[Basse_Ex]

I need to make some op-art raster\halftone effects for a flyer I'm making, preferably in photoshop(Or freeware\shareware program).
I'm aiming for a Steranko(Nick Fury:Agent of shield period)-like style in the coloring and atmosphere and really want to experiment with making my own optical raster effects, so I would greatly appreciate any and all help I can get.

here's a link to a site with some Steranko covers in the style I'm aiming for:

cover 1-7

Cover 1, 4, and 5 have the type of effects I'm looking for.

(and if anyone's interested, heres the thread with the early version of the flyer: the tekno patrol )

[Frog]

Hiya,

I know you said Photoshop or Freeware/Shareware, but basically I think that you need a vector program to do this sort of thing easily. I've been using Photoshop for a looonnng time and it is definitely possible to do the sort of thing you're after (I would use the pen tool to create the original shape on a transparent layer and then duplicate it to taste) but it is much quicker to do this sort of thing in Illustrator.

The samples below literally took 5 minutes to create in Illustrator. Just whip up the shape and duplicate or blend it to create the copies. The distortions are also very easy to do in vector packages - I think in Photoshop you would have to draw the curve out rather than distort a straight shape. If you don't have a vector package then you can still do this in Photoshop as I said earlier, you just need to apply some creative thought!

[Basse_Ex]

Well, thanks for the help, but since I don't have illustrator, I guess I have to figure out some other ways.
Does anyone know know about any free\shareware vector programs?

(There's gotta be some around, since I remember having freeware vectorpackages on the amiga 500)

(or maybe they were just pirat copies....hmmm...)

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: Basse_Ex ]

[Dr. T.J. Eckleberg]

To produce the examples Frog posted, but in Photoshop, do this:

For the pattern on the left, draw your bars by hand or use the Pattern Fill feature, then use the Shear filter. The Shear filter has a vertical bezier curve that you can bend to get these effects. It only works vertically, so you have to rotate your canvas. Work in high res and use Brightness & Contrast (contrast 100) to sharpen it up into a 2 color pattern. Takes no time at all.

For the pattern on the right, you need to use the Polar Coordinates filter. Draw vertical bars in a square document. Apply the polar coordinates filter (Rect. to Pol.) then apply the Twirl filter. The ZigZag filter (around center) also produces nice effects.

[ April 15, 2002: Message edited by: Dr. T.J. Eckleberg ]

[Basse_Ex]

hmmm... thanks... I'll check it out.

[Frog]

Nice one DR, it works! It's quick too.