NOTES ABOUT PRESETS (for the beginning Blader):
             Presets are addicting, maybe even worse than tubes.  I love them because they add depth to the work.  One of the things that creates a problem is that if you put  all of the presets into one folder, they get out of hand really quick.  When you have to download presets by sets, you end up with fifty million that you don't want and you never know what goes with what.  I have taken to unzipping them to a temporary folder, weeding out the ones that I don't think I like well enough to use, checking to see which file bit maps they are using and I then put those presets that I want with their corresponding files into a permanent folder.

             Over time, if you make your own and download from other sites, you can get buried in a pile of files;  so I also keep a folder for mine and a folder for others.  Since I've been setting them aside to post, I limit the folders for mine to 136 presets since that is the number I put on one page.  I now have Mine1, Mine2. Mine3, Mine4, Mine5, Mine6 and so on.  Then I have two folders for downloaded presets, one temp folder in preparation for the ones I know I will spot elsewhere, and the one muscle folder that contains all of them I downloaded before I wised up.  Occasionally I jump into that folder and try to weed some of them out because I don't even like half of them.

               Another problem with the volume of presets you are bound to find, is that once you have downloaded them, and you have a bunch to unzip, you won't remember one from the other.  I do this: While the files are in the temp folder, I make a one inch tile of each one I like, deleting the ones I don't care for as I go.  I make a folder named 'Tiles' and make matching subdirectory folders named the same as the preset folders (for instance, I have a 'plugins' folder and a 'tiles' folder;  each one of the folders holds a folder name 'environments and textures', each has folders named 'Mine1', 'Mine2', 'Mine3', 'Mine4', 'Mine5', 'Mine6', 'other', 'temp',  and so on).  I name the 'tile' the same as the 'preset' and put the file into a temp folder as I go.  When I have a tile for each preset that I didn't delete, I move the presets to their permanent folder and move the tiles to the tile folder that is named the same.  In doing this, when I want a preset, I can open the tile folders in PSP and browse through to find the preset I want to use.  Because the tile folder is named the same as the preset folder - I then know exactly which preset I want to use and where it is.  Saves a lot of time over trying one at a time.
 
 

MAKING YOUR OWN PRESETS TO USE:
               Okay, it's time consuming - verrrrrrrrrry time consuming.  There are two ways to go about it!  One is to learn to use the Blade Pro tools with precision, but it's still a guessing game until you get real close to what you want.  The other is to take a chance and roll the dice!  I mean that literally,  he actually built in the dice to roll!  This way, you might get a few beauties right off the bat or you could sit there all night trying to get what you're looking for.  Which do I use?  Both!  I start out rolling the dice and when I get close to what I'm looking for, I take control of the tools myself.  I'm not very familiar with their capabilities - sometimes I slide one and forget where it was and move another and totally loose what I had to begin with!  To each his own.  All you need is Blade Pro and time on your hands to make your own.  Luckily - all you need to go Blading is the program and a basket full of presets and that's what I'm offering you, a basket full of presets!
 
 

Where do you get Blade Pro?
               Well, You can't get it here, naturally;  but here is the link to the site where you can download a fully functional trial of the program that will stop after the trial period if you don't register it. I think, registration is still right around $49.00 and well worth the expense even if you can't afford it.  I might also add at this point that you don't have to use PSP if you want to use BladePro, I use it with PSP, PhotoPaint and PhotoShop, so I must assume you can use it with others.  I will have this site open in a new window so you don't loose my page if you want to go get it right NOW!

MAKING YOUR OWN PRESETS TO POST ON YOUR SITE:
               Making your own sets to post on your site is a job and a half.  First you need to be aware of the bmps that are used in your preset because the presets won't be the same without them.  I use to just start using what ever I was on to start trying to make my own, when I realized I needed to separate them from the ones I'd downloaded - it was a mess!  I wanted to post them for others to use in return for all of the ones I used of theirs, but I didn't know what bmps to put with the preset.  What a mess!  I had to edit each preset to see which file had to be put with it and then zip them into their individual files.  When I finally got done,  I had about 150 presets to offer. Now I offer a BMP zip Pak for those who want to download individual files from a set and I only have to zip the preset file that way. So, if you downloaded individual presets without downloading the BMP's and came back to read this - better go back and grab the BMP Pak from each page.

                I also noticed that some of the bmps that I had used, had other people's initials tacked onto them and it aggravated me to find that I had several blank.bmps, each exactly the same but I couldn't get rid of any of them because people had slapped their name on the bmps and the files were coded that way - eventually, I will get around to cleaning up that mess!  Unfortunately, my first set included several of them and the bmps were way larger than they needed to be - that made for large file sizes - I have since corrected that in my own presets, but can't change the first set without changing the appearance of the preset which means the first set will take much longer to download the entire set than the rest of the sets.

                  Now, I use a minimal number of bmps per set.  I do not add my initials to the bmp, so you are perfectly welcome to use them yourself.  I try to use only the basic bmps with the ones I choose for each set for variation so I am not dumping a pile of bmps on your hard drive that you can live without.

                   Now your little head is spinning and you're thinking - "If I can use the BMP's to get the same presets, why do I need her 'presets'?"!   Correctamungo! If you want some like mine but want to do it youself, just download the BMP Pak and throw those dice, but let me warn you that you might throw dice all night and never duplicate one I got.  BladePro has THAT many variations!

                   Once I have the individual files zipped, I move the zips to a temp file a so I can zip the full set for those who want to download a full set and then move it to the temp file with the rest.  When that is done, I go get the matching 'tiles' and copy them to the temp folder in preparation for building the page as you see it on this site.  It pretty well takes dusk to dawn to code the entire page.  Once the page is ready to upload, I have a total of 288 files to upload per page - guess what people,  I'm not doing that in a file manager that you have to browse to find each individual file!  I use FTP.
 

One last thing!  If during your visit you happen to find a problem, please take a moment to email me so I can get it fixed whether it's a spelling error, broken graphic link or a bad zip file that needs replaced.  You can use the WebMaster logo at the bottom of each page to make it quick and painless!

That's the end of the story;  so get out there and start blading your way into some terrific sites.  Blade Pro is a great fill tool!