Transcript:
Hi. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. I’m going to show you how to create classic, CRT video graphics that you can quickly replace from high-contrast black and white images. This is an update of past tutorials I’ve done on the subject on earlier versions of Photoshop. By the way, I created the video glitches in the intro using Boris FX Optics, which is an amazing Photoshop plugin. I did a couple of tutorials showing Optics over the past few weeks, so if you’re considering getting it, I provided the links to those tutorials in this video’s description. Open a high-contrast, black and white design or logo that you’d like to use for this project. I downloaded this one from Shutterstock. Check its size and resolution. Go to Image and Image Size. Make its resolution 150 pixels per inch. Its Size should be approximately within the range of this one. If it’s not, make sure the chain-link icon is active in order to keep the shape of its aspect ratio and then type in a similar number into either the Width or the Height. To ensure that your artwork is pure black on white and have edges that are sharp, click the Adjustment Layer icon and click “Curves”. If the Curves panel is partially hidden, just drag the Layers panel down. Drag the “Set White Point” halfway across and drag the “Set Black Point” to the left until it stops. This makes the darkest tone pure black and the lightest tones pure white. It also sharpens any blurry edges. Merge them together by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + E. If you want to add text to your image, but need more room to do it, go to Image and Canvas Size. First, determine if you want the text to be to the right or left of your artwork or above or below it. In this case, I want to place the text on the left. So, I’ll click the right arrow, which shows me that there’ll be room on the left once I increase the Width of the Canvas size. Make sure white is the Canvas extension color . I’ll change its Width to 12 inches, which will give me enough room to add my text. Make sure your foreground and background colors are black and white respectfully. If they’re not, press “D” on your keyboard. Open your Horizontal Type Tool and Type Picker. Pick a font from your list and type out your text. Mine aligns to the left because I’ve got my “Left Alignment” icon active. If you want to adjust the size of your text, click your Move Tool and open your Transform Tool by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + T. Drag a corner out or in. To reposition it, just drag your text. Then, press Enter or Return. Merge the two layers and open the Channels panel. If you don’t see it, go to Window and Channels. Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the thumbnail of any of the channels to make a selection of it. Open back the Layers panel and click the lock icon to unlock the layer. Press the “Delete” key on your keyboard to delete the white background leaving just your black text and artwork. Then, deselect it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + D. We’ll convert it into a Smart object, so we can modify it non-destructively, as well as, allow us to replace it with a different design without having to redo the effects. To do this, click the icon at the upper, right and click “Convert to Smart Object”. Double-click an empty area of the layer to open its Layer Style window. Click “Color Overlay” and the color box. In the hexadecimal field, type in 00FAFF. We want to make a new layer below the active layer. To do this, Ctrl-click or Cmd-click the New Layer icon. We’ll fill the empty layer with black and since our foreground color is black, press Alt or Option + Delete. Click the top layer and go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur. Blur it 3 pixels. Make a copy of it by pressing Ctrl or Cmd + J. Double-click “Gaussian Blur” of the copy and blur it 80 pixels. Then, click OK or press Enter or Return. Make a copy of this layer and double-click “Gaussian Blur”. Blur it 5 pixels. Double-click “Color Overlay” and click the color box. Type in C0FEFF. Go to Filter, Other and Maximum. This filter essentially spreads out white areas and constricts black areas. Make the Radius 15 pixels and “Squareness” for the Preserve. Scroll to the bottom and hide the black background. We’ll convert our visible image into a Smart Object, so we can add effects to the overall image. Click the bottom graphic to make it active and scroll back up. Shift-click the top graphic to make all of the graphics active and convert them into one Smart Object. Make the black layer visible. Next, we’ll create a subtle ghosting to simulate a reflection of our design onto the screen of the CRT monitor. Make a copy of the active layer and change its Blend Mode to Soft Light. Reduce its opacity to 40%. Open your Transform Tool and at the top, type in 93%. Then, press Enter or Return. Click the New Layer icon to make a new layer. In this layer, we’ll create scanlines. First, we’ll fill the empty layer with 50% gray. To do this, press Shift plus the F5 key at the top of your keyboard to open the Fill window. You could also go to Edit and Fill. Click “50% Gray”. Go to Filter and Filter Gallery. Open the “Sketch” folder and click “Halftone Pattern”. The pattern type is “Line”, the Size is 2 and the Contrast is 0. Go to Filter, Blur and Gaussian Blur. Blur it 3 pixels. Change its Blend Mode to Linear Light and reduce its opacity to 50%. Click the Adjustment Layer icon and click, “Levels”. Make the midtones: 1.37 and the highlights: 242. Lastly, we’ll add soft, dark, horizontal bars known as “horizontal banding or flicker”, which you sometimes see in older video playback. Make the bottom graphic active and open your Rectangular Marquee Tool. Make sure the “Add to” icon is active, which allows us to add multiple rectangular selections. Feather it 10 pixels. Drag across two rectangular selections approximately this size and this far apart from each other. Alt-click or Option-click the Layer Mask icon to an inverted layer mask of the selection next to the bottom graphic. To make the bars more transparent, make the layer mask’s “Density”: 30. We’ll copy the layer mask and place it next to the top graphic. To do this, press and hold Alt or Option as you drag a copy of the layer mask to the layer above it. This is Marty from Blue Lightning TV. Thanks for watching.