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Posted on 12/10/05 03:49:57 AM |
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Jeff
* Posts: 7 Reply |
help with symbols
hello all, Attached to this mesage are two military type symbols. I am wondering if there is a way in Photoshop to make these so that the outlines and symbols colors can be changed, and so that the symbols can be made to be "see thru".....for example the box with the "x" can be put on top of any background color and not lose the color of the lines of the symbols. I hope that makes sense 
Thanks! Jeff 
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Posted on 12/10/05 08:18:07 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7047 Reply  |
Re: help with symbols
Simple solution: make a new layer from the symbols, and use either the Magic Wand or the Magic Eraser to select and delete the white areas! |
Posted on 12/10/05 09:45:43 AM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply  |
Re: help with symbols
Add a Solid Color adjustment layer above your symbol then ensure you have the Solid Color layer selected and go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask (Alt-Ctrl-G). Change the Blending Mode of the adjustment layer to Screen and change the Blending Mode of your symbol layer to Multiply. The Solid Color adjustment layer set to Blending Mode "Screen" colours just the black parts of your symbol, whilst the white parts of your symbol in your symbol layer are hidden by setting its blending mode to Multiply. This works for all dark colours but if you chose a lighter near white colour the symbol will become increasing transparent and even fade away there are several ways to fix this but as Steve suggests you can delete all the white bits of the symbols and create a Hue & Saturation Adjustment Layer as a Clipping Mask adjusting the Lightness, Hue and Saturation sliders to achieve the colour you wish. _________________ mad as a badger and twice as furry |
Posted on 12/10/05 11:46:15 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7047 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
Damn clever solution, Becky! But this does produce a translucent effect, of course, which may not be what Jeff's after. |
Posted on 12/10/05 11:49:08 PM |
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Neal
Master Manipulator Posts: 322 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
Couldn't you change the Layer Options? Just mess with the Blend If section and move the This Layer White triangle from 255 to 250? |
Posted on 13/10/05 10:48:17 AM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
Ah perhaps I read the brief wrong but didn't Jeff ask for
I had the vision that Jeff was looking for a "dogtag" style logo like the ones Sky have in the top right or left corner of the screen visible but translucent. I will try to work out some more combinations to see which work the best. Edit: Just had a play around and if you duplicate the symbol and Solid Color layers switch the Solid Color layer to Multiply and the Symbol layer to Screen and then "Invert" the symbol layer then you will have a solid colour non-translucent effect - the main drawback to this is that in order to change the colour of the symbols you would have to change both Solid Color layers to the same colour. Also, I linked the two symbol layers together to make resizing and dragging around easier or you could create the 4 layers as a Smart Object if you're using CS2. as such: 
Also back to the crop out the white pixels approach then rather than use the Magic Wand or Color Range with such a highly contrasting image source (black symbols on white) then go to the Channels tab and hide all but one of the channels (find the most contrasty one) then press Ctrl whilst clicking on this channel to select all the white pixels, then click on the RGB Channel and then go back into the Layers palette select your symbol layer and press Delete. This will make a far more effective deletion of the white pixels, then add a Solid Color Adjustment Layer turn it into a clipping mask you could add translucency with the Opacity slider and Bob's your mother's brother  _________________ mad as a badger and twice as furry |
Posted on 14/10/05 4:05:31 PM |
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Jeff
* Posts: 7 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
Thanks for all the help. Most interesting solutions! WHat would be really nice is if the symbols could have their size and color changed easily as if they were fonts
Jeff |
Posted on 14/10/05 5:12:12 PM |
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trinityofone
Guest Reply |
Re: help with symbols
You could always outline them with the pen tool and stroke the path.. _________________ A happy-go-lucky chap, always dressed in black |
Posted on 15/10/05 08:54:19 AM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
As David said the only way would be to vectorise the symbols, Jeff. Using the Pen tool or recreating the shapes from scratch as a Custom Shape then you resize and alter the colour to your hearts content. Illustrator is the best program for this purpose and import the shapes over into Photoshop. _________________ mad as a badger and twice as furry |
Posted on 16/10/05 5:35:39 PM |
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rufus
Destructive Demon Posts: 243 Reply  |
help with symbols
Attached to this mesage are two military type symbols. I am wondering if there is a way in Photoshop to make these so that the outlines and symbols colors can be changed, and so that the symbols can be made to be "see thru".....for example the box with the "x" can be put on top of any background color and not lose the color of the lines of the symbols. I hope that makes sense
Thanks! Jeff Hi Jeff, I was reading the topic on symbols and had a go at creating paths for them as suggested by David Asch. I can send you these as a psd file but the size is 500K. This may take some time to download if you are not on broadband. Let me know if you want them. rufus |
Posted on 17/10/05 08:54:12 AM |
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rufus
Destructive Demon Posts: 243 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
I've reduced the image size and the psd file is now 60k. This can be scaled up to any size you like. |
Posted on 19/10/05 03:03:59 AM |
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Jeff
* Posts: 7 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
Hi Rufus, Thanks a lot! I owuld like to see the psd file. Jeff |
Posted on 19/10/05 07:18:59 AM |
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rufus
Destructive Demon Posts: 243 Reply |
Re: help with symbols
Here it is Jeff, to use it, resize as necessary, select the appropriate brush and colour, delete the sample images, select the path and then stroke path with brush. Then use the move tool to drag onto your other image. Good Luck [Attachment: symbols1.psd (63.86kb)] |