From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
689 Sharpening your very soft molecules
From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
689 Sharpening your very soft molecules
- [Deke] In this movie, we're going to take those soft molecules that we created in the previous movie, and we're going to sharpen them up to create these more deeply carved transitions so that each molecule is more clearly defined from its neighbor. Alright, so I'll go ahead and switch over to my image so far, and I'll double-click on the background item down here at the bottom of the Layers panel to bring up the New Layer dialog box. And I'll call this guy molecules, as you might expect, and I'll click OK. Now we're going to be sharpening our molecules using a dynamic smart filter. And so armed with Rectangular Marquee Tool, go ahead and right-click inside the image window and choose Convert to Smart Object. Then you want to go up to the Filter menu, choose Sharpen, and choose Unsharp Mask. You can go with Smart Sharpen, but it's going to take longer, and it's not really going to do you any additional good. And so Unsharp Mask is the way to go. Now, we're working with very soft transitions, and so I'm going to crank the Amount value all the way up to its maximum of 500%, and notice even then we're really not making much of a difference. If I turn off the Preview checkbox, this is before, and this is after. So looks pretty much the same, which is why I'm going to crank the Radius value not up to 10 pixels, which is definitely going to give us some more sharply defined edges, but I'm going to take this value all the way up to 20 pixels like so. Now, one of the by-products of these very high values right here is that we're getting some weird edges inside the gradient. So notice how I'm tracing around each and every step. Now, I could get rid of that effect by increasing the Threshold value. So notice if I take it up to 10, we lose a lot of that sharpening, but we're still getting the effect right there in the center. And then if I take it up to 20, we end up with a pretty smooth-looking gradient. And by the way, in case you're wondering what this thing does, it goes ahead and removes certain neighboring pixels from the sharpening equation. So what we're seeing here is unless two neighboring pixels are more than 20 luminance levels different from each other, they're not going to get sharpened. Problem is, if I were to zoom out, you can see that that has a derisive effect on our edges. And so notice if I were to take this Threshold value back down to zero, we end up with thicker edges like so. And the thickness of these edges is determined by this Radius value. So if I wanted thicker edges, I would increase the Radius value. If I wanted thinner edges, I would take that value down, perhaps not as low as two pixels but something like 5.6. You can see that we do have some lines between the molecules. I want them to be thicker, however, so I'm going to take that Radius value back up to 20 pixels, and I'm going to leave the Threshold set to zero levels, and I'm going to click OK. And so you may wonder, "Well, what do we do about the fact "that not only do we have all this delineation "around each and every step of the radial gradients, "but we're also increasing the size of the white hotspots?" Well, to take care of those problems, we want to apply a blend mode to our Smart Filter, and you can do that by double-clicking on this little slider icon over here on the right side of the Layers panel. And notice, once you do, you'll bring up the Blending Options dialog box, at which point I'll change the blend mode either to Darken, which is just going to darken the image and nothing more. So notice that we lose our hotspots right there. Or if you want to go even darker, then choose Multiply in order to create this effect here, and notice that we do lose our hotspots. We are bringing back some of the choppiness around the gradient, but that's going to work out okay. Alright, so now I'll click OK in order to accept that effect, and then I'll grab this top shadows layer right there, and I'll press the backspace key or the delete key on the Mac to get rid of it because we just don't need that much darkening. And then with the other shadows layer still selected, and then notice my Rectangular Marquee tool is still active over here at the top of the toolbox. I'm going to tap the seven key in order to reduce the Opacity value up here at the top of the Layers panel to 70%, and we end up with this final effect here. Alright, now I'll press Shift + F in order to switch directly to the full screen mode, and I'll zoom on in as well. And just for the sake of comparison, here are the original very soft molecules, and here are the sharper ones thanks to our ability even to sharpen even the softest details in Photoshop using the old-school Unsharp Mask filter.
Practice while you learn with exercise files
Download the files the instructor uses to teach the course. Follow along and learn by watching, listening and practicing.
- 669_custom_QR.zip
- 670_more_QR.zip
- 671_hidden_circles.zip
- 673_shade_panels.zip
- 672_more_rectangles.zip
- 674_cafe_wall.zip
- 675_skewed_walls.zip
- 676_magic_checkers.zip
- 677_magic_dots.zip
- 678_reverse_illusion.zip
- 679_illusion_decor.zip
- 680_more_gizmos.zip
- 681_connect_gizmos.zip
- 682_wifi_symbol.zip
- 683_bluetooth_logo.zip
- 684_trajan_color.zip
- 685_trajan_AIcc.zip
- 686_stylistic_PsCC.zip
- 687_stylistic_AIcc.zip
- 688_grad_molecules.zip
- 689_sharper_moles.zip
- 690_smart_cules.zip
- 691_explore_cules.zip
- 692_blend_cules.zip
- 693_high_pass_cules.zip
- 694_cell_pattern.zip
- 695_hemoglobin.zip
- 696_edgy_cells.zip
- 697_springy_cells.zip
- 698_accordian_letters.zip
- 699_skew_blends.zip
- 700_cross_blends.zip
- 701_slice_blend.zip
- 702_blend_distort.zip
- 703_dynamic_roughen.zip
- 704_fish_twist.zip
- 705_dynam_bgnd_1.zip
- 706_dynam_bgnd_2.zip
- 707_quieter_art.zip
- 708_disintegration.zip
- 709_more_flakes.zip
- 710_mask_ashes.zip
- 711_flakes_to_ash.zip
- 712_note_tool.zip
- 713_contour_map.zip
- 714_contour_grad.zip
- 715_contour_arb.zip
- 716_contour_riff.zip
- 717_smooth_contour.zip
- 718_contour_cash.zip
- 719_color_of_money.zip
- 720_AI_adjust.zip
- 721_computer_key.zip
- 722_key_type.zip
- 723_faux_hedcut.zip
- 724_hedcut_lines.zip
- 725_color_hedcut.zip
- 726_ET_moon.zip
- 727_ET_trees.zip
- 728_ET_TRex.zip
- 729_global_glow.zip
- 730_content_aware.zip
- 731_space_portal.zip
- 732_enhance_portal.zip
- 733_rushing_stars.zip
- 734_AIcc_puppet.zip
- 735_puppet_tricks.zip
- 736_complex_puppet.zip
- 737_puppet_shortcut.zip
- 738_pentagons.zip
- 739_reinhardt.zip
- 740_kershner.zip
- 741_james_pentagon.zip
- 742_rice_pentagons.zip
- 743_stein_pentagon.zip
- 744_15th_pentagon.zip
- 745_tessellate_15.zip
- 746_pentatiles.zip
- 747_mod_pattern.zip
- 748_complement_tiles.zip
- 749_image_pattern.zip
- 750_pattern_fit.zip
- 751_candy_keeper.zip
- 752_keeper_text.zip
- 753_monster_movie.zip
- 754_mono_halftone.zip
- 755_word_haunted.zip
- 756_cheat_letters.zip
- 757_alt_adjust.zip
- 758_scuba_mono.zip
- 759_backscatter.zip
- 760_sample_outside.zip
- 761_Ps_vector_logo.zip
- 762_trans_shapes.zip
- 763_photo_logo.zip
- 764_high_res_snow.zip
- 765_enhance_snow.zip
- 766_snowflake_bokeh.zip
- 767_mandala_ps.zip
- 768_mandala_pattern.zip
- 769_mandala_dots.zip
- 770_mandala_color.zip
- 771_mandala_final.zip
- 772_AI_trim_view.zip
- 773_AI_presentation.zip
- 774_global_edits.zip
- 775_global_control.zip
- 776_freeform_grads.zip
- 777_freeform_lines.zip
- 778_freeform_gotcha.zip
- 779_great_white.zip
- 780_sharper_shark.zip
- 781_vibrance_sat.zip
- 782_vib_sat_sharp.zip
- 783_hedcut_action.zip
- 784_action_actions.zip
- 785_color_lines.zip
- 786_combine_lines.zip
- 787_clip_to_group.zip
- 788_color_outside.zip
- 789_flip_horizontal.zip
- 790_white_walker.zip
- 791_walker_begins.zip
- 792_digital_shave.zip
- 793_deep_wrinkles.zip
- 794_deep_brows.zip
- 795_pale_lips.zip
- 796_glowing_blue.zip
- 797_lifeless_pupils.zip
- 798_cold_gloomy.zip
- 799_brittle_flakes.zip
- 800_trans_shapes.zip
- 801_range_mask.zip
- 802_flip_photo.zip
- 803_actual_dream.zip
- 804_augment_dream.zip
- 805_smart_distortions.zip
- 806_blend_distortions.zip
- 807_star_negative.zip
- 808_star_pattern.zip
- 809_shaded_stars.zip
- 810_grad_pattern.zip
- 811_pattern_fade.zip
- 813_gobstopper.zip
- 814_gobpattern.zip
- 815_galignment.zip
- 816_etched_lines.zip
- 817_blend_pattern.zip
- 818_cubical_holes.zip
- 819_grad_pattern.zip
- 820_iso_arrows.zip
- 821_position_tips.zip
- 822_fill_gaps.zip
- 823_cartoon_teeth.zip
- 824_triangle_eye.zip
- 825_add_windows.zip
- 826_perfect_tessellate.zip
- 827_triangle_tunnels.zip
- 828_triangles_pattern.zip
- 829_colorful_triangles.zip
- 830_recolor_triangles.zip
- 831_rainbow_blends.zip
- 832_pattern_blends.zip
- 833_imposs_trident.zip
- 834_shade_trident.zip
- 835_opposing_grads.zip
- 836_trident_shadows.zip
- 837_impossible_hex.zip
- 838_impossible_lattice.zip
- 839_Joan_Miro.zip
- 840_watercolor_wash.zip
- 841_Miro_signature.zip
- 842_Photoshop_Miro.zip
- 843_enlarge_Miro.zip
- 844_Miro_Peele.zip
- 845_color_Us.zip
- 846_red_rorschach.zip
- 847_finish_Us.zip
- 848_CAF_fails.zip
- 849_turkey_2019.zip
- 850_trace_hand.zip
- 851_articulated_hand.zip
- 852_colorful_hand.zip
- 853_paint_fingernails.zip
- 854_paint_turkey.zip
- 855_turkey_feathers.zip
- 856_drop_shadow.zip
