howard.s.a
New Member
Hi everyone.
As a new member of this forum and a newcomer to web design in general, I am hoping that someone can give me a bit of advice
Using Photoshop CS2 I created a new document 800px by 300px and gave it a blue background. I then added a new layer, upon which I placed a rounded rectangle 600px by 200px. I wanted to create a curved upper edge and managed to do this using the warp tool. Dragging the upper edge of the rounded rectangle upwards and from two points, one at approx. a quarter of the distance along, and the other about three quarters of the distance along, created a pleasant linear curve.
However, is this the best tool to use for a job such as this? Can you give me any advice? When warping a straight line into a curve, how does one ensure that the curve is perfect across its width?
Next, I wanted to create some various areas of colour upon my white rectangular area. I decided to add each new effect on a new layer, so as to assist with possible alteration at a later date.
From what I'd already read, it seemed apparent that I should define areas for my effects using the marquee tool. However, despite having already read about the marquee tool, I am still uncertain as to how it should be used.
Clicking on the icon for marquee and dragging out an outline seems fairly obvious (a bit like the functionality of the crop tool) but once an area is outlined, how would I actually save that area so that, for instance, it can be filled with colour.
Creating a straight-sided area such as a square or rectangle using the marquee tool seems fairly straightforward, but how would I go about marking out curved areas? Is there a better or easier way of doing this?
Can anyone tell me the difference between a layer and an adjustment layer. Which should I use, and for what purpose?
Oh, one more thing. When I tried working with the crop tool, it appeared possible to insert dimensions for the size of the crop into boxes at the head of the window.
I entered some dimensions and expected that when I dragged out the borders for the crop, that they would snap to the size I had inserted. However, this didn't seem to be the case. It still appeared that I could drag the crop box out to any size, regardless of the dimensions set. Do you know what I was doing wrong? By the way, how do I crop circular areas?
I realise that all of these things must be easy for the expert, but for me they are proving quite difficult.
On a final note, I would just like to add that I have read through some of the softwares help section, and also looked at books and the internet for further assistance. Nevertheless, I find that Photoshop is so rich in features, that even with a little bit of help it's still quite a nightmare to understand. In fact, the authors of some of the books I've read say that it's taken them years to reach their level of ability. This is all well and good, but if there is an idea in your head that you want to create, the software can be so tricky as to make it virtually impossible to realise your idea, without spending months experimenting first.
Before I go, does anyone have any specific views on whether Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks or Illustrator is best for designing graphics destined for the web?
As a new member of this forum and a newcomer to web design in general, I am hoping that someone can give me a bit of advice
Using Photoshop CS2 I created a new document 800px by 300px and gave it a blue background. I then added a new layer, upon which I placed a rounded rectangle 600px by 200px. I wanted to create a curved upper edge and managed to do this using the warp tool. Dragging the upper edge of the rounded rectangle upwards and from two points, one at approx. a quarter of the distance along, and the other about three quarters of the distance along, created a pleasant linear curve.
However, is this the best tool to use for a job such as this? Can you give me any advice? When warping a straight line into a curve, how does one ensure that the curve is perfect across its width?
Next, I wanted to create some various areas of colour upon my white rectangular area. I decided to add each new effect on a new layer, so as to assist with possible alteration at a later date.
From what I'd already read, it seemed apparent that I should define areas for my effects using the marquee tool. However, despite having already read about the marquee tool, I am still uncertain as to how it should be used.
Clicking on the icon for marquee and dragging out an outline seems fairly obvious (a bit like the functionality of the crop tool) but once an area is outlined, how would I actually save that area so that, for instance, it can be filled with colour.
Creating a straight-sided area such as a square or rectangle using the marquee tool seems fairly straightforward, but how would I go about marking out curved areas? Is there a better or easier way of doing this?
Can anyone tell me the difference between a layer and an adjustment layer. Which should I use, and for what purpose?
Oh, one more thing. When I tried working with the crop tool, it appeared possible to insert dimensions for the size of the crop into boxes at the head of the window.
I entered some dimensions and expected that when I dragged out the borders for the crop, that they would snap to the size I had inserted. However, this didn't seem to be the case. It still appeared that I could drag the crop box out to any size, regardless of the dimensions set. Do you know what I was doing wrong? By the way, how do I crop circular areas?
I realise that all of these things must be easy for the expert, but for me they are proving quite difficult.
On a final note, I would just like to add that I have read through some of the softwares help section, and also looked at books and the internet for further assistance. Nevertheless, I find that Photoshop is so rich in features, that even with a little bit of help it's still quite a nightmare to understand. In fact, the authors of some of the books I've read say that it's taken them years to reach their level of ability. This is all well and good, but if there is an idea in your head that you want to create, the software can be so tricky as to make it virtually impossible to realise your idea, without spending months experimenting first.
Before I go, does anyone have any specific views on whether Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Fireworks or Illustrator is best for designing graphics destined for the web?
