How did I make these flags?

[Lucifer Starr]

Seriously, I can't remember...

It was made using "minimalist.png" and a custom flag of my own creation on a flat color background. These were then added to Paint Shop Pro as 2 layers. I then used "some setting" (this is the part I don't remember and cant seem to find again) to merge them. This merging combined my flag with minimalist.png (notice the ripples have adjusted the colors of my flag) and also for some reason turned it negative. I then used the Invert option to return it's normal.

It's the setting which applied minimalist.png's texture to my creation that I cannot seem to locate.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8NlTTa7T2T2RTJaazdrTDczYVE

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8NlTTa7T2T2SHBPQi1KSWl3VEE

[Ten Key]

I've never used Paint Shop Pro, but I am familiar with Photoshop, and the two programs probably handle layers similarly. In Photoshop, you would use either Merge Layers or Flatten Image to combine two or more layers into a single image. Alternatively, simply saving the file as a  .jpeg, .png, .bmp, or other file type that doesn't support layers will automatically "flatten" the image. 

Now, having said that, I think we might be looking at something different here. I downloaded one of your flags and zoomed in on it with Photoshop (my eyes are not that good anymore) and it does look like the "minimalist.png" is visible through the "custom flag" layer. I'm not really sure what the specific command is for that, and I have no idea what would cause the minimalist.png to turn into a negative image, but I can offer some thoughts.

As you've surmised, simply merging the two layers would hide the ripple effects behind the foreground images. What I would probably try doing is leaving the custom images (the flag and the mission patch) as a single layer with a transparent background. I would then move the minimalist layer to the front, and gradually make it transparent (Photoshop has an "opacity" slider) so that the custom elements show through it. I would then play with the contrast and brightness so that the darker "ripples" continued to be visible while making sure the custom images weren't too washed out.

Unless you're wanting that specific pattern of ripples, it would probably be easier to use your editing software's tools to add a fabric effect to your custom image. It's also worth noting that KSP adds the "minimalist" background automatically to in game flags, but not to the logos that appear on the ships.

I did a little bit of digging, and it looks like you may be looking for Paint Shop Pro's "Arithmetic" command.

http://help.corel.com/paintshop-pro/v19/main/en/documentation/index.html#page/Corel_PaintShop_Pro%2FCombining_images.html%23

Edited October 5, 2017 by Ten Key