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This tutorial is available as a PDF. Click here to view or download it A few fellow forum members suggested I make a tutorial after giving shading tips on a different thread. No plug-ins needed. This will work on colored images as well to accent the highlights and shadows, but I tend to play with it the most on my sketches. First, start with your base image. Add a new layer for shadows and set the Blending Mode to Color Burn Add another layer for highlights and set the Blending Mode to Color Dodge Using a dark gray on the Dodge layer, color where you want highlights. The lighter the color, the brighter the highlight. If it looks too bright, try a darker color. Black will probably not show up at all. I like to lower the hardness of the brush to get a softer edge to help with blending later. If you want distinct highlights, you can try a harder brush. Using a light gray on the Burn layer, color where you want shadows. The darker the color, the deeper the shadows. Use Gaussian Blur to smooth out the shadows. Play with the slider to see what works best for your image. Do the same to the highlights. Using the eraser tool, clean up the edges of the highlights and shadows so they don't creep beyond the borders of your image. If you find a section that needs a bit more adjustment, you can color where needed, use the selection tool to choose just that area, and then blur again to smooth it out. Another option is to reduce the hardness of your brush and adjust the opacity to make it slightly transparent, if you want just a subtle change. And then, you're done! You can adjust the opacity of the Dodge and Burn layers if the highlights and shadows are too bright/dark. This same technique on a colored photo (done quickly for this tutorial, not because my daughter needed any dramatization to her face):

I've long since wanted to start learning German and I think ingwer's videos will be useful for listening practice. That way I can both review a plugin and learn a language, two for the price of one

Hello everyone . I am going to extend the SOTW#166 - Carnival/Circus to Saturday 29th April 1974 in the hope that we may get more entries. (Scooter, Scooter - where are you?) (Maximilian too )

Hello! Longtime lurker here. I suppose I should go introduce myself properly too. I have spent a good bit of time over the years reading, practicing tutorials, and just generally trying to learn as much about PDN as I can. Anyway...I just finished a piece I am really proud of and finally feel I have something to share. It's made with: Shapes 3D Yellowman's 3D Room tutorial Midora's Animated Image plugin Pixey's tutorial for Midora's plugin TR's Dodge and Burn Metalllize Here, my flickering fireplace! I plan to make this part of a much larger piece eventually, but right now I think I'll have some victory chocolate. Thanks to everyone, and especially Rick Brewster for creating my favorite software. Happy Halloween! --Dragon Additional:

BoltBait's Meme Maker Plugin v1.3 If you are using Paint.NET v3.5.11, Download here: MemeMaker13.zip (v1.3) Unzip this to your desktop and run the Install_MemeMaker.BAT file to install. If you are using paint.net v4.0.6+, Download here: BoltBait's Plugin Pack for paint.net v4.0.6+ (v1.3 with Shadow option) Once installed, you'll find this under the Effects > Photo > Meme Maker menu. Requirements: - Paint.NET 3.5.11 or higher - The font "IMPACT" must be installed on your system. It probably is as it comes standard with Windows. Versions: -1.3 Added shadow option -1.2 Fixed a bug when centering in a selection -1.1 Added separate size for each text, Added ability to use Primary/Secondary colors -1.0 Initial Release CodeLab source for v1.2

This plugin has been updated by @Pratyush. Find the new version here Updated 9/10/2011: Right, it turns out that the original plug-in is no longer compatible with PDN. I fixed it, and also decided to make it open-source! This way I can take contributions to improve this, and maybe it will also help improve other plug-ins with this sort of alpha handling. The code is only a few lines of code long, but it uses (*gasp!*) MATH! Check it out if you're the coder type. The attached zip file includes both the DLL and source code (which you can open with CodeLab). Original post: Hi there! Long time lurker, first time poster. PDN has been my favorite graphics tool for quite some time. There's the old problem of recovering alpha information lost in compositing, for example when you *ahem* borrow images from the web. Say, smooth edge pixels on a black background; you'd prefer if they were transparent. A few plugins are available, and they do OK 90% of the time, but they fall short in recovering the original color information... See, it's not enough to figure out the alpha channel. You also have to use it to change the colors so they will look good when compositing again. Otherwise, there would be a visible halo (the color of the background) around the edge. AFAIK this happens with all existing plugins to eliminate backgrounds. So, I decided to make this one. I've got some pictures to demonstrate the effect and illustrate what I mean about the color correction GrimColorReaper.zip

Well thanks Beta0, Maximillian and LionsDragon. I assume those guys in the printshop use pre-amde elements on their work cause they needed it done fast but there is no denying that Photoshop has an advantage with polished fonts. I am well capable of those font styles they use on PDN but it would be a little more crude I believe. But as a PDN artist, I start from scratch and I take pride in that. As of now, I havent come up with anything yet cause when he called me days ago, he told me that the list of participants are not even complete and final yet. And I need the list so I can fit them into the canvass and see what works best. I have an outdated digital camera, served me well for almost 6 years now and so I used it on another wedding event last Tuesday as an unofficial photographer when I later had a most hilarious moment at the hall with the bridesmaid who happen to have caught the flower bouquet with maybe 3 dozen people present. I have traced out selected flower images from the photography into PNGs that I plan to use on the card. @LionsDragon You are very right with vector graphics. They are well too smooth and fine for us to replicate on PDN. Their neatness is such a must have for design.

