creating sparks

Dalem · 09-07-2002, 02:50 AM

I'm trying to create sparks for a brochure cover showing a grinding machine. I did the motion, but no sparks

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Thanks from western NY

Rick · 09-07-2002, 02:57 AM

Welcome aboard Dalem [righton] It is always helpful to post an example of what you are after. If could post an example of what you have so far I'm sure you will find some help[bustagut] [shhh]

Dalem · 09-07-2002, 03:10 AM

Thanks for the tip Rick. Unfortunately I'm not at work now. These sparks are like a welding torch cutting through metal, or my car frame scraping the ground (no springs). Some thing along those lines.
By the way how do I attach an example. [confused]

Rick · 09-07-2002, 03:26 AM

I'll se if I can find a tute for you our maybe make a short one up.

If you want to attach an image to your post, click the 'browse' button at the bottom of the screen and navigate to the image on you computer, after you have the correct image then click the Submit Reply button. You are limited on this board to images of no more the 150 k's and most of us try to keep our images as small as posible out of respect for those with slower connection speeds. As well can only upload images with the jpg or gif extension. B7

Hope this helps

09-07-2002, 05:16 AM

Hi and welcome to the board Dalem [righton]

About the sparks...I will see what I can come up with. Right now it's geeting late, but hopefully I have an answer tomorrow

theKeeper · 09-07-2002, 11:05 AM

Hi Dalem...

I'd have to highly recommend that a drawing Tablet be used for this type of effect. Mainly because it makes it much more simple to achieve.

I've done up a quick and dirty example below...
Note the sample image below has 2 sprays of sparks, the bottom one is the real one, the top is one i very quickly made up. With the proper attention to colour, it can look more realistic than seen here.
All that was needed to do this was to use a 1px brush and 'scrub' away with the appropriate colours until the desired effect was created. Then the layer's Blend Mode was changed to Screen -- Lighten works also.

Other than this method, manually painting the effect, you'll just have to experiment using filters because this effect has a very specific look to it. Filters might take a fair bit of time to create the specific look needed. Unfortunately, not all effects can be done by pushing buttons and pulling sliders. [oops]

You can TRY painting the effect using a mouse, it's not impossible. Just move slower when painting the outer distance sparks. And in case you're wondering... i sampled the proper colours from the source image with the Eye Dropper tool. That helps.

Hope that helps somewhat.