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Questions, Discussion, and Tutorials

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Posts

  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2011
    I'm fairly new to Illustrator.

    Is there a way to duplicate an object and change the scale by the exact same amount for each new duplicate?

    I want to make a lot of circles and I want them to become gradually smaller at an exact even curve.

    Honk on
    PSN: Honkalot
  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2011
    Turns out that as usual one need only look for it for 30 minutes, and then finally ask, and one will find it immediately after asking.

    CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+D for example.

    Honk on
    PSN: Honkalot
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    You could also use the blend feature:
    1. Draw the shape you want at its biggest, then draw it again at it's smallest size.
    2. Select both shapes.
    3. Go to Object>Blend>Make.

    This should create the effect you're looking for. You might need to tweak it though:
    1. Selecting both shapes
    2. Choose Object>Blend>Blend Options
    3. In the drop down menu you can choose the specific steps you want to have or the specific distance between shapes.

    When you're satisfied, click Object>Blend>Expand to turn everything into actual vector shapes.

    I know it looks complicated, but its a great tool. If you change the transparency, stroke width, color or shape at either end it's gonna affect the transition elements in between which can give you some pretty cool results.

    Good luck with Illustrator!

    MagicToaster on
  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2011
    That sounds hella useful for what I'm trying!

    Thanks!

    Honk on
    PSN: Honkalot
  • JeckalHydeJeckalHyde Lord Awesome New ZealandRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Man ive totally forgotten how to use Maya.

    trying to reproduce these shapes, the problem it cut out the middle shape.

    shapes.jpg

    JeckalHyde on
  • MaydayMayday Cutting edge goblin tech Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Guyyyyys.
    How to lock brush tip shape->Spacing at 1% in photoshop? It keeps switching back to 25% whenever I change the brush:/

    Mayday on
  • ScosglenScosglen Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Mayday wrote: »
    Guyyyyys.
    How to lock brush tip shape->Spacing at 1% in photoshop? It keeps switching back to 25% whenever I change the brush:/

    So, when you make a tweak to a brush in photoshop, it only stays that way as long as you have that brush actively selected. If you want to make a permanent change to how a brush works you have to get your settings the way you want and then create a new brush for them. If you want all of your brushes to have 1% spacing then you need to create an entire new set of brushes to reflect that.

    Scosglen on
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited May 2011
    the little locks on the side of the brush window lock settings.
    Brushestut1e.jpg
    In that image, everything but shape dynamics and color dynamics would change if you switched brushes. Click the little locks to lock them.

    Iruka on
  • ScosglenScosglen Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Wellp, I guess that's the non-idiot way to do it.

    Scosglen on
  • IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    edited May 2011
    alot of people dont notice them/dont realize they are click-able.

    Iruka on
  • MaydayMayday Cutting edge goblin tech Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Actually, I do know about the locks (and I use them all the time, yay!) but the spacing option is under "Brush tip shape" which has no lock!
    So I guess You're right, Scos!

    Mayday on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    HMMm I just noticed my PS7 is doing something weird with my layers.

    When I have a layer selected, it puts a little reticle around the pixels on that layer. It's kind of helpful but also annoying. I'm thinking its just a button option toggle, but damn if I know how to switch back.

    earthwormadam on
  • MaydayMayday Cutting edge goblin tech Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    View->Show- >Layer edges?
    Not exactly sure what you mean, a reticle around EACH pixel? o_O

    Mayday on
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I think this might've come up before but I can't find it. Also: googling this has found me 1000 dudes with the same problem but no permanent fix.

    So I just went 64 bit with Windows 7. Now every time I cold boot my tablet driver (Intuos3) croaks and won't restart. I even went under services and specified "restart" after first, second, third failure, etc., etc.. It works again if I reinstall it, but reinstalling the damn tablet driver every time I turn the computer on is kind of what.

