Rohit Tutorials

2022-02-06T01:49:00.000-08:00

Hi,

My name is Rohit Malhotra, living in New Delhi. I am currently working as a web designer in known designing company "ALPCORD NETWORK".

Here, you can learn how to create effects in Flash, 3ds max & Photoshop.

It’s like a guide given to you to take right decision to make bright future!!!!

2011-02-06T01:27:00.000-08:00

Create a Retro Rainbow Waterfall Using 3DS Max and Particle Flow
This tutorial will show you how to use Particle Flow to create an outstanding 3D retro rainbow waterfall inside of 3DS Max! We will play with some basic objects and PFlow features to create some imaginative geometric shapes. So, let’s get started!

Final image preview

Step 1
Open up 3DS Max and go to Particle Flow View (6). Create a Standard Flow and replace a “Shape” with “Shape Instance”.
Step 2
Create a box that is 2m long, 0.1m wide and 0.1m high. Add an “Edit Poly” modifier to it and move four vertices on one side of your box a bit forward to create something like on the image below. Step 3
Let’s now change Rotation’s “Orientation Matrix” from “Random 3D” to “Speed Space Follow”. Use 90 for Z axis. After that go to “Birth” event and change the “Emit Stop” to 220 and the “Amount” to 2000. Then go to “Shape Instance” and use your box from the previous step as a “Particle Geometry Object”. Step 4
Make your PFlow wider and duplicate it. Place it like on the image below. You can also use “Find Target” operator and two mesh objects that will act like they are targets. Both methods works similar but the first one is just quicker.Step 5
The last thing is to set up a camera. Try to place it as That’s how it should look like afterwards .Step 6
Now let’s switch to VRay rendering engine and render your scene with resolution set to 1280×800px. I used VRay Sky with standard settings and a default VRayMtl with darker grey. This is what I got after rendering the scene:Step 7
Now move to the Photoshop and create a new document that has 1280×800px. Fill the background layer with black using Paint Bucket Tool (G). Step 8
Cut out your shape from the render using its Alpha channel. You should be familiar with how to cut it out if you’ve read my previous tutorials so I’m not including the full instruction here. Pase it into the main document. Add a Gradient Overlay to it with the following settings.Step 9
Duplicate it and use a “Motion Blur” with angle set to -90 degress and a distance set to something like 60 pixels. Move this layer below the previous one and erase its edges if they create some kind of a glow (we don’t need it).

Step 10
Background is a bit more complicated. First I rendered the scene using the top view. Then I started to draw some huge dots with the brush and the color set to green and blue on a separate layers. I set the first layer to “Soft Light” and the second to “Normal” but with opacity decreased to 30%.

Step 11
Finally, I decided not to use the shape from the previous step but I did something similar instead. Press CTRL/CMD and click on the layer with the rendered shapre visible from the top. Once it’s selected click on the layers from the previous step and use this selection as their mask. That should give you a nice effect like on the image below.

Step 12
After that repeat the two previous steps to create other parts of the background. You may want to use some additional textures to make the background more interesting. Once you turn on all the layers you’ve created you should see something similar to the final image. Most likely it will require some Brightness/Contrast tweaks and I’ve also added some little shiny particles in the background. I’ve also created a new layer with clouds (Filter -> Render -> Clouds…) and set it to overlay with decreased opacity.

Conclusion
That’s all. I hope you enjoyed it! If so, you may check my other tutorials or visit this site often to see even more in the future! Click on the image below to see it in the full size.

2010-10-13T03:57:00.000-07:00

Calendar Girl Mask Photo Presentation

Step 1:
First, save the photo below that we will use for this lesson as background.
Step 2:
Create a new flash document. Press Ctrl+J key on the keyboard (Document Properties) and set the width of your document to 420 pixels and the height to 315 pixels. Select any color as background color. Set your Flash movie's frame rate to 33 and click ok.

Step 3:
Call the current layer photo. Double-click on its default name (Layer 1) to change it. Press Enter once you have typed in the new name!

Step 4:
Choose now File > Import > Import to stage (Ctrl+R) and import a photo that you just saved in step 1 into a flash stage. While the photo is still selected, go to the Align Panel (Ctrl+K) and do the following:
1. Make sure that the Align/Distribute to Stage button is turned on,
2. Click on the Align horizontal center button and
3. Click the Align vertical center button.

Step 5:
While the photo is still selected, hit F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert it into a Movie Clip Symbol.

Step 6:
Select frame 65 and hit F6 key.

Step 7:
Go back on the first frame, select the Selection Tool (V) and click once on the photo to select it.Then, go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage. Select Filters tab from the left side. Click after that on the plus icon and select the Blur filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Step 8:
Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 1 and 65 on the timeline and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears.

Step 9:
Create a new layer above the layer photo and name it mask.

Step 10:
Select mask layer and draw a shape and place it on the position like it is shown on the picture below!Step 11:
Select now frame 30 and hit F6 key. While you're still on frame 30, make the shape like it is shown on the picture below!

Step 12:
Select frame 65 and hit F6 key. While you're still on frame 65, make a shape like it is shown on the picture below!

Step 13:
Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 1 and 30 and frame 30 and 65 on the timeline and choose Create Shape Tween from the menu that appears.

Step 14:
Select now mask layer and convert it to a mask by right-clicking on the mask layer and selecting Mask. See the picture below.

We're done!
Please Enjoy!

2010-10-10T23:10:00.000-07:00

Sparkling Glass Effect

Step:1 Import the Background Image
Open a new file. Go to File >New. Select Flash Document. Click OK. Go to Modify > Document to give a file size of 180px by 400px. This is the same size as the Bitmap picture we have. Select the Bitmap pictures which you want to put as background and bring it to the Flash Library by clicking on Select File > Import to Library from the Menu Bar. Go to Window > Library, You can see the picture in the Library panel. Drag the picture named Bitmap to the Stage. Select the picture by clicking on it. This will be your first layer, name it background.Now you have to create 7 movie clips. You have to have basic knowledge in FLASH MX to do this. As you know movie clips work independently, and you can use them whenever required.

Step:2 Create a Rotating Star Movie Clip
Create a new layer. Name it sparkle. Go to Insert > New Symbol. The 'Create New symbol' screen will appear. Name this movie clip ' star_mc'. Click OK. You will be directed inside the movie clip. Now select the PolyStar Tool. To select the Polystar tool , first go to the Rectangle tool and select it in the drop down menu as seen below.

Go to the Properties window. Go to Options. A screen called Tool Settings will appear.

