Supplies:
Tube: sybileart-78-2
Scrap: scrapaork_fluidhalloween-mega
Font: horror-brush
Mask: 124 and 147 from Package 3
Animation: rebeldezignsanimation-690 and rebeldezignsanimation-548
Please do not use any of the licensed supplies without purchasing them first.
First off, unzip all supplies.
Open the mask(s) you would like to use. You don’t have to use the ones I have chosen.
Select > All
Edit > Copy
This will save a “selection” of the white areas in the mask.
You can now close that mask.
Open a new 800 x 800 pixel canvas. Be sure it is set to 72ppi resolution. You can always resize later.
Thanks to Gail Wilson for this little trick, we can eliminate a step later in the tut.
Layer > New Layer…
You will now have TWO blank layers on your tag. The bottom layer should stay blank for the entirety of the tag creation.
Edit > Fill… this layer with white. You can change this to whatever color you like to match the website you will display it on, though.
Place the paper on the canvas that you would like to use. You can either drag and drop it onto the canvas from your file browser, or you can use the File > Place… method. Just browse to the folder with the kit when prompted.
With the paper layer highlighted in the layers panel…
Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode.
Edit > Paste
This will leave parts of the paper in red. This is good! If it doesn’t, then you will need to open and copy the mask again.
It seems that our mask was too big for the tag. Let’s fix that.
With the red “quick mask” still in effect, go to Edit > Free Transform
Fit the red mask inside your tag.
Select > Uncheck the Edit in Quick Mask Mode.
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection
Magic, right?? now you don’t have to worry about having an extra clipped layer.
Instead, you have a mask thumbnail attached to your paper layer.
Place another paper on your canvas and repeat the process with any other masks you want to use.
That’s it! How easy is that?
Now, time for the elements! This is where the real magic begins.
You can drag and drop items straight from your file browser into the canvas. This makes it faster to place items.
Instead of telling you exactly where to put what and what size to use, I am just going to show you a animated image of what I did. This way, you can create your own version of the tag without doing exactly what I have done.
When placing your elements, you can transform them again by going to Edit > Free Transform. Just be sure you hold the shift key to constrain the proportions.
As you can see, it is pretty random. I just place the items where I think they might work.
Now, back to the frame element layer. You have a frame, right? If not, you can skip this part. We need to add a fill layer to the picture frame.
Highlight the layer UNDER the frame in your layers panel. Now drop the paper you would like to use onto the canvas.
Grab your selection wand from the tools panel. If you can’t find it, check out the basics page for a better understanding of the tools layout.
The Selection Wand options should look like this at the top of your window:
Click on the center portion of the frame.
In the upper menu of Photoshop, click on Selection > Modify > Expand…
Expand your selection by 2px.
Now highlight your paper layer.
Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.
Now you have a fill to your frame. Easy Peasy!
We definitely want to add some shadows to our elements. Without shadowing, the tag will just look flat. The secret to a good tag, is a good shadow effect.
Right click (or ctrl+click) a layer and choose “Blending Options.”
I add a drop shadow and an outer glow. The glow enhances the effect a bit.
Now after you have hit OK, right click the layer again and choose “Copy Layer Style.”
Highlight all of your element layers (click the top one, then shift + click the bottom one) and right click again. This time, choose “Paste Layer Style.”
It makes a HUGE difference to add shadows:
Now that we have all of that done, time to add the next details. Tube and text. Fun!
Choose where you want your main tube to be placed.
Now drag and drop your tube onto the canvas. Resize and adjust it to your liking. Always make sure you constrain your proportions while resizing. Hold the Shift key while you drag the corners.
Add the same drop shadow you did before.
If you would like to remove the excess shadows from around your tag, I have explained how to do that HERE.
Resize before adding copyrights!
Highlight the top layer of the layers panel.
Grab your text tool and add the name you would like. Position it just where you want it and add a layer style. This is mine:
That leave us with the non-animated version of the tag! If you wold like to keep the JPG version, you can save here. Simply File > Save As… and choose the jpg option from the drop down box at the bottom of the dialog.
Here’s where it starts getting complicated. We want to add animation!
Highlight the paper layer that you placed “inside” the picture frame layer.
Make sure your Animation Panel is open. Window > Timeline (or Animation, if you are on earlier versios)
You will need to click the “Create Frame Animation” button. If you do not see this button, please refer to THIS page for more information about the timeline.
You will see that your first frame is already there. But… ignore it! We don’t need it.
File > Open… choose an animation that you’d like to use. I am going to show you how to use the 25 frame animations that I have at CDO.
You will see that all 25 layers are open and unhidden in the layers panel.
In the menu, choose Select > All Layers.
Layer > Group Layers
Now right click on your group in the layers panel and duplicate. BUT DON’T HIT OK, YET!
In the duplicate dialog, choose your tag from the dropdown box. If you haven’t saved by this point, you should see an “Untitled-1” option. (but you definitely should have saved before now. Remember, always save often.)
After you have chosen your tag, hit ok. You can close the animation file without saving.
