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Lab Assistant
#26 Old 15th Dec 2006 at 12:30 PM
I don't see the feather in my shop. I have Corel Paint shop pro photo XI. I also see something about layers but have no idea how that works! I spend hours using erase to cut the sim out from the background. And even then, I have to push and smudge to fix the out line! The magic wand doesn't work well for me. It always leaves a black background. Perhaps thats where the layers come in? Hahaha, I've had paint shops for awhile now and still can't master it! I don't think I ever will! Great looking pictures you all have out here! The rain option is the hula hack and I believe it's in reactions and more.

I put lawyers not layers! Dummy!

I'm Michele D......
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Original Poster
#27 Old 15th Dec 2006 at 9:38 PM
Michele, yes, you HAVE to know layers to do this. You need to open a NEW file. I don't know how this looks in Paint, but when you open a new file there is a "transparent" option instead of white or background color. See the pics in PS Poses part 1. Then you can either, 1.) Use the 'move' tool to drag the sim pic onto the 'transparent' layer, or 2.) While clicked on your sim pic Go to Select and select 'all' or you can use the rectangle marquee tool and highlight the area of the pic you need. Then hit ctrl-c to copy. Now click on the 'transparent' layer and hit ctrl-v to paste. Now when you use the magic tool it won't be black...it will be gone. But then again, I had PSP for a month and hated it. So I really didn't use it.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." ~Albert Einstein
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.~F.D.R.
Lab Assistant
#28 Old 15th Dec 2006 at 10:35 PM
Quote: Originally posted by Sisaly
Michele, yes, you HAVE to know layers to do this. You need to open a NEW file. I don't know how this looks in Paint, but when you open a new file there is a "transparent" option instead of white or background color. See the pics in PS Poses part 1. Then you can either, 1.) Use the 'move' tool to drag the sim pic onto the 'transparent' layer, or 2.) While clicked on your sim pic Go to Select and select 'all' or you can use the rectangle marquee tool and highlight the area of the pic you need. Then hit ctrl-c to copy. Now click on the 'transparent' layer and hit ctrl-v to paste. Now when you use the magic tool it won't be black...it will be gone. But then again, I had PSP for a month and hated it. So I really didn't use it.


Okay, I know how to open a new file. That much I do know I'm going to copy and paste this in wordpad and try it later. I want to do this because it takes too much time using erase! Thank you and I will let you know

I'm Michele D......
#29 Old 19th Feb 2007 at 2:22 AM
this is going to sound really lame, but how do I "flatten" my image. I was trying charmys warming technique, but im not sure how to flatten.
#30 Old 19th Feb 2007 at 2:28 AM
Quote: Originally posted by buffster
this is going to sound really lame, but how do I "flatten" my image. I was trying charmys warming technique, but im not sure how to flatten.


Maybe she means converting your picture to jpg format? Lol, don't listen to me (Fireworks user!)

I'll let Charmy answer that I'm interested myself
Scholar
Original Poster
#31 Old 19th Feb 2007 at 2:30 AM
Click on 'Layers' at the top. Then you have the option to merge or flatten...either will work. I save as psd before I flatten so I can always change things if need be.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." ~Albert Einstein
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.~F.D.R.
Field Researcher
#32 Old 10th Apr 2007 at 2:36 AM
guys i have a problem that i wish you could help me with. i've never noticed this before with my pics. i don't know if i was just too stupid to notice or my pc graphics are messing with me. anyway, i brought pics to help out. i don't want you guys to worry about "imagining" it.





thanks guys. i need to make an entry for a contest and i hate the blurring because it makes my pic blurry. <insert sad face here>
#33 Old 10th Apr 2007 at 2:49 AM
I have just taken a small sized smudge brush and gone over the jagged edges.

I have noticed that the gaussian blur with any sort of light makes it hard on the eyes and really takes the quality away from the picture as a whole. I only suggest using guassian blur for backgrounds when you want to make the foreground stand out more.
Lab Assistant
#34 Old 11th Apr 2007 at 12:26 AM

Well, there are several ways to do this. Here's how I would go about doing it...

The mirror reflection
I would build the set with the mirror (reflections on) and have a wall behind the sim a solid color background that doesn't match any color on the sim. Have the sim pose so that it and the wall are visible in the mirror.

Once you have the perfect shot, use a tool to erase that solid color background in the mirror. If you're a PS user, the background eraser or magic eraser will work well. Once that part is transparent, create a layer below that layer with whatever background you would like to show in the mirror - (understand what I mean)?

The sim standing in front of the mirror
I'd pose this sim in front of a solid color wall and then cut the sim out of the image. After that, paste the image on the first part.

To get that wind/light, you just need a brush. I recomment going to DeviantArt and searching for a "wind brush." The brush looks like it's been added with an effect like overlay or lighten.

