Simple Glossy Ring/Torus (Revisited - Image Heavy)

[jim100361]

I hope Mr. WelshBlue forgives me (and doesnt take offense) for this as I'd like to clarify steps from the original tutorial to make this easier for everybody and hopefully alleviate some confusion.

Please download and install the following Plug-ins (if you haven't already acquired them) by clicking on the link:

Align Object

Feather

AA-assistant

OK, let's begin:

1) Create a new layer

2) Select the color which you wish to work with (we're using blue - if it wasn't obvious)

3) Select the "Elipse" Tool

4) Set it to "Draw Filled Shape"

Next, go to the canvas, and somewhere near the top, click and simultaneously press the "Shift" key and while still holding the mouse key in, drag it down until you are satisfied with the diameter of the circle.

Next, from the "Effects" menu, select "Align Object"

With the dialogue box displayed,

1) Click on the center button (see diagram below)

2) Next, click "OK"

Select the magic wand and then click somewhere on our (blue) circle

With our circle still selected

1) Click on "Add New Layer"

1a) You should see the addition of your next layer

1) Next, flip the colors your working on by clicking on the double arrows as indicated below

2) Next Select the "Gradient" tool

3) Use the "Radial Gradient"

4a-4b) Go to the canvas and click and drag as indicated below

1) Over on the "Layers" panel, double-click on our working layer to bring up the layer's "Layer Property" dialogue box (illustrated below as step 2 - next)

2) From the pulldown menu under "Mode", select "Multiply" and then click the "OK" button.

1a) Merge the layer down by clicking on the button indicated below

1b) Your result

1) Next, from the "Effects" > "Object" menu, select "Feather" (dialogue box image has been pasted into the illustration below - use default setting)

and click "OK".

2) From the "Effects" > "Object" menu, select "AA's Assistant" (my personal preference is to set the sliders all the way up - again, the dialogue box image has been pasted into the illustration below) and click "OK"

1) Next, create another new layer as we did previously (as shown below 1a-1b)

2) Again, select the "Elipse" tool (no need to adjust the top - paint.net uses last setting)

3a - 3b) Go to the canvas and draw 2 circles (either round or eliptical)

Next go to the menus under "Effects" > "Blur" and select "Gausian Blur"

On the slider use a "Radius" value that suits you

Next go to the menus under "Effects" > "Distort" and select "Polar Inversion"

1a - 1b) From the resulting dialogue box, open the menu under "Edge behavior" and select "Clamp"

2) Set the "Amount" to your taste (Note: slide to the left to get a negative value - needed - and adjust until you're satisfied with the size of the center hole)

Note: Recommended to do "Layer 2" first

Do the same next for "Layer 3"

Next, go to the menus again under "Effects" > "Blur" and select "Radial Blur"

From the resulting dialogue box, set the "Angle" according to your taste (and optionally, you can set adjust the "Quality") - The value below in the illustration is set at 33.69

Next, merge your layers down and you're done!

Edited January 15, 2012 by jim100361

[nitenurse79]

Well written and well explained jim

I am sure welshblue will be proud of this remix. Kudos to you for taking the time to do this.

Could you perhaps explain how to import a texture because I forgot how I did it

Edited January 15, 2012 by nitenurse79

[ChitoDog]

I agree that jim should've at least sent you a PM about it, but you have to admit that this rewritten tut is better detailed/explained for newbies to understand. I'm sure he wasn't trying to be malicious about it.

[nitenurse79]

Personally a PM to inform/ ask me wouldn't have gone amiss. I've got better things to do than have wasted the hour I did re-writing it. Then coming on here and seeing this. Pissed off yes. Offended now I'm thinking about it more.

Unbelievable actually ... it's a matter of respect. Or lack of it even. Like me re-writing someone elses novel ...

.... the more I think about it, the hotter I'm getting. How would you like me to walk into your house and repaint the walls ?

Totally stunned

Your tutorial was the one I followed in the end welshblue, I was not aware that a PM was not sent prior to this post. And yes I think it would not have hurt to do that. Now onto the topic of you painting walls in my house, please feel free, my husband won't do them

[Goonfella]

Sorry Jim but I can understand how Welshy must feel. Yes it is a very well written tut and easy to understand but it would have been polite to ask first. It is his idea after all.

Having said that, if you do write a tut of your own I hope this is how you write it.

[delpart]

Interesting tutorial layout approach Jim. Very detailed. Step numbered arrows a nice touch. A solid highlighting approach in lieu of video or presentation software slides.

Still internally debating whether they (the steps) shouldn't be broken into a different outline set or have the steps numbered all the way down. In one look I had to recall if the step 1,2 I was looking at went with the above or below picture for instance. This is something that shows up in some training materials that get's really annoying. Especially when translating them into presentations ... (Okay, its a pet peeve and I hate re-writing the stuff.)

Format change potentials can be as complex as traditional outline styles or as easy as just 1-54 with the allowed 4a,4b steps included to keep it focused.

(Yes, if the idea is to help people still unfamiliar and easily lost in a new interface(s) is the reason I'm throwing in feedback of this nature.)

(deleted commentary on decorum)

Hope this came across positive. I'm a bit under the weather and feeling grouchy.

[jim100361]

Since everyone seems to have provided their input to my "misdeed", I'll provide you with mine:

Admittedly, I undertook this under a false premise. Namely, I wasn't paying attention to all the replies in the thread and I assumed Mr Welsh wasn't going to re-do/fix the original tutorial. I reiterate, it was a false assumption. It wasn't until after he commented here and after my first PM to apologize to him that I went back to the original post and only then did I realize he did in fact indicate the possibility of making the tutorial more user friendly. I then PM'd him again noting this and again apologized.

There was absolutely no malice intended. I was only trying to help the community (paying it forward as it were) to alleviate issues that some folks were having.

Yes, it is true. I should've addressed it with him beforehand. And because I didn't, I am deeply sorry for (I'll keep this clean) "irritating" him the way I did and for inadvertently stepping on his toes.

So once more I would like to say publicly that I am truly sorry.

I wish you all good luck.

[nitenurse79]

@ NiteNurse ... if I paint yours I'll be expected to do mine. Bad enough I lost my xmas hols laying flooring. I'm not a DIY person, I get fed up easily

Dang! that means I will have to open a different kind of Paint then