Enter these values and click OK
Style: StarNumber of sides 4
Star Point Size: 0.10

Now draw the Star (without a stroke color). Make the star into a movie clip entitled star_mc. Now double click on it. On frame 1 you will see your star. Go to Properties>Tween. Select Motion from the drop down Menu. Name it as star_in_mc. Go to frame 10. Press F6 to insert a new keyframe. Select the star and go to Modify > Transform > Rotate CW. Repeat Modify>Transform>Rotate CW thrice. Your rotating Star movie Clip is ready. You will see it in the Library Window also. This movie clip star_mc will not be there in the sparkle layer but stored in the Library, we will use it later.

Step:3 Create a movie clip with a small opaque circle that increases in size and becomes almost transparent
Draw a circle with Oval Tool, choose the fill color as white and make it 2px by 2px. Select it. Go to Modify>Convert to Symbol from the Menu Bar. A dialog Box named Create New Symbol will appear. Give the name as shade_mc. Select Movie Clip. Click on OK. double click on it. You will be inside the Movie clip and in your first frame you will see the dot. Select it. Go to Modify>Convert to Symbol from the Menu Bar. A dialog Box named Create New Symbol will appear. Give the name as shade_in_mc. Go to Frame5. Press F6 to insert keyframe. Go to Properties>Tween. Select Motion from the drop down Menu. Go to Frame 10. Press F6 to insert keyframe. Now go to Frame 5. Select your movie clip. Increase the size to 14.3px by 14.3px. Go to Frame 1. Select the dot. Go to Properties. Select Color as Alpha in the drop down menu and give 100%. Go to Frame 5. Select the dot. Go to Properties. Select Color as Alpha in the drop down menu and give 10%. Go to Frame 10. Select the dot. Go to Properties. Select Color as Alpha in the drop down menu and give 5%. This movie clip shade_mc will not be there in the sparkle layer but stored in the Library, we will use it later.

Step:4 Create another movie clip with a star which becomes smaller at a slower rate than our 1st star movie clip
Go to Main Scene. Go to Insert > New Symbol. The Create New symbol screen will appear. We will name your first movie clip as star_mc. You will be directed inside the movie clip. Now go to PolyStar Tool. To go to polystar tool , first go to rectangle tool and select it in the drop down menu. Go to Properties window. Go to Options. A screen called Tool Settings will appear. Select Style, in the drop down menu as Star. Select Number of sides 4. Select Star Point Size as 0.10. Click on OK. Give color as white.Now draw the Star. Give the size to 23px by 23px. Select the edge and delete them. Choose the star and make it a Movie Clip. Name it star_s_mc. Now double click on it. On frame 1 you will see your star. Go to frame 10. Press F6 to insert a new keyframe. Go to Properties>Tween. Select Motion from the drop down Menu. Go to Frame20. Press F6 to insert keyframe. Go to Properties>Tween. Select Motion from the drop down Menu. Now go to frame 10. Select your movie clip. Go to Properties. Give the size to 9px by 9px. This movie clip star_s_mc will not be there in the sparkle layer but stored in the Library, we will use it later.

Step:5 Create the sparkle movie clip by combining the movie clips created above and place it where required
You have already created 6 movie clips. Now we will create the last main movie clip. Go to Insert>New Symbol. The Create New symbol screen will appear. We will name your main movie clip as sparkle_mc. You will be directed inside the movie clip. Drag in here these 3 movie clips : star_mc, shade_mc , star_s_mc because when they are combined they will give the sparkle effect, and adjust them properly in the middle. Now go to your main scene. Go to layer sparkle. Drag the Main movie Clip sparkle_mc wherever you want the Sparkling Glass Effect to be seen. You can use it on a diamond ring, a golden jewelry or on sparkling text also.

Step:6
Save your file as sparkle.fla. Press on Ctrl+Enter to see the Sparkling Glass Effect. This will create automatically sparkle.swf file.

2010-09-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

Smoky Blow Text Effect

Step 1:
Open a new flash document. Rename layer 1 to “Zoom in” and insert a new layer called “Zoom out” and drag it below the “Zoom in” layer. You should now have two layers.Select the Zoom in layer and then select the text tool (t) and type your message on the stage. I used impact font type with 70pt font size, but you can use whatever font type you wish. Make sure you font size is fairly large.

Step 2:
Convert your message into a symbol by pressing F8. Give your symbol an appropriate name, check movie clip and click ok.Select the 35th frame and hit F5 to insert frames.

Step 3:
Select the 10th frame and insert a key frame by selecting F6. Now using the selection tool (V) select your message and then select the free transform tool (Q). Hold down the shift key and drag one of the corner handles until your message is about half the size of your original message.Now right click anywhere in between the 1st and 10th frame and select Create Motion Tween.

Step 4:
Select the zoom out layer and insert a key frame at the 11th frame by pressing F6. Lock the zoom in layer by selecting the little padlock on the timeline.Now from the library panel drag another instance of your message onto the stage. Make sure this instance is on top of your message from the zoom in layer, like below:

Step 5:
Select the 25th frame and hit F6 to insert a key frame. Using the selection tool select the message and change the colour properties to Alpha at 0%.Now select the 11th frame and then select your message and change the colour properties to Alpha at 62%. Now select the free transform tool (Q). Hold down the shift key and drag one of the corner handles until your message is the same size as your original message. It doesn’t matter if the two message down match.Right click anywhere in between the 11st and 25th frame and select Create Motion Tween. Your timeline should look like below:

Step 6:
Test your movie clip Ctrl + enter.

2010-09-28T23:13:00.000-07:00

Zoomed Picture Presentation

Step 1:

First, save the picture below that we will use for this lesson.

Step 2:
Create a new flash document. Press Ctrl+J key on the keyboard (Document Properties) and set the width of your document to 416 pixels and the height to 357 pixels. Select white color as background color. Set your Flash movie's frame rate to 42 and click ok.

Step 3:
Call the current layer picture. Double-click on its default name (Layer 1) to change it. Press Enter once you have typed in the new name!

Step 4:
Choose now File > Import > Import to stage (Ctrl+R) and import the picture that you just saved in step 1 into a flash stage. While the picture is still selected, go to the Align Panel (Ctrl+K) and do the following:1. Make sure that the Align/Distribute to Stage button is turned on,2. Click on the Align horizontal center button and3. Click the Align vertical center button.Step 5:
While the picture is still selected, hit F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert it into a Movie Clip Symbol.Step 6:
Click now on frame 65 and hit F6 key.

Step 7:
Go back now on the first frame, select the Selection Tool (V) and click once on the picture to select it. After that, go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage! Then, select Filters tab from the left side. Click after that on the plus icon and select the Blur filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Click after that on the plus icon again and select the Bevel filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Click after that again on the plus icon and select the Adjust Color filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Step 8:
Select the Free Transform Tool (Q) and enlarge picture like it is shown on the picture below!

Step 9:
Select the Selection Tool (V) and select frame 1. After that, go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage and make the adjustments as follows:

We're done now!
Test your movie (Ctrl+Enter).
Enjoy!

2010-09-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

Mask Zooming Photo Animation

Step 1:

First, save the image below that we will use for this lesson as background.
Step 2:
Create a new flash document. Press Ctrl+J key on the keyboard (Document Properties) and set the width of your document to 400 pixels and the height to 300 pixels. Select any color as background color. Set your Flash movie's frame rate to 36 and click ok.

Step 3:
Call the current layer photo. Double-click on its default name (Layer 1) to change it. Press Enter once you have typed in the new name!

Step 4:
Choose now File > Import > Import to stage (Ctrl+R) and import a photo that you just saved in step 1 into a flash stage. While the photo is still selected, go to the Align Panel (Ctrl+K) and do the following:1. Make sure that the Align/Distribute to Stage button is turned on,2. Click on the Align horizontal center button and3. Click the Align vertical center button.

Step 5:
While the photo is still selected, hit F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert it into a Movie Clip Symbol.Step 6:
Click on frame 100 and hit F6 key.

Step 7:
Go back on the first frame, select the Selection Tool (V) and click once on the photo to select it. Then, go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage. Select Filters tab from the left side. Click after that on the plus icon and select the Blur filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Click again on plus icon and select Adjust Color. Make the adjustments as follows:

Step 8:
Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 1 and 100 on the timeline and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears.

Step 9:
Create a new layer above the layer photo and name it mask.

Step 10:
Select the mask layer, take the Oval Tool (O) and draw a circle shape about 1120x1120 px and place it on the center. See the picture below!

Step 11:
Click now on frame 100 and hit F6 key. After that reduce the dimension of the circle to 560x560 px.Step 12:
Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 1 and 100 on the timeline and choose Create Shape Tween from the menu that appears.

Step 13:
Select now mask layer and convert it to a mask by right-clicking on the mask layer and selecting Mask. See the picture below.

We're done!
Test your animation and enjoy!

2010-09-22T02:24:00.000-07:00

Beauty Face Photo Presentation

Step 1:
First, save the photo below that we will use for this lesson.

Step 2:
Create a new flash document. Press Ctrl+J key on the keyboard (Document Properties) and set the width of your document to 420 pixels and the height to 315 pixels. Select any color as background color. Set your Flash movie's frame rate to 44 and click ok.

Step 3:
Call the current layer photo1. Double-click on its default name (Layer 1) to change it. Press Enter once you have typed in the new name!

Step 4:
Choose now File > Import > Import to stage (Ctrl+R) and import a photo that you just saved in step 1 into a flash stage. While the photo is still selected, go to the Align Panel (Ctrl+K) and do the following:1. Make sure that the Align/Distribute to Stage button is turned on,2. Click on the Align horizontal center button and3. Click the Align vertical center button.

Step 5:
While the photo is still selected, hit F8 key (Convert to Symbol) to convert it into a Movie Clip Symbol.

Step 6:
Click on frame 50 and hit F5 key.

Step 7:
Go back on the first frame, select the Selection Tool (V), click once on the photo to select it and go to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage. Select Filters tab from the left side. Click after that on the plus icon and select the Blur filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Step 8:
Create a new layer above the layer photo1 and name it photo2. Go back on the first frame of layer photo1 and hit Ctrl+C key (Copy). After that, select the first frame of layer photo2 and hit Ctrl+Shift+V key (Paste In Place).

Step 9:
Click now on frame 50 of layer photo2 and hit F6 key. While you're still on frame 50, select the Selection Tool (V) and click once on the photo to select it. Then, go again to the Properties Panel (Ctrl+F3) below the stage. Select Filters tab from the left side. Click after that on the plus icon and select the Blur filter. Make the adjustments as follows:

Step 10:
Select the first frame of layer photo2 and repeat the previouse step. For this time, make the adjustments as follows:

Step 11:
Right-click anywhere on the gray area between frame 1 and 50 on the timeline and choose Create Motion Tween from the menu that appears.

Step 12:
Create a new layer above the layer photo2 and name it mask.

Step 13:
Select the first frame of layer mask and draw a circle shape about 12x12px and place it on the center of background.

Step 14:
Click now on frame 60 and hit F6 key. Step 15While you're still on frame 60, select the Free Transform Tool (Q) and enlarge a circle to cover the whole photo. See the picture below!
Step 16:
Select now mask layer and convert it to a mask by right-clicking on the mask layer and selecting Mask.We're done!Test your animation and enjoy!

2010-09-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

Shape Tween in Flash

Flash can create two types of tweened animation using timeline:
Motion Tween & Shape Tween

Creation of Motion/Shape tween using timeline is the basics of Flash.

By tweening shapes, you can create an effect similar to morphing, making one shape appear to change into another shape over time. Flash can also tween the location, size, and color of shapes.

Please note:
1. You need to have Flash Player 7.0 installed to view the Flash animation.
2. Flash MX 2004 must be installed in your system to download the .fla file.

This tutorial will teach you a simple shape tween.

Steps to follow:

Open a new flash file (Ctrl+N). New Document window will appearSelect General panel and choose Type: Flash Document . Press OK.
If your timeline window is not open, press (Ctrl+Alt+T).
Now you can see a single Layer called "Layer1" in your timeline Window.

Select the first frame. Now go to your working area and draw any object. To start off with, may be you can draw a circle.This is going to be your initial object.In the above demonstration, my initial object is a short line.
Select frame 20 and press F6 to insert a new keyframe.
Still keeping playhead on frame 20, delete the object present in your working area. Now draw a different object, may be a square.In the above demonstration, I have drawn a long line.
Select any frame between, 2 to 19 and select Shape from the tween pop-up menu in the Property inspector. Now your Layer will look something like the one shown below.

Now press (Ctrl+Enter) to view your motion tween.

2010-09-20T23:18:00.000-07:00

Timeline Motion Tween in Flash

Flash can create two types of tweened animation using timeline:
Motion Tween & Shape Tween

Creation of Motion/Shape tween using timeline is the basics of Flash.Motion tween is nothing but tweening a Symbol's movement from one position to another. To implement Motion Tween all that you have to do is, provide Flash with Symbol's initial position and the end position. Rest is taken care by Flash. Isn't it really simple.

For example in the above demonstration, I have converted the pencil object to a Symbol. Provided Flash with its initial and the end position, intermediate tweening is done by Flash. Motion Tween animation is as simple as that :)Okay, you ready to learn how to create motion tween. All you have to do is just follow this tutorial step by step.

Please note:

1. You need to have Flash Player 7.0 installed to view the Flash animation.

2. Flash MX 2004 must be installed in your system to download the .fla file.

Steps to follow:

Open a new flash file (Ctrl+N). New Document window will appearSelect General panel and choose Type: Flash Document . Press OK.
If your timeline window is not open, press (Ctrl+Alt+T).

Now you can see a single Layer called "Layer1" in your timeline Window.

Select the first frame. Import your image onto stage, upon which you would want to implement motion tween.
File>Import>Import to Stage, or just press (Ctrl+R). Or you can even draw your own object, you can either choose Rectangular tool or Oval tool from the tool box and draw your desired shape.

Now select your object on the stage and press F8 to convert this image to a Symbol.
Convert to Symbol window will pop-up.
Name your Symbol what ever you like.
Select Graphic behavior and press OK.

Note: You can create motion tween only on symbols. So any object upon which you would want to implement motion tween, First convert the object to a Symbol.
Right now your Symbol is in frame1 of Layer1. Select frame 20 and press F6 to insert a new keyframe.
Still keeping playhead on frame 20, move your Symbol to any other position other than the present one.
Select any frame between, 2 to 19 and select Motion from the tween pop-up menu in the Property inspector. Now your Layer will look something like the one shown below.
Now press (Ctrl+Enter) to view your motion tween.

2010-09-20T22:51:00.000-07:00

1. Timeline Motion Tween in Flash
2. Shape Tween in Flash
3. Beauty Face Photo Presentation
4. Mask Zooming Photo Animation
5. Zoomed Picture Presentation
6. Smoky Blow Text Effect
7. Sparkling Glass Effect
8. Calendar Girl Mask Photo Presentation

2010-06-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

Create a Smoke Text Effect
Using Adobe Photoshop
Final Image
This is the final image that we’ll be creating:

Step 1:
Open up a new document (600X250px) and create a new layer called ‘black background’. Fill your entire canvas with black.

Step 2:
Now add some white text to the center of your canvas. I used the font ‘Gill Sans’ set to bold.Step 3:
Now duplicate your text layer. Select your original and rasterize it (layer>rasterize>layer). Then apply a motion blur to this layer by going to filter>blur>motion blur. Set your angle to 90 and your blur strength to 20. Finally reduce your layer’s opacity to 60%.
Step 4:
Now paste in an image of some smoke. Make sure that you find an image of smoke on a black background, and if there is any color to your smoke go to image>adjustments>desaturate. Then change your layer’s blend mode to ‘exclusion’.

Step 5:
Now select a large, soft eraser brush at a low opacity (around 10%) and erase the edges of your smoke image.
Step 6:
Now repeat the same technique with another smoke image.
Step 7:
Add some more smoke, being sure to erase parts of each image until things are looking good.

Step 8:
Now paste in another smoke image, and set your layer blend mode to ‘multiply’. Then go to image>adjustments>levels and set your input levels to 0, 1.00, 100.Step 9:
You’ll notice that this layer now hides some of your previous smoke layers. To fix this grab a soft eraser brush and erase around your letters, exposing the rest of your smoke.Step 10:
Now if you remember we created 2 text layers earlier and rasterized the first one. Now it’s time to rasterize the second one. Once you have done this grab your smudge tool, and set your brush size to 40px and your strength to 60%. You want to start smudging the tops of the letters of your top text layer. To achieve a nice smokey effect, don’t simply smudge upwards, but make small circular smudging motions.
Also reduce this text layers opacity to 75%.

Step 11:
Select your paintbrush tool and apply the settings shown below in your brush palette.

Step 12:
Now paint over your text on a new top layer. To make your scattered brush marks more obvious duplicate your layer and merge it down with the original. Then apply an outer glow blending option to your layer (settings below).

And We’re Done!
I really hope that you enjoyed this tutorial, and as always I’d appreciate your comments.

2010-06-17T01:02:00.000-07:00

1. Create a Jungle Text Effect Using Adobe Photoshop
2. Create a Smoke Text Effect Using Adobe Photoshop

2010-06-07T03:37:00.000-07:00

Create a Jungle Text EffectUsing Adobe Photoshop

A Final Result View:

Step 1:

Hit Ctrl + N to open a new project with dimensions of 600 x 375 in RGB/8 with transparent background. For the background, you have two options: You can paint a simple scene with trees, shrubs, and earth then blur them and play with the curves, or you can use a picture (of your own or a free stock photo) of a nice nature scene. Here we’ve simplified this step for you as it takes time, so you can use this image for your scene. After playing with brushes, curves, and blurs, here’s what we’ve came up with

Step 2:
Now you can hide this window as we’ll come back to this later, but first we need to make the leaves and berries. First you’ll need to find a leaf texture. Here is texture from http://lostandtaken.com/

Step 3:
After loading your leaf texture into a new project (name the layer ‘Leaf’), hit M on keyboard to select Rectangular Marquee Tool. Right-click, select Free Transform, right click again, select Warp. Now that your leave is in warp mode, click and drag the top left corner down about 1/3 of the grid, then repeat with bottom-left corner. It should look something like this:

Step 4:
Now play around with the two corners, using the arms (the things with the gray circles) to pull them together creating a sharper point, like this:

Now we can use the Polygonal Lasso Tool (L) to select the excess parts to make the point sharper. Your leaf should look something like this:

Step 5:
Go back to the warp tool (see step 3) and this time, move the bottom- right corner upward. Make sure the arms of this corner are parallel:

Step 6:
Do the same for the top-right corner,Step 7:
Then go back to free transform, only this time use the distort and perspective functions to give it a bit of a distance perspective:Step 8:
Next, duplicate the layer with the leaf on it and drag this new layer below ‘Leaf’ layer. Warp it a little to show some difference. Repeat process as much as you like!Step 9:
On each layer you can add a simple drop shadow by double-clicking on the layer and checking the ‘Drop shadow’ box, and adjust the distance, size, and opacity of each leaf accordingly to give the leaves more depth. The larger leaf’s opacity is 64%, its distance is 23, and its size is 51. If you have a leaf directly above another, you will want to have the distance significantly lower, as well as the size. It should be more sharp and distinct.
Step 10:
Double-click on ‘Leaf’ and check Bevel and Emboss box. Change the depth to 100%, size to 65px, and soften to 0px. You can also lower the opacity of highlight and shadow mode. Repeat with remaining layers:Step 11:
Let’s add some depth of field. Select the leaf that is below the rest then right-click on the layer in the Layer Window and select Convert to Smart Object (will allow you to change the settings of your applied filters non-destructively). Now select Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set it to 2.6 pixels. Repeat with other leaves, working your way up to the top of the layer’s list, and remember to lower the blur as you get closer to largest leaf. Now select the Smart Object (in the layer’s panel) of the ‘Leaf’ layer. Hit D and paint over the main areas of the leaf except the edges (you’ll find that this removes the Gaussian blur in the areas that you paint black.) Play around with the warping as it’s the most important (and fun!) part.Step 12:
Now that we’re done with the leaves, let’s move on to the berries! In a new project with dimensions of 600 x 458 select the Elliptical marquee tool. Hold down shift and make a selection about the size of the following then fill with #ff0000. Name this layer ‘Piece’.Step 13:
Double-click on ‘Piece’ in the layer’s panel and apply the following settings:
· Inner shadow: Opacity: 75% - Distance: 5px – Choke: 0% - Size: 38px. Make sure the ‘Use Global Light’ box is checked.
· Bevel and Emboss: Depth: 32px – Direction: Up – Size 43px : Soften 16px. Leave the rest at default.
· Gradient Overlay: Black-White gradient – Opacity: 16 – Angle: 90.
This ‘piece’ will be duplicated and shaped into a berry, but for now we can hide this layer while we plan our berry’s shape. Click the eye next to the layer. Your ‘piece’ should look similar to this:Step 14:
Make a new layer then select the Pen Tool (P). Click once in the center near the top (but not too close!)(1), hold shift, and click once more in at the bottom toward the center (2). Now you have a straight line! Right click the pen tool and select Add Anchor Point. Toward the top of the line click directly on top once and drag it to your right (3). Anchor one more point at the bottom and pull slightly toward the right (4):

Step 15:
With the Pen tool still selected right click anywhere on the surface and select Make Selection. Be sure that the feather radius is set to 0 pixels.

Step 16:
Once you have your selection, hit D to turn colors back to default black and white. Fill with black. Then, duplicate this layer (Ctrl + J), and then head over to Image (at top)> Transform > Flip Horizontal. Press V, then move the top layer to the left and position till you have a black berry-like shape. If the two shapes don’t exactly fit when you move them, you can create a new layer underneath the two and paint in the missing pieces using the brush tool. Once done, merge the berry shape layers by Ctrl + clicking them in layers panel, right-clicking > merge layers. You can name this new layer ‘Berry Shape’.

Step 17:
Now that we have our shape we can start making it look like a berry! Drag ‘Piece’ and drop it on Group icon at the bottom of layers panel to place it in a group (this’ll make things easy later on). Now move the Group up above ‘Berry Shape’ in layers panel then hit Ctrl+ T. At the top you should see this set of fields appear. Change the ‘W’ and ‘H’ boxes from 100% to 50%. Hit enter to apply changes.

Step 18:
Move ‘Piece’ to the bottom of ‘Berry Shape’ for we’re now constructing our berry! We’ll continue on this way, using ‘Berry Shape’ as a guide, by duplicating ‘Piece’ and placing the duplicates next to each other to form a row, then begin stacking, like this:

Step 19:
Continue doing duplicating till the entire berry shape is covered. Remember to place them in a brick-like pattern to eliminate as many cracks as possible.

Step 20:
Once you’ve covered your berry shape you can merge the ‘Pieces’ group (Right-click > Merge group) to give you one piece (while you’re at it, you can hide ‘Berry Shape too – click the eye next to it).

Step 21:
Using the Burn Tool (O), darken the edges of your berry then click once in the center, after you set the brush size to 180 with a hardness of 0%, the Range to Shadows, and the Exposure to 25%.

Step 22:
Now take the Dodge Tool, (right-click the burn tool), and using a brush size of 168, a range of Highlights, and an exposure of 17%, brush lightly over the berry, focusing especially on the center.

Step 23:
Now that we’re done with the base of our berry, it’s time we put it together and move on. Remember the leave window? Open it up, highlight all of the leaf layers and drag and drop them on the group icon to put them in a group. Rename this group to ‘Leaves’.
Hit T then click on ‘Leaves’. In the workspace, drag the leaves from their window onto the berry window to copy and paste them in one easy step. Resize to fit, then open group and rotate and place leaves how you choose. Click on ‘Leaves’ group, drag and drop on ‘New Layer’ icon to duplicate group, head to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal>, then open ‘Leaves’ duplicate and position to fit:

Step 24:
Select all layers (Berry and Leaves groups 1 & 2), hit T, hold shift, and size it down a bit to make some room for the stem:

Step 25:
Make a new layer then take the Pen (P). Click once directly above the leaves in the center (1), click again about an inch above that slightly to the left (2), then anchor one more point in the center (3). Right-click the pen tool and select Add Anchor Point Tool, then click and drag 3 slightly to the right to give your stem a curve.

Step 26:

Set your color to #6c8f07. Select the brush and change the size to 7 and the hardness to 0%. Go back to the pen tool, right-click the path that we’ve made, and click stroke path. Make sure it’s set to Brush and the Simulate Pressure box is unchecked. Hit ok, then press enter.

Step 27:

In the layer’s panel, move the stem layer to just above the berry and below the leaves. Double click and apply the following settings:

er Inner Shadow:Distance: 5 – Size: 6. Leave all the other settings at default.

Now that we’ve added our stem, we can put all layers in a group. Select all and drag and drop onto group icon, then rename your group, ‘Berry’. We can finally go back to our first window, our jungle scene, and start constructing the final picture.

Step 28:

After going back to your blurred jungle scene and making a new layer (call it ‘Vine’), change your fore color to #77aa01 and your brush size to 7 with 0% hardness. Take the pen tool (P) and make the following points:

Step 29:

Right-click the pen tool and select Add Anchor Point Tool and make the following points. After anchoring the points, click and drag slightly in various directions to give a somewhat bumpy, twisty look:

Once you’re done, right-click and select stroke path w/simulate pressure then hit enter to complete:

Step 30:

Make a new layer and repeat the process, changing the curves for slight variations:

Step 31

Now you have two vines! Double-click on either one and apply the following settings:

· Bevel and Emboss: Depth: 100% - Direction: Down – Size: 5 – Soften: 0 – Angle: -137 – Altitude: 30 – Highlight Mode Opacity: 44% - Shadow Mode Opacity: 67%.

Click Ok, then right-click layer > copy layer style. Right-click second vine layer > paste layer style, then position vines however you like:

Step 32

Go back to your Leaves window, and drag and drop the group onto your jungle scene as you’ve done with the berry. You’ll need to resize to fit on the vine:

Step 33:

Continue adding leaves and bunches of leaves by duplicating the group (drag and drop onto new layer icon). You can open the group and hide some leaves to vary the bunch sizes. You can also resize to vary leaf sizes.

Step 34:

Change your brush size to 3 and on a new layer (name ‘Twist’) with your fore color still at #77aa01, draw a large loopy figure as shown:

Step 35:

Right-click the layer and click paste layer style (this will apply the same settings as the vine), then resize and place on vine as shown:

Duplicate and place in 3 more places: one on each end of each vine. Now select vines and twise layers and drag them all into a group. Call it ‘Vines 1’.

Step 36:

Open up your berry window as it’s time to add the berries! Click once on the group name ‘Berry’, hit V on your keyboard, and then click and drag your berry onto your jungle scene. You’ll definitely need to size it down! Once it’s a considerably size, place it on the lowest vine, being sure to connect the stem with the vine:

Step 37:

Merge the berry group by right-clicking and selecting merge group. Then, hold down Ctrl and click on layer thumbnail to select the contents. Make a new layer then move it directly beneath this layer. Hit D to change colors back to default then fill selection with black. Press Ctrl +D to deselect then head over to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and enter a radius of 3.5 pixels. Finally, hold Ctrl and click on berry layer, then drag and drop onto new layer icon to duplicate. Hit V, then move your new twin berry to the right of the upper vine:

Step 38:

Now it’s time for us to add the letters. Hit D then X to change the fore color to white. Hit T to select the type tool then click in the center. Using Tw Cen MT Condensed Extra Bold, type JUNGLE:

Step 39:

Duplicate the layer (Ctrl + J) twice. Change the color of the lowest layer (the original JUNGLE) to #0e1a03, then right-click and rasterize them all. Hide the two top layers leaving only the dark green layer apparent. Using the Gaussian blur, blur the word using a 1.7 radius.

Step 40:

Put the eye back next to the JUNGLE copy (the layer directly above the green JUNGLE) and then go to Filter > Blur > Motion Blur and enter a value of 68 for the distance. Leave the angle at 90.

Step 41

Now show the upmost layer by putting the eye back next to it. Double click on the layer and apply the following settings:

· Drop Shadow: Opacity: 75 – Angle: -90 – Distance: 0 – Spread: 0 – Size: 6

· Inner Shadow: Opacity: 75 – Angle: -90 – Distance: 5 – Choke: 0 – Size: 9

· Inner Glow: Blend Mode: Hard Light – Opacity: 75 – Color: a6c439 – Technique: Softer – Source: Edge – Choke: 0 – Size: 9

· Stroke: Size: 1 – Position: Outside – Color: 202b0e

Step 42:

Now duplicate ‘Vines 1’ group, right-click and merge it then hit V and move it up over the word jungle:

Step 43:

Here is a part that we have to be extra careful when working on. Select the erase tool and set the size to 7px. We want to erase specific parts of the vine to create and entangled look, so, moving slowly and carefully, erase the following parts:

Step 44:

Once you’re done, double click the layer and add a drop shadow of a size of 6 with a distance and spread of 0. Now we can add a berry to the bottom vine:

Step 45:

You’re almost done, just hang in there! Go back to the original berry window, hit V and drag and drop the group onto the layer, this time you don’t have to resize. Just rotate a bit and place it to the far left:

Step 46

Repeat step number 45, only this time with the leaves. Go to the leaves window, drag and drop, and place in the far right:

Step 47:

Now for the final touch we’ll be using a magical brush, free from brusheezy.com. If you don’t have it, no problem! You can use two brushes of 2px and 3px sizes and dot on the design, and add some haze by adding a layer underneath and blurring it. If you use the brush, it should look like this:

Step 48

Once you have it like this (make sure you’ve brushed on a new layer!), you want to use a size 17 brush with 0% hardness to remove the excess, like this:

Step 49:

Now for the very last step: double click this layer (whether you used the magical brush or created your own dust) and click on ‘Outer Glow’. Leave settings at default and congratulations, you’re done!

A slight variation:

2010-06-04T02:45:00.000-07:00

Create a Abstract Beautiful Rainbow Effect

Using Adobe Photoshop
Step 1: Open an image on which you wish to add the rainbow. In this tutorial, I used the photo below:

Step 2: Create a new layer by clicking on the 'Create a new layer' icon at the bottom of the layers panel. With the new layer selected, select the Gradient tool on the left toolbar. Select the arrow next to the Gradient colors and choose Transparent Rainbow

Step 3: Now click on the Transparent Rainbow itself to open up the Gradient Editor

Step 4: Try to narrow the width of the sliders, this is how the settings look after all the changes:

Click OK to accept the changes.

Step 5: From the gradient properties select the radial gradient option because we need to make a "radial" rainbow

Step 6: Drag a line on your document to make your rainbow appear. You can undo (Ctrl-Z) and try different positions until satisfied

Step 7: On the Layers tab change the Opacity of this layer to 42% to make it look transparent

Step 8: Use the Eraser Tool and select a soft brush (about 30px diameter, 0% hardness) to erase the bottom of the rainbow

And this is the result, a beautiful rainbow effect for our image:

Hope you like this tutorial!

2010-02-27T01:11:00.000-08:00

2010-02-26T22:09:00.000-08:00

Create a Abstract Icy Effect Using Adobe Photoshop

Step1: Make a new file. 600 x 600 pixels, and make the background transparent. Click OK. Click 'D' on your keyboard. With your Paint Bucket Tool, fill your background with black.

Step2: Filter->Render->Lens Flare. Align your lens flare near the center of your screen, and make the Brightness 100%, and use the 50-300mm Zoom type lens flare.

Step3: Filter->Liquify. Make the brush size 22, and make the brush pressure 65. Using your brush, click and drag from the center of your lens flare outward so you can get a nice tentacle-looking smudge. Do this a few more times so you have a total of 6 - 8 tentacles that are a nice distance apart (I used 7).

