[Silo STATIC]

Since we all have our fair share of using graphic media enhancers like Adobe Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro, I've decided to make a topic on both programs that will be the roots of general discussions on each function of each program, and ask the professionals questions if you need help rendering a picture or using a filter/tool properly. Andross and Tachyon360 are here to help whenever they'd like, so it's not really a 24/7 service to you. Feel free to discuss anything you'd like, but only within the general idea of the topic.

-Silo

Update 17/6/05

Topics have been merged. Please specify which program you need help with when posting, or outline your problem clearly if it applies to both or all programs. - Agatio

[Tachyon360]

You mentioned me? You've gotta be joking. Not to say I'm not flattered, but I'm no pro. I'm just some guy that knows a bit about Photoshop.

Andross, on the other hand, is the real pro here, or at least a guy with skills good enough to compete in the workforce.

[Enoch]

I have a question. How do you create a concrete looking effect, using what filters? I mean turning things into stone, and not by simply adding a slight emboss. I've already tried that, and it's not the look I'm going for.

[TheDogWho]

I have PSP7 and I don't get why when you place objects, like arrows or text, it disables the options from Paintbrush to Flood Fill and most of the effects. How do you get back all these options and effects?

[Tachyon360]

1. Make a new layer. Desaturate it. Cut it out and paste it into a new channel.

2. (Optional, depending on the effect you want.) Desaturate the original layer as well. Then, take the now-empty new layer and take two fairly similar colors (like a dull brownish yellow and a medium creamy brown, as one example) and render clouds. Two shades of gray would work for concrete. Set the layer's opacity until you can just make out the details of the layer beneath it without too much trouble. Merge the layers.

3. Render lighting effects. Different lighting effects work here, but I found an off-white spotlight with mostly default settings to work best. Then go to the texture channel drop-menu and select the channel you made before. Play around with the height setting (and perhaps other settings if you see fit) until you get something that looks just about right. You might also want to fade the effect to 90% opacity and do a 0.5 pixel Gaussian blur if the lighting effects are too sharp.


Edit: If you want to give it a rough-chiseled stone look, make another new channel (after all the previous steps were taken). Use black and white as you colors (not that you can use color in channels either way, but there are still the gray shades). Render clouds, then difference clouds, then noise.

The settings for noise should be 3.7 to 4%, Gaussian, monochromatic. Then render difference clouds again. A lot. Really. Like 40 times (guesstimated). To speed it up, press and Ctrl and mash on the "f" key, after rendering the difference clouds once.

Then go back to your layer. Render lighting effects again with pretty much the same settings. This time, however, use the new channel you made, and make a the height setting a little bit higher (if it was 35 before, about 45 would be reasonable, to give an example).

(Optional) Lastly, do the noise effect again, with the same settings. Then fade the noise to about 30% opacity, dissolve mode. This'll give it a worn-out look.

Edit 2: Here is the final result. I did it to PDM's liquifier test picture thingy.

[Silo STATIC]

Could you please post how you do the simple trick starting with the Fiber filter that you stated in PDM's art topic?

[Tachyon360]

It's really quite simple and you should be able to figure it out on your own with a bit of playing around.

Start with a square (in pixels as untis with an even number for the dimensions to make the optional part easier) that has either a white or black background.

1. Filter --> Render --> Fibers. Use the default settings.
2. Edit --> Transform --> Rotate 90° CW.
3. Filter --> Render --> Fibers. Use the same settings, but click on Randomize.
4. Edit --> Fade Fibers. Bring its opacity to 50%.
5. Filter --> Distort --> Pinch. Bring the value up as high as it goes.
6. Filter --> Distort --> Twirl. Set it to 180° rotation.

You can call that finished and continue to edit it how you like, or you can polish it off.

1. View --> New Guide. Here is why an even number of pixels makes it easy. Divide it the dimension by 2 and put that in.
2. View --> New Guide. Same as before, except you need to select the other direction (like if you did horizontal, you now need to do vertical).
3. Use the Elliptical Marquee tool and put the cursor so that it sits exactly where the two guides meet. Press and hold both the Shift and Alt keys at the same time and drag the selection out until it's just a fair bit short of the edge of the swirl.
4. Select --> Inverse.
5. Filter --> Blur --> Radial Blur. Set the quality to best, the amount to 2 and the type to spin.

Deselect and you're done.

[Lightning Star]

Thats because its a layer. what you do is you go to

view>>toolbars>>then click layer palette>>then click background layer

now you'll be able to use floodfill and such ^.~

[Illidan]

Does anyone know how much it costs in Australian dollars?

[Tachyon360]

Well, it normally sells for about $700 US (tax included), so that would be perhaps $910 AU, with a fairly big margin of error.

[TheDogWho]

Cheers Icy.
That's helped me quite a bit...
I used to save it so it flattened and then reload it.

[guitarman]

So, what's the best filter for photoshop?

[Mallick]

Guitarman, please edit your post.

[guitarman]

Fine.

I edited my post, better?

[Tachyon360]

That's hardly any better. What do you mean by "best filter?" What effect are you going for? What have you tried?

[My Best Wishes]

uh yea i've just started using paint shop, mucking around right now, i've got jasc paint shop pro, is that good or bad or normal.

[Andross]

Sounds like he's a newb who doesn't know that there isn't a 'best filter.'
People are just plain stupid. There isn't a 'click n' get a masterpiece' button guitarman, so get used to it. APS requires a use of filters, brushing, and image adjustments in order to get nice effects.

[Mallick]

Don't mind him. He is stupid. He's my brother, I can say that. And no, oddly he isn't younger then me. XD you can tell we are related, I am stupid too.

Anyways....

[Tachyon360]

No, I would have never guessed he was you brother. Don't be so hard on yourself.

BTW, did you like what I did with the first Photoshop effect you posted?

[Lightning Star]

its good, what version do you have...cuz it depends

[Mallick]

Yes, I did.

How do you get the matrix look? I want to do it with a different set of colors.
<_<

[Tachyon360]

Looks kinda like primitive cave-art, no? Ah, to think that I spent some time developing a technique for some guy that left and likely won't even bother reading it. Well, I hope others can benefit from it.

As for the two effects in my sig and in my avatar, that's a trade secret.

[Elliott]

Anyone here tell me of a sweet-ass APS tutorial, covering all the features, filters, brushes etc. etc. ??? I've looked but to no avail.

[Andross]

There's no such thing. I'm writing a beginners tut on tools, filters, and basic skills though.

Tachyon: No it isn't you lil' wanker :lol:
http://www.bluesfear...rame.php?tid=32

[Tachyon360]

Hmm. I learned that effect in a different tutorial... I smell some plagiarism. :lol:

Still, the T in my avatar is original and I might or might not tell how to make it. (I doubt anyone would really care either way, though.)

[Andross]

Eh, the matrix effect is a common one. It most likely isn't plagarised, or was provided by someone else who had developed the effect.

[Tachyon360]

Well, whatever. You win. :!:

*Goes off to poke an old Hindu guy in the red dot on his forehead.*

[Silo STATIC]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, guys. We're getting seriously off-topic here. This is primely the Artwork forum; not the Spam forum.

Just to keep it real, can someone show a good way (but not the best) to use the Fiber filter, along with other filters?

[Tachyon360]

There is no "best" way or any way that's particularly better than any other. Even effects that seem cheap at first can turn out pretty good.

I recall a curtain effect tutorial somewhere (I believe it's planet-photoshop.com). I payed little attention to it, but you might like to try it.

[Mycarayne]

Yeah, thats the one I just got. i have version 7. Its good, easy to pick up but some of the more advanced features are pretty hard to work out... Im having a little trouble myself.

[Lightning Star]

like what? i can help, i've had psp for almost a year now, so i've had time to learn to use it

[Elliott]

Is PSP better than APS?
I mean, I have APS and fireworks, is there really a need for PSP?

[Silo STATIC]

All I can say is that they just differ. They don't really have natural competition between each other, but, for their filters and effects, you would have to choose.

[Andross]

Eh, no. APS is better than than PSP, It has more power and is somewhat more fluid. Stick with APS.

[Kuraikitsune]

Hello. I'm having a minor problem in Photoshop. I want to make a CG of a pic that I've drawn. However, I have two problems:

1. First, there's the outlining of the figure. It took me hours to outline her before my computer's hard drive decided to have a meltdown. Now I'm left with the original sketch once again. On the plus side, it is cleaned up, with no shading and a simple outline that I would have to, otherwise, tediously re-sketch onto the computer. Is there any way around this?

2. My character is encased in a vial of sorts, surrounded by a greenish, bubbling liquid. I want the substance to appear translucent, but I don't want the color so overpowering as to mask up my character.

[Elliott]

You want to remove all the plain colour around the image?
If so, use the magic wand tool with resistance on around 10.

[Andross]

Kuraikitsune, on Dec 7 2004, 02:26 AM, said:

Hello. I'm having a minor problem in Photoshop. I want to make a CG of a pic that I've drawn. However, I have two problems:

1. First, there's the outlining of the figure. It took me hours to outline her before my computer's hard drive decided to have a meltdown. Now I'm left with the original sketch once again. On the plus side, it is cleaned up, with no shading and a simple outline that I would have to, otherwise, tediously re-sketch onto the computer. Is there any way around this?

2. My character is encased in a vial of sorts, surrounded by a greenish, bubbling liquid. I want the substance to appear translucent, but I don't want the color so overpowering as to mask up my character.

1) May we see the sketch?
2) Do you use a tablet? If not, then you're going to have a lot of trouble. Consider buying one if you wish to continue to do CG art in APS. You may also find Adobe Illustrator more useful. I here it's better with freehand drawing, or vector drawings. I haven't used it, so I don't particularly know.
3) Make a new layer and select it. Draw an oval selection around the character, leaving a good deal of padding. Make the foreground and background be slightly different green shades Feather your selection by 20-50. Go to Filter>Render>Clouds. Then do Filter>Distort>Wave. 5 generators, whatever else you want, but don't make he wave outlandish or too 'tiny.' Then go to Edit>Fade Wave. Lower opacity to 40-50. Repeat, but change the wave settings each time. Hold Ctrl, and click on this layer. Go to Select>Modify>Contract. Do it enough so that the selection is only a bit inside the character. Now feather by about 20, and delete. Change the layer's opacity and blend mode and see how this works. Don't be afraid to experiment though. This may not work well, so you may be better off finding your own technique.
^This is assuming you're going for a smokey type of container, like a wispy aura.

[Mycarayne]

in my opinion, PSP is better. i got APS the other day, used it, turned it off and it hasnt been opened since. Not a very user freindly interface IMO. PSP is heaps easier to use and if you know what your doing, you can produce stuff just as good as APS, if not evn better. I'll be sticking with PSP me thinks.

[Elliott]

Well, then your making a bad choice. APS pwns PSP. Nuff said. Not user friendly? How so, toolbars at the top and side. Once you use it for a few hours, you get the hang of it, and can build on your knowledge.

[Tachyon360]

Well, the way I'd do it would be to use the liquify filter to buldge and pinch the character with the contours of the container, draw a selection of the inner surface of container, make a new layer between the character and the container (this whole thing is assuming they're on different layers, of course), fill the selection with green, make a dim outer glow using blending options, and fade the layer until you like it.

