Just for the record… (no pun intended, har har) If you click on the tag above, you will see that it is not near as grainy as it looks on the page. Go ahead… click it! You know you want to… you dirty thing, you!
Supplies:
THIS template. Vector format for easy resize. Some effects may not be the same in older versions of Photoshop.
Feel The Beat kit.
Mask of choice. I have several to choose from HERE.
Musical animation of choice. I am using one from THIS pack.
Tube of choice. I am using one from Keith Garvey.
Font: Mishaland
Please do not use any of the licensed supplies without purchasing them first.
First off, unzip all supplies.
Open the mask you would like to use. You don’t have to use the one I have chosen.
Select > All
Edit > Copy
Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode
Edit > Paste
Select > Edit in Quick Mask Mode (uncheck)
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection
Layer > Layer Mask > Apply
Layer > Matting > Remove Black Matte
Right click the layer thumbnail in the layers panel
Select Pixels
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection
Layer > Layer Mask > Apply
Save this as a .psd on your desktop (or wherever you want)
Open a new canvas. I always use 800×800 pixels. Be sure your resolution is 72 Pixels/Inch.
I usually add a color fill layer to the tag so it is easily changed should I use it on a different color website. Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color…
White usually works with most websites.
You can drag and drop items straight from your file browser into the canvas.
Browse to the mask that you just saved in your computer’s file browser. Drag it onto your tag.
Don’t forget to set the Transformation by double clicking the layer on the canvas, or clicking the checkbox at the top of the window.
Next, choose the paper you would like to use on your mask.
Drag the paper onto the canvas above the mask.
In your layers panel, right click on the paper layer and choose Create Clipping Mask.
Place one paper for every template layer. Create a Clipping Mask for each of them.
Now, time for the elements!
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. Pay close attention to where the paper layers are. Don’t place an element between the clipping mask of the template layers.
As you can see, it is pretty random. I just place the items where I think they might work.
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 a layer (topmost works fine) and choose “Blending Options.”
I add a drop shadow and an outer glow. It enhances the effect a bit. You can play around with these settings to get the best shadows for your tag.
Now after you have hit OK, right click the layer again and choose “Copy Layer Style.”
Right click each of the element layers and “Paste Layer Style.”
It makes a HUGE difference to add shadows:
Place your tube and add the copyrights. Add the same shadow.
Add the name text to your tag and give it some style 
There is a bit of a problem here, though. You see that the shadows extend beyond the edge of our tag… We don’t want that! So here is how you can manipulate the tag to keep the shadows on top of the elements only.
This is tricky, so pay close attention.
Highlight all of your tag layers, except the white background layer.
Layer > Group Layers
Click the little arrow beside the folder icon in your layers panel to expand the group again.
CTRL+Click (cmd+click for Mac) on the thumbnail of the top layer. This will select the pixels of that layer.
Holding the Shift key, continue to press CTRL/cmd key and click the thumbnails of all other layers, EXCEPT the paper layers. This might take a few seconds.
Select > Modify > Expand: 3 pixels
Select > Modify > Feather: 5 pixels
Highlight the group folder in the layers panel.
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal Selection
This will remove most of the shadowing around the tag so you have clean edges to post your creation.
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.
Make sure your Animation Panel is open. Window > Timeline (or Animation, if you are on earlier versios)
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. But… ignore it! We don’t need it.
Highlight the layer that you would like your animation to appear ABOVE. Here is where I am placing this one:
File > Open… choose an animation that you’d like to use. To conserve space, I will be cutting the animation time in half.
You will see that all 25 layers are open and unhidden in the layers panel.
Highlight all of the odd numbered layers. Hold the ctrl/cmd key and click each one.
In the menu choose Layer > Group Layers
If you would like to use the entire animation, just highlight all of the layers and group them.
Now right click on your group in the layers panel and duplicate. BUT DON’T HIT OK, YET!
In the duplicate dialog, choose your tag from the dropdown box. If you haven’t saved by this point, you should see an “Untitled-1” option. (but you definitely should have saved before now. Remember, always save often.) Pardon the 3rd file in there… I apparently had something else open, also…
After you have chosen your tag, hit ok. You can close the animation file without saving.
Back to your tag.
You can resize and rotate the group using the Edit > Free Transform option. Be sure you are resizing the whole group, not just one layer. Don’t forget to hit the check mark at the top of the window to apply the transformation.
At the top of your layers panel, choose “Luminosity” for the blend mode dropdown.
Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All
Make sure you are on the mask portion of the layer:
Use your eraser tool to erase any portions of the animation you don’t want showing.
On the right side of your animation panel, click the 4 horizontal lines. Choose the option that says “Make Frames from Layers.”
*** Uh oh! All of the layers are hidden! But don’t worry. Just unhide the very top group layer. That will make all of your frames visible again. ***
Click on the first frame in the animation panel. At the bottom of the window, there is a trashcan icon. That deletes the frame. Delete all of the frames that aren’t part of the animation. You should be left with 25 frames.
You will see that your tag only has one animation layer visible. You want this!
You can collapse the group again now, so you don’t mistakenly unhide layers in there.
In the animations panel, click on the first frame. You MUST BE ON THE FIRST FRAME to do any kind of editing from here on out. ALWAYS make sure you are on the first frame. ALWAYS! I can’t stress that enough.
Are you on the first frame of the animation yet? Good. Now we can continue.
In the Layers panel, unhide the background layer.
Unfortunately, most of the time, that only unhides the last layer for the first animation frame. Just hide it again, and then unhide once more. Photoshop has a strange sense of background layers. It doesn’t play nice. Thankfully, the bottom-most layer is the only one you have to click 3 times. (I sure hope you got all of that. It is hard to explain…)
Now, one by one, unhide all of the layers to your tag. DON’T touch the animation layers, though! Those are already spaced out the way they should be. Leave those alone.
After you have unhidden all of your tag layers, you can click play at the bottom of the animation panel to check out your creation!
Oh wait. We aren’t done! Let’s make that vinyl spin!
Make sure you are on the FIRST frame in your animation panel.
Highlight vinyl layer in the layers panel and duplicate it.
Edit > Free Transform
Look at the top of your screen and you will see some boxes. Insert 7 in the angle option box. Be sure to click the checkmark to apply the transformation.
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 14
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 21
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 28
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 35
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 42
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 49
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 56
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 63
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 70
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 77
Duplicate this layer. Edit > Free Transform
Angle 84
(Time for some math… The angle of the transformation could vary… Divide 360 by the number of light streaks in your vinyl. This vinyl had 4. Then divide that number by the number of animation frames. This animation had 13. This will be the number you need to insert into the angle of your transformation.
(360 ÷ 4) ÷ 13
This angle was supposed to be 6.92, but I rounded to 7.)
You should now have 13 vinyl layers. Number them from 1 to 13. This will ensure that you know exactly what layer goes with what frame.
Hide all of the vinyl layers except the first original layer (1).
Highlight the second frame in the animation panel.
Hide vinyl layer 1 and unhide vinyl layer 2.
Repeat this with all of the frames. Frame 1 = Vinyl 1; Frame 2 = Vinyl 2; Frame 3 = Vinyl 3; etc.
Check out the beautimous animation by clicking the play button in the animation panel. Fantasmistic, isn’t it??
Oh, right! Don’t forget to set your frame delay.
Now you will need to save your animation as a gif file.
In your animation dialog, use these settings: (if you did the last tutorial, you will find your settings in the “Presets” dropdown box)
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial!
