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I've been looking at the title of my website,
and I think it needs an update. I used to focus primarily on
actions, but Photoshop 6 allows for the creation of so many
custom add-ons outside of actions that, as my site changes to
accommodate other goodies, the title no longer describes the
totality of what I'm doing there.
The topic this week revolves around and then
dives right into the area I'm focusing on now. Photoshop 6
provides many texture/pattern sets, but these may not provide
the realism you are looking for in your work, so we are going to
look at creating and saving your own textures for application to
your design projects. Plus we will make something cool to boot!
A few years ago I started accumulating clip art
packs, and as a result there are over a million images floating
around on various CDs in my office. As I create most of my
designs from scratch these CDs have been unused for the most
part. With the ability to save custom textures for instant
application in layer styles, I now have a use for these images
as I will now demonstrate.
First I want to find a few images and open them
up in Photoshop. I've found a fewhat I think will look great on
a design, so I'm just going to set them aside. You may want to
crop or resize the images to prevent a nasty overlap line. We
aren't going to make these seamless, so this is a concern you
should be aware of.
With the images chosen and set aside (I
generally use 12-18 images per set), open a new image, create a
new layer and enter some large type. I'm using a font size of
160 pts, as I want to see up close and personal what my new
textures will look like. The examples look smaller here, but on
my monitor they are quite large.
Now we want to clear out whatever patterns may
be residing in the Layer Styles, so with your text layer action,
click the Layer Styles icon at the bottom. Click on Pattern
Overlay.
You will see a thumbnail of a pattern in the
center, with a vertical arrow button next to it. Click the
arrow, and begin deleting the patterns. On a PC you simply right
click and scroll down to Delete Pattern... I'm sorry to say I do
not know the process for Mac users.
Once these are cleared out, we are ready to
start editing and defining our new patterns. Select one of the
photos you opened earlier. How would this work for a texture?
Does the brightness/contrast need to be tweaked? Maybe it would
look cool inverted?
As I've been making dozens of these sets, I've
set up my Actions Palette to help me with the process. Here's
what mine looks like:
From the actions palette I'm now able to
manipulate, define, and close my future texture with just a few
button clicks. After I've saved/defined and closed several
patterns I then open a new batch of images, edit them, and
define. Once you get the hang of it you can create a set in a
matter of a couple minutes.
NOTE: The ‘Rename' action at the top of the list
is basically an empty action. Though it performs no functions,
it allows me to use the Batch option to rename and resave
hundreds of images. It is only for reference, as the batch
command does all the processing required.
Let's define a pattern. Select a photo. Go to
Edit>Define Pattern.
You may now run through this process with all of
your images. Once done, go back to the layer styles of the text
image, open the textures and you should see all of your new
patterns in their own group.
With your type moved over so that you can see
the changes, click on each texture and see the effect change on
your image. Pretty cool stuff!
Ok, once you are satisfied with your texture
set, you will want to save them. With the textures open, click
the small arrow to the right. From this menu you can save the
set for future use. A very nice thing about this feature is you
can now apply the patterns to your Layer Styles. If you send
your styles to others, remember they will m=need the texture
pack as well.
I'll close out this week with a couple examples
of my patterns applied to text. Next week we will look at this
in depth, so here's a teaser.
I also have a column related to this subject
online at the Photoshop Café, and you may download one of my
texture packs from my website for free. |