Slot A
Mother Boards are made to support the AMD Athlon Processor, AMD Thunderbird.
Socket A
Mother Boards are made to support the AMD Athlon processor and AMD Duron.
Socket 370
The motherboard is built to support Intel ® Pentium ® III (Tualatin and
Coppermine) / CeleronTM
Socket 8
Mother Boards are made to support the Pentium ® II processor and Pentium ® Pro.
Socket 423
Mother Boards are made to support Pentium-Processor

4.3 Mother Boards
Mother Board is a board / main board where all the devices installed starting from the processor,
memory, slots for expansion, etc..






That must be considered in selecting or assembling a Mother board is that each
The motherboard has different specifications for each brand or type, among others:

1. Every motherboard has a pair with a particular processor, the socket type or
slots are available for the processor.
2. Motherboard ability to be in the Up-grade up to speed Processor
how. Motherboards generally able to be upgraded by replacing the processor.
Information about this purchase is very important to the motherboard with pertimbangn
to be on the upgrade.
3. RAM memory capacity that can be installed on the motherboard greater capacity
disediakn memory increase profit.
4. Slots are available for each type of RAM, such as how many slots are available for
EDO RAM, SDRAM, etc..

5. The motherboard is the BIOS settings (software) atu a jumper setting.

6. The number of slots for PCI and ISA. Slot slot is very useful for penmbahan
peripherals such as audio card.

7. Is Support for AGP motherboard for the VGA card, AGP support will be more
favorable for stock if desired graphics upgrades
computer with AGP card installed.

8. For memory bus speed up to speed how (66,100,133,200,400 Mhz).
9. Is VGA card and an audio card is onboard or not.

10. Power Supply for AT Mother Board or ATX or Baby AT.
All of the above information can be ascertained from the existing manual book on the motherboard.
Bebrapa Slot type Socket for processor atautu include:
1. Slot 1
2. Slot 2
3. Socket7
4. Slot A
5. Socket A
6. Socket 370
7. Socket 8
8. Socket 423

Slot1
Mother Boards are made to support P-III Processor and Celeron

Slot2
Motherboards are made to support the Pentium II Xeon Processor

Socket 7
Mother Boards are made to support the Processor AMD K6-2, AMD K6-3 and Cyrix M-II
and the Pentium MMX

AMD K-5, AMD K-6, AMD K6-2, AMD K6-3, AMD K-7, AMD Duron, AMD Athlon. Where
AMD products are found a few, and recently surpassed the ability of
Intel products.
Here is a comparison of data architecture AMD and Intel products and Benchmark results
(Test Reliability uProcessor). AMD processor known as a lower price with
reliability is not inferior to Intel products.











In addition to AMD, Processor other outstanding brands in the market is Indonesia Cyrix processor brand
the Cyrix 6x86, M-II, and M-III, but unfortunately this Cyrix Processor brand AMD seberhasil not
to create a rival to Intel processors.
The following will show some Image Processor:

Slot 1 Motherboard

Monitor
Mouse
Printer
Scanner
Disk Drive, Zip Drive
CD ROM Drive

4. Hardware development
The development of electronic technology, the most rapid and widely used in many fields in
menyelasaikan work or to obtain information is nothing but a computer.
The development of this machine caused by the development of the microprocessor (processor) as the brain
in the overall handling of the computer work.

4.1 The development of Intel's Microprocessor and Personal Computer (PC)
In accordance with the time evolution of successive generations emerging processors with Perfomance
a more sophisticated, both in terms of quality and complexity.
Development of processor type:
XT 8086 - 8088 •
AT 286, AT 386, AT 486
Pentium I: AT 80,586 with 50 Mhz, 70 Mhz, 90 Mhz, 100 Mhz, 133 Mhz
Pentium II 266 Mhz., 300 Mhz, 350 Mhz, 400 Mhz, 450 Mhz.
Pentium III 500 Mhz, 550 Mhz, 600 Mhz, 650 Mhz, 700 Mhz.
And now the latest generation of Pentium IV Intel

4.2 Processor and development in addition
The share of the lucrative market for computer technology in Indonesia causes processor
in markets not only Intel products Co.. but other companies such as AMD (Advanced
Micro Devices) and Cyrix also issued some kind of processor is trying to
offset products from Intel.
Products from AMD, among others:
Public Lecture IlmuKomputer.Com
Copyright © 2003 IlmuKomputer.Com
Motherboard for Pentium 4 Processor

3.2 Peripheral I / O
Peripheral is something that refers to the external equipment connected to the computer.
Computer peripherals can be divided into two categories based on function. The first category consists of equipment that perform input and output operations, this category includes the keyboard, trackball, mouse, printer, and video display. The second category consists of equipment primarily to secondary data storage, which is the main storage is provided by the main memory komputer.
many storage devices, such as magnetic disks, optical disks, magnetic tapes, which are able to store large data.

