Marilynx

The problem with using two layers is that then I cannot use GLOW to blend the white center with the colored ring around it into a colored-and-white glowing ball.

I will take a look at what you suggest for removing backgrounds. Like I say, I've been tinkering with PDN for less than a month. (Have already sent in my donation!) I've been using a home computer since 1982 -- my first one was an Osborne 1. (64K of RAM! TWO 89K SSSD 5.25 floppies! (Later upgraded to two 198K SSDD floppies! A built in B&W 52 character wide screen that I would now need a magnifying glass to read! It was luggable!) I've been on line since 1987. I am virus paranoid. The only time we've had a virus in all those years (so far) was when my design engineer husband, who is used to having IT people to take care of stuff for him, didn't pay attention to warnings on a site. He now has his own computer, and is not touching mine! In any case, that sticky about Megalo virus and the warning on same was probably one of the first things I read in this Forum. All my plug-ins have come from this site. Now, back to background removal.... I was using the lasso to trace around stuff, and then discovered the magic wand and tolerances. I was doing a fast and dirty on this particular picture since, as I said, it was a low rez comp file from Fotolia which I wanted to work out my techniques on and then purchase the higher resolution one for the final layout. But since this particular technique (getting rid of backgrounds) is critical to every one of my projects, it's something I must master in as much detail as I can. I will read over the Grim Reaper and Cut Color plug-in information and see what I make of that. I will also read the thread you suggested, although not tomorrow. <grin> I have a Barn Hunt practice with a bouncing black and tan longhaired Dachshund who loves hunting. And I'm also nuts enough to be trying to write at least 50,000 words this month, which means 2000 a day. I am wholly self-taught when it comes to graphics. My first project was doing 8.5 x 11 maps in B&W, 300 dpi on a DOS/Win 3.1 computer with a whopping 4 MB (yes, MB, not GB) of memory. There were 45 of them, from scanned in maps. The only graphics program I had was Windows Paint. And on 3.1, that wasn't anything fancy at all! It took a BUNCH of work. I hope to revisit those maps one of these days with PDN and see how much better I can do! The attached is a rough of what I am aiming for. The gold eyes were done with Effects => Color => Color Flip/Rotate. I don't care for the way it came out. The red eyes were done with Effects => Color => and either Color Tint or Color Filter -- I don't remember which. I think Tint. They don't glow enough. Adding the red cast to the right-hand wolf was the same, but needs to be MUCH better -- most of the black need to be replaced with dark rust, the gray with rust, and the white with cream, as that particular wolf is described in the book as being "rust and cream" while the other wolf is a standard gray wolf. The photo is of Fairview Mountain in Banff, Alberta, Canada, and was taken by myself on a desperately overcast and snowy day. The DNA was created thanks to someone explaining to me how GLOW worked. I need to figure out how to get the lettering to show up better. But the shadowed lettering was courtesy of a tutorial in this Forum on shadows. I think it involved a tea set. I am about to go see if I can figure out how to install a paint palette. I tracked down a bunch of Hex codes for hair color, skin color, and eye color and want to assemble them in one easy-to-use palette. I already figured out, I think, how to do the plain text file (Using Notepad ++ which has the advange of numbered lines so I can make sure I don't go over 96 colors. PS: the Palette works.

Sure. This is the original file. It is a low-rez comp file from Fotolia. When I have my techniques down, I will purchase a high-rez copy of this.

Skin texture brushes? What are those? Where do I find them? How do I install them? And where do I find the smudge?

Thank you for the detailed information. Steps, links, etc. It's all very helpful to someone who has been using PDN for less than a month. And who hasn't yet found where everything is. The first thing I always do is hit F1, but I'm finding that the descriptions of what the tools do and how to apply them have a large number of assumptions as to one's level of knowledge in terms of being a digital artist. I do have Red Ochre's plug-in pack installed, although it appears that I have Version 1 of the Colour Replacer, and there may be a later version. I attach one of the pictures I am currently working with. I think I have cleared out the backdrop from this Fotolia wolf. If I can get things to work out, I will buy a high rez copy and treat it the same way. I want to have this one's eyes glowing golden: you know, the kind of shiny green-gold that a cat's eyes show when a flashlight is pointed at them on a dark night? Only golden, with the features of a wolf's eyes in them. The coat I will leave as a gray wolf. I then want to take a mirror-image of this (no point in uploading two copies!) and have the eyes glowing red, and the coat rust and cream. I'm getting an idea of how I may be able to do this using the Magic Wand and the color tint. Just to save my sanity, I may have to make a palette of those hair colors. I wonder if there's a similar set of codes for eye color? Or should that be, colour? I was looking at some of the palettes, and it appears that one can create a palette in a basic text file. I just have to figure out how to install it. And how to swap between palettes. I did find this thread on palettes. One thing I find very frustrating about all the plug-ins is that someone says, "Hey, I have a plug-in which does X!" and then the messages below that say, "Oh, wow, neat! Look what I did with it!" and no one, not even the creator, ever explains what each parameter is, and how to use it for us ignorant newbies.

