Jamba's PSP Animated Calendar Tutorial

Shown here are examples of the Calendar you will be making.
This tut is written for the Feb & March 2004 Calendars shown, but with only minor changes,
this tut can make any month of any year you want, even any colour.

                     

The 2 Calendars on left made with PSPv7.             The 2 Calendars on right made with PSPv8.

What you will need for this tutorial :

JASC Paint Shop Pro.  If you do not have PSP, you can download the Free Trial HERE:
NB -- The only demo model available now is PSP 8.
This tut assumes you have Jasc Animation Shop, but if not, you can get the Free Trial HERE:

EyeCandy 4000 -- available HERE. If you do not have EC 4000, just do your best with PSP's Buttonize effect .
NB -- The EC 4000 "bevelboss" function used in this tut is disabled in the demo version.

As an aside ( not required ), you can get EyeCandy 3 (freeware full version) HERE.
It does not have the "bevelboss" function, but it does have an "Inner Bevel" function.

Your choice of my very own calendar base grid images are available -- HERE.

If you want to add the sparkly stars to the calendar, you need the VisMan (VM) Natural Sparkle filter available HERE.
This is a PSP compatible filter. I myself have it installed in Photo Impact, Adobe, Corel, PSP 7 & PSP 8.

NB -- To get the shimmery animation, no effects or filters, etc, are needed other than those that come built into the PSP program.

:: At Jamba's Free Borders :: Jamba's Animated Calendar Tutorial ::

:: Special Notes Regarding This Particular Tutorial ::

Due to it's length, this tut is divided into 3 main parts :

PART 1 - Decorating The Base Using Selections.
PART 2 - Adding The Days & Dates.
PART 3 - Adding The Shimmer & Sparkly Stars .. & Animating The Calendar.

NB* NB* NB* -- For this tut, I made 2 versions of this Calendar. The first one with PSP 7 & the 2nd one with PSP 8. These instructions were written for the PSP 7 version with added amendements for the PSP 8 version, but this tut should work in earlier versions of PSP as well.
This tut assumes you have a reasonable working knowledge of PSP (any version).
* -- If you are new at PSP, but want to give it a go, be warned, it will require a lot of patience & it is not for the faint of heart. There are no detailed screen capture pictures here nor any instructions as to how to install filters, etc. I simply typed out each step on notepad as I made the calendar then added some html tags so it could be viewed on the web for those who might want to make this calendar too.

NB* NB* -- If doing this tut with PSPv8, when it comes to "saving" your work, note the "options" button on the pop-up box. Click on it. Here you can choose whether to save as a PSP 8 compatible file or a PSP 7 compatible file. Because I made this tut for both PSPv& & PSPv8, I saved as PSP 7 compatible files.
But either way, instead of it being called a .psp file, it will be called a .pspimage file.

The calendar examples shown on this page were made & dated for Feb, 2004 & March, 2004. But both this tut & the calbase designs I' ve provided, & with which you will begin, were made to adapt to any month of any year. Keep in mind that if you are making your calendar for another month (or year) it stands to reason that the date-numbers will line up differantly. Some months will have only 4 weeks in them, but most will have 5. Had Feb 2004 not been a leap year, it would've had exactly 4 weeks. If the first day of a 30 -31 day month fell on a Sat, then you would need all 6 rows.

The original plain calbase grid was hand drawn (rather, mouse drawn) by me but not in Paint Shop Pro. I did it over 2 years ago & quite frankly just do not remember how I did it, so I can provide no instructions on how to make it other than to say that I made a rectangle 300 pixels wide x 376 pixels high. I then drew in the grid lines by hand & eye. Since I used no grid filters or anything similar, the grid I made is not truly perfect, but the imperfections are not very noticible particularly when downsized.

For those new at PSP, the downside of this tut is just how long it is .. to say nothing of how tedious & repetative the steps are.
The upside of this tut for PSP newbies is that even if you do only PARTS 1 & 2, you will walk away from it with some real experience with selections, layers, applying Text & the Mover tool. You will even know how to make a .sel file (reuseable selection file). If you do it all the way to the end, you will also know how to make both shimmery & sparkly animations.

