NEW VERSION
I've had my 
All About Paint Shop Pro Tubes 
Getting to know PSP Tubes
Learn about Paint Shop Pro Tubes below, or head on over to the PSP Tubes Vault to grab some cool tubes now!
What are PSP Tubes Graphics and how do I use them?
A tube is a transparent graphic that you save within the program called Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo. Once the tube is saved it will be available for you to use whenever you need it. The current versions of PSP use the tube extension known as .psptube. If you have Paint Shop Pro, you can use these tube graphics for all your web & graphic design projects. The best way to describe a tube is to say it works like a stamp with ink that never runs out.
The PSP tube graphics: Originated from the program called Paint Shop professional. These tubes can also be used in a few other programs such as Impact, and there are a few plug ins that will allow you to use tubes.
PSPIMAGE vs. PNG Graphics: Sometimes you will find tubes that are in the .tub, .pspimage or .png format. The .pspimage format can be placed into your PSP tubes folder and should work with most current versions. Neither one is better than the other. It is just simply easier to get started using the tube if it is in the standard psptube format.
How To Use PSP X2 - X3 Tubes? Learn how to use Paint Shop Pro Tubes
The PSP Tubes Tool and Option Bar
The above image shows you what the standard tubes tool and option bar looks like. To use the tube tool you will have to load up the Paint Shop Professional program. In the program you must start a new image first, and then you can activate the tube tool by clicking on the tube icon 
within the tools menu bar.
See our short mini video clip of the PSP Tube Tool in action.
View our full length Paint Shop Pro tube tutorial on designing, saving, using PSP Tubes, and their directories.
Where Do the Graphic Tubes Go In PSP? 
Learn how organize, extract or save PSP X2 and X3 Tubes
The big question is where do I put my psp tubes? Paint Shop Professional has many versions, and where you put your tube files depends on which version of the program you're using. Below I will discuss where you will find the file locations for PSP X2, PSP X2 Ultimate, and PSP X3.
New users of the program can become very confused as to where these files go within the program. New users may not know that Corel has set things up so that you can stay organized. When you install the program it automatically sets up a section that contains the files that came with the program, and then installs a very special section just for you. Once the program is installed you will be able to see these sections listed below.
- This is true for both PSP X2 and PSP X3. The special section made just for you can be found here. Notice they gave you a tubes folder? You can save all of your own personal tubes, and tubes you've downloaded into this folder. You can also set up sub folders to hold themes, colors, and more.
C:\ Documents and Settings \ Name \ My Documents \ My PSP Files \ Picture Tubes
C:\ Users \ Name \ Documents \ My PSP Files \ Picture Tubes - This is the location where the program installs the tubes that came with the program. This location is specific to the program itself. This folder contains all the default - free tubes that came with the program.
PSP X2: C:\ Program Files \ Corel \ Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 \ Corel_10
PSP X3: C:\Program Files\Corel\Corel PaintShop Photo Pro\X3\PSPClassic\Corel_10
Create with Graphics Clip art Photographs Animations
Which directory should you use? I suggest that you use the program as Corel has suggested. They made the special section in your documents folder for a reason. I am going to offer you some ideas on how you to can stay organized. Trust me with all those fabulous tubes out there on the Internet, I am sure your collection will build quite fast, and you may appreciate these suggestions.
If you want to organize your graphic tubes into themes, subjects, colors and more you just need to make specific folders. Once you make the folders and stuff them with all of your great tubes you will then need to tell the PSP program where those folders are. Go to your "My Documents" folder, and locate the "My PSP Files" and you will see the "Picture Tubes" folder.
The folder called Picture Tubes is where you will keep your tubes from now on. IF by chance there is no folder there called picture tubes you can make one now. Now, if you have several types of tubes you want to keep in order I suggest you make new sub folders INSIDE the Pictures Tubes folder. Example animals, flowers, dolls, cars, bugs and so on. The next section will set things up to make sure the program uses your new sub folders.
How do you set up Paint Shop Pro to use your graphic tube folder(s)
The steps here are the same for most PSP file types.
In the program go to FILE - PREFERENCES - FILE LOCATIONS
The file locations window will open (see image 1) On the right panel locate the PSP Tubes folder called Corel_10. Click on that folder. You will see on the right panel there are some paths already listed. The paths shown are what Paint Shop Pro is using to store and use your tubes. Make sure you choose your My PSP Files - Tubes folder, and put a check mark in the "use sub folders".
You will also want to set up a folder where you want to save the tubes "YOU" make yourself.
In this sample you can see I am saving the tubes I make into My PSP Files, Picture Tubes, mpstubes folder. You can make any name folder of your choice, and choose it to save your tubes to. Click OK when you have your tube locations selected. The program will now use the correct tubes, and save your tubes into the correct folder.
Image 1
If you organized your tubes by themes and did not want to use sub folders you can tell PSP to use those theme folders. Simply go to the "Add" button (see image) It will ask you to locate the folder and set it to be used within the program.
If you have a lot of tubes you may not want to have them all being cached by the program as this can lag and crash your program. Only set paths to the tubes that you prefer to have in your program at all times. When you need to use a tube that is not active within the PSP program, you just go and set the path to use that folder at a later date.
 |
|
|---|
What To Do With All Those Graphic Tubes You Downloaded? Stay organized with Paint Shop Pro
If the tube is in a compressed file called .zip .rar or alike you can take these steps to easily put the tubes into your tubes folder for easy use.
1. Open the zip (compressed file) - Depending on the program you're using it may have a button that says to "extract" or "export". If you click on one of those buttons it will ask you where you want to export the files (if not please check your options in the unzipping program).
2. At this point you can tell the program to extract - export the tube files to your psp tubes folder. WARNING: Some people double compress and or add text files with their zip files. You may want to be careful and only extract out the psptube files only.
- If you have downloaded tubes in the .png format and you are not sure what you need to do then simply follow these steps to convert your PNG files to PSP Tube Files.
1. Open the .png image with Paint Shop Pro
2. Go to file
3. Choose Export
4. Choose PSP Tube
5. Name the tube and save it.
One quick hint: If the .png image has a lot of transparent space around the main image you can crop it down before exporting it out.
NET NOTE: If you do not have Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo, and would like to use these graphics you can use the FREE software that opens Paint Shop Pro psptube files and then convert them to the PNG format. This format is also known for it's transparency. There is no need for us to clog up your computers and downloads with PNG's with PSPTUBES. Just do it the simple and easy way! The software I recommend you use is XnView and Irfanview. However, having the PSP program is a lot of fun.
If you would like to link this page to your website to help guide your visitors please use this code below.
To link to our Paint Shop Pro information section please use
<a href="http://www.michelespaintshop.com/mp_tubes_index.php" title="Paint Shop Pro information" target="_blank">Paint Shop Pro Tips</a>
| 
