Easy Striped Ribbon



~ This tutorial assumes you are familiar with the tools in PSP ~
It was written on January 9, 2007, using PSP 9, but can be completed in most versions.
Tutorials are only guidelines, it's always fun to experiment with different settings on your own : )


My Supply Download:
Graphic08pattern

Filters Used:   

Greg's Factory Output Vol II - Pool Shadow
You can find it HERE  (It's down toward the bottom of the page)

The retouch or lighten/darken brushes are a good alternative to the above filter.
They create the same effect, but it takes longer : )


Tools Used:   

Preset Shape Tool:      Flood Fill tool:       Warp Brush: 


Mesh Warp tool:
 

This tutorial is Easy Peasy!

Creating the ribbon:

Step 1:
Unzip the Graphic08 pattern, place it in your PSP patterns folder.
Unzip & install the filter into your plugins folder.
(Restart PSP after installation)


Step 2:
Create a new raster file (file > New), 2400x225, 300dpi, transparent background.

Over on your Materials palette, change your Foreground color to null (transparent).
Click once on your Background color square to bring up the Material properties dialog box. 
Select the pattern tab and load the Graphic 8 stripe pattern located in the drop down list.
Set the angel to '0', scale to '65'.  Hit 'OK'.

(Please note, if you use a different size canvas, you will need to adjust the pattern size)


Step 3:
Grab your flood fill tool (or hit the letter 'f' to activate it)
With your mouse, right click on your canvas to flood fill raster 1 with the pattern.

We need to increase the height of our canvas so we have more room to work.
Image > Canvas size - Keep the width at 2400, change the height to 897.


Step 4:
Selections > Select all > Selections float > Selections defloat.
Effects > Plugins > Greg's Factory Output Vol II > Pool Shadow.

Plug in the below settings, or play with the settings to find something you like:



Select None.
If you're unhappy with your results, hitting control 'z' on your keyboard will undo your steps.


Step 5:
We are going to warp our ribbon so that the knot will fit around it.

Type the letter 'd' on your keyboard to activate the deform tools.
Click the arrow next to the tool and select Mesh warp from the drop down list.

Change the settings in the tool options palette to reflect the following:


Drag the nodes to warp the ribbon. 

This is how I started mine, play around until you have something you like.
 - Remember 'control z' will undo your last step -


When you are done, hit apply (the check mark at the top left of the Tool Options palette).
  Using your move or pick tool, click on your canvas to release the mesh warp tool.


Step 6:
Creating the knot:

I like to use the rounded rectangle for this part, but you could easily copy a small
square of your ribbon and rotate it right 90 degrees.  You can skip down to
Step 7 if you are not going to use the rounded rectangle technique.

Grab your Preset shapes tool, (or type the letter 'p' to activate it) .
Select the rounded rectangle from the shape list in the Tool Options palette.

Go over to the materials palette and change the angle of the pattern to 90, scale to 55.

  Draw out a small shape for your knot. 
Right click on your knot layer and select 'convert to raster'.

Selections > Select all > Selections float > Selections defloat.
Effects > Plugins > Greg's Factory Output Vol II > Pool Shadow.

Change the diagonal setting to about 74 and lower the intensity to around 50.

Select none.


Step 7:
Grab your Brush Tool (or hit the letter 'b' to activate it)
Select the Warp Brush from the drop down list.

Below are the settings I used for the warp brush.
You may need to change the size, depending on your knot or the area you intend on warping.


Place the knot on your ribbon, and using the Warp Brush, shape it to fit.
You may also need to use the warp brush on the ribbon in order to achieve the look you want.

Here is how my knot looked after applying the pool shadow filter & using the warp brush:



Step 8:
When you are happy with the shape of your knot, add a small drop shadow to give it some depth.
Right click on the layer and select 'merge visible'.

Crop your image and save as a psp file.  If you created your ribbon at 300dpi, you should
be able to resize it for use on future projects, with minimal distortion.  The higher the dpi, the
better the quality, but that also means the larger the file, so be careful with that : )


Recoloring your ribbons:

You can easily change the color of this ribbon using PSP's Manual Color Correction adjustment.

Manual Color Correction may not show up under the Adjust drop down list in newer versions of PSP.
Follow the steps below to find out where it is hiding : )
 
Here is how you can add any missing tools/commands to your workspace. 
 
  • Choose View / Customize 
  • To add a Tool - In the Categories list, click Tools, find the tool you want, select it, hold your left mouse button down and drag it to the Tools toolbar. 
  • To add a command -  In the Categories list, click Unused Commands, find the command you want, select it, hold your left mouse button down and drag it to a menu. 

Ok, back to the coloring, lol.  
On your keyboard, hit 'control c' to copy your original merged ribbon.
Hit 'control v' to paste it as a new image.  Close out your original file (make sure you save it first).

Adjust > Color Balance > Manual Color Correction

The 'source' color stays the same for all ribbons you want to color.
Click on the color square under 'source' and plug in f5f5f5, or experiment with a color of your own.

Check 'Preset target color' to select a color from the drop down list.
Click on one of the colors and it will automatically be entered in the 'target' color area for you.

You can also plug in a specific color by checking Manual target color at the bottom of the screen.

Here is an example of one of mine:



Well, that's it, we are done!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial; I would love to see your results.
Feedback is always welcome!