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Web Design Articles – Mercator
Posted on | November 16, 2009 | No Comments
Creating Mercator Effects
Now we’re going to apply some different effects to our original wireframe sphere. There are innumerous options to do this, but we shall discuss a few for your use. This header image to the right is just one good example of how far you can develop a simple Mercator, toward creating a more complex graphic.
Note to Mac Users: The PC key Ctrl = the Mac key Cmd. And the PC key Alt = the Mac key Option.
Even though ‘Style 2′ is the more frequently used style, we want you to use ‘Style 1′ here, so we can show you how to create the inner wireframe sphere of the graphic above. So, save and close your ‘Style 2′ document, and re-open your ‘Style 1′ document. Don’t forget to Save after every 2 or 3 steps!
Your ‘Style 1′ document should have only 2 layers — the Mercator layer and the document Background layer. If it doesn’t, then do whatever you have to in order to achieve this.
Then… if you didn’t rotate your Mercator at the end of the session, do that now. Press Ctrl+T, and in the settings box for the Rotate function put -30. In PS6 and 7, look for this symbol along the Option Bar for the Transform tools.
Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the ‘Mercator’ layer. Name this layer ‘1′. Then press Ctrl+I to invert the colour to white. Amazing! Now we have a pencil outline of the Mercator.
Now this next part will depend on how closely you followed the instructions from the first part of the tutorial. But we are showing you an example here so you can see exactly what we will explain. Under the FILTER menu, choose ‘Other>Maximum’ and set it to 3. Then look at the example image here.
If the white lines don’t look like ours, then either increase or decrease the value until they look the same. You want very thin lines, with small dots at the line intersections. Once you have the right setting, click OK to apply it. Then change the Blend Mode to Exclusion. And to help make these lines and dots stand out better against this busy image (you’ll see the effect of this later on), press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer.
Name this new layer ‘2′. Now move this layer right below layer ‘1′. Press Ctrl+I to invert the white to black, and set this layer’s Blend Mode to Overlay.
Now duplicate the ‘Mercator’ layer again, and make sure this layer is below layer ‘2′. Name this layer ‘3′. Press Ctrl+I to invert the black lines to white, and change the Blend Mode to Exclusion.
Create another new layer and move it so that it’s right above the bottom ‘Mercator’ layer. Name this new layer ‘4′. Then create a circular selection that’s the exact same size as the Mercator. The easiest way to do this is to hold the ALT and SHIFT keys down, click in the center of the Mercator, and drag outward until you reach the desired size.
Now fill the selection with a white-to-black Radial gradient, starting at the top right, and ending at the bottom left. Your image should look similar to the one shown here. Now change the Blend Mode of the gradient sphere layer to ‘Overlay’. Leave the selection going. And don’t worry — we’ll get this look back again in a few more steps.
Duplicate layer ‘3′. Name this duplicate layer ‘5′. Now change your colour swatches to be white and a medium sky blue — not too dark, not too light. Ctrl-click on the layer to select the Mercator shape, and run the Clouds filter on the selection. Then Deselect, and change the Blend Mode to Multiply. Also, turn down the Opacity of this layer to 25%. This next part is a bit complex, but it shouldn’t take long. Create a new layer above the original ‘Mercator’ layer. Name this new layer ‘6′. Hide the other layers above this by clicking on their eye icons; we need to see the contents of just this layer while we work on it.
Now Fill the circular selection with white. Keep the selection going. Under the FILTER menu, choose “Sketch”, then “Halftone Pattern…”. Set the ‘Pattern Type’ to LINE. Then set the Contrast to full, and the line thickness to 2px. Press OK to apply. Now under the FILTER menu choose ‘Other>Maximum’. Set it to 2 pixels, and press OK.
Press Ctrl+J to duplicate this layer, and then, from the EDIT menu, choose ‘Transform>Rotate 90 CW’. Now change this layer’s Blend Mode to multiply, and press Ctrl+E to merge these 2 striped layers together.
Merging layers deactivates a selection, so Ctrl-click the grid layer to select it again. Then Contract the selection by 50 pixels. Users with older versions of PS should just create a new selection over the middle of the Mercator that’s 50×50 pixels. Now Feather the selection by 2 pixels. Run the Spherize filter on the selected area, using the settings +100% and ‘Normal’ mode.
Expand the selection by 25 pixels — users with older versions of PhotoShop will have to do this in 2 stages. Now invert the selection by pressing Ctrl+Shift+I. Next, we need to intersect our selection with the main circle shape. Do this by holding down the Alt, Shift, and Ctrl keys at the same time, and clicking on the layer. You should now have a donut-shaped selection like the one shown here. If you don’t get this result, press Ctrl+Z to Undo, and try it again.
Now under the FILTER menu, choose ‘Distort>Pinch’. Set it to +100% and apply it. Next, Ctrl-click layer ‘4′, so you’ve fully selected the grid circle, and run the Spherize filter on the selected area. This time, set the filter to -100% and ‘Normal’ mode. Now Feather this selection by 10 pixels, invert the selection, and press the Delete key 3 times. Then Deselect. And finally, change this layer’s Blend Mode to Multiply.
Ok we’ve almost finished the effect. Now we have just few steps to go. Click on the original ‘Mercator’ layer, and create a new layer above it that you’ll call layer ‘7′. Press the D key to reset your Fore and Background colours, and run the Clouds filter. Ctrl-click layer ‘4′, to get a circular selection and, from the FILTER menu, choose ‘Pixelate>Mosaic’. Set it to 15, apply it, and then run the Unsharp Mask with the settings 150% / .5 / 0. Run the Spherize filter twice, with the settings +100% and ‘Normal’ mode. Now press Ctrl+Shift+I to invert the selection, press the Delete key, and then Deselect.
Under the EDIT menu, choose ‘Transform>Rotate’. Rotate the sphere -30 degrees to match the lines on this layer up with all the other lines.
And, last but not least, change the layer’s Blend Mode to Exclusion. You should now have an image similar to the one shown here. The variable that can have a visible impact on the look of the image is the Clouds filter. As it’s a random filter effect, everyone’s results will look different.
We hope you found this article an interesting and one which you can utilize for your needs. There are a lot of things that can be learned from the steps for this effect, only one of which is the final result shown here.
Extra Tips
One step where you can affect the final look of the Mercator is to alter the colours used — these should be in the 3rd layer from the top. Also, try setting that layer on Exclusion blend mode for a different look. Another way to alter this effect is to turn off layer ‘4′. This produces an interesting outlined effect. Play around with turning off and on some of the other layers, and see what different options you can find for the look.
Have a nice time!
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