Follow this step by step guide to giving your photos a cool vintage Polaroid style effect in Photoshop. Well adjust the colours of the image with adjustment layers then use Photoshop brushes to distress the photograph for an aged appearance.
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Create a Daft Punk Inspired Text Effect
25
Dec 2010
Learn how to emulate the text effect used on Daft Punks famous album cover for Discovery. You will create a chrome text effect using layer styles, and incorporate other filters/lighting effects.
Category: Do It Your Self
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Elegant 3D Text Effect in Photoshop
08
Jun 2010
In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create an elegant 3D Text effect using simple the shape tool, layer styles and paths.
Step 1: Setting Size
Make a new document. I’m choosing a standard desktop resolution of 1280×1024 so this can be used as a wallpaper.
Step 2:
Now press "U" and select the rectangle tool. Create a rectangle that is the size of the document. Name this rectangle layer "Gradient". Now apply a layer style with a gradient overlay using these colors #af1854, #f0d6c0 and #ffffff. Be sure the gradient is set to Radial.
Important
Make sure to turn on the "Shape Layer" instead of the default path layer when using the Rectangle Shape Tool.
Step 3:
Now transform the rectangle named "gradient" and increase it’s size from all sides. The gradient will stretch along with rectangle and the background will look like this:
Step 4:
Now click on type tool and write "Think" on a new layer. Name this layer "Think". I used Helvetica Neue 75 bold. Apply an inner glow with these settings:
Blend Mode: Multiply
Color – black
Opacity – 8%
Size – 13 px
Note: These values may change depending on the size of your font. Use the image below for reference.
The text will look like this:
Step 5: Creating 3D Text
Duplicate the text layer and position it behind "Think" layer. Name this layer "3D". To give it a 3D look, we need to extract all the highlighted 3D faces of text . Let’s start with letter "T".
Press "U" and create a rectangle of equal width above the letter "T". Don’t forget to turn on "shape layer". Fill this rectangle with any color and give opacity 20%.
Press "A" and select the direct selection tool. Select the upper two anchor points and align them by pressing the right arrow to give the top of your "T" a 3D look. Name this shape "T1".
Create other faces shown below using the same process. Name these T2 and T3.
Step 6: Giving Shadows
Select the face T1 and change it’s color to white. Hold Ctrl and click on layer T1 to get selection of layer. Create a new layer and name it "T1shadow". Select a brush, and using the color black, hardness 0% and size 50 px. Drag from left to right to give it depth.
Step 7:
Repeat step 5 & 6 to the rest of the characters. Give shadows to other letters carefully. If everything is done correctly, the result will look like this.
You may decide to apply your shadows differently. I’ve applied shadows that gives the text a bit of a soft glossy feel.
Step 8:
Select all layers except the background layer, group them and name the group "Think". Copy the group and merge all the layers of this group copy. This layer will be automatically named as "Think". Duplicate the Think layer and change the blending mode to multiply with 50% opacity.
Step 9:
To create a perfect shadow we need to establish a perspective viewport. Create a new document of size 900 x 600 px. Press ctrl + " to show the grid. Press print screen to copy the entire desktop. Open new document, paste the image and remove the area without the grid.
Copy this grid and paste it in our work document. Change it’s blending mode to multiply to see through it. Transform it to create a plane on which the shadow will fall.
Step 10: Shadowing
Duplicate the Think layer and fill it with black. Transform it to make it fall onto our grid.
Fill in empty spaces where we added extra faces on our characters with black and merge them with the think shadow layer. Now our shadow will look like this:
Step 11:
Apply a Gaussain Blur to our shadow layer "think shadow" and change it’s blending mode to multiply. Now add a layer mask to the “think shadow” layer to fade out the shadow using a gradient (or use a soft eraser).
Step 12:
Looking pretty good! Now let’s add some lighting effects. Press P to select the pen tool and create a Path like this.
Now select a brush of size of 5px with 100% hardness. Select White as your foreground color. Select the pen tool again—the path you drew before should still be there. Right click and select "stroke path" tool. Select Brush from drop down menu and turn on "stimulate pressure". You will get stroke like this:
Step 13:
Name the this stroke layer as "Wave 1" and duplicate the layer. Go to filter > Distort > Wave and apply filter with these settings:
This will give an extra wavy look to the stroke.
