In this guide, photographer and computer graphics expert David Busch teaches aspiring designers how to create eye-catching Web images using filters. Throughout the book, Busch uses Photoshop 4 and 5 as his image editor. For filters, he uses Photoshop's built-in tools, Kai's Power Tools, Extensis, and other third-party plug-ins. (You can also use any other image editor that supports these filters, but it might be hard to adapt Photoshop instructions to, say, Corel Photo-Paint.)
Busch first explains how filters work and what kinds of filters are available. Then, in the heart of the book, he challenges you with hands-on tasks in which you use filters to produce Web-page elements such as backgrounds, buttons, 3-D effects, rules, image maps, and text. Next, you learn how to optimize your graphics for the Web, taking size, format, and other issues into consideration. Finally, you design filters of your own and learn about using plug-ins to create painterly effects. Full-color sections with images from the book's projects, an effects gallery, and a glossary round out the book. The included CD-ROM has project files for working along with the book's exercises and demo versions of plug-ins from Alien Skin, Andromeda, and Extensis. --Kathleen Caster
Book Description
Bring your Web pages to life with beveled buttons, eye-catching textures, and images that dance off a Web page in fiery flames! Create 3-D type with shadows, cut-outs, and perspective. Add a metallic sheen, or a neon glow! You don't need expensive 3D software to achieve these effects: the same magic can be conjured inside Photoshop or another image editor with the right plug-ins.
Astonishing Web Graphics with Kai's PowerTools and Plug-ins is a rich treasure trove of tips and techniques for beginning to advanced Web builders who want to create impressive Web images from scratch. Let Internet World graphics columnist and Photoshop expert David D. Busch show you how to create astonishing 3D effects, glistening liquid droplets, high-tech chrome rules and frames, and dozens of great Web image techniques you can achieve with Kai's PowerTools and other leading plug-in effects. Other features include:
-- A 32-page color insert with full-color images of the projects
-- A copy of the working files and every illustration in the book on the CD-ROM
-- Try-out versions of sensational plug-ins from Extensis, Alien Skin, and Andromeda
-- A complete glossary with definitions of all the key terms found in the book.
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