Help!

[Graf]

Alright gents...need some professional help. And I'm not talkin' bout what J is gettin'.

I'm making the switch from PSP to PS. Paint Shop pro X to PhotoShop 7 to be exact and it ain't lookin' perdy. I'm having pure hell right now with it.

I've been reading through the tuts but still I'm about as graceful with PS as Forrest Gump was with Jenny.

HELP!

[Serval]

Just point out your problems, so we can answer them and give some tips.

[BLOWHARD]

Well, your first problem is not switching earlier! :P
What Serval says Plus, just keep using it, A LOT! It's the best way to learn. If you want to do something, there are probably any of a dozen ways to do it in PS. Just keep looking around and playing with every setting, menu, slider and filter you can find
Also remember, there are tools under tools and the windows have menus that have other windows...if you know what I mean

[AGNT_Matt]

yeah PS is a great program i only made the switch in february and well look at the work you can do in a short space with lotsa practice, not saying my works good, far from it actually. but yeah tell us your problems and we'll help you out pal, maybe you'll finish one *sniggers*

[Graf]

Ok...lets make a list.

1. Anyway to enlarge the size of the pen tool? Seems to be only one size when drawing lines.

2. How can I tell where a layer is when I select it? Say I select a specific weathering on a skin. How can I get PS to show me exactly where its located?

3. I can only paint in circles? No squares?

4. What the hell is all the advanced blending? Talk about having me by the nuts!

Thats all for now. Advice much appreciated.

[Graf]

5. How to replace color?

6. How to load new brushes?

[e-b-o-]

1.) with '[' & ']' (without the brackets and the '&' ) you can change the size of the tool, doesn't matter if it's a brush, eraser, etc... with 1,2,....9,0 you choose the opacity of your tool (doesn't matter if you use the numpad or the keyboard numbers)

2.) move tool ('v'), right click on the area you would like to edit. it will show you all layers which are in this area.

3.) click on the selection tool, it will give you the choose of a circle or rectangle.

better solution: change the shortcuts in the preferences: I'm using 'm' for a circle, 'n' for the rectangle...

4.) no idea, more details pls...

5.) there are about 40532 ways changing colors in photoshop... depending on your original source and what you're aiming for there are some solutions. If you're a bit more specific I can tell you some more details.

6.) upload your new brushes (*.abr files, iirc...) in your brushes folder in the ps main directory... this folder can have different locations, depending on your choosen language.

to load the brushes, open the brushes palette, click on the arrow in the right upper corner & select them.

[BLOWHARD]

A little more to add on to what Ebo said-

Are you talking the pen tool for making vectored lines? If so, it doesn't have a size. It's a selection device. You can fill or erase and makes masks with it, or you can "stroke" it with whatever brush size you'd like. The pen tool isn't the end result, just the way to get to the end result.
Of course, if you are talking about one of the painting tools, brush or pencil, or the eraser, or anything like that, what Ebo says is what you need. You can also open the brush pallet and it has a selection of brushes, fuzzy, hard edged, etc. You can add many more brushes that come with Photoshop too, there are more than the default.

Make sure you've got your layer window open. It's a good idea to get used to navigating around all those layers and learning different ways to arrange them.

The Pencil tool does squares too, load up the pencil and look at your brush pallet

Huh? Don't know that, I do what I'd call advanced blending but I've never seen anything in Photoshop called that. Elaborate please.

Again, what Ebo says, do you mean replacing colors on a file, or replacing colors on your color selection pallet, or in your swatch menu...or... ???

Ebo has Q:6 nailed down If you want version and platform specific info, open the Photoshop help menu and type in "load brushes"

OH BOY, are you gonna have fun!!!

[Graf]

Fun? I'm calling it hell right now! Well the Crown and Cokes are watering it down tho.

[Graf]

Alright...think I've got the basics down. Loving it so far. Holy crap now I see how you guys put out profiles like they're nothing! In PSP you can't create paths and you pretty much have to do the rivets yourself. Pretty much why I never finished a thing...very, very frustrating.

Well heres my first attempt at doing some stuff with PS 7. Need some opinions on my 3D work as I'm not too sure about the spinner lighting right now.