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The magazin magazine e for Adobe® Photoshop® professionals
122
WHY 3D CAN’T SURVIVE WITHOUT PHOTOSHOP PHOTOSHOP
Discover which add-ons you should have Discover to save time & improve your projects
INDUSTRY REVIEW
NEC MULTIS MULTISYNC YNC
Take a look at the latest PA272W desktop monitor for industry creatives
COMPOSITING TECHNIQUES
PHOTOREAL PHOTOR EAL FX FX
Work with colour correction, match perspective & master selections
ISSUE 122
NVIDIA® QUADRO® #1 IN THE THE HEARTS, HEA RTS, MINDS, AND WORKSTATIONS OF DESIGNERS EVERYWHERE
NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards are the most trusted in the world, empowering 80% of design professionals to do their best, most important work across the widest range of applications. Quadro solutions can help you accelerate your workflows, enhance your results, and maximize your productivity, whatever configuration, model size and complexity, or views you use. ®
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ISSUE 122
CONTENTS
ISSUE 122
WELCOME Welcome to the latest issue of Advanced Photoshop. Can you envisage a time when Photoshop will be the only software needed for all tasks? This month, we ask 3D artists if it’s a possibility. ANNALISA SAYWELL Editor IN THIS ISSUE:
PHOTOMANIPULATION PHOTO EDITING GRAPHICS DIGITAL PAINTING TYPOGRAPHY NEW MEDIA
COVER IMAGE BENJAMIN ERDT http://ben-erdt.de This 28-year-old artist specialises in 3D and is currently working at Guerrilla Games doing character work – so who better to work with to create our VS cover than him?! Take a look at his work on page 34.
We all know that for 3D rendering, Photoshop is not yet up to par. That being said, it’s likely that most 3D art workflows have involved using Photoshop at one point or another. So, can 3D live on and render Photoshop obsolete? Or will the updates of the future mean that Photoshop will also include rendering capabilities of its own? We pose this and many more questions to the industry on page 34. Elsewhere in the issue, take a look at the top 20 Photoshop plug-ins to see if there’s something you’re missing or could do with purchasing. In all likelihood, you are. If it’s tutorials you’re after, we have a vast array of photoreal, 3D and graphics options for you, and we also look at the latest monitor to join the extremely competitive market. Don’t forget about our free disc, which this month links up with our 3D theme to give you expert video tuition on 3D printing.
WORKSHOP:
74 PHOTOREAL EFFECTS Learn to blend and composite images from different sources to create a dynamic race scene
FIND US ONLINE: @advancedpshop
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WORKSHOP:
68 BLEND GRAPHICS
Mix Photoshop and 3D software to create a symmetrical and abstract pattern
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FOR BACK ISSUES, BOOKS AND MERCHANDISE VISIT:
ISSUE 122
CONTENTS EYE ON DESIGN What’s hot, who’s in and the latest art & design happenings
06 08 10 16 18
THIS ISSUE’S PRO PANEL
Our contributors share Photoshop secrets INDUSTRY NEWS
Adobe Lightroom goes mobile PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW
Making it big PROJECT FOCUS
Intricate 3D design STUDIO INTERVIEW
Carbon
90 EXPLORING 3D PRINTING
46 26 20 OF THE BEST PLUGINS
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COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP
ISSUE 122
TECHNIQUES
REVIEWS
Professional artists reveal their high-end Photoshop skills in our easy-to-follow workshops
We put the latest creative kit, books and apps to the test
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INDUSTRY FEATURE
20 of the best plug-ins INDUSTRY FEATURE
3D vs Photoshop WORKSHOP
Combine 3D & Photoshop WORKSHOP
Build a fantasy photocomposite HOW I MADE
Shiver Me Sneakers WORKSHOP
Custom light UI elements
66 68 72 74 86 90
HOW I MADE
The Jungle WORKSHOP
Blend graphics
80 NEC MultiSync PA272W 85 Elemente by Divine Project FEATURE:
REVIEW:
HOW I MADE
Laputa WORKSHOP
Photoreal effects READER INTERVIEW
Creative retouching RESOURCE PROJECT
Exploring 3D printing
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CARBON STUDIO
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ON YOUR DISC
Free with issue 122 of Advanced Photoshop
TAILORMADE CREATIVE CONTENT on how to use the new 3D print tools
86
CREATIVE RETOUCHING PREMIUM RESOURCES
HD polygonal backgrounds, Mercenary font, a
PLUS:
EYE ON DESIGN
THIS ISSUE’S PRO PANEL
EYE ON DESIGN
THIS ISSUE’S PRO PANEL OUR CONTRIBUTORS SHARE THEIR PROFESSIONAL TIPS AND TECHNIQUES TO HELP YOU GET YOUR OWN WORK UP TO PAR
BENJAMIN ERDT www.ben-erdt.de
For compositing this render of a 3D deep-sea creature, I rendered many different passes to gain as much control as possible over the final image inside of Photoshop. Embedding a creature design into its habitat can often be a plus when selling the original design intent, as it tells the viewer more about its story and how it interacts with the environment it is in. ■ Discover more about 3D design in our
industry feature starting on p34
© 2013 ben-erdt.de
© William Fu
AMREI HOFSTÄTTER verticolab.com
If you wish to keep yourself and your work in constant evolution, don’t limit your perception to graphic design. Maintain an open and non-cynical interest in everything that surrounds you, stay ahead of what’s relevant in contemporary culture, science and technology, music, cinema, literature… go through life with an open mind, perceive and enjoy everything as much as you can. ■ Learn how to combine Blender and Photoshop
in Hofstätter’s tutorial on p68 © Amrei Hofstätter
WILLIAM FU www.willfu.co.uk
I always use gradients within my images. They are so useful for lighting, mood and atmosphere. Apply them using layer styles, as clipping masks and especially Gradient Maps, which are great for giving the shadows, midtones and highlights dramatic colour to suit the atmosphere and environment of your overall composition. They are also really easy to adjust and experiment with. ■ Fu reveals his secrets to creating 3D-looking imagery over on p44
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The magazine for Adobe ® Photoshop® professionals
DENIS KORNILOV www.deniskornilov.com
At the final stage of my work I almost always add sharpness. As a result, I get more details and the overall image become more attractive. One very important point here is to not overdo it. Add sharpness only in areas that you wish to accentuate, but avoid sharpness in places that you don’t want to bring too much attention to. ■ Re-create one of Kornilov’s images on p46
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If you wish to keep your work in constant evolution, don’t limit your perception to graphic design. Maintain an open interest in everything that surrounds you © Denis Kornilov
AMREI HOFSTÄTTER / HTTP://VERTICOLAB.COM
Chris McMahon, Larissa Mori, Julie Bassett, April Madden, Denis Kornilov, Cyril Juliani, Amar Kakad, Amrei Hofstätter, Simon Skellon, Kirk Nelson, Chris Christoforidis, Daniel Bevan, Steve Mumby, Ben Stanley and Greg Whitaker
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Disclaimer
© Makarand Baokar
AMAR KAKAD www.amarkakad.info
It is paramount to organise your layers to ensure quick and easy access to them. I am a big fan of ‘Convert for Smart Filters’, and having the ability to re-apply your effects is also important as it allows fluidity and saves on time. Also, when necessary, keep merging your layers as this reduces the file size. ■ On p74, Kakad shows you how to create a photoreal image using Photoshop effects
The publisher cannot accept responsibility for any unsolicited material lost or damaged in the post. All text and layout is the copyright of Imagine Publishing Ltd. Nothing in this magazine may be reproduced in whole or part without the written permission of the publisher. All copyrights are recognised and used specifically for the purpose of criticism and review. Although the magazine has endeavoured to ensure all information is correct at time of print, prices and availability may change. This magazine is fully independent and not affiliated in any way with the companies mentioned herein. Photoshop is either a registered trademark or trademark of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/ or other countries and is used with express permission. All $ prices are US Dollars unless otherwise stated. If you submit material to Imagine Publishing via post, email, social network or any other means, you automatically grant Imagine Publishing an irrevocable, perpetual, royaltyfree license to use the images across its entire portfolio, in print, online and digital, and to deliver the images to existing and future clients, including but not limited to international licensees for reproduction in international, licensed editions of Imagine products. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Imagine Publishing nor its employees, agents or subcontractors shall be liable for the loss or damage. © Imagine Publishing Ltd 2014 ISSN 1748-7277
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EYE ON DESIGN
INDUSTRY NEWS
INDUSTRY NEWS
ADOBE LIGHTROOM GOES MOBILE THE CREATIVE CLOUD PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAM IS ENHANCED WITH THE NEW LIGHTROOM MOBILE LINING UP ALONGSIDE PHOTOSHOP ightroom users can now view and edit their photographs on the move with the new Lightroom mobile app for iPad, the newest member of the ever-expanding Adobe Photoshop family. The app, which is only available as part of the Creative Cloud, offers some powerful new features for editing on the go. It offers nondestructive editing on files, with Smart Previews, usually reserved for more powerful desktop editing. It can process everything from photos taken on the iPad itself to RAW camera files, making it a great companion on location shoots. Files taken on the iPad are also automatically synced into Lightroom 5 when connected. It syncs seamlessly with Lightroom 5 on a desktop, including mobile edits, metadata and collections. The tools are also instantly familiar to
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Lightroom users, so the app will fit easily into the professional workflow. This app is likely to appeal to professional photographers, as well as creative studios who use Lightroom to process and manage large volumes of images before taking them into Photoshop for remastering. “With the launch of Adobe Lightroom mobile, we’ve unlocked professional-class photographic workflows from the confines of the desktop,” says Winston Hendrickson, vice president of products, Creative Media Solutions, Adobe. “Lightroom and Photoshop redefined digital photography on the desktop and now, photographers can perfect images wherever they are and, via Adobe Creative Cloud, seamlessly synchronise them back to their desktop catalogue.”
CREATIVE CLOUD PHOTOGRAPHY PROGRAM For photographers and retouchers who don’t use any of the web or design programs produced by Adobe, then the most cost-efficient way of accessing all of the relevant software via the Creative Cloud is through the Creative Cloud Photography Program. This is a dedicated package that includes Photoshop CC alongside Lightroom, and now the new Lightroom mobile. It still offers all of the benefits of Creative Cloud, like the latest updates as soon as they are available for no added cost, and 20GB online storage space, plus the ability to share files with others. Subscribers also get a Behance ProSite included in the package. At the moment, this costs just £8.78/$9.99 a month, which is a significant saving over the full Creative Cloud Suite (at £46.88/$49.99 a month). However, this is a limited-time offer so get it before it expires.
Lightroom and Photoshop redefined digital photography on the desktop and now, photographers can perfect images wherever they are
APP SUPPORT At present, the Lightroom mobile app is only available to those on any Creative Cloud subscription that gives them Lightroom 5, and to users with an iPad 2 or higher. iPhone and Android versions are in development.
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Easy syncing: Automatically sync iPad edits to Lightroom 5 on your desktop, and sync Lightroom desktop edits back to your iPad
D&AD INTRODUCES FREE MEMBERSHIP THE CREATIVE INDUSTRY’S LEADING PROFESSIONAL AWARDS OPEN ITS ARCHIVES TO ALL UPAND COMING AND ESTABLISHED DIGITAL ARTISTS AND DESIGNERS FOR THE FIRST TIME
INTRODUCING PHOTOSHOP 123 MAGAZINE IMAGINE PUBLISHING LAUNCHES NEW DIGITALONLY MAGAZINE TO SHARE TIPS AND INSPIRATION WITH PHOTOSHOP USERS ON THE GO
Photoshop 1-2-3 , a new digital magazine
available now on the Apple Newsstand, is designed to offer Photoshop users a quick and easy way to learn new skills and techniques. Created by the team behind Advanced Photoshop and Photoshop Creative magazines, the new title offers advice and inspiration for digital artists and image editors of all abilities, from beginner to experienced. Each task is broken down into three key steps. The first explains the goal of the project, the second shares the essential techniques that users need to master to reach that goal, and finally it reveals the tricks of the trade to take your Photoshop work to the next level. Editor of the title, Char is Webster, says: “Photoshop 1-2-3 is unique in that it delivers expert Photoshop advice in easily digested bite-sized chunks. We’ve worked hard to create something different, and something tailored to the digital audience, and I’m incredibly proud of the team and the final outcome.” Value for money is also assured, with a monthly issue costing just £0.69/$0.99 and a year’s subscription weighing in at £3.99/$4.99. Find it now by searching for Photoshop 1-2-3 on the Apple Newsstand.
Digestible content: Each Photoshop task featured is broken down into three steps to ensure that readers learn the skill and then enhance it
D&AD has launched a new digital platform, which offers free memberships for all for the first time in its history. This is part of D&AD’s commitment to supporting the global creative industry. The free membership will give users access to the very best work from the archives of the prestigious awards from the last 52 years, to help inspire the next generation of creative talent. This means that every ad, design, campaign, product, agency and creative that has won an award since the first ceremony in 1963 will be available to browse through. The full archive will be available by August this year; currently it goes back to 1990. Tim Lindsay, chief executive at D&AD, says: “A look at D&AD’s history tells a wonderful story. In 1962, the organisation was formed by a special group of designers and art directors, who came together to celebrate the best in commercial creativity, and that’s the spirit we continue today... The new digital archive is a wonderful illustration of
the rich history of the industry and a fantastic resource; one that we believe should be accessible to all, regardless of who you are, or where in your career you may be.” Members will also be able to “explore and interact with fellow creatives by highlighting work they particularly admire” through a new online community. It also enables users to enter the awards easily, download briefs and sign up to events. Find out more at www.dandad.org.
Digital platform: The free membership option is part of the new digital platform recently launched by D&AD
PHOTOSHOP DUE A ‘SPRING CLEAN’ THE NEXT REVISION OF PHOTOSHOP WILL STRIP AWAY SOME FEATURES THAT ARE USED LESS TO MAKE ROOM FOR NEW ADDITIONS TO THE PROGRAM
Flash extension panels replaced: Flash-based extension panels, such as Mini Bridge and Kuler, will no longer be supported in favour of HTML extensions
The Oil Paint filter and Flash-based extension panels are among the features that won’t be available in the next version of Photoshop. Jeffrey Tranberry, senior product manager for Adobe Digital Imaging, made the announcement on the Photoshop.com blog (https://blogs. adobe.com/photoshopdotcom). He says: “With each release of Photoshop, our development team needs to do some architectural spring-cleaning. As we modernise our code and add cool new features, we sometimes have to make tough decisions to cull existing features from the herd.” The decision on which features are cut is made based on a number of factors, including customer usage and the cost involved in maintaining and supporting changes in underlying technology. The loss of the Oil Paint filter is unlikely to affect many professionals, but the removal of Flash extension panels means no more Mini Bridge or Kuler, as well as any third-party extensions installed that use Flash. However, the migration from Flash-based panels to HTML has already been introduced with Photoshop CC. A change that is more likely to have an impact is that Photoshop will no longer support Mac OS X 10.6, requiring 10.7 or later. Adobe recommends that those who will be affected begin migration now before Photoshop is released. The new version of Photoshop will install side-by-side with older versions of the program, so you can run two versions if you wish to maintain these features. No date has been issued officially as to when the update will be released.
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EYE ON DESIGN
PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW
PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW
MAKING IT BIG ANTHONY GARGASZ TELLS US HOW A BELIEF IN YOUR OWN ABILITY IS KEY TO CREATING THE ART THAT WILL GET YOU NOTICED www.anthonygargasz.com @anthonygargasz
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elf-described as a “21-year-old obsessed with digital art, design, and the progressive development of both,” the L.A.-based Anthony Gargasz is one digital artist with big dreams and the passion to get where he needs to be. Gargasz’s love for creating digital art was discovered at the nascent age of 11. “I originally used MS paint because I became frustrated with how difficult I found drawing to be,” he tells us. “A friend then introduced me to Photoshop and I instantly became infatuated with art and design. I don’t know what it was about it but there was something unexplainable about creating digital art that made me fall in love with it.” Gargasz’s first jobs were web-related, with the young artist designing forum skins – a task that he quickly grew out of. His deep-seated passion for design saw him move onto bigger and better things,
from web forums to gig posters and print campaigns, to setting up the international media collective EvokeOne and beyond. Throughout his career Gargasz has refused to settle for anything less than that which he loves – design imbued with passion, love and the simple desire to create… CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR
was relearning what I already had in tutorials. The graduating portfolios were very generic and not very impressive, so I decided to take things into my own hands. Dropping out of college really lit a fire [in me] to take my career to the next level. I began spending my time much more wisely and quit settling for less. I believe that if there is a secret to getting good at anything it is simply practice. A little talent will go a long way if you’re not afraid to work [hard].
EDUCATION? HOW DID YOU DEVELOP YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST?
TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR STYLE, AND
Nearly everything I learnt was from networking online with fellow passionate artists, who simply wanted to share and develop their work. I attended the Art Institute of Pittsburgh for about a month before coming to the conclusion that art school wasn’t for me. There were some very basic fundamentals that I had skipped over in my own pursuit of digital art, but other than that I felt like I
WHAT MAKES IT DIFFERENT FROM THE REST?
My work is my work because I’m always focusing on versatility and creating a wow factor. I combine organic elements, unique 3D forms and explosive colours to create an aesthetic harmony. Fresh and exciting work is created by always switching things up. Whether it be learning a new program, trying a new technique, or experimenting by merging styles,
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Nick: One of several style frames made for Nickelodeon that showcases Gargasz’s versatility, offering a colourful contrast to other works © Nickelodeon
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Running: There’s a clear understanding of shape and form in Gargasz’s work, and how they govern the way the viewer takes in the image © Anthony Gargasz
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Art Junks: Gargasz’s work is always vibrant and chaotic, yet held together by a very apparent grasp of visual designs © Anthony Gargasz
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The challenge inspires me to show the world what I’m made of and express that I’m not a gun for hire, but more of a weapon of mass creation
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EYE ON DESIGN
PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW
the more you innovate the more valuable your skill set becomes. When I first began creating digital art I didn’t know why I enjoyed it so much. I would get frustrated with learning curves, finding inspiration and executing my concepts flawlessly. I then realised that I enjoyed it because the rush of creating made me happy. That realisation instantly made the frustration disappear. When you really enjoy what you do, you create fresh and exciting work without even noticing.
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WHAT IS IT LIKE DESIGNING KEY ART FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY IN L.A.?