In this book will introduce the equipment commonly used in Personal Computer (PC). KeyBoard















Computer assembling
I. Preparation:
1. Prepare the necessary tools such as screwdrivers (+) and (-)
2. Make sure the computer is off (power off)
3. Keep all magnets from hard drives.
4. Keep water and liquid from the computer and its components.
5. It is strongly recommended to install the manual with the motherboard.
II. Installing Processor (Socket Type):
1. Zif socket Lokasikan and open by pulling the socket handle up
2. Insert the CPU into the socket with the socket handle maintaining state when entering
CPU
3. When entering the CPU must take into account the real orientation specific instructions
the pocessor and socket.
4. Push down the CPU socket and return the rod to its original position.
5. Place the heatsink on the CPU and put restraints correctly.
6. Cable Rangkaikan fan (fan) with the supply.

There bebrapa types of RAM in the market today:
SRAM ......
EDORAM
SDRAM

3. Installation of other equipment on the PCI or ISA slot as VGA Card, Sound Card etc.
same way with the installation of AGP cards. The difference is only type of slot that will
installed.
V. Installing Disk:
1. Look for Port IDE on the motherboard
2. Connect the cable to the IDE connector, note the red color on the cable is always
mounted on the specially marked in the IDE connector.


















DDRAM
RDRAM
VGRAM
Dll.

In the known types of memory RAM BUS SPEED terms, such as PC66, PC100, PC 133, PC200, PC 400
etc. which means the flow rate data or programs on the memory where the greater the value
BUS SPEED, the faster access to memory....
2.4 Secondary Memory
An additional memory function to store data or programs. Example: Hardisk,
Floppy Disk etc.
The relationship between Chace Memory, Main Memory and Secondary Memory can be explained:












3. Input / Output Unit
Input / Output Unit is part of the computer to receive data and
out / display the data after processing by the processor. To facilitate the discussion

of Input / Output unit, in this book will be explained in two parts, namely:
Port I / O
Peripheral I / O















IV. Installing the AGP Card
1. Find Location AGP slot
2. Place the AGP port carefully, tap with the field perpendicular to the motherboard.



















3.1 Port I / O
Port I / O is a port or gate or place the equipment installed Conector I / O. Where
every port I / O under the control of the processor.

1. Parallel port (LPT1 or LPT2)
Is the port for equipment that works with the transmission of data in parallel. Example
equipment that uses these ports are:
Printer, Scanner, etc..

2. Serial port (COM1, COM2)
Is a port for devices that work with serial data transmission. Example
equipment that uses these ports are:
Mouse, modem, etc..

3. Port AT / PS2
These ports are generally used for input from the Keyboard, Mouse.

4. USB Port
USB port (Universal Serial Bus) port is a Universal Serial Port for equipment
working with serial data transmission. Examples of equipment that uses USB port:
4
Digital Camera

5. VGA port
Port is directly related to the monitor. VGA port obtained from
installation VGA Card.

6. Port Audio
Port is directly related to audio equipment such as Tape, Radio,
Speaker, Microphone, etc..
Caution: Some motherboards still use the jumper settings or the settings for Dip
set the clock speed for the processor. Part of the others are automatically
detect the speed of the processor or the BIOS settings.

III. Installing Memory
The number of memory slots depending on the available slots on the motherboard. The assembly process
DIMM (SDRAM):
1. Socket unbutton
2. Check mold figure RAM
3. Insert the SDRAM module into the DIMM slot
4. Lock / Press back button

Memory cache is there are two kinds, namely:
1. Memory cache found on the internal processor, cache memory of this type of speed

2. Connect the other end of the HardDisk
3. Connect the supply cable HardDisk (note the pair of power supply socket)

VI. Installing Disk Drive:
1. Look for FDD port on the motherboard
2. Connect the cable to the FDD connector, note the red color on the cable is always
mounted on the specially marked in the FDD connector.
3. Connect the other end of DiskDrive
4. Connect the supply cable Disk Drive (note the pair of power supply socket)

In addition to the speed of the relationship, the hierarchy also states relationships - relationships
Other, namely:
Relationships Price: The price is down is more affordable. (Prices calculated
based dollars per bit of data stored).
• • •
Relationship Capacity: The above is generally more limited in capacity.
Usage frequency relationship: The higher the frequency up access.