- 857_Ps_iPad_1.zip
- 858_Ps_iPad_2.zip
- 859_Ps_iPad_3.zip
- 860_iPad_Sidecar.zip
- 861_Adobe_Fresco.zip
- 862_Fresco_halftones.zip
- 863_live_brushes.zip
- 864_oil_paint.zip
- 865_Fresco_masks.zip
- 866_repurpose_mask.zip
- 867_vector_brush.zip
- 868_fresco_ps.zip
- 869_auto_color.zip
- 870_ACR_pano.zip
- 871_correct_pano.zip
- 872_diffusion.zip
- 873_simplify_2020.zip
- 874_fill_gaps.zip
- 875_posterize.zip
- 876_paint_bucket.zip
- 877_nonD_poster.zip
- 878_dynamic_poster.zip
- 879_filmstrip.zip
- 880_awful_awesome.zip
- 881_rembrandt.zip
- 882_recolor_freeform.zip
- 883_recolor_group.zip
- 884_over_under.zip
- 885_dev_over_under.zip
- 886_3D_metal_star.zip
- 887_heavy_metal.zip
- 888_wonder_poster.zip
- 889_wonder_displace.zip
- 890_wonder_woman.zip
- 891_metadata_template.zip
- 892_edit_metadata.zip
- 893_quilt_warp.zip
- 894_warp_object.zip
- 895_gopro_images.zip
- 896_content_aware.zip
- 897_gopro_combo.zip
- 898_blend_vignette.zip
- 899_photo_painting.zip
- 900_cue_ball.zip
- 901_pool_ball.zip
- 902_stripe_ball.zip
- 903_transform_each.zip
- 904_recolor_pool.zip
- 905_pool_cues.zip
- 906_rotate_cues.zip
- 907_repeat_face.zip
- 908_rainbow_faces.zip
- 909_mask_lips.zip
- 910_single_many.zip
- 911_symmetrical_mask.zip
- 912_colorize_grads.zip
- 913_mask_grads.zip
- 914_lantern_type1.zip
- 915_lantern_type2.zip
- 916_lantern_type3.zip
- 917_blend_steps.zip
- 918_blended_blends.zip
- 919_reverse_order.zip
- 920_pattern_colors.zip
- 921_blend_pattern.zip
- 922_polygons.zip
- 923_equil_triangle.zip
- 924_mercedes.zip
- 925_star_ring.zip
- 926_perfect_star.zip
- 927_lets_review.zip
- 928_basic_shapes.zip
- 929_triangle_man.zip
- 930_paint_grads.zip
- 931_adv_grads.zip
- 932_trans_vectors.zip
- 933_free_distort.zip
- 934_dynamic_fx.zip
- 935_cats_eye.zip
- 936_cat_iris.zip
- 937_primitives.zip
- 938_zig_zag.zip
- 939_dynamic_hilight.zip
- 940_reptile_scales.zip
- 941_shade_eye.zip
- 942_variable_shade.zip
- 943_dragon_eye.zip
- 945_single_thumbnail.zip
- 946_ai_home.zip
- 947_unlock_object.zip
- 948_unlock_icon.zip
- 949_line_tool.zip
- 950_broken_candy.zip
- 951_candy_rhino.zip
- 952_wrap_pattern.zip
- 953_ice_shadows.zip
- 954_illustrator_ipad.zip
- 955_pencil_points.zip
- 956_ipad_blob.zip
- 957_ipad_pen.zip
- 958_grads_repeats.zip
- 959_color_grading.zip
- 960_grading_tricks.zip
- 961_blend_balance.zip
- 962_font_height.zip
- 963_camera_profile.zip
- 964_JPEG_raw.zip
- 965_match_detail.zip
- 966_Ps_line_tool.zip
- 967_troubleshoot_line.zip
- 968_blend_vectors.zip
- 969_curve_line.zip
- 970_point_glyphs.zip
- 971_area_glyphs.zip
- 972_snap_glyphs.zip
- 973_snap_letterform.zip
- 974_glyph_shape.zip
- 975_glyph_pen.zip
- 976_playing_cards.zip
- 977_scale_shape.zip
- 978_card_suits.zip
- 979_enhance_path.zip
- 980_power_symbol.zip
- 981_huge_artboard.zip
- 982_new_artboard.zip
- 983_triceratops.zip
- 984_pen_tricks.zip
- 985_round_corner.zip
- 986_draw_round.zip
- 987_reshape_round.zip
- 988_AI_brushed.zip
- 989_AI_rivets.zip
- 990_blend_grad.zip
- 991_binoculars.zip
- 992_blue_halo.zip
- 993_bi_aberrations.zip
- 994_hide_shapes.zip
- 995_subwoofer.zip
- 996_deep_cone.zip
- 997_gradient_frame.zip
- 998_hex_screws.zip
- 999_thats_all.zip
Contents
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669 Customizing a QR code in Photoshop11m 22s
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670 Adding more color to your QR code4m 29s
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671 Coffer illusion and the hidden circles18m 10s
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672 Filling out the hidden circles illusion9m 30s
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673 Shading the panels in a Coffer illusion13m 1s
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674 Drawing a classic “café wall” illusion11m 20s
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675 Skewing your crazy café walls in Illustrator9m 25s
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676 Creating a “magical checkers” illusion20m 8s
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677 Swapping magical checkers for dots8m 35s
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678 Reversing the direction of your illusion8m 33s
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679 Decorating your illusion9m 47s
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680 Adding more and more gizmos11m 52s
