Video Tutorials and Lessons

Shopping girl in a blue town

2008-10-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

In this step-by-step tutorial, a will show you how to create modern and practical transparent animation. You can use this animation in some presentation, banner, or on some web site. This animation is simple, and you will not have any need for Action Scripting.

Step 1

Create nwe flash document. Press Ctrl + J on your keyboard (Document Properties) and set the weidth of your document to 450px, and height to 300px. Select any color for your background. Set any color for your background. Set Frame rate to 28fps.

Step 2

Take the picture from:
http://www.addlimb.org/kovac/picture1.jpg
Import the picture by: Go to File > Import > Import to stage (Shortcut key: Ctrl+R) > picture1.jpg (picture of blue town)

Step 3

Picture is currently selected, so go to Align Panel (Ctrl+K) and do the following:
1. Check if Align/Distribute to Stage button is off.
2. Click on Align horisontal center button.
3. Click on Align vertical center button.

Step 4

Picture is still selected, press F8 (Convert to Symbol) to make this picture a Moviea Clip symbol

Step 5

Now, go to frame 20, 120, 140, and press F6 on each frame

Step 6

On frame 140, picture is still selected, if you ahve lost your selection, choose Selection Tool (V), anc click on the picture to select it. After that, go to Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3). On your right side, you will see color menu. Choose Advanced, and click on Settings button, and put these aprameters and click ok.

Do this for the first frame also.

Step 7

Double-click on the name of the layer1, and change it to "Town"

Step 8

Create Motion Tween between frames 1 and 20, and frames 120 and 140

Step 9

Now, create new layer above layer Town, and call it Girl

Step 10

Take the picture from: http://www.addlimb.org/kovac/picture2.png
Now click on frame 20 on layer Girl, and press F6. You are still on frame 20 of the layer Girl. Go to File > Import > Import to stage > picture2.png

Step 11

Picture is still selected. Preess F8 (Convert to Symbol) to change the picture into Movie Clip Symbol.

Step 12

Now click on frame 30, 35 i 40 and press F6 on each frame

Step 13

Go back to frame 20 and set picture to this position:

Step 14

Take the Selection Tool (V) and click on the picture. After that, select the filters tab, click on "plus" icon, and select Blur filter and set following values:

Step 15

Select frame 30 and set picture in the position as I did

Do the same thing with the frames 35 and 40

Step 16

Go back to frame 30, take Free Transform Tool (Q) and zoom in the picture

Step 17

Take Selection Tool (V) and click on the picture to select it. After that go to Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3), you'll see color menu. Choose Tint, and set following values:

Now, you'll get this picture:

Step 18

Select frame 40, again, take Selection Tool (V) and click onece on the picture to select it. Select Filter tab and click plus icon and choose Glow filter, and set these values:

Step 19

Create Motion Tween between frames 20 and 30, frames 30 and 35 and frames 35 i 40

Step 20

Click once on frame 110, and press F6 six times

Step 21

Click on frames 111, 113 i 155 and press Delete button on your keyboard. As shown on picture:

Step 22

Click on frame 120, and press F6

Step 23

You are still on frame 120, set the picture as shown on picture

Step 24

After that take Selection Tool (V) and click on the picture once, select filters tab, click on the plus icon, and take Blur filter, and set these parameters:

Step 25

Create Motion Tween between frames 115 and 120

And we'r done!

Test your animation, and enjoy

End result:

Creating 3D box for applications, products...

2008-10-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial, i will show you how to make 3D box for an application (or any product), by using Photoshop. The technique is very simple, and the result can be astonishing, and very creative. Before we start making this box, it would be usefull to make a picture that presents sides of our box.

Step 1:
Remember that while you create pages of your box (their apperance), do them separatly, and, in the end, put them side by side, as shown on picture.

Step 2:
Now we will bend the sides, so we get 3D effect. First, take care to group or merge all layers of one page of the box. It's important to do with one object. When you have selected front side of this 3D box, choose "Move tool", and make "Show Transform Controls" on, as shown on picture.

In the end, you should get the front side that is marked like this:

Now the improtant part comes. While you hold Ctrl+Alt+Shift, with your mouse click on the upper right corner, and slowly draw downwards. By holding these commands, you'll make both pages (upper right, and lower right) move simultainosly. Experiment while you don't get the right angle...
The result should be as follows:

When we have done this effect, we eill notice that this front page is little more streched than we want it to be (it spoils 3D effect). We will narrow it by doing this:
Choose option Transform -> Scale , and while holding middle right pad (square that allows you to click on it and draw left-right) draw it little to the middle. Effect that we want to achieve is this:

Step 3:
When we have finished this, we can freely say that we have finished with the front side. Repeat the same technique on the side also. How to move it, and on what angle..it all depends on your imagination.. If you can not see in advance how it should look, take standard box, and look on what angle the edges are..
End look is like this:

The box is over!
What we are left to do is polishing, to make it look more cool.
Step 4:
We will do several steps to make this box shiny. First we will do is make a stand. The stand is going to be gradient that you can see on the following picture:

We do this in a following way...
First, choose two colors in toolbox, one gray (the background color), and the other is a bit lighter compared to first color. When you have set that, create new layer on top of the project. Then choose "Gradient tool" from toolbox. After that, create one gradietn object on the new layer. Draw from horisontal middle towards the edges to get one gradient circle. Then, cimply select upper half (from vertical half of the circle upwards) and delete that part.
In the end, all you need to do is to set created layer so it stands between background and box.
All that should approximate the picture showen above.

