Post by gems on Oct 5, 2008 0:48:49 GMT 1
Okay, so I've noticed that some sims are in desperate need of a good shadow (they aren't vamps after all ) so this will hopefully help explain how to cast the right kind of shadow for your sims
Of course, being pretty cruddy at this sort of thing myself, I have naturally got the light source totally wrong in this photo but the technique is there lol
Here's what we are aiming to create:
Now for the steps...
Step One: the magic bit
Open up an image...like so
Step Two: the separate shadow bit
Step Three: the 'don't panic' bit
Step Four: the blurring bit
Step Five: the transforming bit
Step Six: the it's behind you bit
and...well, then you are done! I decided to blur the shadow a little bit more after I was done (just return to filter > blur > gaussian blur and adjust it further)
Hope this was helpful! I'm not so great with giving out instructions so maybe it doesn't make much sense but just say if there's a step or two you didn't quite get. Oh, and this tutorial was done in photoshop CS3..it should be the same for most photoshop versions i would imagine.. <3
Of course, being pretty cruddy at this sort of thing myself, I have naturally got the light source totally wrong in this photo but the technique is there lol
Here's what we are aiming to create:
Now for the steps...
Step One: the magic bit
Open up an image...like so
Notice the sim is in a separate layer? That'll be pretty useful for later. Just for this first step though, you will need the magic wand (appropriate tool name, isn't it?). Now go crazy and select all your sim, everything you want to be in the shadow.
Step Two: the separate shadow bit
Make sure you have got everything (it doesn't have to be 100% accurate, for example the fingers don't have to be perfect, just get the general shape).
Now click on Layer > New > Layer. and entitle it 'shadow' because, well that's where your shadow will be o.o
Now click on Layer > New > Layer. and entitle it 'shadow' because, well that's where your shadow will be o.o
Step Three: the 'don't panic' bit
Now, with your sim still selected and in the 'shadow' layer, press ctrl + backspace.
Remember: don't panic! Your image is fine but it's a pretty scary sight, at least it was for me anyway..
Oh and notice, the colour palette(on the left): the bottom one, underneath the white is the colour black. Well that's deliberate. We want the shadow to be black so that has to be the bottom colour
Remember: don't panic! Your image is fine but it's a pretty scary sight, at least it was for me anyway..
Oh and notice, the colour palette(on the left): the bottom one, underneath the white is the colour black. Well that's deliberate. We want the shadow to be black so that has to be the bottom colour
Step Four: the blurring bit
Now for the blurring bit..shadows are mysterious things after all, not usually sharp around the edges like we have in our image at the moment.
To blur it go under Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. If you tick the little preview box, then you can see first hand how much to blur it by. I went with 2.0px for this one.
Once you have that sorted, click okay!
To blur it go under Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. If you tick the little preview box, then you can see first hand how much to blur it by. I went with 2.0px for this one.
Once you have that sorted, click okay!
Step Five: the transforming bit
Alrighty, now we need to put the shadow in a more realistic place. You know, so we can actually see the sim, that might be useful lol
To do this, go to Edit > Transform > Distort. A huge box like thing goes around the shadow. Click and drag on the top left and right mini boxes to pull the shadow about. Be creative Decide for yourself how you want the shadow to look (it can be long, short, skinny, wide...whatever really)
When you are satisfied, click on the little tick on the top right hand side.
To do this, go to Edit > Transform > Distort. A huge box like thing goes around the shadow. Click and drag on the top left and right mini boxes to pull the shadow about. Be creative Decide for yourself how you want the shadow to look (it can be long, short, skinny, wide...whatever really)
When you are satisfied, click on the little tick on the top right hand side.
Step Six: the it's behind you bit
So maybe your shadow should, like, be behind the sim. It'd make sense, right? To do this it's simply a matter of dragging the shadow layer and pulling in under the sim layer (told you it'd come in useful to have the sim in a separate layer )
and...well, then you are done! I decided to blur the shadow a little bit more after I was done (just return to filter > blur > gaussian blur and adjust it further)
Hope this was helpful! I'm not so great with giving out instructions so maybe it doesn't make much sense but just say if there's a step or two you didn't quite get. Oh, and this tutorial was done in photoshop CS3..it should be the same for most photoshop versions i would imagine.. <3