However, I have another issue with the color replacer. I have a picture of a wolf -- this is a comp image from Fotolia, which I will purchase if I can get things to work out. I plan to mirror image it. One wolf is a standard gray wolf. The other needs to be a cream and rust wolf. Most of the gray and black needs to go to shades of rust. I have NO idea how to go about this, because all my experiments with color replacer do not turn the apple blue when it is red. This looks like a potentially useful starting point for colors. http://jillienedesigns.blogspot.com/2013/08/rgb-codes.html Another site for hair colors: http://www.collectedwebs.com/art/colors/hair/ And this looks like a useful one for dog fur coat colors. http://www.dogsindepth.com/overview/dog_coat_color_chart.html From this, it might seem that for the rust and cream, I might want to use a combination of Pale Golden Blonde (229, 200, 168), Strawberry Blonde (165, 137, 70), and Light Auburn (145, 86, 61), Darker accents might be Dark Auburn (83, 61, 53),. The only problem is that these colors seem to me to be too brown for a proper rust. (Pale Golden Blonde might make the cream color.)

Tried that. I can't sample and then change the size of the brush as far as I can tell. Never mind. I found a way around that on this particular project. A plain white DNA ended up giving the best effect.

First, I will acknowledge that it can be easy to drive me crazy. I have the bad habit of trying to think PDN is my old PhotoFinish, and it isn't. It is more than that... and less. In PF, I could select a primary color and a secondary color, and then set my brush size and replace all of the Primary color with the Secondary color. I don't seem to be able to do that in PDN. I looked at the directions for Recolor Tool. I can get SOME of the primary color to replace, but not all. AND, I cannot use a small brush size to select, and then switch to a larger brush size to cover large areas. This is really annoying, because I have worked out a DNA pattern which I plan to "glow," but it is made of an outer ring of one color and an inner dot of white. It comes up very cool when "glowed." But... I want to do this with green, red, and blue outer rings, and I thought it would be simple to use the color replace tool to do it. It isn't.

Yes, now if I just knew what I did for the first effect, where the entire picture is slightly faded / blurred. It has to be one of the origina effects or plug-ins because I hadn't yet figured out how to install plug-in packs.

It's gremlins, I tell ya! Gremlins! I did actually check that to make sure the layers I needed were checked, and the ones I didn't weren't. And it was all correct. So of course, having asked for assistance, this time, it worked. This is a cool effect, and I can think of uses for it. But it's NOT the one I used (and don't remember what I did) for the Slipping cover. Grr.....

Okay... I am new to PDN. This plug in was recommended to me as a possibility for creating a DNA helix. I got it installed. I pull it up... and I don't understand ANY of it. I don't know what the controls do. I looked at the thread, and there's some great stuff that can be done with it, but... how? What do each of the controls DO?

Limon, I finally got a chance to sit down and try this. I must be doing something wrong, because although I change the gradient to Transparency, absolutely nothing happens. The picture looks exactly the same as it did before I started. (First thing I checked was to be sure I was on the correct layer!)

Ah. That explains why I couldn't find it under the standard Effects. I was going nuts, looking at each submenu, trying to find the darn thing. Will play with it. Lotta plug-ins in that pack!

Eli, I was going to play with that lovely effect and the dots... except I can't seem to find Highlight. I did find GLOW under Effects => Photo => Glow.

Yes, I have experienced the vagaries of the Universe. It's like something we call the House Invisibility Spell. Whatever you are looking for WILL be hidden from you by the gremlins, until you ask someone for help. At which point, the invisibility spell is removed, and the person you asked for assistance says, "What do you mean, you can't find it? It's right here!" and you hear the gremlins giggling in the back ground... (This also applies to that file you know you put in a SAFE directory....) Okay, #2 explains why I was having a problem, because I was trying to do the gradient on a separate layer. The reason is that lower 20% or so of the design is gradient, the mountain & lake occupy the next 40-50%, and then the remaining upper 30-40% is gradient. What this accomplished was to give me a place to put the author names under the mountain & lake, have the lake not-quite in the middle, and the title above. (See attached Slipping_Clip01.jpg) When I figure out how to do the DNA strand, I plan to add another layer... and I believe I will leave out the hand, and have the DNA rising out of the lake / gradient and glowing in front of the mountain, up to the dark line of the gradient above. I had somewhat wanted the hand there, because it has elements of the Lady of the Lake, a la Arthurian legend, but I think just the DNA will work. DNA strand and hand clipped from a comp file for the above referenced Fotolia picture.

Well, that figures... Windoze decided I needed an upgrade, and restarted the computer on me. So, no history. Oh, it's quite family friendly. A mountain and lake, a gradient, and a couple of borrowed DNA strands which I would prefer to create for myself -- just wanted to see if my idea would work before I went to the trouble. If I can get it to work out, it will be the cover for an e-book. The book itself has one mild scene which might be deemed unfriendly, but I'm not uploading that. I will, however, remember that the history lasts until PDN is closed for next time. Let's see... I know I need Photobucket or some such to have pix show in a message. (Checking options) Ah. Looks like I can attach a file to the message. However, thanks to Limon's directions, I seem to have reconstructed what I did. Now on to trying to create the glowing strand of DNA which needs to be darker at the top than at the glowing bottom. Have part of that (the glowing part) thanks to Eli.