Step 5:
In the following steps we will show you how to make shining on our 3D box. For the start it would be usefull to make duplicate of two sides of your box. When you have made duplicates, selct them and do:
Edit -> Transform -> Flip Vertical
After that, move those parts below our 3D box, so that edges of our 3D box, and it's reflection touch as on the picture below.

Now, by using Edit > Transofrm > Skew we will set that each side of this reflection is completly in touch with the edges of 3D box. So, select one side, choose this option, and move those edges that do not touch the edges of the 3D box. When you do that on both sides, reduce their opacity to 50%...
And the result should be....

On this picture, you also see that lower part of the reflection dissapears.. I did that by using opacity Layer mask.

That is it.
Experiment a bit with different perspectives of the box, so as to see what else you can get.

- Macromedia Flash - Sunflower presentation (button effects)

2007-08-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

Flash can be, among other things, be used for very effective creation of interesting effects, that can be modified in web design. Button effects are among top ones. In this lesson, we will go across few basic ones. They can be used later, as the basic for more complicated animations...

This, very detailed lesson, has many useful "by-the-way" tips, that will give better understanding of todays topic, and is concerning many nice techniques in each step. I also included whole screenshots in this lesson, as to help you not to get lost.
Final result will be mixed presentation of many things you can do with knowledge of todays lesson!

Here's the result:

1. Let me start with saying, that for creating nice buttons you will need some basic knowledge of graphic design... But, as this is only the beginning, let's see what we can do on our own.. First, there is drawing of buttons.
On of easiest ways, and at the same time mostly used ones is separating parts of the picture from it's background on which the button will lay. You can do this part with programs like Photoshop, Gimp, Freehand... just to name a few... You can't do this with success in the Flash itself!
So, for the start, you will need finished graphics!

2. As said, start by separating part of the picture from it's background, and with play a little with the part you cut (separated) from background... (some tips: try changing colors, sharpness...)
All this will change the look of your button-to-be, make it stand out, and that is the first step in creating a button!
(Buttons on this picture are made from two copies of one graphics. To the one on the bottom, i removed all colorit, and the ratio of black and white color is changed! Buttons are cut from original part of picture with color kept, and size changes!)

3. Now, with the graphics in place, we can deal with basics of button interaction in presentation. Small animation of "entering" of buttons can visually enrich the presentation, and it is easy for making. In this case, button is entering from top left corner. Animation is 5 frames long, so it is smooth...
Just for the aesthetics, you can also add the effects that concern colour. In this case, button is on it's first frame completely white, and, while it is set to place, it gradually get's it's own colour. Animation is also 5 frames long. In this step, graphics are converted into movie clip!

4. Button has 4 main states: Up, Over, Down, and Hit! Each responds to the relation of mous and button (the name of the state speaks for itself). It is needed to have graphics for each and every one of four stated states (it is recommanded to have small changing of place [few pixels] for each one, just to have better feeling of control to the button user).
You can also create animation, but if you want to create something functional, it is not recommanded to create buttons that fly around and can't be clicked on!

5. While we are "in" the button, or in "edit" state, graphic can further be converted and animated, so that button get's effects of animation even though there is no interacion to it! The animation mostly used is about colour and effects concerning colour. In this example, button stands still for 48 frames, and then, in next 18 frames, amount of it's colour is increased, so you get effect of periodical shining of button - independently of users interaction with it!

6. One more basic effect frequently used, easy to apply, (and in combination with others gives interesting look to buttons), is Alha feature of converted graphics. Invisible button!
We will add Alpha feature to converted graphics, in Properties, and apply value 0 to it!

7. In edit space, in states Over, Down and Hit, we will import graphics withouth Alpha feature. We will, for now, leave "Up" empty. This will give the apperance of "invisible" button, that visually won't be in presentation, but will be usable for the ones that know it's location! Something like 'secret button'...

8. In this example, we will deal with basic controls of presentation, or clip, with buttons. With the help of one visible button, we will start animation that will show 4 buttons not to be seen in the start.
We will create one simple button with four basic states (right button on the picture). In the bottom rowe, we will put four graphics with feature Alpha set to 0.

9. You need to stop the clip before it ends. On 71st frame, in background layer, Keyframe is set, and in it, with the help of action script, Stop command (from the Movie Control group of command) is set.

