Bezier Curve Tubes for PSP8

 

I had to write my own version of this technique because all tutorials I had available for making Bezier lines were missing certain steps that prevented me from being successful.  I am a rank novice with Bezier lines.  I hope this will be understandable for anyone who tries this.  I used bits and pieces from four different tutorials in order for it to work for me.  So let’s get on with it!

 

 

  1. In PSP8 open a new transparent image 1200 px wide and 300 px high.

 

  1. Click on your Pen Tool in your Tool Palette.  Make sure the Create as Vector box is checked.   Select the Drawing mode,  and Segment Type is Point to Point as shown below.

 

 

Line Style and width as shown below.

 

 

In the Materials Palette set your foreground colour, and close off the background colour as shown below.

 

 

  1. With the help of your coordinates, bring your cursor to the middle of the image and draw straight across to the right edge of the image.  You will see a red arrow pointing toward the right at the very edge.

 

 

 

Left Click either above or below the red line.  Your line will curve toward the new destination as shown below.

 

 

  1. Right click on the little square in the middle of the tile.  You will get a popup:  select Edit > Reverse Path.

 

 

  1. Now the arrow is at the left margin and pointing toward the left.  Left click above or below the red line and you will have another curve as shown below.

 

 

  1. You may manipulate the curves by clicking on the square in the middle of the tile at the 600 px mark.  Click on the arrow head and bring it back a bit to the middle to shorten the stroke and you can manipulate your curves by moving it in whichever directions you wish to get your desired curves.

 

 

Once you have the bezier line the way you want it, go to the little squares against your two sides and click on each and drag a bit beyond the edges to ensure that the line indeed reaches the very edges.  This is imperative for the next step.

 

  1. Select the Magic Wand and click above the line on your tile.  You will get the marching ants from the top and sides as far as your bezier curve.  (If you see lines below the bezier curve, then your lines were not extended far enough outside the image in Step 6.)

 

  1. Add a New Raster Layer.  Then go to Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow with the following values:

 

 

While still selected, go to Selections > Invert and apply the same settings for Drop Shadow as before.  DESELECT.

 

  1. On your Layer Palette, delete the Vector Layer.  Make sure you have Raster 2 highlighted.  Right click on image > Edit > Copy > Edit > Paste as a New Image.  You will now have a resized tube ready to be saved as a tube/PSP image.

 

Special thanks go out to Yvonne for testing this tutorial.  You have been a great help with this.

 

I hope you enjoyed making your bezier lines and tubes.

 

Hugs,

Natalie

me2slo@cogeco.ca

 

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