foreground color

Apr 27 2009

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Torn Photo a la ‘Amelie’

The character Nino in Jean Pierre Jeunet’s film Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain collects torn and discarded pictures from the photo booths at Paris train stations. He carefully pieces these pictures together in a bizarre "family album." It is this style of fragmented imagery that will be the inspiration for this week’s graphics tip. To get ready, scan in a portrait shot and fire up Photoshop. Here we go, but be warned — this is going to be a long process.

Step 1: Prep the portrait

Start with a scanned portrait with the traditional white frame around the outside on one layer. Make sure your scan is an actual floating layer named "Photo" and not a flattened file. If it isn’t, just double click the Background layer in the layers palette and name the layer "Photo" when prompted.

Next we’re going to need a little ripping room. Adjust the Canvas Size (under the Image menu) by adding an inch or so to the width and height. There should now be a half an inch or more of checkered etherial nothingness surrounding your snapshot.

Now we need to give the photo a bit of dimension. Not much. It is, afterall, supposed to be a thin piece of photographic paper. Go to Layer>Layer Style>Bevel and Emboss… and enter these values:

We will also need another layer named "Paper" to act the same way as the paper that real photographs are laminated on. Easy enough. Create a new layer under the snapshot, make a selection the exact size and shape of your snapshot by Command-Clicking the Photo layer thumbnail in the Layers palette. Now fill the selection with white in the Paper layer and apply a Drop Shadow layer style with the following values to it:

Step 2: Get ready to rip
Create a new Channel and, with the default white foreground color and black background color set, apply Filter>Render>Clouds.

Next comes a rather confusing part. We’re going to try to apply the Crystalize filter (Filter>Pixelate>Crystalize) to the cloud channel but this filter can be a bit of a pain. So rather than give you some values to try that won’t work I’m going to give you a "goal." Try to get a result that has a lot of big chunky crystals like this one.

The problem with this filter is that the preview often lies. We’d almost be better off if there was no preview at all, but don’t get me started… lets just get on with the tutorial.

Choose the marquee tool and select an area of the crystal channel that is not too small, is a similar proportion to your snapshot and contains about 5 to 7 crystals or portions of crystals. (See the selection in the image above) Copy it. This is going to be the map by which your snapshot will be ripped.

Hold down the Command key and click the Photo layer’s thumbnail in the Layers pallette. This will make a selection the exact shape of your snapshot. Click the "Save Selection as Channel" button in the Channels palette and then click on your newly created channel.

Paste the section of crystals you copied earlier onto this channel. Hit Command-T and stretch that section so that it not only covers but overlaps (see picture above) the silouette of your snapshot and hit Enter. It is now safe to deselect. (Command-D)

We’re still not ready to rip yet. We need to distress this map a bit. Apply the Ripple filter (Filter>Distort>Ripple…) with a setting of Medium ripples at 100%. This channel is now ready to rip the photographic layer of our snapshot. Name it "Photo Rip".

Now we need another channel to rip the paper upon which the photograph would be laminated. I’m sure you’ve noticed that when you rip a piece of paper that it rips in irregular lines. But it also exposes the inner edges is such a way that, on edges that were once together, one side will show the paper’s "inner pulp" while the other side overlaps it – this is what we will attempt to simulate.

Duplicate your rippled rip channel. Apply the Maximum filter (Filter>Other>Maximum) to it at a value of 2 pixels. Great! Now name this channel "Paper Rip". The Maximum filter expands areas with lighter pixels and allows them to encroach on the areas held by darker pixels. Next, apply the Wave filter (Filters>Distort>Wave…) at the following settings: (like the Crystalize Filter, the preview on the Wave filter lies — don’t trust it. All we want is for the Paper Rip channel to be slightly warped by the Wave filter)

Step 3: Enough preparation! Let’s rip!!!
I remember when I used my gym membership that time that the trainers talked about "getting ripped" and that it required a certain amount of repetition. That is true in this case also, but I hope I have more success training you than that guy had training me. With your Magic Wand tool selected and set to a Tolerance of 10 Anti-Aliased, Contiguous pixels, repeat the following process until you have created ripped pieces for each of the shapes in your rip channels:

The Process

Duplicate the Photo layer.
Duplicate the Paper layer.
Link the new duplicates.
Hide the originals. (click the "eye" in the Layers palette next to each layer)
Move the duped Paper layer directly underneath the duped Photo layer.
Go to the Photo Rip channel.
Click in one of the rip shapes with the Magic Wand tool.
Go to the duped Photo layer
Under the Layer menu select Add Layer Mask>Reveal Selection
Go to the Paper Rip channel.
Click in the coresponding rip shape to the one you selected in the Photo Rip layer with the Magic Wand tool.
Go to the duped Paper layer
Under the Layer menu select Add Layer Mask>Reveal Selection
With the Layer Mask of the Paper layer still selected, apply the Torn Edges filter (Filters>Sketch>Torn Edges…) with a setting of 25, 11 and 17.
If you have no more rip shapes to make, continue on with Step 4 of the tutorial, otherwise repeat The Process.

Step 4: Finessing
Now your ripped snapshot should look quite convincing. The only thing left is to rotate and move each piece slightly and give the whole image a background to lay on.

With the Move tool selected (hit the V key on the keyboard), Command click any piece in the window. Go to Edit>Free Transform (or just hit Command-T) to summon the transformation bounding box around that piece. Now move you cursor near the corner of the bounding box until the cursor changes into a curved arrow. Click the mouse button and hold as you move the mouse slightly, thus rotating the individule piece slightly. You may also want to use the keyboards arrow keys to move the piece a bit on the canvas. Hit the Enter key when you are satisfied with this piece’s placement and orientation. Go ahead and rotate and/or move a few more pieces until the overall image has a more random look.

Add a new layer and drag it to the bottom of the Layers palette below all the other layers. Fill this layer with whatever background color you choose. I selected a nice red:

Read other Graphics Tips of the Week

By admin • Articles, Graphics Tips • 2 • Tags: Background, background layer, canvas size, Channel, click, Crystalize, foreground color, Image, image menu, jean pierre jeunet, palette, paper, paris train stations, photo booths, Photoshop, s graphics, shadow layer, style, thin piece

Apr 27 2009

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Acetylene Torch-cut Metal Smallville Type

What you’ll need:

Adobe Photoshop 7

(you might get away with version 6, but I’m not promising anything.)

MacMerc Lighting 1 Lighting Effects Style

MacMerc Torch-cut Metal Layer Style

(if you are attempting this effect with Photoshop 6, download this file and copy and paste the effect to your type layer when the tutorial calls for it)

The gall! The nerve! How dare I present a metallic Photoshop effect without using Motion Blur to get that brushed aluminum look. Where do I get off presenting a tutorial like this without using a chrome-creating Curves setting that looks like one of the roller coasters at Knott’s Berry Farm? I know, I know…but, fear not. There are no Blur filters used in this tutorial nor do I mess with the Curves setting, but I think you will be pleased with this subtle weathered metal effect and the Torch-cut Layer Style.

I will be using a 7″ by 2″ RGB document at 300 pixels per inch. This document size and setting is evidently a bit of a tradition in my type tutorials; the doctor says these routines help me feel safe… but I digress. Set your foreground color to R: 140, G: 125, B: 110 (a medium warm gray) and your background color to R: 170, G: 160, B: 140 (a light warm gray).

Choose Render>Clouds from the Filter menu.

Select all (Command-A) and choose Free Transform from the Edit menu (or hit Command-T). Using the Options window, enter a value of 400% into the Height scale field. Hit Enter to apply the value and hit it again to apply the transformation.

Apply 5% Gaussian Noise by selecting Filter>Noise>Add Noise… (make sure the check box beside “Monochromatic” is not checked). Next, choose Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen More.

Now, we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way. We need to Apply the Lighting Effects filter, but there are a lot of settings to tweak.

If you’re game to tweak them, follow the screenshot below…I wish you luck.

If you just want to get on with life, download the MacMerc Lighting 1 preset and copy it to your Photoshop 7 folder, in Plug-ins, in Filters, in Lighting Styles. Once you’ve done that, choose Filter>Render>Lighting Effects… and choose “MacMerc Lighting 1″ from the window’s Style menu.

