The Player

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This tutorial is copyrighted to Kaye @ Kaye'z Designz. You may print out for personal use but do not post to any site or distribute as your own. Any resemblance to others online is purely coincidental.
Supplies Needed: Paint Shop Pro any version, I used X2. You can get it from COREL. Tube of choice. I used one by Ted Hammond, it can be purchased at CILM. You may use your own color, gradient or pattern I used Orange Weird Gradient. Font of choice or use mine LMS Monday Night. Mask of choice or use mine WSL mask 317 from weescotlass. Notes: Open tube and mask in PSP. Open font and minimize to task bar. SAVE OFTEN.

Step 1 Open new canvas 500 X 500. Flood Fill with color, gradient or pattern of choice. I used Orange Weird Gradient Angle 45, Scale 50 and Colorized with these settings: 110, 109. I then went to Adjust / Brightness - Contrast: -25, 20. Name this layer BG.

Step 2 Add a New Layer. Flood Fill with another color, gradient or pattern of choice. I used Orange Weird Gradient pattern Angle 45, Scale 50.

Step 3 Apply mask of choice. I used WSL mask 317 with Invert Mask Data unchecked. Merge / Merge Group. Drop Shadow of choice, I didn’t use one. Name this layer mask. NOTE: At this point you can Colorize your mask to match your tube.

Step 4 Copy and Paste tube(s) of choice above mask layer. Drop Shadow of choice, mine was 3, 3, 65, 10, Black. Position on canvas to your liking. Name this layer tube.

Step 5 Add any other elements of choice.

Step 6 Activate your top layer and Grab your Text Tool with font and size of choice. I used LMS Monday Night, Vector, Size 50, Bold, Stroke 1 black, for fill I used same pattern used on mask layer. Type your text / name. Add Inner Bevel of choice. I used Bevel #2, 9, 0, 2, 0, 0, White, 315, 50, 30. Add Drop Shadow of choice. I used 2, 2, 65, 3 Black. Name this layer text.

Step 7 Add any copyrights required and / or watermark. If you don’t wish to animate Save As .pspimage to retain layers for future changes. Save As .jpg using Jpeg Optimizer to send thru group.

ANIMATION

Step 1 Activate the mask layer and Duplicate 2 times for a total of 3 layers.

Step 2 Activate bottom mask layer and go to Alien Skin’s / Xenofex 2 / Constellation: 7.09, 100, 28, 4, 50, 48, 45, Keep Original Image, Random Seed 1. Move up to copy of mask layer and repeat Constellation but hit Random Seed button once. Do the same to copy (2) of mask layer, repeat Constellation and hit Random Seed button once.
Step 3 Hide copy and copy (2) of mask layer. Copy Merged, go to Animation Shop and Paste as New Animation.

Step 4 Hide original mask layer, unhide copy of mask layer. Copy Merged, go back to Animation Shop and Paste after Current Frame. Do the same with copy (2) of mask layer.

Step 5 Save as .gif file with these settings: Slider all the way to top for Better Quality. Under Colors tab: 255 colors, Optimized Octree, Error Diffusion. Under Optimizations tab: Check Write minimal frames and Map Identical Pixels other boxes should be unchecked.

All done! I hope you have enjoyed my tutorial. Remember this is just a guide. Experiment using different colors, gradients or patterns, images and settings. Any questions you can reach me at kayewinters@zoomtown.com. This tutorial was written 7/11/09 by Kaye'z Designz.