Photoshop

[rock rash]

Just got done searching but couldnt find anything.
I just got photoshop and am trying to learn all the cool tricks. Is there anything that would be helpful. Most of the stuff im making looks horrible, so i was wondering if there is something that could help. I dont have a book to go with it so im kinda stuck there. Please help. Would love to see what my rig would look like chopped but dont know how to photochop it. Thanks!

[lost1]

Photoshop CS, or older? Either way, you can just type in http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/ or Google for Photoshop tips and tricks...it all depends on the stuff you want to know how to do.

[XJZ]

Man, photoshop is so extensive, where do you start?

Instead of trying to figure it out on your own, get a descent book (or the web), it will really help. It will show what you can do with the different tools, etc. Then just keep playing with it, there's really no other way. Just keep playing and experimenting with the different tools.

When fudging photos to chop off body parts,etc., you'd most likely use the rubber stamp tool. And then you can select>copy> paste tires, bumpers, etc. and move them around on it's own layer. You can trace objects to select them with the lasso, then do Free Transform and resize just what you've selected to the size you want by dragging the corners of the frame. But ultimately, it depends on what your trying to do with the photo and which tool would work best for that particular situation. There's just soooo much you can do with Photoshop. It's a gas, have fun.

HTH

[Beej]

Yep. Like XJZ said, its just seat time. The more you play with it the more powerful you will find it is. After you have toyed for a while and think you know what you are doing somewhat, take a course at a community college or community centre. They are all over the place up here, I can only assume you would be able to find one in your area. It will be worth the money in the end because then you will see how powerful it really is... One question, doesn't your help menu have tutorials in it? Mine does, but its an academic version. Also, if you are looking to do simple photochops, another really good program is Paint Shop Pro. Dozens of similar commands and not as powerful, but its about a fifth the price and it can get you by on a less cumbersome platform.

[rock rash]

Hey thanks for the help and the link. I think youre right. It will just take seat time. Thanks!

[rock rash]

Here is a sample of what i just Did. Dont flame, this is my FIRST ONE! :D I know it probably looks like crap but oh well, Ill get better

[rock rash]

Oh, heres the pic.
http://tinypic.com/4rxnv7

[red91]

Here is a sample of what i just Did. Dont flame, this is my FIRST ONE! :D I know it probably looks like crap but oh well, Ill get better


I'm gonna set you up tomorrow with some pics I'd like you to "adjust". It will give you the experience and help me !!

[rock rash]

So does it look okay?

[red91]

So does it look okay?


To me it does.

Your gonna help me make something interesting !!??!!

[riverfever]

So does it look okay?

Other than the fact that the one wheel sits out a touch further than the others...I think it looks sweet. The flare looks pretty solid. I also would like to tinker with that thar photochopping.

[Crunch]

Check the mirror in the shadow.

[ILLXJ]

I caught the wheel but not the shadow. Looks real good for your first. JIM.

[XJZ]

What I'm I missing? The mirror looks right to me. Look at the angle of the sun. I bet he didn't even alter that portion of the photo. Just altered from the top upper corner of the rear flare and back. Did a step and repeat (you can slightly see the chops/repeats along the top edge of the flare) to lengthen the wheel well.

The tire position is off my a nose hair, slightly outbound ( or maybe the middle axle is just a Full-size :) ). Also you'd see just a bit more tread on the middle tire then the back tire but not as much as the front.

For a rookie-this guy's good!! Excellent work! And for all practical purposes that's all you need to do to visualize any mods you'll do the the actual vehicle.




Student............Class.......................... ................Grade
_____________________________________________

Rock Rash.......PhotoShop 101 for Jeepers................A+

:star:




.

[XJZ]

Also the opposite side mid/rear tires aren't in the right position. And something about the leaf springs don't quite jive. That's not knocking your work, you'll just have to repostion them if you want it to be accurate, that's all.

But still......most excellent!


What the hell.... :star: :star: :star: ....There's a few more stars for ya! :D

[climberjeep]

http://www.good-tutorials.com/
There are so many good tutorials on this site, i think ive done 1% of them and there are new ones every day. HTH

[Kittrell]

Try Here (http://www.photoshopjunkie.com/) - Great Tutorials to get you started on the basics as well as some semi advanced stuff. Look through the contests they have, some of these guys will blow your mind on what they can do................. :bunny:

Few examples of stuff I have done..........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/Jeep1991/CapriceOriginal.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/Jeep1991/CapriceChop.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/Jeep1991/Honcho.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v690/Jeep1991/HonchoDually.jpg

[rock rash]

Check the mirror in the shadow.Thanks for all the feedback. Im going to keep working with it.

