1

Firstly you need to prepare a new gallery in the Easy Palette to be able to save your presets to. If you're unsure how to do that, then please refer to MaryLou's Managing Your Easy Palette tutorial first.

2

Start by opening a new RGB image. It doesn't matter what size your image is as long as there is room to draw a nice size circle in it.
Use the Path Drawing Tool to draw a 3D Round Circle shape.      

In the Easy Palette, go to Galleries/Material Gallery/All and click on Reset. By doing that, your circle will clear itself of any colour, bump or other materials.

3

Now click on either Shift+X or on the on this  Material button in the attributes bar to open the Material Panel. It's here where you'll be able to turn your circle into a preset and it's all done literally by experimentation and you don't have to make changes anywhere that you don't want to, but I'll give you a quick run down on various options open to you anyway. Any changes you make in the material panel will be shown in the preview pane.

4

Colour/Texture

This is where you have the option to set the colour or texture of your preset. Right click on the sample one colour, gradient colour or texture boxes to get more options to choose from. If you click on the File button, you'll be able to browse your computer for other images to use. Just double click on the image you wish to use and it will be applied to your preset in the preview pane. Should you decide to use a file of your own then the Options button will be available whereas before it would have been greyed out. This opens the Texture Options panel where you'll be given the option to choose how you would like your chosen image to fill your preset.

Bevel

This is where you'll be able to change the mode of your preset with various other options to choose from should you decide to choose 3D Custom. Try them all and see how each option affects your preset in the preview pane.

Bevel Settings

Alter the width and depth of your preset here. Note that in the maximum width is greyed out. That's because the maximum width size is determined by the size of the original circle drawn. Smooth spine is also greyed out because we're using a regular shape with no edges that need to be smoothed out.

Shadow

Here you can add a shadow to give your present a little more depth. If you click on options the shadow box opens, choose one and play around with the settings until you're satisfied with the result. 

After completing your choice and you wish to amend your shadow, on the attribute bar, click on this shadow icon and the shadow box will open for you to change your settings.

Light

Here you can choose how many lights you will need to shine on your present and also whether they'll be spotlights or direct lights.

Once you've determined the number and type of lights you require, you may decide that you'd like to move the lights into different positions. So click on the option button above the preview pane and be sure that "Show Highlight Point" is checked. Click on lightbulb 1 to activate it, and then click and hold down on your mouse button over your preset on the highlight point in the preview pane. You'll be able to move the number 1 light to any position you choose and you can do exactly the same with any other light. In the example below, you can see exactly where I have positioned each of my three lights.

Shading

You have two choices here. If you decide that you'd like for your preset to have a metallic look about it, then click on the metallic arial button and then use the drop down box to determine the type of metallic look you'd like your preset to take on. Be sure to set the amount of shininess and strengh too.

You may prefer that your preset not have a metallic look about it. If that's the case, then click on the phong arial button, set the amount of shininess you'd like for your preset to have and also the strength. You'll also have the option to set the specular and ambient colours if you want. Right click on the colour boxes to make your choice.

You can set the strength and shininess to your desired liking.

Bump

You can apply a bump file to your image if you wish. Click on the File button to browse your computer for any image you choose to use as a bump. You'll find quite a few available for your use in the Ulead PhotoImpact Materials folder but you're not restricted to using just those. The same bump can be used as a reflection too, so don't forget to try out that option and also the invert bump map option.

Bump

You can apply a bump file to your image if you wish. Click on the File button to browse your computer for any image you choose to use as a bump. You'll find quite a few available for your use in the Ulead PhotoImpact Materials folder but you're not restricted to using just those. The same bump can be used as a reflection too, so don't forget to try out that option and also the invert bump map option.

Reflection

Click on the File button to browse your computer for a suitable reflection file to use. You'll find quite a few available for your use in the Ulead PhotoImpact Materials folder but you're not restricted to using just those. Any image that appeals to you can be used as a reflection and you can determine the density of the reflection.

Transparency

If you wish for your preset to have a glassy transparent look then this is the tab you'll need to click on. Here you'll be able to set the amount of transparency to be applied after checking the appropriate transparency box.

Border

You can add a border around your preset if you wish.  To choose a colour, right click and pick.  Also, the thickness of a border can be obtained my moving the slider.

That was a quick rundown of the options available to you in the material panel and I hope it's helped with your own creation of your first preset. Please go to Part 2 of this tutorial where you will learn how your preset can be saved to your Easy Palette for future use.

After adding presets to your easy palette it would be adviseable to click on Window, Customise then save   If you have customised your workspace with a personal profile name, then you need save in that name - choose Save as....... your profile will be saved in Ulead Profiles as name.xum  or in Corel/PhotoImpactX3 name.xum.  You can also save this profile - .xum to  another hard drive folder, again should you need to reinstall PhotoImpact the name.xum can be restored in PI which will reinstate your current workspace.  For further information on Customise Workspaces for PhotoImpact X3 click here

Part 2 - Saving Presets to Easy Palette

Site created and maintained by Maureen Lavis

Creative-Designs

Terms of use for this tutorial are simple....What you create using this tutorial is yours to do with as you please. A link back to this tut is appreciated but is not a requirement. The tutorial itself along with the images herein are copyrighted to me and all rights are reserved.