Recreation help requested

[Apollo702]

I screwed up. I use a number of images repeatedly as a template and then I write on them. For one of them I named it poorly when saving it which left me with no original. Of course, this was a relatively newer creation and I didn't have it backed up.

 

The original is orange and I need to recreate the light blue version of it. I tried messing with hue and saturation and maybe I missed the values. I got some that were close- but they weren't exactly it. I am stuck here and I can't quite figure out how to nail this one.

 

I will put up a light blue version with writing on it as a reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Apollo702

[IHaveNoName]

It looks like you used the "Linear(Reflected) gradient tool at an angle in a narrow field selection. It is quite difficult to get the angle perfect ie. from corner to corner in such a narrow field but that's about the only problem.

 

Start point gradient values for a cyan primary/secondary colour version would be RGB : (25/200/200) and (100/255/255).

 

However I'd suggest just recolouring what you have. It should be very easy so I'd simply copy the orange version, convert it to b/w and then use BoltBait's "Color Balance v4.5" plugin. Shift the Cyan > Red slider left to 100% Cyan (ie. -100) and that should be it.

 

You do not want to increase the saturation afterwards as that will destroy the gradient effect.

Edited May 17, 2019 by IHaveNoName

[Apollo702]

I just finished a food break and came back. Thanks for the reply.

 

Yeah, when adjusting the saturation that definitely started altering the gradient.  I am going to go ahead and try that idea and see how it goes.

 

It was close. That isn't it though. It looks a lot like my close other attempts. I am going to play around with it some more.

 

I may have gotten it virtually identical. I put 2 of them up in layers and kept adjusting till they were looking like clones. All I needed to do was darken it by about 13 points. YES!!!

 

Creative Note: I made the original in 2015 and I did use a narrow gradient(and a few other goodies) at a time in which I barely knew what such things were. I have a series of writings and in the 2012/13 series and then later in the 2014 series I would write in Verdana 14 bold in orange as subtopic headers. I needed something to break things up. One night I was taking a break from the writing and playing a video game and one of the sounds gave me the idea that the writing should be a bar and then put white writing on it. There is a term that is escaping me for when senses cross- and this was one of those moments. Then the 2015 series got a big visual format boost. Only later on did I start creating variations on the bar for different kinds of subtopics. With that I was able to kick things up another notch.
 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Apollo702
Updates & Creative history

[IHaveNoName]

It just occurred  to me that there is another way of doing the angled gradient effect which might be easier. Use the same gradient tool to create a perfectly horizontal gradient then use Rectangle Select to draw the narrow field and rotate it rather than the gradient. Crop the image to the selection area afterwards.

 

But if you used the second suggestion instead, to copy the provided orange gradient image, and converted that to cyan I do not see how that can not be it unless you're wanting a precise colour match.

 

That is a bit more difficult because precise colour matching with the Color Balance plugin is difficult. There is a Color Balance+ v1.1 tool which allows a bit more subtlety, differentiating between highlights, mid-tones and shadows but even that can not be used easily to match a particular cyan/blue tone.

 

What, exactly, does not match the precise effect or colour you want?  

Edited May 17, 2019 by IHaveNoName

[HyReZ]

There is a plugin that I have used for decade that will do what you need and is exremely easy to use.
I have linked to it as a response to similar problems to yours, yet the link has not been fixed.

but there is a way to access the plugin.

The plugin is called 'PdnManualColorFilter.dll' that will enable you to tint the image file. (The link is not correctly working at the moment, but if you select and download it, you can add the '.zip' extension to the filename that downloads and extract the plugin, until the link is repaired)

https://forums.getpaint.net/topic/18048-color-inpainting-beta/
The direct link to the file is here:
https://forums.getpaint.net/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=3886

After installing it will appear as  'Manual Color' in the Effects>Color options

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by HyReZ

[Apollo702]

Grrrrr. The new one isn't the match that I thought it was. I declared victory too soon.

 

Thanks to both of you for being on it. I am also going to download that other plugin and play with that too.

 

I can't seem to get that plugin to install. I tried twice. The first time I renamed the file(and then .zip) The next time I left it as originally named as a random series of numbers(.zip) and neither are showing up. It has 3 DLL files in place- and nothing is showing up in PDN.

 

I think that I have a darn-near one. I used a few tools such as Color Tint, Hue & Saturation and one of the 2 Curves plugins. A couple of them were doing too much to the gradient and I had to keep fiddling around. I really like the last one and I am going to test it out and see if truly is it or not.

.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by Apollo702
Update

[Apollo702]

28 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

After installing it will appear as  'Manual Color' in the Effects>Color options

 

Something is wrong. It still isn't there under that name either. I also pulled up every other section just in case and it was nowhere. 

