In this tutorial you’ll learn how to create nice looking particle-generated 3D text. Instead of faking the 3D look, let Particular draw whatever shape or design you want in actual 3D space and bring your fancy titles to a new level!

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Tutorial

Introduction

I understand that it’s obviously better to use a 3D application to create 3D stuff. But I believe there are people who don’t know how anything about such applications or perhaps don’t have the time to learn new things. Anyway, you can use this technique to “draw” pretty much any shape in 3D. And yea, I know that there isn’t hardcore science behind this, but in my opinion the end result looks very good.

Understanding the screenshots in this tutorial might be a bit difficult at times (I have 24″ monitor and had to crop them a lot), so I uploaded the original screenshots and you can download them in a .zip file here.

Step 1

Create a new composition called “Particle text”, make it 1280×720 25 fps and 25 seconds long.

Step 2

Create a new solid layer called “background” and make it white.

Step 3

Create a new text layer (use any font you like) and type “aetuts”.

Step 4

Right click on the text layer you’ve just created and select “Create masks from Text”.

Step 5

Create a new null object and call it “null – outlines”.

Step 6

Now we need to take the mask points and use them to animate the “null – outlines” so it follows the mask paths and can be used later for the X,Y coordinates in Particular. Click on the “aetuts Outlines” layer that was created by AE, hit “M”, click on “Mask path” of the mask “a”, copy it (Ctrl-c), click on the “Position” property of the null and paste the data (Ctrl-v). Repeat this step with all mask paths. After copying all data the null should “draw” the text you typed (in this case “aetuts”).

Step 7

Create a new solid layer and call it “Particular”.

Step 8

Apply the Particular effect obviously.

Step 9

Alt-click on the Position XY property and pickwhip the Position property of our null object.

Step 10

The expression is:

thisComp.layer(“null – outlines”).transform.position

Step 11

Now Particular should follow the outlines of our text layer. Set all Velocity values to 0 to make it stick to the mask path. Also set Emitter Type to “Box”, Emitter Size X and Y to 0 and Emitter Size Z to 30.

Step 12

Create a new camera, doesn’t matter what settings.

Step 13

Create a new light, change the Light Type to “Spot”, Intensity to 150%, Cone Angle to 160°, Cone Feather to 50% and make it yellow. Uncheck “Casts Shadows”.

Step 14

Switch to Top view and position the light as shown on the picture bellow.

Step 15

Duplicate the light and position it on the other side of the text.

Step 16

Double click on the duplicated light and change its color to red.

Step 17

Go to Particular -> Shading and turn it on. Also change the Nominal Distance value to 300 and Diffuse to 90.

Step 18

Now we will create particles that will kind of reveal our text. Make a new solid and call it “PW – lines” (as in Particle World).

Step 19

Apply the CC Particle World effect.

Step 20

Your particle text should look somewhat similar to the picture bellow.

Step 21

At first we need to make the PW particles follow the path too. Alt-click on Position X and type the following into the expression box:

x=thisCompLayer(“null – outlines”).transform.position[0]-thisComp.width/2;
x/thisComp.width

Alt-click on Position Y and type the following into the expression box:

y=thisCompLayer(“null – outlines”).transform.position[1]-thisComp.height/2;
y/thisComp.width

Alt-click on Position Z and type the following into the expression box:

z=thisCompLayer(“Particular”).effect(“Particular”)(“Position Z”);
z/thisComp.width

Step 22

Now let’s change some of the settings.
Turn Grid off obviously.
Set Birth Rate to 1.5.
Set Longetivity to 0.5.
Set Radius X,Y,Z to 0.
Set Velocity to 0.05.
Set Inherit Velocity to 25.
Set Gravity to 0.
Set Max Opacity to 50.
Change the particle Birth and Death colors as shown on the picture bellow.
Set Transfer Mode to Add.

Click on Options->Render Settings and check “Force Motionblur”.

Step 23

Apply Fast Blur and set Blurriness to 1.

Step 24

Duplicate the “PW – lines” layer by pressing Ctrl-D and change the values as shown on the picture bellow.

Step 25

Duplicate the “PW – lines” again, name it “PW – polygon” and put it bellow the original “PW – lines” layer.

Step 26

Change the settings of the “PW – polygon” layer according to the screenshot.

Step 27

Duplicate the “PW – polygon” layer, put it above all PW layers and change the settings accordingly.

