Preserved Topic: glass button to Plasma effect?

Hi There,

This my first post...I am using photoshop 6.0 and just completed a handson tute for glass buttons. I took the liberty of a couple extra tweaks and I was wondering if a button like this could be enhanced with the plasma effect.

appreciate anyone taking the time to reply.

ranger72

[Color:red]So Much To Learn; So Little Time To Learn It In![/color]

I guess I need a platform to link to in order to show my image....sorry for the wasted post...I went to FAQ in an attempt to see how to post an image but did not see anything that applied.

My apologies for the bother.

ranger72

[Color:red]So Much To Learn; So Little Time To Learn It In![/color]

on the POST REPLY page there's a link over to the left of the message box: *UBB Code is ON - that will tell you what you want to know and more.

word of warning, I for one have no idea what a "plasma effect" is, you may wanna get a bit more descriptive

i think hes talkin about this stuff

I dunno how they were made though.... or how a cool and froody button would be made... a standard roll over with 2 animated gifs would not be all that smooth...

not real sure what you want though.


[antique sigs are us]

Hi and welcome ranger72.
A bit like this?

If so check out Greg's Plasma Effect
::tao::

I still prefer using a version of Warmages heat diffusion techniques and Kai Krause's Snowy Mask effects rather than the satin layer filter. Gives me more controllable yet more random effects ... I never could get the satin effect to do those subtle things you guys managed ...



Bug-free software only exisits in two places
A programmer's mind and a salesman's lips


[This message has been edited by trib (edited 02-16-2004).]

[This message has been edited by trib (edited 02-16-2004).]

trib: Do you have a link to Warmage's heat diffusion techniques ? Or could you describe it shortly.
Thanks in advance.

^ ^ ditto that for me too...

warjournal?

Here's a cut-n-paste of most of one of my archived rambles. I have talked about some of the bits-n-pieces of this around here, but his is a more complete and consolidated ramble. I do have some examples and stuff to go with this, but I'm not in the mood to dig through my archives right now.

Maybe later I'll upload Heat Waves.

********

First, let's take a look at Mahjqa's fire. Layer are something like this:
4. Favorite method to colourize, probably a Gradient Map Adjustment Layer
3. Mask layer set to Colour Burn
2. Magic layer
1. Background

Not bad.

Now, let's look at another method for animating:
1. Start a new doc and fill with Black
2. Paint white blobs and give it some liberal Gauss
3. Start another layer with black
4. Paint some white blobs and give it some more Gauss
5. Set the second layer to Screen
6. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer and tighten it up

Layers something like this:
3. Levels Ad-Layer nice and tight
2. Blurred blobs and set to Screen
1. Blurred blobs

Pretty straight forward, but the fun is with the Move tool. Use the Move tool to move the Screen layer around. What you should see is some blobs kind of flowing around. Now that's cool.

Now let's take a peek at a modern version of Snowy Mask.
The Layers for a modern version looks something like this:
3. Levels Ad-Layer to taste
2. Something with some kind of blur and set to Difference
1. Background, probably also with some kind of blur

With Snowy Mask, move either Layer 1 or Layer 2 to get things to animate. Now, this is one of my favorite techniques. I can't even begin to describe the variations.

For those last two variations, I didn't mention colourizing. Use your favorite method on top of it all to add some colour. Yeah.

Sure is fun, isn't it? Ah, but there is a slight problem with the three techniques mentioned. The problem is that there is a layer in each one that kind of operates on what's beneath it. When you try adding more stuff in there, the compositing of those layers can get messed up. It can get very not pretty in a hurry.

Let's run through this with Snowy Mask on a photo to see the problem, and then fix it really smooth like.

1. Grab a photo
2. Start a new layer and fill with black
3. Default colours and Clouds/Difference Clouds to taste and some Gauss
4. Set it to Difference
5. Add a Levels Ad-layer and switch the Output sliders to invert and Input sliders to taste

What you should end up with is a Snowy Mask effect that conforms to the photo. However, the Difference Layer makes it kind of hard to composite over the photo. That is, you can see the Snowy Mask, but not the photo. Jeez, I hope that makes sense.

Let's fix it real smooth like.

1. Start a new Layer Set
2. Copy the photo and toss in the set
3. Toss the Difference Clouds layer in the set
4. Toss the Levels Ad-Layer into the set

Now this is the cool part...

