I can't figure out how to show shadowing of some objects.

[thegrindre]

Hi,

To keep it simple, I've built a brick wall and want to show shading of the boards on top of the wall as if the sun were shining down casting a shadow from the top board down onto the bricks. In other words, a gradient effect just under the top board darkening the bricks a bit as if it were shade from the sun.

You might be able to see this better if it were a door frame casting a shadow onto the door.

I hope all this makes since... :?

thanks,

Rick

P.S. I also can not find an opacity level tool when applying layers. I usually use this 'tool' for lettering signs and things causing the letters to 'fade' into the background application. Such as on an old brick wall with very worn letters or a wooden sided building.

[Ash]

For your 1st question, post some pic so we can understand and help you easier.

2nd question, double click on the layer in the layers window.

[thegrindre]

Thanks, Ash, for responding...

OK, here we go. I'm a skinner for a train game and have been using MS Paint and Irfanview for years. They do have their draw backs and so I thought I'd try Paint.net because of the little extra it offers, (It seems to be catching on all over the net and appears to be easier then The Gimp, btw). I'd like to add a little more detail/realism to my work.

Here is exactly what I'm wanting to do;

The circles are the areas I want to shadow and the gray door has the shadow on it I want to achieve, (Look closely). The arrows show where the shadow is suppoded to be and where I want to apply it to the green door and the roof overhang.

(The gray boxcar in the lower right is the original car I've re-skinned to a green boxcar, btw.)

Does all this help? :shock:

Thanks,

Rick

[Olli]

I dont know if you want this but ,

Add new layer

select an Area , , :LassoTool:

Fill area with an darkish grey or black :PaintBucketTool:

Deselect ( Ctrl+D)

Gaussian blur at an high radius :GaussianBlur:

Flatten :Flatten:

Here you go , hope it wil work.

[thegrindre]

I've tried something similar but loose the green door 'background'. I want the shadow to be part of the door as a darker color as if it was in the shade of the sun.

Thanks,

Rick

[Olli]

Brightness / contrast?

[thegrindre]

Thanks, Bugster but that's not what I'm looking for. I wanting the green door do be a darker green as if it were in shadow approximately 3 to 5 pixel lines long/high/wide.

[Olli]

Yes , i mean that , select the part of the door and turn it a bit darker using brightness , contrast....

[thegrindre]

I need it to be in gradient form, dark, a little lighter, a little lighter, a little lighter, about 5 times. But I understand what you're saying, now. I'll play with it.

[Olli]

Yes , try play around with gradient and layer's

if i had Pdn here , but i dont, i will help you but i can't do it now it will be within 2 days.

sorry!

[thegrindre]

Yes, this works but it is rather tedious doing it one line at a time and I can't save my work. The program crashes each time I select SAVE or SAVE AS. :evil:

[Olli]

Slow computer?

[thegrindre]

VERY very big PC.

[Olli]

Whats the version you use?

and what are the dimensions of your picture?

[thegrindre]

v3.2

24" monitor 1600 x 1200 res

4 gigs ram

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS with 640 mb ram

Intel duo core processor clocked at 4.33 Ghz

Win XP Pro

It's 2 months old and Paint.net is the only app that has given me any trouble. It won't save anything to disc. It just crashes. I have to select all, copy to clip board, open Irfanview, paste, then save from Irfanview.

[Olli]

but the dimensions of your picture

..Px x ..Px

[thegrindre]

1600 x 1200 is what you're looking for?

[Olli]

thats why its freezes , thats very very big!

[thegrindre]

Yup, I got a big one...

[barkbark00]

That size file should not ba a problem for your computer...

I attached a zipped PdN file that demonstrates what you need.

Here's what I did:

Add new layer. Set the layer's blending mode to 'Multiply'. Select the area I wanted to have the shadow. Fill that with a dark gray(hex = 3F3F3F), not black(for a reason). Then I used the gradient tool in transparent mode to make it fade.

shadow.zip

[thegrindre]

WOW!!! That's exactly what I'm trying to do. I don't understand what you did but I will try it. Thanks, looks perfect.

[Olli]

sorry i could'nt help you .

[barkbark00]

What parts do you not understand?

Blending Modes:

http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/en/L ... Modes.html

Gradient Tool:

http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/en/GradientTool.html

[thegrindre]

Well, I'm a newbie and don't know anything about layers, yet. Layers are something I want to learn because I use numerous instances of MS Paint with copy and paste for my layering applicating.

[Myrddin]

Okay, well barkbark beat me to it (I should start to write less and type faster), so I'll just say what was on the end of my original post...

1600 x 1200 is what you're looking for?

thats why its freezes , thats very very big!

If you're still at Paint.NET's default PPI (96), then that is in no way 'very very big'. I've worked on the same resolution of image before (and bigger) with less than a quarter of the RAM and less than half the processor speed, and I had no problems. In fact, I've worked on images 3508 x 4961 pixels large at 300 PPI and, although extremely slow, did not crash on me. At the time I only had ~768 MB of RAM and a 1.60 GHz processor. And it was a laptop, which as we all know is not the best platform for heavy duty work.

Your computer should be able to handle 1600 x 1200 with ease.