jim100361

I can't seem to get close enough to what you've provided. But, I'll offer you these and if you're interested, then I'll give you a little insight into them:

FYI (For Your Information): There is also another program out there that is freeware called Font Magic that will do 3D Text. http://www.mattcawley.com/fontmagic/ On another note, I like your work.

I'm not trying to be a wiseguy, but I don't understand the importance of such info. I mean, whatever piece you are working on/with is going to be whatever it is. How does the additional info you are requesting going to affect what you intend to do with it? Especially since anything resulting from what you actually do to your piece will be inaccurate until such time as you are finished with it. From my vantage point about this and for the sake of argument (especially with me still not understanding the full impact of your request), let's work with the understanding that this "feature" is something that you strongly believe in. How would it be beneficial (worth adding) for the sake of everyone else? Simply put, though you may be set on the idea of including all this info, would it really be beneficial to do whatever coding is necessary to include it if it isn't worth more for a lot more people? Again, I'm not trying to be a wiseguy, but maybe this would be more appropriate as a plug-in whereas if you don't want it, you don't need to install it and vice versa as opposed to a permanent feature to PDN.

Aside from what you described, there is also this available that may help you: Go to Effects > Align Object Clicking on any of the buttons in the resulting dialogue box will move it as well

I'm at a loss to understand this question, so maybe you can educate me on your rationale behind this, so excuse me while I play the "devil's advocate" on this (maybe because of the questions that I am putting forth is why nobody has responded to your question). The dimensions for a piece is shown on the bottom of the screen. Windows itself will give you info about the piece if you click on its properties (format, dimensions, file size). Since you're opening it in PDN, I would assume you're going to manipulate it to some extent (resize, brighten, add/remove, etc.) so any info about the current piece would be transitional (changing as changes are made). So would it be safe to assume that if you're concerned for instance about the file size while it is in this "transitory state" that maybe you wouldn't modify it to the extent that you originally planned if for instance file size exceeds a certain value? It would also seem to me that the info about a piece would have to assume that it would be displayed based upon the original format of the piece. But this info would not be accurate, it would seem to me, if for instance you're working on a jpg and add a layer with translucency then what further details is/are displayed about the piece would not be correct (at a minimum, inaccurate) since technically jpgs don't support translucency. Further, since you are opening a jpg (just as an example), does not mean that the individual intends to save in that format (for instance I have opened jpgs for the express purpose of saving specifically as bmp - to use the graphics as a texture in games for example), so again, any additional info displayed about a piece (like file size) is inaccurate because saving in a different format would change this as well. So for the life of me (and because I'm at a loss to understand the full scope of the question), I cannot see any benefit of adding any info other than the dimensions until/unless you are finished working on the piece (which would include having saved the file).

Just a suggestion: I think that if you duplicated the 2 blue halves, and on first layer erase the left side and on the second layer erase the right side, you can then put the letters in a layer in-between these and the first layer would slightly overlap the lettering. This should improve the effect of it being "held between" the two sides.

What's wrong with .png format?

Thanx very much, the comments mean a lot to me. Here's my last one for the day...: http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/HoverHorse.png

Thanx for the comments. They are fun to do, and it's challenging to try to come up with some fresh stuff. Here's another: http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/TennisMatch.png

lol, thanks! A thought just crossed my mind about the second one, so I'm going to re-do that one. But, I won't leave empty-handed: http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/HoldSignPlanes.png http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/HoldSignA-10.png Edit: OK, here's a re-do on that second one: http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/HoldSignClimbing3.png

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/drive-in-movie2.png http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/HoldSignClimbing2.png http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/HoldSignLCU2.png

I didn't, but I do now. Thanx for the link.

I gotta say, "I love the truck!" Awesome job!

I think it depends upon the method you are using. If I use the menus and go to layers import from file, it automatically resizes to accomodate the larger pic. However, if I have the larger already open as a second file, then create a layer and copy from the opened image, it asks if I wish to resize the canvas or keep it the same.

Maybe you were influenced by some Jedi mind-trick!