Step 28

And for the last time duplicate the “Pw – polygon 2″ layer and change its settings.

Step 29

Create a new solid layer, make it black and name it “Shadow”.

Step 30

Put it just above the background layer.

Step 31

Draw masks as shown on the screenshot bellow. We are basically going to fake some sort of 3D shadow by creating couple of masks around places where normal shadow would appear.

Step 32

Create another mask that will cover all previous masks.

Step 33

Animate the big last mask so it reveals the smaller shadow masks you’ve created earlier as particular animates and gets closer to them.

Step 34

Rename the shadow layer to “Shadow – close”, make it 3D, rotate it to 270° on the X axis and change its position to 427px on the Y axis (so it looks like it’s just underneath the text). If you aren’t sure what’s the right value here then just check the Position value of the “null – outlines” layer – you’re looking for the highest value.

Step 35

Apply the Box Blur effect, set Blur Radius to 15 and Iterations to 2.

Step 36

Duplicate the “Shadow – close” layer and change its settings.

Step 37

Duplicate it again, change its name to “Shadow – distant”, delete the Box Blur effect, apply Fast Blur and set Blurriness to 130.

Step 38

Duplicate the “Shadow – distant” layer twice and change Blurriness to 150.

Step 39

Duplicate the “aetuts Outlines” layer, make it 3D and rename it as “Front”.

Step 40

Go to Material Options (press AA) and turn Accepts Shadows and Accepts Lights Off. Also change the layer color to blue.

Step 41

Select all shadow layers, press P and set their Z-position to 70.

Step 42

Parent all shadow layers to the Front layer.

Step 43

Now let’s change Particular’s settings to make it look a bit better. Set Particles/sec to 2000, Life to 25, Sphere Feather to 0, Size to 2 and Opacity to 50.

Step 44

Alt-click on Position Z and type the following:

effect(“Particular”)(“Emitter Size Z”)/2-1

This way we tell Particular to push the particles back in the Z-space so they line up nicely with the Front layer.

Step 45

Put the Front layer above the Particular one.

Step 46

Apply the Roughen Edges to the Front layer.

Step 47

Change the settings as shown on the picture bellow to roughen the edges a bit.

Step 48

Set Opacity of the Fron layer to 30%.

Step 49

Duplicate the Front layer, name it “Front – fractal” and set the Transfer Mode to Screen.

Step 50

Apply the Fractal Noise effect and change its settings as shown on the screenshot. It kind of doesn’t matter what values you use, just make it animate so the front layer doesn’t look static. Also change the transfer mode to “Screen”.

Step 51

Apply the Curves effect to the Front – fractal layer and play around with the values.

Step 52

Apply the Fast Blur effect and set Blurriness to 2. Apply the Glow effect and set Glow Threshold to 70.

Step 53

Duplicate the Front layer, name it Back and make it black. And put it bellow the Particular layer.

Step 54

As the layer name suggests, this will be our back layer. Alt-click on Position and type the following:

x=transform.position[0];
y=transform.position[1];
z=thisComp.layer(“Particular”).effect(“Particular”)(“Emitter Size Z”);
[x,y,z]

This way the back layer will be positioned at the end of the particles (talking about the Z-space).

Step 55

At this point we will get rid of those annoying lines that appear when Particular is skipping from one letter to another. Select null – outlines and press P, it will help you place new keyframes for Particular. Make a keyframe for Particles/sec one frame before the end of current letter and set it to 20000. Move one frame forward (which is the last keyframe of current letter) and set Particles/sec to 0. Move one frame forward yet again (which is the very first keyframe of the next letter) and set Particles/sec to 20000. Basically we are just trying to set Particles/sec to 0 every time Particular “skips” onto the next letter.

Step 56

In Particular->Shading turn Shadowlet for Main particles on and set Placement to “Always behind”.

Step 57

Apply Fast Blur to the Particular layer and set Blurriness to 1. Also apply the Glow effect and set Glow Threshold to 65% and Glow Radius to 15.

Step 58

Feel free to adjust light’s position …

Step 59

… and other properties.

Step 60

And the same for the second light.

Step 61

Duplicate the “Front – fractal” layer, name it “dots”, change transfer mode to Add and delete all effects.

Step 62

Apply the Stroke, Glow and Fast Blur effects and change their settings as shown on the screenshot bellow.

Step 63

Go to Particular->Rendering and set Render Mode to “Motion Preview”. This is just temporary so the scene gets rendered faster.

