Cassel

What you have on that last cup looks correct. What do you have in the Vector layer? Can you take a screenshot of the two objects? If needed, you can record your process using Loom, and post a link. I could take a look and maybe find out where our process differ (if they do). Loom is free.

Learning scrapbooking is often done with practice, looking around for inspiration, and trying to recreate projects we admire. Sometimes, we can be inspired by finished projects, but sometimes, we also have to use our imagination to interpret something. This challenge will allow you to envision something from a “boring” base, and you will have to imagine the end result differently. The sketch is only a written idea, and you can fly with it, modify it, and customize it to fit your vision, your photos, and your supplies. And if you want more information on using sketches, check out this article. Post your project in the gallery.

@Jeni Simpson I am glad for you that you had the time to follow the workshop this year! Where were the settings in the end? Were they collapse on the side? I am glad you have all the settings now to complete the projects and the results are worth it! @Emerald Jay The reversing of the path for a cutout might not make sense at first, but if you think about it, the inside of the shape can be FILLED, but thinking in the "reverse" of it, it would be EMPTY. So, associating the REVERSE behavior then makes more sense 🙂 Sometimes, you just have to find some ways to remember steps. Yoru sun and text on path look great. @Daniel Hess I don't understand why your PSP would freeze when exporting a preset shape, wherever the folder is. That is a strange behavior. However, I remember that if I point my PSP to different folders, especially after I added some, it tends to check them all in case of duplicates, and that takes a long time (really long time). Could that have been the issue? And since you removed a folder and it stopped, ... You are doing great so far! @Jnet Allard Nice cup with those diamonds. @MoniqueN. Of course there will be more workshops. Sometimes, life happens and PSP just waits. @Corrie Kinkel In Canada, weather is so often the topic of the day. You might have noticed it in the Campus newsletter too! 😉 You have learned (and remembered) so much in those years since you started. @Susan Ewart I don't know why the Anti-Alias gets unchecked either, but I notice it too. But if you have a path that is jaggied, do you know that you can recover the Anti-alias without having to redraw the lines? Activate the object in question and go to Selection > Modify > Recover Anti-Alias. @Bonnie Borntrager I love that little girl with the text around her. You did a good job! @Gerry Landreth Your projects for Lesson 5 are delightful! @middie I sense that you are having fun with those vectors now! I LOVE that vintage quote! @Donna Sillia Getting ready for the Holidays already? Why not! Fun mug! @Mary Solaas Mickey is a great character to practice! Tomorrow, we will go through a totally new way to use vectors and that will open up so many options for you. Stay tuned!

In X8, the settings are not grouped in the "More options", but they are in plain sight in the toolbar. And if you don't see them, check if there might be an arrow on the far right or faint vertical lines that might indicate that those settings are "collapsed".

As I said, some links might need to be fixed on my end, so can you tell me which download links you were trying to use? I can check them.

@Jeni Simpson Glad that you are learning. Vectors will be less intimidating with practice. @Michele Take care of yourself. The lessons will wait! @Cristina Those multiple checks will become second nature. How are you getting an outline through both sides of the mug? If you make a cutout, it should not show a line through the handle. @Trevor Andrew Yes, it requires practice to switch like that quickly. Over time, you will do it automatically, without getting frustrated. And yes, the forum only takes jpg images 🙂 @Jnet Allard That is a good start! you are really doing good. @Ann Seeber You are catching up well! @Gerry Landreth Great practice. I like that leave that you outlined from a photo! @Cindy Sheets You will get there. It will get easier and easier with practice. @Louyse Toupin Great work. Was it getting easier? @Bonnie Borntrager You are getting the hang of it! @Donna Sillia Yes!! It looks great for that re-try! @Jen Brown There are all kinds of "wonky hearts" and many of them are available as fonts. Why not as preset shapes? @Alicia Garbelman It is great that you are persevering! @Corrie Kinkel Great work. Those little holes on the eggs are fine the way they are! As you say, you can always tweak them if needed. @Anja Pelzer That is a really cool composition! @middie Your shape did survive the kiln here! 🙂 Do you know that there is a way to "simulate" some of the layer styles? Using the Sculpture effect (yeah, not the most obvious). @Emerald Jay That is good. Do you still have to read the steps one by one to do the cutout? Keep it up. You are all doing great. I hope you are getting more comfortable with the vectors and the nodes now.

What are you trying to download? I might need to fix some links.

