Basic Tutorial - Swirly Vortex

W

Waffle

Alpha Geek
New to Photoshop? Try this basic tutorial for a nice effect, particularly for web page backgrounds, signatures and banners.

*I expect this will work with any version of Photoshop, but I am using 7.0*

1. Create a new document, any size. The bigger the better, really. I chose 400x400 pixels, with a resolution of 100.

2. Hit 'D' to reset your colours. Then click Filter>>Render>>Clouds.

3. Click Filter>>Distort>>Twirl and move the slider to 999, doesn't matter which way.

4. Right click on the layer and duplicate it. On the new layer, go to Edit>>Transform>>Flip Horizontal

5. Select the blending mode for this new layer to Lighten. You should see a warped abstact-like effect.

6. Hit Ctrl + U, select Colorize and make the layer look good - I chose an electric blue. Do the same for the other layer but choose another colour. I chose a purple.

7. Click Filter>>Distort>>Pinch and drag it as far back as you like, to give the impression it is a long tunnel thing.

You're done. If you want, you can duplicate both the coloured layers, flip them both vertically, set the blending to lighten, and then hit Filter>>Distort>>Wave and use the defaults on these 2 new layers. Colour them if you wish.

Have fun, and experiment!

I came up with this.

Vortex.jpg
 
How do you mean? Like, say, extracting a car from a background, and then blending it in to a premade background so it looks natural?

If this is the case, I know a couple of ways of doing that.
 
Yeah definitely! Post em as separate threads with a rating as to how easy they are.

Everyone post what you come up with!
 
Hi Waffle. I'm trying your BasicTutorial-Swirly Vortex. I first tried photoshop 2.0 elements, now I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS version 8.0 on a Mac OS X Panther. I'm following your steps. Question(s): Hit "D" to reset your colors? I hit "D" and nothing changed that I could see. In the lower left corner, the foreground color is Black, the background color is white. Should those colors be changed, if so to what?
I got a duplicate layer in the lower right corner. Should the 1st layer be locked?
I got down to No. 5. Where is the blending mode button?

Thank you in advance.
RA
 
RA said:
Hi Waffle. I'm trying your BasicTutorial-Swirly Vortex. I first tried photoshop 2.0 elements, now I'm using Adobe Photoshop CS version 8.0 on a Mac OS X Panther. I'm following your steps. Question(s): Hit "D" to reset your colors? I hit "D" and nothing changed that I could see. In the lower left corner, the foreground color is Black, the background color is white. Should those colors be changed, if so to what?
I got a duplicate layer in the lower right corner. Should the 1st layer be locked?
I got down to No. 5. Where is the blending mode button?

Thank you in advance.
RA
Click to expand...

Hey.

Right, pressing D resets your colours to the default, which is black and white. This is so that if you were using PS before reading the tutorial your colours could be different to mine, and get a different result. So so long as it is black and white, there is no problem.

I am assuming that you duplicated the Background Layer, which is locked by default as you can't delete it. This is what the padlock shows. If you started a new document and then added a new layer, then this layer does not have to be locked.

The Blending Mode Button, is on the layers pallete. Look for where it says Opacity and Fill, the Blending is next to it. By default it reads "Normal". Select that from the drop down list and then chose which ever you like the look of. I used lighten, or soft light.

Hope this helps, let me know and post your results!
 
Hi Waffle. I got No. 5 done. Now how about No. 6? I hit Ctrl + U, but couldn't find Colorize. How do I find that?
 
After you hit CTRL + U, a window should appear, that has three sliders - hue, saturation and lighten. Bottom right of this window, is a little tick box. One says "Preview", the other says "Colorize". Put a tick in that box. The image will change to a reddish colour. Then adjust the slides until you get the colour you want.
 
No window appears that I can see, after hitting Ctrl+U. Where is it supposed to be?

Incidently, to duplicate, I used the Duplicate button on the menu bar. I didn't seem to get any results by right clicking the layer (picture). Am I in the right place for that?
 
ah of course, you are on an eMac, aren't you?

In that case, there is no surprise your right click didn't work, because apple mac's don't have right mouse buttons, lol.

CTRL + U won't work, you need "Apple" and U, whatever it's called. Command? I'm not sure, but it's the one with a funny symbol next to the space.

And yeah, you were right to do that to duplicate the layer, so no worries there
 
Back again. The Command+U worked! I got a Hue/Saturation dialog box.
What appeared was Hue 0, Saturation 25, Lighten 0. I just clicked OK because I couldn't find any "choices" for color. I'm sure they're there, if you know what your doing, but I don't!
I couldn't to another layer, because I didn't do the first.:(
I did the "Pinch" thing and clicked File, Save AS, Documents, like on a PC, but nothing showed up in the Documents Folder!?

That "if you want" is way over my headl, but for now, let's assume I saved my project. What do I do with it, and what are the steps to get "that" done?
 
Sorry for the dumb question...I can answer it myself! You use if for backgrounds, signatures, and banners. I'm going to have to call Apple support and fine out where it is saved on this @#$%! computer! :( I've clicked all over and can't find it anywhere, yet it says that it's there!

I tried using Adobe Photoshop 2.0 Elements on my PC. There wasn't any colors to work with, that I could find. There was a Tool bar on the left, but nothing on the right!?
 
The "choices" for colour, are determined where the sliders are positioned. Check Colorize is ticked, or nothing will happen. Move all the sliders to change the colour. Or type in the box 250, 50 and - 10, for example.

You can still do the layer thing, if you click Layers>>Duplicate Layer>>Ok.

With PC's you can right click and do it from the pallette, whereas as far as I know, you have to use the drop down menus or the shortcuts. When you duplicate it, change the blending mode, flip it in Edit, Free Transform, and then change the colour with Command + U.

To find the file, open up "Finder", or Explorer - I'm not using a Mac, so unsure what it's called, and type in what you saved it as, or ".psd", as that is the default photoshop file save.

Or just save it again, and then put it where you will remember - I think Users>>"Name">>Files would probably be the right place.

Elements on the PC, it should all work. If the colours aren't appearing, go to Windows>>Save/Load Arrangement>>Reset Pallete Locations (I think), and that will restore everything to the default.

Good luck!
 
Good morning Waffle. Thank you for all that info. I hope I can get it right!

I found the files that I saved, finally, but I can't delete them! Under Photoshop I clicked File, Open, and Bingo there they were! How can I delete them? I can't select, then delete, because if I select the file, it opens up. Any suggestions?
 
RA said:
Good morning Waffle. Thank you for all that info. I hope I can get it right!

I found the files that I saved, finally, but I can't delete them! Under Photoshop I clicked File, Open, and Bingo there they were! How can I delete them? I can't select, then delete, because if I select the file, it opens up. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

Okay. To delete the files within PS, then do as you have done - File, Open. Then Select the file you want to open but do not double click. Just once. Then hit the backspace or Delete key (not sure which, as using PC). That should work. Otherwise, drag it on to the Recycle Bin on the Dock.

If you finished the tutorial, open your result, click Save As, and choose *jpeg from the drop down list. Then upload it here!
 
Okay. I'm on my PC and just finished the Swirly Vortex using PS Elements 2.0. I couldn't figure out "doing the same with the other layer". It's saved as a .jpeg. I got it in Paint. It's large. I had to resize the Paint screen. How do I upload it, and to what?

P.S. I'll try the Mac, after "we" get this done! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top