About moi -- Amongst other things, I am a professional graphic artist & webdesigner, but not very experienced with Paint Shop Pro. I have, at best, only a moderate knowledge of the PSP program. I enjoy doing PSP tuts written by others. But this is the first I' ve written.
Just in case you want to know, starting with the calbase I' ve provided for this tut, it took me about 4 hours to make this calendar. Those more experienced than I with PSP can likely do it much faster.

Lastly -- This calendar was conceived of & made from scratch by me, as was this tutorial. But it was the doing of so many PSP tuts written by others that gave me the know how to make this animated calendar with PSP. To all those tutorial writers, I can only say "Thank You". There is no doubt in my mind that they have influenced me, but I have not copied any other tutorial in order to make this tut or this Calendar. My own Copyright notice & TOS are at very bottom of this page, in small print.

:: Jamba's PSP Calendars Tutorial :: PART 1 - Decorating The Base Using Selections ::

Step 1 - Open my calbase in your PSP program ( for pink use j-calbase2whtrose -- for green use j-calbase2whtgrn ). Choose the Selection Tool first, then, for pink base, set your foreground colour to #F2E0EC & your background colour to #E5B3BF. For green base, set your foreground colour to #C0FFC0 & your background colour to #008000.

Step 1 for PSP v 8 - Open my calbase in your PSPv8 program ( for pink use j-calbase2whtrose -- for green use j-calbase2whtgrn ). Choose the Selection Tool first, then, for pink base, set your foreground-stroke colour to #F2E0EC ("link colours" unchecked) & your background-fill colour to #E5B3BF ("link colours" unchecked).
For green base, set your foreground-stroke colour to #C0FFC0 ("link colours" unchecked) & your background-fill colour to #008000 ("link colours" unchecked). On Materials panel, keep "All Tools" unchecked.

Step 2 - Go to Selections ==> Select All. Now go to Effects ==> Plug In Filters ==> EC 4000 ==> bevel boss ==> Settings ==> bevel width ==> 5.76 bevel height ==> 50 Smoothnes ==> 75 -- use inside marquee ( & use same settings throughout tut). Shade Interior unchecked (if you want it slightly pinkier, then leave this checked). Lighting tab: for both highlight & shadow colours, use your PSP foreground colour.
Then repeat this process once again but this time be sure to uncheck Shade Interior & leave it unchecked for rest of tut. Lighting tab: for both highlight & shadow now using background colour. Select none (deselect).

Step 3 - Use Selection tool (rectangle) & select inner square of calbase (the slightly darker line that surrounds the actual calendar itself). Apply bevel boss. (lighting: both highlight & shadow using background colour).

Step 4 - Go to selections ==> Invert. Apply bevelboss again (lighting: both highlight & shadow using background colour).

Step 5 - Save as a .jpg file .. then as a .psp (.pspimage) file (both optional at this stage but recommended for newbies).

Step 6 - Using Selection tool (rounded rectangle), select the rectangled area where month name goes. Apply bevelboss (lighting tab: highlight & shadow using background colour).

Step 7 - Now use Effects ==> 3D ==> buttonize with settings: height & width ==> 4, Opacity ==> 35, transparent edge.

Step 8 - Again use bevelboss (lighting tab: highlight & shadow using background colour). Select none (deselect).

Step 9 - Create new raster layer ..call it squares1. Now buckle up cuz here comes the extremely tedious part.

Step 10 - Using Selection tool (rounded rectangle), select the first little square in the upper left. Use bevelboss (lighting: highlight & shadow using background colour). Now move your little rectangle till it's as centered as you can get it. The "marching ants" will now be around the bevelboss trim you just made (a floating selection). Then use effects ==> 3D ==> buttonize. Use same settings as step 7, but now with solid edge, for pink base use colour #E5B3BF & for green base, use colour #C0FFC0. Buttonize a 2nd time.

Step 11 - Now defloat your floating selection & duplicate your "squares1" layer. The "marching ants" should still be there.
NB - if you think you want this selection for future use, save it as a .sel file.
To do this, go to Selections ==> Save to Disk, then type in a name for it (ie calsqr1) & save it to the Selections folder in your PSP program.
To do this with PSPv8, go to Selections ==> Load/Save Selection ==> Save Selection to Disk, then type in a name for it (ie.. calsqr1) & click Save.

Step 12 - Save as .psp (.pspimage) file (optional, but recommended).

