Photoshotp Tut -- Shining Button

Photoshotp Tut -- Shade

This is another tut. I tried doing one, in Photoshop CS2, myself after learning. Also I put info in Khmer.

You may need to understand the concept of lighting. Below is the overview before applying onto the work.

1. Use Linear Gradient tool with dark gray and darker gray to apply from top left down to bottom rite. Note that light source will be coming from top left.

2. Add text either in your own language -- here i use Khmer (Cambodian). Try it with c2c8d4.

3. Ctrl+Click on the text layer to have a selection around the text, then create a empty layer just above the text one, then set your foreground to the color of 495a79, use Linear Gradient tool to transparent from bottom right to top left, which darkens the bottom right.

4. Here is quite a tricky technique, i'd say.
Press 'D' on your keyboard to set the foreground and background color to Black and White respectively.
After than, Ctrl+Click on text to get the selection, create an empty layer, drag it beneath the text layer, fill it black. While staying on this black text layer, press 'V' to switch to Move tool, press hold Alt, then press Down arrow key, then Right arrow key. Doing this will give you a duplicate layer, but moving to where your arrow key pressed for a pixel difference. Repeat this till you're satisfied with shade. I did it 20 times for the below picture. Then merge those black shadow layers.

5. Let's make it more realistic. After merging those shadow layers, you should only have ONE layer of the shadow. Select it, choose Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Use below values. Again duplicate the shadow layer, run Motion Blur again, but with 50px distance, set its Blending mode to Multiply and 20% opacity.

6. We should understand that the light is flashing from top left; hence, no shadow should be anywhere in the top left of the text. To do this, firstly, select the shadow after making it blur, press hold SHIFT, press Down and Right arrow key to bring down the shadow layer 10px downward and 10px to the right. Secondly, zoom it close and use Erase tool or press 'E', choose a proper brush tool (Tip: press '[' or ']' to resize your brush) or Right-clicking on your editing canvas will bring you a box of brush tools. Then delete those bad shadow.

7. Let's make it a bit like 3D text with depth -- a bit of light fx should be on top-left edge of the text rite? Make an empty layer. Put it on top of others coz light is on TOP. Ctrl+Click on the text layer again. Make sure you stay on your newly created layer. Fill it with white. Leave your selection there, press 'M' for Marquee selection tool. Do this coz we want to move only the selection of the work beneath it. Press Down and Right arrow key to bring the selection 1px down and 1px right. Press Delete to clear whatever in the selection. This will leave 1px line on the edge of the letters. Set this line layer opacity to 80%.

Do you have something like this?

8. It's time for putting sun rays onto the text. Again, another empty layer. Make selection and fill it with white for something below.

9. Since the light source is from top left. So press Ctrl+T (Free Tranformation). Rotate it for 45º. Drag each end to top left and bottom right.

10. Right-click on the transformation, choose Perspective. Resize the top left to a bit smaller, then the bottom right a bit higher.

11. Now press Enter to apply the changes. Go to Filter > Blur > Gussian Blur and give the value of 6px. Then change the layer's opacity to 20%.

12. Looks nice, huh? Yes! But the light fx is not really yet coz the strips are only on some part of the text. We do not want those parts to reflected when no light is on. So Ctrl+Click on the light strip, select the white edge layer, then Add layer mask. It's the button near the 'f' button in the layer pallete. See the differences?

13. Now it's time to apply color to the light. Create a new empty. Fill it with pink color 9d506c then put it just above the background. Change the pink layer's Blending mode to Color and its opacity to 20%. This will bring up the pink color onto the existing dark gray background. Next, create another empty layer, fill it with white, then go to Filer > Render Lighting Effects. Use below settings. Change its Blending mode to Overlay This will brighten up the fx with warm yellowish sunlight. 14. Duplicate the lighting layer, and change its opacity to 40%. It's now interacting with the text and the bg.15. Ultimately, duplicate the top lighting layer again, set its Opacity to 65%. Then click Add layer mask button near the 'f' at the every bottom row of the layer pallete. Draw a linear gradient White to Black from top left to bottom right to produce extra lighting layer fade when it does down right.The credit should go to PSDTut for posting many good samples and tuts. The original design is even much better than what i've done here!

