Dr Photoshop

Chris Ebbert

How to Get Perfect Renderings

Renderings are the final touch to compliment your model. You can base them on sketches or 3D CAD models if you’re really clever (perfect perspective!). They do have to look like manual artwork though. That’s part of our designer nimbus, kind of like singing the chants when you’re a medicine man – it’s simply expected of you.

Again, the procedure for rendering 21st-century-style:

1. Sketch on cheap paper using whatever you like. Pencils are still best. Be prepared to bin forty to sixty pages until you have what you want. Keep going, page after page. You’ll see how your design will look better every time you draw it anew.
2. Once you’ve got it, scan it with 240 dpi. This will make it laser-printable.
3. Go into Illustrator and place your scanned image into the viewport.
4. Draw your lines using the pen tool in Illustrator. Try different types of lines and brushes. There are some interesting calligraphy options which are worth the time and effort, giving great variations of line weight. Remember, this is for lines only!
5. Click on the placed image of your sketch and delete it.
6. Save the newly drawn Illustrator line drawing as a PDF.
7. Open the PDF in Adobe Photoshop and flatten it (Image – Flatten Image).
8. Use Photoshop as outlined below.


Photoshop Magic for your Renderings:

Yes, markers, chalk, and airbrush are nice and traditional.
No, you don’t need them, as Photoshop can do everything they can, without causing the same costs and health hazards. Also, you are in much better control over your results.

Here’s the treasure chest. Use and enjoy. You will not find this information anywhere else.

To do marker style renderings: Use the paintbrush, set to a sharp boundary, with reduced opacity (50 to 80%).

To create an impression of glass: Select an area and make it look slightly milky – you do that by going “Image – Adjust –Brightness/ Contrast” – contrast down about 20%, brightness up by 10 to 20%.

To create an impression of tinted glass: Select an area and make it look slightly milky – you do that by going “Image – Adjust –Brightness/ Contrast” – contrast down about 20%, brightness up by 10 to 20%. Then go “Image – Adjust – Colour Balance”, and turn up the green or the blue just a bit.

To create the impression of fog with features in it: Any ghostly image on a dull surface will be seen as something in the fog. You need a surface first. Then you choose an image which will become your “thing in the fog”. You select it, copy and paste it onto your surface, and use the eraser tool to rub out the boundaries. Then you go to the layers and reduce the opacity to a very low setting, like 10 to 20%.

To add reflections: Any ghostly image on a shiny surface will be seen as a reflection. You need a shiny looking surface first (see “To create a surface impression like painted metal”). Then you choose an image which will become your reflection. You select it, copy and paste it onto your shiny surface, and use the eraser tool to rub out the boundaries. Then you go to the layers and reduce the opacity to a very low setting, like 10 to 20%. If your surface is curved, you may want to “squish” your selection image a bit (Edit – Transform – Scale).

To add a camera-style flare: Go Filter – Render – Lens Flare. Remember to adjust the intensity of the flare before hitting OK. Also, try the three different types of flare on offer first.

To create something resembling chrome trim: Draw a little square with the square selection tool at the end point of where your chrome trim should go. Now go Filter – Render – Lens Flare. Remember to adjust the intensity of the flare before hitting OK. Also, try the three different types of flare on offer first. When that’s done, go Edit – Transform – Scale, and pull on the side of the little transformer selection frame, all the way across your image. You can then get rid of the little transformer frame, and you will find that the selection is still active – go Edit – Copy, and you can just paste more chrome siding into your image easily that way, if you want.

To create a surface impression like painted metal: Draw a square of the correct height for your purpose with the square selection tool at the end point of where your painted metal panel should go. Now go Filter – Render – Lens Flare. Remember to adjust the intensity of the flare before hitting OK. Also, try the three different types of flare on offer first. When that’s done, go Edit – Transform – Scale, and pull on the side of the little transformer selection frame, all the way across your image. You can then get rid of the little transformer frame, and you will find that the selection is still active – go Edit – Copy, and you can just paste more metal panels into your image easily that way, if you want.

To create a material impression: Either use the texturizer (Filter – Texture – Texturizer, and select a material there), or find an image of a material and paste it into the area you want to work on. Then find your layers, activate the layer of the image you have pasted in, and reduce the opacity until what’s underneath is showing. Increase the contrast at will: Image – Adjust – Brightness/ Contrast).

