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Hello again! Hope your week is going well and
the snow isn't piled too high around your house. We've had our
fair share in Montana, but that is part of the 'Great Outdoors'
package. It has also been a busy month rebuilding Action Fx (http://actionfx.com);
look for a release date on December 19.
This week I'm going to finish up the Layer
Styles series. Thus far we have looked at Adobe's prefab styles
that shipped with Photoshop 6.0 and how to tweak those styles to
suit our own needs. This week we will go into how to create and
save a layer style from scratch, as well as save it for later
use or distribution to other Photoshop users.
It might be prudent at this juncture (thanks
Dana Carvey!) to list and give a brief description of the
options we can edit when applying layer styles. The following
descriptions come strait from the Help File within Photoshop
6.0, and say it better than I ever could.
Angle- Determines the lighting
angle at which the effect is applied to the layer.
Anti-alias- Blends the edge pixels of a
contour or gloss contour.
Blend Mode- Determines how the layer
style blends with the underlying layers, which may or may not
include the active layer
Choke- Shrinks the boundaries of the
matte of an Inner Shadow or Inner Glow prior to blurring.
Color- Specifies the color of a shadow,
glow, or highlight. You can click the color box and choose a
color.
Contour- With solid color glows, allows
you to create rings of transparency. With gradient filled glows,
allows you to create variations in the repetition of the
gradient color and opacity. With bevel and emboss, contour
allows you to sculpt the ridges, valleys, and bumps that are
shaded in the embossing process. With shadows, allows you to
specify the fade.
Depth- Specifies the depth of a bevel and
is a ratio of size. It also specifies the depth of a pattern.
Gloss Contour- creates a glossy,
metal-like appearance and is applied after shading a bevel or
emboss.
Gradient- Specifies the gradient of a
layer effect.
Highlight or Shadow Mode- Specifies the
blend mode of a bevel or emboss highlight or shadow.
Jitter- Varies the application of a
gradient's color and opacity.
Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow- Controls
the drop shadow's visibility or occlusion in a semitransparent
layer.
Noise- Specifies the amount of random
elements in the opacity of a glow or shadow as you enter a value
or drag the slider.
Opacity- Sets the opacity of the layer
effect as you enter a value or drag the slider.
Pattern- Specifies the pattern of a layer
effect.
Position- Specifies the position of a
stroke effect as Outside, Inside, or Center.
Preview- Displays a preview of the layer
style in the image as you change the layer effect settings. This
option is in the Layer Style dialog box.
Range- Controls which portion or range of
the glow is targeted for the contour.
Size- Specifies the amount of blur or the
size of the shadow.
Soften- Blurs the results of shading
before compositing to reduce unwanted artifacts.
Source- Specifies the glow source for an
inner glow.
Spread- Dilates the boundaries of the
matte prior to blurring. Useful on small, thin features such as
cursive descenders or ascenders on type face, which tend to
disappear in the presence of a large blur.
Style- Specifies the style of a bevel.
Technique-
1. For bevel and emboss, Smooth uses a blur-based technique that
is smooth and is useful on all types of mattes, whether their
edges are soft or hard. It does not preserve detailed features
at larger sizes. Chisel Hard uses a distance measurement. It
preserves detailed features more so than the Smooth technique.
Chisel Soft uses a modified distance measurement technique and,
while not as accurate as Chisel Hard, it is more useful on a
larger range of mattes. It preserves features better than the
Smooth technique.
2. For glows, Softer uses a blur-based technique
to create a glow and is useful on all types of mattes, whether
their edges are soft or hard. At larger sizes, it does not
preserve detailed features. Precise uses a distance measurement
technique to create a glow and is primarily useful on hard-edged
mattes from anti-aliased shapes such as type. It preserves
features better than does the Softer technique.
Texture- Allows you to specify a pattern
used to texture the bevel effect.
That gives you the nuts and bolts of what can be edited and what
each effect actually accomplishes. Now let's make our own Layer
Style using what we've just learned!
To start with we need an image. Though I'm back
to working with text today the same technique applies to photos
as well. I'm going to create an image with a white background,
and insert a black text layer.
Let's begin:
Create a new image in Photoshop. Mine is 9.5x6.5 inches, 72 dpi,
white background.
Hit 'D' to restore the default colors (Black foreground, white
background)
Select the type tool and place some text on your
image. For this example I'm using a font called 'Creampuff', 180
points in size, crisp.
By now you should all know how I hate changing
my primary layer/image, so let's duplicate the text layer. That
being both said on my part and done on yours, lets continue. (Is
it me or do I sound like a schoolmarm today?)
Go to your Styles Palette. Open the Styles Menu,
replace your existing styles with the default styles. Delete
these (except the first one), as we will want to save our custom
styles in their own category.
Go back to your Text Layer Copy. Now we will
begin to apply effects!
Click the 'Add a Layer Style' icon on the bottom of the Layers
Palette
Here we go. Select Blending Options to open the
Layer Styles Pop Up window. We can now begin applying effects by
selecting a style from the left column and adjusting the
settings in the center. Something as simple as a drop shadow can
be saved as a style, or a multitude of effects generating
metallic effects, glossy plastic and the like can also be saved
as a style. You have a lot of leeway here... play it simple or
let your imagination run wild!
I can't really show you all the effects I
applied to this image, but it was a combination of Bevels (using
a sharp metallic style curve), Color Overlays, Drop Shadow with
a funky curve applied, and an inner stoke for edge definition.
The primary purpose for this installment wasn't for effects...
you will have to check out the re-launch of Action Fx for that
next week! The meat of this topic will be dealt with now.
Once you are happy with the effect you've
created you will want to save it for use later. To do this open
the Blending Options Window again. Along the right hand side you
will see a 'New Style' Button:
Did you notice the nice little thumbnail example
of our Layer Style? I love that!
Anyway, click the New Style button. In the pop up you may name
your style, as well as choose to Include Layer Effects and Layer
Blending Options. I usually leave these selected to prevent the
loss of a step or effect.
Remember a few paragraphs ago when I had you
delete the Styles in the default styles palette? View the Layer
Styles palette again and you should see your style there, ready
to be re-applied to a fresh batch of text, a button, or anything
your heart desires. After you have made a few of these, click
the arrow in the upper right to open the Layer Styles menu and
save your batch of styles. Now you can load and use these
anytime or send them to your buddies. Not only is this very
cool, but cuts the time trying to capture that effect again.
I've not heard as yet how different systems or
browsers are handling the .ASL file extension. I've had some
trouble (1 in 50 cases) transferring .atn, or action, files
online.
To avoid this problem try to compress them in
both PC and Mac readable formats to be unzipped on the
downloader's system.
I certainly hope this series has been helpful to
you. Time for me to go shovel the sidewalk again... so until
next week, stay warm! |