Simple Quick Plaids

Created April 13, 2002 © Copyright SuzShook
Property of SuzShook

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This tutorial is my own creation;
however, most of the techniques used in this tutorial, I have learned from others!
Therefore, if you recognize any contribution you have made, I thank you!
And I thank you as well for respecting this as my work by not posting it,
in whole or in part,
in any other location without written permission from me!

Individuals and PSP graphics groups are invited to share my tutorials with others with TEXT LINKS ONLY.
You can e-mail me to let me know you are adding one or more of my tutorials to your list if you like -
it's always fun to know who is doing them!

The other day, while working on a background tile tutorial, I happened to notice the wonderful plaid effect that occured when I used a gradient as a background! So, I thought I'd share this discovery with you in this quick and easy plaid tile tutorial! Once again, I want to thank someone who has inspired me, and who continues to encourage me - I thank you again, and always, Gina, for who you are, and for all you give! You are the best! Now, let's get started!!

This tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of Paint Shop Pro at the intermediate level, and is written in and for PSP Version 7. It will probably work just as well in version 6, with a few adjustments in paths!

Screen shots in this tutorial are resized - your work will be larger than this!

Supplies - For this tutorial, you will need the following:

• Jasc's Paint Shop Pro - you can get the 30-day trial version HERE.



• Simple Filters (4 Way Average and Quick Tile) - you can get these and all the Simple filters HERE.  ~ ~ Unzip into your Plugins folder.



• In this tutorial, I used one of Nanson's wonderful gradients called Ice. You can find this one, and all Nanson's gradients HERE. ~ ~ Unzip into your Gradients folder.

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Ok, now we're ready to begin! Grab your mouse, and let's go create!

Remember to save often!

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STEP 1

Open a new image file, 300 x 300 pixels in size, with a transparent background.

Set your foreground style to Gradient by left-clicking on the small black arrow on the Foreground Style box:

and then left-clicking on the "Gradient icon" in the pop-up box:

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Left-click on the gradient to display the Gradient dialog box. Select Style=Linear Gradient, Angle=45, Repeats=3, and Invert gradient is UNchecked as shown below:

Click on the gradient in the window, or on the arrow beside the gradient window, and select your gradient from those shown. Choose any gradient you want - the possibilities are endless! I chose Nanson's Ice gradient (mqc Ice).

A note here on the Repeats value - for this tutorial, I am using 3, but depending on the gradient you select, you may want to increase (or even decrease) this number. Remember, anything goes - this is YOUR plaid tile! I only offer guidelines to get you started!

Click OK.

Using the FLOOD FILL tool , flood fill your image with your gradient.

Save.

STEP 2

The image needs to be sharpened to make a "crisp" plaid tile. I used Effects...Sharpen...Sharpen More, which I applied repeatedly until the image was really sharp. Again, you will have to experiment to find something you like.

STEP 3

Apply the Simple 4 Way Average filter by selecting Effects...Plug-in Filters...Simple...4 Way Average.

Sharpen again, this time using Effects...Sharpen...Unsharp Mask, with the following settings:

Radius (8.00), Strength (46), Clipping (13)

As with the previous Sharpening, you may want to apply this effect repeatedly until you get something you're pleased with. Save.

STEP 4

Apply the Simple Quick Tile filter by selecting Effects...Plug-in Filters...Simple...Quick Tile, and that's it - you've got a plaid tile!

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Some interesting variations can be achieved by adding a colored layer above the plaid tile,
and changing the blend mode and/or opacity.
Here are several samples:

White layer added, Blend Mode (Difference)	Light blue layer added, Blend Mode (Multiply)	Light green layer added, Blend Mode (Exclusion)

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Here are a few additional plaids I made using other gradients:

Nanson's Seaweed gradient	Nanson's Track gradient, Repeats (1)	Nanson's Streak gradient

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Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial as much as I did creating it!
If you have any problems, comments, or questions, please do not hesitate to Email me.

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All graphics and content © 2002 by SuzShook