Create textures with lighting effects in Photoshop
In this quick tip I will be showing you a cool technique to create textures with channels and the lighting effects filter. This technique can be used for creating numerous different effects such as realistic metal surfaces or textures like rust.
Step 1:
Create a new document and name it textures, size doesn’t matter, now go to the channels palette and create yourself a new channel, Alpha 1. Fill the channel with clouds from Filter>Render>Clouds and then go back to the RGB view by clicking on the RGB channel. Now create yourself a new layer above the background and fill it with white. With the new layer selected go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects and in the lighting effects dialogue box we will adjust some settings. You can experiment with your own settings once you understand the concept but one thing you will need to do is select your new channel Alpha 1 from the texture channel drop down menu at the bottom of the dialogue box. Below are the settings I used:
Step 2:
As far as textures go this is a very powerful technique and you can vary the results with different settings and lighting types. Add noise to the new channel to create rust like textures or even copy an image into a channel to create cool effects which is something I will cover in the near future in a more detailed tutorial.
Posted on October 18th, 2008 under Photoshop tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
