Fancy avatar piccy things

[wacattack]

Ive noticed a few ooplers (messers Greenwood, Lee, Ben et al) have some quite cool looking pictures in their signature (not avatar that the title suggests) that typically look like the colours of their car

How do I go about getting myself one?!!?

[Body Paint]

Two ways to do it Wayne, you either need to be pretty handy with a graphic design package or know someone that is

[ashleyb4]

Originally Posted by Body Paint

Two ways to do it Wayne, you either need to be pretty handy with a graphic design package or know someone that is

Know anyone craig?

A

[colmo]

You'd do it something like this: http://www.oople.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24659

Learning to use Layers and control their opacity is the most useful thing, probably.

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by Body Paint

Two ways to do it Wayne, you either need to be pretty handy with a graphic design package or know someone that is

Hmm, I've downloaded a trial version of photoshop and dont have a clue where to start. Ahh well, il stick with my none signature

[colmo]

I googled one and knocked this out:



Just select a photo of your favoured RC car and crop out a bit of it as the background.

[wacattack]

Not a bad first effort...

[Body Paint]

Not a bad start, though I prefer the Corel packages

[jono83]

Someone on here made mine for me can't remember who though sorry.

[colmo]

Originally Posted by wacattack

Not a bad first effort...

I ran your new sig through Inkscape's Trace Bitmap feature, and got this - you'll note it posterises the colours.



I'd need a better copy of the signature to improve the clarity of it. Not really better than your first effort, just a different take on it.

[blue_pinky]

Photoshop and Adobe stuff generally is the daddy and industry standard right now and pretty much leads the way in graphic design circles...used it pretty much every day for over 10 years both in work and at home and it rocks...downside is they can be complex to use, so picking it up as a newbie probably is a bit tricky to begin with. It's also very expensive, and a BIG bit of software that needs a reasonably quick machine to run it well.

Years ago I used to use Paint Shop Pro as a lightweight photo editor...I remember that being more simple to use and free...not sure if it's still about?

Or...there's a free open source package...

http://www.gimp.org/

Stands for "GNU Image Manipulation Program" and isn't as dodgy as it sounds, so don't worry about where the link takes you!!!

I've heard good things about it, but since I've always had access to photoshop I've not needed to try it, not sure how easy it is to use, but it is free, and will probably stay that way...so maybe worth a look for anyone wanting a play!

[c0sie]

One at the fellas I goto Uni with uses GIMP to great effect.

Wayne, try buying an X6^2, I did that and found myself with a very nice signiture image made for me by a good friend on the X-Factory team

[colmo]

Originally Posted by blue_pinky

Or...there's a free open source package...

http://www.gimp.org/

Stands for "GNU Image Manipulation Program" and isn't as dodgy as it sounds, so don't worry about where the link takes you!!!

I've heard good things about it, but since I've always had access to photoshop I've not needed to try it, not sure how easy it is to use, but it is free, and will probably stay that way...so maybe worth a look for anyone wanting a play!

That's what I used. From my own experiences, I would say that while Photoshop is better for handling large, photographic images, GIMP is if anything more suited to icons, avatars, banners, textures etc. For example, I recently discovered a cool flame effect in it using Difference Clouds or Solid Noise filters - set 'X size' high and 'Y size low', then Colourise it, and you end up with something like this:

[blue_pinky]

Oooo very nice! Thinking I'll maybe take my own advice and try Gimp, I do a lot of 3D rendering work as well so always on the lookout for cool ways to make textures.

Photoshop has many cool effects and thousands of plugins for tricks like that...and they do loads of other great/wierd/wonderful things...but all made by people or companies who want and need to make money from it...so they all cost £££...at least with GIMP it's all free (or by voluntary donation).

Gotta love open source apps

[c0sie]

Remember, there is also Fireworks, which im lead to belive is more suited for designing logos, banners, stuff from scratch??

Im no expert, at all, ask Bill!, but ive been told that FW is the shizzle for stuff like this?

[blue_pinky]

Fireworks sits alongside Photoshop for web/UI content creation...handy little tool, but maybe Gimp still better for this type of thing?

[wacattack]

Originally Posted by c0sie

One at the fellas I goto Uni with uses GIMP to great effect.

Wayne, try buying an X6^2, I did that and found myself with a very nice signiture image made for me by a good friend on the X-Factory team

A bit extreme to get a good signature

...although a X6 would be quite nice.