Add bricks to a dirt path

[bike]

Hello.

I am a newbie and need a little help. Using Paint.net 3.5.10

I am trying to add some red bricks similar to the ones shown on the house to this dirt path.

I tried adding a layer, made it an overlay, and copying and pasting the bricks onto the dirt area. That didnt work. Tried using the clone tool and that didnt work.

Can someone provide me step by step instructions on how to do this?

Thank you for your time

Eric

[mindshift]

Check out this tutorial on creating bricks for a wall. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/22546-brick-wall-100-pdn-image-heavy/page__hl__%2Bbrick+%2Btutorial__fromsearch__1 You can turn the bricks on end if you prefer. Ater you've finished making them use Layers>Rotate/Zoom to lay them down. Perspective is a plugin found under Effects that may help also.

[minners71]

Here's how I would do it.

1. Download the Alphamask plug in. http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=1854

2.Import the pic into PDN ( this will be your background layer )

3.Add a new layer (path cut out layer ) and using a visible colour outline the path then fill it using the paint bucket at 67-69%tolerance ( Make sure there are no gaps in your outline )

4. Goto Adjustments>hue/Saturation and move the slider bar for lightness all the way to left ( this changes your path cut out layer to black )

5. Ctrl+A , Ctrl+C this selects the path cut out layer and copies it to the clipboard

6. Turn this layer off and run Alphamask on your background layer,you may need to check the invert mask option ( this cuts out the path )

7. Either make your own pathway or find a image on google and place this under your background layer

8. To make the bricks fit better use the layer rotate function or perspective plug in http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?showtopic=16197

[jim100361]

Here's a quick example of what I accomplished by erasing a portion of the dirt pathway and applying a brick texture to a separate layer beneath the original and using the layer rotate function as described by Minners.

Again this is just done quickly to show you what you can accomplish. It'll obviously take more work to apply a front edge to the bricks and add shadowing back into the picture to match the originial.

EDIT:

You can also use the brightness setting to darken it a bit and/or hue/saturation to more closely match the brick shading from the original.

EDIT:

Here's 3 examples using a mix of textures and adding shadow back in to the image(s). Also, the images used already contained perspective aspects to them so I didn't require using the layer rotate function:

Edited June 26, 2012 by jim100361

[bike]

Thank you all.

jim100361 - that is awesome

Minners71:

I followed your instructions and now I am stuck at #7

If I go out and fine a "brick" picture via google, what do I do with it? Do I save the file to my desktop?

How do I "place this under your background layer"?

I cant find a way to paste in a screen shot. I tried and got an error that post was to short. Would like for you to see what I am seeing in PDN.

Thank you for your time

Eric

[jim100361]

If I go out and fine a "brick" picture via google, what do I do with it?

If you right-click on the image that you've found that you wish to work with, you should get a listing (referred to as the Context Menu). One of these is to save the image (Save Picture As):

Do I save the file to my desktop?

The recommended place to save your downloaded images is in the directory where all your other pictures are at, but if it makes it easier for you to save to your desktop then that will be okay as well.

How do I "place this under your background layer"?

In Paint.net go to the menus at the top of your screen and go to "Layers". You should see an option to "Import from File". Select that and then navigate to your downloaded image and select it. Once the image is on your new layer, in the Layers Pane on the right side of the screen using the down arrow at the bottom of it, click on it to move your layer down (thus putting the layer "behind" your background). If your Layers Pane isn't currently showing, press "F7" to open it.

EDIT: See the right side of the screen shown below:

I cant find a way to paste in a screen shot. I tried and got an error that post was to short. Would like for you to see what I am seeing in PDN.

To take a screenshot of your current project, press the "Prt Sc" (print screen) key on your keyboard. Next go to the menus and select File>New (or you can use the keys "Ctrl + N"). Once a new canvas has opened up, press "Ctrl + V" to paste your screenshot to the new canvas.

Edited June 30, 2012 by jim100361

[minners71]

You don't need to save the image from google, just type in brick pathway and find a image you like click on that then click on VIEW FULL SIZE once the picture is on the screen right click and select COPY then goto Paint.net and goto FILE>NEW this will automatically open a canvas at the correct size for the picture you copied from google then press CTRL+V this will paste it in. If you wish to paste it straight into your pathway image then create a new layer then move this layer below your image with the cut out area and hit CTRL+V. If it asks if you want to resize the canvas just press NO. If you still have problems I will do a tut with pictures some time tomorrow.

[bike]

Minners and Jim

I tried both of your directions.

I followed all of minners instructions and here is where I am at.

