Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
I'm going to show you how to create your own custom flag
waving on a flagpole. I provided two Photoshop files.
The first one is the background that will be placing our flag onto.
It includes a flagpole on a cloud background
The other file is a flag template.
It includes shapes that you can use for your own flag if you'd like to use them.
The top layer will be used as our "displacement map"
for the flag. We'll also use it to add shadows and highlights to the flag,
once the shape of it has been displaced. You can change the color of each shape
by double-clicking on "Color Overlay", clicking on the color box
and picking a different color. I set the opacity of the radial shape
to 15%. As with the other shape,
open its Color Overlay effect to change the shape's color.
At this point, let's save the top layer
as the displacement map. Click on the eyeball of the top layer to make it
visible
and click on the thumbnail to make it active. Go to File
and "Save As".
Click, "Desktop" and name it "Displacement" as a PSD file.
Then, click "Save". We can now temporarily hide the top layer.
Make the "Stars" layer active. We'll place our text above it.
Open your "Horizontal Type Tool"
and choose a font. I'm using "Freebooter Script".
If you'd like to use it, I provided that link, as well.
For this font, I'll choose a point size of 90...
"Smooth"... "Left alignment"...
and black for the color. Type out your text.
I'd like to move the bottom line to the right, so I'll click my cursor to the left
of the first character
and press and hold Alt or Opt + the right arrow key on my keyboard.
The space between the characters
is call "Tracking". To tighten or widen the tracking
of all the text, highlight both lines
and then press and hold Alt or Opt
as you press on the left or right arrow keys
on your keyboard. To increase or decrease the tracking between two characters,
click in-between them and use the same strokes.
Continue to finesse the tracking of your text.
To increase or decrease the space
or a "Leading" between your lines of text, go to "Window"
and "Character". The Character panel
will open. Highlight the bottom line and slide the Leading
icon to the left or right to slide the line
up or down. When you're done, close the Character panel.
To angle your text,
click on your Move Tool
and press Ctrl or Cmd + T to open your Transform tool.
Go to the upper left corner of the Transform tool
and when you see a curved, double-arrow, rotate it counterclockwise to an angle you like.
Click inside to reposition it. When you're happy with the size,
angle and position, press Enter or Return.
To center your text on the flag,
press Ctrl or Cmd + A and click on the "Align Horizontal Centers" icon.
To delete the selection, press Ctrl or
Cmd + D. Click on the "fx"
icon and choose "Stroke".
Cick on the color box and pick
white. Click OK and click
"Color Overlay". Click on the color box
and pick a color you like. For this example,
I'll type in 0 0 3 6 F F.
Then, click OK on both windows.
Click off the eyeball of the background to hide the layer. We'll make a composite snapshot
of the image
on your screen by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E
on a PC or Cmd + Shift
Opt + E on a Mac.
Let's add a little texture to the flag.
Go to "Filter" and "Filter Gallery". Open the Texture folder
and click, "Texturizer". The texture is "Canvas"
the "Scaling" is 50%... the "Relief"
is 2... and "Light" from the Top.
Notice our flag now has a subtle texture.
We're ready to add the "displacement map" to it. Go to "Filter"
"Distort" and "Displace". We'll make the Horizontal and Vertical Scales, 5
the Displacement Map, "Stretch to Fit"
and the Undefined Areas, "Repeat Edge Pixels".
Then, click OK. This window will appear.
Make sure "Desktop" is chosen and click the "Displacement" file
that you saved at the beginning, then click "Open".
The shape of the file has been displaced based on the tonal values of the
"displacement map".
Make the displacement layer visible
an active. Ctrl-click or Cmd-click on the composite flag
to make a selection of its shape. Click on the layer mask icon
to make a layer mask of the selection next to the active layer.
Click on the thumbnail of the displacement layer to make it active.
Change the blend mode to "Hard Light"
and decrease the opacity to taste. I'm reducing it to 67%.
To get rid of the original flag that's
under our new wavy flag, click off
all the eyeballs of the layers below the composite snapshot to hide them.
Make a composite snapshot of your flag.
To get it into the cloud background,
click on the flag and drag it onto the tab of the flagpole/cloud background.
Without releasing your mouse or pen, drag it down
onto the image and release. In the Layers panel,
drag the flag below the pole.
To resize and position the flag,
open your Transform tool by pressing Ctrl
or Cmd + T. Go to a corner
and when you see is straight, double- arrow, press and hold
Shift + Alt on a PC or Shift + Opt on a Mac
and drag it in. Click inside the Transform to reposition it.
We want to position the inside corners of the flag to overlap the hooks.
Go to "Edit"... "Transform"... and "Rotate 180 degrees.
The reason we rotated the flag is because the "Wave" filter that we'll be
applying next,
will make the flag bend in the direction we want.
Press Enter or Return to accept the Transform.
Go to "Filter"..."Distort"...
and "Wave".
Depending on the specific size and position of your flag,
you may want to use different numbers for the "Wavelength" and "Amplitude".
However, keep the "Number of Generators", 1...
the "Scale",100%... the Type,
"Sine"... and the Undefined Areas,
"Repeat Edge Pixels". You want the shape of the flag to
ultimately looks similar to this. Notice the right side
is bending in. Click OK.
Open back up your Transform Tool
and go to "Edit"..."Transform"... and "Rotate 180 degrees".
Click inside the Transform to reposition it.
Then, press Enter or Return. I'd like to increase the vibrancy of the flag colors,
so I'll click on the Adjustment Layer icon and choose
"Vibrance".
Click on the "Clip-to-layer" icon.
This forces the adjustment layer to effect
only the one layer beneath it. So, in this case,
the flag will have the increased vibrancy, but not
the clouds. Drag the slider all the way to the right.
Let's set a slight thickness to the flag.
Double click on its thumbnail to open its Layer Style window.
Click "Bevel and Emboss". Change the size to 1 pixel,
the Highlight mode to "Soft Light",
the Shadow opacity to 30%,
then, click OK. The last step
is to slightly change the perspective of the flag on the pole
so it looks like we're looking up at it more. Go to the pole layer
and shift-click on it to highlight all the layers between
it and the active layer. Open your Transform tool
and go to "Edit"... "Transform"...
and "Perspective". To see the entire Transform
on your screen, press Ctrl or Cmd + 0.
Go to a bottom corner and when you see an arrowhead,
drag it out. Then, press
press Enter or Return. To reposition it, just click on it...
and move it. Then, fit it back onto your screen.
This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV.
Thanks for watching!