Marilynx

Er, the comment link takes me back to this thread.

Some time ago, I had posted a comp file of a wolf -- black, grey and white. I needed the wolf to be rust and cream. Someone converted it, and it worked great for my mock-up. I finally got around to purchasing a full-sized version of the wolf, and I'm trying to make it look like this: But I don't know how. First thing I did was remove the black back drop to the wolf. Then I cut a copy of the edge of the wolf, split it into layers depending on angle, and fur-blurred it (Effects => Blurs => Furblur). I merged those back together and slid it under the original wolf, and merged down to give a less edge-cropped and more natural effect. I made a copy of that layer and turned one of them off. Selected color replacer from the tool bar. Selected black to be replaced and a rusty color to replace it with and got... a cream wolf with black markings. No matter what I do, I can't get the black markings to turn rust. The rest of the wolf goes dark and the black remains black. What am I doing wrong?

Got it. I like that installer. Much easier than unzipping everything, and then having to find the correct directory to copy them to, and worrying whether I got the right one the next time I fire up PDN.

Duly snagged, and donated. (Given how often I use Selection Bevel, I'd've donated more, BTW.) Just have to figure out how to update and install them. Are the file names the same? Do I just overwrite? Or do I have to find and remove the old files and then add the new ones?

Well, I have snagged a copy of them. Now I just have to figure out how to install them and update. Would have done this sooner except I was dealing with a root canal.

Except that they don't. I have eight layers, each with a hexagon at a slight angle to the layer below it. When I do the Bevel Selection on them, this is what I get. (Yes, I am saving between sequences.) https://imgur.com/ee3At4x

Heyla, I was playing with making some jewelry designs, and converting the "paint" to "metal" using Steps 5-12 of Barbieque's jewelry tutorial. It wasn't coming out. Then I noticed that when I set the colors in Bevel Selection, they did not look like solid colors -- they were faded out. I assume I've somehow done something wrong, but I've done this before without issue. This is what I see. https://imgur.com/a/rDN5Ntq I'm not sure how to get it back to solid color, which I think would solve my problem.

Me too. I was watching some of the other videos. I really wish the videographer had, in the comments, placed a list of the commands, because it can be hard to follow, especially when on a laptop with a smallish screen. I love watching the videos, though, because if something doesn't look right when I'm trying to do something, it usually means I missed a step.

Yup, that was the one I was looking for. Thank you. Now to go through it step by step and figure out what is actually being DONE.

Yup, I found that one, and it is an excellent one, but not QUITE what I was looking for. In fact, that was the first one that came up when searching.

Some time ago, I saw a tutorial on making a chain using Pyrochild's TRAIL plug-in. I remember that it involved stretching an oval, and then using transparent gradient to "disappear" the over and under bits of the chain links. I thought I had saved it. Can't find it. And can't duplicate it from memory. Can anyone point me to that tutorial? Many thanks....

To the best of my knowledge, PDN does not have a way to do this. That is why I always put text on a separate layer from anything else so that if I mess up and have to start over, ONLY the text has to be redone.

Eli's answer is great. I use it all the time for certain canvases, and also for a very complex Barn Hunt template or five. I would offer one addition: when you click on your template and open it, IMMEDIATELY do a save-as to whatever your new file's name will be. Otherwise, the next time you open a file with that template, you may find "something else," instead of a blank file.

Thanks to all for your comments. It gives me a bit to think about. (I suspect this thread could be closed now, since this Forum IS about PDN, not Windows.)

I'm using a laptop because it was handy when my last desktop's motherboard died. I have my favorite ergonomic keyboard and touchpad mouse hooked up to it. If I had the room, I'd have rather larger than the current 19" monitor.

I've actually been kicking around here for about two years. My experience with computers dates back to punch cards. On an IBM 1130. My first home computer was an Osborne One, a C/PM machine. 64K of RAM, two 183K 5.25 floppy discs, and a 52 character B&W CRT screen. Yes, we're here to discuss PDN -- and that's the basis of my question. Rick is actually the only person I've encountered who says "Everyone should upgrade to Win 10." So I was wondering why. With the exception of a DOS word processor which I keep around to access old files because I keep finding ones I need to access, everything I do is Windows based. The Mac really doesn't have anything which interests me, except Scrivener, and now that there's a Windows version of Scrivener, even that is a non-starter. I honestly can't speak to how far PDN has come. I've only been using it for two years. And then, you say that Win 10 is the only way to go. I have 16 GB of memory, 250 GB free on the current drive. A two terabyte solid state drive would be nice (although I haven't come across any larger than 500 GB), but do I actually need one?

