I'll Keep a Candle Burning

PSP X

*NOTE*

Sometimes the links for filters change, it's difficult (and a lot of work) to
keep changing them on individual pages, so I have created a page with
links to filters and programs that I have used in my tutorials.
That way it is easier for me, because when there are changes I will
only have one page to update and hopefully better for you, because I'm
less likely to miss a page out when doing the updates :)

You will find links to filters/programs used in this tutorial Here
the link will open in a new window

Filters and programs used in this tutorial :-
Paint Shop Pro
Animation shop

Materials :-
Font of your choice, I used Angelina available from DaFont
Tube of your choice
I used artwork ©Jessica Dougherty www.jessicaspinups.com
to use the same tube you have the appropriate CILM Artist license
which is available from www.creativeimagelicensing.com

Candle and flame tube, a flower tube Supplies zip
My psp mask Here Put the mask in your mask folder

The Lights Sunset preset that I used is from psp8, if you haven't
already got it I've zipped it Here
put it in your My PSP Files/Presets folder

some images have been made smaller to shorten file size

Step 1.
This tutorial is in two parts.
The first part is making an animated candle.
Go to This Page and follow the tutorial up to the end of step 6
you will then find a link to return to this page

The candle image that you have made is larger than needed for this tutorial,
Go to Image...Resize...and resize it by 60%
resample using bicubic, all layers=ticked
Save the image again (you could save it with another name if you want to
keep the large one to use another time) minimise out of the way for now.

step 2.
Open a new image 580 x 450
Make the Foreground and stroke properties on your palette=Gradient
Gradient=Foreground-background
Style=Linear
Angle=0
Repeats=0
Invert=unticked
Foreground colour=#0910e1
Background colour=#f80c10

Flood fill your image
(Feel free to experiment with different colours both here and
in the colour of the lights we will be adding in the next step)

Step 3.
Go to Effects...Illumination Effects...Lights...
From the dropdown list of presets at the top, choose Sunset

Step 4.
Add a new layer and flood fill with Black
Go to Layers...Load/Save mask...Load Mask from Disk...
Choose the sg_milti-floral-grungeframe4 mask
Create mask from = Source luminance
Orientation = Fit to canvas Options:-
Invert tranparency= unticked
Hide all mask

Go to Layers..Merge..Merge Group...

Step 5.
With the Magic Wand and holding down the Shift key select the 7
spaces in the middle of the masked area, see the screenshot below

Go to Effects...3D Effects...Cutout... Use these settings Vertical and Horizontal=0
Opacity=100
Blur=20
Shadow colour=Black
Fill interior with colour = unticked
De-select

Step 6.
Open and copy the tube that you want to use.
I have used a tube called 'Waiting' by Jessica Dougherty
but you can use any tube that you think is suitable
Paste as a new layer on your image and resize as necesary
Then move into position using the Mover Tool
Add any copyright you need on a new layer

Step 7.
To make it easy to see the space you have for your text, we'll
add a temporary candle on the image, which can be deleted later

Open up the candle that you minimised earlier
Go to Edit...Copy... (it doesn't matter which layer, you only need 1)
The candle image can now be closed.

Paste as a new layer on your image and move it to the position that you
will want the animated candle to be. this is where I placed mine

Now that you can see where the spaces are, you can add your text.
I like to create text as Vector, then convert it to raster when
I've finished, but you can create it whatever way you prefer to

I picked a colour from the lightest part of the woman tube for
the background on my palette and made the foreground transparent
The font I used is called Angelina. I did each line of text
separately as it made it easier to move them to where I wanted.

Add a drop shadow to your text, the settings I used are
Vertical=minus 2 (-2)
Horizontal=2
Opacity=75
Blur=5
Colour-Black

Now that your text is in place you can delete the candle, so
Go to the layer that you put the candle on and delete it

Go to Layers...Merge...Merge All...

Step 8.
This step is optional, if you want a border around your image
go to Image...Add Borders...
The width is your choice, I used 4 pixels
Click on the colour box and pick a colour from your image
Save your image in the same folder that you saved your candle

Step 9.
Open Animation Shop
Go to File...Browse...
Navigate to the folder you saved your images in
Open both the large image you made and the candle animation

The candle should have 4 frames, we need to select them all and copy them
Edit...Select All (Ctrl+A)
Edit...Copy
You can close the candle animation now.
Animation Shop will probably ask if you want to save the changes, say no

Step 10.
We need to increase the number of frames in the large image
to 4 so that it has the same number as the candle
So on the large image go to
Edit...Select All
Edit...Duplicate Selected...
Edit...Select All...
Edit...Duplicate Selected...
Edit...Select All

The image should now have 4 frames which are all selected

Go to Edit...Paste into Selected Frame...
Position your candle where you want it in frame 1,
when you click it into place the candle animation
will appear in all your frames

To view your animation go to
View...Animation ...

Depending on whether you want to use the animation as a tag,
or for stationery, you may, or may not want to resize it
If you want to make the animation smaller go to
Animation...Resize Animation...
For the image at the beginning of this tutorial, I resized 75%

To see my other tutorials click Here

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
Thankyou to my great testers

To see my other tutorials click Here

If you wish to contact me you can find an email address to use included on my Site Map