Final Results

Here is a side by side comparison of the before and after.

Video Tutorial

A step by step video tutorial is also provided as a reference.

Step 1

Open up a photo you want that you want to make the eyes sparkle in. For this example, I used a photo of my youngest son.

Step 2

Select the Freehand Selection tool, and set the Selection Type to Point to Point, and the the Mode to Replace.

Step 3

Outline the first eye. After the first eye is outlined, hold Shift, and outline the second eye.

Step 4

Right click on the background layer in the layers palette, and select Promote Selection To Layer. Then set the blend mode to Lighten.

Step 5

With the Promoted Selection Layer selected go to Adjust > Sharpness > Unsharp Mask, and apply the following settings that are displayed in the image below. Radius = 3, Strength = 325, Clipping = 1. Optionally, you can experiment with your own settings. You can decrease/increase the sharpness by lowering/raising the “strength” setting. The maximum strength is 500.

Step 6

This step is optional: If you have too much sharpness and sparkle, you can lower the opacity of the Promoted Selection layer to decrease the sharpness and sparkle effect. Adjust until you are satisfied with the results.

The Before Result

The After Result

Final Preview

Video Preview

You are also welcome to view this sped up video for reference.

Step 1

Open up a photo you want to transform into a cat/human hybrid. I used the following photo. Once open, create a new raster layer and name it “catface.”

Step 2

Download the following image at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1020254. Once downloaded open it up in PSP. Optional, download a cat photo of your choice.

Step 3

Using the Rectangle Selection tool, draw a selection around the cats face.
Once the selection is complete, go to Edit > Cut. Now, select the catface layer in your layers palette, and go toEdit > Paste as New Selection. Press Ctrl + D to deactivate the selection.

Step 4

Lower the opacity of the catface layer to around 25 percent (This will allow you to see to align the eyes and nose of the cat). Press “D” on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool. Scale, rotate, and shear the cat’s head. Try to line up the eyes, nose, and mouth the best you can. NOTE: The head of the cat doesn’t have to line up correctly with the cheeks, forehead, and chin of the human subject. In the next step we will be removing any part of the cat’s head that exceeds one of those boundaries.

Step 5

Next, turn off or lower the visibility of the catface layer, and select the background layer. Select the Freehand Selection tool using point to point mode and trace the edge of the face. Once the selection is complete, go to Selections > Invert. Select the catface layer and turn the visibility back on, and increase the opacity back to 100 percent.  Next, press “DELETE” on your keyboard.

Step 6

Repeat step 5, except this time instead of tracing the edge of the face, trace the edge of the mouth.

Step 7

With the catface layer selected, select the Freehand selection tool using point to point mode and trace each of the cats eyes, pressing “DELETE” after each selection to remove the cat eyes. Your image should look similar to the following image.

Step 8

With the catface layer still selected, select the Warp Brush tool and set it to PUSH mode to align the eye sockets of the catface to human eye sockets. See image below for example

Step 9

With the catface layer still selected, select the Freehand selection tool using
point to point mode, and begin drawing a selection around one of the whiskers. Once the selection is complete, go to Edit > Copy to copy the the whisker to he clipboard. Now, begin pasting the whiskers along the natural flow of the cats whiskers by going to Edit > Paste as New Selection, or by just pressing CTRL + E on your keyboard. Repeat this process until you are satisfied with the amount of whiskers you want. NOTE: Each time you paste a whisker you can press the “D” key on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool to align, rotate, scale and sheer the whiskers. See image below for reference.

Step 10

Next, download this fur/fuzz PNG. Once the PNG files is downloaded open it up in PSP, and export it to a custom brush named “furfuzz.” To export a brush go to File > Export > Custom Brush. Make sure you Right click and save the PNG image to your computer before opening in PSP. I say this because many people will copy and paste files directly from the web to PSP. That process doesn’t always work well with PNG files. Alternatively, you can draw your own using a transparent background.

Step 11

Using your Rectangle Selection tool select a small area of fur on your catface layer. Select Edit > Copy, then go to Edit > Paste as new Image. Note, we pasted this as a new image because we are going to use it as pattern  in the next step to paint fur on the edge of your cathuman hybrid, to give it a more realistic look. Any open image in your work area is automatically stored in the patterns clipboard, and can be used as a pattern.

Step 12

Select the Paint Brush tool, and select the furfuzz brush you exported earlier. Next, double click the Materials Foreground to pull up the Material Properties. In the
Material Properties, select the Patterns tab, and select the small image of the fur that you created in the previous step. Now, begin painting fur around the edges of the face on
the catface layer. Note: Rotate the brush as you paint around the edge to create
a more natural looking flow of hair.

Step 13

Select the background layer and grab the Freehand Selection tool, select one of the teeth. Once the selection is complete, right click the layer, and select Promote Selection to a Layer. Then select the Warp Brush Tool set to Push mode and push & mold each tooth into a fang shaped tooth. Repeat the the process for the other tooth. See sample image below.

Step 14

Lower the opacity of the catface layer to around 85 percent (or whatever you desire) to allow some of the human face detail & contour to show through the fur. Notice in the image below how you can faintly see the eyebrows through the fur.

Step 15

Save your PSPIMAGE so you can keep your layers intact in case you want to make future adjustments. Once you are satisfied with your results go to Edit > Copy Special > Copy Merged, and then go to Edit > Paste as a New Image. You have successfully completed this tutorial!

Hint:

If you would like to do further enhancements to your cat/human hybrid such as
adding eyelashes or changing eye color. You can refer to that tutorial by clicking this link. Also if you would like to add fur to the neck area of your photo subject, you should be able to easily apply the steps used in this tutorial to accomplish that. Remember: You don’t have to use a cat. You can experiment with different animals using the same techniques in this tutorial. I went ahead and created a mouse/human hybrid of my son. See image below.

The free stock images used in this demonstration can be found at the following url’s:

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/876777

http://www.sxc.hu/photo/982364

I have also attached a sped up Youtube video of me creating this effect that you can also use a reference.

Video Preview

Final Preview

Step 1

Download the following image at
http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=876777. Once downloaded, open it up in Paint Shop Pro (PSP)

Step 2

Go to Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Hue/Saturation/Lightness (or just press Shift + H) and apply the settings in the image below to convert the photo to Black & White. 

Step 3

Create a new raster layer and name it Brown Overlay. Next, Flood Fill this layer with (#875901), and set the Blend Mode to Overlay as seen the following image.

Step 4

Create another raster layer, and name it White Noise. Flood Fill this layer with (#ffffff) and set the Blend Mode to Multiply. Now, go to Adjust > Add/Remove/Noise and apply the Add Noise settings as seen in the following photo.

Step 5

Create another raster layer, and name it Stained. Then, download the following stained image at http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=982364 and open it up in PSP. Right click on the stained image and select Copy. Make sure the layer named stained is selected, and then go to Edit > Paste as new Selection to paste the image of the stained photo in your layers palette. Set the Blend Mode of the stained layer to Multiply. The handstand photo and your layers palette should look similar to the following images.

Step 6

Go to File > New Image, and create a new 75 x 600 transparent image (as seen in the photo below). Next, select the Rectangle Selection tool and draw a long skinny bar and Flood Fill it with (#000000). Now, go to Effects > Geometry Effects > Skew and use the settings in the below photo. NOTE: The size doesn’t need to be exact because we can adjust the size to anything we want once we export it to a custom brush. Just aim for a similar shape. Use photos below as a reference. Finally, export the skewed bar you just created into a custom brush. To do this go to File > Export > Custom Brush. Name the brush "skewed bar" or something similar.

Step 7

Create a new raster layer named Rainbow. Select your Paint Brush Tool and select the skewed bar brush you just created in the previous step. Next, double click on the materials foreground to pull up the Material properties, and select the Gradient Tab and choose the Rainbow Gradient (See images below for example). Now, paint several lines similar to the image below and the lowerRainbow layers opacity to about 50 percent.

