We are going to make photorealistic push pin portraits.
We will be guided in our pin placement by a low resolution indexed color gif image we will create in Photoshop. The .gif will use a limited palette restricted only to those colors in which the plastic push pins come.
This tutorial assumes you have some access to and basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop.
We will be guided in our pin placement by a low resolution indexed color gif image we will create in Photoshop. The .gif will use a limited palette restricted only to those colors in which the plastic push pins come.
This tutorial assumes you have some access to and basic understanding of Adobe Photoshop.
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Signing UpStep 1: Select a photograph
Using Photoshop, adjust your image so that it contains a nice range of colors and values, with no large areas of pure black or white or any other color. This will give you a dappled variety of push pin colors across the finished artwork, rather than large, boring expanses of a single hue.
I'm using a photo I took of a woman who sells her hats and headdresses on the internet.
I'm using a photo I took of a woman who sells her hats and headdresses on the internet.
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Thank you so much for your instructions. I am attaching a photo of the final work. It's a picture of my daughter.
http://ccpalettes.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/how-to-make-a-push-pin-image-in-an-arrangement-of-equilateral-triangles/
http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2009/05/distort_photosh.html
Here is a link of artist Eric Daigh doing that.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1670620/watch-this-guy-draw-pinterests-ceo-using-22765-pushpins#-4
I go into some detail in my web site on the general idea of pre-transforming images, and then untransforming them after applying a filter.
Distort Photoshop Filter Without Distorting Image
http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2009/05/distort_photosh.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_7709329_paint-cork.html
And for a description of how to make a virtual grid (requires more Photoshop expertise) see my response to the third comment.
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1) You start with each pixel its own color. Convert the little indexed color image to rgb.
2) Enlarge it a lot, but try to make the enlarging percentage a power of 2. That will keep the squares neat, square, and all the same size. That means enlarge 200%, 400%, 800%, 1600%, 3200%... choose a number like that.
3) When you have it big, make it the exact size you need by making it the inches you need. You can lower the dpi to balance it out. For example:
a) You start with a 88 x 160 indexed color image.
b) enlarge it 3200% (nearest neighbor option). You now have 2816 x 3840 pixel resolution.
c) 88 pushpins at 0.25" per pin is 22". Divide 2816 pixels by 22" to get 128 dpi
d) Set your image to 2816 x 3840 at 22" by 40" at 128 dpi
e) Print that somehow, either in pieces or at a place that makes big expensive large format prints.
4) If you want to add a pattern mask of some kind, do this:
a) Figure out the size of the tile you need to make, define as a pattern, and fill with. You need a square tile that will repeat 88 times across a 2816 pixel wide image so you need to make a 2816 / 88 = 32 pixel wide tile. It's actually obvious that the tile should be 32 pixels wide because each 'pushpin' was originally defined as one tiny pixel, and they were all blown up 3200% so 1 blown up 3200% becomes 32.
b) create a tiny 32 x 32 pixel image.
c) make the best circle you can in it using the pencil tool. Make the circle black on a white background.
d) define it as a pattern. Edit > Define Pattern
e) make a new layer above your master, giant pushpin image and fill with the pattern you just made. Edit > Fill (with pattern)
f) Set the blend mode to screen. Now the squares are all round looking.
5) If you want to make pinpoint guides that will show up on black, white, and every other color...
a) make a black 32 x 32 image with a little white dot in the center
b) define it as a pattern
c) tile it above the master large image
d) set the blend mode to DIFFERENCE or EXCLUSION and the dot will magically be the right color for maximum visibility no matter what color square it lands on.
I have my image already to go, for once we have the thousands of push pins. I just want to make a suggestion to anyone who is trying to attempt to hide the background and also have an exact place where to put the pins.
I used your -able all the way to the end, then when it came time for the enlarging, I edited the image size, to be exactly what the finished size will be, in this case 45" x 55". I then converted back to RGB mode and followed your steps above. This is where it became a little confusing, the rings are not an exact color, rather a mix, so this is what I did differently.
I made the circle using a 50x50 px image. I used the circle marquee, edge to edge, contracted by 2px deleted the center and wham! ok. Then I applied the pattern to a new layer, and this is where it is different. I broke out the wand tool, selected all the white space BETWEEN the circles, and then selected my picture layer and deleted those areas. I am now left with circles of the image, full ones too.
Then, I went back to my 50x50px image and added a white 4px dot to the center, and used your method of overlaying with a DIFFERENCE blend mode. allowing me to see the center of each circle, regardless of color. I then merged all the layers and put it back in to index mode and wham! exact circles of the color with center points ready to have pins applied!
Thanks again for this detailed tut!
The question was originally asked of me in the comments of this other video of mine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2BAKm5_Xnc
and you can see we have an extended conversation about it which ends with me thinking that dithered 5-color gif images might be the way to go.
As for the straight rows - they are an illustration - Maxwell Render simulation - and it's easier in that environment to make them straight than to add error to them.
http://www.digitalartform.com/assets/CG_pin_array.jpg
http://www.digitalartform.com/archives/2012/04/push_pin_portra.html
Push Pin Portraits using Photoshop and its URL is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USzbw90wOKM
i guess its just more trial and error for me
Then you make a gif using Image > Mode > Indexed Color
Zoom into your image for a close look while you work with the indexed color options.
(too much for me, you need to build a robot to do this)
Thanks!
Maybe take a photo of your notes, or scan them, and analyze the colors with an image editor eyedropper tool.