Home > PSP Tutorials > How I Stay Organized (Part 2) Paint Shop Pro Tutorial

You will need PSP 8 for this part because I use the scripting feature. Remember, this is just how *I* do it and is only meant to give you ideas for managing your own files.

Following along from the previous page, you know that I have a folder named Tut Writers and within that folder I have several sub folders -- each named for individual tutorial writers.

When I decided to tube them, I figured it would be best to rename them in some way that would make the tutorial writer for that image easily identifiable. I will explain at the end why this is a good idea.

We will do one example here. It may sound complicated, but it is really very easy and I think you'll be happy with the results. If you aren't familiar with scripts, please do Suz's tutorial for Recording a Simple Script.

You will have to rename images one folder at a time which can be time consuming, but the Batch Rename in PSP will speed things along. :)

In PSP, go to File > Batch > Rename

Navigate to your Tut Writers folder and select a sub folder.

Highlight all of the PSP files in that folder

Next, click on Modify (lower right corner of the of the window). Highlight (one by one) each listing on the right and click Remove. When the right side is empty, click on Custom Text > Add and type in the identifiable name you want to give your file (I used WGBcreations). Next, click on Sequence > Add and type in 001

Click OK and then click Start.

Go look in the folder. If everything went the way it should've, you should have something like this:

Easy enough, eh? Now do that for each of your folders. *Be sure to change the custom text for each folder before you rename.

Now, create yet another new folder. You can delete it later if you want. :) "TempTubes" is the name I gave it.

Open your TempTubes folder. Open Windows Explorer and scroll down to your Tut Writers folder. I find it easier to use Windows Explorer rather than opening the folder itself because you can easily skip from one folder to the next -- no going back and trying to remember where you left off. It's up to you though.

Set them up so they're side by side:

Here's what I do. In Windows Explorer, select your Tut Writers > sub folder .. for this example, it's WGBcreations.com. Select all of the PSP files on the right side of the window. Ctrl C to copy. Click once in the TempTubes window. Ctrl V to paste. I went through each folder and copied/pasted to the TempTubes folder. We are doing this so we don't alter the original files while preparing them to be tubed.

If the original image has any information saved in alpha channels, that information has to be deleted before tubing. We will use a simple script to do this.

Unzip it to your Scripts-Restricted folder.

In PSP, go to File > Batch > Process

At the top of the window, navigate to your TempTubes folder and select all of the PSP files.

A little further down, click Browse and navigate to your Scripts-Restricted folder. Select the RemovingAlphas script.

You will want to set up the rest of the window as shown below:

Don't worry about the part of the window not shown in the screenshot. It isn't important for this task. :)

Click Start

I can almost guarantee you that your Script Output window will pop up and you'll see what appears to be a bunch of errors. Don't worry about it. That simply means that particular image did not contain any information in the alpha channels and it has gone on to the next image.

When the script is finished, click OK.

That was easy enough, wasn't it? There isn't too much left to do!!

Now we have to run a script to make each file a one-layered visible image ready to be tubed.

Unzip it to your Scripts-Restricted folder.

Go to File > Batch > Process

Just like before, select all of the PSP files in the TempTubes folder.

Click Browse and select the MergeLayers script from the Scripts-Restricted folder.

Everything else should be set up the same as before.

Click Start and then click OK when it's finished.

Now it's time to use Suz's most excellent Tube Saver script.

Unzip the script to your Scripts-Restricted folder.

The important thing before we continue is your default tube folder. You can leave it as is and arrange the tubes later, or you can change it beforehand.

If you want to change it now, go to File > Preferences > File Locations and scroll down to Picture Tubes. You can add a new folder and then change the "Save To Folder" option to the new folder.

All that is left to do is run Suz's Tube Saver script.

Go to File > Batch > Process

Set it up as before. Select all of the PSP files and then click on Browse and select the ss-TubeSaver script.

*** Very IMPORTANT -- change the Save Mode to "Obey Script" as shown below:

Click Start.

Note - You will be prompted for each save. The name is already filled in thanks to Suz's fabulous script!! Just keep pressing OK.

Yay, we're finished!!

It probably sounds horribly complicated, but it's not too bad once you get into the habit of doing it.

What is the importance of giving the image a name that will make the tutorial writer easily identifiable to you?

• You're making something. You have the perfect tube of a little girl. One problem -- you need her in a blue dress but the one she has on is green. Easy as pie. One look at the tube's name will tell you where to find the original image in the Tut Writers folder. As long as you have saved the image with layers intact (as you should do!), you can open that image, select the dress layer and colorize it. Voila!



• You use one of your tubes and someone asks you where you got it. One look at the tube name and you can tell the person where to find the tutorial so they can make their own.



• You're looking for a specific tube and you have a long list of tubes. If you know the tutorial writer, you'll know the name you saved it under. Tubes are listed in alphabetical order. If I was looking for an image from one of Wendy's tutorials, for example, I would scroll to the bottom of the tubes list.

I hope you've found this useful. If I find the time, I will add a tutorial for organizing your tubes!!