Creating and Positioning Tech Icons (using GIMP 2)

Hi, VS!

Thank you for your kind words - I understand exactly what you're saying about the first entry - I'm intending to re-work it. I'll post the finished results when I'm done. The first and second versions of the 'Unternehmen Barbarossa' were kind of screwed up, too. I worked that one up to the version that you now see before posting it. I like the way the emboss tool works - that's how I got it to look like a carving in the background - hell, it was just a fluke that I hit the right button when I did - I was trying to emboss only the wording! :lol:

Anyway, you'll see the results on the improved 'War Relief' soon. Take care and thanks again for the tutorial.

BTW, have you tried to make any actual buildings, yet? If so, you should post a few things here about it. Especially if you are using layers, which I seem to have a hard time using. It's because I keep picking up the wrong tool for what I want to do, LOL. Buildings are my next project after I finish some more SOE civilopedia stuff. Won't be long now, I hope...:) :D

PS - I don't even know what a mask DOES, much less which is better to use between that and layers.:lol:

What? What's this?!! Looks like a re-work! Well - Just when you think you know a graphics program formally, it turns around and gets personal on you! The first image is what I worked off of to get the second image, which is the actual size of the lg pcx. Thx! Cya! ;) :lol: :cool:
 

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I just read a response of yours in the 'GIMP vs PS' thread, and I thought I'd comment here because I had some questions that were kind of off topic for that thread.

I know what you mean about the multiple window thing - even in my fumblings through the basic stuff, I've had problems figuring out how to get the best use from the windows that pop up. I hit random buttons in hopes of finding what I can use for whatever I'm working on, LOL. It has been a relationship of a love/hate nature - and I just made my big breakthroughs in the last week!

I'm trolling for information on the actual making of buildings. I don't know how to come up with a decent model. I suppose some photos could be used. I can draw stuff easy enough, it's just a 'how to begin' issue. So far, most of what I've done has had a model to work from and alter. I'm thinking that making an actual building would be a 'from scratch' thing.

If you've tried to make an actual building with GIMP that you've drawn from the ground up, any info. on it that you can post would be helpful. I don't really need anything on pixel manipulation - more like a nudge to push me in the right direction where the button pushing is concerned, LOL. Thx! Cya! :D
 
Building making as in...what? I had only made one building with the stereotypical building icon (see my graphics library , its the sphinx). Take a look at how I made that one (it is really obvious).
 
I guess I'm too excited over all this to be able to ask you the right questions, these days. You see, like I said in an earlier post, I haven't really been able to play that much with GIMP. Your thread basically blew everything up in my face (this is a good thing, I think). As I mentioned before, I have been writing civilopedias for SOE since early December.

When I got a tad ahead and noticed that a few buildings in the mod (not many, but a few) had graphics from the normal C3, I decided to look into fixing the problem. This gave me the excuse. That's when I started paying closer attention to what you had done here. I had already put it into my favorites, and you have seen a couple of things that I did with it when I got the time.

I ask you the questions, and then ended up stumbling over the answers as I wait for your reply (you see, I've got a problem letting things alone when I latch on to something that works). What I'm curious about, I guess, are some of the shortcuts you may have discovered that lets one actually create something, rather than altering it.

Today, I started working on a 1930s cinema, using the stock library graphics. I am literally rebuilding this thing from the ground up - I feel like a construction contractor. I've been fumbling around all day, yelling at the crew, griping over the crane being la...sorry - bad flashback.

Anyway, the project is a bit of a trial. It's getting there - and it's looking good, but I just can't help thinking that I'm going around my elbow to get to you no where. Not being much of a techno, every success is amazing to me. Especially now, when things seem to be dropping all at once where the graphics and I are concerned.

My main problem is that I am a visual learner - I can get some of the stuff about GIMP out of the manual but it does not actually show stuff about C3c, so I have a problem making some of the connections. I have not touched the mask, for example, because I honestly don't understand how it works, or what it's for - my graphics genious friend died two, almost 3 years ago. That means I have to ask questions here.

I figured that if I asked you enough annoying questions, you might create a few things or trot out something you've already made and give an expansion of your show and tell tutorial. Even tiny details can be of help to lots of people who do not know their way through or are learning about graphics programs. I practically begged for stuff like this back in '04, and got very little response.

Because GIMP is free, it's one that has gotten very little attention from so many that come to this site that know their way around the creation thread. Why? Because many of them have already been working with what they consider to be better programs for too long to get into GIMP, which is a 'freebee' program. I've talked to some who look at it with disdain, because their 'xyz' program costed 'name a huge amount' and why would they worry about learning a sub standard program like GIMP? It's a shame, but it's true.

That's why it is such a big deal to find someone who is willing to share how, what and when in a show n tell tutorial with GIMP. The program has always had a lot of potential, even the versions that were available a couple of years ago, but no one posted anything substantial about actually using it to make things at this site until about a year ago. Even then, I couldn't figure it out. You were the first to get into something beyond the small stuff that actually showed me how to do it. That was what? December?

Well, I guess I'm rambling. Know that I'm not trying to piss you off, I just do that to people naturally. It's not like you haven't been a tremendous help already, but like any kid in a new toy store, there's always a desire for more. Guess I'm busted. Thank-you for all your responses, and your patience. I can't promise that I won't be here asking more questions, but I'll try to do my experimenting BEFORE I ask from now on, LOL. Cya! :crazyeye: ;) :)

PS - If you think I'm bad now, wait 'til I figure out how to make unit graphics...hehe.
 
When I change the colors in slots 254 and 255 to green, nothing changes in my image. does there have to be any green or magenta to eliminate? I am using Photoshop, but so far, these instructions have worked pretty well, once i found where the menu options and such were.
 
Just wondering is the original pic of St. Basil's is real or a drawing. It's beautiful.
 
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