Edge Overlays

Here is a set of 6 overlays that I made using my edge overlay tutorial.  I hope that people can use them.

Overlays

Easy Edge Overlays

This tutorial will show you a fast technique for make an edge overlay in Photoshop that does not require any artistic talent.

1.  Open up a new canvas the size of the overlay.  Mine is 3600 pixels by 3600 pixels.

2.  Select the rectangle tool and choose Paths.  Click the arrow next to the Shape Tool icon to activate the settings menu and select Fixed Size.  Set the width and height to the size of the canvas.  Make sure From Center is checked.

3.  Click the center of the canvas.  It may be necessary to enable rulers to determine the exact center.

4.  Select a color for your overlay.  Make it your foreground color.

5.  Select a brush for your overlay.  Play around with the settings to obtain a pleasing pattern.

6.  Go to the path menu and select Stroke Path with brush.

7.  Repeat this action, if necessary, to get a nice edge.  Here is a grunge edge that I made using a grunge brush, and repeating the stroke 3 times with different blend modes.

Best of Times

Here is my re-worked Best of Times kit.  I made the original kit for SNL.  It was rather incomplete, so I tried over the last few months to fill it out.  I hope that people find it useful.

Scrap Kit

Interactive Script Steps

When the execution mode button on the script tool bar is selected, a script will run in interactive mode. This means that the default for effects and other steps which have a popup is to display the popup so that the user can change settings.

When the execution mode button on the script tool bar is not selected, then the script will run in silent mode.  This means that the default for effects and other steps which have a popup is to NOT display the popup.

When a script is recorded, all the steps are automatically set to Default, meaning that they will run as interactive in interactive mode and silent in silent mode.  To force a step to be interactive even when the script is in silent mode, the step must be changed to interactive.  To change the way the script step will behave, it is necessary to edit the script.

First, select Edit Selected Script.

When the script editor appears, click the arrow next to default for the step that you want to change.

This will produce a menu with three choices: Default, Interactive and Silent. To force a step to always be interactive, select Interactive from the menu.  To force a step to always be silent, select Silent from the menu.  Silent is good if you do not want the user to ever change a setting in the step.

Sequins in PSE

This tutorial will show you how to make sequins in Photoshop Elements.  I was asked to write this tutorial up with PSE screenshots because it was, apparently, not possible to make a sequin in PSE following the Photoshop instructions.

1.  Open up a new canvas.  Mine is 300 x 300 pixels at 300 dpi for a 1 inch sequin.

2.  Select the ellipse tool.  Click the triangle button next to the shape tool on the toolbar to make the ellipse options menu appear.  Select Fixed Size and make the width and height the same as the size of your canvas.  Make sure From Center is checked.  Click the color box (located to the left of the style box) and select the color for your sequin.

3.  Click the center of your canvas.  It may be necessary to enable rulers to find the exact center.  A perfect circle will appear.

4.  Select the polygon tool.  Make sure that sides are set to 6.

5.  Draw out the hexagon so that the left side and the right side have a point.

6.  Change the color of the hexagon so that it can be seen more easily by clicking the color box.  The exact color does not matter as this hexagon will be deleted later.

7.  Select the line tool.  Set the weight to 2 pixels.

8.  Draw a line horizontally across the circle so that it passes through two points of the hexagon.  The line needs to touch each edge of the circle. 

9.  Duplicate the layer with the line (Layer > Duplicate Layer).

10.  Rotate the layer using Free Rotate Layer (Image > Rotate > Free Rotate Layer).

11.  Set the rotation angle to 60.

12.  Accept the transformation by clicking the green check mark on the canvas.

13.  Repeat steps 9-12 to create a third rotated line.  In making the third line, duplicate the current layer with the line.  There is no need to change layers to the original layer with the line.

14.  There should be five layers in the layers palette.  The top line layer should be the active, selected layer.

15.  Press the shift key and click the layer with the hexagon.  This should select all the layers except the one with the circle.

16.  Right-click on the layers palette to make the layers menu appear and select Merge Layers or Ctrl + E.

17.  Select the magic wand tool and make sure that Contiguous is unchecked.

18.  Select the transparent area of the layer.  This method isn't as good as loading the selection because it will leave some inevitable jagged edges.

19.  Select the layer with the circle.

20.  Make sure that Subtract From Selection is chosen on the magic wand toolbar.

21.  Select the transparent region of the layer with the magic wand.

22.  Create a new layer to hold the selections for the Facets.

23.  Fill the selection with 50% grey so that the facets are easy to select.

24.  Ctrl + D to deselect.

25.  Change the settings for the magic wand.  Make sure that Add to Selection is chosen, Contiguous is checked and All Layers is checked in the toolbar.

26.  Select the top and bottom facets.

27.  Create a new adjustment layer for brightness and contrast.

28.  Set the brightness to 25.

29.  Select the facet counterclockwise to the top facet and the one diagonal.

30.  Create a new brightness/contrast adjustment layer and set the brightness to +50.

31.  Select the last set of facets and create a new brightness/contrast layer.  Set the brightness to -25.

32.  Click the eye next to the hexagon layer and the facets layer (or delete them) to hide them as they are not needed anymore.

33.  Select the layer with the circle.

34.  Select the elliptical marquee tool and draw out a circle in the center of the sequin.

35.  Press the delete key to make a hole in the sequin.  The sequin is now complete.

Best of Times Quick Page

I've been working on adding to my Best of Times kit (which was originally for SNL).  Here is a quick page that I put together with some of the elements.

I hope people like it.  The re-worked kit should be available soon.

Quick Page

Teardrop

This tutorial will show you how to draw a vector teardrop using Paint Shop Pro.

1.  Open a new image the size of your desired teardrop.  Select Vector Background under Image Characteristics to start off with a vector layer.

2.  Select the Ellipse Tool.

3.  Set the foreground to transparent and the background to the desired color of your teardrop.

4.  Draw out an perpendicular oval.  Show Nodes should be checked.

Mode = Draw Ellipse
Show Nodes = Checked

5.  Select the Pen tool.

6.  Right-click on the oval and select Convert to Path.

7.  Right-click on the node at the top of the oval.  Go to Node Type and select Line Before.

8.  Right-click on the node at the top of the oval a second time.  Go to Node Type and select Line After.  The point of the teardrop has now been created.

9.  Left-click the node on the left side of the oval and drag it down toward the bottom of the image.

10. Left-click the node on the right side of the oval and drag it down toward the bottom of the image.  The teardrop is now complete.