Steps I followed:

1. Opened dirt path picture in PDN (this is now background) and it is checked on

2. Added a new layer (that is now on top of background), its highlighted and checked on

3. Highlighted area of dirt, set tolerance to 67, filled in just dirt area

4. Went to Adjustments>hue/Saturation and moved the slider bar all the way to the left. Dirt path is now black

5. I hit Ctrl-A, Ctrl-C

6. Unchecked layer 2 (this layer on top) and ran alphamask

7. Now see under layers, Layer 2 is checked on, shows my dirt path in black with checkerboard background

8. Background layer is below layer 2 shows my dirt path with checkerboard background

Jim: I followed your instructions and now see Layer 2 (black path) checked on, checkerboard background, and on top. Below that is my dirt path, checked on with checkerboard background. On the bottom is my brick pattern, black path outline is in the center and it is checked on. I'm stuck. Dont know what happened to my backgound picture with the car next door showing etc.

Minners: Tried your instructions. Got the brick picture showing under layers all by itself. In the upper right corner of PDN, I show with a yellow star on the top left, my black path outline with checkerboard background and next to it my brick patter with a yellow star in upper left corner.. Now I am stuck again.

Sorry guys for being such a pain. Been wanting to learn PDN for a long time and how to do things like this.

Eric

[minners71]

_{1. Open image into PDN add new layer call this OUTLINE ( to name layer double click on it in the layer menu )}

_{2. Fill in outline with paint bucket tool,tolerance at about 65-69%}

_{3. Turn this black by going ADJUSTMENTS>HUE/SATURATION and sliding lightness slider all the way to left.}

_{4. With outline layer selected hit CTRL+A , CTRL+C then delete this layer by clicking on red X at bottom of layer window}

_{5. Now you should only have one layer BACKGROUN run EFFECTS>ALPHAMASK}

_{6. Your background image should now have a checker board where the path was}

_{7. Now go to google and type in brick pattern and find one you like, for this example I used this one}

_{http://www.shipbrook...ics/brick08.jpg}

_{8. Right click on the image and select copy}

_{9. Go back to PDN and add a new layer call this BRICKS and move to the top then CTRL+V}

_{10. Practice moving this around hold down left mouse button while pointer is inside image to move it up,down,left or right hold down right mouse button to ratate image and click on any of the little boxes with left button and drag to resize when you are finished use the back history button to return it to how it was.}

_{11. Now with brick layer selected use EFFECTS>DISTORT>PERSPECTIVE with these settings}

_{12. Now move this layer below your background image and move it into place}

_{13. To make it look better add a new layer call this shadow and move to the top do as before and draw using the line tool a black box where the shadow would be ( use a bright colour if it is easier to see then turn it black like before )}

_{14. EFFECTS>BLUR>GAUSSIAN BLUR at about 4 then double click on this layer in the layer window and reduce the opacity until it looks good}

_{15. You can also duplicate the background layer and turn the lower one blacl then blur it at 4 pixels and shift it a little to the right, hard to see in above pic but it does make a difference.}

[bike]

Thanks Minners for the detailed instructions. That really helped.

One question: .

For some reason the bricks get stretched out when I try to size the brick overlay to the outline area. When I have the the brick overlay selected, the bricks are half way up at the top. It is hard to explain.

Any idea what I might be doing wrong?

I keep trying to paste a picture of my final product and get a "post to short error".

How I do paste in a picture to this post?

I tried doing a copy of the gif file and then a paste into this post and I get that error.

I am so close.

Thank you

Eric

[minners71]

Are you using the same image as me for the bricks or using your own, maybe the size is too small look for a larger size picture.

[jim100361]

To post images here in the forums, read this:

http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/topic/12193-how-to-use-images-in-your-posts-signatures-and-avatars/

[avim1968]

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

[jim100361]

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.

Thanx, but I really didn't make much of any contribution to this.

[bike]

Hi Minners:

I created a photobucket account, followed Jims instructions on http://forums.getpai...es-and-avatars/ copying in the IMG path and hopefully you can see my final gif.

I used the same brick pattern that you did.

Not sure why my bricks got more stretched out than yours.

Any ideas?

If you cant see my image below, not sure what I did wrong? Trying to get my images in like you did in the tutorial above.

[minners71]

^Looks like you got the basic concept down well done. Maybe you have resized the brick image bigger than it needs to be. Open up the project into PDN and make sure you have the layers window open, then press the PrtScrn ( Print Screen ) button on your keyboard. Open a new project ( it will automatically have the correct size ) and hit ctrl+v to paste the screen cap in and post it here.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

.... PrtScrn ( Print Screen ) button on your keyboard. Open a new project ( it will automatically have the correct size ) and hit ctrl+v to paste the screen cap in and post it here.

Faster: Hit PrtScrn then Ctrl + Alt + V (Pastes the clipboard straight into a newly created image the same size)

[minners71]

^ Good to know