It’s been an extremely fun, educational and challenging experience. It turned out to be very different to what it appeared to be, just as most things in Hollywood are. The key art industry is dominated by a select handful of companies who handle the major blockbuster film and TV marketing, while the rest of the smaller agencies deal with lower budget, yet still handsomely profitable, film houses and television networks. The process of creating key art usually begins by reading a script and/or watching a screener, then rounds of creative explorations are executed based on appropriate creative directions and client feedback. Sometimes the rounds are directly commissioned, but usually there are multiple agencies bidding on the job. Once final artwork is chosen, it is then finished to perfection, mechanicals are created to scale to size and prepare for print. My experience working at one of the largest agencies was the complete opposite of what I thought it would be. It’s no secret that movies and TV shows of similar genres have similar-looking artwork. These tacky trends make getting innovative ideas through to the client very difficult. However, the thing that really drives me crazy is not being able to show any of your work to the world. The business side of me understands why so many NDAs are involved, but the artist in me has a burning passion to share everything I create with the world. I felt like I was settling for less by accepting the role of being a small cog in such a large machine of an agency, so I decided to quit. I had the opportunity to work on films such as World War Z , Now You See Me, Me , The Conjuring, Conjuring, Divergent , and many more, I just didn’t have the comfortable employee mindset to keep my head down, mouth shut and execute prescribed ideas. I then became partner in a small start-up agency called SLS Ad Co to pursue every designer’s dream of having creative freedom. Since then I’ve had the pleasure of working on films such as Hercules, Hercules, Miss Meadows, Meadows, Life Of Crime, Crime, Garden Of Last Days and Days and The Most Wonderful Time. Time. The projects I’ve worked on with have been the most challenging, because the success of the project is completely up to my curated team and I. This has forced us to be resourceful and courageous. The challenge inspires me to show the world what I’m made.
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04 Hercules poster: Gargasz is currently a partner at the LA-based advertising agency SLS Ad Co, focused on creating marketing for the entertainment industry © Millennium Films 05 Enduro: Working for a smaller agency offers Gargas much more creative freedom, and a chance to diverge from the “tacky trends” of the blockbuster industry © SLS Ad Co 06 The Legend Of Hercules: “The projects I’ve worked on with the start-up have been the most challenging, because [their success] is completely up to my curated team and I” © Millennium Films 07 DMT: Gargasz originally started out as a web designer on various forums, but soon grew out of the role, looking for bigger and better ways to explore his artistic talent © Anthony Gargasz 08 Anxious: Personal work is still incredibly important to Gargasz, and often combines organic elements, unique 3D forms and explosive colour to create an aesthetic harmony © Anthony Gargasz
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EYE ON DESIGN
PORTFOLIO INTERVIEW
Delusions Of Grandeur:
I’ve always been intrigued by birds flying in flocks, and imagine them being capable of forming into larger masses © Anthony Gargasz HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT SETTING YOURSELF UP AS AN ARTIST WHO WORKS FOR SUCH BIG NAME BRANDS?
The most important piece of career advice I’ve ever been given is that saying “no” creates value. So many upcoming designers have adapted the mindset that they’re going to have to settle for less at the beginning of their career. From spec work, to pitches, to “it’ll be worth the exposure”. [But that’s not true]. If you want to work with big brands, then you have to truly value your work. If you want to value your work, then you have to fully commit yourself to it. Become obsessed, suffer, and commit yourself as a samurai or monk would. Hard work and dedication will never go unnoticed, regardless of what you think. If you don’t think your skill set is worth it to a big brand, then they certainly won’t either. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT EVOKEONE?
EvokeOne is an international media collective founded in 2007, with a mission to develop and showcase digital artists, musicians, and photographers. It was started by a few creatives who met online, worked together, and decided to bring other creatives together to create brilliant work together. Every few months our hand-picked artists
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secretly develop an exhibition based on a central theme to release to the public. It is a great example of the power of collaboration and feedback. I would say it has been the most important method of my artistic development. In the near future we are developing a new front-end of the site, cleaning up the members list, and eventually leaning towards hosting gallery events. We had our first live exhibition release in Baltimore in November of 2011. The public’s reaction to tangible digital art in a gallery was very inspiring to me. I’m looking forward to seeing how far the amazing artistic energy of the group can go. WHAT ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT LESSONS YOU HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE INDUSTRY?
You have to keep an open mind, accept forwardthinking styles, and be willing to share ideas with other great minds. Digital art moves at a very fast pace. Many people underestimate how competitive it can be. There are always young, fresh artists emerging, as well as artists who shift focus and give up on the industry. The programs are developing just as fast as the artists who use them. You have to be willing to dedicate time to always be learning new things. If you’re not working as hard as you can to be the best, there are plenty of other people out there
who are. Stay inspired. I love the feeling of seeing something so beautiful and awe-inspiring that I have to stay up all night creating and trying to pass on the inspiration I felt. Personal work ensures that you always have creative momentum and has helped me avoid the nightmare of creative block.
PORTFOLIO TIPS GARGASZ SHARES HIS TOP TIPS FOR SUCCEEDING IN ■ BE OBSESSED
Not everyone has the courage and bravery to fully dedicate themselves to their work. The ones who spend countless hours perfecting it are the ones who will get the big projects, be recognised and rewarde d. Working smarter, harder, and focusing on the big picture w ill take you to great heights. ■ COLLABORATE
It’s common sense that two heads a re better than one. Working with others helps prepare you for working professionally, gives you the opportunity to exchange techniques, and create amazing artwork unlike anything you could’ve created on your own. P ut your ego to the side and allow others to help expand your artistic vision. ■ SAY “NO”
Saying “no” creates value. Don’t let anyone say you’re not good enough. Your self worth will determine your success as a designer. If you don’t believe in quality over qua ntity then you’ll be stuck designing whatever small businesses with small budgets want to send your way.
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EYE ON DESIGN
INTRICATE 3D DESIGN
PROJECT FOCUS
INTRICATE 3D DESIGN JERICO SANTANDER TALKS US THROUGH THE BUILDUP OF THIS COMPLEX ARTWORK AND HOW PHOTOSHOP WAS USED TO ADD TEXTURE AND DETAILS here are a lot of things that can be used as inspiration for a piece, from the world around us to books and films. Having a strong concept and the right inspiration is key if you want t o create believable, detailed artwork that captures the imagination of an audience – essential for commercially driven design. This incredibly intricate image by Jerico Santander is the proof of this; the concept and inspiration of the piece was determined at an early stage, looking to represent the famous musical masterpiece The Four Seasons by Vivaldi in a modern and engaging manner, with reference to classical 17th Century art. It also highlights how the use of 3D modelling and Photoshop in combination can create an almost illustrated look, as well as high-quality visuals that lend themselves to a range of purposes and end use. In t his exclusive interview with Santander, we find out more about how this piece was built up and put together.
T ABOUT THE STUDIO JERICO SANTANDER www.jericosantander.com Santander is a talented 3D artist, illustrator and art director from Spain, whose work is always colourful, detailed and with a healthy dose of surrealism. He has worked for agencies from all over the world and on a range of projects with high-profile clients.
NAME OF PROJECT THE FOUR SEASONS
CAN YOU GIVE US AN OVERVIEW OF HOW THIS
WHAT WAS THE CONCEPT OF THE PROJECT AND HOW CLOSE TO THE CONCEPT WAS THE FINAL IMAGE?
The goal was to re-create an orchestra stage representing Vivaldi’s piece The Four Seasons. It had to be highly detailed; 17th Century painting-inspired yet fresh and modern with regards to technique, offering something new to t he viewer. We [chose] not to use ‘perfect’ characters; some of them are fleshy, some have got bizarre looks and funny facial expressions, and they are holding stuff related to their season as if they were instruments. We needed to encourage the viewer to stop for a moment to observe some of the little stories around the piece. DID YOU WORK FROM SKETCHES BEFORE YOU STARTED TO MODEL THE IMAGE IN 3D, OR DID YOU GO STRAIGHT INTO IT?
Yes, we did [do] some sketches for the stage and the characters. Props to Leandro Panganiban, our concept artist.
PROJECT CAME ABOUT AND HOW IT WAS INTENDED TO BE USED?
CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE 3D
Kompost, a Zurich-based creative studio, came to me with a very interesting, challenging proposal illustration for one of its clients, Zurich Chamber Orchestra. It was requested to be used as a key visual for different media in Switzerland, mainly print and web.
PROCESS THAT YOU USED TO BUILD UP THIS
Characters sketch
Early sketch
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National Geographic render passes
COMPLEX DESIGN?
Most characters were sculpted in ZBrush. An advantage of 3D illustration, as opposed to animation, is that we don’t necessarily need a proper character’s topology, so we can start sculpting from a base mesh without caring at all about edge flow of the polygon mesh. Same goes with UVs; we didn’t need to put much effort into them since we are not animating. This makes the
Ambient occlusion
Trees and grass were generated and shaded in Maya. There are great tutorials from Alex Alvarez at The Gnomon Workshop that I highly recommend if you are using Maya or Mental Ray
We started with default ‘perfect’ models, then we posed and changed them a bit in ZBrush; some are rather fat, some have long witch noses and ugly faces
Elements such as the kissing fish, mice and cheese, unicorn skull and knife underground are over-painted in Photoshop. This is done [because] small 3D elements tend to get lost and it’s hard to recognise them. It also helps [to give] an illustration feeling
All images © Jerico Santander
whole thing faster. The software of choice for setting the scene and rendering was Maya and Mental Ray. WHAT ROLE DID PHOTOSHOP HAVE TO PLAY IN THE CREATION OF THIS IMAGE ONCE THE RENDERING WAS COMPLETE?
Photoshop’s main role in this project was texturing the characters, compositing the final render passes and retouching and detailing the final product. WHAT PHOTOSHOP TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES
involved with the characters’ anatomy and creativity, but mostly regarding the scene proportions, background, lighting and certain elements’ positioning. Feedback is something to expect from such detailed jobs. It’s crucial to define each stage of the project in a timeline and make sure the client understands the workflow well; for example, a week for concept art and sketching, two weeks for modelling, a week for lighting, texturing and rendering, and three to four days for retouching. Otherwise, a lot of time can get lost.
Sample clay characters
WOULD YOU SAY WERE KEY WHEN BUILDING UP SUCH A DETAILED PIECE?
WHAT TIPS WOULD YOU GIVE TO OTHER
For this project, there’s no particular technique I used that brought the ‘magic’ to the piece, but I’d say masking and colour corrections would have been the most important part. Digital painting here and there to try to break the 3D feeling [was also important to the overall look].
DIGITAL ARTISTS WANTING TO CREATE
WAS THERE A LOT OF TOING AND FROING WITH THE CLIENT? OR DID YOU HAVE A LOT OF FREE REIGN TO ADAPT AS YOU WENT ALONG?
There were several rounds of feedback; not much
SOMETHING AS DETAILED AS THIS PIECE?
Start focusing for a while in a field you particularly enjoy and feel confident working in, say digital painting, character modelling, or anything else. Then, start to expand your knowledge by studying other subjects from out of your comfort zone. Slowly, you will start to understand everything behind an image and will no longer wonder “How was this piece done?” when you see stunning artwork printed around your city.
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EYE ON DESIGN
STUDIO INTERVIEW
STUDIO INTERVIEW
CARBON HOW THIS CARDIFFBASED CREATIVE STUDIO BRING FUN INTO EVERYTHING THEY DO FOR A HOST OF BIGNAME CLIENTS ost high-end creative studios are based in capital cities, and Carbon is no exception. Rather than being headquartered in the UK’s capital city however, the BAFTA-winning creative team have gone back to their roots and set up their base in the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Creative director and founder Michael Clague explains: “Having worked in London for three years following graduation, I was keen to move back to my hometown of Cardiff. I found that no agencies were doing the kind of work I wanted to do, so I decided to set up my own company with an aim of bringing exciting creative work into Wales.” And that is exactly what he and senior designer and illustrator Logan Brinkley have done with Carbon. “Carbon is creative at its core, offering what we believe to be a comprehensive service in design, interactive, illustration and animation,” explains Clague. “We like to be able to offer our clients the complete package from concept, through design and build to the finished product. We’ve always actively pursued creative work, and as a result we tend to get approached by clients looking for a very creative solution. This unwavering focus on creative briefs is what I think sets us apart.” The Carbon team are happy to work across the four core disciplines that make up their specialities – design, interactive, illustration and animation – or to focus specifically on one, depending on the client’s needs. “Our commissions are reasonably well balanced, with design and interactive being top followed closely by illustration, then animation making up a smaller chunk of the work. Some clients know us just for one discipline while others come to us for a full end-to-end service. We also might work with other agencies to bring a single service to their in-house team,” Clague explains. “The majority of projects we do are interactive websites. These require UX design, illustrated elements, HTML5 development and occasionally animated video elements. We find that the client will come to us looking for one or two particular services, but in order to make the project the best it can be, we often find that we inject the various skills we have to make the project even better.” Carbon is also unfazed by working with other agencies to complete a client brief. “Collaboration is a key element of our business model, and working with other agencies is something we really enjoy. We have some great working relationships with a few
M
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ABOUT THE STUDIO CARBON www.carbonstudio.co.uk @carbonstudio
Michael Clague, Owner, Creative Director
Logan Brinkley, SeniorDesigner/Illustrator
Cardiff, Wales-based studio Carbon offers a range of creative services across its core skills of design, animation, illustration and interactive. The team currently focuses mainly on interactive design with a large dose of fun.
o i d u t S n o b r a C ©
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EYE ON DESIGN
STUDIO INTERVIEW
WWF website - “We worked with WWF to c reate a campaign website centred around renewable energy. We used a mixture of bespoke illustration and the latest HTML5 technologies to ensure a multi-platform solution”
Second opinion - Brinkley talking through his latest project with Kath. “We always like to get a fresh pair of eyes on a project we been looking at for a while”
o i d u t S n o b r a C ©
© WWF
© Carbon Studio
Museum Of Childhood, AMV BBDO – “We teamed up with CIA and AMV BBDO to create the campaign, ‘Mind of a child – eye of an artist’, which ties in with the t heme of this year’s Big Draw project, ‘Draw Tomorrow’.
o i d u t S n o b r a C ©
Just Skin And Bones – Digital type exhibition
local and international agencies, working on projects from Cardiff and London to New York. An agency we have done a few great projects with is Naked Communications, who have offices in London and New York. We worked with their UK team to create an interactive module to sit inside the Cadbury Joyville website. Our role was to design and build a self-contained HTML5 module to fit into their existing Cadbury Joyville website, promoting the new Cadbury Bubbly bar. This involved working closely with Naked’s in-house team to ensure design consistency and technical integration. We wanted to use the uniqueness of the Bubbly bar itself to its best advantage. We therefore created a 3D model of the bar, which the user can explore in order to discover the multimedia content hidden in the bubbles.”
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Another high-end client Carbon has recently worked with is the World Wildlife Fund, and this project also tied into their location in the Welsh capital. “We have been working with WWF for the last few years creating various interactive projects for Earth Hour. When WWF approached us to look at the issues of renewable energy, we wanted to do something different to a ‘standard’ website. WWF had already gathered their findings on renewable energy usage and energy waste and briefed us to present these facts back to the user in an engaging way. They also wanted to take their findings to the Welsh Assembly Government to highlight the issues. “Our idea was to create an interactive quiz centred around the WWF renewable energy facts. The quiz would allow the user to select from three options,
each giving a relevant animation. It would be created in HTML5, allowing the team to take it and place it directly in the government member’s hands. Mike started by creating the framework layout and UI. It needed to be a responsive design to work across different devices and browsers. Alongside this, Logan created bespoke illustrations for the quiz questions. We then worked with our developer to create the quiz. Once completed, WWF decided to set up a campaign stand in the Welsh Assembly building with the aim to engage with ministers directly. We also went along with iPads all set up to run the website on the 3G network.” Both members of the team have distinct roles in which Photoshop has a huge part to play, as Clague explains. “I have a strong focus on UX design,
CADBURY DAIRY MILK BUBBLY TO COINCIDE WITH THE RELEASE OF CADBURY DAIRY MILK BUBBLY, CARBON WERE ASKED TO CREATE AN INTERACTIVE MODULE
© C a d b u r y
“We were approached by Naked Coms to bring our creative edge to a self-contained part of the Cadbury Joyville website. We had worked with Naked Coms before on a Virgin Atlantic project and recommissioned from the success of that. Creating such a fun project for such an exciting brand was a dream brief for us. And being a part of a national campaign gave us great pride as we saw our work reach millions.” See it for yourself at http://vimeo. com/52382128.
01
CREATING THE CASING
04
WIRES AND BUTTONS
I started drawing three Smart Object circles. The bottom one has a rounded gradient to make it seem circular, the next has a pattern overlay for texture and the top one has an inner shadow to make it seem recessed.
Next I added more detailing to the case. The wires were created by cutting out an image of a hoover hose and making it metallic by desaturating and adding highlights. The Close button and plaque were drawn with the Pen tool with layer effects to give a 3D feel.
02
PIPING AND SPEAKERS
05
SHINE AND NOTES
Next, using Smart Objects and the Pen tool, I created the shapes for the piping and speakers. I then used gradient overlays, inner shadows and drop shadows to make them look 3D. I used a texture to make the speakers.
To finish I used the Circle tool with a white to transparent linear gradient on. I set it to 0% Fill and 30% Opacity to give a glass shine finish. The chocolate notes were drawn in Illustrator and imported. I then added a bevel layer effect in chocolate colours.
03
SPEAKER CONE AND CHOCOLATE
06
THE REST OF THE DESIGN
I took a real chocolate texture and used Content-Aware to fill the circle. Using Smart Objects again, I created four circular shapes to create my speaker cone. The cone part was converted to a Smart Object and noise was added.
The remainder of the design was created in much the same way: Smart Objects with gradients, layer effects and textures. We created the bar in 3D, which tilts left and right on mouse movement. We exported the video as frames and treated each frame to get the colours right.
021
EYE ON DESIGN
STUDIO INTERVIEW
illustration and animation. I use Photoshop for the majority of design tasks, taking full advantage of the powerful production features and pixel-based layout and grids. I also create illustrated elements in Photoshop using Smart layers and effects to make photorealistic artwork for projects.” However, when it comes to animation, Clague uses a mixture of After Effects for pixel and Flash for vector-based animations: “My preferred animation platform is Flash; not only is it vector-based, but I write the majority of my animations in ActionScript code. Once completed, the Flash animation is converted to a QuickTime video for publication. “Logan has a deep passion for illustration as well as design. He’s most at home in Illustrator, his tool of choice for the majority of his illustration briefs. Any vector-based animations that I create will first be illustrated by Logan. He loves to create bold, colourful and beautifully simple illustrations, something he also brings into his design work. He will often create illustrated content for his design projects, creating bespoke content for the project as he’s designing it. Logan loves the production value Photoshop can bring to his illustration; it’s great for adding colour grading and depth to his work. I tend to use Photoshop in two ways, the first being UX design. The other way I use Photoshop is to create photorealistic illustrations and design elements. Logan tends to use Photoshop by importing his vector-illustrated assets into Photoshop and arranging them into designs. He also likes to create his more conceptual illustrations in Photoshop, using it as a comping tool for his vector work.” “Photoshop is a lot like computer hardware: once you experience the extra power and features of a new update, it’s impossible to go back. As I use
Photoshop every day, it’s become an extension of myself, allowing me to intuitively express my ideas more effectively with each update. I love how quick it is to professionally extract an image from its background or fill in the gaps in an image using Content-Aware. “The biggest impact on our workflow recently has been Smart Objects,” he continues. “Not only do they allow us to easily make client changes, but they make it really simple to produce Retina-sized graphics for mobile devices.”
