Welcome
So you want to make Signatures and Avatars ? Well in this thread i will give you all the information you need to know !!
So lets get a few simple questions out of the way first ::
A Sig is usually a digital piece of art placed in a forum under a person's post.
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Link An Avatar is a smaller version of the signature that goes underneath your name, But on h3f there are certain limits such as, 100x100 Px Max and 19 Kb size limit.
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What do i need to start making avatars/sigs ?
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Usually people use photoshop but in other circumstances you could compromise for gimp.
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Whats the best version of photoshop ?
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Photoshop CS2.
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Where can i get photoshop or gimp ?
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The difference between gimp and photoshop is the amount of feature's on photoshop is greater and photoshop is more user friendly although PS costs money and gimp is free.
Gimp -
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Photoshop -
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That is the 30 day free trial of photoshop since the full program costs money you can either buy it for around $400 or you can get it cracked for free. Since h3f does not support or allow piracy i cant post a key.gen for it or tell you how to get it for free, but on the other hand i do so you can contact me or Chris is Twisted on aim or through private messages and we will be glad to help you out.
Our Aims:
xShystie187 and GCH In Yo Head
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So ive got the program to do it, now what ?
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Now you want to familurize with the program you have chosen, Here is a HUGE guide to getting to grips with photoshop:
LINK
And here is a guide to Gimp:
LINK cnc stands for comments and critism, its how you rate others sigs/works of art, instead of just saying " oh man that looks good " you want to tell them how to improve the sig, what you like about it, what you dont like about it, what you would of done different etc...
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How do i make those shiny avatars ?
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Heres a tut courtesy of Kilo...
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I jus opened photoshop but nothing is there ?
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You need open a document, to open a document either go to file > new ( to create a new document ) or file > open to open an existing picture.
Note: when you open up a blank document you want to make sure the size type is on Pixels aka Px because thats what most people measure things in PS with, if you open up a document and it is laggy then it is most likely too big and photoshop is having trouble using it because of its size so thats why i recommend having the file sizes on Px.
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What are resources and where can i get them ?
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Resources are things you use within either photoshop or gimp to add to your image, either it be patterns and textures to fonts and brushes.
Here are places to get them at:
Brushes:
DeviantArt GameRenders Paperlilies PS Brushes
Fonts:
Da Font 1001 Free Fonts Deviant Art Simply The Best Mikes SketchPad
Note: to install fonts - Start > Control Panel > Appearance, and then in the top left corner click fonts and then go to file > install new fonts and choose the correct location of the font you have downloaded.
Pattern's
Deviant Art Free Patterns
C4D's
Deviant Art Planet Renders Game Renders
Note: to install patterns, brushes and textures you take it out of its winrar folder if it is in one and the go to My computer > C:\ Adobe > Adobe Photoshop Cs2 > Presets > ( What ever you are installing ) and then jus drag and drop it in the correct folder.
a C4D is a image made in the program Cinema 4D and can be added to your sig/image to have nice effects.
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And Exp of one used in a sig:
Filters are an action you choose which adds various effects to your image for example a blur. ( Expermiment with them to see what you can do )
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oops i made a mistake what should i do ?
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No worries you can always undo around 10 of your previous actions by going to Edit > undo. ( as many times as necessary )
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Whats lighting and depth ?
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Let Vamphunter explain:
A render is a cut-out of a picture that you place in to a sig.
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Places to get Renders: -
LINK
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Alright im done for now i may update this every so often, i hope you learned alot from this guide and i look forward to seeing your outcomes.
Thanx to everyone's tuts, sigs and avatars i used as examples, i made this in an attempt to bring more people to the GFX section and not let it " die " out as people say.
-Shy