Creating Smoke
Some time ago I had posted an article showing how to create a smoke effect in photoshop, and to achieve that I used a photo of smoke and some photoshop filters. However, some people had said at the time that I should have done the smoke as well and it´s exactly what I will show on this post right now.
I had previously thought about what would be the best way to create smoke in photoshop, and I’ve read some tutorials online and watched some episodes of the amazing pixelPerfect podcast, to find a good and easy solution for the matter at hand.
Actually it was easier than I had expected.
1 - Create some Shapes: I created some random shapes.

2 - Apply a Gaussian blur on each shape

3 - Using the liquify filter

4 - Positioning the shapes

5 - Adding some colors

Add a background color on the layer of the shape, otherwise the Hue/Saturation won't work
6 - Creating a cloud behind the smoke

Set a feather with a high value, like 40 to 80, and after that apply the hue/saturation on the cloud too
7 - Adding a gradient to create an atmosphere

The gradient will give a atmosphere and more depth to the image
Final Result

The whole process took me about 30 to 40 minutes tops, it’s pretty simple, although it can be quite hard to create a natural smoke with the liquify filter, the best thing to do is to play with the brushes and with the tools to achieve the desired effect.
The PSD file can be downloaded.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Final Result (smokeTest.zip) | 2.81 MB |
| shapes.zip | 3.57 MB |
| Wallpaper 1280x1024 (smokeTest.jpg) | 163.55 KB |

Thanks a lot for the tutorial.
Very beautiful
waaaaaaw
Thanks for effort ...
He Fantastic
Great Yah Simple but effective ! keep it up!
sweeeeeeeeet
Nice, simply, and to the point!
I have to say, as a web designer myself, I appreciate all of your tutorials. Thanks to people like you the web design community has, and continues, to grow rapidly - and progressing technology along the way.
Thank you!
nice tutorial ..... ive just recently started fooling around with photoshop n ive been creating smoke and flames using basic brush and smudge tool with blending effects(works well too, even if time hogging) .... i like this way ... thanks
awesome!!!
ive tried it and produced stunning results..
explained very well man.. keep them coming!!
Cheers
aLee
I can't imagine that it can be done by me. I will try for sure. Very beautiful. Digged!
Cool stuff... keep it coming.
www.joshuawhiting.com
i got lost between step 3 and 4!
really good smoke tutorial, the smoke you made more looks like thick smoke like we say of cigarette or cigar i really like the effect i am making a dragon and this smoke effect will help me =)
Nice tutorial, but it's still not really like smoke.
I will not enter in math subjects, but I can say in an intuitive way: the result miss that "disturbed appearence" the real smoke has. Clouds has it too, but smoke usually has it even more.
Clouds have not exactly the same math properties smoke has, but here you can have an idea about what I'm saying (there's a text made of clouds, but it was not made in photoshop): http://picturetopeople.blogspot.com/2008/06/artistic-effects-for-text.ht...
I believe with some more work you can get it perfect. Anyway, very nice work.
------------------------------------------------
http://picturetopeople.blogspot.com
Get Inside Computer Graphics
yeah, great tute dude. have been looking for something like this for a while now. respect
nice tutorial
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thanks alot
great lesson. thank you
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Thank you for sharing your knowledge with all of us. I wish you best luck
It’s very good article. Great site with very good look and perfect information. I like it too.
That's pretty amazing for Photoshop. Great tutorial. Have you tried it with a white background? I'd love to see if it had a translucent effect.
really nice guide
thx u!
Good one!!! so simple as that!!
This is incredibly helpful. It would be interesting if you could show how to do this with a different background – say, on a picture or something. With a black background it looks really nice, but it would be nice if there was some way we could make it more realistic or interesting with a real background picture of sorts. Great tutorial – I'm going to be checking out the others on this site.
you don't explain anything at all in this tutorial it is a cool trick...but you suck at teaching it. i suggest you re-do this whole tutorial, so people are able to do it.
keep going...you've done a great job to share us this tricky tricks
Holly cow !!!
Fantastic tip! Make it look so simple ... How didn't I think of that? :)
simply brilliant. Thanks a bunch mate.
Nice tutorial >> save the world: http://webspot.olympe-network.com/
And what about smoking a cigarrete?
thank you very much
Thank you man
Thank you
nice effect thanx for this tutorial's
thanks very good very nice
very good thank you vry nice
thanks
amazing tutorials dude....keep it up
Cool effect. Thanks for the tut!
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that's cool.senstive.
For what it's worth I don't mind that you didn't go into super detail on every step like some people have complained that you haven't. Many of these steps (like how to use layer styles) require the user to have prior knowledge and everyones results will vary
Great tutorial for beginner. Thx.
man I suck at graphics, this should help alot thanx
cok cok saol eywallah thank you very nice ,thank you very much very good
THIS IS USELESS DUDE
and + u dont even know how to explain , i dont mean for me but others who dont know about photoshop
U SUCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK . where did u learn graphic design ?
Bloody brilliant tutorials!
you should make more real good effect
I have seen similar smoke somewhere, but can't remmember where it, anyway great job
---
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Cool smoke!
fantastic looking cool very great tutorial
thanks
Great tip!
I am using CS2 and is there any way that I can preview the action while I am using liquifying filter?
Thanks
yea!good!
That's pretty amazing for Photoshop.
It's great effet, i use it nearly.
I almost cried.
wooooooooooooow..
It's really great..
The lesson is very easy to do.. but I didn't understan what ment by step 4 ( positioning the shape ).. can u expalain more please?
thaaanx 2ooooo much..
GOOD!HAH
??? ?????? very nice
Absolutely awesome tutorial!
Great Pic n coolll
Cannot get that liquefy filter to work like you do...whiskey tango foxtrot....
Very Nice... Thank you very much...
nice work guys
I wish i had some creative flair
nice one !
thanks for the tutorial.
That's pretty amazing for Photoshop. Great tutorial. Have you tried it with a white background?
Very simple Tutorial and Very EASY to understand. Thanks.
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Great tutorial. Thancks for sharing.
Thank you for the excellent tutorial..It really easy and great work.
Super tutorial. Thanks!
this was a quickie ! nice one !
These works would be very cool if you added the word hemp. What do you think? I like your final result with smoother lines (more brushing).
Good Effects
Please can someone help me with this? I made exactly those steps, but i dont get the sharpness, when i liquify it. What settings do you reccomend for the tools and such things. The effect is so very awesome, but as i said if i liquify it, i just get very many patters of smoke, some fields with som lines at the end. i am a grafik designer and do this job for like 10 years, but i still not figured out how to get this sharpnes, out of liquify, and how to remove the whole oher crap that stays if you liquify.
thanks. please comment just after me and i will read it!!!!!!!
Now that is cool ...
That's pretty amazing for Photoshop. Great tutorial. Have you tried it with a white background? I'd love to see if it had a translucent effect.
Wow, cool man, big thanks! http://oqklslycixd.com
Amazing effects!
Awesome work v impressed
I use the models from Maya sometimes for quicker 3d effects
have been using Photoshop since version 5.0 and have done many professional projects with it, and have years of classes on it, and even I cannot figure out how your image changed so drastically by simply 'repositioning the shapes'. The effect is great, but you are horrible at making tutorials
just superb..
Very good job !
thanks
Good job man. thanx from New Zealand
It really easy and great work.
Why did I never think of that.... *tut* Nice way of doing it brah.
Thanks for this very good article. I use this to my home work to school. Can I translate this with all comments and insert on my site? Thanks
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just superb..
good job...
keep it up buddy
thanks
Good Article, Author - Thanks!
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very cool effects.
good job,
I shocked, it really easy and great work wow..
awesome work
Good tutorial, I find photoshop difficult to use and this article helped a lot
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thanks...
So cool. you are so talent.
rarely to see anybody so good at photoshop@
Hi,I had idea about what would be the best way to create smoke in photoshop but i got more useful and helpful information from this site.Thanks for sharing this information.
Thankx again and again for nice tutorial, WTF are link at top of this comments?
Really helpful and explained clearly.
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Could you do a video of this ?
Awesome tutorial
great job
nice picture
hey dude.... can't follow your tutorial... need more detailed instructions...
Good Effect With photoshop.
need moar explaination! xD
not very well explained, screenshots of the photoshop command is too small.
Very nice. Look forward to trying this out.
respekt, eine sehr aschöne Grafik
