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Posted on 16/06/11 11:17:26 PM |
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Phillip Anthony
* Posts: 4 Reply |
How do you " ... duplicate the magnifying glass ... fill this layer with black"?
First of all, Steve's '100% Photoshop' book ROCKS! I can do magic with photographs in Ps, but when it comes to doing REAL magic - creating things that only exist in your mind, then I'm lost. Completely! Steve can put more solid, real world info on one page that any Ps book I have ever owned never could in 300 pages. Awesome work! I am an iPhone developer and needed a magnifying glass and Surprise!, Steve had just that in this book. Which, takes me to my question. On page 97, he says to dup the layer's and combine them into one. Ok. Got that. Then he says, "Fill this layer with black, and ...". When I fill the layer with black, the layer does indeed turn black, but that is not what we want. We want to end up with a black magnifying glass with which to make that important shadow with. Not a black rectangle. Can someone give me a hand with this? Second question I created the magnifying glass and then rotated it, handle and all. When I took a close look at the metal glass bezel, it had strange moiré look to it. To prevent this, is it best to perform the rotation? It's awkward to work in a skewed angle, but it that is what it takes to prevent this, then I suppose that is what must be done. If someone can point out where I went wrong, I would be most appreciative. Thanks for the chance to post my questions. Regards, Phillip Anthony |
Posted on 17/06/11 07:32:12 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7025 Reply  |
Re: How do you " ... duplicate the magnifying glass ... fill this layer with black"?
Phillip, Well, that's a good way for me to start the day! I'm really pleased the book has been useful to you. Always great to get reader feedback, especially when it's as positive as this! For your first question, the answer is easy: when I say "fill the layer with black", I mean fill the contents if the layer with black. In other words, if black is your foreground colour, don't just use alt-backspace, which will fill the entire layer, but use alt-shift-backspace instead. This changes all the current pixels on the layer to black. I'm not sure I understand the moiré issue in your second question. I can't imagine how this effect could have been produced. Can you post a screen grab so we can see the effect you're talking about? Welcome to the forum, Phillip - and do keep asking these questions! It's what the forum is here for. Steve |
Posted on 17/06/11 4:10:14 PM |
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Phillip Anthony
* Posts: 4 Reply |
Re: How do you " ... duplicate the magnifying glass ... fill this layer with black"?
Steve, Thanks for responding so quickly. 'Alt-shift-backspace' (alt-shift-delete on a Mac). Sweet! Got it. Worked perfectly. I need to remove the glass from this copy and give it another try to improve it. I've given this some thought and really, I did not have to rotate the glass/bezel part of my magnigying glass at all. Only the handle needed to be rotated. So, I will create a new version (good practice!) and implement the smarter technigue. This will prevent the moiré effect from appearing. I think any way. Live and learn. Good again. Since I can only upload one image at a time, I will follow up with another. BTW, this file is 640x960 pixels @ 300 pixels/inch. Each grab was taken at 'Actual pixels' strength.  |
Posted on 17/06/11 4:17:04 PM |
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Phillip Anthony
* Posts: 4 Reply |
Re: How do you " ... duplicate the magnifying glass ... fill this layer with black"?
Steve, Here is another grab for your perusal. I should have added that this image will be the opening view to the magnifying glass feature of my new iPhone app. My app is actually a gratuity calculator, but I have added this feature plus a flashlight as well. Both, I pray and hope, will be found useful to future purchaser's of my first app who would like a multi-featured gratuity calculator. I am a perfectionist and your book has been an absolute God-send because I have already dismissed two 'graphic artist's' who were not giving me what I wanted. Spare time is nearly non-existant in my world, but getting it 'right' is my top priority. Doing it myself, seems to be the only real option to achieve my goals. Went off-topic, I know and for that I apologize, but your book was precisely what I needed. I cannot ever Thank You! enough. 
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Posted on 20/06/11 07:38:03 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7025 Reply |
Re: How do you " ... duplicate the magnifying glass ... fill this layer with black"?
Interesting. I've seen many gratuity calculators and many flashlight apps, but if you can get the magnifying glass feature to work properly that would really be a useful addition. Remember, though, that the glass does need to magnify what's seen through it! Your illustration above doesn't really get that across. |