Tricks:For Animators

A Little About Color: RBG vs. HSV

2008-08-19T04:07:00.000-07:00

Most everyone who's worked in any media for screen would (and should) be aware of the importance of the RGB value system. While it is a concise system for describing colours, it is somewhat difficult for us to describe the nature of a colour by amounts of each channel by eye. So rather than describing the additive blend of colours, we can describe a colour with HSV which breaks colour down into more simplistic characteristics. Let's look at each of these in detail:

RBG
Defined by listing how much red, green, and blue is contained in a single value. Being additive, the more of each colour that is added, the brighter (and closer to white) it becomes:

While it's helpful to denote how much of each colour exists, it is not a very friendly system to describe a hue shift, saturation, or value/brightness). Try looking at a colour and try to arbitrarily dictate how much of each primary colour composes it. Not so easy right?

HSV
A colour system that describes a hue shift, saturation, and value is known as HSV:

Now that's a lot easier to describe colour with. Want a colour to be more turquoise? Scarlet? Plum? Just shift the hue slider until it hits the sweet spot. Need brightening without losing saturation? It does that too!

Natural Brightness
With colours having different natural brightnesses to each other, preserving luminosity when tinting with hue shifts poses a problem with contrast. When adjusting a saturation value in HSV, the value scale adjusts proportionately to maintain the same amount of brightness.

For example, take a look at the following diagram:

Yellow has a higher natural brightness than purple which sits on the opposite end of the colour spectrum (which is easily observed when looking at it in grey scale). What does this mean? It means that simply lightening or hue shifts destroy levels of saturation when controlling all channels. This is because the natural luminosity of red, green and blue at equal saturations differ significantly. To compensate the desaturation, the value/brightness needs to be scaled in HSV to match. It is important to maintain a strong contrast in brightnesses, so attention to natural brightness is helpful in picking appealing colour schemes and palettes.

Wrapping It Up
While amounts in HSV are not completely relevant for telling a display how much within each RGB channel is required, it creates a scale that describes useful properties of colour. And at the end of the day, it's returned as RGB or hexadecimal; merely a different way to break down colour components into locations within a given colour gamut.

The next time you are exploring your favourite image editor, make sure to check out the different colour slider modes:

Of course HSV doesn't scale to all digital colour spaces, but in most cases you should be able to flip over from the RGB scale. Being able to apply traditional approaches in picking and applying colour opens up a more fluid and natural work flow, which can assist the transition for traditional artists migrating into the digital realm. So HSV or RGB as a colour refining scale? Obviously HSV! Get into the habit of tweaking colour with the HSV sliders, and you will be able to control those all too often fidgety selectors and pickers in a breeze!

How to Make a Matrix Effect?

2007-06-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

IM SORRY FOR NOT POSTING FOR SO MUCH OF TIME ... BUT NOW I AM BACK WITH MANY COOL EFFECTS ...~~~~~~~~~ SO ENJOY~~~~~~~~~
step 1:

Start a new document of size 400x400 pix make sure u select the background as white and press 'd' to reset the colour to the photoshop defaults i.e. black foreground and white background.

step 2:

Now let us add some falling grains to the image for that go to
Filter>Texture>Grain and add the settings as

u will get this

Step 3:

Let's add some glow to it so what it shines more

Filter>Atristic>Neon glow

after adding u will get this

Step 4:

now it look a bit similiar isn't it. Let's make it a bit sharper so it looks better.

Select Filter>Sharpen>sharpen More

and our matrix effect is ready.
here is what i got.

How to create a Smiley!!

2007-06-04T02:35:00.000-07:00

Start by creating an ellipse using elliptical shape tool.

Double click the layer to open layer style window. Apply settings as shown.

Create an elliptical selection using elliptical marquee tool. Create a new layer. Apply a black to white gradient in linear mode. Change the layer mode to screen. Keep this layer on top always.

Create an ellipse using elliptical shape tool.

Double click the layer to open layer style window. Apply settings as shown.

Create an ellipse using elliptical shape tool. Apply some bevel&emboss layer style. Apply some glassy look as we did on the main face ellipse.

Duplicate all eye layers. Press Ctrl+T. Right click and select Flip Horizontal and place on the other side.

Ctrl+Click the face layer thumbnail to get the selection. Create a new layer and apply B&W gradient in linear mode. Create a big elliptical selection using elliptical marquee tool.

Press delete.

Double click the layer to open layer style window. Apply settings as shown.

Change the layer mode to linear light.

Create two dots for the nose and create two triangles for the teeth using polygon shape tool. Warp the triangles to get a curve inside.

Using pen tool create a shape as shown below. Apply same layer style as we use for the face.

Create an ellipse using elliptical shape tool. Move this layer below all the layers in layer order in layer palette.

Select the neck layer. From layer menu select layer style>>create layers. Select and merge both the resulting layers. Using eraser tool erase the bottom right portion.

Using pen tool create a shape as shown below. Apply same layer style as we use for the face.

Double click the layer to open layer style window. Apply settings as shown.

Finish the smiley by creating tail shape using pen tool. Apply same layer style as mentioned above.

Photoshop Tutorial - Make SRK a Zombie

2007-05-21T02:13:00.000-07:00

Ok.....

...Together....we can, and we will make SRK a Zombie :wink_smil using Photoshop CS 2(any version of photoshop would do with none or minor changes)

--
Before we start, just a small point... When I say use a "softer brush", i mean when selecting for the brush reduce the " hardness....better to 0% or 4-5%

So , first we need a stock image....hmm....let this be the one

In the layers pallete, double click the layer's name to rename, and rename it to anything..say "Shahrukh original"

Too bright , too reddish.... So before we do something about it, press "Ctrl+J" to duplicate the layer. Its always good practice to make new changes on new layers. So you can discard the changes if something's wrong by just deleting the layer.. Ok now we are on "Shahrukh Original copy" layer..
Press "Ctrl U", and reduce the saturation

The pic will be less vibrant now

Still he looks like CineStar SRK.. Something should be done about that... Ok, select the "Burn tool"

Now select a soft brush

And now, make few brush strokes (just make it dark enough ..dont go overboard) on the parts of face I marked with Red

Now its more like it

Ok

Now its time to take some drastic steps.... We need a rough textured image to do the next step... The pic i selected is

Open it in Photoshop.. Press "Ctrl+A" to select all. Press "Ctrl+C" to copy..Then go to the Shahrukh's window we are working on and press "Ctrl+V"..

Now reduce the opacity of the pasted texture, so that you could get the SRK's pic as a reference. It doesnt matter how much opacity is reduced, coz its just temporary to get reference ...

Now select eraser tool.. Select a big SOFT brush and delete any part of texture falling on SRK's hairs, clothes and the wall behind. Also with a small brush , erase the texture falling on SRK's eyes... And increase the opacity of textured layer back to 100%...And change its blending mode to "Overlay"...Voilaaaa.... the evil SRK is very evident now...... But we are not finished now..

Now select the Brush tool, and with a soft brush, about the size of SRK's pupil.. And select a reddish color

Now create a new layer, by pressing "Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N" or "Layer-->New-->Layer".. Make sure this layer is above the textured layer. Now with the brush make red spots over SRK's eyes

Ok, now change the blending mode of this layer to "Color" .. Now you can see the devil's eyes :boxing:

Not evil enough?????? Well Okieee..... Find a rotten broken skull and open it in Photoshop..Here's what i selected

Now in the same way as the texture, select all, copy , paste it on the SRK's window..Here make sure this image (the layer the image is in, in the layer palette) is just below the texture layer.. If its not, then in layer palette drag the skull's layer below the texture's layer....

Now similarly as the texture layer, reduce the opacity , to see SRK's pic for refrence... Now this skull image maybe bigger or not in correct angle for our requirement.. So press "Ctrl+t".. A box would appear around.. Dragging corner points while pressing "Shift" will change the size proportionally.. Make sure the size of skull gets to the size of skull SRK may have .. Move the skull, and align the teeth of the skull with SRK's lips.. When its done , press the tick mark in toolbar (in Photoshop)..Now angle of the skull's image is also not matching SRK's face angle. So goto "Edit-->Transform-->Rotate", and again the box would appear..rotate it a bit to align with the face.. And press the tick mark to confirm...

Andddddd...Dont care the part of skull going outside SRK's face.. We are not concerned with complete skull anyway

Now pick the Eraser tool again. Select a soft medium sized brush, and start Erasing parts of skull..leave the teeth and the dark blackish broken part of cheeck bone..erase the rest.. and Change the opacity back to 100%.. If you dont succeed at first, press undo and try again...And try to make the image look somewhat like this

Ok the teeth is too yellow... We need to reduce the yellowishness.... So press "Ctrl+U" and select yellow...and reduce the "saturation" to about "-75%"..Lowering yellow's saturation will also blend the teeth with rest of the face

YAYYY!!!! SRK has finally turned into a Zombie... Hehehehehehe

Now the red background doesnt create the environment...So select a dark background.. I selected a "Graveyard" ...

Open the image in Photoshop. Now in SRK's window, press "W" to select magic wand, and with "tolerance" (in the toolbar) of about 40%, click on the wall.. It'll select the wall.. Press "Ctrl+Shift+I", to select SRK... Now goto Edit-> "Copy Merged".. Now go back to graveyard iamge and paste (Ctrl+V) zombie SRK on it.. Place it well...And we have a dark zombie...SRK...

If you liked the tutorial, and learned something from it, I'll be presenting more tutorials for you ppl... If you have any problem implementing any step, i m here to help...

P.S : Dont ever, and I mean EVER, try to convert your Girlfriend's pic to a zombie.. It is injurious to Health and Life....

Photoshop: Star & Make a Cool Siggi Effect

2007-05-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

SORRY IF NOT VISIBLE...