Step 14:
Create some more waves by following the steps 12 & 13 and arrange them around the text. Apply a light gussian blur to some waves to give them a sense of depth. If everything is done correctly then it will look like this:
Step 15:
As an optional step, we can add some stars to our text. Press "U" to select the custom shape tool and select 5 point star.
Make a new document of size 100 x 100 px and make a star with the 5 point star shape. Fill it with black and then ctrl + click the same layer to get selection of star. Go to Edit > Define Brush Preset, create the brush and name it star brush.
Step 16:
Press F5 to access the brush panel and apply these settings:
Brush tip shape – spacing 30%
Shape Dynemics – size jitter & angle jitter 100%
Scattering – 578% on both axis
Other Dynemics – opacity 100%.
Step 17:
Select this star brush and keep its size to 15 px. Set foreground color to "#ff62ad". Create another path with the pen tool, right click to select "stroke path". Turn on stimulate pressure and create a wave of stars. Name this new layer something like “Star Wave”.
Step 18:
Now we just need to hide this star wave layer from some places to make it seem as if it is passing through layers. I prefer to use a mask, and manually filling in the areas I want to hide.
Download the PSD (or source files)
Download the PSD
Category: Do It Your Self
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Hexagon Bokeh Effect in Photoshop
24
May 2010
In 2008 I came up with a technique using the Brush Tool in Photoshop to create a digital bokeh effect. Then I mixed it with some gradient colors blended all together. The effect has become quite popular so I decided to upgrade a little bit the effect.
So in this tutorial I will show you how to create a digital bokeh effect with hexagons. We will use the brush engine, patterns, blend modes and basic filters to achieve this effect.
Step 1
Open Photoshop and create a new document, I’m using 2560×1440 pixels so I can use it as wallpaper. Fill the background layer with a very dark grey (#181818).
Step 2
Add another layer and fill it with a gradient using dark yellow, red and blue for the colors. Use 30º for the angle. After that change the Blend Mode to Overlay.
Step 3
Add a new layer and go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground colors. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 70 to 100 for the Amount, then change the Blend Mode to Color Dodge.
Step 4
Now let’s create a hexagon shape to use as brush. Select the Polygon Tool (U) and create an hexagon with black. After that go to Layer>Layer Styles>Strokes. Use 7 pixels for the Size and Inside for the Position. After that go to Blending Options: Custom and change the Fill Opacity to 50%.
To create the brush just select the hexagon by holding Command(mac)/Control(pc) and clicking on the thumb of the layer, then go to Edit>Define Brush. Name your brush and get back to the document with the design.
Step 5
Go to Windown>Brushes. Select Shape Dynamics and use 40% for the Jitter. Keep the other values the same. Then select Scattering, select Both Axes for the Scatter and use 700% for the value. The last thing here is Transfer. Use 40% for the Opacity Jitter and keep the other values with 0%.
Step 6
Add a new layer and group this new layer, it will be inside a folder. Change the Blend Mode of the folder to Color Dodge. With the Brush Tool (B), select the hexagons brush we created in the previous step, then using white paint the layer with some hexagons.
Step 7
Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 2.0 pixels for the Radius.
Step 8
Duplicate the layer and then go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur again, this time however use 5 pixels for the Radius. Change the Fill Opacity to 60%. Also with the Eraser Tool(E) delete some areas that might get too bright.
Step 9
Select the folder in the Layer Palette and go to Layer>Add Layer Mask>Reveal All. Select the layer mask thumb and go to Filter>Render>Clouds. After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 pixels for the Radius. Applying the clouds fliter with the mask will hide some areas based on the clouds colors.
Step 10
Add a new layer on top of the others and the select the Paint Bucket Tool (G), change the type to Pattern and select a stripped pattern, the one I used you can download it here. After that rotate it 30º. You will have to duplicate the layer and move it the new copy to fill the whole screen. Select both layers and go to Layer>Merge Layers.
Change the Blend Mode to Overlay and once again add a layer mask and apply the clouds filter with blur in the layer mask as we did in the previous step.
Step 11
Add a new layer and then group this new layer into a folder. Change the Blend Mode of the folder to Color Dodge then select the Brush Tool (B). With a rounded and very soft brush; use white for the color and paint some light flares.
Step 12
Add a new layer still inside this folder. Get the Gradient Tool (G) and then click on the gradient to open the Gradient Editor. Change the Type to Noise, the Roughness to 100% and select both Options: Restric Colors and Add Transparency. Fill the layer using this gradient but using an Angle Gradient type.
Step 13
With the layer with the Angle gradient selected go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 pixels for the Radius. After that with the brush tool, add another light spot exactly in the middle of the angle gradient.
Step 14
Add a layer on top of the others, then fill this layer with black. with the Eraser Tool(E) and a big soft and rounded brush, delete the center a few times until you have created a vignette effect. The idea here is to darken the edges of the design.
Step 15
Select all layers and duplicate them, after that, with all duplicated layers selected go to Layer>Merge Layers. The next thing to do is to go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 pixels for the Radius .
Step 16
Duplicate this blurry layer so you will have 2 layers. For the first one change the Blend Mode to Overlay and the Opacity to 40%. For the second one, the one that will be on top of the others, use Screen for the Blend Mode and 30% for the Opacity.
Conclusion
This is a very simple effect to create in Photoshop, and as you can see we didn’t use any special plugin or stock photos, we just used basic filters, the brush engine and some blend modes. There are lots of things we can create in Photoshop and these types of abstract effects are my favorite. Now it’s up to you to come up with your own!
Click on the image for full preview.
Download the Photoshop File
Click here to download the Photoshop file used for this tutorial
Category: Graphics
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Retro 3D Arcade Text Effect in Illustrator
10
Feb 2010
In this tutorial we’ll make clever use of Illustrators built in 3D capabilities, gradients and opacity masks to design a Retro 3D Type Effect.
Quick Nav:
- Tutorial
- Download the PSD (Source Files)
The final image
This is what we will be creating:
Step 1
There are actually two ways to begin this illustration. You may draw all the blocky shapes with the pen tool or just download a blocky font like Arcade and Invaders from Space. I’m a man who values his time so I used the font instead of drawing.
Step 2
Duplicate the layer with the text on it. Name the original layer "text outline" and name the second one "text fill". "Text fill" layer should be on top of "text outline" in the layers panel.
Step 3
Make the "text fill" layer invisible and select all the contents of the "text outline" layer. Then go to Effec t > Path > Offset Path to make the text thicker. Type 5 px into the Offset parameter, leave the rest unchanged and click OK (you may need to input a higher offset value if your text is larger than mine).
Step 4
Fill the "text outline" layer with a creamy white colour like #F7F3DB. Make the "text fill" layer visible again and fill it with green colour like #96BD0D.
Step 5
Now we’re ready to take our typography into the third dimension. Select all the contents of the "text fill" layer and go to Effect > 3D > Extrude & Bevel.
Input: -18, -20, 8 as respective X, Y, Z values.
Set the extrusion to 10 pt and shading to Plastic. Extrude & Bevel the "text outline" layer with exactly the same parameters except the extrusion which should be set to 50 pt.
Align the layes, to obtain effect as in the picture below.
Step 6
Select everything (Ctrl/Cmd+A) and go to Object>Expand Apperance. Now we will take care of lighting and specular reflections on our type.
Select every front of every green letter (like in the picture below) and give it a smooth light green gradient fill with 94 degrees angle. Colours of my gradient are #88AD11 (dark) and #ACC658 (light).
Step 7
Make the same selection as in the step before, preferably by selecting one object filled with the green gradient and going to Select>Same>Fill Color. Now this is going to be a weird operation because of how Illustrator handles copying, pasting and putting grouped objects on different layers, so follow those steps precisely.
Make a new layer on top of the other layers and name it "front outline".
Copy your selection and paste it in front (ctrl/cmd+F).
Now cut the selection, and paste it in front again (ctrl/cmd+F).
Give the selection a white stroke and no fill.
Select the "front outline" layer on the layers panel.
Now with the selection still active, click the right mouse button and select Arrange>Send to Current Layer.
If everything went allright you hould see a white stroke over your green letters like in the picture below.
Step 8
Select every object on the "front outline" layer and group them. Change their stroke to 0,75 pt and opacity to about 50%.
Step 9
Make the "text fill" and "front outline" layers invisible. Pick the direct selection tool and select every front of every letter just like in step 6. Fill them with with a light creamy gradient (mine is from #ECE9D2 to #FDFCF7) with 94 degrees angle and give theam a really thin white stroke. 0,25 pt would be just right.
Step 10
Now we have to select every edge that is facing the top like in the picture below and give them a light brownish fill (#E0DDC8). This won’t be an easy process since Illustrator has a really weird manner of cutting 3D objects into milions of little bits and pieces… Just focus, be precise and remember that you can always save your selection by using Select>Save Selection.
Step 11
Before we proceed we need to tidy up the mess that Illustrator left us after Expanding the 3D efect. If you take a close look you will notice that every left facing edge of our leters is cut into 3 or 2 pieces. We will be filling those edges with a gradient in the next step, so each one of them has to be constructed of a single object, not three…
You need to use the Pathfinder to combine the edges into a single object. On every letter make a selection like in the picture below and use Pathfinders "Add to shape area" option and then click Expand, or just Alt+Click the first option to expand the shape automaticaly.
Step 12
Now if you merged all the unnecessary shapes you have to select every edge that faces left except for the inner edges of the letters. If you’re confused just do this like in the picture below. After selecting the edges fill them with a gradient from Step 9 (from #ECE9D2 to #FDFCF7, 90 degrees).
Step 13
Turn on visibility of every layer. Duplicate the "front outline" layer and name it "specular reflection". Select every object on the newly created layer and turn off their strokes and fills.
We’ll use this layer as a clipping mask for our reflections.
Step 14
Select the Ellipse Tool to draw a wide, white ellipse on the "specular reflection" layer and adjust its rotation as in the picture below.
Step 15
Copy the white ellipse and paste it in front (ctrl/cmd+F). Fill it with a linear white to black gradient and use the Gradient Tool to adjust the gradient to the picture below.
Step 16
Select the both ellipses, go to the Transparency palette, click the "triangle menu" and select Make Opacity Mask. Tick the Invert Mask option, adjust opacity to about 65% and select Soft Light as the blending mode. Your result should be similar to the picture below:
Step 17
Our typography is getting all shiny but we are not quite finished. There is one thing that we need to fix. The reflection should be visible only on the front of the green letters:
To fix the problem lock every layer besides the "specular reflection" and select the lower part of the typography (the space invader, L, O, V and E). Then rightclick, select Arrange>Bring to Front, and press ctrl/cmd+8 or go to Object>Compound Path>Make to make a compound path out of this selection.
With the compound path selected add the white opaque ellipse to the selection and press ctrl/cmd+7 or go to Object>Clipping Mask>Make. The reflection is ready.
Step 18
Now copy the white ellipse and position it over the top part of the typography. You also need to adjust its width so it fits like in the picture below.
Step 19
Select the top letters (Arcade), bring them to front, and make a Compound Path out of them just like in Step 17 (ctrl/cmd+8). Then select the compound path and the ellipse and make a clipping mask just like in Step 17 (ctrl/cmd+7).
Step 20
The typography is ready so now all we need is a background, actually I made mine in Photoshop, because it was quicker and easier to obtain the effect that I wanted.
Make a new Photoshop file, create a new layer, fill it with white. Go back to Illustrator, select everything (ctr/cmd+A) and paste it to Photoshop as a Smart Object.
In Photoshop, select the white layer, go to Filter>Distort>Lens Correction and set the vignette amount to – 60
To make the vignette less gray we will colorize it with the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. So create new Hue/Saturation adjustment layer and input the following values:
Step 21
This is the end of the tutorial I hope you liked it, and learned a few new techniques. Here is the result
Download the PSD (or source files)
Download the Source files
Category: Do It Your Self
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