Images
Through Blinds
Home > Build
> Graphics > Paint
Shop Pro
by Daniel Kwok
This
is a very neat effect and is great for creating backgrounds if you want a side
border. It makes the image appear to be seen through horizontal blinds and can
be applied to any image you want.
This tutorial will require:
- layers,
- the "shapes" tool,
- the "magic wand" tool,
- copying,
- pasting and
- cropping.
Step 1:
Open up your image. Any image will be suitable but if you want to create
a side border, a narrow image is best. Here is the image I will be using.
Step
2:
Set your foreground color to black and select the "shapes" tool.
Enter these options:
- Shape: rectangle
- Style: outline
- Outline
Width: 1
Create a new layer by clicking "layer - new". This is done so that
you can edit your blinds without affecting your image. Draw a rectangle over the
area you want. This will represent the area of the image that will be visible
through the blinds.
Step
3:
Now you need to continue this process until you fill the entire section
of the image you want. To keep the shape of the blinds consistent, you can select
the first rectangle with the "magic wand" tool set to 0 tolerance. Then copy and
paste the shapes evenly down the image. You can zoom in so that you get the spaces
right.
Step
4:
Use the "magic wand" tool and select the area outside of the rectangles.
The space around all the rectangles should now be selected in this layer. Merge
the layers by clicking "layers - merge". This will select the same area but include
the background image. Now click "edit - clear" and all of the selected area should
be the color of your background. In the example below, the background color was
set to white. If all went well, you should now be left with an image divided into
several rectangles as if it were seen through blinds.
Be
creative with this technique. You don't have to use horizontal blinds. Try vertical
blinds and other shapes to see what kind of effects you can create. As mentioned
earlier, this is a great way for making side borders for your homepage because
the image is simply a repeated pattern.