5. Set the Blending Mode of the Set to Screen

Should looks something like this:
2. Set1 set to Screen
2c. -- Levels Ad-Layer
2b. -- Clouds/Difference Clouds
2a. -- Photo copy
1. Photo background

Now use the Move to move 2b around and watch the magic.

Dude! That is too cool!
And the same idea of using a layer set with a non-normal blending mode applies to the other techniques already mentioned.

So, what does this mean?
It means you can animate any sort of dependant blending mode combo over any given background with ease.
It also means that you can mix and match the techniques within the same doc.

Yes, you can mix and match the techniques with layer sets.

Lets say you have a layer set with Snowy Mask in it that has an electric feel to it. Well, copy the set, rearrange a few things for a whispy smoke feel, and all of a sudden you've got electricity *and* a plasma-esque aurora to go with it. Now, if you link the right layers between the two different sets, you can keep the seperate effects in synch with each other when you animate.

Or you can do blobs that flow and ebb in one layer set, and give them snaking tendrils in another set - while keeping them in synch.

That is like coolness^2 or something.

So, can the gooey stuff originally posted be animated?
Certainly, and a whole lot more with the right Bag o' Tricks.

Now, I have left a ton of junk out of this ramble. I mean, I could talk about variations, particulars, and tweaks until your brain oozes out of your eye sockets, but I won't do that. I'll leave those things up to you. At the very least, you should now have a pretty good foundation to mess around with.

play.fiddle.learn

Whoops .. WarJournal not Warmage .. sorry WJ ... it's a sign I haven't been around often enough lately ... beginning to forget people's handles now ... but seriously .. I think everyone should read WJ's treatises on the application and design of displacement maps -- they're stock in trade for protomanipulators ...

AARGH .. I just went to look for tech-slop and I get a 404 .. what happened -- or have I just been away too long ?? Tell me the site has just moved ...



Bug-free software only exisits in two places
A programmer's mind and a salesman's lips

[This message has been edited by trib (edited 02-16-2004).]

[This message has been edited by trib (edited 02-16-2004).]

WJ took Tech-Slop down for awhile. He needed a break. Not sure when he'll bring it back.

Yay Plasma! Example of satin effect style plasma below. Taobaybee posted the link already.



[This message has been edited by Moth (edited 02-16-2004).]

I love getting credit for Warjournal's hard work.

-Dan-

Hey thanks guys for the welcome and the tute!


I'll work on it and see what I can come up with!

ranger72

[Color:red]So Much To Learn; So Little Time To Learn It In![/color]

I got halfway through WarJ's walkthrough but had to stop. So here is what I have done so far. I'm coming back to carry on with the snowy mask.
Cheers Warjournal.

::tao::
[edit]Where do I go in PS to get the "Difference" dialogue box up. I can't find it.[/edit]

[This message has been edited by Taobaybee (edited 02-17-2004).]

Tao, it looks like you've got the idea.

I'm not sure what you mean by "difference dialog". If you are refering to Kai's original Snowy Mask, that is actually the equivalent of Image > Apply Image or Image > Calculations (I get the two confused). Back in those days, there were no layers and ChOps was the way to go. For our purposes here, Apply Image (Calculations?) have been obsoleted, but it's still good to know how to use them.

Good idea to read through Secrets of Chops A and Secrets of Chops B. I also highly recommend doing Chops B the same way that Kai shows, then trying to do them again using regular layers and blending modes. Very excellant exercise. And no cheating by reading Steve's notes at the bottom!

Been awhile since Mage and I have been confused. I'm sure it won't be the last. Heh.

Temporary upload: Heat Waves.
I'll keep it up for about a week.

warjournal: Thank you for the Heat Waves article.

Ah,
It was this dialogue box that confused me,
[edit] Link removed with sincere apologies [/ed]
I am using PS7 and could find no mention of it in the Manual. Still, I'm sure it wont be the last thing to confuse and discombobulate me in the mighty PS
I'll get to work on the rest of it (including links) later today. Thanks WarJ.
::tao::
[edit]I'm just having one of those days folks, I'll just have a little sit down. No, I'll be ok, really.[/edit]


[This message has been edited by Taobaybee (edited 02-22-2004).]