Club notes 12 - Playing with Polar co-ordinates

Two exercises, the first quite short the second rather long - easy to leave a line out!

Cool Light burst
Open a new document, 1,000 x 1,000 pixels with a white background.
Select the Type tool (T), choose a 100 pt Arial Black font and type StunninG.
Layer | Rasterise | Type. Move it to it is all visible.
Ctrl+A, Edit | Cut then Edit Paste to center the type.
Ctrl+Click on the type layer's icon to make a selection and then Select | Save Selection.
Deslelect, Ctrl+D.
Edit | Fill, choose Multiply as the Blend mode and white as the colour.
Filter | Blur | Gaussian Blur, 2.5 pixels.
Filter | Stylise | Solarize.
Image | Adjustments |Auto Levels, or Shift+Ctrl+L.
Duplicate the layer, Ctrl+J.
Filter | Distort | Polar Coordinates filter with the Polar to Rectangular option checked.
Ctrl+I to invert.
Edit | Transform | Rotate 90° CW.
Filter | Stylize | Wind, From the right, repeat twice more.
Ctrl+I to invert.
Shift+Ctrl+L for Auto levels.
Filter | Stylize | Wind, From the right or, Ctrl+F, three times
Edit | Transform | Rotate 90° CCW.
Filter | Distort | Polar Coordinates filter with the Rectangular to Polar option checked.
Set the blend mode to Screen.
Shift+Ctr+N to create a new layer, Press OK.
Select the Gradient tool (G), in the Gradient picker select the Violet Orange gradient and drag across the new layer.
Change the blend mode to Color. Ctrl+I to invert the colours.
Move back to the original type layer.
Filter | Blur | Radial Blur, select Zoom and amount to 66.
Select | Load Selection, Alpha 1.
Go to the original type layer.
Fill with black with Alt+Delete.

Note: As an alternative to the previous two steps, try this:
Create a new layer at the top of the layers panel.
Select a bright foreground colour and fill using Alt+Delete.


Playing with polar co-ordinates
Open a new document 500 x 500 pixels and 72 ppi RGB, set the Background to white.
Rename Background to Web.
Press D to ensure the Foreground and Background colours are black and white respectively.
Select the Gradient tool and change the gradient from Foreground to Background, select the Linear Gradient option.
Click on the top-right corner and drag down to the bottom-left corner to create a diagonal linear gradient.
Now apply the Filter | Sketch | Halftone Pattern filter with the Sizes=5, Contrast=35 and Pattern Type=Dot.
Select Filter | Stylise | Find Edges
Select Filter | Distort | Polar Coordinates with the Rectangular to Polar option selected
Press Ctrl+l to Invert.

This spiralling pattern is merely a building block for our final background texture. Now we are going to create a series of progressive copies based on the Web layer.
Press Ctrl+R to turn on the rulers, if necessary.
Set the Ruler scale to Percent by double clicking on one of the rulers.
Drag a vertical guide line from the rulers and position it at 50% and then place a horizontal guide 50%.
Select the Elliptical Marquee tool.
Hold down the Shift and Alt keys, click at the intersections of the two guides and drag out to the perimeter of where the concentric oval shapes start meeting the lines that are shooting outward.
Invert the selection, Shift+Ctrl+I.
Delete
Ctrl+D to deselect.
Hide the guides Ctrl+;

Note: The next thing to do is to repeat a series of steps five times so you will create an Action, preferably in a new Action Group to keep it apart from the default ones. As it is easy to make a mistake, take a snapshot so you can get back to this stage easily.

In the Actions panel, create a new Action Set, name it PS Club action or something similar.
Create a new Action and name it Repeat five times, or similar.
Copy the Web layer by dragging it to the Create a new layer icon in the layers palette or Ctrl+J.
There's no need to name this layer.
Select Edit | Transform | Scale and change Height and Width to 80%.
Hit Enter twice to apply the transformation
Change the Blend Mode to Screen.
Create a copy of the layer Ctrl+J.
Press Ctrl+shift+T to reapply the 80% transformation from above.
Change the Blend Mode for this layer to Hard Light.
Stop recording the action.

Run the action 5 times
When you are finished, your last layer should be named Web copy 12 and the Blend Mode should be set to Hard Light.
Press Ctrl+Shift+E to merge all the layers down to the Background layer.
Press Ctrl+; to unhide the guides.
Select the rectangular marquee tool (M).
Use the guides to select the bottom-right corner of the image.
Press Ctrl+C to copy, then press Ctrl+V to paste. Photoshop will name this Layer 1.
Press Ctrl+; to hide the guides.
Duplicate Layer 1, Ctrl+J.
Click on Layer 1 copy
Edit | Transform | Flip Vertical.
Use the Move tool (V) to position the copy in the upper right corner of the document.
Hit Ctrl+E to merge the duplicated to Layer 1.
Now duplicate Layer 1 with Ctrl+J.
Click on the duplicate layer
Edit | Transform | Flip Horizontal.
Use the Move tool (V) to position the copy to the left of the document.
Hide the Background
Press Ctrl+Shift+E to merge the all visible layers.

Make a copy of the Layer 1 Ctrl+J.
Apply the Gaussian Blur filter with a radius of five.
Now set the Blend Mode to Multiply and the Opacity to 75 per cent.
Merge the copy down to Layer 1 with Ctrl+E.

