Sep 23
My secret revealed: I’ve used Phantasm CS Studio
2008 at 02.09 pm posted by Veerle Pieters
A while ago I showed you how to create the Apple command shape in Illustrator where I created this dotted pattern version of the shape in the background. A bit later I wrote about who you can recolor your artwork using Illustrator’s LiveColor. Today, I want to share some insight on how I created this dotted pattern and how you can recolor your artwork using a wonderful Illustrator plugin called Phantasm CS.
A plugin called Phantasm
About a year ago I had the chance to test this plugin. I use it mostly when I want to recolor my illustration; if I thought the color palette could do with a bit more contrast or when more or less vibrant shades were needed. This plugin lets me easily change my colored artwork to grayscale in 1 click. No offense to Adobe, but if I want to change the color of my artwork I prefer using this plugin over the LiveColor feature. To me it feels more natural because it works and behaves the same as in Photoshop. To be honest I find the LiveColor feature a bit too overwhelming. I tend to loose more time when I go via the LiveColor feature. Usually all I want to do is changing the hue, the levels, the curves, the contrast or change from color to grayscale. LiveColor to me is more appropriate for experimentation in case you have no idea which colors to use. If you are very used to the Adjustments options in Photoshop such as: Brightness and Contrast, Curves, Levels, Desaturate, Hue and Saturation... You'll love this plugin. It works and feels exactly the same as in Photoshop. There are 3 versions of this plugin: CS, Designer and Studio. The Studio version, the one I have been testing, comes with these features:
- Brightness/Contrast
- Curves
- Desaturate
- Duotone
- Halftone
- Hue/Saturation
- Invert
- Levels
- Shift to Color
- Swap Channels
- Temperature/Tint
There's a ton you can do with these features. One in particular caught my eye after reading some of the tutorials on the Phantasm CS website, it's called Halftone. After looking at the Halftone settings I've downloaded these predefined settings so I could use them and experiment a bit more with these.
After the plugin is installed in the Plugins folder of Illustrator, I've loaded the Presets I downloaded via the Load button in the Halftone window.
Effects versus Filters
The Phantasm CS Studio options are stored in both the Filter and Effects menu in Illustrator (CS2 or CS3 is required). You can either choose to apply them via the Effect menu or the Filter menu. The difference between these 2 is that a filter will be applied without the possibility to edit the settings later on in the process. While if applied as an effect, you can edit your settings at any time. The paths of your applied effect will be the paths of your original object and not those of the effect. You can however expand the effect at all times (Object > Expand Appearance), but of course once you do this you can't edit your settings anymore and so the effect will then be applied permanently. In Illustrator CS4 the Filter menu has been taken off the top bar. Third party Filters will now appear in the Object menu (Object > Filters).
Creativity with vector Halftones
Call it cheating but I used a plug-in for the creation of the dotted pattern in my Apple command shape design. While designing an illustration or a composition, a lot of time is spent in experimenting with different compositions, colors, shapes...
Halftone Rosette
Once the settings are loaded in the Halftone window you can apply them via the drop-down menu that is under the arrow button on the top right.
I chose to go via the Filter menu: Filter > Phantasm CS Studio > Halftone...
Then I clicked the arrow button on the right that stores the presets and I chose for Halftone Rosette. Then I experimented until I came to these settings:
- Type: Sampled (colors of the object will be used)
- Pattern: Grid Regular
- DPI: 10
- Grid Angle: 0°
- Origin: Relative to Selection
- Dot Properties: Circle, Width and Height at 100%, Tint Adjusts: Width and Height, Angle 0°, Blend: Normal
- Dot Gain: untouched
Abstract lines
My illustration I started from
My settings
Here I chose the Abstract preset from the Presets menu.