Step 8

Right click on the Rainbow Layer in the layers palette and select New Layer Group. Now, rename the Group Layer to Rainbow Group. Create a new raster layernamed Rainbow 2 inside the new Rainbow Group. NOTE: Grouping the different layers of the Rainbow together will allow us to uniformly apply Deform and Warp effects to all the sub-layers in that particular group. Select the Paint Brush tool again with your custom Skewed Bar brush, then select the Rainbow Gradient we used in the previous step, and paint some more skewed bars in the Rainbow 2 Layer. Don’t lower the opacity any on Rainbow 2, leave it a 100 percent.  Apply a Drop Shadow. Go to Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow. Settings: Offset Vertical = 1, Horizontal = 1, Opacity = 75, Blur = 1. (This will give the Rainbow 2 layer bars a little more detail and definition). Your layer palette should look similar to my layer palette below.

Step 9

Select the layer in the layers palette named Rainbow Group. Press “D”on your keyboard to pull up the deform tool. Using the deform tool, rotate the Rainbow slightly to the left. You may also need to stretch/scale the Rainbow slightly (adjust your Rainbow until it looks similar to the image below).

Step 10

With the Rainbow Group selected choose the Warp Mesh brush tool. It is located in the bottom left of your tools toolbar (See photo below). Set the Mesh Horizontal  to 2, and the Mesh Vertical to 1. Grab one of the intersecting points on the Mesh by clicking and holding the left mouse button. Move the mesh around until you have created a wave in your Rainbow/retro effect, similar to what is pictured below. HINT: You can also hold shift while selecting a point on the mesh, this will allow you to move the entire line either horizontal or vertical, thus giving you a more uniform warp. Also, holding CTRL while selecting point works the same as holding SHIFT except it will allow you to create somewhat of a symmetric curvature in the horizontal and vertical lines. You can always reset the Mesh by clicking the Apply button, or double clicking a point on the mesh. NOTE: It’s really difficult to explain how to use the Warp Mesh tool  If you don’t get it right the first time, don’t worry, just click undo and try again. It takes a few trial and error runs to effectively use the Warp Brush. 

Step 11

Next, with the Rainbow Group layer selected, select Adjust > Brightness/Contrast > Curves and apply the settings in the image below.

Step 12

Temporarily lower the opacity to around 50 percent of the Rainbow Group Layer so you can see to trace the outline of the leg (See sample below). Select the Freehand Selection Tool and set the mode to point to point mode (or whatever mode you are most comfortable selecting edges with), and outline the edge of the leg. Once you have the leg selected, press "Delete" on your keyboard. This will remove the portion of the Rainbow layer covering up his front leg, thus giving the appearance that the Rainbow is actually going between his legs. Set the opacity of the Rainbow Group back to 100 percent.

Step 13

Save your PSPIMAGE so you can keep the layers intact, and make future adjustments. To save the PSPIMAGE, go to File > Save As, and select Save type as: PSPIMAGE. Now that  your image is saved, go to Edit > Copy Special > Copy Merged. Then go to Edit > Paste as New Image. Congratulations, you have just finished the tutorial. Are you satisfied with the results?  Optionally, you can can crop it, add frames, and/or experiment
with different effects, such as the Time Machine photo effects. I cropped mine and added retro 1965 Time machine effect as you can see below. To add Time Machine effects go to Effects > Photo Effects > Time Machine.

Step 1

Download and install
winrar from this link. NOTE: Winrar is a rar and zip file manager. It allows you to easily zip and unzip files.

Step 2

With winrar now installed, go ahead and download the
eyelashes and lips brushes. NOTE: Remember the location/folder where you save these eyelashes and lips brushes.

Step 3

The file you just downloaded is named PSP Lashes and Lips Brushes.zip, Go to the folder where you downloaded that file. For example, if you chose to save it in My Documents, your file will be located in My Documents.

Step 4

Now, right click on the PSP Lahes and Lips Brushes.zip and select “Extract to PSP Lashes and Lips Brushes.”

Step 5

Once the files are extracted from the zip file you will see a folder in that same directory named “PSP Lashes and Lips Brushes.”

Step 6

Right click the “PSP Lashes and Lips Brushes” folder and select copy.

Step 7

Now, browse to this directory on your computer -> My Documents/My PSP Files/Brushes. Inside the Brushes folder right click and paste the “PSP Lashes and Lips Brushes” folder you copied in the previous step. NOTE: “My PSP Files,” is a directory located under My Documents, where Paint Shop Pro looks for brushes, plug-ins, tubes, scripts, etc., when it loads up

Step 8

Close Paint Shop Pro if open, and restart it.

