ANIMATED DIAMOND GLITTER SIG TAG

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ANIMATED GLITTER TAG TUTORIAL

By Allen Pollard

             There are many tuts out there, and I am sure there is one on this subject; so, any similarities in text are purely coincidental.

             This tutorial is was created using PSP7, but other versions can adapt easily.

             You should know before we get started, this sigtag is not tubed.  It will have a white background, but we will put a border around it so that you can use it anywhere you want.Photobucket
             First, bring up PSP, and open a new 400x400 24 bit transparent image.
Then click on the "Add Text" button and adjust the settings to look like the image below.

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You will want to choose a font that is rather bold--I have used Brockscript here; The stroke should be set to the color black, and the fill should be the pattern, Gold Foil. 


             Type in the name and hit OK.  Now you can see the name, in marching ants, on the new canvas you just created.  Run the curser over the name until a little hand appears, then holding down the left mouse button, drag the name to the center of the canvas.



             Now with the marching ants still going, on the top toolbar click Effects/3d Effects/Inner Bevel.  Make your settings look like the illustration below;
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             Click OK, and you will have given a nice bevel to your name, giving it a pleasant 3-d look;


With the marching ants still going, click on the top toolbar again, Effects/3d Effects/Drop Shadow.  Make your settings look like the illustration below.
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             Since you have your drop shadow now in place you can cancel the marching ants by going to the top toolbar and clicking on Selections/Select None.
             The next step is to go click on the cropping tool (on the left side bar) and crop your image fairly close to the name.  See illustration below.

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             Oh, by the way, you can save at any time and as many times along the way as you want.  It is always prudent to save at least once every 5 minutes......what if the cat came along and unplugged your computer????  Don't laff...it happened to me!!
             Now we will give this image a nice border.....Go to the tool bar and click on Selections/Select All.  You will see marching ants around the outside perimeter of your image canvas.  Make sure your background color is what you wish the color of the border to be....I have chosen a rich red color.

Back to the top toolbar, go to Image/Add Borders and click.  You will need to adjust your settings to match the illustration below...
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             Click OK.  You will see your border appear on your image...


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             On the left toolbar, click on the Magic Wand, then click inside the border you just made.  You should see marching ants highlighting the border.  If you see marching ants outside the border, that means you need to go to the Toggle Tool Options Button and lower the tolerance setting for the magic wand...
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             You should now have the marching ants around the border, so go back to the top toolbar and click on Effects/3d Effects/Inner Bevel, using the same settings as before.  Click OK.  Go to Select/Select None.  Now you will want to resize your drawing to something in the range of 200w by 100h, so it will be small enough to use in a stat.  Individual taste here, but if you go much smaller you will lose much of your pretty detail.  Then save your drawing as a gif. 
 Name it WhateverUwanto_1.gif.  You have just finished the first of 3 drawings that will be required for your animation.  However, we will get to cheat just a little.  Go to the top toolbar once again and click on Window/Duplicate.  Do this twice.  Now you have 3 images exactly the same.  Go to Effects/Sharpen Sharpen and sharpen each image.  Name the 2nd drawing WhateverUwanto_2.gif.  Do likewise with the third so that you have saved the 3 drawings, each with it's own name. 

             Now the fun begins, heheheh....this part can get a little monotonous if you have to do a name with a lot of characters....but I have never tired of it yet!!

             Go to the Zoom tool and zoom in once or twice, your comfort level.  Make sure your background color is set to White.  On the left toolbar, click on PaintBrush.  Go to the Toggle Tool Options Window and change the settings to match the illustration below...

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             Lets go back to your drawing and start clicking INSIDE the letters, each click leaves a little white square.  Speckle them in pretty good, as the more you do the more your name will glitter when we get finished.  When you finish the first gif, save it and move on to the next one until you are done with all three. See illustration below...


IMPORTANT: You cannot do one and then duplicate...it is the random speckling that creates the glitter effect in the animation.

             Now that we are done with all 3 drawings, you can close them out and call up the Animator by clicking on File/Jasc Software Products/Launch Animation Shop.  If you do not have Animation Shop, you can get a free animator from Alchemy Mindworks, called the GIF Construction set.  It is probably the best animator you will ever use outside of Jasc's.  Get GIF Construction Set here: http://www.tucows.com/mmedia/preview/194830.html.  It is listed as Shareware.


             When you have your Jasc Animation Shop up and running, click on the Animation Wizard button.
Choose "Same size as the first image frame" and click "next". 
Choose "Transparent", and click "next".  
Choose "Centered in the Frame" and "With the Canvas color" and click next. 
Choose "Yes" and make sure 10 is in the little window, then click "Next". 
Click on "Add Image". 
Browse back to where you saved your three images, highlight them (by holding down the control button and clicking on each filename in turn) and click on "Open". 
Click "Next". 
Click "Finish". 

             WahLaa--click on "View" and see your finished product!!  Congratulations!!


REMEMBER IN PAINT SHOP PRO TO SAVE AS ANIMATION SHOP AS .PSP!!!
TAKE TO ANIMATION SHOP AND FINAL FINISH -SAVE AS .GIF!!

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Thanks Sharon for Your Version of The Sig Tag!!!!!!!!