Simple way to make scope overlay
First off i would like to start this tutorial by explaining why another scope overlay tut. As i ve recently went to make scope for myself i ve followed other tutorials and ended up with white lines around custom shape like shown on these screenshots:
by Dagon - and by GHOSTDOG
which happens duo AA in photoshop (when you resize, rotate, move etc. etc.). As i find workaround to it time consuming i did it other way around.
While this tehnique may not be the best it sure is fastest and i might say easiest.
What you need is: Photoshop (i use CS3) with VTF plugin. You can download VTF plugin here
In this tutorial i ll demonstrate 4:3 aspect ratio. If your screen is widescreen start off with widescreen resolution.
- Start Photoshop and create new document with dimensions 1280x1024.
- Now Create new layer by clicking on appropriate icon shown below
Then fill it with black by pressing ALT+BACKSPACE
Now Change your FOREGROUND color to WHITE (so that our new circle is visible) and create new circle with ELIPSE tool by holding SHIFT to create perfect one.
- We need to center our circle now with the black layer. So select both layers (hold CTRL) and LINK them, then press ALLIGN HORIZONTAL CENTERS and VERTICAL CENTERS on your options panel (window - options) as shown below.
After we centered circle we can unlink it.
Now select Black layer and click on Circle layer THUMBNAIL wich will create selection around circle then invert selection by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+I and apply layer mask on our black layer.
View inverted selection
- We can delete our circle now since we wont need it anymore.
- This would be our basic setup for creating overlay(s). I advise you to save it separate so that you dont need to recreate this in your future overlay(s) creation.
In 2nd part of this tutorial we ll put some additional cr..err stuff to understand how to allign, rotate, etc. layers in order to see them in a correct way.
- So lets create a "duplex" reticle for the purpose of tutorial. View duplex reticle reference
First change FOREGROUND color back to black.
Now select LINE TOOL and draw a wide vertical line across canvas. Then select it and duplicate it by pressing CTRL+J. Now rotate 2nd line 90 degrees by pressing CTRL+T and holding SHIFT while rotating it (to enable snap).
Then select RECTANGLE TOOL and draw a thin vertical rectangle similar to one on reference photo. Duplicate it as well and rotate a copy same as with lines. View progress
Now we need to align our shapes to be in center so select all shapes including our black layer (hold CTRL) and link them, then align HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL centers same as before. After it s done unlink all layers. View progress
Now we need to set up our RULERS (View - Rulers) so we can set our reticles further from center by same distance. I ve choosen 40 pixels since it seems ok looking at reference photo. (Right click on ruler to select pixels)
By holding SHIFT (to enable snap) drag each RECTANGLE to its position and fine tune it with arrow keys. (When you place horizontal duplicate it [CTRL+J] and move to other side, same with vertical) View progress
Now you can "shut down" our LINE SHAPES since we dont need them anymore. We used them as reference for center since we cannot remove CS:S default overlay. On a side note move your Layer 1 on top of all layers (in case you want to color your reticle). Also you can remove guides now as well (view - show - guides).
- Thing to understand is that reticle needs to be flipped. So we can create a mirrored reticle or we can create normal one and flip it afterwards. Obviously easier is to create normal one then flip it. So we ll try it on something simple like this "playboy bunny".
We ll simply put bunny on right side of scope and flip entire composition.
BUT, before that group all layers except background and duplicate them so we have BACKUP incase we need to revert and move some layers or change them, etc. View progress
After backup is done RIGHT CLICK on Composition group and select MERGE GROUP (and "shut down" backup if you havent already).
Now go Edit - Transform - Flip Vertical
That would be it. Except those white lines i ve mentioned. View progress ingame But also notice how white lines arent visible in area close to feathered black. We will use that to get rid of white spots.
- Before resizing image unlock BACKGROUND LAYER by holding ALT and double click on LOCK then change FOREGROUND COLOR to black and apply it to background layer by pressing ALT+BACKSPACE then change opacity for it to 10% (it will get rid of white spots but wont be visible ingame).
Now go Image - Image size and set it to 2048x2048
Then go Save As - choose format VTF and save file with Anisotropic as shown here (Eight Bit Alpha will also be selected by default).
Hope someoone found this useful, Cheers.
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