Even in SL I run into this problem. The tutorials I usually see are elementary typically masking only high contrast images. This one is an exception. The basics and easy stuff is shown. But, the painful, tedious stuff is too.
Along the way there are some neat shortcuts he uses. I had to back up a couple of time for ‘How did he do that?’ things.
If you like his video, give him a thumb up on YouTube.
We often spend considerable time selecting parts of images we want to change. Quite often we want to enhance the sky and clouds. Tress and other finely detailed objects in the image can make that a real time-consuming pain.
An example:
Complex Selections – Tedious and detailed
In early 2017 I was working on this image. I have since learned several ways to accomplish the selection task. All easier than what I was doing.
Following is a tutorial where Nemanja Sekulic is teaching the ‘standard’ way of creating luminosity masks. He explains what a luminosity mask is too. Nemanja assumes you know the PS basics. He is also showing you the classic method of making luminosity masks shown in most videos on YouTube. The second video her, PiXimperfect’s, shows an alternate method, which I prefer. Continue reading
This is the newest version of Photoshop as of today. A few days ago I pointed you to the video showing the new Select Subject feature. That makes selecting some things WAY easier. That is nice but the surprising part is the apparent improvement in Decontaminate Colors.
The Select Subject tool drops you into the Select and Mask… tool, where you find Decontaminate Colors. I use the feature often when clipping out part of an image. (example) I don’t know that it has changed, but it certainly seems to work better.
New Select Subject Tool January 2018
Clipping me out of the green screen in the above image was very quick and easy. May a couple of minutes.
Notice the hair along the left side and where it overlaps the right arm. I would usually have to spend some time working on those areas. Not this time.
If you have the new Photoshop, check it out.
Adobe has a new feature out that will make my life a bit easier. For none PS peeps I decided to use
PiXimperfect’s video. At times he is exasperatingly tedious. But, for the novice, that is probably a good thing.
It will be some time before I decide how useful this feature will be. I have ‘Select and Mask’ working pretty well. So, I’m not sure how much this will speed up my work.
I like playing with photography in Second Life… second to dressing up and teasing others… well, maybe dressing up and shopping more than teasing. But, I’m often snapping pictures in SL, whatever I’m doing. Those pictures which I think are good enough, just fun, or show off a new thing I’ve learned, make to Flickr.
Dee Dee Deepdene – April 2017
On Flickr, I look around to see what others are doing. This is where the hot, amazing, and gorgeous comes in. Here I’ll show you some of the photographer-artists I’ve come across. Of course, these are ones I like. I use no objective standard. It’s just what touches, thrills, or wow’s me.
I do in a small measure consider the number of fav’s an image gets when deciding if it is great or I just my really liking it. But, I’ve seen some awesome images with almost no views or fav’s. So, the number of fav’s represents a mix of popularity and marketing. How many people see the image? Is the artist talented and understands social media well enough to promote an image?
The following images are not completely safe for work, no XXX, but some are definitely erotic. Continue reading
How Bump, Normal, and Depth Maps are created in Photoshop changed in 2017 CC. I hadn’t noticed until I needed to make a normal map. Then I stumbled across this video while checking to see if NVIDIA’s normal map tool would work with the newest 2017 CC.
The video uses the 3D mode. When creating mesh from bump map as shown PS isn’t exactly polygon efficient, but for use in PS and texture creation that isn’t an issue. For a 100+ brick wall PS made just under 500,000 vertices and 977,000 faces, which is way too heavy for Second Life(TM).
I’m playing with Photoshop’s 3D and deciding if I can use it for some of the things I want to make. My choices seem to be PS, Blender, and Sculptris… or to spend money… For work I have Adobe’s suite of apps. But, increasing my monthly software rental cost or spending US$800 or more for a 3D painting app isn’t something I want to do.
So, I’m painting in all three and trying to figure out how easily put fine detail into things I want to make for my Slink body.
What app do you use for making finely detailed textures for clothes in SL?
There are a number of good and really bad Photoshop 3D tutorials online. I think Michael Hoffman makes one of the better sets of tutorial videos for those starting out. Clicking his name takes you to his YouTube channel. Here is his BASIC tutorial for getting started with Photoshop 3D (#1 in series) but, it isn’t specifically for Second Life users. So, I’ll add some SL specific help.
There are some things left out that I think are important for the basic starting out tutorial. Plus, it doesn’t answer questions about using SL Classic Avatar files. I’ll try to answer those questions and jump you to the things we do in Second Life. Continue reading
There are things I had for my classic avatar that I can’t find for my mesh avatar. There are some classic stockings that had great lacy tops and topped out at just the right place on my legs for my mini and mid-thigh skirts. I’ve not found similar stockings for my mesh body. So, I am making them.
There is a lot to learn. The Appliers are simple enough, but one does have to figure them out. See my tutorial for making Slink Hand’s nails. It isn’t difficult. But, it is different.
Next is the challenge of using Photoshop to make the textures. I once used Multi-Chan Hax to handle the SL Avatar UV Map Seams… But, that is 2011 tech and I haven’t tried it in PS CC 2017.
I have PS CC 2017 with a 3D capability. It can paint across the UV Seams in 3D mode. Easy… sure…
However, PS 3D is NOT intuitive. I am tempted to say Blender is more intuitive than Photoshop’s 3D. So, I’ve been going through tutorials and watching videos. They never seem to answer the questions I have or solve the problems I am running into.
But, I did find one that I think is way helpful. So, here it is.