Bullets

Bullets look quite nice as delimiters on a list of text (see my links page). Bullets can be created out of practically any shape. The following bullets were created using Wingding Fonts. All you need to do is type the character, and viola...a bullet. The first set were given a drop shadow, the second set were beveled using my Blade Pro "bevel" preset and the third set were beveled using the same preset I used for the title graphic called "chrome". Please note that you can download all the Blade Pro presets I use in this tutorial at the bottom of this page. The Chrome and Bevel presets used are applied to a colored graphic.

Spheres

Spheres make great bullets and are very easy to make with PSP. The selection tool, with "Antialias" set makes a perfect circle with smooth edges. Following are some examples of spheres (small for bullets, larger for buttons), with and without a drop shadow.

First, open a new graphic background color white. Then, add a new layer. If you create your spheres on the new layer (the background is transparent on this layer), you can then create a graphic of multiple spheres and then just select the sphere you want and paste it into a new graphic. To add drop shadows to your spheres, select the spheres with the selection tool, then hold down the shift key and hit one of the directional arrows. The selection will then fit to the spheres. Add a new layer and click on that layer. Add the drop shadow on the new layer. By adding the drop shadow on the new layer, you can place the shadow at 100% opacity, then play with the opacity slider on the shadow layer until you get the look you like.

The key to creating a sphere (i.e. gives the impression of being round) is in the Flood Fill tool with the Sunburst Gradient. You need to set your foreground color to white (or near white) and the background color to a very dark color. Then set the Sunburst Gradient values as follows (or whatever suits you, keeping in mind you want the "sunburst" to be in the upper left corner):

Shiny Spheres

This method creates a sphere that has a shine to it.

   

To create this sphere:

  1. Create new graphic 175x175 pixels. Add a new layer and fill the new layer with black.
  2. Set background color to black and foreground to what color you want your sphere to be (this works best with bright colors).
  3. Set the Airbrush tool to Size: 200; Shape: Round; Opacity: 100%; Hardness: None; Density: 100%, and Texture: None.
  4. Place the cursor at approximately 70,70 and hit the left mouse button once. You should now have an image that looks like this:

  5. Make a circular selection (with selection tool set to circle, and Antialias checked) approximately 80x80 (watch the coordinates in the lower left corner), then drag the selection with the mover tool (right click and drag) to a position that approximates the following:

    What you are looking for is the shiny spot at the center top and the bottom of the circle into the black area.
  6. Invert selection and hit delete. Invert your selection again and save the selection (Selections|Save to Alpha Channel). Deselect.
  7. Add another new layer.
  8. Set Marquee tool to Ellipse with a feather of 3. Select an area around the bright spot as follows:
  9. Fill with a very light version of main color. Choose Image|Blur|Blur More, then Image|Blur|Soften More. Play with the opacity slider on this layer until the "shine spot" looks good.
  10. Turn off the background layer. Click on either of the two top layers. Choose Layers|Merge|Merge Visible.
  11. Load your selection (Selections|Load form Alpha Channel).
  12. Choose Image|Rotate and rotate 25-35 degrees to the left with "All Layers" unchecked.
  13. Save as a PSP image. You can now flood fill the background color and save as a gif or jpg.
  14. Resize the graphic to create smaller spheres. This graphic resizes very well and when you resize the graphic, you resize the selection. So if you want to add a drop shadow after you resize the graphic, just load the selection from the resized graphic and add a drop shadow.
I have one psp graphic I created with 10 different colored spheres. That way, when I want a sphere, I just turn on the layer I want, flood fill the background with my background color and save as a gif or jpg.

PSP 6 Only

  1. Open a new white graphic 150 x 150.
  2. Add a new layer. Name it Sphere.
  3. Make a circular selection 130x130, antialias checked. Save your selection to an Alpha Channel.
  4. Set foreground to white and background to black.
  5. Set the Sunburst Gradient to Horizontal and Vertical 35.
  6. Set the gradient to Foreground-Background.
  7. Flood fill your circle. Do not deselect
  8. Right click on the layers palette and choose New Adjustment Layer>Curves.
  9. Enter 160 in the Input box and 90 in the Output box (or drag the center point)
  10. Click ok.
  11. Add another new layer and name it Color.
  12. Set the Layer Blend Mode on this layer to "Soft Light".
  13. Reset the flood fill tool to solid color and flood fill with a medium-dark color.
  14. If you flood fill with a light color, you may want to adjust the curve. Just double click on the Curve layer and adjust until you get a sphere that looks good to you.
  15. Save as a PSP file.

You now have a template for a sphere that you can color any way you want.

Horizontal Rules

Horizontal rules are easy to make in Paint Shop Pro. The first horizontal rule I want to demonstrate is actually just a colored gif stretched to be the length you want it to be.

Stretched Graphic Horizontal Rule

Create a gif or jpg the color you want 5 x 5 pixels. When you place the graphic give it a height and width definition. The following line was created with the width 500 and the height 5. You can obviously make it longer or thinner using the same approach.

Another approach for this colored gif would be to create a vertical line separating cells of a table. The following is a two cell table with the graphic placed in the first cell aligned to the right of the cell, with a width of 3 and a height of 60.

