Sketch Effect in Adobe Photoshop

Photo to Pencil Sketch Effect in Adobe Photoshop

In this blog, We will learn how to change a photo into a pencil sketch effect using Adobe Photoshop's filters, blending modes and the brush tool. Also, duplicate layers and make the adjustments to certain layers, and what appears to be a pencil sketch when done.

Click on Below Video: Pencil Sketch Drawing Effect in Photoshop

11 Step to Convert Photo to Pencil Sketch Effect In Adobe Photoshop

1. Create a Pencil Sketch effect in Photoshop

It looks pretty good, but we can make a few adjustments to make it even better. With the top layer selected, click on "Create New Fill or Adjustment” layer button at the bottom of the layers panel.

Choose Levels, move the middle slider slightly to the left side. This will brighten the image a little. You need Photoshop latest version of Photoshop to follow along. Right click on a file to save it to the computer, then open the file in Photoshop.

2. Save File

Choose File > Save As with color photograph open in photoshop. Enter new name then indicate where you want to save the file. Choose a photoshop file format and then click on save.

3. Duplicate and Desaturate Layer

Open the layers panel choose Window > Layers. Right click on the background layer then selects the Duplicate layer. With the duplicated layer selected, choose the Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.

Click on Below Video: How to Transform PHOTOS into Gorgeous, Pencil DRAWINGS

4. Duplicate Desaturated Layer

Duplicate the layer and made adjustments by using the keyboard shortcut of Control J or Command J. It will give you two desaturated layers

5. Change Blend Mode

Change the Blend Mode to "Color Dodge" with top layer selected.

6. Invert Image

Choose the Image > Adjustments > Invert. The image will disappear.

7. Create a Gaussian Blur

Choose the Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Move the slider with a check mark next to "Preview" until the image looks like drawn with a pencil. Set the Radius > 20.0 pixels, which looks good for the image. Click ok.

Click on Below Video: How to Create a Gaussian Blur in Photoshop

8. Brighten The Image

It looks good, but we have to make a few adjustments to make it look better. With the top layers selected, click on "Create new fill or Adjustment layer button of the layers panel. Choose the levels, then move the middle slider slightly to the left side. It will brighten the image a little.

9. Add Details in It

You can correct it if the image loses too much detail. Select the layer > under the Levels layer, click on the Brush tool in the Tools panel. Choose the Airbrush in the Options bar. Indicate that if you want to soft and round. Set the opacity to 15% and change the flow to 100 %.

Then, with foreground color set to black in the Tools panel, go over the areas where you need to see more detail.

You can instantly change the brush size if you want to by pressing on the left or right section. If you make a mistake by going over an area that you didn't want to darken, switch one foreground to white and go over the area to lighten it.

10. Duplicate Merged Layers

Choose Image > Duplicate after you have restored detail. Place a check mark in the box it indicates you want to duplicate the merged layers only, then clicks OK. This will flatten the copy while preserving the original one.

11. Unsharp Mask

Leave the image as it is, or add texture in it. Leaving it as it produces an image that looks as though it was drawn on the smooth paper and blended in the areas. Adding texture will make it look as if it drawn on paper with the rough surface.

Choose the Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask if you want to change the texture, then change the amount to 185 %. Make the Radios 2.4 pixels and set Threshold to 4. You don't have to use these specific values – they will depend on your choices. You can play around with them to find the effect you like. A check mark next to "Preview" lets you see how the image will look before you commit so it.

Click on OK when you are happy with the values you have chosen. Choose File > Save, and you are done! You now have what seems to be a pencil sk

Choose File > Save As with color photograph open in photoshop. Enter new name then indicate where you want to save the file. Choose a photoshop file format and then click on save.

Compositing Video Tutorials

4 Impressive Compositing Video Tutorials in After Effects for Beginners

Compositing is the process of combining all the VFX elements together. So it is surprising that every great visual effect studio has a great compositor. However, you don't have to be a Hollywood level visual effect artist to composite like a Pro, all you need is your creativity and time in Adobe After Effects software.

In this blog, we are going to explain four compositing video tutorials for beginners.

4 Compositing Tutorials in After Effects

1. Basic Compositing

In this video of Dan Allan, he explains how to composite multiple 3D objects into a scene in this after effects video tutorial. As you probably know in the professional 3D modeling world artists don't just render out the final scene altogether. Instead, they combine multiple render-passes to blend the shadows, specular, ambient occlusion, and more together to create a realistic view. This video from Dan Allan shows how it been done using blending modes in After Effects.