Step 64

Go to dots and change the stroke color to red so we can see the dots better.

Step 65

But let’s animate the camera first. In my case the camera movement ends at 16:07 with the values shown on the screenshot. At this point I also temporarily disabled background.

Step 66

And obviously change the camera settings at the beginning too.

Step 67

Go to 16:07 and set a keyframe for the End property and make it 100%.

Step 68

Go to the beginning of the composition and set End to 0%.

Step 69

Now you are going to have quite a lot of keyframes to make sure that the dots follow the particles. It doesn’t matter if the dots are slighly lagging behind the particles, but make sure they are in no case ahead.

Step 70

Go to Particular and change Size over Life and Opacity over Life as shown on the screenshot bellow. At this point I also temporarily switched back to Full Render mode to see how the particles get rendered.

Step 71

Now (back in Motion Preview mode) when you click on the Front layer you can see that the particles actually don’t follow the original mask path. There are two ways of fixing this. You can either make the composition last longer (like 40 seconds, assuming that you would make all layers last longer too) thus giving Particular more time to render the particles or you can just adjust the masks so they match the particles. And that’s exactly what we are about to do.

Step 72

Just adjust the mask points, it’s no big deal.

Step 73

Select all mask paths of the Front layer and copy them (Ctrl-C).

Step 74

Select the Front – fractal layer, delete the current masks and paste the fixed ones.

Step 75

Do the same for the dots layer.

Step 76

Go to Particular and change the Render Mode back to Full Render so we can see the result so far. Also enable the background layer.

Step 77

Go to 17:00 (that’s where I want my animation to end) and set a keyframe for Physics Time Factor.

Step 78

Move one frame forward and set it to 0.

Step 79

Select all CC Particular World layers and enable them.

Step 80

With all PW layers selected and at 16:07 set a keyframe for Birth Rate. Move one frame forward and set them to 0 so the particles stop emitting.

Step 81

Enable the dots layer and change the color to white.

Step 82

Go to 16:18 and set keyframes for the Position property of the Front and Front – fractal layers. Set them to -1000 (the Z value) . Go to 17:00 and set them back to 0.

Step 83

Disable the expression for the position of the Back layer.

Step 84

We have to change the expression so we can actually make the layer animate. The x and y variables stay the same, the only difference in in the z variable. Updated expression:

x=transform.position[0];
y=transform.position[1];
z=transform.position[2]+thisComp.Layer(“Particular”).effect(“Particular”)(“Emitter Size Z”);
[x,y,z]

This way the Z value is computed from its actual value + the Emitter Size Z value.

Step 85

At 17:00 push the Back layer all the way back and don’t forget to make a keyframe.

Step 86

At 17:06 set the Z-position back to 30.

Step 87

Create a new null object and name it “null – camera”. Also parent the camera to this null. We will use it to control our camera shake effect.

Step 88

Apply Slider Control three times.

Step 89

Rename them as Position, Rotation and Speed.

Step 90

Select the null – camera layer, hit P, Alt-click on Position and type the following:

p = effect(“Position”)(“Slider”);
s = effect(“Speed”)(“Slider”);
wiggle(s,p);

Hit R, Alt-click on Rotation and type the following:

r = effect(“Rotation”)(“Slider”);
s = effect(“Speed”)(“Slider”);
wiggle(s,r);

This way we can control the position and rotation value via the sliders.

Step 91

At 16:24 (when the front layers are about to hit the particles) set all sliders to 0.

Step 92

Move one frame forward and set the Position slider to 50, the Rotation slider to 2 and the Speed slider to 5.

Step 93

Go to 17:12 (we want our shake effect to last for 12 frames) and set the sliders to 0.

Step 94

But the thing is that we want to have two shake effects (one for the front layers, one for the back layer). But we are using only one camera controller so we need to set three keyframes at 17:05 (one frame before the impact of the back layer) to kind of let the original shake effect fade out. Also don’t forget to delete the three keyframes with 0 value placed at 17:12 – we won’t need them anymore.

Step 95

At 17:06 reset the slider values back to 50, 2 and 5.

Step 96

Go to 18:00 and set all sliders to 0.

Step 97

Go to 23:00. We will animate the camera once again and make it come back to the beginning of our particle text. Also select all camera keyframes and press F9 to apply Easy ease.

Step 98

At this point I decided to tweak the shake values a bit, so at 17:05 I changed them to the ones shown on the screenshot bellow.

