Created February 16, 2002 © Copyright Moon's Designs
Property of Moon's Designs
This is my own creation, any similarities to any other tutorial on the Internet are unintentional.
Please do not copy or place this tutorial or any graphics to any other place without written permission directly from me. Thank you

I have belonged to a group called WOSIB (Women of Strength & Inner Beauty) for a little over a year and recently joined their Creators & Designers Gardens. The Creators Garden are beginners and advanced users of PSP and Photoshop, but mostly PSP. Recently we started doing tutorials using plugins and because there was some difficulty in getting some of the plugins to work, I write this tutorial for them, along with all who are learning how to use third party plugins.

While PSP has a great many effects built right into the program, third-party filters can add that extra special "something" to your creations. There are plugins that you can purchase, such as Eye Candy 4 from Alienskin Software and Flaming Pear has several that you can purchase, with their most noted ones being Blade Pro and Super Blade Pro. There are also several FREE plugins that are available. If you go to Google (http://google.com) and type in plugins for PSP you will find a number of sites.

I'm sure there are other tutorials on the Internet that explain how to install Plugins, but I wanted to share how I do this with you. If I can help just one person who has been tearing their hair out, then this tutorial will be worth the time it took to write it for you.

This tutorial is written in and for PSP Version 7.04 and assumes you have a working knowledge of PSP at a beginners level.

You will need:

JASC's PSP (30 day free trial)- You can get it HERE
Plugin.dll and Msvcrt10.dll ~~ You can get them HERE at the PSP User Group.
**Instructions for installing these dll's are included below in Step 1.

Step 1:
Adobe Photoshop plugins work in PSP as long as you have the Plugin.dll and Msvcrt10.dll in your correct Windows folder. Each Windows O/S has a different folder that these dll's need to be installed in, you will need to unzip BOTH of these dll's into the following folder ~ depending on which O/S you are using:

Windows 98 ~~ unzip into your C:\Windows\System folder
Windows ME ~~ unzip the Plugin.dll into your C:\Windows folder AND into your plugins folder. Unzip the Msvcrt10.dll into your C:\Windows\System folder.
Windows 2000 ~~ unzip into your C:\WINNT\System32 folder
Windows XP ~~ unzip into your C:\Windows\System32 folder

Step 2:
You don't really want to load all of your plugins in your PSP Plugins folder. If you do, eventually it will cause your PSP to load very slowly. I would suggest that you create a new folder on your C: drive called Plugins. Open your PSP and in Files-->Preferences-->File Locations. In the Plugin Filters tab, click on the second Browse and direct PSP to look for your newly created folder.

Please note: there are some plugins that require installation into your PSP Plugins. One such Plugin is Ulead's Art Texture. When installing this program it will automatically look for Photoshop's Plugin Folder to install to, so make sure that you click on browse and navigate to your PSP Plugin folder. For more information on Ulead's Art Texture please go to my tutorial HERE.

Step 3:
After you set up your main Plugins folder, create a separate folder for each new Plugin. My example below is certainly not all of my folders, it is just to show you an example of how I have my plugins folder set up.

The reason for setting up separate folders for each of your plugins is to not only help you be organized, but each Plugin will probably have a read me file. If you unzip all of your plugins into one folder, your read-me file will overwrite the previous read-me file and that could cause you a lot of headaches ~ trust me, I speak from experience.

READ-ME files. Your read-me files are very important and quite often contain some vital information in using that Plugin It is important that you read them, especially if you can't get the Plugin to work or you aren't getting the presets that are included with the Plugin For example, with Fantastic Machines Paint Engine you need to put the .ini file in your C:Windows folder. With Dragonfly's Sinedots filter you need to click on the Assign Path.exe file. In my opinion, a tutorial writer should tell you how to install a Plugin ~~ especially if there is something additional to do. Unfortunately, not all writers do this so hopefully this tutorial will help you.

FILTERS THAT NEED CONVERTING ~~ There are some plugins, such as Filter Factory and Andrews Collections that need to be converted with PICO (PlugInCommander). There is a light edition of PICO that is free they also have step by step instructions and tutorials linked on the left side of the page. You can also use Filters Unlimited for converting and organizing the majority of your filters, although there is a cost of $35.00. In my opinion this is a very well spent $35 and I have a tutorial on using this program HERE.

Step 4:
Okay, now that we have your plugins installed, where do we find them? Open your PSP and bring up an image. Go to Effects-->Plugins. Depending on how many plugins you have you will see something like this.

The first one before Plug-in Filters 1 (Swirl in this example) is the last filter that you used. When clicking the arrow to the right of your Plugin Filters you will get something like this:

This will list all of the plugins in that particular section. When you click the arrow to the right of a particular Plugin, I am using Two Moon for an example, you will then get something like this:

This lists all of the filters in that particular Plugin

Some plugins will be found under the "company" name that makes them. For example, when looking for Paint Engine you will need to look under Fantastic Machines. Sinedots, Sinedots II and Retrodots are under Dragonfly. I know it can be confusing at times, and you aren't sure where to find the Plugin you just installed, but once you start using the plugins you will become accustomed as to where to find them.

I hope that this tutorial has helped you in installing your plugins.