Puzzle Action!

 Advanced tutorial 
Step 1
Start Photoshop CS and make sure no images are open. If your photoshop is
already open and you have done some work in it...closing Photoshop and
opening it again before starting an action is a good idea, or else the action
may
not work...just a tip ;)

Step 2
Unzip thePuzzleAction1_0.zip file , save the picturepuzzle01.psdsomewhere
on your harddrive and install the actionset.

Step 3
Open the filepuzzle01.psd(again, make sure NO OTHER images are open).

Step 4
Open the image that you want to apply the effect to. This image must be in
the
foreground.

Step 5
The image is very large (2560 x 1920 pixels). If the action is used on a large
image the jigsaw puzzle pieces will be very small. Before applying the
effect
this in
example I resized the image to 1000 x 750 pixels to make the pieces a
little
bigger.

Step 6
Click on the "Puzzle #2" action button. Click 'Continue' on the first dialog
box ifimages.
your

Step 7
In the next dialog box you click 'Stop' to clean up your puzzle mesh. Hide
the
'Picture layer' by clicking on the eye on that layer and make the 'Puzzle
Template' layer active.

Step 8
If you look at the puzzle mesh you can see that something is not right on the
http://www.liknes.no/photoshop/tutorials_puzzle_advanced.asp
left
and right sides.
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 Step 8
If you look at the puzzle mesh you can see that something is not right on the
left
and right sides.

(Click on the images to see a larger version)

Use the eraser tool (Ctrl+E) to delete the unwanted parts of the mesh on the
left
side. Below you can se the result:

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

We could also do the same on the right side, but the pieces will look a little
odd. I choose to crop the image:

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 (Click on the image to see a larger version)

Now you can tidy up the mesh on the right side with the erase tool. I also
cropped the image once more to make the bottom pieces a little bigger.

Step 9
Make 'Picture Layer' visible again and restart the action. You'll now have an
image looking somthing like this:

If you plan to stop here and use the image without scaling it down, I suggest
that
you make the 'Puzzle Template' layer active and adjust the Layer opacity to
around 60 - 70%.

Step 10
Next we'll make a simple black border around the picture. Create a new
layer
and make it active. Press CTRL+A to select all and then Edit > Stroke and
use
the following settings:

Step 11
http://www.liknes.no/photoshop/tutorials_puzzle_advanced.asp
Now we will remove some of the puzzle pieces. First make the 'Puzzle Page 3 / 5
Template' layer active.
 Step 11
Now we will remove some of the puzzle pieces. First make the 'Puzzle
Template' layer active.

Select pieces of the jigzaw puzzle by selecting the magic wand tool and
clicking
in the picture.

Step 12
Make 'Picture Layer' active and press the 'Del' key to delete the puzzle
pieces.
Press CTRL+D to deselect all.

Repeat step 11 and 12 until you are happy with the result...

Step 13
Hide 'Picture Layer', make the top layer active (the layer you created in step
10) and press SHIFT+CTRL+E to merge the visible layers. Unhide 'Picture
Layer' and flatten the image. Double click the background layer and name it
'Picture Layer'.

Step 14
Add a new layer and position it under 'Picture Layer'. Make the background
color of the new layer white. Make the 'Picture Layer' active again and use
the
erase tool to delete the parts of the mesh and the frame that you don't need
anymore.

Step 15
Delete the new layer you added in step 14. You'll now have a picture
looking
something like this.

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 Step16
Let's rotate the image a bit and add some shadow. Choose Image > Rotate
Canvas > Arbitrary and enter an angle of 10 degrees counter clockwise.

Choose Image > Canvas Size and make the canvas 1200 x 1000 pixels (You
can use other values, just make sure you make the canvas bigger)

Resize the image (I resized mine to 800 x 667 pixels) and add drop shadow
and a new layer as a background. I'm using a plain white background.

Click on the image to see a larger version.

PS! If you look closely around the edges on the large version
of the image you'll
see some white "spots". These "spots" appear if you are not doing a good
enough job in Step 14 ;)

If you didn't do a good job in step 14 you might see white lines around your
jigzaw puzzle when you add the shadow.

Comments? Contactingve@liknes.no

Useful Tip
After applying the puzzle effect to an image it is often a good idea to scale
the
image down just a little bit. This often makes the picture look a little better.

Copyright © 1997 -2007 Ingve Moss Liknes All Rights Reserved

Adobe Photoshop is a registered trademark of Adobe Systems, Inc

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