Step 99

Delete all layers that aren’t used and turn on Motion Blur for desired layers.

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Additional Aetuts+ Resources

• Create a Mysterious Smoky Logo Reveal
• Create An Astonishing Butterfly Animation – AE Premium
• Writing with Colored Sand
• This Logo Will Self Destruct In 5 Seconds
• Freeze Your Logo With A Snowy Transition

Hey everyone, just wanted to drop a quick note to let you know the a large chunk of the site editors, marketplace managers, and other Envato people are in Chicago this week for a meet up. I write this to see if any Chicago AE people would want to get together. Shoot me an email: [email protected] with your info if you’re interested. Subject title: “CHICAGO”. Hope to meet some some of you.

In this tutorial you will learn how to design a A5 four page leaflet, which can also be saved as a template for future designs. Using some of the new type setting features in InDesign CS5, you will make an appealing design that’s perfect for print.

Continue reading “How to Make an A5 Print Ready Leaflet InDesign CS5”

This article is about a quick and effective technique for capturing inspiration in a practical way that quickly translates into an actual song. This is one way to start a track with a vision you will want to finish.

Step 1

First, set the tempo, and record yourself singing your idea into the closest microphone you can find. It doesn’t have to be high-quality or anything spectacular, as we won’t be using the audio in the final song. The goal is just to capture an idea that can be worked with.

Download audio file (01BeatboxWalkthrough.mp3)

Step 2

Next, adjust the file so that it is synced with the track, slice the audio file and arrange it if you’d like. If your idea is too complex to capture in one take, feel free to overdub a second part. Playlist markers can aid in showing different parts of the song.

Step 3

Leaving the audio untouched, create a drum pattern that supports your sung idea. An advantage to starting songs this way is that you might end up making better drum patterns that are designed to support something else, rather than drums that sound good solo but not necessarily with additional instruments.

Download audio file (02BeatboxWalkthrough.mp3)

Step 4

Now it’s time to start replacing that idea file. Mute it, and depending your preferences, add a bass or lead instrument first. Because I’m going for Dubstep, bass is more prominent, so I started by adding a couple bass patterns that imitate my sung idea.

Download audio file (03BeatboxWalkthrough.mp3)

Power Tip

Right now you may be wondering how strict you should adhere to your sung idea file. It’s okay to take the approach of following your sketch exactly, perhaps using a pitch analysis program to be sure you follow it note-for-note, but it’s often easier to use it as a general guideline, or abandon it entirely at this point. Being able to change direction to something that sounds better gives you the freedom to focus on what really matters, which is the end result.

Step 6

Lastly, consider adding a couple more instruments to your track. Add a lead or a bass depending on what the track needs, and consider adding some cymbals or sound effects to create anticipation. In my example, I added some zaps and a flute instrument.

Download audio file (04BeatboxWalkthrough.mp3)

I’ve found that this is a great technique for starting songs, and I hope you will try it and see if it’s useful for you. If you are curious to hear how the track further developed, please listen at this link.

What are you working on at the moment?

Each weekend we open our mic to readers and lurkers alike to come out of the woodwork and tell us your thoughts and opinion, your experiences and mistakes, what you love and what you hate. We want to hear from you, and here’s your chance.

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What audio projects are you working on at the moment? Let us know about them.

Are they for fun or fortune? What software are you using? What will the finished product look like?

Are you doing all the tracking yourself, or recording a band, or getting help from other musos? Are you trying any new techniques or approaches?

Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

Recreating electronic devices in Photoshop is a great way to learn. Today, we will demonstrate how to create a Motorola Droid style phone in Photoshop. Let’s get started!

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Step 1

Start by creating a new 2000 x 2000 px canvas and save it as "phone.psd." Use the Pen Tool to the outer silhouette of the device. Make sure it is black. Name it MAIN BG.

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Step 2

With the Pen Tool, draw a shape for each main section of the phone. Notice that we are leaving a small gap between the shapes to give the illusion of separate parts. Organize your shapes in groups ( Cmd/Ctrl + G ), and rename the layers as seen below.

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Step 3

Now make the side of the phone and again organize and rename them as shown below. It is very important to keep your layers organized because this project requires many layers.

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Step 4

Now that we have defined the main parts of the phone, let’s start adding some shading. Double click the "Front / bottom / 1" layer , and apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings shown on the image below. Drag the mouse onto the canvas, and with the Layer Styles Window open and Gradient Overlay selected, reposition your gradient.

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Step 5

Duplicate the "Front / bottom / 1" layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J), rename the duplicate to "2", and apply a Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow with the settings shown on the image below. Press OK.

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Step 6

Close the "Front / bottom" group. Select and double click the "Front / center / 1" layer. Apply a Gradient Overlay with the same settings on the picture below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 7

Duplicate the "Front / Center / 1" layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J), rename the duplicate to "2", and double click to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the following image. Press OK.

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Step 8

Close the "Center Group" and select the "Front / Top /1" layer. Double click it to apply the Gradient Overlay with the settings of the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

Remember you can drag on the stage to move the gradient while the Layer Style Window is open and Gradient Overlay is selected.

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Step 9

Duplicate the "Front / Top /1" layer ( Cmd/Ctrl + J) , rename the duplicate to "2", and double click to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Press OK.

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Step 10

Close the "Front " group, double click the "Side / Side_Bottom / 1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay as seen in the following image. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 11

Now, double click the "Side / Side_Back / 1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay as seen in the following image. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 12

Duplicate the "Side / Side_Back / 1" layer (Cmd/Ctrl + J). Rename the new layer to "2", double click it to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Notice that now the blending mode of the gradient is set to Multiply because we are making a shadow (not a light) on the right left corner. Drag the gradient to reposition it to the corner. Press OK.

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Step 13

Duplicate the "Side / Side_Back / 2" (Cmd/Ctrl + J) layer. Rename the new layer to "3", double click it to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen in the following image. Again, notice that now the blending mode of the gradient is set to Multiply because we are making a shadow (not a light) on the bottom left corner. Drag the gradient to reposition it to the corner. Press OK.

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Step 14

Close the "Side / Side_Back" group and double click the "Side / Side_Center/1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 15

Close the "Side / Side_Center" group and double click the "Side / Side_Top/1" layer to apply a Gradient Overlay with the settings seen on the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 16

Now, close the "Side" group, and with the Pen Tool, make the shapes for the buttons and the speaker. Make a small circle with the Ellipse Tool (u) for the microphone. For the center part of the speaker make a shape and paint it grey (bfbfbf). Organize all shapes following the image below.

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Step 17

Double click the "Buttons / 1" layer, and apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 18

Do the same with the "Buttons / 2" layer, apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image bellow. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 19

Do the same with the "Buttons / 3" layer, apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image bellow. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 20

Do the same with the "Buttons / 4" layer, apply the Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay following the settings of the image bellow. Press OK. On the Layers Window turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 21

With the "Buttons / 4" layer selected, create a rectangle anywhere on the space using the Rectangle Tool (U). Rename the layer of the rectangle you just created to "All". Now select the Path Selection Tool (A), select the path of the "Buttons / 4" layer, copy it (Cmd/Ctrl + C), and paste(Cmd/Ctrl+V) it onto the path of your "All" layer. Do the same for "Buttons / 3" layer, the "Buttons / 2" layer, and the "Buttons / 1" layer. This may be a little tricky to understand, but following the image below illustrates how it is done.

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Step 22

Now double click the "All" layer and apply a Gradient Overlay and Inner Shadow following the settings of the image below.

 

 

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Step 23

Close the "Buttons" group and select the "mic / Mic" layer. Make sure it is Black and its Fill is at 100%. Apply a Bevel and Emboss with the settings of the image below. Press OK.

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Step 24

Close the "mic" group and select the "speaker / Speaker" layer. Apply an Inner Shadow and Gradient Overlay with the settings shown on the image below. Press OK. On the Layers Window, turn the Fill of the layer to 0%.

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Step 25

Now lets make the center part of the speaker. Create a new document with size 4 x 4 px. Zoom in as much as you can. With the Mask Tool (m) make a selection like in the picture below. With the Paint Bucket Tool fill the selection with black. Deselect all (Cmd/Ctrl + D) and go to the menu Edit/ Define Pattern , a window will prompt for you to write a name for the Pattern, write any name and press Ok.

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Step 26

Go back to the file phone.psd and double click "speaker / Speaker center" layer. Add a Gradient Overlay, Inner Shadow and Pattern Overlay with the pattern we just created. Check the picture below for the settings.

