*** PREPARATION ***

For this tutorial you will need:

Paint Shop Pro and Animation Shop, which you can get at the Jasc Software site

Night Sky font which you can get here.

The best advice I can give you is to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!!  There's not much worse than losing all your hard work due to a program or computer lock up or melt down!!!  So...save your work often...I will be putting reminders throughout the tutorial:

Save 

As with any of my tutorials, please feel free to use any colors you like to create you own unique image.

Okay, let's get started...
 

*** CREATING OUR NAME ***

1. Open a new image:

Size: 250x100 pixels
Resolution: 200 Pixels/inch
Raster Background
Color depth: 16 Million Colors
Color: Transparent checked

2. Save your image as "my-sig.psp". Under options make sure "Save as PSP7 compatible file" is checked.

3. Change your foreground color to Null and your background color to #F7E78C.

4. Click on your Text Tool and using the following settings, click in the center of your canvas and type your name in the Text Entry box:

5. This is what I have:

6. Rename your "Vector1" layer to "Name".

Save 

7. Click on your Object Selector Tool and you will see the bounding box around your name:

8. Click on Selections/From Vector Object or (Ctrl+ Shift +B) and you will see "marching ants" around your image:

9. Save your selection to the Alpha Channel (Selections/Load-Save Selection/Save Selection to Alpha Channel):

10. Add a new layer and name it "Name1".

11. Turn off the visibility for your "Name" layer.

12. With your "Name1" layer active, flood fill your selected area with your background color (#F7E78C).

13. Float your selection (Selections/Float).

14. Apply a cutout effect with the following settings:

Vertical: 1
Horizontal: 1
Opacity: 100
Blur: 3
Shadow color: #FA9C2E

15. Deselect (Selections/Select None):

Save 

16. Add a new raster layer and name it "Name2".

17. Load your selection from your Alpha Channel (Selections/Load-Save Selection/Load Selection From Alpha Channel):

18. Turn off the visibility for your "Name1" layer.

19. With your "Name2" layer active, flood fill your selected area with your background color (#F7E78C).

20. Float your selection (Selections/Float).

21. Apply a cutout effect with the following settings:

Vertical: 1
Horizontal: -1
Opacity: 100
Blur: 3
Shadow color: #FA9C2E

22. Deselect (Selections/Select None):

Save 

23. Add a new raster layer and name it "Name3".

24. Load your selection from your Alpha Channel (Selections/Load-Save Selection/Load Selection From Alpha Channel).

25. Turn off the visibility for your "Name2" layer.

26. With your "Name3" layer active, flood fill your selected area with your background color (#F7E78C).

27. Float your selection (Selections/Float).

28. Apply a cutout effect with the following settings:

Vertical: -1
Horizontal: -1
Opacity: 100
Blur: 3
Shadow color: #FA9C2E

29. Deselect (Selections/Select None):

Save 

30. Add a new raster layer and name it "Name4".

31. Load your selection from your Alpha Channel (Selections/Load-Save Selection/Load Selection From Alpha Channel).

32. Turn off the visibility for your "Name3" layer.

33. With your "Name4" layer active, flood fill your selected area with your background color (#F7E78C).

34. Float your selection (Selections/Float).

35. Apply a cutout effect with the following settings:

Vertical: -1
Horizontal: 1
Opacity: 100
Blur: 3
Shadow color: #FA9C2E

29. Deselect (Selections/Select None):

30. Click on your Raster1" layer to make it active and try filling with different colors, to find one you like your name on. You will want to use this color for your background in stationery or on a web site if you make your animation transparent.  In this case, we will use this color when we make our animation.

31. Delete your "Name" and "Raster1" layers, as we won't need them anymore.
 

  Save

*** CREATING OUR ANIMATION ***

1. Open Animation Shop (File/Jasc Software Products/Launch Animation Shop).

2. Click on File/New Animation, then:

Same size as the first animation frame
     NEXT
Click Opaque and change the color to the one you liked (I chose black)
     NEXT
Upper left corner of the frame checked
With the canvas color checked
     NEXT
Yes, repeat the animation indefinitely
Frame length: 15
     NEXT
Click on Add Image and browse to the folder where you saved your "my_sig.psp" file.  Click on this file then the Open button
     NEXT
FINISH

3. Click View/Animation to see how your animation looks.

4. If you are happy with your image save your file as a gif image:

5. Try different fonts/colors to create a variety of text animations. Note that wider fonts work best for this tutorial and you can also try dingbats:

  Save