Create a Christmas Tree with Photoshop

With Christmas coming, I thought it would be cool to create a tree that has blinking lights on it. This will be a simple Christmas tree without a lot of texturing.

Begin by creating a new document 240 X 400 pixels. Next we will create a few new layers. Select Layer/New/Layer and name it "Trunk". Repeat this process creating a "Tree" Layer and one that is called "Blue Lights". Later we will also create layers for yellow and red lights, but we will duplicate the blue layer to save time. The layer order is important. At this point your layer stack should look like this.

Making sure that the Tree layer is highlighted, select the Custom Shape Tool (Hot key U). Then choose the triangle shape from the Custom Shape Picker. If you don't see a triangle, use the drop down menu and select "All".

Also make sure that your paths button is selected.

Now drag your mouse until you get a triangle with a Christmas tree looking shape to it. It is best to drag from the bottom left or right so that it is easier to center your tree on the document. Make sure to leave a little room on the bottom for the trunk.

On the layers window, click on the paths tab, then right click on the work path and choose Make Selection. Feather radius 0 pixels. Your triangle should now be a selection and have the dancing ants border.

Hit the Edit in Quick Mask Mode button (Hot key Q). You now should have a pink background indicating that you are in this mode. Select Filter/Brush Strokes/Sprayed Strokes. Set the stroke length and spray radius to 10. Set stroke direction to right diagonal. Hit the Q key to exit the quick mask mode. Select a shade of Christmas tree green for your foreground color tile. I used #009933. Select Edit/Fill/Foreground Color and click OK. Hit Ctrl+D to deselect. You should now have something like this.

Highlight the Trunk layer, and grab the Rectangular Marquee Tool (Hot key M).

Drag the mouse to create the trunk. Choose a color of brown for your foreground color tile, and fill the selection as we did with the tree. I used #663300. Hit Ctrl+D to deselect. You may need to move it a bit to center it.

Now we need to create some light balls. Making sure that the Blue Lights layer is now selected, grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool and make a small circle. Hold the shift key down while dragging the mouse to constrain the shape to a perfect circle. Select a shade of blue for the foreground color and fill the circle. Hit Ctrl+D to deselect. Remember we are trying to make lights here, so keep that in mind when you are making this ball as this will be the size of all the rest. I am going to add a little bevel and emboss to the ball to give it some depth. Select Layer/Layer Style/Blending Options to bring up the Blending Options window. Here are the settings I used for bevel and emboss.

Now select Layer/Duplicate Layer and name it Yellow Lights. Duplicate that layer and name it Red Lights. Now highlight the Yellow Lights layer, and move the ball somewhere else on the tree. Open the Blending Options window again. This time we are going to the Color Overlay area. Double click on the color tile, and choose a shade of yellow. Do the same thing for the Red Lights layer using a shade of red.

Now, going back to the blue layer, duplicate this 3 times. That will give us 4 blue lights total . Click on each layer and move the lights around the tree. Once you have them where you want them, you need to merge all these layers into one to keep things as simple as possible. Turn off all of the layers except the 4 blue light layers. Click on the little eyeball on each layer that you want to turn off. On the layers window, click on the flout menu arrow and select Merge Visible. Now all of your blue lights should be on one layer.

Repeat this process for the yellow lights, and again for the red lights. Rename each layer back to their original names, Blue Lights etc. You may want to create all of your light layers first so you have control over the placement of the lights. Once you merge a layer, all the lights on that layer will move together. With any luck at all you will have something like this.

Now we have to make the glowing frames of each color before we can create the blinking animation. Duplicate the blue lights layer, and name it Blue Bright. Making sure you have this new layer highlighted, open the blending options window. We are going to be using the outer glow section this time. On the color tile, select a shade of blue, and use the settings shown below. Repeat this process for the yellow and red lights using yellow and red on the outer glow section.

Now that we have all or our frames we will need for the animation, we need to jump over to Image Ready. Hit the jump to Image Ready button.

Once in Image Ready, if you don't see the animation window select Window/Animation. Now go to the layers palette, and turn off the layer Blue Bright, and Yellow Bright by clicking on the little eyeball on those layers. Leave all other layers on for now. You should see your first frame, and it should have the red lights looking bright.

From the flout menu in the animation window select New Frame.

Turn off the Red Bright layer, and turn on the Yellow Bright Layer. Now you should have a second frame showing the yellow lights looking bright. Add a new frame, turn off the Yellow Bright Layer, and turn on the Blue Bright layer. You should have 3 frames now, one with the red lights bright, one with the yellow lights bright, and one with the blue lights bright.

At this point you can hit the play button to view your animation. It will probably be a very quick crazy blinking action, which maybe you like. If you wish to slow it down, increase the time each frame stays on. At the bottom of each frame it shows a time. Mine says 0 sec as you can see in the picture above. Use the drop down menu and change the time. If you control click each frame, it will select all of them, and when you change the time on one, it will change the time for every frame. I liked mine better at .5 sec, and here is how it looks.

Now you will need to save your animation. It will need to be saved as a GIF file. Make sure your your Optimize window is open. To do this, select Window/Optimize. I set mine to GIF 128 Dithered as shown below.

Now select File/Save Optimized As. Choose your folder and a name for your file. Your new file is now ready for the internet. Remember, you can't view an animated GIF in Photoshop.

Thanks source from: ShowAndTell-Graphics.com

Editing Live Paint regions

Once you've made a Live Paint group, each path remains fully editable. When you move or adjust a path's shape, the colors that had been previously applied don't just stay where they were, like they do in natural media paintings or image editing programs. Instead, Illustrator automatically reapplies them to the new regions that are formed by the edited paths.

To experience this feature further, create a blank new file on which you will create a simple illustration.

1. Using File > New, create a new letter-sized document. Leave at the default settings, and choose OK.
2. On the blank document, use the Ellipse tool to create a circle anywhere on the artboard. The size of the circle shape is not important.
3. Using the Selection tool, hold down the Alt (Windows) or Option (Mac OS) key to clone the circle shape, drag it so the duplicated circle is overlapping the initial circle shape.
4. Choose Select > All. Choose None from Fill in the Control panel, and then choose None from Stroke color in the Control panel.
   
   Create two overlapping circle shapes. Paint both the Fill and Stroke None.
   
   
   
5. Select the Live Paint Bucket tool, and cross over the center overlapping area; when it becomes highlighted, click once to activate the center shape as a Live Paint group.
6. Select a color from the Swatches panel and click on the center Live Paint object to color it.
7. Select a color. Then using the Live Paint Bucket tool, click the left Live Paint object and click inside of it. Repeat this with a different color for the right Live Paint object.
   
   Assign different colors to the Live Paint objects.
   
   
   
8. Choose Select > Deselect. Choose the Direct Selection tool. Select and reposition one of the circles, keeping some of the overlap. Notice that the intersecting area is dynamic. It changes the fill based upon the relationship of the two circles.
   
   You can use the different selection tools depending on what you want to select and affect in a Live Paint group. For instance, use the Live Paint Selection tool to apply different gradients across different faces in a Live Paint group, and use the Selection tool to apply the same gradient across the entire Live Paint group.
   
9. Choose File > Close. Choose to not save the file.

Creating text outlines

When creating artwork for multiple purposes, it is wise to create outlines of text so the recipient doesn't need your fonts to create, open, and use the file correctly. Note that you will want to keep an original of your artwork, as you cannot change outline text back to editable text.

1. Select the Type tool. Click off to the left in the scratch area (away from the poster art).
2. Type WALK! RUN! DANCE!
3. Double-click the Rotate tool. The Rotate Options window appears, type 90. Click OK. The text is rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise.
   
   Rotate text 90 degrees.
   
   
   
   
   
4. With the Selection tool, position the text so it is in the lower left corner of the poster art.
   
   
   
5. Select the Selection tool. While holding down the Shift key, click and drag the upper right handle of the text's bounding box. This enlarges the text proportionally to the height of the poster.
6. With the Selection tool, Shift-click to select the world and the Sammy's World text. Choose Object > Arrange > Bring to Front.
   
   Enlarge a text area using the bounding box.
   
   
   
7. With the Selection tool select the "Walk! Run! Dance!" text again, click the Fill color in the Control panel and select White in the Swatches panel.
8. Click once on the word Opacity in the Control panel to link to the Transparency panel. From the Blend Mode pop-up menu choose Soft Light. Change the Opacity to 75% in the Opacity text field.
   
   
   
9. With the text area still selected, choose Type > Create Outlines. The text is no longer linked to a particular font, but has become artwork, much like any other vector art in your illustration.
10. Choose File > Save.

Congratulations! You have completed the tutorial.

Creating text on paths and shapes

With the Type tools in Illustrator CS3, you can type on paths and on shapes.

1. With the Selection tool, select the wavy path crossing the silhouette artwork.
2. With the Type tool, cross the cursor over the left side of the path to see an insertion point with an intersecting wavy path. Click when this cursor appears. The stroke attributes of the stroke change to None and a cursor appears. Don't type yet.
3. In the Font Size text field in the Control panel, type 36 and press the Enter key.
4. Type Don't just stand there... Note that the newly typed text follows the path.
   
   Type on a path.
   
   
   
5. With the Type tool, click and drag over the text you just entered (or click three times on the text). Click the Fill color in the Control panel to link to the Swatches panel. Then choose the White swatch.
   
   Now you will put text on a closed path.
   
6. With the Selection tool, select the small black circle in the lower left corner of the poster.
7. Switch to the Type tool. Holding down the Alt (Windows) or Opt (Mac OS) key, cross over the left side of the circle. The type on a path icon appears. Click, but don't type.
   
   Cross over the closed shape with the Type tool and the Alt/Opt key.
   
   
   
   After clicking, the text cursor appears.
   
   
   
   The fill and stroke attributes of the circle are changed to None, and you have a cursor on the path.
   
8. From the Font Size pop-up menu in the Control panel, change the text size to 24. From the Font menu choose Myriad Pro (or Myriad), and from the Font Style menu choose Bold.
9. Click the Align Center button to the right of Paragraph in the Control panel.
10. Type SAMMY'S SHOEWORLD in capital letters. The text flows on the circular path.
11. To adjust the placement on the path, select the Selection tool. The type object is selected. A bracket appears at the beginning of the type, at the end of the path, and at the midpoint between the start and end brackets. These brackets look like lines.
12. Position the cursor over the type's center bracket until a small icon appears next to the cursor, and drag the center bracket along the path. Hold down Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac OS) to prevent the type from flipping to the other side of the path. Position the text so it is centered across the top of the circle.
    
    

 

Saving a Selection as a Mask in Photoshop CS3

Quick masks are temporary. They disappear as soon as you deselect. However, you can save a selection as an alpha-channel mask so that your time-consuming work won't be lost, and you can reuse the selection in this work session or a later one. You can even use alpha channels in other Photoshop image files.

To avoid confusing channels and layers, think of channels as containing an image's color and selection information; think of layers as containing painting and effects.

1.  With the (Standard mode) statue selection still active in the image window, click the Save Selection As Channel button at the bottom of the Channels palette.

A new channel, Alpha 1, appears at the bottom of the Channels palette.

2.  Double-click the Alpha 1 channel, type Statue to rename it, and press Enter or Return.

When you select the channel, Photoshop displays a black-and-white representation of the selection in the image window, and it hides all the color channels.

3.  Choose Select > Deselect to deselect the statue.

4.  Choose File > Save to save your work.

Masking Tips and Shortcuts

Here's some useful information about masks and masking.

• Masks are nondestructive, which means that you can go back and reedit the masks later without losing the pixels that they hide.
• When editing a mask, be aware of the color selected in the toolbox. Black hides, white reveals, and shades of gray partially hide or reveal. The darker the gray, the more is hidden in the mask.
• To reveal a layer's content without masking effects, turn off the mask by Shift-clicking the layer mask thumbnail or choose Layer > Layer Mask > Disable. A red X appears over the mask thumbnail in the Layers palette when the mask is disabled.
• To turn a layer mask back on, Shift-click the layer mask thumbnail with the red X in the Layers palette or choose Layer > Layer Mask > Enable. If the mask doesn't show up in the Layers palette, choose Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All to display it.
• Unlink layers and masks to move the two independently and shift the masks' boundaries separately from the layer. To unlink a layer or group to its layer mask or vector mask, click the link icon between the thumbnails in the Layers palette. To relink them, click the blank space between the two thumbnails.
• To convert a vector mask to a layer mask, select the layer containing the vector mask you want to convert, and choose Layer > Rasterize > Vector Mask. Note, however, that once you rasterize a vector mask, you can't change it back into a vector object.

Masks and Channels in Photoshop CS3

Adobe Photoshop uses masks to isolate and manipulate specific parts of an image. A mask is like a stencil. The cutout portion of the mask can be altered, but the area surrounding the cutout is protected from change. You can create a temporary mask for one-time use, or you can save masks for repeated use.

Working with Masks and Channels

Photoshop masks isolate and protect parts of an image, just like masking tape prevents a house painter from getting paint on the window glass or trim. When you create a mask based on a selection, the area not selected is masked, or protected from editing. With masks, you can create and save time-consuming selections and then use them again. In addition, you can use masks for other complex editing tasks—for example, to apply color changes or filter effects to an image.

In Adobe Photoshop, you can make temporary masks, called quick masks , or you can create permanent masks and store them as special grayscale channels called alpha channels . Photoshop also uses channels to store an image's color information and information about spot color. Unlike layers, channels do not print. You use the Channels palette to view and work with alpha channels.

A key concept in masking is that black hides, white reveals. As in life, rarely is anything black and white. So: shades of gray partially hide, depending on the gray levels (255 equals black (hidden), 0 equals white (revealed)).

How to Creating a Quick Mask

You'll begin the tutorial by using Quick Mask mode to convert a selection border into a temporary mask. Later, you will convert this temporary quick mask back into a selection border. Unless you save a quick mask as a more permanent alpha-channel mask, the temporary mask will be discarded once it is converted to a selection.

1. Choose File > Save As, rename the file and click Save. Click OK if a compatibility warning appears.

Saving another version of the Start file lets you return to the original if you need it.

You'll mask the Buddha statue so that you can separate it from its background and paste it in front of a new background.

2. In the Layers palette, click the Buddha layer name to select the layer.

3. Click the Quick Mask Mode buttonin the toolbox. (By default, you have been working in Standard mode.)

A. Standard mode B. Change Screen mode

In Quick Mask mode, a red overlay appears as you make a selection, masking and protecting the area outside the selection the way that a rubylith, or red acetate, masked images in traditional print shops. You can apply changes only to the unprotected area that is visible and selected. Notice, too, that the selected layer in the Layers palette appears gray, indicating you are in Quick Mask mode.

4. In the toolbox, select the Brush tool. 5. In the tool options bar, make sure that the mode is Normal. Then, click the arrow to display the Brushes pop-up palette, and select a large soft brush with a diameter of 65 pixels. Click off the palette to close it.

You'll use this large brush to rough out a mask, and refine it in the next exercise.

6. In the image, drag the Brush tool to paint a mask around the halo; the brush size should match the width of the halo. A red overlay appears wherever you paint, indicating the mask you're creating.

In Quick Mask mode, Photoshop automatically defaults to Grayscale mode, with a foreground color of black, and a background color of white. When using a painting or editing tool in Quick Mask mode, keep these principles in mind:

• Painting with black adds to the mask (the red overlay) and decreases the selected area.
• Painting with white erases the mask (the red overlay) and increases the selected area.
• Painting with gray partially adds to the mask.

7. Continue painting with the Brush tool to add the Buddha statue to the mask. Don't include the background.

Don't worry if you paint outside the outline of the statue. You'll fine-tune the mask in the next exercise.

8. In the Layers palette group, click the Channels tab to bring that palette forward, or choose Window > Channels. If necessary, expand the palette by dragging its lower right corner so that you can see all of it.

In the Channels palette, the default color-information channels are listed—a full-color preview channel for the CMYK image and separate channels for cyan, magenta, yellow, and black.

9. In the Channels palette, notice that this quick mask appears as a new alpha channel, named QuickMask. Remember, this channel is temporary: unless you save it as a selection, the quick mask will disappear as soon as you deselect.