Step 13 - Click on the Mover tool, grab your "marching ants" & move them into the next empty square to the right, aligning it as best you can to match the first square, then release. Your new square is now deselected & looks kinda like a chiclet & your original square now has the "marching ants" in it.

Step 14 - Duplicate your "squares1" layer again & repeat step 13. Do not duplicate the "copy of squares1" layer, always duplicate the original "squares1" layer.

Step 15 - Now repeat step 14 until all the first row of squares is filled with "chiclets". At this point, your layer palette has one background, one "squares1" layer & six "copy of squares1" layers. This is the time to make any alignment adjustments until you have your first row of squares the way you want them.

Step 16 - Now save as .psp (.pspimage) file (again, optional, but highly recommended). After saving, select none (deselect).

Step 17 - You now have the 7 "chiclets" squares that you will ultimately put the days of the week into. But the squares in this first row are slightly larger & more rectangular than those in the remaining rows of squares where the date-numbers go. So you now have to make the first square of the 2nd row from scratch. This means go to Step 9 & start from there but this time name the new raster layer "squares2".
When you duplicate layers this time round, it' ll be squares2, not squares1, that you are duplicating. Then continue as you did for the first row until all of the squares of the calendar are "chiclets". I strongly suggest saving as a .psp (.pspimage) file after each row but at very least, please do save your work as a .psp (.pspimage) file when all the squares are completed. If you are new at PSP, I suggest saving twice in .psp (.pspimage) format (ie..call the first save "whatever.psp (.pspimage)" & the 2nd save whatever-B.psp (.pspimage)".

NB - I should add that you can of course avoid changing the "squares" size & just continue thru all the squares with your original rectangle, even tho it' ll look a tad big in the rest of the squares. Not a tragedy given we will be resizing (smaller) further on.

Either way you choose to do it, once again, I most strongly suggest saving as a .psp (.pspimage) file when all squares are finished. Do not deselect until after you've saved as a .psp (.pspimage) file. You might also take this opportunity to save it as a .jpg file.

:: Jamba's PSP Calendars Tutorial :: PART 2 - Adding The Days & Dates ::

For those who stopped after finishing the decorated base part, just open up the last .psp (.pspimage) file you saved & take up from there. If you saved the final calbase pic as a .jpg file only, then simply open that jpeg in your PSP program & go with that.

Step 1 - For those doing this at one sitting or those opening up your last saved .psp (.pspimage) file, if you've not already done so, select none (deselect) then Merge Visible. For those starting up with the .jpg file, skip this step.

Step 2 - Create new raster layer, call it "month". Using the Text tool, click on your image in the area where you will write in the month. In the text pop-up box, check "floating" & "antialias". Settings: Styles ==> Stroke ==> Null.   Fill ==> here is where your chosen colour goes. Textures ==> both Stroke & Fill ==> Null. Type in the month, ie .. February or F e b r u a r y .   For Feb, I chose to put a space between each letter. For March, I put 2 spaces between each letter.
Still in the text pop-up box, find a colour you like & a font you like (the size of your font will depend on which font you use). I used "Black Chancery" font, colour "#AE5B75", size 28, bold. For green base, I used colour #008000. Once you have it looking how you want, click Okay. Now move the word so it's set up nicely in your month-space. Select none (deselect).

Step 2 for PSP v 8 - Create new raster layer, call it "month". Click on Text tool. Then on the Tool Options palette, choose Create as ==> Floating .. Antialias ==> Checked.
Then choose your font & size, etc. I used "Black Chancery" font, size 26, bold.    Alignment ==> Center .. Stroke Width ==> 0.0    For colour, on Materials palette, set foreground / stroke to colour #000000 & set  background / fill to colour #AE5B75. For green base, I used colour #008000. Be sure All Tools is Unchecked. Type in the month, ie .. February or F e b r u a r y .   For Feb, I chose to put a space between each letter. For March, I put 2 spaces between each letter. Click Apply. Align your word. Select none (deselect).

Step 3 - Each day-letter will have it's own layer, so create 7 new raster layers. Call them sun, mon, tues, wed, thurs, fri, sat.

Step 4 - Activate "sun" layer, click on first square & put in a capital S. I used same font & colour as for the month, but changed the size to 18. Place your S in center of square. Select none (deselect).. or you can defloat layer, your choice. With PSP 7, I used deselect, but for PSP 8, I used defloat layer. For both PSP 7 & 8, if you want it darker, repeat this process in same square once more. ( I did ).