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Step 27

Let’s create the HDMI plug. Start by selecting the Pen Tool (P) and drawing the outer shape of the plug. Rename it to "1" and press (Cmd/Ctrl + G) with the layer selected to make a group. Rename the group to "HDMI plug". Then apply a Bevel and Emboss style to the "HDMI Plug / 1" layer following the settings on the picture below.

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Step 28

With the Pen Tool, create another Shape over the last one, make sure its color is CCCCCC and apply an Inner Shadow Style with the same settings as those on the following image.

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Step 29

With the Pen Tool, create another Shape over the last one. Make sure its color is 797979 and apply an Inner Shadow Style with the same settings as those on the following image.

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Step 30

With the Pen Tool, create another Shape over the last one, Make sure its color is 343434.
And your HDMI plug is done.

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Step 31

Let’s make the USB plug. With the Pen Tool, draw the outer shape of the plug. Make its color 0e0e0e. Rename it to "1" and press (Cmd/Ctrl + G) with the layer selected to make a group. Rename the group to "USB plug".

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Step 32

With the Pen Tool, draw the inner shape of the USB plug. Make it black 000000. Rename it to "2". Apply the Inner Shadow, Inner Glow and Gradient Overlay styles following the image below.

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Step 33

Let’s make the display screen. Start by drawing the outer part of the screen. Make it black 000000.

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Step 34

Draw the inner part of the screen name it "2" and hide it. Paste the image you would like to be in the screen over the "Display / 2" layer and rename it to "wallpaper" (I am including a beautiful image with the source files in case you wish to use it). With the Cmd/Ctrl key pressed, select the Vector Mask Thumbnail of the "Display/2" layer. That will make a selection. With your "wallpaper" layer selected, press the Add Layer Mask button to hide the part of the wallpaper that is outside the screen. Now click the small chain links that appear on your "wallpaper" layer to disable the link between the layer and its mask With the thumbnail of your "wallpaper" layer selected, press Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform it, and press the Cmd/Ctrl key to distort the image you are using as wallpaper to match the phone’s perspective. Press Return key when you are done. Apply a Gradient Overlay and an Inner Shadow style to your "wallpaper " following the settings shown at the bottom of the image below. Press OK. Finally, again enable the link between your "wallpaper" layer and its mask.

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Step 35

Let’s do the glare of the screen. With the Pen Tool, make the shape of the glare over your "wallpaper" layer. Rename the layer to "glare" and apply a Gradient Overlay Style following the settings of the image below. Turn the Fill of the layer to 0%. Press OK.

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Step 36

Now go and download the USB, HDMI, and MOTOROLA logos. Paste them into your "phone.psd". Using Cmd/Ctrl + T to transform, and the Cmd/Ctrl key while transforming to distort your logos to match the perspective of the phone. Place all the logos in a group named "Logos". All the shapes of the logos should be color grey 959595.

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Step 37

Now do exactly the same with the icons. The only difference is that you will have to draw them with your Pen Tool using a reference image. Make sure the four icons are color grey d7d7d7. Make a group with all the icons and name it "Big Icons". Do the same with the three big icons, but make them color white FFFFFF, and set their Fill to 50%.

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Step 38

If you are still here with me, it means you are an extremely patient and detail-oriented person, so let’s take it a little bit further and add more detail to make our phone look even more life like. Make a new 100 x 100 px document with a black background. In the menu, go to Filter/ Noise Add Noise following the settings on the image below. Press OK. In the menu go to Edit / Define pattern, and name it "Noise".

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Step 39

Go back to your "phone.psd" file. Double click the first layer you created, "MAIN BG", and apply a Pattern Overlay style with the pattern "Noise" that you just created following the settings on the image below. Press OK. This will add some texture to the plastic.

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Step 40

While pressing the Cmd/Ctrl key, select the Vector Mask Thumbnail of that same "MAIN BG" layer. This will select the entire phone. Now press the "Create New Fill or Adjustment Layer" button at the bottom of the layers window and select "Foto Filter.” This creates an adjustment layer named "Photo Filter 1" over the "MAIN BG" layer. Drag "Photo Filter 1" to place it between the "USB plug" group and the "display" group.

Double click the thumbnail of the "Photo Filter 1" layer and the "adjustments" window will pop up. Apply the same settings as those on the image below.

