Avalon

Thanks. I have seen a tutorial for something similar that uses the gradient tool, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work properly for me. Therefore, I came up with my own way of doing it.

This tutorial will show you how to make a scrolling highlight bar over text in Photoshop CS2 and Imageready like the one shown below. First start with your desired background, if this is made up of multiple layers, merge them all into 1 layer. Make a duplicate copy of your background layer by right clicking on the layer in the navigator panel and choosing "Duplicate Layer..." Here's the background I used. Now add the text you want, in the position you want it. Here's what I used. On the text layer, use the polygon lasso tool to make the shape for the highlighting bar. I used a 45 degree slash, make the thickness of the bar about the same as one of the vertical elements of your text. i.e. About the same thickness as a lowercase "L" would be in your text. Go to the "Select" menu and use the "Feather" option to feather your selection by 2 pixels. Now create a "Brightness/Contrast" layer and set the brightness to 100%. You should end up with a feathered bright bar sitting on top of your text as shown below. Now arrange your layers as shown below. With your text layer selected, use the magic wand with "Anti-alias" turned on and "Contiguous" turned off to select an empty section of the layer, then go the "Select" menu and use the "Inverse" option. Your screen should look something like shown below. If you have used a "stroke" on the outside of your text like I have, you will need to go the "Select" menu and choose the "Expand..." option to expand the selection by the size of your "stroke". In my case I expanded the selection by 1 pixel because I used a 1 pixel outside stroke. Now select the "Background copy" layer in the navigator and press "Delete". Your text will now be visible. Make the "Background Copy" layer invisible and then select the "Highlight Bar" layer. Move the highlight bar across your text until it sits just to the left of your text as shown below. Now make the "Background copy" layer visible again and the bar will be hidden behind this layer. If you are using Photoshop CS2, make sure the "Animation" palette is displayed by going to the "Window" menu and choosing "Animation". If you are not using CS2 but have "Image Ready", in Photoshop go to the "File" menu and choose the "Edit in Imageready" option. Once again, make sure the "Animation" palette is displayed by using the "Window" menu. Add a new frame to the animation by clicking on the "Duplicate Frame" button in the "Animation" palette as shown below. With frame 2 selected in the "Animation" palette, make the "Background copy" layer invisible again and then select the "Highlight Bar" layer. Now move the highlight bar across your text to the other end so it sits just off to the right of your text as shown below. Make the "Background copy" layer visible again and use the "Tween" button in the "Animation" palette, (as shown below) to insert frames into the animation. Use the settings shown below for your tweening, if you have not many letters in your text or your text is small, you may want to reduce the number of frames inserted. To put a delay in the animation, select the last frame of the animation in the "Animation" palette and set the delay to 5 seconds. This will make the animation pause for 5 seconds between loops. If you are using Photoshop CS2, use "Save for web" in the "File" menu to save your animation. If you are using Imageready, use "Save optimized as..." in the "File" menu to save your animation. Here is the end result again, enjoy!

I'm going with itsmyard on this one. I love the coloring and shading, subtle yet effective.

Masuko Shintaro Mich Ashy itsmyard Edgecoc Saint_Michael BEagle Avalon Prizes awarded will be: 1st 50 credits 2nd 25 credits 3rd 10 credits NOTE: Any non-hosted member that wins a prize should remember that if they apply for hosting their credit level will be reset to 2 credits. This means some credits won here could be wasted when/if they apply for hosting. Also, it would be a good idea to have at least 10 good posts before entering so you won't have any problems applying for hosting. Please use this voting format and provide reason why you voted.

Here's my entry, a modification of a banner request. We have a nice assortment of entries, good luck everyone.

Modified as requested. I don't like putting text on top of a render, but I had no choice in this case.

Here's the one I started, resized to 884 x 227. Is this the sort of thing you are after? Made completely in Photoshop CS2, no GIF Movie Gear. The animation tools in CS2 are better than in the version of GIF Movie Gear that I have, (it's a very old version).

