I'm using Corel Painter 8, but I'll be getting Adobe Photoshop in a couple of weeks. (One of my husband's buddies is giving me his copy because he has to get the whole Adobe CS suite of programs for school. Yeah!)
I have been messing around with Adobe with accidental results, so bought a book and I'm trying to learn. Wish they had had computers when I was a kid.
You aren't the only one! I almost took a computer class my senior year in high school. It was when computers still ran on punch cards! (But they cancelled the class for lack of interest! Hmph!) But then I still remember when a 4 function calculator was $500 and we weren't allowed to use them in class. Only slide rules. (Boy, does anyone even learn to use those nowadays?) Then the next year I was required to get a calculator for an epidemiology class I was taking. (It was either that or compute exponentials using a table and the sliderule, which took much more time.) I got the new Texas Instrument SR10, which was all of $250 and had not only the 4 regular functions but also had "scientific" things like logs and exponentials. (I pitied the people who took the class the year before. There weren't even calculators available at *any* price to do that sort of thing. Only the 4 function ones.) Computers have changed in leaps and bounds over the past 35 years. It's amazing what they can do now. So, now I'm using a fancy paint program instead of all the pastels, charcoals, watercolors and oils that I used to use. And my hands aren't getting nearly as dirty as they did with the "old style" stuff! I'm using Corel Painter 8. I'm getting Adobe Photoshop in about 2 weeks. (I have a limited Photoshop5 but it doesn't do things that the book says it should. It came with my Adobe Illustrator. So I'm going to get a "real" one.) I already have the instruction manuals. (I don't see how people can do them without a manual unless they know another paint program already. And a 4 page tutorial just doesn't cut it for figuring it out, I've found.)
I'm using Adobe Photoshop, and I just got a Wacom Graphire tablet, mouse, and stylus set that came with some new graphics add on program that's put MORE stuff into my Photoshop to play with! I hope I get better at drawing with the stylus.
I love my Wacom Graphire tablet. It took me a while to get used to the optical mouse, but I now have completely quit using my old mouse. I found that using the pen really helps with controlling how you draw. And the pressure sensivitity really is nice. It makes it feel so much more like using the art media that most of us grew up with. Which size did you get, FaeLuna? I got the smallest one (because I am short on cash) but now I wish I'd saved a little longer and gotten one that was at least the next size up (especially if I'm using the lasso tool around something fiddly.) It was the software that came with it that eventually got me to get the paint program upgrade. (The Procreate Painter Classic is really a stripped down version of Painter 7. I now have Painter 8, which is very nice.) They say on the website that they put the stripped down or older version of the software with the tablet in the hopes that you will want to upgrade it. Let me know how the pressure sensitive thing works with Adobe Photoshop, will you, FaeLuna, please. Someone is giving me their copy of it in a week or so.
I use an older version of photoshop. It's 7.0. I have taken a photoshop class before. However it's highly possible to learn most of it with out any formal instruction. I don't think it's difficult. But then I am pretty good with software. I am going to get a 3D program one day. In the Fall I am taking a 3D class, so maybe I will know how to make content for the Sims 2. I am have some ninja :bandit: photoshop skills.
I've gone old school and am using the free paint program that came with my comp :-D heehee, but it's not too too bad, i've made a few fun items
Hey, old school is IN now hyperactivecow! So far the pressure sensitive feature is nice when I'm trying to get the look/feel of hand drawn, but I'm not practiced enough to keep pressure even when I want it to be all the same pixel size brush and look uniform. I think it's just me catching on to it. All the brush sizes in photoshop now have a sort of "swoop" to indicate how wide it can get with pressure, tapering off at the ends. I was surprised it changed that as it used to just be a straight line showing the width in pixels that the brush would be. I got the 4x5 version of the pad as it was the ONLY one ANY store in my area had, and I thought that would be a good size to start with anyway as I'm mostly just learning on it and won't be attempting anything professional yet....
I figured the 4x5 would be fine since I wasn't going to need it to paint large areas. I now wish I'd had the money for a bigger one because my natural hand motion with the mouse or the pen often goes outside the bounds. I also wish that it worked to the edge, rather than having a nearly 2" border of insensitivity. But then, I also wish I had gotten the "Intuos" because it has more things that you can change with the air brush. But still, it's so much easier with the pen than with a mouse. But I figure that when I'm rich and famous, I can buy the "cadillac" version of these things. :winks:
Haha yeah, the "cadillac" version, as you put it, is probably too much for me to START with anyway, getting used to it in general.
You're probably right. However, I was quite surprised at how fast I was able to pick up on using the pressure sensitive pen. It really works like using a real pen, pencil, airbrush, etc.
I'm having trouble getting the settings on the stylus and pad so when I trace something the stylus marks in the correct places on the screen. I'm thinking I'll just go through the whole "help" index and try to figure it out tonight if I don't catch on soon, I thought I'd fixed it by resetting it to default and checking the proportional settings on... but surprise, it didn't!
How odd. I haven't found it to be a problem. But then I'm using Corel, which it is made to go with. (Although they do mention Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrated sometimes.) I hope you get it to work. It's a bugger that it's not doing what you want it to do.
Thanks for the encouragement. Whatever's going on, it's not just a photoshop thing, it happens on the desktop and other programs too, when I pick up the stylus and put it down it hops to another place on the screen instead of being in the same place. I'll pin it down somehow, I'm stubborn!!
I'm not sure if anyone listed this photo program. I'm using Corel Kodak Photo House. It is very easy to navigate compared to some other programs I've tried. I bought this version a long time ago and I am sure they have updated it many times. I once did a check at Tucows for some good art programs. Anyone looking for one might want to try and search there. Most of the programs are free or trial versions. http://www.twocows.com/ Amy
I am going totally old skool! I use paint (see ma it is possible! ) And it seems to do what I need. For the textures I use a free prog called Irfanview (available from www.download.com). And when I want to get super tricky I use photoshop 6 (mainly for recolours etc). So you don't have to spend loads of cash to make skins!
