Carve

Emboss

This technique will work best on a background that is not black or white. I will give you the steps I used to make this sample, but you can use different colors or patterns for your background, and use the carve (or emboss) on any text or object that can be duplicated by copy and paste, or by duplicating layers. Since this Tutorial is for Photoshop4, it uses layers.

First, we will make the square on the left, the 'carved' square

1.I created a new file, RGB, 200 X 150 pixels, and filled it with a texture. (to create this texture, I filled it with light tan, and used filter texture/texturizer , sandstone.)

2. Click select All.

3. Edit /define pattern.

4. Now choose the text or icon that you want to use. I used a plain square for this tutorial so that you could see the Up/down effect . I typed the square from the font webdings (it is shift , on the keyboard) It is easier to use type, because type creates its own new layer and this tutorial uses layers.

5. Set the colors to default..(black foreground/white background)

6. Now type the text..I used a size of 80 points for this square .

7. now duplicate the layer, (click layer, duplicate layer) this will be layer 1 copy. Then duplicate the layer again, which will be layer 1copy 2.

8. At this point, your layers pallet should look like the example. Notice that the preserve transparency box is unchecked at this point, and the active layer is layer 1 copy 2.

9. Click on Layer 1 copy (the middle layer square) in the layers pallet to make it the active layer and click the preserve transparency box.

10. fill this square with white, (edit /fill/ background color)

11. click on layer 1 copy 2 to make it active, (make sure preserve transparency stays checked) and fill this square with the background pattern (click edit fill/pattern)

12. click layer 1 to make it active..this is the black layer. offset this layer up and to the left.(you can do this with the move tool or the arrow keys. Click on the move tool and click the arrow keys up 1 time and left 1 time to offset it 1 pixel. If this is not enough, move it 2 pixels..this will vary with the size of the object you are working with.)

13. Now click layer 1 copy, (the white square) and offset it 1 pixel down and right.

14. now you should have something that looks like the example. Click the eye next to the background layer to hide it, and then click layer, merge visible. then click the eye to make the background visible again..doing this will allow you to move the 'carve' layer around and put it anywhere you want it. The last thing I did was go to the layers pallet, double click on layer 1, when the box comes up where it says name type "carve"..I only did this because we are going to do the emboss square next and it is less confusing.

Now you have a carved square, or one that appears to sink in to the background, and now we will do the "emboss' or, the one on the right that appears to poke out from the background. The steps are exactly the same as the carve, only the white and black are reversed. All this graphics stuff is an optical illusion, and when the dark is on the top..the object appears to recede into the background. when the dark is on the bottom, the light on the top, it appears to pop out..Having said that , you could probably just figure this out yourself, but I'll go through the steps anyway..

1. set the colors to default (black foreground /white background) and type the square on the right side of the graphic.

2. duplicate the layer twice, just as you did above (Layer duplicate layer)

3. click on layer 1 copy and fill with white, (edit fill with background color)

4 click on layer 1 copy 2 and fill with pattern (edit fill Pattern) (This is where the emboss diverges from the carve..until now, it has been exactly the same.)

5. Click on layer 1 and move it down and right. (click on the move tool and move the down arrow 1 time and the right arrow 1 time)

6. Click on layer 1 copy, (white layer) and move it up and left the same way.

7. click the eye by the background and by the carve layer to make them invisible. Then flatten visible layers. (click layer/flatten visible)

8. make the carve layer and background layer visible again..and move the emboss where you want it.

I flattened the image, typed carve and emboss on it, and created the example . you can use this technique for text, buttons, shapes, etc. I made a web page set with a wood pattern, and used the carve technique on it, so it looks like carved wood. There are alot of uses for these techniques, and in learning them, I understood a little more about the illusions we use in creating graphics to 'trick ' the eye into seeing depth where there is none.. if you have questions about this tutorial, email me.

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