Marilynx
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Posts posted by Marilynx
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7 hours ago, AndrewDavid said:
Hi @Marilynx
I remember that series from many years ago. I remember enjoying them as much as John Carter of Mars,The Land of Xanth series, and of course Lord of the Rings. Hope you don't run out of memory for your project this time. This is the kind of project I like working on to keep me busy, Enjoy the task (kind of like a puzzle). Because your original files are PCX, it should make segregating into layers very easy.
Do you not know about web hosting sites that you can upload your images to?
Edgar Rice Burroughs and Andre Norton were two of my earliest authors to read. I found Xanth much later, and enjoyed the puns -- although I think his earlier books in the series were better. Interestingly, my oncologist learned to speak English by reading Tolkien, and we used to discuss Hobbits while she was doing all sorts of horrible things to me. (I have been cancer-free since 2013, thank goodness.)
I know about hosting sites, but got burned by Photobucket, and haven't tried any others.
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8 hours ago, Ego Eram Reputo said:
That is an awesome story! Thank you for sharing it and the images with us. To be honest - I'm a bit gob-smacked 😲
I love making maps too. I create them for roleplaying games.
Anne was our friend for 33 years. We never knew what might turn up on our doorstep, from a manuscript she wanted checked for continuity to the book she dedicated to us, an Arthurian YA called Black Horses for the King. (If you want to know something about Dark Ages farriary (horseshoeing), that's a good book for it. Anne ran a farrier's school for awhile, in her copious quantities of spare time.
I'm going to be hunting through the various features of PDN for ways to do mountains and show forestlands and things like that. I'm sure there's stuff there that will do it.
I've considered using the clone tool and finding pieces off Google Maps that I could clone into place, but I'd rather do originals.
I'd love to see some of your roleplaying maps. What games do you play? (And I bet you are familiar with the Cartographer's Guild, https://www.cartographersguild.com/ , yes?)
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Okay....
If you are not a science fiction afficianado, this will make no sense. Anne McCaffrey, author of the Dragonriders of Pern(tm) series was a very dear friend of mine and my husband's. I used to run a fan organization.
In 1987, Annie stayed with us the week before a convention. In that time, our house was decorated in "Early Pern" with maps and things all over the walls. Annie studied one of them, and said, "What's this?" And we said, "It's a Threadfall Map -- to help us track when and where Thread falls." (Thread is the main menace in the series.) And she nodded sagely, and we went on to have the convention.
Anne had mentioned she was working on the next book on the series, which told how the planet, Pern, was settled, and how the Dragons came to be developed as a renewable air force against the Threads.
A couple weeks after the convention, I got an email from her. "Hi. I have just dropped Thread on the unsuspecting site of First Landing. Now to you all. When and where does it fall next?"
And we said, "GLEEP!" because we had no idea... we hadn't finished the charts yet. I wrote back, "Uhm, where do you need it to fall for your story purposes, and we'll come up with a justification." And she said, "No, I liked the charts I saw at FenFaire. Dragonsdawn will conform to your charts." And we said, "GLEEP!" because my poor suitcase-sized Osborne One (64K of RAM! TWO 183K SSDD 5.25" floppy drives!) was not up to that level of computing. So I borrowed my Mom's Toshiba 1100+ laptop (640K of RAM (who could ever need more?) and two 720K 3.5" floppy drives, and borrowed a copy of Lotus 1-2-3 from a developer friend, and started calculating. My husband figured out the formula. We discovered 640K of RAM was not enough. So the calculations had to be done one column at a time, transfer the formula to the next column, tell it to work, set a timer for 4 minutes, pick up book, and read. Timer goes BING, move formula to next column and repeat. There were 365 columns.
Once the calculations were done, I had to translate them into something readable by a non-engineer. A friend drew the map of Pern, including the 10 time zones that weren't shown in The Atlas of Pern, after my geologist Dad helped us figure out what should be there. An oceanographer friend helped us sort out where the oceanic currents would be. I later reduced the map and scanned it, and cleaned it up using Windows Paint. We had sixteen overlays for this map which showed where all the Threadfalls would be. And I created, from Harry's calculations, an ephemeris, so that Anne simply had to select the date she wanted, check the ephemeris, which told her which map to look at, and gave the times of the Falls in local time and Benden Weyr (residence of the Heroes) time.
Several years later, I colorized the map, using PhotoFinish, which was a major improvement on Paint, but everything was still on a single layer, which made edits or changes a royal pain.
So it occurred to me a bit ago, that pulling it into PDN and separating everything out into layers could be useful. Land on one layer, oceans on another, lettering on a third, ocean currents on a fourth, latitude and longitude lines on a fifth, and so forth. It's a bit of a bear.