Click on Below Video: Basic Compositing

2. Simple Compositing Techniques

There’s been a resurgence of 2D and 3D scene processing over the last few years. This technique combines traditional 2D art with the ‘live-action’ footage to create a unique and creative look. While these scenes can look surreal, it is necessary to match video characteristics like blur and noise, so your scene looks seamless. This below video tutorial from Kert Gartner shows how we can do the compositing in few minutes.

3. Compositing Tips and Tricks

This helpful video tutorial from Tunnelvision shows how to use some of the most basic techniques in After Effects software to create a realistic composite.

There are many helpful techniques to learn from this video tutorial, but one of the techniques that got stuck over is the creativity use of a blur to match the background footage. It can be very easy to drag and drop a video element into the scene without matching the camera distortion, but a great composite will try to match everything from depth of field to the saturation.

Click on Below Video: Compositing Tips and Tricks

4. VFX Breakdown - Compositing Tutorial

This video tutorial from the VFXBro is an excellent example of using lighting which help to sell your composite. The tutorial mainly focuses on keying, but the thing that helps to sell this effect is the shadow that has been motion tracked into a scene, when the shadows and reflections are created by your the objects to match the background plate, during that moment audience will have hard time to figure out which is fake and which is real.

Click Here to Download: Adobe After Affects

Click on Below Video: VFX Breakdown - Compositing Tutorial

Become a Professional Web Designer

Skills Required to Become a Professional Web Designer

Website designers are often concerned about their tangible skills. Whether you are just starting as a web designer or web developer or are looking to change careers and become a professional web designer, there are some skills that you required if you want to be successful in Web design industry. In this blog, we represent some of these key areas of knowledge that you should work to add in your repertoire as you begin down the path to become a professional web designer.

4 Skills To Become a Professional Web Designer

1) Be Familiar With the Design Process

Web design can also overlay with graphic design, which makes these schools of design very familiar. That’s why it’s a good idea for any web designer with pride in his work to also learn at least the basics of the design process. This includes the following principles:

• Color

Color is at the core of web design because it helps to establish the theme and motif of any effective design. Also, it works on the psychological, where colors influence how a site visitor views his user experience.

• Balance and Proportion

That means visual stability and equilibrium. It’s possible to get proportion in two designs: symmetrically and asymmetrically. Proportion’s commonly used to signify essential elements, thereby improving the flow of information.

• Flow

Flow is a reference to a site visitor visual movement as he experiences the website. The flow includes the proper use of depth, color, shapes, hierarchy and lines. Flow-tools include spacing, perspective and facial direction.

• Spacing

Spacing is related to the distance from one element to the other. All websites with an extensive user experience are well-spaced. Generally, space ought to be generous enough for elements to breathe while still being narrow enough to ensure the excellent readability. It’s a balancing act.

2. HTML Coding

Knowing HTML comes down to coding. Some web designers think that it’s okay not to know how to do code while others are adamant that knowing how to code is a requirement of being a reliable web designer. A well-rounded designer should know the basics of HTML coding.

As HTML is the basic framework of all web pages, a designer should know about it. As a result, a designer will be able to design with purpose and attention to usability than ever before. If you know the basic coding, then you can able to create demo sites that you have designed, you are in a better position to sell your services than other designers who don’t know to coding, and you will have a better grasp of the scope and limits of design skills.

3. Develop Business Skills

Many web designers work as a freelancer at one point or another in their careers, so it only holds to reason that you should develop all those important business skills. You are your own business, and the highly prized service you are selling is web-design talent. Without having business skills, you will be floundering in all areas of marketing yourself, finding clients, managing clients and doing all of this productively.

If you grasp how to run a business, you will be able to make decisions associated with taking on clients and projects with much more confidence than ever. Also, you will learn about the multi-tasking skills it takes to balance being a creative designer with practical talent it takes to make money and keep making more of it as you grow in career.

4. Reach Your Web-Design Zenith

Reaching the heights of the profession is what you should be striving for. It will not come overnight, but you will get there with constant determination and self-improvement. If you are highly passionate about your craft, you will automatically drift to this state of being anyhow, but you can do things to speed up the process. It's all about a web designer becoming well-rounded and perfect. The more you work on things that go beyond simply just design, the more you become a much, much better web designer.

