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Adobe Photoshop and Sign Making
Level: Beginner/intermediate
Date: June 22, 2004
USING ADOBE PHOTOSHOP
A SIGNLAB TUTORIAL
AND
SIGN MAKING
Tutorial
Introduction--Getting the most out of your
resources
This tutorial illustrates how to use PhotoShop together with SignLab to aid
in sign making. This tutorial requires you to have a copy of PhotoShop, and
basic level of PhotoShop knowledge.
Required: Adobe Photoshop, SignLab
Skill level: Beginner
THE END RESULT
See how to use Photoshop to enhance clip-art, text, and other vector
objects without expert experience.
We are going to start with a very simple job, and then show some basic
steps that can be applied for amazing effects.
This is the image we will initially create,
and while it does have bitmap data, it
can be printed at any size without modification.
Step 1
CREATING THE BASE
Working with SignLab and vector images
1
We start out creating our base text and clip art in SignLab.
We have added text, fit that text to an arc and imported a piece of clip art
from the SignLab clip art CD.
Select all, and group.
We need to add a stroke to the selection. Using stroke tool, give it 0.04inch
stroke (1mm) using the same colour as the fill (in this case its all process
black).
Note: This is where SignLab strength are, this
could be any vector artwork created in SignLab,
eg. A scan that has been vectorized.
Step 2
Enter Adobe Photoshop
Select All and copy to the clip board, control-C.
Start Photoshop and create a new file. Under File menu, select “New”.
Once the new document is open, select Edit menu and click paste (or control-V), it will prompt you to Paste as
Pixel
Path
Shape layer
Note: Photohop automatically detects something in the clip board, and will display height
and width of the item in the clipboard , ensure
it’s RGB color and your required resolution. I
typically use between 150 and 300dpi depending on the detail of the actual texture I want.
In this example, I would use a higher setting of
250 for best results, as there is a lot of detail
in the actual frog skin texture.
Select Pixel
You will see the SignLab text and clip art appear in the Photoshop document with a cross in it, this indicates you can resize and do other transformations with it. Don’t make changes to its size or shape, place it in the
document by
clicking on the tick in the task bar or right clicking on the image and select
place.
WORKING
WITH
PHOTOSHOP
2
Now open your layers palette F7 (or Window-Layer menu).
Your PhotoShop Window should look like
this.
Step 3
Blending Options & Layer Styles
Select the blending options from the pull out menu of the
layers Window.
You need to make sure that Layer 1 is selected (the one containing your
image from SignLab). You can access the menu either by clicking on pull
out menu icon , or by right-clicking on the layer.
3
Click the
arrow to view
the contextual
menu
Step 3
Blending Options & Layer Styles
When you select Blending options you will see the Layer styles Window
appear (right), on the left side of the palette, click on the Styles at the top
to see a list of preset styles.
You can then click on different styles and should be able to see the different effects on the frog image and text.
These layer styles are created in the blending options, this tutorial will not
The layer styles window
Note: One of the best resource for layer styles is
Adobe studio exchange. This is a free, by
registration, Adobe web site (studio.adobe.com)
which is a great resource for all Adobe users.
Once you have registered, click on the Adobe Studio
Exchange and click on Photoshop
downloads all files. You will see Filters, Actions,
Plug-ins (it’s a PhotoShop candy store) and Styles,
click on Styles (currently there is 732 available, most
are more than one style when you down load it).
For this example I did a search for “Skin” in
“Photoshop Files” and downloaded some that looked
interesting (these examples are from Scaley Critters).
clicking on the icon, gives you more info, and most
times visual examples of the styles available.
explain all the layer style attributes that can be set, there many books on
Photoshop that explain this. One I would recommend is the Photoshop 6/7
WOW book, which includes a CD with many predefined styles ready to use.
For more on this, see the “note” on this page.