10. On the same 71st frame, but in the layer of control button, command " on(release){play();} " is set, again, with the help of action script.

11. Lower row of the button is animated in that way as to gradually become visible in 14 frames, again, by using Alpha feature. On the first frame, it's value is 0, on the last one it is 100. This animation won't start by itself, because of stop command. It will only be started by clicking on the button with command " on(release){play();} ", so you will get effect of graduall appearing of the remaining buttons. This can be usefull in creating Vista-like menus, and similar effects...

With this step I conclude todays lesson...
Again, you can veiw today's lesson's work on the page: http://www.addlimb.org/kovac/cvet.html

Hope you had a good time, and looking forward to feedback!

- Macromedia Flash - Transparent objects

2007-08-18T19:20:00.000-07:00

Here is easy way to make transparent object in Flash in two ways!
You can copy final ".fla" file of this lesson from: http://www.addlimb.org/kovac/transparent_santa.fla

1. Group earlyer prepared drawings. Mark all parts of object, in options go to Modify, option Group in drop down menu. (or use shortcut Ctrl+G)

2. You need to convert this group in movie clip. Mark the group, option Insert, then Convert to symbol. (you can use shortcut F8)

3. In options window enter the name for new symbol. In my case: "movie_clip_santa". In option Behaviour choose Movie Clip.

4. Select thus made clip. In Properties click on drop down menu and select Alpha.

5. Transparency level is determined by value 0-100 which is about Alpha feature of Movie Clip. Higher value = higher transparency.

In this way, Flash object is given transparency that can later be modified. But, if you want to achieve effect of gradual transparency, you need to use little animation...

(steps 1-3 are repeated, and then:)

6. With right click we will set frame on timeline, with option from drop down menu Insert Frame/

7. Again, with the right click, now on inserted frame, we will make motion tween with option Create Motion Tween, from drop down menu.

8. While still remaning on the last frame of animation, we will select object and in properties of objects select option Alpha.

9. As earlier statedm values are as on picture in field near options.

Alpha determines level of transparency of object, where o is total transparency (object is not seen), and 100 complete visibility.

There it is! That was easy!

- Photoshop - Create Pineapple

2007-07-05T00:19:00.001-07:00

Here's how you can create virtual Pineapple with just few steps...

1. Open up a new image any size and create a black circle;

2. Use the gradient tool, and create circular gradient with the colors #EADF87 and #DBBF43;

3. Create a new layer and fill it with black color.
Now go to "Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise" and put the slider to the maximum (400%)

4. Now add "Filter -> Blur -> Radial Blur" and set it to zoom and 100%;
Set it to overlay and press CTRL+G;

5. Now, delete a circle in the middle;

6. Select the Move-Tool and duplicate the pinapple-layer; Now while holding ALT, move the layer down.

7. Now press CTRL+U to darken, set saturation to about -47, lightness to -32, and it's finished!

There's Pinapple!

- Photoshop - Hitman entering the scene

2007-07-04T10:58:00.003-07:00

Here's an easy way to make the "James Bond" effect of Hitman entering the scene...

1. Start of by creating document 500x400px. Now, create triangle using pen, and with the inside color #929292.

2. Contionue creating triangles...

3. Untill you finish full circle of them...

4. We'll use this shape picture of james bond,

which we will transform into this, by simply using black brush on white surfaces, and deleting white surfaces with background eraser tool...

5. Now, create new layer, and import the picture of the man entering the scene...

6. Add also a shadow under the man. We need to copy the background with man's silhouette and use Free Transform (by clicking the right button of the mouse on the background) and display the silhouettes on 180* vertically.Also, change the opacity – 71% on the inverted layer.

There it is!

- Photoshop - Wild Western / Desert Scene (video tutorial)

2007-07-04T10:58:00.001-07:00

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a wild western / desert scene using adobe photoshop.

- Photoshop - Advertisement designing (iPod Style)

2007-07-04T07:00:00.000-07:00

This designing technique is very popular among commercials. Most famously iPod uses it all the time. Here's how to do it...

1. Open up any picture in interesting pose.

2. Now, cut the image and type Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to paste the cuted image to another layer. Then, you erase the background with Background Eraser Tool.

3. Create new background layer with a soft color

4. Add your person to the background, press Ctrl+U, and hange lightness to +100%!

5. Now, duplicate the layer with the person, and press CTRL+I;

6. Place the black layer underneath the white one, and move it a bit, so it resembles a shadow.

7. For the final touch, make the layer which will be under the white layer, but on which you will draw something like this...

8. And for the final picture... Voila!

- Photoshop - Whitening Teeth (video tutorial)

2007-07-03T16:03:00.000-07:00

This is a basic photoshop tutorial for whitening teeth. Using the quick mask it only takes about 5 minutes and is very effective.

