~:~ Creating Custom Styled Lines in PSP 7 ~:~

··· MINI TUT ···

Tutorial for Paint Shop Pro written by Arizona Kate, ©2000

Did you know that you can create custom line styles that will make instant buttons and divider bars? You can also define your own creative effects, such as lines that look like stitching. This mini tut describes the steps involved in creating custom styled lines in Paint Shop Pro.

This tutorial was written for Paint Shop Pro 7. Users of other versions should be able to follow along, however some options or tool names may be different or not available in older versions.

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Defining a rounded end line:

To demonstrate how to change the style of a line, we'll be making a straight line with rounded ends. This 'rounded end' line style makes nice divider lines when you draw a long, straight line with a small line size. If you draw a short, fat line...you'll have an instant button! Set your stroke to a gradient when you draw your new rounded-end lines and you'll have something like this:

Step 1. In the TOOL OPTIONS-DRAW dialog box, select LINE STYLE: CUSTOM.

Step 2. In the top left corner of the STYLED LINES dialog box you will see a selection for Caps, First Cap. Click the down arrow and select the 2nd cap style, the round end. Then select the Size button next to First Cap. Change size to 1.0.

In the top right corner you will see a selection for Caps, Last Cap. Make the same changes for Last Cap that you made for First Cap

The preview box should be showing you a worm-like solid line with rounded ends.

Use the Save as New button to save this custom line style and give it a name!

Other line styles:

Get creative....experiment with making different style lines. There are many different cap combinations plus you can make dotted and dashed lines by changing the Add Dash options.