NNdustrie Media Tutorials

Super Easy, Very Cheap, Cellphone Macro Lens

2012-10-23T23:15:00.003-07:00

Today, we have a pretty cool project, I'am going to show you how to create a super simple macro lens for you cell phone. You might even have the part you need laying around your home.

Quarter up close.

STEP 1:

Cheap laser pointer, less than $2.00 at my local Drug Store.

We need to acquire a marco lens, the cheapest method to get one is to get a hold of a cheap laser pointer. That's right, a laser pointer. I'am not entirely sure why this works but it apparently has something to do the focusing of light. A more expensive pointer would probably have a glass lens but the cheap plastic one's that comes with a $2.00 laser pointer works just fine.

STEP 2:

Disassemble the laser pointer, remove the batteries, cap and batteries.

STEP 3:

Inside the case of the pointer there's a small circuit board and the lens

On the other side of the case, there a small cap, take a pair of plyers and pry the cap off, the plastic lens should just fall out.

STEP 4:

It's kinda hard to see in the photo, but the method I found best to attach the lens to my camera, was to tape the lens to the phone. I then took a razor blade and removed the tape from the center of the lens.

The Iphone my phone is not.

But it still took some pretty amazing photo's and video's, Yes that's right you take macro video's with this setup. Be sure to check out a collection of the images I've take with this setup.

(hint: You stack a second lens on top of the first lens to get another step of zoom. This does narrow the depth of field.)

Ball point pen Macro Video

Create a likable Facebook promotion with a custom dropbox form

2011-05-23T00:19:00.000-07:00

To create your promotion follow these simple steps.

Step 1:

On the left side of Facebook, you'll see a tab for pages.

Select the kind of page you'd like to create and fill out the required information.

Step 2:

Click on the "Edit Page" button in the top right corner of the page.

Then goto the apps tab.
Near the bottom of the page is a link to Browse more application, click on that or
type: Static HTML: iframe tab in the search window

I had some trouble with the second app, the first is UI is not a pretty but it worked better.

Click on the Go to App button to install the app.

Now that the app been installed on your Facebook page, click on the name of the tab to edit
(don't click on edit, for whatever reason it's linked to the edit page not the app)

As it explains, you can enter any HTML,CSS or JavaScript in the available boxes, I referenced an image and some text that I wanted to be displayed to those not fans of my page.

Now when a new customer comes to my page, they will see this incitement to like my page.

Step 3:
Create the custom Form

Jotform has a free product that is pretty freaking sweet.
For free you can create a custom form, with uploads that will
deposit the uploaded files to a dropbox account w/ a PDF copy of the form.

The free account is limited to 100 submission and 100 MB a month.
Not too shabby for free!

Click on over to http://www.jotform.com/dropbox/

to setup your free account.

If you don't have a Dropbox account, click here to setup one for free:

Once you have both accounts setup, follow the instruction to setup a dropbox form.

This part is mostly automated.

JotForm has one of easiest WYSIWYG form creators that I've found.
Simply drag and drop the elements you want to create your form.

Once your form is finished, click on the embed options.

JotForm will create the iframe used by Facebook.

Since you already installed the Static HTML App you will not need to install the TabPress app.

Paste the iframe code from JotForm in to the Fans only content portion of the Static HTML App

Save and view tab

You can then view your promotion from a Non-Fan and Fans point of view.

The form as a fan of NNdustrie Media will see it.

Step 4:

JotForm will create a folder in your Dropbox

A couple of test images that I uploaded and the PDF document contain the from data.

That's it. you've now completed a Likable promotion for Facebook.

Pad Printing Step by Step

2011-05-09T14:22:00.000-07:00

Today I'am going to show the pad printing process.

Pad printing is a printing process that use silicone pads to transfers ink from an etching to virtually any object regardless of shape.

Step 1:

To begin, we need something to print, this can be a Logo, Image, or Saying.

For this tutorial, I am going to use a Job I just completed for Holiday Inn.

They wanted a custom blinky to hand out at trade show they where attending.

We printed 500 pins of these pins for them.

They emailed me the Holiday Inn logo and I vectorized it and added the West.

Step 2:

If needed, the logo or image is then converted to vector graphic.

Most images are Bit-mapped which means they are comprised of square pixels, which creates staircase steps which can lead to prints that are not crisp and clean.

(Bitmapped image)

For printing, we need vector images, which are comprised of mathematical equations, these create super crisp lines which is necessary for a good print.

(vector image)

Step 3:

With the vector conversion completed we can print out our transfer image, needed for step 4

We use an HP 1300, because it prints at 1200 dpi which means a darker image.

For transfer to our light sensitive material, the darker the image the better.

Step 4:

With our transfer image created we then place in on a metal plate that has been coated with a light sensitive emulsion. When this plate is exposed to ultra-violet light, the emulsion will harder except where our image is place, that emulsion will remain soft allowing us to wash out the image.

(Transfer placed on light sensitive plate)

(Exposing the plate to ultra-violet light to harden the emulsion)

Step 5:

Once the plate has been exposed, it is washed out using warm water to expose the image.

Because the transfer protects the emulsion from hardening, we don't have to use a negative image, the plate etch is a duplicate of the transfer print we made on the HP printer.

(click to zoom the image)

Step 6:

Now we move on to setup the printer.

It's a bit messy but it works

For this print, we'll use a ink that requires a hardener be added as well as thinner.

Once mixed, it will have the consistency like a wood stain.

I use a pin table, which allows me to position metal pins to create a custom holder for whatever I'am printing, Because these pins are magnetic, I use the metal bar to help hold the pen in place.

Want to make sure I can position and remove the pin quickly and easily.

Step 7:

With the pin table and ink setup and ready to go it's time to start printing.

Using an ink spreader, I spread a generous amount of ink across the plate, then using the blade attached to the front of the ink spreader, I scrape the excess from the plate back to the inkwell.

This remove all the ink, except a couple microns thick amount of ink that is left within the etching.

Then the silicone pad is pressed onto the etching, lifting the ink out of the etching.

You can see the ink on the silicon pad

The silicon pad is then pressed onto the pin, transferring the ink to the pin.

The ink dries to the touch in about 30secs so I have to move fast.

(Yes I know the image is a bit crooked, I was still making small adjustments)

Step 8:

Repeat 500 more time

This pan contains about half the pins.

Once printed the pins are then baked at 200 degree for about 2 minutes to help cure.

The ink I use takes about 3 days to fully cure but once cured the ink will most likely outlast whatever it is printed on.

Here is the finished pin

Step 9:

Now for the fun stuff, repacking each pin. unpacking them took about an hour.

Repacking too as long as:

"Smoking Ace's II" (awful movie)

3 Everbody loves raymond

2 king of the hill

1 & 1/2 Futurama.

Needless to say, It took forever.

Each pin is packed with instructions and a second magnet inside a poly bag.

All 500 pins packaged.

500 pins divided into 25 piece bags

Thats it. the pins are boxed up and shipped to the customer.

Create an HDR Image from any Image

2011-04-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to show you how to create an HDR image from any image.

HDR which stand for High Dynamic Range is a highly stylized method of photography.

Generally accomplished by shooting multiple images at different shutter speeds in a RAW format on your camera.

When these multiply images are merged in a photomerge program like Photoshop or Photomatix etc. you can achieve interesting effects.

Unfortunately you may not have access to a camera capable of shooing in RAW or simply want to take an existing image and convert it to HDR.

Lets Begin.

STEP 1:

Open Photoshop.

In the File tab you will see several option for opening an image.

For CS5 instead of Open, we'll use Open As and change the format to Camera RAW
For CS4 use the regular Open, but in the bottom left corner where it shows the format, change it to Camera RAW.

There are two RAW formats in Photoshop, Use the Camera RAW not the Photoshop RAW format.

When you click open, the image will be opened up in the Camera RAW editor.

You can then access most of the options available for RAW images, however limited by the low bit depth associated with Non-RAW image.

For our purposes today, were just going to adjust the Exposure setting.

For this first image, let's drop the exposure three stops to -3

In the bottom left corner of the editor there is an option to Save image. Save this image with a -3 added to the file name.

STEP 2:

Duplicate step 1 using the same original image but this time, were going to bump the exposure to +2.

Now we have three images with different exposure settings, which should be sufficient for our needs.

Original image

Under exposed by -3

Over exposed +2

Now we need a Photomerge software.

There are a couple of options.

1. Photoshop - Even in CS5 the HDR capability is awful when compared to other third party options, so while there are some uses for photoshops photomerge tool it is lacking for the average user.

2. Photomatix - One of the best in the market and comes with a full free trial, however it watermarks the final images.

I prefer photomatix as it offer far more flexibility than Photoshop.

You can download a free trial version here

http://www.hdrsoft.com/download.html

http://download.cnet.com/Photomatix-Pro/3000-2192_4-10351198.html?tag=mncol;1

STEP 3

Open up Photomatixpro

If your using the trial version, select continue trial and

then load bracketed photos.

Load the three image that where prepared earlier.

Because we are using the same image with forced exposure values, photomatix is going to balk just a bit, I have found leaving the EV Spacing at 2 works most of the time.

The next window to pop-up is the pre-processing options-

Since we are using the same image there is no need to align the images

or to reduce ghosting

However select reduce noise on the merged image.

Click Okay.

STEP 4:

Photomatix comes with several popular presets but rarely does it nail it without some tweaking.

I find it useful to choose the preset that comes the closets than tweak from there.

Once happy, click Process

Photomatic will do it's magic and presto you have yourself an HDR image created from a single image.

You can convert almost any image, from your cell phone or a cheap point n shoot. Just remeber that with any image process, garbage in garbage out. Converting a bad image will only create a bad HDR.

Below is sample of some image I converted using this process.

Creating a 3D image from a 2D image

2011-03-31T01:41:00.001-07:00

Today, I am going to show you how to take almost any image and turn it into a 3D image using Photoshop.

(note)

This process was first developed by Russel Brown

You can check him out and see his other tutorials at:

http://russellbrown.com

This is what we'll be creating today:

Feel free to use these image:

Step 1:

Open your image in Photoshop.

Goto the channels tab and look at the various channels, what your looking for is the channel that has the best contrast between black and whites. We will be creating a depth map which will pull the whites forward and the push the blacks backward.

In this instance the Red channel appears to be the best for this image.

Open up the Levels dialogue box and apply these setting's

What were looking for is to change the white and black colors to grey.

Next, apply a Gaussian blur, what your looking for is to reduce the detail in the image.

You want to blur the image to a level where the only the major elements of the image are barely identifiable.

Then press CMD/CTRL A to select the visible image

CMD/CTRL C to copy the image

STEP 2:

Click back onto the layers tab and create a new layer

Paste the blurred copy into this new layer

Change the mode from 8bit to 16bit

Then goto the 3D menu / New mesh from Grayscale / Plane

This mesh is a depth map, which we'll use to create the 3D, as

you can see it is a bit smaller than our image.

Use the Slide 3D Object tool to scale the image, the edges are going to be uneven so scale it just a bit bigger than our image size.

Step 3:

Select our original image and press

CMD/CTRL A to select the image

CMD/CTRL C to copy the image

With the image copied, double click on the diffuse layer.

This will open up our grayscale mesh in a new document.

Paste the copied image onto a new layer

Merge the two layers down so only the full colored image is seen.

Close this new image down, make sure you click yes to save this new image.

Our original image will now look a bit funky

Step 4:

Goto the 3D Tab and click on the edit button.

This is going to the open up the Render Settings box.

First thing is to change the face style from Solid to Unlit Texture.

Next click on the Sterographic button at the bottom, make sure the Stereo type is set to Red/Blue

Change the Parallax to 100

Click Okay

Lastly, change the quality from Interactive to Ray Trace Final

That's it, you've created a 3D Stereographic Image from a 2D image.

Creating a stereographic image in photoshop

2011-03-21T02:52:00.000-07:00

This tutorial is an extension of a previous tutorial

http://nndustrietuts.blogspot.com/2011/03/creating-depth-in-2d-image.html

This is the most complicated tutorial of this three part series and will require the most from your machine. Be prepared to have Photoshop crash so save often.

In order to fully appreciated this tutorial you'll need to have a pair of red/green glasses.

You can apply this effect to any Photoshop file that has layers

Step 1:

Create 3D postcard layers for each layer in the composition.

It is the most time consume portioned up the tutorial.

Step 2:

Now that each layer is it's own 3d layer, we can apply the stereographic effect.

Each layer should now have a little box in the layer thumbnail, clicking on this box will open up that layers 3D properties.

To begin, let begin with the sun, double click on that layers box

Click on the edit button to open the render settings box

Select the red/blue box.

Set the Parallax to 25

(this setting will be the same on every layer)

The focal plane is how we set the depth of the elements.

T0 push elements back use negative numbers

To push element forward your positive numbers

Keep in mind that further an element is placed the more blurred the image will appear.

This take some time, play with the focal plane to achieve the effect you want.

That's it your done!

Apply 3d depth with the box blur

2011-03-21T02:30:00.000-07:00

This tutorial is an extension of a previous tutorial

http://nndustrietuts.blogspot.com/2011/03/creating-depth-in-2d-image.html

This next option is more ambitious and will create a better sense of depth.

Take the image we created in the previous tutorial and essentially what were going to do is to apply the box blur filter individual to each element to push them back in the depth of

field.

Identify where you want your focal plane to be, for this image, we'll make it this building.

This building will have no blur applied to it. Working your way forward and backwards apply the box blue to each element.

For example:

Select the sun layer and goto the box blur filter

You don't want to go above 10 pixels or the images just become mushy.

Now just start working your way forward apply the box blur to lessor amounts as you move to the

focal plane.

I adjusted the box blue by even numbers apply 8 6 4 2 and 0 amounts to each element as needed.

For those element forward of the focal plane, I applied 8 as my highest amount.

There is no hard and fast rules regarding this, it's all up to you and what looks good to you!

Once your happy then your done!

Apply tilt shift to create 3d depth

2011-03-21T02:18:00.000-07:00

This tutorial is an extension of a previous tutorial

http://nndustrietuts.blogspot.com/2011/03/creating-depth-in-2d-image.html

This is a pretty simple effect, the 3d depth is not going to be as dramtic but still a nice if simple effect.

(What we'll be creating)

Step 1:

After following the previous tutorial, flatten the image.

Step 2:

Enter quick mask mode by pressing Q on your keyboard.

Making sure your foreground and background color is set to black and white, create a reflected gradient, so there is a pink stripe in the center of your image. This will take a couple of try, simply undo and re-apply.

Step 3:

Exit the quick mask mode and open up the lens blur filter.

Apply the following setting's, adjusting them as need for your image. Hit okay, de-select the selection and that's it your done!

Creating depth in a 2D image

2011-03-21T00:29:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to show you how to create 3D depth in a 2D image. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this effect. To begin lets begin by creating a new composition.

There are a couple of assets to gather first:

Download this Photoshop brush and install it in your preset folder:

http://invisiblesnow.deviantart.com/art/Urban-Scrawl-Photoshop-Brushes-41545917

Step 1:

Create a new document 1200 px X 800 px at 300 dpi

Create a new layer above the background layer.

Grab the brush tool and click on brush 671 the sunburst.

The brush is preset offset a bit so to correct that goto the brush tab and rotate the brush to

-14 degrees so it's level. Increase the spacing so you can see how the rotate affect a single instance of the brush.

Increase the size of the brush to 900 px and create one instance of the brush just above the middle of the page.

Create a new layer between the background layer and the layer with the sunburst on it.

Change the brush to a round with about 80% hardness. Change the color to #fff49c and paint the some color for the sun

To create the rest of the horizon line, grab the rectangle marquee tool and grab a selection from the center of the sun.

Erase the little squiggles that are poking up and drag the line right or left, then duplicate for the other side.

To fill the background, change the background color to #7da8ff. Using the gradient tool draw a straight line from the top of the page to the bottom.

Merge all the layers but the background layer with the gradient. Use the magic wand tool to create a selection of the lower half of the page.

Create a new layer. Change the background color from blue to white, leaving the yellow foreground color the same and fill the selection using the gradient tool.

Step 2:

To create the road we'll use the pen tool to create a selection.

Goto the path's tab and click on the circle of dot in the bottom of the tab.

Fill this selection with #727272, then goto the filter and apply a Gaussian blur of 3px

To add the marking's on the road, use brush 133

Create a new layer and use the brush rotate tool to get the first instance looking right. Start at the end of the road and work your way back, duplicating the layer and increasing the size as you move closer.

To add a bit of character to the road, use the warp tool to add a bend in the road

Next lets add the street lights to the road. Use brush 207

Create a new layer and brush one instance onto the new layer

Create a new layer just below the lamp layer and using the pen tool create a selection like the following.

Feather the selection by 15px and select #fffbe3 as a foreground color and then select the gradient tool foreground to transparent and create a gradient from the light to the ground.

This should be subtle, too dark of a glow and it will become overpowering as we duplicate the lampt posts.

Merge the lamp post and the light together and then duplicate and resize them along the road to create some perspective.

Make sure to keep the lamps post organized, I separated them into to folders, one for the left and right sides of the road. Don't merge these together.

Step 3:

Create a new layer and select one of the building brushes.

Create a new layer beneath this layer and change the color to # dcdOab. Paint in the color for the building then change to a white and paint in the windows. Merge the two layers together.

Do this for a couple more building to fill out the scene.

Using the same process as with the building, use the brush set to add some more elements to the composition.

So here is what I have:

So now you have three options for creating the depth in Photoshop.

Below is links to each of the methods.

1. First is the simplest, essentially we'll apply a tilt shift effect to create the depth.

2. Second, we'll apply a box blur to the individual elements to create depth.

3. Third, we'll use Photoshop's 3d layers palette to create a stereographic image that when viewed through red/green glass will create a 3d effect.

Select your method and away we go!

Image Survival Guide

2011-02-26T00:31:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what happens when you click save? What is PNG, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, and JPEG2000???

Click this link to see the PDF (Image Survival Guide) in all it's glory or you can peruse my finding's in these JPEG images.

Create a retro Billboard

2011-02-26T00:19:00.000-08:00

Today we are going to be creating a billboard in Photoshop.

Step 1:

We need to collect our resources so goto the links provided and download the assets.

1. http://www.cgtextures.com/texview.php?id=31399&PHPSESSID=dbd778278efd0506b481b12273101026
download image 5 in this set.

2. http://www.cgtextures.com/texview.php?id=12880&PHPSESSID=dbd778278efd0506b481b12273101026
download image 1 in this set

3. http://www.lightingdirect.com/index.cfm?page=product:mediaGallery&uniqueId=1152278
Save this image.

4. http://skulpt.deviantart.com/art/Holes-Holes-Holes-62550652
Download this Photoshop brush and install in your presets folder.

5. http://www.allfreebrush.com/html/Brushes/Vintage/200908/06-1893.html
Download and install this brush in you preset folder.

6. http://www.blirk.net/wallpapers/1400x1050/nature-wallpaper-237.jpg

Step 2:

Create a new document in Photoshop that is 1200 X 800 and 300 dpi

Open the two wood texture we downloaded earlier.

Crop just the rusted metal from the planks and isolated the log from it's background.

Drag these two assets onto our working image.

Create the billboard shape by duplicating the assets, flip vertical and horizontal to create some variety.

Then add a drop shadow to just the Billboard frame.

Step 3.

Create our billboard backing layer

Create a new layer and call it backing.

Select the brush tool (make sure you load the vintage brush we downloaded earlier) and select vintage industrial 707, use the brush once to create our image using black.

You may need to resize the image created by this brush but that's okay.

Create a duplicate layer just beneath this layer and fill it with white, Press CTRL E to merge the two layers together.

Step 4:

Create our billboard image. Create a new layer called content below the billboard frame, use the magic wand tool to create a selection of the inside of the billboard frame, select the content layer and fill it with #e4d0b8

While still on the content layer, select the brush tool and grab the vintage 564 brush, change the color to #760b14 and use the brush to create our coke image.

Select the brush tool, making sure black is selected. Goto the brush pallette load our torn paper brush. Select one of the rumbled brushes from the bottom of the list and add some texture to our content layer. (It will help if you CTRL Click on the layer thumbnail first to contain the brush to just the content layer)

Select the eraser tool, changing the standard brush to one of torn brushes. I like brush 292, 140 and 62.

Use this eraser to add some age to our content layer, once your happy, add a drop shadow to the layer.

Step 5:

Create a new document 1200 X 800 at 300 DPI and import the lamp image we downloaded earlier.

Isolate the lamp from the white background. The magic wand works well for this, I found it worked best if I dropped the standard tolerance from 32 to 23.

Cut the lamp into two separate layers, the lamp hood and the arm.

We are going to use the Repousse tool to create our lamp, So CTRL Click on the lamp hood layer to create a selection and fill it with a plain white.

Apply the above setting's to your selection.

I found it helpful to rotate the image to see where the the x angle meets.

To create the metal look Apply the following setting's. Make sure to

load Default (For Ray tracer) to your list to see the Metal Steel material.

Adjust the image using the 3D tools

Next we'll do the same thing for the arm of our lamp.

Rotate the arm so it's facing you and apply these setting's

Next we need to reconnect our two parts. To help us to get the right perspective, import the two layers to our working image image. Use the 3D tools to adjust the arm and hood into the right position.

Once your happy with the position, right click on the layers and select Rasterize 3D, then merge the two layers together. You'll get this really rough edge when you do this so

I used and eraser with a hardness of about 90% to smooth the edges.

Then duplicated the layers, on the 3rd duplicate on the far left, flip it horizontally.

Lastly, we need to add some character to our lamps. We'll use the same blue rust we used for the billboard frame. I used the rectangle marquee tool to makes some random selections from my frame but you could just as easily import another image.

CTRL Click on the each lamp layer thumbnail to create a selection of the lamps, inverse the selection and delete the excess rust.

Change the blending mode of the rust layer to Linear Burn

You should have something like this

Create a folder and place all the lamp assest into it. Then duplicate the folder and merge down, CRTL E. CRTL Click on the layer thumbnail to create a selection and fill the selection with black.

Drop this new layer below the lamp folder and apply a fairly high gaussian blur, I used 34 pixels.

Move the blurred image so it's below the the lamps. Then duplicate the layer, drop the opacity to 50% and press CTRL E to merge the two shadow layers together. The blurred image will be visible outside our bill board but that's okay, the next step we'll take of that.

CTRL Click on the thumbnail of the billboard frame layer to create a selection, press CTRL I to inverse the selection. Select the shadow layers we just created and use the eraser tool to erase the excess shadow that was created.

Step 6:
To create the lights, we are going to use the path tool. Create a path in the shape of a light bulb.

Goto the paths tab and click on the circle of dots, to change the path into a selection.

Goto the Select Menu, Modify, Feather to soften the selection. Feather the selection by 25 pixels.

Create a new layer below our lamp folder and call this layer lights. Fill the selection with a white to transparent gradient.

Duplicate this layer two more time and move them so they align with the other fixtures, drop the opacity to 70%.

Next create a new layer just below the lamp layers and using a white soft brush draw a thin white line just underneath the lamps hood. Don't worry about perfection just get a nice visible line of white.

Use an eraser to clean up the excess around the sides.

Step 7:

Last step and you'r done.

Import the field landscape you downloaded earlier and move it onto our working image as the bottom layer. Create a new folder and drag all the billboard layers into this new folder except our landscape layer.

Select the legs layer, grab the eraser tool and select a grass brush. If you don't have one there are a number of brushes you can find online for free.

Use the eraser to blend the legs of the bill board into the scene.

Now we want to create a shadow of our billboard.

Duplicate the folder that contains the billboard layers, turn off the duplicated lamp layers, then press CTRL E to merge them together, CTRL Click on the the layers thumbnail and fill it with black, apply a Gaussian blur of 98 pixels and drop the opacity of the layer to 50%.

Use the distort tool to drop the layer to the ground

Lastly, use the Curves tool to adjust the landscape scene to look more dusk than daytime.

That's it your done!
Congratulations

Nathan White

Create a 3d Calvin from Calvin & Hobbes

2011-02-26T00:11:00.000-08:00

Today, I am going to show you how to create a 3D Calvin. After my last tutorial on how to create liquid splashing onto a car, and playing around with repousse tool, this got me thinking what else I could do with this tool.

Couple of things to keep in mind with your photo selection. This effect will work best with simple line art. Too complicated and the 3D tools in Photoshop will balk. Each section that you want to be 3D needs to be a completes section, if there is section where the lines do not connect, you will not see has dramatic a effect. mmm kay.

Step 1:
Open your image in Photoshop.

Isolate your image from the background.

Step 2:

Duplicate the working image.

The duplicate image is what where going to use to create our selections. Grab a standard round brush, set the hardness to 95% and go about connecting an areas that are not complete.

Step 3:

Separate the head from the body, There's a couple of ways to do this, one is to use the pen tool to create a new selection around the head, this is what I used initially but I think it would far faster to do it the following way. CTRL+CLICK on the thumbnail of our working image. This is going to select the whole image. Grab the Marquee tool and while holding down the ALT key de-select everything but the head.

Create a new layer and fill it with black, turn off the working image and the duplicate and you should have just the head of Calvin. Using the Magic wand brush, make a selection of the outside of Calvins head, Press CRTL+SHIFT+I to reverse the selection. With the selection fill with #fee2ba

Fill the selection by pressing SHIFT+F5 and then enter.

Goto the 3D menu and select Repousse.

Press okay and you should have something like this.

Right click on the layer and select Rasterize 3D.

Disable this layer for now.

Step 4:

Re-enable our duplicate Calvin layer. Using the same process as we did for the head, create a selection of just the body.

Create a new layer but this time fill it with #df0400

You should have something like this.

Goto the 3D menu and click on Repousse.

Should end up with something similar. Right click on the layer to Rasterize 3D

Step 5:

Duplicate the same process for the feet but this time fill the selection with white.

Be sure to Rasterize 3D.

Step 6:

For this step we are going to need to use the Pen tool to create a selection around Calvin's hand.

Click to zoom this image

Next use the Convert point tool to adjust the nibs around the selection. Once your happy with the paths, click on the Paths Tab.

At the bottom of the paths tab you'll see a small circle of dots, click on it to change the path you created to a selection.

Create a new layer and fill the selection #fee2ba

Goto the 3D menu, Repousse, use the same settings as before

You should end up with something similar.

Right click on the layer and Rasterize 3D.

Step 7:

Now you should have something similar to this.

Move the original Calvin layer so it's above the 3D layers.

Step 8:

To create Calvin's hair, we'll use the pen tool to create a path, focus on the hairline and don't worry about the hair.

Goto the paths tab again and click on the circle of dots. to change our path to a selection.

Create a new layer and fill the selection with #fccb05

You should end up with this:

Clean up the excess yellow, select Calvin's 3D head and using the magic wand make a selection.

Select the previous layer and press the delete key to get rid of the excess yellow. There may be a little yellow peeking out around the black outline, use the eraser to remove it.

Change the layer blending mode to soft light.

Step 9:

Select Calvin's arm.

Select the brush tool and change the color to #df0400

Paint in Calvin's Sleeve.

Double click on the layer to open the blending option box, select drop shadow.

Why were working the arm, we need to fill in the small section on the left of Calvin. Select color #fee2ba and paint in that small section.

Step 10:

Lastly we need to pain Calvin's socks. Select color #d34956

Paint in Calvin's Socks

That's it - Congratulation your done.

Create liquid splashing onto a car

2011-02-26T00:04:00.000-08:00

Today, I am going to show you how to create a liquid splash across a car.

Step 1:

Open your image in Photoshop.

Select the pen tool, we want to create a selection on the front of the car.

Don't worry about making the selection perfect, we don't want to create too many nibs.

Using the "convert point anchor" and the "direct selection tool" adjust the path to some nice curves.

To convert the path to a editable selection, click on the the paths tab ( goto windows menu and select paths if it's not already selected)

In the bottom left of the paths dialog box, click on the third from the right circle, It's the one made up of tiny dots.

You should see your path change to a selection.

Create a new layer and fill this layer with a gradient, use a reflected gradient.

Step 2:

To make the splash look a little 3 dimensional, goto the 3D menu and select repousse, then current selection.

Use the following selections.

Next rasterize the 3d object by right clicking on the layer and selecting Rasterize 3D

Step 3:

There's a sharp point that was created during the repousse tool, know that the layer's been rasterized we can go and round this out. I am going to use the smudge tool, the liquify filter would do a better job but in this instance would take too long.

Create a new layer beneath the 3D layer. Select the brush tool with a 0 hardness, select black create some shadows beneath our new 3D layer. Drop the opacity of the layer to about 60%.

Step 4:

Next, lets import our pouring liquid into Photoshop. I found this image here:
http://www.traylerandtrayler.com/files/media/thumb/large/Milk_SPlash_L.jpg

Open the image in Photoshop and remove the white background.
Transfer this image over to our working image!

Scale and rotate the image so it's better aligned with our image.

Step 5:

There's a couple of ways we can extend the milk to the edge of document. For this image we'll use the puppet warp feature. You can find in the edit menu.

Select three point along the stream of milk

Grab the topmost point and stretch the image upward. Be careful as it the bottom will tilt in one direction or another.

Step 6:

Color correction:

This next step can take some skill, Hue and Saturation is a fairly powerful tool in Photoshop. It can take some so be patient.

Once I am happy with my match, use the eraser tool and smudge tool to help blend the two images. I went ahead and merge the two so i could smudge from both images color pallets.

Step 7:

Add some splash, download a nice splatter brush set if you don't already have one. Here's a nice set for free from Brusheezy.com

http://www.brusheezy.com/Brushes/1476-Splatter

A very useful feature in the brush pallette is the ability to alter the perspective. There is a compass that
allows you to adjust the rotation of the brush as idicated by the arrow, there is also two small dots, these allow you alter the perspective of the brush, You this to throw some paint spatter under the car.

Create a new layer under the main splatter layer and throw some paint around.

Next create a new layer and select bevel and emboss and use the following settings.

Use the various brushes to through some more paint around. Once that's done use the smudge tool to blend your spatter into main image.

Change the blending mode of your splatter to Lighten your done.

Thanks
Nathan White

Create a Temple Planetoid in Photoshop!

2011-02-25T23:31:00.000-08:00

Today I'am going to show you how to create a planetoid in Photoshop.

To begin as always, photo selection is critical. You generally need to start with a panorama but that is not necessary, the wider the photo the better the planetoid is generally going to be. To create our temple planetoid where going to start with nine photo's I took of the Salt Lake Temple in Utah.

Step 1:
You can skip this step if you already have an image you'd like to use.

We need to stitch these photos together. To do this, goto the file menu, automate, photo-merge

Use the photomerge dialog box to select the image's you'd like to use.

This next step can take a bit of time so be patient.
Step 2:

Photoshop outputted this merged photo.

Little skewed, but thats okay.

Press SHIFT+CTRL+E to merge the visible elements of your panorama.

Step 3:
Rotate you image so the element you want to be most prominent is as vertically centered as possible, I used a guide to ensure that I had the center spire centered just right.

Once satisfied, Crop the photo. We want as large an area as possible, don't worry if small areas are cropped out we will fix that next.

Step 4:
Using the Clone Brush and Spot Healing brush to fill in any areas that need it.

To make a cleaner image I removed the building that was in the background the family that was sitting in the lower left of the image. This doesn't have to be perfect so don't spend too much time trying to achieve perfection.

Step 5:
Goto the Edit menu, transform, flip vertical (this is critical for the image to look right)

Then goto the Filter menu, distort, polar coordinates.

Rectangle to polar.

In the open Polar Coordinates dialog box, select Rectangular to Polar and click okay.

Step 6:
You should have your image done but it's upside down. Goto the Edit menu, transform, flip vertically. You should have a complete image.

Next lets remove the background, theres a couple of ways to do this but with this image, the magic wand is sufficient.

Then use the Rectangle marque tool to select the bottom half of the image.

Press CRTL C then CTRL V to copy and paste your selection into a new layer. Then goto the Edit menu, transform, flip horizontal.

Line up the right half of the image so the tree's and the wall are aligned.

Use a eraser with a hardness of 0% to erase the left side of the image and soften the right side edge up.

Change the hardness to about 50% and clean up the far right tree's so they blend better.

Use the Clone brush and spot healing brush to merge the seam. It's not going to be perfect but get it as close as you can.

Depending on how perfected you'd like it to be, you can go in and replace the center of the planetoid with a perfect circle and blend it better but I don't believe that is necessary.

Step 7:

Replace the background.

Search Google for a nice sky background and open the photo in Photoshop.

Transfer the sky photo to our working image.

You will see some imperfections in our planetoid image around the edges, not too worry, we'll fix those right now.

Duplicate the planetoid layer and change the original layer to Multiply

Select your eraser tool and set the opacity to 25% an a hardness of 0%

Select the planetoid copy we just created and erase the edges where the white is showing through.

That's it your done.

Nathan White

Click on the image to zoom

Tilt Shift Photography

2011-02-25T23:24:00.000-08:00

In this tutorial we are going to explore how to create a tilt shift effect using nothing but Photoshop.

Here's some example of some tilt shift photography.

All tilt shift is doing is playing with the depth of field and manipulating the process your brain uses to determine size. When you look at something up real close that has a lot of detail your eyes can only focus on a small portion of that area, the rest falls out of focus. By re-creating this effect artificially in Photoshop we trick your brain into believing that what is a full size photo of an item is really a miniature version.

The most important aspect to remember when creating tilt shift is your photo selection. Because Tilt shift is a cousin of an optical illusion not every photo is going to work. Photo's generally need to be wide shots of large area's, such as landscapes. Using a photo of you and your friends is going to look weird but your brain will be hard pressed to believe that you are miniature?

If you want, you can practice on this photo that I found in the National Geographic. Beside being a gorgeous photo, it makes for an awesome tilt shift photo.

Here's the link:

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/t/terraced-earth-india-072209-xl.jpg

Step: 1
Open your photo in Photoshop.

Double click on the layer, this will open up a new layer dialog box, simply click okay. All this is doing is removing the layer lock on the layer so you can edit it.

Step 2:

Press Q on your keyboard to enter the quick mask mode

Step 3:

While in the quick mask mode, select your gradient tool

Select black to white gradient colors and the select the reflected gradient tool.

Hold down the shift key and create your gradient.

Don't be afraid to do this a couple of time, press CTRL Z to undo the last action.

Step 4:

Press the Q key on your keyboard again to exit the quick mask mode. You should see a selection box, you can move this box if need. Only what is inside of this box is going to remain in focus, this box does not have to be centered but it cannot be completely at the top or bottom of the image.

Step 5:

Reverse your selection by pressing SHIFT+CTRL+I

To apply the Blur, Goto the filters menu and select Lens blur, this will open up a new window.

Adjust the radius to find the right Blur level, I like 30 as a good starting point but it will vary from photo to photo. Play around with the other setting to achieve the look you want. Press okay.

That's it, your done!

Your final Result

Click on this image to zoom in!

Evil monkey in a box tutorial

2011-02-25T17:49:00.000-08:00

How to create a Evil Monkey in a box.

Step 1:
Save these assets:

Step 2:
Use the clone tool and spot healing brush yo clean the box of all the markings except the brown square on the bottom right side of the box. This doesn't have to be perfect. Label this layer Box.

Step 3:

Use the magic wand to separate the box from the background replacing it with a plain white background on a separate layer. Label this layer BG.

Create a duplicate box layer, then turn the layer off.

Step 4:

To create the clear plastic front, use the polygonal lasso tool. You can use guides to help with this but I found it simpler to just eyeball it. You'r going to cut the thumb off but don't worry, that's what the duplicate layer is for.

Once satisfied with your selection, press the delete key.

Step 5:

To create the interior of the box we are going to use the side of the top box. Use the polygonal lasso tool to make a selection on the side of the box, you won't be able to select the whole thing because of the hand, but that's okay just make it as large as you can.

Making sure the original box layer is selected, press CRTL C to create a copy then press CRTL V to paste the selection into a new layer. Duplicate this new layer once. Label these new layers inside 1 and inside 2, hide inside 1 for now.

Move inside 2 so it covers the right half of the original box image. Adjust the image as needed.

Make inside 1 visible and again and move it so it covers the other half of the original box image, be sure to line up the layers so there is a distinct vertical seam. Once satisfied select both inside layers and then press CTRL E to merge them into a one layer.

Step 6:

Use the Burn tool to darken the edges and the seam between the your new interior layer. don't worry if it's not perfect. Use the Blur tool to clean up any area's then need it.

Step 7:

To create the plastic front. Select the original Box layer then use the magic wand to select the inside. Create a new layer, call it plastic, then fill the new layer with white, dropping the opacity down to 20%. Double click on the plastic layer to open the layer style dialog box. Check the pattern overlay box. Select the satin pattern (append the list if necessary, satin is part of pattern list). Increase the scale to 1000% and the Opacity down to 50%

Step 8:

Make the duplicate copy of the box layer visible again and start erasing everything but what's around the thumb. I find it easier to do this if I turn off the original box layer initially.

Once the bulk of the layer been deleted, turn back on the original box layer, making sure you erasier hardness is set to around 80%. clean up around the the thumb. Make sure you leave the shadow beneath the thumb.

When that's done, drop the opacity of the eraser to about 25% and lesson some of the shadow from around the thumb.

Step 9:

Make a new layer and label this one glare, place it just above the plastic layer.

Select the rectangular marquee tool, in the feather box, type in 30 px.

Create a rectangle near the bottom of the box

Fill this selection using the gradient tool, use white to transparent

Duplicate the glare layer and move it to the top, rotating the layer to align with the top

That's it for the box, you can now fill it with anything you'd like.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

To fill the box with our Evil Monkey.

Step 11.

Open the Monkey doll image in photoshop. Use the Magic want to select the white background around the monkey and delete. Then move the monkey to our working image.

Back in our working image, we need to split the box into separate layers, so using the polygonal lasso tool, select the top part of the box and press CTRL X then CTRL V to paste it into a new layer. Label these layers box top and box bottom

Move the Box bottom layer so it's beneath the new monkey layer and position the monkey so it's looks like it fits inside the box.

Step 12.

Create a new layer beneath the monkey layer and label it shadow.

Select the brush tool, size 60, hardness of 80%, color black.

Draw a simple outline around the monkey, don't worry it doesn't need to be perfect.

Once your satisfied with the look, drop the opacity of the shadow layer to about 30%.

Step 13:

Adding the Text:

I used font Bimini, you can get the font here: http://www.fontyukle.net/en/1,bimini

Select the eyedropper tool and select a sample color from the brown color swatch the we left on the right side of the box bottom. Use this color as the color for the font and the monkey logo.

Select the font tool and type out "Evil monkey", Rasterize the type. Select the font tool again and type out "in a box", rasterize the type. Resize "Evil Monkey" so it as wide as the box. Resize the "in a box" so it sits between the "o" and the y of "Monkey". Hold the CTRL while selecting both text layers and then Press CTRL E to merge these two layers together, label the layer Evil Monkey and duplicate, then turn off the copy.

No we want to warp the text just a bit where the thumb is pressing into the plastic layer.

Select the Evil Monkey layer and go the edit menu, go to the transform and select warp.

Move the right side of the text in just a bit then move the text under the thumb up or down just a bit to create a slight bump.

Step 14:

Make visible the duplicate Evil Monkey layer and move the text so its lined up with the bottom of the box. Use the rotate tool, perspective and distort tools to adjust the layer so it's fits on the bottom box.

Select the font tool again and type your name or company name, rasterize the layer, using the rotate tool, perspective, and distort tool to adjust the layer so it's fits along the side of the box.

You can see how the Evil Monkey is not quite vertical. The warp tool comes in handy to correct this problem.

Select the text tool again and type "Now you can have your very own Evil Monkey in a Box", rasterize the text. Using the rotate, perspective and distort tools, adjust the layer to fit on the side of the box. Keep the layer about halfway down the side of the box.

Use the Burn and doge tools to just slightly lighten and darken the text.

Step 15:

To add the Monkey logo to the lower right corner and the upper right corner, open in photoshop the monkey face logo. Use the magic wand to select the light brown and white background colors. To select more than on area, hold down the CTRL Key down. Once selected, press the delete key to remove these two colors. Once deleted, go to the Select menu and select inverse. Then go to the edit menu and select fill. Fill the selection with the same color as your font. Label this layer Monkey Logo

Drag this new image over to our working image.

Duplicate the layer once. Select one of the images and resize the image smaller. Adjust the image so it fits in the small square on the right hand side of the bottom box.

Repeat this process for the large logo on the right hand side of the top box.

Once your satisfied, that it's your done.

Thanks.

Nathan White