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681 Connecting the gizmos wirelessly4m 59s
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682 Drawing a Wi-Fi symbol in Illustrator9m 48s
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683 Drawing the official Bluetooth logo10m 8s
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684 Introducing Trajan Color Concept13m 10s
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685 Trajan Color Concept in Illustrator CC7m 10s
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686 Using stylistic sets in Photoshop CC9m 37s
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687 Using stylistic sets in Illustrator CC6m 47s
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688 Creating gradient molecules in Photoshop10m 17s
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689 Sharpening your very soft molecules4m 41s
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690 Editing your smart-filtered molecules6m 32s
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691 Exploring regular molecule patterns17m 41s
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692 Blending opposing rows of colorful molecules8m 49s
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693 Sharpening molecules with High Pass6m 3s
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694 Creating shimmering cells in Illustrator12m 25s
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695 Turning regular hexagons into organic cells11m 50s
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696 Enhancing your organic cells in Photoshop8m 58s
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697 Making dead cells spring to life7m 41s
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698 Creating letters with accordion extrusions13m 58s
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699 Combining object blends with skews11m 28s
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700 Making one object blend cut through another9m 44s
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701 Making one object blend slice across another13m 27s
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702 Object blends and dynamic distortions in Illustrator8m 11s
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703 Another random distortion: Roughen7m 57s
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704 Dynamic warp distortions: Fish and Twist8m 52s
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705 Adding a dynamic background, part 110m 14s
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706 Adding a dynamic background, part 27m 44s
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707 “Quieting down” an overly elaborate design9m 25s
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708 The Marvel disintegration effect9m 14s
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709 Building up more flakes and ashes7m 33s
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710 Enhancing and masking your disintegration8m 12s
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711 Turning your flakes into dull, dead ash4m 10s
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712 Jogging your memory with the Note tool9m 59s
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713 Contour mapping with Distort > Displace10m 23s
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714 Contour map + gradient map6m 54s
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715 Contour map + arbitrary map8m 22s
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716 Riffing on a contour map in Photoshop5m 24s
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717 Smoothing out jagged contour lines4m 11s
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718 Contour mapping for cash in Photoshop9m 27s
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719 Infusing an image with the color of money2m 53s
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720 Simulating an adjustment layer in Illustrator9m 25s
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721 Drawing a stylish computer key12m 9s
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722 Spelling a word in computer keys6m 55s
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723 Creating a faux hedcut in Photoshop13m 7s
