PSP Tutorials (Full Version)

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TheGrrlGeek -> PSP Tutorials (3/23/2005 0:44:35)

I'm currently running PSP 9.0 and find that though I can add text to something easy enough, trying to make more complex graphics eludes me. Does anyone know of any good PSP tutorial sites?



jaybee -> RE: PSP Tutorials (3/23/2005 5:26:05)

It really depends on what you want to do. There are loads of sites around with tutorials on specific things like Gold text for example.

Google for "PSP Tutorial" and you'll see what I mean.



bushbaby -> RE: PSP Tutorials (3/27/2005 3:51:44)

http://forums.delphiforums.com/graphx1/start holds free classes in PSP. I believe http://www.pspug.org/ also holds classes. In addition, as jaybee said, there are many tutorials available on the Internet. It sounds as if you really want to learn how to create your own graphics, and I would recommend taking classes for that. You will learn how to use all the features of PSP and after that, the only limit is your imagination.
Cheers,



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/18/2005 16:42:33)

Here's a nice site for learning advanced techniques in psp 9
Loadboy.com



Nicole -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/18/2005 19:12:26)

Hi Jennifer,

When I first received Paint Shop Pro 8, I went and bought a book "How to do Everything With Paint Shop Pro" by Dave Huss and read it cover to cover while practicing with PSP on the screen. It's not a thick book and it's pretty explanatory. I'm sure there's another release for PSP 9.

There's also a Paint Shop Pro Forum although I found it quite slow, you could read through some of the questions and responses there to help you.

Nicole



womble -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/19/2005 6:11:29)

I also use the 'For Dummies' PSP book - lots of clear screenshots and step by step instructions so I don't get confused [;)]



briesmith -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/24/2005 12:38:49)

Using PSP can be a real problem depending on what you want to do. Do you want graphics (sunsets, photo montages etc) or prettied-up, striking, visually appealing text for web page banners etc?

It won't make an artist of you if you haven't any ability in that area so I can't/don't use it to create graphics.

I can type text so what I really want to use PSP for is to to create graphical text and I have to say that for such a basic requirement - roughly equivalent to typing paragraphs in a word processor I suppose - PSP makes a real meal of it.

If you go to Xara 3D and other products like it you can create enormous numbers of text graphics; all in textures, colours and other effects that no one in their right mind would use in a million years. I also tried Adobe Photoshop Elements but that didn't do what I want either.

So it's back to PSP (full Adobe PhotoShop being several times more difficult to learn/use than PSP as well as being fantastically expensive).

Why PSP can't simply produce simple text effects I don't know. The Help is wrong for PSP 9 referring you to the Magic Wand method of applying effects to text; in my experience this doesn't work. The other method; creating a vector layer with the desired text on it then making a copy raster layer, setting the vector layer to invisible (so you can retrieve it later for changes, updates etc ) and applying text effects to the raster "copy" works sometimes and for no reason I have ever been able to work out, doesn't on other times.

There are loads of tutorials out but all seem directed at producing clever graphics. I haven't found one that takes you through working with text from start to finish. Which is strange because playing around with text - forgetting images, photos etc - must be a regular task for anybody doing web stuff. I wonder if it isn't covered because no one knows reliably how to do it...

Sometimes it just works; I type in some text, select a text effect and PSP applies it. Next time this happens I'll write down what I did and post it here.

Until then, good luck.

PS If anybody knows a good PSP and Working with Text tutorial please post the URL. Many thanks.



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/24/2005 14:49:15)

Hello briesmith,

Text graphics are just as easy as any other web grahic.

If you would email me a picture or post a Url of a text sample that has caught your fancy, I would be more than happy to create a tutorial for you.


Have a great day.



RickP -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/24/2005 14:57:50)

Hi

I started using PSP8 a few months ago so I'm no expert! But I can just point out a couple of things that you can experiment with...

There are, to my knowledge, no 'instant add-effect-to text' buttons but you can do so in a number of ways. First of all, do you realise that text can be added three ways.

1. As Vector text
2. As selection
3. As floating selection

You need to select which type of text you want. Here's my simplistic understanding to date...

1. If you choose 'vector' the text addition appears in the layers palette and you can R-click it, choose 'properties' and edit color and stroke. Text can be moved using the move vector text/shapes tool.

