Paint Shop Pro v7 » Layers
Many of you already use layers, but some of you don’t. Layers are really handy because it allows you to move around on the contents in the picture, and you can add different effects to each layer.
When I start making a picture, I open a new, blank sheet in psp. I like to use a pretty big sheet, so when I get that “new image” box up after clicking on “new” in psp, I set the with to 50-60, and the height to 60-70.
Then I find a background, and open it in psp. I copy the whole picture, and paste it over to my blank sheet. I do the same with the horse(s), and whatever else I want on the picture – paste all as a new layer.
How to paste it as a new layer? Let’s paste the background on to the blank sheet:
1) Go to the background picture
2) Press control A (select all) then control C (copy) on your key board. You will have a dotted line around the picture.
3) Go to the blank sheet and press control L (paste as new layer)
When I write the horse’s name on the picture, I always write it on a new layer. In case I want to change the name, color or font later. If the font is on a different layer than the background, you can make any changes without much work. You can also use e.g. the “burn” effect on only the text when you write it on a new layer.
How to make a new layer? Go to “Layers” in the top tool bar:
Then choose “New raster layer”. Leave the settings with blend mode normal, opacity 100% and group 0.
If you later want to move the horse for example, you can choose the arrow tool (mover) and click on the picture, then pull it where you want it.
When you are done with the picture, and want to store it in a normal size, go to Layers in the top menu, and choose “merge visible”.
Then use the selection tool, and make a square around the picture.
And press control + C (copy) then control + V (paste as new image), and the picture will open in a new psp window. Save this as your picture. The other, bigger picture should be saved as a .psp image for later use. Make sure you don’t save it after you merge the layers, because then you can’t change the layers later – it’ll all be on one layer. So save it before you merge, not after.