pixelmator

Sweet Cookies Typography in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:24:52 +0000

Playing with text is one of the coolest things to exercise your skills with any software, at least in my opinion. You can try to make fire with the word fire or water effects with the word water. In my case today I will show you how to create a sweet cookie effect using Pixelmator.

In this tutorial we will show you how to create a nice text effect using basic filters and some stock images. The result is really good for the amount of time required to achieve it.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. I am using 1920x1200 pixels for the size. The background is white. After that select the Type Tool (T) and type the word you want. I used "sweet" with Cooper Black for the font.

Step 2

Add a new layer and then with the Brush Tool (B) with black for the color select the clouds preset. Then start painting on the edges to make the word much less uniform. Once you finish the word ad a layer underneath and fill with it white using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). Duplicate these layers a few times and hide them for future use. Select the white layer, the text layer and layer with the brush effect and merge them. Layer>Merge Layers.

Step 3

Add a new layer and group it into a folder. After that holding Command, click on the thumb of the sweet word from the previous step to create a marquee selection. Select the folder and go to Layer>Add Layer Mask.

Step 4

Now let's use some cookies texture. The image I am using is from Bryan Solomon and it's called Three Peanut Butter Cookies Isolated on a White Background. The image is courtesy of Shutterstock.

Step 5

Add the images of the cookies inside the layer with the mask.

Step 6

Delete the areas where the cookies that overlap each other.

Step 7

Select the layer with the word "sweet" and the layer with the brush effects. Merge both and then go to Edit>Stroke. Use white for the color, 10 pixels for the width and Inside for the Position.

Step 8

Go to Image>Invert Color.

Step 9

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 8 pixels for the Radius.

Step 10

Change the Blending to Soft Light. Duplicate the layer once again and hide it.

Step 11

Select the Eraser Tool (E) and start deleting the top and left sides of the visible layer from the previous step. The idea is create the shadows on the bottom and right only as if the lights are coming from the top left.

Step 12

Make the other layer visible and then go to Image>Invert Colors. Change the Blending to Overlay at 40%. Then with the Eraser Tool (E) delete the bottom right of the layer to create a highlight at the top left.

Step 12

Let's add a background to make the effect a bit more realistic. The image I am using is called Texture Series - Old aged antique parchment manuscript for background use. Reduce the opacity to 40%.

Conclusion

Using the same layer of the Step 2, make sure it's all in black and merged with a white background. Then move the layer so it will be underneath the cookies text. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use 4 pixels for the radius. Duplicate the layer and apply the blur again with 10 pixels for the radius. Change the Blending of both layers to Color Burn and move them down a little bit to create a really nice shadow effect.

Download the Pixelmator file

Click here to download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial

About the author

Abduzeedo is a blog about design. There are all sorts of articles for those who want to look for inspiration. Also you will find very useful tutorials for the most used applications out there, with a special selection of Photoshop Tutorials and Illustrator Tutorials. You can get in follow us via Twitter at @abduzeedo

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Awesome Light Effect in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 06:28:23 +0000

Pixelmator is a really cool tool for image manipulations and editing. It is a really versatile tool for some photo manipulations and the new version of the tools, the 2.0 has a brand new text tool with more options. So I decided to create a light effect using Pixelmator.

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a really cool light effect playing with some photos and basic filters in Pixelmator. The effect is quite simple and it won't take you more than 30 minutes to achieve the same effect.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and import an image of a light bulb. The one I am using is from Tischenko Irina and it's called Glowing lamp on black background. The image is courtesy of Shutterstock. Note: Make sure that the filament is in the first plane.

Step 2

With the Eraser Tool (E) delete the parts of the glass that are being reflected.

Step 3

With the Brush Tool (B) click ALT to select a color. Pick the ones closer to the filament but not the filament, we need the yellow behind it so we can hide the filament. Add a new layer and start painting to hide the filament. That are we will add our text.

Step 4

Add the text you want. I added the word Pixelmator using Edwardian Script with white for the color.

Step 5

Duplicate the text layer and then go to Layer>Convert into Pixels. After that go to Edit>Stroke. Use yellow for the color, 3 pixels for the width, Outside for the Position. Make sure that the Preserve Transparency is not selected.

Step 6

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 4 for the Radius. After that add a new layer and fill it with black using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). Merge the blurry layer with the black layer, then change the Blending to Color Dodge.

Step 7

Duplicate the blurry layer from the previous step and go to Filter>Blur>Zoom Blur. Use the image below for reference. After the filter make sure that the Blending is Color Dodge and change the Opacity to 35%.

Step 8

Let's import some lens flare to make the effect more realistic and a bit cheesier :) The ones I am using can be found here and then desaturate the color and increase the contrast so you have something like the image below.

Step 9

Change the blending of the lens flares to screen. Note that I moved them to the connection of the word with the rest of the light bulb.

Step 10

Add a new layer on top of the others and go to Filter>Generator>Clouds. Make sure you have black and white for the color. Also go to Layer>Add Layer Mask. Apply the clouds filter in the layer mask too.

Step 11

Change the blending mode of the clouds layer to Soft Light at 60%.

Step 12

Select all layers and duplicate them. Merge all the duplicated icons into one and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 5 for the Radius. After that duplicate the layer. Select one layer and go to Image>Desaturate and change the Blending to Overlay at 50%. For the other layer, change the Blending to Screen at 50%.

Conclusion

After a few blending changes and some basic filters we have a nice light effect done. It works really well for wallpapers and you can apply the same technique for other ideas. Now it's up to you.

Download the Pixelmator File

Download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial

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Super Easy Vintage Look to Photos in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 02:49:47 +0000

Vintage looking photography is super trendy especially with so many apps for Android and iPhone, apps like Instagram, Hipstmatic and so on. The vintage look is cool and easy to create in Pixelmator especially light leaks. That's why I decided to give it a try.

In this tutorial I will show you how to add a super cool vintage look to your photos in Pixelmator 2.0. The tutorial is very simple, it has 10 steps only and I'm sure you will have a lot of fun playing around with your photos.

Step 1

Open the photo you want to apply the vintage look in Pixelmator. The one I'm using is from ssuaphotos called beauty young woman blowing soap bubbles in summer day and you can find it here: http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-57812896/stock-photo-beauty-young-woman-...

Step 2

Duplicate the layer of the photo and go to Image>Colorize. Reduce the Saturation to 25 and keep the Lightness at 0.

Step 3

With the layer you just applied the Colorized adjustment selected go to Layer>Add Layer Mask. After that with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush with grey for the color start painting on the mask over the soap bubble and her face in order to hide that part of the layer. The idea is to let her face and the soap bubble in color while the rest in that sort of sepia tone.

Step 4

Add a new layer and the with the Paint Bucket Tool (N) fill it with black. After that with the Brush Tool (B) and white for the color start painting on the center of the layer. Use the image below for reference, also if you want you can apply a Gaussian Blur to make it more subtle.

Step 5

Change the Blending of the layer to Multiply at 30% in order to create a vignette effect.

Step 6

Add a layer on top of the others and with the Paint Bucket Tool (N) fill it with black, after that with the Brush Tool (B) and red for the color paint some spots that you want to create a light leak effect. Once you have the red spots, still with the Brush Tool, select yellow for the color and then paint some smaller yellow spots over the red ones. Use the image below for reference.

Tip: Use the motion blur with 90º angle to make the effect more realistic.

Step 7

Change the Blending to Screen to create a really nice light leak effect.

Step 8

Repeat the same thing to create the flares effect over her shoulder.

Step 9

Select all layers and duplicate them, after that, with all the duplicated copies selected go to Layer>Merge Layers. You will have one layer with all the effects merged. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 10 for the Radius.

Step 10

Duplicate this layer once, you will have 2 blurry layers. With the one on top change the Blending to Screen at 50% and the one that is beneath, use Soft Light at 50%.

Layers Order

Conclusion

You can add an old paper texture like a did in the final result, I'm using an texture from Shutterstock which you can find it here. For the Blending I used Multiply at 20%. Notice in the previous step that the light leaks layers are on top of the others, even though we have the merged layers. That's because I wanted to increase the strength of the light effect. Now it's up to you trying it with your own images.

Download Pixelmator File

Download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial

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Captain America Shield in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 04:00:34 +0000

It is been a while since the last time we published a Pixelmator tutorial and now with Pixelmator 2.0 out there and App of the Year we decided to show more love to this really cool tool. We will be creating weekly Pixelmators tutorial here on Abduzeedo alongside with our Photoshop, Illustrator and Fireworks tutorials.

So in this tutorial we will show you how to create the Captain America Shield using Pixelmator only. The process is quite simple and won't take you more than 30 minutes.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. I am using 2560x1440 pixels for the size. After that with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the background with the default black/grey radial gradient.

Step 3

Pixelmator 2.0 has some amazing new features like vector shapes. So select the Ellipse Tool and create a circle. After that go to Shape Settings and change the fill color to red (#d51a37).

Step 4

In the shape Settings options you can now add shadow as well. So mark the Shadow option and use Black for the color, 90º Angle, 10px Offset and 30px Blur.

Step 5

Add 3 more circles. A light grey, another red and a blue. After that add a Star like te image below. Note that I added shadow to the internal circles as well, however I used 5px for the Offset and 2px for the blur. Another important thing you can do is duplicate the circles and change their colors to white and move them 2px up and make sure that they are underneath the original ones. The idea here is to create a highlight.

Another important thing is to make all the circles clipping masks of the bigger circle.

Step 6

Add a new layer and also go to Layer>Create Clipping Mask. Fill this new layer with white using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). After that make sure you have black and white for the background and foreground color. Then go to Filter>Style>Noise. Use 30% for the Amount and select Monochrome.

Step 7

Now go to Filter>Distort>Twirl. Use 500 px for the Radius and 720º Angle.

Step 8

Repeat that 6 times to make the effect stronger.

Step 9

Change the Blending to Multiply. After that duplicate the layer to make the effect stronger again.

Step 10

Select the Gradient Tool (G) and then create a new gradient preset. Use Angle for the type and then use white, black, white, black and white. Add a new layer and again make it a clipping mask. Fill the layer with the new gradient like the image below.

Step 11

Change the Blending to Multiply at 60%, after that duplicate it and change the blending of the new one to Hard Light at 60%.

Step 12

Now let's make the effect more real by applying some textures. The one I am using is from maxstockphoto and it's called Metal plate background texture. Courtesy of Shutterstock.

Step 13

Change the blending to Overlay at 30%. After that go again to Filter>Distort>Twirl. Use the same presets of the Step 7.

Step 14

Duplicate the layer again and change the blending to Color Burn at 33%.

Conclusion

Now just add some texture on the background as well. The one I used is from Kompaniets Taras and it's called seamless silver metal texture with empty place for your text or image.

As you can see the process was very straightforward and Pixelmator with its new tools make it easier to play with basic shapes like circles, rectangles, stars and so on. This effect can be used to create nice UI buttons as well. But now it's up to you.

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Download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial

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Radar Icon in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:27:31 +0000

A few weeks ago I showed you how to create a Mac style icon using Photoshop. It was a radar one inspired by the Network Utility icon. As I like to play with all tools I decided to give it a try in Pixelmator as well.

So, in this tutorial I will show you how to create a beautiful Mac style icon using Pixelmator. I will show you how to create some bevels and light effects that are very characteristic of these icons.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document, I'm using 1024x1024 pixels. After that fill the background with a dark grey and add some noise using black for the background. Once you have the background with the Ellipse Marquee Tool (M) create circle and fill it with a 50% grey.

Step 2

Duplicate the circle and then go to Edit>Free Transform and resize it so it's slightly smaller. After that go to Edit>Load Selection to create a marquee selection of the smaller circle.

Step 3

Select the big circle with the marquee selection active and hit the Delete key to delete that area of the big circle. If you hide the small one you will have a result like the image below.

Step 4

Duplicate the grey border we created in the previous step and change the Blending to Screen in order to make it lighter.

Step 5

Duplicate the border again and fill it with black then, there are 2 ways to do that, once is using the Paint Bucket Tool (N) and the second one, which I prefer is to go to Filter>Color>False Color. Then just make sure that you have black as the background color before applying this filter.

After that go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 for the amount. Then move it down a little bit. Use the image below for reference.

Step 6

Duplicate the grey border again and use the fake color filter but this time to convert it to white. Then go again to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 again for the amount. After that resize it a little bit in order to make it a slightly smaller.

Another thing you will have to do here is this, add a new layer and fill it with black, this layer will be beneath the white border. After that merge the two layers and change the blending of the merged layer to Linear Dodge.

Step 7

Group all layers used to create the metallic border. After that create another circle that will be the center of our radar. Use black for the color and it will be beneath the border group.

Step 8

Go to View>Show Gradient. Create a new gradient preset and then use radial for the type and for the colors use black and #926007 for the center color.

Step 9

Duplicate the black circle in the center and resize it in order to make it slightly smaller. After that go to Edit>Load Selection. Then with the Gradient Tool (G) fill the circle with the gradient where the center will be at the bottom of the circle. Use the image below for reference.

Step 10

Add a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) and with a very soft brush and #926007 for the color paint a light spot on top of the center of the circle with gradient. Notice that the circle marquee selection is still active.

Step 11

Add a new layer on top of the previous two layers. Now with the Brush Tool (B) and still with the same very soft round brush, use black to paint on the sides of the circle in order to create some depth.

Step 12

Add a new layer then fill with black. With the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) create a thin rectangle and fill it with white in order to create a line.

Step 13

Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and use 2 for the Radius. After that change the Blending to Color Dodge. You will get a really nice light effect. Duplicate this layer and rotate it 90º.

Step 14

Duplicate both layers and apply more gaussian blur to them in order to create a glow.

Step 15

Duplicate the black circle that we created in the step 7 then change its order so it is on top of the others. After that resize it so it will be much smaller like the image below. To create the light effect is very simple. The circle will be black already so go to Edit>Stroke. Use a inner stroke of 3 in white. After that change the Blending of the layer to Color Dodge and apply a Gaussian Blur of 2 or 3 for the radius. You can also duplicate this layer and apply more blur to create the same glow as we did in the previous step.

Step 16

Repeat the same thing we did in the previous step to add another white stroke circle.

Step 17

Add a new layer and fill it with Black. Notice this layer will be on top of the others but beneath the metallic border. After that with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft and round brush create some white spots.

Step 18

Change the Blending to Color Dodge and you will have a super cool light effect.

Step 19

Add a new layer and with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) create a rectangular selection and fill it with black, after that create a thinner rectangular selection over the black area and fill it with white. Change the Blending to Color Dodge and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 5 for the radius. After that just go to Edit>Free Transform and rotate it 45º, then align it as I did in the image below.

Step 20

In order to create a sort of ghost tracking light effect for that rectangle as it is rotating let's use the Gradient Tool (G). Create a new gradient preset using Angle for the type and black and white for the colors. Once you have the gradient preset, add a new layer and create a circle the same size as the radar center one. Then fill this circle with the gradient we created. Rotate it so the white part is exactly over the rotating bar.

Step 21

Add a new layer on top of the other radar elements but beneath the border. Then create an elliptical selection of the center circle, just select the center circle and go to Edit>Load Selection. After that select the new layer and then with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M) change the type to ellipse and then holding ALT create another selection a little bit below the center of the previous selection. Use the image below for reference.

Step 22

Fill the selection with white and reduce the opacity to 10% and you have created a nice glossy effect.

Conclusion

Select all the layers used to create the center area of the radar and duplicate them, after that merge the duplicated layers into one and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 for the radius and then change the Blending to Screen at 50% Opacity. That will increase the glowing effect.

As you can see, we created a very Mac style icon using Pixelmator only. We didn't have any specific filter for bevels but there's always ways to overcome that. Now it's up to you.

Download the Pixelmator File

Click here to download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial

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UPDATED: Pixelmator Christmas Giveaway

nathanbweller — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 14:11:41 +0000

So yesterday's giveaway went great. In fact, it was so popular that some flaws in how we were judging the winners of the giveaway came to the surface very quickly (we're in the process of making sure everyone from yesterday is taken care of). So today we'd like to make one change that should clear everything up for today's Pixelmator Christmas Giveaway. Commenting.

At 1pm EST today (Wednesday), I will be posting the below image to the Abduzeedo facebook page. The rules are simple, the first 5 to COMMENT "Abduzeedo" (reasonable typos accepted) on the image will get a free copy of the Pixelmator software. This will go even faster than yesterday's contest so I'll be extra careful to be precise on the time. 1pm EST - on the dot!

About the author

Hi, my name is Nathan Weller. I'm a Columbus Ohio based artist, blogger and freelance consultant. I manage business development here at Abduzeedo. If you'd like to partner or advertise with us, email me at nathan[@]abduzeedo.com. I also write for some other cool blogs and post everything I write on twitter. If I'm not working then I'm either tinkering around with personal projects or posting cool stuff as I find it on my Tumblr. If you're passionate about art or even an artist yourself, I'd love to connect and learn about what you do :)

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Codemyconcept Winners & Tomorrow's Pixelmator Giveaway!

nathanbweller — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:14:15 +0000

Wow, what a response! I'm not sure I've ever seen an image explode with tags on Facebook like that! And I'm sure everyone who is still frantically tagging and commenting, trying to figure everything is wondering who the winners are…

So here we go, these are the winners:

Winners of $500 codemyconcept gift cards and t-shirts

1. Paul McDonough

2. Hugo Oliveira

3. Abrar Ahmad

4. Ben Albers

5. Alex Gurghis

6. Kyle W Martin

7. Aarikamarino (**need your email**)

8. Kelly Baker

9. Jonathan Dolan

10. John Wilson

Winners of $500 codemyconcept gift cards

1. Andy Shin

2. Gieljan Vantyghem

3. Frankie Frank

4. Ahmed Ziab

5. Jessica Emberson

6. Victor Samaue

7. Fabe Rnhrt

8. Angelo Ferreira

9. Jonathan Mitchum

10. Rory Geraghty

Winners of Wordpress packages from codemyconcept's new project, custompsds.com

1. Brennan Matthews Griffith

2. Tuxu Arts

**Note: Winners will receive a message today on facebook telling them how to collect on their winnings**

And a prize for everyone….

50% off any five page project in 2011! Is it free? No, but we gave away as much as possible. With this deal, you can get a half off on any five page project you might have in the coming year, and support your favorite source of inspiration in the process :)

So what's happening with tomorrow's giveaway?

At 1pm EST tomorrow (Wednesday), I will be posting the below image to the Abduzeedo facebook page. The rules are simple, the first 5 to tag the image with their name will get a free copy of the pixelmator software. This will go even fast than today's contest so I'll be extra careful to be precise on the time. 1pm EST - on the dot!

UPDATE: WE WILL NOT BE USING TAGGING TOMORROW. YOU MUST COMMENT! FIRST 5 COMMENTS OF "ABDUZEEDO" WILL WIN.

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Pixelmator Giveaway - Winner

fabiano — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:32:23 +0000

Last week we showed you the amazing Pixelmator Office, and besides that Saulius also gave us a copy of Pixelmator to give away on Abduzeedo. Today we will announce the winner!

Pixelmator, the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images.

Winner

Last week we launched a giveaway from Pixelmator. And the winner of a Pixelmator copy is:

Samir

Congratulation man! We will get in touch to you soon! And if you're not the winner and want to know more about Pixelmator, stay tunned on Twitter at @pixelmator.

Some photos from Pixelmator office

If you want to take a look on more photos, visit the other post at abduzeedo.com/pixelmator-office-photos-1-copy-giveaway.

More about Pixelmator

If you want to know more about this powerful image editing tool, visit: pixelmator.com.

About the author

I'm from Brazil, co-founder of Zee with Fabio. Nowadays I like to play with Fireworks, Photoshop and improve my skills in CSS. If you wanna request some posts, please feel free to contact me or follow on Twitter.

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Pixelmator Office Photos - 1 Copy to Giveaway

fabiano — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 11:39:21 +0000

Pixelmator has been growing in a fast pace since 2007, not only in terms of popularity but their team has increased considerably too. They also have moved to a new office and thanks to Saulius, we will share with you a little bit of the workspace where the Pixelmator guys come up with their crazy ideas. But that's not all, we've also gotten a copy of Pixelmator to give away.

Founded by the brothers Saulius and Aidas, today Pixelmator has 9 people on the team helping to create the software that is called "the best image editor for the rest of us." And we have to say that the working environment of those guys over there is inspiring. Based in London, it differs a little bit from those "organized" offices with everything in their proper places, and shows an area with so much life and personality into every corner.

About the giveaway

We'll be giving away 1 copy of Pixelmator. To win, simply follow Pixelmator on Twitter @pixelmator and tweet or add a comment below showing why you must win this Pixelmator. Next week we will be announcing the winners

Pixelmator, the beautifully designed, easy-to-use, fast and powerful image editor for Mac OS X has everything you need to create, edit and enhance your images.

More about Pixelmator

If you want to know more about this powerful image editing tool, visit: pixelmator.com.

About the author

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Water Text in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 11:09:41 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create text with water effects. To do this, we will use some stock photos with masks and image adjustments. I will also show you how to create bevels using Pixelmator.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. I used 1440×900 pixels. Also, keep the background white.

Step 2

With the Type Tool (T), add a text. I typed “WATER” using Arial black for the font. The color here doesn’t matter because we will use it to mask images. To create a marquee selection of the text, just click on the thumb of the text layer while holding the Command Key.

Step 3

Now, let’s use a photo of water. The one I used was courtesy of Shutterstock, and you can find it here. Import it and place it in your document. Go to Edit>Transform and reduce its size; also, duplicate it 3 times, always flipping the new copy horizontally. That way, you will be able to match the sides. Use the image below for a reference.

Step 4

With the marquee selection of the text active, go to Layer>Add Layer Mask; that way, the photo will show only on the text area. You will have to repeat this 2 more times for the duplicated layers of the photo.

Step 5

To make the water more realistic, let’s use another photo. You can find one here. This one is of some water bubbles. To make the colors of the images match, go to Image>Colorize. Move the little controller to the cyan area and increase the saturation to over 70. We will use this often for other images throughout the tutorial so keep that in mind. You also will have to try different values depending on the imagery you are using.

Step 6

Repeat the Masking process so the bubbles will be within the text area. The result here already looks pretty cool.

Step 7

To spicy it up a little, add some water splashes. The ones I used can be found here, courtesy of Shuterstock, once again. You also will have to colorize them in order to make the colors match, exactly like we did in Step 6.

Step 8

Select all layers but the white background and duplicate them. Merge all the duplicated layers (Layer>Merge Layers) and then go to Edit>Flip Vertically. Move this upside down text right below the text aligning the words. After that, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur; use 20 for the amount.

To finish the effect, go to Layer>Add Layer Mask, then select the Gradient Tool (G) and a linear gradient from black to white. Mask the layer in which the black area will be hidden and the white will be shown. Use the image below for reference or download the PXM file in the end of the tutorial.

Step 9

Add a layer on top of the others and fill it with a very subtle gradient. Use the Gradient Tool (G), and for the colors, use Grey to White and play with the Opacity in order to make it very, very subtle, exactly like the image below.

Step 10

Let’s now place a photo of some water droplets. The one I used can be found here. The image is in grey scale, so go again to Image>Colorize and change the color of the image to this cyan scheme we are using.

Step 11

Put this layer beneath the other layers; also, change its opacity to 55%. After that, go to Edit>Transform. Then, the Transform panel will open. Click on the little gear icon and choose perspective. Then, apply the perspective I used. Use the image below for a reference, but basically, the only thing you will have to do is move the controllers on the bottom area while holding shift to make them wider than the top area.

Step 12

Duplicate the droplets layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 30 for the amount.

Step 13

With the Eraser Tool (E), delete the areas close to the text in order to remove the blur. Also, notice that the horizon is sort of fading out. That’s because I added a gradient from white to cyan and applied an overlay for the blending.

Step 14

Again, repeat the “WATER” text with the marquee selection like we did in Step 2; however, this time, the text has to be black.

Step 15

Go to Edit>Stroke. Use white for the color and 5 for the width. Also, make sure that the Inside option is selected.

Step 16

Now, still with the marquee selection active, go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 15 for the Radius.

Step 17

Just change the Blending of the layer to Color Dodge and you will already have a really nice bevel effect.

Step 18

With the Eraser Tool (E), delete the bottom left areas of the bevel to try to match the droplets.

Step 19

Select all layers and duplicate them. Then, merge all of them into a layer and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 for the Radius.

Step 20

Change the Blending to Screen.

Step 21

Add a new layer on top of the others and fill it with cyan using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). Then, change the Blending to Color Burn with 30% Opacity.

Step 22

Now, add another layer, this time, beneath the cyan layer and fill it with a radial gradient from white in the center to grey. Change the Blending to Multiply with 25% for the Opacity.

Layers Order

I love that we can now have groups of layers in Pixelmator.

Conclusion

This is the outcome you will have. The idea is pretty simple and straight forward; we are just mixing some photos and masking them with text. However, I believe the Bevel technique will be very useful for your projects in Pixelmator because there is no filter for that yet.

Download the Pixelmator File

Click here to download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial.

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Stylish Light Effect in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 06:53:02 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a really nice light effect using basic filters and tools in Pixelmator. The idea is to create an image with that 80s feeling in it but modern as well.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. The size I am using is 1440×2000 pixels. After that, import a photo of a girl; the one I’m using is courtesy of Shutterstock and you can find it here.

Step 2

Duplicate the layer of the girl and go to Image>Hue and Saturation. Increase the Saturation to 20.

Step 3

Now the color of your image will be a little bit more saturated, in this case warmer as well.

Step 4

Duplicate the layer of the girl, the one on which you increased the saturation, and go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Use 20 for the radius. So you will have a pretty blurry image on top of the other. The idea here is to make the girl’s skin super smooth.

Step 5

With the blur layer selected, go to Layer>Add Layer Mask. Then with the Brush Tool (B) and a very soft brush, start painting on the layer mask over the eyes, nose and mouth in order to hide the blurry layer. So you will have all the details in those areas but keep a super soft skin. This is not supposed to be highly realistic, so there won’t be any problem in doing that.

Step 6

Now, duplicate the layer with no blur and go to Image>Desaturate. Rearrange this layer so it will be on top of the others. After that, change its Blending to Soft Light.

Step 7

Add a new layer and with the Brush Tool (B) and the same soft brush, start painting with black in order to hide the background. Leave just her face with a part of her hair and neck. Use the image below for reference.

Step 8

Still with the Brush Tool selected, add a new layer on top of the others and start painting with red and orange on to bottom left, and top right and left. Play with the opacity of the brushes; these colors have to be very subtle.

Step 9

Now let’s use another image. You can do that using brushes if you want as well; however, I use a stock photo from Shutterstock. You can find it here.
Position the image on top of the other layers and change the Blending to Hard Light at 40% Opacity.

Step 10

This will be the result you will have after these 10 steps. The concept is pretty much done. Now let’s just add a few more effects.

Step 11

Add a new layer beneath the lights layer from the previous one. After that go to Filter>Quartz Composer>Generator>Defocus. Use the image below for the values.

Step 12

You will have an effect like the image below. Change the Blending to Color Dodge. After that, go to Image>Levels. Increase values of the white input in order to make the bokeh stronger.

Step 13

If you didn’t like how the bokeh was rendered, simply try a few more times until you get a nice result. You will also have to delete the bokeh effect that is over the girl’s face. I also added a little lens-flare effect next to her eye. That lens flare is from a photo that you can download for free at http://www.williams.edu/astronomy/IAU_eclipses/jmp_eclipse03_04.jpg.
Resize the image and use Screen for the Blending.

Step 14

Add a new layer on top of the previous one and go to Filter>Generator>Sunbeans. Make sure you had black and white for the colors. Move the controller far to the top right and use the image below for the values.

Step 15

Add a new layer and fill it with black. This layer will be beneath the one you applied the sunbeams filter. Select both layers and merge them into one. Change the Blending of this new layer to Color Dodge. You can go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur and add some blur to the rays.

Step 16

With the Eraser Tool (E) and a very soft brush, delete most of the rays, leaving just the area over the girl’s face and the top right. Also reduce the Opacity to 40%.

Step 17

Duplicate the rays layer and move it to the top a little bit. After that, change the Blending to Soft Light. After that add a layer on top of the others and fill it with yellow. Change this layer’s Blending to Soft Light at 15%.

Layers Order

Conclusion

Now, it’s all about adding some noise and your logo. The effect is done. We basically played with brushes and blendings to create this effect. Now it’s up to you to apply the technique to your own projects.

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Cubes Mosaic in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 08:56:22 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a really nice effect from mixing a mosaic pattern with a photo. We will play around with masks and other basic filters, but the outcome will be very cool.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator, and create a new document. I am using a size of 1440×900 pixels. Fill the background layer with black, and import the cubes pattern texture by clicking here. Insert it into your design.

Step 2

With the pattern selected, go to Filter>Tile>Affine Tile. Use 0 for the Angle, 0.40 for the Scale, 1 for the Stretch, and 0 for the Skew.

Step 3

Reduce the Opacity of the layer to 20%. Make sure that the background is set to black.

Step 4

Using the Magic Wand Tool (W), select one of the sides of the cubes and create a new layer with it by inverting the selection and deleting the rest of the layer.

Step 5

Repeat the same procedure for the other side of the cube, and create another layer. These two sides will be used to mask the photos.

Step 6

Now, let’s import a photo. The one I am using is courtesy of Shutterstock and can be downloaded by clicking here. Insert it in the center of the design, and duplicate it twice, so that you have three layers that include the girl.

Step 7

In one of the layers, go to Edit>Transform, then click on the little icon on the left, the little gear, and select Skew. Distort the photo following the cubes’ angle. Next, go to Filter>Blur>Guassian Blur. Use 15 for the radius.

Step 8

Holding down the Command key, click on the thumb of the layer of the sides of the cube layer created in step 5. Then select the distorted photo from the previous step, and go to Layer>Add Layer Mask.

Step 9

Repeat the same procedure from step 7 with the other layer of the girl.

Step 10

Again, mask the layer but use the other side of the cubes layer. That way you will have a sort of deconstructed photo that follows the cubes pattern.

Step 11

Now, make the non-distorted layer of the girl visible, and rearrange the order, so that it is behind the two other distorted layers. After that, group the three layers and rename the group “Girl.”

Step 12

Using the Lasso Tool (L), create a marquee selection of one of the cubes. Add a new layer, and fill the marquee selection with black. You will now have a hexagon. Go to View>Show Brushes. Drag the layer with the hexagon to the brush palette, in order to create a new brush.

Step 13

Now select the “Girl” group, and go to Layer>Add Layer Mask. Then, using the Brush Tool (B), select the hexagon brush created in the previous step and use black to begin painting over the mask area to be hidden. Make some cubes visible by hiding sections of the “Girl” group.