- Photoshop - Pen Tool is All You Need (video tutorial)

2007-07-03T15:57:00.000-07:00

The Photoshop Pen tool strikes terror into the hearts of many a PS user! This video shows some tricks to better understand and master the pen tool.

- Photoshop - Text Picture (Create picture out of text)

2007-07-01T19:14:00.001-07:00

You have all probably sometime seen picture that is entirely made of text. Here's how to do it...
For this lesson example, will use the same picture as in one of previous courses...

1. Go to "Image -> Adjustments -> Threshold", and move the slider left or right, untill you get satisfying picture...

2. Open the notepad, and type the words you want ito it like this:

3. Next, copy that text, and paste it in new text layer you have created.
After that, set up style and size of font, and rotate text untill you are satisfied.

4. Next, right click on text layer, and click "Resterise Layer". Select the template layer and with the magic wand at a tolerance of 32 select the white area. Go to select>similar to select all of the light areas and then select the text layer from the layers palette. Next select text layer, and hit delete to clear the excess text and drag the template layer into the bin icon. Back the image up in white by making a new layer (Go to "Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color") with a white fill and dragging it underneath the text layer.

There it is!
Beautifull!

- Photoshop - Frozen Text (Icy Effect)

2007-07-01T19:13:00.001-07:00

This tutorial will show you how to make cool ice/frozen effect on your picture or text!
This example showes you how to do it on example text!

1. Start by opening new document with black bacground. Set white as your foreground colour, and black as your background colour (by hitting 'D', and then 'X' on you'r keyboard). Now, create new layer by hitting Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N. Use text tool, and add your text (it should be in white colour, on black background). I used "Icy Text" as an example.

2. Click on text layer, and then hold Ctrl button, and click the text layer in the Layers palette to make it a selection.
Now, in you'r menu, go to "Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise". (Click OK to the pop-up asking you if you want to rasterize.) Choose 150% and Uniform. Now hit Ctrl+D to deselect.

3. Go to "Filter -> Pixelate -> Crystalize" and choose Cell Size 3. Next, go to "Filter -> Stylize -> Find Edges". Hit Ctrl+I to inverse the colors!

4. Go to "Edit -> ransform -> Rotate 90 CW".
Then, "Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur" and choose 0.8 for the Radius.
Then, go to "Filter ->Stylize -> Wind" and pick Wind and From the Right.
Now, run the same wind filter a second time to get bigger icicles, and then go to "Edit -> Fade Wind". Move the Opacity slider to suite your preference. I decreased the Opacity to 90%, but you can set it to suit you'r needs.

5. Return you'r text in normal position by going yo "Edit -> Transform -> Rotate 90 CCW".
Create a new layer by hitting Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N. Select a light blue color you'd like to accent your ice with as you foreground color (I picked #3366FF). Fill the new layer with that color by hitting Alt+Backspace. Hold Alt and click between the blue layer and the text layer in the Layers Palette. The cursor should turn to into a symbol with two circles when you have it in the right place. With the blue layer still selected, go to the left drop-down menu above and change its Blending Mode to Overlay. Then, decrease the Opacity slider to suite your taste. (I opted for 60% in the example).

There it is! If you want snowy-icy effect, you can add sparkles here and there by using brush with that set as the type of brush (for more details read final step),and that is it!
If you want more blue-icy effect, you should procede reading this tutorial!

6. Create another new layer by hitting Shift+Ctrl+Alt+N. Hold Ctrl and click the layer with your text to load it as a selection. Fill the layer selection with a dark blue (I used #000761). Hit Ctrl+D to deselect. Set white as your background color. Go to "Filter -> Artistic -> Neon Glow". This part varies heavily with what the size and style of your text. Choose a middle blue color (I picked #002BD0). Move the Glow Size to about -8 and Glow Brightness to about 19.

7. Go to "Filter -> Artistic -> Plastic Wrap" and change the settings to your preference (I used Highlight Strength 8, Detail 14, Smoothness 7). In the Layers Palette, change the Blending Mode to Pin Light.

8. Final step is to add sparkles.
Set white as you foreground color and select the Paint Brush tool. In the Brush selector at the top, find the sparkle brushes (like i used on the picture).
Create a new layer on top and apply the brushes to a few areas near the top of your text, or as you prefer.

Finished!
And sooo easy!

- Lightwave 3D - Lightwave Tutorial

2007-07-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

Node editor's displacement node from the lightwave official website.

- Gimp - Lightning

2007-07-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

In this tutorial you will learn the basics of how to create a nice lightning effect. Once you know the basics, you can easily experiment to create different kinds of lightning.

- Gimp - User Interface

2007-07-01T18:54:00.000-07:00

This video explains the user interface of the GIMP. The goal of the tutorial is to make you understand how the user interface works, so that you can explore GIMP without being hindered by the user interface.

