HELP NEWBIE NEEDS ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS TUTORIAL WRITTEN IN "BLONDE COMP. FORMAT"

Yes i have tried several of the tutorials I have ran across here in the forums. Point me to the correct tutorial please. I am blonde so the instructions must be written in clear english amd elementary format. ACK i was given Photoshop CS as a gift...BLAH I am so lost..its so much more confusing than old paint program i had.

Help me understand how to make alpha channels, clothing shoes anything.

I have made clothing and 2D things with another older paint program for another game ehem that has simulated life forms. I was able to make clothing, objects, furniture etc. i need help

Thank You in Adavnce
GoldieFawn Fielding

Goldie, I'd post some of my own links but I'm at work instead of home (where my links are). All I did, however, was some creative Googling:

"photoshop tutorial"
"photoshop transparency"
"photoshop alpha channel"

Etc.

In the process of shopping for my (yet to arrive) copy of PS7, I even pulled up a bunch of good sites by simply searching on "Photoshop". Took a little more time to wade through the links Google returned, but there are some dandies out there.

Good luck with it. I'm excited about getting started once the FedEx guy shows up. We'll have to swap discoveries!

Cindy

"Blond Comp. Format," that's funny, hehe.

Anyway, Goldie, I'd like to help but I'm afraid your question is a bit too broad. Let's try to narrow it down so I can better judge where to steer you. Please answer the following questions, and then I'll know exactly what to do for you:

1. Have you ever used Photoshop before or are you starting completely form square one?

2. You asked about alpha channels. Do you know what they are, but you just don't know how to make them specifically in Photoshop, or do you need a complete crash course on what they are, what they do, and how to work with them?

3. You asked about making things like clothes & shoes. Your answers to 1 & 2 will greatly influence what kind of instruction I would give you on that subject, but in additon I need to ask have you downloaded the Linden templates and/or Chip Midnight's hi-res templates, and if so, do you understand them?

4. Assuming you do have the LL templates, have you read the little manual that goes with them? If so, was there anything specific in it you didn't understand, or was it everything?

Answer those questions, and I'm sure I can help get you on your way, as can many other great helpful folks here on the forum.


Edited to fix typo in LL templates link

Thank You "Cindy Claveau" for the google search ideas. I will do that right now.

Thank You also too "Chosen Few" and the answers, your questions are below:

1. Yes I have used adobe photoshop but an older version. Whatever was out in 1998. This is abit more to comprehend. I am not starting at square one but started and 1, 2 and skipped a few. =D to CS

2. I do wknow what alpha channels are, just dont know how to create in this new CS program.

3. I DL 'ed both the Linden and Chip Midnights templates last week. Just to be sure I had what I needed. Better to be over prepared.

4. Good assumption I do have em but didnt have a link to lil manual book. I will read it through in a few.

I did read over a few basic instruction others have typed up in the forums. Not sure if they were for PSP OR PSCS now..hee hee.

GoldieFawn Fielding .....studyin up on this stuff.

Okay then, so you know what layers are, how to turn them on & off, sort them etc., and you know where to find the paintbrush, pencil, etc., how to pick colors, save files, size images, etc. Good, that saves a lot of time. (If you don't know any of this, by all means ask & we can backtrack a little.)


Here's my standard 10-Step Alpha tutorial. My girlfriend was able to follow it and she had never before used Photoshop in her life (her computer skills consist of MS Word and Internet Explorer) so I know it's foolproof. That having been said, if you can't follow any of it, come back & ask.

How to Create an Alpha Channel
For this, we'll use the example of making a bikini top.

1. On the Layers Palette turn off all layers except for the layer that has your bikini on it. (To turn a layer off, click the eyeball symbol to the left of its name.)

2. If the bikini layer has any white space around the bikini itself, use the eraser to get rid of the white space. It's very important at this stage that the bikini be on its own layer with nothing else on it.

3. On the Layers Palette, ctrl-click the icon for the layer with the bikini on it. (The icon is the little picture of the layer directly to the left of the layer's name.) This will select everything on the layer. You should see the "marching ants" outlining your bikini now.

