Dreamcatcher Graphics - Presets Tutorial

When you're ready to share material presets with the world, the first thing you need to do is start a new "gallery." Do this by clicking the gallery button on Easy Palette, then go to Gallery Manager and click "Create."

You can call this whatever you like - it will be the name of the .SMP file you are creating. You can also put it in any folder you want. The default is the ULEAD.DAT folder. If you hold your mouse over the abbreviated file name, the whole thing will pop up so you can check it.

Now you're ready to make new material presets or copy and paste from an existing gallery. I'm not going into great detail on making the materials themselves, but here's a quick-start if you've never done it before. Start by choosing the "path" tool on the left tool bar. Then click on "Edit" and choose a shape. Now draw your path and change the "Mode" to 3D Round (you can change this later.)

When you click on the "Options" button, you can create your material by changing any or all of the attributes on the tabs. You'll probably find that the options are so endless you'll have trouble making up your mind! One word of caution (and plea for help!): On my computer, clicking on the "options" button in path mode frequently and unpredictably results in crashing PI completely. More than once I have lost hours of work thanks to this "little" glitch. Now I try to add everything to an object gallery as I work so I won't lose it in a crash, but sometimes I forget! If anyone else has experienced this or knows of a solution, I would like to hear from you! Annoying as this is, it certainly doesn't stop me from using PhotoImpact!

If you choose files from all over your computer to use for color/texture, bump maps and reflection maps, you need to check the location of the file by holding the mouse over it, and move them if necessary. You'll want to have them all in the same folder so it will be easy for others to install them. The SMP file "remembers" the location of these files, and if they're in the wrong place you'll get an error message. It would probably be a good idea to put the SMP file and the jpg's in the same folder to make it even easier. I didn't do this with my first two, but I'll try that next time. :) If you downloaded the second preset file and got an error message that "bluedrop.jpg" could not be found, it's because I used it for the "color/texture" of the preset and didn't include it in the zip file!
When you're satisfied with your material preset, just click on the "Add" button. Then you can choose whether you want to save all of the attributes or just some of them. I usually choose "all" - you can change anything you like after you apply the material.

On the window below, make sure the "Gallery/Library" is the one you created and give it a sample name.

That's all there is to it. When you have as many presets as you want in the gallery, you can zip the jpg's you used and the SMP file and share them with the rest of us!
p.s. If you used materials or textures that came with PI, you don't need to put them in the zip file, 'cause we'll already have 'em. :)