MSNBC Style Effect (rewritten)

[ReMake]

This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it.

 

This is a rewritten MSNBC Style Effect tutorial by @m2lucky. It's very old, but still an interesting effect.

 

This is the final result from @m2lucky's tutorial:

Plugins Required:
Align Object by @moc426 or Align Object by @xod 
Clouds by @Sepcot
Pixelate+ by @pyrochild
Gradient Mapping by @pyrochild

Feather by @BoltBait

 

1. Create a New () image  with the desired size. I used a size of 600x450 px.

 

2. Set the default colors () in the Colors window. Run the Clouds effect by @Sepcot.

In the dialog box that opens, set the following parameters:
Perlin Noise:
Frequency - 0,200
Persistance - 0,50
Octaves - 7
Amplitude - 1,0

Display Options: Replace Using Primary Colors

Set the values of the Cloud Coverage and Cloud Density sliders as shown in the image below:

 

Leave the other parameters unchanged and click OK. You will get this image:

 

3. Now let's create vertical stripes using two different variants.
Variant 1.

Spoiler

Apply the Pixtlate+ effect (Effects -> Blurs -> Pixelate+). Uncheck the Keep square check box. Set Cell width to 1 and Cell height to 200.

 

In the Tools window, select Rectangle Select () and select the upper third of the resulting image. Now, in the Tools window, select Move Selected Pixels () and stretch the selection down to the end of the image, deselect ().

 

 

Variant 2.

Spoiler

Apply the Motion Blur () effect (Effects -> Blurs ->Motion Blur) with an Angle of 90 and a Distance of 350 to 500 (depending on the size of your image).

 

 

4. Apply the Sharpen () effect (Effects -> Photo ->Sharpen) with Amount 10 for variant 1 or Amount 20 for variant 2.

 

5. Add a New layer (). Go to the Layer Properties () and select Overlay for the Blend Mode.

 

In the Tools window, select the Linear Gradient ( ) tool. Fill Layer 2 with a gradient from left to right as shown in the image below:

 

6. Run the Gradient Mapping (Adjustments ->Gradient Mapping) effect. Right-click on the left (black) marker and select Change Color.

 

In the window that opens, type FF00C6 in the field under the color wheel and click OK.

 

Right-click on the gradient bar to the right of the purple marker and select Add Color. Set the color to 000390 (blue). Repeat this procedure to the right of each next marker for the colors 01B439, FFFC00, and FF0000. Right-click on the gradient bar and select Spread.  This will distribute the colors evenly. Now right-click on the far-right (white) marker and select Remove. You should get a gradient like this:

 

Save this gradient as the preset with the name MSNBC_Style, for example.

 

     

Click OK and finish working with Gradient Mapping.

Note: If creating a gradient is difficult for you, you can download prepared preset for Gradient Mapping (MSNBS_Style.xml):

 

MSNBC_Style.zip

 

Duplicate () Layer 2 and go back to the bottom Layer 2.

 

Merge () the layers sequentially. First Layer 2 and Background, then Layer 2 (copy) and Background.

 

7. Select an arbitrary shape in the image using the Lasso () tool.

 

Invert the selection (Ctrl+I) and delete it (Ctrl+X).

 

8. Apply the Align Object effect (Effects -> Align Object for @moc426's effect or Effects -> Object -> Align Object for @xod's effect) to the remaining image.

 

9. Apply the Feather Object effect (Effects -> Object ->Feather Object) with a Radius of 10.

 

10. Apply the Motion Blur effect with a Distance of 35.

 

11. Add a New () layer and move it down (). Set the Primary color to 28188F, and the Secondary color to black. In the Tools window, select the Radial Gradient tool (  ) and draw the gradient as shown in the image below.

 

Merge the layers ().

 

This is the result for Variant 1,

 

and this is for Variant 2

 

Determine for yourself which variant you like best.

 

For comparison, below are the results of the work from the Photoshop tutorial

 

and the GIMP tutorial.

 

Note: All settings described in this tutorial are approximate and depend on image size and the desirable end result.

[Ladybug]

Thank you @ReMake. I appreciate you fixing the image links. The only change I would make is that for Variant 2, Motion Blur is in the Blurs menu. Maybe it was in Render before? Either way, thank you for the time you took to update this great tutorial and share your beautiful final image example.

[ReMake]

1 hour ago, Ladybug said:

... Motion Blur is in the Blurs menu.

Thank you @Ladybug, fixed.

[lynxster4]

Cool effect @ReMake! Thank you for taking the time to rewrite it.   I always have to be different... 🙃  Happy Valentine's Day!  ❤️

 

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by lynxster4

[ReMake]

Thank you @lynxster4, and Happy Valentine's Day!  ❤️

[Djisves]

Thank you @ReMakefor reviving this tutorial (and thank you @m2lucky for the original!)

Clever use if @Sepcot's clouds as alternative for noise with size control. 

 

 

A couple of things I think you may want to amend in your instructions:

- In step 6, the yellow colour hex value should be given as FFFC00, not FFFFC0. 

- In step 11, set the secondary colour to black, not white.

 

[ReMake]

18 minutes ago, Djisves said:

A couple of things I think you may want to amend in your instructions:

- In step 6, the yellow colour hex value should be given as FFFC00, not FFFFC0. 

- In step 11, set the secondary colour to black, not white.

Thank you @Djisves for the errors found (the reason is Copy/Paste). Fixed.

[Pixey]

Many thanks @ReMake for re-writing this lovely colorful way of making textured lines 👍

 

[ReMake]

Added a PDF file.

 

@lynxster4, @Djisves, @Pixey thank you for sharing your images.

[ReMake]

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