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View Full Version : NM's (and just a little by Assertn) Quality Enhancing Tutorial



NM
Fri, 09-02-2005, 05:20 PM
1. First off, your going to need your image. For this tutorial, I'll be using this image of Bleach (sorry about that white box on Chad's head)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/NarutoMaster/bleach-001.jpg

2. Open up your Photoshop, then open up the picture. Once you have it opened, Duplicate it twice, so you should have a total of 3 layers.

3. Now what we're going to be doing is using the Gaussian Blur (Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur). We'll start with the top most layer. For this Bleach image, set the Gaussian to 2.5. You should have something like this now.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/NarutoMaster/step2.jpg

4. Now go to the middle layer. Again, go to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur, and this time, set the blur to 1.5. The image won't change, since the layer is in the middle. That's fine, but do the blur on the layer still.

5. Now on your top layer, set the blending mode to Overlay.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/NarutoMaster/step3.jpg

6. For the middle layer, we're going to be changing this blending mode as well. This is where you decide whether your image looks much better with your chosen blending mode. Once you find the right one, merge the layers together and you have a better quality image! Here's what it looks like when I put it in Soft Light.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/NarutoMaster/softlight.jpg

And thats it! Simple enough, huh? One thing I should mention: the Gaussian Blur values are totally up to you. As you saw in the tutorial, I gave the top most layer a higher value and the middle layer a value lower than that. Same for merging at the end. These usually work for me but again, its up to you. And on another note, you don't have to use Overlay. For me, Overlay + another blending mode usually gives me good results so I stick to that.

Its my first tutorial so I hope it helps you all!

Kagemane_no_Jutsu
Fri, 09-02-2005, 05:26 PM
Nice beginner tutorial NM I'm sure it will help out a lot of people. Good job.

Well NM told me to post this so I will, IMO I dont think you should merge the layers when your done. It changes the final product of the render.

Foomanchew24
Fri, 09-02-2005, 06:20 PM
Personnal I like to make a copy of the original render and set the top layer to hardlight. Just my 2 cents.

NM
Fri, 09-02-2005, 06:23 PM
Thanks guys. About merging, thats also your choice.

@Fooman: Feel free to comment. Any useful information for the tutorial is welcome! i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

Koyuki
Fri, 09-02-2005, 06:37 PM
You should add that you can use median instead of gaussian blur.

Nice tut NM! We'll proabably see some nice render from the all the new guys.

Tofu #2
Fri, 09-02-2005, 06:45 PM
Hard Light is the same as Overlay, no?

Foomanchew24
Fri, 09-02-2005, 06:46 PM
Nope, why would you have the option of hard light and overlay if they were both the same?

Phoenix20578
Fri, 09-02-2005, 09:49 PM
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/7343/kasumacopy4kq.jpg
http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/3228/kasumacopy23jx.jpg

Oh yeah, I think there's a big difference now. Thanks times a million NM!

6Zabuza9
Mon, 10-03-2005, 06:34 PM
how do u merge

Eurasian
Mon, 10-03-2005, 07:17 PM
Originally posted by: 6Zabuza9
how do u merge

you can go to layers -> merge down or press ctrl+e.

Deblas
Tue, 11-22-2005, 01:45 PM
How do you duplicate it into 3 layers?

PSJ
Tue, 11-22-2005, 02:11 PM
You rightclick the image and then "duplicate layer" 3 times.

Board of Command
Sun, 12-04-2005, 05:22 PM
Ctrl+J - shortcut for duplicate. Always use keyboard shortcuts whenever possible i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif

Krbadass
Tue, 12-20-2005, 08:49 PM
Good job NM and everybody else helping out.