Step 9

Now go check out your brush tips, if you followed this tutorial correctly they should be available to you. Enjoy!

Step 1

First, Head over to Sourceforge and download abrviewer.NET_2.0.
Click here to download abrviewer. NOTE: Abrviewer will allow you to view and export the PNG’s contained in the abr file.

Step 2

Once the download completes, install abrviewer and open it up.

Step 3

Inside the abrviewer program go to File > Open Brush Sets, and open a abr brush set that you would like to convert to pspbrush or jbr

Step 4

You should now see a thumbnail strip of all the brushes contained in the abr file.

Step 5

Now, go to Export > Thumbnails, and select a folder on your computer to export them to. Note it will export them to PNG files.

Step 6

Open up the folder where you exported the abr files. NOTE: You will have several PNG files in that folder

Step 7

With your Paint Shop Pro open, just drag and drop the PNG’s you want to convert into Paint Shop

Step 8

To convert the images to pspbrush, just go to FILE > EXPORT > PSPBRUSH, then name each brush as you export

Step 9

You are ready to enjoy all those fantastic abrbrush sets that are unsupported in Paint Shop Pro

Have fun! torqque

This is a step by step tutorial (with images) designed for absolute beginners. In this tutorial, you will learn how to easily cutout/remove objects from your photos, and you will learn how to remove backgrounds using the point to point freehand selection mode. Do you have the shaky mouse syndrome when making freehand selections? Don’t worry if you do. Point to point selections gives you complete control when making selections. Anyone can make nearly perfect selections using this method. You will also learn how to use the contract and feather tools to make your cut outs blend nicely when applied to new backgrounds.

Step 1

Open up the image you want to cut an object from.

Step 2

Locate the “tools” toolbar located on the left hand side of PSP. Select the Freehand Selection Tool located under the “Selection tools” sub-menu.

Step 3

Set the Selection type to “Point to point” and set the Mode to “Replace.” NOTE: Using “Point to Point” will allow you to select an object in incremental steps. Essentially, you are placing points on the edge, and PSP will use those points to follow the path around the entire object. Trust me, this makes cutting out even the most difficult objects a breeze. You’ll be a pro in no time

Step 4

With the Freehand Selection tool selected, pick a spot on the object to begin laying down points. NOTE: (Lay down a point by pressing the left mouse button.) I started laying down my points in the left-bottom corner of the dog. Click the left mouse button to create the first point. Now, move your mouse slightly up the edge of your object, and lay down another point by clicking the left mouse button. Notice how PSP is following the points as your are laying them down. Very Nice!

Step 5

Keep placing points around the edge of the object. NOTE: (I added the red-dots to roughly represent the incremental points I made during my selection)

Step 6

Keep repeating Step 5 until you reach your original starting point. Once you have made it back around to the original starting point, just click the Right Mouse Button to complete the selection.

Step 7

With the selection complete. Go to Selections > Modify > Contract.

Step 8

Set the Contract Selection Number of Pixels to 1. Press OK. Note: (This contracts your original selection in 1 pixel to give you a cleaner selection.)

Step 9

With the selection still active, go to Selections > Modify > Feather.

Step 10

Set the Feather Selection Number of Pixels to 3. NOTE: Feathering will give your object smoother edges, allowing it to blend better when applied to new backgrounds.

Step 11

With the Selection still active, Go to Edit > Cut

Step 12

Go to Edit > Paste As a New Image. Note: This creates a new image on a transparent background.

Step 13

Now, that you have your object cut out, it is ready for all your future projects. NOTE: (Don’t forget to save! You can save it as pspimage by going to File > Save As > pspimage and/or export it as a picture tube by going to File > Export > Picture Tube.)

Step 14

This is optional step. Simply open up a new photo and copy and paste your object

To help you out with this tutorial I have included the completed PSPIMAGE so you can use it as an example to help you understand the multiple layers. It hasn’t been resized and is roughly a 7mb. Click here to download it. I hope you enjoy this tutorial.