Realistic Rock in Photoshop Tutorial
Step 1
Create a new RGB Image of you desired size.
In the channels panel click on new Channel. It will become alpha 1.
Step 2
Press “D” To reset the foreground and background colors. Filter>Render>Clouds
Step 3
This is what you will see in alpha 1.
Still in the Channels panel, click on the RGB thumbnail.
Step 4
Switch to the layers panel
I have found that filling with 50% gray helps produce a more even rock texture.
Press Shift+Delete (Shift+Backspace on Mac) for the fill dialog. Choose 50% gray for contents. (For a more metallic effect, leave white instead of changing to gray)
Step 5
Filter>Render>Lighting effects.
You will need to experiment with some settings, but here are the essentials
Set light to Infinite
Select Alpha 1 from texture
Choose something for the color, in this case an orange.
Change the height to get more or less texture.
Grab the on-screen widget and drag around for different angles and intensity.
Click ok
Step 6
Instant rock.
Step 7
For some variation: Add a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer
Reduce the saturation for an interesting look
Or turn on the colorize option and try something more colorful
As always, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts. Also. let me know what kinds of tutorials you would like to see in the future.
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4 thoughts on “Realistic Rock in Photoshop Tutorial”
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Looks like a cool tutorial but I’m not getting past step 4. I’m using Windows 8 and CS6 and things aren’t the same as in this tut.
Lighting Effects is grayed out on Step 5. I use CS6 on Windows 7. I did the Channels part, then, the fill layer. When I go to Filter>Render>Lighting Effects, it is not possible to click on it. Help, please? Thank you!
Su
Having trouble getting this to work. I’m using PS CS4 (if that matters.) First, Shift->Delete doesn’t bring up the Fill dialog. I need to Ctl->A and then get to it manually through the Edit menu. That’s where I’m stuck. After I’ve done the fill operation, I got to Filter->Render, only to discover that Lighting Effects (and Lens Flare) are both disabled. I’ve tried both with the window selected (Ctl->A) and not (Ctl->D). Any suggestions?
Shift+Backspace on Windows. If render is disabled you are in the wrong color space, You need to be in RGB