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Siggy Tutorial - cutting out images
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im going to go about the siggie tutorial with making a siggie right with you. ill do it in small steps so you guys can catch up. Today, we will be getting two images ready to add to the final signature. like before, i will be using aishwaryia rai.
before we begin, lets introduce the two images you will be using. Open them up, right click, and pick "copy image". Open up your paintshop program, and click "edit > paste as new image".
[image 1]
http://www.santabanta.com/wallpapers/rating.asp?catid=401194
[image 2]
http://www.santabanta.com/wallpapers/rating.asp?catid=401190
once you do so, we need to resize the image, as its way too large for a sig.
for [image 1], head for "edit > resize image" and resize the height to "400". Let the width be whatever comes up and click ok. Save your file as "aish1.psp".
for [image 2] do the same thing, and save as "aish2.psp".
now we are ready to edit the images.
1. if you did my earlier tutorials, you should realize that since this is a normal picture, it is not a raster layer, but a background layer. we cant have this because background layers are flat and cannot be changed. So lets convert it to a "raster layer". Head for "layers > convert to raster layer". Do this for both images.
2. Now you will be using two tools for this part of the tutorial. The selection tool and the zoom tool.
3. Now, we only want aish and not the background. So we need to cut it out. To do this neatly, we will be using the zoom tool. It is very useful to getting close to the pic and cutting the image accurately.
4. So zoom as close as you can to aish (the closer, the more accurate", and use the selection tool (look at previous post to see how it looks like) to cut the image.
*** TIP: to cut the image by selection tool alone will give the image a very sharp edge. For a smoother edge, look at the top when you select the "selection tool". You will notice an option called "feather". This is a great tool to add a softness to your edge. You can play around with it and see how it works. If you have "0" there will be no softness to the side, and the higher it goes, the more your picture will fade as you cut. ***
for this image, select "3" for your feather.
Now use the tool and cut the edges off. Do the same for image 2 but use a "20" feather. You should not have these:
this concludes the editing part of the images. tomorrow i will show you how to paste these images to your new sig and play around with backgrounds and other neat tools.
Bluejassmine
