This will put a mark on my forehead--baby newbie!

[renee27]

I just downloaded (yes, I can do that) a .dll file and my Win7 asks what program I want to open it in.

So I ask you please, do I need to download a special .dll file opener, or is there a simpler way?

Thank you. And no, forget your prayers and wishes :0--I won't go away now that you've let me in!

Or I hope you won't chase me away.

Renee

[nitenurse79]

I did reply to you about this in a previous entry but you must have missed it;

With win7 it's the same method, just right click the zipped folder, scroll down to extract all and click on it. It will then create a folder containing the unzipped dll. Open that folder right click on the dll, scroll down to properties and click on unblock, then simply copy/paste the dll into the paint.net effects folder

[renee27]

Lord, lord--I replied but it didn't post it! But anyway, it didn't work. Even in Effects, it says I'm trying to open a .dll file (like I didn't know it!) and asks what program I want to open it with. Like I know!

Hope this posts when I click post.

Renee

[nitenurse79]

You dont open a dll, you copy and paste it into paint.net effects folder. Then open paint.net and use the effect

Edited September 14, 2012 by nitenurse79

[pdnnoob]

Sounds like this is the page you are looking for

EDIT: also...I've claimed "noob" as my title, so you can't have it! We don't mind if your questions make you seem like a novice. All of us (except Rick) were in the same spot with paint.net at one point or another.

Edited September 14, 2012 by pdnnoob

[nitenurse79]

Sounds like this is the page you are looking for

I did point them to the above link in a previous thread, from what I understand here they are trying to open the dll inside the pdn effects folder

Edited September 14, 2012 by nitenurse79

[renee27]

I'm afraid I'm more confused than ever--however like the children's book says, I shall purr-severe!

Or because like the Little Engine that Could, I think I can, I think I can!

Could my main problem be that I made a paint net user folder in a folder that contains the book I'm struggling to make the cover for?

At any rate, it has the effects folder and the rest, so I don't know.

Nurse, I'm just trying to get the blasted dll file open anywhere and any way I can! I will try tomorrow to do it boltbait's way using my desktop.

Although to be honest, I don't even remember the link to the file I was trying to use!

And I will console myself with the knowledge that even though I can't speak the pdn jargon or do graphics, I can write!

Edited September 14, 2012 by renee27

[pdnnoob]

You aren't supposed to try to open the .dll file.

Follow the instructions in the link in my previous post (click on the word with the blue letters) to install the plugins

Once the plugin is in the right folder, just open up paint.net and it should appear in the effects menu somewhere.

Edited September 14, 2012 by pdnnoob

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Could my main problem be that I made a paint net user folder in a folder that contains the book I'm struggling to make the cover for?

At any rate, it has the effects folder and the rest, so I don't know.

Remove it.

I'm just trying to get the blasted dll file open anywhere and any way I can!

As Pdnnoob said above, you don't open a *.dll file. Read the instructions that have been linked to by both nitenurse79 and pdnnoob. These are the same instructions I linked you to in a private message.

[renee27]

Please all of you bear with me! I obviously was under the impression that like Word files, they have to be open to use them. As a matter of cold fact, I'm just beginning to understand that after the plugins are in the right folder, clicking on effects in the tool bar will then "use" them for me? Is that right?

I've repeatedly said I'm doing baby steps--I suppose none of you ever were as ignorant of graphics as I am--and maybe I have no right to be on here at all--I know Scott and Nurse seem a little disgusted with me. Paint.net is marvelous for those of you who grew up using computers. When I grew up, mastering the typewriter--with only an rubber eraser to erase!--was taught in schools. I mean, we didn't have TV, AC, mobile phones were only in the funny papers: Dick Tracy's wrist phone. We didn't miss them; can't miss what doesn't even exist yet.

I don't bother watching TV or have any electronic gadgets--but I do want to try to learn PDN. Maybe it's an impossiblity coming as I do from such a blank page. I don't want to alienate any of you, or have you become set in the idea that the "elderly" are worthless and should be put out on ice floes and sent south!

I only want to try to create something that is in my mind on a book cover.

And believe me learning Win7 was also an experience although I've been trying to learn word processing since 1989--and until lately, that's all I ever used a computer for. In my own defense, I have written a novel, short story, and novella and have done my own formatting to put them on Kindle--including the TOS that lets you jump to chapters with just a click. So I can learn. Some things just take me longer than others.

I wish with all my heart that someone would really accept that there are some for whatever reason who are totally ignorant of graphics and put out a tutorial "For Dummies" on here!

Renee

[jim100361]

I hope I'm not sounding offending, but if you ask a question, it is important to read the information people provide, not skim over it. People are trying to assist, but all that seems to be happening is people are repeating themselves or others. It was said at least twice that "You dont open a dll" but instead they tried to instruct you to copy it to a specific place on your computer.

In your third post you said, "I'm just trying to get the blasted dll file open". But the very first reply to you said that you're not supposed to open it, but copy it to your computer.

If you don't understand a specific term or phrase then ask someone to clarify what they meant by what was said in a particular statement and they'll be glad to help.

Edited September 15, 2012 by jim100361

[renee27]

jim, you didn't offend. I thank you for taking the time to reply. It's not that I didn't copy and paste the plugin to a file, it's just that my computer kept asking me what I wanted to open it with. So I thought it had to be opened--which, as I said, jibed with what I know of word processing.

Now, however, I've uninstalled PDN to give it and myself time to recover. The reason I put it in a file that wasn't a program or desktop was that I wanted it where I could use the split screen to try to have access to the directions while I was attempting to try them. I guess next time I'll try minimizing them both alternately.

How wrong can you get?

I haven't quit--just want to try to get at least a loping if not running start this time. Upright and not crawling.

Renee

[renee27]

Well, thank you, but I spoke too soon. I can't even figure out how to do the simplest thing and the stress is depressing me. I hate to quit anything but I'm afraid PDN has beaten me to the ground.

Everyone can't be a graphic artist. How many of you have written and (self) published a novel that you can be proud of? I have that even if I can't make a cover!

[Ego Eram Reputo]

.. I'm just beginning to understand that after the plugins are in the right folder, clicking on effects in the tool bar will then "use" them for me? Is that right?

Effect Menu yes

I know Scott and Nurse seem a little disgusted with me.

Rubbish! Don't confuse a brief reply with us being offhand. We have many tasks to complete and sometimes a brief reply is all we have time for.

I wish with all my heart that someone would really accept that there are some for whatever reason who are totally ignorant of graphics and put out a tutorial "For Dummies" on here!

A book in this vein is due to be published later this month. Keep your eyes peeled.

[renee27]

This is hard, and humiliating for me, and probably disgusting to ya'll BUT...

Before I completely give in and quit: I can't get past background! Look, I loved the paint in XP and had no trouble with it. It was kindergarten I know next to PDN, still and all, I could at least get Fonts (Text) to work!!

Now I get to Background and I manage to change the color using the color wheel--not tried palette yet--but then when I go to Tools and push Text, and try to write on the background, it doesn't! Instead I get either a kinda doodad like 4 little circles with a dot in each or a little hand that waves--open close, open close.

So then I thought well maybe I'll try a layer on top and see if the text will show on there. Nada. The layer shows it's transparent, but it won't take the text either.

Can you imagine what it's like to be stopped at Background!!! Depressing, frustrating and humiliating.

Renee

[renee27]

Thank you, welshblue, for your kind--and I mean it--reply. Not everyone has your patience on here.

Be that as it may: I'd done just what you said: new layer, used text tool, set the color (for experimenting I just used arial black--could that have made the difference?) and the size and then tried to type it in.

But the "stick" never showed. Just that little square made of dotted circles. It however did jump everytime I typed a letter. Then somehow the little hand appeared. Could the font size have been too large? Surely not, I mean it didn't even show the first letter.

Renee

[renee27]

Oui, blue, vous! One thing before I try the delete: would my having changed the background color had interfered?

[renee27]

Nothing more to say. It didn't work, your ctl-D. Nothing worked. But I did see a tiny square box with arrows pointing in each direction, unlike the circles before.

