Manual Star Effects

General Discussion
1

Can anybody tell me if there is anyway to manually place as star in Topaz Star Effects?

The only think I can see that is remotely helpful is the Threshold slider. But that works across the whole image, finding the brightest parts in the frame and automatically placing the star effects there.

In the image I’m working on, I have one spot that is not all together bright, but that’s where I want a star to appear. Just one.

Is there anyway to do that?

Thanks,

–PS

2

Here’s the way I do that:

  1. create a new layer and paint it black
  2. with the brush add a white spot where you want the center of your star
  3. open Star Effects on that layer
  4. choose the type of star you wish - some work better than others
  5. close the Topaz plug-in
  6. using the Magic Eraser Tool (E in PS), with the Tolerance set to 5 of smaller, click on the black part of that layer
  7. depending on the type of star you chose you may need to repeat step 6, but now you should have the star on the second layer so flatten the image and it is set
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3

That’s a lotta steps, but I’ll give it a try.

Thanks,

–P

4

it takes a lot longer to read the steps than to actually do it

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5

I’ve done it by just painting a white spot right on the layer I want the star. Then you can use Star Effects ability to pick the spot you just added. Depending on whether there are other bright spots in the image, how many and how bright (big), you might need to experiment a little to make it easier to select/auto-select.

Best regards

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6

You would think you could click a button that says hide all and then manually add them in with the brush. So clunky.

7

Yes, would be nice to be able to just copy a particular star to a brush and place it where ever.

8

Even though Flick listed steps to make stars manually, my approach is slightly different.

  1. add a new layer over the base image in your photo program and fill it with black.
  2. Set the blend mode to lighten and adjust the opacity to around 65%.
  3. Using the paint tool, add a hard white dot or dots if you want many stars.
  4. Go to Topaz Star Effects filter and make the star look as wanted. Click OK
  5. When it returns to the Photo program, change the opacity to 100%
  6. Use the Pointer tool to resize this layer and move the star if needed.

Image with black layer:

Image with white dot on black layer:

Image after star effect with opacity set to 100%:

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9

There is a YouTube from back when Star Effects was new that shows how to do this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdyrPYgr-bo

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10

Thanks- v helpful!

11

The only thing is…I can do all this in photoshop without using Star Effects.

1 Like