Creating a Techno Mask.

Let's start off by opening a new 400 x 400 plain white canvas in RGB true colour format.

Click on Selection and be sure that Preserve Base Image is unchecked. Then click on Web/Grid & Partition. Enter the values 8 rows; 8 columns; grid line 3; Color black and be sure that the draw border line box is checked before clicking on OK.

Your white canvas will now have a whole lot of squares all over it. We need to convert this image to an object to be able to do anything with it, so right click on your mouse and select All, right click again and convert to object. Whilst using the transform distort tool, pull the top righthand corner of your object down towards the center of the canvas by about three squares and then pull the bottom lefthand corner over towards the right about two square widths. Click on your spacebar to deselect the object (PI 8 users click on the Enter key to deselect) and then click on Edit/Fill. Choose the colour black and then click on OK. You should now have an image which is similar to my example of the left here.

Go to Web Grid & Partition, leave all the settings as they were other than the colour, change that to white and then click on OK.

Right click on your mouse and select All, right click on your mouse again and convert to object. You'll find this object easier to work with if you bring it to the top so open the layer manager and drag this object to the top position and then click on the eye of the lower piece to hide it.

Use the transform distort tool to pull the bottom righthand corner of this top object up towards the center by about 3 squares and then use the layer manager again to drag this object back into the lower position and then click on the eye to hide it.

Click on your spacebar to deselect all objects (PI 8, XL or Pro users need to click on the Enter key to deselect) and then go to Edit/Fill and fill the base image with a grey colour.

Go to Web/Grid & Partition one more time altering the settings to 50 rows; 1 column with a grid line of 1 and color white. Be sure that the draw border line box is checked before clicking on OK. Open the eyes of all hidden layers in your Layer Manager and your image should now look something like this one on the left.

You can finish your image off by drawing in a few 3D balls if you like and you can even fill them with a texture if you want. As soon as you're happy with your image merge all and then convert it to 8-bit grayscale by clicking on Format/Data Type/Grayscale.

Adding the grayscale image as a mask to your Easy Palette.

Before we can add a grayscale image to the Easy Palette we need to be sure that the EP is prepared for it. So go to your mask library, right click on it and be sure that Read-only (for sharing) is unchecked.

Click on Selection/Copy Selection to Object Library. Another box will pop up...name your selection if you wish and be sure that your mask is being stored in the correct library before clicking on OK.

Your mask is now stored in your Easy Palette and ready to use.

You can make a great looking futuristic image using your Techno mask, it's so simple to do too, but may take a few tries before you find a colour combination that you're really happy with!

Open a new canvas in RGB true colour format with a size of your own choosing. Personally I happen to like 400 x 400 pixels which just happens to be the size of the mask but it really doesn't matter if you prefer a different size, just be aware that if you use anything other than a square, you will have large blank areas. Fill your canvas with a colour, gradient or magic gradient of your choosing. Then go to your Easy Palette and double click on your saved Techno mask. You will see the aqua colour selection lines show up on your canvas. Go to Edit/Fill and choose a different colour, gradient or magic gradient. Sometimes it takes a little playing around with colours to get a combination that you're happy with, but that's ok, just Edit/Undo and start again. Once you've found a combination that you're happy with, click on your spacebar to deselect (PI8, XL or Pro users to click on the Enter key to deselect). At this point, I like to click a couple of times on plus sign of the brightness button and about 3 or four times on the plus sign of the contrast button....doing that seems to sharpen the colours somewhat.

Your futuristic techno image is now finished.....or is it? You're limited only by your imagination and can quite easily go on to make this image look even better! I'll leave you here because my imagination doesn't quite stretch any further yet LOL.