After experimenting I ended up with these settings:
- Type: Sampled (colors of the object will be used)
- Pattern: Grid Regular
- DPI: 3
- Grid Angle: 45°
- Origin: Relative to Selection
- Dot Properties: Square, Width 350%, Height 40%, Tint Adjusts: Height, Angle 0°, Relative: checked, Blend: Normal
- Dot Gain: untouched
Alphabet Soup
My illustration I started from
My settings
Here I chose the preset called Alphabet Soup from the Presets menu.
After experimenting I ended up with these settings:
- Type: Sampled (colors of the object will be used)
- Pattern: Radial 5 Spoke
- DPI: 5
- Grid Angle: -90°
- Origin: Relative to Selection
- Dot Properties: Character, Width 80%, Height 80%, Tint Adjusts: With and Height, Angle 0°, Relative: checked, Blend: Normal
- After clicking the Options button I chose URW Puiseux D Light as font and 'dance baby' as characters to use and opted for Repeat Text
- Dot Gain: untouched
If you choose to apply the Halftone effect via the Effect menu, you can edit your settings via the Appearance palette by double clicking the Effects icon (fx). As you can see in the image, the paths of the original image stay untouched. Only after expanding the effect (Object > Expand Appearance) the effects will become the real paths.
Highly customizable
Each filter is highly customizable and you can experiment until you find the right thing. This plugin doesn't stop with vector objects also as you can apply the filters to text and embedded images as well. This allows you to get even more creative and maybe save some time along the way. You can also opt to customize only portions of your objects because you can select to apply the filters only to the fill, stroke or both. As you can tell there is more you can than just the things I've shown here so I think it's best that you experiment yourself with the free trial. I'm usually not a big fan of plugins but this Illustrator one is really an exception to my own rules.
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20served
1
awesome…looks so easy..gonna need that plugin :)
thx!*
2
That free trial is already downloading. Should make for a few new and interesting experiments. Bedankt, Veerle!
3
That’s great, I am definitely going to purchase this, it’s just what I need. I have been using a separate program altogether for these kind of effects - Vectoraster, by Lost Minds. But having it as an actual plugin is very attractive.
4
It’s nice that something like this exists, but what I keep wondering: why the hell isn’t the Adobe team able to create a workflow similar to photoshop in illustrator. It’s so frustrating that the easiest things in Photoshop are really hard to do in Illustrator.
When I work for the web I currently recolor my vector work in Photoshop, but that’s not always the way to go.
5
Stunning effects, indeed. Aside: Oh, just how much I would like Fireworks to survive the Big Adobe Portfolio Cleanup. But suspicion rises that Illustrator/PS combination will receive the major share of Adobe’s esteem.
6
Thanks for the info Veerle. But I would like to know how this is different from Power Duplication coupled with masking. Quicker maybe?
7
Veerle said:
Just select your artwork. Choose: edit -> edit colors -> convert to Grayscale. There you can also adjust the color balance like in photoshop, invert your artwork, desaturate, ...
8
Ben said:
With “Power Duplication coupled with masking” do you mean via Edit > Transform Each? This seems way more complicated and time consuming to me. Take the command shape for example: the size of the dot is related to the sampled color of your artwork which is taking care off. It’s also all controllable via live preview, when changing a setting. There are tons of options to try out and experiment with in a second. The placement of the dots, the density, the grid… are also in relation with your artwork. Doing this by hand would take a lot of time without seeing the immediate result. As for the masking it’s difficult (time consuming) to achieve the exact shape without the dots being half revealed for example. It’s definitely way quicker and flexible with this plugin. I suggest you download the free trial and you’ll see what I mean.
Martijn said:
Yes I am aware of this and maybe I should have mentioned this indeed, but the Illustrator way is destructive. Via the plugin it isn’t if you apply it via the Effect menu. Not to mention all the extra options that are at your disposal, as seen here in this window. You can even define the steps of your gradient stops to achieve the perfect smooth gradient. I’m only scratching the surface of this plugin with my article really. There is so much more you can do with it. Trying it out is the best way to see the difference of what you can do and the ease of use etc.
