Database Journal: The Knowledge Center for Database Professionals

find a web host with:
CGI Access DB Support NT Servers UNIX Servers Telnet Access advanced search

internet.com Internet News Internet Investing Internet Technology Windows Internet Tech. Linux/Open Source Web Developer ECommerce/Marketing ISP Resources ASP Resources Wireless Internet Downloads Internet Resources Internet Lists International EarthWeb Career Resources Search internet.com Advertise Corporate Info Newsletters E-mail Offers

internet.commerce Be a Commerce Partner Laptop Batteries Home Improvement Corporate Gifts Find Software Shop Cell Phones Compare Prices

X-Files Effect

You've seen X-Files, haven't you? And you liked the effect they use for their title? Something very mysterious, right. Well, it isn't as complex as you might think. All you need is Photoshop and a little bit of patience.

	Start with a RGB image and make the background black. Type something. If you are using Photoshop 4.0, hit Ctrl-E (Cmd-E on Mac) to merge type layer down. Now, open Channel Palette (Window>Show Channels) and  drag any of the channels to a New Channel icon. This will create channel #4. Double click it and rename it to "original type".
	Drag original type channel to a new channel icon to duplicate it. Double click channel #5 and rename it to "white". Then Ctrl-click (Cmd-click on Mac) on the channel to load it as a selection. Now we have to expand it a little. Use Select>Modify>Expand with setting of 2 pixels. Edit>Fill with white. Remove the selection (Select>None). Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur... with setting of 2
	Drag the white channel to a new channel icon so we can have one more channel. Double click channel #6 and rename it to "yellow". Ctrl-click it to get the selection. Again, Select>Modify> Expand... and enter value of 2. Fill it with white and remove the selection and gaussian blur it all by 3.
	Finally drag yellow to a new channel icon. Rename it to "green", Ctrl-click it, and expand by 6. Fill it with white, deselect, then blur by 10 pixels. Now, preparations are ready. Let's do it.
	Switch to channel RGB. Select>Load Selection... choose channel "green". Now pick some nice green color as foreground color. Here, this setting is used R:0 G:255 B:0 Edit>Fill... with foreground. Do the same for the "yellow" channel but use R:128 G:255 B:0 color.
	Repeat the process for the "white" channel but use plain white color.
	Finally, load "original type", Select>Modify>Contract by 1 pixel and fill with black. You are X-Filed!

Refresh Daily
Join Editor-in-Chief David Fiedler and find truth, justice, and a clue or two.

[ Site Map ] ActiveX / VBscript Animated GIF Archive Browsers CGI / Perl Database Connectivity Design / Graphics E-Commerce HTML-Advanced: DHTML, CSS HTML / Site Authoring Tools Intranet/Groupware Java JavaScript Multimedia: Audio / Video / Streaming Technologies Opinions Refresh Daily: Editorial Column Security Servers & Server Tools Site Design / Graphics Site Management / Marketing / Log File Analysis Tutorials VRML / 3D XML