We’ve always actively pursued creative work, and as a result we tend to get approached by clients looking for a very creative solution
Carbon has had some fantastic highlights in an already burgeoning career, like “winning our first BAFTA for best interactive for the BBC Merlin website. I designed that site when the company consisted of just me, working out of the spare room of my flat at the time! But by far and away the most exciting time for Carbon is right now. We’re really excited about the new technologies we’re working with, and are working on some fantastic creative projects with clients all over the world. “ At the core of the Carbon mindset is fun – a fun office, fun with Photoshop, fun projects to work on, and this definitely comes out in their work. “I think our sense of fun is evident in our process and end product,” says Clague. “We love to create things that people enjoy, and this stems from our love of what we do. It also shapes our direction, as we only work on projects that we think we will enjoy and are right for us as a company.”
Change of scenery – “We find it really useful to escape the desk to the meeting room to discuss a project. This is where we have all our local client meetings too”
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF LOGAN BRINKLEY DISCOVER WHAT GOES ON IN THE CARBON STUDIO ON A TYPICAL DAY
08:00
After a bright and early 7:30am wake up call, I usually leave my Cardiff apartment at 8am and head out to grab a quick coffee before the cycle over to the Carbon studio.
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08:15
A MORNING
I grab my usual vanilla latte while reading today’s news on my bookmarked design blogs and social sites. I then have a quick look through my calendar, preparing for the day’s busy schedule.
08:30
Once I arrive at Carbon I take some short time out to browse online and find some inspiring stuff that I can add to my inspiration folder which sits on my desktop. I find this helps keep me motivated and refreshed for the day ahead.
09:00
FIRST Now it’s time to get down to work. First, I respond to any emails that I have received since the previous day. Some of our international clients will be in different time zones, so it is important to keep on top of any project management and correspondence with them.
Universal Scene – User interface illustration
© Carbon
TOP 5 PRODUCTION TIPS ■ DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME
By making your designs perfect from the start they will get signed off quicker and will already be ready for production. ■ USE SMART OBJECTS AND EFFECTS
This will allow you to easily make changes, wrap up complex layers into a single object and create double-sized Retina assets. ■ USE GRID SYSTEMS
Setting up a grid should be the first thing you do, no matter how small the project or design. This will enable pixel-perfect designs every time. ■ CREATE DEVELOPERFRIENDLY PHOTOSHOP FILES
Structure and name your layers perfectly so your developer can understand them. Don’t use any effects that can’t be merged down into a single asset. ■ KEEP EVOLVING
Don’t be afraid to relearn new techniques for processes you’ve been using for years. Discovering new Photoshop features can dramatically improve your workflow and creativity.
10:00
FRAMING
I continue wireframing for a new
Doctor Who project we’re working on for the BBC,
a regular client of ours. This is an invaluable process to carry out before I move onto the design. I can clearly plan the design direction while also giving the client a better understanding of how it will work.
Mizuno app – The Mizuno touch screen app in Amsterdam
© Mizuno
13:00
TIME FOR LUNCH!
I managed not to eat at my desk today (for once) and instead grabbed some gammon and eggs on the waterfront in Cardiff Bay. It hit the spot!
15:00
STORYBOARDING ANIMATION
I then swiftly move onto another BBC project, illustrating and storyboarding for an upcoming animated video for their new iWonder brand. This will see me through to the end of the working day at 6pm.
18:00
READY FOR THE WEEKEND
I save and back up today’s work, then grab a quick beer at the waterfront with the guys at work and friends from another design agency. Around 9pm I head to the centre for dinner with my girlfriend.
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OF THE BEST
20PLUGINS WE LOOK AT THE BEST PLUGINS AVAILABLE TO HELP YOU BE MORE PRODUCTIVE, SAVE TIME, GET CREATIVE AND DESIGN PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS IN PHOTOSHOP
© slusarenko on www.freeimages.com
01. ONONE SOFTWARE PERFECT EFFECTS 8
ONONE SOFTWARE www.ononesoware.com / Approx £89/$150 onOne Software does a wide range of high-end plug-ins for Photoshop that help you to edit, retouch, enhance and get creative with your images. Perfect Effects is just one of these and is designed to add filter effects to your photos. The filters can be customised to suit your needs and there are various presets to help you get started. It can be used to replicate the look of certain film effects, add ‘dynamic contrast’ to photos, place selective lens blur and emulate a HDR style, among other effects. One of the reasons that we like onOne Software’s range of products is that they are easy to use, but actually make a big difference. Many of the effects could be created in Photoshop using the built-in tools, but it would take a lot longer to do and would be more difficult to amend. Perfect Effects enables you to build up filters in a Filter Stack, so you can combine different effects to get a distinct look. You do pay a premium for a good filter package such as this one, so it is worth reviewing the online supporting material to see what the program can do, as well as make the most of the free trial available.
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© slusarenko on www.freeimages.com
20 OF THE BEST PLUGINS
TECHNIQUES
02. TEXTURE ANARCHY
DIGITAL ANARCHY
04. MACHINE WASH DELUXE
www.digitalanarchy.com / Approx £77/$129
MISTER RETRO
Texture Anarchy is a plug-in that lives up to its name, giving you access to textures and borders that can be infinitely scaled without losing quality, as well as giving you the ability to create your own designs. It is split into three key plug-ins: Texture Explorer, which is the main area to create seamless textures; Tiler Anarchy, for creating repeated seamless designs; and Edge Anarchy to create borders. You use one of the many built-in presets as a starting point from which you can begin experimenting. The textures are created by layering one of 38 different noise types on top of each other and combined to give different effects. The textures are great for using in both 2D and 3D workflows, and they can help to bring your typography to life. Once you have mastered the basics, then there is a Lighting Editor and a Bump Well that enable you to create powerful textures that have myriad professional applications.
www.misterretro.com / Approx £59/$99 Machine Wash is a set of texture filters that add an aged look to your designs. It can make photographs look worn and vintage, but it is probably better applied to graphic design projects, especially poster layouts and text. There are over 3,000 presets available within the program that offer different looks, and these effects can be applied to your whole image or in a more targeted way.
01
BASIC SETTINGS
02
WASH OPTIONS
03
SURFACE DESIGN
Under Basic you can select from preset filters to apply to your design. If you tick Filter Settings, you can see the textures that have been layered up to create the effect, which helps you to see how filters are generated.
03. NKS5 NATURAL MEDIA TOOLKIT www.nkurence.com/blog / Free (donations accepted) This plug-in is one for digital painters. In fact, it’s not a plug-in as such; it is an extension that is installed through the Adobe Extension Manager. It has been created by an artist and it is a collection of natural media, texturing and production tools. When you install it, it adds a new palette into the Photoshop workspace and it is packed with tools. You can use it to create documents that look like real-media products, such as paper, notepad, graph paper and more. From there, you can draw with pencils, pens and markers, as well as paint with watercolours. There are texturing tools, guides and margins and brush presets as well. When it is all put together, it becomes a powerful alternative to Photoshop’s own painting toolset, as the brushes are very realistic, and simply the way that everything has been collected together in one place means that there is a lot less trawling through menus to complete different tasks – leaving you to get on with the actual painting. This sort of extension for Photoshop shows that it’s not just the well-known and expensive packages that make a difference to your workflow.
Go into the Wash tab and you can begin to create your own look. Click on Texture to load up the textures available and apply, then customise to suit your needs. You can save any looks that you like so that you don’t have to remember all your combinations.
Once the texture is in place, add depth with the lighting and contrast controls in the Surface tab, which help to add realism to the final design. Select the Generate Effect in New Layer Above option before applying, so you can continue working on it in Photoshop.
027
05. SILVER SILVER EFEX EFE X PRO 2
GOOGLE NIK COLLECTION
www.google.com/nikcollection / Approx £89/$149 This plug-in is designed especially for creating striking black and white photography. It emulates old film types, as well as adding tones and borders to finish the look. The algorithms that are used are very powerful so that you get a realistic result, but the whole process is editable so that you can tweak it to get the image that you want. There is a built-in History Browser so that you can undo adjustments easily and re-apply, as well as a whole host of tools to selectively alter your photo. The price quoted here is actually for the Nik Collection bundle (you can’t buy the products individually any more), so for that price you also get Analog Efex Pro, HDR Efex Pro, Dfine, Color Efex Pro, Viveza and Sharpener Pro, which makes this quite a bargain.
■ Preset Library Choose a preset from the panel on the left to start your edit. You can save your own presets to appear here too (under Custom) and import others
Global Adjustments ■ Here you can make adjustments to your whole image by playing with the sliders. You can always undo if you are not happy with the results
Selective Adjustments ■ By setting control points on your image, you can target where you make adjustments, which is good for fine-tuning your effect
Further controls ■ You can also set Color Filter, Film Type and Finishing Adjustments using the panels down the right for a more precise result
06. FILTER FORGE
FILTER FORGE INC
www.filterforge.com / From approx £89/$149 Filter Forge is a plug-in that works in two key ways. First, it gives you access to over 10,000 filters that have been created by its community, which means that you can create some interesting effects with little effort. The real power comes from the fact that you can use the plug-in to create your own filters using the visual node-based editor. It can be a bit complicated to get your head around at first, so it is worth exploring the Support section on the website, which has tutorials to follow to get started. Filter Forge comes in three versions – Basic, Standard and Professional – so it depends what functionality you need. For example, if you wanted to create your own filters, you couldn’t do that with the Basic version, so it is worth considering one of the more advanced suites. The Professional version is available on a subscription model, which helps to manage the cost.
028
20 OF THE BEST PLUGINS
TECHNIQUES
09. FLUID MASK 3
VERTUS www.vertustech.com / Approx £89/$149 Vertus Fluid Mask is one of the best-known plug-ins for masking in Photoshop, and it is now in its third version. It’s not cheap, but it does offer a high-end solution to creating complex masks on any subject and is a real timesaver if you need a lot of extracting done. There is a free trial available. Image processing time has been greatly improved and it is packed with tools to help you target image areas, no matter how finely detailed.
© Sample of website created in SiteGrinder - www.missiondesign.co.nz
07. SITEGRINDER SITEGRINDER 3
MEDIALAB www.medialab.com / £TBC SiteGrinder is one of the best-known web design plug-ins for Photoshop. It is designed for those who want to create striking website designs, but don’t have the skill or the inclination to do any coding. You can create a design using Photoshop, and SiteGrinder will slice it and code it for you, which makes life a lot easier. When you first get the plug-in, there is a sample PSD for you to play with to understand how it all goes together, but there is also an extensive Help section on the website. There are various templates available as well to give you a starting point if you need something to base your design on.
10. TOPAZ REMASK
TOPAZ LABS
08. NOISEWARE
IMAGENOMIC www.imagenomic.com / Approx £48/$80 Noise is a problem many photographers have to deal with. Photoshop can do a fair job of remov removing ing it, but but there are are plug-ins plug-ins available that do the work quicker and with better results, making a worthwhile purchase. One of the best of these is Noiseware by Imagenomic, which uses a powerful algorithm to eliminate different types of noise from your photos. It manages to retain image quality and detail during the process, which is the biggest problem with any process that affects the pixels in a photo. There is a free trial available, so you can try it out, and it can also be bought as part of a bundle with the company’s other plug-ins, including Portraiture, which is also featured here.
www.topazlabs.com / Approx £42/$70 This plug-in is designed to make masking tasks quick and easy, saving you time when working on complex compositions. It is available as a free trial, so you can try before you buy, but it lives up to its promise of being simple to use with fast results. It is designed for difficult masking tasks, like hair or similarly coloured objects, and it works using a painting system where you brush over areas that need to be kept or discarded.
029
© Andreas Krappweis on www.freeimages.com
11. TOPAZ SIMPLIFY
TOPAZ LABS www.topazlabs.com / Approx £24/$40 Not everyone is a natural with a paintbrush, digital or otherwise, which is why there are plenty of filters and plug-ins for Photoshop that look to turn your photos into works of art in minutes. As with many filters of this ilk, there are the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Topaz Simplify is one of the best, thanks to its ability to create realistic results that look as though you have painstakingly painted in every minute detail. There are various looks you can achieve, from watercolour to oil painting, and pencil sketch to charcoal. The plug-in opens from within Photoshop and there are a number of presets to get you started with the vague look you are after. You can customise all of the filters that you want to use with sliders down the right of the screen. It’s easy to completely change the look of a filter into something right for you, so not every image will come out looking like a carbon copy of the one before it. Despite the quality results, this is actually one of the cheaper plug-ins that we have looked at here. If you need fine-art results, then this is definitely worth your consideration.
ENLARGE YOUR PHOTOS 12. BLOW UP 3
13. PERFECT RESIZE 8
ALIEN SKIN SOFTWARE
ONONE SOFTWARE
www.alienskin.com / Approx £59/$99 Sometimes there are photos that you want to use in your designs and they are just not big enough. It’s a cardinal sin to simply upscale them without thinking about the result, but there are plug-ins that enable you to get more inches without losing quality. Blow Up uses a similar system to Photoshop’s Resize command, so it’s instantly familiar. The difference is that it uses powerful algorithms to maintain high quality without introducing any artefacts.
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www.ononesoware.com / Approx £89/$150 This is an industry-standard resizing application that uses interpolation algorithms to enlarge photos to a high standard. It comes in two versions: Standard and Premium. We’ve only looked at the Premium here as it works as a Photoshop plug-in, whereas the Standard version is standalone only. Aside from that, the Premium option also lets you batch edit, resize CMYK, Lab and Greyscale images, and opens RAW camera files, making it the more appropriate choice.
20 OF THE BEST PLUGINS
14. EXPOSURE 5
ALIEN SKIN SOFTWARE www.alienskin.com / Approx £89/$149 Alien Skin Software creates a wide range of high-end plug-ins for Photoshop users, but one of the best is Exposure. It is designed to help you emulate various traditional film looks, such as lo-fi and old-school film types. The results are realistic and professional, unlike some of the cheaper filter programs available that can look cheesy and over the top. There are hundreds of presets built in that apply different effects with a single click, and these can be previewed before applying. However, when you are using the program, it is best to consider these presets as a starting point for experimentation, as the best results come from combining filters in different ways, layering them up subtly to create something completely unique. The presets can be customised individually too, so it is possible to have countless combinations, ensuring that you don’t get that ‘straight out of the box’ look. Those customised presets and combinations can then be saved so that you can build up a library of your own personalised effects that can be applied to any of your future projects quickly. Version 5 of Exposure has been updated with a brand new look and features, so it is always worth an upgrade if you have tried an earlier version, and there is a free trial available too. © 2013 peter nguyen
TECHNIQUES
THREE FREE EXTENSIONS WORTH TRYING Photoshop’s Extension Manager has opened the door for developers, artists and designers to come up with panels and scripts that enhance the functionality of Photoshop in a simple way. The best part is that these are usually free, they are easy to install and try out, and you can even create your own (have a Google search to find out how). We round up three extensions that we reckon are worth a look.
15. GUIDEGUIDE
CAMERON MCEFFEE www.guideguide.me / Free This simple palette is designed for those who work with grid layouts on a regular basis – web designers, app designers and so on. It gives you pixel-accurate columns, rows, midpoints and baselines, created based on your documents or selections. You can also save frequently used grid setups for future use.
16. BLENDME.IN
BLENDME.IN www.blendme.in / Free This handy little panel gives you access to thousands of assets, such as vector icon packs, that you can drag and drop into your work. The assets are all under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which means you can use them in your commercial projects too. It’s easy to install, and in the latest version of the extension, you can add your own files as a Collection to browse in the same way.
17. FONTSHOP PLUGIN
FONTSHOP INTERNATIONAL www.fontshop.com / Free This panel is linked to the FontShop website and enables you to browse any of its 150,000-plus fonts from within a panel in Photoshop. This comes in handy when working on layout designs, as you can try out a font and see if it works. You can get a preview of the font in your document, search for a particular font and tag your favourites.
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20 OF THE BEST PLUGINS
18. 3D INVIGORATOR
DIGITAL ANARCHY/ZAXWERKS INC
© Image courtesy of Colin Cheer, Electric Eye/Mighty Dots
www.digitalanarchy.com / Approx £119/$199 Although Photoshop now includes 3D-editing capabilities, those with older versions or those who want a little more control over their 3D objects can give this plug-in a go. It gives a true 3D environment inside Photoshop, using vector tools to draw and edit 3D shapes. There is a Material Editor to build textures and create striking 3D designs. You can use vector shapes, text or Adobe Illustrator files to create the base of your 3D object, so there are lots of possibilities for creating all kinds of 3D graphics. In the most recent version of the program, it is now possible to import an image and map that image onto a 3D object, as well as see shadows updated live thanks to an improved OpenGL.
RETOUCH PORTRAITS IN MINUTES 19. PORTRAITURE
IMAGENOMIC www.imagenomic.com / Approx £119/$200 This is an incredibly powerful plug-in and one of the best for retouching that we have come across. It does a great job of auto-masking an image to isolate skin tones and apply smoothing based on a number of presets. It can be customised and edited to get the look you want, but for batch retouching it does save a lot of time over doing the whole process manually.
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01
AUTO ENHANCEMENTS
When you start the filter, it will automatically apply default retouching to your image, which gives you a good base to work from. You can then use the sliders on the left in order to customise the finish.
PREVIEW
Make sure that you have a Preview view selected so that you can see both the before and after, and zoom right in. This will enable you to work with more precision. You can also save presets based on your edits if you get a look you like.
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PRESETS
There are a selection of presets that come in handy if you are looking for a specific effect, such as High Key or Low Key. These are again really good for setting the base look, which you can then tweak to suit your final image.
The right insurance for YOU? 20. SOCIAL KIT
SOURCE http://socialkit.madebysource.com / Free This is a Photoshop extension that is designed to make light work of creating templates for use on social media websites. It creates correctly sized and ready-sliced templates for Facebook, Google Plus, Twitter and YouTube, which you can use to make customised designs for yourself or your clients. It is automatically updated as you work so that you can see exactly what your layout will look like before it goes live, and the extension is updated as the social media sites implement new changes. This is the kind of app that seems a bit simplistic at first, but actually there are some very clever Facebook designs out there that use the profile picture and cover design in a unique way. This extension will help you come up with your own ideas and test them out before uploading to Facebook or any other social media site.
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[email protected]
CONTRIBUTORS JAHIRUL AMIN WWW.JAHIRULAMIN.COM
Amin is a generalist with a passion for rigging and animation. He lectures in computer animation at the NCCA.
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RICHARD CURTIS
BENJAMIN ERDT
ANDY JONES
ALEKS KIRILENKO
WILLIAM FU
BRENDAN MCCAFFREY
WWW.WILLFU.CO.UK
WWW.BMCAFF.COM
Erdt is a character artist for Guerrilla Games in Amsterdam with a focus on next-gen game characters.
.COM Jones started out Kirilenko studying currently sculpture, works at but now Platige works as Image in senior creative retoucher Warsaw as a 3D for Mullen Advertising. character artist.
Fu studies graphic design and currently works full time alongside various freelance projects.
McCaffrey is a digital illustrator who currently produces promotional artwork for a variety of products.
Curtis is a principal solutions consultant at Adobe and is the UK contact for Photoshop software.
3D VS PHOTOSHOP
TECHNIQUES
PHOTOSHOP IS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE 3D PIPELINE, TURNING RAW RENDERS INTO BEAUTIFUL WORKS OF ART. HOWEVER, WITH PHOTOSHOP CC’S 3D TOOLS GROWING EVER MORE ADVANCED, COULD WE ENVISION A FUTURE WHERE FURTHER CG SOFTWARE WON’T BE NEEDED AT ALL?
