Forum Archives

Combining multiple images

lpbh25 — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 09:44:00

Hi, I am trying to merge two or more images together to create a seamless, larger image, I know that you use the gradient tool and masks, but I am not sure about exactly how. Can anyone help?

Thanks.

Event Viewer, when PSP crashes/freezes

D_Spider — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:48:59

Here is how to determine the specific cause of freeze-ups and crashes, when it's likely that something more than just PSP is malfunctioning.

Reflection Effect by MT Pockets

D_Spider — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:07:10

Quoted from 5999

I saw this subtle reflection effect on a web page -->
and I'd love to be able to create one myself.

Do you need to use a plugin to get this
effect in PSP?

Is there a way to do it using just PSP tools? . . . . . . . . . . . .

You can do it using only PSP tools if your version has a "Styles" tab in the Layers Palette.*  Here's how:

1. Open your image; promote the Background layer to a Raster layer and name it "Image."

2. In the Materials Palette,  set the foreground to white and the background to black.

3. Add new layer. On this layer you will place a gradient. Use the Foreground to Background gradient.  Set angle at 180 and fill with gradient.

4. Move layer to bottom.

5. Go back to image layer and double click in a blank area of the layer in the Layers palette.

6. On the upper right corner of the Layers Properties sheet, select Preview on Image.

7. Place check mark in Reflections.

8. You then will see a thumbnail of the image with a red bar across and near the bottom. If you place your cursor on the red bar you will be able to adjust up or down or sideways to suit your needs. You also have sliders above the thumbnail to adjust the size and opacity of the reflection.  These things you will have to experiment with on a picture by picture basis. Usually the default setting works well.

9. When you are happy with how it looks, merge your layers and save the file.
    Use File > Export > JPG Optimizer or File > Export > PNG Optimizer if you are going to use this reflection image on a web page.
_________________________________

*  If your version of PSP doesn't have a "Styles" tab in the Layers palette, there will be a new Barbara T tutorial for you soon; in the meantime, see this thread.

Or you can use this link to find Reflection Plugins for PSP.

"Simplifier" Plugin Effect Tutorial

D_Spider — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:05:44

This tells how to get the effect of the "Simplifier" plugin without having to use the plugin.  It started out being based on this
a PhotoshopCafe "Sketch" tutorial.  But, since PSP's filters and effects and layers palette are different from Adobe's, the procedures diverge early on.

The goal is to make a realistic photograph into a sort of watercolor, the way Amphisoft's "Simplifier" plugin does.
(It can be used on non-photographic images, too, for interesting effects.)

There are two processes to follow at the same time.  One changes the original photo right away and works on two copies of it, and the other keeps the original photo in reserve as the bottom layer and blends the "simplified" result with the original.  We're going to do both processes at the same time so that you can decide, at the end, which one produces the effect you like best.

1.  Choose an appropriate photograph.  In the  Layers Palette, duplicate this original and rename the duplicate "Lighter"; then make the original background layer invisible and, if you want, rename it "Original."

2.  Make "Lighter" lighter by using Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Levels; click on and drag the white-point slider (white; at the right end of the upper, Input-Levels adjustment area) to the left until the image looks a little too bright.  You may want to try using the gamma adjustment (center slider; move it or change the number to 1.10 or 1.20) and see if you like what it does.  When the image is a little too bright and a little too pale, click OK on the Levels dialog.

3.  Make a duplicate of the "Lighter" layer and name it "Effects" and leave it on top of the Layers Palette.

4.  With the top "Effects" layer highlighted (activated), do Effects > Artistic > Posterize.  Select a value of about 9 in the Posterize dialog box.  Try lower and higher values just to see what their effects are.  Decide on a value and click OK to close the dialog.

5.  In the Layers Palette, change the blend mode of "Effects" from Normal to Luminance.

6.  In the Layers Palette, click on the opacity triangle or on "100%" (to the left of "Luminance") and then use your keyboard arrow keys to decrease the opacity of this "Effects" layer until you like the way it blends with the "Lighter" layer under it.

7.  If you really like what you see, flatten all the layers and you're done; your photo has been Simplified.

8.  If you're not quite sure you like the effect, or if you're curious, make the "Lighter" layer invisible and the bottom layer (Background or "Original") visible.

9.  Now change the opacity of the "Effects" layer and see if you find a blend of "Effects" and "Original" that suits you.

10.  Save the three-layer file as a PSPIMAGE.

11.  When you finally decide which two layers to blend ("Effects" and "Lighter," or "Effects" and "Original") and which degree of opacity to use on the "Effects" layer, flatten the image (your PSPIMAGE will be safe, ready to re-edit if you change your mind) and Save As a new filename.  This new file is your Simplified photograph, and you made it without needing a plugin.

Plugins & Filters Tutorial Update

D_Spider — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:40:30

Quoted from 5999

What is the difference between "Filters" and "Plugins" ?
Filters are discrete units of code that perform operations on image (and other kinds of digital) files.  They may be part of an application (as is the "Sharpen" filter in PSP); or they may be separate from the application (as is AAA's "FotoFrame") but able to be invoked from within the application, in which case they are called plugins.