Simple Signature Background

2007-05-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

How to make a Simple Signature Background

1.In Photoshop, Open new document i used 420x120

2.Grab your gradient tool and make sure at the top

3.Go crazy as much as you wish to get the effect you want, i got this

4.Filter > Stylize > Find Edges

5.Duplicate the layer

6.Filter > Distort > Wave choose randomize until you get the desired effect

7.Change the blend mode SoftLight

8.ctrl+E (to merge the layers)

9.ctrl+U to colorize and you are finished

example:

Try your own and post your results.. its a very simple tut so anyone can do it

Comic Book Style Design part 3

2007-05-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

Step 4. Create a Second Copy of the Artwork at 150 DPI
Save a copy of your black and white artwork at 300 dpi. Set this aside – you’ll need it later. Then create a second copy of this artwork at 150 dpi. This is the file that we’re going to use for coloring. You will be coloring at this lower resolution because it’s easier on your computer.

Step 5. Create a “color” layer just under the artwork.
Your Photoshop layers should be set up like this:

Top Layer: Your Black and White Artwork. (set this layer to “multiply” so you can see the color behind your line art.)

Middle Layer: Blank Layer to be used for coloring (Also set to multiply)

Background Layer: White.

Step 6. Color your Artwork
The process of coloring is a very complex subject matter. I will not be able to go into all the details of coloring but here are a few tips.

First, fill the main shapes with a color that has a medium value (not to bright, not too dark – somewhere in the middle.) Then go back and add the shadows and bright spots off of this medium value color.

Switch to your artwork layer, use your Magic Wand to select an area on your artwork that you want to color, then switch back to your color layer to paint your color. In this way you can color carefree without fear of going "outside the lines."

It might be a good idea to do your solid colors on one layer, your shadows on another layer, and your highlights on another. And generally, keeping things on layers can save you grief in the long run in case you want to change things.

Have a general color strategy going into this process. I will often start with a fairly limited color pallet and work only from that. A lot of my coloring looks almost monochromatic because I use such a restricted color pallet. This is kind of like cheating, but I admit, I’m not the best colorist.

Also, you can use photographs in your coloring process to add texture.

Step 7. Delete the Artwork Layer, and Return the Color Layer to 300 dpi.
At this point your document should have only layers that with colors – no artwork. Next, return your image to 300dpi.

Step 8. Open Earlier 300 dpi Artwork and Paste it Above the Color Layer.
This is your original black and white artwork file that you saved at 300dpi and set aside. Select the artwork and paste it onto your color image. Set the new artwork layer that should be on top to “Multiply.”

Step 9. Flatten the Image and Save It.
This should be self explanatory. Your artwork is done! Congratulations.

Step 10. Import the Image into your Design Software.
I personally use Adobe Illustrator, I think it’s the best. But you can use Freehand or Corel Draw. Use the “place” function to import your artwork into your Illustrator file.

Step 11. Add Text and Graphics.
Add text and vector graphics onto your image as you would any photograph.

Step 12. Export the final design. That’s it you’re done!
I know that this tutorial did not go into all the details one could think of, but I wanted to give people a general understanding of the process of how we create our illustrated designs. We understand there are many aspects to drawing, illustration, and coloring. We could spend all day writing about the ins and outs of it.

Keep in mind that this is not the only way to do this type of work. It’s just a process that works for me. You may find yourself discovering shortcuts or other methods and we encourage you to experiment. If you have any questions, just ask either as a comment on

Comic Book Style Design part 2

2007-05-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

Step 2. Ink your penciled artwork.
The second step is inking the drawing. These are the Tools you’ll need:

Paint Brush or Crow Quill Pen
I actually use a very small paintbrush (like a #1, #2 or #3).

India Ink
Some India inks are thicker than others. I like a nice thick India Ink. I have had success with Higgins Waterproof Black India Ink.

Marker
Any black waterproof marker should do.

More specifically, I use a regular #0 Windsor & Newton camel hair paint brush. I have also had great success with the new synthetic nylon or polyester fiber paint brushes. You will also notice I roll masking tape around the brush near the tip. I do this just to get a better grip of the brush. I feel like I have better control over the tip with this extra handle.

The large areas of black I fill in with a marker.

While you can ink with mechanical pens and markers I think it is important to use either crow-quill ink pens or paint brushes because it gives you the ability to vary the thickness of your lines. In some spots you’ll want to push down and create thick lines and then in others you’ll want to lift up to make very thin lines. Experiment with this to see what works.

A Couple Line Tips
First, you can create more depth in your drawing by doing this. Objects in your drawing that are closer to you should be drawn with thicker lines. Objects that are in the background should be drawn with thinner lines. This will create a sense of depth in your drawing.

Also – if there are bright spots – for instance a light source is behind an object, and the light source is just over your objects edge – the outline of this object might actually thin to the point where it stops, there is a gap, then the line starts up again.

After I dip my brush in the India ink sometimes there is too much ink on it, so I will tap it on the ink well, or draw a few lines on a scrap of paper before I go to my drawing.

It is also important that you are using the right paper. India ink will spread like crazy on some papers. Get a few varieties of Bristol paper and experiment. I find that a thick smooth or plate finish Bristol is the best.

If you have large areas that you need to “fill” I suggest using a black waterproof marker.

Once you’re done inking your drawing I usually wait for at least an hour before I go back and erase my pencil lines. I will use the same plastic eraser and just run it over the entire drawing. If your ink is not dry it will smear, so give it plenty of time. Once the ink is dry you should be able to safely erase the entire paper and the pencil will disappear and the ink will stay.

Step 3. Scan your Artwork at 300 DPI
Once your black and white artwork is complete – you’ll have to get it into your computer for coloring.

Tools You’ll need:

Computer
From here on out you’ll be working on a computer. I recommend a powerful design station, but obviously you’ll have to work with whatever is available. If your art is small a simple computer should be fine. But if you are working at a very large scale – you’ll need processing power to handle the size of the file.

Scanner
I really wish I had a large format scanner. That would like my life much easier. But I only have an 8.5×14 inch scanner. This typically means that I need to scan my artwork in pieces and stitch them together. This can be a bit of a pain in the butt.

Adobe Photoshop or Corel Painter
I personally use Adobe Photoshop but I think Painter is probably better. I use Photoshop because that is what I learned on and am most familiar with.

With the right tools in place, all that is left over is to stitch your artwork together. Since I frequently have to scan my artwork in pieces, since it’s too big for my scanner, I recommend that you use these tips:

Align one edge of your paper with the edge of the scanning surface. Once you scan one part, slide the art keeping one edge of your art aligned with the edge. This will keep your art from rotating, so that stitching it together will be easier.
Scan your artwork at 300 dpi. This is high resolution or “print” resolution. Typically I shrink the artwork down later but it’s better to start with too much resolution than too little.
Stitch your artwork together by bringing all of your pieces together onto one large canvas and lining them up. If you set each image layer to “multiply” it will make lining them up easier.

Once you have your black and white image scanned into the computer and stitched into one piece of art you’ll need to resize the image to the final size you’ll want your artwork. On this art we’re going to make a 4" x 9" flyer. So, we will shrink the artwork to 4" across then add extra canvas so that our final art size is 4" x 9".

Once you have your black and white image scanned into the computer and stitched into one piece of art you’ll need to resize the image to the final size you’ll want your artwork. On this art we’re going to make a 4”x9” flyer. So, we will shrink the artwork to 4” across then add extra canvas so that our final art size is 4”x9”.

Note

If you’re going to be adding graphics and text above or below your artwork – you may want to take a moment and sketch out how you’re going to layout your graphics now. If, for instance, you want to add a text title above your illustration – how much space are you going to need? This way, you’ll have plenty of background art for use once you get onto the designing phase.

Here is the final scanned art:

Comic Book Style Design part 1

2007-05-14T01:10:00.000-07:00

We have often been asked the process by which we create our illustrated flyers and posters. I will try to give you a clear tutorial on how we create our illustrations and turn them into flyers or posters. Our end product will be this flyer which was created for our recent

Before I go into an insane amount of details I want to give you a quick snap-shot of the process:

Draw with Pencil on Paper
Ink your penciled artwork
Scan your artwork at 300 dpi
Create a second copy of the artwork at 150 dpi
Create a “color” layer just under the artwork (set your artwork layer to “multiply”)
Color your artwork
Delete the artwork layer, and return the color layer to 300dpi
Open the original 300dpi artwork and paste it above the color layer
Flatten the image and save it
Import the image into your design software
Add text and graphics
Export the final design

The following sections will take through the above steps. Hopefully by the end of this tutorial you have a good idea of how to create your own comic book style.

Step 1. Draw with Pencil on Paper
The very first step is the pencil drawing. I could write a novel about how to draw, but this tutorial will focus on the process – the steps it takes – to go from pencil drawing to the finished, designed, commercial piece of artwork.

The following are the tools you will need:

Paper
I use a plate finish Bristol. This type of paper is heavy enough to handle a lot of erasing. It is also thick enough to not wrinkle when you are in the inking phase of this process.

Pencil
I actually use a mechanical pencil like the KOH-I-NOOR Technigraph 5611 Lead Holder. This type of mechanical pencil holds a very thick piece of graphite that you sharpen and use similar to a real pencil, except it’s better.

Eraser
I use the Staedtler Mars Plastic eraser. And a Sanford Tuff Stuff eraser stick.

I think that it is important to stay fairly loose when you are in the pencil drawing phase. Start with basic shapes, keep your lines fairly light and when you start to see the shape you’re going after you can focus in and "tighten" up your drawing.