KIRK NELSON WWW.THEPIXELPRO.COM
ZENO PELGRIMS WWW.GRAFFIK.BE
Kirk Nelson Pelgrims is is an a 3D artist awardwith a winning passion for graphics telling artist, and is stories also a recognised Adobe through pixels, currently Certified Expert. studying at the NCCA.
ADAM SACCO WWW.SOULTY.COM
DAVE SCOTLAND WWW.CGSWOT.COM
Sacco is a Scotland has freelance 3D over 13 character years of CGI artist. He production has worked experience, on a variety working for of different projects for some of the biggest international clients. names in entertainment.
t d r E n i m a j n e B ©
Photoshop has always been an central part of the 3D workflow. Raw 3D renders on their own simply lack atmosphere and visual punch – it’s up to Photoshop and its powerful suite of post-processing tools to bring the image to completion. Even animated 3D, which doesn’t require Photoshop during the later stages of a project, will still make use of it at some point in the pipeline. “I would compare my use of Photoshop to bookends,” says creative retoucher and 3D artist Andy Jones. “I use it in the beginning to concept and figure out where I’m going, then again at the end for texturing and compositing.” Guerrilla Games character artist Benjamin Erdt uses Photoshop for a number of tasks. “Photoshop has always been a great and useful addition to my 3D workflow,” he tells us. “It’s a great helper for a wide range of tasks such as look development, texture creation and post effects. “A process for which I use Photoshop almost exclusively is creating texture colour concepts for creature design,” he continues. “The layer system makes experimenting with different skin types less destructive. If carefully organised using Photoshop layers, an approved skin colour concept can be easily rebuilt using 3D painting software.” However, as useful as Photoshop has proven itself to be over the years, could the 3D process survive without it? Could we conceive of a future where Photoshop is an unnecessary tool in the 3D pipeline, where software such as Maya have evolved to a point where its own digital painting applications could perform everything Adobe’s tools can and more? Conversely, could Photoshop’s 3D tools ever become so refined that applications like ZBrush are no longer required? We spoke to some of the top 3D artists working today to find the answer.
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THE BATTLE BEGINS It’s no secret that there are several tools currently encroaching on Photoshop’s dominance. For instance, while Photoshop has always been an incredibly powerful tool when it comes to creating 2D textures to wrap around an object, new painting software such as The Foundry’s MARI – which allows artists to paint directly onto a 3D model – are becoming increasingly popular. Could such tools ever reach the point where it could viably replace Photoshop’s job in the pipeline? “Replacement, no, but they work together wonderfully,” explains Jones. “I use ZBrush to create various texture maps, such as diffuse, specular, glossiness and so on, but I will always make adjustments in Photoshop for speed and comfort. I think that Photoshop and other such software must remain separate. 3D packages do heaps of things and sometimes it’s nice to just get into Photoshop and deal with familiar friendly layers and 2D images. Anything I’ve seen in 3D packages attempting to emulate Photoshop has not been as robust, and at the same time appears far too complex.” “I still take advantage of Photoshop’s great 2D features, which are not available yet in 3D painting software,” says Erdt. “Personally, when doing 3D textures, I use Photoshop as a compiler for layers and maps generated within other programs like MARI or Quixel’s DDO, so to me it’s still a powerful tool to achieve the desired results.” Like Jones, Erdt believes that the ideal toolset remains a combination of several programs, with each tailored to a specific task. “Right now, Photoshop is still an industry standard among 2D software and there is no similar tool with the same structure and flexibility, so setting up a Photoshopfree pipeline can be quite costly,” he explains. “Features like Particle Painting in Substance Painter; the node-based approach of Substance Designer; the
procedural method of DDO; the ability to paint on millions of polygons inside of ZBrush, Mudbox or 3D-Coat; the support for very high texture resolutions, Ptex and different shading models inside of MARI and so on – they’re all big pluses for 3D software over Photoshop. However, in order to catch up more with Photoshop, I think current 3D software needs to combine more of its features, be more flexible, stable and less demanding of the hardware.” Nevertheless, while it always remains very difficult to predict what might happen in the next five or 20 years, Erdt believes 3D texturing is one area Photoshop really needs to catch up on. “Painting directly on a mesh provides way more control for directing colours, tone, patterns and so on, as the final result can be seen directly on the 3D model rather than unwrapping a UV. Appropriate software has existed for many years and it keeps growing fast while Photoshop seems to fall behind. So, from a 3D painting perspective, a future for 3D without Photoshop is imaginable under the current circumstances. But then things can always change.”
THE PROS AND CONS OF PHOTOSHOP OUR PANEL GIVE THEIR EXPERT OPINIONS ON THE SOFTWARE ■ Andy Jones Pros: Photoshop has a great UI, solid core features, robust file management and almost infinite possibilities once you know how. Cons: The brush engines are ageing, it has downright shameful 3D capabilities and some features do not use current computing power. ■ Adam Sacco Pros: The best features are really the simple image-editing functions and the Spot Healing Brush for fixing seams and normal maps. Cons: It would be great to paint in 3D with realistic shaders. Maybe Adobe could adopt some real-time viewports for live previews. ■ Zeno Pelgrims Pros: I like that you can easily execute certain tasks using Actions. They allow you to record certain steps and then save those. Cons: Photoshop needs better EXR support.
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© Digital-Tutors
Spizak © Adam Andy Jones
© Zeno Pelgrims
© Andy Jones
Anything I’ve seen in 3D packages attempting to emulate Photoshop has not been as robust, and at the same time appears far too complex Andy Jones, www.andyjonescreative.com
3D DETAILING IN POST ANDY JONES REVEALS A GREAT TECHNIQUE FOR ADDING BELIEVABLE DETAILS TO YOUR FINAL RENDER
■ Set up: Start with your render on the bottom of the stack. Pop a new layer on top, and on this layer go into layer effects and choose Bevel & Emboss. Tweak the Bevel settings to match your scene, choose a dark colour from your scene for the shadows and do the same for the light. Use the little preview on the left to help here.
■ Further prep: Now select the layer and change the blending option to Soft Light. Go to your Brushes panel and select a small, hard, round brush to paint with. You can leave the pressure sensitivity off for now to get used to how this looks. Next, grab a medium-grey from the colour picker. Find a spot that is well lit and lay down a line.
■ Now for the fun: Start exploring the amazing options you have here! Play with all the perimeters and brushes. If you’re finding a problem seeing it in the shadows or highlights, set the blend mode in the layer effects menu for both to Normal. This technique has many applications, with just enough depth to fool the eye.
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© Dave Scotland
THE ARTIST’S PERSPECTIVE Zeno Pelgrims, an animation student at Bournemouth University’s NCCA, is in agreement that when it comes to 3D texture painting, 3D tools replaced Photoshop a long time ago. “While Photoshop is my image manipulation and preparation weapon of choice, MARI is my number one texture painting tool,” he tells us. “Very few artists still do all of their texture work inside a 2D painting package like Photoshop.” The Foundry also develops NUKE, a nodebased digital compositing application that is currently the industry standard for film and television projects. Today it encompasses a range of capabilities that compositing pro Dave Scotland has found can be an excellent replacement for some tasks previously completed in Photoshop. “Today I often use NUKE for many of my 2D paint and rotoscoping tasks,” he explains. “The heart of both applications is pixel data processing – manipulation of RGBA data at the pixel level. Photoshop and NUKE just go about it in a
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When someone puts all of these features into one application, and does it well, there will be no need to use Photoshop in the 3D pipeline Dave Scotland, www.cgswot.com different way. Having said this, many tools are quite similar – the most obvious being the brush. Many of the processes are the same and the settings feel like they come from the same place. “Not only is NUKE compatible with Photoshop files, it has the ability to import a PSD file and keep most of the formatting inherent in the file, including layers, folders, masks and blending modes,” continues Scotland. “In fact, the Photoshop to NUKE pipeline is so good, it is used regularly by designers and matte painters. This allows the design work to be done in Photoshop, where it belongs, and for the compositing and VFX work to be done in NUKE, where it belongs.” But should these tasks stay where they belong? “Given the track record of The Foundry’s development team, I certainly believe they could implement features into the NUKE environment, which could replace Photoshop, but something
tells me their aspirations are firmly grounded elsewhere,” says Scotland. “After all, why spend the time, effort and most importantly, the money, to develop a toolset that already exists and has a very strong community?” Most artists agree that as Photoshop does what it does so well, there’s simply no need to try and replace it. “It’s difficult to imagine a future without Photoshop – it’s burnt into the different pipelines people have set up,” says Pelgrims. “If a company would develop an image manipulation tool that is specifically tailored to the needs of 3D artists – while still being as solid as Photoshop – I personally think it could be replaced within months. However, that tool would need to be able to mask out certain texture inconsistencies from photographs, remove highlights and shadows or create bump maps from textures – for these tasks today, Photoshop remains the way to go.”
TOP PHOTOSHOP TECHNIQUES BOURNEMOUTH UNIVERSITY STUDENT ZENO PELGRIMS REVEALS THE TOP 3D USES HE’S FOUND FOR PHOTOSHOP
001 Happy Meal textures This Happy Meal texture map was created exclusively in Photoshop. The texturing for this asset consisted mainly of text and vector work, which happens to be one of the areas that I still feel more comfortable doing in Photoshop than MARI.
002 Removing shadows I removed the majority of the lighting information with the Shadows/Highlights function in Photoshop. It looks like nothing really has changed, but with a simple Levels adjustment on a Luminosity duplicate, you can clearly see how much has actually been altered. 003 Magical eyes A few touch-ups always have to be done in order to make the image pop. One adjustment I always make is a correction to the lighting in the eyes. By using the Burn tool on the side of the eye under the highlight and the Dodge tool on the opposite side, you give the eyes a lot more depth.
s e n o J y d n A ©
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© Benjamin Erdt
PHOTOSHOP GOES 3D It’s not just 3D software that’s encroaching on Photoshop’s territory, but also Photoshop that’s making baby steps into the world of 3D, with a suite of basic 3D tools that even extend to 3D printing support. Could they ever grow into an intricate, standalone tool? “Personally, I don’t use the 3D tools in Photoshop,” begins 3D artist Aleks Kirilenko. “That’s most likely because I didn’t know they even existed until recently, but as far I as I know, those tools aren’t exactly the best when it comes to 3D texturing. I know there are some good changes made to them in the CC version, but I think it’s just too early at this stage to look at those tools as your primary go-to place when you have something like MARI at your disposal.” For Kirk Nelson, the tools are best used for 3D text and compositing, but not a great deal more. However, he expects a number of improvements in the coming years. “The modelling in Photoshop is really limited and there’s not a lot of creation possibilities when compared to dedicated 3D software. I believe Photoshop will never be a robust modeller, and right now we basically just have to get creative with extrusions. So, I would really like to see the addition of Boolean operations – the process of adding or subtracting 3D shapes together to form a new mesh. I would also expect to see the renderer improve pretty dramatically within the next few years. Adding IBL was a big step, and we see
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performance gains in other areas of the program through the Mercury Graphics Engine. So I would expect to see a more accurate, faster render pretty soon from Adobe.”
Adding IBL was a big step, and we see performance gains in other areas of the program through the Mercury Graphics Engine Kirk Nelson, www.thepixelpro.com For Nelson, however, Photoshop will never expand to be a fully-fledged 3D program, just as Maya or 3ds Max will likely never evolve to include their own Photoshop-level painting tools. “That would be too broad a range of application,” he explains. “I think any single piece of gear that attempted to do that would end up doing many things, but none of them very well. That would be similar to expecting a general physician to also be able to perform all medical specialties from brain surgery to cancer treatment!” For Kirilenko, it’s not just the depth of Photoshop, but also the speed, that will ensure the program remains a key tool in any artist’s pipeline. While 3D can be slow and laborious, Photoshop can get things
done fast . “Things like concept art are where Photoshop shines,” he explains. “When working to deadlines, people can create a fairly simple model and import all of this raw material into Photoshop. At this point the artist can do whatever he or she wants with the images and bring them closer to the original idea. Whether it’s adding a background and retouching the lighting, doing texturing on top of the image, fixing some elements of the model itself – it all can be done in Photoshop thanks to its vast variety of tools. Photoshop allows a much higher flexibility and freedom than any other software I can think of. I’m not being conservative – Photoshop is just too powerful a tool to abandon it, whether you’re doing 3D or 2D. It’s as simple as that.”
© Kirk Nelson
COMPOSITING BATTY BENJAMIN ERDT USES THREE STEPS TO DEMONSTRATE HOW PHOTOSHOP CAN BE USED TO ENHANCE A SPEED SCULPT CREATED WITH ZBRUSH
t d r E n i ■ Rendering layers: Next to the basic passes like AO, Shadow, m a j Diffuse, Mask, Cavity and Depth, render additional spec and light n e layers using the LightCaps feature in ZBrush. This image displays B © a selection of layers to be used in Photoshop.
■ Basic composition: This step is more experimental. Using the previously rendered layers I laid down to find the basic composition, I blended them together and adjusted each individual layer using Opacity, Levels and Hue/Saturation.
■ Final tweaks: For final tweaks I made the ears look fleshier, adding sharper highlights to wetter areas around the eyes and nose, blending the fur to the skin, a dding more skin texture and sculpting with lights and shadows for better readability.
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3D POSTPROCESS TIPS
© Andy Jones
OUR PANEL OF EXPERTS OFFER THEIR TOP TIPS FOR TOUCHING UP COMPLETED 3D RENDERS Adam Sacco ■ For texture painting, try saving your brush presets for future use so you don’t have to adjust or search for them all the time. ■ The Content-Aware Fill function can be used to fill in the negative area on UV maps. ■ Try using the Color Balance adjustment layer instead of the Levels to add contrast and colour grading. Zeno Pelgrims ■ You can quickly create an industry-standard bump map from your diffuse texture maps with the High Pass filter. ■ If you have to make some tileable textures, the Offset function is really great. The only thing you have to do is paint out the seams with the Clone Stamp tool! ■ You can check whether the lighting in your photographs is evenly distributed by duplicating your layer, blending it with the luminosity option and playing with the levels. If you t hen want to change the lighting a bit, you can just mask out certain areas. Dave Scotland ■ Learn the importance of resolution when it comes to painting texture maps. Finding the right balance between detail and file size can make all the difference to your workflow and quality. ■ Always work with lossless files and never use JPEG files. This definitely applies to input files like texture maps. The compression inherent in JPEGs will reduce the quality of your work, and they can also cause viewport and final render delays. ■ Avoid using PSD files as 3D texture maps. That’s a whole lot of extra data the 3D application has to process and can also cause instability issues.
© Kirk Nelson
© Benjamin Erdt
Kirk Nelson ■ Only create what you are going to see. Don’t worry about texturing the back of an object that you only render the front of. ■ Rendering is the biggest bottleneck in 3D work. Photoshop can render in the background while you work on other things. So let that render be cooking while you catch up on email or read your favourite blogs. ■ Learn the art of seamless textures. It’s not really that hard, and is massively helpful! Brendan McCaffrey ■ Add photo-based effects to 3D renders. I like to layer real lens flares and grunge maps over 3D renders to help sell the image. This can be much faster and more controllable than adding these in the render or in the textures. ■ Add scratches, mud and damage. I often render two versions of a car model, the first being the full beauty version and the second being the bare metal underneath or alternatively a muddy material. Then using layer masking I can add scratches and damage to the paintwork really quickly.
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© Sérgio Merêces 2013
© Namco
© Sérgio Merêces 2013
USING PHOTOSHOP’S 3D TOOLS 3D ARTIST JAHIRUL AMIN DISCUSSES HIS EXPERIENCES IN USING PHOTOSHOP’S 3D TOOLS FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER “As a long-time user of Photoshop, I was interested to see how well its 3D tools would perform for texture painting, so I did a little test to find out. Having Photoshop’s powerful toolkit at my disposal, and therefore being able to use my favourite brushes, the colour correction tools and the layering system, felt great. Bringing OBJ files in is just as simple as with any image file, then if the object has UVs, you can get painting straightaway, and if not then you can create the UVs directly in Photoshop. “There are a few different painting methods such as Live 3D Painting and Projection Painting that allow you to pick and choose the best mode for the job at hand. You can edit the default lighting, add Image Based Lighting and play with the material properties of the object very easily. I did find that it did not seem as smooth as being in a 3D painting tool, however, mainly down to having to constantly switch tools to either paint on the object or navigate the scene. In general, I think that if you mainly work in 2D but do some 3D work, then this package should more than happily do the trick. However, if the bulk of your bread and butter comes from creating 3D assets with some additional 2D work, then I think you may be drawn to a more tailored package. Nevertheless, it’s exciting to see how Photoshop has developed for the 3D market and I’m looking forward to seeing how it gets pushed further.”
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© William Fu
ADOBE SPEAKS OUT EASILY CREATE 3D EXTRUDED TEXT, INCLUDING TEXT FROM CREATIVE CLOUD’S TYPEKIT DESKTOP FONTS
Since Photoshop CS6, it has become very simple to convert and extrude a piece of text into 3D, as well as to light it and move shadows around in real-time. Now, with the inclusion of Typekit in Photoshop CC and in particular the ability to download desktop fonts from Typekit (included in some of the Creative Cloud plans), it’s now easy to download and convert any desktop font into 3D text at any point in time. The 3D extrusions that are made in Photoshop CC (text, shapes and paths), have the ability to have the source definition modified at any time. This means that if you change your mind or need to refresh your design, you can change it easily. INSERTING 3D OBJECTS INTO A 2D SCENE MASKS, BLENDING MODES AND MORE
Photoshop CC 3D now makes use of the vanishing point grid technology to tell Photoshop CC about the 3D perspective in a 2D scene. This makes it easy for a Photoshop CC 3D designer to
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place a 3D object into a 2D scene, light it and place the shadows as if they were there when the photograph was taken.
MAKING 2D LOOK 3D CREATIVE RETOUCHER WILLIAM FU DISCUSSES HOW
PAINTING ON 3D OBJECTS USING THE BRUSH
Painting with brushes in Photoshop CC now makes use of the graphics processor in the computer, which allows users to achieve fast and precise painting. 3D Photoshop designers can use the GPU accelerated brush to paint directly onto a 3D model. REPAIR TEXTURES ON 3D OBJECTS, ESPECIALLY AROUND A 3D SCANNED IMAGE
3D objects are made up of the mesh and the texture/diffuse layer. Photoshop CC is able to re-map and create UVs based on a precedence of seams or distortion. Photoshop CC also enables both the diffuse map and the 3D model to open at the same time and, using the cursor, visually track where on the model the cursor is located. Having this ability to work on the 3D and the 2D texture at the same time means that all of Photoshop CC’s 2D tools (Content-Aware Patch, Spot Healing and the Healing Brush to name a few) can be used on the 2D side (diffuse layer). Also, as Photoshop is layer-based, any type of static layer can be added to the diffuse layer for additional texture and brush painting.
