FE-FC Holden Discussion Forum

Just been tinkering with photoshop to see how I might be able to enhance some drawings. Thought the old Super Roo needed an update.
Next step is to teach myself how to animate it by turning it into a Gif. I think some smoke and flames out of the headers would be cool. Anyone got any hints on this?
Regards
Alex

Recent versions (5.5 onwards) of PhotoShop come with a sister-tool called "ImageReady" that allows you to do these sorts of animations.  All the banner ads on this site (except the Ebay one) I have done using PhotoShop and ImageReady.  The zoomy van on the NSW meetings page was also done this way (which is sorta what you are planning to do).

Basically you create the animated flames, smoke etc as layers in PhotoShop and then use ImageReady to set up the frames of the animation, turning off and on the various layers to create the motion effect with each frame.

There's a tutorial on how to do it that comes with the PS disks.  You have got the disks, haven't you? ;D

cheers
RET

Hey guys...
I've had a little play around with "amimated/motin" graphics over the years (nothing interesting though :-/) . I used to use a program called "GifBuilder". It was simple to use, and like Richard is saying you still need to make the job up in a series of layers in Photoshop, and just import each one in sequence. At the moment I'm trying to teach myself Flash MX, but it aint easy.... will need to do a course for sure...!!
I've never used ImageReady, I've only just made the move from P/Shop 4 to 7 so never had it before, I will have to have a look at it now...!

Good luck, and can't wait to see the finished job...
Cheers
Les...

G'day Alex...
It's not photoshop, but last night I had a go at a simple (and pretty average) animation gif.... I drew the wagon and background in Adobe Illustrator and imported them into Flash.... I hope it works, I've had a bit of trouble getting up here... :-/

(http://members.optusnet.com.au/~lnhewitt/mypic1.gif)

Cheers
Les....

Hey Les.
That is a really cool gif. You missed your calling, looks like you should be working on Southpark.
I created a gif of superkanga, but still working on somewhere to upload it. My brother-in-law put it on his site, but as he has tripod, when I post it here, I just get a "image hosted by tripod" message. I will share it when I get it sorted.
Regards
Alex.

Alex,

Just mail it to me and I'll publish it and send you the URL.

cheers
RET

Thanks Richard.
YHM.
Regards
Alex

you guys do some pretty nifty stuff!
the wagon's wicked,les ;D(to borrow an expression from my boys)

OMG.....it's ALIVE!!!!
(http://members.optusnet.com.au/~thomasri/images/kanga3.gif)
Thanks for your help again RET.
Regards
Alex

Hope this works, Got the hang of it I think but I will have to develop a bit of talent.  :D

(http://photo.starblvd.net/~flame/5-1-5.jpg?i=1035133257)

This is / was a gif downloaded to starphoto but it has lost life

Any tips on how to keep it alive and get it here would be great.

Harko,

Your ISP will have allowed you either 5MB or 10MB of space on their server for your own Home-Page.  You can use this to host anything you like, including GIFs etc.  StarPhoto will always convert to JPEG, so there's no point trying to use that, and GeoCities (and the like) are very cagey about allowing off-site links to images on their servers.

So your ISP is your best option.  Check out your ISP's home-page, look for links on support etc, and you'll almost certainly find the instructions for uploading content to your web-space.

For example, I put Alex's image on my web-space at members.optusnet.com.au/~thomasri
You'll probably have a similar sort of address at your ISP.

cheers
RET

Hey Alex...
Southpark? I don't think so, but thanks anyway... would be nice... Good job on the flames, they look really good...!!

Hey Harko... as you can tell Alex and I both had trouble linking the gifs here too.... but I did like Richard says and used some of my space at optusnet too.... I had to open the account etc and activate it.... It won't link from StarPhoto, but does link in the same way... hope that helps...
Cheers
Les..

Thanks RET will follow your lead and be back soon.. :)

Cancel that Email RET ,Hewart has got me out of this one hopefully - Here goes,
(http://members.optusnet.com.au/~lnhewitt/mypic3.gif)

holy shit harko...looks like you've got it sorted now..thats awsome!

