From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
764 High-resolution snowflakes in Photoshop
From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
764 High-resolution snowflakes in Photoshop
- Hey gang, this is Deke McClelland. Welcome to Deke's Techniques. Now today we're going to visit the topic of creating synthetic snow entirely from scratch inside Photoshop. Now we first took a look at snow back in Deke's Techniques 482, adding snow to your holiday design, which came out at the end of 2015. But that image only measured 1,500 pixels wide by 1,000 pixels tall. This image here, is twice as wide by twice as tall, so it contains four times as many pixels. And so it's time to put away the children's tools, and bring out the big gun shootin' huge flakes inside Photoshop. Here, let me show you exactly how it works. Alright, let's see how to create synthetic snow that's ideally suited to a high-resolution image, here inside Photoshop. Now, I want the snow to appear in front of not only the background, but the model as well. So if you're working along with me, make sure that the fur layer is selected. And then, you want to create a new layer by pressing ctrl + shift + n, or cmd + shft + n on the Mac, and I'll call this layer snow and press the enter key or the return key. Alright now tap the d key to ensure that we have the default foreground color black, as I'm seeing down here at the bottom of the toolbox, and then fill the entire layer with black by pressing alt + backspace, or opt + delete on the Mac. Now there's all kinds of snow techniques out there, but the one thing they share in common is that they result in very tiny flakes. We want to anticipate that problem by reducing the size of this layer so that we can then turn around and increase its size so we end up with big juicy flakes. And to make that happen, go up to the edit menu and choose free transform, or you have that keyboard shortcut of ctrl + t here on the PC, or cmd + t on the Mac. Now in the most recent version of Photoshop CC, free transform is set to scale proportionally by default, meaning that we have a link icon between the width and the height values. If the link isn't selected for you go ahead and click on it, and then select either the width or the height value and change it to 25% and press the enter key or the return key on the Mac a couple of times to invoke that change. Now at this point it's a little confusing to have the model in the background. So I'm going to go ahead and turn off both the fur and blend layers, and then I'll generate the base snowflakes by going into the filter menu, choosing pixelate, and then choosing mezzotint. And you've got a bunch of types to choose from right here. You can go with long lines for example, or you could go with long strokes. We want dots, and we want the biggest dots we can get. Now grainy dots work pretty well, except they're a little too closely packed together. Whereas coarse dots are still large but they're farther apart. At which point I'll click okay to accept that change. Alright now we want to increase the size of our flakes, and the best way to do that is to first convert this layer to a smart object. That way we'll be scaling the flakes dynamically, and you can do that with the rectangular marquee tool selected, by right-clicking any old place inside the image window and choosing convert to smart object. Now return to the edit menu and once again choose free transform, and this time, with the width and height values linked together, I'm going to change either one of them to 500% like so. And now we're going to get some big snowflakes. Now when I say snowflakes, I do so in quote fingers, because if we zoom on in here, you can see that so far they look nothing whatsoever like snow. In fact, they look like what they are which is big rounded pixels. What we want to do is gum things up, and the best filter for smoothing out clumpy snowflakes is this guy up here in the filter menu, under the noise sub-menu, and it's medium. So go ahead and choose that command, and then enter a radius value that smooths things off, without making the snowflakes too tenuous. And so at about seven pixels where this image is concerned, things work out nicely, at which point I'll click okay. Now we want to lend our snowflakes some motion so that they appear to be falling from the sky and the simplest way to do that is to go up to the filter menu, choose blur, and choose motion blur. And I came up with a distance value of 40 pixels as we're seeing right here, and an angle value of 120 degrees, although both of those values are entirely up to you. At which point I will once again click okay. Alright now notice this empty filter mask right here. We don't need it, so I'll right-click in that white thumbnail and choose delete filter mask, and that'll just help cut down on some of the clutter here inside the layers panel. And then, because I want to drop out the black pixels and keep the white ones, I'll go ahead and switch to the screen blend mode. And notice if you will how blend modes now preview on-the-fly inside the most recent version of Photoshop CC. Alright, so I'll go ahead and choose green, and then I'll bring back the model bu turning on the fur and blend layers. And now we have big huge chunks of snow that appear both in front of the model and the background giving us a fully integrated scene. Alright now we've got an awful lot of snow but it's now enough, which is why if you're a member of lynda.com/linkedinlearning, I have a follow-up moving in which we add still more snow by duplicating our smart snow so far, adjusting a few filter settings, and masking away at the model's face. If you're looking forward to next week we're going to create this Bokeh effect in which it looks like we have snow that has landed and melted on the lens. Deke's Techniques, each and every week. Keep watching.
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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