Acorn Acorn 7

Frame Your Image


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This tutorial will guide you on how to create a custom frame for your image using Acorn.  


Color Frame


Open your image in Acorn, File ▸ Open.  To assist with showing the framing process, a white background has been added to the example image using Layer ▸ New Layer and filling it with white.  


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Add a new layer above your main image, Layer ▸ New Layer (⇧⌘N).  Create a long skinny rectangular selection using the selection tool.  Make sure 'corner radius' is unchecked in the inspector palette.


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Select the gradient tool and create a black to white vertically oriented gradient within your selection.  Hold down the shift key while drawing your gradient to easily make it straight.  


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Deselect by clicking ⌘D.  If necessary, adjust the width of your rectangle by selecting Layer ▸ Rotate and Transform ▸ Free Transform.  Now is a good time to make this adjustment, as it will be much more difficult to make your frame skinnier or fatter later.  


Go to Filter ▸ Tile Effect ▸ Kaleidoscope.  Decrease the count to 1 and change the angle to 45 degrees.  Drag the kaleidoscope center around until your frame is a little over half the width/height of your image.  Click the ‘Flatten’ button at the top of the inspector palette (looks like a downward pointing arrow).



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Duplicate the frame layer, ⇧⌘D.  Rotate the new layer by selecting Layer ▸ Rotate and Transform ▸ Rotate Layer 90° Clockwise.  Move your new layer to its appropriate corner and line it up using the move tool.  


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Repeat this process two more times for the remaining two corners.


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Once you have your frame lined up and sized the way you desire, you can merge your frame layers down Layer ▸ Merge Down (⌘E) to make the frame contiguous.  This will make it easier to make small placement adjustments.  


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Texture Frame


Experiment making frames with different textures, colors, and gradients!  Using a texture involves just a few different steps from what is outlined above.  Open a texture in Acorn, File ▸ Open.  The texture seen here is from http://www.cgtextures.com.  Using the selection tool, make a long skinny rectangular selection.   


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Copy (⌘C) and paste (⌘V) your selection into the image you want to frame.   Then choose Select ▸ Make Selection from Layer.  Apply a white to transparent gradient to the wood layer.   Deselect (⌘D).


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Follow the previous steps to apply a gradient to the wood, change its width with free transform, and use the kaleidoscope filter.  A white to transparent gradient was used in this example to give the wood an appearance of depth or curvature.


frame your image wood final.acorn



Tutorial Credit:  Thank you to Troye Hering for creating the steps to this tutorial.


Photo Credit

© d3vilh