Once you have downloaded these you should put
them into your PhotoShop styles folder which is typically c:\program files\ adobe\ PhotoShop 7\presets\
styles. Styles end with the extension .asl.
The styles will not be available in Photoshop until
you load them by clicking on the style menu icon and
select load styles. The new styles will be added to
your existing selection.
Once you have selected your style you can save to a
TIF or Jpeg file.
Step 4
...and now back to SignLab
Import the saved PhotoShop image into SignLab.
We could just use the imported image as is, but depending upon the output size, we may have issues with the resolution of the image not being
high enough. I want to ensure the best quality on my curves and avoid any
jagged edges, so instead I am going to use the original vectors as my clipping path.
Tip: : If you save as TIF, flatten the file first
(Layer - Flatten image), as this will make the
TIF file a lot smaller. If you save as Jpeg it will
automatically flatten the image for you.
IMPORT
BACK TO
SIGNLAB
4
Step 5
Taking it to output
Remove the stroke. This will make my clipping region 0.5mm smaller than
the actual image area and ensure that bitmap is larger than the original
artwork, so the edges will all be defined by the original vector, not the bitmap.
Note: Its important that you make sure
all you original SignLab vector art work is
grouped at this point.
Select All and go to alignment (Alt-K) and then Align both centre horizontal and vertical. You want the vector on top, so send the image to the back
(control-B).
PREPPING
Select All and Arrange-Clipping+clipping, the image will be clipped by the
original vector art work.
For inkjet output I draw a black box and send it to the back for my background to get the final output.
For Gerber Edge I give this a solid prime white and then output directly on
to black vinyl.
5
FOR OUTPUT
Step 5
Taking it to output
While using clipping paths avoids problems with jagged edges in bitmaps,
you may still get pixilation in the actual output if printed at larger sizes.
To avoid this, inside the Print and Cut setup within SignLab, go to the
options tab and you will see a slider-bar called “sampling”. This will automatically tell the RIP to resample bitmap images. Set it to about 20-25%this should avoid any pixilation occurring in the output. Note: This does
increase the RIP processing time.
Re sampling isn’t a cure all for all bitmaps, but is very effective when used
with textured fills such as these.
That’s the basics, you can read on if you would like to learn more.
WORKING WITH THE EDGE
Step 6
6
Enhancing the Image by Using Spot Color
This describes setting up the frog to print as spot color with the Gerber
Edge, the same procedure can be used to just change the colour to be used
for straight process colour printing.
With the imported frog image selected, choose Transform-Render multitone
bitmap option. Under number of tones select Tritone (3 spot colours). To
help me see how this will build up, I set all three colour to process white to
start with (don’t worry when the image disappears). Then I select a lemon
yellow as my first colour.
I want to use my yellow for my highlights, so I click on the curve dialog for
my yellow.
Step 7
Curves
WORKING WITH THE EDGE
In the SignLab curve interface, you can click on the curve and drag, by
using the following curve I have increased the use of Lemon yellow in the
highlights and reduced it in the midtones and there will be no yellow in
the shadows.
7
0: 255
5: 0
10: 0
20: 0
30: 0
40: 236
50: 0
60: 0
70: 102
80: 0
90: 0
100: 255
ADDING MORE COLORS
8
Step 8
Second and Third Colors
For my second colour I am going to select Apple green and I am going to
leave that linear (IE It will paint the image as a greyscale using the Apple
green foil).
For my third and final spot colour I am going to use Spot black. This will
give me some contrast and depth to the image. I will not use any black in
the highlights, and just add some in the midtones and shadows using the
following curve.
8
Set up your
curve like
so.
Apply spot black for the final color
Select an
Apple
Green for
the second
color
Step 8
Finish
8
Apply this now and use it in my clipping, when it prints it will now print
using spot foils (white primer, lemon yellow, apple green and spot black).
As mentioned, this will have more impact than strict process, the colours
will give it more “pop” and you won’t get the typical rosette halftone.
