Thatched Birdhouse

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

Screen shots were taken from PSP7 and as such copyright belongs to JASC

For this tutorial you will need PSP7 and a good general knowledge of vector shapes.
It is important that you draw the vector shape starting at the top left for
the instructions of the node editing to work as intended.

 

 

1. Create a new image 400x500 with a transparent background. Under the styles section of the colour palette, null the foreground, set the background to #8B7763 and check the lock.

Create a new vector layer naming it roof, use the preset shapes tool set to rectangle, antialias and vector checked, line width 1, #1 solid, starting from the top left draw out a rectangle, leaving some space at the top and bringing it down to about half way.

Holding Crtl move the top nodes in to make a flat topped triangle.
 

2. Activate the object selector , right click your image and choose node edit from the pop up menu. Click the bottom left node, holding shift click the bottom right node, this will select both nodes. Ctrl+S to round the nodes. Click away from the nodes to deselect. The edges are far too rounded so click on one of the bottom nodes, shorten the control arm.
 Still in node edit, Add two nodes, one either side of the bottom right node (do this by holding Ctrl and clicking on the line) Move node 1 up and out, node 2 up and in, node 3 to the left, adjusting the control arms until you are happy with the shape.  

3. Click the top left node, Ctrl+1, this will curve the line between it and the bottom left node. You will see only one control arm, move this in to curve the edge. Click the top right node, Ctrl+2, again curving the edge, push this in to give a curve.  

If you are happy with the shape of the roof, convert to raster layer.

  

 

4. In the layer palette, lock the transparency of the layer. We are going to be using the airbrush , locking the transparency means any work will only appear on the shape of the roof and will not go beyond the edges. Using the settings shown, foreground black, starting from the top sweep down with the airbrush, repeat until the entire roof is sprayed.

Airbrush Settings
Shape - round
Size - 114
Hardness - 50
Opacity - 50
Step - 25
Density - 14

Change the colour of the air brush, I have included a colour palette of the colours I used, just right click and save as

make random sprays of different colours.

 

 

5. With the retouch tool smudge, at the setting shown, follow the shaping of the roof and smudge the thatch.

Smudge Settings
Shape - round
Size - 40
Hardness - 0
Opacity - 50
Step - 1
Density - 40

Change the retouch tool to lightness down, at the shown settings and darken the bottom edge of the thatch, you may need to repeat a couple of times. Unlock the transparency of the layer.

Lightness Down Settings
Shape - round
Size - 33
Hardness- 0
Opacity - 11
Step - 25
Density -100

 
With the retouch tool smudge, at the same setting, pull out the top of the thatch.

Change the density of the smudge to 20 and pull out the bottom of the thatch. Effects/Sharpen.

 

6. We are going to be putting in some detail, the instructions below will try to explain the method and placing I used, but this is your creation, so do what you are happy with.

Create 4 new raster layers naming them roof detail 1, roof detail 2, roof detail 3 & roof detail 4. In the layer palette click roof detail 3 to make active. Set the foreground to #93714F. Using the draw tool, freehand line, width 6, #1 solid, draw two lines on the roof. Don't worry about going over the edge of the roof, we can tidy this later. Change the size of the draw tool to 4 and draw two more lines at the top.

 
Effects/Noise/Add noise - 16% uniform. Lock the transparency of the layer.

We are going to apply the cut out, if you do not lock the transparency, your lines will disappear and you will be left with just the shading.

Effects/3d effect/cutout, 
Vertical -1
Horizontal - 0
Opacity - 100
Blur - 5
Colour - black
uncheck interior colour

Effects/Blur/Gaussian blur radius 0.75. Unlock the transparency of the layer.

 
7.Make roof detail 1 active. Activate the draw tool, at the same settings but change the width to 3. We are going to draw some crosses, but we want the cross sections on different layers to give the effect of a cross over. 
Effects/Noise/Add at the same settings as before. Lock the transparency of the layer. Effects/3D effects/Cutout at the same settings but change the blur to 2.5. Effects/Blur/Gaussian blur at the previous settings. Unlock the transparency of the layer.
Make roof detail 2 active and with the draw tool draw the other sides of the cross over. Add noise, cutout and gaussian blur as above, remember to lock and unlock the transparency of the layer.  

 

Make roof detail 4 active, change the width of the draw tool to 6, draw in the final piece of detail. Add noise, cutout, changing the blur to 5, and gaussian blur as above, remembering to lock and unlock the transparency of the layer.

 
8. We will now tidy up the edges of the detail. Make the roof layer active, with the magic wand set to All Opaque, feather 0, sample merged not checked, click on the thatch. Selections/modify/expand by 1, selections/invert. Make roof detail 1layer active and hit delete, then roof detail 2 and delete, repeat for all the detail layers. 

If you have not unlocked the transparency the detail we are trying to delete will not delete properly.

This should tidy up the edges. Ctrl+D (select none). In the layer palette make layer 1 invisible, this layer should be empty, Make one of the other layers active, merge visible, rename the merged layer to roof.
 

9. Make layer one active, create a new vector layer naming it roof back. In the colour palette null the foreground and set the background to a dark grey, I used #202020. Activate the preset shapes tool, set to rectangle, antialias and vector checked, line width 1. Draw a rectangle as shown.
 

Activate the object selector right click on your rectangle and choose node edit from the pop up menu. Click on the bottom left node then shift+click the bottom right node, this will select both the bottom nodes. Ctrl+S to make them symmetrical. Move the upper 2 nodes in to match the edge of the roof.
 

Add a node between the 2 on the right hand side. 

By moving and altering the control arms of the three nodes shown, shape the underside of the thatch. When you are happy with the shaping convert to raster layer.
 

10. Activate the retouch tool, smudge, pull out the bottom edge of the dark thatch. Change the retouch tool to lightness down, darken the dark thatch near to the thatch roof to give the effect of shading. Effects/sharpen.

Use the same settings for the smudge and lighting down, these will be automatic and need not be changed unless you have changed them contrary to this tutorial. 

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