Graphics Zone - Contours

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Using and Creating Contours in Photoshop

by BarryHilton, Adult NetSurprise

In this tutorial we'll be looking at using and creating unique contours for use with Photoshop's Effects to give some awesome and sometimes unexpected results!

Start off by opening a new image... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Next, we're going to add some text on which to use our contour effect on later... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions. Any font will be fine, but a heavy or bold looking font will give the best results with the particular contour we'll be designing in this tutorial.

Now, change your text to a blue color (we'll be altering this later, but this color makes it easy to see the preview sample than Photoshop creates as you add your Effects) Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Add a Bevel and Emboss Effect... with this Effect you can go straight into the Contour Editor and apply your Contour as a Bevel... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Take a look at the Contour Editor... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions. You'll see it's exactly the same as the Curves Editor and works in the same way.

Make your first curve of our contour... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions. Remember, this is viewing the edge of your image from the side... for example if you had a single smooth curve, your Contour would be like a button with a smooth gentle curve from the outside edge to the center. In the Bevel and Emboss, your Contour is applied to the area covered by the Size (in Pixels) of the Bevel Edge... if you have a small value your image will have a sharp, small contour, where a larger pixel size gives a smoother more gradually effect.

Now, add your second curve to the Contour... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

And, finally add a small curve at the top of your Contour to produce a 'soft' edge which blends into the flat top of your image... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Your newly created Contour will appear at the bottom of the Contour menu and will be available any time you load up Photoshop! Select your Contour to apply to the Text... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Here's the first look at how our Contour will look when applied to our text... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions. NOTE: When applying Anti-Aliasing you get a smoother blend between the highlight and shading of your effect which usually produces a better Effect.

We want a metallic look for our text, so add a gradient overlay fading from White to Black... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Now add an Outer Glow... set up the basic Outer Glow first, then afterwards we'll apply it using our Gradient for a cool look... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

Apply your Contour to the Outer Glow (with some experimentation you'll see that you can use your Contour in many of Photoshop's Effects giving some fantastic effects looking very different to the Default Settings... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions.

And here's our final text... Click Here to view Screen Shot with Instructions. As you can see adding a simple Contour completely changes Photoshop's basic effects... and any text still remains editable too!