Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time.
Murphy's Law

This tutorial will show you how to save time and trouble with perspective. As you can see, it gives you a house without a roof, perfect if you're fond of rain or snow. Tutorial 3 shows you how to put the roof on.

This was done in Paint Shop Pro, version 7.0, but the premise can probably be used with any other version.

This tutorial assumes you are relatively proficient with PSP.

Download selections here.

Download images here.

	Put the unZIPped Boards 4.bmp into your textures file. Mine, for instance, is located at C:\\Program Files\Jasc Software Inc\Paint Shop Pro 7\Textures.
	Put the unZIPped Selections into your PSP Selections file.
	Open the other image files in PSP.

Start

Open a new image 800 x 600, background color transparent. This gives you a larger canvas to create in. You can always crop the picture later.

Rename Layer 1 to something like Scenery or BG (background). The easiest way is to double click on Layer 1 and type in the title of your label.
You can leave the layer blank until you're finished with the remaining layers.
Turn off the BG layer now.

Set your foreground color: none.
Set the background color to white or whatever color you prefer.

Don't forget to save your work after creating each layer!

New Layer: Front

Selection=01Front

Flood fill with white by right clicking.

From the Effects menu, choose Texture effects,
Texture

Texture=Boards 4.bmp
Size=200%
Smoothness=0
Depth=1
Ambience=0
Shininess=0
Color=white (#FFFFFF)
Angle=315
Intensity=50
Elevation=30

New Layer: Door

Copy the image supplied.

Selection=02Door

Paste the door into the selection. (SHIFT+CTRL+L).

Do NOT deselect.
Invert selection. (SHIFT+CTRL+I)

New Layer: Door shadow

Use a Drop shadow
Vertical=15
Horizontal=15
Opacity=50
Blur=15

Deselect.
Why put the shadow on its own layer? If you don't like it later, you can change it.

New Layer: Door frame

Selection=03DoorFrame

Flood fill with white.

Deselect.

Use an Inner bevel
Round bevel (2nd, top row)
Width=10
Smoothness-0
Depth=4
Ambience=15
Shininess=0
Color=white
Angle=315
Intensity=50
Elevation=35

New Layer: Window

Copy the image supplied.

Selection=04Window

Paste into selection. The shadows are already there so you don't need too many layers in this tut.

New Layer: House number (optional)

Using the text tool, put a number to the left of the front door.

	Decorate the front as you like, perhaps with a window on the gable, but don't put anything on it that has depth such as a chimney.
	If you might want to go back and change any details or use these layers as the base for another house front, duplicate this image (SHIFT+D) and save the whole thing under a new name such as Left Side White Clapboard.
	We'll consider this house front done, and since the Scenery layer is hidden, we can merge the visible layers.
	Rename the Merged layer to Front.
	Duplicate the layer and rename it Back.

	Resize the Back to 85%. Make sure that Resize all layers is NOT selected. Why 85%? You can make this any percentage you like. Remember that a smaller percentage makes the house deeper.
	Click anywhere outside the image and invert the selection.
	Flood fill with black.

New layer: Side

Selection=05Side

Flood fill with white or whatever house color you like.

Use the same texture effect that you used on the front.

You could use a new layer for the windows, but since you're not putting much on the side, you don't have to this time.

Copy the window image supplied and line it up with the window on the front. I used two windows on the side. If you like, you can pull down a guide from the top ruler to help.

Deselect.

	Turn off the Front layer. Scenery is still hidden.
	If this is all you want on the side wall, merge visible if you have more than one layer and rename Merged to Side. Remember that you can use SHIFT+D to duplicate your work if you want to go back and play with the side some more.
	While you're still on the Side layer, use SHIFT+B to change the Brightness to minus 10 with 0% Contrast. (This assumes that the sun's on the left side of the picture so it gets less light.)

Deforming the Front layer

Move your horizontal guide to 475. The easiest way is to double click the handle of the guide that you used to line up the windows and change the 400 to 475.

Set a vertical guide to 125.

Highlight the Front layer. Using the deformation tool, hold CTRL while you grab the top left corner and drag it down so that the lower left corner reaches up to the horizontal guide.

Apply.

You'll notice that the window and door look a bit too wide. Using the deformation tool again, take the center left handle and move it to the vertical 125 guide. Sometimes it's easier to use the Deformation Tool a couple of times to make sure you get each step right.

Use Effects, Sharpen, Sharpen.

Deforming the Side layer

Do the same with the Side, except change your horizontal guide to 450. Use your eye to see how to resize it by moving the middle right handle.

Don't forget Effects, Sharpen, Sharpen.

	You now have a house with no roof. If you did Tutorial 1, you have a good idea of how to put the roof on. If you didn't, go to Tutorial 3, which makes it even easier.
	In other words, build each side of the house separately and deform each separately. Luckily you can only see two sides of a house at once, unless the floor plan is a pentagon or something like that.