What are files with the extension *.8bf?
They are the files called "plugins," originally developed for Photoshop and compatible with Paint Shop Pro and some other graphics applications.  AAA's "FotoFrame" in my computer is ...\GraphicsPlugins\AAA\fotoframe.8bf

Is the installing procedure described here--http://www.pspug.org/filters/filterinstall.shtml--still up-to-date (for vX2) ?
Generally, yes.  I'll explain the modifications of that procedure that you should follow below.

How do I find out (in advance - not by trial and error) if a plugin/filter requires PLUGIN.DLL or not?
By finding someone with a computer the hardware, software, and configuration of which is identical with yours, who has the plugin in question, and asking them if they needed to install plugin.dll in order to use that plugin, or by reading the documentation (readme.txt, usually) that comes with the plugin; but sometimes the readme file doesn't tell you.  Don't worry about plugin.dll and the other DLLs you may need; they are very small files and are totally innocuous. Immediately upon downloading them, scan them with your antivirus application to be sure that no one has messed with the files on the download site's server, then install them, then enjoy the effects of the plugins that their presence makes possible.  If I remember correctly, plugin.dll is required by plugins that were not originally written for use with Photoshop (or PSP), so they had to be supplemented with the data (the DLL) that neither Photoshop nor PSP had/has in order to work with PS and PSP.

Prefatory Note:  No version of PSP supports plugins that are designed to work on 16-bit-color-depth images.
Before you install a plugin and follow all these directions, be sure that the plugin is for 8-bit-color-depth images
(i.e., "16.7 million colors" or "True Color" or "24 bit" [all mean the same thing]).

Here is the update of the tutorial you linked to:
"1.  Before you install the plug-in filters, you will need to download and install MSVCRT10.DLL to your Windows/System folder. A few filters also needs the file PLUGIN.DLL in the Windows/System directory to run."
now:
--Windows\System and/or Windows\System32 folders.  To avoid problems, put the DLLs in both folders. Before Windows had a System32 folder, plugins were written to "look for" the DLLs in Windows\System; plugins written now almost surely "look for" DLLs in Windows\System32.  But some plugins were written when many users used Operating Systems with just Windows\System while others used the newer OSs with System32, too, and some popular plugins have been around since that time and haven't had that part of their code updated.  So put the DLLs in both folders.  They're tiny in the context of all the other stuff Windows needs to run.
--You may need, in addition to msvcrt10.dll, msvcrt.dll, msvcrt20.dll, msvcrt40.dll, msvcrt80.dll, and maybe some others.  The documentation for the plugin should tell you (on the download site's description of the plugin); some DLLs may need to be put in the Corel\...PSPX2 directory in Program Files, in addition to their being in the Windows\... folders,  not just because of the way the plugins are written but sometimes because of weird things Corel's programmers did.

      "Plug-ins that are compatible with Paint Shop Pro are those in the .8bf file format.
      "Several sites such as the Filter Factory Filters are in a different file format. You will need the Plug-in Commander (PiCo) to convert these filters. We have provided a tutorial on how to use the Plug-in Commander."
These statements are still true; some diehard PSP-&-plugins users still use Filter Factory filters.

"2. Once you have installed the msvcrt10.dll (and plugin.dll) file(s), you will need to create a folder in your C: directory to install filters in. If you intend on adding many plug-in filters, you will find that they will not all work if they are in the same folder. We recommend that you set us a directory called plug-ins and have a few sub-directories in that folder to add plug-ins to. The directory should look something like this:"
Change the preceding paragraph to:

"2. Once you've put the appropriate DLLs in your Windows\System, Windows\System32, and perhaps some in your Program Files\Corel... folders, use Windows Explorer to look for a "My PSP Files" folder in My Documents.  If it's not there, create a folder and name it "My PSPX2 Files" and put it in My Documents and put your plugins in it.  If you have several versions of PSP on your computer, you may find a "My PSPn Files" folder for each one.  If you have so many plugins that, when you click on Effects > Plugins in PSP, the list of them runs off your monitor display, you should probably put them in several subfolders.  Look at the PSPUG individual-version forum to see if others have determined that subfolders are needed to keep plugins and your version happy together.  Or, to keep things tidy and unrepetitive, you can make one folder in My Documents for all your plugins.  PSP does not care, as long as you direct it to the proper folder in the File > Preferences > File Locations dialog."

Don't use this folder tree.

. . . . .

Use this one instead:

   My Documents
        Icons
        My Fonts
        My PSPX Files
             Plugins  <---
        My Text Files
             Letters
        Registration Codes
   My Recent Documents

. . . . .

Or use one like this:

   My Documents
       Computer How-To Docs
       Graphics Plugins  <---
       HTML How-To Docs
       Icons
       My PSPX Files
       Photographs
       Web Sites
   My Recent Documents

. . . . .

Because:

By putting your
plugins in one
of the folders
that has an arrow
( <--- )
next to it,
you won't lose them
if you have to reinstall PSP
to fix a problem.

The rest of the tutorial is still applicable.

(I guess it was about time to update that old tutorial, anyway.)