None taken. First it does have a dark side. You will note the side that is brighter is toward the exposed side of the sun. The reason we can see the moon here in the real world is because of the fact that the face is somewhat exposed to the sun and reflecting that light back towards earth (actually this applies to anything we can see: simply because the light is reflected off it/them). The hardest part (problem) about what is illustrated in the pic is sort of two-fold: a.) Adjusting how much of it would be obscured using the plugin could only be adjusted so much. b.) By using the maximum allowable shading, it permits enough exposed (lit surface) to still be able to distinguish what the planetoids (earth and moon) are. I tried to position the sun far enough to the left without cutting it out entirely from the picture to bring it reasonably close (though obviously not exact) to match the shading on the earth and the moon. Anyways, I knew it would be a bit of a problem, but I settled on not covering too much (shading more manually) so the earth and moon could still be distinguishable.

It doesn't look like a very complicated thing to do. This would be in 3 or 4 layers. The first layer would be done with the "light rays" plugin. Then you add another layer, set your primary color to white, then use the selection tool and select the top half of the screen. Then go to the paintbucket and paint the selected area white. Then go to the layers panel and double click on the layer you are currently working on and the properties dialogue box should appear. Adjust the slider down to suit your taste. After that, you add another layer made up of either a graphic (png or gif) of your letter, or you can use the text tool and type the letter yourself. If you want to do it in 2 colors like shown you can do this by layers as well. Do the first at the largest available font and then do another layer over that with the same font except just a bit smaller (or you can resize it). Each layer of the letter of course would need to be done in different colors so change your primary color first each time.

Re: The jaggies. It's one thing to learn about various plugins and how they affect your work, etc. and it's another to learn to form good habits. One would think since I work off of a large screen tv hooked up to my computer, that these things would be more obvious, but they aren't. So I need to learn before I consider these things complete to zoom in on them and see if there's aspects like the jaggies that need to be addressed. Sometimes I remember, and other times I don't. All in due course (I hope). As far as free time is concerned, I try to make some time. I get about an hour before work that I sometimes use for this, and then when I return from work in the evenings I try to dedicate a couple hours. Weekends, obviously afford more time as I don't have the normal workweek duties to interfere, so there's often more time there. There are many things in regards to hobbies that I do well, but there are few that I can actually say I truly excel in. With regards to the things I produce here, I am endeavoring to try to make this one that I excel in. Only time I suppose will determine if that is to be. At any rate, thanks for the comments everyone, especially you Delpart. Your previous comments helped a great deal on the last revision. I agree about the lens flare. Maybe I should do them by hand like I did previously. When I used the plugin to do this, and trying to adjust the various settings, it kept throwing me off (too much, too little, a little weak here, a little heavy there, etc.). I think doing them by hand will provide for a better layout.

It's funny what this invokes in my mind. My dad used to work for our newspaper and years ago when I was just a little tike he would often go in on Friday nights to do some advertisement work for the Saturday paper. Anyways, periodically my mom would take one of us (children) w/her to go pick him up after work. Often times we were there a good while before he would quit for the night so I was able to see some of what was going on there. Back in those days the ads that my dad worked on weren't done by computer. He'd give his work to another gentleman who would type out the stuff on a machine that made the lead typset. Anyways, the letters in your pic, even though they aren't connected as though created as a single piece, remind me of those pieces that came out of the machine: clean and pristine w/o any ink applied to them yet. In case you're curious, here's a pic of the type of machine that was used: http://upload.wikime...ing_Machine.jpg Anyways, I like your piece, and "thanks for the memories!"

OK, here's another try at it: http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n264/CantaLibra/earth_day6.png Dang it! I'm always forgetting to AA this stuff!!!

Excellent job on that sun!

There's a tutorial for concrete. Maybe do that and apply the result to the Shape3D plugin to get a sort of rough terrain appearance.

If your sun is made up of more than one layer, merge them together so that you blur them together. You should come up with something like this: As far as the earth and moon images are concerned, in my gallery I posted a couple links for the earth and the moon. Download the images, resize then down to like about 40%, then use the Shape3D on each one.

It's funny that you're having a problem w/making a realistic sun because coincidentally, I too would like to improve upon the image I created as well (primarily the sun). I actually like yours somewhat better than mine. Here's the image I posted in my gallery (maybe it may have something in it that might be helpful - possibly a touch of gaussian blur?):