And mine says I have 101, of which 25-30 are ones I need regularly -- the rest have to do with running printers or scanners, or Flash, or Adobe Acrobat... which I again need on a regular basis. When you've got a project due is NOT the time to be trying to get the scanner to scan, the printer to print, or to be fighting to transfer notes taken on a phone to the main computer. Plus, MS decides something I use regularly isn't necessary (like Card File) and makes it not work under a new version -- and I have to find a substitute and transfer years of data to it. To use the car analogy, my computer is a means of doing things. I expect it to do what the program says. I am not a mechanic, and I have no interest in tinkering under the hood, even though I am capable of doing so. (Yes, I've edited the register a time or two, but I don't like it.). I simply want to get in the car, stick the key in the ignition, start it, and drive. There needs to be a compelling reason for me to change vehicles. (Like having an idiot rear-end my perfectly good car and total it, as happened six weeks ago.)

Well, never had a black screen of death from previous editions of Windows on updates. Yet my co-author has been offline for two weeks because of a failed update which really screwed things up -- and she's not ignorant when it comes to a computer, being an IT person for an international company. Several other people I know had similar debacles. That's reason enough to be cautious, IMO, if you have a stable system under Win 7, not to go leaping for Win 10.

Yes, I will be reading over that excellent post from Josh Lamusga a few times, as well. I have known three people in the last couple of weeks who have had an update for Win 10 "black screen of death" their machine. One person's machine was down for two weeks. That's not something I can afford to have happen, which is another reason for hesitation. The other reason, of course, is all the time it takes to set up a new machine. I don't NEED a new machine, as such; this one is only four years old. I do regular critical backups. But I am not happy with the drop in productivity that getting a new machine entails. That's why I was wondering what the reasoning behind "everyone ought to upgrade to Win 10" was.

I would still be using an XP lap top if the video card hadn't died -- there's a piece of software which does not run under Win 7 or 10 which I miss. (Although the fact that a much-loved graphics program ALSO didn't work under Win 7 is what led me to search for something else, and it's how I found PDN, which does soooo much more than my old one.) Heck, if Word 6 could have handled long file names, I'd still be using it, because there were things I could do with it which cannot be done in later versions. I'll tell him. Whether he'll remember is another matter. He's a design engineer, used to having an IT department to "do that for him." As an IT department, I'm better than he is, but I'm not a programmer. That, for me, would be a reason for moving to Win 10, if only so I know what the heck he's snarling about when he has a problem -- I can tell him, "Click this, find that, then click the other item." What I hate is having to make a list of everything on a current computer, and then find the discs or files for them, and reinstall everything before the new machine works the way the old one did.

Those are valid points -- using modern hardware. The modern software... eh, they keep putting in bells and whistles which I don't need and which I'm not allowed to turn off or get rid of to give ME more space and speed. (Like my phone -- 3 GB of 16 taken up with a bunch of apps and "features" which I have no use for.) I sometimes think OS developers should be obliged to program for "640 K of RAM -- who could ever need more?" before being allowed to work with modern systems. Learn economy of programming, and not unnecessarily use memory and disc space just because they CAN. (One reason, I admit, I like PDN -- it does a bunch of really cool stuff without taking over tons of resources.) Security, I admit, is always a concern.

I get that you like Win 10 and don't want to switch back. Linux is of interest, but none of the programs I'm interested in run under it. It's basically irrelevant to this discussion. I don't like the ribbons in things like Word or WordPad. My husband spent three hours tonight swearing at his Win 10 machine because he can't find the settings the way he did on every other Win machine we've had. (My home computing dates back to an Osborne One with 64K of RAM and TWO 183K 5.25" floppy disc drives, plus a 52 character B&W CRT monitor.) I admit that better hardware support for modern computers is a very valuable plus. I also admit that MS's attempt to force Win 10 installations down everyone's throat really didn't impress me. (And I read about too many tragedies with the attempt destroying someone's previously properly running machine.) I'm potentially interested in Win 10, but only as a new installation on a new machine.

I'm wondering why you think Win 10 is easier to use than Win 7. It's cluttered over with all kinds of "Where do we want you to go today" garbage and very few ways to customize it to the way I, personally, work, the way I've done with Win 7.

Well, I am currently running Paint Dot Net under Win 7 Pro, and it works well. My current machine cannot upgrade to Win 10 which is a reason why I am considering a new machine. My question is -- what "bells and whistles" does it have that makes it desirable?

So. I am about due to get myself a new computer. Every writer I know hates Windows 10. My husband (who has a new computer with it) hates it. I've played with his computer, and I don't like the awkward interface. Yet I saw that PDN's creator thinks everyone should upgrade to it. And I'm wondering what the reasoning on this is -- pros and cons.