“I start any project thinking about the tones, colours and various compositions that I want to experiment with. The most important would be image sourcing; the better the base images are, the better the final piece will look. When using only 2D, this is important as most photos will have completely different characteristics in resolution, detail, colour and lighting. The main dinosaurs in this image (above left) were created by using photos of plastic T-Rex as the base image – from there techniques of painting and overlaying textures were carried out to enhance features such as the mouth, teeth and skin. “It’s important to consider depth early and often when thinking about the various levels and how much detail should go in these. When working solely in 2D, it helps to plan this beforehand, as it will allow you to manipulate the photos according to the level the elements will sit. This can be seen by the distant silhouetted birds and the detailed foreground foliage leaves. Having the layers organised and grouped, named with their respective depth level, is always a good way to help when adding elements and details.”
3D digital painting Now available on Mac
Imagined by
Justin Holt Created with
thefoundry.co.uk/mari
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COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP
TECHNIQUES
PHOTOMANIPULATION
COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP USE 3D RENDERS AND STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY TO CREATE A MOODY, RAINY SCENE
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ne of the most important components of any artwork is emotion. Every piece you create must evoke a reaction from the viewer, be it sorrow, joy or anger. While the emotions may be different, so long as your art is filled with them it will be a success. This is no easy feat, as being able to portray a mood without using dialogue, music and movement is a skill that even the most experienced artists struggle to achieve. But fear not, as this tutorial will show you how to do just that to create a piece in Photoshop that is filled with emotion and has a poignant, somber mood.
In this particular case the artwork you will be creating is an atmospheric, rainy scene. You’ll learn how to combine 3D and stock photography, use layer masks and then apply adjustment layers to add effects. You will also learn how to create rain – a notoriously difficult subject to paint – using several custom brushes. You will then discover how to form a realistic puddle with ripples and a reflection using the Distort filter. Finally, you will finish your artwork by adding fine details to really make the viewer lose themselves in the piece. Let’s get started!
BUILDING THE COMPOSITION PICK A DOCUMENT SIZE
Go to File>New and set the image size to 5200 x 4500px, then hit OK. Now open ‘Bike_render. psd’. Duplicate the layers named ‘Bike’, ‘Bike _ shadow’ and ‘Asphalt_reflection’ to the main working document you just created (select all layers and go to Layers>Duplicate Layer, then select your main working document in the Destination drop-down) and scale these layers until you are happy with the composition. Set the Bike_shadow layer blending mode to Multiply and Asphalt_reflection to Overlay. Remove any unwanted areas by adding layer masks (select the layer to which you want to add a mask and go to Layer>Layer Mask>Reveal) and paint on it with a soft transparent black brush.
DENIS KORNILOV
www.deniskornilov.com Kornilov is an advertising copywriter, photographer, retoucher and CG artist based in Moscow, Russia. His past clients include Sony, Subaru, Michelin, Bosch and Siemens, among many others.
SOURCE FILES
PLACE ALL THE SOURCE IMAGES INTO ONE SCENE
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OUR EXPERT
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PLACING THE GROUND
First, you need to choose where your motorcycle will stand. Go to www.shutterstock. com and download image ID 90776978. Open this image in Photoshop and duplicate the background to the main working document. Scale the ground to fit the bike. Increase the contrast slightly using Curves. Create a layer mask and remove the city in the background by painting on the mask with a soft black brush. Use a soft white brush to draw a light spot under the bike on a new layer set to Vivid Light. Now adjust the ground brightness using a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer. You will find this by pressing the adjustment layer icon in the bottom of the Layers panel.
On the disc you will find the 3D render PSD along with custom rain brushes and links to the stock imagery used.
WORK IN PROGRESS FROM MUNDANE TO MOODY
Progress 1: Raw render
Progress 2: Composition
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ADD THE CITY
Now you need a nice background. Go to Shutterstock and download image ID 115337044. Repeat the same operations by placing and scaling this image into the working document. Add a layer mask and remove everything in the image except the city. Use Hue/Saturation and Curves adjustments layers with masks to achieve the right colour and contrast.
Progress 3: Final image
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TECHNIQUES COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP
QUICK TIP
Grouping your layers is very useful. Group the layers belonging to one object and name the group so that it is clear what is inside. This will help you to easily find the required object, and you will immediately see what kind of adjustment layers are related to it.
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DRAMATIC SKY
Download image 60963079 from Shutterstock. Place your new sky above the city layer. Again use Hue/Saturation and Curves to make the sky more attractive. Now group all the sky layers including the adjustments and hide everything except the city. Using the Magic Wand and Lasso tool, select the old city sky. Now select the sky group, add a mask, and fix all problem places by painting on it with a soft transparent black brush.
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FOG
Now you need to highlight the bike. The easiest way to do this is to add the fog behind. Create a new layer behind the bike and paint the fog with a soft transparent brush. Then create another layer, set the blending mode to Vivid Light and draw some highlights on the ground behind the bike. You can also reduce the intensity of the fog by creating a new layer over the fog with Multiply blending mode and painting on it with a soft dark brush.
LENS FLARE
For more realism let’s add a lens flare. Create a new layer above your light rays and fill it with a black colour (go to Edit>Fill and in the Contents options choose Black from the drop-down list). Now go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare. Place your flare in the top-left corner, set the lens Style to 105mm Prime and hit the OK button. Now change the layer’s blending mode to Screen. You can also move and transform your Lens Flare layer to get a better look and position.
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THE LIGHT
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VIGNETTING
If you have fog, there should be light rays. Create a new layer in front of the bike and draw some vertical light rays using a soft light-blue brush. Then transform what you have just drawn using perspective transformation (Edit>Transform> Perspective) so that the top two points are connected in the middle. The light rays should now be coming from one point. Rotate them (Edit>Transform> Rotate) and place them in the upper-left corner. Adjust the layer transparency to give the rays a nice look. To get a soft fade for your rays, add a layer mask, and using the Gradient tool, draw a black to white gradient on the mask.
One of the most important things in almost every art piece is the accent on the main object. Let’s add some vignetting to bring more attention to your bike. Create a new layer above all and set the blending mode to Multiply. Using a soft black brush, paint some black shadowing around the bike closer to the edges of the canvas. Adjust the layer transparency using a layer mask.
LET IT RAIN! USE CUSTOM BRUSHES AND THE DISPLACE FILTER TO CREATE RAIN AND A PUDDLE
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CREATING THE RAIN
Now it’s time to add some ‘falling water’ to your composition. Import the custom rain brushes on the disc to your brushes library: choose the Brush tool and Ctrl/right-click anywhere on canvas, then left-click on the gear icon in the top corner and choose Load Brushes from the menu. Now find ‘Bike_rain_brushes.abr’ and double-click on it. Voila, you have three rain brushes: one for rain, one for rain hitting the bike, and one for the ripples. Now choose the first brush and set the brush colour to white. This is all you need to draw the rain. 001
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RAIN HITTING THE BIKE
Now you have your rain, but it doesn’t interact with the bike as it would in reality. Let’s fix this up. Choose the second custom brush provided on the disc and create a new layer above the bike, then draw some rain splashes on all surfaces of the bike where rain could hit. Now remove any unnecessary splashes using a layer mask. It’s not easy the first time, but all you need is practice. To achieve a more realistic look for the rain, you have to experiment with brush size and transparency.
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To achieve a more realistic look for the rain, you have to experiment with brush size and transparency
001 TINY DROPS Create a new layer under the bike. Set the brush Size to 50 and paint until all the canvas, with the exception of the lowest part, is covered with dense rain
002 MEDIUM DROPS Create another layer under the bike and set the brush Size to 100, then start painting bigger drops of rain to imply a sense of depth in your image
003 LARGE DROPS Create one more layer but this time place it above the bike. Using a 200-400px brush, draw some large drops. Now add Gaussian Blur and blur your drops a bit
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CREATING A PUDDLE 1
Create a new layer above the fog and fill it with a dark-grey colour. Now open the layer blending options and move the Underlying right slider to the left until you get the right puddle border. Open ‘Bike_render.psd’ and copy the ‘Puddle_reflection’ layer into the document. Place this layer above the puddle layer. Go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. Now you will see a reflection on the surface of puddle.
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CREATING A PUDDLE 2
The puddle is complete, but the rain is still falling, so you need to add some raindrops rippling in the puddle. Create a new layer over the bike reflection. Choose the third custom brush, set the brush colour to light blue and draw some ripples on the puddle surface. Use a layer mask to hide some ripples that you don’t want to be visible. You need to use different brush sizes to get a realistic texture.
CREATING A PUDDLE 3
You should have nice ripples, but the bike reflection now has to be distorted. Let’s add distortion using the Displace filter. First you need to make a displacement map. In the Layers panel, select your ripples texture. Go to Layer>Duplicate Layer and choose New from the drop-down menu in the Destination options. Now create a new layer under the ripples texture and fill it with a black colour. Save this document as ‘Displacement_map.psd’. Go to the main working document and select the bike puddle reflection layer. Go to Filter>Distort>Displace and set the Horizontal scale to 50 and the Vertical scale to 0, then hit OK. In the opened window, select ‘Displacement_map.psd’ and hit OK again.
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TECHNIQUES COMBINE 3D & PHOTOSHOP
FINAL DETAILS USE DIFFERENT ADJUSTMENT LAYERS, BLENDING MODES AND FILTERS TO FINALISE THE ARTWORK
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ENHANCING CONTRAST
Now it’s time to add more depth to your artwork. Select the top layer in the Layers panel, then click on the adjustments icon in the bottom of the panel and choose Curves. Drag down the lower part of the curve to add more contrast to the image. Use a layer mask to hide any unnecessary areas if needed. You could even use several Curves layers to get a better result. QUICK TIP
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ADD COLOUR
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FINAL SHARPENING
To add more colours, first click on the adjustments icon in the bottom of Layers panel and choose Color Balance. Select Shadows. Move the Cyan/Red slider to the left slightly and the Yellow/ Blue slider to the right. Then select Highlights and move the Yellow/Blue to the left a bit. Set this layer’s blending mode to Color. You can use Hue/Saturation adjustment layers with masks to enhance colour, and also create a new layer with a Vivid Light blend mode and paint over it with a soft white brush.
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BIKE DETAILS
Now it’s time to add more details to the bike. First you need to add some glossiness. Create a new layer above all and set the blending mode to Screen. Now, using a soft white brush, paint some highlights in the brightest places. Secondly, create a new layer and set the blending mode to Overlay. By painting on this layer with a white brush you can make some details brighter. Also use Hue/ Saturation and Brightness/Contrast layers to make the bike details look better.
Experiment with adjustment layers until you find an effect that you are happy with. Colour, contrast and hue are all important components of any work of art. Only through experimentation will you find your own style.
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NOISE AND ABERRATIONS
To give your artwork a more realistic look, let’s use two filters: Add Noise and Lens Correction. Create a new layer above all and fill it with 50% grey (Go to Edit>Fill and choose 50% Gray from the Contents drop-down menu, then hit OK). Then go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise and set the Amount to 10%, Distribution to Gaussian and hit OK again. Set the layer’s blending mode to Overlay. Now go to Select>All, then Edit>Copy Merged, then Edit>Paste and finally go to Filter>Lens Correction>Custom and set the Fix Red/Cyan Fringe slider to -50. Hit OK.
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Finally, use the High Pass filter to sharpen your artwork. This will add more detail and make your image more attractive. Duplicate the layer that you just created (Layer>Duplicate Layer>OK). Now go to Filter>Other>High Pass and set the Radius to 3. Hit OK. Then go to Image>Adjustments>Desaturate. Set the layer’s blending mode to Overlay. You can also add a layer mask and, using a soft black brush, remove any overly sharp areas or areas you don’t want to be sharp. Adjust the opacity of the layer to decrease the sharpness slightly. Your moody artwork is now complete!
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052
BUILD A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE
TECHNIQUES
PHOTOMANIPULATION
BUILD A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE JENNIFER CIRPICI TAKES YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS OF CREATING THIS HOLLYWOODINSPIRED ENVIRONMENT hat you will learn in this tutorial are several basic but essential techniques to create a scene comprising multiple photos. This workshop is inspired by the lush, mountainous scenery in the movie Avatar . The Zhangjiajie Mountains, located in China, inspired the makers of Avatar to create the floating Hallelujah Mountains; they also inspired us and we used stock imagery of this range to create this artwork. We’ll go into how you can combine real and painted elements (the essence of matte painting) in depth.
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Over the course of these steps we’ll also look at how you can blend stock easily and how essential colouring is when it comes to setting an atmosphere. This guide will not only help you to create these Avatar -esque floating mountains, but also to improve your future photomanipulations. Unlike the scenes created for the film, you will only be using Photoshop to achieve these effects. We recommend, however, that you look up the inspiring Avatar scenes first, or better still, (re)watch the movie to get a few ideas for the composition and tone of the piece.
OUR EXPERT
JENNIFER CIRPICI www.breakingcanvas.com Cirpici is a self-taught graphic designer and illustrator from the Netherlands. She studied graphic design, has worked for several big agencies like Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett, and is currently a freelance digital artist.
CREATE A LUSH ENVIRONMENT MANAGE YOUR STOCK, COLOURS AND BLENDING
WORK IN PROGRESS FROM REAL TO FANTASY
Progress 1: Stock search
Progress 2: Shadows & accents
01
STOCK SEARCH
The first step is to find some high-quality mountain stock images. The sky was white in our image and we wanted to add some clouds, so we searched for good sky photos, pasted them over the landscape, then blended using layer masks as well as the Overlay, Multiply and Normal modes.
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BRING IN SOME COLOUR
To add the green tint, create a new layer filled with #f6f6e5 and set to Multiply. Now create a new layer set to Multiply, but fill this with a bluish gradient at 36% Opacity. Use Curves to up the contrast and tweak the greens with a Color Balance adjustment layer.
Progress 3: More mist
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TECHNIQUES BUILD A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE
QUICK TIP You may find that you get stuck sometimes, and lose inspiration or motivation to continue with your artwork. Some of the best solutions are to either sleep on it, take a couple of steps back from your screen or, as we did in this tutorial, just change the perspective by flipping it horizontally.
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MOUNTAINS AND BIRDS
Now add in some mountains from another stock photo. Set the layer’s blending mode to Multiply with an Opacity of 68%, then make the mountains a little greyer so that they all blend well together. Blur the mountains using the Gaussian Blur filter set to a Radius of 5px because they are further away and this will create a greater sense of depth. Finally, find some nice bird images and paste them into the composition, using the Edit>Transform options to match the scene’s perspective and scale.
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FLOATING MOUNTAINS
With the help of CGTextures (www.cgtextures.com), source some free landscape stock images and blend them together to produce a mountain reminiscent of those in Avatar . This is very much a matter of artistic licence so you will have to decide on the scale, shape and which materials constitute your mountain when you come to constructing it. As previously demonstrated, use layer masks to bring elements together, as this will help to blend effectively using black and white brushes. Also, make sure that when you are using these brushes that you are working with a low Flow value as this will help to achieve a smooth blend.
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GRADIENT SHADING
Select the floating mountain and, with a black to transparent gradient, create a shadow at the bottom of the scene, fading out towards the top of the image. Lower the Opacity to 28% and repeat this step. Select parts of the mountains from the background and paste into the bottom to give it more texture. We’ll go into more depth with this in a moment. At this stage, it’s a good idea to take a final look and check you’re happy with the composition. To do this, go to Edit>Transform>Flip Horizontal.
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DEPTH AND HIGHLIGHTS
To create depth and highlights, use a small, hard brush, painting with black where you want to generate a bit more shadow. Set this layer to the Soft Light blending mode and lower the Opacity to around 70% with the brush Flow at 70% too. Follow the same process with a hard white brush, this time creating highlights with the layer set to Overlay. You can use this technique with all your photomanipulation projects to great effect.
MAKE THE FANTASTICAL REAL THE SECRET IS IN THE DETAILS
07
ADD SOME CLOUDS
To add realism to the floating mountain and to establish its significant scale and airborne position, import some clouds, placing them around the bottom of the mountain. Render the clouds with channels, put them on a new layer and then invert it (Cmd/Ctrl+I). Now select the black parts (the clouds) with the Magic Wand tool and erase the rest. Blur the clouds with Filter>Motion Blur to lend them a greater sense of movement.
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SHADOWS, ACCENTS AND EERIE MIST
As this project goes on, and the more that you work on the mountain, the more likely you are to notice that it requires more details. At this stage, for example, we decided that this image needs more shadows and highlights. Repeat step 6 and go into more detail using a smaller brush. It’s time-consuming work, but this effort will pay dividends when it comes to the final result. To generate a mist effect, take a soft brush, sample the colour from the background with the Eyedropper tool, and brush over the mountain and background before switching to Soft Light blending.
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ADD SOME PLANTS
In Avatar , the floating islands have long, vine-like plants to help people move from one island to another, and you can also create these in your scene. Take a hard brush and draw some simple lines to get the basic plant forms from one mountain to another. Then, with a green colour, add more lines over the first set and then a final group of lines in a lighter tone for shading. You can also set some of the lines to Overlay.
MORE CURVE CHANGES
You can now add some shady plants to the bottom of the scene and around the base of the floating mountain. You can do this very simply by taking the hard brush again and, with a grey colour, drawing in plants that are hanging down. The trick is that they don’t have to look exactly like plants when zoomed in, but when you zoom out they should look convincingly like the silhouettes of trees or shrubs. You only have to make these plants as complicated as you want to.
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TECHNIQUES BUILD A FANTASY PHOTOCOMPOSITE
THE FINAL TOUCHES WRAP UP YOUR FANTASY WORLD
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ADDITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
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SPLASH OUT
Once again you need to add more highlights – you can never get enough of them! The more you have, the more detail there will be in your scene and the better it will ultimately look. You can also add a bit of green here and there with a hard brush. By doing this you give the image a more digitally painted feeling, but don’t forget to make sure that everything blends well together, with no one area stealing the show.
Before making a waterfall, look up some references to get an idea of the basic structure. As you will see, there isn’t too much detail in a waterfall – it’s basically a white cloud. Take a soft brush at around 150px, brush a thick line in white and then apply Soft Light blending at 25% Opacity. This is the start of the waterfall and shows how it’s floating. You can now add a couple of finer lines either side of the waterfall to serve as edges.
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MOUNTAIN EDGES
Because you could never render the rock in a way that makes the plants at the edges look good too, you need to add your own flora and fauna to the mountain edges. This will help to better blend the mountain into the sky and reduce that copy and pasted feel. Again, you don’t have to paint the plants or leaves very realistically as they’re in the distance and shrouded by mist. But be sure not to use only one colour when doing this – always add in highlight and shadow tones too.
WATERFALL DETAILS
With a soft brush sized around 500px, brush once more into the waterfall, but lower the Opacity to 28% and set the blending mode to Soft Light. For details, zoom in and use a hard brush to make a couple of small strokes and then, on a new layer, add a series of lines. If they look too hard, you can blur them a bit. Add vertical lines until satisfied, then apply some smoky mist underneath the cascade.
QUICK TIP When you digitally paint, you can use the Rotate View tool to navigate your whole screen. This way you can paint more detailed elements without having to turn your head. It makes everything much more comfortable to do.
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RAINBOW EFFECT
Waterfalls can often be seen with a rainbow near them due to light refracting through the moving water. Create a subtle rainbow with your hard brush, as per the screenshot, lowering the Opacity to 80%. Change the layer to the Soft Light mode and apply a Gaussian blur so that the rainbow doesn’t draw too much attention. With the soft brush set to the Soft Light mode, add a little more mist coming off the waterfall.