And i did not alter anything with the mirror. Thats how it was when the picture was take.:wave:

[rock rash]

Since I just am learning this Ill throw in my version of the Commander!
http://tinypic.com/4sh5sj

[rock rash]

I did that one in about 30 mins so dont make fun of it...:D

[XJZ]

And i did not alter anything with the mirror. Thats how it was when the picture was take.:wave:

Who called it? :D

[XJZ]

Since I just am learning this Ill throw in my version of the Commander!
http://tinypic.com/4sh5sj

Yeah, and while you're at it Photoshop that damn IFS right off that thing!

What's Jeep thinking, a big Liberty? :dunce:

[Yucca-Man]

And i did not alter anything with the mirror. Thats how it was when the picture was take.:wave:The problem then is one that messes up most Photochoppers - you don't have enough shadow behind the Jeep.
http://tinypic.com/4rxnv7
From that pic, the sun looks like it's coming down from almost directly overhead if you look at the angle of the rear flare/tub to the ground. The mirror angle appears much steeper so it's throwing it all off.

Shadows (or lack thereof) are one of the top ways to tell a pic has been chopped.
Rotate one of the rear wheels a few degrees before plopping it in there, right now they are both exactly the same, including position of the valvestem. Of course, by rotating it you have a shadow problem that again needs to be dealt with...

[rock rash]

Here my version of fullsizexj. Im getting quicker with it as well. Still not great.
http://tinypic.com/4t1z74

[Crunch]

The problem then is one that messes up most Photochoppers - you don't have enough shadow behind the Jeep.
http://tinypic.com/4rxnv7
From that pic, the sun looks like it's coming down from almost directly overhead if you look at the angle of the rear flare/tub to the ground. The mirror angle appears much steeper so it's throwing it all off.

Shadows (or lack thereof) are one of the top ways to tell a pic has been chopped.
Rotate one of the rear wheels a few degrees before plopping it in there, right now they are both exactly the same, including position of the valvestem. Of course, by rotating it you have a shadow problem that again needs to be dealt with...

What he said.

If you look at the front fender even, the sun appears to be overhead. Really weird though, the shadow under the front of the Jeep appears that the sun is out in front of it.

Any chance this picture was altered before you altered it? :laugh3:

[XJZ]

How does the sun look directly overhead? Looking at the front fender and where it's shadow hits the ground has the same angle as the mirrow and it's shadow. If the sun was straight above the backside of the front fender would not be in shadow.

Look at the front tire, it's shadow is at the same angle.

The light has to be at that same angle going through the windshield to hit the seats. If the light was straight above the seats would be in shadow.

Even look at the trees, the left side has more light than the right.

The tubing coming off the b-hoop is almost completly in shadow. If the sun was above they'd be in light.

[Crunch]

I can't believe I am even going on with this. Is this third grade? Since I am here. In MY OPINION, looking at the rear fender, the sun is totally on top of the fender and not on the front or rear of the fender. Yes I know, the sun is also on the other side of the Jeep by a little bit, but if the sun were casting a shadow that far to the rear with the mirror, I BELIEVE the shadow would also be covering more of the rear fender, but what do I know, and does it really matter.

I know you will come back with trajectory and coordinates of the sun, (because I am just lacking in that intelligence) to prove I am not right and you are.

As if any of this matters, I'll give up right now. You are totally right, I know nothing, and my OPINION is worthless. Sorry for chiming in on something of such importance to you.

By the way rockrash, cool work, have fun and no offense intended.

Game over, (for me anyway)
Crunch

[Yucca-Man]

That shadow you see starting at almost the front of the Jeep is the tire, not the fender. The fender casts its shadow along the edge of the tire but you can see the roundness of the tire shadow all the way back to a point aproximately under the front of the door opening.

[FitchVA]

Oh, heres the pic.
http://tinypic.com/4rxnv7

looks killer for your first chop. but because you're asking for feedback, i'll point out a few things i notice.

i'd spend an extra 5 or 10 minutes to fix the rear frame area. if you look closely, you can see how you stitched together the extra frame to the end. and the exhaust pipe is clearly broken up.

try to keep the rear frame from "M"ing and just connect the peaks of each hump with a flat piece. then continue the exhaust all the way to the back and get rid of the original tip. and there are a few repetitive dents in the rear fender that could use some smoothing out to make the chop less obvious.

again, not downing you, just trying to help :D

oh, and ....

Since I just am learning this Ill throw in my version of the Commander!
http://tinypic.com/4sh5sj

:eyes: i know where you got the commander photo from

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/commander_chopped_02.jpg

;)

for some more practice, see if you can make a woodie version like....
http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/commander_woodie_01.jpg


and for some more fun stuff to do that will help you learn how to chop images, take some and make micro machines out of xj's. here's a couple of ones i did w/ my xj
http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/ShortXJ_03.jpg

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/ShortXJ_04.jpg

[FitchVA]

the real fun comes when you try to start fooling people. on another message board, i changed this photo of my old dakota...

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/dakota_chops/PICT2425.jpg

and made this...