Here is a sample of a fairly loose pencil drawing:

Here is a close-up sample of a fairly tight pencil drawing:

A Word of Encouragement about Drawing
I think most illustrators are far too hard on themselves. They expect to sit down with one piece of paper and draw exactly what they have in their mind the very first time around. In my opinion this is nearly impossible. Drawing is a process that takes a long time. I like to make an analogy between a good batter in baseball and a good illustrator. A great batting average for the major leagues is “.300.” This batting average means that they get 3 hits out of ten, or get a hit 30 percent of the time. I think that this is a reasonable expectation for an artist to have as well. If I can get 3 decent drawings out of ten attempts – I feel fairly good about myself.

So, relax while you’re in your pencil drawing phase of this process. Get yourself a big stack of paper and get loose, draw lots and don’t be concerned about “bad” sketches – just toss them aside and start over.

Here is our finished tight pencil drawing:

ANOTHER PART I WILL UPLOAD TOMORROW ....

Adding Scanlines

2007-05-11T02:08:00.000-07:00

Scanlines are a common feature of web images nowadays. The effect replicates the kind of lines that appear on a TV, and can give a photograph a similar look and feel.

Creating Scanlines:

The first thing to do is open up the image you wish to add the scanlines to. It can be colour, black and white, whatever you like. Just make sure that the picture is in RGB mode. Do this by clicking on ‘Image’ in the toolbar, ‘Mode’ from the resulting drop down, and select ‘RGB Colour’.

[ the photograph before any alteration ]

The scanlines themselves are added by using a Fill Pattern. But first we have to create it. Go to ‘File’ > ‘New’ and make a new image with the settings shown below. Really you can tailor this to suit your needs, but for the time being, a 2 x 6 pixel transparent image will do nicely. Ensure that the background is set to Transparent.

[ settings for the pattern image ]

Zoom right in to the new image. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, make a 1 pixel high line across the top of the canvas, and fill it with black. Again, you can choose the colour to fit in with your image if you wish. You can also play around with the lines - draw more than one, have different thicknesses, it’s entirely up to you.
Once you’re happy with the way your scanline will look, it’s ready to be saved. Instead of the usual ‘File > ‘Save’ method, go to ‘Edit’ instead. There’s an option near the bottom of the menu called ‘Define Pattern’. Click on this to bring up a small Dialogue Box, asking you to name your new pattern. For the sake of simplicity, let’s call it ‘Scanlines’. Close the image. If Photoshop asks you whether you want to save it, answer ‘no’.

[ The Pattern Dialogue Box ]

Now you’re ready to apply the scanlines to your initial photograph. Going back to the picture, add a new layer above the main image. Call it something meaningful. Click on the Fill tool, and take a look at the menu that appears just under the main toolbar along the top. To the left hand side, there’s an option called ‘Fill’ and a drop down box that currently says ‘Foreground’.

Click the arrow here to pull up another option - ‘Pattern’. That’s the one we want. A new box should appear next to it. Again click on the arrow to bring up a selection of available patterns. You should be able to see your new Scanlines in there, so click on the box to select them.

[ Select a pattern fill ]

Move the cursor over to the new layer of your photo and left click to fill. The scanlines will now repeat all over that layer, covering your image.

[ adding the scanlines ]

All that remains to be done now is to change the opacity of the pattern layer, so the original image is visible through it. Use the drop down slider in the Layers panel to choose something suitable. 25% opacity works quite nicely.

The finished image should look something like this:

[ image with scanlines applied ]

Creating Pixel Art Lines

2007-05-08T01:01:00.000-07:00

ill show you some basics of how to create ‘Pixel Art Lines’.

Quick Note: Something quick before we start. To create Pixel Art, you can use various programs from basic ones such as Microsoft Paint to the professional Adobe Photoshop. I tend to use Adobe Photoshop & here are my following reasons:

The option of having ‘Layers’ is a must! The Layer feature in Photoshop is very helpfully for creating pixel art, you’ll find out why in the next few tutorials.
Having transparency in Photoshop is another great feature for pixel art! It helps a lot with windows, water, and creating shine effects on buildings. Again you’ll find out more about this in the further tutorials.
Also the large colour range in Photoshop is a lot easier to use than Microsoft Paint.

Alright, now we are ready to begin this tutorial. Creating the perfect lines in Pixel Art are very important especially in the end product making sure that everything aligns correctly and matches up.

Here's How:

Open Adobe Photoshop à Create a new document depending on the size of your creation. (If creating Pixel Art for KirupaVille then please use the templates provided!)
Select the ‘pencil tool’ and set it to 1px, then choose your desired colour.
Just like in [Fig 1.0 Below].

[ select the pencil tool with diameter 1 px ]

The main rule in pixel art is: 2 Over, 1 Up. Obviously when creating things such as circles and curves the rule will be broken, but we will learn about that later.

Now create a new layer, having different lines on different layers is messy but it helps a lot  zoom right into the canvas or close to. Draw 2 pixels next to each other then go up one, 2 over and draw another 2 pixels and so on. It should look similar to [Fig 1.1 Below].

[ Above Fig 1.1: Left image zoomed in, right image what normal person will see ]

If your image turned out something similar to [Fig 1.1] then you’ve just created your first pixel art line. By using this method we can create basically anything that’s square in isometric pixel art.
Now that you have learnt the 2 Over, 1 Up rule, we can now do the 2 Up, 1 Across rule. This rule is just opposite to the other rule and it comes in handy when creating roofs or even pixel art letters such as ‘K’. It should look similar to [Fig 1.2 Below].

[ Above Fig 1.2: Left image zoomed in, right image what normal person will see ]

Tutorial Done:
Well if yours turned out similar to mine in the images, then you created your first pixel art lines perfect! These pixel art lines are the base for everything that you will create later on in your creation.

Spider Webs in Photoshop

2007-05-03T23:49:00.000-07:00

his tutorial will help you create a spider web effect in Photoshop. You will actually be surprised at how easy it is to achieve this effect. This tutorial should work in Photoshop 6 and 7, I have not tested it in lower versions, but as long as you have the filters needed, there shouldn't be a problem with it working. Please keep in mind that all screenshots on this page were shrunken down and saved at a lower quality so what you get will not look exactly like what is in the screenshot, but it should be in the same area.

[ the final product of this tutorial ]

Alright, let's get to work shall we?

First we want to create a new document. Go to File/New. In this example we will be using a 400x400 image, so to easier follow the tutorial, I recommend doing the same. You must set your background color to White.

Now you will have to set your foreground color to Black and your background color to White. If you aren't sure which way this will be, check the screenshot below.

Now we have to create a new layer to start our webbing on. After you create a new layer, right click on that layer and choose "Layer Properties". Under "Name", give your layer the name "webbing". If you aren't sure how to create a new layer, check the screenshot below, the button is highlighted in red.

Now we will have to draw our web. Choose the Paint Brush tool from the tools panel (or press "b" on your keyboard) and choose a smaller brush size (sizes 5 and 9 work the best, in this example I use size 9). After you have your Paint Brush tool set up, scribble a spider web pattern (or any pattern, for this example we are going to use a spider web pattern). Your scribble must be done in Black. See screenshot below for my starting image.

While you are still on your "webbing" layer go to Filter/Distort/Ocean Ripple. Use the settings Ripple Size: 10 and Ripple Magnitude: 20

Now we are going to apply a Gaussian Blur filter to the "webbing" layer. Go to Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur. Use the setting Radius: 6.3

We are going to find the edges of the webbing now. Go to Filter/Stylize/Find Edges.

Create a new layer and call it "bg" (for Background). Fill this layer with Black (Alt+Backspace). Then click and drag this layer below your "webbing" layer so that "webbing" is on top of "bg". Now you have your spider web effect!

If you want to go one step further you can colorize the web. Select your "webbing" layer and go to Image/Adjustments/Hue/Saturation. Be sure to check the "Colorize" checkbox (as seen below), then you can move the sliders around to get the webbing to the color you want.

Well that concludes our spider webs tutorial. I hope you enjoyed it and finished it without any problems.

Creating Cool Footers

2007-05-01T09:19:00.000-07:00

here’s nothing worse than visiting an Online Forum Community & seeing that everyone has really large footers (Example: 600px x 300px, 112KB), they just look horrible & take forever to load especially for 56K users. So I always like to create my footers nice & small so that they load quickly & look sharp. Now, you can too!

The following footer is an example of what you will create towards the end of this tutorial:

Step 1
For this tutorial we will be using a document size of 300px * 40px, with a transparent background:

Step 2
Create a new layer & fill it in with any color desired. Change the fill down to ‘0%’ & right click the layer selecting ‘Blending Options’.

Once in ‘Blending Options’ click the ‘Stroke’ tab on the left hand side at the very bottom, this should bring up some more options to edit our stroke.

Change the size of the stroke to ‘1’; change the position to ‘inside’ & change the color to #0E0D0D. We are done; select the Ok button to finalize the stroke.

Step 3
Now duplicate that layer by clicking & dragging it onto the ‘New Layer’ button. Right click the copied layer, select ‘Blending Options’ & click on stroke just like we did above.

However change the size of the stroke to ‘2’ & the color to white #FFFFFF. Select Ok to finalize the stroke:

You will need to also make sure that this ‘white stroke layer’ is under the dark grey stroke layer, if it’s not just click & drag it under the other layer.

Step 4
Create a new layer below the 2 stroke layers & fill it with a desired color, for this tutorial I chose: #A8EB17. Now right click this layer & select ‘Blending Options’.

This time select ‘Inner Shadow’. Change the opacity to 45%, Distance to ‘0’ & size to ‘18’ then select Ok to finalize these options.

Intermission
Well hopefully you have understood the tutorial so far, if not then please make sure you read everything in every step carefully, missing one thing may just make something not work.

So far your footer should look similar to the one below, if it doesn't then see what it is missing, and go back a few steps to find out what you missed!

Step 5
You might think it’s looking a bit dull still, so we will jazz it up with a nice gloss. Create a new layer under the 2 stroke layers but above the green background layer, so in between both.

