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Method #1: Create gems using the special Glass Globe Jewels (download)
1. Set your background with your favorite color. 2. Open de Glass Globe Jewels. This is a PSP 5.03 file. 3. With the selection tool and antialias checked, make a round selection in the background 4. Go to your glass globe jewels, copy. 5. Go to your colored background image, selection still there, press edit and paste into selection.  6. Copy and paste as a new image. This is your first gem! Method #2: Create gold stones: Using textures: 1. Open a new image 200 x 200 with black background. 2. With the selection tool and antialias checked, make a round selection. 3. Set your foreground with this gold: #D3BE75 4. With the bucket tool, solid color, fill the round with gold:  5. Layers new, call it "texture" 6. Open your favorite texture image. Be sure this is a black and white image.  7. Choose the bucket tool, pattern, options, choose your texture, ok. Fill the round selection with the texture. Now you see the texture layer with "marching ants" (selection active) 8. Layers, properties, blend mode, choose multiply or luminosity. 9. This way you've merged the gold color with the texture:  10. Layers, merge visible. While selection still, make a new layer. Choose Image, effects, cutout with these settings (it depends of your own image): Opacity 80, Blur 40, V 12, H 14. 11. Layers, merge visible again. Go to the spray tool with these settings: Opacity 30, Density 100, Hardness 0, Size 30 12. Go to the center of your stone and spray a spot using single strokes. It do not need to be a perfect shape:  13. Colors, Adjust Brightness and Contrast: Brightness 10, Contrast 35 or more! You will get this:  14. Copy and paste as a new image!! You've created the first gold stone! Using textures and hot wax: 1. Open a new image 200 x 200 with black background. 2. Make a round selection in it. Save this selection to the Alpha Channel, ok, ok, Tip: The Alpha Channel is a very good feature you will love. While working in your projects, save your important selection there. Is like put an important thing in a secure place for future use! 3. Open your favorite texture, be sure is a black and white image. 4. Copy the texture and paste into a round selection in the black background. 5. Deselect, Image, Blur, Gaussian Blur, 1.00 6. Be sure you have the gold color in the foreground, Image, Other, Hot Wax. 7. With the same settings of the last method, spray a gold spot in the center of the stone 8. Load the round selection of your image from the Alpha Channel: Selection, Load from Alpha Channel. Now, you will know how useful this feature is. It will retrieve in the exact place! 9. Apply the cutout shadow. 10. Colors, Adjust the brightness and contrast to make a shiny and metallic stone!  Method #3: Create crystal! Note: For this tutorial you can use my dingbats, specially designed to make virtual jewels, here! Crystal Clear: Oh, this is a very nice effect I just learned in The Hoods. I want to apply the effect to create virtual jewels! 1. Open a new image 300 x 300 with black background. 2. Set your foreground with white color 3. Select your favorite Dingbat font. Choose the Font Feature (A) and put in your background a floating selection of your font. You must see it white. 4. Selection, save to Alpha Channel 5. While "marching ants" still, perform the following: Cutout = Opacity 100, Blur 10, V 1, H 1, then Selection, Modify, Contract by 2-3 pixels Repeat 3 times!! 6. You will end with this:  7. Deselect, Image, Blur, Gaussian blur 1.0 8. Be sure you have white in the foreground, Image, Other, Hot Wax 9. Color, Adjust brightness 25, contrast 50 10. Isn't it beautiful:  11. Selection, Load from Alpha channel. You must see the selection again in your image. Copy and paste as a new image. Tip: save your image as PSP along with the others in a folder called "Virtual Jewels". In the future arange them the way you want in a black background. Colorize the crystal: As a clear crystal itself it looks great! But there is a method to colorize this crystal: 1. While selection still in the image with the crystal, Layers, New, call this "Color" 2. Set your foreground and background with your favorite colors. 3. Bucket, choose sunburst or lineal gradient 4. Fill your color layer with these colors:  5. Layers, properties, blend mode, color. This is how it will looks:  6. Layers, merge as visible. Method 4: Create gold! 1. Simply go to method # 3, step 8. 2. At that point, be sure you have gold instead of white in the foreground 3. Make the blur and hot wax thing 4. Color, adjust brightness 30 and contrast 65 or so. 5. You will get a shiny gold like this one:  Tip: You can play with brightness and contrast to get your favorite brilliant gold. Just use a lot of contrast! 6. If you want to apply color to your gold image, is the same as colorize the crystal. You will get this:  Simply be creative. Combine all these methods, choose your favorite dingbat fonts and shapes, play with the settings to get better results and even create your own effects! The most important: practice a lot! Expand your limits to design your virtual jewels and have fun!! Then, remember to participate in the Show Off Forum!! Post your virtual jewels creations there! Simply use this easy code to post your image: [image]Your image url[/image] |