Hi all,

Since a lot of folks learning Painter don't know that it's easy and fun to create frames for their paintings, using Painter, here are a few examples with a general description of how they were created (the first is too large to post here so I'll just give you the URL.. there's a description of how that image was created and also a link to a cool little plugin that works... in Painter 6, at least):

http://www.pixelalley.com/brushstrok...okes-pg14.html

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/...rame-1-opt.jpg

(The zig-zags in the frame are due to my selections in Painter 6.1 getting wonky recently. I don't know what causes this but you should not have this problem.)

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/...-frame-opt.jpg

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/...-frame-opt.jpg

(In this case, I decided that the peculiar selection problem resulted in a more interesting frame so I didn't bother to change it.. which can be done, by the way.)

http://www.pixelalley.com/tutorials/...-frame-opt.jpg

I used the following methods to create multiple frames around the paintings, then treat them in various ways:

NOTE: Thanks to Judi for reminding me that I'd forgotten to include this in my original tutorial. Before beginning these steps, increase the size of your Canvas by the combined number of pixels you plan to use for your single or multiple frames. To do this, choose a Canvas color, go to the Canvas menu and click Set Paper Color, click Canvas Size, then type the appropriate number of pixels for Top, Left, Bottom, and Right.

1. In the Select menu, Select/All.

NOTE: Keep notes on the number of pixels you use for Contract, Widen, and Border in order to create multiple frames without forgetting how many pixels to Contract and make the borders precisely next to each other. Also, it may be helpful to use Select menu, Save Selection, and note the name of the Selection which you can find either by looking in the Save Selection drop down list or in the Objects palette's Mask section list.

2. In the Select menu, Modify/Contract then type in the appropriate number of pixels.

3. In the Select menu, Modify/Border then type in the appropriate number of pixels.

4. Use any of the following treatments (use these, and/or others that you discover, alone or in combination... experiment and play!):

Effects menu/Fill Using: either Current Color or Pattern

Effects menu/Fill Using: Paper and, if you want, adjust the Reflection slider to reflect the current Pattern.

Paint in the Selection then Apply Surface Texture.

Effects menu/Surface Control/Apply Lighting.
In the Object palette's Dynamic Layers section (Painter 6) or P.Float section (Painter 5 and 5.5), choose Bevel World then click the Apply button and experiment. In Bevel World, you can also adjust the Reflection slider to reflect the current Pattern.

5. When your frame is finished, to add a drop shadow, use Effects menu/Objects/Create Drop Shadow. Try the default settings first to get an idea of how they look. Then experiment to get the look you want.

Have a great time! Please share your results and tell us how you got them. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[This message was edited by Jinny Brown on June 26, 2001 at 14:49.

[This message was edited by Jinny Brown on June 30, 2001 at 14:57.]