This tutorial was written by Lea on 2nd September, 2008.
For this tutorial you will need the following:
PSPX - but can be done in other versions.
Alien Skin / Xenofex 2 Shatter plugin.
Tube of your choice.
Any other embellishments you may wish to use.
1. Open a new canvas sized 500 x 400, transparent.
2. Open your tube, duplicate and close the original.
From your tube, select a dark colour for your foreground colour and a light colour for your background colour.
3. Set your foreground colour to gradient with the following settings and floodfill your canvas:
Angle = 45
Repeat = 1
Style = Linear
Invert is Unchecked
4. Effects, Plugins, Alien Skin Xenofex 2 Shatter with the following settings:
(for the fill colour, use your dark colour)
Your canvas should now look something like this:
5. Layer, New Raster Layer and floodfill that layer with the gradient. Change the opacity of this layer to 50% and Merge, Merge Visible.
6. Click on the Selection Tool and choose Custom Selection:
Use these settings:
Your canvas should look something like this:
7. Floodfill the selection with your gradient.
Effects, 3D Effects, Dropshadow with the following settings:
You should now have the same sized selection as in the previous step only toward the bottom of your canvas.
Floodfill this selection with the gradient and apply the same drop shadow as in the previous step.
9. Select the Custom Selection tool again with these settings:
You should now see something like this:
Invert your gradient and floodfill the selection.
Do not deselect just yet!
10. Selections, Modify, Select Selection Borders with these settings:
Floodfill the selection with your dark colour.
Effects, 3D Effects, Inner Bevel with the following settings:
Deselect.
12. Copy your tube and Paste as New Layer onto your canvas.
Apply the same drop shadow as done previously but change the Horizontal setting to 3.
Layers, Merge Visible.
13. Selections, Select All, Selections, Modify, Select Selection Borders.
Use the same settings as before and floodfill the outer border selection with your dark colour. Apply the same inner bevel as done previously.
Deselect.
14. Add your watermark, any text and extra embellishments you may like.
Merge, Merge All Flatten and save as a jpg.
That's it, you're done!
Another example by Lea:
