Working with layers in photoshop is the best one can do to achieve the best in renders, if anyone has questions or inquiries feel free to hit me up, I work in multiple layers even up to 50 at a time.

Also you can cut corners with layers, and get the best from your render and look and feel that you are achieving.

The attached render, I had used 48 layers, saving after each completed layer.

One best technique is to make sure you have a plan, as layers can sometimes be frustrating, work with a group, for example if you are creating a pipe, you have your main image, create new layer, then drop the opacity to 50% use black and then a soft brush 3 1/4's half the size of the pipe, go along the edges and then use your blur tool.

Add another layer then use the soft brush drop diameter down to 1 draw a straight line down where the light refects, once you have that us the blur tool to lightly remove any sharp lines, each layer will not effect any other work on the go or completed, it requires patience.

There are so many advantages of working with layers that it's difficult to summarize them, but here are a few things you'll love:

• You can separate parts of the image and edit them without affecting other parts of the image.
• You can use layers as guides or reference without including them in the final image (just make them transparent before saving the image).
• You can safely import new images to add to the composition. Move the new image around, resize it and do whatever you like without damaging the original image.
• You can create multiple versions of a layer and experiment with different effects. You might like to keep an original image and make a separate layer to work with, so you always have the original image layer to fall back on.
• You can apply filters and effects to layers independently, e.g. drop-shadow, colour adjustments, etc

As a newbie to Photoshop, can you recommend some good tutorials/books for working with layers?

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/mod/tutorial/index.php?tutorial_id=2225

 

 

This is a good tutorial for layers, at first they can seem complicated, but once you have become familiar it will be easier. 

Quote - There are so many advantages of working with layers that it's difficult to summarize them, but here are a few things you'll love:

• You can separate parts of the image and edit them without affecting other parts of the image.
• You can use layers as guides or reference without including them in the final image (just make them transparent before saving the image).
• You can safely import new images to add to the composition. Move the new image around, resize it and do whatever you like without damaging the original image.
• You can create multiple versions of a layer and experiment with different effects. You might like to keep an original image and make a separate layer to work with, so you always have the original image layer to fall back on.
• You can apply filters and effects to layers independently, e.g. drop-shadow, colour adjustments, etc

Just to add if you also want a layer to be under another layer for example shadowing, just move the layer down under the layer you want the shadowing to appear under.

Quote - As a newbie to Photoshop, can you recommend some good tutorials/books for working with layers?

Can I make a suggestion?

Play with layers before watching a tute.

if you go into the tutorials, you'll be watching -- what you need is to be doing.

Once you've played with them a bit, and gotten the feeling for them -- then watch some tutorials.

Photoshop won't break . . .

I'd like to ask some advice if I may?

I am a LONG time user of PSP and have Photoshop Cs4 but don't know it as well as I should and I tend to try and gravitate back to my familiar PSP.

I do some texturing for clothing and have been buying some of the brush sets here with the folds to add realism to your fabric.  But I am having a hard time trying to figure out the best way to use them. I try multiply and it's too dark. I try screen and sometimes it doesn't show up.

Is there some trick in using brushes to accent the material and have it look right? I even wondered whether you are supposed to use a coloured brush rather than a grey one.

I would love a tip to get me started and perhaps encourage me more to use CS4.

Thanks for any help offered.

 

Pat

I like the cloth techique, I find placing solid lines, dark then a light colour based on your colour of cloth, the smudge took is great to get the folds, the best way to incorporate this would be to take a cloth drape it on a chair or another surface, place it loosely and then examine the cloth, where the light hits and the shadows are created, one of my ways of doing this is to figure where the light source is coming from, then i place a light lines along where i feel the cloth drapes on an object then depending on the light source lets say from the right, to the left of the light line, i will create a darker line half way then down, close enough to the lighter line then smudge it in strokes according to how the cloth will drape.

Once i am satisfied, I will then move to a next section, once my folds and light parts are done i take even a darker colour and using a smaller brush go and create the darker shadows where light is not present, then i take a lighter colour for the light parts and create where the light source is most bright, the best woudl be to use layers, based on that your base work you dont want to smudge anything that you have created thus far, as you see in the above pic, this is one of my earlier cloth details, it could have been sharper, but this one shows my techniwue for using the smudge tool.

@PAnn,

you mentioned multply and lighten...  instead of using colour modes,  play around with the dodge and burn tool (google it and you'll find some good examples and explainations) and i think you'll get some good results.

 

retrocit

Maxx -  Thanks for the tip but to be honest I am not that great at drawing or painting. I have tried the technique you mentionned in PSP but my results are less than stunning or even close to being realistic.

 

retrocity:  I am familiar with dodge and burn since those two layers types are available in PSP. I will give them a try though because I didn't experiment with those yet in CS4.

 

Pat

 

Pat, if it's too dark or two bright when you try, don't forget you can play with the opacity of the layer as well.

Thanks Lucie - I have done that also.  I have been using PSP for over 12 years now but I just find when I use the png images in PSP and you use any of the layer changes, it seems to change the colour of the fabric.  If you use screen or hard or soft light where you want the brush folds to go, your whole material look changes for that part of the fabric.  The brushes purchased here are too big to use in PSP so I guess I have to bite the bullet and sit and play more with CS4 and the brushes.

When you have been using something for so long even though a lot of the techniques are similar - it is hard to give up the familiar.  There aren't too many tutorials around that I have seen that give you hints or lessons on using brushes.

Tomorrow I will sit and try the brushes and see what happens.  Then I may be back asking where I went wrong or tell you I was pleasantly surprise ad how easy it was......