What's New in Adobe Illustrator CS3

Illustrator CS3 is packed with new and innovative features to help you produce artwork more efficiently, whether for print, web, or digital video publication. In this chapter, you'll learn about many of these new features - how they function, and how you can use them in your work.

Workspace improvements

Panels, which were called palettes in previous versions, can now be docked along the edge of the workspace, giving you flexible, efficient control over the workspace. When you drag a pane narrow enough the panels switch to icon mode, which can be used to pop up the associated panel. In addition, you can also now display the Tools panel as a single or double column using new arrows that appear above the Tools panel.

Control panel enhancements

The Control panel now provides you with access to anchor controls if you select one, or multiple anchor points in a path. Note that this exposes another handy new feature, the ability to delete multiple anchor points without breaking a path. The Control panel now also gives you direct access to Envelope Distortion options. It also lets you apply a rectangular Clipping Mask to an image, and gives you access to Select Similar options. If there isn't enough room to display all of the icons, specific groups of icons are collapsed, based on what is selected in the document. Clicking on a collapsed icon link gives you quick access to that panel.

Document startup profiles

In Illustrator CS3 you can select between Print, Web, Video, Mobile, and Basic RGB/Basic CMYK workflows. When creating a new document, you can select from several workflow types, which populates the interface with the appropriate Document Raster setting, Color Profile, and other settings. All of these settings can be customized as well.

Drawing enhancements

Drawing in Illustrator CS3 is more efficient, thanks to improved rendering performance. You also have more control when working with anchors and anchor point handles. In addition to being able to change the size and shape of anchor points and anchor point handles, the selection logic for anchor points has been improved. When you click to select an anchor point, Illustrator now selects the closest point, instead of the anchor point that is highest in the stacking order. Also, alignment controls now work on anchor points, and there is now a selection threshold, which you can set in the Preferences.

The Eraser tool

The new interactive Eraser tool is an exciting addition to the program, as it erases any vector content. It is also selection aware, meaning that it won't erase anything outside of a selection. It is also tablet aware, and by default, it should be associated to the back end (eraser end) of a tablet stylus.

Live Color

Live Color is new in Illustrator CS3 and a large step towards helping you find "good" colors, experiment with colors right on your artwork, and manage your colors as a group. Live color is composed of 3 major parts:

1. The Color Guide panel, which is a lightweight interface to find compelling color groups.
2. Changes to the Swatches panel, which include the ability to save a set of colors as a group, view grouping structure from within the Swatches panel, and extract all used colors from specific selected artwork.
3. The Live Color dialog box, which allows you to find compelling color groups right on an interactive color wheel and to define custom color groups. It also gives you the ability to constrain color group selection to specific Color Panels/Color Spaces.

Layers panel enhancements

Layers have long been a part of Illustrator, but this enhancement is a big productivity boost. You now have a small color proxy beside each layer so that you can easily tell which layer you've got selected by color.

The Crop tool

The new interactive Crop tool, which is fully integrated into the Control panel, allows you to easily change crop size, and/or move a crop, as well as define multiple crop areas within a single document. For video content creators, there are many overlays to help create content that shows video safe areas, pixel rulers that show aspect scaling, and more.

Symbol workflow improvements

Symbols in Illustrator now work more like they do in Flash. This means that you can double-click on a symbol instance to edit the symbol definition. When you create a symbol, you can decide whether it should be a Graphic or Movie Clip symbol. All of the key symbol attributes, including the ability to name a symbol instance, can now be accessed right from the Control panel.

Enhanced support for digital video workflows

Video content creators will appreciate new overlays that help create content that shows video safe areas, pixel rulers that show aspect scaling, and more. The new document startup profiles also include Video and Mobile workflows as a starting point for documents.

Dynamic and input text

To enhance integration between the programs, Illustrator CS3 now lets you define text objects as Flash Dynamic or Input text via the new Flash Text panel. If you specify an Illustrator text object as either Dynamic Text or Input Text, it will be exported as the correct Flash type when using SWF Export, and it should also File > Import or Copy > Paste as the appropriate Flash object. Illustrator also now allows you to name these objects, so that they can be accessed programmatically.