Paperflame » Photoshop

Photoshop Tutorial: Creating a Page Peel or Curl

admin — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:34:34 +0000

Adobe Photoshop -- Create a Page Peel / Curl -- Video Tutorial.

For a clearer and/or larger video choose “HD” in “Full Screen”

Photoshop Tutorial: Rotate View Tool – CS4 Only

admin — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:17:03 +0000

Adobe Photoshop CS4 Rotate View Video Tutorial.

For a clearer and/or larger video choose “HD” in “Full Screen”

Photoshop Tutorial: Using Smart Objects

admin — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 23:58:48 +0000

Most graphics programs use rasterized images. When applying transforms like resizing or such the original pixel information is lost. Most of you know you can’t play around with an image in Photoshop and preserve the pixel information of the original image. Well, this is where Smart Objects come into play. They don’t call em’ Smart for nothing.

Smart Objects can be placed or imported as a layers. Smart Objects allow the designer to transform the original image using – scaling, distorting, skewing etc. all the while maintaining the original pixel resolution of the original image. A dream for designers. One can scale the image to the size of an icon and then back to its original size without a loss of image quality. No rasterizing is taking place until the final output when you “flatten” said image.

Here’s a quick example…

Create a Smart Object… there are a couple ways

1. Using Photoshop click File > Open as Smart Object. This is for when you want to open an image directly as a Smart Object.

2. You can paste from Adobe Illustrator. You will be able to choose to past as a Smart Object in a the dialogue box.

3. The other way is within a Photoshop image document, click File > Place – then choose the image file you want to place as a Smart Object. This is for placing an image as a Smart Object layer into an existing project document.

After creating a Smart Object, you will notice in the Photoshop layers palette that the layer looks a little different than a normal layer. It is now easy to tell the difference between Smart Object layers and normal layers. There will be an inset or “badge” in the Smart Objects layer.

Once this Smart Object is created you can go ahead with all your transforms back and forth without losing the resolution of the original image that you placed in as a Smart Object.

Here I placed a Smart Object layer next to a normal layer. They are both the same image, but the one on the right was placed into the document as a Smart Object. Here they will look the same on the canvas except for how they are shown in the layers palette.

Now, After I a re-sized the canvas to 25% then back to its original size, then back to 10% then back to it’s original size you can really see where the Smart Object does it’s magic. Notice the pixelation that has occurred with the normal image layer on the left. You will notice the Smart Object layer on the right has maintained it’s original resolution throughout all the transforms that I put it through! Awesome.

Remember, both these images are layers in the same document canvas. The Smart Object clearly shines. The normal layer is highly degraded. The Smart object holds it’s original quality because during the resizing transformations that I put it through, each time I transformed the image the Smart Object re-sampled the original Smart Object image.

This is just a prime example on why the usage of Smart Objects is a wonderful thing.

Photoshop Tutorial: Create Simple Paper Texture

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:58:54 +0000

OK, this is pretty basic. It may be useful for the beginner or just be a simple reference refresher for anybody. There are many ways to create paper textures. Here I am posting a baseline tutorial that can be expanded on in many different ways. Of course, different colors and styles can be created with experimentation. This should get you started though.

Open Photoshop and create a new white RGB image that is 60 x 60 pixels (you can really make it any size).

Next, go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Set the setting as I show. Experimentation is most expected on your part!

Now go to Filter > Stylize >Emboss. Select settings similar to what is shown.

You now have a simple paper texture to work with. There are many different variables and “looks” that can be achieved if you try out different settings using the different filters in Photoshop. There is also a Brushed Aluminum tutorial here at Paperflame that is a variant of making a paper texture. I myself like grey paper textures. To change colors go ahead and go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. Here you can mess around with color adjustments like so. I remove all color by sliding the Saturation slider all the way to the left.

That’s it… Experiment on your own!

Photoshop Tip: Preserving Project History Instance Using Snapshot

admin — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 19:51:17 +0000

This post can be seen as either a tip or a tutorial. I see it more as a tip though. Creating images by retouching and stacking layers is quite a process. Just look at your history palette during one of those marathon image creations. Before I knew about the “Snapshot” feature in the Histories palette, I used to save different versions of my graphic project at different stages… you know… naming them project1.psd, then project2.psd, then project3final.psd and so on just to make sure that I had access to all the different changes that I had made. Well not only is this way extremely inefficient, it also starts to take up tons of precious disc space! Then I saw that little “Snapshot” icon at the bottom of the Histories palette. It does just what it says. Whenever you reach a stage of your design that you want to save for future reference or editing, all you have to do is click the Snapshot once to save that instance. So simple. I can’t believe I have even babbled about it this long. But anyways, Here are a few example pics.

Original Image (With Birds)

Modified Image (No Birds)
Before I erased the birds, I wanted to save an instance of the image with the birds, so I clicked the Snapshot icon before I did any erasing. This image is after I clicked the Snapshot icon and after I erased the birds.

Modified Image – Viewing the Snapshot Instance
I have erased the birds, but I am now viewing the Snapshot I had taken with the birds before I had erased them by selecting the Snapshot instance shown in the image.
Taking Snapshots during your project is more than convenient, it’s a good habit!

Is this a Tip or Tutorial? Got me, but I hope it helps.