With the arrival of Paint Shop Pro 8, there have been several changes to the interface of the program along with various improvements and feature additions.

Although the basic procedures are the same as in PSP7 goldfish tutorial, this tutorial has been revised for PSP8. The vector tools have changed significantly in PSP8.

Images have been resized for illustrative purposes, and have been optimized to decrease download time.

Getting Started

Open a new 600 X 300 pixel image with a white background.

Create Three Gradients

In this next step, we are going to create the main gradient for the body and for detailing, and then we will create two versions of this gradient with varying opacities for the fins and fin lines. Setting the opacity for individual objects as needed, instead of setting it for the entire layer, will make it possible to export the shape with the various opacities in the image intact.

Under the Materials palette set the foreground material swatch so that it has no style or texture by clicking on the Transparency button. Make sure that the "All tools" option beneath the swatches is checked.

Set the style for the background material swatch to Gradient, and then click on the swatch to open the Material dialog box. Click the Edit button under gradient swatch in this dialog box and use the instructions below to create three versions of the same gradient.

Instead of creating three separate gradients, the properties for the fin objects could have been changed after they were drawn. We have created the gradients to shorten the tutorial time, and so that the process will be less confusing.

Create the Goldfish's Body

Activate the Pen tool (icon shown below) with the following settings. Use Figure 1 and the instructions below to create the body shape for the goldfish. Create the body shape toward the left side of the canvas so that you have plenty of room for the tail fin.

Tip: When adding nodes, if you make a mistake, don't start over. Hit the Delete key on your keyboard, select the last node added, and continue drawing.

1. Click to create Node 1.
   
   
2. When clicking to create Node 2, hold the mouse button in and drag to create a curve node.
   
   
3. Repeat the click and drag process to create curve nodes for Nodes 3-7.
   
   As you create these curve nodes, you may need to right-click on the canvas and choose either Node Type > Symmetric or Node Type > Asymmetric to change the curve node type. Changing the node type allows the handles to be manipulated in different ways so that you can better control the depth and shape of the curves you create.
   
   
4. Create a curve node for Node 8 and then, with Node 8 selected, right-click on the canvas and choose Node Type > Cusp from the vector editing menu.
   
   
5. Adjust the handles on the node to create a small point with a curve on either side, as illustrated.
   
   
6. Click to create Node 9.
   
   
7. With Node 9 selected, click the Close button in the Tool Options palette.

Once you have the body contour completed, right-click on the vector layer in the Layer Palette, choose "Rename" from the context menu, and then rename the layer "Body". We will be using several layers for this tutorial, so naming them is a good idea.

Fins and Tail

Right-click on the top vector layer in the Layer Palette and choose "New Vector Layer..." from the context menu. Name this layer "Fins & Tail" in the resulting New Vector Layer dialog box.

Figure 2

Click the New Shape button on the Tool Options palette—don't change any of the other options. It is important that you click on the New Shape button before drawing or changing the gradient in the next step. If not, the fin will be added as a contour to the body object instead of being created as a separate object on the new vector layer and the gradient changes made in the next step will affect the existing object.

Click on the gradient swatch under the Materials palette to open the Material dialog box. Click on the Gradient tab and then click on the drop down arrow beside the current gradient. Choose the "Goldfish 2" gradient, change the angle to 217, and then click "OK".

Using Figure 2 as guide, draw the top fin. Remember to right-click and change the node types as necessary to better control the shape of the contour that you draw.

Node Type > Symmetric, Asymmetric, or Cusp
Node Type > Line Before, Line After, Curve Before, or Curve After

Note: The fin doesn't have to be an exact replica of the fin in Figure 2, just as long as it looks like a fin.

When you have created all of the nodes, select Node 8, right-click on this node and change the node type to cusp. Drag the handle that appears between Nodes 8 and 9 and drag it to the left to create a corner. Select Node 9, drag and hover this node over Node 1, until you see the word "Join" then release the mouse button to close the contour.

Expand the "Fins and Tail" vector layer in the Layer Palette, right-click on the drawing object on the layer and rename the object "Fin".

Click the New Shape button on the Tool Options palette. Click on the Swap Materials icon to the left of the foreground and background swatches in the Materials Palette to change the gradient from a fill style to a stroke style. Click on the gradient swatch to open the Material dialog box. Change the gradient to "Goldfish 3", set the angle to 354 and the repeats to 2, and then click "OK".

This next step involves quite a bit of repetition, but this method makes the number of objects that we need to work with more manageable. We are going to create all of the fin lines for this fin as one object.

Figure 3

Zoom in on the fin that we just created. Activate the Pen tool (uncheck "connect segments" on the tool options palette). Using Figure 3 as a guide, add Node 1. When you click to create Node 2, hold the left mouse button in and drag. This creates a curved contour. Adjust the handle that appears so that the line follows the curve of the fin. Draw a second fin line beside the first. Repeat this process of drawing curved lines until all of the fin lines have been created. After creating all of these lines, be sure to check the "connect segments" button before creating the rest of the fins.