Step 5 - Activate "mon" layer & repeat Step 4 with each week-letter until they're all done. If you want to make alignment adjustments, now is the time. Just use Mover tool to move each letter till you have it the way you want.

Step 6 - Save as .psp (.pspimage) file (& as .jpg if you want extra backup). Select none (deselect) & Merge Visible.

We will now put in the date-numbers exactly the same way as we put in the day-letters. Yes, this means creating a new raster layer for each day. But to make it easier to control, start out by just creating the number of layers required for the first week & put in the numbers just like you did the letters above.
Note ..for the numbers, I used the same colour as above: #AE5B75, (for green base: #008000), but changed to Arial font, size 20, bold, italic. I did not "darken" them, I just put each number in once, not twice.

Step 7 - So go ahead & create a new raster layer & call it week1-1. Call the next layer week1-2 & so on. Activate week1-1 layer & put the number 1 in appropriate square. Repeat for week1-2 layer, etc. When you have completed the first week's numbers, & aligned them to your liking with Mover tool, save as .psp (.pspimage) file then Merge Visible.

Step 8 - For the 2nd week's numbers, repeat Step 7, but call the new layers week2-1, then week2-2. etc. Save as a .psp (.pspimage) file then Merge Visible.

Step 9 - For the remaining week's numbers, again repeat Step 7, but calling the new layers week3-1, etc & week4-1, etc. (I put the number 29 as a week4 layer even tho it actually rolls over into week5). I suggest you save as .psp (.pspimage) file then Merge Visible after each week is done. But at very least, save as .psp (.pspimage) file then Merge Visible once all the letters & numbers are finished.
Once you have merged, you now have your completed basic unanimated calendar. If that's all you want, you can now save it as a .jpg file at this size or resize it to a size you like. My calendar size is width 118 x height 148 (pixels .. Lock aspect ratio unchecked).
Should you want it a bit more decorated, you can place a "tube" in all or some of the empty squares. If you do this, make a new layer for each tube ..call these layers tube1, tube2, etc. (note: I did not do this).

Step 10 - If a given month has a special day in it that you want to "mark", just apply an appropriate tube right over the date in question, as follows:

On my Feb calendar, I created a new layer, called it "heart1" & used the deep pink "gelatin heart" tube (Scale 45) provided by PSP in their Valentine tubes available HERE. I put the heart tube on the Feb 14th date ..then I used the Mover tool to get it to cover the numbers. Then I created another layer, called it "heart2" & used the same deep pink "gelatin heart" tube (Scale 100) & placed it in the lower right corner .. & again used the Mover tool to put it where I wanted it.

On my March calendar, I created a new layer, called it "shamrock1" & used the "Shamrocks" tube (Scale 30) provided by PSP in their St. Patrick's Day tubes also available HERE. I put the shamrock tube on the Mar 17th date ..then I used the Mover tool to get it to cover the numbers. Then I created another layer, called it "shamrock2" & used the same "shamrock" tube (Scale 75) & placed it in the lower right corner .. & again used the Mover tool to put it where I wanted it.

If you want to add your name as I did, do it the same way as you did the numbers, one layer & letter per square. Or you can make just one layer & write your entire name at once then just plunk it wherever you like on the calendar. I used the same font settings for my name as I did for the numbers. Once you have it just how you want it, save it as both a .psp (.pspimage) file (unmerged ..just in case you want to take it up again later) & a .jpg file.

Well folks, if you have gotten this far, go right to PART 3 to add animation cuz that is the easiest part of this tut. By comparison to PARTS 1 & 2, this part is a breeze.

:: Jamba's PSP Calendars Tutorial :: PART 3 - Let's add some animated shimmer & sparkly stars to this puppy ! ::

NB -I repeat, for shimmer, you need no special filters, but for the sparkly stars, you need the VisMan Sparkle filter.

For those doing this at one sitting or those opening up your last saved .psp (.pspimage) file, if you've not already done so, select none (deselect) then Merge Visible. For those starting up with the .jpg file, just open that file in your PSP program.

