posted
Ok, I need help with this if you can decipher my ramblings:
For the sake of argument, let's say i have a long rectangle on "layer 2" filled with a seamless tile of water.
On "Layer 1" i have a section of a sunset scene roughly 1/2 the length of the rectangle. This shorter sunset scene is located dead center of the longer seamless tile of the "water effect."
Now...I want to fade both left and right ends of the "Layer 1" fire seamless tile out to transparent...so that the "fire" on left and right sides appears to slowly fade off into the "water" seamless tile of "layer 2."
Are you with me?
Ok....for eons I have achieved this by using the "eraser" tool set to very soft edges and manually do it....which has worked ok but can be a ****er.
What I would like to do is use the gradient fade tool to accomplish the above scenario...but the only options fade from "transparency" to a foreground or background color basically....which won't work...because it will introduce color where I want none.
Is there a way to use the gradient fill to accomplish what I have described or is there another way to fade out one image over another image without using the eraser tool?
If so...thank you in advance and please outline the steps in a detailed manner that a dunce such as I could not trip up trying to duplicate the procedure.
Thanks everyone! Have a jolly good day! (don't ask me why I said "Jolly".....I'm a midwesterner....guess I still have lingering thoughts of "Have a holly, jolly, Christmas by Burl Ives stuck in my head...
-------------------- Todd Gill Outside The Lines Potterville, MI Posts: 7792 | From: Potterville, MI | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I use the feather tool... detailed enough for you? (actually, I don't have the details down to memory, & I dunce around awhile when I need to do it, but it may work if you spend some time exploring it as an option)
You need to use a mask to achieve the effect you're looking for.
Try this:
Select "Layer 1" in the Layers window and select all. Now go to the Layers pulldown menu and select "Add Layer Mask - Reveal All"
Now click on the white rectangle to the right of the image thumbnail in the Layers window. You're now ready to change your mask while leaving the sunset unchanged.
Make a rectangular selection on the left side that fills the area where you want to fade to occur. Now use the lineral gradient tool and make a black to white blend inside the fade area. On screen the sunset should fade to transparent where you painted black. Repeat for the right side using the same gradient but reversed.
The rule of thumb with masks is that areas that are white show up and areas that are black are invisible. Shades of grey are simply different levels of transparency.
I hope this helps.
[ January 31, 2005, 05:43 PM: Message edited by: Paul Bierce ]
-------------------- Paul Bierce - Designer pabierce@hotmail.com www.paulbierce.com Posts: 330 | From: Dix Hills, NY | Registered: Jan 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Todd, Paul's right with those instructions. You may need to play with the start & end points of the black to white gradient you are painting into the layer mask, so that the fades happen where you want.
A bit of advice- before using layer masks, press D (for default colours, black in the foreground, white as background) & go to your paintbrush tool & set it to a manageable size & hardness or edge softness.
Once you've put a black to white gradient fade in the layer mask on the layer in the layer pallette, you can then paint further with a brush to increase or decrease transparency (by using Blk or wh). Just make sure that the layermask icon is surrounded by a white box to indicate it is being worked upon, or else your black & white lines will be all over the picture on that layer instead of on the mask.
-------------------- "Stewey" on chat
"...there are no limits when you aim for perfection..." Jonathan Livingston Seagull Posts: 7014 | From: Highgrove via Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia | Registered: Dec 2002
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic