Zig Zag

This tutorial was written by me on June 22, 2005. You may use it in your groups and print it out for future use, but please link to my main page first. Thanks! I used PSP 7, but it can be done in the later versions as well. I am assuming that you have a reasonable knowledge of the program and working with layers. I used the incredible artwork of Tim de Leeuw . Please support this talented artist by visiting his site.

You will need the following supplies:

Tube and font of your choice

Mehdi Sorting Tiles plugin (password is Mehdi)

Glitter Tiles (optional for animation purposes; right click and save to your hard drive)

Install the plugins into your plugin folder; open your tube in PSP. Let’s begin!

1. Open a new 500x500 transparent canvas. Flood fill with white to give you a better idea of what you’re working with.

2. Copy and paste your main tube onto your white canvas. Resize as needed, being sure that “resize all layers” is unchecked.

3. Activate your shapes tool, line width set at 5; stroke a dark color from your tube (I chose black); fill at null; and vector checked. Draw a large rectangle or square around your tube. (See finished tag for reference.) When satisfied with the sizing, Layers/convert to raster layer. Drop this layer beneath your tube.

4. Activate your draw/pen tool with line width set at 5. Draw a diagonal line between the corners of your square, holding down the shift key for a straighter line. Repeat this step between the other two corners. You should have four triangles in your square when completed.

5. Take your magic wand with tolerance and feather set at 0 and click inside the outer two triangles, holding down the shift key to select more than one area at a time. Go to selections/modify/expand and type in 2.

6. Layers/new raster layer and flood fill the two with a color or gradient of your choosing. Drop this layer beneath your main rectangle and keep it selected.

7. Check that your background color is set on a color from your gradient or the color itself, as this filter’s results depend on it. Go to Effects/Plugins/ Mehdi/ Sorting Tiles and use these settings:

8. Deselect. Effects/edge/enhance.

9. Back on the main rectangle layer, click in the remaining two triangles with your magic wand. Selections/modify/ expand by 2 and then add a new raster layer; drop this layer beneath the rectangle and flood fill with another color or complementary gradient from your tube.

10. Keeping selected, use the same Mehdi settings as above and deselect. Effects/edge/enhance.

11. Hide your white background and the tube, and merge the rectangle and color layers.

12. Hit “control A” and then “control F” on your keyboard to float the merged rectangle. Go to Selections/modify/ expand by 3. Layers/new raster layer and drop it beneath the rectangle. Flood fill with white and then deselect.

13. Give the white layer a drop shadow:

Vertical and Horizontal Offsets at 1; opacity at 90; blur at 2; and color black. Repeat the drop shadow but change the offsets to -1. Then merge the rectangle and the white layer. Go to Image/rotate to the right by 45 degrees; you may need to resize. Unhide the rest of your layers.

14. Activate your shapes tool again; line width this time at 2; stroke black or the dark color you used before; fill a color from your tube. Draw a square in one of the corners of your shape. I repeated steps 12 and 13, but that is up to you; a normal drop shadow would work just as well.

15. Duplicate the square and place it on the opposite corner. Draw another square with fill set at a different color from your tube and then repeat the above step.

16. The next part depends on the tube that you chose. You can either select parts of your main tube or use several different tubes from the same artist’s work. Be creative!

17. Click on the inside of one of the squares with your magic wand. Go to Effects/Texture effects/weave and use the following settings:

18. Do not deselect! Find one of the tubes that you decided on previously and paste it as a new layer. Position it with your mover tool until you are happy with its placement. Then go to Selections/invert and press delete on your keyboard. This will get rid of the excess part of the tube. Deselect.

19. Repeat the above steps with your remaining squares.

20. Add your text and your favorite inner bevel or filter preset. I used Miss Packgope. Give it, and your tube, a drop shadow.

*Add your watermark and the appropriate copyright information so that you both receive credit for your work!*

Crop your image. If you’re happy with your tag as it is, merge all of your layers and save. If you wish to animate it, continue reading!

21. Crop your image as above. Hide your tube and text layers and then go to Edit/copy merged (“shift control C”on your keyboard) Launch your animation shop, right click, and paste as a new animation. Hit “Shift control L” seven times to make eight frames total, or “paste after current frame”. Go back to the first frame and hit “Control A” to select all of them.

22. Open the glitter tile or shape that you chose. These animations have eight frames, as well. Hit “Control A” and then “Control C” in the first frame to make a copy of the entire animation. Use your mouse to drag the shape over to your canvas and place it one of the corners of your squares.

23. You will notice that the glitter frames go “blank.” Simply hit “control Z” or “edit/undo” and they will "reappear" for more uses. Continue copying and pasting them onto your other canvas until you are happy. Depending on the glitter tile that you chose, you may want to go “Animation/flip and / or mirror” before pasting them each time. I placed mine in each corner of the four squares on the main canvas and used two different colors. Have fun with these!

24. When you’re finished with the glitter tiles, go back to PSP. Hide ALL of your layers except for your tube and text. Layers/merge visible and hit “control C.”

25. In animation shop, right click and paste as a new layer. Hit “shift control L” seven times to make eight frames total. On the first frame, hit “control A” to select all of them and then “control C” to make a copy. Use your mouse to drag this over to your animated frames and place to your satisfaction.

Go to View/animation to see your tag in motion! Save as a gif file and you’re done. I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions, please post them on the forum and I’ll help you out as much as I can. Thanks for stopping by!

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