Tutorial Four
- Installing Plug Ins
In tutorial we
will learn:
What are
plug ins?
What are
plug ins?
Plug ins
are add ons for PSP that enable you to create effects that PSP is
not able to do, or to enhance some of PSP's own abilities. They
are invaluable when creating stationery.
Where I
do find them?
There
are literally hundreds of plug ins that will operate within PSP. A
google search for "plug ins for PSP" will reveal many sites that
offer free plug ins. There are also many commonly used that are
paid for versions also. I will try to only use free plugins for
tutorials here. They will be available from the website with the
tutorial, or via URL to the original site.
FIRST
STEP - IMPORTANT!!!!!
First you will most
likely need some extra files for your system, (these are
Windows files, not PSP files) to enable most of
these plug ins to work. These two files are available from the
website HERE
The two files are:
MSVCRT10.DLX
The newest in plugin dll's.. the 4th one for helping some that are
made for
Adobe to kick in! Put this in your Windows/Systems folder. If you
have
XP Put it in your Windows/Systems32 folder instead!
You might need to reboot
for it to kick in!
Msvcrt10.zip
The 3 dll's that you need to have to make your 8bf Plugins work.
Put them
in your Windows/Systems folder. If you have XP? Put them in your
Windows/Systems32 folder instead! You might need to reboot for
them to kick
in!
You will need
a zip program to unzip these two archives. I use IZarc which
you can get HERE (it's free
and very easy to use)
Getting
a Plug In
The plug
in you will use for our next tutorial is Mehdi Seamless Border and
you can download it from the website
HERE
How Do I
Install them?
Some
plugins need to be put in the Jasc Software folder under Plugins,
but MOST can be placed in any folder of your choice, BUT you must
tell PSP where to find them. I always try to place them in a
folder outside PSP FIRST, if they don't work, I then move them to
the PSP Plugins folder.
I prefer
to have my plugins in a separate folder so that PSP does not
automatically load them all when I start the program. If they are
all placed in the plugin folder in PSP itself, the program will
become slow and sluggish to open while it opens all the necessary
files. So it's my preference to keep plug ins in a folder outside
PSP.
Where
you place this folder is up to you, but remember where you put it
because you will need to tell PSP where it is. Getting some
organisation into the plug ins folder at this stage, will save you
searching through what will (I know from experience) become a HUGE
collection of plug ins later on!
So,
having chosen your folder, if the plug in you are downloading is
zipped (most are) I usually put the zip file into the folder I am
going to unzip into. Then I extract the files there. This way you
always know where those filters are. You could name the folder by
the maker of the plug in if you like. This makes it easy to locate
them later. This is up to you totally.
(NOTE: If you use the zip program I prefer
it has a lovely option to
"unzip here" making this process very easy)
OK now
write down where the folder is that you have just unzipped the
filter to.
Open PSP
We are
going to tell PSP where you have just put the filters, like this:
This
screen opens
Check
that your settings are the same as I have here. This is not the
ONLY configuration possible, but if we all have them set the same,
it's easier to describe what to do, and for trouble shooting.
Click
the ADD button and browse to the folder you just created and
unzipped your plug in to:
Highlight the folder
Then
click OK, your folder now appears in the list of available plugin
folders
Click OK
again to close the window
Open a
graphic in PSP, Shift D to duplicate it, close the original
Select
Effects like this
You
won't see all the stuff I have here, don't worry, just locate the
one you just put in.
If you
had just installed the Seamless Border Plug In for instance, you
will find it under Mehdi like this: (again yours won't look the
same as this you will most likely only have one set of filters not
three like I have here)
Congratulations!! You have just installed your first Plug In!!
When we use plug ins in tutorials, I will include instructions for
using them, so don't worry about that part right now. Any plugins
we use for tutorials I will make available on the website, or
supply a URL for you to download them.
Tutorial by Tzeriah exclusively for the Wendy's Works PSP
Classes. Any resemblance to other tutorials is purely coincidental
and not intended. Tutorials are copyright to Tzeriah.
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