Egypt4u

My Iris using the Alternative Method for the Glass Effect


And going back to the other & adding leaded lines to connect the flower to oval shape, I could have kept it with the central lines from top-bottom & left - right but just to be different did it as you see.

Well done Kiya, you have now cracked it.
The only constructive criticism I would make, is to ditch the vertical line through the flower and replace it with another two radiating lines top and bottom, similar to the ones on the side. Alternatively, why not try some shaped curving lines in your centre panel linking the flower outline to the oval outer edge, but don't overdo the amount.

The easiest way to experiment is to DUPLICATE your original LEADED Layer, then switch off the original and make changes to the duplicate layer. This way you do not lose your original work and you only have to switch either layer on or off to see the changes taking effect.

You can make as many DUPLICATE Layers as you wish, just remember to switch the unused ones off. You would use all the tools and commands in any duplicate layer just the same way as you did in your original LEADED Layer.

Here is my final Iris pic, I followed your advice above Horus but did not like the curved lines, it didn't look right with the rest of pic.
Instead I lowered the pixel size with brush tool & added the straight leaded lines.

When are you going to teach us to do our names Mr Tutor

Do you mean like this one Kiya?



It is not difficult, just start by making yourself a new picture and putting into effect everything you have already learned so far.

1. Create a suitable grid for your picture.
2. Create several Layers to suit your requirements and give them names.
3. Using your point to point method draw the letters for your name and if needed, erase bits that are not required.
4. Create any other shapes such as Ovals, Squares etc.
5. Import any picture that you may wish to use, for example this female figure is from a photo I took at Dendera Temple.
6. use your 'Magic Wand' or any other method to capture the bit you want and then 'paste' it in your new name picture.
7. Use your 'Eye Dropper' tool to sample colours from your picture that will match the glass colours you require.
8. Select areas and fill them with colours as you have done previously in your Stained Glass tutorial by working between several layers.
9. Use all the editing features that you have leaned up to now to make your Lead and glass look more realistic.

I knew you were going to say that but I think I may get stuck at importing a pic ( if I do )
Will try it in a day or 2

Well done Kiya on your final Iris - much better as otherwise the Iris just looks suspended in mid-air.

Thanks BB, have you tried it or not feeling up to it yet? hope your much better since your return home

Feeling so so - waiting for an angiogram. Can't really settle to do anything at the moment - a bit of ADHA!!!

Hope its not anything serious & your on the mend soon

Multi-coloured Kiya Its the perfect rainy day for staying indoors & trying out my name.....its not perfect " I know ".

I intentially left the space at right to import photo but wasn't sure how to ? & if to do it at beginning or could it be added after the glass etc had been added.

Mr Tutor ?????????

Excellent job Kiya : you have been very attentive in class and applied your new knowledge to the project very well.

It is better if you start out at the very beginning by knowing everything you want to add and building it up, much better than trying to add something afterwards.

Basically you should have put a shape in your LEADED layer that you could fill with your picture instead of the glass you now have, however, all is not lost.

Highlight your LEADED layer and switch all the others off for clarity.

While still on that Layer, create a NEW Layer and it should appear above your LEADED one.

On the NEW Layer, add your OVAL shape where you want it to appear.

You will still need to do the STROKE thing and set the line at the same width as you previously used on your other lead lines.

Now double left click on the NEW Layer thumbnail and carry out the BEVEL & EMBOSS operations on the Oval shape as you did before on your leaded lines.

IMPORTANT, with only the two layers visible (LEADED & NEW) and still working on the NEW Layer, go to LAYERS then > MERGE DOWN and you should be left with just the LEADED Layer with the Oval as a part of it.

Your LEADED Layer should now be highlighted and by using the ERASER Tool set at 100% Opacity, carefully remove any surplus lines inside your OVAL shape.

You can now switch back on all the other layers and ERASE all the coloured glass within the OVAL by selecting the inside shape with your Magic Wand whilst sitting on each coloured Layers (assuming that you used one for each colour) and after selecting the inside of the OVAL going to EDIT then > CUT.

You should eventually finish up with a clear (chequered) background inside your OVAL, but if you have CUT all the glass from each layer and you are still left with a white background that will not CUT, here is what you should do.

