Cool Web Design Effects Tutorials

Grungy Tech Effect

By Adam Polselli

Create a cool texture that's kind of grungy, kind of techy, and works really well for collages and backgrounds.

Software Required: Adobe Photoshop 7.0

Step 1 - the New Document

Create a new document, 300x500, with a white background. Set your colors to the default by hitting the "D" key on your keyboard. You want black as your foreground and white as your background.

Next, go to FILTER > RENDER > CLOUDS.

Step 2 - Motion Blur

Go to FILTER > BLUR > MOTION BLUR, and use these settings:

Angle: 0
Distance: 55 pixels

Click OK. You should now have something that looks like this:

Step 3 - Liquify

Next go to FILTER > LIQUIFY. Select the "Shift Pixels Tool" from the left hand toolbar and keep the default settings, Brush size: 64 and Brush pressure: 50. Now, using quick, sweeping strokes, begin at the top of your image and sweep back and forth across it with slightly overlapping strokes. It should take about 8-10 overlapping strokes to cover the whole image. If you mess up, don't panic! Simply click the "REVERT" button on the right side of the window.

If you've completed this step correctly, you should get something similar to the image below. Don't try to be exact -- this is an experimental step you can have fun with!