cjmcguinness

PrettyDarnNeat, You shouldn't be so hard on yourself, it's a brilliant effort; very good variation on the cards and the chips. I'm glad you learned a few things from this tut that hopefully you'll be able to use in future projects. I've always been of the opinion that you should try out as many tut's as you can, even if the final subject matter is not particularly what you are interested in, because there'll virtually always be an effect or technique employed that you didn't know of, or hadn't used before. The real trick is to be able to take the new techniques you learn; to use and adapt them to develop your own style and unique pieces of art. You were able to take the basic steps of the tut and change the final outcome by adding a light source and shadows very effectively - quite different from the reflections I used in the original. Your next challenge is to take what you have learned and start dazzling us with new and inventive pieces in the Pictorium. All the best, -CJ

Looks like I just experienced the same issue as TheSwimmer Exception details: System.TypeLoadException: Could not load type 'PaintDotNet.EventHandler`1' from assembly 'PaintDotNet.Core, Version=3.30.2980.33384, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null'. at PaintDotNet.ColorsForm.InitializeComponent() at PaintDotNet.ColorsForm..ctor() at pyrochild.effects.common.ColorsDialog..ctor(Boolean UseTwoColors) at pyrochild.effects.splatter.ConfigDialog.swatchColor_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.UserControl.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m) at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam) Full pdncrash log file is attatched... 20080301_pdncrash_Splatter.zip

OK, so this is not a bug (I've updated the title of the thread to reflect such) and is, in fact, by design. Does it not seem logical to assume that if the user has selected an area of the canvas then used Move Selection to refine the selected area that they would require the selection to be scaled according to the currently selected area's revised aspect ratio - that is certainly how I would expect the software to behave? I cannot conceive a case where I would want to make a selection, refine the size and shape of that selected area, then want to scale the newly selected area according to the aspect ratio of my original selection, or am I missing something blatantly obvious? Would you mind explaining the thought process behind your original design for this behaviour? Thanks - CJ

Check out the CG Painting tut. It's probably the closest thing you will get to this kind of tutorial.

I have had a quick search through the bug reports posted here and have not found this one logged, so I thought I'd bring it to your attention. The problem occurs when using any of the select tools (rectangle, lasso or ellipse), using the Move Selection tool to resize/reshape the selected area, then switching to the Move Selected Pixels tool and trying to scale the selection at a fixed ratio. Steps to reproduce: 1. Open up any picture on the background layer 2. Choose any select tool - such as Rectangle Select (the same issue applies to lasso and ellipse selections) 3. Select an area of the canvas 4. Choose the Move Selection tool and change the size/shape of the original selection 5. Switch to the Move Selected Pixels tool 6. Holding the SHIFT key and, using the left mouse button click on one of the corner nubs and try to scale the selection You will notice that the 'fixed ratio' of the scaling reverts back to the original selection shape/ratio, and not that of the resized selection This can be particularly annoying if you are trying to make a very accurate selection and use fixed ratio scaling, as you have to get your original selection exactly right. It would be very useful if you could use the selection tools to first select an area, then make use of the Move Selection tool to change the size/shape of the selected area in order to make an accurate selection, then be able to switch to the Move Selected Pixels tool and scale according to the ratio of the current selection, and not that of the original. Can this be changed in a future release of Paint.NET, please? Thanks - CJ Version: Paint.NET 3.22 Operating System: Windows XP Pro - SP2

Looking good so far. But I think you need to work on the shape of your pockets; the top ones don't look too bad, but the centre pockets and the bottom ones are a strange shape. You'll see from the diagram below what I mean - I made a basic rectangle and 6 circles for pockets, then used Rotate Zoom to the approximate angle of your table. This simulates the pocket shapes you should be looking to replicate. BTW - your wood texture for the surround is fantastic Looking forward to the next update. -CJ

In order to get over my disappointment at the release of the forthcoming J.J. Abrams helmed Star Trek film being delayed until May '09, I plunged myself headlong into making a film poster/wallpaper for the movie. Clickety-click to view and download the full 1440x900 wallpaper version. Unfortunately I can't lay claim to the render of the Enterprise, this is by a fantastic visual and special effects artist called Gabriel Koerner, and the mountain-scape is from the Paramount Pictures logo. The rest is pure PDN (I am particularly proud of the space background on this one, as space-scapes are not usually my thing.

I've updated my Real Car -> Toy Car Conversion tutorial to include using this plugin at the final stage, to pull all the separate pieces back together. Excellent job, Madjik.

I didn't include specific instructions for moving each of the separate parts back together in the original tutorial, as I assumed it would be something that could be figured out reasonably easily - just using the rectangle select tool to highlight the pieces, then dragging them back together. However, there's been a new plugin developed recently that makes the final process very quick and simple - Madjik's Gravity plugin. Simply run this plugin on the entire canvas and select the direction as 'Left' or 'Right', and the picture will be put back together. You can then highlight the transparent area with the Magic Wand tool, press CTRL+I to invert and the press CTRL+SHIFT+X to crop. I think I'll update the original tutorial with these final instructions, to make it (as you say) perfect. -CJ

The way I would do it is... Type the required text on a new layer, then use a combination of Rotate/Zoom and the Tube Oblique plugin. You can apply these effects in either order, for slightly different results. You end up with something like this...

Personally, I would use Adjustments > Hue & Saturation (CTRL+SHIFT+U). Try somewhere around... Hue -30, Saturation 50, Lightness -10 (just on the layer with the new face).

A simple option would be to use a text font for the callout's - such as Talk, from dafont.com. You can download and install the font, then when you open up PDN use the TEXT tool to place the desired callout where you want it - you can then create another layer and change to a different font to type the speech you want over it.

I was running out of time and, to be honest, struggling with this theme. Here's my entry...

Thanks for the tip CJ, being a master "glass blower" yourself. I wouldn't consider myself a 'master' by any means; I've just discovered this technique recently and am learning all the time. But thanks anyway for the compliment - looking forward to your next effort.

Looking good, you obviously figured out the Shape 3D settings no problem. It does, however, look somewhat 'cloudy'. Try toning down the contrast of the base image. Also, if you lower the opacity of the glass block and duplicate it, using curves and combinations of layer blend modes (color dodge or reflect) you might get a better result. Also, try putting some sort of background, something that will show off the glass and allow you to play with refractions (distortions through the glass). -CJ

There's a very simple Photoshop tutorial I found (a while back) for this; it can easily be done in Paint.NET Human to Zombie tutorial

An interesting Moire pattern I stumbled across when playing with Sine Waves effect. ^^ If you think your eyes can handle full 1600x1200 version then clickety-click ^^

Thanks for all the comments. As for a tutorial, I (and many others) requested similar from Ash a while back when he was posting fantastic glass/ice work. Ash was reluctant to post a tutorial, and I can now understand why. There is no hard and fast method; the effect can be achieved in many different ways - each of my three glass pieces, while using similar methods (Shape 3D), have started with a different base image and utilised varying combinations of effects, adjustments, layers, colours, curves and layer blend modes - it feel it would be quite difficult to produce a standardised tutorial. In a way, I'm kind of glad that there was no established tutorial for this. It forced me to work this out for myself. It's all about experimentation and practise, practise, practise. I'm really still learning this technique myself, each new piece teaches me something new. Perhaps further down the line when I've established some standardized method that produces consistent results I will write up a tutorial. -CJ

just saw that :shock: amazing, excellent job, its amazing Thanks guys, appreciate the comments.

Some more experimenting with glass textures...

I have uploaded the Curved Card and Poker Chip .xml files again; not sure what happened to the originals - they were definitely available before. You should download these attachments and extract the files; I usually put mine in a Shape 3D folder within the Paint.NET user files (located in My Documents). When you are using the Shape 3D plugin, click the XML option at the bottom and select 'Load'. You can now load the extracted .xml file with all the settings. -CJ

I assume you are referring to using the Align Object step in making the card. I should have mentioned in the tut, that before you use the Align Object effect, press CTRL+D to deselect the are you have just filled - this will align the object in the middle of the canvas. Hope this helps. -CJ

Here's another effort from me at making realistic glass - still not 100% happy, but I think it's better than the first. ^^ As always, clickety-click to view larger size and download the full 1600x1200 version ^^

Congrats, aile. Your entry certainly deserved it (got my one-and-only vote). I'm just delighted that the theme I chose inspired the PDN community and resulted in so many wonderful entries. -CJ