How to Make and Save a Simple Gradient in PSP

 © Barb's Playground  04 /06 /2007

This tutorial and all images [except the PSP box logo] are copyrighted and belong to ©Barb's Playground. You may make a copy of this tutorial or print it out for your own personal use ONLY. You are free to provide a LINK to my tutorials if you would like to share them. What you create from my tutorials belongs to you to do with as you wish.
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This tutorial was done using PSP X but can also be done in PSP versions 8 and 9. It is intended to serve as a learning tool. We are going to make a gradient with just 2 colors and save it so that you may use it when ever you want. The images on this page are reduced for space.You will need:          
** Paint Shop Pro - download a trial version here   
** A good working knowledge of psp materials palette and know how to work with gradients.

Getting started

On the foreground in the materials palette, open up any gradient you want and then click on the "Edit" tab. (see below)




This will bring up another menu. Click on "New". A box will pop up. This is where you give your new gradient a unique name. Type in the name you want to call your gradient and then click "OK".



NOW here comes the part you need to understand. We are making a NEW gradient that we want to keep. You need to use the "Custom" color palette NOT the "Fore" and "Back" palette. And we want this gradient to be a solid color, so we want the "Transparency" Opacity set to 100 The gradient is initially defined with two markers at 0 (zero) and 100 percent.



For the sake of learning, please use the colors I have chosen. Once you learn how to make and save the gradient, use any colors.

Left click once, on the 0% marker located at the left, then click on the custom color box. This will bring up a color palette menu. In the HTML color code box enter the color code #e938fc and then click OK.

 
Now left click on the 100% maker at the right, then on the custom color again and enter the color code #5340fc and click OK.

You now have your new gradient that should look like the image below.



We are ready to save this gradient. Click on "Close". A message will come up telling you that your gradient has changed do you want to save it? Click "Yes" and then click OK.

Thats all there is to it! When you want to use your gradient, it will be there in your "Gradients" palette under the name you gave it.

NOTE! Before you save your gradient, you can add more colors by clicking a the 0% or 100% marker and then click anywhere in between those markers to add an addition marker. Then use your custom color to change the color of that marker (if you desire). You can repeat this as many times as you want to add markers and colors. While holding down the left click and pulling any marker to the left or right, you can slide the markers to change the appearance of your gradient.

If you have already saved the gradient, you can always go back in and edit the gradient, but DON'T FORGET! if you do not want to change the existing gradient, click "New" or you will overwrite your original gradient.

             
                                            
 
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.