Rule for Video Editing that Beginners Don't Know

By following this simple rules for video editing, you can make movies flow together smoothly without resorting to multiple transitions. Learn these 7 golden rules for video editing that beginners don't know.

7 Golden Rule for Video Editing that Beginners Don't Know

1. B-Roll

B-roll refers to video footage that sets the scene, reveals details, or improves the story. Example: At a school play, besides play shooting, you could get b-roll of the outside the school, faces of audience members, cast members hiding in the wings. These clips used to cover any cuts or smooth transitions from one scene to another.

Click on Below Video: What is B-Roll Footage?

2. Stay on Plane

When shooting imagine that there is a horizontal line between your subjects and you. Stay on the side of the line. By observing 180 degrees plane, you try to keep a perspective that is more real for the audience. If you are editing footage that disobeys this golden rules, try using b-roll between cuts. In this way, the change in perspective won’t be as abrupt if it’s simple at all.

3. Don't Jump

A jump cut occurs when two constant shots with the same camera setup, but a difference in their subject. It happens most often when editing interviews, and want to cut out some words or expressions that the subject says.

If you leave the remaining video shots side-by-side, the viewers will be confused by the slight repositioning of the subject. Instead, try to cover the cut with some b-roll, or use a fade.

Click on Below Video: Jump Cut Tutorial

4. Degrees

When video editing together a scene shot from multiple camera angles, always try to use the shots that are looking at the subject from at least a difference of 45 degrees. Unless the shots are too similar and appear almost like a jump cut to the viewer.

5. Cut on Motion

Motion distracts the eye from seeing video editing cuts. So when cutting from one image to another image, always try to do it when the subject is in motion. Example: Cutting from a rotating head to an opening door is much smoother than the cutting from a still head to a door about to be opened.

6. Change in Focal Lengths

When you have two shots of the same topic, it’s easy to cut between close and wide angles. So, when shooting an interview, or a long event such as a wedding, it is a good idea to change focal lengths occasionally. A wide shot and a medium close up can be cut concurrently, allowing you to edit the parts and change the order of shots without obvious jump cuts.

7. Match the Scene

The beauty of video editing is that you can take video footage shots out of order, and cut them together so that they appear as one continuous scene. To do this appropriately, though, the elements in the shots should match up.

Example: A subject who exits frame right should enter in the next shot frame left. Otherwise, it seems they turned around and walked in the other direction. Or if the subject is holding an object in one shot, don't cut it directly to a shot of them empty-handed. If you don't have right shots to make edits, then insert some b-roll in between.

Click on Below Video: Match Cuts in Film Editing

Ideally, your motivations for cutting should be to advance the narrative storytelling of video.

Importance of Publishing in Graphic Design

Importance of Publishing in Graphic Design

Auto Color effect and Auto Contrast Effect

Auto Color Effect and Auto Contrast Effects in After Effect

Auto Color effect adjusts the contrast and color of the image after analyzing the shadows, mid-tones, and highlights of the image and the Auto Contrast effect adjusts the overall contrast and fusion of colors. Each effect maps the brightest and darkest pixels in the image to white and black and then redistributes the intermediate pixels. The result is that highlights appear brighter and shadows appear darker.

Click on Below Video: Auto Contrast Effect

Because the Auto Contrast and Auto Color don’t adjust channels individually, they don’t introduce or remove the color casts.

The Auto Levels effect uses many of same controls as Auto Color effect and Auto Contrast effects.

The below mention 6 effects work with 8-bpc and 16-bpc color:

1. Temporal Smoothing

The adjacent frames range, in seconds, analyzed to determine the amount of correction required for every frame, relative to its surrounding frames. If temporal smoothing is 0, then each frame is analyzed separately, without regard for surrounding frames. Temporal Smoothing can result in the smoother looking corrections over time.

Click on Below Video: Smooth Color Transitions in After Effects

2. Scene Detect

When selected, frames beyond a scene change are neglected when surrounding frames are considered for temporal smoothing.

3. Black Clip, White Clip

How much of the highlights and shadows are clipped to the new extreme highlight and shadow colors in the image. Setting the clipping values too high can reduces detail in the highlights or shadows. A value in the range from 0.0% to 1% is suggested. By default, highlight and shadow pixels are clipped by 0.1%—that is, the first 0.1% of either extreme is neglected when the lightest and darkest pixels in the image are identified. The highest and lowest values within the range after clipping are then mapped to output white and output black. This method assures that input white and input black values are based on representative rather than extreme pixel values.