For the bubbles, make a new layer. Make a thin (perhaps 2-3 pixles), ring-shaped (with an inner diameter of maybe 10 pixels) selection and use a darkish blue foreground-to-transparent linear gradient (read on for more info about gradients), normal mode, 100% opacity. Drag it from the bottom up. Do a Gaussian blur (just enough to make it fade out a bit). Now, fill in the selection, so the selection is now a circle and not a ring.

Transform the selection so you get a little, but fat, oval sitting close to the top of the ring. Use the gradient tool, with white as your foreground color. Set the gradient to "Foreground to Transparent", linear gradient, normal mode, 80% opacity, and make sure "dither" and "transparency" are checked. Click near the top of the oval selection and drag it straight down near the bottom.

Copy the layer a few times, move the bubbles around where you want them, and merge the copied layers. Make sure it's under the liquid layer, but over the character layer. You may choose to liquefy the bubbles a bit to match the character.

Sorry for the sloppiness, but I'm kinda in a hurry and I jumped around changing a few things as I went along. If you can't figure it out, PM me and I'll post a rephrased verison.

[Mycarayne]

Agatio, I appologise. You are correct. Once you've mucked around on APS for a while, it isn't tooo bad. I made my new Ashe sig off it. It was my first thing off it. Heh, I think I'll just use a combo of the two. PSP can do stuff that APS cannot aswell. In all, I still think it is easier to use still.

[Andross]

Memories Remain, on Dec 9 2004, 03:21 PM, said:

PSP can do stuff that APS cannot aswell. In all, I still think it is easier to use still.

Ha! What farce! Not true at all. PSP has different presets, but it doesn't mean APS can't copy what they do. Anyone who has a decent experience with APS would know how to copy an effect done in PSP.

[Tachyon360]

To give one small example in support of Andross' claim, PSP has an interlace-effect filter, if memory serves. APS can copy that effect realyl easily. All you need to do is make a new image, 1x2 pixels, and use the pencil tool to make one white square on top and a black square on the bottom, then set it as a pattern. That's that.

Comparing PSP to APS is like comparing WordPerfect to MS Word. The only reason the former is still around is because it's a notch cheaper than the latter.

[Lightning Star]

hm, well i thought this place was for paint shop pro tutorials & help and such...maybe not the place for debate. we all hold our opinions and let us respect eachothers, okay?

[Tachyon360]

It never became a debate. I was just backing up Andross.

Take it with a grain of salt.

[Foxie]

Um. I just have a quick question... ^^; I've been using Photoshop for awhile now... I love colouring eyes and lips, etc. Recently, I saw a tutorial on making magnificent eyes and the person was talking about changing the colour level I guess, in the eye. I couldn't open the tutorial because I didn't have the right program or something, though...

So, do you know an easy way to colour eyes? I've just been using the paintbrush thing on a low opacity and colouring them by hand.

[Tachyon360]

Use the oval selection tool and select an iris (you might want to use the spacebar a few times to move the selection around).

Then press and hold the [Shift] key. This'll allow you to select the other iris. Then press the [Alt] key and select the pupils. This'll remove the selection from the pupils.

After that, press [Ctrl] + [B], and play around with the settings.

[Venus_Man1]

I have a question: Does anyone know how to make a picture "blue"? I mean... take my av for example. I wanna know how to turn it more blueich. I hope you understand.

[Tachyon360]

Nope, I have no clue what you mean. There are lot's of ways you can use blue.

My best guess is something like this.

(BTW, it would be nice to hear a "thank you" for Andross and me [and anyone else that contributes] from time to time.)

[Foxie]

Tachyon360, on Dec 11 2004, 11:20 PM, said:

Use the oval selection tool and select an iris (you might want to use the spacebar a few times to move the selection around).

Then press and hold the [Shift] key. This'll allow you to select the other iris. Then press the [Alt] key and select the pupils. This'll remove the selection from the pupils.

After that, press [Ctrl] + [B], and play around with the settings.

Thank ya very much.

Venus_Man1... If you have an image, go to Image>Adjustments and then Color Balance. If you fool around with the colour balance then you can make a picture more of one colour.

[Tachyon360]

You're welcome, Foxie.

[Venus_Man1]

That was exactly what I was meaning, Tachyon. Do you do it the same way as Foxie said?

[PiersDM]

No, for the whole picture, just press Ctrl + U, and play with the Hue, until you get the color you want. I forget what te Ctrl button is called on mac, but it's basically the same.

[Tachyon360]

Venus_Man1, on Dec 13 2004, 12:07 PM, said:

That was exactly what I was meaning, Tachyon. Do you do it the same way as Foxie said?

No, that's not how I did it. To be honest, I don't quite remember how. I think I went to Blending Options, did a blue color overlay, and set the mode to Multiply, made a new transparent layer and merged it with the picture layer (so that I could edit the new blue color), and played around with the levels a bit.

BTW, feel free to use the pic I made.

[Venus_Man1]

Meh, I just wanted to know ^^ Thanks guys. You really helped out.

[Andross]

Tachyon360, on Dec 10 2004, 04:04 AM, said:

Comparing PSP to APS is like comparing WordPerfect to MS Word.

Actually, Word Perfect (the recent version) has some things that are better than word, like not making the screen cluttered with a randomly appearing sidepanel and paper clip assistant :!:

But this isn't the place to discuss that, so, yes, APS > PSP. PSP is nice if you're just a gfx hobbyist really, as the $100 pricetag is relatively nice.

[Elliott]

Or, you can get it for $100 cheaper.
*coughkazaacough*
:P

[Illidan]

Oh yeeh I was wondering, where do you download other fonts from?

[Elliott]

www.dafont.com
www.wantedfonts.com

They are the 2 best sites IMO.

[Lightning Star]

*coughemulecough* wasnt me... *whistles*

my brother got psp for me, its beter than paint right? :P

[Neo]

my current sig is made with Brushes and a Brute Force render, gotten from gamewallpapers.com

just fill the first layer with black brushes, and the second layer with white brushes. then set the blending mode to soft light. make the next layer black, again at soft light. continue this way till you have around 9 layers. then add a render (first cut it out), and blend it a little. now merge all layers, and go to color balance, make the color you want. do another color balance, and again the color you want. now add text with some blending option (make sure to keep the bevel is 0). and at a quote.
done :unsure:

[Venus_Man1]

Coool! I was wondering how it could look so good. How do you merge all layers?

[Neo]

If I remember correctly, it was Layer > Merge visible

[Venus_Man1]

You learn something new every day. Thanks, N_G.

[Mallick]

Or, I use Ctrl+E, it merges the layer you selected, with the layer beneath it. Merge Visible layers is Ctrl+shift+E

[Silo STATIC]

Do any of you know some ways to customize a certain line of text in APS? Taking NG's signature for example.

[Tachyon360]

I'm not quite sure what you're asking for. Could you be more specific, please?

[Neo]

sure SILO, here is the way I do it:

when you are on your text layer, press the 'f' button and go to blending options.

- Drop shadow
- Inner Shadow
- Bevel and Emboss (change the 'Size' to 0)
- Stroke (1px in black)

then give your text color, and voila ^_^

[Enoch]

Hey Neo! How do you get the backround of that sig of yours? It is photoshop right?
That is a cool effect!

[Venus_Man1]

I think he used the brush tool and merged the layers.

[Neo]

first, download at lot of brushes from the internet. then add them to you brush-sets and just do it the way I explained in this post:

RobinG said:

just fill the first layer with black brushes, and the second layer with white brushes. then set the blending mode to soft light. make the next layer black, again at soft light. continue this way till you have around 9 layers. then add a render (first cut it out), and blend it a little. now merge all layers, and go to color balance, make the color you want. do another color balance, and again the color you want. now add text with some blending option (make sure to keep the bevel is 0). and at a quote.
done

[Venus_Man1]

Can you give the site where you download the brushes?

[Illidan]

You can get them from spoono.com then>brushes.

[Venus_Man1]

Oh, cool. Did you use the brushes for your sig, Illidan?

[Illidan]

Venus_Man1, on Dec 26 2004, 04:10 AM, said:

Oh, cool. Did you use the brushes for your sig, Illidan?

Me? Nope not yet. I haven't started using brush effects yet. After I learn how to smoothen the image that will be my next job. =)

Ofcourse the brushes are mainly used to make the grunge effect which can look really awesome. Need to learn about that too. =)

[Neo]

the sig I use now is a real grunge ^_^
but I got complaints the render is 2 big :P

[Venus_Man1]

What is "smoothen the image", Illidan?

[Illidan]

Venus_Man1, on Dec 31 2004, 01:34 AM, said:

What is "smoothen the image", Illidan?

Making the image look soft and smooth? Like your avatar basically has smooth effects.

[Flamefire]

They are very nicely made.
Nice job,mate.

Smoothing is :Bring the picture nice ,not blur,i think

[Venus_Man1]

Eh...... I only added the text. Nothing more.

[Illidan]

Venus_Man1, on Jan 4 2005, 06:00 AM, said:

Eh...... I only added the text. Nothing more.

Yes I know but the image that's basically your avatar looks to be quite smooth actually.

[Flamefire]

I think so too

EDIT: Please be more constructive of your posts, or you will recieve a warning.

-Silo

[Mallick]

My spidey senses tell me that last post was spam. <---- As *** as what I just said is, it's the only way I felt like typing it. XD

Anyways, does anyone know how to get a better effect from cutout, it never gives me enough detail.

[Illidan]

Err some help with animation please. Could somebody explain the process? Appreciated thanks.

[Mallick]

That post should be in Animated GIFs topic, Illidan.

[Illidan]

For some reason I missed seeing that topic. XD

[Neo]

Piers diamondberg master, on Jan 5 2005, 04:46 AM, said:

Anyways, does anyone know how to get a better effect from cutout, it never gives me enough detail.

ok, for the best results with a cutout, go to: Filter > Extract.
then you can zoom in on the parts you want to cut out, or don't zoom if you want to cut out the whole image. on you right side, you can select the size of your "Pencil", now hold Ctrl, while moving slowly around the edges of your render. at some parts, the green line will go to the lines automatic, so you won't have to use glasses, or do it very exact. now, when you went around the whole image, select the paint bucket, now click inside your selection. if you did it right, the render is now blue. and now just click ok.
you can remove the small pieces of bg, which weren't deleted, with your eraser or lasso tool (zoom in for this).
this way you can cut out renders very precisely, and still quite easy.

[l3lueMage]

Tachyon360, on Nov 10 2004, 03:08 PM, said:

You mentioned me? You've gotta be joking. Not to say I'm not flattered, but I'm no pro. I'm just some guy that knows a bit about Photoshop.

Andross, on the other hand, is the real pro here, or at least a guy with skills good enough to compete in the workforce.

your funny, you say Im not pro yet your the one helping everyone with all there photoshop questions :P

[Venus_Man1]

Isn't that just good, Bluemage?

[Elliott]

In case anyone is looking:
http://share.studio....Product.asp?p=2
LOTS of downloads for APS.
Great for brushes!