4. On the Layers Palette, click the tab that says Channels to switch it to the Channels Palette. What you should see listed here are the three primary channels for your image, labled, "Red", "Green", & "Blue", and a master channel for the three, labelled "RGB". If you see any other channels besides those four, delete them now.

5. In the lower right corner of the Palette Window, locate the button that looks like a square sticker being peeled from its backing. It's the second one from the right. It's immediately to the left of the one that looks like a trash can. It says "New Channel" when you hover your mouse over it. Click it.

6. You should now see a new layer called "Alpha 1", which is currently all black. Make sure all channels except for Alpha 1 are turned off and that Alpha 1 is turned on. This should have happened automatically when you created Alpha 1, but if it didn't, do it now.

7. Your canvas should now appear to be solid black with the exception that you should still be able to see the "marching ants" outline of your bikini. Paint everything inside the outline white and leave everything outside of it black.

8. Click "Select" on the menu bar at the top of the screen to pull down the Select Menu. Click "Deselect" and you should see the marching ants disappear.

9. On the Channels Palette, trun the red, green, & blue channels back on, and turn Alpha 1 off. Now click the tab that says layers to switch back to the Layers Palette. Create a new layer by pressing the same button you previously used to create the new channel. (Just as it created a new channel while you were on the Channels Palette, it will create a new layer while you're on the Layers Palette.) Click on the name of this new layer and drag it underneath the layer with the bikini on it. Paint the new layer 50% gray or darker; black is fine. (The gray/black layer will prevent the white halo sometimes caused when Alphas are created the way we just did it. If you don't know what I mean by that, don't worry about. Just make sure to always put a gray/black layer underneath your work and you'll never have to see that white halo.)

10. Save your file as a 32-bit TGA and upload it to SL.


Good. You'll find that Chip's templates kick more ass than a boot glued upright to a toilet seat. They rock. Just remember to resize your images before you upload to SL. The hi-res templates are 1024x1024. The images should be 512x512.


Anything in there you don't understand, come back here & fire away.

Hi GoldieFawn!

I have a video tutorial about how to make an Alpha Channel in PS2 on my website here.

It's not clothing specific, but it should let you know how to do it, with very little reading.

I'm hoping to get the clothing ones up in the next few weeks. Right now, I'm working on putting together an in-game texture tutorial, so I'm a tad busy.

Hope this help you!

AWESOME! =D

I saved the file to desk top and will wait til after kids are in bed to DL and go through it. I really appreciate all the helpful hints.

Nothing fancy just a quick.... am I understanding this ....Adobe Photoshop CS ..kinda quicky

I cant wait to put kids to bed tonight (hmm maybe an hour early wont hurt)
Take a peek....

Now to perfect my craft. Erm I mean with this new program.

Ohh its the "Turquoise Snakeskin Mini Skirt" ... the only thing for SL ....I have made so far.......Just to see if I am gettin this...



GoldieFawn Fielding

Hehe, curse you and your newfangled video ways. Curse you I say. I take all the trouble to write my foolproof 10 tips, and they get completely overlooked on every thread you link your shiny, flashy video to. I wanna help the newbies, dammit!

In all seriousness though, that is a great video. Looking forward to seeing what you'll cook up next.

Yay! Glad to see it's coming together for you.

Now I Cant Wait To Create

Gf

ROFL, Chosen!

But you do help the newbies, you know.

The really funny thing is that I would never have thought of making a video tutorial if someone hadn't specifically asked for it, and I hadn't just found out that I could put those little notes on the movie with nothing more than Quicktime Pro.

But thanks.

Next I'll be doing some for clothing, since that's the second-most-asked question. But I have to upgrade to Quicktime Pro again, because I accidentally downloaded QT7. (Next time, I'll read the System Update thing more carefully.)

And I need to finish the Ingame Texture Tutorials I'm working on. No movies there, though.

GoldieFawn, it looks like you've got it! Congratulations!