In order to add some texture to this metal, we’re going to create a channel that we’ll use to add a little imperfection to it. Start by opening the Channels palette if it isn’t already visible and click the “Create new channel” icon at the bottom of that palette. Your new channel should automatically be visible in the main window and your background color will be black and the foreground white. If this is not the case, do what you can to make it so.

Choose Render>Clouds from the Filter menu as you did before.

Now apply the Paint Daubs filter at a Brush Size of 1, a Sharpness of 16 with a Wide Sharp Brush Style. The Paint Daubs filter can be found among the Artistic effects in the Filter menu.

Again we are going to Select All and Transform. This time though, we’ll set the Width value at 200% and the Height value at 800%.

Apply the Sharpen More filter twice (found in Filters in the Sharpen category) and the texture is done.

Command-click your finished channel in the Channels palette to active it as a selection. Then click the RGB thumbnail in the Channels palette to bring our metal back to the forefront.

Choose Image>Adjustments>Hue/Saturation… (or hit Command-U) and enter a value of -180 for Hue, -43 for Saturation and +30 for Lightness. Once you’ve applied this adjustment, deselect (Command-D).

Now that’s more like it! Come on… now we do the type…

Now we have to set the “Smallville” type. Have a look at this screenshot from the show’s opening titles…

Any idea what font that is? My research leads me to conclude that it is Font Bureau’s Agency Black Condensed. If you don’t have it, don’t worry—most people won’t notice the difference if you use Helvetica Extra Black Condensed or even Impact.

I’ve set the word “SMALLVILLE” in all caps in 92pt Agency Black Condensed with the tracking set at 20 in the Character palette.

In the screenshot from the television show, you’ll notice that all but the first and last letters of the title have been arced. To achieve that effect, we’ll preserve the type layer we have just created, and duplicate it so that we can work on the arc. (Note: technically, the M in Smallville is not arced as much as it has been cropped at its base to follow the arc of the rest of the type. In the interest of keeping this tutorial as simple as possible, we’re just going to arc the M)

Using the duplicate type layer, choose the Type tool and select the whole word. Click the Warped Text button in the options menu and choose Arc Lower and set the Bend value to -25%. Next you’ll need to select the Move tool and hit Command-T. Click the top middle reference point in the options window (see that 3 x 3 configuration of small squares? click the middle one on the top row) and enter a value of 110% in the Height field and apply the transformation.

Okay, now we’re ready. Make sure you’ve downloaded the MacMerc Torch-cut Metal Layer Style and Load it into your Styles palette, cause we’re about to see some pay-off.

Duplicate your Metal Layer and apply the MacMerc Torch-cut Metal Layer Style to the duplicate. Hide all your type layers—we won’t need to see them anymore.

Command-click your original type layer to create a selection.

Using the Rectangular Selection tool and holding down the option key, carefully drag a marquee selection around all but the first and last letters of your type.

This leaves me with an S and an E. Choose Layer>Add Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Now Command-click your second type layer (the arced one) to create a selection. Using the Rectangular Selection tool again and holding down the option key, drag a marquee selection around the first and last letters of this selection. Make sure your layer mask thumbnail in the Layers palette is active and your foreground color is set to white and then hit Option-delete to add this selection to the mask. Deselect.

That’s it! What do you think?

If you feel adventurous, you can take an Eraser tool with a 5 pixel brush to the layer mask and add some viscious looking cuts to the letters, but I’ll leave that up to you.

Read other Graphics Tips of the Week

Adobe Photoshop Tip Acetylene Torch cut Metal Smallville Type

By admin • Articles, Graphics Tips • 4 • Tags: acetylene torch, adobe photoshop, adobe photoshop 7, adobe photoshop tip, backgroundcolor, Black, brushed aluminum, color, Condensed, download, FAQs Help and Tutorials, filter menu, foreground color, gaussian noise, Graphics, image editing, knott s berry farm, Lighting, lighting effects filter, Metal, motion blur, options window, palette, Photoshop, photoshop effect, Plugins, RGB color model, roller coasters, s berry farm, smallville, style, Torch-cut, Type

Apr 27 2009

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Lickable Candy Aqua Sphere Icons

Download List:

MacMerc

Aqua Sphere Style

MacMerc

Aqua Sphere Overlay Style

MacMerc

Icon Subject Style

IconFactory’s

IconBuilder

category 02 Adobe Photoshop Tip Lickable Candy Aqua Sphere Icons

You’ve seen the icons. You know the ones I mean. They look like colored glassy

orbs and often have logos or other icons embedded within them. Oh, you’ve seen

them alright. They’re everywhere. They’re here and here and here and here and

here and here and here. Why are they so prevalent? Because they are easy to

make. All you need is Photoshop and the Icon Factory’s IconBuilder plug-in.