Which is what I am working on now. When I get it separated out, and neatened up, then I want to look at putting in all the mountains and other landforms. And then I plan to do a flattened version, trim off the extra bits, and turn it into a globe with Shape 3D.
This is the original colorized version, from a PCX file, which I had to reduce to 35% of size in order for it to upload. Also reduced a B&W overlay of the Thread.
The PCX converter appears to work very nicely.
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On 5/16/2021 at 9:53 PM, Ego Eram Reputo said:
Show us one @Marilynx. Go on.......
What, show you a PCX file?
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Thank you! I did search, but.....
Uh, which folder does it go in? I'm spoiled by the lovely installer on your pack!
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When I first started doing computer graphics, the program I had saved in .PCX format. I have gazillions of pieces of artwork in .PCX that I would like to pull into Paint Dot Net. Because obviously, one can do SO much more with PDN than with a program which ran under DOS and used only 4 MB memory! (Hey, and the computer I was doing them on had a positively HUGE 20 MB (yes MB, not GB!) hard drive!)
Any chance of this?
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Well, got to play with Creative Text a little.
I think I used Rust 2, and then played with the color a bit to get a kind of purple-grey for the rats.
The RATCHX4 came up kind of neat.
I did add shadows to the Dachshund and the Rat, but not in Creative Text.
I don't quite understand how the colorization works... I can't seem to get a good royal blue for the circles -- and also couldn't get a good purple.
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3 hours ago, AndrewDavid said:
Have you tried Boltbait's Creative Text Pro+
Here's an example I created
I really like the way the ratties stand out from the backdrop. The problem with the gold and silver is that I am trying to stick with blue and purple. In canine conformation, the blue ribbon signifies a win in one's class, and a purple ribbon is the winner of the non-specialty dogs.
I have installed Boltbait's latest Pack, but have not yet had a chance to play with Creative Text Pro+, because I don't remember where it IS.
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1 hour ago, ardneh said:
After removing the white background, duplicated the layer,
made the lower layer black using the Silhouette Plus plugin.
Then Gaussian blur and moved the shadow down and to the right with the
Move Selected Pixels tool and the arrow keys.
Ah, the two layers for a shadow, as opposed to using object => drop shadow!
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28 minutes ago, ardneh said:
And of course, to use Bevel Object on the blue rings they will need to be on an otherwise transparent layer also.
You can make things stand out more by adding a drop shadow.
My base layer is white.
The Dachshund is on the next layer.
The blue rings are on the third layer.
Badger Rat is on the fourth layer.
The lettering is on the fifth layer.
The Ratties are on the sixth layer.
I like the effect on the Dachshund and Badger Rat. How did you do that?
I like the 3D effect on the lettering, but it does kind of blur the lettering, and fades it out, as well.
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Pixey,
I did have the rat on a separate transparent layer. What I wasn't doing was the Gaussian blur and AA before beveling. Thanks. That looks better.
This is what I now have... moved the rats over a bit. This is a lower rez version.
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Master Harper FINALLY got his Master Barn Hunt Champion X4 title.
Between Covid and sheer bad luck, the title he should have had last year this time is finally his.
I always do a plaque to put on a magnet on our car for his title. The last time I brought this up, it was suggested that I go with a simple double ring (beveled) and silhouette rats (also beveled) or in some way made to stand out for the title number, as opposed to doing multiple rings like I had been doing.
I can't seem to get the blue rings to bevel this time. And the rats don't stand out the way I would like. Obviously, my brain is fried, or I am doing something else wrong.
Showing the design itself, and the larger silhouette rat:
Any thoughts?
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5 hours ago, BoltBait said:
You could copy over your Shapes, Effects and FileTypes folders, but I recommend downloading new copies of all your favorite plugins.
This way, you only download the stuff you actually use. Plus, you get any updates that have been posted since you originally installed those plugins.
For example, if you are a fan of my plugins, I just this week posted an update to my plugin pack with bug fixes and new effects you might miss if you copy across instead of download new.
BoltBait, oh, I am definitely a fan of your plug-ins. In fact, I forgot I had donated to support them, and tried to donate a second time!
Yes, probably best to sort through, and see what I am actually using. While I try to figure out why OneNote won't log in so I can sync all my notes between phone, tablet and computer. An opportunity to see exactly what I need to tell Barn Hunters they need to install.
I was just hoping there was an easier way. Reinstalling the world when you get a new computer is not entertaining.
