, Select>Defloat, Invert, erase all the parts that you can, taking special care to leave a little extra at the top part of the branch and where the ribbon comes over the lower part of her leg.

Select>None, Erase the rest of the ribbon that is covering the tube

This is what my overlay looks like

Name this layer ribbonndpearl overlay

Fairycharm: c&p, resize 55%, apply Brightness and Contrast

Position to liking and arrange above the 1^st ribbonndpearls layer (not the overlay)

if you add drop shadows, add them on a separate layer

Never Stop Believing: James Fajardo font
Of course, you can put what ever wording you choose
Set your Foreground to #25678b and your Background to #14bad9. Open your Background options, select the Foreground/Background Gradient, set your Angle to 31, Repeats 10 and click OK. Type out your wording and Convert To Raster.  Select>All, Select>Float, Select>Defloat, Expand 2.  Activate the layer below your wording, Open New Raster Layer and flood fill your selection with white, name the layer (what ever your wording is) background, Select>None add a light Drop Shadow both directions, on the same layer

Name: HandmadeScript font

Choose a color of your liking for the background and set your foreground to a color that you want for the outline but make sure your Stroke is set to “0”

Type out your name and click on Apply, Rotate it 45^o Left and position; you can go back and change the font size by just positioning your text tool over your name and then click as soon as you see [A] and your text box will open with your name highlighted. 

Once you have your name the way you like it, Convert to Raster and Duplicate

Activate the 1^st name layer and apply Gradient Glow with these settings, select Fat and then change both color tubes to your Foreground color

I added Drop Shadows of  (V&H: -1, O: 30, B: 3 and V&H: 2, O: 45, B: 5) to this layer, on the same layer

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 a while back, that a slight Gradient Glow with a light color, will help in making your info more visible.

My Mask:  Make the remaining p12 paper layer visible, open my mask and minimize and apply the mask the same way that you did the other one, you can adjust the size, if you would like, with the Pick tool and lower the opacity to your liking; mine is at 59%

Add any other Drop Shadows to your liking

Now Let’s Animate

First, merge together all the non animated layers that are between the animated layers.  I don’t know about your PSP, but for some reason, my shadows are getting hella darker when I just merge down (with this one particular and there have been a few in the past that have done that, so I’ve had to make each group of layers that I wanted to merge, the only ones visible and Merge>Merge Visible

You can merge together everything between the fairycharm and the jojogrungyheart1 mask; you can only merge the 2 shadows to the heart mask together; your tube shadows can only be merged together too; you can start with the diamondrain shadow and merge them together with the background; if you have butterflies above the tube, you can merge those layers together too

Let’s do everything that has Bright Noise first and then we’ll do everything that has Constellation

Activate the jojogrungyheart1 mask layer. Select>All, Select>Float, Select>Defloat, Merge Down onto the merged shadow layer and Duplicate 3X

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

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Mix 2X for each new layer

Activate the tube layer: select around the wings with the Lasso tool, making sure to be careful where the wings meet the back and, at the bottom tip of the wings, you want to be careful not to include any part of the leaf.  Right click on the layer, in the Layers Palette and select Promote Selection To Layer, name the layer fairy wings and Duplicate 3X

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

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Mix 2X for each new layer

Never Stop Believing or other wording: Activate the layer, Select>All, Select>Float, Select>Defloat, Merge Down onto the wording background, Duplicate 3X

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

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Mix 2X for each new layer

Activate your name layer, Select>All, Select>Float, Select>Defloat, Merge Down onto, 1^st name layer, Duplicate 3X and apply Bright Noise with these settings

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Mix 2X for each new layer

Now for the Constellation

Activate the diamondrain layer, Duplicate 3X, Activate the 1^st layer and apply Constellation with these settings

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Random seed for each new layer

Grab your Magic Wand with these settings

Activate the fairycharm layer, select only the strings that the fairies are hanging on

Duplicate 3X

Activate the 1^st layer and apply Constellation with these settings

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Random seed for each new layer

Activate the ribbondpearl layer, Duplicate 3X, activate the ribbonndpearl overlay layer and duplicate 3X

With your Magic Wand on the same settings, select the white part of random pearls (I selected about every other one) do this on the overlay layer too. 

You are going to have to jump back and forth between the full layer and the overlay, so you will need to pay close attention and do not hit Random seed between each corresponding overlay; we are treating this as one object, which it will be once we are done

This is about what my selection looked like, I filled the selections with a pink shade because the marching ants selections were so small 

Activate the 1^st ribbondpearl layer and apply Constellation with the same settings used on diamondrain

Repeat on the 1^st overlay layer

Activate the 2^nd ribbonndpearl layer and apply Constellation, clicking on Random seed, activate the 2^nd overlay layer and apply Constellation

Repeat these steps for the 3^rd and 4^th layers of both groups clicking on Random seed for the ribbonndpearl layers only

Activate the 1^st fairy wings layer and apply Constellation with these settings

Repeat on the 2^nd through the 4^th layers, clicking on Random seed for each new layer

Now you can Merge Down the tube onto the shadow and duplicate all non-animated layers so that you have 4 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 2 layers in each group

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)

OR

you can copy (Ctrl+C) your 1^st layer and Paste As New Animation (Ctrl+V) in AS3, Copy your 2^nd layer and Paste After Current Frame (Shift+Ctrl+L) and repeat with your 3^rd and 4^th layers but I have had some get all screwed up that way, so I prefer to just save it and open in AS3

If you are saving as a WWO, you know what to do…if you don’t, refer back to one of my earlier tuts

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)

Well…a lot of animation but we are finally done!

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

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