Select the “Rectangular Marquee Tool” from the Tool Bar (Keyboard Shortcut: M)Use the Marquee tool & select the top half of our footer as done in the image below:

Now continue on to fill this selection with a white fill #FFFFFF & then change the opacity to ‘15%’, this will give it the nice glossy feel/look, example below:

Step 6
We will now add the 3 different colored bars that are aligned to the left of the footer. These not only help the footer stand out more but give it a much better appeal than just having a plain green background.

Like in step 5 we will use the “Rectangular Marquee Tool” from the Tool Bar (Keyboard Shortcut: M). Use the Marquee tool & select a diagonal line such as the one in the example below:

Fill the marquee with a nice orange color, # F7AB19, this will mix well with the green. We now want another 2 of these bars, so duplicate the layer twice (Refer to Step 3 for duplicating layers). Once you have duplicated them align them all up next to each other, side by side, examples below:

We now want to change the colors of the 2 duplicated bar layers. For the first duplicated layer, right click the layer, select ‘Blending Options’ then select ‘Color Overlay’. Change the first bar to #FF0000 & the second bar to #009CFF. Once that is done align them to left & finally step 6 is complete!

Step 7
We now want to add the scan lines which really helps to show the footers vibrant colors. To create the scan lines we will need to open a New Document with a transparent background of 3px by 3px.

Once the new document is open we need to zoom in as close as we can on the document by using the Zoom Tool from the toolbar (Keyboard Shortcut: Z).

Select the Pencil Tool (Keyboard Shortcut: B) from the toolbar, this needs to be a size of 1px & use black #000000 as the color. With this we will draw 3 black pixels just like in the screenshot below:

We now need to save this as a pattern, so on the top menu bar select: Edit --> Define Pattern. Give it a name & select Ok. We can now close this 3px * 3px document & return to our Footer Document.

Now we are back to our Footer Document, create a new layer under the white gloss layer. Select the ‘Paint Bucket Tool’ from the toolbar (Keyboard Shortcut: G) & at the top toolbar change the ‘Fill’ from Foreground to ‘Pattern’. Then on the Pattern menu to the right select our pattern we created above.

Now fill the layer we created with this pattern by clicking somewhere inside our document, you will notice that it looks very horrid at this point, so simply change the opacity down to about ‘10%’.

Step 8
We will now add the final part to this footer, text. Text can mean a lot of things & can help define something much larger than it actually is. I will be using a nice pixel font for this with a size of 6px.

To add the text simply select the ‘Horizontal Type Tool’ (Keyboard Shortcut: T), select somewhere on the document & type your text, for this I typed my website name; Faded Pixel.

If you wish to use the font that I used then you may download it here as it’s a free pixel font: FP Pixel Font.

Final Result
Well if yours turned out similar to the one below then your all done, if not then I suggest you read back over the tutorial & find out where you went wrong.

I also suggest you experiment with this footer design, once you understand how I did it then play around with the styles yourself, add different features, here's 2 examples below:

If you have any questions, feel free to post them

Creating Simple Fractals

2007-04-28T02:17:00.000-07:00

The following is an example of something you will create before the end of this tutorial:

What is a Fractal?
The definition is: A mathematically generated pattern that is reproducible at any magnification or reduction.

However, in Photoshop, we do not need to use such complicated math functions to make a fractal, but just the Pen tool and Actions window.

Preparation:
So, let’s get started!

First, open up Photoshop (6/7/CS2/etc).
Now, create a new document with a white background and make the resolution something fairly large. For this tutorial I made mine 1600x1200.
Now, that we have our new document lets make a new layer. We shall call this layer “Fractal”. Select this layer and then read on to the procedure.

Procedure:

Select the paint brush tool and make sure that you have the size of the brush at 1px.

Now select the pen tool and make sure that you click the paths button where it displays the options for the pen tool.
This part gets tricky, so read carefully. Take the pen tool and draw any sort of path in the middle of the document (Fig 1):

Try not to make it too complex, but not too simple. Here is what mine looks like. Once you have finished with the path, hold ctrl + shift on your keyboard and select all the anchor points in the path you have just created. It should look something like this (Fig 2):

Once you have done this, select your paint brush and then we can start using the actions palette to record our actions!
Find the Actions window or go to Windows>Actions. Now, click the ‘create new action’ button.

Once you have done this, name this action “Fractal 1”. Click record:

Alright, we are about half-way through now.
et's continue from where we left off:

After Step vi, press Ctrl + t (transform):

This should create a box around your path. Change the size too 101% of the path and make the rotate 1 on the transform toolbar at the top. Click, ‘confirm’ (the checkmark on the right).

You are almost done, but not yet! Find the ‘Paths’ window or go to Windows>Paths. You should see your path there. Click the ‘stroke path with brush’ button.

Once you have done that, you should notice that your path has been stroked with a 1px brush stroke.
If all is good, you can now click ‘Stop recording’ from the actions window.

On the actions window, click ‘Fractal 1’ and then click play.
If successful, the actions will play and they will transform and stroke your path.
This is the fun part. Click ‘play’ a bunch of times and you will notice that a bunch of lines are being created. If you do this enough, you can create some dazzling fractals:

This is what my outcome was after like a million clicks

Once you are finished and love the outcome of your fractal, you can go ahead and delete the work path.
This is my outcome after duplicating the fractal (same as what you saw in the previous page) and rotating it:

Conclusion:
Well, I hope you liked this tutorial. Here are some tips you can use to make your fractals look better.

Incorporate the filter, Blur, after you record the stroke action. This will make your lines look more like gradients and less “liney”.
Change the amount of percent of size or rotation you record while using the transform tool.
Make a ton of these things because they are so fun to do!

If you have any questions, feel free to post them

3-D Logos in Photoshop

2007-04-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

Creating a 3-D Logo -
The following steps will explain how to create a 3-D logo using only Photoshop.

Open Photoshop and start a new Image. Our example uses a canvas size of 320x320. You can make it any size you need, but I recommend starting fairly large to begin.
Make a new layer by going to the main menu at the top, and select Layer/New Layer (or Ctrl+N). This will be the layer we put your logo on.
Insert your logo in the middle of the canvas, making sure it's on the New Layer, and not on the Background Layer:

[ logo ready to go 3-D ]

Note

For the highlights to look correctly, it is important that you choose black as the color to start your logo. If you have a plain, black & white version of your logo, that would work best for this effect. Using black gives a more natural look to the highlights than starting out in your desired color.

Once your logo is on the canvas and its own layer, go to the Main Menu and select Edit/Transform/Skew. Drag out the bottom corners to make your image look similar to this, and hit ENTER to accept the changes:

[ use free transform to skew the image ]

Note

You can also right-click on the logo itself and select Free Transform from the popup menu. Then right-click again to select the Skew option. This is a good shortcut a quite a few menus in Photoshop.

Next, re-open the Free Transform Menu and select Scale to reduce the height of the logo a little. You want to squeeze it down to give it a little more perspective, and once we've done the next few steps, you'll get a better idea why. Make the image look like this one, and hit ENTER to accept the changes:

[ squeeze down the image ]

Move your logo so it's in the middle of the canvas by dragging it with the Move Tool . Now your image should look similar to mine:

[ logo with some perspective ]

Now it's time to add some dimension and shape to the logo, so we're going to add a slight emboss to it. On the Main Menu, choose Filter/Stylize/Emboss. Set the properties panel to something similar to this:

[ bevel and emboss settings ]

After you apply the Emboss filter, your image should look similar to this one:

[ logo with bevel and emboss ]

We're finally to the meat of the effect! The trick to this effect is so simple, and looks fantastic!

Make sure the layer with your logo is selected. On your keyboard, hold Crtl+Alt, and then hit the UP arrow key. This a keyboard shortcut to duplicate layers easily. You can see the effect of your logo becoming 3-D right away! Make as many layers you think looks good. I duplicated the layer 10 times:

[ duplicating layers gives it a 3-D look ]

If this is the colors you wanted for your logo, then you're done! Otherwise continue on so we can learn how to colorize it.
Oh! you're still here....great! OK, time to colorize. We need to merge all of the duplicated layers you just created. Go to your layers panel and merge them down by selecting the top layer (the last one created) and hit Ctrl+E on your keyboard. Do this as many times needed to get your now 3-D logo on to one layer. Don't merge it all the way down, leave your background layer there.

Note

You can also go to the main menu and select Layer/Merge Down, starting with the top layer, however, keystrokes tend to be quicker than using the Main Menu.

Now that the logo is on it's own layer, we want to give it some color, right? Of course we do. In the Layers Panel, select the layer with your now 3-D logo on it. Staying at the Layers Panel, hold Ctrl while you click a second time on the Layers panel. This will select and highlight your logo on the canvas:

[ selecting your logo to colorize it ]

Make a new layer above the layer with your logo. Make sure the new layer is selected, and then choose the Paint Bucket Tool. Select the color you want, then fill in the empty layer within the selection.
Go to the Layer Panel and change the layer type from Normal to Color.

Note

Coloring is pretty fun as well, and you'll find it's one of the more flexible parts of this technique. You could have started your image in any color, but using black gives a more natural look to the highlights then starting out in your desired color. Duplicating color layers can also increase the amount of color that shows through.

If you need to, you can change your background color to whatever you want to match the logo.
You can easily add drop shadows, glow effects, etc once you've gotten all the layers merged down to one. Here's the final graphic logo after adding a few other effects to the logo:

[ final 3-D logo in photoshop ]

As you can see, doing 3-D in Photoshop is fun, and it's very easy to do. Once you've practiced this technique a few times, you'll see how quickly you can whip up a cool-looking 3-D logo. Most of the steps are flexible in that you can change the settings and attributes as you see fit for your work and design.

