Animated Envelope

I used an envelope that I got when I did a tutorial from Designs By Joy

To colour the envelope, I used a background tile that came with a web set I downloaded from Teddy Bear Lane

 if you'd like to use one of these, right click on the tile and save to your hard drive

(tiles removed for printing purposes)

(NOTE: You don't have to use a tile, You can use a solid, pattern or gradient fill)

This is quite a long tutorial, there are a few reasons for this!

1) I talk a lot!

2) I use a lot of screenshots

3) I write my tutorials for beginners to PSP so I explain things in detail, just brush over the parts you already know how to do if you're not a beginner ;o)

Let's get started

1) Open a New Canvas   500x500 Transparent

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It's big but we're going to crop later

2) Open your envelope front and back pieces

Click on the Back piece

Click on the Copy icon

Click on your new canvas and go to Edit > Paste > As New Layer.

You can now close the original so you can use it again. 

 Layer Palette > Right Click on Layer 2 and Rename it Back

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3) Click on the envelope Front piece

Click on the Copy icon

Click on your new canvas and go to Edit > Paste > As New Layer

Again, you can now close the original.

Layer palette > Right Click on Layer 2 and Rename it Front

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4) Using the mover tool   move your envelope pieces into position so they fit together

We're now going to change the colour of our envelope

5) Open a Colour/texture tile of your choice

On your Styles Foreground box....

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(1 = Foreground  2 = background)

(NOTE: The foreground box is also known as the Stroke box and the background box is known as the Fill box)

 click in the centre and keep the mouse pressed until a small window opens

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Choose the Pattern icon

Click once in the centre of the stroke box and a new window will open

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Click on the thumbnail and find the tile you're using, click on it, then click OK

(alternatively, choose a solid, pattern or gradient in the Styles Foreground box)

NOTE: Make sure the Lock box is checked on your colour palette

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This stops your colours/patterns or gradients from changing when you click on a new tool.

6) Now choose your Magic Wand tool

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7) On your Layer Palette turn Off the Front layer and Layer 1 by clicking on the glasses at the side of the layers. A red X will appear to show they are turned off

Click on the BACK layer to make it turn blue. This show's it is active

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Now click on the top part of the envelope back (the flap) to select it

Go to Selections > Modify > Expand

Expand by 2 pixels

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8) Now click on the Flood fill tool

and flood fill the selection

Do the same to the bottom part of the back piece

Flood fill this selection

Selections > Select None

9) Now turn Off the visibility of the Back Layer and turn On the visibility of the Front Layer. Click on the Front layer to make it active

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Selections > Select All

Selections > Float

Flood fill the selection

10)  Layers > New Raster Layer, name it Cut out

Go to Effects > 3D Effects > Cut out and use the following settings

(Reduce the opacity if this is too dark for your liking)

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Selections > Select none

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11) OK, we're going to Merge the Front Layer with the Cut out Layer

Make sure Layer 1 and Back Layer are turned Off.

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Now click on the front layer to select it and Right click on it

Merge > Merge Visible

Rename this layer, Front

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12) OK now we need to make the card. For this we're going to use Layer 1

Left Click on Layer 1 and keep the mouse button pressed. Drag the layer above the Back Layer

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Now Right Click on Layer 1 and Rename it Card

Unhide all layers

13) Click on the Selection Tool

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In the Tool Options palette use the following settings

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Drag a rectangle on the envelope just big enough to fit inside it comfortably

14) Load a different colour, pattern or gradient into your Styles Foreground Box and flood fill the selection

(The reason you can only see part of the flood fill is because the card layer is under the front layer)

Selections > Select None

15) Layers > New Raster Layer

Name it Text

On the layer palette turn Off the visibility on the Front layer

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Choose a Solid, pattern or gradient in your Fill box that you would like to use for your text colour.

16) With your new layer active, Click on the Text tool

Click on the canvas, your text entry box will open. Choose a font style and use the following settings

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Type in the first word and click ok. Move the text into position.

Selections > Select None

Click on your canvas to get the text entry box again and add your second word.

Go to the layer palette and right click on the floating selection layer. Click on Promote to Layer.

Repeat this for all the words you want to add.

Add a new layer and add your tube.

