Closed (sort of)

TEOM as you know it has been closed. I will keep it up for reference but it no longer will receive tutorial updates.

There are plans for a completely new site. If you'd like to be notified once the other site is up, simply subscribe to my mailing list.

Thanks for the support throughout all these years :)

Paint Shop Pro 7

Installing Picture Tubes

The first thing you must do before downloading a file for PSP is check if it is the same version as your program.
Always go for files that are for the same or previous version of your program to avoid problems. Files made for versions above yours won’t work.

After downloading the file, check the extension.
Picture Tube files have a .tub extension. Most downloads, however, offer the file with a .zip extension.

Unzipping the file

There are several programs that you can use to unzip the file. Most of them work practically the same way, so you can follow the steps for WinRAR even if you don’t use it.

Note: Windows XP comes with the ability to handle .zip files, so you can use this feature instead of worrying with yet another piece of software.

Double-click on your .zip file to call the program that handles it.

Click on the Extract button (WinRAR) located right above the listing of the .zip contents.

On the options box that appears, choose the location for your .tub file.

Note: you can put the file under any folder you wish. Unzip to the Tubes folder under the PSP directory if you want to use the default setting, though.

Click OK and close WinRAR.

Once the .tub file is moved, it is safe to delete the .zip.

After unzipping

If you’ve moved the .tub file to the Tubes folder under the PSP directory, no further action is required.

For custom folders, there’s one more step.
Open PSP, go to File » Preferences » File Locations » Tubes tab. Click on the Browse button and select your folder. Make sure that Enable this Path is located and click OK.
The new picture tube is now ready to use.

Note: sometimes PSP won’t show the new shape after you’ve installed it because of the cache file it creates to speed up the loading process. If that’s the case, go to the Cache folder under the PSP directory and delete the Tubes file. A new cache file will be generated the next time you use the Picture Tube tool.

In order to use the new tube, open the Tool Options palette for the Picture Tube tool and select it from the drop-down list.

Further note

Different from .jbr and .jgd files (brushes and gradients), .tub files can be opened in PSP for further editing.

Edit the file just like you would edit a .psp file, remembering the tube limitations: single layer, 16 million colors.

To modify the name displayed on the drop-down menu, all you have to do is change the file’s name.

Tools, Menus and Palettes · Mar 26, 2005 ·