Step 1 - We are now going to resize. Go to Effects ==> Sharpen ==> Sharpen. Then Image ==> Resize. On pop-up box, "pixels" (not percent) should be checked .. "resize all layers" can be checked or not, but "maintain aspect ratio" should be unchecked .. "resize type" ==> Smart Size. For width, type in 118 & for height, 148. Click Okay. Now sharpen again. As it is now resized, you might want to save this as a .psp file ..but give it a differant name than your last .psp file save. (ie ..calsmall).

Step 1 for PSP v 8 - To resize, first go to Adjust ==> Sharpness ==> Sharpen. Then Image ==> Resize. On pop-up box, "pixels" (not percent) should be checked .. "resize all layers" can be checked or not, but "maintain aspect ratio" should be unchecked .. "resize type" ==> Smart Size. For width, type in 118 & for height, 148. Click Okay. Now sharpen again. As it is now resized, you might want to save this as a .pspimage file ..but give it a differant name than your last .pspimage file save. (ie ..calsmall).

Step 2 - Now rename your merged layer to "shimmer1". Duplcate layer & name it "shimmer2". Duplicate layer a 2nd time & name it "shimmer3".

Step 3 - Make your "shimmer3" layer active. To add stars, go to Effects ==> Plug In Filters ==> VM Natural ==> Sparkle. I used Max Size ==> 63 Random Seed ==> 136. To add noise: go to Effects ==> Noise ==> Add ==> 34 ==> Random. Click Okay.
To add noise with PSPv8 go to Adjust ==> Add-Remove Noise ==> Add Noise ==> Noise ==> 34 ==> Random. Click Okay.

Step 4 - Make your "shimmer2" layer active. Use Sparkle filter again, but this time change the "random seed" number. I used Max Size ==>35 Random Seed ==>200. Noise: Effects ==> Noise ==> Add ==> 31 ==> Random. Okay.
To add noise with PSP v 8 go to Adjust ==> Add-Remove Noise ==> Add Noise ==> Noise ==> 31 ==> Random. Click Okay.

Step 5 - Make your "shimmer1" layer active. Use Sparkle filter once again, but change the "random seed" number. I used Max Size ==> 37 Random Seed ==> 129. Noise: Effects ==> Noise ==> Add ==> 28 ==> Random. Okay.
To add noise with PSP v 8 go to Adjust ==> Add-Remove Noise ==> Add Noise ==> Noise ==> 28 ==> Random. Click Okay.

Step 6 - With your "shimmer1" layer still active, go to Edit ==> Copy. Now launch Animation Shop & there, go to Edit ==> Paste ==> As a New Animation.

Step 7 - Go back to PSP & make your "shimmer2" layer active. Edit ==> Copy. Go back to Animation Shop: Edit ==> Paste ==> After Current Frame.

Step 8 - Go back to PSP & make your "shimmer3" layer active. Edit ==> Copy. Go back to Animation Shop: Edit ==> Paste ==> After Current Frame.
To make all your frames active, go to Edit ==>Select All. You can now view the animation.

Step 9 - Save your animation & name it whatever you want. For PSP newbies, know that despite that it was a .jpg file in PSP, it will automatically save as a .gif file. You will now have to choose your "quality vs size". I chose quality level 3 for both the PSP 7 & PSP 8 examples above.

Congratulations!!  You are done!!  You now have your own personalized animated calendar.
Mostly, I hope you had fun .. as after all, that to me is the real objective.   ~ Jamba ~

Animated Calendar Tutorial brought to you by Jamba
If you have any questions or comments regarding this tut, please Write Me.    jambas_borders at jambas-emporium dot com
Due to the amount of spam I already get via this website, please put the words   Calendar Tut   in the subject line or I will not reply.

:: AT JAMBA'S FREE BORDERS :: JAMBA'S PSP ANIMATED CALENDAR TUTORIAL ::
Copyright © 2004 At Jamba's Gris-Gris Gumbo Graphics

:: Jamba's TOS ::

This Tut was created & is owned in it' s entirety by Jamba.  The calendar you create using this tut belongs to you.
This tut can be copied to your own hard drive or printed out for personal use. It can also be linked to from any website, blah, blah, blah.
But it cannot be reproduced in any form (in whole or in part) online in any website or e-group, e-list, e-mail, etc.
If you need to translate it, please use the FreeTranslation button below.

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