The Sculpture Effect is a great new addition to the Paint Shop Pro arsenal of creative tools. This tool basically applies a "sculpture" to the image by accentuating the edges and areas of contrast in your graphic giving them an embossed or 3-d effect. But, the one drawback in using the tool is that it also applies the selected pattern to the image which overrides the original image's colors. Most of my Sculpture effects require a white pattern available to the Sculpture tool. To create this white pattern, just create a new white graphic 50 pixels by 50 pixels and save it into your Pattern folder as a ".bmp" file. Then when you apply the sculpture effect, just choose the white pattern. Following are some tips for using the Sculpture effect to its greatest advantage.

Instant 3-D

If you are working with a colored image, you will lose the color of the image when applying the sculpture effect. But, do not despair. There is a quick fix for this.

   

  1. Download the graphic on the left above for practice.
  2. Right click on the background layer in the layers palette and choose "Duplicate".
  3. Click on the duplicated layer and set the Blend Mode to "Multiply".
  4. Click back on the background layer and apply the Sculpture effect as follows:

  5. Save this sculplture setting calling it "3-d".
  6. This setting is what works best with this graphic. You will probably want to make some adjustments if you are working on a different graphic. Keep in mind the following:
    • Increasing the Smoothness setting will "round" out the 3-d effect.
    • Increasing the Depth setting will emphasize the dark lines in the graphic, but will also darken the overall graphic.
    • Increasing the Ambience setting will lighten the graphic, but lessen the depth emphasis.
    • Increasing the Intensity setting will lighten the graphic.
    • Decreasing the Elevation setting will enhance the lines but darken the graphic.
  7. Once you have the look you want, merge all the layers and save your graphic.

Cartoon Effect

The following effect creates a "cartoon" type effect on an image.

   

  1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
  2. Apply the Sculpture effect as follows:

  3. Save this Sculpture setting calling it "Cartoon"
  4. Make adjustments as necessary.
  5. Merge your layers and save.

Instant Cutout

The 3-d setting for the Sculpture effect works well to create "instant" cutout effects.


  1. Open a new white graphic.
  2. Add a new layer and flood fill the new layer with the color close to what you want to end up with.
  3. Set this layer's blend mode to "color".
  4. On the original background layer layer place your text with the text color set to the top layer color. Deselect the text.
  5. Apply the Sculpture effect 3-d settings.
  6. Since applying the sculpture effect causes the underlying graphic to darken, you can lighten the final graphic by applying the Colors>Adjust>Brightness and Contrast to the bottom sculptured layer. I set mine to 30% brightness and no contrast.
  7. You might also want to try adjusting the Ambience setting to a negative number to bring the color down somewhat.
  8. Merge your layers and save.

Wood Text

One of othe key features of the Sculpture effect is the application of a pattern while applying the sculpture effect. I happen to like wood patterned effects so I copied all my wood patterns into my pattern folder. I then came up with a preset for wood text. Now, all I do is pick my favorite wood once the preset is loaded.

  1. Open a new white graphic large enough to hold your text.
  2. Add a new layer.
  3. Place your text with the text color white.
  4. Apply the sculpture effect as follows:

  5. If you want a drop shadow, don't deselect text, add a new layer and apply the drop shadow filter.
  6. Flood fill background with background color
  7. Merge your layers and save your graphic.