This is just a simple little tutorial on making jewels, with just aslight twist. The early steps are actually very similar to my "Simple Spheres"tutorial. Start with a new file (File > New), about 120 x 120 pixels, witha black background and 16.7 million colors.
 
 

Choose your Selection tool and on the Tool Option Palette set the SelectionType to Circle, the Feather vakue to 0, and make sure the Antialias boxis checked. Center your cursor in the middle of your new window (you canread the pixel coordinates of your cursor in the lower left hand cornerof your PSP screen) and draw a circular selection about the size that youwant your jewel to be. We are going to want to be able to recall this selectionlater, so we are going to save it to the Alpha Channel. Go to Selections> Save to Alpha Channel. Give the selection a name that you will rememberfor later.
 
 

Go to your Styles palette and choose your colors. First, make sure thatthe little box labelled "Lock" is checked. This will maintain your colorsettings as we change tools. Make your foreground a dark shade (I choseblue, RGB 0/0/255) and your background a lighter shade of the same color,or even a bright shade of a similar color (I chose a bright blue-green,RGB 0/255/255.) Now set your foreground style to Gradient (left click theforeground swatch and hold, then on the popup choose the second icon fromthe left, the one that looks like a grayscale gradient.) Left click theswatch again once to bring up the Gradient palette. Set the style to lineargradient, the angle to about 136, repeats to 1, and choose the Foreground-Backgroundgradient from the dropdown menu (click the little arrow just to the rightof the preview box to pull up your choices.) Make sure that the InvertGradient box is unchecked. The gradient should go from the darker shadeat the upper left, to the lighter shade at the bottom right.
 
 

Choose your Flood Fill tool and in the Tool Options Palette, set theBlend Mode to Normal, the Match Mode to None, and the Opacity to 100. Nowclick inside your selection to fill it with your gradient.
 
 

Next, go to the Effects menu and apply a Wind deformation (Effects >Geometric Effects > Wind.) Set the direction from the left, and the strengthto about 14.
 
 

Now we add a slight Gaussian Blur to the image to darken the edges (Effects> Blur > Gaussian Blur.) Set the Radius to 4.
 
 

Now we add a little reflection to the jewel, to accentuate the effect.For this we use the Sunburst Effect (Effects > Illumination Effects > Sunburst.)Set the position of the sunburst by left clicking on the crosshairs inthe first window and dragging to the desired position. Set the other controlsas shown below. After you have set these controls, you can save the settingsas a sunburst preset - Just click the Save As button and choose an appropriatename, such as "Jewel Reflection."
 
 

Here is the jewel with the Sunburst Effect Applied.
 
 

I like to enhance the Sunburst Effect a little bit. Zoom in on yourJewel using the Magnifying Glass. Now choose your Selection Tool again.It should still have the same settings you used to create the Jewel shape.Add a new Raster Layer to your image (Layers > New Raster Layer) In theLayer Properties Dialogue, set the Opacity of your layer to about 12 andclick OK. Now draw a small circular selection centered around the Sunburst.
 
 
 

Go to your Styles Palette and Set your Foreground Style to Solid Color(the first icon in the pop-up, a paintbrush) and set the color to White.Flood Fill your tiny circle. You should have a result similar to that shownbelow.
 
 

At this point you could use the Jewel as-is, for buttons, websets orother designs. Simply retrieve your original circular selection from theAlpha Channel (Selections > Load from Alpha Channel), copy your jewel (Usethe Edit > Copy Merged command to do this) And paste as a new image (Edit> Paste > As New Image.) Save the Jewel as a PSP file and you can copyand paste it into any design you wish. The Jewel at this stage appearsas shown below.
 

Incidentally, if you happen to own Adobe Photoshop 5 or below (Note:To all the PSP enthusiasts out there - Yes, I know I just said a BAD word)or have an old trial version of PS on your computer, the reflection effectcan also be done with the PS Lens Flare filter (Effects > Plugins > Render> Lens Flare) A 35 mm flare with an opacity set to 70% works nicely.
 

Here's where we add the special features. First, add a new raster layerto your image (Layers > New Raster Layer.) Now choose the Selection toolagain. This time set the Selection Type to Rectangle. Draw a rectanglearound the edges of your jewel. Don't worry if it's not absolutely perfect.
 
 

Use the Flood Fill tool to fill this new Rectangle with White. Now weuse the weave effect to create a grid. Go to Effects > Texture effects> Weave. Set to Gap Size to 5, the Width to 1, and the Opacity to 100.Set the Weave Color and Gap Color both to Black, and check the box thatsays Fill Gaps.
 
 

You should see a pattern in your rectangle reminiscent of a close-upview of a window screen.
 
 

To wrap the grid around the sphere, apply a Circle deformation (Effects> Geometric Effects > Circle.) Notice that your selection  marqueewill also contract to a circle. The grid that we started with will stillbe there around the edges of the rectangle.
 
 

To remove the excess grid pattern, invert your selection (Selection> Invert) and hit your Delete key.
 
 

Now release your selection (CTRL + D) and adjust your Layer properties(Layers > Properties.) Set the Layer Opacity of the grid to about 10 %.
 
 

To finish your Jewel, recall the circular selection that you saved tothe Alpha Channel (Selections > Load for Alpha Channel), copy your image(use the Edit > Copy Merged command) and paste as a new image (Edit > Paste> As New Image.)
 
 

 

If the grid pattern doesn't appeal to you, try other patterns. The imagebelow was made by using black text -zeros and ones - to fill the rectangleprior to the circle deformation.
 
 

 
 

Email me at  State_of_Entropy@hotmail.com