By Ashley Calabria, Assistant Professor, The University of Georgia, School of Environmental Design

After recently attending a Photoshop workshop, I realized the incredible power this program has. What I really appreciated about Photoshop is that it can be so much fun and easy to use once someone explains some of the ins and outs. In continuation of some previous articles on rendering in Photoshop, this article will cover some effects that can have an impact on your rendered graphics and also include some tips and tricks that will speed up the process.

Layer Styles Palette

Shadows and bevels are two quick and commonly used effects to give depth to rendered symbols. These are found under the Layer Styles palette. Under the style libraries there are a variety of layer styles available, including the Drop Shadows and Bevels.

1.The symbol above was rendered the same. The middle symbol has a drop shadow applied to it and the third one has a drop shadow and bevel applied to it.

The trees above were rendered normally using the paint bucket tool and soft round brushes. Make sure the symbol is still selected and that you are on the layer to apply a layer style. The first tree symbol has no layer styles applied to it. The second has a high drop shadow on it. The third tree has a high drop shadow and simple inner bevel effect. To change the direction of the shadow, make sure you are on the rendered layer in the layers palette and double click the circle with the F in it. This used to stand for FX, or effects, although these are now known better as layer styles. Then you can rotate the lighting angle bar or type in a sun angle and shadow length. Changing the opacity after the layer style is applied to a layer will change the opacity of the shadow as well as the symbol.

Filters

Filters are a great way to add textures to a simply rendered symbol. The filter is applied to everything in a layer that is selected. Simply select the filter you want to try and select APPLY. You can adjust whatever controls appear for that filter and see a preview in the box before deciding whether you want it or not. The samples below were all the same rendered tree symbol but are using the filters CRYSTALLIZE, POINTILLIZE and SPRAY STROKES. A low drop shadow and simple inner bevel from layer styles were also applied. Some other filters include rough pastels, texturizer, Gaussian blur, and grain.

 

2. The same symbol above has the filters crystallize, pointillize and spray strokes applied to it.

To copy a finished rendered filtered symbol to other plant symbols, make sure it is still selected, go to the move tool and holding down the ALT key, select it and drag the selection to a new location. Holding down the ALT key to make copies allows the copied items to all remain on the same layer, which in turn will allow any layer styles to be applied consistently to everything on that layer.

The small pond below was rendered using a radial gradient and then adding both the GLASS and OCEAN RIPPLE filters. It was finished up by including a simple sharp pillow emboss bevel from the layer styles.

3. The water symbol above was created using more than one filter.

Filters are also a great way to show some rendered material patterns. The first pattern below was created using a combination of filters. This allows for a wide variety of textures and patterns to be created. The first rectangle was filled with a light base color then it was TEXTURIZED and PHOTOCOPIED from the filters palette. The paint bucket was used with a darker color to fill in the gaps. The second pattern was rendered with a light base color created using the TILES filter and checking the background color to be used for creating the tiles. The third pattern was rendered with a light base color created using the PATCHWORK filter.

4. Filters are a great way to come up with custom textures for common materials.

Effects are great for real material patterns. In the Effects Palette, select textures. The examples at the left are WOOD, BRICKS and ASPHALT.

5. Effects create a more realistic texture of materials. To the left are wood, bricks and asphalt.

To change the size of the bricks, make sure you are on the layer created by the bricks effect with the area selected and then go to Layer, New Fill Layer, Pattern. Hit OK for the New Layer, and in the Pattern Fill box, change the number in the scale percentage. You can also access the new fill layer at the bottom of the layers palette. The new fill layer tool looks like a black and white circle.

Tips and Tricks

Here is a quick rundown of some tips and tricks for Photoshop Elements but should also work for Photoshop CS.