@Mary Solaas Good work. Yes, the Layer Styles are the way to go if you want to add glow or shadows to a vector. I am not covering it in the lessons as people already have enough with the nodes! @Jeni Simpson I hope you are feeling more comfortable after all those labels! @Emerald Jay Great assignments. Simple but you did what was asked. You worked hard on that maple leaf! And you now have a great preset shape to reuse endlessly! @Cristina Yes, I agree that if you don't click on the right place, you "lose" it and have to click again. It is annoying but with practice, it becomes just part of working with them. That flower is great! @Anja Pelzer Great work on both assignments! Is it getting easier? @Ron Yarborough Yes, vectors are often feared by many PSP users. Hopefully, you will also feel more confident once you go through the lessons. Looking forward to seeing your assignments too. @Trevor Andrew Yes there is a lot of switching node type. I am not sure why one cannot start with a cusp. Maybe there is a reason, but I just don't know it. As for a shortcut, Ctrl-S is supposed to be for Save as... not changing to Cusp. I don't think there is any shortcut for those nodes. @Donna Sillia I would rather you don't use that script to create vectors as the workshop is to help you edit them. Once you are comfortable editing the nodes, then you can take shortcuts to start the initial path and edit it later. @Alicia Garbelman Yes, using food items is a good way to play with those nodes and paths. Those leaves are great! @Jnet Allard Welcome back. You started very well with this lesson. Keep it up! @Susan Ewart Yes, sometimes, the arms are very short. That is one situation where changing them to symmetric might make both ends the length of the longest one, which then allows you to grab them correctly. You are moving along quite well! @Julie MagerkaDon't dispair. The "holes" in the middle will come in a different lesson as a cutout. It requires extra steps otherwise, every path wants to be filled the same way. Keep that image, and you will see, tomorrow. @Louyse Toupin Great labels. Maybe you can use them in a project soon. @Corrie Kinkel Great flowers! See, with practice, you will get to aim on the right place on the nodes and get going smoothly. @Gerry Landreth Too bad the cats are so demanding!!! 🙂 @middie That is a great question about managing all those preset shapes. See, when you export the preset shapes, they are likely saved in the folder in My Documents > Corel PaintShop Pro > [version number] > Preset shapes. Simply go to that folder and delete the ones you don't want to keep. They should be .pspshape files. As for Photoshop, if you have access to it, it is fine. Each program has its strengths and each one has features the other doesn't have (Photoshop does not have scripts or picture tubes!) We have over 150 people who signed up for this workshop. If you are registered and following the tutorials, don't be shy. We have all been beginners, and we know how it is. Show us your assignments, and over time, we will cheer your progress too!

@middie I can't seem to be able to move this post, but it should be in the Vector Workshop thread, here: https://scrapbookcampus.com/invision/forums/topic/1821-vector-workshop-2024/ Can you repost it there?

Here is my first encounter with a Luna Moth. That is quite pretty for a moth!

The link above is for registering. The links to the individual lessons are in the emails you will receive. However, as a DIAMOND member, you can also go directly to the lesson by going to the DIAMOND > Workshops page where the Vector Workshop is listed with all the lesson links. Can you access them that way?

@Trevor Andrew I guess the simplest explanation why we need to activate the Pen tool is that with the Pen, you will edit at the LINE level, which has the nodes, while the others offer different settings, but on the overall shape. So, if you remember that the Pen, will let you edit the nodes, it will be helpful. And the reason why PNG are not allowed in the forum is due to the file size, which uses a lot more bandwidth and storage. If you want to create shapes, you don't have to have a transparent background. For me, it is just a habit. @Daniel Hess Don't worry about symmetry. Not all shapes are symmetric and you will often use nodes in asymmetric design. You will see tomorrow! @Doska St. To change the colors, you usually will get better results and more control if you open the Vector Properties dialog window. Is that how you tried to change them? @Jen Brown Great start. How did it go? Was it easy or challenging? @Cristina I am glad you remembered an old "trick" with the corner nodes. And yes, it is all about practice, which is the whole purpose of this workshop. @Anja Pelzer Glad you are still following with the lessons. @Susan Ewart Yes, keep it simple and manage the nodes. It is all about becoming comfortable with them. @Alice Daniel Yes, nodes might be a little finicky and hard to "catch", so if you click a tiny bit off, it will activate some other layers. Have you considered using larger nodes? It might help? You are definitely getting some practice with that character! @middie We have a very supportive community here. Although I saw your request for help, someone was faster than me in answering you 🙂 @Donna Sillia Simple shapes are great. For those who might wonder, we will look at adding picture tubes in a future lesson. @Corrie Kinkel That is an interesting idea to choose a different color for this workshop. Since the colors used in making the shapes will display in the drop-down list, you can also choose a specific color for your own shapes. I tend to have blue shapes when I create scripts, or preset shapes that I need to share. They end up associated with me 🙂 @Julie Magerka You are doing good. You will get the hang of those nodes. @Gerry Landreth Aren't the cats your supervisors?? 😉 If you need more practice, try to turn a rectangle into a single letter. That is another project you can try. Don't create letters with "holes" yet. That will come later in the workshop.

Share pictures of caterpillars or butterflies that are around you. They could be in the garden, in a tree, or even on your hand. Let's share!