- Photoshop - Worhol-like images (Pop art in Photoshop)

2007-07-01T17:44:00.001-07:00

Create Worhol-like pop-art in easy way!
You can start with any image you like..

1. Isolate the portrait (picture) from the background by using "Filter -> Extract" from your menu bar. Then, you define edges, and fill in the picture you want to cut out.
You'll get something like this:

2. Go to "Image -> Adjustments -> Threshold", and move the slider left or right, untill you get satisfying picture...

3. Duplicate this layer, and will it with white.

4. Go back to the black and white layer and remove the white. >Select>Color Range... Select the White, hit OK.. then Delete.

5. Create a new layer and fill it with a color. "Layers -> New Fill Layer -> Solid Color"
By modifying color of each of three layers, you should be able to test various color combinations...

6. If you do previous step several times, you should get something like this:

Have fun!

- Photoshop - Recycled Da Vinci (Hiding picture within a picture)

2007-07-01T17:38:00.001-07:00

Lear how to hide one picture within other!
Very practical and easy trick!

1. First, create a new image 2x2px and using the Pencil Tool (set to 1px), draw image as you can see it below.
Try to Zoom In ( View -> Zoom In ) to do it easier.

Define your pattern ( Edit -> Define Pattern ) and close the image.

2. Open two images. One you want to hide, and the other you want to hide first in. In my example, I took to hide recycle logo in Leonardo da Vinci portrait.

3. Create a new image the same size as your other two images and paste both your images onto it. The two images should be on two separate layers. Move the cover image layer above the hidden image layer.
Create a new layer and move it above the hidden image layer but below the cover image.

Fill ( Edit -> Fill ) this layer with the pattern you made in Step 1. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to “Exclusion”.

4. Change the Blending Mode of this layer to “Exclusion”.

5. Click on the image you want to hide on the Layer pallete, and invert the colors, by going "Image -> Adjustments -> Invert (or press Ctrl-I)"

6. Change to opacity of the cover image (in this Example, the Da Vinci layer) to change how well you can see the hidden image (Recycle logo)

as you can see, in my example I used 70% opacity.
here is the result:

That's it!
Great!

- Photoshop - Planet Earth Cube (Reshaping objects!)

2007-07-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will teach you how to reshape litteraly any object in a simple way.
In this example we will take picture of the Planet Earth (round), and reshape it into a Square!

1. First, open starting image. In this case, I'll reshape picture of our Planet Earth.

One of the things i will do is to play with a shadows a little, so to give our object sense of dimensionality.

2. Second, we will start by simple reshaping, as it is usually easiest thing to do.
Go to "Filter -> Liquify" and start morphing.
Don't be frustrated if it is not perfect, as it is not the point of this step, but try to make it similar to the picture below.

3. Now that we have made our basic shape, we need to take care of the second part. If you have any shiny parts on you'r picture, you should flatten them out by using "healing brush".
As we do not have that type of problem, we can move to next step.

4. Here, it will be helpfull if you draw you'r square outlines on new layer on top of original picture, as to give you some guide in future steps.Also, don't worry if the picture doesen't fit perfectly into the square. See the picture below:

5. Now this step is going to further emphasize the role of light in completing the cubed effect. Using the guide layer above, get the polygonal lasso and select a single face of the cube as shown.

Next get the eye dropper and take a midtone color from that area. Next get the paint bucket tool and fill in the selected area on a new layer above the Planet earth. Your screen should now look something like this.

Do the same for each face on the cube.

As you usually don't need to blur top face, you can go to "Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur".
When you are done blurring change the layer mode to "Overlay" and this will allow the detail of the image to show through while maintaining your adjustment to the light.

Final step is to load the image back into the Liquify Filter and adjust the cube once more so that all of the faces fit the dimension of a cube. After that, you can see the final result!
Excellent!

- Blender 3D - Easy Basic Course

2007-06-30T18:18:00.000-07:00

A ten-minute crash course in Blender 3D

- 3D Studio Max - Simple Clothes Animation

2007-06-30T17:42:00.001-07:00

We'r gonna look on how to make clothes in 3Ds max.

1. Create sphere in a top veiw.

2. And then create a plane on top of that.

also, bump up the lenght and the width segments a little bit.

3. Move this on frony view so it's on top of our sphere.

4. Now we'r going to set up the clothe simulation.
Got to the modifier tab, and add the clothe modifier to the plane.
(We want the plane we've just made to be our clothe. In order to do that, we will have to apply clothe modifier to both objects...)

Now, select "object properties"

and, there, select "add objects", and double click the "Sphere01", to make it part of you'r simulation.

5. Both of these object are Inactive by default, so we will do following:

click the Plane, and select the cloth (as we want it to be cloth)

for the Sphere we want it to be "colision object", so select that,

and click OK...

6. Maximase the perspective viewport, and check if all things are the way you want it...
When you are sure they are, click "Simulate Local" to view you'r simulation...

And, there it is!
It's just that easy!

