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Photoshop : Amazing Titles with Dithering Effects
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Daniel Garance

Screen Dithering

This third dithering effect allows you to create text that gives the impression of being displayed on an old computer screen. Once again, only one filter is needed:

  1. Create a new document (File > New) measuring around 500 pixels wide by 150 pixels high.

    2. Select the RGB colour mode.

  2. If black is not the foreground colour, press the D key, then Alt-Del (Opt-Backspace on the Mac) to darken the entire image.

  3. Click on the Set background colour square in the tools palette and select a medium green in the colour picker.

  4. Press the X key to invert the foreground and background colours.

  5. Create your text in the image.

    6. Use a fairly big, bold font. For instance, try Impact (Windows) or Chicago (Mac).

  6. Press the X key again to invert the foreground and background colours.

  7. Select Layer > Flatten image to flatten the image.

  8. Select Filter > Sketch > Halftone pattern.

  9. Specify a size of 1 and set Type to Segments.

  10. Try out different contrast values to see which you like the best.



    11. Figure 6: The Halftone pattern filter dialog box.

  11. Click on OK again to close the dialog box.



    12. Figure 7: The resulting dithering effect, shown here in its amber screen variation (see below).

Variations.

  • In order to obtain an amber screen effect (and not green), select an orangey-yellow for the background colour before opening the filter dialog box. The colour of the text prior to applying the filter is of no importance.

  • Try to apply the filter with weak contrast values several times one after the other.

  • Once the filter has been applied, select Image > Adjust > Brightness/Contrast, increase the contrast value and sharply reduce the brightness to obtain an effect like the one in the figure below.



    • Figure 8: We used the Brightness/Contrast dialog box in this case.

  • If you need to make the text smaller, all you need to do is reduce the size using the command Image > Image size.



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