Tutorials
Create a Wooden Name Plate in Photoshop
06/29/2001
Today, we're going to create a wooden name plate as one would find
on a door. The first thing is to create the wood texture.
1. Start a new file in Photoshop. Make a new layer by clicking
on the Make New Layer icon at the bottom of the layers' palette.
Choose a brown color that you would like your wood to have. Using
the Rectangular selection tool, select a rectangular shape that
is centered in your document window, leaving at least an inch at
the left and right sides. Fill the selection with the brown color.
This layer will serve as the shape of your nameplate.
2. Create another new layer. Make a similar selection that's larger
than the first rectangle with the sides extending as far as possible
beyond the dimensions of your original plate. The reason for this
is that the second filter you'll use takes color from the edges
of the selection and pulls them into the selected area. You want
the area to remain within the brown tones. Fill this selected area
with the same brown color.
3. Now, use your first filter. Choose the Add Noise filter (Filter>Noise>Add
Noise). Make the amount a large number of at least 99 percent,
and click OK. This produces a rough texture.Now you will stretch
the noise to get the feel of a wood grain.Choose the Motion Blur
filter (Filter>Blur>Motion Blur). With the Angle set to "0," move
the Distance slider to a large number around "99." Click
OK.
4. Now you will give the texture some contrast. Choose the Levels
command (Image>Adjust>Levels). Move the black and white triangles
in toward the center to darken your darks and lighten your lights,
giving the texture more detail. Click OK.
At this point, you have a wood grain texture that could be applied
to any surface.
5. Warp the grain and add knotty areas as found in certain wood
types. Create a "clipping Group" of the two layers by
clicking between them in the layers' palette with the Option (Alt
on a PC) button pressed. This uses the transparency information
of the lower layer to mask out part of the upper layer that has
the grain. Turn the lower layer into a selection by Command (Control
on a PC) clicking on it in the layers' palette. Go to the Liquefy
command (Image>Liquify). Using a large brush size chosen on
the upper right of the Liquefy window, with the Warp tool, run
the tool over parts of the image to distort the grain. Try a few
different strokes. Do follow the grain. Switch to the Bloat tool,
place it over an area where you want a knot to appear, and hold
down the mouse button. This will start to bloat out the area. Click
OK when you have reached your desired effect. Deselect. Click on
the upper layer, and choose Merge Down from the layer's palette
drop down menu to make the two layers into one. Double-click on
the resulting layer to bring up the Layer Styles dialog box. Choose
the Bevel and Emboss style and select Chisel Hard for the technique.
Crank up the size until you have a bevel the size you want for
your plate.
6. Finally, let's put on the name. With the Text tool, type in
the name you want over the plate. Double-click on the text layer
in the layer's palette to bring up its styles Choose Inner Shadow
and Inner Glow for the styles. Choose the Blending Options found
at the top of the styles list. In Blending Options, reduce the
Fill Opacity under Advanced Blending to let the wood texture
come through the letters.
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