Here's a couple examples where I used this technique on real web sites:

Two Tone Bitmap Images

2007-04-23T07:54:00.000-07:00

This is a nice and simple-to-apply effect for turning your images and pictures into a two tone bitmap style. Photographs generally work the best with this, and it's always helpful to have a picture that isn't too dark or too light. If it's leaning towards either end of the spectrum, you'll end up with a finished picture without many clear distinctions. More about that later.

Creating the image

Open up the image you would like to manipulate, either in gif or jpg format. It doesn't particularly matter which one, just make sure you set the Mode to RGB if it isn't already. You can do this by clicking on Image in the toolbar, then Mode and RGB.

You'll also need the image on it's own layer, so cut and paste it into a new one.

[ starting image ]

Using the Layers Panel, select the layer with the photograph on. At the bottom of this panel you will find a selection of filter and effects icons. From these, pick the fourth icon from the left (the one that looks like a black and white bisected circle), as indicated on the image below. This creates a new Fill or Adjustment layer over the top of the selected layer.

[ apply an adjustment layer ]

A new pop up menu will appear, offering you a choice of layers to apply to the image. For this effect, choose the one second from the bottom - Threshold. Immediately you'll see a change in your image, as well as a new box with a sliding scale. Grab hold of the scaling arrow with the mouse, shift it along the bar and see what happens to your photograph.

[ threshold sliding scale ]

The further you move the scale to the left, the lighter the picture becomes. By moving to the right, the image gets blacker and darker. This is why it is important not to have a too light or dark image in the first place, as Photoshop will have trouble separating the areas. A little playing around should give you an effect that you like, something similar to the picture below.

[ threshold applied to image ]

Once you're happy you can merge the two layers and save it out. Want some colour? If you like, you can create a new layer above the merged one and block fill it with a colour of your choice. With the new layer highlighted, choose 'Multiply' from the drop down blending menu at the top of the Layers panel. Now your picture will look something like this.

[ adding some colour ]

And that's it! Try experimenting with different colours, pictures and blending modes to achieve new and interesting graphics.

Light Burst

2007-04-16T01:29:00.000-07:00

Ever wanted to create those space warp/ light bursts that you see in banners and wallpapers all over the web? If you haven't, the following image is an example of such a graphic:

Now, I am sure you are interested in creating this effect. It's simple - here's how:

Create a new document, any size, with a black background.
Using the freehand lasso tool, draw a random, roughly round shape in the approximate centre of the image.

Create a new layer, then fill this shape with white, using the Fill tool.

Press Ctrl+D to de-select, and then open the Filter menu. Choose Blur>Gaussian Blur. Set the amount to 9 pixels and click OK.
Now open the Filter menu again and choose Distort>Ripple. Set the amount to maximum and the size to medium. Click OK.
Now press Ctrl + F twice, to repeat the filter twice.

You should now have a nice ripply shape. This is the basis for your light burst.
Open the Filter menu yet again, and choose Blur>Radial Blur. Set the amount to 100, the Type to Zoom and the Quality to Best. Click OK.
Depending on the size of the image and the speed of your machine, the speed at which PS will process will vary. When it's finished, you should have a white light burst.
You may notice some odd rings of noise around the burst. To fix this, apply a gaussian blur, experimenting with the amount.
To make it a bit more interesting, try colorizing the burst (Ctrl+U, tick colorize, and play around), and maybe even adding a bit of lens flare.

That's it! Your image should look identical or similar to the image at the top of this tutorial. If you need any help, please post

THANKZZ

Cell Shading Vector Art

2007-04-14T07:05:00.000-07:00

In this example, I've used a picture drawn in Adobe Illustrator. Whilst it is entirely possible to both draw and colour your artwork in this package, the technique being demonstrated here requires the use of Photoshop or an equivalent.

First of all, select your entire line drawing, making sure that there are no fills, just the lines, and copy it. Take it into Photoshop, and open a new document in RGB mode with a white background. I always add 20 pixels or so to the height and width generated by the computer so the image isn't pushed right against the edges. Place the image in the centre of the new document and OK it. The line art should now be on one layer, whilst the white background is on another.

[ you'll be making something similar to what is shown above ]

Create a new layer in between these to - this is what we're going to colour on. There are basically two methods of doing this. For the larger areas, use the Magic Wand tool to select a section inside the lines layer.

[ select an area with the Magic Wand ]

Without losing the selection, move down to the new empty layer. Use the colour picker to choose the shade you want, the Fill. Notice that because the lines layer is on top, you don't have to worry about going over the edge slightly. If the Wand has missed an area, then use the Brush tool to tidy it up, on around a 1 - 3 pixel setting.

[ use the Fill tool to colour ]

At this stage, don't worry about shading your picture, just concentrate on building up the basic blocks of colour.

For smaller, more detailed sections, it's easier to use the Brush tool from the outset. Just make sure you colour in between the lines, using the top most layer as your guide. Once finished, you should have something looking like the image below.

[ image with base colours filled ]

Now make a fourth layer, on top of the colours, but beneath the lines. This is where you will add the shading. To do this, use the Eyedropper tool to pick up the base colour of an area, then open the colour mixer. Select a tone that's darker than the original, then go back to your image. Use the Brush (on around 3 pixels) to gently add shadow. Use the lines as a guide - if you have drawn a fold in some clothing for example, then you will need to add shadow to this area. Pick a direction for a light source before you start shading, as this will help you work out where the shadows will be falling. If you included shadows on the original sketch, now would be a good time to refer back to it.

The hair is often a tricky area, because of the highlights, however there is a simple method for getting a good result. Add the shadows as normal, then make another layer on top (in case it doesn't work out right the first time). Pick up the base colour again, only this time choose a much lighter shade. Again with a small brush, carefully draw some areas of highlight. This usually follows a circular path round the head, although may vary depending on your drawing. Once in place, use the Smudge tool to smear the edges, blending it in with the base a little more.

[ adding a highlight to the hair ]

Choose an even lighter colour, then add a very thin line with the Brush to the middle of the highlight. This should give the overall effect of light falling onto the hair. Merge this layer with the shadows layer when you are satisfied.

[ the finished image ]

That's pretty much all there is to it. Make sure that all the layers are visible and Save For Web. Keep a copy of the .psd file too, in case you wish to come back to it later.

A nice effect can be achieved by linking the two coloured layers and shifting them off by a couple of pixels. This slightly mis-aligns the fills, creating a more cartoon-ish look and feel.

[ image with fills out of alignment ]

Create a Glass Pill Button

2007-04-13T00:36:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how people got buttons looking like they were made of glass? Well this tutorial will take you through the process of how to create and edit buttons like that. Once you have finished this tutorial your button should look similar to this:

Open up Adobe Photoshop and create a new page, for this tutorial I have gone for a 170 x 50 pixel page, but its up to you what size depending on how big you want your button to be.
Click on the 'Paint bucket' tool and set your foreground colour, and fill your page in with your desired colour. Next choose another foreground colour and select the 'Rounded Rectangle tool'. Now left click and drag on the page to create your shape.

Now its time to add the effects to your shape. Right click on the 'Shape layer' and select blending options and the layer style window should appear. Now select 'Inner Shadow' from the left hand column and put these settings in:

Now click on 'Inner Glow' from the left hand side column

While on the 'Inner Glow' section put these settings in:

Next click on 'Bevel and emboss' on the left hand column.

While on the 'Bevel and emboss' section put these settings in:

After you have done that click on 'Contour' from the left (Nearly done Woohoo!)

While on the 'Contour' section put these settings in

Now press ok and your done :-)

If when you have finished your button you decide that the colours don’t look right, then you can adjust these by going to Layer > Change layer content > Hue & Saturation and ticking 'Colorize' and moving the bars to change colour.

Ta Da, now you have a spiffy looking glass button to add that extra bit of style to any bland website, but remember folks, don’t go overboard with it.

Dot Effect

2007-04-12T02:19:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been to a site such as http://mimmomanes.com/ and wondered how to create the dot effect on the splash page. Well this tutorial will show you how to use a combination of filters and lighting changes to create the effect in Photoshop 7! This effect can be blended well with some grungy effects, so feel free to expand and experiment to make the effect more original to your liking

[ The Final Product of this Tutorial ]

Steps to Create Effect
The following steps will help you to create the image effect you see above:

Copy the original image from here (free membership required). You can also use any other image of your choice. Start Photoshop up and create a new RGB document 2048 by 1536 pixels and with the image resolution set at 72 dpi, and set the background color to white.
Go to Edit-Paste. (don't resize the image, just zoom out to see the entire thing). Once you have pasted the image, go over to your layers, Right Click the image part in Layer 1, and go to Select Layer | Transparency.
Now go up to Image-Adjustments-Hue/Saturation. (Ctrl + U) Move the Saturation slider to -80, and the Brightness slider to +5. Click Okay.
Now go to Image-Adjustments-Brightness/Contrast. Adjust your sliders to match the following:

[ make sure to check the preview box ]

Still with your selection go to your Layers, and Duplicate Layer 1. Now select "Layer 1 copy" [right click-select layer transparency].
Go to Filter-Pixelate-Color Halftone and adjust the settings to match the following:

For Channel 3, enter 90 and for Channel 4, enter 45.

Now lets add some noise! Go to Filter-Noise-Add Noise, and adjust the settings according to the following:

[ the hue/saturation settings used ]

Next, you need to copy the dot below, and create a pattern out of it:

[ copy the above image, and paste it in a new document ]

Once you have the layer that the dot is in selected, go to Edit-Define Pattern. Name it Circle. Now go back to your main document, and create a new layer in between Layer 1 copy and Layer one. Name this new layer "pattern".
Go to Edit-Fill, and your pattern should be in the box that appears. Click OK, which should apply the pattern to the whole canvas.
Look at your layers palate, and locate the drop-down menu in which Normal is the selected option. Change that to Overlay. Now look at the Opacity percent, and lower it to 88%.
Single click on Layer 1 copy, and change the layer setting (the drop down menu under the Layers tab) to Pin Light. Now it's time to reduce your image size. Go to Image-Image Size. and make your settings match the following:

Select Layer 1 copy, and go to Image-Adjustments and set the Contrast Level to +50 and the Brightness Level to +15. Lower the Opacity to 69%.

