A good morning to you! I hope everyone is well and in good spirits. Me, I’m so lost! LOL That’s really nothing new, tho! Seriously! Lately, there have been changes in my life. Big changes. I feel like I am struggling to stay sane! Ah, well! ”Life goes on!” ”This, too, shall pass!” And, finally, “What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger!” I have been reminding myself of these ‘catch-phrases’ over and over. It is helping – somewhat. LOL
So! I have been looking at Adobe Exchange and some of the new features of CS6. Wow! Did you know you can download an ‘Adobe Exchange Portal’ that would enable you to visit the Exchange while inside Photoshop? I am finding things to do with PS that will help in design and my art. There are all types of things you can add on to PS! I wanted to tell ya’ll about one ‘Extension’ that I have used since CS5 that I love!
Textures appeal to me! I don’t know what it is, but, there is something about adding a texture and tweeking the ‘Blending Modes’ that just thrills me. You can come up with some awesome designs/effects! I am a sucker, too, for downloading about every ‘texture freebie’ I see. When I first started playing with PS, I looked for the panel that had the textures. LOL You can add a style, a pattern, even create a ribbon with an action, but, there was not a panel/feature that would bring up and apply textures. There’s the ‘Texturizer Filter’, but, I am speaking of something that would give the artist complete control as to what kind of texture we want.
Then, I read something about an extension that brings textures in to PS. I went on a search and found it! It’s called ‘Texture Panel’ and it works in conjunction with ‘FlyPaperTextures.com’. I know it works in CS5 and CS6, but, any other versions, I do not know. You can find the script on Dr. Brown’s Script page. Russel Brown is such an awesome guy! He’s funny and smart! I am fuzzy on who came up with the idea and all that, but, I know it is a gem!
When you download it, which I do through the Extension Manager that comes with CS, and open PS, you will find it under ‘Windows’>’Extensions’. It will open as a panel. You’ll see something like this:
The textures that come installed are from FlyPaperTextures.com. The assortment is very nice! I use them a lot! For a while they were the only textures you could use in this extension. Now, though, they have added the capability, with Texture Panel open, to navigate to your hard drive, so, now, you can use all of your own textures! Talk about easy-peasy! LOL On Dr. Brown’s Scripts page, he warns you about size. I guess larger textures take a really long time to open. It’s best to go with smaller size textures. As with anything, you’ll have to experiment.
What is cool is, when you want to use a texture, you open the Texture Panel window/palette. Either select one of the FlyPpaperTextures that comes installed, or navigate to your own with the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner of the palette. Once you decide on a texture, and bring it into Texture Panel, just double click on the desired texture’s thumbnail. Wallah! The texture not only opens up, but, it goes on top of the stack of layers you currently have open. What ever layer you have selected, it goes on top of it in the Layers Palette. (I have not tried to open a texture as a stand-alone document, yet.) Then, it applies a Blending Mode; ‘Multiply’ is default, but, you can always change the mode. Then, once the texture is applied, it closes. You are left with your creation plus a texture! You really must see it! It is awesome! While I have interspersed this article with links, I repeat them here:
Texture Panel (download is second in the list) - http://russellbrown.com/scripts.html
Fly Paper Textures – http://flypapertextures.com/
Adobe Exchange Panel - http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/exchange/
Now, the final two parts to ‘Vintage Garden’. This wraps up the kit. Next month, we have something neat! So, do plan on coming back the second week of September! My previews are linked to the downloads. The first preview, the ‘elements’ lead to Part 5, and the second preview, the papers, lead to Part 6. Then, if you haven’t already been to Miss Edna’s Place, click on her preview to go to her blog to download her two parts. If you missed it, I made a layout using Miss Edna’s goodies for the photos we took of the children’s first day of school. I shared it a few posts back or click on this link.
Part 5
Part 6
Miss Edna’s Preview and Link (click on image)
There ya go! You’ve learned something and been able to download a freebie! So, kick back and enjoy! It has been raining here in sunny Florida for weeks! So,
until next time…
Hugs,
Su