Shadows by Marta

First of all you need screenshot of the prop on a white background... 



in Photoshop you cut and color it in gray, then compose the picture with all the elements of the area (here I have 13 levels)... I would suggest doing one piece at a time until you have that shadow lined up the way you want it in world, then move on to the next piece.



and at the end, when you're satisfied adjust the fade of the image and save in png.




This is the result.  I prefer to use the plane instead of the sign but pay close attention to the settings translucent and render priority

To be "perfect" think of your shadow in real life where it starts (at the feet) and how long you want the shadow. You will have to adjust each shadow to place it at where it begins. Also a shadow overlaping another shadow doesn't make the first one darker all your shadows that you lay down need to be the same intensity.  



Alternatively, you compose the shadows as above in Photoshop and introduce it directly into the texture of the wall / floor as in this case 







You can also create shadows as negative in the light reflections...



they have a lower visual impact than the previous but add a realistic effect to the scene

Making Window Glass

There was some discussion in the forum a while ago about how to make realistic window glass.

1. The first thing you need to do is to open up an image with a window in it. Remove the existing scene from the window. You will also want to remove the wall background from the image so all you have is the window frame itself. For the tutorial I have not done that. Then change the name of this layer to “Frame.”

2. Next choose a suitable image for your new scene. This is the one I used. Now this image would be what you are seeing outside of the room you are building or to be truly a window in RLC you would not use a image behind the window. But for this tutorial it works better with a image.

3. Add the new scene into your image and call the layer “New Background.” To add the image you can simply open up both images and, using the Move tool (V), drag and drop your “New Background” into the image.

4. Now go the Layers palette and, if it is not already there, drag the “New Background” Layer below the “Frame” layer.

5. Next, create a new layer above the “New Background” layer. Layer>New>Layer and call this layer “Highlight.”

6. Set your foreground colour to white and, with a hard small brush, draw in some streaks as I have done in the image shown below. These streaks need to go in the same direction as the light. If you have light coming from the right the streaks need to go from the right down to the left as I have done. Do remember that to draw a straight line you can simply click at one end and then shift click at the other end and PS will draw in the straight line for you.

7. Next do Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use a setting for the radius of 25 pixels. This will blur the streaks and make a soft highlight.

8. You now need to reduce the opacity of the “Highlight” layer until it looks realistic. For my image 30 percent worked well but yours may need a different setting.

9. We are now going to add a reflection of the room into our window, so choose a suitable image. Here is the one I used. For RLC stand at or outside where you window is being place and take a screenshot of the room looking in.

10. Add it to your image in the same way we added the previous image and make sure that it is positioned just below the “Highlight” layer. Go to the layers palette, call the new layer “Reflections,” drag it just below the “Highlight” layer then reduce the opacity to around 10 percent.

11. We now need to add depth to the frame and we will do that by using a shadow.

12. Change your foreground colour to black, create a new layer below the “Frame” layer and call it “Shadow.”

13. Go to the layers palette Ctrl-Click (Mac: Command-Click) on the “Frame” layer to regain the selection and fill the selection with black. Edit>Fill Selection.

14. At the moment the shadow doesn’t show but our next move will sort that out. Just choose Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur, use a setting of around 10 pixels and a slight shadow will appear.

15. Now is the time to take a look at your overall image and, if need be, adjust the opacity of the “Highlight” and “Reflections” layers. I decided that I would increase the opacity of the “Reflections” layer to 15 percent, but you will need to try different settings until you see which works best in your image.

17. That finishes off the tutorial and hopefully you now have realistic looking glass in your window frame.

It’s a fun technique to try out and there are many things you can add to it. Do try different variation and most of all remember to experiment and enjoy!

Jeans

Step 1:

Create a new file in PS (512 x 512 px, RGB color, 8 bit) and fill it with a blue color you prefer (I choose # 282b3a). Set the Backround color to white.

Step 2:

Next go to Filter – Sketch – Halftone Pattern. Set the size to 1, Contrast to 10 and Pattern Type Dot – OK:

Now the canvas should look like this:

Step 3:

Click Filter – Stylize – Diffuse and check Darken Only – OK:

Step 4:

Well the result looks very grey now so we color the texture blue. Go to Image – Adjustments – Hue/Saturation (or simply Ctrl + U) and check Colorize. The texture should now turn blue (because we still have the foreground color set to blue) but for my taste a bit too saturated and a bit too bright so I set the Saturation to 24 and Lightness -34 – OK. You can play around with the rulers until you are fine with the result, just as you like it.

Now the plain jeans texture is finished. If you want to use this texture for further projects (which I assume) I recommend you to define the texture as pattern. That way you save work for creating this texture again and again from scratch. Just go to Edit – Define Pattern – OK.

