Photoshop Tips & Tricks Thread

Thank you so much Robin! As always you are the woman!

Ok what am I missing? On the previous page there was a person having issues saving .png files (I think she was saving them 'not' selected or visible layers.) Why work with channels at all? I do all my work in .png... no masks, no channels, no halo's and it comes out great!

Is it just that it is newer and a lot of the old hands are doing what they know? Or is there some reason people seem to perfer the older .tga format with all the extra work associated with it? I mean if you create a simple image and then 'save as..' a png then upload it and then create all your channels and masks and resave it as .tga and upload it is there any difference?

I want the best quality work as simple and quick as humanly possible, so if there is some rason (better quality, more options, faster, easier) Id like to know.

You're welcome, Angeliq! Glad I could help.

Hi Bunderwahl!

It depends on what you're doing.

First, .tga isn't "harder" than .png. It takes less than a second to make an alpha. If you put it in an action, it's a single mouse click.

For me, that's easier than making sure there's not a stray pixel somewhere on 30 or so layers in an image; but my eyes aren't very good. Your milage may vary.

I tend to make the alpha very early in the process, before there are more than a couple of layers in the image. Then it's done, and I can add all the details without wondering if, say, an almost invisible pixel from the shading blur at the edge of the shirt wound up on the arm after the sleeve.

I could wait until I had the whole thing done, and then just make a selection of the edges of the shirt from a layer, and follow it up the layer stack, hitting delete on every one as I went, to make sure that didn't happen. But an alpha channel is just easier.

Besides, with an alpha, I can reuse it. For instance, each shirt style I make has the same alpha, no matter what's happening on the shirt. So I've made it once, and now I can just put it in the new shirts, and not give it a second thought. When I'm ready to upload, it's good to go.

I've used .png, for really "quick and dirty" stuff, where I had only one layer in the image, and I wasn't putting much effort into it.

There's nothing wrong with .png. If it's easier for you, then go with it.

But it's my opinion that if you know how to do both, then you can use the one that makes your life simpler for the job at hand.

Which is why I recommend that everyone learn the extremely easy procedure of making an alpha channel. And it is extremely easy. People make it harder than it is, because they are sure that there is something complex about it. But there's really not.

Thanks for your reply Robin... I guess I should try it, if for no other reason then to know how to do it that way. I do tend to make variations on clothes I have already made.. the way I do it is before saving as a png to upload I save it as a .psd (actully Ive learned it is a good idea to save it regularly as .psd)

That way when I want to make a change or if I notice an error I just open up the .psd and delete layers (sometimes keeping he 50% gray overlay and the outlines only)

I loved the movie it was really helpful, but I cannot seem to be able to find the actual 3D object file that you used in your tutorial. Do you have a link to where I can download it? Thanks in advance! Jasmine

Hi Jamsime! Thanks for your kind words.

You'll find those files on my site at
http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLDownloads/Exported_CS3_Avatars.zip

I need to ask the Lindens if I can link to them on a page that anyone can access. If I can, then I'll be putting that link at the bottom of the tut page. Otherwise, it's going to have to be something that you need to be a member, and log in here, to see.

Hope this helps!

Great! I was having the same issue as the other poster since I just got CS4. I tried the link above and kept getting the error page. I cruised the site and probably need my glasses fixed but could just not find the file.

BTW, the movies and tutorials are great! Would recommend the Clothing 101 thinc book Robin does that tells all about clothing for SL and only 100L on Xstreetsl.com

Thanks for all you great and hard work Robin!

Oops. I accidently left out a hyphen. The addy is fixed now, and should work just fine.

You won't see the page, because there isn't one. It's just a .zip file that should start to download instantly when you paste that URL into your browser (or click on it, if you can do such a thing in these permanently broken forums.)

Thanks for letting me know it needed fixing, Morgaine, and for your kind words and recommendations!

