PI12-blend

And this is what we are making:

DESCRIPTION: Make a beautiful blend with PI.
Tutorial: Copyright © Inge Klement

PI Version: 12 (but you can use earlier versions too)
Level: Intermediate
Featured tools: Pick Tool
Additional filters: None
Additional files: 2 tubes, 2 masks and 1 text file .
You'll get the material in the zip-file.

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Supplies: The tubes are from the internet, and both masks are made by me.
You are allowed to download them here and use them for your private use,
but you are not allowed to change the name of the tubes/masks,
delete the watermark, neither offer them for sale or download.
The copyright © belongs ALWAYS to the original artist/designer!
No copyright infringement is intended.

Remember to save often!

Before we start, you should open the masks, and store them into your Easy Palette. In case you need to freshen up your memory on how to save a mask into the EP - you can take a look at one of my other tutorials, where I explain a little bit more about how to use a mask in PI. You'll find the tutorial here. Important - in my tutorials my masks fit the chosen background/object ... you achieve this by right clicking any mask inside the original category Mask Library in your Easy Palette. Now you choose the option Fit Mask. Very important: Do NOT merge the pictures before I tell you to do so!
	Picture 1: Open a New Image, 700x500 Pixels, color: White. Edit/Fill/Gradient (white arrow)/Magic Gradient (white hand). Choose the Mode 10 (1) and click the Edit button (red arrow). In the Palette Ramp Editor we choose palette 035 (2). Click OK. Go to Photo/Blur/Gaussian Blur/Options and set the Radius to 50.

	Open the tube - gloves -, copy (Ctrl+C) the tube (1), activate our picture (2), and paste (Ctrl+V) the copy of the tube on it. Close the downloaded tube ... the tube on the main picture should still be activated. Right click the tube on our main picture/Properties/ Position & Size (3)/Size and resize the tube. Make sure the box "Keep aspect ratio" is ticked (red arrow), and change the Width to 320 (white hand). Now we can change the position of the tube too. Left: 34 / Top: 27 (white arrows). Click OK and keep the tube activated. Go to Edit/Fade Out and use these settings: Fill type: 6.altern. + Fill color: Two-color: 100% to 10%. Click OK and keep the tube selected.

	Choose the Pick Tool (white hand) and change the Transparency to 30 (red arrow). Deselect the tube (Enter). Open the text file - blend_032_text.ufo - and place it close to the face, approx. half way from the top. (We can't merge the text file as an single object yet, because we'll need it as grouped object later on. But you can see how I placed the text on the next screenshot.)

	Open your Easy Palette/Libraries (white hand) and double-click the mask - ik-mask_0011 (1) -, which you've downloaded, unzipped and stored into the EP. On the screenshot you can see the mask applied on the image (2). Go to Edit/Fill/Color and fill the mask 3 times with the color: 189/75/71. Keep the mask activated.

	Right click/Invert (white arrow) and right click/Convert to Object (red arrow). Keep the inverted and converted mask activated, and minimize the picture 1 - we'll need it a little bit later.

	Main picture: Open a New Image, 800x600 Pixels, color: White, and use the same Gradient Fill and Gaussian Blur as before. (Our 1. and 2.step on the other picture.) Open your Easy Palette/Libraries and double-click the mask - ik-mask_0021_02 -, which you've downloaded, unzipped and stored into the EP. On the screenshot you can see the mask applied on the image (1). Go to Edit/Fill/Color (white hand) and fill the mask with the color: 189/75/71 (red arrows). Keep the mask activated, right click/Convert to Object. Right click/Shadow and use these settings: Color: Black + 5 altern. Transparency: 50 Shadow size: 102 Soft edge: 10. Merge All.

	Right click/All, right click/Border, and use these settings: Border width: 5 Pixel (white hand), Direction: Inward (red arrow), Shape: Box and Anti-aliasing. Click OK and keep the border selected. Go to Edit/Fill/Color and fill the border with the color: 189/75/71. Deselect the border (spacebar).

	Open the tube - bluerose -, and go to Photo/Color/Hue and Saturation. Choose Colorize (red arrow), and use these settings: Hue: 180 Saturation: 55 Lightness: -25. Click OK.

	We are still working on the rose tube - go to Photo/Light/ Brightness and Contrast and change the Brightness to -18 (red arrow). Click OK. Maximize picture 1, right click/Select All Objects and right click/Group. Copy this group (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) on our main picture (800x600 Pixels). On the next screenshot you can see how I positioned the grouped objects on my main picture. Activate the tube - bluerose -, which we've colored red for our blend, copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the tube on our main picture. Right click/Properties/Position & Size and position the rose tube like this: Left: 445 / Top: 279. Keep the tube activated, choose the Pick Tool and change the Transparency to 20. Deselect the tube (Enter).

	Activate picture one on our main picture, right click/ Ungroup, and deselect (Enter). Activate the text from picture one, right click/Ungroup and deselect the text (Enter). Activate the last text line - and so are You -, choose the Pick Tool (white hand) and use the command: Bring to Front (white arrow). Deselect the text line (Enter).

	Activate the "background" of picture 1 (you can see it activated on the screenshot - 1), right click/Shadow and use these settings: Black (white hand) + 1.altern. (red arrow) + X-offset: 7 Y-offset: 7 Transparency: 30 Shadow size: 100 Soft edge: 10 Click OK and Merge All. Right click/All, right click/Border, and use these settings: Border width: 2 Pixel, Direction: Inward, Shape: Box and Anti-aliasing. Keep the border selected, fill with the same Gradient Fill as before and use the same Gaussian Blur as we did before.
Here's the result in the original size :))


That's it! A beautiful picture ... made with PI, two tubes, two masks and one text file. HAVE FUN!!!
If you need any help with this tutorial - or want to make suggestions to improve it - please email me!