Howdy from Needlehole

But what about the very realistic looking Newspaper text and everything? I think I understand how you generated the picture (though I couldn't do it without someone leading me step by step). I have a bunch of Fonts and could probably pull it off in my WORD program, but what you pulled off seems like the software would be incompatible with a WORD program (it actually looked like a 3D image of the front page of a newspaper. Am I just missing something?

I'd love to be able to do all that on my computer, but my talents only extend to doing newspapers the old fashioned way by literally pasting photos and copy onto a page and then photocopying the finished product (I did all my own ads for my business that way. Saved us a bundle on advertising rates as they didn't have to do anything but resize to fit in their newspaper space).

GB

You are stumbling over the easiest bit GB!! Google images search for 'blank newspaper' hunt about till you find something you think you can use. Stick it in Gimp do a bit of tidying up if you need to, borders, colouring whatever, select the text tool and away you go. The paper and text were the easy bit!!

Pettytyrant101 wrote: You are stumbling over the easiest bit GB!! Google images search for 'blank newspaper' hunt about till you find something you think you can use. Stick it in Gimp do a bit of tidying up if you need to, borders, colouring whatever, select the text tool and away you go. The paper and text were the easy bit!!

Well you certainly make it sound easy! Is the software (Gimp) that you used something I can download for free?

GB

Yeah its free. Google will get you it quick enough. Its very good, up there with photoshop- if you know the basics in photoshop you won't be to lost for long

How about Terragen? Is that something I can find for free? I'm too poor to buy stuff.


GB

There's a free download of terragen2 from their website. I used to use it and from what I remember it does pretty much same as full version except it limits a few things, resolution size, number of populations (like trees) you can have, nothing to worry about. Its a great place to get started with 3D world generation.

sweeet! I'll have to give it a whirl!

Would do me good to familiarize myself with rendering software. I still haven't got the hang of illustrating on the computer (though I have a program for it). I really need to get up to speed so I can get a job I actually like. I'm just so used to doing art the Medieval way.


GB

My avatar is terragen.
Downside to computer art is I have to force myself to pick up a pencil every now and again in case I forget how. I do most of my stuff on pc these days.

There is something to be said for actually creating something by hand. It's more tactile and more self-expressive.

But at the same time, it would be really cool to do realistic 3D CG rendering. I'd love to do animations too. But I expect the software would be expensive...and then I'd actually have to learn how to use it.


GB

If your interested in making 3D models and animating them then you could do worse than check out blender- pretty sure its free open source sort of thing.
And for human animation and modelling poser- not sure if its free but it used to have a dl available. Once you get the hang of it is great, create your figure, select a walk style from the presets, set up a walk path to follow, drop in a background put your cameras in place and roll.

Sounds a bit complicated to me...

'Sounds a bit complicated to me...'-Squach

Almost everything is until you learn how to do it, then its easy.

Simple then! Unless you have trouble learning what to do, when you're learning what to do.......

That easy too Squach, all big things are made up of little things. If its really complicated break it down into little bits that arent. Eventually you can do the big complicated thing because you know how the little bits that make it up work.

Right.........

Squach wrote:Simple then! Unless you have trouble learning what to do, when you're learning what to do.......

Tell me about it.

I like to learn on my own schedule (which is why I find classes annoying), but I need someone to "walk me through it." And most tutors don't do it for free. And I don't have any friends close by that know how to do that sort of stuff.

Some things are relatively easy to figure out on your own (like MS WORD), but I still don't know much about my Photoshop, or my Adobe Illustrator programs (and when you get programs for free, they don't come with a handy guide-book).

GB

Is it a bit like how, when i first read your post above mine, I didn't understand it so i read it really slowly and then i understood?
Maybe i'm ust a bit bonkers

Squach wrote:Um GB, why have you posted two of the same thing

That's because there's no bloody cancel button when my PC glitches and double (or triple) posts.

So I have to finish posting before I can delete them.

GB

Oh, i see. Sorry!

'And when you get programs for free, they don't come with a handy guide-book'- GB

Careful what you wish for GB. Gimp does and its massive, staggeringly huge and impossible to navigate. And worse as far as I could tell it doesn't have a keyword search.

'Right......... Shocked scratch Shocked '- Squach

Ok- you're young I was being kind. Truth is most will never be able to do the things a minority of talented people can do, no matter how hard we try. I will never do quantum mathmatics or write music like Mozart.
Not everything is to complicated, but a lot of things are too complicated for most of us most of the time.
Happy now?

Ok then. Need to go to school now
Bye!

Pettytyrant101 wrote:That easy too Squach, all big things are made up of little things. If its really complicated break it down into little bits that arent. Eventually you can do the big complicated thing because you know how the little bits that make it up work.

And what do you do when you don't have one of them handy little guide-book thingies and can't even figure out how to do the little bits?

GB

A**e about until it works or you put your foot through your monitor- thats what I do.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:'And when you get programs for free, they don't come with a handy guide-book'- GB

Careful what you wish for GB. Gimp does and its massive, staggeringly huge and impossible to navigate. And worse as far as I could tell it doesn't have a keyword search.

'Right......... Shocked scratch Shocked '- Squach

Ok- you're young I was being kind. Truth is most will never be able to do the things a minority of talented people can do, no matter how hard we try. I will never do quantum mathmatics or write music like Mozart.
Not everything is to complicated, but a lot of things are too complicated for most of us most of the time.
Happy now?

CRAP!!!

I hate big fat "guide-books" that are more complicated than the program.

All I really need is something or someone that breaks things down for me (like you said), then i can muck around a bit and take it from there.

GB

Well you will be glad to know GB terragen is fairly straight forward to do the absolute basics- make a landscape or a planet. If you dl and want to give it a go start a thread for it and I can talk you through anything you might need to know. This must be the straightest discussion on here ever. I'm tempted to reprint the paper edition as ,most folks might miss it beneath a page or so of techno-babble!