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From YourSITE.com *NEW It’s true: I am not always as creative as I would like to be and that’s when templates can be so useful. They are great way to get the creative spirit flowing again, and I always have some templates ready to use. This month I’m going to show you how I use a template: I do this from templates/sketches I find in challenges and for this tutorial I’m going to use the SBB Template Challenge for May 15 – 28 by Amy Bleser. You can find it HERE  Now this template by Amy makes it quite easy for us PSP users as she has provided a psd layered version. Paint Shop Pro can read psd files, it just doesn’t support any layer information. To ensure you can open psd files with your version of PSP go to File>Preferences>File Format Associations on the Menu Bar.  In the box that appears scroll down the list to find the file extension psd and check to select it: now click OK to keep the file association.  You should now be able to open Amy’s page template and see all the layers in the Layers Palette.  I can’t take credit for the trick I’m going to show you next as our very own Tracey Rennemo taught me it a few months ago. It makes such a difference when using templates that I think everyone should know about it! If you look closely at the Layers Palette you will see a little lock near the top when you have a raster layer selected. In earlier PSP versions this lock may be at the end on the layer information and has a red X through it.   Click on the lock and the layer will then have “locked the transparency”. All that means is that only the opaque pixels on that layer will pick up any changes you make: the transparent pixels will remain exactly that, transparent. Before we go any further, click each layer in the Layers Palette to lock the transparency and then save your template in your native pspimage format.   Let’s start by selecting the Background layer in the template. Open a paper you want to use and go to Edit>Copy on the Menu Bar or use the shortcut Ctrl+c. Return to the template image, with the Background layer selected, and go to Edit>Paste As New Selection or use the shortcut Ctrl+e. Your paper will now appear as a floating selection above the Background layer: you can click on it once and you will be able to move it around until you are happy with its placement. If you happen to click on it twice it will become a Promoted Selection on its own layer which is not what we want: simply undo the command until you have the floating selection back, or delete the Promoted Selection layer and Paste As New Selection again.  In your Layers Palette you should see the floating Selection layer.  Here’s the clever part! Go to Selections>Select None on the Menu Bar or use the shortcut Ctrl+d. The paper you have pasted in will “clip” itself to the opaque pixels on the Background layer automatically. Now the Background layer fills the whole space, so now let’s move on and try it with the first circle layer so you can really see how it works. Choose another paper, open it and copy it just as before. In the template image click the next layer, Background Circle to select it and Paste As New Selection your paper. Finally repeat the Select None command using the Menu Bar or the shortcut Ctrl+d. Your template should now look like this – you can just see the green background circle there:  In the Layers Palette you will see the papers replace the grey as they have clipped themselves to the opaque pixels.  Not only is this method easier than creating selections from the shapes on each layer it also gives a crisp, neat edge to your clipped papers. I’ve done the second circle too so you can see the clean edges.  When using a template this method works so well, and is faster too, and once you have mastered the process you will use it all the time. When you get new templates, especially when they are in psd format, lock transparency on all the layers: save it in the native pspimage format: and your template will be ready for use whenever you are! You can download a PDF version of this tutorial by CLICKING HERE © Copyright by YourSITE.com |