Lady Bug

In this tutorial we will be making a lady bug, and learning how to use the alpha channel.  You will need Paint Shop Pro, which if you do not have it, you can download a trial version from COREL.

We will be using Eye Candy.  You can download a free version of Eye Candy here:  EYE CANDY

You will also need my PSP file with the alpha channels included.  When you open it, you will just see a white background.  Don't worry, all of the selections are in there, hidden in the alpha channels.  Download the zip HERE.

Now that we have all of our materials...  Let's get started!  Set your foreground to #000000 (Black) and your background to #FF4040 (Red) or any other color that you would like your lady bug to be.  Open the LadyBug file in PSP.  Duplicate the file (Shift/D) and close out the original.

New Raster Layer, and name it Body.
Selections/Load From Alpha Channel the Body1 selection. Flood fill this with black, and deselect.
New Raster Layer, and Call it Body 2. Load from Alpha Channel the Body 2 selection, and flood fill it with #FF4040.
On the same layer, Load from the Alpha Channel, wingline, and flood fill with black. Deselect.
New Raster Layer, and call it Spots. Load from Alpha Channel the Spots selection. Flood Fill with Black, and deselect.
New Raster Layer, and call it Glass. Load from Alpha Channel Body2 selection.
Effects/3D Effects/Cutout using these settings: V & H -2, Opacity 100, Blur 45 and color is Black. Do not deselect.
Same layer. Effects/Plugins/Eye Candy 4000/Glass. I used the Clear Glass Preset. These are the settings that I used:
Basic
bevel width to 71.25, smoothness 20, inside marquee checked, Edge Darkening 3, Gradient Shading 16, Refraction 87, Opacity 0, Tinting 24, Color White
Bevel Profile
Button
Lighting
Direction 135 and Inclination 45, Highlight Brightness 100, Highlight Size 40, Ripple Thickness 43, Ripple Width 72, Random Seed 1.

If you don't have the Clear Glass preset, these settings should give you the same effect.
New Raster Layer, and call it Head. Load from Alpha Channel the Head selection.
Flood fill with black, and then go to Effects/3D Effects/Inner Bevel and use the Round preset, but change the angle to 0.
Keep selected, and then give it a Gaussian Blur of 2. (Effects/Blur/Gaussian Blur, and then type in 2, and click OK.)
On the layer pallet click on the head layer, and drag it down under the black body layer.
New Raster Layer and call it Antena. Layers/Arrange/Send to Top. Selections/Load from Alpha Channel and find the antena selection. Flood Fill this with Black.
Layers/Duplicate, and then go to Image/Mirror. You will now have two antenas.
New Raster Layer, called Antena2. Using your Paint Brush, size 25, hardness and opacity 100, make a black dot on the end of each antena. Use the same round inner bevel that you used before.
You can now delete the white background layer, Merge Visible, and tube your finished image! If you are using the image as a jpg or gif, resize if needed, and sharpen.

One thing that is really cool with the Alpha Channel, is you can make any shape, select it with your magic wand, save it on the Alpha Channel, and re-use it any time that you want to. If you forget and deselect, you can bring it up again, as long as you have the image active. You don't have to save the selections to a separate folder, they are all right there. If you are working on an image, and want to save something in an Alpha Channel, While the selection is active, just go to Selections/Save to Alpha Channel, and name your selection. When you want it again, it will be there!

Thank you so much for doing my tutorial!

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