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/dakota_chops/LiftTiresCap.jpg

i had a bunch of people thinking that i hadn't sold my dakota AND that i did lift it and add the cap. btw, try to figure out how i made the cap :wierd:

then i let them all know what was going on and offered to sell these...

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/dakota_chops/shirt_03.jpg

and for peeps out there that would like to start doing some of this stuff but can't afford photoshop, i've done all of my stuff with GIMP. it's 100% free

[FitchVA]

oh and check out this page for some good photoshop tutorials...

http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/tutorials.htm

[JohnJohn]

Here are ton of examples of PhotoShop at it's finest:

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36995

[Gridikal]

Since I just am learning this Ill throw in my version of the Commander!
http://tinypic.com/4sh5sj
How does one go about opening the doors? :D

[rock rash]

How does one go about opening the doors? :DYou dont...:D

[rock rash]

and for some more fun stuff to do that will help you learn how to chop images, take some and make micro machines out of xj's. here's a couple of ones i did w/ my xj
http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/ShortXJ_03.jpg

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/ShortXJ_04.jpgHow do you keep the background from looking choppy?

[BrettM]

You dont...:D
yeah, no one would wanna get in that POS anyway

[BrettM]

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/dakota_chops/LiftTiresCap.jpg

i had a bunch of people thinking that i hadn't sold my dakota AND that i did lift it and add the cap. btw, try to figure out how i made the cap :wierd:


looks like you used the rear of the cab and window and just took the door line out.

your mini-XJs are COOL! the only fault I could see in a quick look besides some obvious smudging is the rear diff.

[BlackXJ4x4]

looks like you used the rear of the cab and window and just took the door line out.

your mini-XJs are COOL! the only fault I could see in a quick look besides some obvious smudging is the rear diff.

Ditto but would you have both the sun spot from the rear window and then at the back of the cap too??

[FitchVA]

looks like you used the rear of the cab and window and just took the door line out.

your mini-XJs are COOL! the only fault I could see in a quick look besides some obvious smudging is the rear diff.
yup. that's basically what i did.

those micro machine xj's were done when i first started playing with GIMP. i now i know my way around it better, i should try it again and see if i can do better

[FitchVA]

How do you keep the background from looking choppy?
the way i did it those pictures was the wrong way to do it. but in those pictures, i just used a lot of cloning and blending.

the best way to create those micro machines is to duplicate your main layer and set it aside. then take your original layer and squish it horizontally. you'll have to play around with it to see what % of scaling will look the best. once you get the right overall look, you're ready to fix some things. you'll want stuff like your tires/wheels, any people, and tags, stickers, ect to appear unsquished.

sooo create a new layer over top of your scewed image. then go back to your non crunched image to copy your tires and other stuff. paste that in the new layer over your squished layer. add a layer mask to your layer with your tires and stuff. then use your tools to blend the edges.

now that's an overly generalized explanation on how to do it. i didn't want to get too specific because then we'd run into the differences between GIMP and PS. but you get the jist of the actions that will needed to be performed.

[BrettM]

got a link for GIMP?

[rock rash]

Here is a quick 5 min squish. Please do not judge my photoshop skills on this, as i did it right before i had to leave for somewhere and did not really car how it turned out. Just for fun. :D Not near as good as the other squished ones. Just fun...
http://tinypic.com/4u7xw0

[rock rash]

Yes i know it looks like im sticking my arm throught the windshield and there is crap on the tires but o well.

[BlackXJ4x4]

Yes i know it looks like im sticking my arm throught the windshield and there is crap on the tires but o well.

Holy crap that is funny.

[Jeepin Jason]

Wow, that first micromachine XJ in the water is excellent (and halarious!). Without zooming in on the image, I'm having a hard time finding any leftover artifacts.

Also regarding the Gimp, there's now a Windows version called 'GimpShop' that looks and feels almost just like Photoshop: http://blog.yumdap.net/archives/20-GIMPshop-for-Windows.html

[Beej]

Here is a quick 5 min squish. Please do not judge my photoshop skills on this, as i did it right before i had to leave for somewhere and did not really car how it turned out. Just for fun. :D Not near as good as the other squished ones. Just fun...
http://tinypic.com/4u7xw0Holy Crap Man! No offense to her, but man, your girlfriend is ugly...

:D

[rock rash]

Holy Crap Man! No offense to her, but man, your girlfriend is ugly...

:DYeah I know...:D

[rock rash]

Im gettin the hang of the squish...got bored so heres another...
http://tinypic.com/4ubc4j

[FitchVA]

got micro flex?

http://viewsfrommylens.com/v-web/gallery/albums/jeep_chops/PICT4621micro_resized.jpg


but it still kinda looks goofy. i'm gonna see if i can do it better.

[rock rash]

Man that is Hilarious! :D

[Yucca-Man]

but it still kinda looks goofy.Of course it does - Samis look like stretch limos compared to that wheelbase!! :laugh3:

RR - nice work with the shadows on the 'mini' CJ...makes it look a lot more believable.