Thanks Trev much appreciated

Hey Harko.
That gif is awesome. it must have taken you hours.
Regards
Alex

Still tinkering with photoshop. Just did this signature pic for a guy on another board. Playing with the fill function. What can I use to get better lettering?
This format needs a little more zing.


Watchout.....image contains a F@rD.


Regards
Alex

Alex,
Lookin' good (except for the F*rd..! ;))
As for the lettering, I guess it depends on what version of photoshop you've got. Some of the later versions are pretty good with text, but for anything with text I like to use Adobe Illustrator. You can type on a path, or use the new 'warp' effect.... depends on what you’re doing, you can also combine the two... Once you get the text right, you can then paste it into photoshop on a new layer.....

(http://photo.starblvd.net/hewart/6-4-1.jpg)

Cheers..
Les.....

Thanks for the tips Les.
I don't have adobe, but I like the button idea.
Might have to see what I can come up with.
Regards
Alex

Another sig pic.
I think i'm getting a bit better.
Managed to add a border and use the gradient tool.
Still need to work on the text.
Would have liked to change the colour of the car to red, but that proceedure escapes me. I have been shown how by RET in the past, but with my memory......well you get the idea.
Regards
Alex

Alex,

That looks great, even though it's a Ford.  At least it's not a rice-burner.... (http://www.theregister.co.uk/media/352.gif)

There were a couple of tips on how different people do that here:

http://www.fefcholden.org.au/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=photochop;action=display;num=1030799461

I find the easiest way is to use the magic wand to select all the area with the colour you want to change, then use "Variations" (at the bottom of the "Image" menu) to play around with changing the colour, darkening/lightening etc.  This method changes the colour but leaves the tones alone, so the highlights and shadows remain.

And the easiest way to do a border to do Select All, then Edit/Stroke...  Choose a colour and size, and make sure the Location is "Inside".  You can also do the same thing with the Layer Effects menu (that little cursive f in a circle on the bottom left of the layers palette).

cheers
RET

That's certainly the idea, even if it's a fairly rugged colour for the fairlane.  Maybe it needs BUM80Y license plates ;D

I forgot to suggest before that if you use the Select All/Stroke method I mentioned you should create a new layer first and put the border on that.  Then you can easily select the whole border with the magic wand and do stuff like the gradient effect.  A gradient that fades to transparent can be very effective done like this.

cheers
RET

Hey RET, I think your right. The colour was not yet right, so I tried a bit harder. Whatcha think?
The gradient to transparent looks cool.....now I got something else to figure out.
Regards
Alex

Alex,

Definitely a better red colour.  Customising the gradients and making up your own is dead easy.  After choosing the gradient tool, double click on the example of the gradient in the palette (up to v6) or on the tool-bar (v7 onwards).  Then you'll get a dialog box called the "Gradient Editor" where you can add colours and/or transparency to create all sorts of neat effects.  The attachment here shows the gradient I used on the previous pic of your car.

cheers
RET

Hey Alex...
I guess half the battle trying to make text look good is choosing the right font.... there are plenty of free fonts on the net if you need some... like here for example http://www.1001freefonts.com/main.htm (but beware of a lot of "pop-ups"  ::))
One of the easiest ways to then sex it up is to apply a "style" from the p/shop style pallet to the layer with the text on it...

(http://photo.starblvd.net/hewart/1-5-1.jpg)

(http://photo.starblvd.net/hewart/1-5-2.jpg)

These also work with pics, and gives some interesting images...
If you want different styles to the ones in p/shop.... they are editable if you go to the Menu "Layer", go down to "Layer Style" and to "Blending options". You can also go to this Abode site http://share.studio.adobe.com/axBrowseProduct.asp?p=2 and download various styles, brushes and almost anything for p/shop...

Hope that helps in some way..
Cheers
Les....

a good idea if you want to broaden your skills with photoshop, flash and anything is to get the tutorials off the internet. try

www.pixel2life.com
www.tutorialized.com
www.good-tutorials.com
and thats just a few.
im in year 12 at the moment and do a subject on 'multimedia industries' and these websites literally made my major work with all of the effects and skill you learn from them. very easy to follow, and did i mention FREE!

sam.

1 from the archives.
Manipulated an image from an advert.
Regards
Alex