Scripting Lesson 1

This tutorial was written by, and is copyright to, Kia ~ 12 January 2009.
Please refer to my TOU

This was written in psp X2 but should work in any version from 8 up.
For this tutorial you will need:

Paint Shop Pro

Tag base and Font of your choice

This tutorial assumes you have a working knowledge of your psp program and working with layers, but little to no knowledge of scripting - yet!

Remember to save often.

I have a yahoo group to offer help and assistance with these tutorials - CLICK HERE
To help me to help you please let me know which lesson and which step of that lesson you are having a problem with =)

You can use this arrow to help you keep your place =)

You need to do all the HARD work first.
Go make your tag, decide what font you're going to use (see I said you had to do the hard bit first LOL).
Make a note of what you want to do to your name regards drop shadows, etc - keep it simple for this first time.

So, you've made your tag base - now you just need to do the adding names bit.
This is where scripting makes life easy =)
But first we need to create a "Format Script".

We will be using the "Script Toolbar".
If it is not showing on your workspace you will need to click: View -> Toolbars -> Script.
It should look like the "on" version below - see it gets a little shaded background.

The script toolbar looks like this:

0. Available scripts (drop down box)
1. Run selected script
2. Edit selected script (I never edit scripts from here!)
3. Toggle execution mode
4. Run script (from folder)
5. Stop script
6. Start script recording
7. Pause script recording
8. Cancel script recording
9. Save script recording

* Step 1 *

Open up your tag base/blank.
Duplicate (Shift:D) then close the original.
Decide on what effects you wish to apply to the name - drop shadow, bevel, textures, or even plugins (more about this later).
Type a random name or word (I use the word "Sample" when doing my tags), at this stage it doesn't matter if you have the right font, size, color, etc; although it does help you to see what the end result will look like.

Make sure the layer with the name/word on is the active layer.
Convert to a raster layer, if you haven't already done so.
Note: You do not need to (although you can) include the "convert to raster layer" in the "Format Script" as the "Multitag Script" can do that for you.
For the sake of this tutorial we will not include "convert to raster layer" in the "Format Script".
In this example we are going to add an "Inner Bevel" and a "Drop Shadow".
I have used Verdana size=48; bold.

* Step 2 *

Click the "start script recording" button (6). Yes, already, go on be brave =)

Effects -> 3d Effects -> Inner Bevel ->
Bevel=2; Width=6; Smooth=26; Depth=11; Ambience=17; Shininess=44; Angle 319; Intensity=45; Elevation=33; Color=white;

Effects -> 3d Effects -> Drop Shadow ->
V=5; H=5; O=60; B=6; Color=black;

Click the "save script recording" button (9).

Be sure to check "Save materials", "Save dialog positions" and "Remove undone commands" (although we will try to not have "undone commands" if possible).
Save your script in your "restricted scripts" folder - MyPSPFiles -> Scripts-Restricted
OK! You did it - you just made your very own script!
Yes, there was only 2 steps, you didn't miss any.

You can now run this script on any text (or indeed any raster layer) simply by selecting it in the dropdown box (0) and clicking the run selected script button (1).
But at this point you are still needing to manually type each name, then run the Format Script.
Once you are comfortable with this lesson it's time to move on to

Lesson 2 - Using The Multitag Script To Add Names To Tags.

Using Plugins in the Format Script

If you wish to use a plugin, set up your plugin BEFORE starting to record your script.
For example one of my favourite plugins is HSB noise in Eye Candy 4000.
I'll use a sample of my text and go to Effects -> Plugins -> Eye Candy 4000 -> HSB Noise
I'll mess around with the settings until I get the effect I want.
Then SAVE your settings. How to do this will depend on the plugin. In EC4000 you simply click Settings -> Save.
Give your settings a meaningful name - I usually use the name of the tag the settings belong to.
Now, when you begin recording your script make sure you use the path to the plugin ie.
Effects -> Plugins -> Eye Candy 4000 -> HSB Noise (shown in blue) and then select your settings from the list.
Do not select it from the "most recently used plugin" (shown in purple)
If you select the "most recently used plugin" then it probably won't be the same one next time you run the script and it will fail.

Other Notes

You can also select the font, size and color within the "Format Script", for using with the "Multitag Script".
I choose NOT to do this so that I can change them without having to re-record/edit my script. I just select the font, size and color before I run my scripts.
So that I can remember what font settings I used I type them into the "Image Information" description box.
Image -> Image Information (or Shift:I) -> Creator Information tab and enter anything you want to remember in the description box there.
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