I am writing this tutorial in version 9 of Paint Shop Pro because I needed to make a plaid and all the tutorials I found took longer and were written for previous versions of psp. This method is so simple that you can use it in any version of PSP. All you do is use the selection rectangle and make a graphic of vertical lines with the flood fill tool. Then duplicate and rotate the graphic and copy the layer back to the original and turn the opacity down to 50 and you have plaid. That was the short version of this tutorial. Most of you will probably need to read the rest. Drop by the forums if you need some help or don't understand a step. We welcome newbies!

1 - Make a new graphic with whatever color background you want to start with that is 100 x 100. Just be sure to make it a square. Click File > New. That brings up the dialogue box. Set options as follows:

width = 100 pixels
height = 100 pixels
resolution = 72 dpi
raster background = checked
color depth = 16 million colors (24 bit)
transparent = checked

You could probably leave transparent unchecked but it's easier to ignore that transparency if you don't need it than it is to add it if you later need it. Click OK.

2) If you are sure you won't need transparency then just flood fill the background layer with whatever color you want. I'm starting with white or #ffffff. Click the flood fill tool which is the little paint bucket pouring a drop icon. Set the options on the top bar as follows:

Match Mode = RGB Value
Tolerance = 0
Sample merged = unchecked
Blend mode = Normal
Opacity = 100

Now we need to set your background color. Click the bottom square on your materials palette which is the Background and Fill Properties box. It shows whatever is the current background color. When you pass your cursor over it, a popup box comes up and says it is the background and fill properties. If you pass your cursor over the top colored box, a popup box comes up that says it is the foreground and stroke properties. Click the bottom box and a dialogue box comes up. You can either click the white tiny box in the bottom right corner or you can type #ffffff in the html box and click ok. Your color should now be white on the background box in the materials palette. Do the same thing for the top foreground and stroke properties box so both will be white.

3) Flood fill the image with white so you have a white image. You can use another base color if you want.

4) Click on the Selection tool ( dotted box ) to make it active and set options as follows:

Selection Type = Rectangle
Mode = Replace
Feather = 0
Anti-Alias = checked

Here is a screen shot that shows my screen up to this point. It's a big picture so be prepared to wait a second or two for the load. Choose a color that you want in your plaid. I'm using blues as I need this for a boy. The first color I used is #020456 which is dark blue. Draw a rectangular selection so you have a vertical stripe from top to bottom. The flood fill with color #020456. Then click onto the selection tool again and draw another rectangle right next to the one you just made. I move from left to right. The rectangles do not need to be uniform in size and I use all different widths. You can make mistakes and leave a little white in between and it adds another vertical line. The next color I used was #a0a2fc. I used the next colors in this order: #cccdfe; #7475a6; #3f4067; #c6c7fe; #666afc; #03056b. You can use whatever colors strike you and it is easy to undo and flood fill if you don't like one. I pretty much wing it when I pick colors and jump around on the color picker. Once I was done jumping, here is the graphic for this tutorial:





5) Now for the fun part. Duplicate your image. Click Window > Duplicate and another copy will pop up in your workspace.

6) Rotate it. We need to rotate the second image so the lines are horizontal instead of vertical. Click Image > Rotate > Rotate clockwise 90 > OK.

7) Click on the Raster 1 layer in the layers palette. You click and hold the click down and drag the layer onto the other image. Just drag it to the other image and let up on the clicker. You should now have two layers on the first image (raster 1 and raster 2).

8) Now for the magical plaid move. On the raster 2 layer is a slider that controls opacity. It says 100 to start with. Grab the slider and move it down to 50 and walaa.... you have plaid.

9) Save or export the image to .jpg and you can use it for backgrounds and patterns. Resize it to a smaller size for a smaller pattern repeat. Enjoy your plaids and post some of your work in our forums.