Download File

A set of 11 light beam textures in PNG format for when your icon needs a volumetric spotlight! Probably best copied and pasted as a new Multiply or Screen layer, between 90%-100% opacity. Basic stuff. A few examples:



Same image and texture, left Screen 100% opacity, right Multiply 95% opacity:

Download: JBR/Image Pack | PSP X | Image Pack, large (500x400)

( examples inside )

Use them on icons or to make textures from scratch. Again, despite what the preview image says, the PSPX version brushes are 500x400 -- and I haven't made an image pack for those yet (but soon!) Image pack added for the larger pspBrush version. BTW, if anyone would like one of the orginal textures, please email me. They're larger; most are 1280x960.

And just a little reminder to those who might be new to this journal and are making winter holiday icons, I have a bunch of bases in this post and text brushes here and here. I have a general gradient set and a little gingerbread cookie brush set (JBR only; it's an oldie.)

Assorted resources used on this experiment (yes, I've been playing with Daz Studio :) ) I found the photo edge tutorial here. If you don't have the Eye Candy 3.1 plugin, this site has a legal download.



Download: Photo Edge (mask)
Download: Picture Grunge JBR file (PSP 7; too lazy to make PSPX)
Download: Picture Grunge (brush image pack)
Download: Scratch Stuff (texture)

After listing all of those plugins, I thought it would be a good idea to show a few ways in which to use them. One of the projects I was working on recently was a sort of illustrated look, a little comic book, a little pop art. I have commercial filters which do some of these, but wrote up a tutorial that uses only free filters.



The filters you'll need for this are Xero's SuperSmooth, Xero's Lithograph, and Martin Koch's Dither FREE. This is the original image.

1. Apply the SuperSmooth filter. (All images are not created equal and may need different settings!)
2. This is the result.
3. Duplicate image to a new layer.
4. Apply the Lithograph filter to the duplicated layer, using the default settings.
5. Layer settings: Soft light at 100% opacity, and the image should look like this.
6. Merge layers, then duplicate merged image to a new layer.
7. Apply the Dither FREE filter at the default setting.
8. Layer settings can be: Burn at 50% opacity, Overlay at 50% opacity, Soft Light at 50% opacity, or Hard Light at 50% opacity.
9. Merge, save.

For a slightly softer look (as shown in the preview), duplicate the final image to a new layer, with the layer settings at Normal and 30% opacity. Then apply a Gaussian Blur set to 5 and adjust the brightness/contrast at 15/10.

( edited to add a few more... )

(( x-posted to icon_extras and psptutorials ))

Paint Shop Pro users will probably find these more useful than Photoshop users, since a couple of them make up for regular PS features that can't be found in PSP:

GML Matting

"GML Matting is FREEWARE plugin for Adobe Photoshop and compatible applications. GML Matting is a cutout tool to help separate object from background. Interface of the plugin is similar to that of Photoshop Extract utility while the algorithm used usually produces better result. For Paint Shop Pro users it can become the essential matting plugin since Paint Shop Pro has no built-in matte extraction functionality."

I've seen price tags for similar plugins in the hundreds of dollars, but this one is free. So far, it works great!

( example inside... )

easy.Filter SmartCurve

"Photoshop Elements offers in opposite to its professional version no curves command. That's a pity, because curves are a valuable tool for image editing. To remedy this shortcoming this site offers the plugin SmartCurve to upgrade this ability. Of course this plugin can be used from all programs which can integrate Photoshop plugins."

I am not enamored of curves myself, much less so the trend toward neon-glow colors, but I played around with this plugin a little and it seems to work as advertised. The site offers a few "how-to" tips for curve newbies too.

LUCE

Basically another utility for adding interesting light effects to an image. There's a manual linked from the main download site.

VanDerLee's NightVision Plugin

"The NightVision plug-in can make any image like the ones from night vision goggles. By using the effects in this plug-in, you can make images look like they are from a black & white security camera or CCTV system. It's also possible to make them look like infra-red photos. Or you can just use the interlace to make an image look like a TV picture. You can even use it to enhance real night images!"

Okay...not terribly practical, but who knows when you might have a need for an image like that?

ULead Particle Plugin

Some weird and not too useful, but some of the effects look like mist, smoke, fire, and clouds. Eh, it's free...

Martin Koch's Halftones and Line Art

Some dithering and line art stuff here that's useful for pop art type of projects. Some of the plugins are free, others are not (but inexpensive.)

(( Plugin Post #1 • Plugin Post #2 ))