Preserved Topic: Flourescent Light Conundrum

Well, friends, herein lies my query:

During the recent redesign of one of our websites, I was set upon with the task of refreshing the layout of one of our older designs, while still maintaining key elements of the older design, and its original feel. One of the elements I reused was the flourescent light you see in the center of the page, with the two wires coming out of it. In order to fit it into my new template, I was forced to stretch and distort the image of the tube a bit in order to fit it all together. The light looks fairly good now, but it still lacks a little compared to the original, smaller light.

Thus, I am set with the task of recreating the light, and I'd like to make it better than ever. Has anyone out there ever tackled the creation of one of these lights (from scratch in PS), or knows a link to a tutorial that does? Or, does the existing light look ok to you all, and should I not even change it? We all know that we as artists can become dead to our own work if forced to look at it for long enough, which is why your comments and suggestions would be most welcome.

http://www.halflifefiles.com

If you are a gamer, you will understand the content of the website (I work for a Gaming Network). If you aren't a gamer... ignore everything and check out the graphics <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">

ciao!



Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

I have two flourescent lights straight above me, and the only thing different with yours is that it's not bright enough. Perhaps if you duplicated the lightbulb layer and set the top one to screen, at about 35% opacity?

- Dan -

Btw, Half Life was an awesome game, #2 best game of all time (imo). Comming right after StarCraft.

Well, Dan probably isn't as old as we ancients, who recall the days of only clear tube fluorescents, dangly wires in run down garages, and the crappy lighting that those tubes gave off.

Tycho: I'd say leave it...with the woodgrain backdrop, and the exposed wiring feel, it looks about right. If anything I noticed that the edges of the tube weren't quite as defined as they could be...BUT...I was looking precisely for a flaw in it.

If you want to change any damned thing at all I'd suggest throwing a bit more lighting onto the tops of the HALFLIFEFILES lettering, just to preserve the fluorescent tube glow look. Oh, and give it a hair more of a sickly green hue....I remember those tubes well <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/wink.gif">


Peter



ICQ:# 10237808

Ah! You know, thats actually a fairly good point... sometimes I forget exactly how much ambient light those suckers give off. I wonder if perhaps I shouldn't also lighten the texture a bit more underneath the light in such a way as to emphasize the area of effect the light has.. or possibly just darken the sides a bit. Hmm... I'm gonna have to look at this a bit more tomorrow when I have the .PSD in front of me.




Timing has an awful lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.

I'll agree with DG, and add my only other observation -- the tube seems to need just a little more contrast from the background...I almost didn't notice where it was when I first looked at the page.

The light isnt really something I want to emphasize... its more there to add to the ambient feel, and not really something to focus on. In fact, I'm kinda glad that it doesnt stick out very much.. I really want the important part of the image to be the "HALFLIFEFILES" logo, and the glass swoosh piece on the left. I do agree that it shouod cast a bit more shading onto the text though.. I'll play with that, as well as possibly defining the light a bit more at the edges without making it too "obvious"...

Thanks fellas.



What if your sole lot in life was to serve as a warning to others?

If you want to make the image longer, just put a guide in the center of the length of the bulb (select the light and the guide will auto-magically snap to the center of selection). Then cut one side, move it as far as you want the edges to reach. Then select one a one pixel width of the light from either side... define pattern, then select the area between the two ends of the light and fill with the pattern.

If you'll look close you will see that the shape of the light is not conducive to your method of lengthening, Jiblet, as it does not maintain the same pattern across the entire length, and there are a few subtle gradients at work which give the light its 'feel'. The issue really wasn't the actual resizing that gave me problems though, it was the slight loss of 'impact' which the light had once I resized it. Keep in mind its only about 15% bigger than it was, so not much has changed. Maybe I'm just picky.



What if your sole lot in life was to serve as a warning to others?