2Setiap processor execution time, processor must read the instructions from main memory.
Agara instructions can be done quickly so must seek instructions available in memory
the hierarchy of higher-speed access. This execution speed will improve performance
system. For that there are two levels of memory concept, which had been temporarily accommodated in the memory
the higher hierarchy.
2.1 Register Memory
Which is a type of memory access speed of the fastest, this memory is the
CPU / Processor.
Example: Data Register, Register Address, Stack Pointer Register, Memory Addresss Register, I / O
Address register, Instruction register, etc..
2.2 Cache Memory
Limited-capacity memory, high speed is more expensive than main memory. Cache
This memory is between the main memory and processor registers, processor not working so
directly refers to the main memory so that performance can be improved.

In brief, the computer system consists of three important parts of
1. CPU (Central Processing Unit) / Processor
2. Memory (RAM and ROM)
3. Input / Output.






In a simple block diagram can be seen in figure 1.1
Public Lecture IlmuKomputer.Com
Copyright © 2003 IlmuKomputer.Com
Where is the CPU / Processor, Memory and I / O Port is located (installed) on the Mother
Board, will be specified later parts of the computer is:
1. Central Processing Unit / Processor
The main part of the computer because the processor function to regulate all activities
existing on the computer. The speed of the processor units are MHz (Mega Hertz) or GHz (1000
Megahertz), where the greater the value the faster the process of execution on the computer.

2. Memory
Memory function for storing data and programs. Various types of memory is the fastest
access until late. Based on the access speed of the memory hierarchy can be made
as in table 1.1. follows.

VII. Installing Connector for Panel on Chasing
1. Place the connector carefully and to the front panel Chasing.
2. Position pin / ft depending on motherboard connector (see the manual MB or notice
data is written around the motherboard)









VIII. Installing Power Suplly for Motherboards
Pair cable PowerSupply colorful connector from the casing into the PowerSupply
available on the motherboard, menekanconnector way.

The discussion on the module assembling materials and troubleshooting computer is divided into three sections namely:

1. Introduction to Technology Computer hardware approach (hardware approach) that
explains part of the overall computer system and either a detailed
perbagian hardware approach to facilitate the introduction of computers in
comprehensive and applicable.

2. Computer assembling, explaining how to install the computer with practical guidance with
with pictures and explanations.

3. Troubleshooting, explains the detection errors in assembling computers and solutions.











IX. Install Chassis Connector panel
Connect the ports of existing equipment such as Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, etc.

At the time of running Word, will appear a window equipped with various components of each window word.Masing these components has a specific function to create and provide information to our information when working with a document.
As an introduction, the function of each component will be discussed briefly following a more ini.Pembahasan akn mendatail discussed one by one when we learn to use these components.

1.Title Bar
Title Bar serves to show the name of the current document in the document Word.Nama window sesuia the file name of the document tersebut.Bila display documents never saved, the name displayed dokumenyang never stored, the name of the document shown is Documen1, Documen2, and rivals.

2.Kontrol window
The window controls are located above the window dibagain word bar.Kontrol parallel with the window title 3buah otmbol.Tombol consists of the first with a minus sign (-) function to display memperkecilkan second jendela.Tombol with a box () function to display meperbesarkan third button with jendela.sedangkan sign (x) berffungsi to close the window.

3.Menu bar
MNU is a bar where the menu includes a list of commands word.Masing each menu contains commands that each berhubungan.Perintah-yangh orders contained in one of the menus display a [pabilan menu diklik.Sebuah command is executed when the command is clicked.

4.Toolbar
Toolbar is a component that contains the window-Tombo perintah.Setiap button represents a command button located on menu.kita can run a command that terdapt clicking on the button de4ngan menu command in the toolbar button toolbar.Setiap has pictures that make it easier to recognize the commands executed by the key.

5.KursOr
In sdaat word window is displayed, the cursor will be displayed on the page represents a page section dokumen.Kursor are aktif.Huruf document typed on the keyboard will ditabahkan at page document exactly where the cursor is.