Step4: Layer->Duplicate Layer. Edit->Transform->Flip Horizontal. Edit->Transform->Flip Vertical. In your Layers Palette (by default, should be the palette at the bottom right hand side of your screen), set the top-most layer's blend mode on Lighten. To do this, click on the layer that's first in the order, and where it says, "Blend Mode" right above that, click on the upside down triangle and set it on Lighten.

Step5: While the top-most layer in your Layers Palette is still selected, go to Filter->Liquify. This time, make about 3 more evenly spread-out tentacles.

Step6: Ctrl + E. Layer->Duplicate Layer. Edit->Transform->Scale. Near the top toolbar where you see, "W:100% ... H:100%", set those both on 75%. Apply the transformation settings. Edit->Transform->Flip 90º CW.

Step7: Set the top-most layer's blend mode to Lighten. Ctrl + E.

Step8: Layer->Duplicate Layer. Filter->Stylize->Wind. Method= Wind. Direction= from the right. Filter->Stylize->Wind. Method= Wind. Direction= from the left.

Here's what yours should look like:

Step9: Select Layer 1 in your layers palette (it's the bottom layer in the order.) Layer->Duplicate Layer. Now, in your layers palette, click and drag Layer 1 Copy 2 so it's above Layer 1 copy.

Step10: Filter->Artistic->Plastic Wrap. Highlight Strength=20 ... Detail= 7... Smoothness= 5. Click OK. Set this layers blend mode to Overlay.

Here's what yours should look like:

Step11: Click on Layer 1 in the layers palette again and go to Layer->Duplicate Layer. Click and drag Layer 1 copy 3 so that it's at the very top of your layer order in your layers palette. (it should be above Layer 1 copy 2.)

Step12: Filter->Sketch->Chrome. Detail=4 ... Smoothness=7.

Step13: Click OK. Make the top-most layer's (should be "Layer 1 copy 3") blend mode to Lighten.

Step14: Layer->Flatten Image. Ctrl + U. Check Colorize. Make the Hue 193 and make the Saturation anywhere from 25 - 70. Click OK.

Step15: You're done! I hope you enjoy your final results.

2010-02-26T03:04:00.000-08:00

Create a Bluish Abstract Swirl Using Adobe Photoshop

Step 1:

Create a new document. Now press "D" on your keyboard to reset the foreground and background colors to black and white.Make sure your background is BLACK.

Step 2:Apply Filter> Artistic> Plastic Wrap with these settings:

Step 3:Then go to Filter> Distort> Twirl and set the Angle to 500.

Step 4:Now apply Filter> Sketch> Chrome and apply the following setting:

Add the color now, go to Image> Adjustments> Hue/Saturation and apply the following setting:

After:

Step 5:Duplicate the layer and set the duplicated layer blending mode to 'Soft Light'.

Now Merge the layer together.

Step 6:Select the paint bucket tool, set your foreground color to black. Find a spot on the graphic and try the paint bucket tool:

This is how my paint fill is like:

Step 7:We want to smoothen out the edges, go to Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur and apply these settings or try your own: Spinning Swirl

2010-02-25T22:39:00.000-08:00

Create a Absract Light UsingAdobe Photoshop

First of all, you have to get the original image at here which is in a very large resolution. If not, you can use the image below (in a lower resolution)

In fact, we don't need that small glowing circle because we can easily create one with Photoshop by going to Filter >Render > Lens Flare, but this image saved us a few steps .

Now let's start to photoshop!

Step 1: Open this picture in Photoshop. If it is too large, you can go to Image > Image Size and set a smaller size (I used 370 pixels in width). When you change it, the height will be automatically changed.

Firstly, press D to reset your colors. Create a new layer, use the Gradient Tool (G) with Foreground to Background option to draw a line from top to bottom of your image. You can hold down Shift key while drawing to create a straight line. We will have

Step 2: Go to Filter > Distort > Wave and use these settings

Step 3: We will blur it a little so go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur and set a radius of 2.1 pixels

Step 4: Now press Ctrl-I to invert our image

Step 5: Go to Filter > Distort > Polar Coordinates and choose Rectangular to Polar option

Step 6: Now change your current layer's blend mode to Screen

After this step, we will have

Step 7: Use the Move Tool (V) to place the center of our light onto the glowing circle

Step 8: Use the Erase Tool (E) to erase all beams on the Earth. You should also erase the right edge of our beams to make it more real, like this Step 9: And ...erm... our image is rather dark, so we should make it brighter. In the Layers tab, select our Background layer and press Ctrl-J to duplicate it, here is my Layers tab after this step

Now press Ctrl-Shift-U to cover its colors into black and white. Once again, change your current layer's blend mode to Screen. By the way, the Screen mode is used for knocking out dark areas, making our image look brighter

Step 10: Now jump back to Layer 1, which contains our beams, press Ctrl-U to open up the Hue/Saturation dialog box. Make sure to tick on the Colorize checkbox and use these settings

Well, it's all! Here is our final result

2010-02-20T03:45:00.000-08:00

2010-02-20T00:14:00.000-08:00

Create a Explosion and Object Disappear
Using 3DS Max and Particle Flow

Step 1

Open up your Max and create some kind of an object. I chose teapot because it is more complex and has more details than other objects. It doesn’t really matter if it’s big or small. I used 40 centimeters for radius so I was playing with quite big teapot . Don’t forget that size does matter if you are going to render your scene. Some rendering engines works better if you keep real world dimensions.

Step 2
Once you’ve done that turn on Particle View window. Usually it’s under 6 hotkey so you only have to hit 6 right after you’ve made teapot but if it doesn’t work go to Graph Editors -> Particle View in the top menu of your 3ds Max. Right click in the window that will appear and create Empty Flow (under Particle System section). Then create Birth right next to that and connect them together (find part of table that makes your mouse cursor like 3 arrows pointing to the center and drag and drop this part of your table on the top of another).

Step 3
We have to modify a list of items by adding there some new objects. Right-click again and add Position Object, Force and Shape from a list.

Position Object – because we want to add our teapot (or whatever you are using) to a system

Force – because we want to add wind (otherwise particles won’t fly away)
Shape – because we want to see particles on renders

We have to modify all of them slightly before we can go any further but first let’s add one more thing to our scene.

Step 4
Go to Space Warps, choose Forces and then Wind. Place it somewhere on your scene. Again it can be either big or small as you wish because it doesn’t make any difference except it’s easier to find in viewports. I made it around 10 meters. Rotate and move it a bit so that it has direction in which you want your particles to fly. You can also make it falling ground but in this tutorial I’ll only cover flying.

