|
Post by *~*Alia*~* on Oct 27, 2008 20:41:02 GMT 1
Okay then, the one without the rose will probably be my final, unless anyone has more suggestions.
|
|
Keeley
Tasteful Tourist
Posts: 47
|
Post by Keeley on Nov 5, 2008 10:06:03 GMT 1
Hey all! Here's my first attempt with Yersinia's flying lesson. As you can see, though she came prepared to fly, she's a bit terrified (and even brought her favorite toy, Skelly, with her). Any suggestions would be super helpful. Thank you!
|
|
|
Post by gems on Nov 5, 2008 10:27:26 GMT 1
Awesome! Yersinia certainly looks terrified! ;D As for suggestions, I think the bottom half of her should be more safely on that broomstick.. if I were scared of flight then I would have my legs tightly crossed, not swung over one half (you can achieve this through photoshop by selecting areas of the broomstick you want covered over the leg -aka so the leg is behind that part of the broomstick- and right clicking then selecting layer via copy. All you do then, is change the layer order so that the copied part of the broom is in front of the layer of the sims leg ) Also, it'd be cool to see the skeleton falling, her hand kinda looks like she is trying to catch something so you could make it like she is trying to graph hold of her good luck toy
|
|
Keeley
Tasteful Tourist
Posts: 47
|
Post by Keeley on Nov 5, 2008 11:27:06 GMT 1
So maybe something closer to this?
|
|
|
Post by gems on Nov 5, 2008 12:01:31 GMT 1
Yes, exactly! That looks much more natural Great job with it, Keeley!
|
|
|
Post by Simply "V" on Nov 9, 2008 19:04:07 GMT 1
I second that! I love Skelly to bits and the eye goggles are too cute. It makes since to wear them, after all it gets quite windy flyin' around up there. Good job Keeley!
|
|
|
Post by duckduckcaboose on Nov 19, 2008 22:38:21 GMT 1
Okay, I need some major help. My most recent entry, the flying lesson... well, it wasn't great and I know it, but I spent several (at least 4) hours on it and I just couldn't get it right. It was really the best I could do, although it obviously wasn't the best entry. With all the layering and trying to get the pose right, the picture quality got worse. And when I tried sharpening it, it just looked grainy. It seems everyone is able to put together a smooth, but good-quality picture besides me. How do you all do it?
I am going to need to get better, as it seems that most lessons are going to involve photo manipulation to some extent. I have Gimp (and although I don't like it, I *think* I'm getting better) and program called PhotoScape (which I mostly just use for sharpening/retouching).
|
|
|
Post by *~*Alia*~* on Nov 19, 2008 23:04:54 GMT 1
For someone who is new to using GIMP, you seem to be learning quickly and you really are getting better at it.
What method of taking pictures to you use? I used to use the ingame camera, which gave me some pretty poor quality results. I use the print screen key now to take screenshots. It works so much better. An important thing to remember when trying to preserve quality is not to make your picture bigger. You can shrink it, but if you try to make it larger the quality will be bad. Using the print screen will also give you bigger pictures.
Sorry if that was unhelpful!
|
|
|
Post by gems on Nov 19, 2008 23:57:42 GMT 1
I believe I (that is to say, Mrs Colby) actually suggested this as early as lesson one. It was in your comment for your history homework in any case. But as Alia says, the print screen button will basically allow you to paste a crystal clear image from your game into any editing program (which you can then resize appropriately). That's all the magic to it Just press that button and all the blurry pictures will become a thing of the past!
|
|
|
Post by Simply "V" on Nov 20, 2008 0:01:15 GMT 1
Duck, I was really glad to see you posting here, that's what the Peer Dorm is for - seeking help from your peers . Alia gave a really good suggestion. When I first began photo editing I only had Picture It! by Microsoft (not the best editing program, let me tell ya) but then I discovered GIMP. I had no idea how to use it or what to do. What I discovered though is that GIMP really is similar to photoshop in many ways. So, I searched for tutorials on photoshop and translated them to GIMP. I'll check out some of my old links, see if they work and forward them to you. I'm always checking in so feel free to pm me and I'll help you as best I can. And don't forget, if you get stumped then drop by here and ask one of your peers. EDIT: When you layer in GIMP - to keep from loosing your original pic duplicate it at least once (your original will be at the bottom) and work on the second layer. This of course depends on how much editing you intend to do. Also, you can save your progress while working on a project by adding the extension .xcf instead of the traditional .jpg - that way you can undo all the layering and other edits with no problem. Just remember to save the final product with the traditional extension.
|
|
|
Post by Simply "V" on Nov 20, 2008 0:11:17 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by duckduckcaboose on Nov 20, 2008 0:33:17 GMT 1
Yeah, I do use print screen to capture photos I intend to manipulate, and zoom in as closely as possible to make sure I have the most to work with. I've figured out how to layer well enough, my question is solely about the quality of the picture and how to get it to have that smooth look, like the picture of Yersinia above. It's smooth but it's still clear. I can't get that fine balance between blur and sharpen.
|
|
|
Post by Simply "V" on Nov 20, 2008 0:39:33 GMT 1
Hmmm, I had this same problem when I started out. Over sharpening gives your picture a grainy texture so I've found it's best to sharpen only once or twice (level 10 to 20) after I have everything just as I want it.
Also, the video card you're using will have an affect on the quality of your picture. How about taking an in-game pic and posting it here? That way we'll see what type of picture quality you normally begin with.
|
|
|
Post by gems on Nov 20, 2008 0:44:09 GMT 1
Hmm that's strange. I reckon it must be your graphics card then.. print screen should work just fine but if the quality in game is blurry then it follows that the overall picture is gonna be blurry. :/ V's suggestion is a good one though, post a un-edited picture in here and then we'll be able to help more
|
|
|
Post by duckduckcaboose on Nov 20, 2008 0:49:26 GMT 1
Sure, here's a screenshot of Lauronica that I was going to use for her school picture... though I decided in favor of the "Freestyle for Tips" pose instead:
|
|