- 3D Studio Max - Animating Bulding Demolition

2007-06-30T14:18:00.001-07:00

In this video you will learn how to (1)convert building mesh to particles with Cebas thinkingparticles (2)create dust and smoke with Superspray plus AfterBurn 3.0 (3)Create debris with Particle Flow. You need: 3ds max 7, Cebas Thinkingparticles, AfterBurn plugins to make this effect.

Part 1:

Part 2:

- Maya - Mysique (X-Men) - Sampler Deformer

2007-06-30T14:10:00.001-07:00

Tutorial on how Stroika's sampler deformer was used to create the Mystique transformation effect in the X-Men movie series.

- 3D Studio Max - Creating Hair

2007-06-30T14:09:00.000-07:00

An easy way to make hair in 3Ds MAX!

1. First, make a sphere in a top view

2. Go down to the modifer tab, and scroll down on the modifier list, and select "hair & fur"

3. By doing that you should get some hair and fur onto your sphere.

4. Open it up, and select faces, and hit Ctrl+A to select all

5. Click on style hair, and you'll get you'r little cursore (which is in fact the digital brush).
What you will do is grab it, and start colming the hair untill you get the look you want...

6. You can also grab scissors, and cut off and trim the hair...

7. Select perspective view port, and hit F9 to render, and...

Voila...
How easy it is!

- Photoshop - Window & Flowers - Basic Photography Corrections and Retouching

2007-06-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

This step-by-step lesson will provide you with basics in photography correction by showing you how to use whole range of elementary tools for this job.

Start by opening the desired picture.

1. (Note the change we will make to example picture:)

2. After you open the picture, from the toolbox select crop tool, and then in tool options bar type dimensions. Mark the picture, and then make sure the edges of the marker match edges of the picture. Then press Enter:

3. Select option Image/Adjustments/Levels, and you will get this window:

by moving one of three triangles, you adjust shadows, brighter, and darker tones..

when you are satisfied with values (in my case, input level values are: 18, 1.30, 232) click OK and save the picture.

4. You can also adjust auto contrast authomaticly, by using option Image/Adjustment/Auto Contrast. In this example, we wont use that.

5. Change the colors on Picture. Select rectangular marquee tool and select desired area. Select option Image/Adjustments/Replace Color.

Select the first dropper tool, and click on any point on the color you want to replace. Now, click on middle eyedropper tool, and draw across other areas of the desired color, untill the whole selection in dialogue becomes white.

Adjust tolerance level to 80. By this, you adjust degree by which the connected colours will be included in mask. Click OK

6. Adjusting the light using dodge tool. Select dodge tool from toolbox. Input parameters as you wish. You have brush thickness, Range, and exposure.

Draw across desired object (curtains in this case), to sharpen them

7. Adjusting clearance by selecting sponge tool (behind dodge tool).

draw back and forth to brighten and make the color more clear.

8. We will end this lesson by using Unsharp Mask filter, that creates the ilusion of more focused picture. Select it from Filter/Sharpen/Unsharp mask.

In the dialog box you will get preview of the picture so you can see effect your changes are having on picture.
Adjust given parameters untill you are satisfied with the results. Click OK. Save the file.

- Photoshop - Adding Watter Drops to Glass

2007-06-11T12:45:00.001-07:00

Easy way to add watter drops to surfaces. In this case - glass of juice...

It might seem a little hard, but it really is not... Here's how it's done...

1. Start by making new surface, and then make new layer. Color this layer into white (by clicking on it in layer panel, and pressing Alt+Backspace, if white is your secondary color). Here's what you should get:

2. After that, from menu bar select "Noise -> Add Noise", and add maximum amount of noise (400%). Use picture bellow to see if you are doing it right...

3. Now, you should go to "Effect -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur", and adjust radius to approx 5.

4. Now go to "Image -> Adjustment -> Treshold", and draw the pointer until you get somewhat of black drops on your picture.

5. Use "Magic Wand" tool to select white background of the picture, and then press Delete to delete white background. Now, press Shift+Ctrl+I to invert selection.

6. Now, by selecting one shade of gray in color box, press Alt+Backspace to color the drops...

7. Deselect the selection (with Ctrl+D). Now, go to "Layer -> Layer Style -> Bevel and Emboss", and then input values as shown on picture (or improvise around them):

8. Now, go to "Layer -> Layer Style -> Stroke", and also input values as follows, or something around them...

9. Again, select drops by selecting the drops Layer, and pressing Ctrl+E, to make two layer into one. Now,

10. At the end, your water drops sample should look something like this:

11. Now, open the picture on which you want to add water drops (in this case it is glass of juice), and, if it is needed (if drops sample is too big for the picture) resize the water drops image to fit the glass.

12. Now, drag and drop the "Water Drops Layer" to your "Glass picture", and then go to Blending options of the layer, and set the values as follows (note that blend mode is set to Hard Light!):

13. When finished, after maybe few adjustments of the position of drops, i got my wet glass of juice!

That is it!

- Photoshop - Woodcut Look Technique

2007-06-11T10:03:00.002-07:00

It's always fun to make your picture look like this. Woodcut is very common technique in Photoshop, but very effective one! Look what change to your picture you can make:

Let's see how it is done...

1. Start with opening your picture, and duplicating layer...

2. Select the copy of the layer, and then go to layers menu, and set Blend mode from Normal to Multiply:

3. Filter the layer through "Filter -> Other -> High Pass", and set the Radius to 1.6, and click OK. Now, the "copy layer" is made into gray "woodcut" picture.

4. Go to "Image -> Adjustments -> Threshold", and leave the threshold to it's default value (128), and click OK. This step is the one that creates the woodcut look.

5. One additional thing you can do is to select the first layer "Background", and choose "Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur", and select the radius 8 (or whichever you like, depending of the softness of image you want to achieve), and then you can see your final results:

There it is! You have learned one more great trick in photoshop!

- Photoshop - Removing Acne with Photoshop

2007-06-11T10:03:00.001-07:00

Nice video tutorial, teaching you basic techniques of retouching, through removing acne from example picture. Enjoy!

- Photoshop - Turning Photography into Drawing

2007-06-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

This lesson will teach you how to, in easy way, make drawing from photography.

1. Open your photography.

2. Go to "Filter -> Stylize -> Find edges" in your menu bar.

3. Now, press Shift+Ctrl+U, to remove colors, and you'll get nice drawing from your picture!

Nice and easy!

- Photoshop - Focusing using decoloration

2007-06-11T07:13:00.001-07:00

This lesson will learn you an easy trick to decolorise everything on picture except one person. Very effective way to put focus on one person.

1. Open your picture

2. Use your brush tool, and select Color mode, with parameters as noted bellow:

3. With your brush tool, color (decolorise) every part of the picture you want to decolorise (while you use your brush, it should translate all colors to shades of gray). I wanted to put focus on person in yellow dress, so i got these results:

As you've seen, it is very easy. Hope you've enjoyed it!

- Photoshop - Climbing into the Picture

2007-06-11T06:05:00.001-07:00

Today you will learn how can you make something going into or out of picture, like this:

1. First, open your image, and duplicate the layer, and then delete the first one, and make new layer. You should have something like this:

2. Now take Rectangular Marquee Tool, and make selection on your new empty layer (in this case "Climbing" layer) and fill it with white color:

3. Select Rectangular Marquee Tool again, make new field on the white area (as you can see bellow), and then use Erase Tool to bring back the old photo in the smaller selected area:

4. Select the first selection with rectangular tool, again, and press Ctrl+T to transform it. Right click on transform area to select Perspective. Transform your selected area somthing like this:

5. Now, use Eraser tool again, to remove white area in the part of the border in which you want. See bellow:

6. Now, select the "Background copy" layer, and use your Eraser tool to remove background of picture (make sure you don't delete white border):

7. Next, create the new layer, and drag it bellow (like on the picture bellow), and then select it and fill the background of it with any color (black, in this case), by going to Edit -> Fill, or clicking Shift+F5. The result should look something like this:

8. Double click on third layer ("back" Layer), and when "Blending Options" are opened, select "Gradient Overlay", and use this parameters (or some of your own...):

9. Your picture should now look like this:

There you have it.
Nice and easy way to make in/out of picture effect.

- Photoshop - Lightning bolt

2007-06-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today, we'll learn how to create easy Lightning bolt effect in Photoshop.
Like you'll see, it is veeery easy to do...

1. Start with creating new Canvas (file). Make sure you foreground and background colors are set to black and white (you can do this by typing 'D' on your keyboard)

2. Go to Filter -> Render -> Difference Clouds in your menu, and select Difference Clouds.

3. The picture should be as something below.

4. Now, Invert the colors. You can do this by going to Images -> Adjustments -> Invert (also in your menu), and you should get something as follows.

5. Now go to Image -> Adjustments -> Levels (or by keyboard shortcut Ctrl+L), and play with scroll bar as much as you like, until you get satisfactory results

6. You can also adjust colors, by going to Image -> Adjustments -> Hue/Saturation. (make sure you check 'colorise' checbox). Now adjust it to fit your preferences, and enjoy....

7. ...your lightning bolt picture!

- Maya - Muscle Rigging

2007-06-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Maya tutorial that will show you how to create muscles that will contract and expand a muscle a few frames before the limb moves. A simple technique intended to help you create weight & tension simulation.

- Macromedia Flash - How to Add Motion Tweens

2007-06-10T14:42:00.000-07:00

Tutorial on how to add some motion tweens and also some sprite hints in Macromedia flash

- Photoshop - Coloring Eye

2007-05-31T01:31:00.000-07:00

Today, we'll show you how to make simple eye coloring in photoshop...

