AgentGoodspeed

Thanks for your input, Pixey and Iron Iron's idea is what I have in mind. The thing is, this was just a two-color mockup to get my point across. The actual images I'm trying to blend are much more complicated composites. What the hay, here's one of the covers I'm working on. The old version had no banner but now I want to add some branding for the series. However, I don't like the amateurish dichotomy of simply having the banner slapped on top…

Thanks, EER, but when I try to do this it does the opposite of what I want. That's why I'm baffled… If you look at the image below on the right, the portion that's showing is that portion that I don't want shown. I want to fade/blend the top black layer in a crescent shape, in the middle. I tried cutting out that area and then blending only this new layer but the result was horrible, I still had the harsh cut from the original banner.

Sorry for the cryptic subject line, that's the only way I know how to describe what I want to do. Basically, I want to put a banner on top of a book cover but I want to fade it in with the image below. However, I don't want to do a linear gradient; I want to do a half circle of sorts. Bonus points if it's jaded. Ideally, I would use the radial gradient, but inverted, and I don't know how to make that happen. Let me see if I can illustrate my question… The pink area I'd want to fade out but not entirely delete. Thoughts?

I can't stop myself from copying your technique This is fast becoming my favorite plug-in. I do a lot of book covers for my thrillers so this works perfectly for the gritty look I like. My CIA logo above was done quickly and it's definitely not refined, but I see potential for similar designs.

I love the new version, a lot faster and more responsive! Thanks

Thank you so much for this tutorial! I had been playing with the plug-in these past few days but couldn't quite figure it out. The possibilities are endless

Works now, thanks

Dipstick, that is OUTSTANDING!

Good job! I don't know if it's a bug or I'm using it wrong but it even though I used the color picker, the color doesn't appear in the plug-in, it defaults to white.

Finally got it! And tweaking the maximum time limit slider has helped a lot to cut down on error messages. Thanks again guys!

Okay now I feel like an idiot because it's probably the ONE thing I didn't try Thanks, dude! I'll need to try this tomorrow...

Thanks, Red. I've been playing with objects only, no worries there. It's when the object touches the outer edge of the canvas that I'm getting the error message. For kicks, I downloaded the exact same PNG Harley-Davidson logo from above and I got the error message because it touched the outer edge. After I reduced it a little it worked. I've used this great plug-in in the past for text but I wanted to make some cool effects like Dipstick, especially the PDN way the ice texture above. I still can't figure it out though…

Me again. I tried restarting paint.net and to replicate the problem and I think I found what's wrong: It's when I try to use the Bevel Objects plug-in with a frame present that it wigs out. If I use it just on the text, no problems. But if I try it on the frame, either by itself or merged with the text layer, I get the error message. EDIT: I read the limitations on the previous page and now realize it's not a bug. Sorry. So now I guess I don't know how to do Dipstick sweet, sweet PDN engraving above

I tried several times to get the same engraved look as what Dipstick achieved with that PDN image and I couldn't do it until I decided to try it with a frame. Anyway, I think there is a bug of some sort, see attached image. This first occurred last night when I was working with a large image (2500 x 2500). Then I gave up because, you know, life. Tried again this morning with a smaller canvas and the bug returned. It seems to work the first few tries but after using Bevel Objects 3-4 times this is what happens. I'm using PDN 4.09 on a Windows 7 machine.

Dude, I think I just fell in love a little bit with you! Thanks for sharing and this has SO MUCH POTENTIAL for me

That is sweet, Dipstick! Would you mind sharing how you got to that effect, especially the carved-in look?

You could also just use Drop Shadow (don't remember if it's a plug-in or if it comes preinstalled, sorry). Play with the blur radius and widening radius to get best results.

Yes, I also do this sort of thing manually. For more intricate works, there are word clouds apps online one could use…

Just discovered this. Totally fulfills my needs. Thanks!

Wow! Wished I'd seen this earlier, before I started another project today

My preferred method to achieve this effect is to use Color Threshold. To get this result (which may or may not be what you're looking for) I: Cut out the background invert colors Color > Threshold, fiddling with the sliders then I added a black background. Duplicate layer apply gaussian blur to top layer reduce top layer opacity so it's not too blurry. Flatten

Was gonna reply with something jokey but as a writer that's an incredible link

Definitely! But hey, I always wondered what LSD did to people

I can confirm that, having tried something similar for a book cover, Rotate/Zoom is not really awesome for this purpose. Getting the angles right is HARD and then it distorts the size. You try to fix the size and the angle doesn't work anymore. Vicious circle of hell. Hypothesis #2: I suck at this which, according to Occam's Razor, is probably right on the money

Great result, Pixey! This actually occurred to me when I was lying in bed last night and felt stupid not to have thought of it sooner LOL