How to Make TV Scan Line Effect in Photoshop
Tutorial
Hey what's up CAFE crew, it's Colin Smith
here from PhotoshopCAFE and this week, I'm
going to show you how to create a television
scan line effect inside of Photoshop.
All right, so this TV scan line effect, this
is one of the first special effects that I
actually did in Photoshop, and I even wrote
about it in my book way back in 2002.
This was Photoshop Most Wanted.
I wrote it with Al Ward.
We can see it, it was foreworded by Scott
Kelby, and anyway, I wrote about this in here,
so don't try and find this book because it's
probably well out of print a long, long time
ago.
But, anyway, so what I'm going to do is I'm
going to show you how to create the scan line
effect.
It really did revolutionized how I started
working in Photoshop because I unlocked the
use of patterns and it's one of those things
that people don't really use or haven't used
because when you open up the patterns inside
of Photoshop, you're met with this bubble
wrap thing that's just hideously disgusting,
and you usually close it, and then you just
move on because you can't really use it for
anything.
However, if you create your own patterns,
you can actually do a lot of really cool things
inside of Photoshop.
And this actually opened up a lot of exploration
for me, and I started to explore a lot with
different types of design things using guides
and grids, and different things like that.
Now, head over to PhotoshopCAFE.com.
We've got hundreds of tutorials and, you know,
I've got tron grids and all kinds of things
there that kind of branched off out of this,
but at the very foundation is this TV scan
line effect that I'm going to show you right
now, where we can work with different Blend
Modes and different layers and different patterns
to achieve different results very easily.
And at the end of this tutorial, I'm going
to show you a little masking trick that can
really add a little bit more dimension to
your scan line.
So, anyway, I know this is a real classic
effect.
Some of you haven't used this before; some
of you have, but check it out.
I hope you enjoy it.
So, without further ado, let's jump in and
get started.
You can actually find the written tutorial
for this as well on PhotoshopCAFE.com.
I'll just drop a link at the bottom there
for you.
So, anyway, what we're going to be doing is
we're going to be essentially creating patterns,
and then, we're going to be using these repeating
patterns to create effects.
And, in this case, we got this cool steampunk
picture that I got from Adobe Stock and we're
going to create some brushes.
So why don't we start right now?
We're going to choose New.
I said brushes, I meant patterns.
So we're going to start, we're going to change
this to pixels.
We're not going to be working in inches.
We're going to be working in pixels and we'll
just call this-- Let's make it 4 by 4.
So you're going to be wanting to work at different
sizes and create different sized patterns
because the different resolutions of images
is going to give you different results.
So we're going to start with the 4 by 4 and
we can fill it with white.
Resolutions really doesn't matter, so we're
just going to click OK.
And now, what we want to do is we want to
zoom in on that, so just grab a little magnifying
glass and we'll just zoom in on that, all
the way in.
And what we've got right now is a 4 by 4,
so what we need to do is fill the top two
pixels with black.
So the best way to do that is we need very,
very hardest brush and the hardest brush that
exist is the pencil.
And, notice, we got the foreground set to
black right now and what we can do with the
pencil is just go over it, and you can see
there's the pixels there.
So what we've done is, essentially, is we've
created the first one.
So this is going to be a 4x4, meaning 4 pixels
by 4 pixels.
So what we're going to do is we're going to
choose Edit, and then, we're going to go down
to Define Pattern, and then we're going to
call this one SLófor Scan Lineó4x4, and
just click OK.
So that's actually saved.
And, now, we're going to create a new one.
We're going to choose File, New, and then,
what we're going to do is we'll do an 8x8
and we'll just go there.
Once again, zoom in.
I'm just using the Alt key or the Option key,
and then zooming in with my wheel.
All right, so now we can just paint over the
first part of that, so now we've got an 8x8;
same thing, Edit, Define Pattern.
And we're going to call this SL 8x8.
All right, so let's make a really huge one.
What we're going to do is double the size
of this one.
So we're just going to choose Image Size,
and I'll show you what happens when we do
this.
So we're going to go, let's say 12x12 and
click OK.
And, in fact, in this case, you can see it's
perfect.
It's nice, we can actually use that.
You can see there's no blurring on the edges
there, so we can actually just go Edit, and
we can Define Brush Pattern and SL 12x12.
All right, so let's go for a really small
one, so we're going to choose Image Size.
Let's drop this one down to a 2x2.
So this is going to be a single pixel, and
we can choose Edit, Define Pattern, SL 2x2.
So what I've done is I've actually just created
a whole pattern set here.
All right, so as you can see, we're creating
these scan lines in different sizes and that's
for two different reasons: One is for a different
type of effect.
Sometimes a thick line is going to give a
great effect, whereas, other times, a very
fine line is going to provide more detail
in your images, which is going to give it
a completely different look and feel.
The other reason is the resolution.
If something is thick on a low resolution
image, when you go to a high res image, that
can be so fine that you can't see it.
So one size doesn't fit all, so what we're
actually doing is creating a pack of scan
lines here.
And what I'll do just to help you out is if
you just click right here, you can go to my
website where I've got written tutorial.
I've got this video embedded as well.
But more importantly, I'll give you a set
of patterns that you can use some scan lines
here, so you can create them yourself or you
can just grab the ones that I've created.
So, anyway, moving right along, close this
out, we don't need this anymore and same with
this one.
All right, so here we are on our steampunk
woman, and what I'm going to do is just create
a new layer, and this is where we can do that
scan line effects.
