From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
869 Customizing the Auto Color command
From the course: Deke's Techniques (2018-2021)
869 Customizing the Auto Color command
- Hey gang, this is Deke McClelland. Welcome to Deke's Techniques. For the last several weeks, I've been chasing new technology running on an iPad. Not so this week. In fact today it's very much back to the basics. And not just A-B-C basics, primitive basics, by modern standards super old-school stuff. You know how Photoshop offers three automatic color correction commands? Under the Image menu, they are Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color. Adobe's click data suggests that these three commands rank among the 10 most popular features in the software, which is truly bizarre given that all these commands do is evaluate a photograph's histogram and respond to it in ways that were signed and sealed in the 1990s. You just choose a demand and Photoshop does its thing. The program gives you no control over the process whatsoever. Actually that's a lie. In fact, if you decide to dig a little deeper, you can customize each one of these commands with the help of a levels adjustment layer. At which point something that at first came out as this, which is to say incredibly blue-green murky, can flourish as this. Captured with a common GoPro, cleaned up with a custom application of Auto Color. Here, let me show you exactly how it works. All right here's the original photograph that I captured with a GoPro Hero 7 looking just terrible. And here is the much better version of the photograph, just so you have a chance to see it onscreen. Thanks to a custom application of an Auto Color adjustment layer, something that doesn't actually exist inside Photoshop. All right, just so we have our bearings. I'm going to show you what I'm talkin' about here. Under the Image menu, we have three Auto commands that apparently rank among the most commonly used commands in the software. Auto Tone, Auto Contrast and Auto Color. Now this image has a definite colorcast, so Auto Contrast isn't going to do any good. Notice if I choose it, very little happens, so I'll undo that modification. Another option is to choose Auto Tone, which is going to slightly modify the image on the channel by channel basis, doesn't do much good where this image is concerned either. And then if I undo that and choose Auto Color, we're starting to get a much more desirable effect. Problem is twofold really. It's not good enough. It doesn't measure up to the effect I'm looking for. And secondly it's a so-called destructive modification because I've changed each and every pixel inside this image. I would much rather prefer to work with a customizable and non-destructive adjustment layer. And so I'll press Control + Z or Command + Z on the Mac to undo that change. And then I'm going to go to the Layer menu, choose New Adjustment Layer and then choose Levels. Levels actually houses all of the Auto commands. That's where they were all born in the first place. And so I'll go ahead and choose the Levels command. And because I chose the command, I have a chance to name my layer. I'll just go ahead and call it Auto Color, and then I'll click OK. Now what you want to do is not click on the Auto button, that's just going to come up with yet another meaningless modification. It doesn't look right at all. Instead what you want to do is press the Alt key or the Option key on the Mac and click on the Auto button in order to bring up this dialog box right here. Now notice that we have four different algorithms to choose from. By default, we're enhancing the brightness and contrast which is not what we want. But I want you to see that we've got tool tips for each one of these guys here. Unfortunately because of some bug, they're appearing behind the dialog box, but I want you to see that this first guy if I hover over it gives me Auto Contrast. I can see that in the parentheses, which was the first option we applied. Doesn't do us any good. The second guy gives us Auto Tone as you can see in that tool tip way over there to the right. That'll give us the second effect we saw which is not what I want either. And then this third guy is half of Auto Color. See the words Auto Color in parentheses over inside the Layers panel? That's what we want. And so I'll go ahead and turn that on. Now what that does is it automatically evaluates representative shadow and highlight information in order to neutralize the shadows and highlights, we want to neutralize the mid-tones as well so you need to turn on this checkbox right here, which as you can see in the tool tip in the Layers panel is Auto Color. All right, so I'll go ahead and turn that guy on. Now at this point we can customize things. For example, let's say I want the highlights to be a bit brighter, I'll set this Clip value to a full 1%, which isn't going to harm anything. It will clip some highlights but not across all the channels so we're safe. And then let's say I want to breathe some color into these rocks. I don't want them to be all greenish the way they are now or peach-colored either. I want them to be kind of brownish like they really are. In which case I'm going to click on this gray swatch in order to infuse color into the mid-tones. And I came up with a hue value of 20 degrees, which as you can see in the color field is orange, and then I took the Saturation value up to 30%. And notice as I increase that value, I am making the rocks more colorful. I don't want 'em to be that colorful, so I'll take it down to 30% like so and then I'll click OK. Now notice that we have this checkbox. Save As Default, I'm assuming that you do not want to turn that on because that would change the behavior of these auto functions in the future. So leave that checkbox off and then click OK. Now even though you left the checkbox off, Photoshop's still going to ask ya if you want to go ahead and save those target colors as default. The answer is no, don't get fooled into doing it. Click the No button and everything will be fine. After which point, I'll go ahead and hide the Properties panel and I'll press Shift + F in order to switch to the full-screen mode. And that is how you apply the normally destructive Auto Color command as a non-destructive and customizable adjustment layer. Now the only problem with this technique is that if you change your mind and you Alt or Option + click on the Auto button expecting to see your last applied settings, Photoshop forgets everything and applies the standard composite version of auto levels. Try it and you'll see what I mean. In which case you'll just have to repeat the process all over again. It's a flaw, I hate to say bug, but that's because I like bugs. For those of you looking forward to next week, I'll show you how to stitch together a high res panorama and then fill in the empty regions around the outside edges of the canvas using a variation of content aware fill that's built into Camera Raw 12.0 and later. 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
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- 672_more_rectangles.zip
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- 706_dynam_bgnd_2.zip
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- 709_more_flakes.zip
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- 713_contour_map.zip
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- 726_ET_moon.zip
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- 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
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- 742_rice_pentagons.zip
- 743_stein_pentagon.zip
- 744_15th_pentagon.zip
- 745_tessellate_15.zip
- 746_pentatiles.zip
- 747_mod_pattern.zip
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- 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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860 Using an iPad as a Sidecar drawing tablet11m 37s
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861 Introducing Adobe Fresco for the iPad15m 27s
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862 Adobe Fresco paints halftone patterns9m 37s
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863 Live brushes in Adobe Fresco9m 36s
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864 Using oil brushes in Adobe Fresco5m 54s
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865 Masking layers in Adobe Fresco9m 47s
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866 Repurposing and inverting masks5m 25s
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867 Vector brushes in Adobe Fresco9m 7s
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868 Opening Fresco art in Photoshop8m 32s
