Ever wanted to create some cool stuff in Photoshop? Here’s a quick tutorial that shows you how to create some fancy transparent edges that can be smooth, rough, liquid, whatever you feel like. Two examples:
Image: Rift – Planes of Telara
1. StepOpen Photoshop
2. Step Open an interesting wallpaper like the one below from Rift. You can download our Rift Windows 7 theme if you want this particular wallpaper by the way.
3. StepUse the Lasso tool (L) to create a random selection around the main object of the wallpaper
4. StepPress Shift + F and enter a Feather Radius of 15 pixels (you can play around with this for the perfect result)
5. Step Double-click on Background layer to unlock it:
6. StepNow, while the selection is still active in the background click on Add layer mask:
7. Step You should have something like this now:
8. Step Select the vector mask and right-click on it. Click on “Refine mask”:
9. Step Change the radius until you have some interesting edges, a good value might be around 70 – 90 for large images.
10. Step Play around with Smooth for smooth edges, with Feather for some shiny effects, with contrast for some rough edges. You’ll love this, that’s why I like Photoshop so much – simple ways to create cool effects.
End result could look like this:
Or this:
Would you like more Photoshop tutorials?
If you have any questions, feel free to post them below.