Plugins Used: - Bulletin Board Trim - Drop Shadow - Tube Oblique - Lines/Grid

@LionsDragon @Maximilian - I think I will make a tutorial. My first!

Nice technique, @hippiechos. I second LionsDragon above; it's a clever tute

@lynxster4, this is fantastic! Love the use of the rubber stamp tool.

@Pixey, gorgeous as ever! That would be some egg to find in an Easter basket!

Ishi, first of all your work is awesome. Second, I've done everything from wedding announcements (my own) to professional restaurant signs in PDN. The ONLY issue I've ever encountered was when I needed a vector image. *grimace* I have total faith in your ability to blow their minds. Congratulations to them btw!

Dear @lynxster4! WOW! I like the way you did this one. (Unfortunately, I'm late) Thank you so much.

Dear @Pixey! I really like it. It is great.

A spectacular design!!

Yummy eggs! Nom nom nom!

Delicious @lynxster4 . I want that red one on the top - yum

Happy Easter (a day late)! I like the speckled look you've got going on.

Oooo, it sure does. That reminds me of Sugar coated gumdrops.

@lovkal Here's a plugin for you. Let me know if it works well for you. Effects -> Color -> Lone Color Remover LoneColorRemover.zip

Don't feel bad, Ishi. Even supposing that your card isn't very polished, I say that a rustic card design has its own appeal as well. If I were to be wed, I'd like some rusticity in the cards. It would give the whole thing an unusual touch. Of course it very much depends on what your friend prefers, but you can always make your case and try to convince him to go with your design. In my humble opinion, there's too much elegance in weddings and wedding cards, so I'd go with one unpolished layout for a change ?

@Ishi Okay. Hmm... Better if you keep in touch with them about it and come to a decision. Just to be sure. *nods* It's normal to be discouraged. The Adobe Suite is considered a standard in many jobs related to Graphic Design, including the film industry. Said statement was repeated many times while studying at college, a time when I felt like the only person who had (and still has) programs that were not from the Adobe Suite (aside from a professor who encouraged the use of these programs.) But, after some observation, I understood that it's not the program (whether it's simple or complex, popular or somewhat underrated); it's the person who works with it. The person has knowledge through education, experience or both. This applies to the guys at the printshop, too. Also, here's a little extra. X] (None of those videos belong to me. Sorry if they seem out of topic.)

Very welcome! There are 114 free fonts by the same author if you want to pay a look at them: Free fonts by Roger White Edit: I've just found a font that may be of help for the filigree designs (Nymphette font). Alternatively, let's remember it's also possible to do swirly strokes with Red ochre's Flourish plugin.

Working great @toe_head2001 and many thanks for the plugin. Of course this dum-dum at first thought it did it automatically, until I realized one had to draw the circle and lines first .

How about this: Activate the Rectangle select tool (press S once) In the toolbar, set the selection mode to Fixed Size, then specify the height and width in the unit you desire (ref: https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/RectangleSelectionTool.html ) Click on the canvas to place the rectangle then use Backspace or Shift + Backspace to fill the rectangle with the Primary or Secondary color.

Name:Flourish Description:Renders double spiral shapes Keywords:Spirals, Archimedean spirals, Logarithmic spirals, f hole, treble clef, curve, calligraphy, tendril, leaf, swirls Menu: Render Original release date:5th February 2017 Author: Red ochre (John Robbins) .dll name: Flourish Compatability:Tested on Pdn 3.5.11 and Pdn 4.0.12 Now in my 10.1 pack Red ochre plugin pack V 10.1 Updated 12th Feb 2017 - added a control for how the width changes along the length - see screen shot below The examples below are probably better than any description I can give. There are some 'oddities' in the way Windows (G.D.I.+) fills and outlines shapes like this. If that is a problem reduce the width so that lines do not overlap and/or reduce the outline width. Please do post examples of images made using 'Flourish'.

Dear Red Ochre! Thank you so much for the plugin. or Sorry! 3x

I don't like when paint.net crashes. CodeLab ought to handle these type of exceptions, and display the exception message in the Errors pane. EDIT: oh yeah, CodeLab already does that (duh). CodeLab (and thus paint.net) is crashing, because the error tooltip in the editor is trying to get CompilerError information (error line, error column, ect) from that item in the Errors pane. Those types of exception errors don't have CompilerError information, so a null reference crash happens. Easy fix though. EDIT2: This was fixed in CodeLab v2.19.