Step 14

Duplicate the hexagonal pattern layer, and rearrange it, so that it is in front of the other layers. Next, change the Blending to Soft Light.

Step 15

Add a new layer on top of the others, and fill it with black. Change the Blending to Multiply, and select the Brush Tool (B). Using the color white and a big and very soft brush, begin painting in the center of the document in order to create a vignette effect.

Order of the Layers

Conclusion

This method is an extremely simple technique with a really nice outcome. It is all about playing with a pattern and mask. It is now up to you to come up with different ideas and ways of using Pixelmator.

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Lens Flare Revisited in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 09:57:50 +0000

In this tutorial I will show you how to create a very neat lens flare effect in Pixelmator. It’s true: the terrifying lens flare is back, and it can be really cool to use as wallpaper, as I’ve been doing.

This tutorial is part of series of tutorials I have been writing for the Pixelmator Learn site.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. Go to View > Show Gradients. Create a new radial gradient using purple (#4b0026) and black for the colors. Fill the background with the radial gradient so the purple is in the center.

Step 2

Add a new layer and change the Blending to Color Dodge, then create a new gradient preset. Use Radial for the type and black and white for the color. Fill the new layer with this gradient so the white is in the middle. Because of the color dodge, you will already have a really nice light effect.

Step 3

Add a new layer. Using the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), create a rectangle and fill it with black, then create a narrower rectangle and fill it with white. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use 10-15 for the Radius.

Step 4

Change the Blending of the rectangle to Color Dodge to create another light effect.

Step 5

Duplicate the layer that has the rectangle light effect and move it down slightly. Resize it to make it thinner.

Step 6

Add a few more light streaks using the same technique.

Step 7

Add a new layer and fill it with black. Change the Blending to Color Dodge. Using the Brush Tool (B), select a regular soft brush with white, then create a few vertical lines in the center of the document. To make the effect more realistic, go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur. Use 90º for the Angle and 20 for the Amount.

Step 8

Add a new layer and change the Blending to Color Dodge, then create a new gradient preset using black, white, and black for the colors. This way you will create a white ellipse. Fill the layer with this gradient. Use the image below for reference.

Step 9

Go to Layer > Add Layer Mask. Fill the layer mask with black using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). With the Brush Tool (B) and white for the color, paint over the areas you want to make visible. Use a very soft brush.

Step 10

Using the same technique as in the previous effect, add another ellipse as in the image below.

Step 11

Add a new layer and fill it with black using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). With the Brush Tool (B) and white, create a few white spots like sparkles, then go to Filter > Blur > Zoom Blur. Use 40 for the Amount.

Step 12

With the Brush Tool (B) paint a few spots with blue and green. Change the Blending to Soft Light with 50% Opacity.

Step 13

Add a new layer and go to Filter > Generator > Lenticular Halo. Use the image below for values, then change the Blending to Soft Light.

Step 14

Add a new layer on the top of the others, make sure you have black and white for the colors, and go to Filter > Generator > Stripes. Use 2 for the Width and 0 for the Sharpness. Change the Blending to Color Dodge with 20% Opacity.

Step 15

Go to Edit > Rotate 90º Right. Then resize to fill the entire width of the document.

Step 16

Still with the stripes layer selected, go to Layer > Add Layer Mask. With the layer mask selected, go to Filter > Generator > Clouds. In this way you will make lines visible only when the clouds are white. If you want to hide the lines more, just go to Image > Levels and increase the black.

Step 17

Add a new layer on top of the others and fill it with yellow. Then change the Blending to Multiply at 35% to give that sort of Lomo/vintage look.

Step 18

Select all layers and duplicate them. With all duplicated layers selected, go to Layer > Merge Layers, then to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use 20 for the Radius, then change the Blending to Overlay and the Opacity to 20%.

Step 19

Duplicate the blurry layer and change the Blending to Screen.

Order of Layers

Conclusion

When you finish these steps, you should pretty much have the effect below. As you can see, there’s nothing super difficult or new about it but applying blending and blurs. With this technique you can create all sorts of light effects. You can also play with different color overlays as we did with yellow, and you can use blue, green, or even red for different effects.

Tutorial Resources

Pixelmator file

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Underwater Scene in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 11:21:31 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create an underwater scene as inspired by the opening titles of I, Robot, the movie. We will create a brush that will be used to add the bubbles and explore a technique to make your scenes look more realistic. The whole process is quite simple, and it takes less than 1 hour to go through all the steps.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document, the one I’m using is 1440×900 pixels. After that, fill the background layer with black.?

Step 2

Add a new layer and fill it with a dark green (#12241f).

Step 3

Go to Layer>Add Layer Mask. After that, select the thumb of the mask in the Layer Palette and go to Filter>Generator>Clouds. Use black and white for the colors and apply the clouds on the layer mask.?

Step 4

With the layer mask still selected, go to Filter>Blur>Zoom Blur. Move the controller point to the bottom center of the image and use 60 for the amount. This will create a really nice effect.

Step 5

Add another layer and then with the Brush Tool (B) select a red/pink color (#941433). Then, paint a large spot in the bottom and center of the design like I did in the image below.?