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Mayday wrote: »
    View->Show- >Layer edges?
    Not exactly sure what you mean, a reticle around EACH pixel? o_O

    Not every pixel, but all the pixels large or small on that layer. I'll try out your suggestion though, thanks.

    earthwormadam on
  • TDevTDev Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    squidbunny wrote: »
    I think this might've come up before but I can't find it. Also: googling this has found me 1000 dudes with the same problem but no permanent fix.

    So I just went 64 bit with Windows 7. Now every time I cold boot my tablet driver (Intuos3) croaks and won't restart. I even went under services and specified "restart" after first, second, third failure, etc., etc.. It works again if I reinstall it, but reinstalling the damn tablet driver every time I turn the computer on is kind of what.

    I had a similar problem once, it seems to have more than one cause so this may not work for you. When you start up and the driver fails go to the tablet preference file utility and click remove my preference file (or remove all preference files). Make sure photoshop and other tablet using software is closed. If removing your preference file works and the driver starts up again go to when your driver is installed and edit your security settings to give all users full control over the directory. Hope it works for you.

    TDev on
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Removing the prefs files does cause the driver to come back -- thanks! But now when you say give all users full control of the directory, do you mean Program Files\Tablet? Or Windows\System32? Changing permissions over those doesn't seem to change anything. There's also User\App Data\Roaming, in which there's a tablet-related dat file, but Windows won't let me assign permissions to a user directory beyond that user and administrator, both of which have full access already.

    I'd be much obliged for any clarification. Migrating to Win7 after an eternity of XP Pro is a little weird.

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • DirtyDirtyVagrantDirtyDirtyVagrant Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    What are your guys' thoughts on online classes?

    Any good experiences?

    (Edited for clarity)

    DirtyDirtyVagrant on
  • TDevTDev Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Sorry! I meant Program Files\Tablet. The theory is that the driver fails because for some reason it can't modify the preference files or something like that. *crossesfingersforyou*

    TDev on
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Aw, yeah.

    I dunno if I didn't apply the changes right before when I was groping around or what but I've got it, now. Seems to have fixed it.

    Thank you very kindly for the help. :D

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Okay, super stupid photoshop question...

    Aside from some environmental speed painting I've pretty much given up on my tablet for line art itself. I'm just way more comfortable with a pen and paper.

    However, I want to add some awesome textured brushes and color to my sketches and arts, and I'm having trouble with that in photoshop.

    So I've got an image of a dude, or a spaceship, or whatever, and I want to scan it in and color over it. However I don't want to color over the black lines, I want the color to go under them so I don't color over them, if that makes sense.

    So I want them to be the top layer I guess, but the white from the paper blocks the color on the bottom layer.

    Do I just do a color select and removal to get rid of the white or is there a better, more professional way that I'm missing?

    Thanks AC

    amateurhour on
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  • MaydayMayday Cutting edge goblin tech Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Set the layer mode from Normal to Multiply.

    Mayday on
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Alternatively, if you want to have lines you're free to color or whatever, you can take your flat, black and white lineart, and go:

    Select All > Copy > New Layer > Quickmask (Q) > Paste > Exit Quickmask (Q again).

    This'll essentially put you on a new layer, with what was your white space selected, so then:

    Select Inverse > Fill with Black or your desired lineart color.

    This has the advantage of giving you a lineart layer you can not only recolor, but it has nice anti-aliased edges or lower opacity midtones or whatever. Give it a shot.

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Awesome!

    You both rock in equal but different ways. Thanks!

    amateurhour on
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  • DelzhandDelzhand Hard to miss. Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Anyone here have experience with CS5 Extended's 3d paint tools? I know I was able to do this a few days ago, and now it doesn't work.

    I have an imported 3d object, and on a 2d layer above it, I've drawn some stuff (eyes/nose/mouth). I'm fairly certain that when I was working on a different character, I was able to press ctrl+e, and the 2d layer was applied to the diffuse map, projected from the camera view. But in this file, I get the wait cursor, a "Rendering 3d Object" progress bar, and then nothing - not even in the history.

