by Tamalita
You can download a Microsoft Word version of this tutorial here. I have also created a Quick Guide version that you can download here. If you are unfamiliar with the PSP Quick Guide feature, please visit Suz's Place to learn about this awesome tool! You are more than welcome to link to this tutorial, but please do not place this tutorial on your own web site. Thanks.
First and always, be sure to have the most updated version of Julie's script at her web site:
http://jstenning.me.uk/Scripts/TJP-Scripts.htm
Be sure to read the help file as it has all of the necessary information. Briefly, the 'addtext' and 'formattext' portions of the script (that you will
record) belong in the Scripts-Restricted folder along with Julie's original
TJP-ResizeVectorToFitImage-PSP9.PspScript file. Julie's original
TJP-MakeTags-PSP9.PspScript file goes in the Scripts-Trusted folder, along with
the customized script that you will edit for your specific tag.
I do not know what the status of the following are, maybe Julie can tell us. When I first started using these scripts (for PSP8), in emails with Julie, I learned 2 important things: the script didn't like lower case in the path designations, and the script didn't like spaces in the path designations. So, I changed the entire way that I named things on my system to accommodate this. All of my file and folder designations now have upper case first letters and there are no spaces. As I said, I do not know if this is still the case, but because of my previous experience, this is what I still do. I am no expert in using these scripts; however, I have not had any problems. The steps I am going to describe are the ones I use and they may not apply to everyone. I am going to give detailed steps for a tag called StarTurtle. Not the best tag ever made, but for the purposes of this tutorial it will suffice:
Before I show you how I set up the scripts, I am going to explain how I name and organize all of my files.
I have all of my PSP Files on a separate hard drive. This is not necessary by any means, it is simply the way that I have my system set up. They are located on my E drive. The 'Scripts-Restricted' and 'Scripts-Trusted' that my PSP points to are located here. Obviously, using the default folders set up by PSP are fine.
I will note that the folders created by PSP within the program folder itself (C:\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 9) are ones that I have never used except for when I first began using PSP. Before PSP8 came out with the additional folders, I always saved everything to my C drive and then to a different hard drive once I had one of those.
My hard drive is called 'Mysts' and is shown below:
I have separate folders for applications, fonts, graphics and music as shown below:
The path to the PSP Files folder on my system is: E:\Graphica\My PSP Files:
I have all of my sig tag creations in a different folder, but on the same hard drive as my PSP Files folder. Each sig tag goes into it's own folder and all of the associated files and folders are placed within that folder. The path to the sig tag folder on my system is: E:\Graphica\SigTags\SigTagsByMe.
When I make a new tag, the first thing that happens is that it gets its own folder within the SigTagsByMe folder. You can see the folder for StarTurtle here:
Once I am ready to start running the script, I set up everything within the tag folder. First I create the text file that will have all the names. Then I create the folder where all of the named tags will be saved.
The first thing that I do is create the tag that I want to use. You can save it in any format that you like, I always use the default psp file format.
Once I have the tag the way that I want it, I figure out what font to use and what text effects I want to use. I might try a couple of different things before I settle on the final options.
Note: I don't install the fonts I use for tags. I save a copy of the font right in the tag folder. When I am ready to create tags, I simply open the font file.
After I figure out what I am going to do for the text, I then create the scripts. If you do not know how to record scripts, visit Moon's Designs:
In my PSP workspace, I always have the scripting toolbar shown.
The first script will be the one where the text is added to the tag. Now I am ready to record the AddText script. The text is always added as vector (which is what I have always done anyway, before I started using these scripts). Sometimes I have to move the text to just the right spot. I generally do this while this script is still recording.
Click the 'Start Script Recording' button and add/place your text:
Click the 'Save Script Recording' button to save your script. The 'Save Script Recording' Button is actually highlighted when you are recording a script, not grey as in the screen shot below.
This script is named based on the tag name and saved in the Scripts-Restricted folder
Next I am ready to record the FormatText script. This script is also named based on the tag name and saved in the Scripts-Restricted folder. Click the 'Start Script Recording' button to make the text formatting changes you want to use and when you are satisfied, click the 'Save Script Recording' button to save the FormatText script.
Remember both of these are saved in the Scripts-Restricted folder:
The next step is to create the actual MakeASpecificTag script. I create a different MakeASpecificTag script for each and every tag, and it is named based on the tag name.
The way that I create this script is that I click on 'Resource Manager' and duplicate the original TJP-MakeASpecificTag.PspScript file, then rename it accordingly. Then, I edit that script with all of the correct path information for my system.
So, go to your script toolbar and be sure to display the Scripts-Trusted folder. Do this by clicking on the tab:
Click on the 'Resource Manager' button:
Click on the original TJP-MakeASpecificTag.PspScript file (or any of your working maketags scripts).
Click the 'Copy' button to make a copy of that script:
Click 'Rename' to rename the copied file. Here is where you rename it to correspond to your tag.
This script is saved in the Scripts-Trusted folder.
Before you are actually ready to use the script, you have to make a few edits.
In the Scripts-Restricted>StarTurtle-AddText.PspScript, there are two (2) places to edit.
In the Scripts-Restricted>StarTurtle-FormatText.PspScript, there are zero (0) places to edit.
