TUTORIAL

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December 2004

TUTORIAL

PHOTOSHOP

ABSTRACT GLOW
Take 3D renders to another level using extreme multi-layer manipulation and achieve some amazingly complex effects. You might get some surprising results, but thats the best bit, says Anthony Kyriazis
Illustrators are often required to produce magnicent and complex images within short deadlines and tight budgets. These images need to be exible and allow for unexpected client intervention colour variation, etc. Photoshop makes this easy, not only through its magnicent adjustment layers, but also by offering options for multilayering techniques and folder use. Most abstract illustration requires the use of a 3D package at some stage, but its impossible to imagine that one could achieve the exact look youre after solely within a 3D application without any image manipulation applied to the nal render. The difference between the initial render and the nal image produced for this tutorial effectively shows the benets of minimizing the time spent on modelling and rendering and instead focusing on reworking the image within Photoshop itself. Making slight changes to the Layer Blending modes or adding an adjustment layer may result in a huge visual change to your image and send your creative results on a completely different tangent. So Photoshop becomes an integral part of the design/illustration process and enables you to present more options to your client. For this tutorial, youll start by importing a rendered image created using a 3D application of your choice. For this image, I used Softimage|XSI 3.5 and the result underwent two days of modelling, shader development and nal rendering. Do bear in mind that rendering times for this sort of high-resolution image are extremely high.

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TIME LENGTH

2-3 hours
INFO
Anthony Kyriazis is creative director at Athens-based creative design agency, Onyro. Find out more at www.onyro.com.

Create a low-res polygon sphere, deform it using the Point tools and Noise Deformer, then select individual faces and extrude them to create connecting branches. Select a face on the second polygon and the end face on the extrusion and bridge them. Repeat until you have created structures you are happy with. Subdivide the object and apply a generic shader with lots of Incidence Transparency. Render the image out as a high-res .tga le, which will create an Alpha Channel you can use within Photoshop.

Duplicate Background copy twice. Apply a Gaussian Blur of 15 to one copy and set its Opacity to 60 per cent. Now set the other layers Blending Mode to Screen. Draw a selection around the main cell on Background copy and Copy and Paste it into a new layer. Scale it until it ts the full page and apply a Gaussian Blur of 20.

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Alternatively, in Photoshop, open ca_onyro_tutorial.render.tga, provided on the cover CD, duplicate the background layer and ll it with black. Click on the Channels tab, Ctrl+click on the Alpha Layer to create a selection and inverse it. Finally, click on the Layer tab and press Delete to delete the black around the cells. Youll now have the rendered image as a transparent layer above a black background.

Open assets.psd from the cover CD and drag its stars layers into the tutorial le. Apply a Screen Blending mode to them. You can now duplicate some of these layers and apply a Soft Light blending mode. Rename Background copy Render clear.

Illustration and tutorial by Anthony Kyriazis www.onyro.com

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TUTORIAL

PHOTOSHOP

Create a colour balance Adjustment layer and set the Midtones to 23, +84, 11. Duplicate Render clear and move it above the new Adjustment layer. Duplicate it and apply a Gaussian Blur of 15 before changing the Blending Mode to Soft Light. Duplicate this layer twice. Now duplicate Render clear, move it above the blurred layers and apply a Screen Blending Mode.

Using a 300-pixel Airbrush Eraser, remove the middle of the cell so that just the outline shows. Also remove the outside leftovers. Duplicate this layer, blur it by ten pixels, set its Opacity to 45 per cent and merge it with the parent layer.

Repeat steps 8-10 for the other cells within the image to give their outlines a striking ame-like appearance. This will add more depth to the image.

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Duplicate Render clear again and set its Blending Mode to Overlay. Create a new layer and apply a black to transparent gradient from the bottom to the middle. Do the same from the top to the middle and set the Blending Mode to Soft Light.

With a 200-pixel Smudge tool, move the brush around the cells outlines using a slightly uneven motion. This will start to distort the image. Duplicate the layer twice and scale the rst by about 105 per cent. Duplicate the second slightly to the left and set its Blending Mode to Overlay.

Drag Render 002 and Render 003 from the assets.psd CD le into your Photoshop le. Set their Blending Modes to Screen and move them into the centre of the two largest cells. Place a duplicate of both on top of each other within the largest cell.

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LAYER UP
Use as many layers as you can for this project as this will enable you to create a very exible le that has extensive options for tweaking. If you want to change the colour of one of those layers, use an Adjustment layer with a Mask.

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Using the Lasso tool, make a selection of the biggest cell on the Render clear layer. Copy and Paste this selection into a new layer. Move it to the top of the layer stack and name the new layer Smudge Clear.

Duplicate Smudge Clear and blur using a Gaussian Blur of 25. Set its Transparency to 45 per cent. Duplicate the layer once again and set the Blending Mode to Overlay. This will enhance the layers clarity.

Create a new layer on top of the stack, and, using a 200-pixel Airbrush, draw roughly around the cells outlines. Blur this layer with a Gaussian Blur of about 40 and set the layer to Overlay with 30 per cent Opacity.

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Create a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer and then set its values to +14 (Brightness) and +11 (Contrast).

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Create a new layer, ll it with black and choose Filter>Noise>AddNoise> 6Pixels>GaussianMonochromatic. Set the layers Blending Mode to Screen. Create a new layer, choose Filter>Render> LensFlare and move the centre to the space where the white hits the second large cell. Desaturate the layer, apply a Screen Blending Mode and reduce the Transparency to 49 per cent.

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Make a selection around one of the bubble layers and Copy and Paste the bubbles into new layers. Arrange the layers so that the bubbles form a circle and place them around the small cell, which is within the main focus of the screen.

GET GLOWING
If you duplicate a layer, add a Gaussian Blur of ten pixels and set its Opacity to 50 per cent, you will add a subtle glow and shine to your object. Duplicate this layer and set the Blending Mode to Soft Light or Screen, sit back and view the results.

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Make a selection around another smaller cell and repeat steps 8-10. Move the resulting layer into the centre cell. Repeat this process for as many cells as you like, but for the best results alter the cells within the images focal point.

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Drag the Bubbles layer from the assets.psd CD le, place it where you think is most appropriate, duplicate accordingly and set the Blending Modes to Normal, Hard Light or Soft Light.

Drag the Ripples layer from the assets.psd le onto the tutorial le and scale it to t on top of the smaller cells. Duplicate this layer numerous times and transform accordingly around the other cells.

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Create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer and set its values to 0, 100 and 0 respectively. Set its Blending Mode to Screen, open the Channel palette and Ctrl+click on the Alpha channel to create a selection. Invert the selection, then click on the Layer Mask thumbnail and ll with black. Apply a ten-pixel Gaussian Blur to the Mask and duplicate the Adjustment layer.

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Add a new layer, set its Blending Mode to Soft Light and use an Airbrush to add some black around the cells. This will give more contrast to the colours and dampen down the brightness of the glows around the main cells.

Final touches are always a personal preference, so play around with subtle changes to all of the Adjustment layers. Sometimes, changes push you onto a totally different tangent, enabling the image to evolve one step further.

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