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869 Customizing the Auto Color command6m 51s
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870 Camera Raw 12: Panoramas with fill edges9m 38s
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871 Developing your panorama in Camera Raw5m 53s
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872 Healing with Clone Source plus Diffusion8m 8s
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873 The improved Simplify command in Illustrator 20207m 25s
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874 Filling in any post-Simplify gaps4m 27s
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875 Posterizing colors, in the style of "Hair"11m 54s
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876 Recoloring art with the Paint Bucket tool5m 34s
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878 Adjusting your poster art dynamically6m 15s
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877 Posterizing colors nondestructively9m 8s
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879 Hiding the Filmstrip in Camera Raw4m 35s
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880 Making an awful photograph awesome10m 14s
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881 What if Rembrandt had painted sea lions?4m 43s
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882 Recolor a freeform gradient in Illustrator4m 58s
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883 Recoloring a gradient using a color group3m 24s
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884 Faking a GoPro over-under shot10m 20s
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885 Developing your over-under in Camera Raw4m 41s
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886 Drawing a 3D metal star in Illustrator14m 25s
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887 Rendering the 3D star in heavy metal5m 51s
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888 Creating a Wonder Woman 1984 poster effect9m 5s
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889 Creating the Wonder Woman displacement map15m 5s
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890 Masking your Wonder Woman11m 39s
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891 Creating a metadata template in Bridge9m 24s
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892 Streamlining a multi-use metadata template9m 29s
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893 The Photoshop 2020 freeform Warp enhancements12m 32s
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894 Applying a freeform Warp to a Smart Object7m 54s
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895 Rescuing a frame from a GoPro movie7m 49s
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896 Filling gaps with Content-Aware Fill7m 5s
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897 Two images are better than one13m 8s
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898 Blending images with a hand-drawn vignette4m 44s
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899 Creating a photographic painting12m 37s
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900 Drawing a gradient sphere as a 2D shape9m 49s
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901 Turning a sphere into a colorful pool ball7m 51s
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902 Changing a pool ball from solid to stripes8m 22s
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903 Rotate versus Transform Each in Illustrator9m 36s
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904 Recoloring your pool balls8m 20s
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905 Drawing a pool cue in Illustrator15m 43s
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906 Rotating with precision accuracy7m 28s
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907 Repeating a face so it shares a common eye11m 20s
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908 Continuous rainbow faces in Photoshop5m 42s
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909 Masking in the natural colors of the lips6m 8s
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910 Flipping a face to create new identities9m 8s
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911 Hand painting a symmetrical layer mask4m 18s
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912 Two ways to colorize with gradients6m 9s
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913 Two ways to mask gradient effects6m 40s
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914 Lantern tile: Type 1, onion7m 53s
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915 Lantern tile: Type 2, traditional6m 33s
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916 Lantern tile: Type 3, scallop4m 30s
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917 Quickly change the number of steps in Illustrator8m 22s
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918 Creating a blend inside a blend7m 44s
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919 Reversing the stacking order in Illustrator4m 32s
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920 Turning a blend into a repeating pattern12m 16s
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921 Recoloring a blended pattern5m 8s
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922 Precisely sizing any polygon in Illustrator9m 19s
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923 Creating a beveled, equilateral triangle11m 46s
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924 Turning a triangle into a Mercedes star9m 7s
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925 Adding a ring around the Mercedes star7m 57s
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926 Precisely sizing stars in Illustrator10m 20s
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927 Let's review that star technique5m 25s
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928 Creating real artwork with basic shapes9m 55s
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929 Making a face of triangles in Illustrator10m 18s
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930 Painting with gradients and translucency10m 34s
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931 More advanced gradients in Illustrator6m 52s
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932 Combining translucent vectors with a photo5m 30s
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933 Using the dynamic Free Distort filter9m 3s
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934 Combining dynamic effects in Illustrator6m 4s
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935 Creating a Halloween cat’s eye in Illustrator14m 35s
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936 Combining multiple gradient fills and effects8m 28s
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937 Tracing a photo with primitives in Illustrator11m 31s
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938 Halftone pattern and Zig Zag in Illustrator13m 5s
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939 Adding dynamic highlights to your cat’s eye10m 29s
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940 Blending reptile-like scales in Illustrator13m 42s
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941 Shading to your cat’s eye in Illustrator10m 53s
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942 Shading with variable-width strokes9m 10s
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943 Turning your cat’s eye into a dragon’s eye10m 40s
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944 Clearing the Photoshop Home screen5m 5s
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945 Hiding a single Home screen thumbnail3m 29s
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946 Clearing the Illustrator Home screen4m 4s
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947 A new way to unlock stuff in Illustrator5m
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948 Another way to unlock stuff in Illustrator2m 47s
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949 The new Line tool in Photoshop 202110m 43s
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950 Fixing a broken candy cane pattern4m 58s
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951 Creating a candy cane rhinoceros in Photoshop10m 4s
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952 Warping a pattern around an object4m 2s
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953 Adding some rippling, reflective ice shadows8m 35s
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