Wood Fireplace


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For this tutorial you will need a wood fill of your choice. I'll be using the Finished Wood pattern that came with
PSP 7 scaled at 27%.
All screenshots are at 100% unless otherwise noted. I am using PSP 7.04 but this tutorial can be done with
other versions of PSP as long as you know the tool locations.

This tutorial has direction for making the moulding using Filter Attack and also without using Filter Attack, all
other filters are standard filters in PSP.

You will need a decorative ding. I'm using the Ornamental Decorations ding I found at House of Lime.

For this tutorial we will mostly be using the Draw Tool with only a couple simple vectors.

1.) Open a 500x500 transparent canvas.

2.)Set your foreground to the wood fill you wish to use. If there is a grain texture to your wood fill make sure that it
is set so the grain runs horizontal, we will first make the bottom base of our fireplace.
Note: depending on the wood grain used you may need to scale the size of your fill so that it will look
right with the size pieces you will be making.

3,) Add a New Raster Layer naming it base. Draw Tool with these settings...
Type: Single Line
Width: 20
Line Style: Solid
Antialias: checked.
Close to the bottom of your canvas draw out a long rectangle almost the width of your canvas.

Note: to make a perfectly straight line using the Draw Tool hold down the shift key while drawing the line.

4.) Add a New Raster Layer naming it base top. Draw Tool set to the same setting except change width to size 55.
Click on the Deformation Tool, you will have a box appear around your line like in the screenshot below. Hold the shift
key down on your keyboard and use the top right and left nodes to deform your rectangle so that it looks like it lays
flat ...kind of like the top of a table would look.
Something like this.....

Don't worry about being exact now you can always deform more later if you need to.

5.)  New Raster Layer named base 3. Same setting as above on the Draw Tool except change the width to 6.
This time draw out a long narrow rectangle. Look at the screenshot below of where I have the selected area to see
where to place it....

Go to Colors, Adjust, Brightness and Contrast. Set Brightness to 25, contrast to 0. If you're using a different wood
than what I am you may need to play around with the brightness to get a setting that looks best with your wood fill.

6.) Add a new Raster Layer naming it column. Next will come our vertical columns so change the direction on your
wood if it has a grain texture so that it is running vertical. Same setting as above except line width set to 57. On
the left side of your canvas draw out a vertical column for your fireplace....remember to hold your shift key down to
get a perfectly straight line!
Something like this...

7.) We will now be adding some decorative touches to our column. Add a new layer naming it column decoration left.
Draw Tool, Width set to 5. Draw out one line slightly longer than your column is at the top. Now go to Effects, 3D Effects,
Inner Bevel..use the Round Preset setting. Copy and paste this as a new selection 4 more times so that you end up with
a total of five lines like in the screenshot below...

Use the selection tool and cut off the very top tip of your decorative moulding so that it looks flat. Resize with
the deformation tool if you need to make the lines the same length as your column is.
Hide all layers except the column layer and the column decoration left layer and merge the two layers visible
renaming to column left. Duplicate this layer and move into place on the right side of your fireplace, rename to
column right.

The next step will be the moulding around the inside of the fireplace. First I will give instructions for those
that have Filter Attack. For those that do not skip down to step 9.

8.) With your wood fill set as you foreground color click on your
Preset Shapes, Rectangle,
Create as a Vector and antialias both checked,
Line Width should be set to 17.
Draw out a rectangle to fit between your columns and the same height as your columns. Convert to Raster. Go
to Selections, Select All, Selections, Float. Set your background color to a darker shade of the wood color
you are using.(This color will show just a tiny bit once you apply the Filter Attack setting.)

Take your selection into Filter Attack and apply these settings under the Border: Linien filter....

Use the Lasso Tool to remove the bottom of the molding. You should have something like this....

