Strip Blur Tag

I wrote this tutorial on my own.  Any similarity to another tutorial is purely coincidental.  I claim the copyright to my tutorial. You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial was created for some friends of mine who wanted to begin learning more about PSP.  It is intended for beginners to learn how to use masks and seamless tiling.  If you have any questions, please feel free to Email me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Paint Shop Pro.  I wrote this with  Paint Shop Pro 9, but the steps may also be done in any version.  You may download a free trial at Corel.

Remember to save as a psp file often!
 

1.  Open the image that you wish to use.  Press SHIFT + D to duplicate.  Close the original.

2.  Layers > Promote Background to Layer.  (If you cannot select it because this choice is grayed out, then you did not need to do this for your image).

3.  Choose the Rectangle Selection Marquee tool.  Select a region to the middle right of your image.

4.  Right-click on the layer and choose Promote Selection to Layer.  Keep Selected.

5.  Layers > New Raster Layer

6.  Flood-fill with White.

7.  Selection > Modify > Contract Selection.  Contract by 5 pixels.

8.  Press the delete key.

9.  Effects > 3D Effects > Cutout.  Apply these settings:  V & H = 1, Opacity = 100, Blur = 2, Shadow Color = black.

10.  In the Layer Palette, click  HIDE these two layers by clicking on the eye, and then click on the bottom layer to highlight it.

11.  With the rectangle selection tool, select the bottom part of the image.  Do not select anything on the left edge.  You want this selection to slightly overlap the selection you chose previously, and you want the selection to be shorter (not go all the way to the right edge as before.

12.  Repeat Steps 4 - 10 for this selection.

13.  With the selection tool, select the upper part of the image, still not choosing anything on left margin, and slightly overlapping the first rectangle.

14.  Repeat Steps 4- 10 for this selection.  You should now have 3 Rectangle boxes.  UNHIDE all the layers.

15.  With the rectangle selection tool carefully make a rectangle that touches the top edge of the topmost rectangle box, the left edge, the right edge and the bottom most edge of the the bottom rectangle box.

16.  Image > Crop to Selection

17.  In the Layer Palette, HIDE the bottom layer, and UNHIDE all the other layers. 

18.  Right-click on one of the top  layers and choose Merge > Merge Visible.

19.  In the top merged layer, use the magic wand to select the parts of the image that are outside the rectangle boxes on the RIGHT side of the image.  Hold the SHIFT key down to select more than one.

20.  In the Layer Palette, click on the bottom layer.  Press the DELETE key. 

21.  Adjust > Blur > Gaussian Blur.    Radius = 8.00

22.  In the layer Palette, slide the opacity to 69 or 70%

23.  Now save as a JPEG, File > Export > JPEG Optimizer.  When the optimizer box comes up, click on Background Color Tab and set it to white.

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.