PAINT SHOP PRO 7 TUTORIAL

(Creating Stained Glass Images)

 

STEP 1:
Open up your clipart in PSP. If it is a .gif file, then go to "Colors, View Palette Transparency" to see which parts of the image are transparent.

It may be best at this point to work with a copy of your image, saving your original in case you mess up.

STEP 2:
Turn this image into a layer, if it isn't already. (Do that by right-clicking the background layer in your layer palette and selecting "Promote to Layer".)

Your image must be in 24 bit color in order to do this. If your image is not in 24 bit color, increase the color depth (Colors, Increase Color Depth)

STEP 3:
Using your magic wand (set at Tolerence 20, Feather 0), click on each area that you wish to be transparent in your finished product.

Either hold down the "Shift" key while making the selections and hit "Delete" after everything is selected, or hit "Delete" after each and every selection. (I prefer the former.)

STEP 4:
At this point, make sure that there are no white areas peeking outside of the black lines of your clipart. If there is one thing that irks a graphics designer, it's those little white lines that weren't quite removed around the edges of the image.

Do this by using your magic wand and holding the "Shift" key down while selecting all the transparent areas.

Now expand your selection by 1 pixel (Selections, Modify, Expand) and then hit the delete key. You can check to make sure that you got all the stray white, by creating another layer under your image and filling it with a darker color. This will make any stray white areas stand out like a sore thumb. If there is white showing, expand your selection by another pixel and "delete" to get rid of it.

Once your clipart is cleaned up, you're ready to proceed with the fun part!

STEP 5:
Figure out what part of the image you want to start to work with. For the example in this tutorial, I will use the chicks shown on the index page.

First, I chose the birds. I selected the body of the birds by using my magic wand and the Shift key. (I also had to pixel paint some of the lines with black to close them off, so my wand wouldn't select all the white outside the birds, too.)

STEP 6:
In the example above, I simply flood-filled the birds with a solid light yellow. Leaviing the area selected, I chose the Lighting effect to give it the gradient/light look. (If you are using PSP6, you won't have this feature, but you can flood fill with a plain gradient or use a Pool Shadow filter.)

STEP 7:
Continue selecting, filling with color (pixel painting to close off broken lines if necessary), and using effects, on each segment that will have color. It is important to note here, not to use a lot of texture, because glass is supposed to be smooth. A slight roughness is o.k., but in this tutorial, I chose not to use any texture in my glass.

DO NOT SELECT ANY OF THE BLACK AREAS! We will use the black lines and areas as the "solder" that holds the glass pieces together.

Here's where my image stands at present:

STEP 8:
Now it's time to make the loop at the top. This will be the "hook" to hang your stained glass in the window!

Click on the Shapes Tool and set it up as follows: (be sure your foreground color is set to black, and your "fill" is nil.)

STEP 9:
Create another layer to make your loop on, because you may have to position it after you've drawn it.

Draw a small circle at the very top of your image. Position the loop so it touches the black outline of your clipart, but doesn't overlap too much.

After you're done with your loop and it's positioned correctly, Merge Visible to make everything one layer again.

STEP 10:
With your magic wand selected again, click anywhere on the black outlines. To be sure that you have selected every bit of black possible, go to "Selections, Modify, Select Similar"

In this example, my outlines are too thin to really look like solder in a stained glass figurine. I need to expand the selection by 1 pixel (Selections, Modify, Expand). If you're outlines are thick enough, expanding the selection is not necessary.

STEP 11 - For those who had to expand their selection:
Create another layer and drag it under your image. Make your main layer invisible.

With your bottom layer and your selection active, flood fill that layer with black.

STEP 12:
Now make your main colored layer visible, deselect everything, and merge visible.

You should now have thicker black outlines, all colors showing, and everything on one layer.

STEP 13:
Using your magic wand one last time, select something black, then "Select Similar" to make sure you have absolutely all black selected.

STEP 14:
Using the Inner Bevel feature, bevel all the selected black, with the following setup:

You're done! Save your file as a transparent .gif or .psp image, and you have a very nice decoration for a "virtual" window!!

RESULT:

Tutorial by Creator Esther