6.Task pane
Task pane is a small window located in the Office application that contains lists of commands that are biased digunakan.Task pane to the right place at the window with a small word so that we can use these commands while still working. Microsoft Word

You must have a Microsoft .NET Passport to sign in to Windows Messenger.

~ Go to the .NET Passport (http://www.passport.com/) site.

Notes
~ Children age 12 and under who live in the United States need a Kids Passport to use Windows Messenger.
~ If you want to change the password for your .NET Passport, you may do so on the Member Services page of the .NET Passport site.

Like a firewall, a proxy server is a kind of buffer between your computer and the Internet. If your computer uses a proxy server connection, and you want to use Windows Messenger features such as file transfer and application sharing, your network and your proxy server must be set up in a way that allows your network or computer to connect directly to the .NET Messenger Service servers. See Related Topics for specific information.

To set up Windows Messenger to use a proxy server:

1. In Windows Messenger, on the Tools menu, and then click Options.
2. Click the Connections tab, and select the I use a proxy server check box.
3. In the Type list, select the type of proxy server your network uses.
4. In the remaining text boxes, fill in the appropriate connection information, and then click OK.

~ Talk to your network administrator to get your proxy server information.

If no proxy server is specified in Connections, Windows Messenger will first attempt to connect directly so that you can use all Messenger features. If Windows Messenger cannot connect directly, it will use the same Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connection, including proxy server settings, that your default browser uses to connect to the Internet.

Important: If Windows Messenger uses your browser connection, you'll be able to send instant messages, but some features of Windows Messenger—such as calling a computer or sending files—might not be available.

Notes

~ To see what kind of proxy server connection Messenger is using, click the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Connection tab. In the bottom half of the dialog box, look for text that describes the connection -- either the default browser's HTTP proxy server settings, or a direct connection (no proxy server).
~ If Windows Messenger connects using a proxy server, features that require two computers to connect to each other might not work with a contact located outside the proxy. Windows Messenger features that require two computers to connect include file transfer, voice and video, Application Sharing, and Whiteboard.

If you are at a computer other than your own, you can still sign in to your own account.

1. In the main window, click the link To sign in with a different account, click here.

2. Type your sign-in name and/or password.
Do not select the Sign me in automatically check box.

1. If Windows Messenger is not set up to automatically sign you in, click Click here to sign in in the main Windows Messenger window.

2. If your sign-in information is not stored on your computer, type your sign-in name and password in the text box.

3. If you want to store your sign-in information on your computer, select the Sign me in automatically check box.
Caution! Do not select this check box on public computers or computers you share with others.

Both instant messages and invitations to voice conversations are sent in the conversation window, but the two differ in these ways:

~ For instant message conversations, you communicate by typing text. For voice conversations, you communicate by using your microphone to talk to someone at another computer, whose response you hear through your computer speakers.

~ You "send" an instant message. You "start" a voice conversation.

~ An instant messaging program sends messages in real time. That is, you carry on a live text conversation with one or more people.

~ Instant messages are temporary. Unless you deliberately save them, they are gone when you close the conversation window.

~ Beyond sending and receiving messages, you might also be able to use Windows Messenger to call someone from your computer or to set up an online meeting—if you use Windows XP, you can also use Windows Messenger to share a program or use Whiteboard together. If you are in a corporation, the availability of these features might be controlled by your network administrator.
talk join friend buddy games reply respond write compose email use purpose

~ An instant messaging program sends messages in real time. That is, you carry on a live text conversation with one or more people.

~ Instant messages are temporary. Unless you deliberately save them, they are gone when you close the conversation window.

~ Beyond sending and receiving messages, you might also be able to use Windows Messenger to call someone from your computer or to set up an online meeting—if you use Windows XP, you can also use Windows Messenger to share a program or use Whiteboard together. If you are in a corporation, the availability of these features might be controlled by your network administrator.

A Kids Passport allows children aged 12 and younger who live in the United States to use Windows Messenger. A Kids Passport requires a parent's or guardian's consent to use the service. If you have more than one child under 13, you must give consent for each child's Kids Passport account.

For information about Kids Passport and to sign up and give parental consent for your child, go to the Kids Passport Web site (http://kids.passport.com/).

Related Topic

What is Microsoft .NET Passport?

access permission control login logon signin sign in minor juvenile youth privacy protect kid privacy private safe safety

A Microsoft .NET Passport gives you a single, convenient way to sign in to multiple Internet sites and services using one sign-in name and password. You must have a .NET Passport to sign in to .NET Messenger Service using Windows Messenger.

