Tutorial: Create Rays in Photoshop
You have seen them everywhere. Vector or vector-like rays are currently a staple across design mediums, appearing consistently in print, web, and television advertising. Here we apply a stealthy ninja technique to quickly knock out some photoshop rays. This technique produces great quick results, however it should be noted that sharper edges can be created through other techniques using vector shapes.
Step 1:Create a flat colored background
Step 2:Create a second layer and select the Gradiant Tool. Select the lines Gradient (The last one in this image, yeah the one that looks like a razors blade. Ninjas love those things).
Step 3:Using the line Gradient, drag the tool across your layer, evenly spaced lines will appear. (For our purpose, we did not want very thick lines, so we only used the gradiant halfway across our layer and then duplicated the layer and positioned it to fill the canvas. We then merged the two layers together)
Step 4:Command (or ctrl on PC) click on the lines layer to select the lines, this is our favorite ninja technique to select shapes. Using the Gradient Tool, select the Foreground/Background gradient and choose your colors. Then drag the gradient from top to bottom or bottom to top to create a gradient which fills only your lines. This will create an image with alternating vertical lines.
Step 5:This is where the real ninja sneak attack happens. So far you have vertical lines, so what! This is not a contest to try and look thinner is it? With your vertical lines layer selected, select Filters>Distort>Polar Coordinates. Use the Rectangular to Polar option and click OK. Now this looks a bit more like it, chinese ninja stars rock!
Your sunrays should now be complete and ready to be used for your designs and artwork.
Happy ray creating. Don’t burn yourself, that wouldn’t be very ninja like.
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That’s awesome! I haven’t worked in Photoshop since 2002 but I’m going to get cracking again….
Thanks for the tutorial!