    Also, if I ctrl+e and then mouse over the diffuse map layer, the thumbnail popup shows the features in the texture, but then when I double click they aren't there.

    Maybe this is related, but sometimes when switching back and forth from painting on the diffuse map itself and painting on the object in 3d, the changes refuse to "take", and I have to close the diffuse map file and double click on it's layer in the 3d file to re-open it. Sometimes I have to copy my diffuse map, close it, reopen and paste, then ctrl+tab back to my 3d file to get the 3d model to update. Since this happens frequently, the file name in the tab at the top is invariably something like 1 1 1 1 1 1 3.psb.

    Any ideas?

    Delzhand on
  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2011
    JeckalHyde wrote: »
    Man ive totally forgotten how to use Maya.

    trying to reproduce these shapes, the problem it cut out the middle shape.

    shapes.jpg

    Assuming you're doing polygon shapes, there are a few ways you can do this.

    1) The boolean commands under the mesh menu. F3 -> Mesh -> Booleans -> One of the three options.
    With this method you make an object in the shape of the hole you want and put it in the position where you want the hole. You then shift select both objects and try the booleans options until it performs the correct action and drills the hole for you.

    There are a few hickups with this:
    A) The boolean actions have always been bugged and will most probably not work for you.
    B) In the few cases when it does work - using them completely fucks up your geometry and you will have to manually clean it up afterwards.

    When this works it is easily the fastest method.

    2) Use the Split Polygon Tool to manually draw new edges and delete/extrude the faces to produce the hole. This will always work but will take hella time.

    A good way is to make an object in the shape of the hole here as well and to use the Split Polygon Tool to insert the edges precisely where the shapes intersect.

    Honk on
    PSN: Honkalot
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    So I've got a quick question about speedpainting.

    What resolutions are everyone typically using?

    I've been starting with a 500 x 500 canvas at 72dpi and then increasing the image size to 600dpi but it's a bitch to get the brush sizes right.

    Am I just going way to big, am I missing something?

    Thanks!

    amateurhour on
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  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    at that size you might get a bit of slow down, depending on how big your machine is

    really you don't ever want to be using brushes that are above their native size

    this is a speed paint as well, so you really shouldn't need all that much zoom for fine details or brush work

    Brolo on
  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2011
    I'm a bit confused, are you talking pixel size here?

    edit: oh, ok, I think I see what you're getting at. You mean you're scaling the image up roughly 10 times? Yeah, that's pretty big.

    I usually start close to 2000, though sometimes I'll rough things out around 1200 and then scale up when I have something I like (but well before I get into detail). My computer starts to get funky if I'm much above 3000 pixels so I tend to stay below that cutoff, although there's nothing really wrong with going as large as your computer can handle. You can download brushes in an assortment of sizes, or even edit your existing ones so you don't have to scale up much beyond 100%.

    tynic on
  • amateurhouramateurhour One day I'll be professionalhour The woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    tynic wrote: »
    I'm a bit confused, are you talking pixel size here?

    edit: oh, ok, I think I see what you're getting at. You mean you're scaling the image up roughly 10 times? Yeah, that's pretty big.

    I usually start close to 2000, though sometimes I'll rough things out around 1200 and then scale up when I have something I like (but well before I get into detail). My computer starts to get funky if I'm much above 3000 pixels so I tend to stay below that cutoff, although there's nothing really wrong with going as large as your computer can handle. You can download brushes in an assortment of sizes, or even edit your existing ones so you don't have to scale up much beyond 100%.

    Do you work at 300 or 600?

    amateurhour on
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  • OverlordOverlord Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    I'm looking at grabbing some sketching pencils and was wondering what are the best 5 grades (HB, B, F, etc.) to get? It's been awhile, and I can't really afford one of each so any recommendations would be appreciated.

    Overlord on
    sigsh.gif
  • tynictynic PICNIC BADASS Registered User, ClubPA regular
    edited May 2011
    tynic wrote: »
    I'm a bit confused, are you talking pixel size here?

    edit: oh, ok, I think I see what you're getting at. You mean you're scaling the image up roughly 10 times? Yeah, that's pretty big.

    I usually start close to 2000, though sometimes I'll rough things out around 1200 and then scale up when I have something I like (but well before I get into detail). My computer starts to get funky if I'm much above 3000 pixels so I tend to stay below that cutoff, although there's nothing really wrong with going as large as your computer can handle. You can download brushes in an assortment of sizes, or even edit your existing ones so you don't have to scale up much beyond 100%.

    Do you work at 300 or 600?

    300 or 600 what? dpi? dpi is irrelevant while you're actually painting. It only matters for printing or display. Actual canvas size (in pixels, not inches) is what is relevant.

    tynic on
  • BroloBrolo Broseidon Lord of the BroceanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Clients really do love saying they want things in "X" DPI though when it comes to online work.

    I always just smile politely at them and checkmark "make it real big" in my head.

    Brolo on
  • ScosglenScosglen Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    @amateurhour

    The problem with asking a question like "What DPI do you work at" is that you have no idea what physical dimensions the other person's document is set to, and unless you are specifically talking about printing things, it's a needlessly complicated way of asking "what resolution do you work at". If I tell you that I work at 3000x2000 pixels, then you have the absolute dimensions of my file. If I say I work at 150 dpi then you still don't know anything about how big the image is.

    Regarding your question, 4166x4166 is a pretty large image. What exactly is making "getting the brush size right" a bitch for you though? You change the master diameter and you can see right on your cursor how big the brush is.

    Scosglen on
  • squidbunnysquidbunny Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Chiming in: my comics pages, which I work at full size from scans, are fairly enormous [by my standards] at 3100ish x 4700ish. For something throwaway like speedpainting I don't think I really ever work any larger than maybe 1500x2000ish ... obviously depending on the aspect ratio. 4166x4166 is pretty damn huge.

    An image that's 2500x2000 is still 2500x2000 pixels whether the pixels are packed 72 to the inch or 600 to the inch. Brush sizes in PS are all in pixels.

    squidbunny on
    header_image_sm.jpg
  • JeckalHydeJeckalHyde Lord Awesome New ZealandRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    whats the best way of getting skin colours right?

    JeckalHyde on
  • The_Glad_HatterThe_Glad_Hatter One Sly Fox Underneath a Groovy HatRegistered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Overlord: it's kinda matter of preference, but if it's loose/ from life sketching that isn't going to be physically inked, people usually prefer softer pencils.
    i never ever use anything harder than HB, and i find that when i buy a case i wear down my 2B's and 4B's first. But again, a lot of it is just preference (i find 7B's or so too smudgy..)

    The_Glad_Hatter on
  • DirtyDirtyVagrantDirtyDirtyVagrant Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Let's say you've been commissioned for a 10x10 inch print of something-or-other.

    You've been asked to print it at 300dpi, pack it up, and ship it out.

    This image is going to be sized 3000x3000 pixels, yeah? I'm sorry if this is retarded, but I honestly don't know what kind of sorcery you people are up to sometimes.

    DirtyDirtyVagrant on
  • ChicoBlueChicoBlue Registered User regular
    edited May 2011
    Yes.

    There is a calculator and explanation thing here if you want to play around with sizes and learn more.

    ChicoBlue on
  • HonkHonk Honk is this poster. Registered User, __BANNED USERS regular
    edited May 2011
    If you use photoshop or illustrator you can just choose 10x10 inch dimensions and 300dpi when you create the document, and it will give you the correct working space in pixels.

    Honk on
    PSN: Honkalot
This discussion has been closed.