Eternal


Supplies:

Tube: andreeacernestean-55-2
Scrap: scrapaork_obsessive
Font: magnifika
Mask: 93 and 100 from package 2
Filter Forge

Please do not use any of the licensed supplies without purchasing them first.


First off, unzip all supplies.

Open the mask(s) you would like to use.  You don’t have to use the ones I have chosen.

Select > All
Edit > Copy

This will save a “selection” of the white areas in the mask.

You can now close that mask.

Open a new 800 x 800 pixel canvas. Be sure it is set to 72ppi resolution. You can always resize later.

Edit > Fill… this layer with white. You can change this to whatever color you like to match the website you will display it on, though.

Place the paper on the canvas that you would like to use. You can either drag and drop it onto the canvas from your file browser, or you can use the File > Place… method. Just browse to the folder with the kit when prompted.

With the paper layer highlighted in the layers panel…

Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode.
Edit > Paste

This will leave parts of the paper in red. This is good! If it doesn’t, then you will need to open and copy the mask again.

It seems that our mask was too big for the tag. Let’s fix that.

With the red “quick mask” still in effect, go to Edit > Free Transform

Fit the red mask inside your tag.

Select > Uncheck the Edit in Quick Mask Mode.
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection

Magic, right?? now you don’t have to worry about having an extra clipped layer.

Instead, you have a mask thumbnail attached to your paper layer. (This image and video aren’t from this tag, so they look different, but the idea is the same.)

Place another paper on your canvas and repeat the process with any other masks you want to use.

That’s it! How easy is that?

Sometimes, this method will leave a dark line around your tag. You can take a very small round eraser and click in the very corner of the mask. Hold shift, and then click on the next corner. This will erase in a straight line. Repeat this until you have gone all the way around your tag, ending in the corner you started. You will need to do this for all masks. It only takes a couple of minutes, but it makes a big difference. This is optional. Sometimes I just leave it there because I can’t be bothered

Now, time for the elements! This is where the real magic begins.

You can drag and drop items straight from your file browser into the canvas. This makes it faster to place items.

Instead of telling you exactly where to put what and what size to use, I am just going to show you a animated image of what I did. This way, you can create your own version of the tag without doing exactly what I have done.

When placing your elements, you can transform them again by going to Edit > Free Transform. Just be sure you hold the shift key to constrain the proportions.

As you can see, it is pretty random.  I just place the items where I think they might work.

Now, back to the frame element layer. You have a frame, right? If not, you can skip this part.  We need to add a fill layer to the picture frame.

Highlight the layer UNDER the frame in your layers panel.  Now drop the paper you would like to use onto the canvas.

Grab your selection wand from the tools panel.  If you can’t find it, check out the basics page for a better understanding of the tools layout.

The Selection Wand options should look like this at the top of your window:

Click on the center portion of the frame.
Hold the shift key and click inside each of the other parts of the frame, one at a time.
In the upper menu of Photoshop, click on Selection > Modify > Expand…
Expand your selection by 2px.
Now highlight your paper layer. 

Go to Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection.

Now you have a fill to your frame. Easy Peasy!


We definitely want to add some shadows to our elements.  Without shadowing, the tag will just look flat. The secret to a good tag, is a good shadow effect.

Right click (or ctrl+click) a layer and choose “Blending Options.”
I add a drop shadow and an outer glow.  The glow enhances the effect a bit.

Now after you have hit OK, right click the layer again and choose “Copy Layer Style.”
Highlight all of your element layers (click the top one, then shift + click the bottom one) and right click again.  This time, choose “Paste Layer Style.”

It makes a HUGE difference to add shadows:


Now that we have all of that done, time to add the next details.  Tube and text.  Fun!

Choose where you want your main tube to be placed.

Now drag and drop your tube onto the canvas. Resize and adjust it to your liking. Always make sure you constrain your proportions while resizing.  Hold the Shift key while you drag the corners.

