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Step 1

Start by creating a new image 300 X 300 with a white background.

Layers > New Raster Layer... > Ok

On the Tools toolbar, select the Selection Tool (S)

On the Tool Options palette, set Selection type: Rounded Rectangle

Draw a rounded rectangular selection in the middle of the canvas:

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Save Selection To Alpha Channel... > Save

On the Materials palette, click on the Foreground color and select the Gradient tab. Click on the image to open the available gradients. Select gray and use the following settings:

Use the Flood Fill Tool (F) and fill the selection:

Now we'll add some noise to give a rough texture.

Adjust > Add/Remove Noise> Add Noise... use the following settings:

Your image should now look similar to this:

Don't deselect just yet!

Step 2

Now we'll add a rough texture appearance to the image.

Effects > Distortion Effects > Displacement Map... and use the following settings:

Your image should now look similar to this:

We'll clean up our rock surface a bit.

Selections > Load/Save Selection > Load Selection From Alpha Channel... > Load

Selections > Invert

Now, on your keyboard, hit the Delete key.

Selections > Select None

Your image should now look similar to this:

Step 3

My favorite part! Lets add some dimension to our stone.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Selection Tool (S)

On the Tool Options palette, set Selection type: Rectangle

Draw a rectangular selection through about 1/3 of the image like so:

Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast... > Brightness: -53 Contrast: 15 > Ok

This is a little bit of a tricky part, but not to bad. In order for this to work, make sure that your Selection Tool (S) is selected. Take your mouse and click it in the center of the selection:

Now if you look over at your Layers palette, you'll notice that you have a "Floating Selection"

Highlight the Raster 1 layer:

Layers > New Raster Layer... > Ok

Selections > Select None

This places our selected piece on it's own layer. Now we'll apply the illusion of depth.

On the Tools toolbar, select the Raster Deform Tool (D) (or Pick Tool if your using Psp X). You should now see several small square points around the image. These are called nodes. While holding down the CTRL key on your keyboard, grab the upper right node and bring it down slightly:

This should transform your image into a 2d block:

Layers > Merge > Merge Down

Now you have a great starting point for "stackable" stones. Normally I would create all of my stones "pre-stacked" before I applied the 2D look to it. But for the sake of this tutorial we'll keep it simple. What else can you do with it? Let's take a look.

Step 4

Stacking Stones.

When you look at some of the ancient architecture built from stones, none of the stones are the same. Using this same image, you can create several other stones from it. Each with it's own unique look. While the possibilities are endless, we'll show you one to help you get the idea.

You may need to move your original stone towards the bottom edge of your canvas.

Layers > Duplicate

Assuming you still have your Raster Deform Tool (D) (or Pick Tool if your using Psp X) selected, grab the bottom center node and let's bring it up about half way:

Now lets change it's appearance a little bit.

Using the same settings as above, Adjust > Add/Remove Noise> Add Noise... Ok

Adjust > Brightness and Contrast > Brightness/Contrast... > Brightness: -43 Contrast: 15 > Ok

Here's kind of a neat part. You don't have to stack our new stone directly on top of the original stone. Applying a slight drop shadow will give the appearance that the rock is stacked regardless of where it's positioned on the original stone. Let me show you what I mean. First, let's apply a slight drop shadow.

Effects > 3D Effects > Drop Shadow... and use the following settings:

This transforms our image to give the appearance that it is now stacked:

Cool huh? Just remember that if you change the size of the image to much, you'll see that is starts to become blurry. If this happens, simple Adjust > Sharpness > Sharpen.

Step 5

Now let's step back in time a bit and age our stones with a little bit of mold growth. There are several different ways that this can be done. The one that I'm going to use I actually just learned myself recently (thanks mahud!). I found it to be the fastest, most effective method to use for myself.

Here we go. Let's start by duplicating our top stone.

Layer > Duplicate

Adjust > Hue and Saturation > Colorize... Hue: 104 Saturation: 255 > Ok

On the Tools toolbar, select the Eraser Tool (X)

These are the settings I'm currently using on the Tool Options palette:

Now, very carefully start erasing everywhere you don't want the mold. Something like this:

Now that's fast!

Layers > Merge > Merge Down.

When you've finished building all of your stones, and you've merged them all together, you can add a final drop shadow using the default settings.

That's all there is to it. Enjoy!