What's new
Photoshop Gurus Forum

Welcome to Photoshop Gurus forum. Register a free account today to become a member! It's completely free. Once signed in, you'll enjoy an ad-free experience and be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

Help with getting a graphic to conform to an odd shape


Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
Hello all,

I am newb at photoshop and that will become quite clear...lol. I just downloaded a trial version of cc14 today. With some help of youtube tutorials I was able to get alot done of what I am trying to do. Basically what I am trying to do is put an image onto a guitar template so I can eventually have it printed as a graphic and apply it to said guitar. I managed to figure out how to take a hi res pic of my guitar body and get that into photoshop. I next figured out how to make it into a template. That took me most of the day. I have now brought in the image I want to use as the graphic. I have the image pretty well centered on the guitar template. My next challenge is this. The image is circular, what I am attempting to do is stretch the edges of the circle to line up with the edges of the guitar without distorting the center of the image too much or at all if possible. Any hints on how to do something like this would be greatly appreciated.
 
Last edited:

Tom Mann

Guru
Messages
7,223
Likes
4,343
Please post the images that you are working with. Without these, it's very difficult to give a concrete answer to your question.

Tom M
 

Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
Please post the images that you are working with. Without these, it's very difficult to give a concrete answer to your question.

Tom M

What is the best way to post the images? Just in jpeg form hosted by photobucket? or do you need it in the photoshop format with the layers, etc?
 

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,721
Likes
13,258
What is the best way to post the images? Just in jpeg form hosted by photobucket? or do you need it in the photoshop format with the layers, etc?
No. Upload images like this...

Choose the upload icon...
ImageUploadIcon.jpg

ImageUploadIcon_02.png
 
Last edited:

Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
Here it is BlankRG2.jpg resized of course. Basically I am trying to get the very center of the ball to stay the same size, while extending the edges of the image so that it appears that the purple edge strikes are on the edge of the the guitar body, it that makes sense. Without altering the size of the inner purple ball.
 
Last edited:

IamSam

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Messages
22,721
Likes
13,258
Very cool idea!!!

Give our members a chance to work on this. I have to run to work here in awhile, but I really want to work on this challenge! If no one figures out a way to do this, I will work on it when I get home this evening. When I say work on it, I mean trying to figure out the best way to accomplish the task. Right now, I'm thinking the best way would be to just recreate the entire lightning ball effect to fit the guitar template. Hopefully, someone else will have a better idea.
 

MrToM

Guru
Messages
3,595
Likes
3,321
Well.....where to start?

I had to find the plasma ball image as you didn't provide it so the one in mine is not the one from your image.....but I think its the same regardless.

That was the easy bit.

Next I placed that image as a smart object on top of the image you provided.
I transformed the image so that the center of the ball was the same size as the original.....I lowered the opacity of the ball so I could see your image behind it.

Once that was re-sized I then used 'Puppet Warp' to stretch out the image to fit the guitar shape.

Now.....In all honesty it would be far better for you to find a video on 'Puppet Warp' in order to get to grips with how it works.

Once you get the principle its pretty easy to use but initially it'll seem impossible......likewise to explain it here.

All I did after 'Puppet Warp' was to add a layer mask to hide the bits outside the guitar shape.....that'll make sense when you try it yourself.

If you do need me to explain anything then of course I will.

Good Luck.

Regards
MrTom.
 

Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
Well.....where to start?

I had to find the plasma ball image as you didn't provide it so the one in mine is not the one from your image.....but I think its the same regardless.

That was the easy bit.

Next I placed that image as a smart object on top of the image you provided.
I transformed the image so that the center of the ball was the same size as the original.....I lowered the opacity of the ball so I could see your image behind it.

Once that was re-sized I then used 'Puppet Warp' to stretch out the image to fit the guitar shape.

Now.....In all honesty it would be far better for you to find a video on 'Puppet Warp' in order to get to grips with how it works.

Once you get the principle its pretty easy to use but initially it'll seem impossible......likewise to explain it here.

All I did after 'Puppet Warp' was to add a layer mask to hide the bits outside the guitar shape.....that'll make sense when you try it yourself.

If you do need me to explain anything then of course I will.

Good Luck.

Regards
MrTom.

Sorry about not supplying the image, I wasn't sure exactly what to put up really. I did watch a vid yesterday on the puppetwarp and it did seem a little daunting. I tried it yesterday also but it seem to distort the image in a way I didnt want it to. Now after playing with it again I realize I didn't anchor the center. So now Ive got my first try ready. I had the opacity down as you suggested, is there a way to bring the opacity back up before I finalize it? I also think I may have not put enough anchor points, but I will post as soon as I can get the opacity back.
 

MrToM

Guru
Messages
3,595
Likes
3,321
Cool!

I can't really answer the opacity question as I've no idea how you did it or on what, when, which way....you could have done that many different ways.

If you post your workflow then it should be easy to rectify but without knowing what you've done its impossible to say for sure.

One thing which isn't obvious about the puppet warp is where you can place the anchor points (pins).
You can in fact put them anywhere!

When I did it I set the 'Density' to 'More Points' and went around the center in a sort of 'Wheel-nut tightening' pattern......starting at 12 o'clock, then 6, 3, 9....then I just pinned in-between each pin until I had enough of the center covered.

If PS wouldn't let me place a pin I just went to the nearest 'node' that spanned the edge of the circle......as long as there are enough pins to anchor the circle then you're good to go.

From there it was just a case of dragging 'nodes' outward until they touched the edge of the shape......sometimes I had to go a lot further than the image boundary so I first made the canvas much bigger to accommodate it.

Once the main shape was covered I then tweaked the inside, deleting pins if needed, just to remove some of the distortion......I admit I didn't spend too long on it so it could be much better with more time spent on it.

Regards.
MrTom.
 

Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
I think I set the opacity in the wrong place, I went ahead and finalized and it still looked cloudy. I think I know where to set it now, but it means I am doing it over. Which is ok actually because in order to get some of the edge alignment I pulled some points in and after I finalized they looked like corners wrapped over. I will try the higher density you suggested next.
 

MrToM

Guru
Messages
3,595
Likes
3,321
Yeah.....that looks Ok to me!

Here is my layers panel in case its of any use but it looks like you're not too far off it anyway. :thumbsup:

plasmaxe_B_01.png

The top layer is just a copy of the original at 50% opacity.
The second layer is the Smart Object and the puppet warp. Note the mask.
The bottom layer is just your original image.

Regards.
MrTom.
 

dv8_fx

Retired Administrator
Messages
13,761
Likes
4,789
Here it is View attachment 53721 resized of course. Basically I am trying to get the very center of the ball to stay the same size, while extending the edges of the image so that it appears that the purple edge strikes are on the edge of the the guitar body, it that makes sense. Without altering the size of the inner purple ball.

Just curious..... is that an Ibanez? Gio or MTM2, perhaps?

You have to take into consideration the edge contours most especially the arm rest area. I feel you shouldn't extend the design into them as the decal might crumple at the edges.


On a different note.... As a former guitarist of many years, I would rather have someone airbrush the design then spray coated with a clear, tough protective finish. After a few months, stick on decals tend to become brittle and messy and may ruin the original finish if you decide to take it off in the future.

Just saying......
 

Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
Just curious..... is that an Ibanez? Gio, perhaps?

You have to take into consideration the edge contours most especially the arm rest area. I feel you shouldn't extend the design into them as the decal might crumple at the edges.


On a different note.... As a former guitarist of many years, I would rather have someone airbrush the design then spray coated with a clear, tough protective finish. After a few months, stick on decals tend to become brittle and messy and may ruin the original finish if you decide to take it off in the future.

Just saying......

It is an Ibanez full MIJ RG570, I will be filling the middle pickup route most likely. What I do is get a vinyl wrap done like they use on vehicles now. It works really well. I strip the body, repaint with the base coat, clear it, then I apply the decal, touch up the edges, repaint the edges with a clean line, then clear it all again. I did one like this and it turned out amazing. Its just last time I had someone else do the design and I wanted to learn how to do it myself. Here is a pic of the one I already did.
102_1873.JPG 102_1874.JPG
 

dv8_fx

Retired Administrator
Messages
13,761
Likes
4,789
Ahhhh.... vinyl wrap on stripped, repainted base coat then clear finish. That'll work!!! .... :thumbsup:. For a minute there I thought you were gonna use those sticker type material. Not a good idea.....

Work on MrTom's excellent suggestion. You might also want to try using the warp tool in order to warp stretch the left side of the plasma arcs while maintaining the center globe between the humbuckers without distorting it. It's kinda tricky but may be the only way to balance it out along the X-trem and rear....

Your first try is good..... except those distortions above and below the neck joint....


Wait a minute.... filling the middle pickup route? Basically turning it into a full humbucker? Or planning to modify the rear pickup to function as a single coil and humbucker.....
 

Fastmerc

Member
Messages
17
Likes
6
Ahhhh.... vinyl wrap on stripped, repainted base coat then clear finish. That'll work!!! .... :thumbsup:. For a minute there I thought you were gonna use those sticker type material. Not a good idea.....

Work on MrTom's excellent suggestion. You might also want to try using the warp tool in order to warp stretch the left side of the plasma arcs while maintaining the center globe between the humbuckers without distorting it. It's kinda tricky but may be the only way to balance it out along the X-trem and rear....

Your first try is good..... except those distortions above and below the neck joint....


Wait a minute.... filling the middle pickup route? Basically turning it into a full humbucker? Or planning to modify the rear pickup to function as a single coil and humbucker.....

By filling the middle route I mean that a 570 is HSH so the center ball of the graphic would fall on the center single coil pickup. I typically don't use those anyway, so I will fill the single route in with wood. That will make the guitar H H like the one I posted.
 

Top