For the purposes of this tutorial, I will be using graphics provided to me

by Nitrozac and Snaggy from Geek

Culture. The final collection contains 24 different Joy

of Tech and After

Y2K icons and is available for download. He’s how I made ‘em:

Step 1: Look deep into the crystal ball…

Create a new RGB Photoshop file that is 128 pixels by 128 pixels and 72 pixels/inch

in resolution. Set the contents to “Transparent” and click OK. Set

your ruler units to show pixels and set two horizontal guides, one

at 1 pixel from the top of the canvas and another at 112 pixels. Set two vertical

guides also, one at 8 pixels from the left edge and another at 119 pixels from

the left edge. Name this layer “Aqua Sphere”.

Within these guides, create a colored circle. You can either draw a selection

and fill it with a color of your choosing or use the ellipse tool to draw your

shape the same color as your foreground color.

This all seems pretty intricate and tedious but that is only because I’m showing

you how to match my icons exactly. Once you’ve gone through the tutorial successfully,

you’ll probably be comfortable enough to experiment with other sizes, shapes

and colors. You’ll soon see that this is the hardest part of the tutorial.

Download the MacMerc

Aqua Sphere Style, load

it into your Styles palette and apply the style to your circle. I told

you it would be easy.

Now duplicate the Aqua Sphere layer. Name the duplicate “Aqua Sphere Overlay”.

Lock

the transparency of the Aqua Sphere Overlay layer and fill it with

50% gray. Now you’ll need to download the MacMerc

Aqua Sphere Overlay Style, load

it into your Styles palette and apply that style to the Aqua Sphere

Overlay layer.

Other uses for this tutorial: If you

just happened along this tutorial while looking for information on how

to make quick and dirty Aqua spheres, you’re done. If

you want to Aqua buttons, there’s not much more to it. Just make you document

about 3 times wider, create an Aqua button shape and apply the MacMerc

Aqua Sphere Style to it. You might want to scale

the effect by about 150% and extend the canvas below the button

to accommodate the larger drop shadow.

aquabutton Adobe Photoshop Tip Lickable Candy Aqua Sphere Icons

Notice is this screen shot I have not show an extended canvas. See how

the canvas ends before the drop shadow fades out completely? That’s bad…very

bad.

Now, hopefully you have a subject for your icon Ã³ something to embed

within the glassy sphere you’ve just created. Go look for something appropriate

and meet me back here for… Part

Part 2: Adding subject matter to you icon

Choosing the right subject is very important. You will only have a small circular

area in which to position your icon, so it is best if it fits well within those

confines. Also, for the purposes of this tutorial, the picture you use for your

icon’s subject must not have any background. It must be a single layer that

is in dependant of background.

Open the file containing your icons subject image. Copy that image and paste

it in new layer between the Aqua Sphere layer an the Aqua Sphere Overlay layer.

Name this new layer “Icon Subject”.

We want this image to be confined within the sphere. To do this we will have

to mask off any parts of it that might otherwise stick out.With the Icon Subject

layer selected in the Layers palette, select

the transparency of the Aqua Sphere layer.

Apply this selection as a layer mask to the Icon Subject layer by going to

the Layer menu and choosing Add Layer Mask>Reveal Selection.

Now to finish off the look of this icon, download, load

and apply MacMerc

Icon Subject Style to the Icon Subject layer. You might need to

scale

the effect if the highlights do not look correct.

Okay, the look of the icon is done…now we need to make it function as an

icon for the Mac OS.

Part 3: Making your sphere into an icon

As the IconFactory web site puts it, “IconBuilder

is a filter for use with Adobe PhotoshopÃ´ that makes creating icons a

snap. By harnessing the professional power of Photoshop and Photoshop layers,

IconBuilder provides icon artists with the most complete tool set possible for

modern icon design.”

