Hi guys I was just wondering... what program/software do you guys use to do your chopping?

Photoshop all the way!

~Eric

Yup Photoshop, it's the greatest once you get past the learning curve.

Aye, Photoshop all the way. Rubber Stamp! Woohoo!

~Loki

Thanks guys.... how long did it take you guys before you knew what you where doing?

I swear it took me a couple of days just to draw a stupid circle !

I think the big hump is understanding the layering concept which is simple yet not. It took me a couple of weeks to really grasp it. Of course it didn't help that I had been using Picture Publisher before that which was totaly different in it's approach.

By the way I still don't really know what I am doing, I can modify/restore photos, but it's the people who have artistic talent and Photoshop expertise who can really create amazing things.

I just downloaded the trial version.... what tool do I use to do something simple like change the color of my car? I don't want to be bothersome but if someone knows how to explain it simply that would be cool.... I am just interested in trying a few things. Thanks

Changing the color of a car is actually kind of difficult. You need to draw a mask around only the painted parts of the car and then use image > adjust.

An easier task might be to change the color of just the rims. You can make a circular or eliptical mask and then use image > adjust > Hue/Saturation. Try that even if you make a weird color just to get the feel it. Once you do that, you can try making more complex masks and use different color adjustments. You just sort of need to experiment with them.

After you have that down you need to start working with layers but don't worry about that at the moment.

Thanks! I'll try the basics before moving onto bigger things. I'll be sure to ask though. :D

well i'm feeling brave so i'll jump into the fire...

i use coreldraw and i like it better then photoshop :D

I have PhotoShop 6.0, and, love it!

Change the color? I hate the masks, too tedious, and limited. try this:

Select the magic wand. Select the tolerence at about 30-35. Start clicking on parts of the car, by holding down the shift key while you click. remember if you click and select a part that is not assosciated wit the car, you can hit ctrl-Z to go back one step. You will eventualy have to turn down the tolerence to select every detail of the car. If you find that it keeps selecting a part of the background, you can hold down Alt and click to de-select parts, while still keepiing what you have selected,..selected. when you have it selected, just go to image/adjust/color balance. and slide the levers to what ever configuration you want. And remeber you can image/adjust/color balance over and over untill you get the effect you want.b when your done either hit ctrl+D or rt click the image and select deselect.
http://a1060.g.akamai.net/f/1060/597/30minutes/www.imagestation.com/picture/p2e14759b502dc86e9dc7709ae55cb2e2/fe585a97.jpg.orig.jpg

http://a1060.g.akamai.net/f/1060/597/30minutes/www.imagestation.com/picture/pbd9ea0a7d3b26e29c50d59b587dc4e54/fe585a96.jpg.orig.jpg

http://a1060.g.akamai.net/f/1060/597/30minutes/www.imagestation.com/picture/pe4ec2331a52abb44efea53ef7babc109/fe585a95.jpg.orig.jpg

http://a1060.g.akamai.net/f/1060/597/30minutes/www.imagestation.com/picture/pce937d1a0d85153346edd6fd5e16a283/fe585a93.jpg.orig.jpg

http://a1060.g.akamai.net/f/1060/597/30minutes/www.imagestation.com/picture/p53a2fbb316574a9b960bd74bd061584a/fe585a92.jpg.orig.jpg

Great tutorial! You should set this up as HTML and post it somewhere!

Just for reference, I did this picture like ChosenWon stated above (except in an old version and very sloppily). I could have done a much better job, but it was a hack job just for fun.

For reference, this is Revision's car, it just says it's mine on Kartboy's site. :)

http://www.kartboy.com/kustomers/NickBiancalana.jpg

Also, if you are changing colors of paint, you might want to look for a color that is similar in contrast to what you will be changing to. You can't very well change silver to black accurately, nor white to silver. Red to blue is usually ok... you get a feel for it eventually. I grasped the concept of the program very fast, but it was also the first program I ever used to do graphic editing, so that made it a lot easier.

Okay, you have two choices.

1. Pay huge $$$ to Adobe for a program that is intended for professional image manipulation.

2. Pay exactly ZERO $ for GIMP (http://www.gimp.org). Gimp does almost everything photoshop can do, but without paying Adobe huge dollars. Including plugins.

Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program) started out as a Linux alternative to Photoshop, but it is available for Windows also.

Just think, if you save a few hundred dollars by not buying photoshop, you can buy that intake you've been eyeing.

That was a great tutroial man!! As for gimp, I'll check it out

masks too limited?!?! :eek:
that's one that i haven't heard before :D

if you want precision selection (which the magic wand CANNOT offer), you need to get accustomed to the pen tool.

To make really good selections you need to use all the tools, sometimes the magnetic lasso is awesome but to be quite honest, to get really good selections I usually make a real sloppy selection that errs on the side of being too large. I then cut and paste that to a new layer.