That's it! Your image should look identical or similar to the image at the top of this tutorial. If you need any help, please post

Fill Patterns

2007-04-09T02:22:00.000-07:00

Adobe Photoshop is perhaps the most powerful photo-editing software on the market. However, from this power stems a very complex program. It’s quite difficult to figure out many aspects of Photoshop yourself, so that’s where tutorials come in. This tutorial will explain a very simple trick in Photoshop, which, until explained, seems somewhat difficult.

With this tutorial, we will go on an adventure with fill patterns!

Creating Scanlines:

Let’s begin. Open Adobe Photoshop. This tutorial should work for both Photoshop 6 and 7, I will be using 6 for this tutorial.
Often times it is fun to experiment with your new skills on a stock photo. Below is the photo I will be playing with. This is a bit of Zell, a character in Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy 8:

[ the photograph before any alteration ]

Since this tutorial is about fills, let’s make our fill pattern. The first, and easiest, pattern will be a simple set of scan lines. Scan lines are often used on websites, and here I’ll show you how to make them. Point your mouse to File | New. Set the measure to pixels, width 1, height 3. 72 pixels/inch, background transparent. OK.
Zoom in all the way, 1600%. Select the pencil tool, and make sure opacity is 100%. Set the foreground color to black, and make a single black pixel at the top of this picture.

[ zoomed in picture ]

Press Control + A, or point to Select | All. Now, with that selected, point to Edit | Define Pattern. Name it something zesty like “Scan line,” and press OK. Close the document you just created, don’t save. Open up your stock photo, and re-save it with a “1” (without quotes) after its name (example: zell1.jpg). This way you don’t screw up your original image.
In your stock photo, create a new layer. In the new layer point to Edit | Fills. In Contents, select Pattern. Select your new pattern in the Custom Pattern box. When it’s selected, click outside the list of patterns to make the window go away. Leave the mode at normal and the opacity at 100, we can change these later. Press OK.
Now your picture looks like it’s behind shutters. Interesting effect, but not the desired one. Press Control + I or point to Image | Adjust | Invert to invert the selection. Now the lines are white, and still not what we want. But closer. Change the layer opacity to.15%. There we go.

Well the scan lines are fun, but let’s try something else. Delete the scan line layer from your stock photo, and create a new image. Let’s say 8 pixels by 8 pixels. Draw something like this:

Make it into a fill (select all, Edit | Define Pattern.), and put that over your stock image (new layer, Edit | Fill). Interesting. However, not quite what I wanted. Lets try something else, and this time use more than one fill. Delete the fill layer on your stock photo. Duplicate the photo twice, so you have three layers, all with the same thing. Now delete the locked background. You should now have two layers of the same image.
Create three new blank layers, one on the bottom, one between the two image layers, and one on top:

Excellent. Set the foreground color to white, and paint bucket the bottom layer with white. The paint bucket is dangerous to have in hand, so change your tool back to the pointer. Ok, now select the layer in the middle. Point to Edit | Fill. and find that noisy looking patter called “Wrinkles.” Comes standard with Photoshop. Press OK. Select the top image layer, the second layer from the top. Right-click and select Enable Layer Mask.

If it won’t let you, as my Photoshop often does to me, do like so: Point to Layer | Add Layer Mask | Reveal All. For some reason this always fixes my problem. Anyway, select the layer mask. Fill with the funny looking pattern we made above. Your picture might look a bit strange, but that’s ok, just wait a minute. Select the top layer, Edit | Fill. and fill with that funny quicksilver looking stuff called “Satin.” Comes standard with Photoshop.
Hah, now you can’t see anything! That’s ok. Change the top layer’s style to Overlay. Change the middle most layer’s style to Overlay also, and lower it’s opacity to about 50. Select the second to last layer, and drop the opacity to about 75.
There ya go, you’ve got a really funny looking picture thanks to some fills. Show that to your friends

Colouring black and white photo...

2007-04-08T03:27:00.000-07:00

Do you have a black and white photo, that you want to see come to life with color? Adobe Photoshop makes it easy for that to happen. In this tutorial, we will go through the basic steps in making your black and white photo, POP! With color!

The first thing you must do is open up your black and white photo in photoshop. If your taking an already colored photo and want to make it black and white, go to Image | Adjustments | Desaturate. That makes your colored photo, black and white. If your photo is already black and white, skip this step.

[ This is what our photo looks like in B&W ]

Now, take a mental note of what colors you want to use. Brown's and Green's for the tree, blue for the pants .. etc;. Create a new layer, and pick your first color. I'm going to pick blue, for the people's pants. I picked this blue #0066FF Color in the pants with this color. Now you may be thinking, this is a mess! But no, the magic comes soon. Fill in each of the people's pants, until you are happy.

[ Blue in the jeans ]

Once you are done that, on the Layers Palette, under the drop down box, click 'Soft Light'. And there you go! Your subjects now have some pants made of color. If you think that color is too bright, you can always put down the opacity. (also on the layers palette menu) Play around with it, and you should be happy.

[ Change the layers option to Soft Light, to start the magic ]

And that is the basic jist of what you have to do. A suggestion would be to have each different color you use, on a separate layer. It just helps if you want to go back and edit it later.

The finished product should look like this:

[ Above: My product | : The original ]

Now see how easy that was? In a matter of 15 minutes, I took a black and white photo, and made it pop with some color. Although it doesn't look extremely realistic, it's still close to it. This is amazing if you have old b & w photos that you want to spruce up.

Thankzzzzz

Creating Grunge Brushes

2007-04-06T07:19:00.000-07:00

Ever seen one of those really nifty, old and ripped up graphics that contain scratches, dirt and some more dirt? When it comes to Photoshop, we call that dirty style "Grunge". This tutorial will teach you how to make your very own grunge brushes.

Creating Grunge Brushes
To create your own grunge brushes, you can't simply just make them from scratch. You need a source. In our case, the source will be this image:

[ copy and paste this into your Photoshop ]

It's always good to get an image that's all rusty and dirty. Using this one, we will chop out possible grunge brushes.

Here Is How:

Open up a canvas 365 (width) by 280 (height) pixels respectively. Copy and paste the image above provided into the Photoshop canvas.

The image needs to have no color information. Convert it to black & white by desaturating it. You can go to image > adjustments > desaturate or you can use the shortcut (shift+ctrl+u).

We need the details to stand out more. Go to image > adjustments > brightness/contrast. Set the contrast to 25. Depending on your images later on, play around with lots of settings until you get the desired detail.

Now we need to select parts of it. Find a really good place, not too dark or too light. It should have lots of dirt. Use the rectangular marquee tool and select a part. I selected this:

After you select the part of it, copy it onto your clipboard (ctrl + c) and open up a new document with a white background. On a new layer, paste what you copied.

Now, we need this grunge brush to not be so squared. So select the erase tool and open up the brushes palette. Make sure it's on the primary brushes that Photoshop comes with. Reset it if you are on some other brush set.

Select the Rough Round Bristle brush. Here is an image of what brush that is:

This brush will be used to make the edges of the squared grunge we have all dirty and uneven. You can use other brushes, but for now, let's use this.

Set the brush size from 50 - 80 and erase around the edges of current grunge. I made my work window bigger so that I don't have to press the brush on the image exactly. Here is what i got:

Clean up the edges by changing your brush type to Airbrush Dual Brush. I used mine at size 45.

Now go to Edit > Define Brush Preset > OK. Now you have the brush ready. This brush will be in whatever set you were currently using, so it will be in the main Photoshop primary one.

That was a lot of steps. But if you look at it, all you did was desaturate, contrast, erase and that was it. Now you know how to make you own grunge brushes! You can use these now and apply them to your images and graphics.

We're finished. I hope this tutorial gave you an understanding on how to make grunge brushes. This is not the only method, but it is an effective one. Any questions? Comments? Post them .....

Here is an example I made for you:

Thankssssssss

Morphing Faces

2007-04-03T23:18:00.000-07:00

Today we are going to learn how to morph faces. We are going to make this image below.

[ the final product ]

Now, don't get worried, it looks much harder then it really is. I made this image from these two pictures:

Note

In this tutorial you will see letters in parentheses next to the names of tools. This is the keyboard shortcut for the tool. All you do is press that letter and it will bring up that tool. Keyboard shortcuts are a great way to save time and make the design process go more smoothly.

The following steps will explain how to create the above effect in Photoshop:

We are going to use the yoda picture as the base, and add the kid's face into it. First open both pictures with Photoshop. Then using your Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), select the area of the kid's face that we want, and then switch to the Move Tool (V) and drag the selection onto the yoda picture:

The next thing we have to do is match the sizes of the faces, so that they will be proportionally matched as best as possible. You will typically shrink down the larger image instead of enlarging the small one so that we retain the quality of the smaller one. We are going to shrink down yoda.

Select the yoda layer and then go to your top menu bar and select Edit > Transform > Scale. Then hold down the shift button while you are resizing so that the image resizes to scale and use the handlebars on the corner of the layer to resize the yoda image until his face is the same size as the kid's face. The transformation will not apply until you press enter, so you can feel free to let go of the handlebars and click on the yoda image body and reposition it so that you can match it accurately. It is helpful to pick a certain feature of the faces to align each other with.

This feature may vary depending on the faces and positions, but typically it will be somewhere in the 'T' zone (the eyes and nose of the face) because this is the most distinguishing part of the face. In this one we will match the subjects' outside eye. Once you are happy with the size, press enter and the transformation will be applied:

[ scaling the yoda image down in size ]

Tips

{ Tip 1 }
It is good practice to name your layers. This makes it easy to recognize what is on them and keeps things better organized. To name them either right click and select properties or just double click on the name of the layer. I like to color code them as well. To color code a layer, just right click on the eye next to the layer that shows if it is visible and select a color from the dropdown menu:

{ Tip 2 }
It might help you to zoom in on the picture in this case, because the images are small and it will help you size it better. Select the Zoom tool (Z) and then go to the top toolbar and select 'Fit on Screen'.

{ Tip 3 }
To match the faces accurately, set the top layer's opacity to 60% (the kid's face in this instance). You set the opacity in the layers panel.

Save your file if you have not done so already. Press Control + S, name it, and then select where you want to save it on your computer. In the future, save frequently. From now on, you just need to press Control + S to save.

Now it is time to match the angles of the faces. In this case, yoda's face is angled slightly to the right, so we are going to rotate the kid's face to match it. Select the kid layer. Go to your top menu and select Edit > Transform > Rotate. Then rotate the face by grabbing the handlebars. Press enter when you are done.
Now we want to erase the parts of the face we don't need. This image is excellent since the outmost eyes line up very nicely. Set the opacity of the kid layer to 80% so that you can see it better.
Then use the Erase Tool (E) with a #45 feathered brush to erase the bulk of the parts of the face. Don't get too close to the main parts of the face. We will come in closer with a sharper brush to clean it up, but right now we don't want to lose any opacity on the main kid's face.

Set the kid's opacity to 100%. Now use a #13 feathered brush to erase the forehead, and eyebrows, and any other bits of face that we don't need.

[ Starting to look neat, huh? Save your file again. ]

Now we are going to change the color of the kid's face to green. Go to the top menu bar and select Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation (Control + U). Make sure the preview box is checked so that you can see the effects on your image. Then check the colorize option. This adds color evenly to the image. Now mess around with the hue, saturation, and lightness until it matches the skin tone.

This time we used Hue: 69, saturation: 22, lightness: 0. Press OK or enter when you are done:

[ image after making the above adjustments ]

Now if we look at our image so far, the main part of the kid's face (the t-zone) is not defined enough, in other words, too much yoda is showing through. Right click on the kid's layer and select duplicate layer. Ahh, isn’t that better?
Now we are going to merge everything together, but first we want to make backup layers, in case we make a big boo-boo and can't change it for some reason. Right click and select duplicate layer for the yoda layer and one of the kid layers. Then rename them and color code them if you'd like. Now you should have 5 layers.

Take the backup layers, and put them underneath the other layers and select the eye icon next to them in the layers palette to make them invisible. Now select one of the top three visible layers, and click the little box directly to the right of the visibility box in the other two visible layers. This is the link box. It will make a little chain link when something is linked.

Then select the arrow in the layers palette and select Merge Linked. You could also have selected Merge Visible, since we are only working with visible layers at this point. Now we have one visible layer.

Tip

If you make a mistake and want to undo it quickly, press Control + Z. This will become your best friend.

We are now going to use a fun tool called the Healing Brush tool (J) to smooth over some of the edges, so there is a smooth transition to the face, and we can add some texture as well.
Healing Brush note: This is similar to the Clone Stamp tool (S) , but it is significantly better in some cases, and easier to use. The way it works is you select an area to copy with the tool and then you paint with the pixels that you copied with the tool. This is the same concept as the clone tool, but the clone tool makes hard edges and just pastes the pixels exactly. The healing brush however, mixes the pixels that it is pasting in with the image below it, so that you get a much smoother transition. The color will blend better, and the texture will match better. It is excellent for photorealistic work like we are doing.

Use a #10 Healing Brush and place it close to an edge you want to smooth on the yoda face. Hold down the alt key and left click to copy the pixels. Release the mouse. Then move the mouse so it is over both edges and click again. See how it smoothes out the transition? Do this for the chin, jaw, and cheeks of the face. Don't worry about the nose or eyes yet. I created the line across the face using the healing brush. Practice with this tool can give you excellent results.

Now we have one big problem. The bridge of the noses doesn't line up. This part can get a little tricky, so you may want to get up and stretch and get a root beer and a cookie. Reward yourself for doing so well so far!
OK, now that you feel refreshed, come over here and select the Lasso Tool. (L) We are going to cut out the yoda nose, and rotate it so the angle matches the angle of the kid's nose.

Once it is selected, go to the top menu and select Edit > Transform > Rotate, and then rotate the bridge until it lines up. Now we need to use the clone stamp to make a smooth transition of the bridge and add some texture to the kid's nose. Select the Clone Stamp (S) and use a #9 feathered brush. Make the brush’s opacity set to about 60% and use the same method as described earlier with the Healing Brush to pick up pixels off the Yoda nose and paste them onto the Kid's face. Mess around with the opacity of the Clone Stamp to get the desired effect.

Now we are going to fix the gaps in the nose bridge. Use the Smudge tool (R) with a #9 brush to smudge the gaps over from the bridge to the rest of the nose area. You might need to use the clone stamp as well. Now our nose should look significantly better. The face is almost done now !

Now comes the hardest part, so buckle up your safety belts and keep your hands in the vehicle. We have to add highlights and shadow to the face with the Brush Tool (B) to make it look like it has the same lighting as the yoda face did. If we don't do this, it will look flat and unrealistic. Make a new layer on top of the image for your manual painting.
Use the Eyedropper Tool (I) to select colors that are already in the yoda so that our painting looks natural. Use an array of feathered brushes with the brush tool to get the effect you want. You can also try playing around with the opacity of the paint you are putting up in the top menu bar.

Below is the Image without the painting (1), the image with the painting (2), and the painting on a grey background (3), this way you can see what I did clearly:

Congratulations!!! We are almost done. Your yodaman should be looking pretty neat right now so we just have one more thing to clean up, and that is the portion of yoda's face that is still coming out of the right hand side. That is quite simple, all we do is use the eyedropper tool to select the color of the surrounding area, and paint over the little bits of face.

And that's it! You have now successfully made a morphed face! Take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back, and get another cookie. You can be proud for now you can turn your friends and family into funny creatures and other such fun things.

[ wohoo! you are done ]

If you have any questions, feel free to post them.........

thankz

THIS MORPHING IS NOT BY PHOTOSHOP BUT IT IS VERY COOL ! JUST WATCH IT ! I WILL TELL YOU HOW TO DO MORPHING BY PHOTOSHOP, LATER..

2007-04-02T22:21:00.000-07:00

Morphing Made Easy! - Watch more funny videos here

THANKS

Runes

2007-04-02T06:46:00.000-07:00

A cool effect in Photoshop you can create is a rune effect. There is absolutely nothing like the creepy, glowing text on a piece of rock that can be used better suited to adorn some artwork.

The following image represents what you will have created after completing this tutorial:

[runes]

Steps to Create Effect
The following steps will help you to create the image effect you see above:

Fire up Photoshop and create a new image. Mine is 500x500px and transparent. Once that's done you will need a rock texture. Naturally, one is provided for those who don't wish to make it. Credit to phong.com for the rock effect.

Alright. To turn this rock into a tablet, take the marquee (selection) tool (press M) and make a selection about the same size as you want your final tablet to be. Once that's done, go into the channels panel and create a new channel ("Alpha 1")
Press alt+backspace to fill the selection with white (the foreground colour) and then go filters | blur | gaussian blur by about 4 pixels. Press ctrl+d to deselect and then press ctrl+f to repeat the last command (gaussian blur). Finally, go image | adjust | levels and move the sliders around (close together) until you get a nice smooth, crisp edge.
ctrl+click on the channel "Alpha 1" and go back to the layers tab to bring up the selection. Press Q to enter QuickMask mode. Go filters | pixelate | crystallize for the crystallize filter. Press Q again to leave quick mask, then ctrl+shift+i to invert the selection and press delete.

You should note that all of the screenshots in this tutorial have been scaled down in size to maintain clarity and cohesiveness.
Your picture should look like the following:

[ rock with a glow effect ]
[ tablet with text ]

[ zoomed in portion to highlight the engraving effect ]
Finally, drag the text layer above the two "engraving" layers, and the tablet below all the layers. Now, to finish off apply the following to the text layer:
- Outer Glow - Opacity: 60, Noise: 0, Solid Red(#FF0000), Technique: softer, spread: 1, size 40, Contour: Half round (outward/upward curve), Range: 100, Jitter 0.
- Inner Glow - Opacity: 24, Noise: 0, Solid Red(#FF0000), Technique: softer, Source: edge, Choke: 0, Size 3, Contour: Half round (outward/upward curve), Range: 8, Jitter 0.
- Bevel And Emboss - Style: Pillow Emboss, Technique: Chisel Hard, Depth: 100, Direction: up, Size: 3, Soften: 0, Angle: 135, Altitude: 51, Gloss Contour: Linear (plain), Highlight mode: Screen (light grey, #B2AFAF) 75, Shadow Mode: Multiply (Dark Grey, #1C1C1C) 75.
- Contour - Contour: Linear (plain) 100.
- Texture - Bubbly Texture, Scale: 100, Depth: +100. Satin - Blend Mode: Multiply (black, #000000), Opacity: 50, Angle: 19, Distance: 11, Size: 14, Contour: Gaussian (The one like an "S") Inverted. Colour Overlay - Blend Mode: Normal (Dark Grey #1B1A1A) Opacity: 100.

There you have it - a brilliant rune effect. If you need any help, please post comments

Thankzzzzzz

Burnt Paper

2007-03-26T04:28:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how to create the torn paper look that you see on countless sites? Well its your lucky day because I’m going to show you how to create the effect using nothing but Photoshop!

[ The Final Product of this Tutorial ]

Steps to Create Effect
The following steps will help you to create the image effect you see above:

Start Photoshop up and create a new RGB document 400 by 400 pixels and with the image resolution set at 72 dpi, and set the background colour to white.