So what we need to do is just choose the Fills.
So you could go up under Edit, Fill, if you
wanted, and then go that way, which I find
is kind of slow.
I prefer to just use the Shift Delete, and
that would be Shift Backspace on Windows,
and that opens up the Fill Dialogue Box.
And then we just change Contents from Foreground
to Pattern, and then, click on the pattern
here and we can see the patterns that we've
created.
So we could go here and we could apply that
one.
That's the very fine one that we created.
And it might be a little hard to see, but
what we're going to do is we're going to create
a couple of different ones, so let's just
create a new layer on top of that one.
We're going to hide that and then just fill
it again.
And, this time, we're going to go with the
larger one, which is probably going to look
huge.
And once again, we're going to create a new
layer and we're just going to Shift Delete,
and we're going to go down to, say, I don't
know, this one here, and that looks pretty
good.
So we've got the different types of scan lines
here.
So let's have a look at how we can use these.
So what we're going to do is just change the
Blend Modes.
A lot of the time, Overlay Blend Mode is going
to look really good and we just need to drop
the Opacity down a little bit.
So we can see that looks pretty good at that
size.
Let's have a look at the bigger one.
Change that to Overlay Blend Mode and we'll
drop the Opacity down a little bit.
And stay tuned because I've got a few more
options I'm going to be showing you pretty
soon too.
Now we could go for the extremely fine one,
which this one might be a little fine, but
I don't know if you can see that.
It's not bad, actually, in Overlay Mode.
We can see, we could add those little lines
in there.
It's kind of cool with that they're very detailed.
Now, I've shrunken this image down.
You can see this is 100%, so with a higher
resolution, you're obviously going to need
to use a thicker line, and at a smaller resolution,
you know, a file you might put on the web,
you could use this very thin one.
So what I'm going to do for variations, though,
is we're going to this size here.
So let me go back up, so that's Overlay Mode.
There's another couple of modes that seem
to work quite well.
Multiply works really well if you want to
just darken it, and then, we can just kind
of play around with that, and it just shows
the dark lines, hides the white lines.
And in the other option, of course, is we
can go to the Screen Mode, and the screen
will show the Lightened lines there.
See that?
And it will hide the darkened ones.
So what you got to do is if you look at this,
you'll see in the dark areas that shows up
really well, and the lighter areas, you don't
really see a lot going on.
That's the thing about Screen Mode.
So it really depends what kind of effect you
want.
And, of course, if we go into Overlay Mode
here, we get to see them still more in the
darker areas, not as much in the lighter areas,
but it will show a little bit more.
All right, so what we're going to do though
is let's have a look here.
We've created this strong kind of scan line
effect, but maybe we don't want it all over
our model.
Maybe we just want it in the background areas.
So what we can do is create a Layer Mask.
We're going to go down, click on New Layer
Mask, and then, what we're going to do is
we're going to paint with black.
So if we change the foreground color to black,
grab a brushónot the pencil anymoreógrab
the Brush Tool and we can see we've got the
Opacity all the way up.
We got a Soft Brush and I'm just going to
make it larger by hitting my right bracket
key.
And, now, if I paint over here, what I can
do is I can hide-- See that, that scan line
effect?
It's hidden from those areas that I'm painting.
So we could do that, make the brush a little
smaller, bring it down there.
And, now, as you can see there, we've got
the scan lines just happening in the background
and not on our subject anymore.
So we can go around there, just clean that
up, and you could get this as exactly as you
want.
A lot of the time, though, you might want
it on the bottom, which I'm going to.
I'm actually gonna go here and make that appear
on the bottom.
The other thing I could do is work with pressure
sensitivity.
So if I'm going to turn that on, if you're
working off a Wacom tablet, you can turn on
the pen pressure so you can fade it in; so
you can have a darker in areas and lighter
in other areas, and just kind of blend it
in like what I'm going to do here.
See I'm just kind of blending that in a little
bit, and, maybe, just allow a little bit to
go through on some of these edges, maybe on
the gun there, and just kind of blending it
with the scan lines and the non-scan line
area.
You might put a little bit just on that shoulder
there, or not.
It's up to you.
Now, if you don't have the Wacom pen, you
could just drop the Opacity down and just
do it from a mouse, maybe 30 to 50%, so maybe
I'm going to put a little bit on the top of
the hat there, kind of like it there.
And then, there we go.
We have, essentially, just blended in our
TV scan lines there, before and after.
And we could experiment, turning the Opacity
up a little bit more, now that we're kind
of hiding it from some of those other areas,
and, you know, that kind of shows you the
different things you can do with it.
All right guys, I hope you enjoyed this effect.
I know it was something a little bit different
this week, but I really want to come back
to a foundational thing that you could use
over and over again, because, really, what
I'm trying to do here on this PhotoshopCAFE
channel is not necessarily be like, you know,
here's how to do all these elaborate things.
What I want to do is give you practical things
that you can use every day to make you better
at Photoshop.
So whether you're a designer, or a photographer,
or you're a hybrid, somewhere in the middle
there, kind of a little bit more like me.
I'm a photographer and a designer.
I want to give you the tools that you can
use every single day that are practical, that
can give your image just that little extra
pizzazz.
So, anyway, if you like this kind of tutorials,
and you like what I've been doing here on
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So, anyway, guys, thanks for watching and
until next time, I'll see you at the CAFE.