Okay, that glow effect is precisely what I wanted for my DNA. I have to go to dog class, but I'm going to tinker with this when I get back. Thank you. (Now to make the DNA....) Thank you.

Okay, let me make sure I understand what you are saying. First, I am making a copy of my picture so that if I totally screw things up, and I can still have the one that I like available. (Yes, I know I can Ctrl-Z back, but... always remember, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean the universe isn't out to get you.) Second, are you saying to do the gradient on the same layer as the mountain picture? Or on a separate layer? Third, when I change the layer to Transparent, I can't seem to do a gradient. All I have are the transparency squares. (Speaking of which, I know I read somewhere how to turn those off temporarily, and I cannot remember where.) Okay, I got the gradient. Sort of. Problem is, it's white and teal, not black and teal. (Yes, I do have the primary and secondary colors set correctly.) I did figure out how I got my earlier gradient, and that was by setting it to "Glow." Now if I can duplicate it.....

Well, this is interesting. I've created a picture effect for a possible book cover. I like it a bunch. (Some of the effects in PDN are amazing. I'm really enjoying working on layers.) Only, since I was just playing around, I have NO earthly idea what I did to a couple of layers to achieve the effect I like, and I can't seem to duplicate it. (Someone remind me to keep a notebook file open and write down each step I do when experimenting!) Is there a way to deconstruct a picture? Layer one is teal. Layer 2 is a diagonal gradient between teal and black. Layer 3 is a cut-out of a photo of a mountain and a lake (Storm Mountain in Banff Nat'l Park), taken by a friend of mine, which I sort-of faded back a bit -- the result was that the lake looks like it it is flowing out into the teal part of the gradient, which was what I hoped for, since the teal was color-picked from the lake color. My problem is that I don't know what effect or tool I used for the fade, because the one I have is opaque to the gradient layer, and when I try to duplicate the effect, it's transparent. Layer 4, if I can do it, will relate to the below: I want to create something similar to this Fotolia royalty free picture, except, I don't want a dark background What I want is a transparent background except for the glowing part of the DNA. I am specifically after the hand with the glowing DNA balanced on it, although I would like the have an additional spiral or two to the DNA. The rest of the picture is quite irrelevant. Thanks in advance for any assistance.

True. That's both the joy and the frustration of a user-supported piece of software. Incredibly flexible, and also incredibly frustrating.

I understand the first two items -- but realize that NONE of this is in how to install plug-ins. Not one word about additional files going in the same directory. There is mention of File type and Effect type and placing them in their respective directories, but not how to tell which is which or what to do with supporting files. The Plug-In Index has the information about each plug-in which I, personally, feel should be on the individual plug-in page when one clicks through from a tutorial to get that plug-in. I'm heading into Day Three of Fiddling With Plug-Ins and have yet to try ANY tutorials.

Ergo, a plug-in which is in Paint.NET Forum → Paint.NET → Plugins - Publishing ONLY! is automatically an EFFECTs plug-in, since it does not say File Type? It makes perfect sense -- but this ISN'T mentioned (yet) in the directions for DL and installing plug-ins at http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/InstallPlugins.html And, what about the .PDB file included in the Ed Harvey zip file? Where does it go? I assume the .dll file for this is also an EFFECTs file, since it is in Paint.NET Forum → Paint.NET → Plugins - Publishing ONLY! → Plugin Packs and says nothing about File Type?

Yep... now, trying to find the specific plug-ins called for in a tutorial, and determining if it is a file or an effect type.... Like that Alpha thingie for the concrete effect tutorial... and what about the other files included in various zips? Where do they go?

Just a thought which occurred to me. I am not familiar with the particular software used in the Forum, but I did note (and find interesting) the feature for "hidden content." Would it be possible to use that to include the probably repetitive basics on the pages so that those individuals who NEED them can find them on the same page (instead of having to jump all over the place), but those who are of slightly more moderate, or advanced skills can simply skip over the hidden basics to the information they want? GIven the number of plug-ins available, it could be a bear to modify all descriptions to say "Put this one in the X Directory after you unpack it," for instance. However, the complete list of plug-ins might be modified relatively easily, to provide a place to look for this information until additional information can be put in place. (I say "relatively" because I know it means some volunteer is going to be a whole bunch of work.) Just a thought.

I've learned that assumptions can, as is sometimes said, make an equine out of U and ME. I was working on a project which was set in 1907. I was delighted to find Baedecker guides for the areas in question, figuring this would give me the information I needed. No... those guides were written with the assumption that the person reading them had the same cultural and educational background as the writer, and a whole lot more research was needed to be able to use them. In the meantime, I have been browsing the pictorium and I am just STUNNED at some of the things which can be done with PAINT.NET. I have a project coming up which has to be finished by 30 November, but I really do intend to work my way through the tutorials, and then see if I can start getting some of my Images on screen. I have no qualms about asking questions!