Highlight your BACKGROUND Layer and choose DUPLICATE, this DUPLICATE BACKGROUND layer will appear above your bottom layer.

Switch OFF the original BACKGROUND layer and highlight your DUPLICATE BACKGROUND layer and repeat the magic Wand selection and the EDIT > CUT operation and it should now show as clear through ALL of your Layers.

Now open up the picture you want to use as your figure, copy it by holding down Ctrl + A and then ‘Pasting’ it into your still open Name picture and it should appear as a new layer in your Layers Pallet.

Move this picture layer to the bottom of your Layers Stack just below the NEW DUPLICATE Layer, you should see it peeping through the clear space in your Oval.

Whilst this layer is highlighted, use your Pointer Tool to move this picture around by holding down your left mouse button and dragging the picture so that what you want is visible through the Oval shape.

That’s it!

Thank you Mr Tutor, I shall it out tomorrow

A LITTLE LAYERS TIP (At least it works with PSE7)

If you have multiple layers in your project (I was playing with nearly 30 yesterday), it can be a nuisance switching off the ones you don't need open.

Here is a useful shortcut to switch off all except the one you want to work on:-

Highlight the layer you want to use.

Alt/Click on the eye of that layer.

All other layers will switch off leaving just the one you wanted. Repeat the procedure to open ALL layers.

There are many other shortcuts in opening selected layers but I find this the most useful and quick one.

Thanks for the tip Grandad Now I want to see what you've been working on with 30 layers

You would'nt see me working with 30 layers I'd be completely lost

Yes Grandad there are literally hundreds of shortcut commands that can be used in all Windows based programmes. In addition to the Main and Sub menus that are visible on the screen there are always the keypad entered command and anyone wishing to take the time to memorise them all could actually operate most Windows based programmes without ever clicking a mouse. Prior to the current Windows operating system which was designed to make using software easier, programmes such as the early versions of ‘Word’ all had to be used by typing in these shortcut codes to make things happen as there were no interactive menus.

While all these shortcut commands are very useful, it is better to get to grips with the basic menu system first so as to fully understand what is happening and where you need to go to make things happen, I have often seen tutorials that give instructions that use a shortcut command, but fail to explain what that shortcut has actually done, to me it is like trying to learn shorthand before you can type properly. This is only a comment on shortcuts in general and I am not saying that as you go along you should not use them, especially useful ones like the one you have mentioned and using the one you describe after first understanding the basic way of doing things is excellent and a good time saver.

Yes we are rather keen to see what you have been up to with all those layers.

I must qualify what I said in the above 'tip'. It only applies to those layers open at the time, not any closed ones.

I accept what you say Horus but with 28 layers open I wanted to find how to close them without having to click each one individually. 'DUMMIES' gave me the answer.

The reason I had so many layers was that I was doing an extreme example to practice all that you have taught us. What I had found was that when stroking from an image to ie. a leaded layer, I sometimes forgot to switch to the leaded layer with the obvious result.

It was just practice to get to grips with the procedures......and not something to show. Can't compete with 'Head Girl' yet.

I think it is good that you are thinking for yourself and after realising that it was so easy to make mistakes with several layers open, you looked for a solution to the problem and found one. However in your own case that understanding came from actually knowing the basics beforehand and you could build upon that.

The other day I had 26 different layers open, plus 26 duplicate copy layers and was trying to place them all in mirror reverse order in the Layers Stack, I wish I had found a shortcut for that one!

My final work for this week Mr Tutor ......... I tried adding pic to leaded & glass pic, but did not come out as good as I'd hoped.

Starting from beginning the 1st one adding some colour


then went back to change it all to natural stone colours, I intentially left a wider space between Kiyas' profile & leaded line.

Now that looks pretty good to me Kiya, I reckon you have achieved what you set out to do. I like the second one the best as the colours blend better IMO.

Now does anyone fancy having a go at this:

Before


And after


The idea will be to take any suitable picture of your own and make it look like a crumpled and aged poster.

To do it you will you will need:
1. A suitable picture of your own to use.

2. Take a close up Macro type picture with your own camera and save it to your PC.

3. Create a special picture using your B&W colours and your paintbrush tool.

4. To follow the tutorial to complete the task

If anyone is interested let me know and I will type up a tutorial, it is not difficult and will use mainly stuff you have used before.