How to make a PSP8 image like this?

[terrypin]

I'm trying to make an image like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/GE-Cust ... xample.png

(Background: It was made in PhotoShop by someone who successfully used it as a customised icon in Google Earth and sent it to me to help me do the same. I want to make a version in a semi-finished state so that I can quickly add my own text.)

But I'm making heavy weather of reproducing it from scratch in PSP8 and would be grateful for some help please. Is there a 'best' way to approach this sort of thing in a methodical fashion? Much of what I'm trying seems pretty haphazard!

Here's what I've done so far:

1. Opened a new image with a transparent background

2. Cheated a bit for now by copying a rectangular piece of the original, around the red circle, and pasting it as new layer into my new image. (A requirement for this sort of icon is that the circle needs to be in the centre of the image.)

3. Touched up a few unwanted dark pixels at the top of that circle. (I'll come back later and learn how to produce that nice shadowed globe effect myself.)

4. Used the Preset Shape Tool to draw a transparent rectangle with a solid black border, stroke size by trial/error set to 7 px.

5. Positioned the rectangle.

6. Used the Preset Shape Tool again to make a transparent triangle of the same colour, rotated it manually through 180 degrees, and fitted it below the rectangle.

So now it looks like this:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4019461/GE-IconSoFar.jpg

I've made some attempts to proceed to a finish, but they seem increasingly messy and without any clear logic behind them. I'm unsure whether I should now merge everything so that I can paint out or erase the unwanted border section (and smooth it out)? Or merge only some of the layers, so that I retain flexibility for adding different text? And the aspect I'm having particular difficulty with is filling the transparent rectangle with a semi-transparent colour. Not to mention the apparent shadow effect around the original.

Any help would be much appreciated please.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[terrypin]

As PNG images don't get displayed 'faithfully' in browsers, here's what the original looks like in PSP8:


--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK

[teknisyan]

I'm using PSP X3 when I was able to duplicate the image... I followed the steps that you indicated then here's where I continued... I merged both the rectangle and inverted triangle, so that you can erase the unwanted browser and combine both shape into one.

Then place a second raster layer and set the opacity to 60% then fill that second layer with a dark gray color (#202020) and use SELECTION TOOL to cutout the portion that is outside the image.

Then the text will be for another layer, so that it will keep the background untouched.

So here's what I got so far.



Hope this helps.

[terrypin]

Many thanks Albiel, looks good. I'll work on that tonight and let you know how I get on.

Edit: Tried it earlier than expected and it worked fine, thank you! I am however finding it hard to add a faint shadow around the entire shape. Without losing the transparency.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK