This document provides a 7 step process for creating the appearance of a vinyl record in an image editing program: 1) Create a dark grey "vinyl" layer with added noise and apply radial blur to create a circular texture. Duplicate and adjust the layer for more texture. 2) Use the ellipse tool to create a circular shape layer and center it. Mask the "vinyl" layer with the shape to cut out the circle. 3) Add shine by filtering clouds and difference clouds on a "contrast" layer, applying radial blur. Adjust brightness and contrast and mask to keep highlights. 4) Create gradients by dragging, transforming, and stretching layers set to soft light to add highlights around the

1. Creating my Vinyl

2. Step 1
• Create a layer set and call it "vinyl." Create a
new layer within the layer set, also called
"vinyl," and fill it with a dark grey (almost
black) colour. Fill this layer with noise by going
to Filter > Noise > Add noise and use the
settings shown in the screenshot on the next
slide.

4. Step 2
• The noise is used to create the circular texture that is typical for a
vinyl record. Go to Filter > Blur > Radial blur, and use the settings
shown below.
After this, duplicate the layer and set the "vinyl copy" layer to
Overlay. To bring out the texture a little more, I went ahead and
navigated to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast and
applied the settings seen below to the "vinyl copy" layer.

5. Step 3
• To cut out the circular shape I used the Ellipse Tool.
Now I've set my Ellipse Tool to Shape Layers instead of
Paths because this way I can easily center my shape once I
draw it out. Place the mouse in the middle and while
holding down Shift+Alt, draw a circle. Holding down
Shift+Alt ensures that you make a perfect circle and that it
is created from the middle outwards.
• Switch to the Move tool (V) and hit Ctrl+A so that you
select the entire canvas. Using the alignment controls at
the top, press Align Vertical Centers and Align Horizontal
Centers. This moves the circular shape to the center of the
canvas.

6. Step 4
• To cut out the shape Ctrl-click on the Shape 1 layer and
hide it by clicking on the eye icon next to it. Now select
the "vinyl" layer set and hit the Mask button. This
masks out the selection.
• Duplicate the "Shape 1" layer and resize it to about 5%
(hit Ctrl+T, and then enter 5% in the size boxes). Ctrl-
click the new "Shape 1 copy" layer, and with a black
brush, I then painted the selection black in the mask
that I made for my "vinyl" layer set. This creates a hole
in the middle. When I did this, I noticed that I had to
nudge my "Shape 1 copy" layer a bit to the left and up
so that it looked right.

8. Step 5
• I now have the shape of my vinyl and the texture.
• In order to add shine to the vinyl I created a new
layer above the (hidden) "Shape 1 copy" layer
and named it "contrast.“ I then Reset my colours
to black and white by hitting D on my keyboard,
and then went to Filter > Render > Clouds. Next I
went to Filter > Render > Difference Clouds and
hit Ctrl+F a few times to reapply the filter. I then
went to to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur and used the
settings shown in the screenshot.

10. Step 6
• I moved the Contrast down to around -20 and
raised the Brightness to about +50. I also used
a Mask and a 50% black brush to remove the
black areas. I just want to keep the highlights.
Eventually I decided to lower the Opacity of
the layer to 75%, and then I was satisfied.

12. Step 7
• I then created a gradient on my vinyl.
• I did this by creating a new layer and naming it "highlights." I
dragged the gradient out in the middle as shown in 1 (below), then
went to Edit > Transform > Perspective and select the top-left
corner, held down Shift and dragged down until the lines
overlapped as in 2 (below) and then hit Enter. I then hit Ctrl+T and
stretch the gradient out a bit vertically. I then set this layer to Soft
Light and duplicated it twice I then spinned the top layer around a
bit until I got 3 (below).

13. Step 7
• For this vinyl I created a sticker for the centre.
I made a circle with the Ellipse Tool, then
added some text and a the image I used on my
back cover. I also added another layer of extra
bright highlights and a colour balance layer on
top to fine tune my colouring.