2. Selection & Floating: you can add effects under 'effects' on the menu bar. This type of text can be moved by using the regular 'move tool'. You'll need to play around with R-Click&Drag and ctrl/shift drag too.

The rest is too much to write and my knowlege of PSP is fairly limited at present but I hope this gives some useful clues of where to be looking.



RickP -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/24/2005 15:29:08)

SkyDiveDad - I'll take you up on your offer if I may...

It's not a text question but... How do I do this...

Say I have a vertical pole - either a previous image or created as a vector shape and I want to create the effect of something being 'wrapped' around it. e.g. like a snake wrapped around a tree branch. How do I do this?

Thanks



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/24/2005 16:35:59)

:) No problem. Now, I haven't tried this with a pre-existing image as the item that gets wrapped. But to see if were close.. is this what your looking for? Click Here



RickP -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/25/2005 6:12:19)

Exactly [;)] I look forward to your tips on how to acheive it.

And another one (if it's not too much[:)]) just a quicky (I think)... how do I 'blend' or 'merge' two edges together...

e.g. I have a red square and a yellow square next to each other (touching). I want them to become 'one' - i.e. an oblong that starts red and transitions into yellow.

Another e.g. Two photos are side by side and I want them to transition from one 'scene' to the next' (i.e. a blurry mixture of the two inbetween)

All tips gratefully lapped up[8D]

Thanks



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/25/2005 13:30:55)

No problem RickP! I'm almost done with a "presentable" tutorial for you. Should (fingers crossed) be done later this evening as time permits.


Well... as much as it pains me.. and believe me IT DOES.. back to work...*sniffle...



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/26/2005 1:21:38)

Okay RickP, give this a try:click me



briesmith -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/26/2005 10:27:55)

We (hope to) set-up lots of websites for different sports leagues and each one has a different name and other titling that we would like to make more visually appealling than simple text.

You can see what we do here www.wrc.leaguemanager.biz , www.lsl.leaguemanager.biz , www.wya.leaguemanager.biz , www.kavsa.leaguemanager.biz and www.wosl.leaguemanager.biz .

As each league comes along I get my PSP hat out and spend far too much time trying to make something visually attractive out of their name within the confines of the header frame by creating a transparent .gif to display against a background we control via CSS.

As you will quickly see from the websites I've given you, I'm not very good.

Any help you can give would be much appreciated (and taken full advantage off!)



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/26/2005 13:22:07)

Hello briesmith,

I have lots of thoughts racing through my head after reading your post, and you do have a few options available to you. Please be patient with me forum Moderator, I'm not trying to change the theme of this forum, but hopefully provide insight to anyone else with this issue, and I'll bring it around full circle back to the the forum topic :)

Quick Info about me: I'm a web applications developer at heart. Love database driven sites, the power I have over the the entire site is second to none.

1. Remember graphics aren't always everything! Look at Google. Content is King and Queen out here.

2. First issue of major concern. Duplicate content. Do a search on the web for dup content penalties from the search engines. That's a penalty that can cost you greatly in both search engine rankings and the famous "google pr" value.

3. Modifying the Header text via css is the fastest and quickest way to alter the colors, size etc when it comes to "cookie cutting" sites.

Now, to make each site both visually appealing AND unique takes patience and a labor of love. If you've ever been so frustrated trying to create an image, and have been caught simulating a helicopter with your computer's mouse cord at full length (or your cat's), then it just may not be your cup of tea!

An option would be to either outsource the graphics portion of the sites, or just slow down abit and take the time and effort to achieve the look/feel your comfortable with for each site individually!

For theme based template sites I've created in the past, I've started with an alphabet folder which contained more folders named after the colors I wanted. Then I've created each individual letter, then saved them as the various colors. As most image headers are usually heavy anyway, loading the individual letters at the very least increased page loading time.

Just food for thought.



RickP -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/27/2005 4:01:58)

Thanks SkyDiveDad - much appreciated - my image attached.

I suppose you created the image at the top of your page with PSP? You may have a helped me with the tutorial but now I give up completely![8|]

Regarding fine adjusting of selections... when I tried to 'modify' selection it caused the corners to round as I expanded it - how can I expand the selection and keep its shape?