Complete.
Supplementary - 1
Adding a Soft Shadow on an Edge
In this last part we will look at adding a soft shadow to the frog juice
image. For output, try one of the shadow cast foils on the black vinyl it
would have the desired effect.
To add the shadow follow steps 1 & 3 (missing out 2), we want the SignLab
original art work with out the stroke. You can also get away with a lower
resolution setting of say 150dpi for the shadow.
When you select the blending options, this time click on the drop shadow
option menu in the left.
You can play with the controls and quickly get an idea for how they work.
Click OK to accept.
Select “drop shadow” from the list.
Before we save we need to remove the original art work, but keep the
selection. Control-click on the layer to create a selection.
Tip: : if you control click on a layer 1 (layer 1)
it will automatically make the original SignLab
art work the current selected area.
Supplementary - 1
Adding a Soft Shadow on an Edge
Now use Edit-Fill and select white (blending mode Normal, Opacity 100%),
Photoshop will fill the selected area with white leaving just the shadow.
Select Layers-Flatten Image and save as a TIF file.
Import the shadow image into SignLab, and while selected, click Transform”Render to multitone bitmap”. Select
monotone and the shadow cast foil, leave the curve linear.
Since I am printing to black vinyl, and don’t want to prime the shadow,
make sure you have setup the prime on the frog and text to prime solid
white.
Then select all and go to alignment (alt-K), align centre both horizontal
and vertical and send the shadow image to the back (control-B) and you
are ready to print.
Select “drop shadow” from the list.
Note: : For those users with Eye Candy plugins, you can apply this effect directly in
SignLab.
Supplementary - 2
Using SignLab with Photoshop Actions
There are lots of effects in PhotoShop that you can download as actions
(see the actions in Adobe studio exchange, there are 2952 text effects
alone).
Actions are used often with styles to enhance them by applying additional
effects such as filters (sharpen or blur). The principle is the same as with
layer styles, except the sequence is often a little different.
Actions end with the extension .atn and need to go in c:\program files\
adobe\photoshop 7.0\presets\photoshop actions\.
Note: This lesson requires the “Photoshop 6
WOW” book.
The Photoshop
“Actions” menu
Display the
Actions window
in Photoshop
with Alt+F9 or
Windows-Actions
from the menu
Supplementary - 2
Using SignLab with Photoshop Actions
I am going to use an action from the PhotoShop 6 WOW book, with the
text and clip art (sidebar) in SignLab.
The action I am going to use is called “399 Wow-Rusted & Pitted”, when
you run this action you will see the following messages.
“This Action creates a Rusted & Pitted effect (like the project on page 399)
starting with a Graphic on a Shape Layer. It also requires that you have the
Wow Project Patterns loaded from the Wow CD.”
“If the Wow Project Patterns are not loaded, or a Shape Layer is not currently active, Stop this Action now and set up your file. Once that is done
you can click the Play arrow again at the bottom of the Actions Palette to
continue.”
Start...
This action requires me to have a shape layer.
I copy my text and clip art from SignLab and then in PhotoShop do FileNew and then Edit-Paste (or Control-V), when it prompts me for Paste As:
Pixels
Path
Shape Layer
I select Shape layer (if you look at the layer window you will see it automatically creates a shape layer with your text and clip art outline). So
now I can simply continue with the action and when it’s finished I get the
image to the right
When the actions have completed
Note: Note: If you want to apply the clipping trick
and keep the back ground, then first save the completed image in PSD (PhotoShop native format).
Then in the layers Window switch off the text / clip
art layer (click on the eye in the left of the icon of
the vector object), now do layers-flatten image and
select OK to discard layers. Save the background as
a background.tif.
Open the saved PSD, do image flatten and save as a
TIF and call this foreground.tif.
Now in SignLab you can import the foreground.tif
and apply the clipping and then import the background and send to the back and you have a fully
scalable image.