In your first post you listed the size as "Whatever the Image above is (the edited one)". I have started to make a sig based on these dimensions, 600 x 200. What are the correct dimensions? GIF Movie Gear is not free, but you can download an evaluation version at http://www.gamani.com/

Heh... looks like this one is mine to do. I actually thought I could have done a better job with the scrolling glow, watch this space.

As SOTW #38 voting has started I assume this SOTW is closed now? And the winner is.... oh, look at that, it's me!

I have often wondered about using permanent magnets in a motor. The whole theory of an electric motor is that it uses magnetic force to make it rotate. Originally there were 2 electro-magnets used, one that rotates and one that is stationary. The stationary magnet 'pushes' the rotating magnet around, the speed of the motor is determined by the strength of the magnets. Newer motors now use a permanent magnet for the stationary magnet and vary the strength of the rotating magnet to control the speed. These motors are much smaller and energy efficient than the older motors.Why can't we use 2 permanent magnets in a motor? I know the speed control would be difficult, but I'm sure with some engineering it could be overcome. (perhaps vary the distance between the rotating and stationary magnets?) A motor such as this would not consume any power and should be able to keep rotating for the life of the magnet, which is something like 400 years and produce no pollution. Seems to me this would be a very efficient motor and could really improve our energy comsumption and pollution problems.

USB drives are very useful. Most computers have a USB port but don't always have access to upload to a server. Floppies are as good as dead and buried and a CD-ROM is nowhere nearly as convenient as a USB drive. These drives are great! Definately something to get people talking in the office. My favourite is the thumb one, I can imagine the number of people that would be doing a 'double-take' as they walk past your computer.

As far as I'm concerned both itsmyard and Edgecoc have submitted entries that fit within the guidelines. As Saint_Michael has pointed out, a science fiction render is acceptable. itsmyard's entry is a robot, from my perspective a robot as depicted in his sig is pure science fiction and could even be considered an alien. Edgecoc's entry that I can see, (the first one appears to have been removed) is clearly from the science fiction movie "Predator". I deliberately made the criteria fairly loose as this seems to attract more entries and allows for more diversity in the entries. I could have called it a science fiction theme, but then we probably wouldn't see entries like Mich's and Saint_Michael's 'planetscapes'.

