Load The New Year
(PSP all versions with AS)
A tutorial by Mar ©2006

You can Drag & Drop the below hand  for a easy use of this tutorial.

What you need:
Corel PSP. Download a 30 day trial here.
Materials: Download here.
Open all images from the ZIP in PSP.

This tutorial can only be done if you have Animation Shop (AS).
If you are a new PSP user and you only have PSP X without AS, you
can download AS for free at Jacs:http://FTP.jasc.Com/pub/en/ani311en.exe .

Save often.
Let's get started. Good luck.....

This tutorial is done in PSP 9.

Open a new image 450 X 400 > Transparent.

Foreground to #f53c3c.
Background to #6e0e15.
Or use two other colors.
Foreground light, background darker.
Foreground to gradient.
Look for the fore-back gradient.
Style > Linear. Texture unchecked (= blue hand).

Fill your image with the gradient.

Advanced PSP-ers can now type 2009 first (Arial > Size 72)
in a matching color and with the Object selector tool pull
the 2007 at 3/4 (three quarter) screen size (from the top). Convert
to raster and layer opacity to 50. (See blue example beneath this tutorial).
There are some other gadgets in the ZIP too for the advanced PSP-ers.
Like give your monitor a winter or holiday season wallpaper.

These options will not be discussed any further.
I made this tutorial simple so a beginner can do this tut too.

Open the MD-Monitor.psp and copy.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new layer.
No need to move, it is in the right spot.

Open the MD-Santa.psp and copy.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new layer.

Move the Santa to the left and bottom edge.

Open the MD-Loading-Window.psp and copy.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new layer.

Move this little window on the monitor.

Foreground locked and background to white.

Click and look for a straight and regular Window Font. I used Arial.
Size 12 > Stroke 0,0 > B for Bold > Anti-alias checked or Sharp.

Type your text. I used "Load New Year".
If you want to use another text, you
might have to adjust the font size.

Move the text on the blue edge of the small window.

Layers > Merge > Merge all flatten.

Selections > Select all.
Selections > Modify > Contact with 10 pixels.
Selections > Invert.

Effects > Texture effects > Blinds > Color #062f6c.

Effects > 3D-effects > Inner bevel > Color white.

Effects > 3D-effects > Drop shadow > Color black.

Repeat the drop shadow but this time Vert. and Horiz. to - 2.

Selections > None.

Background to #03369f.

Now type 2009 at size 20.
Move the 2007 on the window between the folders.

Layers > Merge > Merge all flatten.

Now open the MD-Load-Bar.psp and copy.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new layer.

Move onto the space where it has to load.

Layers > Merge > Merge all flatten.

Save this image as work-image.psp.

Copy the merged layer.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new image.
Save this image as load-new-year.psp.

Go back to your work-image.psp.

Edit > Undo .

With your rectangle selection tool (feather 0),
select 4 blocks of the load bar. Click "Delete" to remove.


***** With the blue animation at the bottom of this tut I removed
2 blocks at the time. Your animation will end up with 12 frames. ******

Selections > None.

Layers > Merge > Merge all flatten.

Copy the merged layer.

Go to the new image load-new-year.psp.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new layer.

Go back to your work-image.psp.

Edit > Undo .

Again, select 4 blocks and click "Delete".

Selections > None.

Layers > Merge > Merge all flatten.

Copy the merged layer.

Go to the new image load-new-year.psp.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new layer.

Go back to your work-image.psp.

Edit > Undo .

Repeat these steps until you have last to remove blocks left.

At last:
Layers > Remove.
On the question if you are sure, answer Yes.

Now only one layer left so no need to merge anymore.
Copy this single layer.

Go to the new image load-new-year.psp.

Edit > Paste > Paste as a new image.

Save your image as load-new-year.psp again.
File > Save as...........

PSP 7 users can just save as.
PSP 8 - 9 and 10 users and up......
Because Animation Shop doesn't
recognize *.pspimage you have to save as *.psp.
This can be done in 2 different ways:

Use this one for all early 8 and 9 versions.
Animation Shop doesn't recognize *.pspimage from
 PSP 8 and 9 so we save as a PSP 6 or 7 file. Do it like this:
Save as > Click options and save as a *.PSP 6 or 7 compatible file.

Use this method for the latest versions.
The latest PSP 9 and all PSP X versions have the
option to directly save as PSP for Animation Shop.
Look in the pull down menu and select Animation Shop (*psp).

Open your load-new-year.psp in Animation Shop (AS) .
You have 7 frames. Zoom in and out again.
People asked me how to zoom in and out. I always use the plus (+) and
minus (-) key on the number pad of my keyboard. So now you see them.

Click Ctrl-A to select all 7 frames.

The frames are in opposite order so we are going to correct that first.

Animation > Reverse frames.

Animation > Properties for frame > Set your frame time at 75.

Save your animation as a GIF.

Your Load The New Year is done.
I hope you like this tutorial and learned some
new things about PSP and Animation Shop.
Thank you for using my tutorials.

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Healthy 2007!

The above images was created by my dear friend Lise Falsing.
Lise translates all my tutorials into Danish for me. I love it!

Since 11-24-2006: