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Final Image Preview
You can download the source vector file for this tutorial
Phantasm CS is a plugin for Adobe Illustrator providing color adjustment, embedded image handling and essential pre-press tools. With the help of Phantasm CS, you can also create fully managed Halftone effect. Exactly this property of the plugin will be discussed in this Adobe Illustrator Tutorial.
Tutorial Details
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- Program: Adobe IllustratorCS3-CS5+ Phantasm CS;
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- Difficulty: beginner;
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- Estimated Completion Time: 20 minutes;
Step 1
Choose a bitmap image and paste it into your document workspace.
First let's see what the standard feature of the Halftone in Adobe Illustrator offers us. Select the bitmap image and go to Effect> Pixelate> Color Halftone.
We can see a number of values in the dialog box. Does this mean something for you? For me neither. In addition there is no possibility of changing these values and observing what happens to the image. Well, randomly click on OK.
Step 2
Oops! That's exactly not what I wanted. Fortunately, I know what to do. Let's go back to the settings of the effect by clicking on its name in the Appearance palette.
Set 0 for all the channels and click on OK.
Step 3
Oh, where did the red color appear from? Keep the object selected, go to Object> Live Trace> Trace Options … and set the parameters in the dialog box as shown in the figure below.
Why am I setting these parameters? Because I have experience. Now keeping the object selected, go to Object> Expand Appearance, then Object> Expand.
All the elements have turned into vector objects, let us take a close look at what we got.
What can I say? You can be experimenting with the parameters of Color Halftone and Trace Options for hours, and I still will not guarantee that you will get an acceptable result.
Now let's see what Phantasm CS offers us.
Step 1
After installing the plugin, the entry with its name appears in the bottom of the Effect menu. Select the bitmap image and go to Effect> Phantasm CS> Halftone ....As you can see, the dialog box of this effect includes many features, and we can observe changes the image by controlling these features.
Step 2
Get yourself familiar with some of these functions, and then apply our knowledge into practice. You can choose form the color image type: Monochrome, RGB, Sampled.
If you choose Monochrome type, you can specify the color of the effect.
Step 3
By setting the DPI, you can specify the number of points of effect.
You have an opportunity to choose from the type of Pattern, it can be a Grid, FM or Radial.
Each type of Pattern has additional configurations.
Step 4
You can control the coordinates of the effect, for example, in the case of radial type of the Pattern, you can specify the coordinates of its center.
Step 5
Halftone can consist of different objects: circles, squares, lines, characters and even symbols from the panel of the same name!.
Step 6
You can scale shapes which the image consists of.
If scaling is not proportional, you can get ellipses or rectangles, in addition, you can change their slope.
Of course, in this small tutorial I did not describe all the features of this effect, so simply install this plug-in and experiment with it.
Step 7
After applying the effect, the image stays raster. Turn it into a vector. Go to Object> Expand Appearance.
Great! We got perfect circles. I think you cannot even compare this with the base effect of the Halftone in Adobe Illustrator neither in quality nor speed of execution.
Step 8
Now let's apply Phantasm CS in practice. All the features of the plugin that were described by me can be applied not only to bitmap but to vector images as well. Let's try using Halftone from Phantasm CS trying to create interesting text effects. Take the Type Tool (T) and create a word «LIGHT».
Keep the text selected, go to Object> Expand and Effect> Phantasm CS> Halftone … Set the parameters listed below.
We got text consisting of rectangle.
Go to Object> Expand Appearance and swap fill with stroke.
Step 9
Create a different effect, this time with the word «NEON».
Apply the Halftone effect to it with the parameters specified below.
Go to Object> Expand Appearance, then Object> Expand and click on Unite from the Pathfinder palette.
Now we can move some elements, as shown below.
Step 10
Now let's create the effect using a symbol. First, create a symbol. Take the Ellipse Tool (L) and create a circle, fill it with radial gradient from yellow to orange color.
Create two more circles of red color. The bigger circle lies in the underlayer below the smaller one, and has 0% opacity. Select both circles and go to Object> Blend> Make.
Unite both objects created in this step.
Step 11
Group up the created objects and drag them to the Symbols palette.
Select the text and symbol in the Symbols palette, and go to Effect> Phantasm CS> Halftone …, pick the value in the dialog box and choose the Selected Symbol in the Dot Properties section.
You can download the source vector file for this tutorial
Conclusion
I think you tested the functionality of Phantasm CS, now it only depends on your imagination. I created a text effect using this plug-in and the Color Dodge Blending Mode. You can find more information about this technique in my tutorial Neon. You can download Phantasm CS plugin here.
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