Making cutout shapes in your vector object is as simple as drawing anyother shape. All you really need to pay attention to is the path direction.The first cutout section that I want for my interface shape is a button.I'm going to create sort of a capsule shape. First I drew a small circle,about the height of the button I wanted to create.
 
 

Next I zoomed in and went into Node Editing. It's important to do allof your node cutting and pasting at the same zoom level due to a smallbug in the PSP 6 beta (version 2). Whatever size the nodes are on the screenwhen you copy them, that's the size they'll be when you paste...even ifyou've zoomed in or out.
 
 

I copied the existing nodes for the circle by selecting them and hittingControl C on my keyboard. I then pasted them back (Control V) and movedthem so that the two circles were at the same height.
 
 

I want to connect the two round ends with lines, so I need to removehalf of each circle. This can be done by selecting the appropriate nodewith the cursor, and then deleting it (right click to bring up the menu,then go down to Edit, and choose Delete from the secondary menu.)
 
 
 

To connect the two halves together, you just use the cursor to selectthe two nodes you want connected, and then right click to pull up the menua choose Edit: Join. The lines connecting them won't necessarily be perfectlyhorizontal.
 
 

To make the line more pleasing, select the three nodes on the right,and move them into alignment. The button was a bit short, so I also lengthenedit a bit. Now, to make this work as a cutout, it's necessary to changethe direction of the path. The interface shape was made with a clockwisepath, so the cutout must be counter-clockwise. This can be done by selectinga node, opening the menu again, and choosing Edit: Reverse Path. Afterreversing the path on your button, Quit Node Editing, and zoom back outto a normal view. Now Go into node editing again and copy your button (selectit with the cursor and either use Control C, or use the Edit: Copy commandin the menu.). Remember, you have to copy your nodes at the same Zoom ratiothat you paste them, or the size will be wrong. Hopefully this bug willbe fixed by the final release of PSP 6.
 

Choose the main interface shape for Node editing again and paste inthe button shapes. Be sure to align them with each other and space themevenly. You may want to have the Grid turned on (View: Grid) to place themmore carefully. If you forgot to change the path of your shape before youcopied, then you'll see no cutout when you exit Node editing. To fix this,go back into Node editing and choose one of the points on your pasted shape.Right click to bring up the menu, scroll down to Edit, and choose ReverseContour from the submenu. Repeat this procedure for each shape you pastedto convert them all to cutouts.
 
 

I wanted to have a circular cutout in the rounded area near the topright. I used the shape tool to draw a circle of the right size over theinterface shape. Then I Node edited the circle, reversed the path direction,and copied the nodes. When I was done, I deleted the circle.
 

Going back to the original shape and entering Node editing mode, I pastedthe circle into place, and then adjusted its position by grabbing the selectionwith my cursor and placing it correctly.Remember, you can only grab theseselections by a node, not by the lines that connect them.
 
 

I wanted the rounded area to have a set of crosshairs. One of the greatthing about node editing is that you can get some incredibly thin lines.I right clicked to bring up the menu and chaose Drawing Mode. I then addeda horizontal line to the circle and then left drawing mode.After makingsure the horizontal line was straight and going through the center pointof the circle, I went back into Drawing mode and added the second (vertical)line.
 
 
 

Finally, I wanted the interface shape to have a set of small holes forscrews. As with the larger circle, I drew the small circle, went into nodeediting mode, reversed the path, and copied the circle. After returningto editing the interface shape I pasted the small circle in several appropriateplaces.
 

At this point the full shape looked like this:
 
 

There's still a very large empty area in the shape. I think it lookslike a good place for a name or logo.  As of PSP 6 beta 2, it's possibleto convert vector text to node editable shapes. I opened a new file andused the text tool  to create the name of my site in vector text.The conversion to a vector shape is extremely easy. Simply click on theVector Select Tool ,select the text, and then right click on the text to bring up a menu. Scrolldown to where it says Convert Text to Curves. Choose "As Single Shape"from the secondary menu.
 
 

The Node editing button on the tool Options palette should now no longerbe grayed out. Click the Node Edit button and you should see more nodesthan you could ever deal with. Text in general is very complicated as ashape. Luckily we're not going to warp this text, just copy it. First ofall, click on any one of the nodes in the text, and change the path direction(by right clicking and choosing Edit: Reverse Path from the menu.) Nowselect the text nodes (Select All in the Edit submenu works well.) andcopy.
 

Going back to the original shape, simply paste the text in place andadjust the position.
 
 

The final shape for the interface looks like this, with all the whiteareas being cutouts.
 
 
 

A lot of embellishment is possible once you have your final shape. Thefollowing was done mostly with the tools (bevels and gradients) availablein PSP 6. The only thing that wasn't was the small brass screws, whichwere done with the Blade Pro preset Brass Knocker (available at Tony Cheroke'ssite, TheCheroke Family's Homepage, in Set 10.)