Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 Tutorial for Beginners - Creating a Reflective Image

In this article, I will show you how to create an image that appears to have a reflection. Paint Shop Pro provides the ability to apply many interesting effects to your design.

Create a blank slate

Start by opening a new document. At the top, click on File then New. The Width and Height is up to you but let's start with 200 x 200 Pixels. To the right of the Width and Height is a drop down box where you can select "Pixels". You can also choose inches and centimeters if you'd like.

Select the background color to be white. Later if you want to create your own background as a picture or different colors, you should change it to transparent.

Leave all other options as the current defaults. Click OK.

The white that you see is considered the background. Now let's insert an image that we can create the reflection from. We don't want the image to be part of the background so now we should create a new layer. To understand layers, see my article on working with layers.

Step 1 - Creating a new layer

Click on Layers at the top then click on New Raster Layer. The defaults should be as follows. Name is self-explanatory. No need to really name the item. Blend mode should be Normal, Opacity should be 100%, Group should be 0, Layer is visible should be checked and both options under Mask should be checked. Click OK.

Step 2 - Inserting an image

Click on the Picture Tube Icon. This has a picture of a stamp and paintbrush. This will allow you to pick different images from your library. Now click on the tool options bar to select a picture. Make sure the scale is only about 100. Once you've decided on the picture, click on the white space of your space and the image will be pasted. Move the image to the top by clicking on the icon that has double arrows that cross each other. If you hold your mouse over this image, the word "Mover" will appear. After you click on it, place your mouse over the image you just inserted and move it to the top center of the canvas.

Step 3 - Duplicate the image layer

Copy the image layer by going to the Layer Palette and right clicking on the layer you want to duplicate then click Duplicate. You will see a new layer created with the words copy of in front of the original layer name.

Step 4 - Flip your image

Go back to your canvas. Now click on Image at the top then click Flip. You will see your original image still at the top but the copied image will be flipped upside down.

Step 5 - Blur the flipped image

Blur the flipped image by clicking on Effects at the top then click on Blur. Additional options pull up so now select Motion Blur. A box will pull up. The Direction should be set to Angle 272 and set the Intensity should be set to 8 pixels. Click OK.

There you have it, a reflective image. The image used for this article of an eagle is the image that I created using this tutorial.

Step 6 - Save your document

To save your file, click File then click Save. The default file type extension is psp. If someone else wants to open this file, they need Jasc Paint Shop Pro to open it. If you want someone to see the full image you created, change the file type to jpg or gif. These types can be viewed on all computers. The purpose for saving it as psp is to go back and make changes to your work and still have the layers to work with. Be sure to do this if you think you will need to make changes.

I hope this tutorial has been informative for you. Please see others tutorials that I have created to help you develop your graphic design skills using Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7.