Animated Special Effects With Photoshop - Design Post 9

Introduction

    As I am coming into my fourth course, Digital Image Editing, Photoshop is becoming the main attraction. We are delving into its depths and revealing how much a designer can make Photoshop work for them, manipulating an image to their style or the style that the client is requesting.

    The Photoshop article that I have chosen is called “Animated Special Effects With Photoshop” written by Corey Baker. This article is out of the August 2023^rd Photoshop User Magazine edition.

    “Animated Special Effects With Photoshop” talks about motion effects and how they draw the viewers' attention to the design or image. It thoroughly explains how layer effects can create light around the edges. Photoshop’s “Timeline” is also used, further enhancing this “lit up edge” with gradients that create an animated, traced look. This article lists 29 steps on how to implement this technique to an image of a pair of headphones.

    In each step, there are links, steps, and shortcuts that the author gives you so that you can follow along. I think this is a great way for the readers to learn, especially if you are new to Photoshop or even if you have never implemented this technique.

Animated Special Effects With Photoshop, 29 Steps:

      Open the image you would like to implement this technique on and increase the resolution, so it is easier to work with.

      Create a duplicate background layer and remove the color.

      Create “Find Eyes” from the Stylized menu under Filter.

      Remove the grey areas in Levels.

    Invert the image.

    Convert the layer to a “Smart Object” and double-click to open.

    In the “Channels Panel”, hold down CTRL /Command, and select the RGB preview.

    Create a new layer and add the action selection to the mask.

    Highlight the layer's thumbnails and fill the layer with a color from the foreground color swatch.

       Press Options/Alt delete to fill. Close the “eye” and the smart object and save the changes.

      Click the “eye” to turn off the stroke and select the background. Then, select the subject to create a selection of the headphones, adding and subtracting as needed.

       Add a new blank layer and place it under the extracted headphone layer. Fill the layer with black from the Fill Dialog.

       Select the extracted layer and remove the color. In “Levels”, add more contrast to make the headphones black.

       Make the stroke layer visible. Add a layer style and select “Outer Glow”. The color should be close to the layer selected. Try different blend modes for different backgrounds.

       Add a mask filled with black. It will hide the stroke layer.

       Select the gradient tool under the “Basics” drop-down menu. Select Foreground to Transparent, and then select Radial Gradient. Press D to change the foreground to white.

       Draw along the edges to reveal the colored strokes. Multiple gradients can be added.

       Multiple colors can be added as well. Add a copy of the Smart Object but add it by choosing “New Smart Object via Copy”.

       Open the new “Smart Object’s” thumbnail and fill it with a new color. Close and save. Open “Outer Glow” and select a similar color.

       Select the new layer mask on the Smart Object and fill it with black to remove the gradient. You can now add gradients to the image to reveal the new color.

       Fill both layer masks with black on the Smart Objects and choose one color to focus on.

       Select the reflected gradient tool. Set the foreground to white. Place the tool a quarter of the way down the headphones and drag it up or down revealing the colors.

       Unlink the chained icons. Switch to the move tool. Click and drag up and down, and you will see the strokes moving accordingly.

       Save everything and unlink everything.

       Select a timeline from the window menu, and then select “Create Video Timeline”.

       Click the arrow beside “Magenta Glow”. Then, click the layer mask position. Select the blue tab at the top and move it to the 1-second mark. Then click the stopwatch next to the layer mask position.

       When this is done, select the layer mask with the reflective gradient. Select the shift and the move tools simultaneously and drag the gradient to the edge of the canvas so that there are no strokes visible.

       Select “Timeline” and put the blue tab at the 3-second mark. Then, return to the image and drag the mask down. Turn the teal layer back on and repeat the same process. Then, you would place the keyframes at 2-seconds and 4-seconds.

       Open the Timelines Panel flyout menu. Select Render Video.

Conclusion

    I had no idea that the “Timeline” existed in Photoshop. It is intriguing to watch these effects come together to create animation of the headphones. This article is very helpful in explaining each step in great detail. Another helpful tip is the addition of the shortcuts for each step. Learning shortcuts for Photoshop increases the efficiency of the project, I enjoyed learning about how to implement this technique. I need to practice it along with everything else that I have learned. The more I practice the more it sticks in memory.