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MOUNTAIN SHADOW
Because it’s a floating mountain, you need to add its shadow to the area it’s suspended over. We decided to put some shadow on the rocky column closest to it and on the ground using the soft brush set to black at a lowered opacity. Make sure you never do just one shadow – for realism, apply several layers of shadow that become darker the closer they get to the object. Don’t mess too much with the blending options when it comes to shadows, either, as they need to be almost completely black.
MORE MIST
As one of the final steps, you are going to add yet more mist around the floating mountain and make the vegetation around the edges a little greener. The mist will help the mountain merge seamlessly with everything else in the scene and it also enhances the surreal and mysterious mood you want the image to have. Never make your mist too white, though. Instead, use a colour in the same shade as the background, so in this case give it a green tint. Switch the mist layer to the Soft Light blending mode and set the Opacity to 30%.
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FINAL TOUCHES
Now you can play with Brightness/Contrast, Levels and Curves adjustment layers. To get focus in this artwork, you can also create a black to white radial gradient on a new layer set to Soft Light and 30% Opacity. The white circle goes wherever you want to draw focus. Create a new layer, fill it with black and go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise (12.5% and Monochromatic). Set this layer to Soft Light and just 5% Opacity. Last but not least, wrap up the image with a Smart Sharpen filter.
CUSTOM BRUSHES For this tutorial, we didn’t just use Photoshop’s standard hard and soft brushes, but we also used a brush set from one of our favourite artists, Dan LuVisi. You can download the set for free from his deviantART gallery at http:// danluvisiart.deviantart.com/ gallery/9827508?rnrd=2384. Do read the usage instructions before you use them though. LuVisi is a great artist and this is a fantastic resource, so they’re worth downloading when working on a matte painting project like this.
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© Sonar Fates Limited
TECHNIQUES HOW I MADE
HOW I MADE
SHIVER ME SNEAKERS
DEAN FALSIFY COOK THIS TALENTED ARTIST, WHO WORKS UNDER THE MONIKER OF SONAR FATES LIMITED, SHARES THE SECRETS OF HIS ILLUSTRATIVE STYLE ean Falsify Cook, aka Sonar Fates (www.sonarfates.com) is a UK-based designer and illustrator. This design was Cook’s winning entry to an Adidas Originals competition hosted by Talenthouse. The brief was to use elements of Adidas to create a unique concept for its Originals line. “As soon as I read the brief,” says Cook, “I knew I wanted to create something fun and of mini-epic proportions using characters that I had been developing for my forthcoming comic.
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I quickly settled on the idea of a pirate ship negotiating the treacherous high seas looking for Adidas Originals bounty, but as it turned out they were not the only ones in search of the prized loot… Cook envisioned the whole campaign as a series of tales of this boat’s encounters as it ventured to unknown places seeking Adidas merchandise. The image ended up being printed in VICE magazine as a special pop-up feature. Here Cook shows us how he transformed it from a simple sketch…
01
ROUGH SKETCH
Everything begins with a loose sketch in my Moleskine. I’m not thinking about fundamentals at this stage, as all I am trying to do is explore my mind a little.
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INTO PHOTOSHOP
I import photos of the sketches into Photoshop and begin to block in the shapes to help me better understand the composition. This particular piece was a simple, face-on perspective, so not a lot of work was required regarding vanishing points, etc.
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SURFACE DETAILS
I begin to add surface details with the Pen and Gradient tools, which help to break up the blocky shapes. I’m a sucker for details so I probably go overboard with this step on most of my pieces.
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TECHNIQUES HOW I MADE
04
LIGHTING
I like to create the illusion of form in my work and this is accomplished by imagining how the light will affect my shapes. This is perhaps the most crucial part of my whole process and is where an understanding of art fundamentals really helps.
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SPECULAR HIGHLIGHTS
To create intense specular highlights, I warp primitive shapes inside a group set to the Color Dodge blending mode. This is a trick I use a lot.
OCEAN LAYERS
This was the first time I had attempted to illustrate the ocean, but I achieved this particular look by using simple shapes and gradients set to a low opacity. I slowly built up the layers until the desired result was achieved.
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FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
My process is very technical, but I think it is important to take a painterly attitude and let things build up and develop on their own. It is important for me to let my sub-conscious speak – that’s where we can find the magic.
THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE DEAN SHARE S HIS TOP TIP FOR CREATING STRIKING DESIGNS
I think it is the duty of every creative to be inspired by as wide a spectrum of influences as possible. So my bonus tip would be to read more, watch more, experience more and understand more. Develop an unquenchable desire for knowledge and watch it drip back into your work.
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COMBINING ADJUSTMENT LAYERS
The final step on any piece is experimenting with adjustment layers and combinations of them. These can have a very dramatic effect on your image and should never be neglected. My problem is deciding which works best!
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062
CUSTOM LIGHT UI ELEMENTS
TECHNIQUES
GRAPHICS
CUSTOM LIGHT UI ELEMENTS DESIGN FULLY SCALABLE UI KIT ELEMENTS WITH VECTOR SHAPES AND LAYER STYLES visually appealing user interface plays a key role in a project involving interactive elements. It should be assuredly simple, intuitive, unobtrusive and pleasant to use. This is something that many designers strive for, and will often have a knock-on effect on the success of the application or device. In this tutorial, we aim to achieve this simplicity through shapes, artificial depth and lighting. You will learn how to design a dial using vector shapes and
layer styles, and how to manage light and shadow effects to achieve a design that is both clean and eye-catching. As we know today, bitmap or Smart Object scaling can produce softer edges, whereas Photoshop vector shapes maintain their sharpness. As we seek to preserve the sharpness of shapes at any resolution, it is necessary to use the vector shapes available in Photoshop. These techniques can then be re-used in other design projects.
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Juliani is a self-taught graphic designer from France. He has a passion for all kinds of creative media and worked widely in the electronic dance music industry until now.
SOURCE FILES
VECTORBASED ELEMENTS
Go to www.bariol.com to find the font needed in this project. It is free to use.
ESTABLISH A WORK PLAN IDENTIFYING KEY ELEMENTS
01
OUR EXPERT
CYRIL JULIANI www.behance.net/cyriljuliane
DOCUMENT SETUP
As your document should fit with every standard resolution, start with a reasonable minimum resolution. Go to File>New and set Width at 1024px, Height at 768px and Resolution at 72dpi. You can easily increase the pixel density later for any other resolution requirements. Also, add horizontal and vertical guides (View>New Guide) and centre them in the document.
WORK IN PROGRESS DIAL FROM START TO FINISH
Progress 1: Main shapes
Progress 2: Shadows and pointer
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BACKGROUND COLOUR
A light background will be used to contrast the darker effects from layer styles. Pick a light colour (#e0e0e0) and press Opt/Alt+Delete to fill the background layer. You can add a subtle gradient effect to give the global light a main direction. Add a standard Gradient Overlay layer style, setting the gradient to Linear style from black to white and Opacity to 2%.
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BASIC SHAPES
Three vector shapes are used to create the dial, along with one extra circle that outlines the outer ring. To create your own, first select the Ellipse tool, then draw a centred circle and adjust the Radius to 350px. Next, make two duplicates and rescale them (Cmd/Ctrl+T) to 315px. Do the same for another duplicate with a diameter set to 530px, drawing the outer ring.
Progress 3: Circular selection
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TECHNIQUES CUSTOM LIGHT UI ELEMENTS
04
POSITION MARKERS
You are going to make the outer markers. With the Ellipse tool, make a 25px diameter circle in the outer ring at the top of the dial. It will be the activated marker. Duplicate (Cmd/Ctrl+J) and transform this circle (Cmd/Ctrl+T). Hold Opt/Alt to drag the circle’s anchor to the centre of the dial. Rotate it from an angle of 45°. Press Enter and repeat the operation six times by duplicating and rotating (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+T). You can group the layers for normal markers and take the top marker apart in the Layers panel.
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INNER DIAL EFFECTS
To give the user interface elements a realistic appearance, just analyse shape, light and shadow interactions around you. You will use the same approach according to the top lighting. Go back to the very first circle you created and add a Linear Gradient with very soft greyscale (#d4d4d4 to #f7f7f7). Then, use a black Inner Shadow, setting Opacity to 8%, Angle to -90°, and both Distance and Size to 8px. You can also add a Drop Shadow, setting Opacity to 16%, Angle to 90°, Distance to 3px and Size to 10px.
To give the user interface elements a realistic appearance, analyse shape, light and shadow interactions around you
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INNER DIAL GRADIENTS
Apply a Linear Gradient to an inner circle with softer greyscale (#dedede to #ededed). Set both Inner Shadow and Drop Shadow to white and Normal blend mode, respectively setting Opacity to 60% and 60%, Angle to -90° and 90°, Distance to 4px and 2px, and Size to 5px and 5px. For the other circle, set the Fill Opacity in the Blending Options to 0%. Then, set both Inner Shadow and Drop Shadow to black, respectively setting Opacity to 5% and 7%, Angle to 90° and -90°, Distance to 5px and 3px and Size to 21px and 5px.
QUICK TIP
A realistic scene can be improved by several types of shade: cast shadows of objects, which can be sharp or soft; limited shadow at the intersections of objects; ambient shadow, which is broader; or blurred, discrete and core shadow on objects subtracted from the incident light rays.
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MAIN DROP SHADOW
Duplicate the first circle again and set the Opacity to 23%. Apply a Color Overlay style, setting the colour to black, deselect any other style and move this layer under the dial layer. Move the circle down by 50px by holding Opt/Alt. Then, display the properties values (Window>Properties) of the vector shape and set Feather to 27px for the vector mask.
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DIAL POINTER
Now that the dial is created, you can make its pointer. Select the Rounded Rectangle tool, set the Radius to 15px and draw a rounded rectangle, setting Width to 25px and Height to 120px. Make sure the shape is central on the vertical guide at the top of the dial, slightly exceeding the top edge by about 10px. For the next part, the pointer must be integrated into the dial, so a subtle depth effect is needed.
LAYER STYLES
SETTINGS IN PHOTOSHOP
USE THESE OPTIONS TO CREATE SHINY AND EMBEDDED ELEMENTS
09 In a bright environment, it’s always useful to 10 DIM LED LIGHT
accentuate light sources with an eye-catching colour variation instead of outer glow effects degrading lighting quality. In this way, apply a Gradient Overlay, choose the Linear style and use the standard black and white gradient. Then, add a Color Overlay, setting a bluish colour (#65b5f0) and Opacity to 83%. The idea is to give a way to the pointer by highlighting the outermost side.
There are many resources that allow you to create quality designs using layer styles in Photoshop. These are a popular way to achieve any effect with the right knowledge and experience. Only technical approaches change and should be exploited in piece. In this way, learn to handle each setting individually and ask yourself how to combine them to achieve a particular look. For example, gradients are powerful for adding depth to any design. Combined with the right style, you can create shapes that interact with the environment, such as light reflections, shadows and textures.
DIM LED LIGHT 2
Lighting can be added with an Inner Glow – use a bluish colour (#7fc9ff), setting the blend mode to Color Dodge, Opacity to 30%, Source to Center, Size to 10px and Contour to Half Round. Also, you could try to add some volume with a glass effect. Apply a Bevel & Emboss style, setting the Size to 4px, a Shading Angle to 90° and Altitude to 50°, Highlight Mode Opacity to 70% and finally Shadow Mode to 20%.
In a bright environment, it’s always useful to accentuate light sources with an eye-catching colour variation instead of outer glow effects degrading lighting quality
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DIM LED LIGHT 3
Finally, you can enhance this volume effect using an Outer Glow with Color set to grey (#b5b5b5), Opacity to 100%, Blend Mode to Normal and Size to 5px. Also, add a Drop Shadow, setting Blend Mode to Normal with a white colour, Distance to 9px and Size to 5px, at an angle of 90°. This style allows you to show light at the outer edge of the pointer, taking into account the overall lighting. You should now have a coherent object with a modern and soft look.
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EMBEDDED POSITION MARKERS
Now that you have a pointer, you need to give it some functionality. Apply a Color Overlay to the top marker with a grey colour (#969696) and a Stroke, setting Size to 2px, Position to Outside, Fill Type to Gradient and a greyscale Linear gradient (#c0c0c0 to #e9e9e9) from top to bottom at an angle of -90°. Copy and paste this layer style to each layer, drawing a position marker. Make sure that these layers are underneath the shadows from the dial.
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ACTIVATED MARKER AND OUTER RING
Select the top marker and as you already did before for the dial pointer, add the same Inner Glow and change the Color Overlay (#65b5f0). Finally, select the outer ring layer and add a black Inner Glow, setting Opacity to 6px and a Stroke setting Size to 1px, Blend Mode to Lighten, Opacity to 80%, Fill Type to Gradient, and a Linear black to white gradient at an angle of -90°. For the final touch, add text as in the example with the Bariol font.
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TECHNIQUES HOW I MADE
HOW I MADE
THE JUNGLE SYLVAIN BILODEAU
FREELANCE ARTIST SYLVAIN BILODEAU TAKES US THROUGH THE MAKING OF HIS URBAN JUNGLE
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ylvain Bilodeau reveals the creation behind this mixed-media illustration he named The Jungle. Without letting go of his expertise in traditional art, Bilodeau uses Photoshop to re-create watercolour and inking effects that he learned before getting hold of the program. So The Jungle is
more of a reflection of how he uses Photoshop to digitalise his foundations in art, and we think he’s done a fine job. But it’s not just about Photoshop with this image, as he had to call upon additional software to make the dynamic visuals involved. CINEMA 4D was instrumental in forming the complete picture.
When asked what inspires him, he explains: “Music is a big part in my creative process. It always starts with music. I’m also inspired a lot by fashion photography and 3D imagery. So The Jungle is a blend of what inspires me the most.” If you like what you see here, why not head over to Bilodeau’s portfolio at www.sylver.biz.
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EMPLOY BACKGROUND
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ENHANCEMENTS
I used 3D renders for the background composition, and layer masks to clean things up. At this stage I wanted to experiment with different positions. If you are aiming for an abstract feel, I strongly recommend learning 3D in CINEMA 4D.
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BASIC SETUP
The model was cut out using the Pen tool. I worked with layer masks to eliminate the unwanted sections of the body. Then I added the tattoos using Darken blend mode and lowered the Opacity.
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I worked with halftone images to add fuzziness, and used different blend modes as well. For the final tweaks I used the Vibrance, Levels, Curves and Black & White adjustment layers. Layer masks are crucial to use with each adjustment.
u a e d o l i B n i a v l y S ©
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BLEND GRAPHICS
TECHNIQUES
GRAPHICS
BLEND GRAPHICS MIX PHOTOSHOP AND 3D SOFTWARE TO CREATE A SYMMETRICAL, ABSTRACT IMAGE COMPOSITION f you are a videogame enthusiast or designer and you enjoy experimenting, then this tutorial is for you. In it, you will learn how to combine 3D and 2D software to create an artwork in Photoshop using just a single object previously sculpted in Blender. Blender is an amazing 3D program, and on top of this, it’s free! Go to www.blender.org to download it for all operating systems. Trying out a completely new program might be a bit intimidating at first, but as you will learn in this tutorial, brilliant artwork can be created with only basic knowledge. There are loads of great beginner tutorials on the internet that
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will make you familiar with the basics. You don’t need to be an expert – just dive into it, play around and have fun! Through persistent trial and error you will improve. Symmetrical compositions can be very powerful, but it’s important to create details that capture the eye and use interesting colour contrasts to make it look dynamic, especially when only using one element as a base. Through repetition you can achieve an exciting, almost fractal effect. You will also add classic Eighties-inspired videogame elements to round up the image and give it that final retro touch.
http://verticolab.com
Amrei Hofstätter is a freelance illustrator, designer and science-fiction fanatic living and working in Berlin. She mostly creates her colourful, geometrical designs for fashion and music labels.
SOURCE FILES
BUILD IN BLENDER CREATE 3D SHAPES IN BLENDER BEFORE COMPOSING IN PHOTOSHOP
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OUR EXPERT AMREI HOFSTÄTTER
OPEN BLENDER
First you will create the 3D object as a base for your composition. Download, install and open the Blender software. Upon start it will automatically open up a new file in 3D view with a default cube in the centre. As you want your final image to be robotic and geometrical, this cube is just what you need.
Files for this tutorial can be found at http://blog.advancedphotoshop.co. uk/tutorial-files . You will find the Blender file with the 3D object used for this image. Manipulate it or experiment with different perspectives to create a new composition.
WORK IN PROGRESS FROM SIMPLE CUBE TO ROBOT VILLAIN
Progress 1: Shapes in Blender
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SCULPT AN ABSTRACT OBJECT
Switch from Object mode to Edit mode to sculpt the cube. Manipulate vertices, edges and faces in whatever way you want. Give different colours and transparency to different parts of the shape. Copy and paste several objects together. Add light sources like spots or lamps to add atmosphere to the scene.
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PREPARE FOR PHOTOSHOP
Press [0] to see how your rendered result will look from the point of view of the camera. This is the perspective your rendered image will have. Move, scale (select the object then press [S]) or spin (select the object then press [R]) the object around and find the most interesting perspective.
Symmetrical compositions can be very powerful, but it’s important to create details that capture the eye
Progress 2: Comp in Photoshop
Progress 3: Add final details
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TECHNIQUES BLEND GRAPHICS
QUICK TIP
In a Photoshop file with many layers it can become difficult to maintain an overview and find the layer a specific element of your work is located on. For quick access to a layer, click on a graphic while pressing Cmd/Ctrl to open the layer selection window.
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SWITCH TO PHOTOSHOP
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CREATE AN INTRIGUING COMPOSITION
The time has come to finish your Blender work. In the render section of Blender you can increase the image size. Go to Render>Image then Image>Save as Image to export your image file. Open Photoshop and open the exported PNG file. As you will see, it maintained the colour and transparency effects you applied in Blender, but it has now a dull grey background you need to get rid of. Go around the object with the Polygonal Lasso tool, remembering to make enough steps on the way. Crop out the background.
You will have come up with several different elements, so now it’s time to put them all together. As your composition is symmetrical, it’s important to make it as exciting as possible though colours and outstanding elements. Blend them together differently. Use the Hue/Saturation option to change the colour of some elements using a contrasting colour palette. Make some parts stand out more by playing with the intensity of the colours. By giving the outer elements a different, darker colour than the centre, you will give the composition a layered look with more depth.
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EXPERIMENT WITH ABSTRACT SHAPES
Open a new document in Photoshop with rectangular dimensions. Add a black background with the Paint Bucket tool. Drag and drop the cropped object into the new file. Now the fun part begins! You want to make something that appears mechanical and robotic – what interesting graphics and patterns can you create with it? Copy it and reflect it horizontally and vertically, put pieces together, cut off elements, rotate it, and put layers on top of each other while playing with the layer blending modes. You can create entirely new shapes!
It already looks quite interesting, but the composition still seems a little flat. What you want is for some elements to stand out and appear closer to the foreground. You can do this with a subtle use of the Glow layer style. Place some small pieces into the centre, copy it and move it downwards a little. Now double-click the layer and add Style>Outer Glow with an intense blue colour, Screen blending mode and an Opacity of about 30%, not more. Now it looks like it’s floating in the foreground.