Layer | New Adjustment Layer | Hue/Saturation
Hit OK on the New Layer dialog to accept the default settings.
In the Hue/Saturation dialog turn on the Colourize option and apply with Hue=0, Saturation=50 and lightness=-50

Create a new layer, Shift+Ctrl+N, name the layer Radial and fill it with white.
Press D on the keyboard.
Filter | Render | Clouds.
Filter | Pixelate | Mosaic set the Cell Size to 20 and hit OK.
Filter | Distort | Polar Coordinates turn on the Rectangular to Polar option and hit OK.
We need to add colour so hit Ctrl+U to open a Hue/Saturation dialog box. Select the Colourise option and set Hue to 100, Saturation to 50 and Lightness to 0.
Set the Blend Mode to Colour Dodge.

Create a new layer and fill it with white, Ctrl+Backspace.
Name the layer Radial Highlight.
Set the Foreground colour to 50% grey (R, G & B = 128).
Select the Gradient tool and click on the Gradient Preview window to edit the gradient.

The new gradient bar, shown here with seven colour stops beneath it, can have as many stops as will fit in. Also, it can have stops above which are Opacity stops - scope for a bit of experimentation later on.

Next create a new gradient and by adding seven new Colour Stop tabs below the gradient display. Space them roughly evenly, set the colours to grey and white alternately. The first and last Colour Stop should be grey and alternate between white and grey.

Hit OK when you are finished creating the gradient

Set the gradient to Linear Gradient on the Options bar.
Hold down the Shift key a line from the bottom to the top of the document to fill with the Radial Highlight layer with the gradient.
Filter | Pixelate | Mosaic apply with Cell Size set to 10.
Filter| Distort | Polar Coordinates and apply with the Rectangular to Polar option selected
Blend Mode to Multiply

Create a new laver and name it Concentric Lines. 
Press the letter D on your keyboard to return the Foreground and Background colours to black and white respectively
Filter | Render | Clouds.
Filter | Pixelate | Mosaic and set Cell Size to 25. Hit OK to apply.
Filter | Stylize | Find Edges
With the Concentric Lines layer selected press Ctrl+L to open Levels and enter a value of 200 for the first of the Input Levels on the left which will move the black triangle to the right. Hit OK to apply.
Filter | Distort | Polar Coordinates with the Rectangular to Polar option selected
Press Ctrl+I to invert

Create a new layer above the Concentric Lines laver and fill it with white
Filter | Render | Clouds.
Set the Blend Mode to Colour Burn.
Press Ctrl+E to merge the new layer down to the Concentric Lines layer
Select Filter | Other | Maximum and set Radius to 1 and hit OK to apply.
Press Shift+Ctrl+F to open the Fade dialog, set Opacity to 50 % and hit OK.
Press Ctrl+U to open a Hue/Saturation dialog box
Turn on the Colourize option. Leave Hue at 0, change Saturation to 100, change Lightness to -55 and hit OK to apply.
Change the Blend Mode to Screen
Make a duplicate of the Concentric Lines layer and then merge the duplicate back down to the Concentric Lines layer to double the effect

Create a new layer and call it Light Warp.
Fill it the layer with white and select the Gradient tool.
Select the gradient you created above from the Options bar set the gradient to Linear Gradient on the Options bar.
Hold down Shift and draw a line from the bottom to the top of the document to fill the Light Warp layer with the gradient
Next, click on Ctrl+L to open Levels
Set the first Input Levels field to 128
Click OK to apply the Levels settings.
Filter | Distort | Polar Coordinates filter with the Rectangular to Polar option checked.
Change the Blend Mode to Soft Light and the Opacity to 50 per cent.

Create a new layer and name it Random Grid.
Press D to ensure that the Foreground and Background colours are set to black and white.
Fill the layer with white, Ctrl+Backspace.
Filter | Render | Clouds.
Filter | Pixelate | Mosaic with Cell Size set to 20.
Filter | Stylise | Find Edges.
Filter | Stylize | Glowing Edges and set Edge Width to 9, Edge Brightness to 6, and Smoothness to 1
Filter | Stylise | Find Edges again.
Image | Adjustments | Invert or Ctrl+I.

Create a new layer
Fill with white.
Filter | Render | Clouds.
set the Blend Mode to Multiply.
Duplicate the new layer, Ctrl+J, and set its opacity to 50%.
Merge the two new layers down to the Random Boxes layer, Ctrl+E twice.
Set the Blend Mode for the Random Grid layer to Colour Dodge and set the Opacity to 50%.

Create a new layer and name it Scratches
Fill the layer with white.
Filter | Render | Difference Clouds with the Foreground and Background colour set the Black and White as usual.
Filter | Pixelate | Mosaic with Cell Size set to 15
Filter | Stylise | Find Edges.
Ctrl+L to open Levels dialog box. Set the first Input Levels field to 128. Click OK.
Filter | Blur | Gaussian blur filter with a Radius of 1
Ctrl+L to open Levels. Set the first Input Levels field to 150, and click OK to apply.
Filter | Stylise | Glowing Edges filter with Edge Width set to 1, Edge Brightnes set to 19 and Smoothness set to 15
With the Scratches layer still selected press Ctrl+U to open Hue/Saturation, select the Colorize option then set Hue to 270, Saturation to 35, and Lightness to 20 and then hit OK to apply.
Finally change the Blend Mode to Colour Dodge and set the Opacity to 75 per cent