Vectors 101 for PSP X

  This tutorial is best viewed at 1024x768.
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This tutorial will hopefully walk you through the basic steps of how to vector in Paint Shop Pro X.
We will be making an simple bow, everyone needs a bow tube from time to time.

1. Open Paint Shop Pro X. Go to File, New and set to these settings...

2 Go to File, Save As. Name your canvas bow.pspimage, click on the Options tab,
make sure that "Save as: PSP X compatible file" is the one that is selected. Click okay
and then Save.

2. Set your background color to #ffc1f1 foreground should be off.

3. On the left hand side of PSP you will see a vertical "Tool Bar" something like
this one...

Click to make active the Preset Tool Ellipse.

4. Once you've activated the preset tools, at the top of your screen on a task bar below
the bar that has File, Edit, View, etc, you will see a task bar similar to this one...

Set to the above settings. Because we won't be using a foreground color the width doesn't
matter.

5. Now we're ready to make our first vector. On the upper left side of the canvas, click
and hold the left mouse button, slide the mouse over to the right and down making an
oval across your canvas. Let go of the mouse. You should have something like this....

Note, I have given the coordinates of my oval in the screenshot above. Some people like having
those in order to get the placement exactly the same as what the tutorial authors is.

6. With your mouse pointer over your oval, click on the right mouse button. A drop down
menu will open like the one below, select "Convert to path"....

7. On the left side Tool Bar click on the Pen Tool

If you're really new to PSP you're probably wondering "what's a node?", nodes
are the 4 small squares you see around the outline on your oval. Nodes are what
we use to change the shape of the oval into whatever shape we want. You can
add new nodes and also change the type of node. We will be exploring how to do
that as we go.

8. With the left mouse button, click once on the top center node. You will see an
arrow through the small square. Click and hold the square and move it down towards
towards the center of your oval....

9. Click on the bottom center node and move it up towards the center...

10. See the node on the left end? We need to add a new node on the line above it.
Put your mouse pointer on the line, hold the CTRL key on your keyboard until you see
a +ADD sign below the pointer arrow....

Click once to add a new node....

11.Click on and hold the new node, pull it up...

12. Click on the original node and move it down...

13. Repeat the same steps as above for the right side...

 

14.Click on the bottom left node. Right click on it and a menu will drop down, select
Node Type, then Cusp...

To better understand the different types of nodes and how they are used please refer to
my Exploring Node Types tutorial.

15.By changing the node type to Cusp we can give our bow a rounder end. You will see an
arrow on your node, run your mouse out to the end of the top handle on your arrow until
you see two curved turning arrows. Click and hold as you move your arrow outward just
a little to round out the side of your bow...

16. Click and hold on the bottom of the arrow, move it upward a little to round the end...

Go to File, Save

17. Click on the top node, right click and change the node type to Cusp. Round out the corner
of it like you did the bottom.

18. Do the right side like you did the left side. You should have something like this now...

19. Move your center nodes back up a little...

20. In the taskbar at the top, click on the button. This brings you out of node
edit mode.

Go to File, Save

21. Make Raster 1 layer your active layer. Go to Layers, New Vector Layer.

22. Preset Shapes same as above. Draw out another oval at the bottom of your first
vector shape...

23. Right click, Convert to path. Click on the Pen Tool. Look in your Layers Palette and click
on the eye beside Vector 2 layer...

See what that does? It turns the color off on the oval. To turn it back on just click on the eye
again but for now leave it off...

24. Move the middle bottom node up so that it is just below the top middle node...

Go to File, Save

25. Right click on the bottom node, change the type to Cusp. Move each end of the
handles downward...

26. Click on the left node, turn the node to the left and move the handles inward to close
in the loop a little, do the same thing to the right side. You may even need to move the nodes
in some so that they aren't over the edge of the top oval...

This will make the underside of the bows loop. Once it's shaded you'll be able to see it better.

Go to File, Save

27. Click on the eye in the Layers Palette to make the color visible again. Click Apply.

28. Make Raster 1 Layer your active layer. Go to Layers, New Vector Layer.

29. Preset Shapes set to Rectangle, all other settings the same as we used for the Ellipse
shape.

30 Draw out a rectangle in the center of your bow and all the way down to almost the
bottom of your canvas...

31. Right Click, Convert to Path, click on the Pen Tool.

32. On the bottom line of your rectangle I want you to add 3 new nodes...

Go to File, Save

33. In the Layers Palette click on the eye beside your rectangle layer to turn the color
off. Move the center node you added up to above the bow so that it looks like you have
a pair of pants almost...

34. Move the top left node inward towards the center node...

35. Move the right node towards the center node.

36. Move the bottom left node up and out towards the edge a little. Do the right side
the same way...

37. Click on the eye in the Layers Palette to make your color visible again. Click Apply.

Go to File, Save

38. Make Vector Layer 1 your active layer (it should be your top layer). Add a New
Vector Layer. Change your Preset Shapes back to Ellipse.

39. Draw out an oval across the center of your bow...

40. Right click, Convert to Path, click on the Pen Tool.

41. Move the right side node in, move the left side node in. Right click on the bottom
node and change the type to Cusp. Pull down a little on each end of the arrow. You
should have something like this...

42. Click Apply. You're finished, you now have a simple bow. Now you can save a copy
of your bow with your vectors intact if you want.

Go to File, Save

43. In the Layers Palette right click on each of the vector shapes and select Convert to
Raster Layer...

44.Make your top layer your active layer. Go to Selections, Select All, Selections, Float.
You should have marching ants around the center of your bow. Go to Effects, 3D Effects,
Cutout and apply these settings...
Shadow color #fe98e7

45. Selections, Select None.

46. Make the second layer from the top your active layer (this should be your main bow
layer). Select and Float the layer just like you did the center layer. Apply the same
cutout to this layer....

Selections, Select None.

47. Skip the 3rd layer (should be the under part of the bow) and make the ends of the bow
your active layer. Select and Float the layer, apply the same cutout to the layer.

48. Make active the back part of the bow layer the 3rd layer. Select and Float the layer.
Apply a cutout using these settings...

Selections, Select None.

49. This is what you should have now...

50. In the Layer Palette click on the eye on the bottom Raster Layer. Make any of the
other layers your active layer, it doesn't matter which. Go to Layers, Merge, Merge Visible.

51. Go to Edit, Copy. Go to Edit, Paste as a New Image. This removes any excess area not
needed. Go to File, Export, Picture Tube. Name your bow and click okay....

You can now find your bow in your list of tubes! You can close out the two canvases.

I hope you've enjoyed and learned from this tutorial and you feel more comfortable
using vectors in PSP X.

Until next time... God Bless!
Connie