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Step 41

Using the Shift Key, select all layers and groups, from "MAIN BG" to "Big Icons", and press Cmd/Ctrl + G to make a group with everything inside. Name that group "Final Phone". Drag the "Final Phone" group to the "Create a New Layer" button at the bottom of the layers window. This will duplicate the "Final Phone" group. Select the new "Final Phone Copy" group and press Cmd/Ctrl + E to merge all layers inside that group into one layer. Rename it to "Reflected". Select the "Reflected" layer and go to the "Edit / Transform / Flip Vertical" menu.

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Step 42

Now drag the "Reflected" layer to its final position. Press the "Add Vector Mask" button at the bottom of the Layers Window. Ensure you have white as your foreground color and black as your background color. Within the Mask Thumbnail of the "reflection" layer selected, drag from top to bottom. Finally, paint the Background layer with gray "c2c2c2".

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Final Image

Every type of TLF text in Flash — Read Only, Selectable, and Editable — supports hyperlinks. All it takes to add a link in a text container is to type in your text, select a few words, and enter the desired URL into the Properties panel. Optionally, you can enter a target as well.

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If you want the whole text container hyperlinked, use the Selection tool to select the container itself, and then use the Link and Target properties in the Advanced Character options area of the Properties panel in the same way.

As easy as this approach is, a downside is the hyperlink underline added to the text. It simply can’t be removed. Still, hyperlinks may be absolute, such as http://www.SuperSite.com/thisPageHere.html, or relative, such as../thisOtherPage.html. For relative paths, it’s important to know that the path will be determined not from the point of view of the SWF, but from the HTML file that contains it.

For example, you may choose to keep all your HTML files in the root of your website. Because you’re an organized developer, you may choose to put all your image files in their own subfolder of the root, and you may just do the same with your Flash content. From a SWF’s point of view, the relative path to all HTML files requires stepping back one folder. So, if a SWF links to one of those pages, you might be tempted to precede the destination’s filename with ../, but don’t! The HTML file that contains the SWF in question is already in the same folder as the destination page, and it’s the containing HTML file’s point of view that matters.

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Using ActionScript to Add Hyperlinks to TLF Text

As you saw in the previous example, you can use a piece of text in a container to trigger an event on the Flash stage. It goes without saying that the same piece of text can be used to launch a web page. Rather than rehash everything done previously, open the enclosed TLF_Hyperlink_AS.fla file and let’s see how this is accomplished.

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Step 1: Select

Scroll down to line 32 of the Script pane.

Select the word NONE, and change it to UNDERLINE. The result of this change is to actually have the clickable text look like a common HTML hyperlink that uses an underline.

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Step 2: LinkElement()

Press the Enter (Windows) or Return (Mac) key twice, and enter the following code block:

var link:LinkElement = new LinkElement();
link.href = "http://www.friendsofed.com";
var linkSpan:SpanElement =new SpanElement();
linkSpan.text = "Click here ";
link.addChild( linkSpan);
var span:SpanElement = new SpanElement();
span.text = " to download the files for this book.";
p.addChild(link);
p.addChild(span);
textFlow.addChild(p);

As you may have gathered, all items in a TLF container are influenced or managed by elements. The first two lines establish that a variable called link will be managed by a LinkElement and will be placed in a LinkElement() object. The next line uses the common href tag from HTML to identify the link.

Now that you have established where the link is going — to the friends of ED website — you create a span for the text that will be clicked, put the text into the span, and use the addChild() method to put the linkSpan on the stage.

The rest of the code adds the remaining text, associates the link to the text in the sentence (p), puts the sentence on the stage, and flows it into the textFlow container.

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Step 3: Test

Save the file, and test the movie. The text containing the link, as shown below, is blue and sports a rather spiffy underline. Click the link, and the friends of ED homepage opens.

Import Statements Used for This Exercise

These are the import statements used for this exercise:

import flash.display.Sprite;
import flashx.textLayout.container.ContainerController;
import flashx.textLayout.elements.Configuration;
import flashx.textLayout.formats.TextLayoutFormat;
import flashx.textLayout.formats.TextAlign;
import flashx.textLayout.elements.TextFlow;
import flashx.textLayout.elements.ParagraphElement;
import flashx.textLayout.edit.EditManager;
import flashx.undo.UndoManager;
import flashx.textLayout.formats.TextDecoration;
import flashx.textLayout.elements.LinkElement;
import flashx.textLayout.elements.SpanElement;

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Over the next month we are going to take in depth look at different photography filters. We will find out what each one does and then how to use them. We start with a common filter used by beginners – the polarizing filter. We’ll take a look at what polarizing filters do, how they help your photography, and where you can get one from!