Text in the first cellText in the second cell

This is a nice effect if you are using table to present columns of text (like a newspaper).

Horizontal Bar

Following are several sample bars with instructions on how to create them:

Create a new graphic 500 x 10 pixels. Fill with any color. Add a new layer. Select All. Use the Cutout Filter first with Black as the shadow color, Opacity 100%, Blur 3, Offset 2,2. Add another new layer. Select all and use the cutout filter again with white as the shadow color, then offset -2,-2. Play with the opacity sliders on the two cutout layers to get the effect you like. You can test how it looks by duplicating the graphic (Shift|D), merging all the layers, selecting the graphic, copy the graphic and paste on a new graphic large enough to hold the bar.

Graphic 500 x 10 pixels. Fill with any color. Use the Graphics Plus Button filter.

Graphic 500 x 10 pixels. Fill with any color. Beveled with Blade Pro Preset "Bevel".

Graphic 500 x 10 pixels. Fill with any color. Beveled with Blade Pro Preset "Chrome".

Graphic 500 x 10 pixels. Filled with background graphic or color. Used marquee tool to outline bar in the upper left of the graphic, leaving room on the right and on the bottom for a drop shadow. Fill the selection area with the color for the bar, then apply a drop shadow and save as a transparent gif. If you want to make any of the above beveled bars with a drop shadow, just use this technique and bevel the bar before adding the drop shadow.

Fancy Bars

With all the dingbat fonts available, why settle for a plain old horizontal rule? You can easily make your own unique bars with any of the various fun dingbat fonts available out there. When you create these bar graphics, always work in layers with your base layer left for your background color. Following are some examples:

This is a plain old period, Blade Pro "Chrome" preset applied, with a drop shadow.

Again, a period, this time with the Blade Pro "Bevel" applied (with some adjustments) and a drop shadow.

This one is the "rs" from the font with the Cutout filter applied on a new layer: Background Color Black, Opacity 100%, Blur 6, Offset 1,1, then a white Drop Shadow applied, again on a new layer: Opacity 100%, Blur 1, Offset 1,1. Play with the opacity sliders on the Cutout and Shadow layers until you get the effect you like.

This is the "K" from the Pointers font with a drop shadow.

  1. Open the bar graphic. Find the bar you want. Duplicate the graphic (Shift-D). Merge all the layers of the duplicate graphic.
  2. Choose Masks|New|From Image (This Window, Source Luminance, Invert Mask Data selected). Then Selections|From Mask, Selections|Save to Alpha Channel, Masks|Delete and don't merge with layer.
  3. Flood fill this layer with White and add a new layer.
  4. Choose Selections|Load from Alpha Channel.
  5. Flood fill your selection with a color and bevel (I used the Chrome Blade Pro Preset).
  6. For the above graphic, I added another new layer, made an oval selection in the middle, flood filled with white, then applied my "jewel" preset with the lights set to a light and dark version of the color used for the graphic.
  7. If you have more than one layer for your graphic (not counting the background layer), merge the layers into one.
  8. Select your merged graphic and hit one of the directional arrows (this snaps your selection to just the grpahic).
  9. Add a new layer and add a drop shadow.
  10. Save as a psp file for future use.

Decorations

Decorating a home page can "set the mood" or be very annoying. Too many decorations on a page can make it look "busy" and cluttered. But, the judicious placement of a few decorations can make a home page stand out and can be very attractive. You can use clip art (keep it small) for decorations or you can use fonts. There are numerous "Dingbat" fonts available on the Web that are either freeware or shareware. Please visit my links page for links to numerous good dingbat font pages.

Dingbat fonts can be used to create divider bars, icons, or be just plain decorative. If the decoration is large enough, you can bevel it to make it pop out from the page. The decorations following were beveled with Alien Skin's Inner Bevel.

Beveling Sample

All is not lost if you don't have a beveling filter. You can create great dingbat decorations using a Metallic Text technique, and you can create a beveled effect with Paint Shop Pro's Cutout Filter.

The above decorations were all created as follows:

  • Create new graphic 16 million colors, background the color of your background graphic.
  • Add a new layer.
  • Place your dingbat font
  • Fill with a texture if desired (I filled these with wood) and don't deselect.
  • Add another new layer.
  • Apply cutout filter as follows:
    • Fill with interior color not checked
    • Shadow color Black
    • Opacity = 100%
    • Blur = 5
    • Vertical = -2 and Horizontal = -2
  • Add another new layer, and apply the cutout filter again with White as shadow color and Vertical = 2 and Horizontal = 2.
  • Play with the opacity layers on the two cutout layers until you get the look you want. Sometimes an offset of 1,1 and -1,-1 works better. Experiment.
  • When you get the effect you want, turn off the background layer and merge the three layers (Layers|Merge|Merge Visible).
  • To apply a drop shadow, select your graphic on the graphic layer, hold down the shift key and hit one of the directional arrow keys.
  • Add a new layer and add your drop shadow. Apply your shadow at 100% opacity, then play with the opacity slider on the shadow layer until you get the look you want.

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