©rae

The following tutorial written by Rae for PSP versions 8 & 9

August 11, 2005.

This tutorial is ©rae and its' supplies are not to be redistributed to other Groups, Messageboards or through Email; translated and redistributed to other Groups, Messageboards or through Email etc. .. without Permission. Nor may you copy this tutorial and claim it as your own, in any manner.

Thank You

This tut calls for an outside filter - EyeCandy 3.1

Find the tutorial Supplies

Here

I've made the first steps a bit easier for you by separating the body parts, swiveling the dogs' head, changing his ears and positioning the two shaking heads where they need to be. Your job will be to 'shake' his body and write your name in mustard ..

ok.. here we go :

Open the 'weinerdog layers.psp' at your program.
Open the 'Libbyscript' .ttf and minimize.

*if you are using PSP 8 - skip down to the instructions inside the red table

At your layer palette - leave all layers turned off, as they are. Only 'head Left, bun w mustard, feet and base' should be ON.

Highlight the 'bun w mustard' layer
Adjust > Blur > Radial Blur :

Turn ON the 'mustard drops' layer
place it (just once = at one side) along this track of movement :

Layers > Merge > Merge visible
When I have you merge layers, as we build your animation - I'll have you 'drag n drop' that layer :
- left click on the Layer Palette > on the 'Merged' layer
- hold your Left mouse button down
- drag your cursor into your open work area > and 'release' the mouse
- your copied, merged layer will make it's own image
- at every Merge > drag n drop into that image > it will apply as it's 'own' layer
- then we'll 'Undo' once - it will undo the Merge at your original layers
drag n drop
undo

Turn OFF 'bun w mustard' layer

Turn OFF 'head Left' layer

Turn ON 'head Right' layer

Turn ON 'bun plain' layer

select 'bun plain' layer
Adjust > Blur > Radial Blur :

select the 'mustard drops' layer
Image > Mirror
place it, again, along that imaginary line.. moving it up just a bit or down so that it isn't directly across from the previous drop
Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new image canvas
undo

How to Mimic Radial Blur Effect using PSP8
your dog shake will look like this *Ü* :

3a.

select the 'bun w mustard' layer
Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur at 5

Effects > Distortion > Ripple :

Turn ON the 'mustard drops' layer

place it (just once at one side) along this track of movement :

Layers > Merge > Merge visible

drag n drop to new image canvas

undo

3b.

turn OFF 'head Left' layer
turn OFF 'bun w mustard' layer

turn ON 'head Right' layer
turn ON 'bun plain' layer

at 'bun plain' layer :

Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur at 5

Effects > Distortion > Ripple :

select the 'mustard drops' layer

Image > Mirror

place it, again, along that imaginary line.. moving it up just a bit or down so that it isn't directly across from the previous drop

Layers > Merge > Merge visible

drag n drop to new image canvas

undo

Turn OFF 'mustard drops'

Turn OFF 'head Right'

Turn OFF 'bun plain'

Turn OFF 'feet'

Turn ON 'dog plain'

Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new image canvas
undo

Highlight the 'dog plain' layer & select the Pen Tool with these settings :

At your Materials Palette :

Foreground - any color
Background - null

With your Pen, click where shown and pull your pen - say 1/4 inch - to have the control arm appear :

The above may appear confusing if you've never done a bezier curve before.. just pull on those arrows and middle nodes and you'll get the feel for it.

Open your Text Tool with these settings:

place your cursor at the bezier curve until you see the 'text A' appear

enter your Text using 'Libbyscript' font - NO CAPS if possible
you will want to shorten your name if it's too long to fit

Since your text is entered as a Vector - you'll now use the editing nodes to pull and shape your text along the bezier curve :

be careful not to pull your text too high over his back & into thin air
make sure not to let your first letter lay over the dog's ears - keep it on the weiner and bun

after you've shaped your text - expand the Vector Group and 'X' out the path, to remove the bezier curve
at the 'Vector' layer - right click > Convert to Raster
Rename as 'Text'

Here I'll show what to do if you have letters like 't' and 'd' that stand too high:

after you've shaped your text - expand the Vector Group and 'X' out the path, to remove the bezier curve
at the 'Vector' layer - right click > Convert to Raster
Rename as 'Text'

with your Lasso Tool set to 'Freehand' - cut through the high portions of your text - using a soft curve at each

at your keyboard - hit the Delete key
select none

you see that your text remains legible

Now I'll walk you through the steps to make your text look like mustard.