Step 6

Repeat steps 3 and 4 and then apply the render filter to the mask and the zoom blur, respectively.

Step 7

Add a new layer on top of the others and fill it in with black. Change the Blending to Color Dodge, and then with the Brush Tool (B) and a soft brush with white, paint a little white spot at the bottom and center of the design. Then, repeat the previous step for the mask.?

Step 8

Reduce the opacity to 80% if your light effect gets too bright.

Step 9

Add another layer, then, using the Brush Tool (B) again, select a large soft brush and dark blue to paint some blue spots right on and above the red/pink light. This blue layer has to be very subtle; I used the brush with 25% only. After that, you can apply the Zoom Blur again with the same amount as we did in the previous steps, 60.

Step 10

To create the bubbles, I used a stock photo courtesy of Shutterstock. You can find it at http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-31147426/stock-photo-beautiful-abstract-background-of-soap-bubbles-on-black.html. I used the guides for reference and then with the Rectangular Marquee Tool (M), change the option to Ellipse and select the bubble you want to use for your brush. Copy and paste it to a new layer, and then go to Image > Desaturate, then Image > Invert.?

Step 11

Creating the brush is pretty simple; just drag the layer from the Layer Palette to the Brushes Palette. Pixelmator will automatically create the new brush. Double click on it to edit, and then change the Spacing to 200% and the Scatter to 65%. Over the Shape Jitter options, change the Size to 100% and the stroke to 7%.?

Step 12

Add a new layer and fill it with black using the Paint Bucket Tool (N). Change the Blending to Color Dodge. Select the Brush Tool (B) and the brush you created in the previous step. Paint some bubbles onto your design using white.?

Step 13

Select the Blur Tool (R) and a big soft brush. Start making some bubbles blurrier than the others to add some depth to your design.?

Step 14

Add another layer on top of the others, and using the Paint Bucket Tool (N), fill it with black. Change the Blending to Color Dodge, and then use the Brush Tool (B) and the bubble brush we created to paint some big bubbles, much larger than the previous one. I used 700 for the brush size this time and 300 for the previous one.?

Step 15

Now, import another photo to add more realism to the composition. I’m using another image from Shutterstock, which you can find here at http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-24003511/stock-photo-water-splashing-forming-air-bubbles-over-a-black-background.html.?

Step 16

With the image in your document, first, go to Image > Desaturate, and then change the Blending to Color Dodge. You will also have to resize and position the image to how you want it. I flipped the image I used vertically.?

Step 17

Select all layers and duplicate them. Merge all duplicated layers and go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use 20 for the blur amount.?

Step 18

Change the Blending to Screen and the Opacity to 50%.?

Step 19

Duplicate the blurry layer and then change the Blending to Overlay, while keeping the Opacity at 50%.?

Conclusion

Now, just add your logo and the scene is practically done. If you want, you can add another layer on top and fill it with the Stripes filter. Then, rotate it to get some horizontal lines to simulate those scan lines from old TVs, but that is another story for another tutorial.

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Clouds Text Effect in Pixelmator

abduzeedo — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 06:13:16 +0000

In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a text made up of clouds in ten very simple steps, solely using brushes, blending, and basic filters. The technique is extremely simple and can be used to create all sorts of text effects as well.

Step 1

Open Pixelmator and create a new document. As usual, my document is wallpaper size, 1920×1200 pixels. After that, import a photo of a sky and some clouds. The one I used stems from Google Images; you can find it at the following link: http://wallpaperblog.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/blue_sky_1920.jpg Paste the photo into your document.?

Step 2

Using the Type Tool (T), add a text to your design. I am using Cooper Std Black as the style of font with a size of 300 pixels in white.

Step 3

Pixelmator comes with a really cool smoke/cloud brush, but certain adjustments need to be made in order to make it work for our cloudy text effect. Double click the cloud brush to open the brush presets, then use the values shown below for your brush settings and save them.?

Step 4

Holding down the command key on your keyboard, click on the thumb of the text layer in the layer palette. This action will create a marquee selection of the text. Add a new layer, and change the Blending to Screen. Then, using the Brush Tool (B), select the cloud brush you edited previously, and use white to start painting within the selection.

Step 5

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Use 20 for the Radius.

Step 6

Add another layer, and using the Brush Tool (B) and white paint on the cloud brush, paint more clouds, particularly over the edges of the text in order to make these edges less visible. Next, adjust the opacity of this layer so as to make the effect more subtle. I am using a 50% opacity, which results in the image below.

Step 7

Add another layer, and repeat painting in some more clouds; this time, the idea is to highlight particular areas.?

Step 8

Adjust the opacity of the highlighted layer. Once again, I am using a 50% opacity; however, you can try different values, depending on the manner in which you painted the clouds.

Step 9

Add a layer on top of the others, and fill it with a dark yellow/orange color; I used #e89e00. Next, change the Blending to Overlay and the Opacity to 30%.

Step 10

Here you can see the organization of the layers in the Layer Palette.?

Conclusion

The yellow overlay layer was added in order to attain this vintage/lomo look in our design. As you can see, the process of creating the text effect was really quite simple and used nothing other than Brushes and Blending. You can create all sorts of text effects with this technique, ranging from water to fire. I will try to cover these effects in the next tutorials.

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Click here to download the Pixelmator file used for this tutorial.