Lights Up Tag

I wrote this tutorial on my own.  Any similarity to another tutorial is purely coincidental.  I claim the copyright to my tutorial. You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial.  Do not send the tutorial through email.  Only share my link.

This tutorial is intended for a beginner to learn about using animation.  If you have any questions, please feel free to Email  me.

To do this tutorial you will also need Photoshop CS or CS2.  You may download a free trial at Adobe.

Remember to save as a .psd file often!

Download DJ Lights font.   Visit this tut to see how to use third-party fonts: 

Fonts in Photoshop (BASICS)

Download Eye Candy 4000 from Alien Skin Plugins

1.  Open new, transparent image, size = 800 x 300

2.  Edit > Fill > color.  Choose a color to make the background of your letters.

3.  Set foreground color= green.  Choose the text tool and set font = DJ Lights, size = 108 - 150 pt..  Type your message and click the check mark.

4.  Choose the magic wand and click on the outside of the letters.  Hold the SHIFT key down and carefully select inside the  letters such as R, O, P, etc.

5.  In the layer palette, click on the bottom layer and press the DELETE key.

6.  Select > Deselect.

7.  Right-click on the Text layer and choose Rasterize Layer.

8.  With the magic wand, click inside the light boxes.  Hold the SHIFT key down to select each one.

9.  Select > Modify > Expand.  Expand by 2 pixels.

10.  Edit > Fill > Color with the same green color used to make the text.

11.  Select > Deselect.

12.  With the magic wand, Hold the SHIFT key and select inside the lightbulbs, one per letter.

13.  Layer > New > Layer  Call this layer Red

14.  Select > Modify > Expand.  Expand by 3 pixels.

15.  Edit > Fill > Color.  Color = red (we will end up using a total of 4 colors)

16.  Filter > Eye Candy 4000 > Glass.  Apply these settings.

17.  Right-click on the red layer and choose Duplicate

18.  Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast   Brightness = 25, Contrast = 40.

19.   Drag the copy of Red layer to the top.  Select > Deselect.

20.  Repeat steps 12 - 20, to make some blue lights, then repeat again to make some green lights, then repeat again to make some yellow lights.

21.  Your Layer Palette should look like this, with all the copy layers at the top.  HIDE the copy layers by clicking on the eye of those layers.  Then click on the red layer to highlight it.

22.  Right-click on the Red layer and choose Merge Visible.  Rename this layer Lights

23.  UNHIDE all layers.  Then save this in PSD format.  File > Save As

24.  Open up Image Ready, and open up the saved file.  Set up Image Ready for Animation as explained in this tutorial:  Setting up Image Ready for Animation (BASICS)

25.  Click on the right menu arrow in the animation box and choose Copy Frame.

26.  Click on the right menu arrow in the animation box and choose Paste Frame > After current frame.  Repeat this step until you have 16 frames.

27.  Click on Frame 1.  click on the 0 sec arrow and change it to 0. 5 sec.  then in the Layer Palette, HIDE all layers except the bottom one.

28.  Click on Frame 2.  Change the display time to 0.5 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE all layers.

29.  Click on Frame 3.  Change the display time to 0.5 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, HIDE all layers except the bottom one (may already be set).

30.  Click on Frame 4.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the red copy layer.

31.  Click on Frame 5.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the blue copy layer.

32.  Click on Frame 6.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the green copy layer.

33.  Click on Frame 7.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the yellow copy layer.

34.  Click on Frame 8.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the red copy layer.

35.  Click on Frame 9.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the blue copy layer.

36.  Click on Frame 10.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the green copy layer.

37.  Click on Frame 11.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the yellow copy layer.

38.  Click on Frame 12.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the red copy layer.

39.  Click on Frame 13.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the blue copy layer.

40.  Click on Frame 14.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the green copy layer.

41.  Click on Frame 15.  Change the display time to 0.1 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette, UNHIDE the bottom layer and the yellow copy layer.

42.  Click on Frame 16.  Change the display time to 1.00 sec.  Then in the Layer Palette,  UNHIDE  ALL layers.

43.  Now save this as an animation.  File > Optimized As.  It will save as a GIF

 Please do not remove this tutorial from my site.  Share my url.