For an avid CS3 user IMO it would not be difficult to pick up Painter from an architectural perspective, as there are many similarities -- in fact Corel continues to add features to make Painter "more PS-like." (About 80% of Painter owners also use PS.)

Similarities:
* Some palettes in common, e.g., layers, tools, brushes, etc.
* Within Painter the tools palette has many familiar tools, e.g., brush, crop, zoom, move, etc.
* Painter supports layer masks and most blend modes (normal, darken, screen, overlay, etc.)
* Painter is able to use many 3rd party PS plugins
* Ability to apply digital texture-like effects, e.g., canvas, watercolor paper, etc.

There's a lot of functional overlap. Each has its own strengths. Painter's are its brush engine and associated options (it's like the PS brush engine on a boatload of steroids) and texture/pattern options/possibilities.

A very common practice is to open an image in PS, do some prelim work, close. Open in Painter, do Painter thing, close. Reopen in PS for finish-up & print.

The challenge of learning Painter is getting familiar with terminology differences / operational nuances between it and PS and figuring out which brushes to use when. (Over 700 brush variants installed by default; boatloads of custom brushes available on the net.) Using a cooking metaphore it's kind of like an accomplished American chef walking into a kitchen stocked with 700+ new spices which are labeled in French. Most of the pots/pans work the same way, but figuring out cupboard of new spices (what they are, how to use them) takes time.

Digital tablet highly recommended. Traditional drawing / painting / sketching skills very helpful, but not an absolute requirement.

It would be tempting for one who is CS knowledgeable to try to "self learn" Painter, but I would not recommend that. Good overview/basics online courses at venues like www.eclecticademy.com. (I am not affiliated with this site.) Great content; cheap ($25) for well organized, content rich six week classes.

Anyway... my .02. HTH.

Since this little sidetrack is pretty far OT for this forum, feel free to e-mail me at dannyraphael at yahoo dot com if you'd like to continue the q/a. This -- and watching LAOCI - is my hobby and I could go on ad nauseum.

O MY GOD!!SCARY!!

thank you! I will probably make more graphics this weekend. My time is limited during the week due to working full time, and i'm just never in the mood to open photoshop when i get home hahaha

I made this on a whim.

I saw it in your sig before I came here, but nice work indeed.

Thanks Janx!

That is a very smart idea!!
I will inform my security crew,on the ship,to buy a ton..no better make it two tons of that!!

Beautiful pic of those gorgeous eyes! *thump...the floor...again, sigh* Kim (ps, nice pic of Elliot too, hmm)





Wait...didn't I see some of those hanging outside the library doors? May have to use them on myself, to cool me off, after watching that Goren dance!

OK, I made this wallpaper just by collecting a lot of pictures and pushing them together.. I do that with any and every show....its fun.. but I realzed that I had more Goren and Logan than Ross... you guys are getting me to fall in love with Goren....and I love it....

Thanks! I got the idea from ciaddict when she mentioned that PHW pics should come with a fire extiguisher.

They need to be standard issue on every ship. We have a pool I jump into if flames become to big to control. Why else do you think we have Mikey as our pool boy? I mean besides the plaid shorts.

Exacly!!Ah,that Mike,I guess he is doing a gret job as a pool boy!?

The super wrekcing crew of detectives of L&O CI!They walk,talk,smile,eat,pose,chitchat,ask questions and get in the face of the enemys!!

We need a shipment of these for Twilight Isle, too! May Mr. Rourke send over the zodiac?



This is a strike beard, growing longer as the strike drags on. Sigh.

How come some pictures have been replaced by red x?

hey when he shaves save that, I need some brillo pads.

I don't remember if I thanked you, Defender. So thank you very much. I have put it to use over on the Is Vincent Hot thread. I'll be needing it for the Is Chris Hot thread, too. I think I'll mosey on over there now. Oh, I've been thinking maybe I need a helmet as well, for all the thudding. I'll ask Judy where she got Valley's helmet--it seems to be quite sturdy.

smile

here are my strike signs

O MY!!
Maybe I can braid the beard!!

