Adobe Community: Message List - Tutorial: Creating a cork background

Re: Tutorial: Creating a cork background

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 05:36:26 GMT

I've added a cork background to my PSE10 "Content" palette, and it's a great way to go!

For those who are interested in having the cork background handy, there are three stages to do it:

I. Create the necessary files.

II. Place the files in the appropriate directory.

III. Have PSE recognize the new files.

I. Create the necessary files.

There are three files needed, and they must be named like this:

Corkboard 01.thumbnail.jpg

Corkboard 01.jpg

Corkboard 01.metadata.xml

I can include the first one and the last one in this post, but the second file (the actual image used for the background) is very large -- 13Mb, so you'll have to create it yourself.

Create a new blank image with these dimensions:
2600px wide by 2600px high at a resolution of 300ppi.
Follow the steps in the tutorial to create the cork image. I found that it's not necessary to change the settings of the effects filters to accommodate the large file dimensions.
Save the file to any convenient directory, naming the file
Corkboard 01.jpg
Save this file to the same directory:

naming it
Corkboard 01.thumbnail.jpg
Close PSE.
Copy this text into a text editor:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

</category>

</category>

</category>

</category>

</category>

</PSEContent>

saving the file as:
Corkboard 01.metadata.xml

in the same directory as the other two files.

II. Place the files in the appropriate directory.

In Windows Explorer, set your View options to "Show hidden files and folders".
Copy those three files into this directory:
"C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\10.0\Photo Creations\backgrounds"

III. Have PSE recognize the new files.

Browse to this directory:
"C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\10.0\Locale\en_us"
and delete or rename this file:
MediaDatabase.db3
Browse to this directory:
"C:\ProgramData\Adobe\Photoshop Elements\10.0"
and delete or rename this file:
ThumbDatabase.db3

When you start PSE, it'll take several minutes to rebuild those database files and incorporate your new background.

Now the cork background is only a couple of clicks away, and a neat thing to do is to use a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer (set to "Colorize") to change the colour from this:

to this:

or this:

Have fun!

Ken

Re: Tutorial: Creating a cork background

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:38:06 GMT

You're welcome. I was surprised at how quick it is to create the background.

Ken

Re: Tutorial: Creating a cork background

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:13:08 GMT

Thank you so much .... Nice job and so informatic.

Sam

Re: Tutorial: Creating a cork background

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:04:14 GMT

Thanks.

An image that's accessed from the "Content" palette has its advantages. A handmade image like the above can probably be added to the "Content" palette, but it'll take a while to figure out how to do it and I'm getting really sleepy....

Good point about the seams, though, will need to use the pattern maker to ensure the image tiles seamlessly when used from "Content" .

Ken

Re: Tutorial: Creating a cork background

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 07:58:28 GMT

Nice job!

Probably better than a pattern since there no seams and thanks for sharing.

Tutorial: Creating a cork background

forums_noreply@adobe.com — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 07:46:34 GMT

While answering a recent question, I was dismayed to find that PSE10 does not have a cork background pattern in its "Content" palette.

I happened onto a tutorial on the Web for creating a cork pattern using Illustrator, and, lo and behold, it works perfectly in PSE10! So, here's how to do it.

N.B.: I started with a new blank file using the default PSE size of 6in. wide by 4in. high. If your image differs significantly from that size, you'll have to adjust the settings of the filters appropriately, increasing or decreasing the size of the effect.

Here we go:

On a new blank 6in. x 4in. image, set your foreground colour to a nice medium brown:
Fill the background with that brown.
Apply a Filter...Texture...Texturizer effect with these settings:

To get an image like this:
Apply a Filter...Pixellate...Crystalize effect with these settings:

To get an image like this:
Apply a Filter...Texture...Craqelure effect with these settings:

To get the final corkboard image:

Enjoy!

Ken