This is my first attempt at a tutorial and I hope that you enjoy it. Now like any other tutorial my settings are not the only ones you can use, they are just the ones I used to make the border on this page. If you would like to use my images, I've put them into a file called bgimages.zip.
All the images were made in Paint Shop Pro using Tubes... most of them from the JASC Software free tube downloads, or were native to Paint Shop Pro version, 5.01.
I do hope you find this tutorial helpful in some way... and will e-mail me at: theped@hotmail.com if you want to comment on this tutorial.
This tutorial came about because a lot of people were wondering how I created the background at my Ares page. So, the technique is the same, even if the images are different.
Open a new image 300 x 600
white background
16 million colors
Now open the images you want to use for the side border
Using Shift, Open however many layers on the Layers Palette (Hit L if it isn't already open) on the LARGE image, that you have images to add
Make sure that layer 1 is active
Now choose any image to start with...
Resize image ("Image | Resize")
width=150
height=*** (I ended up with 112)
I used those settings on all my images because they started out 320 x 240. Simply make sure that the WIDTH of each image is 100- 150 pixels, and that the Maintain aspect ratio button is also checked.
Copy the image (Ctrl+C) and paste as a new selection (Edit | Paste | Paste as a new Selection (Ctrl+E))
Make sure the image aligns at (0,0) Coordinates are in the lower left hand side of the PSP window
Release selection ("Selections | Select None")
Activate Layer2
Repeat the minimizing, copying, and pasting steps for each of the images you want to use. If the 600 pixel height is not enough for the images you want to use... make sure your background color is white. Also be sure that each image aligns at (0,???)... and that NO white areas are discernable between the images.
Canvas Size(Image | Canvas Size)
Leave both horizontal and vertical unchecked then add the space you need.. on the BACKGROUND layer at the bottom.
If the height of the image is too large, we'll resize it at the end
Now minimize the layered image
Open a New image (File | New Image)
Width=200
Height=50
White Background
16 Million Colors
Change your color ("Doubleclick on foreground color"). Make sure it will contrast nicely with the images in the film strip.
If you're using my images, Set it to:
red = 09
green = 102
blue = 172
or HTML Code: #0966AC
Flood Fill the smaller selection:
Fill Style = Solid Color
Matchmode = RGB Value
Tolerance = 20
Opacity = 100
Leave the Sample Merged box unchecked
Change your color ("Doubleclick on foreground color")
Make the Foreground color white now
Type a nice font ("Choose the [A] icon on the toolbar")
Write something appropriate here... can be a short phrase or whatever.
If it's not big enough for what you want Resize the image ("Image | Resize")
Align your text to the LEFT side of the image
Select a rectangle of only the text (Antialias unchecked)
Crop Image to Selection (Image | Crop to Selection...)
Resize to 20 pixel Height
Make sure your fill color is the background color
Canvas Size (Image | Canvas Size)
Add ten pixels to the right side
Save the image (File | Save As..) Choose something that will help you remember what this is later
Rotate image ("Image | Rotate")
Left, 90 Degrees
The words should now Running up the image.
Reopen your layered image
Add a new layer, Name it "Words"
Copy the word image (Edit | Copy)
Start pasting them from the bottom of your last image, to the top.
If you find that the image won't paste well.. simply resize the words to a smaller width (nothing smaller than 10 or the words won't be readable)
Remember to undo all your previous pastings, should you need to resize.
Should the words no longer reach the top edge of your images... simply make a "blue" (or whatever color you are using) square of the same width as your words... and start pasting it. You may also move the layer up a little to put the blue squares at the bottom of the image as well.
As a side note... It was suggested to me that the Flood fill method,using patterns and selections would be easier.. using this method will sometimes require more work to achieve a seamless tiling effect
Save the layered image
Close the word image... clicking Yes, only if you want to keep the rotating and resizing
Duplicate the window (Shift + D)
Close the original layered image image... I recommend you save this when it asks.
Merge the all layers (Layers | Merge | Merga All (Flatten))
Using the selection tool, choose the unused white at the bottom of your image (if you have any). I used the zoom tool to make sure I grabbed only the white area
Now Invert the selction (Selections | Invert)
Crop to Selection (Image | Crop to Selection)
Add a Border of 1000 Pixels to the right side of the Image. Be sure White is your background color
To check this tiling, open a new image 640 x 480... and fill this as a pattern. If you do not like how it tiles (ie. too large), simply undo the border step on the stripped image and resize it. Then add a border of 1000 pixels again, and re-test it.
When you are finally happy with the way this image tiles, Save this new image as a .JPG
Now we're done.. hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
This tutorial was created by
Ped
Created June 18, 1999
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