Download IconFactory’s

IconBuilder (there are a few versions available, so make sure you

download the right one for you) and install it according to the instructions

that accompany it.

IconBuilder will build an icon out of individual layers only and will not read

layer styles, so we will need to choose Merge Visible from the Layers menu (or

Command-Shift-E).

Go Filter>IconFactory>IconBuilder Pro and select the Aqua tab. Make sure

your screen looks like mine and then click the “Both” arrow. Click

“Save” and name your icon and save it to your desktop. Click Done.

Before we go any further, make sure your preferences for your History palette

are set to at least 2 as we will be backtracking to create the various sizes

of icon resources.

Go Command-T to activate Free Transform (also found under the edit menu) and

scale

by 37.5%.

Go back to IconBuilder, select the Grid tab (you may need to center your icon

in the Photoshop Layer preview window. Click the Center button.) and click the

QuickBuildÃ´ button. Click the Save button again and save over your original

icon file. Click Done.

Open the History palette and select the “Merge Visible” event to

go back in time to before we scaled.We are going to scale again, but we want

to make sure that we scale from the original and not from a scaled reinterpretation

of it.

Go Command-T again and scale to 25%.

Go back to IconBuilder and select the bottom square in the center column of

the the grid view. Center the icon in the Photoshop Layer preview window if

need be. Click the Both arrow to plug that image into the 32-bit, 32×32 pixel

icon resource. Select the next square up in the grid (8 bit, 32×32 pixel icon)

and click the Both arrow again. Continue by selecting the 4 bit 32×32 pixel

icon square and the 1 bit 32x 32 pixel icon square and plugging your icon image

into those resources with the Both arrow button. Click the Save button and save

over your original icon file once again. Click Done.

In the History Palette, click back to the “Merge Visible” event again.

Go Command-T and scale to 12.5%

Go back to IconBuilder and select the bottom square in the leftmost column

of the the grid view. Center the icon in the Photoshop Layer preview window

if need be. Click the Both arrow to plug that image into the 32-bit, 16×16 pixel

icon resource. Select the next square up in the grid (8 bit, 16×16 pixel icon)

and click the Both arrow again. Continue by selecting the 4 bit 16×16 pixel

icon square and the 1 bit 16×16 pixel icon square and plugging your icon image

into those resources with the Both arrow button. Click the Save button and save

over your original icon file. Click Done….cuz now you ARE done.

If you’d like to preserve the layered version of your Photoshop file for future

reference or editing, simply click the event above “Merge Visible”

in the History palette.

That’s it!

There you have it. I know it was a very long tutorial but, I think you’ll agree,

it was pretty simple. The MacMerc Aqua Sphere Style and the MacMerc Icon Subject

Style can also be used to “aquafy” logos and other shapes but its

powers should only be used for good. Have a look at what can be achieved with

just a little extra effort and Photoshop know-how.

Troubleshooting

You may find yourself looking at an icon that won’t update after you edit it.

And you may tell yourself, “My god! What have I done?” Don’t worry.

The problem stems from that fact that Mac OS X has a nasty habit of holding

onto cached previews of Finder windows and other items long after they become

outdated. What you need to do is clear that cache and everything will be fine.

NoName Scriptware’s

Cache Out X is a good utility to occasionally fix this problem with the

OS.

Tune in again some other week for more graphics tips. In the meantime check

out previous Graphics

Tips of the Week or send

me a message and let me know what you would like to see in future installments.

By admin • Articles, Graphics Tips • 0 • Tags: Adobe, adobe photoshop tip, aqua sphere, BestStuff, button, circle, crystal ball, drop, ellipse tool, foreground color, left, left edge, mask, orbs, palette, Part, Photoshop, RGB, ruler, set, shadow, shapes and colors, style, transparency, using graphics

foreground color

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Torn Photo a la ‘Amelie’

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Acetylene Torch-cut Metal Smallville Type

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Lickable Candy Aqua Sphere Icons

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foreground color

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Torn Photo a la ‘Amelie’

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Acetylene Torch-cut Metal Smallville Type

Adobe Photoshop Tip– Lickable Candy Aqua Sphere Icons

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