scroll saw portraits

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Thank You for all your responses to making portraits. I have downloaded a free 30 day trial of paint shop pro photo x2. I am struggling with the brightness and contrast after I go to greyscale. So if anyone can help me with this, would love to hear from you. mean time I'll keep plugging away at it, Thanks Lloyd

I use Paint Shop Pro X but X2 should work pretty close to the same. After I go to grey scale I save the image as a psp image. Close the original without saving it, that way you always have the original to go back to if you need to start over. Open the psp image and then go to layers and make a duplicate. Now you can work on the duplicate copy while keeping the greyscale as a separate layer. You will be able to see "through" the duplicate one by using the opacity bar on the layers pallete. I keep the Materials Pallete and the Layers Pallete stacked on the right hand side of the window. After making the duplicate go to Adjust/threshold and try the factory default first (128) and then just play with the settings you like what you see then either add more shadows (black) or eliminate lines or parts of lines to your liking. This is where the opacity on the layers pallete slider bar comes in handy. Slide the bar to about 24 and you will be able to see the original picture under your black and white one. Then add or take away depending on the look you want to achieve. When done put the opacity back to 100 so you can see the black and white image only. When satisfied, merge the layers (Layers/Merge all) then save as a gif. I hope this helps you. I look forward to seeing your first pattern!

Thank you so much Sue, I will try that, I felt like I was missing something, that makes it a little more clear for me. Will post my portrait pattern when an if I get it to turn out Again Thank you very much, Lloyd

In a message dated 9/24/2008 5:30:52 P.M. Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:

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New Message on scroll saw portraits

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From: shadylady0447
Message 2 in Discussion

Hi Lloyd, I use Paint Shop Pro X but X2 should work pretty close to the same. After I go to grey scale I save the image as a psp image. Close the original without saving it, that way you always have the original to go back to if you need to start over. Open the psp image and then go to layers and make a duplicate. Now you can work on the duplicate copy while keeping the greyscale as a separate layer. You will be able to see "through" the duplicate one by using the opacity bar on the layers pallete. I keep the Materials Pallete and the Layers Pallete stacked on the right hand side of the window. After making the duplicate go to Adjust/threshold and try the factory default first (128) and then just play with the settings you like what you see then either add more shadows (black) or eliminate lines or parts of lines to your liking. This is where the opacity on the layers pallete slider bar comes in handy. Slide the bar to about 24 and you will be able to see the original picture under your black and white one. Then add or take away depending on the look you want to achieve. When done put the opacity back to 100 so you can see the black and white image only. When satisfied, merge the layers (Layers/Merge all) then save as a gif. I hope this helps you. I look forward to seeing your first pattern! Sue

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Hello Sue, I tried what you said an got much further then I had in the past, but the part where you said add more shadows or eliminate lines or parts of lines is confusing me, I'm thinking I dont know how quite how to do that. Do I have to use the tool that looks like an eye dropper to add black or white? hope you can help, in the mean time I will play with it, an see I can figure it out. Thanks again Sue, Lloyd

In a message dated 9/24/2008 5:30:52 P.M. Central Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:

-----------------------------------------------------------

New Message on scroll saw portraits

-----------------------------------------------------------
From: shadylady0447
Message 2 in Discussion

Hi Lloyd, I use Paint Shop Pro X but X2 should work pretty close to the same. After I go to grey scale I save the image as a psp image. Close the original without saving it, that way you always have the original to go back to if you need to start over. Open the psp image and then go to layers and make a duplicate. Now you can work on the duplicate copy while keeping the greyscale as a separate layer. You will be able to see "through" the duplicate one by using the opacity bar on the layers pallete. I keep the Materials Pallete and the Layers Pallete stacked on the right hand side of the window. After making the duplicate go to Adjust/threshold and try the factory default first (128) and then just play with the settings you like what you see then either add more shadows (black) or eliminate lines or parts of lines to your liking. This is where the opacity on the layers pallete slider bar comes in handy. Slide the bar to about 24 and you will be able to see the original picture under your black and white one. Then add or take away depending on the look you want to achieve. When done put the opacity back to 100 so you can see the black and white image only. When satisfied, merge the layers (Layers/Merge all) then save as a gif. I hope this helps you. I look forward to seeing your first pattern! Sue

-----------------------------------------------------------

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On the left side of your screen are your tools. Pick up the paint brush....at the top of your screen the toolbar will change to the paint brush settings. I generally use the round shape...set my size to 10 or lower depending on how big I want my line. The hardness is set to 100...step 10...density and thickness 100. The materials pallet on the right should be set to black and white with black on the top. Use the paint brush to add any more shadowing you want. If you need to take away shadows (black color) change the color on top to white by hitting the little curved arrow beside the black and white boxes. Now your paint brush will be white and used to remove any black lines. Think of your piece of wood as white and what you'll be cutting out as black. Remember that the white has to be connected or a critical part of your portrait will fall out when you cut it. When I'm done with my pattern I pick up the paint bucket...change pallet to black (or any other color except white) and click the bucket on a white area outside the portrait. The whole picture should turn black. If any of it stays white you will need to fix that area or it will fall out when you cut. Hit the undo arrow at the top or go to edit/undo and your picture is back so you can fix it. I hope this makes sense. Be sure to post your pattern when you're finished!

I only have PSP 9 but I found that I had to have different contrasts for the various parts of the image and therefore I did the pattern in several parts and layers ie eyes, nose, mouth, ears etc.

You might be interested in looking at my tutorial under "Pattern making tips"

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