There's nothing wrong with your glasses, by the way. The file isn't linked anywhere that you can find it, because I don't have permission from the Lindens to distribute it to non-SL members. Since only SL members can get in here, and only those who have payment info on file, I figure it's okay to give it out here, since it's really nothing that anyone here can't make on their own from the things that are on the Second Life website.

Thank you Robin! I tried repasting the URL with no luck. I am running a MAC and using Firefox. I am new to the Mac so I could be doing something wrong. Any suggestions?

The download worked just fine for me just now. I'm using a trusty PC, but I doubt that it makes a difference. A zip file looks the same to any platform.

Okay, I have entered this URL--copied/pasted--is this correct URL?

http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SLTuts/SLDownloads/Exported_CS3_Avatars.zip

I get a 404 Page Not found Error--Oh Noes! We can't find your page! So, I must be doing something incorrectly.

Hi Mrogaine!

No, I'm sorry, that URL is wrong. It should be SL-Tuts, not SLTuts, in the middle.

The correct one is
http://www.robinwood.com/Catalog/Technical/SL-Tuts/SLDownloads/Exported_CS3_Avatars.zip

It's not platform related at all; just a typo that I made that somehow got passed on.

Hope this helps

Woo Hoo! Thank you Robin--this works! Thank you! Now will see if the dreaded making clothing is any easier to accomplish.

iam not sure how to ask this question, but iam just starting out in photoshop 7 and have created a few shirts however i want to add a gem that i found onto the shirt but am not sure how to i thought i could select inverse then move it to the shirt layer but this didn't work. any tips or tricks would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not sure why you would want to select inverse, or why you would want to move it onto the shirt layer either, for that matter. Why not simply leave the gem on its own layer (above the shirt layer, of course)? That's the easiest way to handle any design "extras" like buttons, stitching, and the like.

Incidentally, let me offer two supportive suggestions:

1. Since you are using Photoshop 7, you should beware of a design flaw that was built into that version (and no version before or after it) that can make it very difficult to work with transparency. Before you get too involved, read the sticky thread on alpha channels and transparency at the top of this forum carefully. There's a plug-in to fix the problem.

2. When you have a question about a specific design challenge, you'll get better responses if you post it in a new thread instead of burying it in an old one where it may be easily overlooked. That's especially true for a sticky thread like this one, where people will be looking for "Tips & Tricks" for using Photoshop, not expecting a question about your shirt.

Thank you Robyn for sharing this awesome info! I've just recently decided to give clothing design a go & am still doing some research and found your tutorials on using the 3d tool of CS4 3d extended version - AMAZINK STUFF!

I have a question though;

When I open up the .obj file, I get a msg from PS saying "Your video card does not meet the requirements for hardware-accelerated 3D rendering. All 3D will be rendered with software only"

My question is - do you/anyone else get this message too? & is it something I need to address to get the full capability using the 3D functionality?

I have dual 512mb GeForce 8800M GTX cards & have checked the specs on them + have also checked the spec requirements on the Adobe website to use PS.

Adobe website states: "Some GPU-accelerated features require graphics support for Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL 2.0"

Nvida website advises the specs of my cards as: "Complete DirectX support, including Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 & Full OpenGL® support, including OpenGL 2.1"

Based on the requirements Vs capabilities it looks to me that my graphics cards should more than handle the System requirements of PS CS4 Extended - & am confused why I'm getting the message.

**I know that the hardware issue is off topic, it is more the question about the message when opening the .obj file that I'm curious to know about.**

Thanks for your time!

N

Thanks, Newdoll! I'm glad that you found it useful!

About your question; no, I don't get that. It sounds like this is a question for Adobe. If I were you, I'd call them, and ask.

I'm afraid that I don't know enough about the hardware requirements to even hazard a guess, here.

Let us know what they tell you!

Thanks for replying Robyn..... i have a sneaking suspicion that its a hardware/driver issue :/ & i'll investigate.... keep you posted.