Scan Line Effect
in Photoshop
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by Don Herion
You've
seen those web pages with that neat scan line effect. Here is a quick way to apply
this effect to an image. It also works great if applied to a single color background.
1) Open the image you want to affect. Note the width in pixels.
 |  |
| Before | After |
2) Now create a new image one pixel in height and use
the width of the first image.
3) Fill the one-pixel high image
with black.
4) Now go - Image - Canvas Size. Change height
from 1-pixel to 2-pixels. Click the top middle button to add the one pixel vertically.
You now have your two tone (black/line) scan lines.
 |
| Double the height |
5) Now go
- Select - All. Click - Edit - Define Pattern. This turns the image into a pattern
fill.
 |
| Fill the original image using - Pattern |
6) To add the scan line effect create a new layer above
the original image. Go - Layer - New - Layer.
7) Now go - Edit
- Fill - Use - Pattern. You now have black and white lines covering the image.
There are two ways to create the scan lines.
a) Reduce the
'opacity' slider to around 20%.
b) Select 'overlay' in the layers palette.
 |
| Overlay creates a nice scan line effect |
