Thanks for the tips Adlabs. I've been using custom brushes that make a row of 10 or so rivets, but thought that your method sounded easier!
I finally got it to work - sort of. The funny thing is that 1 pixel rivet lines work in PSP7 with the lines tool, but they screw up completely in PSP8 and 9 using the pen tool
. For anyone interested here's how I got it to work.
Create a new Raster Layer and call it Dark Rivets
Switch to the Lines tool, and in the tool options box set it to Single line, Width 1 pixel, on the drop down box set you line style to #1 Solid, with Antialias CHECKED (optional), Create as Vector UNCHECKED, and Close path UNCHECKED.
Now click the CUSTOM line style button and the Styled lines window will appear. Ensure that all the Caps are set to Flat. You should see a plain green line in the display window. OK? now with Add dash set to 1, click the Add button twice, which places a green arrow at the bottom of the style window, indicating the length of the dash, and a red arrow at the top indicating the length of the gap. Click on the red arrow and drag it to adjust the gap to your preference - about 3 is OK.
You only need one green and one red marker. Extra repetitions only cause trouble. IMPORTANT!!
Now click the Save as new button, and give your line a name like Rivets 3 gap. You may want to make several different line styles with different gaps.
Finally use the Lines tool and black as your colour to draw your lines of rivets.
Limitations.
- Angled rows of rivets usually have big gaps in the line.
- Sometimes you will have a 'double rivet' at an end of the line.
- The first rivet of a line isn't always at the start of the line, so you may have to start your line a pixel or so left or right of where you want the first rivet.
With your rivets layer complete, hit Layers > Duplicate, then Colours > Negative Image.
Hit CTRL A to select all, pick up one of the selection tools and hold down the Left mouse button to move the entire selection 1 pixel to the left and 1 pixel upwards. From there adjust each layer's opacity sliders until you get the look you want.
I'll try your text idea and see if that's any better.
Chompy.
