Creating beautiful Paint Shop Pro picture tubes

(PSP Version 5 and above)

The Previous tip explained how to create a simple picture tube. Picture tubes can be made more beautiful by including pictures in individual cells.

Now, drawing pictures is not so simple unless you have a writing tablet. So here is an easy method.
Instead of drawing individual graphics we shall employ dingbat fonts. You can find hundred of these at www.fontmagic.com. A nice font is Carr Animal Dingbats. Click here to download it.

Step 1
First, extract and install the dingbat. (You will find instructions at the Fontmagic homepage - www.fontmagic.com).

Step 2
Our Picture Tube would consist of 8 images, so open a new RGB image 400 X 200 pixels in dimensions with a transparent background. Set the Horizontal and Vertical Grid Spacing 10 100 pixels each in File - Preferences - General Program Preferences - Rulers and Units. Make the Grid visible by clicking on View - Grid.

Step 3
Click on the Text tool , select the Carr Animal Dingbats font and put one animal in each of the cells. You can further color the animal shape. I used a cutout effect and drop shadow for each image.

Step 4
Click File - Export - Picture Tube. Put 4 in the Cells Across text field and 2 in Cells Down. Enter a name for this picture tube. Click the 'OK' button.

You can download the picture tube here. Place this file in the tubes directory of Paint Shop Pro. It would now show up in the Picture Tube drop down menu in the Control Palette.