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Buckle Element |
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| Create a new image. File-> New. Here, I've made it 250x250. Use medium grey for the background. We are going to make a template image that you can save and re-use over and over. |
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Begin with vector shapes. Set your foreground and background swatch both to black. Click on the  Preset Shape tool. Set it to the rectangle, anti-alias and retain style unchecked. Set the line width to about 45. Set the background color swatch to null. Shift drag out a square. If you need to size down the shape, right mouse drag on a corner node. Objects-> Align-> Center in Canvas. Click on the little double headed arrow on the swatch palette to flip the color swatches. Set the Line width to 0. Drag out a skinny rectangle inside the square, the top and bottom don't have to line up perfectly, make it a bit big. Objects-> Align-> Center in Canvas. |
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Take a selection. In the Layer Control Palette, click on the plus sign to expand the vector layer. Shift click to select both vector sub-layers. Selections-> From Vector Object. Selections-> Load/Save Selection-> Save Selection to Alpha Channel. In the Layer Control Palette, right click on the vector layer and choose delete. |
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Add a drop shadow and contour. Layers-> New Raster Layer. Effects-> 3D Effects-> Drop Shadow. Set the swatch color to black, Offsets to 2, Opacity to 100% and blur to 6. Add another new raster layer. Effects-> 3D Effects-> Cutout. Set the swatch to black, Offsets to -3, Opacity 100% and Blur 7. Add another new raster layer. Effects-> 3D Effects-> Cutout. Set the swatch to white, change the Offsets to 3. Click on the Raster 1 layer, add a new raster layer. When the dialog comes up, name this layer "fill". Save this image to a convenient location, name it something like "buckletemplate.PspImage". You must save it as something that will keep layers intact, either .PspImage or .psd. |
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Make a buckle. You can now fill the "fill" layer with a pattern. Click on the  Flood Fill tool. Set the fill type icon below the foreground swatch to Pattern. Click on the swatch and choose a pattern to fill with. Here, I used a pattern that ships with PSP called Metalfloor. Adjust the Opacity of the three contouring layers using the Opacity slider in the Layer Control palette. Here, I've set the drop shadow layer to 50%, the black cutout to 50% and the white cutout to 80%. Experiment with other patterns that you may have, try a wood pattern, for example. |
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Gradient fill. Clear your fill layer by hitting the Delete key. Set your foreground swatch to Gradient fill. Click on the swatch and choose the Metal Brass gradient. Set it to Radial and set the Center Points both to 50. Click inside the selection to fill it. You will see that this looks to harsh and has a sharp point in the center where the colors meet. Layers-> Duplicate. Adjust-> Blur-> Gaussian Blur. Set the radius to 5. This softens up the gradient nicely. Adjust your contouring layers again. |
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Another kind of fill. Take your image back using either Edit-> Undo or File-> Revert. Hit delete to clear the fill layer. Selections-> Select None. You should be on the fill layer again. Effects-> Artistic Effects-> Balls and Bubbles. In the Preset Dropdown, find the Pearls preset. Change the Shape setting to Single ball or bubble and apply the filter. Click on the  Warp Brush tool. Set it to  Push mode. Set the size to about 140. Grab the ball near the edges where it does not go all the way to the edge of your buckle and push the bubble out to cover. Hit the apply button. Selections-> Load/Save Selection-> Load Selection from Alpha Channel. Selections-> Invert. Hit the Delete key. |
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Use plug-ins. You can also use various plugins to fill the shape. To the left are some examples, from top to bottom, KPT5 Shape Shifter, Eye Candy 4000, and Super BladePro. |
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