[renee27]

Well, I did it! It was the coloring of the background first that seems to have been my problem. So I left the background white and put part of the text in black, then added a new layer and did the rest in red, then added a third layer and pushed it down and added color. It was great. Then I lost it!

I now can't duplicate it! One thing when I put the third layer down at the bottom, it deleted everything back to background! Is it supposed to do that? And btw, the colored layer (that I thought was now the bottom layer) showed up as the background!

Why did I lose the two other layers? One on top, one on bottom. I thought.

[renee27]

Found that problem. When I click layers, it doesn't show "move down" on the layer dropdown menu--only has "merge," so that's why it was merging into one!!

So w/o the move layer button how do I compensate. Is there a keyboard command? Please someone--I need help and you gotta give me this, I'm still trying!

And while I'm at it: how would I attach it to show ya'll what I did?

[pdnnoob]

If you happen to have closed the layer window, press F7 to open it again

To post a screenshot to show what is going on, press the print screen button on your keyboard, open up paint.net, and press ctrl+v to paste.

Try to crop the image to where the problem appears so the image isn't too large (forum rules say it must be less than 800x800 pixels).

Upload the image to a photo hosting website like tinypic.com or photobucket, then post the url with image tags around it like this:

[img=http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx228/pdnnoob/movelayer.png]

EDIT: if you are trying to attach the .pdn file to show us, you need to upload it to a file hosting site like mediafire

Edited September 16, 2012 by pdnnoob

[barbieq25]

Renee, relax, take a deep breath. Try not to focus so much on what you cannot do. Think about all the other areas in you life where you are successful. Remember when you used a computer for the first time? Think about it now. Go on...

Did you get everything right the first time? Bet you didn't. You might have had someone there showing you but you still made mistakes.

Is English your first language? Did you make mistakes when learning a new language?

1. Mistakes are part of the learning process. The provide valuable feedback on our performance BUT as adults we see them as a measure of our worth. Ever seen old movies or ads where they do hundreds of takes of the same scene? MIS - TAKES.
   
2. Do you feel confused? Great! Confusion occurs when you have only part of the information. If you don't know how to do something you are not confused, you just don't know. Confusion is the first part of understanding since you already know a bit.
   
3. Curiosity contributes to the replacing confusion with understanding. Sometimes the best question we can ask is: What if I had to explain the problem to someone else who knows - what question would I ask?
   
4. Attitude...is the glass half empty or half full? This takes you back to the mistakes part. When you get stuck that is when REAL learning occurs.
   

These are the 4 secrets to learning & one of the first things that I explain to my adult students no matter what they are learning.

If you click on a layer in the layers window, you should see that it is blue (light blue). If you add a layer then that one is then blue. This means it is now the active layer. See pdnnoob's screenshot above. See the second layer is the one that is blue & active? You can see that the down arrow is available as shown along the bottom of the layers window. Do you see layer up the button to the left is grey now & not blue? That is because there is nowhere for it to move up to. If the bottom layer was the active one, the down button would be grey since there is nowhere to move it down to.

The next button to the left is the merge down which is what I suspected you did to the layers. Layers are like transparent paper. If you merge them down it is like pasting them together to form one new layer. If you only have one layer there will be nothing to merge, nothing to move up & down. Don't be afraid of layers. An artist cannot have to many layers They are your best friend along with saving it as a .PDN file & again save as a .PNG or other file type you prefer.

Renee, I can remember sitting at the computer, working in Word & not knowing if save overwrites the whole program or if cancel deletes the program. Save to say that I got over this as computer skills is one of the things I now teach.

[renee27]

you're a real sweetheart, and I'd love to be in one of your classes but there are good reasons why I don't want to fight through learning pdn right now. It's really stressful for me with no one to show me. At least my son has been handy since I first learned the computer--which I've only ever (until now) used as a word processor!

And many is the time, he said just play with it, Mom! Leaving me to find my own way--as with Win7. He's a chemical engineer but he works with computers all day.

I'm going to PM you, okay?