A big welcome to all the participants. Of the 150 registrants, I hope to see a lot of posters in this forum. Don't be shy. We are all here to support you as we have all been beginners too, and we have all struggled with those vectors. Welcome to our newcomers to the Campus: @James Morris, @Patty Swinimer, @Trevor Andrew, @eddie k, @middie. @Randy Yes, we will cover the text on path during one lesson in this workshop. Your arrow and heart show that you are good at handling those nodes! Colors and fill are just extras. Add them if you want, or not. Nice to see you play around. @Trevor Andrew That is probably why vectors are confusing: we usually use other tools and features, and not so much with vectors. @Doska St. Yes, vectors are so convenient when you need different sizes. @eddie k Just in case you are interested, DIAMOND members do get a written handout for each lesson. You can join for one week for $1 and have access to all those handouts and extra assignments when there are some. @Cristina I am glad you are feeling more comfortable with vectors now. Thank you for detailing how you added to the assignment you posted. @Emerald Jay Great start. That is exactly what the assignment asked for. @middie Yes, the assignment is just about manipulating those nodes and that is just what you did. After that, you are allowed to "play" a bit more! @Julie Magerka A heart CAN look like a molar! 😉 But this time around, you did great with both shapes. @Alicia Garbelman Great shapes! Simple but you were successful. That is the goal. @Louyse Toupin It is nice to see you still have energy to play with the shapes. @Corrie Kinkel There are many options you can use, but of course, you will often have to convert those shapes to Rasters to apply most of them. @Jeni Simpson Don't freak out. The lessons are going step by step and you will be able to follow. When starting out, just stick to the basics and you will get more comfortable over time. @Donna Sillia Great work. Yes, you can start with one shape and create another one. You know that many tutorials inside the membership use vectors too! Come post your projects, ask your questions, and encourage others. Share your success and your struggles. We are here to help.

I don't remember in what version it changed, but in PSP9, if your cursor is in one location and you zoom with the scroll wheel, it will zoom where the cursor is. In recent versions, it does not. So it is nothing wrong you do, but just a way that PSP has changed. I have no idea why it was changed, if it was on purpose or "by mistake". Also, the reason I use PSP9 daily is not because it is better or simpler, but because I do scripting, and it is the best way to get the script forward-compatible for all versions than working on a recent version as that would require much more work to make them backward-compatible.

That is definitely part of the workshop! I am still using PSP9 daily too, even though the workshop tutorials use PSP2023. The information applies to all versions. Yes, some commands need Vector layers, others need Rasters.

Here is a challenge to do something that might not be repeated in other months. Just an idea that popped like that (and you can also send me suggestions for occasional random challenges too). This week, I want you to create a layout using the Split page composition idea where something (a ribbon, a row of picture tubes, etc.) will divide a page horizontally, where the top and the bottom will balance each other. You can have mirrored content, complimentary content, or completely different content on both halves. To help you, check out this article on Split pages.

Welcome James. The DIAMOND refers to our monthly membership where members get access to hundreds of tutorials, many full-lenght classes, and workshops. DIAMOND members get also some perks, like the downloadable written versions of the lessons, and additional goodies. You can join for one week for $1 to see what is inside the "vault". Check this page.

That is true. It is a matter of balancing the two. In a way, that was one advantage of the older versions without thumbnails at all, but then, it had no thumbnails!

A bigger monitor typically will have a higher resolution, and a higher resolution will result in smaller display. That is why I purposefully use a lower resolution on my monitor when I record tutorials or hold classes. Then, in order to increase the size of the thumbnails, you can go to File > Preferences > General Program Preferences > Palettes and you can change the Palette Thumbnail size from the 50 pixels default to something else. You can also change the Tooltips Thumbnail to something large and that will give a bigger image when you hover over a layer.

Did you know that you can change the size of those thumbnails??

Do you have an outdoor area you like to sit and spend time? Is it a patio, a balcony, a deck? Show us pictures and let's chat.

That is an interesting point. I don't usually teach it, for a couple of reasons: you can have a preview that is visible, which is usually enough for me to know whether this is a frame, or a photo, or a paper I often use the OpenasLayer script, which will rename based on the file you opened, so some layers will automatically be renamed However, it could be useful, especially for those using older versions that don't have thumbnails in the Layers palette.

Things worked out yesterday as I had paused Cloudflare (caching/security). I have now re-enabled it. Let's see if it works. It might work if the site is "cached" on your computer, but it might not if you use a different page. Don't hesitate to post in this thread, and test. If something is really wrong and you can't post, see if you can send me a message or an email. Let's test some more.

They are not beaten yet. So far, things are working while I have my caching/security service on pause. I will keep it like that for a few more hours and re-enable it tonight or tomorrow and see. At least, it won't affect the Q&A for tomorrow!