Add the same drop shadow you did before.  However, this time, go back to the initial Blending Options and tick the box for “Layer mask hides styles” option.

But why do we need that??? Well, let’s add a layer mask!

Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All

This will add a white thumbnail to your original thumbnail in the layers panel.

Grab a large round soft brush.
Make sure the white thumbnail is highlighted in your layers panel.
Now use your brush, set to black, and paint the bottom portion of the tube. Annnnd it erases! Without actually affecting the tube.

The reason we do it this way, is so the shadow of the tube is also hidden behind the mask. This makes for a much smoother transition for the “misting” of the tube.

I noticed that it just looked like something was missing after I added the tube, so I threw another flower on the tag, along with the wordart! The fun thing about tagging is… you can do that! You can just change things as your inspiration moves.

Of course, I also added the same drop shadow as the other elements.

If you would like to remove the excess shadows from around your tag, I have explained how to do that HERE. I do this to almost all of my tags, because it just looks neater that way.

Resize before adding copyrights!


Highlight the top layer of the layers panel.

Grab your text tool and add the name you would like.  Position it just where you want it and add a layer style.  This is mine:

That leave us with the non-animated version of the tag!  If you wold like to keep the JPG version, you can save here.  Simply File > Save As…  and choose the jpg option from the drop down box at the bottom of the dialog.


Here’s where it starts getting complicated. We want to add animation!

Make sure your Animation Panel is open.  Window > Timeline (or Animation, if you are on earlier versions)

You will need to click the “Create Frame Animation” button. If you do not see this button, please refer to THIS page for more information about the timeline.

You will see that your first frame is already there. 

Before we do anything to the tag, we need to make ourselves a pattern.

Open a new canvas:

Set your forground and background to black and white.

Filter > Render > Clouds
Image > Auto Contrast
Filter > Blur > Motion Blur > Direction: 90; Distance: 200
Filter > Filter Forge

The thing about Filter Forge… It is a filter collection. This means we have control over the filters we have in our collections. So, you will need to go to the website to get the filters you like. You can go download whatever you want later, but for now, we just need one.

With filter forge open, go to this page to download the filter we are going to be using in this tutorial.

https://www.filterforge.com/filters/5161.html

Once you click on the button that says “open in filter forge,” you will be headed back to the filter window for the options of that filter.

Set them like so:

Now you have a nice seamless pattern.

Just a little side note, you CAN do this larger to make a more varied pattern, but you don’t need to at this point.

Edit > Define Pattern…
Give your pattern a name you’d like.

You can now close this image without saving.

Back to your tag.

Highlight your top masked paper. Let’s add our pattern to the paper. Open the blending options to add the Pattern Overlay with these settings.

That part is done! Let’s get it to animating.

In the animation panel of your tag, duplicate the frame. This will put two of the same frames in your animation.

With the second frame highlighted, open the blending options of your paper layer again, and choose the Pattern Overlay once more.

Don’t change anything! Instead, hover over your canvas. You will notice that your cursor turns into a move tool. You can now reposition your pattern on the tag. Give a good 2 or 3 swipes to the tag to give a wide movement range. Click ok.

Highlight the first frame of your tag again.

In the upper right corner of the animation panel, click the horizontal lines and choose Tween.

I have inserted 5 frames into mine. You can choose any number you like. The higher the frames, the larger the animation will become.

You can now click play at the bottom of the animation panel to check out your creation!

If you do not like the way the animation moves, you can delete all but the first frame of the animation and reposition the pattern again until you get it just the way you like.

Oh, right!  Don’t forget to set your frame delay.

Highlight all of your frames in the animation panel. Highlight the first frame and then hold shift. Click on the last frame. Now all frames are highlighted.

Click on the little arrow beside the time of the last frame. This will bring up a popup for more “delay” options.


Now you will need to save your animation as a gif file.

In your animation dialog, use these settings:


flyinghearts My “Forever List” can find their tags in their Fotki Folders. flyinghearts