PSP 8 Puzzle
| Click here to download the mask for this tutorial. Put the mask in your PSP8 Masks folder. | |
| Open the image that you would like to create a puzzle from. Add a new layer and fill the layer with black. | |
| Click the Layer menu to load the Mask, Layers>Load / Save Mask>Load Mask From Disk. |  |
Make sure Fit to layer is marked, Hide all mask and leave Invert transparency cleared. The Image should look like this:
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Next you will need to merge the mask layer. To do this make sure that your Layer Palette is open, View menu, Palettes>Layers. Right mouse click to bring up the menu choose Merge>Merge group. Once merged right mouse click again and choose Duplicate. Choose the layer Group Raster 1 by clicking on it in the Layer Palette. Click on the Adjust menu and Choose negative Image. Click on the Adjust menu again and choose Blur>Gaussian Blur. Blur by 1 pixel. Click the Deform tool |
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| Right mouse click the layer in the Layer Palette and choose Merge>Merge Visible. Add a new layer and fill it with white. Click the layer in the Layer Palette and drag it down below the Merged layer. Add another new layer on top of the merged layer and fill it with white as well. | Load the Puzzle mask but this time Invert the mask data.
Your image should look like this :
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Click on the Wand Tool Adjust the settings to :Mode:Add Match Mode:RGB, Tolerance:21, Sample Merged checked, Feather 0, Antialias: Outside Click on of the puzzle parts to select it. |
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| You will need to make a couple of adjustments to the selection by using the new Selections>Modify options. | First click the Selections menu choose Modify>Expand. Expand the selection by 1 pixel. next click the Selections menu and choose Modify>Smooth. Set the smooth to 3 with Preserve corners checked and a Corner Scale of 100. |
| The Smooth selection is just one of the great new selection features of PSP 8. |  |
| Click the Selections menu and choose Load / Save> Save Selection to Alpha Channel. Repeat this with as many puzzle parts as you want. | Each time you save a selection to the Alpha Channel PSP will name them Selection # 1, Selection # 2 and so on by default that is fine, you don't want to overwrite your saved selections. |
Once you have saved all of the parts that you want you will no longer
need that mask layer. Highlight the layer in the Layer Palette then click
the Delete Layer icon
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A warning box will pop up:
Click yes.
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| Now you are left with your puzzle image and a white layer underneath it. | Click the Selections menu>Load / Save>Load Selection From Alpha Channel and load Selection # 1 onto the Merged layer
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Click Edit>Cut then Selections>Selection None, then Edit>Paste as a new layer. This will place the puzzle part in the center of your image. Use the deform tool to move the part near it's hole and rotate it a bit.
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| Add a Drop Shadow by clicking the Effects menu>3D Effects>Drop Shadow. Shadow setting should be: 2 Vertical, 2 Horizontal, Blur 3 and Opacity 77. Do not add the Shadow on a new layer. |  |
| Repeat with each puzzle part you saved to the Alpha channel. | Add a Drop shadow to the Merged layer to give your puzzle some depth. Merge the layers and you are done! |
I have included a sample image and a script for this tutorial as a sample of how it should look. Right click on the sample image to save it to your hard drive. Open the image in PSP 8 beta then run the script puzzleteach on it. Click here to download the script, unzip the script to your PSP 8 Trusted Scripts folder |
Sample Image |
| I have also included a larger puzzle mask, click here to download it. |  |
then
hold down the [Ctrl] key and bump the Down Arrow on your keyboard two times
and the Right Arrow on your keyboard two times.
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