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ADD GLASS
You want your machine to have some glassy, transparent elements. To create the glass, draw a simple black rectangle with the Rectangle tool. Use the Direct Selection tool to create an interesting shape. Set the blending mode of the layer to Exclusion. Double-click on the layer to access the layer effects and add Style>Inner Glow, set to Screen blending mode and with 90% Opacity. Duplicate and rotate the shapes to make them look like several layers of glass.
BRING POWER TO THE PAGE ADJUST THE COMPOSITION AND ADD RETRO SPECIAL EFFECTS
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LET IT BREATHE!
Revise your image. Your composition might have got too big and be filling up too much space on the canvas. You need to reduce the size of the graphic to give it some free space to breathe and maximise its impact. Lots of designers are scared of empty space, but you will see the difference immediately. 003
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ADD FADING LASER BEAMS
You now want to open up the composition by adding some laser beams that subtly connect the graphic to the background. Copy several pairs of the glass shapes you made in the previous step and arrange them, getting wider towards the outside. To make them fade, use this simple trick: make a white rectangle and place it on top of the light beams. Add Layer Style>Inner Glow>Multiply>100% Black and set the layer to Multiply. The light seems like it’s fading. Should some outer parts of the glow still be visible, cover them with a black brush.
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IMPORTING FROM BLENDER INTO PHOTOSHOP
Should you work with the Photoshop Extended version, you can import Blender objects directly into Photoshop without having to crop off a background and even rotate them in 3D! To do that, open your Blender file, go to Blender Export>Export file as Wavefront (.obj). Now open Photoshop, open the OBJ file, double-click on the layer and you will have a top menu popping up with several options. Should you have applied a texture to your mesh, you can double-click on ‘Texture’ in the Layers panel to apply changes.
001
001 REPEAT OBJECTS Make several new graphical elements by experimenting with one basic object
002 COMPOSITION Create a powerful composition by putting the pieces together on a big and small scale
003 PACK A PUNCH Give your composition a layered appearance by applying layer effects to some elements
Reduce the size of the graphic to give it some free space to breathe and maximise its impact
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ADD A GLOWING CENTRE
You want the eye to be drawn towards its centre. Videogame villains always have a weak spot, so you will give it a bright target right in the middle. Create a diamond-like shape with the Rectangle tool. Give it an intense magenta colour and set the blending mode to Overlay. Copy it, scale the copy, and set it to Multiply with a bright pink. Copy and scale it once more, now in white. Give each target an Outer Glow in Screen mode in its respective colour.
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A LITTLE BIT OF RETRO
You want to give your image a nice, retro videogame touch, so you want to create a classic wireframe grid. You could do this by drawing all the lines separately, but there is a much quicker way via creating a pattern: open up a square-shaped new document, select all, go to Edit>Stroke and fill the line with black. Now go to Edit>Define Pattern, open a new document and go to Edit>Fill>Pattern. Now use the Free Transform tool to give it perspective.
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THE FINAL STAGE
Place your grid into the image and put it below your robot villain. Add a new layer, fill it with the Paint Bucket tool and give it a Radial gradient in the layer effects palette, which you can access by double-clicking on the layer in the Layers panel. Set the gradient from inside blue to outside black, then experiment with its dimensions until you find the right size. Now your robot is floating above a glowing grid fading into darkness.
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TECHNIQUES
© Nik Ainley
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HOW I MADE
HOW I MADE
LAPUTA NIK AINLEY
NIK AINLEY EXPLAINS HIS TRIBUTE TO STUDIO GHIBLI WITH LAPUTA, AND HOW HE USED PHOTOSHOP COMBINED WITH 3D TO CREATE IT
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reated as a tribute to one of his favourite Studio Ghibli films Laputa, also known as Castle In The Sky , UK-based digital illustrator Nik Ainley (www.shinybinary.com) chose to create this scene to be a simple character study, with the grass and plants used to test ZBrush’s FiberMesh system. “I did the majority of the modelling in 3ds Max as it is the 3D environment I am most familiar with,” Ainley explains, “Once this was done I imported the model into ZBrush for the next stage. A very simple clay-like material was used for the robot as this matched what was described in the film.” The scene was then lit with a simple three-point light system, and ZBrush was used to produce a series of renders at different settings to give more flexibility in post-production. It was then that the renders were taken and composited in Photoshop to complete the final piece.
A very simple clay-like material was used for the robot as this matched what was described in the film
02
APPLYING MASKS AND ADJUSTMENT LAYERS
Using a render with different parts of the model in red, green and blue allowed me to create masks from the different RGB channels. Adjustment layers with various blending modes and masks produced in the previous step then allowed the image to be tweaked in a controlled fashion.
03 01
IMPORTING FROM 3D
First I imported the main diffuse render into Photoshop and used the rendered alpha channel to extract the model from its background. Since I wanted the focus to be on the model, I added a very simple background, just a few gradients and clouds using the Brush tool.
FINAL DETAILS
Blending other renders, such as an ambient occlusion render and cavity map, helped to bring out detail. The final step was to add a little bit of depth of field blur. Using the depth map feature in lens blur and a rendered depth map made this more precise.
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PHOTOREAL EFFECTS
TECHNIQUES
PHOTOMANIPULATION
PHOTOREAL EFFECTS LEARN TO BLEND AND COMPOSITE IMAGES FROM DIFFERENT SOURCES TO CREATE A DYNAMIC RACE SCENE nhance your compositing skills and learn how to create a photoreal image with this tutorial. You will be taken through all the phases right from inception to completion, learning new techniques in the process. This will also open avenues for new methods of approach and execution. You will start by aligning your assets, followed by cutting the car and brushing in the shadows. You will also be taken through removing objects and extending sets, as well as converting daytime scenes to night and converting static imagery into a dynamic shot. You will learn to add visual effects
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such as smoke, water splashes, reflections, colour leaks and rain. We will also take you through adding subtle details such as lights on buildings and improving contrast and shape. Amidst all the Photoshop tools available, the most important tool will always be your eye. It is not about punching certain numbers in to obtain the right effects; there is no standard formula. Use your eye to determine if you need to add or remove elements, or if the composition is okay as it is. By the end of this tutorial, you will have a better understanding of compositing assets to create striking visual imagery.
OUR EXPERT AMAR KAKAD
www.amarkakad.info Amar Kakad is a creative retoucher and 2D/3D CGI artist. His passion lies in creating dynamic visual imagery. His ambition is to one day direct a dance video combining projection mapping and VFX.
SOURCE FILES
COMBINE AND ALIGN IMAGES SCALE AND MATCH PERSPECTIVE BEFORE ADDING EFFECTS
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On the disc you will find the full list of stock images used and where to download them from.
ADD SOURCE FILES TO STACK
Before you begin, you need to download both the car and background files from the source disc and load them into a stack in Photoshop (File>Script>Load files into stack). Make sure the Car layer is over the Background layer. Once the car is overlaid, use the Pen tool to mask the car from its original background.
WORK IN PROGRESS FROM INCEPTION TO COMPLETION
Progress 1: Align the photos
Progress 2: Create the effects
02
ALIGN BOTH IMAGES
Angle the car to make it more dynamic. Again, the most important tool is your eye. Scale, align and use the Perspective tool to match it closely to the perspective of the road, but be careful not to distort it too much. Use Edit>Transform>Perspective to alter the perspective of the car to match the road.
03
BRUSH IN THE SHADOW
The next step is to duplicate the Car layer and place it below, then title it ‘Shadow’. Invert the mask to reveal the shadow of the car and mask the areas you want to keep. You can also change the blending mode of this layer to Overlay to blend it nicely onto the road.
Progress 3: Colour and shape
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TECHNIQUES PHOTOREAL EFFECTS
04
CLONING AND EXTENSION
Now you need to remove the cones on the road in the foreground. You can do this using the Clone Stamp tool. Over your Background layer, create a new blank layer. Enable your Clone Stamp tool and from the main Toolbar on the top, enable Current & Top. Now, using neighbouring areas of the road, remove the cones. In this case, as the car will cover the majority of the road, it does not have to be too precise. Do the same for the buildings.
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ADD BLUR TO THE BACKGROUND
It is now time to blur the road to give the image a sense of movement and speed. Since this is a linear movement, you can create this using Filter>Blur> Radial Blur. Use an Amount of about 5-10 based on the speed you want to portray. In this case use 7. Under the Blur Method options, enable Zoom, under the Quality options, use Best, and in Blur Center, match the centre of the grid to the horizon of the background.
REFLECTIONS ON THE ROAD
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WATER SPLASH
You now need to create a reflection on the road, as you are creating a rainy scene, which will result in a reflective surface. What you need to do is make a copy of your Car layer and flip it vertically. Apply Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur to give it a hazy feel and also reduce the Opacity to keep the intensity minimal. You can use a value of 3 in this case. You will also need to repeat this process for the background buildings.
SMOKE
You will now add smoke behind the car for a dramatic effect – reason being that when a fast car comes into contact with tar, it generates a smoky effect. Look for free smoke images on Google and www.cgtextures.com. Find something against a darker background. Bring in the image and place it behind the car and surrounding areas of the wheels. Set it to Screen mode. This makes it transparent. If you see other artefacts, mask them out using the Brush tool. QUICK TIP If you want to add a blur, before applying, convert this layer to a Smart Filter and apply it. You will find this under Filter>Convert for Smart Filters. This technique allows you to click on the layer and amend the value. This is a non-destructive technique.
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Since this is going to be a rainy scene, you will need to add water splashes behind the car and surrounding areas of the wheels. Search for water splash images on www.cgtextures.com. Find something against a darker background. As in the previous step, bring in the image and place it behind the car and surrounding areas of the wheels, then set it to Screen. Mask out artefacts with the Brush.
INTEGRATE OTHER ELEMENTS ADD OTHER DRAMATIC EFFECTS AND COLOUR GRADE
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RAIN
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CAR LIGHT STREAKS
Time to make it pour. To create the rain, add a new layer and fill it with black. Go to Filter>Noise> Add Noise. Set an Amount of 100, Gaussian Distribution and enable Monochromatic. Scale this layer to 300-400%, then add Filter>Blur>Motion Blur. In this case angle it at 70-85° so it is not completely straight and set an Amount between 100-150. Put this in Screen mode and add a Curves adjustment for some additional contrast.
For creating car light streaks, search for free images on www.deviantart.com. Look for images that are on dark backgrounds, preferably black. Place the images behind the car and position them accordingly. Change the blend mode to Screen. Brush out any artefacts you do not require. In certain instances you will need to distort them and also apply a Gaussian Blur of value 1 to eliminate artefacts. You can change their colours with Hue/ Saturation depending on your choice. In this case you can leave it on white.
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DARKEN THE BACKGROUND
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CONTRAST, GRADING AND SHAPE
Now you need to grade the image. As you are creating a night scene, you will use adjustment layers that help to darken images. Use Curves for darkening the top and bottom section and also for contrast. Use Hue/Saturation for desaturation. In this case, reduce the Saturation to -5. Also use Exposure and Brightness/Contrast to darken the imagery. Use Color Balance to add blues. Keep the car bright by adding lightness with the Curves tool.
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COLOUR LEAKS AND FLARES
To add colour leaks and flares, you will need to create a new layer and set it to Screen. Use bright colours such as red, orange, yellow and blue, then paint across areas of the image with varying brush opacities. In terms of placement for flares, you can use them to enhance the traffic lights, lights within the buildings, etc. Approach this effect by enhancing the lit areas and then start brushing across areas that could provide more dynamism to the shot.
This is where you will need to enhance the image to bring out colour, grit and dynamism using colour adjustments. These can be found in the Layers panel under the adjustment layers section. You can start with the Color Balance tool. Adjust the midtones by adding a value of -10 for Cyan, 5 for Green and 5 for Blue. Also add Photo Filter using Green and reduce the Opacity to 20% so it is subtle. Add a Curves layer with an increased contrast, which helps accentuate the texture.
Amidst all the Photoshop tools available, the most important tool is your eye
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TECHNIQUES PHOTOREAL EFFECTS
ADJUSTING FINER DETAILS USE THE UNSHARP MASK TO KEEP FOCUS ON THE CAR
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SWITCH ON THE LIGHTS
Since you have converted a daytime shot into a night scene, it would be nice to add lights to the buildings on top to help add realism. Create a new layer and using the Lasso tool, draw the shape of a window the size of the one you would like to add lights to. Fill with white and change the blending mode to Overlay, then reduce the opacity to your liking, as it will vary for each. Apply Gaussian Blur of 2-3 to soften the edges.
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SHARPEN
You have almost reached the end of the tutorial. You will now need to sharpen your main subject in the image, which is the car. You will also need to merge all layers for this step. Go to Layer> Merge Visible. Apply Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Under Amount, use a value of 100. For Radius, use a value of 4 and a Threshold of 1. Watch how sharp the image is. Mask this layer and only brush in the areas of the car.
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HOTSPOTS
To give the car a glossy and shiny feel, you will now add hotspots. These are spots of light you generally find on the edges of objects or alongside them, depending on the angle of light that reflects on them. Create a new blank layer and using a soft brush, place them on areas around the car. Generally you can add 2-3 of these. You can also add a tint of colour using Hue/Saturation. In this case you can add a yellow tint.
QUICK TIP
When brushing for masking or for adding colours, use varying brush opacities as it helps in the process of blending, just like an artist would with their brush strokes. It gives you more fluidity. Also, keep merging your files and layers along the way to reduce the file size.
COLOUR LEAKS
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NOISE
For the last couple of steps, you will need to add some noise over the top of your image. The reason for adding it is to conceal certain artefacts and banding that may have been caused and generated in the image during the process of blending, grading and compositing assets. Create a blank layer. Fill it with 50% Gray. Set this layer to Overlay mode. Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. Add a value of 2-5 depending on how subtle you would like to keep it.
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VIGNETTE
Towards the end, add a vignette to pop the car from the rest of the image. Add a Curves adjustment, increase the darkness and mask it. Brush with varying opacities alongside the border of the image only to reveal the dark areas and leaving the car region untouched. You can also use Exposure and the Brightness/Contrast tool for creating vignettes, applying a similar principle of masking. If you feel the need to add a more tonal value, use the Color Balance tool as well.
With regards to painting colour leaks, keep painting with varying brush opacities and also using soft brushes. Mixing colours with different blending modes can create nice effects. If you are trying to creating a sun burst effect, you can paint a yellow spot for example and change its blending mode to Color Dodge. It will look odd at first, but then reduce the Opacity to around 10-20%. In certain cases, it tends to give nice hotspots. This technique can also be adopted for creating fog and haze, so long as you remember to paint with softer brushes and varying opacities.
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REVIEWS
080
NEC M ULTISYNC PA272W
NEC MULTISYNC PA272W WE TAKE NEC’S LATEST HIGHSPEC REFERENCE PANEL OUT FOR A SPIN TO SEE HOW IT SLOTS INTO A STUDIO ENVIRONMENT www.necdisplay.com www.nec-display-solutions.co.uk SPECIFICATIONS:
£839 EXCL. VAT $1,299
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he PA272W joins a growing list of professional displays that don the ‘Reference’ nametag. This is not just a word used to fill out its brand name, but more of a symbol or mark of its elite status among panel
technology of today. With a list of features that are bound to impress any digital artist, this has set a benchmark for many other monitors to follow. Also, the Reference name has become something of a selling point. As part of its prestigious title, Reference panels are hand-tested in the factory, so what comes out of the box is always the best of the best. NEC promises uncompromising image quality with the PA272W, and it does well to deliver this in a couple of different ways. Firstly, we should point out that it uses a 10-bit LED display that features in-plane switching (IPS) technology, which gives wider viewing angles while maintaining consistent colours at the same time. Displaying depth and clarity across its matte 27-inch screen was no sweat, and the monitor’s 3D look-up table offers a complete customisation of colour spaces. We discovered this to be very useful when working with a number of ICC profiles for different
print outputs, and would also be beneficial for adapting to custom colour profiles delivered by a third party. Some of the more productivity-enhancing features that can be seen in this latest MultiSync include a built-in picture-by-picture mode, which places a video frame inside the full screen display, so you’re able to work with two different signal inputs at any one time. In order to maintain a visual quality that’s worthy of its Reference title, NEC has injected ColorComp technology into this panel for optimal colour uniformity at all times – which is just one reason why artwork and images appear so detailed compared to a standard display. And it’s for these reasons that this particular MultiSync stands out as a true performer among panels. NEC has also been very careful not to restrict its new MultiSync in terms of versatility and mobility. Turn the page to learn more…
Physical credentials: Weighing in at nearly 13 kilos, this is no lightweight panel. It has a quick-release, height-adjustable stand (with a range of five centimetres) for making sure that viewing angles are just right
Built to last: The tilting mechanism on the back allows for smoot h and precise angling to suit your desk space. Once in place, it sits firmly on the stand
Colour quality: Working on the display with Photoshop, we found that resolution and pixel
depth all came together to give stunning visuals and colour-accurate results
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REVIEWS
NEC M ULTISYNC PA272W
A GLANCE AT THE PA272W WORKING YOUR WAY AROUND THIS MONITOR
Neat and tidy: Having so many connections, this cable tidy feature helps to keep the workspace free from straggling wires
Work in portrait mode: The option to rotate the screen 90 degrees to face you in portrait mode is advantageous, and not something that’s commonly seen in panels
Making the right connections: A single HDMI port, DisplayPort (mini version also included), as well as DVI-D (Dual Link) connections provide all the necessary links to get synced up to a hard drive
The CableComp feature goes to great lengths to reduce colour shift if using longer input cables (up to 30 metres with digital panels and 100 metres with analogue cables). But it doesn’t stop there, as NEC has made this display to suit potential demands of a larger studio atmosphere and not just for singlescreen setups. What we’re talking about is the monitor’s hidden gem, and it comes in the form of TileComp and TileMatrix technology working harmoniously together. What these can do is give you the choice to build up your own stack of displays (up to 10 in total) without the need for supporting hardware – there should be nothing preventing such an ostentatious arrangement of panels (minus the
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financial dent!). TileComp is what goes to work smoothing out the visuals and compensating for optical nuisances and shifts for better overall visuals. This will eliminate any distracting transitions between neighbouring panels in a stack. If that’s all a little too high profile, however, then this can work as a great monitor for more low-key environments as well, such as the home. It’s intelligent too, with auto black level and brightness meters detecting the lighting conditions while you’re working to shape its backlighting to the setting that’s most comfortable for the eyes. Squeezing the monitor into your workspace might take some thought, as this isn’t the most discrete panel
available. The panel itself is nearly nine centimetres deep and weighs nearly 13 kilos, so manoeuvring such a cumbersome screen is a two-handed affair. But once we had moved it into the right position, we soon forgot about its weight and size and all the attention turned towards the quality of the picture. The colour accuracy and detail in the darks to midtones were what really caught our attention. Being able to create artwork across multiple platforms, from camera through to printer, with an accurate representation of colours is a blessing. This was not only an enjoyable experience, but one we could also come to rely on from the moment it’s switched on.