Or you can just shoot smoke in front of a black or blue paper with your digital camera. It will take you a minute or two. :)
thank you so much
Cara, juro que li TODOS seus tutoriais no site PSDTuts e nunca imaginei que vc era brasileiro, até vir aqui na sua home. Fiquei muito feliz e orgulhoso!
Seus trabalhos são ótimos e os tutoriais impecáveis! Parabéns mesmo!
Um grande abraço e muito sucesso!
Mário.
Thanks for the information.Took me a while to work it out to be honest
Thanks for the help in using photoshop. i am new to it, and love it, but it can be hard to use at times.
Wow excellent
wanderfull design man great photoshop document ;)
Regards
Wow... this is a very good photoshop tutorial. Unfortunately, I do not have photoshop at home. So, I am going to adapt this tutorial for GIMP.
Tank you for the excellent tutorial
Greets from Germany
I enjoy working in photoshop and was wondering if you could find other backgrounds to use for your image of smoke.
I always asked myself how such gfx are made - now i know- great Site man!
You have to laugh at the people complaining about this tutorial - no good deed goes unpunished. The only step I wasn't sure about was "4 - Positioning the shapes" not sure you mean by that.
Great tut though.
Stop lying!
You ARE an expert.
Thanks for the cool tut.
Really helpful and explained clearly.
Great tutorial. thanks.
thanks a lot
Beautiful moving with shining effects !!..
This is the worst tutorial i've ever seen. You really need to explain things in a bit more depth. Your screenshots aren't very big, and it can be hard to see what your doing, you don't type much so for beginners its hard to know how to create the effect.
Great effect but terrible tutorial.
Thank you
worst tutorial i've ever seen
I have been using Photoshop since version 5.0 and have done many professional projects with it, and have years of classes on it, and even I cannot figure out how your image changed so drastically by simply 'repositioning the shapes'. The effect is great, but you are horrible at making tutorials
Really neat. It is amazing the things you can do with photoshop with a good knowledge of the tool and a great deal of imagination.
It would make an interseting painting also but it would take me much more than 30-40 minutes to paint it.
This tutorial is very sweet; thanks for posting it. The great thing about this tutorial is the simplicity. I simply hate complex, hard to follow tutorials!
Whoa..nice Tips.... :-) & nice result
I loved it and found it simple and easy to use
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This tutorial is too hard for beginners.
The step with the liquify filter is impossible.
I followed all the steps, but my final result looks like crap.
I was wondering how some of these cool effects were done in Photoshop, thank you for sharing.
Hammm… Nice article… Interesting. .....
So cool. you are so talent.
rarely to see anybody so good at photoshop@
This is probably one of the sweetest photoshop tutorials I've ever seen.
Great tutorial! Thanks for teaching a novice like me to create a flash smoke!
Love to see your works, they are easiy to read and understand. Look forward for more!
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There are many useful informations in this article. Thanks and greetings from Thuringia!
Can one Paul Revere the step by step starting from adding the color to the scale of the shape. This with constancy help the beginners who can't understand the planning function to bring into being this signal artwork.
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Sweet tutorial thanks, the smoke ffects i generated are pretty cool.
I loved it and found it simple and easy to use..thanks so much!
not very well explained, screenshots of the photoshop command is too small.
Very well done site thank you!
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Excellent tutorial! It's nice to see simple tutorials that produce excellent results no matter someone's skill level.
Hi!
I'll try to implement this to my website ( revientate.com.mx ), so, although im brand new using photoshop.
thanks for sharing
thank you
Nice tutorial, but it is not well guided. you should have posted more printscreens since visual communication is much much better than writing notes!!
This is really hard to do. There really is no detailed information on how to create the smoke. My smoke ends up looking like a satin sheet.
WOW. Your way is the best!
I'v been using this one http://www.noscope.com/journal/2007/05/photoshop-howto-smoke
but your is much-much better. The only difference is Gaussian blur at the beginning but the EFFECT!.. :)
Cool tutorial, nice smoke !
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I loved your smoke idea, I was wandering if you had ever taught this tecnique to a large group ( my husband is an Art teacher) if so do you have any ideas on how to convey information to students without taking 20hrs to get through the first step. Also your photos are great how long were you in Europe? Have you ever been to China? We went in the Summer of 07 awesome trip not bad on the wallet either if you live in the States 1 U.S dollar to 7 Yuen
In fact, not all tutorials are for beginers but when some steps of it are not mentioned and the users results are not good, wich happened with me, the perception that one can get is that the guy who showed this didn't quite apply himself explainig as he should.
And tutorials are all 'bout that: gettin' someone to understand - perfectly - how to create something new and complete!!
This effect is fantastic but if I cannot do it and ask for a tutorial I wouldn't suggest this one.
There are some parts missing: Settings for the Liquify effect, the Cloud step was not quite good explained and even the gradient step! I was confuse if I have to make that on the cloud or on the background...
Ugg, I spent three hours today trying to make realistic smoke. I wish I'd found this earlier. Many of your steps are the same ones I came up with, it would have saved mucho time. Oh well, live and learn.
For what it's worth I don't mind that you didn't go into super detail on every step like some people have complained that you haven't. Many of these steps (like how to use layer styles) require the user to have prior knowledge and everyones results will vary. Highly detailed steps would have made the tutorial four times as long and seem much too complicated. Not all tutorial are for absolute beginners.
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excellent tutorial, just tried it for myself. my smoke doesnt quite look as good as yours, but with a little practice im sure i'll get better at it. Thanks
Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! And it´s not too hard...
Whats looks realy good. thanks
It's a very good tutorial... I managed to do all the steps with minor difficulties...
But, um, this sucks for beginners. It's WAY too hard for someone new at Photoshop, and you should consider the fact that many people just try to learn by reading tutorials like this one...
Actually, it ain't much of a tutorial since 99% of the tutorial, it doesn't explain how to do the effects..
P.D.
Beginners can go to http://www.photoshopessentials.com/
Good lesson, you master of photoshop !
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Can someone post the step by step starting from adding the color to the layer of the shape. This will help the beginners who can't understand the procedure to create this wonderful artwork.
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Very interesting one, in fact I already tried it when I read this tutorial- very cool, nice post you know.
It’s very good article. Great site with very good look and perfect information.
This effect rocks. Thanks for your tutorial.
can you do this with photoshop 7.0?
love it.
Interesting info
Thanks for article
Shit. Cant follow. Vague Instructions
I loved it and found it simple and easy to use..thanks so much!!!
This tutorial is too cemental for beginners.
The consecutive intervals with the liquify bleed is impossible.
I followed all the acts, but my coming result looks like crap. :(
I mind you need to do a video and then put it on youtube.
this thing sucks, i'll give someone a 100 bucks if you can make it work, by just using this cats directions
thanks for your some information
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