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What Does a Polarizing Filter Do?

Put simply, polarizing filters remove reflections from non-metallic surfaces. So how does this help us as photographers?

To begin with, on a nice sunny day it allows us to darken the sky by completely removing the reflection of light off the tiny water droplets present in the atmosphere.

If you are shooting water, such as a lake, a polarizing filter will remove the reflection and give the water a more transparent look. The only problem is the angle you shoot at. If shooting above the water it will be appear completely transparent whereas shooting from a low side angle will not give the same effect. This might be perfect for an angler with a photography hobby or visa verse.

Polarizing filters also absorb light – anything up to a whole 1-2 stops (depending on make and brand). This means that you have to decrease your shutter speed in order to capture the shot your after. If you are shooting mid-evening you will almost certainly need a tripod. This feature can be a positive if you like shooting long exposure photography or a negative effect if you don’t.

Last but not least is the fact a polarizing filter is a colour enhancer. The polarizer brings out the colour of the natural world and improves your photos. The reason this happens is because the polarizing filter removes reflections from all the objects around and it darkens the shadows. It is one of the only filters which creates a result that you couldn’t really achieve in Photoshop post-processing.

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What Types Are There?

Polarizing filters come in both linear and circular varieties. I will not go into the physics, but overall the effect is the same in both of them. The one you choose is down to your camera.

A circular polarizer is needed when dealing with auto-focus or spot-metering systems. Almost all modern SLR cameras will need a circular Polarizer, and some SLR film cameras will as well. If you are unsure about your camera if should state in the manual. Linear polarizers on the other hand will often be suitable for older manual SLR film cameras.

You will then have the choice to buy a circle or square filter set. Circle filters you simply screw the filter onto the end of your lens and then you are good to go. A disadvantage is that these will only fit the lens you have – for example a kit lens is around 58mm, whereas a telephoto might be 64mm. You would need to buy two filters or a huge number of step down rings!

Square filers are larger and fit into a holder. If you need another lens size you simply buy a new adapter ring which attaches the holder to the camera. It’s really easy and allows you to easily stack more filters on top of each other. If you would like to read more, take a look at the following article..

When using a polarizing filter, you will need to rotate them in order to get the effect you require so look out for these common features:

• Look for a circular filter with a small screw-in arm in order to help rotate the filter. These are handy if you find small components difficult to work with.
• When using wide angles, filters with thick casing can cause a vignette around an image. This is also true for the filter holders of Linear filters.

The image below shows a filter holder on the left holding a ND grad and on the right a Polarizer. A polarizer needs to be rotated and will be always be circle.

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Polarizer Brands and Pricing

Like all photography gear, you get what you pay for. Polarizing filters can be picked up for near $10, but I personally wouldn’t trust them anywhere near my camera. Here is a look at a few brands I have dealt with and would recommend to anyone.

• Hoya produce some amazing filters, and have recently created a Polarizer with multi coat protection. This gives your filters greater protection, and they will withstand more damage. They are a good price for the quality and come in around $50-$80 depending on the thread size.
• LEE filters are aimed at the professional and are one of the best quality filters on the market. A LEE Polarizer would set you back around $200-300 per 100mm filter.
• Cokin are the brand I recommend to amateurs and those on a tight budget. Cokin produce cheap, high quality filters which fit their special P holder which can be put onto any lens (with the right adaptor). The price for a square polarizing filter is approximately $50-80.

Other good brands include B +W, Hama, Sigma and Cromatek.

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Tips When Using a Polarizing Filter

Here are a few tips to think about when using polarizing filters:

• Using a wide angle lens is not advised when using a polarizer because the image becomes unevenly polarized (28mm is often stated as the max)
• You will want to be at a 90 degree angle to the sun to achieve maximum polarization. Shooting with the sun behind you is more likely to lead to a poor result.
• If you use the polarizer on top of another filter, you might be prone to a noticable vignette.
• Don’t shoot through glass, or thick plastic/perspex, as you might end up get random colour splats like in the image below.

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Conclusion

I hope that you’ve found this article to be a useful introduction to this type of filter. Polarizers are really good fun to play around with and, if you wish to find out more, I’d recommend taking a look at the articles below:

• Using Polarizing Filters To Take Better Pictures
• Landscape Photography Using a Polarizer
• A Guide to Using Polarizing Filters