Di's Delights PSP Speaker Tutorial

This tutorial has been written for PSP8 but it can be done in PSP7.

By doing this tutorial you agree to my terms of use.

Screen shots were taken from PSP8 and as such copyright belongs to JASC.

You will need my presets, here. Unzip to My Documents/My PSP8 Files/Presets.
PSP7 users here, unzip to program files/PSP7/Presets

1. We will begin by making the speaker followed by the housing. Open a new image 250x250 with a transparent background. Set the foreground colour to #4B4B4B and the background to #1A1A1A. With the preset shapes tool, ellipse, antialias and vector checked, null the foreground, start at x10, y10 and draw out an ellipse x200, y200 look to the bottom right of your screen to see the X & Y co-ordinates Objects, align, center on the canvas. Duplicate the layer three times. Rename the top layer to rim, the next to middle, the next to mesh and the final one to backing.

2. In the layer palette, click the rim layer to make active. Click the plus sign to open up the layer menu, double click Ellipse. This will open up the properties box. Uncheck fill, check stroke, width 17, colour #1A1A1A.

Make the middle layer active. Image, resize, width & height to 65 pixels, uncheck resize all layers.

3. Create a new image 3x3 with a transparent background. It may be helpful to magnify the image here. Flood fill with black. Selections, select all. Selections, modify, contract by 1, delete, select none. This is going to be the mesh fill.

Make your speaker image active. Make the mesh layer active. Click on the plus sign next to mesh, double click ellipse to open up the properties box. Click on the fill colour to open up the materials box. Click on the pattern tab. Click on the current pattern, scroll to the top and select the mesh fill we made previously this will be at the very top.

Convert to raster layer. Effects, distortion effects, ripple. Using the speaker preset. You can now close the small mesh fill image we made.

4. Make the backing layer active. Click the plus sign and double click ellipse to open up the properties box. Click on the fill colour. Click the gradient tab, select foreground-background, angle & repeats 0, linear. Convert all the remaining vector layers to raster.

5. Make the rim layer active. Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel, apply the speaker preset. Effects, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow. Vertical & horizontal 1, opacity 100, blur 5, colour black. Make the middle layer active. Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel, apply the speaker2 preset. Marge layers visible and rename the layer to speaker.

This is what you should have so far.

6. Image, Canvas Size, width 450, height 500 pixels, placement center. Create a new vector layer, in the layer palette drag it to the bottom. Set the foreground to #222222 and the background to white. Null the foreground/stoke, set the background/fill to linear gradient, foreground/background, repeats 0, angle 0. Use the preset shapes tool, ellipse, antialias and vector checked, While holding shift, draw out an ellipse that is slightly bigger than the speaker. Objects, align, center on the canvas. Convert to raster layer. Adjust, Blur, Gaussian Blur with a radius of 1.

7. Set the background to #737373, change the fill to colour. Create a new vector layer and drag it to the bottom. Use the preset shapes tool, rectangle, antialias and vector checked. Draw a rectangular surround. Objects, align, center on the canvas. Convert to raster layer. Effects,3D Effects, Inner Bevel, apply the speaker3 preset.

8. Change the background fill to pattern, woodgrain1, angle 0, 100%. Create a new vector layer named front, dragging it to the bottom in the layer palette. With the preset shapes tool, same settings as previously, draw out the wooden casing. Objects, align, center on the canvas. Duplicate this layer and rename to side. Grab the right side center handle of the shape and drag it over to the left, flipping the shape over to the other side. While holding shift, pull this center node upwards, slanting the side. In the layer palette click the plus sign next to the side layer. Double click rectangle to open the properties box. Click on the fill, change the angle to 40'ish, whatever looks right on your image.

9. Duplicate the front layer. Grab hold of the center bottom node and pull up over to make the top, matching the height of the side. Hold shift and drag it to the left. Rename this layer top.

Convert side, top and front layers to raster. Make the side layer active. Adjust, Brightness and Contrast, brightness/contrast, brightness -25, contrast zero. Make the top layer active and adjust the brightness again this time to 30.

10. Almost done. We are now going to make some screws as a finishing touch to the speakers. Create a new image 100x100 with a transparent background. Null the foreground and set the background to #676767. With the preset shapes tool, ellipse, antialias checked, hold shift and draw out a circle. Effects, Artistic effects, ball and bubbles. Use the default setting. Move the marquee so that all of your circle is selected. Click the illumination tab and alter the highlight size to approximately 50.

PSP7 users - Effects, Illumination effects, Lights, use the screw preset

With the selection tool, rectangle, add, feather 0, antialias checked, make a selection as shown. Selections, float. Promote selection to layer. Effects, 3D Effects, Cutout. Vertical 3, horizontal 0, opacity 100, blur 6, shadow colour black, fill interior with #686868. Create a new layer. Effects, 3D Effects, Cutout. Vertical -2, horizontal 0, opacity 60, blur 2, shadow colour white, fill interior unchecked. Selections, select none. Merge layers visible. Image, Resize to 30x30 pixels.

11. Copy the screw and paste as a new layer on to your speaker image. Place it into one of the corners. Effect, 3D Effects, Drop Shadow, Vertical & horizontal 1, opacity 100, blur 5, shadow colour white, shadow on new layer unchecked. Repeat the drop shadow changing the vertical & horizontal to -1 and the colour to black. Copy and paste as a new layer 3 times and place a screw in each corner. Merge layers visible and there you have your speaker.

This is just a very basic speaker, have a look at yours or in mail order books to see what variations you can come up with.

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