Lesson B: Gathering the Ingredients

Let’s leverage a Bridge script to gather nearly all our assets into one document.

• Select images a–f by clicking on the first one and then shift-clicking on the last of those. Exclude the finished version and the shapes preset file for now.
• Then use Bridge’s Tools menu: choose Tools > Photoshop > Load Files into Photoshop Layers…. You’ll soon have a document with six layers.
• Save it! Choose File > Save As…, then save it to your project folder. Give it a distinct name.

Material Choices

Let’s get our five materials tucked inside a Smart Object.

• Highlight the topmost layer then shift-click on the lowest non-sky layer. Right-click any one near its name and choose Convert to Smart Object.
• Rename it: “texture top” wouldn’t be bad. We’ll get back to this layer soon.

Custom Shape

The ring is composed of two identical shapes simply rotated 180º from one another. Such a shape exists for us to use in the project folder. We need it to be in Photoshop. So, let’s get back to Bridge.

• In Bridge, highlight the file called “surreal vector assist.csh.” That unusual extenstion stands for “Custom SHape.”

You should be able to simply double-click it and Bridge should know to send it to Photoshop to add to its shapes. However, this sometimes fails.

• To ensure success, right-click it and choose Open With > Adobe Photoshop 2020 (or your current version). You may also drag it to the Photoshop icon in the Mac dock or Windows taskbar. You won’t see anything obvious when you’re sent back to Photoshop—yet.
• In the Tools panel, choose the Custom Shape tool (near the bottom, nested within the basic shapes). It looks like a blob.
• In the Options Bar, we can choose the newest addition to the Shape menu. Unfurl the set to reveal the tool, then choose it.
• To keep it from distorting, hold down the shift key as you drag this tool across the image. Make it about 60%–70% the width of the image. This is not critical, I just think that’s a good scale!
• Double-click the layer thumbnail to change the color to white (if necessary).
• Use the Move tool to locate the object in the center of the texture.
• Set the shape layer’s Opacity to a low value like 20% so we can see the texture’s details beneath it, but we still know where the shape is.

It’s now time to warp that texture.