In the Scripts-Trusted>StarTurtle-MakeTag.PspScript, there are potentially twelve (12) places to edit.
So, the first thing to do is edit the AddText script. On the scripts toolbar, click on the tab to display the Scripts-Restricted files:
Select the AddText.PspScript file you just created (in my case StarTurtle-AddText.PspScript, and click on the 'Edit Selected Script' button to open the script:
Probably the first thing you will see is a window like the following. You can updated any information for your script right here (be sure to click save), but to actually edit the script, you need to click on the 'Text Editor' button:
This will open the script as a text file (in Notepad or whatever application you use for text files).
The first place to edit is the second line. There is no second line. You need to add the following text: from JascUtils import ScriptData
What I do is that once I open up the 'new' add text script, I also open up an older, working script in the text editor. I then copy and paste the necessary text in place. To add the 'from JascUtils import ScriptData' text, go to your 'new' add text script (in the is case StarTurtle-AddText.PspScript), put your cursor at the end of your first line of text (from JascApp import *) and hit 'enter' on your keybord. Then paste 'from JascUtils import ScriptData' on the second line:
The second place to edit the AddText Script is somewhere around line 82. The text will read something like:
You need to change this text as follows. In the place of u'Tamalita' paste: ScriptData['strTagName']. Again, I do that by copying the correct information from the open working script and placing it into the 'new' script. The line you see after the comma below is my cursor.
Be sure to save your AddText script with the changes you have made. Close any AddText scripts that you have open.
Now it is time to edit the MakeASpecificTag script (in my case StarTurtle-MakeTag.PspScript). On your scripts toolbar, click the tab to display your Scripts-Trusted files, select your new script (StarTurtle-MakeTag.PspScript), and click the 'Edit Selected Scripts' button to open this file in the text editor. To make these changes, it is important that you do not remove the quote marks around the data. So, I highlight the text WITHIN the quotes and replace the text with new information, leaving the quotes in place. I have a screen shot for all of the edits below.
First, you need to add the path (including the name of the file) of the text file containing your tag names. In my case this will be: E:\Graphica\SigTags\SigTagsByMe\StarTurtle\StarTurtleTags.txt
Next, you need to add the path (including the name of the file) of the tag blank or template that will be used for making the tags. In my case this will be: E:\Graphica\SigTags\SigTagsByMe\StarTurtle\master-starturtle-tamalita.pspimage
When the script runs and creates the tags, it names each tag according to the name added to the tag. So you need to edit the information that comes before or after that as indicated below.
Third (optional) you need to add any text that goes in front of the tag name. I don't use this so I leave it blank.
Fourth (optional) you need to add any text that goes after the tag name. I do use this, and in my case, this is where I add the name of the tag and my name: '_starturtle_Tamalita'; you can use hyphens or underscores, or no spaces ... however you wish to separate the information on your tag name.
The next two edits (number five and six) are required and are simply the names of the AddText and FormatText Scripts (without the PspScript extension).
The seventh edit is to tell the script what format to save the named tags in: choose 1 for jpg, 2 for psp7, or 3 for gif.
The eighth edit is only if you are saving the files in jpg format and tells the script which level of jpg compression to use. The default is '10'
The ninth edit is made if your font is a single case font (for example only capital letters or only lower case letters). Generally this is set to 0 for mixed case fonts, and if you are using a single case font you should change this to 1.
The tenth edit tells the script where to save the named tags. In my case, E:\Graphica\SigTags\SigTagsByMe\StarTurtle\StarTurtleTags.
The eleventh edit tells the script how to reduce names to force them to fit on the tag. Sometimes names are too long to fit on the tag. Here you can tell the script how much to decrease it to fit. I generally leave this at 1 to 10%. What this means is that the script will add the name. If the name does not fit within the size of the tag, it will reduce it by the percentage level you set here. If that still doesn't fit, it will reduce it again, and so on until the name fits within the space. So, the lower the number the more times it goes through this process to get the name to fit. I don't like setting it much higher because then you can end up with really small names.
The twelfth and final edit tells the script whether you want debug messages to display. I don't, so I leave it set to No or 'N'. If you are having problems this would be useful to turn on.
Here is a screen shot showing all of the places that can be edited:
Once you make these edits, be sure to save your script.
After this step, I add a few names (Test1, Test2, Test3) to the text file and run the script to make sure everything is set up (yes I still do this
lol). Never fails.
So add a few names to your text file.
Be sure that your MakeASpecificTag script is selected in the script toolbar.
Be sure that no text is actually showing on your master/blank tag (I have forgotten this before and had my name under all the added names --- LOL). I usually just close this file. It is not necessary to have it open as the script will open it for you.
Click the 'Run Selected Script' button to run your script.
When the script first starts, you will get a confirmation window (see below); click 'ok' and the script should run without any intervention from you.
When the script finishes, you will get a notification window.
You can just click 'ok' and then go look at your newly created tags:
If you get errors, they are usually typographical errors in the paths or the names of the scripts.
The only 'problems' I have encountered is that some plugins for formatting do not always work automatically. I can't remember which ones they are (I'm thinking Eye Candy) and I have to verify the settings for each tag.
Have fun tagging! If you have any questions, or don't understand something I have written, please feel free to contact me.
Tamalita
This page was last updated 11 May, 2005