# Signature Tips



## SimplyNate (May 27, 2007)

I was reading a few threads and I figured we could all help each other out by adding some tips on making sigs. 

My tips are based on using Photoshop:

I'll just start with the pop out effect on my sig. Basically just make the background color of the sig the same as the forum color. As mentioned in another thread by Composure you can hit print screen and paste the forum picture into photoshop and by using the eye dropper or color picker you can find out what the color is so you can match it perfectly. 

Secondly adding borders to some sigs is easier then it looks. The first way to do this is to plan the sig demensions ahead of time based on the size of the border you want. For example if you want a 3 pixel border you can make the orginal sig dimensions 417px by 217px and create the sig. When you are done set the background color to the color you want the border and adjust the canvas size by 3 pixels on all directions. The advantage of doing this is you can add a border with many colors and percise sizes easily. For a multi color example... Adjust the canvas by 1 pixel with a white background and then the canvas by 1 pixel with a background and then adjust the cavnas by 1 pixel with a white background. This will make your border white surrounding a middle black border. 

Another way to do this is using the blending option "stroke" and adjusting the color. This will make the picture bigger so you will need to probably resize it. The advantage is it takes less time but is not as flexible imo. 

Ok add your sig tips please... I will update the first post with your name and comment so it seems like a guide.



RVCA said:


> When I make a sig I just start out with one of two things:
> 
> 1. I put in my render and (using the eye drop tool) match the color of the render, make it darker, and fil it in the background.
> 
> ...





Composure said:


> Here's the hex code for the forums background #e0e6ea.
> 
> For blending Photos:
> 
> ...





Cochise said:


> For a softer, brighter sort of look (check out JTaylor42's sig, that I made):
> -Go to filter>blur>gaussin blur
> -Then edit>fade gaussin blur>soft light/hardlight (whichever looks best.)
> 
> ...


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## Jewbacca (May 22, 2008)

When I make a sig I just start out with one of two things:

1. I put in my render and (using the eye drop tool) match the color of the render, make it darker, and fil it in the background.

or

2. I put my render on one side, and download a C4D (can be found at planet renders) then work with that. When I do this I usually use vector brushes along with it.

My other sigs are just random...

One rule I will tell to all of you is (with ALL of your sigs), do a gradient map black to white, set it on multiply 30% opacity. 

I will post some more tutorials later.


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## Cochise (Aug 3, 2007)

SimplyNate said:


> I'll just start with the pop out effect on my sig. Basically just make the background color of the sig the same as the forum color. As mentioned in another thread by Composure you can hit print screen and paste the forum picture into photoshop and by using the eye dropper or color picker you can find out what the color is so you can match it perfectly.


DON'T TELL THEM THE SECRET! God Damn, now I gotta show my dominance some other way... lol, I kid of course.


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## plazzman (Mar 29, 2007)

Cochise said:


> DON'T TELL THEM THE SECRET! God Damn, now I gotta show my dominance some other way... lol, I kid of course.


lol yeah, that's like sig making 101, almost everyone knows that by now.

I'll throw up my Levels/stencil tutorial up soon.


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## SimplyNate (May 27, 2007)

Yes I know but a couple people have asked me about it. Anywho those tutorials would be cool. I am still mostly a noob when it comes to sigs.


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## Composure (Jun 24, 2008)

Here's the hex code for the forums background #e0e6ea. If you guys want to know any of my techniques I have no problem sharing them, kinda sad right now though.


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## Cochise (Aug 3, 2007)

I'll put in a contrabution:

For a softer, brighter sort of look (check out JTaylor42's sig, that I made): 
-Go to filter>blur>gaussin blur
-Then edit>fade gaussin blur>soft light/hardlight (whichever looks best.)

For the Motion blur look (check out Tripod's sig):
-Duplicate the render layer
-Filter>blur>motion blur on bottom one
-Filter through the top one till it looks nice.


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## Composure (Jun 24, 2008)

For blending photos;

Get your photos, and then get a soft eraser (100-200px) 
Start to erase where they overlap, on the top layer

That's how I blend


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