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Posted on 15/08/04 10:25:47 PM |
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Earl Pennell
* Posts: 2 Reply  |
Dab Brush Setting for Screws
On page 187, you have screw images developed by "dabbing" a soft brush once. Can you give me the setting specifics (opacity?, flow?, brush dynamics?)? I tried several settings and could not replicate the procedure. I am using WIN version of Photoshop CS. Thanks |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:01:40 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply  |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
Yes, perhaps 'dabbing' is an inappropriate term. I used a soft brush, 0% hardness, exactly the same size as the screw, 100% flow, 100% opacity, and just clicked once in the middle. This gives a soft gradation of tone from the middle to the edge. Alternatively, you could always use a circular gradient instead. |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:03:49 PM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply  |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
Edit : (Arrrrrggghh - sorry I was writing this as Steve was writing his, please don't think I was trying to re-do Steve's explanation.) Select your Alpha Channel and pick a brush size according to how big you want your screw head to be. Select black to be your Foreground colour and dab a brush set at approx. 85% Hardness Without moving the mouse click "x" to change the Background Colour to Foreground Colour (in this case it should be White) and dab again this will give you the counter-sink shape that goes around the screw head. Change the Hardness setting of the Brush to approx. 0% Click "[" to reduce the Brush size, click "x" to change back to Black and dab the brush in the middle of this counter-sink to create the screw head. Select the Pencil Tool click "x" to set it to White click at the top edge of the screw head and Shift+click at the bottom edge (this snaps the line between the points giving you a straight line) thus finishing the screw's groove. Go back to the Layers Palette to active the layer and apply the Lighting Effect. This is only my approximation so it may not be exactly done this way - but I suppose it's open to experimentation. |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:14:04 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
Maiden, your explanation goes far beyond my glib reply. Sometimes operations that I think are obvious clearly aren't, and I need to be picked up on this stuff more often! |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:23:55 PM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
I worry a lot that I over-complicate an answer but sometimes, in my experience, when doing tutorials you can't always presume a level of Photoshop knowledge and therefore I err on the side of step-by-step no matter how painstaking it is to explain. The main reason I like your book so much is its easy-to-understand approach, but as an intermediate Photoshop user it's easy for me to self-correct any typos or apply a bit of creativity to an established technique, while someone who isn't quite so familiar may get grounded over something we see as a simple typo. I buy a lot of Computer Arts magazine but I hate the way their tutorials glibly assume your a Photoshop professional and make no apologies for that assumption. |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:28:16 PM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7021 Reply |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
I think part of the problem is that I assume people have started on page 1 and read through to that point, so they'll remember something I mentioned 100 pages earlier. Of course it doesn't work that way, and in the next edition I'll be making a special effort to make sure each tutorial is fully self-contained, even if it does mean repeating myself occasionally! |
Posted on 16/08/04 1:32:28 PM |
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maiden
Golden Gif Gagster Posts: 471 Reply |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
Haha - I'm the worse culprit for diving into a book and skipping parts. I head straight for the content and/or index page and skip straight to what I fancy  |
Posted on 16/08/04 3:57:39 PM |
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Earl Pennell
* Posts: 2 Reply |
Re: Dab Brush Setting for Screws
Wow. Thank you for the very thourough reponse. A great book and excellent online supplement. I look forward to buying your next edition. |