Hello dear ones,
I've just posted my first freebie for you. I made a blog just so I could! (I'm also looking ahead to the blog train; it will be nice to have somewhere to post my offering.)
Inspired by this week's cut-out challenge, I decided to share the Knockout actions I use in Photoshop to create knockout text and other cut-out shapes. This is my very favorite way to do cutouts because it actually "punches" through the layers (so you can see the real under-layer showing through, whether it's a photo, a patterned paper, or even transparency - the last of which is awesome for making photo overlays, by the way). It's also fully editable, so unlike techniques where you actually do cut out your shape by deleting it from the top layer, this effect lets you continue to change and edit your cutout shape as much as you like (e.g., change the font, resize, and so on). To get the depth effect, which isn't shown in the demo pictures, just add an inner shadow following the directions in Marisa's recent tutorial.
Here's where to find it: http://eversoscrumptiously.wordpress.com/2013/01/18/its-a-knockout/ and here's an example of what I am talking about, shown with text as the cut-out shape in this case:
The word "banana" is on its OWN layer. It is not just deleted from the white semi-transparent bar or yellow heart. The text is still fully editable - I could change the word to "apple," I could tilt the word on its side, move it to a different place on the image, etc. The knockout "travels with" whatever shape it is attached to (in this case the shape is the word "banana"). Hope that explanation makes sense!
PS If anyone uses PS Elements I'd love to know if these actions work there, too. If someone would be willing to test them out (or maybe knows off the top of their head) I'd be thrilled!
Thanks for all your time to bring this to us Violet. I will have to try it!
Thanks for sharing that! I was just wondering how to do that myself!
I'm excited to try this out. Thanks so much for the detailed explanation and action.
I can't wait to try this in CS5. I've been wanting to make a new "watermark" for my photos and this will be the perfect solution! Thank you so much, Violet!
Thanks for that action, Violet! I unfortunately wasn't able to get it to work in PSE. I might play around this weekend again, but when I tried a few days ago, a pop-up message asked me to hit "play" when I was ready, but the only button that was available was "stop." I'm going to delete it from my database this weekend & reload it just to make sure.
Great action...and I like how you set up your blog.
I set one up too, for the main purpose of being in the Feb Blog Train.
Thanks Violet! I love your blog, too. Wordpress is so much more attractive that google's Blogspot, I think. I think that I must take the time to learn Wordpress!
Wow ....Thank you!! I can't wait to use this!!
Hurray! I am so glad you guys like this; hopefully it will be helpful.
@Lady Phillipa: Thank you so much for testing the action in PSE and reporting back your results. In the Stop text, "Play" is just referring to whatever button you usually press to start an action. I put a stop in because there's something you have to do manually. In PS the way it works is that you do the manual step (moving your layers into the set) and then you hit the Play button again, like you're starting the action over, only the action is in fact paused in the middle and will now continue on its merry way. Does that make sense? I have no idea how actions work in PSE so I don't know if this explanation will be at all helpful.
@Sunny: I'm with you on Wordpress being more attractive than Blogspot. I think it's more attractive and it also doesn't have the loathsome Fort-Knox-like security hurdles for leaving a comment. I always sigh when I see a blog train blog is on Blogspot because I know it's most likely going to be an ordeal to leave my thank you comment. I've had a Wordpress food blog for years so it was a piece of cake to set up this one, but I do remember there being a pretty steep learning curve to find my way around Wordpress at first. Is Blogspot supposed to be easier to set up?
Hm... for PSE, you select the layer and hit "apply" for a given action and it runs from that. If you change your mind about an action after hitting "apply" your only option is to just undo. If a dialogue box pops up, PSE won't let me hit any other buttons until dealt with or closed. And actually, that dialogue issue is only for one of them (not sure if it's deep or shallow); the other one just flat out tells me it's not compatible. Oh, well! Thanks, though.
At least, this is all for PSE6. PSE11, which is more actions-friendly, might be a little different!
Thank you
That looks like fun to play with!
Thank you for the great action.
Pretty different designs, I like, do you have any for commercial use?
@Beverly, so far all the freebies on my blog are for commercial use. Enjoy!
Wow Violet, Thank you! You have a very interesting blog.
Very cool! Just downloaded it - can't wait to try it out!
This is so cool! Can't wait to give it a try!
This is lovely, thank you! I'll check it out!
hi thank u.
Thanks. I will have to try that.
Thank you.
Fantastic! i love it!!