The Desert Colossus

Community => Synthesis of Imagery => Topic started by: Keaton on December 01, 2007, 03:56:02 PM

Title: The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on December 01, 2007, 03:56:02 PM
Have graphics questions?  Ask them here-- but keep them serious.  Any 'stupid' questions will be ignored or deleted.

And I'm not the only one to answer here.  If you know the answer, or feel like you can help, feel free to pitch in, but be sure to show the quotes for what you're answering.  Otherwise, it makes no sense.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: darkphantomime on December 01, 2007, 06:42:45 PM
Dear TacheonBlack,

WHY IS THERE NO GIMP TUTORIAL?!

*cough*

Anyway, real question - Sometimes I see an image, but I want to 'cut' some parts out, maybe it's a vertical or horizontial area... so I can 'change' the resolution without having the image be distorted by stretching. Is there any way I can do this in GIMP?
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on December 02, 2007, 12:25:35 PM
Dear JQ, use the 'crop' tool/setting on photoshop, or resize the image by hand.  The image is usually rasterized by GIMP's internal processing, and therefore doesn't usually pixellate the image.

Thanks for asking.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: darkphantomime on December 02, 2007, 12:29:52 PM
Okay... How about if I want to hmm... 'cut out' a section, or seperate a single image into two images (like dividing it down the middle)?
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on December 03, 2007, 04:14:16 PM
That depends on if you want to leave those two separate images in the same picture, or if you want to use them independently of each other.

The easiest (and my) way of doing things if this:  Take your rectangle or 'marquee' tool, and make a little vertical line between the two images a few pixels wide.  This should make it so that a little white... or whatever your foreground color is... rectangle pops up between the two images.  Make sure this is on the same layer.  Then, make sure that that little rectangle is selected (or has the little moving lines around it, it usually is selected after being made by default), and go to Edit>Clear or, I believe, Ctrl+k.

I hope this helps.

It should leave a little checkered space between the two images.  Make this as wide as you need it to be.



Another, alternative method would be to just use that rectangular tool to select something that you want to cut out.  Then, copy the selected object (Ctrl+C), and go to File>New.  The file size should, if you have GIMP 2.2 or better, automatically adjust to the selected image's size.  Then, you can just paste it on.


Hoping this made sense, and that you are well,
Tacheon Alexander Black
~Graphic Artist~
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: alical on December 04, 2007, 11:43:32 AM
I was wondering, do you make the backgrounds/textures for your images yourself, or download them??

and also, is there any clean easy way to cut something out of an image? E.g. a person/character from a screenshot.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on February 15, 2008, 09:14:27 AM
I mostly deal in Photoshop now, so I sort of forgot most of the GIMP tutorials.  I download almost everything in terms of brushes, textures, fonts, renders, etc., but the real key is using what you have readily available.

There is no easy way to cut something out.  It takes a lot of time and skill.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: BaconWarrior on April 03, 2008, 02:22:55 PM
Anybody know where I can download new brushes for Gimp?
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: DW on April 03, 2008, 11:40:29 PM
Are there any special techniques you can use to make realistic looking images on paint? I'm in charge of making a bunch of item sprites for HA2, and I'm not sure how well I'm doing.

This is one that we already had on HA2 from a ways back:(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w33/jackals_incarnation/Bronze20Bow.gif)

This is one that I made:(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w33/jackals_incarnation/Deku2Handsword.gif) The blade is supposed to be made of wood ::)

This is one of the atrocius pics that I want to improve and make look decent:(http://i172.photobucket.com/albums/w33/jackals_incarnation/Deku20Cane.gif)Any tips on how?

Basically, I'm just wondering the best way to do the shadowing and such, realistic ways of blending shades, the works.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on April 05, 2008, 08:06:07 AM
First of all, it helps the blade look wooden if there aren't metallic colors on the hilt.

Also, the only effective way to make shadowing and textures on something as simple as Microsoft Paint is to use the full array of Grayscaling, making sure that you put the darker shadowing closer to the object... :P
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: DW on April 05, 2008, 09:22:33 AM
full array of grayscaling...?
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on April 06, 2008, 12:27:39 PM
You know, all the shades of gray and black.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: DW on April 06, 2008, 12:33:42 PM
I can't find very many shades, is there some special option I can select that will show me an all gray/black palette?
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on April 06, 2008, 12:40:14 PM
No.  I meant gray, silver, not-quite-black, and black.

Funny how hard it is to make things when you don't PIARTE (it's a word jumble, kids!) things.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: DW on April 06, 2008, 12:53:35 PM
I actually do, but I have to recolor them to make the different levels of items. Deku, bronze, iron, etc.
Title: Re:The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on April 06, 2008, 02:54:05 PM
And yet the strange thing about shadows is that they're always the same color... funny, huh.
Title: Re: The Answer Thread
Post by: Pale Dim on August 27, 2009, 06:53:45 PM
About GIMP....
What are layers, and how do you use them? Also, how do make the image more visible during the editing process, if all but a few features are blocked out by the black and gray square background?
Title: Re: The Answer Thread
Post by: Keaton on August 27, 2009, 07:16:23 PM
Quote from: 2nd Lieutenant Jean Havoc on August 27, 2009, 06:53:45 PM
About GIMP....
What are layers, and how do you use them? Also, how do make the image more visible during the editing process, if all but a few features are blocked out by the black and gray square background?

Layers are used so that you can make edits to an image without having to worry about not being able to undo something.  Think of them as individual transparency sheets on a projector.  If you draw on one of them, you can still remove that sheet and it'll remove whatever was on that sheet as well with no lasting effect on the image as a whole.

Also, you can change the color of the black-and-gray square background by making, of all things, a new layer under whatever layer you're working on featuring whatever color you want.  I usually use white, but if you want some extreme contrast and don't mind your eyes hurting, use a lime green or magenta.