Due to the many requests I have had for a tutorial on how to make tubes for PSP 5 & 6 And the many e-mails I have written attempting to explain how, I am going to try explaining it here and hope I can do so in a understandable way :-) But be warned! Explaining things in written form IS NOT one of my finer talents *S*. BUT I'll give it my best shot ,,, so here goes:
First, mine will probably be different than other tutorials you may read on how to make a tube. If you've used any of my tubes you may have noticed, I very very rarely put more than 1 image in a tube. This is because I hate multi image tubes! I want the pic I want and I don't want to have to mess around with trying to get the right pic in the right place etc etc. So I make mine 1 image per tube so that the tube I pick is the pic I get! (I even make other peoples tubes I download off the web into seperate tubes for each pic and delete the multi image one *S*) Anyway, this is how I make them so that is the instructions I will be giving you - 1 pic per tube.
Making A Tube
- To start, find and open the picture you are going to want to make the tube with. If it is not already 16 million colors, increase it to 16 million. (.jpg & .bmp are already 16 million colors ,, .gif is not).
- Then open a new transparent background large enough for the part of the picture you are going to want in your tube to fit in. Since you will have only 1 picture in a tube you DO NOT need to worry about having your size a even number of pixels to be divided by the number of pictures you will have in it. ANY size that will hold the image you want is the size you need. (To open a new transparent background ,, in the top tool bar underneath the word "File" click what looks like a white piece of paper. In the window that will open put in your desired width and height values then go down where it says "Background color" and select "transparent" ,,, click "OK")
From here, to save confusion, I will write 2 instructions ,,, 1 for pictures with solid color backgrounds and 1 for patterned backgrounds.
Solid Background Pictures
- After choosing a picture, opening it, increasing it to 16 million colors if needed and opening a transparent background, click on the border of the picture to make sure it is the active window and then go to the tool bar at the top of PSP and click "Edit", then go down and click "copy".
- Then click on the border of the transparent background so it will become the active window. Go back up to the tool bar, click "Edit" , go down to paste and choose "As new selection".
- The picture will appear on the transparent background "hooked" to the end of your cursor. (DO NOT click your mouse yet). Move your cursor to position your picture approximately in the middle of your transparent background. When you have it where you want it, click your mouse. The marching ants (the moving white dotted line) will appear around the picture. Right click your mouse to make the ants stop marching.
- Now select the "magic wand" tool and click on the background area of the picture you have put on the transparent background. You may need to adjust the magic wands tolerance level to a higher or lower number so that it will select all, or most, of the background and get up close to your picture but not go into it. Just adjust the tolerance level and undo until you get the setting that works best for the picture you are working with.
- When you have this to your satisfaction, go up to the tool bar and click on the scissors to cut the background out.
- At times, with some pictures, you will have areas that are close to the same color as the background. This makes it impossible to use the magic wand without cutting out those areas of the picture too. When this happens,use the magnifying glass to increase the image to where you can easily see each pixel. Then use the eraser tool to erase the background that is touching the area of the picture similar in color. Like in this picture of a football which is on a white background.
  After erasing next to the similar color proceed with the magic wand as described above.
- After cutting the background out, again select the magnifying glass to increase the size of your picture where you can easily see each pixel and with the eraser erase any stray pixels left around the edges of your picture. (I HATE getting tubes from the web when the maker has left this important step out!! If you don't do this step your tubes will be sloppy and messy!!) Another important thing to do during this step is make your transparent background a solid color and check your image on several different colors. I use solid black, white, medium blue (#96B8EA),a orange (#E78505)and a purple (#896090). You'll be amazed what you can see on one color that you didn't see on the others :-)
- After you've checked your image on several colors and have it all cleaned, use the "mover" tool if you need to repostion your picture so it will be in the middle of the background and then go up to the top tool bar and click on "File". Go down to "Export" and choose "Picture Tube". You don't need to do any thing with the "cells across" and "cells down", just type in the name you want and click "OK" ,,,, Your tube is saved!
Pattern Background Pictures
(If you have not read the beginning of this tutorial please do so before continuing)
- After choosing a picture, opening it, increasing it to 16 million colors if needed and opening a transparent background, select the freehand tool and getting as close as you can without cutting into the image you are wanting for your tube, outline the image. Don't worry if you can't get in very close without messing up ,,, you'll get better with practice and getting as close as possible just saves you some erasing :-)
- After you have the image outlined go up to "Edit" and choose "Copy".
- Then click on the border of the transparent background so it will become the active window. Go back up to the tool bar, click "Edit" , go down to paste and choose "As new selection".
- The part of the picture you had outlined will appear on the transparent background "hooked" to the end of your cursor. (DO NOT click your mouse yet). Move your cursor to position your picture approximately in the middle of your transparent background. When you have it where you want it, click your mouse. The marching ants (the moving white dotted line) will appear around the picture. Right click your mouse to make the ants stop marching.
- Next select the magnifying glass and increase the size of your image if you need to to see better and then select the eraser tool. You can usually use a larger size eraser until you get closer into your image. Depending on how much area I have to erase around a image I start large (as large as possible) and decrease the size as I get in closer to my image. Decreasing until I am using size 1 around the edges and for inner fine detail work. As you get closer to the image increase the magnificantion of your image to easily see the individual pixels.
- If you haven't already made your transparent background a solid color, do so now. (Erasing, at any time, is MUCH easier working on a solid color background rather than the checker board). Check your image on several different solid colors and erase the stray pixels. I use solid black, white, medium blue (#96B8EA),a orange (#E78505)and a purple (#896090). I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. I have often had a image that I thought was almost ready to save, then changed my background color and it was a mess!!
- After you've checked your image on several colors and have it all cleaned, use the "mover" tool if you need to repostion your picture so it will be in the middle of the background and then go up to the top tool bar and click on "File". Go down to "Export" and choose "Picture Tube". You don't need to do any thing with the "cells across" and "cells down", just type in the name you want and click "OK" ,,,, Your tube is saved!
So there you have it, making a tube in 1 easy lesson LOL. ,,, NOT ,,, If I've confused you and left you with that big question mark in your head, I'm sorry *S* But if so, let me know and I will try to clarify and in the meantime I'll be looking for a good tutorial I can direct you to ,,hahaha
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