I've bookmarked your tutorials page - they look really good - thanks



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/27/2005 9:49:55)

Hello RickP,

Yes I created the header in Psp. It was actually my first attempt at this style of header. Trust me..LOL , it's not very good by my standards today and I'm working on my "master piece" that will replace that template.

As far as trying to keep the image uniform in shape when you select the Raster Deform Tool (D) up at the top bar you should see "Scale X(%):" and "Scale Y(%):" .

Just keep those two numbers the same.

Best of luck.



RickP -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/30/2005 14:22:48)

Great - thanks again - must see the 'masterpiece' when finished![;)]



briesmith -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/31/2005 6:46:52)

Hi SkyDiveDad

We have writen a small program which modifies a text file which we include into a CSS file programmatically to completely control all the colours and text styles of our websites and that works very well. As the changes are made a model of our web page frameset alters in "real time" to show the effect of the change and help the website designer decied whether the change is "good" (a keeper) or "bad" (try something else).

We have used a graphics designer to produce header and sidebar with titling combinations - and very successfully - but it's expensive at about £150 a time (especially so when our web service is free to users) and inflexible as the design applies to one league (and we hope for 100s if not 1000s). You can see this at www.whfa.leaguemanager.biz and www.hsc.leaguemanager.biz .

I don't understand your point about duplicate content but then I've never ever got to grips with google rankings; none of our websites have ever made it in so far as getting google's attention so we've given up. (Comforted by the possible demise of google as a search approach because of its semi-religious opacity and the ever increasing preponderance of paid-for ads rather then genuine search "hits").

Leaving google aside we are left where we came in with our initial text production problem...



d a v e -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/31/2005 10:45:34)

£150 seems quite steep for something like in those example pages - if you're interested in some more competitive offers try asking in this forum (like, er, me for example)...



SkyDiveDad -> RE: PSP Tutorials (8/31/2005 14:06:42)

Hello again briesmith,

I can understand your frustration. First, do a google search for "duplicate content penalties " then you'll see what I mean a bit better. This is probably why your website(s) are not getting listed.

Example of duplicate content for you:

http://www.wrc.leaguemanager.biz/ >League News > Club Websites

http://www.lsl.leaguemanager.biz/ > League News > Club Websites

http://www.wya.leaguemanager.biz/ > League News > Club websites

Three different domains, each containing the same words on the page name etc. .

Take just one of those sites, rename the link and modify the words. Try that for just 14 days, and see what happens ;)



briesmith -> RE: PSP Tutorials (9/1/2005 6:13:09)

Hello Skydivedad

When you mentioned duplicate content penalties I did as you suggested and had a look at what people have to say about it.

I concluded that it's a bit of a problem for people like us who develop sites which are designed to be set-up repeatedly over and over again.

We don't really want to have to individualise each site we win because of the cost.

The problem really seems to be with google/Yahoo/MSN - like a lot of searching problems - and their inability to deal with off the peg websites like leaguemanager.biz.

I really do believe that current searching technology is very poor.

Any search done on any search engine will bring up:
multiple mentions of the same sites;
sites from overseas when UK was specified;
hits on portals sites like eBay, kelkoo etc which are totally irrelevant (search for "death" and eBay and Amazon will probably say they've got it!);
major, massive suppliers of the good or service searched for are not found, a search for our business "Sports League Management" does not bring up the two major UK suppliers but does display all sorts of US outfits although UK only was specified.

So I'm not too bothered; it's just a little irksome that google et al are so important and so beyond management or prediction.

I suppose we'll just have to live with it and rely on word of mouth.

Brian Smith

PS I was being a little flippant but wrongly as it turns out


[image]local://upfiles/7086/D432EC6FC7C943F0BF3DAEBAF90B7C42.gif[/image]



ChazLockwood -> RE: PSP Tutorials (4/3/2006 9:53:10)


quote:

ORIGINAL: SkyDiveDad

Hello briesmith,

Text graphics are just as easy as any other web grahic.

If you would email me a picture or post a Url of a text sample that has caught your fancy, I would be more than happy to create a tutorial for you.


Have a great day.



Hi SkyDiveDad,

Reading through the postings from a few months ago, your message to briesmith caught my eye. Was your offer of creating a tutorial for a text graphic a personal favour for briesmith, or would you be happy to create one for a complete stranger?

Thanks,

Chaz.



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