 

[HyReZ]

Did you install the PdnManualColorFilter.dll in the effects folder and reboot PDN so that so that the plugin is recognized as being installed?

 

I think now that you have to add all three dll files to the Effects folder for it to work.

Edited May 17, 2019 by HyReZ
to add more nfo and clarification

[Apollo702]

2 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

Did you install the PdnManualColorFilter.dll in the effects folder and reboot PDN so that so that the plugin is recognized as being installed?

 

Maybe the restart is the missing step. Most install without it- but maybe not this one. Right now I have a few open projects and I am also going to create another post with some issues there.

[HyReZ]

Okay

I have not expreienced a plugin working after an install without a reboot!

[Apollo702]

2 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

Okay

I have not expreienced a plugin working after an install without a reboot!

 

Maybe I was getting lucky. When I started kicking up my art skills I went on a plugin installation binge and I would start using tons of them right away.

 

I still do many things manually- but wow! Now it's more about coming up with a concept and then just bam bam bam! Use one function after another and I always end up with something even better than I thought was possible. It can be FUN!

Edited May 17, 2019 by Apollo702

[IHaveNoName]

The point was, I thought, to work out what Apollo702 originally did to create the original cyan/blue version. That means he can not have used the Manual Color plugin (BTW thanks HyReZ for the working link - no problems for me unzipping and installing it. Should be useful.).

 

So I was thinking about this whilst doing my weekly shop, as I do, and then it suddenly occurred to me a very simple way the orange original could have been converted to cyan/blue. With the basic PDN tools and plugins likely to have been present, as seems was the case, it actually only requires the use of the Invert Colors tool.

 

Using it that orange original version converts to a pleasant cyan/blue which maybe how it was done at the time; yes/no?

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by IHaveNoName

[HyReZ]

2 hours ago, IHaveNoName said:

The point was, I thought, to work out what Apollo702 originally did to create the original cyan/blue version. That means he can not have used the Manual Color plugin (BTW thanks HyReZ for the working link - no problems for me unzipping and installing it. Should be useful.).

This what I read from Apollo720:
"The original is orange and I need to recreate the light blue version of it."

I provided a means of recreating a light blue version of it!
I just tested the plugin on the orange bar before I posted my comment, so I know that it works!
(see illustration below)

@Apollo720
This note is taken directly from this link:
https://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/InstallPlugins.html

 

Note

paint.net scans for plugins only at start-up. The application must be restarted to load new plugins.

 

 

Edited May 17, 2019 by HyReZ

[IHaveNoName]

No argument about the manual recolouring working from me but I read the OP as Apollo720 wanting to work out what he did originally to create the blue version because he wanted to repeat it. The use of the Invert Colors tool seemed and still seems to me a pretty good guess about how that was done.

 

I understand his problem very well, I've made the same mistake myself only this week, spending a lot of time on one element of an image I was creating. Meaning to recolour it just temporarily I merged it down with a background layer. However when I came to save the work in progress I undid it back past the merge but forgot about the recolouring step, saved it and shut down PDN. Result: the colouring could not be easily reversed  back to the original.

[Apollo702]

I am back. The Manual Recolor is there, working and that one is a nice simple one. Also, I previously had not had the occasion to use Invert Colors correctly. The few times I had used it were on excessively too white/black and also attempting to create reverse effects for bevels. Each time I got something- but not at all what I was looking for.

 

Now I see it. It's a great quick color wheel flipper!

 

BTW HyReZ. Nice twisty arrow up there. I like that. Maybe I need to look into designing some of my own with a twist???

Edited May 18, 2019 by Apollo702
Compliment

[HyReZ]

What I have learned using Paint.NET from personal use for over a decade is that when I find useful settings for plugins; I do a screen capture as I did in my illustration above. This means going back one step by undoing and re-applying the plugin but capturing the setup screen and doing a full screen capture before selecting OK.

Then you can open up a new PDN document and paste the screen capture into it and save it for future reference.

 

I create a new folder on the Desktop each month and give it name such as '2019_May'.

I will save all of my May projects into that folder. Including screen captures, and the PDN, TIFF, and JPG versions of each project.

I backup the folder to my storage drive every few days by dragging and dropping folder to my storage drive as an incremental backup.
I only copy the files that are newer than the last backup. That way I will not lose weeks of work in case of a problem.

Edited May 18, 2019 by HyReZ

[Apollo702]

14 hours ago, HyReZ said:

Okay

I have not expreienced a plugin working after an install without a reboot!

 

It's confirmed. I am reading a bunch of other threads and one mentioned using Emboss+. I just put it in the Effects folder and there it was ready to go- and no restart.