1. First, open picture of the eye. (it helps if picture is in black and white)

2. Open Contrast/Brightness dialogue, and play a bit with it till you get a filling it's ok. (in this case +10, +50)

3. Create new layer, and click the "Eliptic Marquee Tool", and make it the same size as iris of the eye. Click "Select->Modify->Expand->2-3px", then click "Select->Feather->2-3px", and then fill the circle with any color.

4. Set the layer to Overlay.
Then Bright up the "Image->Adjustments->Hue/Saturation" tool and then click colorise, and play with it till you get nice look.

5. Hold down CTRL and click the layer with color on it to select the outline. Then click "slect->inverse" and create new layer. Then on that new layer select "Soft Light" as mode.

Fill the selected area with skin color.

6. Now merge all visible layers, then gaussian blur it at 6.7px, and the click "edit->fade gaussian blur->screen", and there you have it.
After maby doing some final retouching, you'll have these results:

That is about it.
Hope you enjoyed it.

- Macromedia Flash - Sound Slider in Flash

2007-05-31T01:20:00.000-07:00

Creating Volume slider for media player quickly and easily! Have fun!

- Macromedia Flash - Basics of Buttons

2007-05-31T01:19:00.000-07:00

Learn all about the basics of buttons in Flash and make cool navigation bar with your new skills. Have fun!

- Maya - Basic Blend Shapes controls

2007-05-31T01:05:00.000-07:00

Video tutorial that explain how to make a basic controls for your blendshapes (like a slider).

- Maya - 3D animation tutorial

2007-05-31T01:03:00.000-07:00

Maya 3D animation software tutorial on rigging a piston using constraints

- Photoshop - Creating Matrix Effect

2007-05-30T14:28:00.000-07:00

Today, we'll show you another photoshop trick. How to make the matrix effect.
I hope you all watched movie matrix, or at least will recognize what matrix effect is after looking pictures below...

1. Let's Start by creating new 200x200 pix picture.

2. Press 'D' to restore background colors.

3. Now, create the new layer. (you can do this by hitting Shift+Ctrl+N)

4. Go to "Filter->Texture->Grain" (from main menu bar), and apply settings as follow:

5. Next, add some neon glow, by going to "Filter->Artistic->Neon Glow" (from main menu bar), and apply these settings:

6. Now go to "Filter->Brush Strokes->Accented Edges", and apply settings:

7. Click OK, and there you have it. Matrix effects picture.

I hope you liked it!

- Audacity - Mixing

2007-05-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

OK. Audacity is great open source program for those who can not afford Sound Forge, and similar software...
In this lesson, learn how to extract audio clips from a longer recording and mix them back into a new music track... All that in Audacity. Enjoy!

- Photoshop - Creating Smoke Effect

2007-05-29T14:40:00.000-07:00

An easy trick to make smoke effect...

1. First, make a picture with only black background. In my case, 150x200 pix.

2. With your brush tool draw a straight white line. (Note that opacity and flow are set to 100%)

3. Now, use the smudge tool to distort the line. I used 50% strength smudge tool.

4. Now, from your menu bar use Filter -> Liquify. You can also duplicate this layer, and reshape it.. In the end, by using Edit -> Free transform gather all layers up. Now make a new empty layer just above the background layer. Set the background layer on invisible, and select the others. In the layer opacity select Merge Visible. This will Merge everything that is visible on the layers, but will not flatten the image.

5. (additional) You can also play with Filter -> Noise -> Add Noise option from your menu bar, and shape the smoke the way you want it.

That's it! Try it, and have fun!

- Sound Forge - Making Audio Loops

2007-05-26T04:46:00.000-07:00

This tutorial, based in Sound Forge, will show you how to first rip off audio CD, and then how to make loops with the result.

- Sound Forge - Basic Effects

2007-05-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will show you some very basics in adding effects to track:

1. First, open track you want to add effects to:

2. Second, select portion of the track you want to add effect to:

3. Third, go to Effects section in menu bar, and select desired effect. In my case, i will select Reverb:

You shold get this window:

4. Fourth, select options for your reverb. You can select one of many preset modes for you reverb, or set parametars manually. Once you've done, click OK. The track should now look like this:

Note that part of the track we selected is now reverbed. You can, of course, select whole track to add effect to it.
As you've seen, it is very simple, and it is the same for any effect in menu.

- Cubase - Adding Virtual Instruments

2007-05-26T04:44:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will help you use virtual instruments in Cubase. Also, topics covered are Audio and MIDI tracks...

- 3D Studio Max - Basic Modeling

2007-05-25T20:37:00.001-07:00

In this lesson you will learn some very basics of modeling in 3D studio max - starting on types of modeling, and then going to some examples with spheres modeling.

- Photoshop - Animated Layers

2007-05-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

This tutorial will show you basics of Layers animation in Photoshop.