Set your foreground colour to #E8DEB1 and your background colour to #D2C388. With that done create a new layer and on this layer select the rectangle marquee tool and drag out a rectangle to the size you want your paper to be.

When you’ve decided your size STILL with the rectangle selection go to Filter | Render | Clouds. Your document should look like below:

[ how your image should look now ]

Still with your selection go to Image | Adjustments | Equalize, when you’ve selected the option you will be prompted with a dialogue box. Check ‘equalise selected area only’ and press OK:

If your paper is looking a little bright simply press Ctrl + U to bring up the Hue/Saturation option box and mess around with the settings until you are comfortable with the colour of your paper texture.

Still with your selection click on the Channels tab which is located next to the layers tab and click on the ‘save selection as channel’ button:

[ the channels tab ]

Now you can finally de – select your selection by pressing Ctrl + D. Click on the Alpha 1 layer you have just created and go to Filter | Pixelate | Crystallize and set Cell Size to 5. Then press OK.

[ crystallize and set Cell Size to 5 ]

Hold down Ctrl and click on the Alpha 1 channel you have just created, with the selection click on the layers tab to go back to where you originally started off. Click on ‘Layer 1’ and then click on ‘Add layer mask’.
Nearly finished on the masked layer you just created click on the ‘add a layer style’ button and add a drop shadow (using the default settings) and add an inner glow using the below settings:

[ inner glow ]

here you have it - a burnt piece of paper. If you need any help, please comment..

You can also do some thing extra,,, like using burn tool in between of ur paper

thanks

HEY I HV FOUND SOME OF THE COOLEST WEB SITE

2007-03-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

www.2advanced.com

http://www.gettheglass.com/ 3D WORK ,VERY nice site by the milk board.

http://www.tskuebler.com/

This site itself is simple, but the sculpture is excellent!

http://www.liquidjourney.com/

It contains the most impressive flash experiments I have seen anywhere.

Gucci - great html and js

www.gucci.com

nice transitions

http://www.clusta.com/

nice site, great for YouTube videos
splicemusic.com

Video Tutorial

enjoy it

HEY! SEE THE NEW SITE WWW.GIZMOCALL.COM JUST REGISTER AND YOU CAN CALL FOR 10 MIN FREE AROUND THE WORLD. ENJOY..........

For Beginners Of Photoshop

2007-03-21T01:56:00.000-07:00

In this trick i will show how to create half black and white and half coloured image using photoshop.............

1. In first part we will take a coloured image like given below......

2. Now we will create a new layer ...... (see below)

2. Now in new layer , desaturate the image to make it black and white . (you can desaturate image by going to , IMAGE>> ADJUSTMENT>>DESATURATE )

3. Now when your image is black and white you can take eraser tool .. and start rubbing on the first layer that you have created ..

[ NOTE..] - YOU HAVE TO RUB THAT PORTION OF IMAGE THAT YOU WANT TO MAKE COLOURED

NOW THE FINAL RESULT THAT YOU WILL GET IS GIVEN BELOW

NOW I KNOW THAT THIS IMAGE IS NOT LOOKING VERY COOL .. NOW THE COOLEST IMAGES ARE GIVEN BELOW... Hmmmmmm.....

THANKS,

Bevel in Flash

2007-03-20T02:53:00.000-07:00

NOW I WILL TELL U SOME USEFUL TRICKS ABOUT FLASH.................

Ever wished you could use Photoshop's bevel effect in Flash? That's right; Flash isn't known for easy style effects, but with my simple beveling technique, you can work around Flash's rather bland palette.

[ an example of what you will create ]

Here is How

Create a new document around 400 high by 200 wide.
Rename the default layer "dark" because you'll be using a dark green on this layer.
Type in "Mo Money" with the text tool and draw in any squigqly line with the brush tool. The text must be broken up for the beveling to work, so just select it and hit Ctrl+B twice.

Select everything on layer "dark" and copy it by hitting Ctrl+C

Create two new layers. Name the top "mask" and the middle "light." On both, paste your design in the exact place as the original by hitting Ctrl + Shift + V.
Of course, you should right click your mask layer and check "mask" to turn it into a mask.

[ correct layer set-up]

Now you want to lock everything but the light layer. Select it and change its color to a lighter green. Before deselecting, nudge the light design up one and left one with the arrow keys.

[ light graphic shifted up and left ]

We want this to be a smooth bevel, so choose modify > shape > soften fill edges from the main menus. Change the settings like such...

[ here are some suggested settings ]

Lock all layers to make the masking go into effect. And voila! You have your bevel.

PhotoShop Scripting

2007-03-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

You’ve probably wanted at one time or another to combine the power of Photoshop’s tools to those of programming scripts. Adobe has made this possible for you with the ‘Scripting Plug-in’, a nifty plug-in that allows users to write little scripts (in Javascript, VBScript or AppleScript) that will take over Photoshop and do what you couldn’t with you mouse and keyboard…

This tool is also aimed at designers which wish to increase the workflow speed (you'll see example scripts by the end of the tutorial which allow you to save all your current images, or save each layer to a separate file etc...). Even though we do use a scripting language, it is not hardcore programming and designers which hate programming should not be scared of this, the step by step tutorial will help you create your first simple scripts and you will later be able to move on to more advanced scripts.

Photoshop scripting is much more than what actions and batching can do; for example you can use the ‘if…then’ commands which already multiplies possibilities… Imagine you have a text database, hundreds of pictures, and want to dynamically create business cards – seems tough ? Scripting will do it. It is a unique and excellent tool to automate your needs and save you time, or create something that a human and a mouse would take ages to do.

This tutorial will, through a series of projects, demonstrate some of the capabilities of scripting. This tutorial is aimed at intermediate/advanced users who use Photoshop extensively. I assume you know about batching & actions, and most of Photoshop already. The tutorial is set this way: a) example of what we will create. b) full code c) code explanation... So don't worry if at first you only see a bunch of scripted lines.

All you'll need for that tutorial is a text file editor, Photoshop and to install the plug-in

Contents:
I have broken this tutorial into many sections, start from the beginning if you have never met scripting.

I. Preliminary steps

If you have a version of Photoshop CS, you can skip the downloading instructions below, since the scripting plug-in is installed with CS by default. The tutorial uses scripting with Photoshop 7 – some scripting capabilities have been improved since then, so don’t be alarmed if you CS version can do in two steps what I’ve scripted in ten :P… And, on a sidenote,

Downloading instructions: you can download the plug-in for version 7 of PS on Adobe’s web site by searching for ‘scripting plug-in’ – the latest links were here (for Mac) or here (for PCs). Installation will create a ‘Scripts’ folder in the ‘Presets’ folder of Photoshop.

Getting familiar with scripting: you can now check your scripts; which you can test by using the menu File>Automate>Scripts (you can try to alt/apple click in the dialog box to run your script with a debugger)
(Note
Edit your scripts with simple text applications (textpad) otherwise Photoshop might have trouble processing them …)

I will use ONLY JavaScript in my examples because it’s the only cross-platform language. Keep in mind that the same scripts can be written in VBScript and Applescript (and much more, since you can script more applications and call them from these scripts, and not in JS) but the syntax is a bit different (check the doc for changes).

III. Using Text Layers and Saving Files

Creating and editing text options, saving your file.

It already looks a tad more interesting doesn't it ?

The keys in doing it are:

Opening a new 600x900px canvas

Creating an array full of text

Creating a loop that will create text layers according to the array

Setting specific color & text size for each text layer

Rotating with a 45? angle each layer

Saving the document

Closing the document

i. Code (explained below)

(( var defaultRulerUnits = preferences.rulerUnits;
preferences.rulerUnits = Units.PIXELS;

bgGrey = new SolidColor();
var lightness = 255 - Math.round(Math.random()*100);
bgGrey.rgb.red = lightness;
bgGrey.rgb.green = lightness;
bgGrey.rgb.blue = lightness;

backgroundColor = bgGrey;

var newDocumentRef = documents.add(600,900, 72.0, "Working With Text",DocumentMode.RGB, DocumentFill.BACKGROUNDCOLOR);
newDocumentRef = null;

var textArray = [
"Silence prevailed as",
"those mochi balls",
"screamed in agony",
"and unbearable disbelief",
"…"
] ;

var AD = activeDocument ;

for(a=1;a<=textArray.length;a++){
var TextLayer = AD.artLayers.add();
TextLayer.kind = LayerKind.TEXT;
TextLayer.opacity = Math.round(Math.random()*50)+50;
//TextLayer.name = textArray[a-1];
var txtRef = TextLayer.textItem;
txtRef.font = "Impact";
txtRef.contents = textArray[a-1];
txtRef.size = Math.round(1/(Math.random()*0.2+0.02))+10;
var textPosition = [0,Math.round(Math.random()*880)+10];
txtRef.position = textPosition; TextLayer.rotate(-45)
}

AD.flatten();

activeDocument.crop(new Array(25,25,600,800), 0, 600-25, 800-25, 72);

saveFile = new File("//scriptingTest.jpg");
saveOptions = new JPEGSaveOptions();
saveOptions.embedColorProfile = true;
saveOptions.formatOptions = FormatOptions.STANDARDBASELINE;
saveOptions.matte = MatteType.NONE;
saveOptions.quality = 9;

AD.saveAs(saveFile, saveOptions, true,Extension.LOWERCASE);
AD.close(SaveOptions.DONOTSAVECHANGES) ;

preferences.rulerUnits = defaultRulerUnits; ) )

Well I hope the script brought some light to you. Make sure to play with it, invent new crazy scripts.

[ Here's what a modified version of the script can do. Check it out !]

2007-03-19T01:35:00.000-07:00

This is a image that i hv morphed from me my brothers image ....... using photoshop...

2007-03-19T01:31:00.000-07:00

This Is a B.G that i hv created in 5 min. howz that............