Once you have your wind you can modify its setting. I found that standard wind’s strength is too high so it’s good idea to decrease it a little bit. Also you’ll probably want to add some turbulence to it so that it won’t go perfectly straight. Try to change other settings here if you won’t satisfied when we’ll be able to see the result (we can’t yet).

Step 5
Go back to Particle View and select Position Object. Add your teapot to Emitter Objects list.

Step 6
Now choose Force and obviously you have to add there your forces. In our case there is only wind.

Step 7
Go to Display and choose there your particles’ color as well as their type. I decided to make them look like a sand so I think Dots and yellowish color will be great.

Step 8
Now select Shape and decrease its size a lot like for example to 1cm or 2cm.

Step 9
Go to the Birth and change Emit Stop to something bigger like 50 and Amount to something really high. I think 20,000 would be enough for now but for the final renders you’ll probably need to increase this number to around 100,000 (depending on how many particles you need). Finally we can close that and get back to viewports and our teapot.

Animation is already there. Maybe values I chose are not good for you but always you can play with them as you like. Now it’s good time for that. If it slows down your computer don’t worry. You can go to your PE Source settings and look for Quantity Settings. Decrease Viewport % a bit and it will show less particles in your viewport but still they will be visible on your renders.

Step 10
We can get back to our teapot again. We want it to disappear and that can be done using gradient ramp as an opacity map. Opacity slot as many others works that way it grabs value from color of any grayscale map and make your objects more or less transparent. For instance, if you will put there black bitmap it will be invisible all the time because black has value of 0. Go to Material Editor (M) and select one of the material slots. Select opacity slot and then change it from NONE to Gradient Ramp.

Step 11
Basically what we want to achieve is animated material which will make teapot disappear while there are particles flying around. We need to animate gradient and make it change from white at the beginning to black at the end during 100 frames. It’s a bit complicated process. Try to even set key frames for already set indicators (colors)(for instance if indicator is already white set it white again anyway when you move it to another position). Turn the Set Key mode on and go to the 1st frame.
1. Frame: 1 – 1% indicator set to black and rest white at positions 2%, 3% and one at 100%
2. Frame: 2 – 1% and 2% indicators set to black and rest white at positions like before (remember to change their color to the same color here even if they already have this color – this will make key frame)
3. Frame: 98 – move indicators from 2% and 3% to accordingly 98% and 99% (1% indicator is black and 2% indicator is white all the time)
4. Frame: 99 – 99% indicator set to black and rest black but 100% is still white
5. Frame 100 – 100% indicator set to black and rest are black

Now you should have nice gradient moving from left to the right. It may be hard to achieve so I’ve prepared a video presenting whole process. Make sure to turn on Set Key mode as I did and to press key button each frame to create a key frame.
A couple things to note:
to see material’s key frames on your time line you have to add this material to teapot or other object first
you will have to move key frames then because particles are starting to appear slowly and you want your teapot to disappear only when there is a lot of particles already and not right after animation starts.

Step 12
If we now render that at for example 50th frame it will be ok for some objects but not for teapot. You have to add some mapping to it. Modifier called UVW Map should work fine with standard settings but simple objects like teapot. Animation is ready. It looks almost or exactly like we wanted to but you can play with gradient a bit and make it softer or add there some noise to make effect better. I’ve set my noise amount to 0,08, size to 0,93 and mode to Fractal.

Conclusion
Well, that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. As I mentioned you can use this effect in variety of ways. Especially it is useful when you are going to burn something and want to burnt part of your object disappear, when you want to make an explosion and want your object to disappear consecutively part by part. It doesn’t require much calculating power as it is with modifying mesh and gives you quite good results.

2010-02-12T22:51:00.000-08:00

Create a Caustic EffectUsing 3DS Max and Lighting

STEP 1

Create a Plane in the center of the scene by going through Create>Geometry>Plane. Access the Modify tab and set the Length and Width Segs to 1, then rescale the plane until it fills the whole of the Perspective view.

STEP 2
Create a Teapot in the center of the screen, then access the Modify tab and set the Segments in the Parameter rollout to 15 to give the teapot a more detailed profile and a smoother surface.

STEP 3
We will start off with the teapot material. Open the Material Editor, select an empty slot and change the material to Glass (physics_phen) from the Material/Map Browser window, then rename it to teapot glass. Glass is one of the materials that create light caustics in real life. Apply this material to teapot01.
STEP 4
We will now create the material for the plane. Select another empty slot, rename it to ground, and change its color to white by changing its diffuse color, and then apply it to plane01.

STEP 5
Go through Create>Lights>Object Type and add Skylight to simulate daylight. Follow that by adding an Omni light to create light rays that would generate the caustics on the plane when it passes through the glass teapot.

Note: The position of the Skylight does not matter for this effect, but the same could not be said for the Omni light. You have to position the Omni light opposite of the location at which you wish your caustics to be cast.

STEP 6
We are now going to enable shadows for the omni light to cast the shadows of the teapot on the floor. While omni light is still selected, access the Modify tab, and activate the On option under the Shadow section of the General Parameters rollout.

STEP 7
In order to avoid the overburning of the image by light, we will have to exclude the illumination of plane01 from omni light. Click on Exclude under the Shadow options, select Plane01 from the included list and move it to the other list.

STEP 8
Go through Rendering>Environment (or press 8 in your keyboard) to open up the Environment and Effects window. While still on the Environment tab, set the background Color to white. This would help brighten up the scene and would make the glass reflection appear white instead of black.

STEP 9
Go through Rendering>Render (or press 10 in your keyboard) to open up the Render Scene options window. Enable Caustics under the Indirect Illumination tab on the Caustics and Global Illumination (GI) rollout. This lets the Mental Ray render engine know that we have caustics enabled and that it should be calculated during rendering time.

STEP 10
Rendering at this time generates a warning, this is because there isn't an object on the scene that generates a caustic. We will have to manually enable the generation of caustics by the teapot. We'll do that next. STEP 11
Right click the teapot01 object on the scene and open up the Properties settings. Head to Mental Ray tab and enable the Generate Caustics option and disable Receive Caustics option as illustrated below.
STEP 12

We need to enable the Final Gather and Global Illumination (GI) options to include the deflected ray-lights from teapot01 and plane01 in the calculation process of the final render. Both could be found in the Render Scene window, under Indirect Illumination tab.

That should do it, hit render to see your cool looking caustics!