Description: Create an edge mask and use it for a seamless side border for your stationery, greeting card or webpage design. This is the first tutorial in a series of 3 to learn to make seamless masks and images.
Author: Wouter Démoet.
Terms of Use: Please read
Skill Level: Beginner. I assume you know where the tools are in PhotoImpact.
Additional Files: An image of your choice or you may use this Free Sampler Dover clipart image. Please download from here


NOTE: Save your work often. I suggest you read the entire tutorial, before you start. Where it reads "Rc" in this tutorial, it means right click. And if you need help, or if you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to contact me at:
wouter@demoet.nl

Making the Edge Mask: Open a new white mage of 200 x 50 pixels. In the Menu bar: View - Show Ruler. Maximize your image to get rid of the window:



With your Standard Selection Tool: Shape - Rectangle, Soft Edge - 0, draw a rectangle over the right part of your white image like this:



Using the right arrow key --> on your keyboard move the selection so the left border sits on 170 like this:



Convert to Object and fill with black. Merge All.



Menu bar: View - Show Ruler to turn the ruler off.

Change to your Path Drawing Tool. Shape: Clover 2 Mode: 2D Color: Any for now, but don't use white or black, I am using red.



With the Shift key pressed, draw a shape of about 20 x 20 pixels. (Note: Drawing a shape with the Shift key pressed, will keep the apect ratio of that particular shape). Put in place like this:



Rc.: Align - Top. Keep selected. In the Attribute toolbar change the color to white. Duplicate this shape. Rc'.: Align - Bottom



Rc.: Duplicate. Rc.: Align: Center Vertically. Rc.: Align: Right.With your left arrow key click twice to move the object away from the right edge:



Merge All. Click the restore window button on the top right of PhotoImpact:



Open the Dover image from the downloaded zip. As you can see it is 250 pixels high. Or edge image is just 50 pixels, so we need to repeat the edge. Rc.: Copy the edge image we just created and open a new white image of 200 x 250 pixels. In the Menu bar: Edit - Fill - Image tab. Check the Clipboard radio button and make sure that Tile the Image is checked:



Menu bar: Adjust - Convert Data Type - Grayscale. PhotoImpact will generate a new image. This is your grayscale mask we are going to use:



Minimize this mask and close the other images except for the Dover clipart. With the Dover image as your active image, Rc.: Import Selection. Your new mask will show up in the new box that opens.



Using the Edge Mask: As you will see the edge mask is not wide enough for this image. Our image is 229 pixels wide and the mask is 200 pixels wide. No problem. Change to the Transform Tool and click the Selection button on the Attribute Toolbar and change the width of the mask (selection) to 229 pixels. Make sure the lock is open:



As you can see the mask fits the image now:
Note: If you use a different image than the one provided with this tut, , make sure that the selection (mask) fits the width and the height of your image. Otherwise you will end up with a seam when the strip tiles



Rc.: Convert to Object. Rc.: Copy.


Open a new white image of 1280 x 250 pixels. Set your Zoom to 100%. Rc.: Paste. Rc.: Align: Left. Rc.: Align: Center Vertically. Rc.: Shadow:



And this is what you have now. I cropped my image to 400 pixels wide. Otherwise it would be too large for this page.



Deselect. I want to have a very light green color on my background strip, so I filled the strip with a color that I took from the image. I used #E7EEDB and I added a bit of noise. Menu bar: Photo - Noise - Add Noise - Options with these settings:



Before I merge my layers, I need to check if the strip looks good when it is tiled on a webpage or stationery. In the Menu bar: File - Preview in Browser - As Tiled Background. PI will generate a webpage with the tiled strip. I see no seems so I am satisfied with the results but I would have liked a double border ;-).

Let's go for it. Maximize the edge mask we made earlier and Flip it Horizontally. Minimize again. Go back to your strip and make sure the Base Image is selected. . Change to the Selection Tool and and Rc.: Import Selection. Click the top layer in the Layer Manager to select it and press the Select on Object button in the Attribute Toolbar. Convert to Object. Hide this object in the Layer Manager by clicking on the eye:



Click to select your object on the second layer from the top.



Pick up your Object Paint Eraser tool with these settings:



Erase a big part of the left side of the image like this:



Deslect and unhide your top layer and select it. Rc.: Shadow with these settings:



Rc.: Select All Objects. Rc.: Merge as a Single Object. With your Arrow key move the merged object a bit to the right:



Add your name or initials and Merge All. Optimize and save your strip as a jpg. file.



46 Kb is not too bad for a large strip like this. That is all, I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial as much as I liked writing it for you.