Car, Grunge and Rain
Hey folks,
Here is an awesome wallpaper I made a few days back. These three things go really well with each other – Car, Grunge, and Rain… I will post the tutorial very soon. Most probably on Sunday…
Biotech Geek
Hey all..
I was asked to design the logo for one of my friends’ website. Here are two of the ones I came up with. Check it out at the website here.
The following one has been used:
Please do contact me if you also want a new logo for your site. Totally personlized logos for free!! (well, free for the first few people atleast.. 
)
Anything you put in the comments will be mailed to me..so please contact me through the comments section. (I get enough spam even without posting my gmail ID here.. 
)
Comic Book Effect Tutorial
Hey there!! This tutorial will teach you how to make a comic-book like effect, making your photos look like it was printed in the typical stereotype comic… Also, it will be a quickie, that is, very short and to the point as I have my exams coming up and I really dont seem to have the time…
Here is the final image first: 
It is made from a pic I took of an Audi car at the AutoExpo 2008, here in Delhi.
Step 1: The prerequisites
Open the image you want to change to comic style. Hit “Ctrl+L” to open up the levels window. Change the levels to suit your needs. I used these:
Step 2: The Details
Go to “Filter>Artistic>Paint Daubs”. Leave the settings to default (8 and 7).
Next go to “Filter>Artistic>Film Grain”. Use settings “4, 0, 10″ respectively.
Step 3: The Final Effect
Copy the layer with the image on to a new one. Select this new layer, and go to “Filter>Pixelate>color Halftone”. Use a radius of 4px.
Finally, set the new layer’s blend mode to “Darken”. And you are done!!
I learnt this one from here.
Hope you understood this short and fast tutorial.. Please do comment.
Vista Taskbar Tutorial
Hey all!!
Here comes a tutorial that imitates the Windows Vista taskbar. And I think that it looks pretty good. I mean, it looks totally same as the real thing. Sometimes I amaze myself at my expertise. (Talk of being humble )
You can use this effect to make navigation bars on your website, or to simply make the taskbar.(Though I dont know what you can use a taskbar for…) So let’s start…
Step 1: The Basic Structure
Start with a suitable canvas. I used a 450×50 white background. We will use the “Rectangle Marquee Tool (M)” to make the taskbar. Make a new layer. Select the tool, and from the dropdown menu on top, select “Fixed Size”. Set the size to 450×30. Simply click on the canvas to make the rectangle.
Step 2: The Background
Set up a gradient from a very dark gray to black. See picture below for help.
Step 3: The glossy effect
Create a new layer, and select the “Rectangle Marquee Tool (M)”. Using “Fixed Size” with settings height: 15px, width: 400px. Simply click on the canvas to make the rectangle.
Using the “Gradient Tool (G)”, make a white to transparent gradient on the top layer, as shown:
Set the layer opacity to 60%.
Make a new layer. Select the “Single Row Marquee Tool” and make a single row selection simply by clicking on the canvas. It should be 1px or 2px below the upper edge of the taskbar.
Hit “Alt+Backspace” with the foreground color set to White, to fill it with White.
Step 4: The Buttons
We will again use the fixed size marquee tool. Set the size to height: 13px, width: 150px. Click on the canvas to make the rectangle. You will (must/should) notice that actually the vista taskbar buttons are quite rounded. To do that, we go to “Select>Modify>Smoothen”. Set the radius to 2px. The rectangle is now smoothed/rounded.
Fill the rectangle with the same dark gray as that in the gradient. Then go to “Layer>Layer Style” or simply double-click on the layer next to the layer name in the layers palette.
Next, we have to do again what we did in step 3 (the glossy effect). Make a fixed size rectangular marquee of height: 13px, width: 150px. Make the selection rounded (smoothen, 2px). Fill with white to transparent gradient from the top.
For inactive button:
Set opacity of the gradient to 60%.
For inactive button:
Set opacity of the gradient to 30%. Also go to the layer styles for the inactive button layer, and add an “inner shadow” to make it look engraved. Use settings:
Distance: 1px
Choke: 0px
Size: 1px
Step 5: The Text
On a new layer, type your text. Use font “Segoe UI” which is the official Vista font, and color “#fffdf2″, which is a little off-white. And voila, you are done!!
To make a navigation bar for your website, in the first step, instead of a simple rectangle of size 450×30, make it rounded (smoothen, 2px). That will make it look stand-alone.
Hope you liked the tutorial and were able to make the taskbar effect in Photoshop. I tried to make it as simple as possible. Please do vote in the sidebar regarding the level of difficulty of my tutorials!! And also, please do comment!!
Signing off,
The Photoshopper
Transparent Glass Text
Hey again!!
In this tutorial, we will make a transparent glass effect text ala Vista style. We will use layer styles to make the basic transparency and gradients+opacity to make final glass effect. I did not come up with this effect, but learned it some time back from “PSDTuts”. I have linked to it at the end of the post.
You can use this effect to make vista like glassy, shiny buttons also!! Here is what we will be making:
Lets begin…
Step 1: The Background
We need a nice gradient to set the mood. You could use the default gradients, but I made one up with 3 colors in it. To make your own gradient, select the gradient tool, and then, on top, click on the small rectangle that shows you the sample gradient.
Step 2: The Text
To make glass text, I think we will need some text
Here I use the letter ‘G’ in font “Monotype Corsiva”, because it gives a nice curvy G. And also, I will be writing the word GLASS.
Step 3: The Transparency
Now for the transparency and light effects. Select the text layer, and open up the blending options (Layer>Layer Styles>Blending options). Apply settings as shown:
The most important and interesting thing here is the “Fill Opacity”, that only changes the opacity of the text, not the layer styles. It is very useful, so remember it!!
Step 4: The Glass Effect
Now for the glass effect i.e. the reflection and refraction (sorry for the technical terms, but since I am doing a B.Tech in CSE, it is a force of habit )
“Ctrl+Click” on the thumbnail on the text layer next to the layer name, in the layer palette. This will make a selection of everything on the layer. In this case, the letter G.
After making the selection, pick up the gradient tool, and select the “White to Transparent” style. Then on a new layer, make a gradient starting from the center of the background gradient to the middle of the letter G. This gives the effect that the light is coming from the bottom right. Set the layer mode to “Overlay” to fade it into the text.
Next, on another new layer, make another similar gradient, this one starting from the top of the letter ‘G’ to the middle. Set the opacity of this layer to 40%.
Now press “Ctrl+D” to deselect the selection. Pick up the “Elliptical Marquee Tool” and make a large ellipse on the same layer.
Press “Ctrl+Shift+I” to invert the selection, and hit “Del” on the keyboard to delete the selected part. This will make the gradient end suddenly, giving it the popular glass effect.
Step 5: Final Touches
I used a star brush I downloaded from DeviantArt to make some glossy sparkles to add the finishing touch. Make these with a polygon tool if that is what you like . Just make sure you add them to the brightest spots on the letter.
DONE!!
You will a more detailed tutorial (the one where I learned this effect) here.
People, please do comment!!
Delhi Blogger Meet
Hey all..
There is this blogger meeting coming up this Saturday, the 6th of September. I am planning to attend it, so should you if you are in or around Delhi!