4. Snap Neutral Midtones

In this method, it identifies an average nearly neutral color in the frame and then adjusts its gamma values to make the color neutral.

5. Blend With Original

Transparency of the effect. The effect result is combined with the original image, with effect result composited on top. The higher you set the value, the less the effect affects the layer.

Example: If you set the value to 100%, the effect has no visible result on the layer; if you set the value to 0%, the original image doesn’t show through.

Click on Below Video: After Effects Tutorial How to change the Color of something in your Scene

A quick way to remove or reduce the flicker caused by fluctuations in exposure and color from one frame to next is to apply the Auto Color effect. It is useful in reducing the flicker of old film or for correcting for the flickering color of a light source.

10 Common Video Editing Mistakes

Video Editing mistakes that every Editor should know

Video Editing is about tricking the watcher into believing they are part of what's running on the scene, but there are lots of video editing mistakes that do just the opposite. Let's have a look at some of them so the editor can avoid them in edit sessions.

10 Common Video Editing Mistakes

1. Pacing

Most fundamental part of being a good video editor is understanding pacing. Depending on what is happening in the scene, the pacing of the edits can change.

If you are cutting a scene with a lot of action, you want the pacing of the edit to be fast, and once you have established that, you will want to stick with it till the scene changes and the pacing needs to change.

As an exercise, cut all the scene together, and then go back and see it again. Set an internal rhythm in your mind and look for places where a shot goes too long or is cut short. Find ways to modify the shot lengths that work with your story to form a good pace throughout.

2. Jump Cuts and Match Frames

A jump cut occurs when a video is edited so that a portion is discarded and the video is squashed together, causing the objects or person on the screen to “jump” into a different place, unnaturally popping across the screen. A match frame occurs when two shots that are similar in the composition are cut back to back.

Jump cuts and match frames are easily changed by inserting a cutaway shot to separate both of them. If you do then need to cut between two shots of the same person, compose the shots uniquely from one another either in subject size, camera angle and camera height. Always make sure that the shots are framed differently.

Click on Below Video: Match Cut - How to Create This Useful Video Editing Technique

3. Ghost Frames

Ghost frames occur when you use a dissolve the move from one shot to another, but where the outgoing shot cuts to another shot before the dissolve is finished.

What you end up with is a "ghosted" shot extended on the incoming footage for a brief moment. The simple solution is to make sure no other shot can come up in between your move. Trim the outgoing footage to where your shot ends, and make your change completes by the time that shot ends.

4. Audio Syncing

Audio syncing problems are one of the worst video editing mistakes with regards to throwing off the viewer. This is especially when it comes to speech and seeing lips moving.

When moving video around the timeline, it is possible to have things move in and out of sync. Usually, the software will let you know when this happens, but watch out for it and make sure to stay in sync.

In your timeline, if you have a problem with frame rates or sample rates slipping out of sync, locate the point at which you notice the problem, split the video, and realign the audio so that the audio and lips move in sync.

5. Audio Mixing

In some video editing situations, there will be a trained audio mixer to handle audio needs, but often this happens on the editor's long list of duties. If you have the best edit, but fail to spend the time in creating a proper audio mix, your watcher will be too busy focusing on the sound to enjoy the visuals.

Click on Below Video: 5 Basic Audio-Mixing Techniques for Editing Video

Always remember that background music should be in the background. Don't let the music conflict with sound effects and dialogue that need to be heard.

Add in sound effects that make sense. It sounds like doors shutting and footsteps go a long way to adding reality to a scene. But don't put in more sounds than you want, or you may distract the watcher.

6. Graphic Nightmares

There are a time and a place for graphics. In many movies and tv shows, they make graphics an essential part of the edit. But make sure that you are using graphics when and where they are beneficial.

And more importantly, use of graphics that add to the overall appeal of your edit instead of distracting. The design part is a different discipline than editing, so if you aren't a designer, find one who can create a graphic design to help your project along.

If this isn't an option, then remember that less is more. Improve your graphics down to one or two fonts that work well collectively, limit your color palette, and make sure that graphics are easy to understand to watchers.

Becoming a good editor takes a lot of time and practice, but avoiding these common video editing mistakes will help you get a long way towards creating great edits on any project.