Photobie Lesson 1 – Text Fly In Effect

In the first Photobie lesson, we will learn how to achieve the text fly-in effect, as shown on the left.

Essentially, the Text Fly In Effect is a combination of a few (or more) images in quick succession, depending on how complicated your design is. The steps to achieving this effect using Photobie are listed below. For a start, I will go really slow and long-winded to get you accustomed to Photobie. Once you get the hang of things, I will shortened my explanation. =)

Step 1: Activate Photobie. After ensuring you have downloaded and installed the latest version of Photobie, run the program.

Step 2: Creating New Photobie Picture. On the menu bar, click on “File”, then “New”. A “NewPhotoPanel” window should pop up, as shown on the left side of the screenshot below. For the purpose of this lesson, I have set the height and width to 250 pixels. Click on “OK”.

Step 3: Inserting Desired Picture. A 250 x 250 white background box should appear, as shown in the middle of the screenshot above. I have inserted the title of my blog, “SKOYU” in the box. How do we do that? There are two options. The first option is to use another platform (e.g. Microsoft Powerpoint) to design your desired word(s) and saving it as a picture format (jpeg, png or gif). Once that is done, in the Photobie menu, go to “Layer”, “Import images as new layers on current photo panel” (or simply press CTRL + SHIFT + I). Locate your saved picture (in this example would be my “SKOYU” picture) and click “OPEN”. There you go, piece of cake. Alternatively, you can insert text using the “Paint/Selection” palette located at the bottom right corner of the screenshot above. Remember to save your work regularly.

Step 4: Align and Resize Picture. Once you have inserted your picture, towards the bottom of the Layer Manager (third box from the left), click on the first button on the second row (hand with black cross). You should now be able to resize and position your picture to your liking.

Step 5: Creating Transparent Backgrounds. So far so good? Let’s bring our attention to creating the “Fly-in effect”. In the Photobie menu again, go to “File”, “New”. As before, set the height and width to 250 pixels, but this time round, check the “Transparent Background” field. Click on “OK”. You should get something similar to what I have below:

Step 6: Copying Layers. Ensure you have clicked on the window with the white background. Let’s now focus on the third box (Layer Manager) from the left of the screenshot above. You see a “0 Background” and “1 New Layer”. If you do not see two items, it is because you have not clicked on the window with the white background first. In the Layer Manager, click on “1 New Layer”, and in the pool of buttons below “1 New Layer”, use the fourth button in the first row. When you click on the “Drop Down Arrow” on the right side of the fourth button, you should be prompted to either “Copy Current Layer” or “Copy All Selected Layers”. Select “Copy Current Layer”.

Step 7: Pasting Layers. Click on the window with the transparent background. Now on the Layer Manager, you only see “0 Background”. Again, click on the “Drop Down Arrow” for the fifth button in the first row. You should see “Paste Single Copied Layer” and “Paste All Copied Selected Layers”. Choose the former. Your picture should be copied from the white background to the transparent background. You have just mastered how to copy and paste images using Photobie.

Step 8: Blurring Effect. To achieve the Text Fly-In effect, we need to blur the image on the transparent background. Click on the window with the transparent background. Then mouse over the “Paint/Selection” Palette on the bottom right corner to look for the “Smudge Tool”. Click on it. An additional bar pops up above the Layer Manager. Under “H” (Height), increase from “10” to “70”. Under “Pressure”, reduce from “4” to “2”. Mouse over your picture in the transparent background. If your mouse is a “Hand Pointing Using Index Finger”, you are ok. Starting either from the left or right side of your picture, click-and-hold and drag across your picture. Once you are done, release your mouse. This should create a new layer “2 New Layer” in the Layer Manager, as shown in the screenshot below. Especially for beginners, it may take a few tries to get things right. If you need to delete any mistakes, click on the red “No Entry” sign in the Layer Manager to delete “2 New Layer” that is created, and try until you are satisfied.

Step 9: Copy Blurred Layer To White Background. Ok, you should be familiar with this step now. Click on “2 New Layer” in Layer Manager, then “Copy Current Layer” using the “Drop Down Arrow” (fourth button in first row), and before you paste, remember to first click on the window with the white background. There, now, click on “Paste Single Copied Layer” (fifth button in first row).

Step 10: Align Your Layers. We need to align our images in the white background. You should know how to do this, don’t you? Drag the blurred image “2 New Layer” until it overlaps the original image “1 New Layer”, as shown in the screenshot below. Again, you are reminded to save your work.

Step 11. Clone Images. Before we run the animation, we need to create multiple images. Click on the window with the white background. In the Layer Manager, select “0 Background”. Mouse over the last button (6^th button) in the first row of the Layer Manager. You should see “Clone Current Layer”. Click on it. It appears as though your work disappeared. No worries, they are still there. Using the “Up Arrow” button in the vertical column within the Layer Manager, shift ”3 Background” up such that it becomes “1 Background” and correspondingly, your new layers are relabelled “2 New Layer” and “3 New Layer”.Now, practise cloning again. Clone “1 Background” one more time, and shift it up to “2 Background”.

Step 12: Merge Layers. In the Layer Manager, check the boxes to the left of “1 Background” and “4 New Layer”. Click on the “Drop Down Arrow” for the second button (green button) in the first row. Select “Merge Remove”. You should now see 3 backgrounds labelled from 0 to 2 and only 1 new layer. Similarly, check the boxes for “2 Background” and “3 New Layer”. “Merge Remove”. You are now left with 3 backgrounds. Time to save your work. Select “1 Background”. Clone this one more time.

Step 13: Animation Time. By carrying out all the above steps, you have just created multiple images to run your animation. In the menu, click on “Animation”, then “Animation Control Panel”. You should see 4 frames, each corresponding to the 4 backgrounds that you have created. Click on “Frame 1” and you should see “200” appearing in “Delay” field. Set it to “1000” (1 second). We shall leave Frames 2 and 4 alone. Select “Frame 3”. Set the delay to “2000” (2 seconds). On the right side of the Animation Panel, there are four buttons, as shown below. Click on the second button (play). Happy with the outcome? Time to save your image. Again, on the right side of the Animation Panel, locate the fourth button (Save) and save your image. Congratulations. You have now mastered the skill of creating the “Text Fly-In Effect”.

Note: I would like to highlight that there is more than 1 way of designing banners. What I have done and shown you is merely my way of doing things. There is no right or wrong. Overtime, when you get yourself accustomed to the functions of Photobie, you will learn to use the shortcuts.

I hope this session has been useful to you. I look forward to sharing more about Photobie. If you like this post, please help to spread the message by digging it. =)