avim1968

Hi I using a number of steps to get shatter pieces and cracks of glass or mirror or any other .. I add the picture to shatter to the PDN. then I add a picture of sea waves or water or any other wavy and shiny picture. then i select all and apply a Mosaic effect. (make sure that the foreground color is NOT a part of the picture, basically white works most of the time) I play with the settings until I get the right size,shape and number of broken pieces and "cracks" i want. (at this step you can apply other effects to change the cracks / pieces shapes/look like Liquify from pyrochild ) then I duplicate the layer and use the hue/saturation to make it gray scale. to be used later. I choose the magic wand selection tool and select ALL and only the cracks in between my original Mosaic . i copy and cracks to a new layer but I don't deselect it yet. I duplicate the picture to shatter and move it to the top layer. since the selection is on, when I press DELETE it deletes the cracks area from the picture . now i have my original pictures in pieces. going back to the Gray copy of the Mosaic i move it to the top , then bland it down with the use of multiply to get the shiny and dark pieces (like pdnnoob said) (can also be used with Alpha Mask if saved before) from this step you can go all the way and move the pieces around, and/or add glow/lights/shadows effects and/or other effects to make the pieces with more differences between them. Avi p.s. using this you can even make other great effects to images.

Hi check out Xnview it does batch processing http://www.xnview.com/en/features.html Avi

Hi I'm working mostly with photos and image manipulations and I have used PhotoShop since its 1st version up to CS5 , since i worked where such software was installed and used. However at home i bought (on sale) the OLD ver 6. and used it until i found Paint.Net. Since I found Paint.Net I started to use it together with PS6 and GIMP (on my linux box) , but slowly I moved to do most of my work with Paint.Net. as people said above , It does 90% of what i need with less memory and less overload of PS6. and it has an array of plugins that can do almost everything. I only use my old PS6 now when i need to use some advanced multi layer effects something that Paint.Net still don't have yet ;-) I have many friends that moved to Paint.Net, for their private work at home, saving the need to buy software , and they do great work with it. Paint.Net does 90% (somtime more) for 90% of the people who needs such software. Also its very user friendly and takes short time to learn. Avi. p.s. Ver 4.x would bring it to 98% of what other software can do. which for most people is 150% more of what they need any way ;-)

Hi, My simple solution for this (and how i made buttons) is make two filled circles with the size of the button you want. place them apart at the width of the button you want. then just add a blocked rectangle with the same color. (do it on a 2nd layer to match sizes better) flatten the image and this would be the base button. on it you can add Text and shadows and other effects. (it can also be resized) here is an example i colored the circles in red just to show them. Avi. p.s. you can always use the plugin it has more options :-)

Hi Here is another good tutorial that uses PI from MadJik on "A way to make some fancy drops!" which i have used few times. (and learned how to use PI the right way thru it) http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/14247-a-way-to-make-some-fancy-drops/ Avi

Hi pdnnoob I think you misunderstood, all that i have written and why i wrote it, if you read closely you would see that we said mostly the same thing . all the pictures can be done without 3D software, takes a lot of work. to enhance those pictures high end software can be used the names you wrote are some that i talked about and had in mine. about the movies, that's another story and there are many ways to create it. and its not for this forum :-) as you said , lets drop this and continue to have fun giving tips and hints and help :-) Go Paint.Net ... Avi

Hi Jim Again i haven't said that its impossible to make such pictures with Paint.Net and I'm sure that there are people here and others that can do it. Its a lot of work and takes planning but can be done. and it is good for a single BIG picture. BUT as the original post stated , most of the SyFy pictures come from TV/MOVIE/ANIMATION shows those don't use one picture for that , they need to have a live scene that interacts with the show like you fly over the city or see spaceships fly around or people walking in the city and lights and shadows of sun or moon from different angles etc.. those things CAN'T be made buy drawing each picture one by one. so they are using high end paint and 3D software's to make those scenes. when they take a frame picture out of the show, like to make a poster etc.. they some time use more hands on touch up to enhance the picture then if it was taken directly from the movie and add more detail. that's it. I'm sure that many people here in the forum, you mentioned some, capable of making such single picture. :-) but if one want to use it as a base for animation then it must be done with the help of other software. Avi

Hi Aislin I didn't say it can't be done, I'm sure that if one knows what and how he is doing such picture, he/she would make such image even from scratch. However talking to other fellow friends and even reading the posts here, most of the SyFy pictures are done using professional software tools 3D included. But as I wrote, Paint.Net has the ability to make such pictures but with a lot of planning ahead and with smaller pictures to make a BIG one. I'll be the 1st to say WOW to the person who would post such picture here :-) Avi

Hello Xzerizon I have seen long ago a program on the TV , that showed how those SyFy pictures are made, sadly most of then are made in/by high end 3D software and then rendered, to give a picture or a movie scene. photoshop or other high end software are used to touch up or create the baseline as the artist want, or as Ego said by very professional artist that use more tools then just photoshop to create the the picture. most of the time that is for the "presentation" picture of the show/movie that must have more details, then if it was a taken directly from a scene in a movie. (since it would have less details ,this was explained in that TV show) some of the picutres on thats link you posted, are made using 3D software and were shown on that show too. a good example of CGI graphics in the StarWars movies that all those great cities were made. take one more note, high end 3D software that are capable to make such cities come alive are working on high end cloud/cluster servers and not even on a high end home computer. to make such picture you would need as the good people above said, create the base using an external software, then import the pieces(pictures) into Paint.Net to touch them up, Paint.Net has many features and plugins to help you there. I hope i didn't make you drop your will/aspiration to make such pictures and i'm looking forward to see here a post with a pictures you made :-) Avi

Hello Arbu can you give/post an example and more information ? Avi Edit: I just saw that Jim answered your question , but if it does not help please provide an example and more info :-)

Hi uint I'm not sure about the option to replay the history would work with Rick, but it would be nice since it might get us a step closer to have playback macros ;-) i have asked for the feature of saving the history to a file, you can see it in this thread. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/24912-feature-savingexport-the-history-to-a-fileclipboard/ And i'm happy since Ego found it as an "interesting idea" , which in my book gets high marks ;-) Avi

Hi I searched for Layer Saver after midora mentioned it. i d/l the file that was on the top and somewhere in the middle, I would try them later when i'll get home, I read the thread and they talk there about old Paint.Net versions (the thread is old) and i hope that it would be able to read the last version of Paint.Net PDN files. i'll keep you updated. 10x midora Avi p.s. yellowman - I'm a "HE" ;-) ------------ USAGE UPDATE. Well i have tried the utility "Save Layers" , its nice and does what it say. However it has a major problem, that it does not save ALL the layers and saves only the visible ones :-( not visible layers are saved as blank transparent in PNG or white in JPG. this is a problem for me since i need to load the PDN into Paint.net manually check all the layers as visible and it takes time since there is "no" button to make all layers visible or not. and i have 70 layers or more. then save the file in a temp name since i don't want to override the Project PDN. only then i can use the save layers utility on the new file. using this utility is faster then my old way of flattening the PDN and saving the layers. but still needs allot of work before using it. can the programmer of this wonderful utility (I like Pi?) add the option to save ALL layers of the PDN? this would be great and solve all the problems or should i say, save the time to prepare the PDN as i just wrote above. Rick i know you are busy, but a mark/unmark "all visible", button in the layers window would be great ;-) (and if i can without making you angry, a restore button or have the undo option/window restore the layers to the state they where before the mark/unmark all) last thing , most of the time i don't need ALL the layers, so i just mark the ones i need then save the temp file :-) again thanks midora and Ego for telling me about this utility and if "I like Pi" read this then BIG thank you to him too :-) thank you Avi

Hi All Is there a way to export all/some of the layers in a PDN to single images ? maybe an "export layers" option ? I think I saw a plugin some where that saves layers. but i'm not sure. the reason for me asking is that I have started a number of new projects and most of the work is already based on and done under other different PDN projects and I want to take a few layers from each PDN project file.. I tried the long way to check/unchecked layers and flatten the image each time , but its too much work :-( there must be a faster way to do it. If not , can something like this be added to Paint.Net. we do have under layers "import from file". can "export to file" be added ? where i can select the type of Image like jpg/png and it would export the selected layers. thank you Avi p.s. It would also be great to those who do animations, and can export the layers as frames...