Hold the Shift key on your keyboard and then click on the "Fin" and "Fin Lines" objects in the Layer Palette. Right-click on the image and choose "Group" from the context menu. Name this group "Top Fin". See screenshot on the right. This process of creating the fin shape as one object, the fin lines as another object, and then grouping will be used for each fin on the goldfish, including the tail fin.

Since the objects were grouped together for the first fin, and you see how it's done, you can move on to creating the rest of the fins. Using Figure 4 as a guide for shape, placement, and gradient angle, you can create the rest of the fins at one time and then all of the fin lines for these. Just make sure that, when finished, the fin lines are grouped with the correct fin. The fin lines are all set to a 354° gradient angle and a repeat of 2. Use the screenshot of the Layer Palette as a guide for naming and arranging the objects and object groups. Figure 4

After creating all of the fins, right-click on the "Fins and Tails" layer and choose "Duplicate" from the context menu. Drag this duplicate layer under the "Body" layer in the Layer Palette. Expand this layer, click on the Top Fin group to select it, and then right-click on the group and select "Clear" from the context menu. Use this same process to clear the "Tail Fin" and "Bottom Fin 3" object groups from the duplicate layer.

Figure 5

The Object Selection tool should be active, if not, activate it. In the Layer Palette, click the "Bottom Fin 1" group on the duplicate layer to select it. Go to the image, move this fin up and forward, and then rotate the fin slightly. Repeat this move/rotate procedure for "Bottom Fin 2". See Figure 5 . Hold the Shift key and click on both of the object group buttons for this layer, right-click and choose "Properties" from the context menu, click the fill style gradient button in the Vector Properties dialog box, click the Edit button, and then lower the opacity for each marker to 40.

Click on the Fins and Tails Layer in the Layer palette. Activate the Pen Tool and click on the New Shape button. Click on the Material Swap icon to change the gradient from a stroke style to a fill style. Click on the swatch containing the gradient. In the resulting Material dialog box, change the gradient to "Goldfish 1", the angle to 180 and the repeats to 0. Activate the Pen Tool and create the top portion of Fin 1. See Figure 6.

Figure 6

Details

Figure 7	Create a new vector layer and name the layer "Details". Use Figure 7 as a guide for drawing the gills. The gills need to fit closely together or they can overlap, as long as they maintain a layered look with the topmost layer on the left. You may wish to change the angle of the gradient for each gill to create contrast. After creating the gills, group them under the name "Gills".
Figure 8	Click the Material Swap icon to use the gradient as a stroke style, click on the gradient swatch and change the angle to 90, and then draw a line to accentuate the mouth. See Figure 8. You may want to increase the width of the line to around 2 or 3, depending on the size of your goldfish.

Use the completed image in the title for the page as a placement reference, and the instructions below, to create the eye. When complete, group the objects and name the group "Eye".

Activate the Preset Shape tool, with the following settings, change the gradient from a stroke to a fill style, change the gradient angle to 180 (the “Invert” option should not be checked) and draw a circle for the outer area of the eye. To draw a perfect circle that is drawn from the center out, hold the Shift key and right click to draw. Click on the gradient button, check the Invert option, and draw another circle inside the first. Preset Shape - Tool Options Shape Type: Ellipse Retain Style: unchecked Antialias: checked Create as vector: checked Line Width: 1 Line Type: #1 solid
Now, change the Material swatch to color , right-click on the color button and choose black from the Recent Colors palette. Draw another circle for the eye.
Right-click on the color button and change the fill color to white. Zoom in and draw a small circle toward the upper-right of the eye. Now, draw a sliver of white that follows the curve along the bottom of the eye.
Activate the Pen Tool , and then change the style from a fill to stroke. Change the stroke color to one of the darker shades of orange used in the fish by clicking on the Dropper tool, hovering the cursor over one of the darker shades of orange in the image, and then clicking. Draw a point-to-point line from the pupil to the outer edge and then continue to follow the curve of the eye. I've made the line red for illustrative purposes only.

We're going to add one more detail and then we'll group all of the layers and export the goldfish as a Preset Shape. If, however, you wish to add scales or anything else, feel free to do so.

Set the fill style to the "Goldfish 1" gradient. Verify that the angle of

Figure 9

the gradient is set to 180 and that the repeat option is set to 0. Uncheck the "Invert" option. Use the drawing technique that has been used throughout this tutorial to draw a thin, elongated crescent shape along the back of the fish. See Figure 9. Name this object "Back Line".

Now, activate the Object Selector , right-click on the image and choose “Select All” from the vector context menu. The next step is very important! If you don't group before exporting, each group, or object not in a group, will export as a separate shape. Right-click again and choose "Group" from the vector context menu. Name the group "Goldfish". The name given to this group is the name that appears for the shape in the Preset Shape selection area of the Tool Options palette. Select the golfish by clicking on the image, choose "Copy" from the Edit menu at the top of the workspace, and then right-click on an empty area of the workspace and choose "Paste as new image" from the context menu.

Right-click on the image and choose "Select None" from the vector context menu. Right-click on the image again and choose "Export Shape". Always test your shape before closing the source image.

Revised on 3-31-2006.