9
Fantastic! These posts are hugely beneficial. Great thanks :)
10
Sorry for my lack of explanation before. No, actually what I meant was starting out by drawing a small circle and then copying it near by using the mouse to drag and drop it in place while holding the ‘alt’ key . Then if you press ‘apple key + D’ (or choose Object>Transform>Tranform Again) over and over again, it will perform your last transformation. Once you have a line of circles, you can then select the line of circles and then drag them down (or in any direction you need to) holding the alt key again to copy the line. Once the first line is where you want it, press ‘apple key + D’ over and over again to form a grid of circles. Once you have enough, you could make them into a compound shape (‘apple key + 8’) or just group (‘apple key + g’) them and use a transparency mask to get the same effect of your art showing through the circles or even vice versus if you wanted. It may sound a lot more complicated than it is, but it’s actually just copy & paste once and then apple + D over and over. That’s what I meant by ‘power duplication’.
11
Ben said:
I was thinking you meant this at first, but I thought you probably meant a faster easier way, because this is a bit time consuming and definitely not a flexible way. If you look at my dotted command shape you’ll see different sizes and colors of dots, evenly spaced etc. so you clearly see the command shape, really perfectly done. I guess if I don’t have the plugin I would try it this way. However, the difference is that once you’re done and finished you don’t have the control over the dots anymore as you have with the plugin. You can easily change the size and the density of the dots, the pattern of the dots (the arrangement of the dots: grid, radial etc.) and have it all being live previewed in a second. I just see a huge difference in time to execute it and also control later on. What if you try it out and in the end you decide it doesn’t look that nice after all? I don’t know about you, but if I design something I don’t always have the complete detailed picture in my head. So a lot depends on my ideas on the fly while designing. I just experiment a lot and try out different things. Your method could definitely work, but I’m not sure I would go through the hassle of doing it if I’m not 100% sure of the end result. It just takes a lot of time in case the illustration is very complex (my example isn’t) and it’s definitely less flexible if you need to do some tweaking afterwards. Oh and again, I’m only showing a small part of this plugin here, so you have to consider this as well.
12
I d/l the trial version and unfortunately when I click “Halftone” it tells me it is not available for the CS trial - only the Studio and Designer.
Poop! :(
13
Nice tutorial!! Really cool effect. Thanksfor sharing.
14
Very nice effect, and great tutorials thanks for sharing :)
15
Hiya,
Thanks for the tutorial, its funny, a colleague was raving about that plugin a couple of weeks ago but I never got around to looking into it. Cheers for that, something to get my hands on soon-ish :D
ALEX
16
Thank you for so much detail and helpful information. I first learned Photoshop, and have struggled with Illustrator. But to be honest, I don’t use Illustrator enough to really learn it. I wish I could spend a week devoted to just learning all the options and settings, but I have to make living.
Thanks again for the tips.
Abby
17
WoW Veerle, this is one of my favourites PS Plugins, Permanent Press is another one, do you agree?
Thanks a lot for explaining so hard about your usage.
Kindest regards,
jopicar
18
That is brilliant. Some really nice effects, I might give it a try.
19
Great tutorial, I was so interested in halftones and just wanted to try it for a project I’m doing for college on the beatles, sin halftones are so POP and 60s. ITS A SHAME that the trial version it only CS version, not studio or design! No i’ll have to try an other to create so good halftone points in illustrator.
20
Many thanks to Veerle for this write-up. It’s really good to see the plugin being used so creatively; sometimes it feels as if it’s 90% consumed in serious print work tasks!
To answer kattyface and David Pelaez, you can use the Trial version to get a feel for the tools, including the Halftone tool, but you need to use the Filter variants - not the Effect tools. This is further explained in the Trial download page’s text (you first need to successfully provide and confirm your e.mail address).
However, note that to secure the tool’s true usefulness, random dots are deleted from the Halftone result.
I hope this is of help,
Nick
www.phantasmcs.com