Djisves

That's good to know. I can wait.

I was having the exact same problem when, after the latest forum change, my avatar disappeared. I tried a few times before I realised that my only options were Gravatar and No Avatar. Because I do not like to create new accounts left and right and (more so) because I do not like to be forced into things, I chose No Avatar. Shame really but I have to respect the way the administrators want to run their own forum.

Excellent! Thank you Martin for the plugin and thank you midora for letting us know. I'll play with this one over the next few days.

Hip, hip...

Not adding anything to what more knowledgeable members have written above, I’ll try to explain it in a bit more detail, using screenshots. It’s always better to work with images bigger than your final target and then resize down by 50% or even 25% for your final graphic. This usually helps smooth out any jaggies or rough edges. So, the screenshots inside the spoiler will guide you to create trapezoid navigation buttons at double the size you need. No plugins are needed and all tools are assumed to be default settings when you click on them for the first time. So, it may be worth your while to close Paint.NET, open it again and start working straight on your buttons.

Once again, good job EER. Ι'd be lost without your index.

If you need to convert your font format for whatever reason, you can use Free Online Font Converter. Somebody posted this link on this forum some time ago and I've kept it just in case. I've tried it and it works fine.

A clever way to use alpha mask. Thank you.

I can smell a feature request just around the corner... "Repeat Last Adjustment", perhaps? I know I'm off-topic but I wanted to comment.

If you can and/or want to use the example image, use the Color Balance plugin found in BoltBait's Plugin Pack.

The method welsblue describes is the recommended way of doing things and I use it a lot for more complicated graphics. In this case I'd fill the eclipse with black, cut off the bottom part, add another black rectangle to match the text rectangle and use that layer as an alpha mask. However, I also use another way of doing things that suits this image well. It’s kind of the opposite of an alpha mask. (In the example above, the bottom two layers are not really necessary. It’s just my own way of making sure I keep a copy of the original image and use a high contrast background to check for rough edges) 1. Set your primary colour to white 2. Use the Grim Color Reaper plugin by Jotaf to remove all the white 3. On a new layer above, use the Eclipse tool holding the shift key to draw a perfect circle as close to the original 4. Use the Move Selected Pixels tools to fine-tune your circle in place and fill it with white (hit the Backspace button on the keyboard) 5. Use the Rectangle Select tool to select the cut-off part at the bottom of the white circle and press the Delete button on the keyboard. 6. Using the Rectangle Select tool, select rectangular area just inside the bottom “sky sports” rectangle. Make sure it covers all the text. Fill the rectangle with white (Backspace button again) 7. Move the top layer below the reaped layer and merge the two layers.

No, it does not. I'm greatful you are. Thank you.

I was under the impression that Britain (however great or little) is the island east of Ireland. The "collective name for Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ingerland" is the UK. Hence the official name: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

You have the right idea, i.e. working with layers. You just have to take it one step further. Use the Eclipse tool to trace each circle on a separate layer. (Remember that when using the eclipse tool, holdind down the shift key while dragging the mouse will draw a perfect circle). One new layer for each circle. Then, use the Move tool on the same layer to fine tune your circle. Unlike the Line tool, you cannot change the line thickness after you use the Eclipse tool. A way around this is to set yout brush width slighly less than you think you'll need and then add thinkness accordingly using the Outline Object plugin. Do this on a new layer for all the circles and anything else you need to trace. After you have finished tracing all the circles and whatever else, merge :MergeLayerDown: all your trace layers.

Thank you Red ochre. Being able to play with different algorithms in addition to colour tolerance will certainly make life easier for a lot of users. The "keep unaltered" selection option is brilliant too.

Thank you null54... and into my effects folder it goes...

Great! Thank you very much Ed. I already see myself using the hexagon pixelation. One question: What's the pdb file for? I haven't seen it in your previous releases, there is no previous version in my effects folder and I can find no mention of it in this thread.

If you haven't already, download and install the Align Object Plugin. Set the primary colour to what you want the outline colour to be, and the secondary colour to what you want the fill colour to be. Add a new layer above you map. Let's call it "layer 2". Select the Brush tool, set the brush width to 30, click once on layer 2. This will draw a perfect circle, 30 pixels in diameter, in the colour of your primary colour. Use the Align Object plugin to centre the circle on the canvas. Add a new layer above layer 2. Let’s call it "layer 3". Depending on your preferred circle outline width, set your brush size to a width smaller than 30. For example, a new brush width of 20 pixels will leave an out line of (30-20)/2=5 pixels. Right-click once on layer 3. This will draw a perfect circle in a diameter as per your brush width, in the colour of your secondary colour. Use the Align Object plugin to centre the circle on the canvas. You should now see one circle with outline, in the colours of your choice, 30 pixels in diameter, in the centre of your image. Merge layer 3 down into layer 2. You should now have your complete circle, outline and all, on layer 2 above your map layer. (Like minners71 advised above…) Duplicate your circle layer (layer 2) as many times as you need circles on your map. Use the Move tool to move each circle in the desired position on the map. Save your work as a *.pdn file to preserve the layers and be able to re-visit and edit in the future. Flatten the image and save your new map with the tour stops in the image format of your choice (*.png is recommended by the gurus of this forum). [Edit: Fixed line spacing]

I apologise. I should have pointed out that you need to select your picture layer (jusy just click on it in the Layers window) before you apply the transparent gradient. Always remember that any tools and effects you use, only work on the selected layer.

Add a new layer :AddNewLayer:, fill it with black and move it below :MoveLayerDown: you picture layer. Use the gradient tool set to linear transparency mode :AlphaChannelOnly: and do a gradient at the bottom of your picture. If you press and hold Shift while doing the gradient, you can do a perfectly vertical gradient. Alternatively, you can draw a black to transparent gradient over your picture starting at the bottom. To do so, set the primary colour as black and the secondary colour opacity to zero.

For a chocolate person, I find xmario's How to make glass object tutorial more suitable. Cut a person out of photo, then... 1. Adjustments > Black and White (if not already in B&W). 2. Follow the glass object tutorial up to where you apply Curves (step 5). 3. After applying Curves, with the selection still active, add a new layer and fill the selection with hex 180000 colour (as delpart so cleverly deduced at his post above) to make a silhouette of the person. 4. Fiddle with the oder of the two layers (glass object and silhouette), blending modes and opacity to get a result you like or can live with. For example, I started with this photo of Cadbury's big boss (Karft Foods owns Cadbury)... and came up with this... and this.. More experienced and better artists will sure come up with better results but you get the idea.

Use the Colour Picker tool and click on any point on the jpeg that haw has the colour you want to use. The colour will be set as the primary colour.

Thank you very much BoltBait. I thought I had a corrupted dll and made a mental note to download it again. Thank you for the fix/rollback. Merry Christmas.

I love it! Beautiful and interesting subject, excellent composition, innovative use of the tutorial. Go Finland, go Finns!

pumpam, step 6 of this tutorial instructs you to cut out a product from a stock image so that it can be used on your working canvas. If a simple Magic Wand operation does not work for your stock image, you'll have to use a more complex method. Read Cutting out images by Simon Brown to understand the basics of... cutting out images. The above is a good illustration why it's better for new users to first try the tutorials in Begginer Tutorials before attempting the, often more difficult, tutorials in the other tutorial sections.