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If you love Photoshop then you probably are quite familiar with Kai's Power Tools plugins. They are some of the most popular and robust plugins ever created for Photoshop. What I'm going to show you here today is how to have some fun with KPT 5 Fraxplorer. A fractal is a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be subdivided in parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole. For more complete information about fractals please visit the fractal entry at Wikipedia. The purpose of this demonstration is to show you how to use some of Photoshops layering tools to alter a basic fractal and post process them into something uniquely yours. To follow along with this tutorial you will need Photoshop CS or later and Kai's Power Tools 5. |
 Create a new palette. I'm starting with 1600x1200 pixels but you can start with a size that's good for you and your monitor. |
 If you plan on making prints of your masterpiece you will need a comparable resolution. I prefer 350 pixels per inch but 300 will suffice. |
 Marquee the entire canvas. |
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 I'm starting with a preset design I saved earlier but for the purposes of this demonstration you can use any design you like. Experiment with the Frax Style menu window. Play with the hue, frequency, cycle and squeeze settings on the Gradient window. Tweak the fractal until you like it then import it into Photoshop by clicking on the check mark button in the lower right corner. |
 Now that we have our base layer we need to go back into Fraxplorer and create a contrast layer. |
 Again, tweak your design to your taste then import into Photoshop. Since we are looking for a contrasting image try to pick colors and shapes that are the opposite of the original. |
 Now click on the level settings drop down menu and go through the different combinations until you get a pattern you like. Some are more dramatic than others. |
 Save your new design as a new layer. Click on the new layer button which is second from the right at the bottom of the layers window. Then go to the edit menu and click on copy merged. |
 Paste the copy merged image onto your new palette layer. |
 Experiment with your layer setting with each additional layer. You can turn off layers and adjust opacity for each layer. You can isolate different parts of a layer with a marquee then copy merged that selection into a new layer and then change it too. |
 This was the one I settled on. I'm calling it Stained Glass Kaleidescope. Now, create your own masterpiece and free your soul. |
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Leave a Comment
David at 10:35am on Dec. 28, 2007
about 1 year ago
Beautiful... and clearly explained. Reply...
scaramouche at 5:41am on Dec. 28, 2007
about 1 year ago
Thank you for this crystal clear lesson on fractal/Mandelbrot creations. Step by step, masterfully illustrated and explained! Terrific! Reply...