PhotoImpact Tutorials

Book Cover Tutorial - Photo Impact Version 6

First choose a photo that you would like to use on the cover of your book. Choose one that you can easily resize and manipulate to fit the book cover.

I am using this one. It came from the PhotoImpact Users Photo Gallery . It is by © Pamela Morrisson.

Go to Format, then to Dimensions. I resized the photo by 80%. Make sure that the box beside 'keep aspect ratio' is checked.
Next go to edit, then to expand canvas. Make sure there is a check mark in the box beside 'expand sides equally'. I expanded by 3 pixels. Now make a colour choice by clicking in the box beside the word expand at the bottom....choose a colour that is not in your picture. I chose a bright pink.
With the Magic Wand Tool, select the border that you just added.
Now fill the selection with whatever you choose. I chose Gradient - Metalic Gold 1 from the fill gallery.
Now go to Object and merge all. Your photo is now ready to add to your book cover.

Lets move on to the Book cover.

You will need to download the Book Cover Template tube and convert it to a stamp for PI6.
Open a new file. I used 500 x 500 and resized when I was all done.
I am assuming that you know how to convert a tube to a stamp. If you do not, then go to Stepanine's Quick Tips and learn how. Look for Quick Tip #12.
Now click on the stamp tool and choose the book from the stamp menu. (click on the arrow beside the picture in the upper left corner. Click on select stamp. Scroll down to the book and choose it. Click in your open file. Your book will appear.
You may like the book like this, if you do, ignore the next steps.
I prefer to have the book apear as though it is laying down. So I will use the transform tool.
Click on the slant image at the top in the attributes bar. Drag the corners till you get the angle you want.
Then go to the distort image next to the slant image and drag the lower right corner until it looks correct to you.

Before slant and distort

After slant and distort

Next step is to colourize the graphic. Go to Format, then to Hue and Saturation. Click in the circle beside colorization. Here you can play around and find a colour that suits the photo that you are using. I set mine at Hue -136, Saturation -62, Lightness -15. It took some playing around with the sliders to get it to a colour that suited me.

Example 2
After Colorization
At this point I decided that a perspective shadow would improve the image so I right clicked and then clicked on shadow. Play with the perspecitve shadow until you get it the way you want. I made mine more transparent and changed the angle somewhat. This step is not necessary, it just adds a little dimension to the finished graphic

Book Cover Tutorial - Photo Impact Version 6
First choose a photo that you would like to use on the cover of your book. Choose one that you can easily resize and manipulate to fit the book cover. I am using this one. It came from the PhotoImpact Users Photo Gallery . It is by © Pamela Morrisson.
Go to Format, then to Dimensions. I resized the photo by 80%. Make sure that the box beside 'keep aspect ratio' is checked. Next go to edit, then to expand canvas. Make sure there is a check mark in the box beside 'expand sides equally'. I expanded by 3 pixels. Now make a colour choice by clicking in the box beside the word expand at the bottom....choose a colour that is not in your picture. I chose a bright pink. With the Magic Wand Tool, select the border that you just added. Now fill the selection with whatever you choose. I chose Gradient - Metalic Gold 1 from the fill gallery. Now go to Object and merge all. Your photo is now ready to add to your book cover.
Lets move on to the Book cover.
You will need to download the Book Cover Template tube and convert it to a stamp for PI6. Open a new file. I used 500 x 500 and resized when I was all done. I am assuming that you know how to convert a tube to a stamp. If you do not, then go to Stepanine's Quick Tips and learn how. Look for Quick Tip #12. Now click on the stamp tool and choose the book from the stamp menu. (click on the arrow beside the picture in the upper left corner. Click on select stamp. Scroll down to the book and choose it. Click in your open file. Your book will appear. You may like the book like this, if you do, ignore the next steps. I prefer to have the book apear as though it is laying down. So I will use the transform tool. Click on the slant image at the top in the attributes bar. Drag the corners till you get the angle you want. Then go to the distort image next to the slant image and drag the lower right corner until it looks correct to you.
Before slant and distort	After slant and distort
Next step is to colourize the graphic. Go to Format, then to Hue and Saturation. Click in the circle beside colorization. Here you can play around and find a colour that suits the photo that you are using. I set mine at Hue -136, Saturation -62, Lightness -15. It took some playing around with the sliders to get it to a colour that suited me. Example 2 After Colorization At this point I decided that a perspective shadow would improve the image so I right clicked and then clicked on shadow. Play with the perspecitve shadow until you get it the way you want. I made mine more transparent and changed the angle somewhat. This step is not necessary, it just adds a little dimension to the finished graphic
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