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Let me start by giving a word of advice. Never,
ever, EVER close out a column by mentioning your plans to go
fishing. I did so last week, and had 3 fun filled days of
watching torrential rains from our condo window. I set myself up
for failure. Just 2 short weeks ago we had an incredibly large
snowstorm (in June, mind you) that toppled trees all over this
part of the state, so why should I be surprised by a little
rain? The week wasn't a total loss, as we did finally see
sunshine and beautifully warm weather. Yes, we no sooner loaded
up the car to head home when the clouds parted, the temperature
jumped 20 degrees and the wind slowed from a tempestuous 50 mph
to 0, all in about 2 minutes. At least the drive was nice!
This week I want to show you a very cool
technique for creating some pretty wild effects. We will be
focusing on manipulating gradients again, but this time I want
you to take a look at a specific blending option, namely
Difference Mode.
Create a new image:
9 in wide
5 in high
Black Background
RGB
72 dpi
The reason I've chosen black is simply to
demonstrate how incredible the changes are when we apply
multiple gradients to the same layer when in difference mode.
Ok, in a new layer, enter some text using the
type mask tool. Use a large thick font set to about 120+ points
on size. Do you have your selection? Great!
Select the gradient tool. Here are my settings as seen in the
options bar:
Apply the gradient from the upper left to the
lower right of the type. On a single pass you should have
something that looks like this:
Now if we draw our gradient thru the type one
more time, this time from upper right to lower left, we get
something totally unexpected:
Now try drawing the same gradient thru the layer
a few more times. You may even want to change to a radial
gradient starting at different points thru the type. I've used
this gradient quite a few times now, finally generating an inner
fire effect.
Though nice looking, it doesn't accurately
demonstrate the color variations possible using this technique.
What would happen if we used 2 opposites, such as blue and
yellow?
Delete the color from the type, and select the
Blue+Yellow gradient. Walk thru the steps above one more time.
Now take a look at this:
Now that gives some variation! We can also
create some pretty far out backgrounds using this technique.
Create a new image with no text in it, again with a black
background. In a new layer fill with the copper gradient, but
only draw it across a small portion of the image in the center,
top to bottom. Re apply the gradient, this time left to right
but again with a short stroke, sort of like you were creating an
x-y axis.
Watch as our copper changes from this:
to this:
If we invert this layer we see that our copper
is still there. This effect looks great on type, interfaces,
frames and I've even seen it used as backgrounds for obnoxious
websites. Play around with it, get to know it, and I'm sure you
will come to love it as I have. |