Swing Tutorial - page 2       

                                                               
Ready to start? Let's roll!

Create the Swing Seat.
* New raster layer name it frontbench.
* Make your foreground null and your background the wood pattern.
* Select your preset shapes, rectangle, create as vector not checked and Anti-alias checked, line style solid.
* Draw a long thin rectangle between the 2 front arches.
* Go to Effects, 3d effects, inner bevel, with the following settings:
Bevel 2, width 8, smoothness 0, depth 1, ambience 12, shininess 19, color #ffffff, angle 13, intensity 45, elevation 30.  

 

* New vector layer name it bench.
* Make your foreground null and your background the wood pattern.
* Select your preset shapes, rectangle, create as vector checked and Anti-alias checked, line style solid. * Draw a long thin rectangle above the frontbench layer making it the same size.
* Turn on the grid (View || Grid), go to View || Change Grid, Guide & Snap Properties and change the Current Image Settings to 25 pixels for both horizontal and vertical grids.
* Selecting the pen tool, pull the back 2 vector nodes and pull them up and in some. Use the grid to make sure your line is straight. When you are satisfied, convert the layer to a raster layer and select view, grid again to turn off the grid. See the images below for guidance.

  

Create the Seat Railings.
* New raster Layer name it rail1.
* Make your foreground null and your background the wood pattern.
* Select your preset shapes, rectangle, create as vector not checked and Anti-alias checked, line style solid. * Draw a long thin rectangle to the left above the frontbench layer.
* Duplicate this layer 4 times and move them into position like the image below. You can rename each layer rail2, 3 etc if you want.
* New Raster layer. Draw a long rectangle above the railings. See the image below for guidance.
 


Create the Swing Chains.
* Move the merged arch layer to the top.

* New vector layer name it chain1 and move it to right below the arch layer.

* Select your text tool and select the font "Moonbeam". If you do not have the moonbeam font, you can use any font with a letter O that will look like my chain or you can download my chain here. For the font size, your dropdown list will only show as low as 8. However, we are going to make it size 4. Just highlight the number that is currently in there and change it to 4. NOTE: If you choose to use a different font, you may have to adjust the font size.

* Somewhere above the swing image, position your text tool and left click. Type in a line of the capital letter O. Make it fairly long as we can erase the excess if we have to. Using the object selection tool, grab the handle and rotate the chain to the vertical position. See the images below.
 
    

* Convert to a raster layer .
* Copy and paste the chain 3 more times and move them into place. Erase any excess chain if you need to.
* Merge all layers visible.

   You can now decorate it anyway you like.  

                                                   

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it stimulated your creative juices. If you have any questions or problems, don't hesitate to email me at barbsplaygroundfb@yahoo.com