Timeless - PTU Animated

Timeless

This tutorial was written by me on August 8th, 2012. Any resemblance to any other tutorial or tag is unintentional and is pure coincidence. Please do not claim my work as your own and do not post to any other website, blog or forum without permission from me. It is written with the assumption that you have a working knowledge of PSP and its components. It was written for PSP 9.

I recommend that you read through this or any tutorial you are attempting before starting it so you will know what to expect and how to get organized.

As with any of my tutorials when a plugin is required, change only the settings I recommend and leave the others on the default settings.

What you will need to accomplish this tutorial is this absolutely stunning kit by the uber talented Crazy Carita called Timeless Elegance.  You can purchase this kit on Barbara Jensen's site HERE...you can also purchase this tube on Barbara's site HERE.  Please support the arts and DO NOT use Barb's tubes without a license. Mask is a Shimmer's mask that you can download HERE. I could not find a website for theswe masks.  If this is your mask please contact me so I can give you credit here.  Brush I supplied HERE.  Plugins are Xero and Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Impact and Nature.  Font is CaslonNo540SwaD...you can find it HERE.

Let's do this...

First off I'm going to tell those of you who do not know how to install a .png or a jpeg image into your PSP brush folder which converts it to a brush to use in PSP.  Open the .png image I supplied as your brush into PSP then go to File/Export/Custom Brush.  Name your brush and click OK.  That's it, now you can use it as a brush.  Anything you put into your brushes this way cannot be any larger than 500 x 500 pixels.

Now start a 700 x 700 new white image, we'll resize in the end.  Copy and paste el5, the frame element into your new image and resize it 80%.  Copy and paste paper1 beneath this frame element and resize it 70% then use your Raster Deform tool (or your Pick tool) and drag the four corners to fit the paper inside the frame.

Next copy and paste the same paper above your background layer, resize it 80% and apply your mask.  (shimmers mask 10) Then duplicate the frame twice and place them over the two rectangle shapes in your mask.  Use your eraser tool to erase any of the mask outside the frames. And give each one a drop shadow using the following settings:

Your work should appear like this so far:

Copy and paste your tube on the top of your canvas...resize it 110% and duplicate it.  Drag the original tube beneath the first frame you pasted and then go back to the tube on top of the layer palette.  Erase parts of the tube outside the frame and do the same for the original tube.

In your layer palette go back to the tube on top of your canvas and then go to Adjust/

Automatic Saturation Enhancement and use these settings:

Then go to Effects/Plugins/Xero/Radiance and use these settings:

Next go to Effects/Plugins/Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Impact and use these settings:

 (You can tweak your shadows by moving the nodes around in the preview window. To move one node at a time hold down your CTRL key. It's very important to think about how a shadow would be cast realistically and how dark or how light it should be. This plugin is one of my favorites and one I use with nearly every single one of my tags.)

Next, above your mask layer copy and paste el8 and then go to Adjust/Hue and Saturation/Colorize and use these settings:

Then duplicate and flip it...duplicate it and rotate it 90 degrees by going to Image/Rotate/Free Rotate then duplicate and mirror it.  Fit the four elements together to form a diamond shape...it should look like this:

Once you have it arranged merge these four layers together and give it the same drop shadow you used above.

Using my image as a reference for size and placement, copy and paste the rest of the elements into your working canvas.  For precise sizing you can always use your Raster Deform or Pick tool and your natural elements don't have to be placed exactly where I placed mine.  An important thing to remember about natural elements is that nothing in nature grows symmetrically.  Don't forget your drop shadows.

For the Candelobra you want it to have some depth so use the perspective shadow by going to Effects/Plugins/Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Impact and use these setting:

And remember you can tweak your shadow by moving the nodes around, for moving one node at a time hold down your CTRL key.

The same for the humming bird, it should cast a shadow below it, your settings should be something like this:

Add your name with the CaslonNo540SwaD font and then go to Effects/Plugins/Eye Candy 5/Impact/Chrome and use these settings:

Duplicate your name and now go to Adjust/Hue and Saturation/Colorize and use these settings:

Grab your Selection tool with a 75% feather and select the lower parts of the letters of your name like the example below:

And hit delete a few times to get the gradient effect.  Add the same drop shadow.

Now add your copyright making sure it's legal and legible and we will get ready for animation...

Duplicate the candles four times for a total of five layers.  Hide the duplicates and make sure you're on the original layer in your palette.  About midway of the flame on the candles use your selection tool with a 2% feather to draw tiny areas for the flames like the example below:  (BE SURE YOU DO NOT MOVE THESE LAYERS AT ALL)

Now while still on the original candelobra layer go to Effect/Plugins/Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Nature/Fire and use these settings:

In the settings tab select Small Candle.  Apply the plugin and then hide the original layer, unhide and select the layer above it and go back to Effects/Plugins/Alien Skin Eye Candy 5/Nature/Fire and use the same settings you just used and hit the Random Seed button once.  Repeat this process for the remaining candle layers. On the last layer you just added flames to go to Effects/Plugins/Eye Candy 4000/Corona and use these settings on every candelobra layers selections:

Once done hide the last layer you just finished and unhide the original candles layer.

Let's animate...

Open Animation Shop..go to File/Jasc Software Products/Launch Animation Shop and go back to PSP.  Hold down CTRL + ALT + C to copy merged and then go back to Animation Shop and hit CTRL + v to paste a new animation...back to PSP.  Hide the original candles layer and unhide the duplicated layer right above it....hold down CTRL + ALT + C to copy merged...back to Animation Shop and this time hold down CTRL + ALT + L to paste this frame after the frame you pasted previously...go back to PSP and repeat this process for the remaining candles layers.  Your animation should have five frames.  You can check it by going to View/Animation...if you're satisfied with your animation resize it and save it as a .gif and you're done.

I'm pleased you tried my tutorial.  I hope you had fun with it and gleaned something to hone your PSP skills. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you have about any of my tutorials or with any issues with broken links, etc.

Blessing,

Trese