To make swooping areas rather than curved ones: If your image is maximized (centre button on the very right of the blue top bar), you should be able to draw huge ovals with the elliptical marquee tool, far exceeding the image’s boundaries. That’s how you create curved selections. If you want to fill everything but your selection with a colour, go Select – Inverse. Use the paint bucket to dump the colour of your choice into your selection.

To make curved lines: If your image is maximized (centre button on the very right of the blue top bar), you should be able to draw huge ovals with the elliptical marquee tool, far exceeding the image’s boundaries. Now just go Edit – Stroke, and choose the right stroke width before you hit OK. There’s your curve.

To add 3D effect (Danger! Can look goofy if you have no taste!): First, select the curve or area you want to make 3D, e.g. with the magic wand tool. Then go Edit – Copy, Edit – Paste. Now go Layer – Effects – Bevel and Emboss, or Drop Shadow. Inside Bevel Emboss, you have several options. Try them. Remember also to play with Blur and Depth! Less is often much more.

A few final words of advice:

• Use colour sparingly
• Use highlights
• Cast shadows
• Indicate materials
• Always put your name on your renderings
• Always put the project title on your renderings
• Always date your renderings


Basic Photoshop Handling and Tips for When Things Go Weird

The following is a list of practical applications of Photoshop functions, what you can expect from them, and how to get there:

• Creating a new, empty format to work on: File – New; in the window that pops up, enter e.g.: Width: 28cm, Height: 20cm, Resolution: 240 Pixels per Inch (this gives you an A4 format). Then click OK.
• Getting images from the internet: Remember that most images belong to individuals and companies, and that it may be illegal to use them unless you have written permission. It may, however, be OK to use them if you are not planning to publish the images. GIF images are all protected, so acquiring one of them is technically illegal. This is how you get images: Do a Google image search; on the pages of pictures you get, select the right one for your purpose by clicking on it; now click on “see full size image”; then click on it with the right mouse button and save it into your own cad folder by selecting “save as” on the pop-up banner. Done. The image is now saved in your cad folder.
• Pasting images into your format or into another image: Select – All; Edit – Copy; go to the image you wish to paste into and click on it; Edit – Paste.
• Changing the size of an image you have pasted: Edit – Transform – Scale; if you want to keep the image proportions as they are, hold the shift key down while you take hold of one of the corners of the image you want to re-scale. Otherwise, the image will be distorted. To get rid of the scaling frame, click on any selection tool, e.g. the lasso or square in the tools pillar, and click on “Apply” in the window that will pop up.
• Changing the size of your entire image: Image – Size. Enter the measurements you want it to have. Remember, it will keep its proportions, unless you click on the little checkmark in front of the word “Retain Proportions”.
• Getting rid of the scaling frame: To get rid of the scaling frame, click on any selection tool, e.g. the lasso or square in the tools pillar, and click on “Apply” in the window that will pop up.
• Getting rid of the selection: To get rid of any selection, double-click into your image, using any selection tool (Magic Wand, Lasso, Square, Circle). Alternatively, click on Select – Deselect.
• “It´s not doing anything!” You may be trying to work on the wrong layer. To find the right one, find the layer window and check which one is highlighted blue. That´s the active one. If it is different from the one you want to work on, scroll up or down till you´ve found the right one. You can tell which one is correct by looking at the little image showing you the layer´s contents.
• Getting to see the layer window: Window – Show Layers
• Rulers: Window – Show Rulers
• Grid: Window – Show Grid
• Making a layer look translucent: Find the layer window. In it, there is a small window giving you a percentage reading and the word “opacity”. Click on the little arrow behind the percentage and use the sliding button to turn down the image´s opacity.
• “My images are gone!” Probably not. If you have been saving them as PSDs so far, and then switched to JPEG, the computer may not show them, but they are there. To see all your files, scroll down to “all formats” in the window you get when you click File – Open.
• Getting rid of excess material around pasted objects: The best way is to use the eraser tool. Make sure you have selected an appropriate brush tip. To do that, click Window – Show Brushes, and select one of the fuzzy ones. If you want to get rid of a very plain background, and if your pasted object has sharp contours, you can also use the magic wand tool and the backspace key.
• Brush Tips: Window – Show Brushes