9.) For those that do not have Filter Attack...
Set your wood grain as your foreground color. Preset Shapes same as we've been using except set the
Line Width to 17. Draw out a rectangle the same size as the opening of your fireplace. Convert to Raster,
rename as moulding. Now change the Line Width to size 5 and draw out a rectangle the size of your opening
once again. Convert to Raster but you don't have to rename yet. Go to Inner Bevel and apply the Round
Preset but lower the Shininess to 27. Copy and paste this layer as a new selection but don't deselect. Use
the deformation tool to resize it so that it fits inside the first one. Do this once more so you have a total of
3. Deselect the last one, hide all layers except for this layer and the moulding layer and merge visible.
Rename to moulding. Use the Lasso Tool to select the bottom of the moulding and remove it. You should have
something like the screenshot above.
 

10.) Next we will be making the area between the moulding and the top of the mantle. Add a new layer,
naming it middle. Draw Tool set to Line Width 42. Draw out a line the length of your fireplace from one
column to the other.

11.) Add a new layer. Click on your Text Tool, set your font on Ornamental Decorations ( or a ding of your
choice). Size 28, Floating and antialias selected, type the lower case z. Click okay. Go to Image, Rotate,
rotate 90 degrees Left. Go to Colors, Adjust, Brightness/Contrast, Brightness should be set to 70, Contrast
left at 0. Note: if you are using a different wood fill than I am you may need to adjust the brightness to what
you think it should be. Copy and paste the ding as a new selection to the other side of your mantle. This is
what you should now have....

12.) This step will make a decorative moulding in the middle area of our mantle.
Preset Shapes, Rectangle,
Create as a Vector and antialias both checked,
Line Width should be set to 3.
Draw out a long rectangle about the same length as the opening of the fireplace. Convert to Raster rename to
middle moulding.
Go to Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel and apply these settings....

Copy and paste this as a new selection, while still selected use the deformation tool to adjust the size so that it
fits inside of the first rectangle, like this...

13.) Add New Raster Layer naming it shelf moulding. Back to the Draw Tool on this one. Set your line width to 25
and draw out a long rectangle above your middle. Click on the Deformation Tool, hold down the shift key while
pulling outward on the top left and then right node. This will angle the top out slightly, this is what you
should have....

14.) Add a New Raster Layer, name it shelf moulding2. Set your Draw Tool to size 5 and draw out a rectangle the
length of the bottom of your shelf moulding. Go to Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel and use the Frame Preset for
this rectangle. Copy and paste as a new selection and place it just above the first one so that you have something
like this...

15.) Add a New Raster Layer naming it shelf. Set your Draw Tool to size 17. Hold the shift key and draw out a
long rectangle that is larger than your top moulding is, something like this....

16.) Go to Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel and apply these settings...

17.) Now to make our firebox. Make Layer one your active layer, set your background color to the Leather
Pattern that came with PSP 7, scaled to 100 %.
Preset Shapes, Rectangle
Create as a Vector and antialias both checked
Line Width doesn't matter.
Draw out a tall narrow rectangle to the left side of your mantle. Object Selector, Right Click on your canvas,
select Node Edit. Move the top and bottom right side nodes like the screenshot below shows....

Convert to Raster, go to Colors, Adjust, Brightness/Contrast and set Brightness to -15. Copy and Paste as a new
selection, Go to Image, Mirror and move into place on the right side.

18.) Preset Shapes same as above. Draw out another rectangle at the bottom of your fireplace, bring it to meet
the bottom of your sides you just made. Adjust Brightness to 15 on this layer.

19.) Make Layer 1 your active layer. Preset Shapes same as before, draw out another rectangle to cover the rest
of your opening. Do not adjust Brightness on this layer. Close all layers except the 3 firebox layers and merge
visible renaming to firebox.

We're finished, the rest is up to you. You can save as a psp file or merge all layers visible, crop and export as a
tube. I'll leave the decorating of your finished fireplace up to you!

Hope you've enjoyed this tutorial and have learned a little about PSP's Draw Tool and that you will have fun using
your fireplace in several different ways.

Until next time, God Bless.
Connie
 
 

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Tutorial written October 22, 2002
© Copyright 2002 Designs By Astro
All rights reserved.