Next I 'll insert a dummy layer and fill it black. That way i can see my selection exactly and trim it down with the eraser using progressively smaller brushes. It's a little tedious but the most accurate.

For me anyway.

hmm, photoshop. without it I would be jobless! :D well without Photoshop and flint :D

Huge $$$ for PS? hell no. I don't know anyone that has. It's called a burner. :D BUT if I was going to spend several hundred dollars on any software, it would be PS.


Gimp? Cool, I have heard about it, but have not had a chance to get it or try it. How is the learning curve on it? Now I'm eager to try it out... thanks for the tip. ;)http://www.i-club.com/forums/images/icons/icon14.gif

Pen tool? I don't think I have gotten to that part of my Adobe book yet. :), can you give me an example of how to use it properly? How/why is it better than the MW? Thanks.

Tutorial? No problem, your welcome. I'm glad to help. After all that is what this site is all about right? Besides, after all the picture tutorials I have used here for my car, I don't mind a bit giving a bit back. Let me know anytime you have ANY questions on PhotShop. If I know it, I will hook you up, if I don't we will find out.:)
http://www.zing.com/picture/pbfcd6f9706b1306677425df414ee6d14/fe663e8e.gif

edit: www.gimp.org is not working! grrr! I would love to have something to play with at work!

i like the hue/saturation tool better for overall color changes. i think it gives it a more natural look (imo). but there in photoshop there is generally more than one way to get something done, and it's usually personal prefernce :D

http://www.arches.uga.edu/~heritik/red25.jpg

here is where i'm selecting the window using the pen tool. my path has already been curved after adding the rough points around the window.

http://www.arches.uga.edu/~heritik/pentool.jpg

pen tool is better than MW because it originally draws a vector line and then is converted to rasterised line which provides a very smooth line, where as MW operates on the nearest neighbor principle. if the adjacent pixel is within n% (set by tolerance) then it is selected, if it is not within that %age, then it isn't selected. this is a good method for solid color shapes with high contrast between neighbor colors, but for a photo image, it typically produces very jagged edges.

and using layers and masks, you can create a care worthy of uncle ben :D

http://www.arches.uga.edu/~heritik/layer.jpg
http://www.arches.uga.edu/~heritik/redblue25.jpg

So you can use the pen tool as a selection tool? So does it work like the lasso tool then?

Or does it "stick" to the nearest elemental differnece? I guess I will just have to wait untill I get home and play with it....*sigh*:(

Nice tutorial yourself by the way. thanks you. I now have a mission. ;)

the pen tool is a selection tool. it's kinda like the lasso, and kinda like the magnetic lasso. but think of the magnetic lasso as an automatic and the pen tool as a 5 speed...you have more control of what's going on.

the best way of thinking of the pen tool is thumbtacks and string.
the "string" is attached to the original "thumbtack" that is placed. then the "string" is guided around each additional "thumbtack" that is added, until you complete the outline. then you can go back and add curbes to your rough outline to get a more precise shape.

Um..wow. I tried out tonight, and well...it seems really tedious. I think I will stick wit the magic wand for now, at least untill I can be come more proficient with the pen.

But thanks for your help. :)

i wonder how many photoshop users actually paid for the program... hmmmm.... not exactly cheap =)

oops, didn't see the posts above, too many to read at 3 in the am... but! i BOUGHT version 4.

yeah, it's kinda tough at first, but once you get the hang of it, you can use the pen tool really quickly. it took me less than 10 minutes to select the body, and then remove the windows, lights, and anything else that didn't need to be colored. to just select the car, took me 1-2 minutes.

You mean people actually PAY for Photoshop !

Wow, Next thing your gonna tell me is there are people who actually pay for their music.

On the pen tool, I tried it out and I'm surprised I hadn't used it before. I will add it to the tools I use. I still prefer my "slection by subtraction" method but will definitely make use of the pen quite often. As a matter of fact I used it for a wheel swapping job yesterday. The only problem I had with it was that it needs to be converted to a selection but I'm sure once you use it a lot you probably don't even notice the extra step.

Thanks !!

wow guys this has turned into a really informative thread! I think my trial version won't let me use the pen tool the way you guys use it

in photoshop 6 you ctrl+ltclick the path in the layers window to convert it to a selection, and in 5.5 you hit the enter key (not the one on the 10 key, it doesn't work that way for some reason) when you are done and it makes a selection out of the path.

and i don't use the pen tool for every thing. it just depends on what needs to be done.

Hey by the way, I took your advice, (can't remember who it was.), and put the pics together elswhere. you can find it here so as to book mark for whoever; : My version:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292466085

jasc (http://www.jasc.com) paint shop pro 7

even if you DO pay for it it's only 100 bux

it's just as/more powerful as photoshop, and has a better gui as well

it takes all photoshop filters, addons, and plugins as well