In this tutorial, you will learn one of many ways to create a high quality 3D text effect using PhotoShop CS4. To begin, we will start with a blank canvas and use the text tool to write some text to the document. Make it pretty big, like so: If you're ever in the market for some great Windows web hosting , try Server Intellect . We have been very pleased with their services and most importantly, technical support. Next, we want to make duplicates of our text layer, but first, right-click the layer and choose Rasterize Layer. This will make the text no longer editable, so that we can manipulate...

In this tutorial, we will be looking at one of the many new features introduced into Adobe PhotoShop Creative Suite 4, Content-Aware Scaling (or CAS). CAS uses a rather complex mathematical algorithm that decides what is important in an image, and what is expendable, when it comes to altering or discarding information upon resizing. However, it wouldn't be an Adobe product if you couldn't manipulate the function and use it to its best advantage. In this tutorial, we will explore a few ways of getting the best out of the Content-Aware Scale. We will begin with a sample image, such as: Before anything...

In this tutorial, you will learn how to replicate the moon in a night sky. We will start with a black canvas, and add a circle selection with the Elliptical Marquee tool: This will be our - yes, you've guessed it - moon. Fill this selection with White on a new layer, all by itself: We moved our web sites to Server Intellect and have found them to be incredibly professional. Their setup is very easy and we were up and running in no time. Keeping the selection, make sure your colors are black and white (press D), and then create a new layer and goto Filter > Render > Clouds. Clouds are Rendered...

In this tutorial, how to create your very own Vortex like one of the Default wallpapers with Windows XP. We will start with a blank canvas of 400x300 pixels. Press D to make sure we have the Default colors - black and white, then goto Filter > Render > Fibers. Play with the settings until you get a look you prefer, and then click Ok: Next, choose Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates, and choose Rectnagular to Polar: I just signed up at Server Intellect and couldn't be more pleased with my Windows Server ! Check it out and see for yourself. Now we will use the Filter > Blur > Radial...

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a Christmas Bauble for your festive graphic decorations. We will start with a blank canvas and draw a circle with the Elliptical Marquee tool, then fill with green (or the color of your choice) on a new layer. Next, let's add a bit of glitter - goto Filter > Noise > Add Noise. Choose Gaussian and 5%, or as much or little glitter as you want: Now we want to give the Bauble a more spherical appearance. Goto Filter > Distort > Spherize. Choose 100%, Normal: We migrated our web sites to Server Intellect over one weekend and the setup was so...

In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to create a Christmassy Star for your festive graphic decoration. We will be creating the star from the basic star Custom Shape in PhotoShop. To start, let's go ahead and choose the Custom Shape tool and select the Star shape from the list: We will draw the Shape onto our canvas, holding Shift to maintain proper proportions, and we should have something like this: Now that we have a Path, we want to fill this with a solid color. To do this, first create a new Layer in the Layers Panel, then goto the Paths Panel (Window > Paths). You should notice...

In this tutorial, you will learn how to add a unique effect to your photos to make them come alive. We will be looking at creating a cutout of an object or person in a photo to create the illusion that they are emerging from the photograph. In this example, we will be using the following image: Our first step will be to cut out part of the background. PhotoShop makes this relatively easy for us, particularly when we have a background which contrasts the foreground. You can use any of PhotoShops' built-in selection tools or the extract tool for this. We will use the Quick Select Tool to make a selection...

In this tutorial, we will be looking at using PhotoShop's built-in Cloud Render filter and Quick Mask to create more realistic-looking clouds. We will start off with the following image. Let's add a more appealing sky, including wispy clouds. The first thing we want to do is extend the image, to make more room for the sky. Goto Image > Canvas size. This image is currently 400x300, so we'll make it 400x400px: We moved our web sites to Server Intellect and have found them to be incredibly professional. Their setup is very easy and we were up and running in no time. We'll move the photo to the...

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a molten rock or lava texture. We will begin with a blank canvas of 400x300px. Press the D key to make sure our colors are Black and White (the default).Next, goto Filter > Render > Clouds. This will use the foreground and background colors to generate some random clouds: Server Intellect offers Windows Hosting Dedicated Servers at affordable prices. I'm very pleased! Now goto Filter > Render > Difference Clouds: Repeat this filter until you get a texture you like. Press Ctrl+F to repeat the last filter. We should have something like this...

In this tutorial, we will be looking at how to create a Ring of Fire from scratch in PhotoShop. This example was created with PhotoShop CS3, but you can use most - if not all - versions of PhotoShop to recreate the effect. We will begin with a blank canvas of 400x400px, with a black background. Then create a big circle selection with the Elliptical Marquee tool, and with White chosen as the foreground color, right-click the selection and choose Stroke. I did 3px, Center: Try Server Intellect for Windows Server Hosting . Quality and Quantity! Now, duplicate this layuer by right-clicking it in the...