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So my windows 10 computer finally arrived (after a 2 week detour through either FedEx warehouses or one of my neighbors).
I am now "reinstalling the World" as is said.
PDN is installed and a small donation monthly made.
VERY obvious that I have added loads of stuff to the copy I have on the Win 7 machine.
Is there an easy way to sync the two copies?
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Great. Thank you. I spoke with a salesman today and he's getting back to me with a quote tomorrow. Then it'll take a month or so to build -- and then I have to get the new machine up to speed. In the meantime.... I have things to do with PDN!
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Question: does this fix still work with Win 7 Pro?
I will have a Win 10 machine soon. In fact, I planned for it last year this time. Had the money saved up, and then my husband wrecked his car. Three times. (I won't let him drive any more.) Got the money put together again, and he had medical stuff with a lousy great co-pay. I now have managed to put the funds together again, and have picked out the machine I want. Should be ordering it in a day or two. BUt I don't want to mess up my current set up with PDN.
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On 3/3/2020 at 8:35 AM, Pixey said:
Hi @Marilynx as @Rick Brewster often says, if one doesn't have the most recent version of Paint.net, then it's difficult to work out why older versions are giving trouble. Are you using the latest version on your computer?
And, are you talking about when you first open PDN and go to New. Can't you just type in the measurements like this:
The version I have is 4.2.1.
The way you are talking about is how I have always done it. Just select the old setting and type in the new.
This time, when I selected 800, and started to type 2400, it dropped to 799 and would not take what I was typing in. I could tap the up arrow and get back to 800 and then further up. But I could not do it the way I normally did.
I have now closed PDN and reopened it. It is now apparently behaving the way it should. Which suits me fine. But I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why the other error occurred.
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OK, just got back from a Barn Hunt.
Booted up my computer (sorry, it's still WIn 7 Pro -- I won't do the update on IT because I have programs that, as far as I know, won't run under Win 10. As soon as I can afford to, I'll be getting a new machine. I had saved up for it and then my husband wrecked his car and we had to shell out $6000 for repairs. So I have to save up again.).
Started PDN.
I am apparently no longer permitted to create anything other than 800 x 600 and a resolution of 96.
Or more correctly, I am not allowed to select 800 and change it to 2400 (typing anything while 800 is selected results in 799). I can get there by clicking or clicking and holding the little up arrow next to it, but that's a pain in butt.
Ditto for 600 to 3000.
Ditto for the resolution.
This may seem minor, but it's a waste of time having to hold the stupid mouse button down like that when I used to be able to select, type, and go. Takes much longer.
What gives?
I typically use resolution 300 and 2400 x 3000 for the images for all my Barn Hunt stuff. And I do a LOT of Barn Hunt stuff. So this is, for me, critical.
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22 hours ago, toe_head2001 said:
You must be using the ones in the Layers menu; rather than the ones in the Effects menu.
Yes, I was. Which was why I asked where Boltbait's version was. I do note that you can't use selecting only the item and then flip it. You have to have an area around the item selected, also.
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5 minutes ago, toe_head2001 said:
Unless you have an active selection.
Unless something has changed, it still flips the whole layer, even with active selection.
(Verifying). Yup, even with an active selection, it flips the whole layer.
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53 minutes ago, toe_head2001 said:
There are two items directly in the Effects menu:
- Flip Horizantal
- Flip Vertical
Those flip the whole layer. Many times, I just want to flip a single piece of an image. Right now I am using the method I described above: I select the item, copy it to a temporary layer, then use either Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical to get the orientation I want, then copy it back to the original layer and erase my temporary layer.
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21 hours ago, BoltBait said:
Install my plugin pack. It comes with a flip plugin.
I believe I have your plug-in pack because I use "bevel selection" all the time.
Where would I look for "flip selection"?
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Just wondering if it is possible to select a part of an image and then flip it, either horizontally or vertically, on the same layer?
I've been copying the item I want to flip to a temporary layer, then flipping the layer, re-selecting the item and copying it back to my original layer, and then deleting the temporary layer.
Is there an easier way?
Is There a .PCX Conversion?
in Paint.NET Discussion and Questions
Posted
Yep! I already have Planetoid as part of my plug-ins but have not had reason to seriously play with it.
I will have to dig out my Atlas of Pern to see what mountains are where and what forests, etc.
I haven't checked -- do you know if there are any tutorials for using Planetoid? Some of you folks have an almost instintive knowledge of how to use some of these more complex plug-ins. I fear I'm not that good.
BTW -- please restore the copyright info to the map you tinkered with -- I have always been extremely careful about Anne's copyrights. Even if she is deceased.