At your Text layer
Selections > Select All > Float
Effects > EyeCandy 3.1 > Glass, with these settings :

Now, Selections > Invert *if Invert is greyed out : Selections > Defloat
then Selections > Invert
Drop Shadow :

remain 'Inverted'
apply another Drop Shadow, these settings :

Now, Selections > Invert again *so your drop shadow will fall onto the bun
Drop Shadow with these settings :

Select None

You will have applied a highlight and a shadow into the text.. and cast a drop shadow onto the dog to look like this :

Turn ON the 'Top Frame' layer

Turn ON the 'Mustard Bottle' layer
Turn OFF 'Base' layer

Delete these layers :

mustard drops
head Left
head Right
head
bun plain
bun w mustard
feet

Again, you will be dragging your merged layers over to the canvas with your previous dragged layers.

with your Mover Tool - for the first frame, you want the mustard bottle to just enter the canvas.
use the background grid and your text 'starting point' as a guide to keep your bottle moving, into the consecutive frames, on the same path

Here is a guide example.. place your bottle at your text start.. and define your path and where to place at each grid square

now move your bottle back along that line - placing the circled portion into the grid square.. but have the bottle just entering the frame, like this :

Turn ON 'base' layer
Turn OFF 'Text' Layer

Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new image canvas
undo

Turn OFF 'Base' layer
move the bottle about 4 grid squares forward :

Turn ON 'Base' layer
Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new image canvas
undo

Turn OFF 'Base' layer
again move your bottle forward about 4 grid squares

Turn ON 'Base' layer
Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new image canvas
undo

10.

Turn ON 'Text' layer
Move your bottle tip to the start of your text

Before you begin subtracting areas of the text - keep in mind how to move along the letters in a natural penmanship flow.

For example: on an 'a', you might form the oval portion - then add the tail; on a 't', make the downward stroke, then cross it from left to right..etc

With your Lasso Tool set to 'Freehand' .. Feather = 2
highlight the Text layer *zoom in if it will help
surround all your text but for a portion at the tip of the bottle :

at your keyboard - hit the Delete key :

Right click to Deselect
Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new image canvas
undo 4 times *to get your unselected text back

11.

Move your bottle halfway up your letter
lasso around your text again - excluding the text in front of your bottle tip :

at your keyboard - hit the Delete key
Right click to Deselect
Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new canvas
undo 4 times *to get your unselected text back

12.

Continue as above - through your letters.

Yes, it will take some time. You may be tempted to not have as many frames by not cutting away the text at as many places/halfway points on each letter. It can work that way but your animation won't flow as smoothly. I leave the choice to you *Ü*

This part of the tut is the most important part of your animation.

**Remember to keep in mind the penmanship movement at each letter.

***Take your time and try not to cut off the drop shadows at the letters that were previously copied over. If your freehand lasso is shaky - you can switch to 'Point to Point' and zoom in for a more precise cut. You will have to plan some letters but you'll get the hang of it. *Ü*

13.

Once you've reached the end of your text - you'll want to turn off the Base in order to see your grid.. and back out the bottle as you brought it in *remember to turn your Base layer back on before Merging :

After you've dragged n dropped your layers of the bottle moving offscreen
Turn OFF the mustard bottle
Layers > Merge > Merge visible
drag n drop to new canvas

You're done! *whew .. now we'll save and go to Animation Shop.

At your New canvas with all your merged/moved layers
Save As a Paint Shop Pro Image (.psp)

Open AS

browse to open your file
Holding down the Shift key - click on Frame1 and then Frame2 to select both
Right click > Duplicate Selected
again, Right click > Duplicate Selected *you will now have 8 frames of the dog shaking

Here are the Frame Speeds to change - just two frames :

Animation > Frame Properties > Display Time
Frame #9 - (dog no text, standing still) enter 75
Final Frame (dog alone without the bottle) - enter 100

Now resize your animation :

mine is sized 80 % Bicubic

Here are my Optimization settings :

255 Colors
Optimized Octree
Error Diffusion
Write Minimal Frames
Collapse Identical Frames
Map Identical to Transparent

Give yourself a big pat on the back! you're finished!

.. and I'd Love to see your result ~rae