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Left Border Stationery |
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Supplies: |
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FM Tile Tools Demo/buy This is the best filter for making side borders seamless. It has 21 great filters effects. 7 of the filters work in the demo. |
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Remember to save your work often!
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Open an image of your choice. It is best to use an image where the top and bottom colors are similar so they will blend correctly. Resize to desired width. I try not to make mine more than approximately 270px so that you have room to write your message in the body. Go to Image>>>>Resize. Tic the percentage or pixel box. I used the percentage on mine. |
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Go to Effects>>>>Plugins>>>>FM Tile Tools and click on Seamless Tile. Check the Vertical box and click apply. |
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Go to Effects>>>>sharpen>>>>unsharp mask. Hint: do not use 'sharpen' on graphics you want to be seamless. Most of the time it will leave a small line around the graphic. I find unsharp mask is clearer than regular sharpen. At this point, write down the size of your graphic [mine is 256x192], we will use this later. You will find your graphic size in the bottom right corner of your window. |
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Click on your eyedropper |
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Go to Image>>>>Add border. I make my stationery 1030px wide. This is wide enough for any size monitor as most people don't open their mailboxes the full width of their monitors anyway. OK......subtract the width of your graphic from 1030 and type that number in the 'right' box. Make sure all others are "0", symmetric is unchecked and click OK. |
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You should now have an image that looks like the example below. If you'd like to add texture to your solid color body, add it here. |
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We're going to add a drop shadow and this little technique will make sure you don't have an unsightly line when it tiles. This works for divider bars also. Go to Image>>>>add border>>>> it doesn't matter what color as you'll be cropping it later. Type '10' in the Top & Bottom boxes, "0" in left & right , uncheck symmetric and click ok. |
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Ready for a little breather? Take a break, grab some coffee, soda, water, hug the kids. Come on back and we'll finish your panel :-) |
"right" click on the color you want for your main background.
Right clicking will put the color in your bottom Styles box. This is
the box you always use to add borders.