Hi Just to add to what Ego wrote, after you make that template picture do the following 1. create a new shortcut for paint.net on your Desktop. 2. edit its properties and add the path and name of your template after the program name PaintDotNet.exe (with space between) like in the example below. D:\programs\Paint.NET\PaintDotNet.exe d:test1234.png 3. close the properties window. 4. make sure that this shortcut is read only too. 5. click on the new shortcut and it would start paint.net and automatically load your template picture. 6. just make sure not to forget to use "Save As" and save under a different name 1st ;-) Avi p.s. You can also rename the shortcut and add the template name to it like "Start test1234.png" or any other name this way you can make Paint.net open a different templates each time based on a different shortcuts :-) (this is what I do all the time for different projects i have)

Hi Lumbrales you can also use "Fade Edge" plugin from KrisVDM's Plugin Pack http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=8375 Avi

Hi brandonlee welcome to the forum :-) I have played with your picture , this is what i got. i haven't finished it around the edges but it is more to give you an idea . to do it: 1. duplicate the picture 2. select the B sign using the magic wand tool, play with the tolerance untill you select it all 3. press DEL and you would get a "transparent hole" in the shape of the B sign. go to google and search for earth pictures from space, that have land mass, and another with cloud mass load those into paint.net. 4. select the picture with the land mass and copy it to the clipboard. (check 1st that is is not bigger then your picture) 5. paste it into your picture as a new layer. 6. move this layer below the layer with the B shape hole. (do not unselect it) 7. use the layer rotate/zoom to setup the picture as you want it to show the land. 8. goto the picture with the clouds , check its size 1st. then use the magic wand selection tool make sure the flood mode is set to global and then select the white clouds cover. you can use the add option and tolerance to select more clouds. 9. copy the clouds. 10. paste in your picture as a new layer. 11. move the layer up to the top over the other layers. 12. adjust as needed. walla its done. this is just an example, you can make it look better yourself now that you have an idea on the how too :-) Avi

Hi you can also use after the "smoke" effect , the "twist plugin" from pyrochild http://forums.getpai...__fromsearch__1 play with the brush/ring size and other settings also how fast you move the brush/ring. this would enable you to get even more twisted lines effects. most of the time i do it on a new layer then combine/merge it into the other layers as needed. also you can play with and add shadow effect to get the black color under/over the lines/smoke. Avi edit: when i think of it, i even use it on the lines before the smoke effect, to get even "more smoke" ;-)

Hi Yes , I also asked for a simple duplicated layers numbering (like in Gimp) long ago, but also i wasn't able to convince Rick

Hi Well you drove me into opening MSpaint (called paint) on my Win7, something i never did before, I wanted to see the brushes and how they work. well they are nice and enable you to some things that Paint.Net don't have/can't do yet. (but part of it can be done with the brushes plugin) Other then that MSpaint has nothing to contribute/compare to Paint.Net !!! even the "shapes" option is something that can be done with plugins on Paint.Net. case closed on MSpaint ! King Rick your crown is safe ;-) Avi

Hi when I scan pencil drawings , I'm playing with the scanner Hue/Saturation OR Brightness/Contrast before I scan. most of the time it makes all the noise scratches, spots and smudges, go away. So I get a cleaner picture scanned. you can also play with those settings after the scan in paint.net to remove more. Avi p.s. My English is not the best so I hope I understood you correctly :-)

THANK YOU Ed Harvey ! :-)

Speech less! :-) Avi

Jim/Minners71 You did amazing job here :-) I think you can take this case/topic and convert it into a tutorial example and place it in the tutorials section. it would be a waste not to do it. Avi p.s. funny,i did something like this long time ago , when i redesigned my house and wanted to see how it would look like before i started. i never took notes on how i did it and the plugins i used so what you wrote here, got it all back into my old memory cells. 10x

My 2 cent solution that always works for me. just take a screen shot of the excel table as you want it. then paste it into paint.net to continue working on/saving it as a .png Avi

Hi Jim I already do this , if you read my 1st post , solution number 1. and as welshblue said it has its problems too. the solution should allow isolating the needed layers inside the PDN. my very simple request/idea, is to allow a quick removal of ALL the marked visible layers at a click of a mouse, on an "unmark all" button in the layers window. allowing me to manually select the layers i want to view. i don't think that should be so hard to implement. (4.x) Avi "DDAP=Don't Drink And Post! :-)"