Special thanks go to Mary for testing this out. Thanks bunches!

*** This is not for a beginner, but you are welcome to try it. You need to be quite familiar with PSP. ***

You need to have the Bubble Fish tutorial completed found HERE 

Delete the bubble layer (Right click on layer on Layer Palette.)
Make background layer invisible by clicking on eye/glasses
Right click on one of the other layers and Merge Visible

You can make background layer visible again. You will probably want to make sure you have this filled in with white to help you see.

Duplicate this image enough times for each letter in your name. ( I duplicated 4 times. With the original, that gives me 5 for my name.)

Foreground – Null
Background – I used the same color as I did of the bubble #23487F, but it doesn’t really matter because we are going to use a cutout.
Click on the Text tool.
(Use with Vector check. Don’t panic! We are not going to node edit.)
Select a bolder font.
The size will vary depending on the font you use.
I will place the size I used in parenthesis to help guide you.
Leave as vector layers until you are finished with your name. This will help you move if needed.
Make sure you are on the top layer on the Layer Palette.

This is the process I used. (Size is reduce for these examples.)

Select 1st Image
Place the first letter of you name using a smaller sized font (16).

Select 2nd Image
Keep font size (16) and place the second letter of your name.
Change to a little larger font (20) place the first letter of you name up a little.

Select 3rd Image
Change font size (16) and place the third letter of your name.
Change to a little larger font (20) place the second letter of you name up a little.
Change to a little larger font (24) place the first letter of you name up a little.

Select 4th Image
Change font size (16) and place the fourth letter of your name.
Change to a little larger font (20) place the third letter of you name up a little.
Change to a little larger font (24) place the second letter of you name up a little.
Change to a little larger font (28) place the first letter of you name up a little.

Select 5th Image
Change font size (16) and place the fifth letter of your name.
Change to a little larger font (20) place the fourth letter of you name up a little.
Change to a little larger font (24) place the third letter of you name up a little.
Change to a little larger font (28) place the second letter of you name up a little.
Change to a little larger font (32) place the first letter of you name up a little.

Now you can use the Object Selector tool and change position, place, or even size on each letter to suit you.
Be careful. You don't want to move the fish.

This would be a good time to save each individual image (Do Not merge them).
I create a new folder and label saving the images in the number order of which I’ll use. So for the image with just the first letter, I number it one continuing with each image until I’m finished.

Right click on the Vector layer on each image and convert to Raster
Right click on each of the Raster layers just created and Duplicate.
(We are making a duplicated layer to apply two cutouts. You may only want one cutout.)
Click on the glasses/eye of the top Raster layer to make invisible.
Click back on the Raster layer below the top one on the Layer Palette to make active.

Apply a Cutout to your liking.
Here’s what I used.
Vertical 0
Horizontal (-1)
Opacity 60
Blur 6
Color #13335F

Do the same on all the images. You can use the Ctrl Y to repeat the process as you make each image active.

Now you can make the top layer visible by clicking on the glasses/eye on the Layer Palette.

Apply a Cutout to your liking.
Here’s what I used.
Vertical (-1)
Horizontal 3
Opacity 35
Blur 4
Color #13335F

Do the same on all the images. You can use the Ctrl Y to repeat the process as you make each image active.

Now would be a good time to change the background color if you want to use another color.

Right click on one of the layer on the Layer Palette and Merge Visible on all the images.

This is rather large, you may want to resize before animating. Just make sure you resize all the images the same.

I reduced by 60% and used the Unsharp Mask with these settings:
Radius 1
Strength 50
Clipping 9

Now we are ready to animate.
Click on the 1st button under File to run the Animation Wizard.
On pop up – Same size as the first image frame.
Next – Transparent
Next – Yes, repeat the animation indefinitely.
(You can select how long you want each frame. The smaller the number, the quicker it will display. I used 30.)
Next – Click on the Add Image button.
Find the folder where you place the saved images.
Choose the first image.
Click back on the Add Image button.
Choose the second image.
Continue doing this until you have all the images you need.

You can view by clicking on view animation icon. (It looks like a film strip.)
(I like to try to keep it at the highest setting by leaving the slider all the way to top at Better Image Quality.)
Keep hitting the Next button until you are finished.

Hope you have enjoyed this tutorial.

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Copyright ©2003 Carla Polston