Frames from Vector Shapes

Creating irregular shaped picture frames is a snap with Paint Shop Pro 6's Vector graphics capabilities. This tutorial will teach you how to make the frame in the header graphic on this page.

  1. Open a new white graphic 600x450.
  2. Set your grid to be 50 pixels wide, color red.
  3. Turn on your grid.
  4. Set the Shape tool to Rectangle, Filled, Line Width 50, Antialias unchecked, Create as Vector checked.
  5. Starting at the upper corner of the third block from the right one row down, pull the cursor until you have filled 8 blocks completely. The outline will turn green around the edges indicating you have reached the edges of the gridlines.
  6. Place the cursor on the center square in the vector graphic and it will turn into the mover tool. Move this graphic to the top row. You will have Row 1, Columns 3-10 filled. Hit escape to unselect the vector shape.
  7. Starting in any block create a one block square graphic. Again, the green lines will tell you that you have filled the square accuratedly.
  8. Move this square to Row 2, Column 3.
  9. Draw another vector shape one square high and three squares wide. Move this into Row 3, Columns 1-3.
  10. Draw another shape one square wide by three squares high. Move this into Column 1, Rows 4-6.
  11. Go to the Layers Palette and right-click on the Vector Layer. Choose "Convert to Raster".
  12. Right click on the new Raster layer and choose "Duplicate". Choose, Image|Flip.
  13. Turn off the white background layer in the Layers Palette and click on one of the top two layers. Choose Layers|Merge|Merge Visible. If the "Merge Visible" option is not available, you are still on the background layer.
  14. Right click on the merged layer and duplicate this layer. Choose Image|Mirror.
  15. If you are not quite lined up (I was 2 pixels off in each direction), go to one layer that has half the graphic, select all, float your selection and hold down the shift key and hit an error key to the right or to the left to line them up.
  16. When you have the frame lined up correctly, delete the white background layer and merge the two remaining layers, choosing "Merge Visible".
  17. Select the frame with the Magic Wand and save the selection to an alpha channel.
  18. Select the transparent areas outside the frame and invert your selection. Save this selection to an alpha channel.
  19. Crop your selection.
  20. Save as a .psp file.

Frames Using Vector Preshapes Tool

Creating odd shaped frames is a shap with PSP's new Preset Shapes. To create a frame from using the Preshapes tool:

  1. Open a new transparent graphic 600x450.
  2. Pull the sides of the Paint Shop Pro window from the right from the top or bottom until you can see the diamond shaped area around the graphic.
  3. Choose the Preset Shapes tool and choose a shape. Let's start with the Rounded Rectangle shape.
  4. Set the Control for this tool to Style: Stroked, Line Width: 40-50, Antialias checked and Vector checked.
  5. Starting considerably inside the edges draw a rectangle.
  6. Click on each of the handles in the middle of the sides and drag until you hit the margins of the graphic. Don't worry if you don't quite meet the edge, just don't go beyond the edge.
  7. When you have your graphic lined up, click on the Vector layer and convert it to a graphic.
  8. Follow steps 17-20 above.

This method works well for all the Preset shapes. If you want to create a square frame, just create a square graphic and place your stroked frame by holding down the shift key as you draw your frame. Then you will need to move the Vector graphic into the upper left corner. Once you have it placed correctly, switch to the Vector Object Selection tool and activate your Vector graphic by clicking on it. Right click on the lower right corner and drag until you fill the graphic. Watch the lines on the top and on the right. That's how far you want to be from the edge on the right and on the bottom.