I sure hope the strike ends soon. That beard is SCARY!

you can carefully untangle it with you softly searching fingers, I can't because my claws get snagged, wah. Lucky you are so dedicated to sooth and smooth him for me!



Yes! Too awful for poor VDO/Goren. It's just too sad.

Here are two more strike signs I made.

O YES,I CAN!!
My fingers are long and flexi enaf!!I will bring two combs,a small bottle with a spary on cap;filled with Evian water!!

I'm glad that the extiguisher could be useful. You all can use them as much as you like.

I really hope the strike ends soon or that beard is going to be swallowing people like the Blob. I like the strike banners too.

It means the picture file is not at the location the path is pointing to.
The path may be wrong, or the file may have been deleted or moved.

and sometimes file hosting sites have bandwidth limits. If an image/file has a lot of hits within a certain period of time, it is in accessable for a duration (such as a couple of hours or a day).

I finally finished my Ross avatar for WGA. All you Ross fans, enjoy.

thank you for the extinguishers. I hope the strike ends soon too, for all our sakes. Thanks for appreciating the strike banners.




thank you




who knew?



Thanks, Defender. The more I learn about Bagosian, the better I like him.

I <3 Eric Bogosian, and I <3 that strike image.

Your welcome! I hope the strike ends before I lose my mind! Well, more than usual.


Thanks jc! I didn't know you liked Eric. You learn something new everyday.

Okay, in the strictest sense she's not going to act anything on CI unless the writers bring her back but I know there are Barek fan out there (like me).


I'm working on Wheeler and Deakins. I might get around to Falacci and Carver and Rodgers.

EDIT: And while I was looking for pics of Wheeler and Deakins I came upon this pic and got a really strange idea.

bwa ha ha! hope you put it on the tie clip thread

I'm glad you're working on more of the characters. They are an emsemble, God bless em.

ROFL about the tip clips! Love the new work! Very nice work DefenderofMen!

Thank you very much!

EDIT: Here's Wheeler's!

this is priceless! i love it! hehe

Glad you like it!

Here's a WGA icon for Deakins.


I can't seem to stop myself...

lol!! i love it! keep them coming! ^_~

Deakins is so cute...

Here's Falacci:

how do you do those backgrounds that you put in your stuff?

It's something new I'm trying. I use a square paint brush and use it like a stamp on a blank layer. I then adjust the opacity so you can still see through it but get the fun blocks still there.

I think I have a serious addiction. I just finished Carver too. (Granted, I started Falacci's a few days ago and put the finishing touches on it today.)

What programme are you using DefenderofMen? Photoshop?

Yup. I do use Adobe Photoshop.

yeah, that photoshop is adictive. I get on there and can't stop myself LOL.

That's pretty cool! I swear I had to tear myself away from the computer last night so I could get some sleep.

Is there a book or tutorial you could recommend for a new user? I would like to make a siggie, but I don't have any clue where to start. I use Photoshop for editing my photos - but that's about it.

Thanks!

Time flies when you are using it. That's for sure.




If you don't have the book, I imagine you could find something on line.

I used a book about Adobe I found for ideas. I'll do some research on websites for tutorials and get back to you.

I've had that happen to me.

2pm - open Photoshop
2am - realize Holy Crap it's 2AM! I'll go to bed right after I finish this spot.
3:30am - Dang I thought I was going to go to bed over an hour ago... I'll just rename and save these files.
4am - Ok I'm really going to bed RIGHT NOW.
4:15am - Wake up on desk. Go to bed.

Thank you! I would greatly appreciate it. There are soooo many books & websites out there. I would just like to buy one or two really good books or find a good site with tutorials and go from there. I found a good website with photoshop actions that you can download for free. I have only used a couple of them (antiquing a photo & selective colour). If you are interested in it, let me know and I will post the link to the site when I get home from work later on this evening.

They probably have one of those For dummies books, thats what I need.