'Art of Picturing', tips for noobs

[AJ Corp. The FAIR]

Looking at some beautiful picturing by many AU players (Catt and others), I'm wondering how to get them so clear myself. Maybe stupid question, but tips are appreciated. I use MS Paint from Win 98, but it doesn't seem to be very useful/flexible.

Thanks in advance ?

AJ

[Catt]

vmxa1 once recommended to me, and I heartily recommend to you, irfanview.

https://www.irfanview.com

A great little free image capture and manipulation program (much better than paint for screenshots). Just capture your screenshot, paste it into the irfanview viewer, resize to 800 x 600 (one command), and save as a jpg.

If I need to cut and paste images together into a compilation, I do so in MS Paint, cutting and pasting from irfanview images since resizing in MS Paint distorts the images considerably.

Catt

[Konquest02]

If you have Photoshop, use it. It's the most powerful thing around and it can do wonders to your screenshots... (especially compoilations). That is what I use all the time and I like it a lot

[Rhothaerill]

I guess I haven't been using Photoshop to its full extent then. I've never done any compilations or anything fun like GF and the others do. I've just used it to create the file format for screenshots and that's all.

[vmxa1]

I recently got PS, but I have yet to figure how to use it. Just no time to play with it.

[Konquest02]

PS works upon the principle of layers, which are treated independently. You can edit/alter/add new layers without even touching the other ones. Once you get to know it, it's pretty powerful...

--Kon--

[Konquest02]

A quick guide to Photoshop (Part I)

When you capture a screenshot, you press the PrntScrn (or whatever it is) on your keyboard. Your image then goes in your clipboard.

When you open Photoshop, click on File/New... and the screen captured below will pop up. Select a resolution of 1024x768, which is the resolution Civ uses.

Then hit Ctrl-V or Edit/Paste to paste the image on your screenshot.

[Konquest02]

Part II

To resize the image in 800x600, go to Image/Image Size... and select a format of 800x600. The image will automatically resize. If you create a 800x600 file and then you paste your screenshot in it, the lower right part of it will be cut out, as in the example below.

In the screenshot, #1 is the crop image tool. Select it, drag the frame you want on your image then hit enter. The rest of the image will be cut out. Useful when you want to single out a detail

#2 is the type tool. Hit this, click where you want your text to appear in your image and then type. You can choose the font, size and color too.

#3 is the pencil tool. I used it to draw those amrvelous numbers.

#4 is your layer box. This of your image as a big sandwich. You're just piling things up. If you select the layer you want, and then use the move tool (#5), you can slide layers on top of each other., creating beautiful arrangements!

Don't be afraid to experiment. If you ahve done something wrong, you can go back in your history box (#6) or simply hit Ctrl-Z.

[Konquest02]

Part III

Photoshop cannot create .jpg images with layers. They have to be flattened first. To do so, go in Layer/Flatten Image. All of your layers will collapse into the background.

After doing that, you can go in File/Save As... and save your great montage.

Have fun with PS!

--Kon--

P.S. (No pun intended ) If you have any questions about this, I have followed a digital photography course based on Photoshop, so I might know the answer to your problem...

[Theseus]

Is PS the best tool for full screen re-sizing? I've got all the usual suspects, plus irfanview, PS, and Corel PP.

[AJ Corp. The FAIR]

Thanks for all these useful inputs. I guess Photoshop isn't for free?

AJ

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by AJ Corp. The FAIR
Thanks for all these useful inputs. I guess Photoshop isn't for free?

No Photoshop isn't free - there are various illegal ways of downloading it for free, but we aren't allowed to discuss them here.

However, a free (and legal) trial version of Paint Shop Pro - which is just as good as Photoshop for Civ purposes - is available from Jasc Software: http://www.jasc.com/

Irfanview should fulfill all your needs, though, and I recommend you use it (Catt posted a link).

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Theseus
Is PS the best tool for full screen re-sizing?

I find the Paint Shop Pro interface more intuitive, but the answer to your question is Yes.

[Konquest02]

You can download for FREE, a great tool called The Gimp, which is basically Photoshop, running mostly for Linux. They also have a windows version which is FREE too.

[Theseus]

I'm still not in love with the re-sizing in PS... any tips to make CivIII text more legible?