Ta-da! That's about it. You might have to play with it a little more to get it the way you want.


I hope that is a decent explanation. I'm not too good at explaining things lol. You can PM if you need me to clarify things.


Lab Assistant
#35 Old 12th Apr 2007 at 3:57 AM
Instead of speeding to night time or changing settings:

I always take pictures in a 4-wall room with a few lights and no windows.

Depending on your personal preferences, you can use different lights to get the lighting just the way you want.
Scholar
Original Poster
#36 Old 5th Aug 2009 at 6:47 PM
Delphy has kindly unlocked my thread for me. :lovestruc

In the next couple hours I'm going to update the OP for TS3.

If you have any questions or requests for photoshop help, post it here.

I also welcome other people tips and tricks. Several minds are better than one.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." ~Albert Einstein
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.~F.D.R.
Scholar
Original Poster
#37 Old 5th Aug 2009 at 9:08 PM
Alrighy then, I've updated the OP to reflect TS3. It's amazing how many cheats I was able to get rid of.

Kindly take a read through it and let me know if I messed up or left something out. I look forward to more CC as they make doing contests a blast and right now the Contests forum is.......ummmmm.....dead.
I'm also going to post some of my favorite pics that I did for contests so you all can see what fun it was. There were some contests that had over 75 applicants and only 20 would advance to the next round. Competition was fierce but friendly.
I really miss those days.


I placed second.



An outtake, I realized it wasn't very Bond like as we were doing a James Bond theme.

Can't remember the name of this one, but I won.


Awesome Halloween Party. I think my caption for her was..."How can she (hiccough) drink with that thing (hiccough) on her fashe?"


Queen Elizabeth...for one of the rounds we had to become someone famous.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." ~Albert Einstein
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.~F.D.R.
Forum Resident
#38 Old 14th Aug 2009 at 11:12 AM
Hi Sisaly, thanks for the heads up on your tutorial. Just reading through the top bit. I get so frustrated when tabing back and forth between camera mode, the camera slips and I have to reset the bloody camera again. You said:

Quote:
While you are in camera mode and you have your shot lined up perfectly, but need to change something, hit ctrl-4, or 5, or 6. This will save your camera angle so you don't have to line up your shot all over again. When you re-enter camera mode hit just 4,and the camera will pop back to the position you saved.


I cannot get that to work.

Are you working in photoshop? I am using Paint, and anything that is on Windows. My question is how do you resize in those programmes without pixelating the picture. I want to post bigger pics to show the sims but can't figure out how to do it.
Scholar
Original Poster
#39 Old 14th Aug 2009 at 11:23 AM Last edited by Sisaly : 14th Aug 2009 at 12:01 PM.
You know, I actually haven't tried the ctrl 4 thing with this game yet. I'll be very sad if you're right and it doesn't work.

I use photoshop and find that whether I take an ingame pic with the camera or a screenie, either one is more than large enough for the forum.

Never try to make a picture BIGGER in those type of programs. That is what Adobe Illustrator is for. Just crop and resize to a smaller size. That is really all you need to do with the size of the pics. They will be too big anyway (in their original size) for the size limit here.

Will test the camera angle save tomorrow.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." ~Albert Einstein
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.~F.D.R.
Scholar
#40 Old 26th Aug 2009 at 2:57 PM
Thanks for this! It will come in handy.
Scholar
Original Poster
#41 Old 30th Aug 2009 at 1:37 AM
No problem 1ove!

Anyone that reads this and has suggestions or posing hacks or whatever PLEASE post it here. I welcome help.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution." ~Albert Einstein
A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.~F.D.R.
Scholar
#42 Old 31st Aug 2009 at 10:40 AM
Quote: Originally posted by summer_wine
guys i have a problem that i wish you could help me with. i've never noticed this before with my pics. i don't know if i was just too stupid to notice or my pc graphics are messing with me. anyway, i brought pics to help out. i don't want you guys to worry about "imagining" it.





thanks guys. i need to make an entry for a contest and i hate the blurring because it makes my pic blurry. <insert sad face here>


You have to go to "Graphics Options" and set the bar to "High" on "Smooth Edges". If it still doesn't work, you need a new graphics card. You haven't logged in since July, but I didn't notice this until now.
Field Researcher
#43 Old 1st Nov 2009 at 7:48 AM
I have nothing for the Sims 3 but I was wondering if you would mind if I posted something here for GIMP users as well. Also, HERE is a list of pose boxes for TS2.
Forum Resident
#44 Old 21st May 2010 at 1:33 PM
Thanks so much Im glad I walked into this when I am just learning. I am gunning for the current contest, I just need to get my head around it hahaha!!
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