You can learn more about .NET Passport at the .NET Passport (http://www.passport.com/) site.

Note
Children age 12 and under who live in the United States need a Kids Passport to sign in to .NET Messenger Service.




Related Topics
Get a Microsoft .NET Passport
What is Kids Passport?
Reset a forgotten Microsoft .NET Passport password
Change your Microsoft .NET Passport password
access use login logon begin start begin

A Microsoft .NET Passport gives you a single, convenient way to sign in to multiple Internet sites and services using one sign-in name and password. You must have a .NET Passport to sign in to .NET Messenger Service using Windows Messenger.

You can learn more about .NET Passport at the .NET Passport (http://www.passport.com/) site.

Note
Children age 12 and under who live in the United States need a Kids Passport to sign in to .NET Messenger Service.




Related Topics
Get a Microsoft .NET Passport
What is Kids Passport?
Reset a forgotten Microsoft .NET Passport password
Change your Microsoft .NET Passport password
access use login logon begin start begin

NET Messenger Service allows real-time communication over the Internet with other people who use Windows Messenger and who have Microsoft .NET Passports.

To sign in to .NET Messenger Service, you need a .NET Passport.

Windows Messenger allows real-time communication with other people who are signed in to .NET Messenger Service. To use Windows Messenger, you must be running Windows XP.

Here are some of the things you can do using Windows Messenger:

Create a contact list of your friends, family, and coworkers.
See when your contacts are online and available, and send text messages back and forth.
Send pictures, music, or documents to your contacts.
Call a computer and have a video/voice conversation using your computer microphone, speakers, and camera.
Use ink to write instant messages (requires Windows XP Tablet PC Edition).
Invite someone to look at a program on your computer or use Whiteboard together.
Use Remote Assistance to have someone help you with your computer.

All you need is:
* 2 source images,
* a few layers,
* 1 Clone Tool,
* 1 Brush,
* 1 Layer Blending Mode
* and optionally 1 Layer Mask.
Please forgive my poor English, I hope that descriptions will be understandable.
OK. Open your sources in PS. I used an already retouched photo of the face and a slightly different source for the tongue. I hope you don’t mind :)

Cut out the frog and drag it into the opened window with the face layer.
Rotate and resize the frog.

Add a layer mask to the frog layer and mask the unneeded parts. When you are happy with the result click Menu/Layer/Remove Layer Mask/Apply.
You can just use the Eraser Tool, but masking gives more control of the process.

Here’s a nice tutorial on Layer Masks

Select the tongue from face layer, copy it on the new layer and put it between the face and frog.
Lower the opacity of the [i]frog[/i] layer to about 40%, just to keep it visible, and then transform the tongue layer to fit the frog.

When you hide the frog layer it should look like this:

Now Ctrl+click on the frog layer to make selection and with clone tool fill the selected areas on tongue layer.

Then hit Ctrl+Shift+I (Select Inverse) and Delete. Deselect (Ctrl+D).
You can delete the frog layer too if you want, you won’t need it anymore.
Resize and rotate the tongue if necessary (I had to make it slightly bigger) and blend the lower edge with face layer using layer mask, eraser or clone tool.

Now the shadows. Create a new layer below the tongue (you can name it shadow 1) and paint the black shadow around the tongue with a small brush.
Apply a Gaussian Blur filter (with a rdius of about 2px) and set the layer blending mode to Soft Light.

Make new layer above the tongue layer (name it shadow 2), Ctrl+click on the tongue layer and paint shadows inside the selection (just the edges).
Deselect, apply Gaussian Blur, set blending mode to Soft Light.

Almost done. Now make a new layer above all your layers and call it light. Grab the Clone Tool (just be sure to check the Use All Layers option) and clone some reflections. You can paint them if you want, but cloning is easier.

That's all! The result should look something like this:

Drawing Hair in Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will give this basic human form:

a full head of hair like this:

Using the brush, dodge, burn and smudge tools. This technique works best on mostly straight or slightly wavy hair.


Laying out the basic color
In this example, we are creating medium-brown hair, so draw in the basic shape of the hair with a hard edged brush with medium brown. Follow the contours of the head and shoulders, making the hair flip at the ends as desired. Don't worry about being perfect, but make sure that the head itself is covered fully with no gaps.

Smudging the edges Part One
Using a small-ish brush with a soft edge (approximately 10-20 px) at about 85 to 95% strength, smudge the edges of the hair to flow and fall naturally against the face, shoulders, neck and back.
Here are the directions I smudged:

to form this:

Dodge & Burn Part One - Individual Strands
This part is the most tedious, but it actually does go by rather quickly and painlessly.
Select the dodge tool set to midtones, around 15 to 20% strength and a 2 to 4 pixel brush. Start drawing in highlights in the direction that the hair naturally grows. You may want to look at a source image for this. Switch the setting to highlights and repeat. This varies the colors and luminosity of the hilites, making the hair appear more natural.

Now hold down the alt button and the dodge tool becomes the burn tool. Repeat as above, switching between highlights and midtones to vary the color and luminosity of the lowlites.

If it's not looking the way you want it to, vary something: increase/decrease brush size, switch brush shape, increase/decrease strength, switch modes (shadows/midtones/highlights).
Here's what I had after about 5 minutes of work:

Dodge & Burn Part Two - Lighting Source
Now that we have the individual strands drawn in, it looks flat. To put the head of hair in a realistic environment, consider the source of light. Here, it is coming from the front/left, so we want to highlight the front and darken the back. We also want to highlight natural contours of the head and thin-ness of the ends of the hair.

Here are the areas I've highlighted and darkened with a large (approx. 50 to 100 px) soft edge brush with dodge and burn.

Try different dodge/burn modes to match your lighting source:
- Dodge Midtones gives less saturated, whiter highlights
- Dodge Highlights gives more saturated yellower hilights - Burn Midtones gives more saturated shadows in keeping with the base color
- Burn Highlights gives less saturated, gray/black shadows

Use all in combination to achieve a more natural look:

Smudging the edges Part Two
The final step is to smudge out any harsh edges, mostly at the tips of the hair where it meets the face and shoulders.

I like to use a large spatter brush for this, set to about 60% strength, for a wispy look.
The final image after smudging:
This example took me about 8 minutes to produce, but you can always spend more time tweaking strands and highlights. If you're working on a larger image, it will take longer.

Further ways to tweak the hair:

- duplicate the hair layer and adjust the hue/saturation, then vary the opacity or blending mode of the adujsted layer. (I usually like to use overlay or one of the light modes.)
- duplicate the hair layer and vary the contrast using curves or levels, then vary the opacity or blending mode of the adjusted layer as above.
- use the sharpen and blur brushes to vary the focus of highlighted or shaded areas of the hair.

How to turn Tom Cruise into an alien
These are the steps I used in creating my image, "Face-off" for Alien Nation 3
First things first

A lot of people have asked how I do a lot of my characterizations and weird aliens, so I thought I’d finally sit down and write a tutorial.
I thought a fun image to focus on would be my “Face Off” image for the “Alien Nation 3” contest.
So here goes!
First off I thought I’d explain a little about my methodology. Basically I do a whole lot of adjustment layers, cloning, and healing brush coupled with a bit of liquify. My basic theory with humanoid characters is that I try to leave as many of the original pixels intact as possible.. What I try to do is make them a different color. I hardly ever resort to doing any destructive paint strokes.

First things first, I didn’t have the entire concept in mind when I started this image, or even what the alien was going to look like. In fact I didn’t even plan for it to be Tom Cruise for any reason other than I like the intense look on his face and it was a high enough resolution file to manipulate without having to work around too many jpeg artifacts.
That being said it evolved into a silly goof on Mr. Cruise that ended up getting a good reaction from the voters so, go figure!
Let’s begin.



Step 1
Mr. Cruise has entirely too much hair to make a convincing alien so let’s remove it!
Start out by cloning from the center of the forehead out creating a “virtual bald-cap.”
Keep in mind that it does not necessarily matter all that much how clean your cloning is. Just ball-park it in we’ll fix it in a minute.

(tip) I occasionally uncheck the “aligned” button at the top when I find a nice area of forehead that seams to work as a generic skin texture.

After roughing in a new head shape from the forehead out, I then clone in the grey background from the outside, in creating a new edge for the shape of the head.


Step 2
After Tom’s new forehead is shiny and bald it may still look a bit like a rough patchwork of skin-tones and texture. Not to worry, here’s where the magic of the healing brush comes in!

Set the size of the healing brush to something medium like 20 pixels or so and start targeting the most obvious of your bad clone marks. Clone again from the center of the forehead. (preferably from the untouched portions) Magically upon letting up from each brush stroke it will lay down the texture you’ve just placed there, and then auto color correct it in to match the surrounding pixels! (gotta love that healing brush!)



Step 3 and 4
Time to get rid of some of those pesky facial features...
First off let’s continue with the rubber stamp tool and rough in the removals of both Tom’s eyebrows as well as his nose. Once those are gone, I also want to remove the bit of stubble and texture on his chin to get an overall smoother face.
Step 4: Just like step 2 we’re going to go back over these areas with the healing brush and get a nice blend of skin-tone and texture.

(for those of you wondering why this is a 2 step process between the rubber stamp and the healing brush, the answer is quite simple. I have gotten a much better result by pre-treating areas of the face with a color closest to my end result color. That way when the healing brush does it’s magic color correction to the surrounding pixels you do not get any contaminating color from the original pixels occupying that area.)



Step 5
Time to start making his face a bit more alien...
I decided I wanted to bisect his face with a slit that travels the length of his face as well as modify the functionality of his mouth.
To do this I created a new adjustment layer setting it to “levels”.
In the levels dialog box i pulled in the lower right white triangle towards the center of the histogram. This made the highlights of the image darken down.

Now when a levels adjustment layer is added to an image it creates a new blank white layer mask. Target this mask in the layers dialog box and invert it changing it to solid black. (Command/or Control “i”)

Now your image should look as before you added the levels adjustment layer. Target your brush tool and set it’s size to 8 pixels, and then select the color white in your color picker. now you are ready to start painting with color. I start of with drawing a line down the center of the face separating it into two halves. Then I put two small vertical lines, one on each side of the top lip of the mouth.
(this is what the layer mask looks like when you've finished painting.)

Now I want to give these lines a bit of depth so I’m going to add a layer style to the adjustment layer.
Either double-click in a negative area of the layer in the layers pallet or right click on the layer and select “Blending options” from the contextual menu that pops up to invoke a layer style.
In this instance I’m going to add a Bevel and Emboss. Here are the settings I chose.
Depth 61%, Direction Up, Size 13px, Soften 3.
Basically I just noodled around until the lighting matched and it gave the illusion of depth into the lines of the face.



Step 6
Coloring the lines. I want to give the lines some reddish modeling to indicate that there are blood vessels at the edges of the lines. So we’re going to add another adjustment layer with levels just like before. Now my general rule of thumb in order not to destroy the light values of the pixels in the image but rather change their color to my desired shade. The way to do this is to take away the opposite of the color I am trying to add. In this case I want a reddish color so I will take away green and blue.

In the RGB slider I take out highlights using the bottom white arrow pulled in towards the center. And I take out mid-tones by sliding the grey arrow to the right. Next I target the green histogram and take green out of the highlights, (bottom white arrow, move to the left.) I then do the same with the blue. Although I take out more blue to push the color to more of an orange- red as opposed to a purpley red. Hit ok in the dialog box and then target the mask of the adjustment layer and invert it.
Now, we’re ready to paint with the red color correction. Use a soft edge brush 20-30 pixels in size and lightly color in around all of the lines of the face. I’m also using this color correction to start some of the bone work around the eyes using it to create some shadow areas.

This is a step that is going to be repeated OVER and OVER! I tend to have dozens of adjustment layers each doing a minor color correction that ads or takes away from the layer before it. So if things get a bit redundant.....Sorry!


Step 7
Some shading and discoloring of the face.
I was originally thinking I might want this alien to be more aquatic in nature so I started down the path of iridescent coloring to make him more fish like. (obviously at some point later I decided to change directions a bit.)

We’re going to do some shading with a turquoise green color. You know the drill, set up your levels, invert the mask and then start painting. Here’s my layer mask.


Step 8
Modeling of the face.
I want this alien to have a wrinkled texture to his face, rather than paste in a texture I’m going to use my same technique as with the previous adjustment layers and really go to town with my wacom tablet and follow the contours of his face and start to introduce some interesting shapes and lines that will start to shape the character.
For this adjustment layer I’m color correcting to a rusty orange color. Invert the mask and start painting.

Oh by the way, if you haven’t saved lately, you might wanna do that now.
Continuing the modeling of the face next I create a dark green color correction and start painting squiggles all over the face. You’d be surprised how effective this is when layered on in the right amounts. I’ve also heard this technique called figure-eights by a make up artist friend of mine. (They do this sort of thing to get skin blotchiness for actual special effects make-ups, so I figured why not try it for virtual make-ups, huh?)