Make sure your tube and all your words are in the position you want them then go to the layer palette. Make sure all layers are turned off except the text layers and the tube layer.

Right click on a text layer and go to Merge > Merge Visible.

Right click on that merged layer and rename it  - Text

OK, we're ready to start the animation!

17) Turn off the Back and Front layers and click on the Text layer to make it active.

Now we're going to Merge the card layer with the text layer. 

Right click on the text layer and Merge > Merge Visible.

Rename the newly merged layer Card

18) To make the animation we need to duplicate all of the layers 3 times so we have 4 copies of each layer. To do this Right click on the Back Layer and click on Duplicate

Rename the Back Layer - BACK 1

Rename the 1st Copy Of Back Layer BACK 2

Repeat this until you have 4 layers named Back 1, Back 2, Back 3 and Back 4

Repeat the above for the Card Layer and the Front Layer

Arrange the layers as in the screenshot by clicking and dragging them into position

 19) Ok, the first layer is going to be unchanged so we can Merge Back 1, Card 1 and Front 1

To do this, turn Off the visibility of all the other layers and click on Front 1 to make it active, Right click and Merge > Merge Visible

Rename it 1

Turn Off the visibility of Layer 1

20) Now make Back 2, Card 2 and Front 2 visible again and click on Card 2 layer to make it active

Click on the Mover tool   and on the canvas move the card up a bit so it is coming out of the envelope

Layers > Merge > Merge visible

(or Right click on Front 2 layer and merge visible)

Rename the newly merged Layer 2

Turn Off the visibility of Layer 2

21) Turn On the visibility of Back 3, Card 3 and Front 3. Make sure the card layer is active.

Layers > Merge > Merge Visible

Rename the newly merged layer 3

22) Repeat for the last set of layers but this time make the card come almost all the way out

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Merge the layers and rename 4

Unhide all layers

Almost done lol

OK, we now need to make a closed envelope

23) Duplicate Layer 1 by Right clicking and clicking on Duplicate

Turn Off the visibility of Copy Of 1 and layers 2,3 and 4. Click on Layer 1 to make it active

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Click on the Lasso tool  

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In the Tool Options Box Click on the drop down menu and choose Point To Point

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Lasso the flap part of the envelope by clicking once to start then clicking every so often to make a selection around the flap

Double click to start the ants marching then click in the centre of the flap to tighten the ants

24) Click on the Copy icon   then press the Delete Key on your keyboard. The flap will disappear but you will still have a copy of it on the clipboard.

With Layer 1 still active

 Go to Edit > Paste > As New Selection

Now go to Image > Flip

The flap will now be the right way round.

Using the Mover Tool   move the flap on top of the envelope

 Selections > Select None

25) Turn On All layers

Save the animation to My Documents > My Pictures by clicking on the Save icon

Save it as a .psp file in PSP 7 or .pspimage file in PSP 8.

OK, you'll be very pleased to hear that we have finished in PSP :O)

26) Open Animation Shop

File > Browse and find your envelope file, double click to open it

Edit > Select All

Edit > Copy

Or Click on the Copy icon

Click on the Last Frame to make it active and go to Edit > Paste After Current

Leave the copied frames selected and go to Animation > Reverse Frames

27) Edit > Select All

Animation > Frame Properties

Type in 30 when the new window opens

Click on one of the frames with the card that is all the way out of the envelope, to make it the active frame then right click on it and choose Frame Properties

Type in 100

This is so that the frame with the text on it stays up longer so it can be read easier

Click on the other frame with the card that is all the way out, right click and delete the frame, we don't need it.

28) We're now going to crop the frames

Click on the Crop icon 3 buttons will appear above the tool bar. Only the option button is available to use at the moment.

Click on the options button. When the new window opens Click on Surround Opaque Area

Click OK

Click on the crop button

Last job to do is to resize

29) Edit > Select All

Animation > Resize Frames

Use the following settings

Click OK

30) Click on the Save icon and save the animation to a folder of your choice

and guess what....we're finally done!!

Phew, thank you for sticking with me throughout this tutorial.

I hope you enjoy your finished result :o)

Tutorial written by Shell © 2003
www.shells-tutorials.co.uk