• Max Msp
• Melodyne
• MIDI
• Mixing Music
• Motion
• MPV News
• Music Theory
• Native Instruments
• Omnisphere
• Other
• Pages
• Photoshop
• Premiere
• Pro Tools
• Propellerhead Reason
• Propellerhead Record
• Reaktor
• Reaper
• Review
• Sibelius
• Sound Design
• Sound Production
• Soundtrack Pro
• Spectrasonics
• Trilian
• Web
• WordPress

• Ableton Live
• Adobe
• After Effects
• Apple
• Audio Hardware
• Audio Plug-In
• Audio Recording
• Audio Software
• Avid
• Cubase
• Djing
• Dreamweaver
• Final Cut
• Flash
• GarageBand
• iLife
• Illustrator
• iMovie
• InDesign
• Interviews
• iPad
• iPhone App
• iTunes
• iWork
• Keynote
• Logic Pro
• Mac OSX
• macProVideo
• MainStage
• Mastering

• Creating Hedgerow Text in Photoshop
• by David Smith
• This article is in honor of all lovers of well-pruned hedges, Photoshop CS6 and creative text effects. David Smith serves up a treat in this article: merging all three of the above to excellent effect

• New Layer Features In Photoshop CS6
• by Toby Pitman
• There's new features a plenty in Adobe's flagship image editing application, Photoshop CS6. Toby Pitman uncovers the new features relating to layers and how they'll impact your image editing workflow.

• Photoshop CS6: Using the Channel Mixer
• by Iain Anderson
• There's so much to explore in the Adjustment Layers of Photoshop CS6 and CS5.5. It's easy to miss the Channel Mixer and also understand how to use it effectively. Iain Anderson demonstrates!

• 5 Color Tips For All Photoshop Users
• by Toby Pitman
• Toby Pitman picks his 5 favorite color tips available in Photoshop CS5 and CS6. From the simple to the sublime. There's something useful here for all Adobe Photoshop users!

• Automated Image Correction Techniques in Photoshop
• by David Smith
• It's usually best to apply color correction manually to your photos But, there are times when applying auto correction can save time & produce interesting results. David Smith shows how in Photoshop.

• Photoshop CS5 406
• Custom Brush Controls & Grunge Brush Creation
• Watch as Mark Stope walks you through Photoshop's many Custom Brush controls & learn how to create various types of 'Grunge' brushes to make stunning textures for your next drawing or rendering. 

• Photoshop CS5 103
• Adding Text To Images
• One of the most common techniques as a Photoshop user is to add text to an image or graphic. In this tutorial Photoshop Pro Nathan Fullerton shows you all the different ways you can approach Adding Text to Images in Photoshop...

• Photoshop CS5 405
• Body Modifications
• Mark Stope is back at it in his latest in the SCi-FI and Fantasy Effects Series as he shows you how to easily apply a grab-bag of body modifications to the subjects in your scene, using Photoshop CS5.

• Photoshop CS5 404
• Lighting & Light Effects
• Join Film Industry Pro Mark Stope as he shows you how to light scenes and create dramatic lighting effects using Photoshop CS5.

• Photoshop CS5 402
• Drawing Objects In Photoshop
• Sketch objects, create textures, and make photo-realistic mock-ups ... this tutorial-video shows you how to create graphics from the ground-up in Photoshop.

• Photoshop CS5 403
• Compositing Workflows in Photoshop
• With Photoshop and some solid compositing skills, you can make any image that comes to mind ...

• Photoshop CS5 104
• Mastering Adobe Camera Raw 6
• Take your raw photo editing skills to the next level: master Adobe Camera Raw 6 -and the best features of Bridge C5- from a seasoned photographer!

• Photoshop CS5 101
• Core Photoshop CS5
• 5-hours of training (115 separate videos) covering the fundamentals of using Photoshop CS5. Learn Photoshop CS5 from a proven master who gets right to the tips & tricks that benefit you the most.

• Photoshop CS5 105
• Retouching & Image Adjustment
• Take photo retouching and adjustments to a whole new level…Learn advanced, professional techniques from a seasoned photographer.

• Photoshop CS5 204
• Preparing Still Images for Final Cut Pro
• Learn how to prepare crisp, clear, HD images for Final Cut Pro … Michael Wohl (one of Final Cut Pro's original designers) shows you the way!

• Photoshop CS5 205
• Preparing Still Images for Premiere Pro
• Learn how to prepare crisp, clear, HD images for Premiere Pro CS5 … Michael Wohl shows you the way!

Preview these Photoshop Tutorial-Videos

Buried away inside the Gradient window is a rather cool effect. It allows you to create highly complex gradient swatches that are useful for a number of effects like backgrounds and textures.

In this Photoshop article I’ll show you something you can do with the Noise setting inside the Gradient Option window.

You can create gradients in two ways in Photoshop: Firstly with the Gradient Tool and secondly with the Gradient Overlay Layer Style. I’m going to use the latter as I find it’s good for auditioning results and once you have a gradient it will be available in the Gradient Tool if you need more control.

To set this up, create a layer and add a Layer Style.

Check Gradient Overlay and click on the gradient swatch.

In the Gradient Type drop down choose Noise.

You will be immediately be presented with some crazy mess on your layer! This is Gradient Noise.

Now you're not stuck with this mess as there’s plenty of control. The first thing you can tweak is the Roughness parameter. This will smooth out the transition between the color and can provide some really nice background effects with the right color palette.

Speaking of color palettes you can choose between three modes of adjusting color: The first is RGB (Red, Green, Blue) then comes HSB (Hue, Saturation, Brightness) and then the LAB (Lightness, a,b opposing color spaces—don’t ask!!) color picker.

The sliders on each color mode will allow you to control or restrict the range of colors used in the noise.

You can also add random transparency to the gradient as well by checking the Add Transparency check box.

The Randomize button is a never-ending source of fantastic looking gradient swatches and you might find it hard to know when to stop with this one.

Planet Effect

So what can you do with this? Well, here’s a very quick example that’s quite fun: 

Once you have a gradient you like, convert the Gradient Overlay Layer Style to a new Layer. To do this Control-Click the Layer FX and choose Create Layer.

By default this new layer will be clipped to the layer below so just Option-Click (Alt on the PC) between the layers.

On your Gradient layer apply the Ocean Ripple effect from Effect > Distort > Ocean Ripple.  You don’t want too much and you can probably see where I’m going with this.

Now you’ll need Photoshop Extended for this as we’re going 3D! From the 3D menu choose New Shape From Layer > Sphere. 

After some adjusting some of the lighting you get a rather convincing gas giant effect.

By adding a bit of Outer Glow and some stars in the background (rendered from After Effects using Particular) you get the start of a nice little space scene:

Obviously this is just one way you can use Gradient Noise. It’s great for background effects and don’t forget you can use it with the Gradient Shape modes like Radial (planet rings, anyone?), Diamond etc! 

Bring on the noise!

Download the Photoshop project file here.

Preview these Photoshop Tutorial-Videos

Toby Pitman

Toby composes, records, performs and produces music in every possible style all over the world for TV shows, advertising and for recordings. Over his 18 year professional career Toby has worked with many major recording artists including George Michael, David Arnold, Yussif Islam (Cat Stevens), Giles Martin and Shirley Bassey. Toby is also a Logic Pro master, expert synthesist and sound designer. Toby's passion for music education has led him to teach for The International Guitar Foundation and the Brighton Institute of Modern Music.

Adobe photoshop, Color gradients photoshop, Colour gradients photoshop, Gradient photoshop, How to gradients photoshop, Photoshop 3d, Photoshop gradient noise, Photoshop planet

Comments