 

[HyReZ]

Did you minimize PDN and insert Emboss+ plugin in the effects folder and then bring up the minimized app and it worked?
How did you install it while PND was still running?
Have you left out any installation details?

[Apollo702]

28 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

Did you minimize PDN and insert Emboss+ plugin in the effects folder and then bring up the minimized app and it worked?
How did you install it while PND was still running?
Have you left out any installation details?

 

For that one it was just a straight download and then I used PeaZip to extract it right into the effects folder. I switched to PDN, pulled up effects and tried it on a test image and everything worked!

 

Having said that, I just did the exact same procedure with Cell Texture and it did not show up right away. At this very moment I just restarted PDN and there that one was ready to go.

 

So one required a restart. The other didn't.

 

UPDATE: I just did a 3rd one. I found an old Align plugin and it also did not require a restart. It's pretty clear. Most don't require a restart, some do.

 

 

Edited May 18, 2019 by Apollo702
Cleanup, updates, clarification

[HyReZ]

It is not clear what is meant when you say "I switched to PDN".
Was PDN running or not when you had PeaZip extract to the PDN effects folder?
 

Switched implies that the app was running minimized or partial screen while the zip archive app was being used at either full or partial screen while extracting to the PDN effects folder and then PDN was made full screen again to see if the plugin was applied and ready to use.

[Apollo702]

10 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

It is not clear what is meant when you say "I switched to PDN".
Was PDN running or not when you had PeaZip extract to the PDN effects folder?
 

Switched implies that the app was running minimized or partial screen while the zip archive app was being used at either full or partial screen while extracting to the PDN effects folder and then PDN was made full screen again to see if the plugin was applied and ready to use.

 

PDN was running in the background I then switched windows. I always have it running in the background because I may need to use it at any moment(more and more lately) and 99+% of the time I have the same programs and folders running. I keep one maximized window to focus on and then switch around between them as needed. For me(and most people), that is the fastest flow. Others may have their own style...

 

With the plugins, the procedure was identical. Find the plugin, DL it, Right click and tell PeaZip to "Extract to"(with PDN's Effects folder path saved as a bookmark) and then switch to PDN to check and see if the new plugin is there or not. If it is- I then usually do a quick test to see just what it can do. I really am amazed at all the firepower out there! Anybody who says PDN isn't that powerful just needs to get some of these plugins and see what kinds of goodness there is...

 

Also, I just did a 4th plugin "NeonEdges" and it did not start right away.

 

The pattern remains. Some do, some don't.

Edited May 18, 2019 by Apollo702

[HyReZ]

I cannot duplicate your results! Neither Align nor Emboss+ show up after install untill I restarted PDN.

[Apollo702]

22 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

I cannot duplicate your results! Neither Align nor Emboss+ show up after install untill I restarted PDN.

 

Hmmm. Maybe try my procedure and see if it gives different results(assuming that you do it differently.) That seems to indicate that procedures could be in play.

 

Other methods that I have used:

 

I have DLed the plugins, opened the(created sub-folder) in my downloads just for them, used PeaZip to unzip them in there and then either copied and pasted into C/program files/PDN/Effects.

 

Or

 

Dragged and dropped the DLL files into C/program files/PDN/Effects.

 

I need to take a food break- but maybe I could try doing it each way and see if the results change. I will BBS.

 

Also, I grabbed a screenshot of the most important part:

Edited May 18, 2019 by Apollo702
New information, cleanup

[HyReZ]

After a decade of use I know how to insert a plugin into and effects folder.

If there is a dfference in the way e-store version of PND and the classic version loads plugins

is the only rational explaination that I can come up with.
From your illustration it appears that you also are using the classic version of PDN.
There is nothing inherent in using PeaZip to extract a file that would cause PDN to alter the way it loads plugins at startup..

[Apollo702]

1 hour ago, HyReZ said:

After a decade of use I know how to insert a plugin into and effects folder.

 

 

I always thought that you sound experienced. I was laying out different recreations of past steps to see if maybe that was causing any changes.

 

1 hour ago, HyReZ said:

If there is a dfference in the way e-store version of PND and the classic version loads plugins

is the only rational explaination that I can come up with.
From your illustration it appears that you also are using the classic version of PDN.
There is nothing inherent in using PeaZip to extract a file that would cause PDN to alter the way it loads plugins at startup..

 

Now maybe the 2 versions is it. Perhaps I had the wrong variable.

 

Now I am going to steeple my hands and do my best Mr. Spock:

 

"There seems to be an error in my logic. I shall attempt to reexamine...." (Add in one eyebrow raise^)