ATT'N REPAINTERS USING PSP V8 - TIPS

[Guest]

Ken, you may want to move this somewhere else - I wasn't sure the best place to put this, to be honest. Thanks :-)Howdy Gang,OK, I just got my copy of Paint Shop Pro 8 in yesterday. Looks better in many ways, but a few changes I believe are meant solely for the purpose of sending one to the funny farm on the express track :-). Nevertheless, a terrific package once again (help files notwithstanding).Alright, one of the first things I did with the new package of course, was to try a repaint using a CS727 aircraft (don't worry, kept everything separate from the main files so nothing would get overwritten accidentally :-hah). I have been using Mark's outstanding tutorial located at: http://www.avsim.com/hanger/flight/tutorials/marks.html (thanks Mark!!), and that is what I followed when I used PSP 7 - the same program Mark based his tutorial on, and it worked flawlessly. PSP 8 presented some problems though, so here they are, with the fixes:Problem 1: Just FINDING how to bring up the masks in PSP8 became a challenge right off because it is now buried in BOTH the Layers AND the Selection menus, and both seem to perform different functions. Thus, my first challenge was to find which was the correct one to use. Fix 1: As it turns out, use the Load/Save Mask under the LAYERS menu.Problem 2: When you go to save your mask image, you really have to watch where it goes! There is a box on the left when you select to save the mask that has an "Edit Paths" button. USE IT BEFORE YOU CLICK SAVE!!! Once I clicked on the Edit Paths button, I used the ADD button and then BROWSE to go to the folder I was doing my repaint in. If you don't watch what you are doing though, you may change one of your default locations, and I'm not sure you want to do that. You MAY (not sure) have to specify the path each time you reopen that project again. Just watch it for a while and see how it behaves. You will notice a long filename extension with the mask. Leave it, I think that works ok.Problem 2: When you've recalled your image again after saving the mask and closing your pic without saving the changes, you now want to delete the mask in the original image before working on it. This too has changed as you no longer have the MASK menu item, so you have to go searching for a way of deleting the mask. If you do it according to the tutorial, you'll delete everything BUT the mask it seems.Fix 2: Once you've recalled your image, you use the EDIT menu to delete the Alpha channel, not the MASK menu you had in PSP7. Near the bottom of the EDIT menu, you'll see a selection marked "Delete Alpha Channel". Go ahead and use that, and then make sure you flatten all layers into one.Problem 3: This comes when you need to put everything together again just prior to reformatting it in Image Tool. It would appear that *.tga files are handled or "adjusted" differently in PSP8 than before. Everytime I tried to recall the *.tga file in Image Tool (after any saves of the *.tga file - manipulated or not) in PSP8, Image Tool came up with the error message saying that it couldn't read the TGA palette, and it wouldn't load. You were basically stuck at this point.Fix 3: Once you've got your layer added to the *.tga file, your mask file loaded, and then incorporated into the *.tga image (as per the tutorial, keeping in mind the locations of the Load/Save Mask items are under the LAYERS menu), you then need to save the whole thing as a *.PSD file. This is a Photoshop file and PSP will save in that format, and you get to keep your alpha channel(s) (I think this format will hold several alpha channels, unlike the *.tga, so this could be a bonus). NOW go and open up Image Tool and it will recognize the *.PSD format, which will be in 32 bit, 1 Alpha channel, and convert to your DXT3 format. Piece of cake.Now, the caveat in all this - I have only had a couple of days to play with this new program, so there may be pitfalls yet (had one lockup already - grrrr) and there may be a glitch somewhere in my procedure (at 2 a.m. I get a little fuzzy :-roll). So, please make a note here if you find any problems but I think this will at least get us started.Glenn

[Guest Dan CYKA]

I tried out the beta for PSP8. Got so darn frustrated with what they had done to the program I decided to stay with ver7.

[Guest]

Yeah, I can understand that. It's like looking at a whole new package, and why they've made the colour replacer tool and the eye dropper part of the same button that you must toggle each time is beyond me! I tend to like the layout better, but they have the whole package handling some things very differently than before, and I suspect they are going to get a lot of complaints. They seem to have taken out the "line tool" as well, and replaced it with a pen, that operates altogether differently, and I don't understand that one either. It's going to take a while to get this one going again. I suspect it will be better once one gets to know it, but that learning curve for a program that I've had for almost 10 years in various incarnations, is rather high IMHO. I'll stay with it, but I won't be very productive with it for some time.Glenn

[Bill_Browning 0]

It is certainly different. It had MAJOR bugs with layer placement before the patch...and still does have a glitch or two. Tools are gone, moved, or don't do the same thing they used to.The hardest thing for me to remember is the PEN tool as you have mentioned. You use that thing to node edit vector shapes as well as draw raster lines, etc. It's confusing. You can move and zoom now while you are node editing - the one thing I like.Oh, well. It'll get better with time - won't it? :)Best,Bill

[Guest freequest]

All i can say is its a tricky beast :)

[Guest LarryJ_KMSO]

GlennFor me, Mark's tutorial doesn't appear at http://www.avsim.com/hanger/flight/tutorials/marks.html Do you have an alternate link? I tried a couple searches but didn't locate the tutorial.Thanks,Larry JonesThis is response from AVSIM when I click on the Link:--------------------------------------------------Lost File (Apache Error 404)AVSIM Error AlertThe document you were searching for has either expired or migrated elsewhere. To find documents which have moved, we suggest you start at our main page or drop us a quick note. You may also search for the document with our site's internal search engine. ------------------------------------------------------

[Guest]

Larry, I really apoligise for missing your request. I got rather busy and missed your post entirely. Let me check this evening when I'm at home and see exactly where it is, and get back to you then. Sorry about that :-(.Glenn

[Guest]

Hi Larry,OK, I went to Marc's site and did a direct copy of the URL, which is:http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/tutorials/marks.htmlLooks the same as what you show in your message, so if it still doesn't work, I'm not sure what to say. Give it another try and hopefully it will come up. Glenn

[Guest]

Hhmmnn, a light bulb just came on here :-). Try this and follow the links:http://www.avsim.com/hangar/flight/tutorials/index.htmlHope that works for you.Glenn

[Guest LarryJ_KMSO]

Glenn,The last link you posted takes me right to Mark's work. Now that I see the difference in URL's , I should have tried index.html myself. ;-) Looks like a good tutorial.Thanks for your help. Larry J.Florence, MT

[Guest Matthew Murray]

No problem for me, I'll stick with Phothsop 7.0 ;-)

-----------------------[bR]Matthew Murray | Project Airbus[bR]

http://vatsim.pilotmedia.fi/statusindicato...tor=OD1&a=a.jpg

[Guest]

My pleasure Larry - sorry I didn't get to it sooner :-). Enjoy!Glenn

[Guest]

Yeah, I went so far as to ask for a refund, but I haven't taken advantage of that yet. Now that I'm starting to work with it more, it's getting easier and I'm finding some features that are quite a bit improved. Time will tell, but I think I'll convert over (still wish their help files were much better though).Glenn