Basically what I do is work in tight nit patches with varying degrees of pressure on my tablet. I draw overlapping 8’s over and over again. (Sort of like a spiral-graph back in the day.)


Step 9
Remove a few other pesky human body parts.
At this stage I started getting a decent Idea of how I wanted the finished piece to look and I decided those ears have got to go! So I painted them out with the rubber stamp and the healing brush just like the virtual bald-cap.

Step 10
A whole lot more color!
I added more red to the slits of the face to make them stand out more.
A bit of vascular work. I added some dark brown veins.

Step 11
Bone restructuring through shading.
Create a bright whitish yellow adjustment layer and then invert the mask to paint with a very large feathered brush. Accentuate the bridge area of the nose, the cheek bones and the muzzle of the mouth creating the raised areas of the bone structure.

Now do the shadow areas with a dark brown color correction paying attention to the light and shadow areas of the face being careful not to put shadows where they don’t belong.

Another highlight color correction this time painted with a 10 pixel brush to really create textured lines around the bottom of the eyes and at the edges of the lips.

Another dark color correction to create some dark wrinkles and textures for the forehead and eyes, creating recessed lines into the face.
Another highlight color correction to put kick specular hi-lights on the newly created wrinkles.

tep 12
Overall color to a pale green. I decided at this point I was not going to keep him human flesh-tones so I created a muted green color and did a blotchy layer mask to brush it in.
I followed this up with a dark green color to create some dark shaded areas of the face and add contrast to the bone restructuring.

Spots! His face looked too perfect at this point and I’m a sucker for old Star-Trek type aliens, so I thought I’d go with a nice spotted Trill-like pattern. (if you never watched STNG or DS9 the reference is mute.)

Now I wanted to have spots that were trimmed with a darker color and have a lighter color in the center. So I Command/Control clicked on the layer mask for the spots color correction loading it’s layer mask as a selection. I then targeted: Select/Modify/Contract and set the contract to 3 pixels.

I then created a new adjustment layer that brightened the previous one making a muted light green interior color and a darker green exterior stroke for my spots.



Step 13
Eyes. My original idea once I started steering this alien towards a more reptilian type of species, was that I was going to replace Tom’s eyes with alligator eyes. It looked interesting but it immediately rendered him entirely unrecognizable. And I preferred the intense look in his eyes that steered me towards the image as the source in the first place. So I just changed to color of his eyes to red.

At this point I was happy with the alien face and I decided to move on and make a scene out of it.
So I saved my multi-layered color correction alien and then grouped all my layers together and merged them so that I could work a bit faster. (Things get a bit slow with that many layers!)
After merging the layers I saved it as a new version and moved on to the next few details.

Step 14
I found this absolutely perfect image of Tom Cruise in another google search where he had this bizarre squinty look on his face and had his mouth open. With very little modification I saw this as a perfect discarded rubber mask to lay on the table in front of the newly “unmasked” alien.
I masked out all of the “holes” of the mask, the mouth, the eyes and the nostrils. I then Selected the layer mask and right clicked on it to “Apply” the layer mask.
Then I went in to Liquefy.
I bent and warped the face to squish it and make it look like bunched up rubber laying on a table.

Then, and I know at this point this might shock you..... I added an adjustment layer!
I started out with a dark brown color and lightly brushed in some big wrinkles to indicate the folds of the mask. http://www.worth1000.com/hosted/tutorials/60216_copy_111200742339PM_Tom_mask_02.jpg
Then I highlighted those lines with another adjustment layer.

Then I went back over the new folds with a large brushed dark color correction to smooth things out a bit.

Yet another bright color correction to make things look shiny.

A super bright color correction for specular highlights.

And finally a super dark color correction for the shadow.

Building the scene
I then laid the mask on it’s side and made a dark grey solid to represent a table top for it to sit on.

I packaged all of this up into a group, duplicated it and then merged the duplicate group.
Then after a few more google searches for some Sclerall contact lenses, some spirit gum adhesive, and some sponges for application of the adhesive, I put everything together with some directional blurring for the flopped “reflections” on the table. I then threw in a couple of drop shadows as well, (using adjustment layers...go figure) and Whalla. Done!

Hopefully this explains all my strange ideas on how to make an alien in Photoshop! Drop me an e-mail if you have trouble following my bizarre logic!

And happy Chopping!

John.