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724 Tracing outlines around your hedcut7m 47s
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725 Creating a full-color hedcut effect7m 32s
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726 Creating an E.T. moon in Photoshop8m 42s
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727 Adding a forest of trees for your E.T. moon10m 41s
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728 Combining the best of E.T. and Jurassic Park10m 59s
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729 Tracing vectors with a universal glow6m 17s
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730 Creative uses for Content-Aware Fill11m 47s
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731 Creating a porthole to a far-away galaxy7m 42s
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732 Enhancing your crazy space porthole7m 3s
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733 Creating a galaxy of rushing stars5m 42s
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734 Using the Puppet Warp tool in Illustrator CC6m 7s
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735 Illustrator Puppet Warp tips and tricks7m 20s
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736 Puppet-Warping very complicated selections6m 18s
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737 Shift-P for Puppet Warp!2m 59s
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738 Introducing the Pentagon Patterns7m 29s
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739 Types 1–5: The Reinhardt pentagons14m 17s
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740 Types 6–8: The Kershner pentagons5m 47s
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741 Type 10: The James pentagon5m 53s
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742 Types 9, 11, 12, and 13: The Rice pentagons7m 58s
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743 Type 14: The Stein pentagon3m 53s
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744 Creating a type 15 pentagon in Illustrator9m 27s
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745 Tessellating your type 15 pentagon14m 22s
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746 Expressing pentagons as proper tile patterns12m 9s
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747 Applying and modifying a tile pattern11m
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748 Combining complementary patterns7m 43s
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749 Combining a tile pattern with a photograph6m 33s
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750 Adjusting a tile pattern to fit its photo5m 36s
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751 Creating a creepy Candy Keeper in Photoshop3m 59s
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752 Enhancing the Candy Keeper text4m 46s
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753 Creating an old monster movie poster7m 3s
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754 Adding a monochrome halftone effect4m 3s
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755 Enhancing a special word, such as “Haunted”4m 27s
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756 Cheating letters into an ancient border2m 25s
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757 Naming an adjustment layer as you create it4m 13s
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758 Under the sea in strict monochrome6m 29s
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759 Backscatter and split toning7m 21s
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760 Sampling any color outside Photoshop3m 17s
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761 Designing a vector-based logo in Photoshop9m 20s
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762 Free-transforming shape layers7m 56s
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763 Adding a photo element to your vector logo6m 34s
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764 High-resolution snowflakes in Photoshop5m 45s
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765 Enhancing your big, juicy snowflakes7m 19s
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766 Adding a snowflake bokeh “on the lens”6m 8s
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