Olham 164 Posted October 5, 2009 Duce, if you can get older versions of Photoshop cheaper, you can take and use them. They should all do the job fine. BB, your method may be as good, when you can work with structures and grain there? What I do most, is to copy parts/selections which may be useful for changing, and paste them into a new layer, where I adjust/vary their colouring. Rather easy, but effective. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Burning Beard 14 Posted October 5, 2009 Yes, in "Draw" you have a full range of textures, fills, and all sorts of useful stuff. You can make custom textures for fills of shapes, do fades across objects ad depth with a 3d rotation tool, rotate you light source, etc. You can even do a start out as one object and morph into another as you drag it across a screen. Its real value to me is the advanced font manipulation, easy kerning of letters, drop shades, envelopes and the like. I am currently using version 13 (X3) and started with version 4, so I have a lot of familiarity with the program. It does a lot of things I don't need, but it is nice to know they are available. It is only recently that I have been fooling around with the Photo Paint side of the program (mainly just for skinning) and the tool usage in it are kind of backwards to Corel Draw, in other words pretty frustrating. Mainly with this type of program you discover things by accident, or try something that you think ought to work and then Wala! you have a new tool. The use of layers in Corel itself is different that a the Photo Paint program in that each object is treated as its own layer and can be moved independently across the screen of the other objects. Like say you are working on a skin which is 2048 x 2048, you can import a profile (like the Rising Sun)from somewhere, trace the lines of the small drawing with your vector tools then drag and enlarge (without changing the resolution or losing definition) them to fit the area needed on the skin, then you can manipulate those vector shapes (by using nodes) or add curves to them as needed. If something doesn't fit correctly you can use envelope tools to warp the shape to fit the item. You can then take this object and place it above or below anything else you have drawn without having to open a diffent layer. You have choices like front of page, back of page, in front of (think click on a different object) behind, one forward, one back, etc.... Like I said though it is kind of steep learning curve and it works differently than other programs. But once you are used to it, it is very good. Beard Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olham 164 Posted October 5, 2009 BB, no need to advertise Corel Draw to me - I work a lot with it myself, and I think, it's the easiest to use and most intuitive design program. I also know some Adobe programs, but use mainly Photoshop only, and Indysign for layouts. For skins, I work only in Photoshop - it can generate any desired effect I want. But Corel Photo Paint may do all quite similar things, too? A pity, if it's not so easy/ intuitive to use. But Photoshop is also a lot to learn. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Burning Beard 14 Posted October 5, 2009 Photo Paint plays well with Draw in that it will import cdr files and leave the backgrounds transparent. However my version does not save as bmp's so I have to take the native cpt (photo paint) files back into Draw to convert them. Photo Paint will save in psd format and open those files without losing layers. I dont think it has all the same filters as photoshop, but since I dont use that program I have no way of knowing. Beard Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Duce Lewis 3 Posted October 6, 2009 Hi guys, thanks for all the advice/tips I have a friend with a line on a deal on Photoshop I'll see what he comes up with Then I'll make the plunge Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Baldric 42 Posted October 6, 2009 This is an area I haven't delved into for a long time so I'm waaaay out of the loop knowledge-wise. I used to use Paint Shop Pro to make historical skins for our IL2 group, back in 2002/2003ish, and of course some personal skins for friends. Is Paint Shop no longer the skinners choice? I have never used Photo-Shop but would be interested in having a go when I have a bit of time. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UK_Widowmaker 571 Posted October 6, 2009 (edited) Hi Baldric I can see no reason not to use PSP for skinning, especially if thats what you're used to. Like Olham, I came to Photoshop out of a work necessity...and kinda moved into Skinning from there! If you have PSP, give it a go m8.. (Actually, Beanie uses a Free paint program for his Skinning...can't remember what it's called though)....anyone? Edited October 6, 2009 by UK_Widowmaker Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RAF_Louvert 101 Posted October 6, 2009 . I use Paint.NET myself for all my OFF painting and general graphics work. It's free and has all the features you will need and then some. Give it a go if you don't currently have an image editor that allows you to work in layers. Cheers! Lou Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
