Wires, Hoses, and Splines

.: by mrbiotech :.

There are already some great tutorials online for making hoses and wires. This tutorial will take it a step further, showing you not only how to use the Path and Spline tools of Photoshop in hose/wire creation, but how to interweave them and add shadows that will give your creations a more realistic appeal.

Design and render intertwined hoses and wires using splines and brushes in Photoshop.

Difficulty: Moderate

Prerequisites:

1. Photoshop 6.0+
2. Photoshop’s included ‘Assorted Brushes’ brush palette.

Design considerations

In this tutorial, we’re going to create a hose with a braided appearance with a smaller wire wrapped around it, with realistic shadowing effects. It’s critical that you have in mind how you want this to turn out, specifically, how the wires will intertwine, overlap, and wrap around each other or any hoses. Because this is probably the first time you’ve attempted this, I’ve provided a picture to get an idea of what we hope to accomplish:

Although we will make a really cool looking hose out of this tutorial, the principle goal here is to help you get better acquainted with the Path and Spline tools of Photoshop so you can make some innovative graphics of your own. If you’re already well acquainted with the Pen and Path tools of Photoshop, then feel free to skip ahead.

Pen (Spline) Tools

To render our hose and wire, we need to create paths, or curved lines that will be traced by Photoshop to create the hoses and braids. Although this is a hose tutorial, we will also explain the use of Photoshop’s Pen Tools, for your future reference.

What are Paths?

Most graphic packages, Photoshop foremost, have vector-based tools to render scalable shapes and freeform curves. In essence, this permits you to create any shape you want containing hard-lines, corners, and curves combined. The lines and shapes generated are scalable (meaning you can instantly change their size without losing resolution).

So… Path’s are:

• Lines or shapes composed of lines connecting ‘Anchor-Points’ that you create. These anchor-points can be sharply pointed, such as the points of a star, or they can be made to curve, like the silhouette of a Porshe.
• Used to create complex shapes or lines, especially those that may undergo significant revision or modification throughout the creative process.
• Vector-based (as opposed to Raster or Bitmap), meaning they can be scaled, distorted, and tweaked without losing resolution. If you take a 50pixel by 50pixel bitmap and blow it up to 500pixels by 500pixels, you will notice significant negative changes in resolution- not so with vector-based graphics.
• Stored in their own unique layers in Photoshop’s Path’s Palette.
• Not visible in the final image unless you TRACE them or create a COLOR-FILLED SHAPE with them. You can see them while editing a Photoshop file, they can be saved in a Photoshop file, but if you convert to any other file format, they themselves are invisible.
• Able to be drawn beyond the borders of the image. That’s right, you can zoom out of the picture until it’s the size of a postage-stamp and add paths to the non-graphical nether-regions surrounding your image. Photoshop will even store these if you save the file in Photoshop’s PSD format!

What are Splines?

When you create a path or shape using the Pen Tools, you LEFT-CLICK to make anchor-points on a line (corners on a rectangle, or the points on a zig-zag, for example), or LEFT-CLICK+DRAG to create rounded anchor-points. To define curvature on curved points, Photoshop provides ‘SPLINES,’ or extra grab-bars for a point, that permit you to determine how curved the lines are on either side of the point.

In the above example, the grey line represents the actual path, and all the squares are Pen-defined anchor-points on that line. The two points on the right are curved. The red lines extending from the third point are SPLINES. Grabbing the diamonds on either spline will permit one to extend the curvature of that point on either side.The Pen ToolsSo how do you make these paths and splines in Photoshop? Here are the tools used to create, delete and convert anchor-points (change them from hard to curved and vice-versa):

1. Pen tool: When the Pen Tool is selected, LEFT-CLICKING in an image will create a Start Point for a new path. Additional LEFT-CLICKs within the image will cause a straight-line to be generated from the previous point to the new point as follows:
2. If you LEFT-CLICK+DRAG with the Pen tool, you can introduce some curvature to a point by introducing splines.
3. Using the Freeform Pen Tool will let you LEFT-CLICK+DRAG to create a path however you move the mouse. After you release the mouse button, Photoshop will make a best guess on where to put the points and splines to make the shape you just drew. Frequently, you’ll have to modify it to get it the way you actually want it, however.
4. Use the Add Anchor-Point Tool and the Delete Anchor-Point Tool to add or delete anchor points within an existing path.
5. Clicking on anchor points with the Convert Point Tool will change the point from a hard-angled one to a curved point or vice-versa. In the following image, I used the Convert Point Tool on all the points in the star to convert it to the kid’s equivalent of a shuriken: harmless.
   

Manipulating Paths and Shapes

1. Clicking on a path with the Path Component Selection Tool will select an entire path or shape, permitting you to move it wherever you want, trace the whole thing, etc.
2. You can select (and move) individual anchor-points of a path by clicking on them with the Direct Selection Tool . This is how you modify your existing paths and shapes.

Note: once an anchor point is selected with the Direct Selection Tool, you can delete it by pressing the DELETE button.

The Path’s Palette

Similar to working with multiple layers of graphics, you can work with multiple layers of paths. On each layer, you can set up as many paths as you want, with as many intersections as you want. For complex projects, however, this can get become cumbersome. I advise that you keep each path on it’s own path layer.

Here’s what the Path’s Palette looks like:

In this palette, I’ve got one Path Layer, containing the zig-zag path shown earlier. This one will take the current path and attempt to fill it with your selected foreground color. Note: this will look VERY STRANGE unless you have a closed path (your first and last path points overlap, creating a closed shape as opposed to a line).

This button will trace the current path with whatever foreground color you currently have selected. Previous to pressing this, make sure you have either the pencil, airbrush, brush, or art-brush selected. Any brush you have saved in your brush palette can be used to stroke the path. WE’LL BE USING THIS FOR THE TUTORIAL.

Make a selection from the current path. This tends to work better for closed shapes.

This is a quick way to make a path using an existing selection. If you already have a selection area set in Photoshop, you can make a path from it by clicking this.

Create a new path layer in the Path’s Palette.

Destroys the current path layer.

This is a rather cursory coverage of Pens and Paths, as used in Photoshop. Believe it or not, one of the best places to go for help with these tools is the Photoshop Help Documentation (included with whatever version of Photoshop you downloaded, provided it’s legal). There are plenty of features that exist beyond this treatment, in relation to paths. Any serious graphics author is highly encouraged to give it a read!

Making Tracks

Now that the fundamentals of Pens and Paths in Photoshop are discussed, we can move on to their application. Their backbones will be created with paths, stroked on separate layers using brushes, and then layer-styles applied.

1. Create a new Photoshop document of 200×200 pixels with a transparent background.
2. Zoom out once or twice (CTRL+’-’) so that the image area is surrounded by blank space like so…
   
3. Making the hose:
   1. Select your pen tool by clicking it’s icon in the toolbar: or by pressing ‘P’ on your keyboard.
   2. Click out past the left edge of the image area with the pen tool to create your first anchor-point.
   3. LEFTCLICK+DRAG to make a few more curved points cutting a path across your image, similar to what I have here.
      
   4. In the Layer’s Palette, RIGHT-CLICK ‘Layer 0,’ select ‘Layer Properties’ and rename it something useful, like ‘hose.’ LEFT-CLICK on the ‘hose’ layer once to make sure it’s selected.
   5. Switch to your PATH’S PALETTE (usually a tab next to the LAYER PALETTE). You’ll notice there’s one path layer called ‘WORK PATH’. In any new document, when you create your first path, it will name it this by default. If you desire, you can DOUBLE-CLICK it and rename it ‘hose-path’ for reference. Once it’s named, LEFT-CLICK it to make sure it’s selected.
      
   6. We want to stroke this path with color on the ‘hose’ layer to yield a curved line with a diameter of 40 pixels, anti-aliased to be smooth. Set your foreground color to a 50% grey and select your PaintBrush tool . Select a brush from the default palette with a large diameter but a harder edge and keep pressing your ‘]’ key until the brush size reaches 40 pixels (Note: the ‘[’ and ‘]’ keys are shortcuts to decrease or increase your selected brush size).
   7. Here’s the fun part: In your PATH PALETTE, click the Stroke Path button near the palette bottom. Your image should now have a big, grey swath of color painted across it, as follows:
      
   8. If you click back to your LAYER PALETTE, you’ll see that the stroke should have occurred to your ‘hose’ layer.
   9. To your ‘hose’ layer, apply the following layer-styles:
      
4. To make the braid for the hose, we’ll need to create a new layer above the existing ‘hose’ layer, load a special brush, and restroke the ‘hose-path.’
   1. Create a new layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N) and drag it above your ‘hose’ layer. RIGHT-CLICK on it, select ‘Layer Properties,’ and rename it ‘hose-braid.’
   2. Select your PaintBrush tool, and in the brush selector, you’ll need to access the Brush options by clicking the small circular button with a right-pointing arrow in it and selecting ‘Assorted Brushes.abr’ from the list of brush sets you can load. It’s included with Photoshop, unless you deliberately deselect it during the Photoshop installation process.
   3. Then select the brush that looks like this: ,select your ‘hose-braid’ layer by clicking on it.
   4. Then switch to your ‘hose-path’ PATH LAYER and press ‘D’ to reset your foreground color to Black, and click the Stroke Path button (on the bottom of the palette) with your paint-brush tool selected. Your image should now resemble this…
      
   5. We’re done with the ‘hose-path’ path layer, so click in the path palette somewhere else to deselect the hose-path.
   6. Apply the following layer-style to the ‘hose-braid’ layer:
      
   7. The braid now has a beveled effect to make it appear to carve into the hose, but the braid is unpleasant because it goes beyond the edges of the hose itself. To remedy this, we’re going to merge the layer with its effects and then cut off everything not over the ‘hose.’ Create another layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N) and move it under the ‘hose-braid’ layer. (Layers from top to bottom: ‘hose-braid’, Layer-1, ‘hose’). Now select the ‘hose-braid’ layer and press CTRL+E to merge ‘hose-braid’ to Layer-1.
   8. CTRL+LEFT-CLICK the ‘hose’ layer to select its contents. You should end up with the ‘selection maggots’ crawling around your hose. Press CTRL+SHIFT+I to invert the selection (to everything EXCEPT the hose), and then press your DELETE key. This should erase all the traces of the braid that were not directly over the hose.
5. As a final touch to the hose, CTRL+LEFT-CLICK the ‘hose’ layer to make a selection area shaped like the hose, and then create a new layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N) above all the other layers. If it’s not above all the others, move it there. Use your air-brush with black in this new layer to darken the bottom of the hose and add some dimensionality to it. I usually set my airbrush at 5-15% opacity for this, and use an airbrush as broad as the hose itself. In my example below, I also used the airbrush to draw across the right and left edges of the selection to darken them. In addition, using a very broad brush, a vertical line was drawn through the middle to make it look further recessed into the image.
   

Getting wired

So far, we’ve covered the use of Pens, Paths, and Splines, as well as practiced their use in a simple situation. The next steps will be creating a wire and making it appear to wrap around the hose.

1. Create a new layer (CTRL+SHIFT+N), name it ‘wire’ and drag it to the top of your layer stack.
2. Select your Paintbrush tool with a hard-edged brush 9 pixels wide and set your foreground color to a 40% grey.
3. In your Path’s Palette, create a new path layer and name it ‘wire-path.’ It doesn’t matter if it’s above or below the ‘hose-path’ layer. Use your path and spline tools to draw a path similar to the one here in your ‘wire-path’ path layer.
4. Make sure your paintbrush tool is selected and then press the ‘Stroke Path with Foreground Color’ tool. You should end up with a brushed curve on your ‘wire’ graphic layer like this:
   
   • TIP: Make sure you pull each of the points far enough out from the hose so that the stroked wire has a few pixels between it and the hose. If you don’t, it will make things much more difficult later, and reduce the believability of the ‘wrap-around’ effect we’re going to manually render.
5. Apply the following layer-styles to the ‘wire’ graphic layer to give it a 3-dimensional styling:
   
6. Toggle the visibility for each layer OFF by clicking the ‘eye’ icons next to each graphic layer EXCEPT for the ‘wire’ layer. You should see ONLY the wire, no hose.
7. Select the entire image by pressing CTRL+A (with the ‘wire’ layer selected), then navigate through the menus to EDIT >> COPY-MERGED. Then press CTRL+V to paste a copy of the wire layer with the effects merged in. Name this new layer ‘wire-merged’ and use the Move Tool to move the wire layer so that it’s situated around the hose like the original ‘wire’ layer. (Pasting an image into Photoshop will place in the exact middle of the visible area on a new layer- not always where you want it).
8. Make all the hose layers visible by clicking on them or the ‘eye icon’ in the left-side of each layer. Disable visibility of the original ‘wire’ layer, such that your Layers Palette resembles what we have here:
   

‘Winding’ the Wire

1. Now CTRL+CLICK the ‘hose’ layer to create a selection area shaped exactly like the hose we drew earlier.
2. Select the ‘wire-merged’ layer by clicking it. Then select your Eraser tool and erase parts of the ‘wire-merged’ within the selection to make it appear to wrap around the hose. The way I drew the wire and hose, there are only two ways to really do this, erasing all the right-leaning parts of the wire, or erasing all the vertical or left-leaning parts of the wire:
3. For added realism, I recommend adding some additional shadowing on a separate layer for any shadows caused by the wire, and a final layer underneath all the others to air-brush a believable drop-shadow for the whole thing, as follows:
   

This is the technique employed in DominantNegative and Synovium, although it’s easily adapted to a variety of purposes. Add braiding to the wire, change its color, or experiment with applied patterns. What’s really fun is connecting other shapes or forms, or integrating the wires and braids into larger structures. Try stitching them through a faux-metal plate. I hope you enjoyed this, and that it proves useful to your skinning tasks. Leave a comment if this tutorial does you good or something was unclear!