Adobe Photoshop Tut -- Nice Glowing Button

Just a few steps to achieve a nice glowing button in Adobe Photoshop

1. Create a new document with below settings or you can try a bigger size. 2. Create a new empty layer.

3. Select the Gradient tool and use below setting.

Now you should have something like this. 4. Create another layer. Set your foreground to Pure Cyan [00adef]. Select Radial Gradiant tool. From the middle buttom of the layer, click and drag upward to the top. And you should have something like the picture below.

5. Create another blank layer. Select white as your foreground and do the same like in step four. Set its Blending Mode (from the layer pallete) to Overlay.

6. New layer, select rectangle marquee tool and make a selection as shown below. Fill it with white, then change its opacity (from Layer Pallete) to 50% or whatever value you prefer.

7. New layer again, make another selection as shown below. Again, fill it with white, then change its opacity value to 20%.

Your image would be like something below. Ok? Let's move on!

8. On a new layer, use marquee tool to make a selection as below, then set your foreground to white. With the Reflected Gradient tool, click and drag from the very center to the side.

9. Last of all, add text to your artwork, change the text layer's opacity to blend into the button. And that's it!!!

I also learnt it from other site. So it's here to share with you all...!

Against the Facts - "Before You Go to Cambodia"

I post this new topic is to get comments from you guys whether we should be doing something with the author or just let him express his/her faulty ideas on Cambodia, which is swaying potential visitors from entering Cambodia. It would also be great if you write directly to the site, but DO NOT forget to give a shout here so that I can see what are the trials. Follow the link below.

http://goasia.about.com/od/cambodia/bb/bygtcambodia.htm

Together with this, FYI, below is my friend's mail to About.com, but, after TWO (2) years, I still see no changes made to its content.

Dear Sir / Madam

This is in response to the article on your website entitled ‘ Cambodia : Know BEFORE You Go...’ website address (http://goasia.about.com/cs/cambodiaguides/a/aa041500.htm) which I accessed on Friday, August 12, 2005 .

I could not believe what had been written about Cambodia . I definitely assert that most of your facts and ideas about my country are biased. This will seriously sway the opinion of potential tourists which will adversely affect the tourism industry and hence the economy of Cambodia .

Here are some negative and biased facts extracted from your article.

There was a time when Cambodia was perhaps Southeast Asia's least stable country; and it continues to provide risks for anyone who wishes to visit the country.

Is it safe? If you stay in Phnom Penh and the Angkor Wat area, probably.

If you venture outside that area, however, you are taking greater risks - if for no other reason than that you may step on a landmine left over from 20 years of civil war.

If you decide to visit Cambodia, you should register with your embassy upon arrival and find out what advice they have to offer on the current security situation. Travel outside Phnom Penh and Angkor Wat, unless it is absolutely necessary, is not that great of an idea; but while the embassy reports say that robbery is common and foreigners are targeted regularly, the countryside is no longer the lawless landscape that it once was...

But not much else in Cambodia is worth doing during the rainy season.

There are inherent risks in visiting any country, even the USA . Please note that the civil war ended in 1979 and it is now 2005. The landmines have been removed progressively by the NGOs in collaboration with Cambodian Government. The existing landmines can only be found in remote areas of Cambodia and it is not even possible for our own citizens to access these areas inadvertently. This is because there are large signs put by the NGOs warning people away.

To inform tourists that they should not travel outside of the capital, Phnom Penh or the Angkor Wat (which is in the Siem Reap province) is tantamount to telling tourists that they should not visit New York because of what happened to the World Trade Center on September 11.

With such lies circulating on the Internet, promulgated by would-be well-meaning tourist website writers, it is no wonder that developing countries in Asia, such as Cambodia, lose potential tourists who would be able to contribute significantly to the growth of our country’s economy and tourism, had they not been turned off so effectively.

These above mentioned facts are having great impact to my country. I would greatly appreciate if you could study more about my country’s real situation and facts, and update your article.

Thank you.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Best regards,

Chhim

Let's us help make him/her modify or completely remove faulty FACTS off the page!!!