MARKET COMPETITORS A LOOK AT OTHER
EIZO CG277
www.eizo.co.uk £1,340 (excl. VAT) / approx $2,244 This 27-inch top-spec display by EIZO also boasts 99% Adobe RGB colour coverage, along with a built-in self-calibration sensor. Scheduled calibration can be programmed even if the panel is switched off. Like the MultiSync PA272W, this features a glare-free IPS panel for improved viewing.
DELL U2713H
www.dell.co.uk £806 / $1,000 The U2713H by Dell is more affordable than the MultiSync PA272W, and features PremierColor technology that displays colour accurately right out of the box. USB 3.0 and HDMI connections make this model a convenient addition to the workspace. External devices : Dual USB connections give you the
ability to link up multiple devices s uch as scanners and printers for a flexible production line
GB-R LED backlighting is one of the reasons that the PA272W comes at a high price. But it’s this technology that produces an impressively large Adobe RGB colour space of over 99%. How does it work? As green and blue LEDs emit light, they stimulate the red phosphor spots to form a clean, white light source. These light sources are planted around the edges of the panel, and using a guiding system, white light is distributed seamlessly and evenly from one end of the screen to the other. This white light has been developed with colour filters to bring colour spaces to an optimal level and end up being highly accurate. What’s more, not only are heating and ageing effects maintained, but production costs are also controlled in the factory. The display is teeming with technology that gets to work at making colours look at their best in
Photoshop. Along with GB-R LED backlighting that ensures an accurately presented colour space, there have been additional improvements made to its overall performance. The PA272W has been given a better response time, now at seven milliseconds, to reduce pixel ghosting that is sometimes present in moving visuals on some displays. This is partnered with Rapid Response technology for smoother pixels transition. Another feature that has been updated includes a new minimum brightness setting compared to predecessors, now able to go down as low as 20cd/m2, which is ideal for working under dim lighting conditions. All this control makes working with the display all the more pleasurable. Performance is matched with build quality, in what is an excellently crafted panel for professional-end users of a range of creative application.
VIEWSONIC VP2772
www.viewsoniceurope.com £699 (excl. VAT) / $1,020 (excl. tax) ViewSonic has injected its own SuperClear technology into the VP2772 to bring exceptional viewing quality for Photoshop users and photographers. Covering 99% of Adobe RGB colour space with a 14-bit look-up table, this sizes up evenly with the MultiSync PA272W.
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REVIEWS
NEC M ULTISYNC PA272W
Look and feel: A satin diffuser gives
cleaner image quality and auto brightness, black level and contrast modes mean it can intelligently adjust itself according to the surroundings
Whether you’re a retoucher, painter, designer or photographer, colour accuracy has always played a pivotal role in Photoshop. Being able to see detail in every channel across varying colour spaces is an important factor to consider. So it’s no wonder that a careful approach has to be taken in the decisionmaking when upgrading to your next monitor; especially with price tags that can rise much higher than that of the PA272W. The colour technology that sits behind this MultiSync is truly second-to-none, even having come to expect professional panels to give true colours without any questions asked. In reality that’s not always the case, but the PA272W comes close to making this a dream come true.
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There’s much more to this panel than first meets the eye. Perhaps too understated for its own good, it demands respect from the outset, and we found that not only does it produce the goods visually, but it also caters for expanding studio and exhibition spaces – ideal for those looking for a heavy-duty display to handle demanding work conditions. We’ve come to expect a level of professional consistency with NEC’s Reference range, and the standards keep on rising. For Photoshop artists, it’s shaping up to be a bright future – especially if the latest developments in 4K Ultra HD haven’t quite grabbed the attention of everyone. Although upfront costs are steep with Reference panels, this is a worthwhile upgrade.
Energy consumption: An ambient light
sensor and a carbon footprint meter mean it’s easy to keep track of energ y usage over long periods of use, so we could be more environmentally conscious
Quality control: The 27-inch panel, with
GB-R LED backlighting, keeps colour uniformity true during long and intensive Photoshop projects
VERDICT Features: 9/10 Ease of use: 8/10 Quality of results: 9/10 Value for money: 7/10
8/10
FINAL SCORE:
ELEMENTE BY DIVINE PROJECT
ELEMENTE BY DIVINE PROJECT
REVIEWS
NO MORE CODE! BRIDGE” BETWEEN PHOTOSHOP AND WORDPRESS
CREATE WORDPRESS THEMES IN PHOTOSHOP NO CODE REQUIRED EVER www.divine-project.com
T
ransitioning a web design from Photoshop to code has always been a somewhat specialised skill set, especially if a web designer intends to translate the design into a WordPress template. Navigating the labyrinth of code, style sheets, widgets and plug-ins is almost enough to drive any artist mad! Tools to translate Photoshop files into web code have usually ranged from inflexible to unreliable. They tend to either be so simplistically structured that every site they create appears to be a cookie cutter clone, or they are so needlessly complex that a designer might as well just learn how to do the coding themselves! Divine Elemente is a Photoshop plug-in that takes almost all the pain out of producing an attractive, custom WordPress site. The plug-in follows in a long tradition of ‘What You See is What You Get’ (WYSIWYG) editors. The workflow is smartly thought out as it places Photoshop in the middle of the production workflow, not the beginning. This means Photoshop templates are provided as well as a Layout Creator. Designers easily choose which
WordPress elements should be included in the design and where they live on the page. Divine Elemente takes those choices and creates a Photoshop wireframe of the site. The wireframe is easy to use by anyone with moderate knowledge of Photoshop – just place content into the clearly labelled layer groups. Publishing the site is about as straightforward as it possibly can be when dealing with unknown servers, user permissions and arbitrary folder paths. Divine Elemente finds itself solidly on the elusive middle ground between being overcomplicated and inflexibly simple. There’s plenty of depth to add and tweak custom elements or features, but also a simple enough workflow that a new user can produce a site in under an hour.
VERDICT:
■ LAYOUT CREATOR
The Layout Creator module provides an easy method of selecting WordPress elements by way of checkboxes. Select your choices and then export the PSD wireframe.
■ ANIMATIONS AND MORE
Easily create and adjust complicated items like banner animations or menu interactions by using the Publish Editor. Select the item on the main canvas and just adjust the properties as needed.
Divine Elemente provides a muchneeded bridge over the gap between Photoshop and WordPress. This plug-in is a must for any designer who doesn’t want to code.
■ WORK WITH PSD WIREFRAMES
The Photoshop templates are well marked, and easily laid out. The idea of having preestablished layer groups to contain custom content is ingenious. Just place your custom layers into the correct group!
■ 960 GRID
■ Divine Elemente is the ideal plug-in for the Photoshop designer who wants to create WordPress sites, but
doesn’t want to bother with learning HTML, CSS or PHP
Divine Elemente includes a brilliant wizard-like tool to take the pain (and maths) out of planning your 960 grids when designing web layouts. The tool sets up the columns and gutters for you.
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READER INTERVIEW
CREATIVE RETOUCHING
READER INTERVIEW
CREATIVE RETOUCHING 24YEAROLD DIGITAL ARTIST DAVID ROYA REVEALS HOW HE EXPANDED HIS SKILL SET FOR PROFESSIONAL WORK hough only 24, David Roya already has an impressive portfolio and experience working for clients such as IKEA. Working mainly within graphics design and retouching, he’s been experimenting with Photoshop since his teenage years.
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COULD YOU PLEASE TELL US MORE ABOUT HOW YOU FIRST WERE INSPIRED TO CREATE DIGITAL ARTWORK?
I’ve been interested in digital art and drawing since I was a kid. I sometimes bought a book only for the cover, or a DVD because of the cover art. I realised how much it meant to me for something to have a good visual representation, and I wanted to be able to create such art myself. I usually have a pretty clear idea of what I want before I start working in Photoshop, but
sometimes I simply evolve the picture within the program. I could have a rough sketch or an idea but they are nothing without my tools. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR OWN STYLE?
I would say I have a pretty modern style. A lot of my inspiration comes from today’s games and movies, which comes through in my work. Although I have changed my style a bit since my early days in Photoshop, my interests remain the same. Of
OUR READER
DAVID ROYA
Naming, grouping and colour marking your layers is essential to having control over a bigger project
www.advancedphotoshop.co.uk/ user/Tri5tate http://Tri5tate.deviantart.com
Age Of Piracy: ”I was inspired to do an environmental matte painting on the landscapes from the latest Assassin’s Creed game, since I found them so beautiful. The image is a mix of photos and painting and took me about four hours to do,” says Roya
a y o R d i v a D © s e g a m i e l c i t r a l l A
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A Steady Stream Of Madness: “There are some times when we all can relate to this feeling, but maybe not quite so vibrantly. Although in my case there is no dark story behind this image, I only created it because I thought it looked cool”
Siege Of Shanghai: “I’ve been a big Battlefield fan for many years, so I wanted to make a wallpaper for the gaming franchise. It gained a lot of appreciation and attention on the web, which is really fun”
Environments: It’s important to make the environment look seamless by adding highlights and shadows on objects. I painted some highlights in Overlay mode to bring the scene to life
Texturing: The mountains are made from rock textures. I created them by drawing a selection on the texture based on how I wanted the composition to look. By using photos, you get a lot of free texture
course, looking back at my older pictures, I think they look pretty bad, but I remember that was mostly due to a lack of skill, which limited my ideas. Ever since I first started to use Photoshop, I wanted to be able to create those epic movie posters and game ads, and now I feel I finally have the abilities to do so, and it will only get better.
Because of the size of the project, it gave me confirmation that I was still up to par in the industry, which I think everyone needs sometimes. When I was finished with the project and had a happy client, for me that meant that I knew I could handle work for bigger companies as well. That was very important and still makes me very proud of myself.
WHAT PHOTOSHOP PROJECT DO YOU FEEL
WERE THERE ANY CHALLENGES TO CREATING
MOST PROUD OF HAVING WORKED ON
A PROJECT FOR SUCH A LARGE CLIENT?
THROUGHOUT YOUR CAREER?
The IKEA catalogue is the biggest piece of printed matter in the world. The job involved retouching and correcting hundreds of images directly from camera, or with a 3D program. It did get stressful at times, but it helped me master new techniques fast and pay close attention to detail. [These are] skills that also followed me into digital art, where I strive to create realistic-looking artwork, even though the scenes I create are sometimes surreal.
I’m usually more proud of projects that have given me greater skills. That’s why I’m mostly proud of my personal projects such as Extraction and Lost Legends, because I feel that they’ve evolved me as an artist the most. Last year I worked for IKEA, producing their yearly catalogue. [This was] a project that allowed me to expand on my retouching skill set a lot.
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WHAT ARE THE TECHNIQUES YOU WOULD SAY ARE MOST IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER WHEN CREATING WORK USING PHOTOSHOP?
For me, layers are the most fundamental. Organising them is very important if you want structure, otherwise you’ll spend too much time scrolling through the Layers panel. Naming, grouping and colour marking your layers is essential to having control over a bigger project. There are some times when I totally forget this rule, which is kind of frustrating in a PSD file with over 250 layers. DO YOU FEEL IT IS IMPORTANT FOR ARTISTS TO LEARN A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT SKILLS, SUCH AS BOTH GRAPHICS DESIGN AND RETOUCHING?
Yes, definitely. Firstly, to pay the bills. You want to be able to take assignments from a broader range of clients. It also makes you more versatile, and increases the chances of developing better
CREATIVE RETOUCHING
READER INTERVIEW
Fog: The fog was created using a custom
brush. Not only did it give the pictur e depth, it also makes the cliffs seem more pronounced
Era: “This image was a lot of fun to make. It’s a movie poster for an
Characters: Placing a human in your
scene gives you a sense of scale. I painted this guy using references from the game Assassin’s Creed
upcoming sci-fi movie called Era, directed by a friend of mine named Ted Karlsson. The suit is actually real. I shot it in a studio, brought it into Photoshop and added the environment”
TOP FIVE DESIGN TIPS Take advantage of Photoshop. Combine photos with painting and you’ll see why you don’t need to be a master at drawing to produce digital art with great details. Create images based on your interests to begin with. It’s easier to get ideas on something you like, rather than trying to create something you’re not passionate about. Don’t be afraid of the end result, or you’ll never create something original. If it won’t come out like you thought, look at it like practice. Study how things behave and interact with each other. This is important if you want things to appear realistic. Sometimes a small contact shadow can make a big difference. I’m not the first to say this, but get yourself a tablet. It won’t help you go through the menus faster, but try painting with a mouse and you’ll see why you need one.
techniques. Some areas actually benefit from prior knowledge, such as a matte painter with an illustration background. Trying to learn new areas is never wrong, but remember that it can be challenging to remain great at one or another if you don’t learn how to combine them. CAN YOU TELL US MORE ABOUT WHAT YOU ASPIRE TO ACHIEVE IN THE FUTURE? WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS TIME?
I want to always keep improving my skills and trying to learn new areas to have fewer limitations. My ultimate goal is to work as a digital marketing artist for a bigger games or movie company. Sweden, where I’m currently based, is pretty limited within those areas, but I have an older brother who works in the movie industry in the States, so it’s possible that I’ll be moving there to widen my possibilities!
Sleepless: “This picture is made up from stock images from Shutterstock.com (they have some great stocks), pictures I shot myself and
stuff I dre w. It took about 6-7 hours in Photoshop and has 184 layers (yes, I usually have a lot o f layers in my PSDs!)”
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RESOURCE PROJECT
EXPLORING 3D PRINTING LEARN HOW TO TURN YOUR DIGITAL CREATION INTO A PHYSICAL OBJECT
O
ne of the most exciting new technologies to find its way into our hands is 3D printing. That’s the process of taking a digitally created 3D model and turning it into a real, physical object. The technology has been around for a few years, but has yet to become widely accessible. That is slowly changing as small, consumer-level 3D printers are becoming more and more available. Additionally, the latest release of Photoshop CC included support for 3D printing. Not only can you
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create or import models into Photoshop and prepare them for 3D printing, but there’s even the option to print directly to a provider, Shapeways.com, through the application itself. For our resource project, we decided to take the new 3D printing capabilities for a spin. We will show you how we developed, prepared, and printed a real 3D chess piece. Special thanks to Danko Arlington (www.dankoarlington.com) who graciously allowed us to use their 3D printer and even provided photos
and expert insight into the process. Be sure to check out our interview with them for a fascinating look into how this technology is impacting the manufacturing industry. Additionally, take a look on the cover disc for our video tutorial, where we walk through the entire process of creating the digital 3D model to holding the finished object in your hand. Soon you’ll be able to bring anything to life, all you need to begin is a little inspiration…
EXPLORING 3D PRINTING
ON THE DISC
CREATING THE 3D MODEL CRAFT A REAL CHESS PIECE, DIGITALLY
02
CONVERT TO 3D
01
OUTLINE
Begin by using the Pen tool to draw out a profile curve of the main body of the chess piece. Don’t include the mane, ears or pedestal – those will be added later.
Go to 3D>New 3D Extrusion from Selected Layer. Photoshop will convert to the 3D workspace and extrude the path into a three-dimensional object. Adjust the Extrude setting to an appropriate width.
03
BEVELLED EDGES
05
FINISHED PIECE
03
EXPORT THE FILE
Start with a standard Bevel preset, then adjust the Bevel and Inflation settings in the Cap tab to create edges and sides to the piece that have depth and are not simple, flat edges.
04
ADD MORE EXTRUSIONS
The ears and the mane are added using the same method of drawing a shape and extruding it in 3D. Once the additional pieces are created, select them all and go to 3D>Merge 3D Layers.
Ctrl/right-click in the 3D panel and choose Add Cylinder to create a pedestal. Add a sphere in the same way and scale it down vertically to create the pedestal top.
PREPARING FOR 3D PRINTING SEND THE FILE OFF TO A 3D PRINTER
01
UNIFY SCENE
Go to 3D>Unify Scene for 3D Printing. This will merge all the meshes and materials into a single continuous piece. If you want multiple colours, you need to print multiple pieces.
02
3D PRINT PROPERTIES
In the new 3D Print Properties panel, select a printing source. To export a file for a local printer, choose the Local option. Be sure to set the appropriate volume and size for the object.
Press the Start Print button to export the object to an STL file. Photoshop prepares a preview of the file, and allows you to choose whether or not you should include support structures.
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TURNING PIXELS TO PLASTIC THE PRINT HEAD LAYS DOWN ROWS OF MATERIAL IN MUCH THE SAME WAY A TRADITIONAL PRINTER LAYS DOWN INK
The Fortus 900mc allows Danko Arlington to print larger objects than most other 3D printers. The print envelope on this machine is 24 x 36 x 36” (61 x 92 x 92cm).
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The cartridge of print material comes in a spool that holds less than 250 square cm of material. The material of choice feeds out much like a string trimmer line.
Every tenth layer of support material has one layer of build material. The dissimilar materials make it easier to separate when pulling, peeling and chipping the stuff off.
The print material is only 0.25mm thick and it separates easily from the main build, making the support material removal much easier and with less risk of damage.
EXPLORING 3D PRINTIN G
ON THE DISC
PRINT 3D DIRECTLY FROM PHOTOSHOP
Size matters! Digital files are easy to scale. Physical materials are not quite so friendly to arbitrary enlargement
The printed model must be a single piece and a single colour, but there are many different types of material to choose from
Adobe has partnered with Shapeways.com to provide easy access to 3D printing tech. Just select the option from the Print To drop-down menu to get things going!
The choice of material has the biggest impact on price. This 10cm model prints in ceramic for about £30/$50, but raw silver totals over £1,800/$3,000!
DANKO ARLINGTON
Danko Arlington (www.dankoarlington.com) initially specialised in patternmaking and die casting. It was a business built around the hot, heavy, gritty work of sand moulds, molten metal and highly skilled workmen training apprentices. But as technology advanced, and more manufacturing moved offshore, president John
Danko found that skilled patternmakers were a dying breed. The work was there, but the workforce was not. So in 2010 Danko installed large-scale 3D printers to replace patternmakers. Now two 3D printers run almost continuously 24 hours a day, 7 days a week creating silicone dyes to support the foundry. The job that once required
a warehouse full of experienced woodworkers is now being performed by two machines. However, Danko speculates that widespread residential use is still several years out. “The raw material is still very expensive,” he explains. “It will be quite some time before it is cost-effective to print personal figurines and ornaments.”
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ON THE DISC
EXPLORING 3D PRINTIN G
FROM THE SCREEN INTO YOUR HANDS HOW TO FINISH UP THE FINAL PRINTED RESULTS
02
REMOVE SUPPORT MATERIAL
03
SAND AND SMOOTH
Carefully remove the support material from the model. While it does break away, it is not soft. You will require tools to chip, scrape and pry the support material off without scratching or damaging the build material.
01
AFTER PRINTING
The model comes out of the printing machine with the support material, or scaffolding, still attached. This ensures the print material stays in position during printing. It is designed to be broken away afterwards.
C S I D E H T N O 094
Use some sandpaper or a woodworking block to sand away any rough edges or blemishes from the finished model. The variety of print material will determine how much finishing is required.
3D CHESS PIECES PRINT OUT A WHOLE SET OF CUSTOM CHESS PIECES!
We’ve included 3D files to create every piece on the chessboard. Add your own custom flair and design and then print out your very own custom set!
CREATE THE ART OF THE FUTURE www.3dartistonline.com
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