In case you decide not to go with BuffaloHelp's RSS feed idea, here is my tutorial at least. I will add others if you want to continue with the manual conversion. Tip to other posters in this thread, use the codebox tags to make scrolling boxes like these. [photoshop CS] Simple Double Layer Tech Border http://forums.xisto.com/topic/35266-photoshop-cs-simple-double-layer-tech-border/ This tutorial will show you how to make a simple, yet effective double layer tech border for a sig in Photoshop CS, (should be similar in earlier versions of PS). This uses some of my shortcuts, because I am basically a lazy person and will always look for the easiest way to do something. The main one in particular is the "Tech Borders" style file, attached here. <a href="http://forums.xisto.com/topic/21-what-is-your-favorite-matrix-movie/; title="Tech_Borders.zip">Tech_Borders.zip ( 1.48k )</a> Download the file now, then extract and save the file in to the "Presets > Styles" folder of your Photoshop folder. You will need to restart Photoshop, if you had it open, for the styles to appear in the list.<p>First decide what size sig you want and the base size of your border, for this example I want the sig size to be 350px wide by 150px high with a 20px border. Create a new document the size you want and press Ctrl+A to select the entire canvas. Now go to "Edit > Stroke..." and set the controls like in the picture below.</p><p><img src="/uploads/1143831931/gallery_10624_41_39098.jpg; /></p><p>This will give you a 20px border as the base for your tech border as shown below.</p><p><img src="/uploads/1143831931/gallery_10624_41_29.jpg; /></p><p>Now we have the 20px border we can start cutting sections out to give it that tech look. Do not make your cutouts any larger than 50% of the border thickness so we can do the double layer later. If you want close vertical lines like in the example below, here's an easy way to do it. Use the text tool with Arial font to type as many "|" (vertical bar) characters as you want, this will create a new layer. Turn off anti-aliasing for the text. Position the text on the sig where you want the bars and set it to the size you want. With the text layer selected, now use the magic wand, (with anti-aliasing turned off) to select a blank area around the text, (I find this easier than trying to select the small text) and then inverse the selection. Now select the layer your border is on and press delete to cut the small sections out the border, (you may need to hide the text layer to see it). You can use this same process for other types of symbols (e.g. dots). I find this the easiest way to make sure the cut outs are uniform and neatly aligned. For larger cutouts use the polygon lasso tool, remembering to press shift if you want 45 degree cutouts. I find it best to use only 90 or 45 degree cutouts.</p><p><img src="/uploads/1143831931/gallery_10624_41_2917.jpg; /></p><p>Once you are satisfied with your cutouts we can start adding effects to give the border a 3d metallic look. This is where I have made it VERY easy for you, by using the attached "style" file, all the hard work is done for you. Open your "Styles" palette if it's not already open and select the "Tech Borders" style, you will have a palette like the one shown below.</p><p><img src="/uploads/1143831931/gallery_10624_41_15266.jpg; /></p><p>Now it's just a matter of selecting the layer for your border and then clicking on the style you want, how easy is that? You can modify any of the settings in the styles to suit your taste, but the 5 presets I have given you will provide a good place to start. You should now have a nice single layer tech border looking something like the picture below, I used "Tech Border 5".</p><p><img src="/uploads/1143831931/gallery_10624_41_5546.jpg; /></p><p>Now to do our second border layer, which is very simple. Select your border with the magic wand making sure you have anti-aliasing turned on and contiguous turned off. Make a new layer and go to "Select > Modify > Contract..." and contract the selection by 5 pixels. Now with the paint bucket tool fill, this selection with white. Now you can again apply a style of your choice, choose a different style than the bottom layer. You now have a simple double layer tech border that looks something like the picture below, I used "Tech Border 3" for my top layer. The rest of the sig is up to you!</p><p><img src="/uploads/1143831931/gallery_10624_41_7648.jpg; /></p>

That is just too silly for words. My picture was a clown. Just another way to display advertising.

This is the address for the banner, http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/404.png Try clicking on that and see if you can see it. If not, you must be blocking imageshack for some reason. I would host it in the Xisto gallery but it has a problem hosting animated GIF files. If that doesn't work, download the banner from the attachment below.

Well gee... you should have thought of that before. No pity from me.

How's this?

I used Photoshop to make the main images and then copied each frame into GIF Moviegear, it's my program of preference for animations.

I thought that might be your answer. You can't blame a guy for trying. I'll wait.

This week's SOTW will have a space theme. This means your sig should have something to do with space, be that an alien landscape, a spacecraft, an alien or even a render from any science fiction movie. Yes, this means you trekkies out there can use a Star Trek render. Sig size: 300x100-350x150 Brush Style: freestyle Render: Space related Text: Your name Other effects: anything you want Deadline is 27 May 2006 Good luck everyone!

And well you should feel guilty. You say you love this girl, what sort of way is that to show your love? I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for you if you do lose her. I'm not normally this harsh, but this is one thing that annoys me. Actions speak louder than words, I think don't you love this girl as much as you say you do. If you did, it wouldn't be hard to resist other women. I have been married for 22 years and have never cheated on my wife, and as far as I know, she has never cheated on me.My advice to you, if you REALLY love her, tell her about the other girls and hope she loves you enough to give you another chance. If she finds out from somebody else, you are finished. Don't expect her to trust you for a long time to come though.

My vote goes to Ashy. I love the lighting on the render, and the background, while it looks simplistic, it fits the render really well. NOTE: Also corrected the voting, truefusion missed the vote for Nozirev

I'm very intruiged by this template. Any chance we can see some of these designs truefusion is making?

Hopefully this is something like what you are looking for, enjoy!