sky.

[lunglord]

I have a photo, a JPG of a mountain. I erased the sky behind it with the eraser. A checkboard pattern appeared. then when I saved it the background turned white. I want to put a gradient of color I made behind the mountain and also oe in front. I also want to put foreground images in it, about five layers total not counting text. I made gradients, but it won;t show me gradients under materials. I cannot recall the ones I made. I have promoted this image to rasta without the sky on it, that is white backgorund. I probably made ten mistakes. The helps are for pros and me-- just starting this quest/ How do I get a gradient onto this pic. I have tried for hours and hours.

[Tim Morrison]

When you erase the sky, the checkerboard pattern indicates that the area is now transparent. It turned white when you saved it because the JPG file format cannot save transparency.
JPG also can't save layers, and overall is a very bad choice for a file format to use for saving an edited image. JPG is a good format for making image files small, to save storage space, or for email or web posting, but it shrinks the file size by discarding image information. While you are editing the image, each time you re-open and then re-save the image, a little more data is lost and the number of compression artefacts is increased.
The best way would be open your original image in PSP, press the Shift key and the "D" key together to duplicate the image, then close the original. This ensures that you're working on a copy and your original image is preserved.
Use the Background Eraser tool to erase the sky. You will see the checkerboard pattern which indicates the sky area is transparent. Save this in the PSPIMAGE format so that transparency and layers are preserved. If you need a JPG later, make a JPG copy of this master image using File > Export > JPEG Optimizer.
Create a new raster layer (Layers > New Raster Layer) and call it "Sky". Go to the Layers palette and drag the Sky layer, lower than the other layer. The layers are displayed with the one in the lowest position in the Layers Palette at the back, and each higher layer in front of the others. While you're in the Layers Palette, click on the Sky layer to highlight it and make it the active layer. You will see the name of the active layer in brackets after the filename in the header of the image window.
In the Materials palette you will notice two large and two small samples. The small ones show the currently chosen colours and the larger ones show the current materials... foreground material swatch at the top and background material below. A material displays what happens to the colour when gradient, patterns and textures are added.
Under each material swatch there are three small squares. Click on the left one under the foreground material swatch and you will see it open to show three small icons. As you run the mouse pointer over them you will see tooltips that identify them as "Color", "Gradient" and "Pattern". Choose "Gradient", then click on the foreground swatch to open the Material Properties box with the Gradient tab selected.
You can either choose a gradient by clicking on the large gradient sample, or you can click the "Edit" button to create your own. If you want to create your own, the first thing you should do is click on the "New" button so that your changes don't overwrite an existing gradient.
Once you're happy with the gradient, click on OK. Select the Flood Fill tool and left click on your image, which will fill the active layer with the foreground material. (Right clicking would use the background material). You will probably need to edit the filled layer. Typically you would select the Pick tool and drag the bottom edge of the Sky layer up so that you see more of the gradient in the transparent section.
Foreground stuff is added in a similar way. Copy what you want in the foreground, paste it as a new layer, drag the layer in the Layers palette to get it in the right position in the stack of layers and use the Pick tool to resize, rotate or move the layer.
Save regularly. You can re-save and re-open the image as often as you like without altering the quality when it is in PSPIMAGE format.

[lunglord]

You are so awesome..with every thanks. Please check on me--this is so new for me. If you have a questions about lungs....Im your guy.......

[Ron P.]

You are so awesome..with every thanks. Please check on me--this is so new for me. If you have a questions about lungs....Im your guy.......

Aren't lungs like politicians, full of hot air..

[lunglord]

Tim, Thank you,

Yes lungs are full of hot air, and about 90 sq meters of surface area for diffusion-about the same area as a tennis court.

I did what you said as saving it as a PSP, and cleaned it and mirrored it then saved it again, but got stuck after. When creating a "New Raster Layer." I get a small drop down box with the Preview, Settings, General, Highlight in layers pallete. I didnt check it, you didnt say to do so, but I tried late when I could not get it to go forward. What tool do I use for dragging the sky? Where are the layers to separate the sky from the mountain. When I go to the pallete and then to layers and click on it nothing happens.

lunglord.

[Tim Morrison]

I did what you said as saving it as a PSP, and cleaned it and mirrored it then saved it again, but got stuck after. When creating a "New Raster Layer." I get a small drop down box with the Preview, Settings, General, Highlight in layers pallete. I didnt check it, you didnt say to do so, but I tried late when I could not get it to go forward.

All you need to do at that point is type "Sky" into the "Name" field and click OK. Then go to the Layers Palette by pressing F8 or clicking View > Palette > Layers. You'll see that you have two layers there, one called Sky. Drag its Layers palette entry so that it is at the bottom of the list of layers.

[lunglord]

What I did was.....
1. Go to Layers. new raster layer. drop own box--this info inside setting default name sky opacity 100 link 0 layer is visible ...press ok.

2. go to view >pallette > layers

I see sky as part of the page. my mountain "working C" then after it says @ 45% (sky).
I am thinkig it separates the twoso I can work on sky by itself.

I see no layers.

My blindess is over a silly thing probably. I try for twenty minutes before writing to you. A step must be hidden to me. The helps from COREL never shows what I should do. It assumes I know already.

help.

Lunglord

[lunglord]

I know what my problem is. I have no materials or layers palette to the right side of my image Im working with. I saw some tutorials and they have then...but I dont......but I dont know why they arent over there like in the tutorials. I think id be okay if I could get them going.

[wds937]

I have no materials or layers palette to the right side of my image Im working with.

Perhaps they were closed previously. Use View > Palettes to toggle them on or off, as desired. Also, you can use keyboard shortcuts F6 for the Materials palette and F8 for the Layers palette.

[lunglord]

I want to insert a beam, like a laser, making it 50% opaque, but I do not want to make the rest of the image opaque in any way. Think drawing with a highlighter on a piece of cellophane and putting it on over the image. I cant get that without adding whitness to the image.

[wds937]

I want to insert a beam, like a laser, making it 50% opaque, but I do not want to make the rest of the image opaque in any way. Think drawing with a highlighter on a piece of cellophane and putting it on over the image. I cant get that without adding whitness to the image.

A few ideas (use alone or in combination, to your desired effect):
1. Create a new raster layer above the current layer, and set its transparency to 50%. Draw your laser beam on the new layer. Adjust the transparency to suit your image.
2. Draw using the Airbrush tool. Try values such as Shape = Round, Size = 32, Hardness = 80, Step = 10, Density = 25, Opacity = 25. Experiment with the various brush settings.
3. Use the Marker Tool, creating an art media layer above the current image. Set the art media layer's transparency to around 30%.
4. Create the laser beam using either the Neon Green or the Neon Pink picture tube. Paint this on a raster layer above the current image. Set the layer's transparency to about 60%.

[lunglord]

DONE AND DONE Laser beam is on duty. I have a raster image, and background image open and have worked with each of these. I opened a vector to put text on top of all that and I did just fine. But I cant save it-that isnt a highlighted option. I can't click on one of my other layers to work on them in the layers palete. It is something stupid that I haven;t done but this has my day off under lock and key till i figure it out. I can surf the internet, open other things. I cannot create a new raster layer or vector layer or but can make a layer group or adjustment layer I can continue to amend this current vector text but it will not let me pick another tool. I go to Corel. To apply effects to vector text

Full Editor workspace

1 On the Tool Options palette, choose the Pick tool .
2 Select the text.
3 Choose Selections From Vector Object.
4 Choose Edit Paste As New Layer.
5 On the Tool Options palette, choose the Magic Wand tool .
6 Select the text.
7 Choose the Effects menu, and select an effect.
but like so many instructions--they dont apply somehow---it wont let me choose the pick tool to modify the text on the screen. I want to save work with all three images at the same time. and save them without merging it so I can fine tune it later.

[Ron P.]

I'm not understanding something here..

You can't save your vector image? Is your vector actually a layer, a part of your working image? If so just save your work, as a psp image, which will preserve all layers as the last time you worked on it. I don't think it's possible to save layers individually. If your vector is a separate image, then save it as a psp image file, and you can open it later too.

[lunglord]

Working C is the title of my raster 1 My screen says Corel PaintShop Photo Pro x3 Working C*@ 30% (Vector 1) Is that a layer or something else. Over on the side in my layers palete, this vector is shown on a checkboard with the text displayed on it, but I cant go to the other layers and I need to make adjustments to align everything just right---and I can't. I cannot save anything. Under FILE the only options open to me are NEW OPEN RECENT FILES AND everything from EMAIL lower. I dont know how to back out or adjust.

Some small tiny thing is snagging me Ron.....

[LeviFiction]

Are you still in text edit mode? Until you hit the green check "Apply" button on the toolbar (or double click outside the text, but that's less guaranteed) you're in text edit mode and can't access anything else.

As for how to read the window title for your image...

The window Title includes the name of the image along with the currently active layer in parenthesis next to it. If the image is unsaved it will have an asterisk next to the name. It will also contain the zoom percentage

Example:

Image name zoom active layer name

Image1 @ 16% (Copy of Raster 1)