Back to your tag.
You can resize and rotate the group using the Edit > Free Transform option. Be sure you are resizing the whole group, not just one layer. Don’t forget to hit the check mark at the top of the window to apply the transformation. I resized the animation to about 45% to fit behind the frame, but above the paper layer. You can also use a mask on the group (folder layer) in the layers panel and erase the parts that hang over.
On the right side of your animation panel, click the 4 horizontal lines. Choose the option that says “Make Frames from Layers.”
If you grouped your layers, you will need to unhide the group in the layers panel to see your animation frames.
Now, this made a mess of things, didn’t it?? LOL! But no, not really. You will see that it created a frame for every layer in your tag. And that’s ok!
Click on the first frame in the animation panel. At the bottom of the window, there is a trashcan icon. That deletes the frame. Delete all of the frames that aren’t part of the animation. You should be left with 25 frames that contain only the animation layers.
You will see that your tag only has one animation layer visible in each frame. You want this!
You can collapse the group again now, so you don’t mistakenly unhide layers in there. Click on the little arrow icon beside the group icon in the layers panel.
In the animations panel, click on the first frame. You MUST BE ON THE FIRST FRAME to do any kind of editing from here on out. ALWAYS make sure you are on the first frame. ALWAYS! I can’t stress that enough.
Are you on the first frame of the animation yet? Good. Now we can continue.
In the Layers panel, unhide the color fill layer from the beginning of the tut by clicking the little square box beside the layer thumbnail. An eye should appear…
But, for any of you who have followed other tutorials of mine, you notice that you don’t need to click 3 times anymore!! Thank you Gail!
Now, one by one, unhide all of the layers to your tag. DON’T touch the animation layers, though! Those are already spaced out the way they should be. Leave those alone.
BE SURE YOU ARE ON THE FIRST FRAME!
You can add a shadow to the layer group in the layers panel. Right click and choose Blending Options, just like you would a normal layer.
Oh… wait. We want to add a second animation!
Open your second animation and group it up like we did the first animation. Duplicate the group as well, just like before.
Be sure you are on the FIRST frame of the animation panel.
Using the move tool, position the animation where you like. Using the transform may have some unwanted results, but it’s nothing we can’t handle! If you’d like to resize the animation, go ahead and do that. I will explain that below, if there is a problem.
Hide ALL of the second animation’s layers in the layers panel. This is important. Follow the next steps VERY closely.
Duplicate the first frame in your animation panel. Unhide the first layer of your animation in the layers panel. Now delete the first frame of the animation in the animation panel. This will ensure that your first layer only shows up in the first frame of the animation. If you don’t do this part, the first layer will show up in all of your frames. We don’t want that.
Go to frame 2 in the animation panel. Unhide the second layer of your animation in the layers panel.
Highlight frame 3 in the animation panel. Unhide layer 3 of your animation in the layers panel.
Click on frame 4 in the animation panel. Unhide the 4th layer of your animation in the layers panel.
You see where I am going with this, right? Do all of your animation frames and animation layers like this.
After you have completed this part, you can click play at the bottom of the animation panel to check out your creation!
Do you have jumping animation layers? No? GOOD! You can continue to the saving part.
You do??? Oh crap… ugh. we have to fix that. Click on the 4 horizontal lines of the animation panel and delete the animation. We have to start over *cry* But no, not really.
Once again, do the “make frames from layers” thing again. Only keep the animation frames that contain your FIRST animation. Delete all of the other frames. You should have 25 frames when you are done doing the deleting.
Now unhide all of your tag layers in the layers panel. DO NOT UNHIDE THE SECOND ANIMATION LAYERS! Those come later.
Let’s get on with the second animation again. Do it exactly as mentioned above.
Duplicate the first frame in your animation panel. Unhide the first layer of your animation in the layers panel. Now delete the first frame of the animation in the animation panel. This will ensure that your first layer only shows up in the first frame of the animation. If you don’t do this part, the first layer will show up in all of your frames. We don’t want that.
Go to frame 2 in the animation panel. Unhide the second layer of your animation in the layers panel.
Highlight frame 3 in the animation panel. Unhide layer 3 of your animation in the layers panel.
Click on frame 4 in the animation panel. Unhide the 4th layer of your animation in the layers panel.
You see where I am going with this, right? Do all of your animation frames and animation layers like this.
This should eliminate the jumping problem! Now to save and stuff.
If you would like to make your animation smaller, you can highlight all of the odd numbered frames and then click on the little trashcan icon at the bottom. I like to keep mine at full size. It’s just nicer for digital picture display 
Oh, right! Don’t forget to set your frame delay.
Highlight all of your frames in the animation panel. Highlight the first frame and then hold shift. Click on the last frame. Now all frames are highlighted.
Click on the little arrow beside the time of the last frame. This will bring up a popup for more “delay” options.
Now you will need to save your animation as a gif file.
In your animation dialog, use these settings:
My “Forever List” can find their tags in their Fotki Folders.