I'm not usually a big fan of horror movies, but every once in a whileone impresses me with its visual images, its storyline, or its overall"universe". One group of horror movies that I've always found intriguingis the Hellraiser series. An important prop in the movies was an objectknown as a "Lament Box", a small cubical wooden puzzle that, when solved,opened a doorway into Hell.

To create an image of an inticately carved and inlayed box in 3Dwould be a daunting task for someone who wasn't a graphic artist. But PaintShop Pro's deformations actually make it quite easy.

Start with a new file, about 150x150 pixels, 16 million colors witha white background. In this window, create the design you want for thesides of your box. The create my design, I first filled the window witha wood texture, and then added a geometric design in a gold color (RGB202/183/55). To give the design more dimension, I selected it with themagic wand, feathered it by 10 pixels, and used a hotwax coating severaltimes. When I was done I adjusted the luminescence to brighten the gold.You can create your design any way you wish, or even use just a texture.(Yeah,I know...looks nothing like the one from the movie.)
 
 

Take your final image, and go to Window:Duplicate. A new copy ofyour design should appear. You will need three copies to complete the box.Keep the original unmodified in case you make an error along the way.

Pick your first copy and go to Images, Deformations: Skew. In thebox marked horizontal, put a value of 20.
 
 

Repeat this with your second file, but this time use a value of -20.
 
 

We are now ready to begin assembling our box. Open a new file, 500x 500, 16 million colors with a white background. Click on your first copy( the right side of your box) and go to Edit:Copy. Make sure your backgroundcolor is white, and then paste it into your new file as a transparent image.

Now we want to be able to differentiate the sides of our box, sothey need to have slight color differences. I decided that the light sourceilluminating my box was to the top left, and so my top should be brighterthan my left side, which should be brighter than my right side.

Go to your second file ( the left side) and then Edit:Copy. Pasteit into your new file next to the right side, but Don't deselect it. Nowchoose Colors, Adjust: Hue, Saturation, and Luminescence. Increase theluminescence by 50 - 75%, until you get a pleasing contrast betwen thesides.

If your design is very dark, like mine, you should leave your rightside alone, and brighten your left side and top by adjusting the luminescencewhen you paste them in. If your design is fairly light, however, you mightchoose to darken your right side and brighten your top, leaving your leftside unchanged. All that matters is that you have the proper contrast.
 
 

Okay, now we need to build our top. Go to your third copy and inImage:Rotate, check free rotate, and put in 45 degrees. This will eventuallybe our top.