©Cathy's Corner - Kaleidoscope Tutorial

Do you remember playing with a kaleidoscope when you were a kid? We could sit for hours (okay, several minutes) playing with the kaleidoscope...amazed at the different patterns we could produce with just a twist of our wrist. That toy inspired me to write this tutorial. I hope you enjoy making your own kaleidoscope.

Cathy :)

(Click on the above graphic for an explanation of the FBN skill ratings.)

This tutorial written by Cathy on May 26, 2003.
Any similarities to any other tutorial are
purely coincidental.

*** PREPARATION ***

This tutorial was written for PSP8, although it should work with version 7 as well.

For this tutorial you will need:

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

Here are the icons for the tools we will be using for this tutorial:

PSP Tool Buttons (unless otherwise noted, these are PSP7 buttons):
New (image)
Add Raster Layer (PSP7)
Add Raster Layer (PSP8)
Alpha Load Selection
Alpha Save Selection
Contract Selection
Cut
Defloat Selection
Expand Selection
Float Selection
Flood Fill
Inner Bevel
Save (probably the most important of all)
Select All
Select None
Selection Tool
Undo (this button should be your "best friend")

Animation Shop Buttons:
Animation Wizard
View Animation

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...

***** LAYER 1 *****

1. Open a new image 300x300, transparent, 16m colors. Save this image as my_kaleidoscope.psp. Under the save screen click on your options and make sure you have "Save as PSP7 compatible file" checked.

2. Rename your layer (Raster1 in PSP8; Layer1 in PSP7) to "40".

3. Click on your Selection Tool

Selection type: Circle
Mode: Replace (PSP8 only)
Feather: 0
Anti-alias: Checked

4. Select a circle approximately 275x275 (watch
guides in lower right corner).

5. Save your selection to alpha channel, in case you need to re-select. (Selections; Load/Save Selection; Save Selection to Alpha Channel)

We will keep our selection until much later, so do not deselect until you read the instructions to do so.

6. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

7. Flood fill selection with a rainbow gradient:

Angle: 0
Repeats: 11
Invert: unchecked
Style: radial
Center points both at 50
Focal points both at 50 (PSP8 only)
Texture: unchecked (PSP8 only)

8. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings (as with any of my tutorials, please feel free to play around with the settings if you'd like):

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 40
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

kaleidoscope1

Save

***** LAYER 2 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "50".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 50
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

kaleidoscope2

Save

***** LAYER 3 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "60".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 60
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

Save

***** LAYER 4 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "80".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 80
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

Save

***** LAYER 5 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "90".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 90
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

Save

***** LAYER 6 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "100".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 100
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

Save

***** LAYER 7 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "110".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 110
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

Save

***** LAYER 8 *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "140".

2. Click on your Flood Fill Tool

Match Mode: None
Blend Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%

3. Flood fill selection with the rainbow gradient, same settings.

4. Apply the PSP Kaleidoscope filter using the following settings:

Horizontal offset: 8
Vertical offset: -8
Rotation angle: 140
Scale factor: 10
Number of petals: 12
Number of orbits: 1
Radial suction: 0
Edge mode: Reflect (PSP8 only)

Save

***** FRAME *****

1. Add a new raster layer (PSP7) or (PSP8) - named "frame".

2. Expand your selection by 10 pixels, or:

Selections/Modify/Expand

3. Flood fill your selection with white.

4. Contract your selection by 15 pixels, or:

Selections/Modify/Contract

5. Hit your delete key or your Cut Tool

6. Float your selection , or:

Selections/Select All
Selections/Float

7. Apply an Inner Bevel of your choice. I used the following settings:

Inner Bevel settings

Play with your settings until your find an Inner Bevel you like.

*** DO NOT DESELECT ***

Save

***** ADDING YOUR FRAMES *****

1. Right click on any of your layers in your Layer Palette and choose View/None.
2. Click on Layer "40 to make it active and turn on the visibility for this layer.
3. Flood fill your selected area with white.
4. Apply your Inner Bevel.
5. Repeat steps 2 through 4 for each of your numbered layers.

*** By working from the bottom up, you don't have to turn off the visibility for each layer as you complete it...the next layer will cover the layer beneath it. ***

6. Delete your "frame" layer.
7. You should have 8 layers left:

40, 50, 60, 80, 90, 100, 110, 140

Save

***** CREATING OUR ANIMATION *****

1. Click on File/Jasc Software Products/Launch Animation Shop.
2. Click on your Animation Wizard Button , then:

Same size as the first image frame; NEXT
Transparent; NEXT
Centered in the frame/With the canvas color; NEXT
Yes/20; NEXT
Click Add Image and find the file you saved as "my_kaleidoscope.psp". Click on this file and click Open; NEXT
FINISH

3. Click on your View Animation Button to see your animation:
4. Click on File/Save As and browse to the folder where you want to save your file.
5. Type in a name for your animation, like "my_kaleidoscope", then click Save.

*** The default extension for animations is .gif. ***

6. I keep my slider at the top for better image quality; NEXT.

Click Customize to check your settings:
COLOR TAB:
255 colors
Optimized Median Cut
Error Diffusion
OPTIMIZATION TAB:
Boxes 2, 3, and 4 are checked
PARTIAL TRANSPARENCY TAB:
Convert pixels less than 1
Yes, blend with this color: white

7. NEXT; NEXT and FINISH
That's it...you have created your very own kaleidoscope:

Save

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