[Neo]

Here is another link to some brushes. (well, to a forum with link to brushes)

[Mycarayne]

After much thought, Ive come to the conlcusion that this is WAY better than paint shop pro.

Anyway, a question: How do you create the effect of "seaweed" type stuff? Ref: gsninja's sig. It's so cool.

[Venus_Man1]

Well, shiny and shiny, you got to be more specific. Well, I don't know what the effect is called, but I can tell you as soon as I get the computer with PS working(we've just moved so no internet on it).

[My Best Wishes]

yea i'd imagne so.

Hey, i paste in a picture but i can't get access to the buttons top right all the time. whats up with that?

[Ivan is my name]

I got jasc PSP 8. It is a good program. I made my sig with it. Watch, dont revive old topics please!

[TobiasMar]

Ah, I recently got PSP and Animation Shop (which comes with it), but I need help with Animation SHop. How do you make the edges that have the color of whatever the background of the area its used on? You know, like what some GIF's (animated or not) have.

[My Best Wishes]

Ivan is my name, on Feb 6 2005, 09:36 PM, said:

I got jasc PSP 8. It is a good program. I made my sig with it. Watch, dont revive old topics please!

Well ivan, considering this is the help thing for it, and i needed help, i think the fact i asked a question is acceptable.

[Tachyon360]

Some look like they're from GreyCobra and some look like they're from BlackDragon Studios.

[Venus_Man1]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v374/mibu/Hehehhee.gif

I made this one today. Quite proud of it. What y'all think?

[l3lueMage]

wow, realy nice I like the blend of words with the background.

[Wiflewood]

I think this should go here..

anyway, you can make things transparent on photoshop can't you? can some one please make the backgrounds of these two shields transparent.

Attached thumbnail(s)

• 
• 

[Tachyon360]

Simple. Use the magic wand tool on the background and delete it. Of course, you'd have to save it as a GIF or PNG (though IE apparently doesn't support PNG transparencies). You could also put it over another image and play around with blend modes, if you intend to use it in a sig or something like that.

And damn man, you gotta fix those jaggies.

[Andross]

The jaggies on the shields can't really be fixed because of GIF's 256 color support. And I believe he was asking for someone to do it because he doesn't have PS. I only take requests at [insert blunt advertising here] though. I censored that just in case the new mods go pouncing ;)

[Tachyon360]

Ah, but the file type of those pics is PNG. So the jaggies can get fixed, since they can support many more colors, I believe.

Edit:
http://img67.exs.cx/img67/691/post110811095325594aj.pnghttp://img67.exs.cx/img67/8305/post110811095325712ma.png

Those jaggies were the size of Mount Everest. I did the best I could in a minute or two's time, complete with transparent background (though I don't think it'll show in IE).

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

I have a question ...

I'm trying to make one of those signatures that have a render character from a video game, anime, etc., sticking out of the little rectangular box of a signature; like this. The twist is I'm using this kind of effect on it.

My problem is that I want the effect to stay inside the signature, and not out on the transparent layer. Anyone got any guesses on this?

[Tachyon360]

Hide the excess chunks with layer masks, one per cheesy pseudo-rain layer you intend to use.

Just make a selection of the transparent area around your sig, make a new layer mask showing everything, make sure the layer mask and not the layer is selected for editing, and fill it with black.

Plain old ImageReady animation, showing only one rain layer per frame, and that's that.

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

You do the layer mask in which program?

EDIT: ^Ignore me there.

Anyway, do you have to do the layer mask for each individual layer or just for the one that's hiding under them all?

[Tachyon360]

Each layer mask you make is specific to the layer you had selected when you made it. In other words, it doesn't work like a new layer, but a sort of layer modifier. It lets you choose what you want to show and what you want to hide with each layer. So yes, you have to make a new one for each new layer, as I've said before.

Just select the layer you want to mask, Edit --> Add Layer Mask --> Reveal All. Then follow the rest of the steps I posted above. It's as simple as that.

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

This is the final product. Hope it works ...

http://img147.echo.cx/img147/3413/atomsknaotasignaturefinal8am.gif

EDIT: Alright, I have another question, which may raise interesting discussion in the topic.

What would be a practical way of making an image that's all .JPEG-retarded look in good quality and condition? My way is to use Filter>Noise>Despeckle, and then Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Any thoughts?

[Tachyon360]

I'm not sure what you're asking for. Could you rephrase it?

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

What would be a practical way for getting the best quality out of an otherwise crappy quality image? In other words, restore it?

[l3lueMage]

OOOoo, welll uh, get me a bad quality image so i can remember o.o

[Tachyon360]

Crimson Barrel Knight, on Apr 12 2005, 08:42 PM, said:

What would be a practical way for getting the best quality out of an otherwise crappy quality image? In other words, restore it?

It would depend on specifically what's wrong with it. There are so many tools and techniques at your disposal that you could literally write a book about it all. Needless to say, I know only so much.

A good idea would be to post the picture, so anyone willing can assess what needs to be done.

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

I see. It's another one of those "one thing gets you a million other possiblities" answers.

Well, in any case, lemme just describe an example. You know those crappy MS Paint images when you save them as .JPEG, and it looks all pixelated? That's what I'm talking about.

[Tachyon360]

First of all, MS Paint is the last thing you want to use for JPEGs.

Second of all, what exactly are you trying to do? You want to get rid of the jagginess and pixellation? If that's the case, do a 0.4 pixel Gaussian blur, and then make the image smaller in size.

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

Yeah, that's pretty much what I wanted. Thanks.

I have yet another question. I've been reading some tutorials on grunge brushes. I have created my own, don't worry, but, the thing is, I haven't figured out how to take them out and use them. I know it's a rather dumb question, but I really need to use one.

[Tachyon360]

I don't quite get what you're asking. If you've already made the brush, I don't see why you can't just go and select it from the list of brush presets. I'm assuming you've made your pattern and you don't know how to make it a brush. In that case, load your image and go to Edit --> Define Brush Preset.

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

No, I mean, I couldn't find where I could use the brush.

But that's solved, anyway. I just had to look in the list of brushes and their sizes. They were at the bottom of the list.

[l3lueMage]

can someone give a tutorial on how to do this effect in photoshop

http://www.idigitalemotion.com/tutorials/guest/lighting/7.jpg

[Tachyon360]

Hmm. I've never seen it before, but it doesn't seem too hard.

Remember the Wave filter technique Andross was so proudly mentioning a lot, about a month or so ago? Well, make a squiggly line, and then do what Andross said, but don't fade it quite as much as he said. Then, when that's done, make a new layer, take a small, irregular brush, and drop some dots here and there.

[Crimson Barrel Knight]

Does anyone know how to do an animated pixel equalizer? There was a tutorial for it on PS Lover, but the link leads to a dead end.

[Tachyon360]

Start with a transparent layer. Use the pencil tool, and draw the equalizer dot by dot. (You could also use brushes, but I found that most tech brushes don't have filled equalizers and regular brushing doesn't look as pixelly as what you can achieve with the pencil tool). Export it to ImageReady and make a bunch of layer copies, 1 per frame. Optionally, you can take the original layer and decrease the contrast by a lot (to give a blank pixel look to it).

From there, keep each layer hidden except for the original layer (which should be at the very bottom) and the layer corresponding to the frame you're working with. Use the eraser tool and erase the parts of the equalizer you want blank for each frame. To keep it from looking newbish, make sure that you make each frame is only a fair amount different from the previous, so it moves smoothly, rather than jump around like crazy.

[Mycarayne]

See my Avatar? Well, you've probably noticed that the bottom line of the border is absent.
I did the 'ol
-Create layer from background
-Stroke/inside/1 px
-Saved it as jpg (best quality)

And then the godamm thing does this? Anyone know why?

EDIT: ooops. Simple Mistake. Fixed it.

[Nobody]

Off topic, but I have a dumb question:
How many photoshop versions are between 7.0 and CS, and what are they?

[Elliott]

Al I know of is 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, CS, and CS2 (I don't know if it's released yet).
And didn't you leave just yesterday =/ ?

[Excalibur's Power]

Wait, there's also Elements.

[Elliott]

Where did that come in?
Anyway, this is eaily something you could have googled =/ .

[Excalibur's Power]

Elements...? I dunno....

the 2.0 was released in October, I think...

[Tachyon360]

You have the standard Photoshop lineage, going up numerically until version 8.x, which was called CS, followed by v9.x, called CS2. Currently, CS2 is the latest release. To answer the original question, not counting updates, there were no versions released between v7.x and CS.

Then, roughly around the time Photoshop 7 was released, Adobe figured they'd make watered-down Photoshop for home users on a budget, and called it Photoshop Elements. That's up to v3.x right now.

Then around the time Photoshop Elements 2.x was released, roughly around the time Photoshop CS was released, Adobe further watered down Photoshop and added a slew of simplistic album organization features, and called it Photoshop Album. That's up to version 2.x right now.

[angelchii]

uhh..... this isn't really a problem in making pictures it's a problem activating it, it keep saying that activation denied then i reinstalled it and it just keep saying that

[Tachyon360]

You have two options. Your first option is to actually go and buy Photoshop, so you can activate it. Your other option would be to figure out a way around it. If you can't figure it out, you don't deserve warez.

[Andross]

On the warez matter:
Warez is pretty much illegal to discuss on the web (and it's probably noted in the rules), so you're actually going to have to figure it out on your own like Tachyon said.

If your Photoshop copy is legal
Contact Adobe by phone. You're supposed to do that if you have problems activating it. Either that or make sure you are properly connected to the internet when activating, ie, open your browser (in the case you have dial-up usually).

[Mycarayne]

who has an illeagal copy of APS? not me ;)
*runs*

Seriously, Im getting alot better at APS, and Im 99% self taught ;)
I ask a few questions here and there, but besdies that, everything i can do, I taught myself how to do it. :D

I'm so happy.

If' anyone would like to see what work I've been able to come up with, check out my dA thingo.

---
Q: Should I be getting new brushes? I've never really bothered...

[Elliott]

Google seach "adobe photoshop <version number> brushes"
Save the .abr file, then open it with photoshop.

brushes tab > right click the arrow > load brushes.

[Mycarayne]

You speak to me like im a n00b. ;) I don't know what to say.
I said should I. Not how do I.

Anyone can work that out for themselves...

Re-iterating, if I want to be good with APS, should I get more brush styles, or am I wasting my time?

[Elliott]

Whoops, miread post. And yes, the default brushes only go so far. I have a huge grunge set, as well as some snowflakes and other misc. brushes. Not too many though. I want some abstract brushes now.

[Andross]

You want new brushes. Trust me. Very important if you don't want to slave over making your own:
-Blood Brushes
-Abstract Brushes
-Grunge Brushes
-Tech Brushes
-Atmospheric Brushes

[Elliott]

Thanks for the keywords Andross, I'll look into them some time.
And yes, brushes are a very important part of graphics and design as they can greatly improve regular images.

[Mycarayne]

Well, I guess that settles it. I'll go look for a few new brushes then.

[angelchii]

Memories Remain, on May 10 2005, 06:51 AM, said:

who has an illeagal copy of APS? not me :)
*runs*

Seriously, Im getting alot better at APS, and Im 99% self taught ^_^
I ask a few questions here and there, but besdies that, everything i can do, I taught myself how to do it. :lol:

I'm so happy.

If' anyone would like to see what work I've been able to come up with, check out my dA thingo.

---
Q: Should I be getting new brushes? I've never really bothered...

excuse me but i do have a legal copy! >=(



how do you make 3d images?

[Elliott]

With a program such as:

- Cinema 4D
- 3D Studio Max
- Maya
- Terragen
- Bryce 3D
- Lightwave

Also, Adobe Illustrator CS has some 3D options available.

[Andross]

Illustrator is aimed more towards vector and true freehand drawers mind you (tablet is usually a must).

[Excalibur's Power]

In Photoshop CS2, I can't find the friggin pencil tool...help?

[Tachyon360]

1. Click and hold the brush tool button.
2. Wait for the little context menu to pop up.
3. Select the pencil tool.

Yay!

[angelchii]

anyone can teach me how to turn an ordinary drawing into an art?

[Elliott]

Explain yourself better then maybe.

[angelchii]

an ordinary drawing like this --> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v324/stenchy/golden%20sun/Picture1.jpg <-- dark

and coloring it, covering the lines with clear ones and things like that to become a picture

[Elliott]

Do a better scan first of all, assuming you are even scanning.
And then a program like Painter 7 is probably better for this, but I'm no expert.

[Neo]

first change the brightness, or play with the curves till the Bg is lighter, and the drawing is still quite dark. for drawing you can use tutorials on this site... (this is the best I know)

This is a very good site for tuts (this link is already on the tuts page).
if you want tuts for coloring in Ps scroll down a bit.

[angelchii]

how do you make pictures like this? --> jewels scroll down to the jewels post/5th post the things that looks like a charm bracelet

[Tachyon360]

That was done with a Photoshop plugin called SuperBlade Pro, no doubt. It's got the very distinct look SuperBlade Pro gives.

And Agatio, Painter IX is already out. Painter is better for painting things from scratch. Photoshop is better for tracing and coloring drawings.


Side note: That drawing up there looks like you used a crappy digital camera with poor lighting and not a scanner.

[angelchii]

yeah i did,i just wanted to post that but the scanner's getting fixed, our webcam stinks


which's better? the superblade pro or painter IX? or maybe i should buy both

[Elliott]

Don't buy either, just get Painter 9 (I said 7 because that's the only one I had heard of). And there are some good tutorials for digitally colouring pictures using Painter, and usually it's best to use a tablet.

[Izar]

Photoshop is ALOT better than Paint Shop Pro, but Paint Shop Pro is alot cheaper. So if you just need stuff that ain't all that bad, and cheap, Get PSP. If your into paying a ridiculously high price, get Photoshop.

[Tachyon360]

Painter IX is Painter 9. Man, you gotta brush up on your Roman numerals.

As for SuperBlade Pro (made by Flaming Pear), it's aimed at mostly a different demographic. SBP is a Photoshop plugin that makes designing web and print graphics easier and offers some features that would be difficult to do with Photoshop by hand. It's pretty handy, IMO.

The Painter line from Corel is all about digital paint. Painter IX underwent the most radical changes yet, getting an Adobe-like interface with complete reorganization of the paints and brushes, among many other, smaller things. If you decide to get Painter IX, a tablet with a pressure-sensitive pen is an absolute necessity, because the paint physics in Painter are designed around such a tablet.

[Elliott]

Quote

Painter IX is Painter 9. Man, you gotta brush up on your Roman numerals.

Erm, what the hell are you talking about? I said 9, IX = 9, I know that, that's why I said 9 =/ .

[Tachyon360]

You said "Don't buy either, just get Painter 9" in response to "which's better? the superblade pro or painter IX? or maybe i should buy both," which threw me off, because it seemed like you figured IX was something other than 9.

[angelchii]

ok so which one? and i download the super blade pro and i didn't see any changes to the photoshop

[Tachyon360]

It's a filter. Did you even install it?

And as for which one you should get, it depends on what you want to do and what your budget is. SuperBladePro and Painter are two different things entirely.

[Elliott]

Or you could bypass all that and get a little program called limewire.
</illegal>

[Izar]

I was talking legally, heh, I never will use limewire. :P Unless of course, for music.

[angelchii]

yeah i did install it


what does the painter do?

[Elliott]

You relaly have to be specific in your wording angelchii. Post constructively, and make sure you state your problem and question clearly so people cna help you best. An extra few seconds when posting is all it takes.

[Tachyon360]

angelchii, on Jun 1 2005, 12:16 AM, said:

yeah i did install it
what does the painter do?

If you installed in in Photoshop's plugin directory, then it should appear as a filter.

Two other things worth mentioning:

-It's a good idea to read a few posts back, so you know what's going on. Your question about Painter has already been answered.

-Please, for the love of God, learn how to type legibly. This isn't IM or IRC, where posts come flying every second. This is a forum. You have time. Use it.

[Excalibur's Power]

Hey, this DOES sound n00bish, how do you use actions? Like renders, and I DID put 'em in the right folder...

[Tachyon360]

Go to Window --> Actions. By default, the Actions tab is in the same window as the History tab.

Actions can be a big time-saver and convenience, but I personally don't like them too much. Same with styles and swatches. I just can't seem to get into the habit of using them, I tend to put my own twist on effects developed by other's (so Actions would be inconvinient in that sense), and recording my own is too much of a hassle for anything but the most frequent things I use (yes, I'm that lazy).

[Excalibur's Power]

I just got PS6...

Anyways, where are some good PS6 brushes?

[Elliott]

Google "Adobe Photoshop 6 Brush Downloads" to find out :P .

[angelchii]

i have alot of questons don't i?

what did he used to make these pictures? --> http://www.gaiaonlin...c.php?t=8298645

[l3lueMage]

he either made a drawing on a piece of paper scanned it, or used a drawing pad, after that imported it into photoshop, took the airbrush set the softness of the brush and filled it in with that, and outlined it with a bit more hardness on the brush.

[angelchii]

i'm sure it's a program

drawing pad? is that a piece of paper or am i just late on the news?

[Andross]

It's a drawing pad . . . paper.

He probably used a tablet program, possibly Illustrator - most definitely not Photoshop (99% sure). Basically, pick up a tablet if you want to do better free-hand drawing on the PC (not sure what software will come with it, but if Illustrator supports tablet stuff, it might be a consideration).

[l3lueMage]

thats what i meant, a tablet....lol drawing pad tablet thingy that hooks up to your computer =] so you can free hand just like on paper

[Elliott]

Motion tween.

Create your object on its own layer. Right click the frame and select "create motion tween". Then, instert a keyframe about 20 frames ahead (on the same layer), and put your object where you want it to be in 20 frames time. Then the object will smoothly move from its start point to its finishing point over the space of 20 frames. You can also use the ease option for smoother movement. Also, when tweening, make sure the tweened object is the only thing on that particular layer.

Hope that helped.

[Tachyon360]

Andross, on Jun 27 2005, 10:19 AM, said:

It's a drawing pad . . . paper.

He probably used a tablet program, possibly Illustrator - most definitely not Photoshop (99% sure). Basically, pick up a tablet if you want to do better free-hand drawing on the PC (not sure what software will come with it, but if Illustrator supports tablet stuff, it might be a consideration).

I'm 100% sure that wasn't Photoshop and about 80% sure it's not Illustrator (he'd have to have mad skillz for it to look like that in Illustrator). I'm quite certain it wasn't *any* Adobe or Macromedia product, for that matter.

I believe he's either got some great talent with real-life pencils and watercolors, or he used Painter. Judging by how unnaturally regular and smooth the strokes are, he's most likely using Painter, at least partly.

[Zaffa Dot Xom]

Eh ...

I read a tutorial on adding movie clips to images. When I got as far as opening the movie in ImageReady, all there was was one frame with a black screen. I've tried everything, even putting the whole thing in, when I only need just a select scene from the clip.

First of all, how can I fix this? Second, what's the better type of video file to open in ImageReady?

[angelchii]

here i am ready to put spamish questions in here again

anyway how do you make a colored drawing into a more CG like colored one?

[My Best Wishes]

Question about Photoshop

On my school computers every time you load up Photoshop it is back to default settings, menu in same place, black and white colours selected etc.

How do they do that?

[Saturos S.]

In photoshop CS2, I've got a problem with the colour grey. All shades of light grey are the same colour gray. The middle dark grey turns a wierd kind of orange-red and the dark grey turns into a magenta red. As far as I know, all the other colours are working fine.

I just noticed that the problem occurs in paint too, any idea how to solve this problem?

[Neo]

Try posting something with those colors here. Maybe it's your screen, and not paint or CS2.

[Saturos S.]

It's not my screen, there's something wrong with the sheet. I gave up the other day on it so I decided to try and make somekind of sig. With grey, and the problem didn't occur. I then tried it again with the old sheet and it occured again. So I just changed the file.

Thanks anyway. :)

[Lemontime]

I think I had that problem.
Try changing your colour settings.

Edit >> Colour Settings.

Mine are set to this:
Settings: Noth America General Purpose 2
RGP: sRPG IEC61966-2.1
CMYK: U.S. Web Coated (SWOP) v2
Gray: Dot Gain 20%
Spot: Dot Gain 20%.

In color management, all are set to Preserve Embedded Profiles.


Hope this helps.

[Toasty]

Paint.NET is better than PSCS2. :) It's free, open source, and you can make your own plugins (or download ones made by other people). There's a LOT of good plugins too.

[Mathak Kraven]

lol, get Photoshop CS3.

Also anyone can make plugins for Photoshop, yu just need to know how to code them.

[Toasty]

Paint.NET has a plugin that allows you to make otehr plugins/filters while your useing PDN, so that you can adjust things while you're working on the code. I don't think CS3 has that.

But, CS3 IS fancy.

[Lightning Star]

When I do tablet work, it always drives me insane that I can't make my lines smooth (I have a very shaky hand). The only way I can get them to come out half-way decent is by slowly sketching, then go back over with an eraser, but then the line I'm trying to draw ends up being different widths at different places. like this:

http://i10.tinypic.com/8azso5d.png

I've tried Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, Paint.net, Gimp and Open canvas; none of them have a way to make lines smooth.

[The Sea King]

Icy, on Jan 15 2008, 05:54 PM, said:

When I do tablet work, it always drives me insane that I can't make my lines smooth (I have a very shaky hand). The only way I can get them to come out half-way decent is by slowly sketching, then go back over with an eraser, but then the line I'm trying to draw ends up being different widths at different places. like this:

http://i10.tinypic.com/8azso5d.png

I've tried Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop, Paint.net, Gimp and Open canvas; none of them have a way to make lines smooth.

How much did your art tablet cost? Also what size is it? (planning to get one)

EDIT:
:) Sorry... didn't see the date...

[Drizzy Drake]

*facepalm*

[Nosferatu]

Bringing some life to this dead topic, voila.
Temporary colour. Some parts still need to be done and that ****.

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9636/swordcz1.png
It's got some lighting going on too mind you.