Create an advanced Barcode

In the earlier tutorial, we learned to create a barcode which was simple. Here I will teach you how to design Barcodes which look more realistic. I asked you to save the .psd file on which you were working in the previous tutorial. If you didn't here's the psd file, download unzip it and open it in Photoshop. It looks like this:

I'll write about making two types of Barcodes which are frequently seen in images. The first one is similar to the above graphic. The numbers are pushed up a bit between the bars. This is what you need to do:

Select the Type Tool (T) and click on the number and press Ctrl+A to select the numbers, now change the number to something like 9 251454151 655165188. Use three spaces in each gap. Now press the Move Tool (M). You'll get the following image:

Now select Type Tool (T) and click on the number, click Ctrl+A to select all the numbers and in the Text Options, select the text color to a Red (change it from black to red), I'll explain why we did this later. When done select the Move Tool and move the number towards the bars, see the image below:

Now zoom in (Ctrl+Space+Click) and drag a rectangular marquee from bottom right corner to up-left just above the number. See below

Now in the options box of Marquee Tool, select "Subtract from Selection" (can't find it? read > Marquee Tool). Alternatively you can press Alt key while you work. I assume that you've selecte "Subtract from Selection" from the Options Box. Now drag the selections to the gaps of the bar. You'll have to do this three times for three gaps present in the above image. See the image below:

If your selection exceeds the required area, press Ctrl+Z (or Ctrl+Alt+Z) After the selection is made, select the Barcode layer from the Layers window. If layers window is not shown, click on Window >> Layers. Clicking on the Barcode layer will select it.

Now press delete from your keyboard. (the logic is that the background layer of the Barcode Layer is white so if you delete anything from the Barcode layer, a white will appear. If you're feeling confused, you can read the Photoshop Layers tutorial to learn about it) I assume that you've got the following result:

Now press Ctrl+D to remove the marching ants around the selection. Zoom out to view the actual pixel of the Barcode. You can now change the font color to black. Red was used just to distinct the numbers from the bars while using Rectangular Marquee Tool but you can use red too, I think I've seen Barcodes with red numbers. Compare your final output with the one below

Let's do another tweak to the above Barcode to change it's look.
Increase the Canvas width. Image >> Canvas Size (Alt+Ctrl+C) and make sure Relative is checked. Give Width = 1 inch. We don't need to increase the canvas height. Why? You'll know later. Press Ok.

Rectangular Marquee select an area in the Barcode as shown below:

Remember how we used Move Tool (M) to duplicate+move a surface? Make sure that the Barcode Layer is selected. With Alt key pressed, move the selection to right, a bit down and press Ctrl+D to complete the process. See below

Next, use the Type Tool (T) to drag a rectangle above the new bar and give a 3 or 4 digit number there. I gave 90200. Now Crop the area discarding the gap on the left so that the Barcode remains with equal spacing all around it. Discard a bit of the bottom section too since you moved the number upwards which creates a greater gap below the Barcode. The final Output is as follows, compare it.

So... Happy Barcoding :D. Hope you enjoyed the tutorial. Here are some more Barcode graphics, try the one you like. There are fonts of the barcodes avilable too, click here Barcode Fonts to download one of them. You can use them to just type in and the output is automatically the barcode.

a lot of them isn't it?