PeaceHeather Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Hello all, I mostly use PDN to make fantasy/fictional maps, and I'm really enjoying it. A site called the Cartographer's Guild has a bazillion tutorials on mapmaking of all kinds, but they're almost exclusively written for users of GIMP, with some for Photoshop or something else, and about three for PDN . While I enjoy being part of the tiny minority of PDN users on the site, I pretty much always need to "translate" their tutorials to make sense for me. Usually this is no big deal, and translating is just a matter of "same feature under a different menu heading", but occasionally it means "PDN doesn't have this feature but here's how to mimic it with something else". So, to my question: if anyone here has used GIMP and can tell me - what the heck are "difference clouds"? Does PDN have, if not this exact feature, some way to mimic it? I'm nearly always able to use PDN functions or workarounds to get results that are comparable to the fancy-shmancy programs, and I'd love to be able to do the same here. Many thanks, Heather PS - I'd be perfectly willing to let other people use this thread to discuss their own PDN workarounds or "translations" of features from other programs, too, if anyone is interested. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) Effects > Render > Clouds With Difference Blend mode. . Edited February 11, 2011 by Sarkut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceHeather Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Render > Clouds With Difference Blending mode. Wow, that was fast! So, if a tutorial in GIMP says to "run difference clouds twice"... would I just do two new layers and merge them to get the effect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 There's a Blend mode menu in the Clouds dialog. You could run that twice on one layer. Or you could do it with two layers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceHeather Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Hmm... I'd forgotten originally that you could change the blend mode in the Clouds dialog - but wouldn't running it twice just re-render the clouds? Sorry if this is sounding dense - I just want to be sure that what you're suggesting will do what the GIMP folks are describing. I really appreciate your help! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 Try it out. Make some Clouds with Difference blend. Then hit Ctrl+F a few times. You can see the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceHeather Posted February 11, 2011 Author Share Posted February 11, 2011 Try it out. Make some Clouds with Difference blend. Then hit Ctrl+F a few times. You can see the difference. Ahh so, isn't this nifty... Many thanks! Now, is anyone else curious about Paint.NET equivalents? I'm good for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ventor1 Posted February 11, 2011 Share Posted February 11, 2011 (edited) Now, is anyone else curious about Paint.NET equivalents? There are no equivalents - PDN stands tall; above the rest! Edited February 11, 2011 by ventor1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceHeather Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 There are no equivalents - PDN stands tall; above the rest! Har har... I meant, did anyone else have questions about PDN equivalents/workarounds for features in GIMP or Photoshop, or whatever? I've got two more: light sources, and shaped gradients. I *think* I know how to do a linear gradient inside a shape, and have it reflect outward from the center, but I don't know if I can get a gradient that follows a crooked line a la mountain peaks or canyons. Or rather, I don't know if I can do that and be able to dictate the shape of the crooked line. And I'm not totally sure about getting a light source to shine where I want it, either. Cheers! Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 It would be better if you posted links to examples of what you are referring to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceHeather Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 I can do that - I just didn't want to irritate people by constantly saying, "see this thing at the Cartographer's Guild that I want to do?" ...even though, come to think of it, that's pretty much what I'm after. I have a feeling that most of these will be solved with a "download this plugin (*mutteridiotmutter*)"... Currently I'm trying to decipher Simple Mountains in GIMP - specifically steps 6 and 11. I'd also like to figure out how they did the forests that are already present in the starting image, but I can wait on asking that one. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted February 12, 2011 Share Posted February 12, 2011 This should work for step 11. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeaceHeather Posted February 12, 2011 Author Share Posted February 12, 2011 Thanks, I'll give that a shot. Being able to adjust the angle will be the biggest help. You know, I browsed the plug-in index earlier this week and downloaded a ton of stuff, but I don't remember seeing that for some reason. Oh, well. I already have a pile of them that I don't use and should uninstall - my menus are getting really cluttered! Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punkmama Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Now, is anyone else curious about Paint.NET equivalents? I'm good for now. Yeah, since your on the subject, I've used search and the plug-in index, but I can't find what I'm looking for. Maybe I'm using the wrong wording...anywho, I'm looking for a plug-in that mimics the Photoshop 7 "Blend if" feature I've seen in tutorials like this (watch at 51 seconds)Can anyone point me in the right direction? Quote Check out my DeviantArt gallery. All my photomanips are made with PDN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ego Eram Reputo Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I'm not familiar with "blend if", but if there is such a thing, the BlendModes Plus plugin will have it Quote ebook: Mastering Paint.NET | resources: Plugin Index | Stereogram Tut | proud supporter of Codelab plugins: EER's Plugin Pack | Planetoid | StickMan | WhichSymbol+ | Dr Scott's Markup Renderer | CSV Filetype | dwarf horde plugins: Plugin Browser | ShapeMaker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punkmama Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 I'm not familiar with "blend if", but if there is such a thing, the BlendModes Plus plugin will have it nope, unfortunately it doesn't. Quote Check out my DeviantArt gallery. All my photomanips are made with PDN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarkut Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) This gives a similar effect. Set a duplicate cloud layer to Multiply blending mode. Use the Threshold plugin (or Brightness/Contrast), and play with the sliders. . Edited February 14, 2011 by Sarkut Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punkmama Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 (edited) This gives a similar effect. Set a duplicate cloud layer to Multiply blending mode. Use the Threshold plugin (or Brightness/Contrast), and play with the sliders. . Thanks Sarkut! Not near as smooth, but I guess I can make it work Edited February 14, 2011 by punkmama Quote Check out my DeviantArt gallery. All my photomanips are made with PDN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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