Step 5:

To bring some irregularities to the texture and make it look more vivid, try following:

Create a new layer (Layer – New – Layer or just click the little box next to the trash can symbol in the Layers window) and fill it with the blue color we are already worked with. Make sure the Backround Color is set to white. Then go to Filter – Render – Fibers and set Variance 30, Strength 19 – OK :

Now click Filter – Blur – Motion Blur and set the Angle to 90° and Distance about 70 pixels – OK:

Set the Blending of this new layer to Soft Light and turn down the Opacity to 50%:

The texture should have vertical irregular soft stripes now.

Now we add some seams and stitches to our texture:

How to make seams/stitches?

Step 1:

Merge the 2 layers now by right-clicking one of them in the Layers window and select Merge Visible or by selecting both layers -  right-click – Merge Layers. Now we have all merged down to one layer. Duplicate this layer (right-click the layer  – Duplicate Layer), choose the Rectangular Marquee Tool (from your Tools Palette or just press M) and drag the selection to the left half of the duplicated texture. Press the Delete Button on your keyboard.

You won’t see any changes because the 2 layers have the same texture, just hide the bottom layer (click the eye next to the layer) and you will see what happened.

Step 2:

Go back to the upper layer, right-click it and select Blending Options. Set the values as the following pics show:

When you’re done click OK.

Step 3:

Create a new layer, select a white color and a soft brush and draw a straight vertical line top down. To get a straight line keep the shift key pressed while drawing. With the Move Tool drag the white line above the light seam and set the blending to Soft Light, 50% Opacity. Duplicate the layer and press Ctrl + I (or Image – Adjustments – Invert). This turns the white line to black. Now choose the Move Tool and press the right arrow key a few times until the result looks something like this:

Step 4:

Next we choose an orange color (# 9a5f19), click the Type Tool (or press T) and set following values (in the upper menu):

Click and drag a text field like shown below and write some hyphens:

Step 4:

Right-click the text layer and click Rasterize Type. Then go to Edit – Transform – Rotate 90° CW. Place the dashed line with the Move Tool like shown below. If the line is too short, just duplicate it and place the duplicate layer where there’s space left and merge the 2 layers to one layer (select both layers in the layers window, right-click – Merge Layers). You can also transform the line, make it bigger or smaller, wider of thinner (Ctrl + T or Edit – Free Transform) :

Step 5:

Make sure you work on the orange dashed line layer. Right-click the layer and select Blending Options. Set the values as shown on the following pics. When you’re done click OK:

Don’t forget to save your file from time to time! That’s what I often forget and then my PC crashes or PS crashes and all my work is gone.

Step 6:

Good. We almost finished our work. If you have a closer look at RL jeans you will see that most of them use double-stitched seams or a mixture of a simple stitched seams with double- stitched seams. So let’s try a double-stitched seam, it’s no big deal.

Just duplicate following layers: the orange hyphen layer and the white and black line layers. Move the hyphen layer a bit to the right first. Make sure the orange hyphen layer is above the other layers in the layers window. Then move the shadow (black line) and place it directly under the hyphens. Then move the highlight (white line) and place it next to the shadow on the right. let me show you what it should look like:

Now we have a double-stitched seam. But one important detail is still missing. It’s wrinkles between the 2 seams. There’s quite an easy and funny way how to do that:

Step 7:

Create a new layer and choose a white color and a soft brush. Draw a quick and irregular zigzag and don’t care about what it looks like for the moment:

By using the Rectangular Marquee Tool + Delete Button we delete the left and right ends of the zigzag. We leave the area between the 2 orange seams over.  It should look like this:

Set the Blending of this layer to Soft Light (turn down the Opacity as you prefer), duplicate the layer, press Ctrl + I, click the Move Tool and drag the dark wrinkles now a bit down (using the down arrow key).This is the result:

Step 8:

In my opinion the texture looks a bit pale, so we add a bit contrast to it (Image – Adjustments – Brightness/Contrast) :

Now we have a very clean jeans texture which is actually finished but  I prefer a more used and grungy look.

I suggest you now to save this file again so you don’t lose the result.

Step 9:

We merge all layers (Merge Visible), create a new layer, set foreground color to orange and background color to white and go to Filter – Render – Clouds.

Now we set the Blending to Multiply, Opacity -  whatever you prefer:

and here we are:

To get a more grungy look there are really a lot of  different ways. Use grunge and splatter brushes, make overlays with grunge textures, play with different colors…whatever you like.

Full Body Tattoo by Jarvis

Jeans

3D Letters