| » Forum Index » General comments » Topic: Introducing myself... |
|
Posted on 11/11/07 4:18:06 PM |
|
DanielCoffey
* Posts: 19 Reply  |
Introducing myself...
Hello folks - I'm new to "How to Cheat in..." so I thought I'd take the time to say hi and introduce myself. I'm Daniel, I am 40 and I am a home/hobbyist user of Photoshop. While I have been using Elements 5.0 since May this year, I am about to take the plunge and upgrade to CS3 in about a week. Though I have a background in IT (Web Designer/Software tester), I have been a full-time carer at home for my wife for the past few years. We live in Edinburgh, UK. My knowledge of Elements 5.0 is mostly self-taught. I joined the Photoshop Elements Techinques group in May and put myself through their very useful "Layers" course and then just set to. I have always thought that having a project to work on was the best way to learn how to use a new tool. At the time I was playing an online role-playing game, World of Warcraft, and I wanted to create some forum sigs for myself. Having made some rather basic sigs, I encountered the phenomenon of Digital Scrapbooking and thought - why couldn't I do a digital scrapbook of the adventures of my online character in WoW? I created "The Cogno Project", a series of eleven pages detailing the progress and (mis)-adventures of my character called Cogno. While the first few pages were somewhat elementary, I soon got into the swing of it and started modifying the in-game screenshots more and more. To date, that thread in the forum that hosts it has been read almost 3400 times! I took a break from World of Warcraft after a few months but soon missed the conversation with other loonies so I actually reactivated an old subscription I used to have for another similar online game, Everquest 2. The company who run that game never delete characters from dormant accounts, so I was able to step back into the furry shoes of one of my old characters - a Ratonga (rat-man) called Dustpaw. I wrote four stories about him, created a fair pile of signatures for him (around eleven so far) and, of course, started a Photoshopped "Diary of a Dustpaw", currently running to six pages and still growing. By this point, I began to hit some of the artificial restrictions that Adobe had put into Elements to keep the price down... text-on-a-path, inability to adjust Inner Shadows (An Elements 5.0 bug) to name two... so I decided to investigate upgrading to CS3. While browsing through Photoshop books on Amazon UK (mostly Scott Kelby, natch), I came across "How to Cheat in Photoshop" and stopped. What a fantastic sense of humour it has, I thought. This guy has written a book for Photoshop users like me! I could really use this stuff! So... here I am - naked and unashamed - new to Photoshop and delighted to have found you all! The "How to Cheat..." book arrives next week and I'll be ordering CS3 just as soon as I can sort out whether I can apply for a NAPP discount from the Adobe UK store or not. I do have a couple of questions though - sigs and avatars. I use my own web host but I was wondering if there were any guidelines for sig/avatar dimensions and file sizes? I have read about the 20Kb limit on an avatar but most folks here use a tiny avatar of 70x70 pixels which should only use a small part of that. Would 100x100 and about 5Kb be acceptable, or do you really want folks to stick to 70x70? As for sigs, most folks on the forum seem to avoid them. Is this to keep the forum clean, or do you not mind if we have a simple sig? Most that I have seen in the past have been around 500x120 or 500x150 which seem to run to about 25Kb if done properly. If you don't mind, I'd like to post links to my previous Elements work in the Readers' Gallery, but I'll wait for the go-ahead before I do so. Thanks in advance for all the fun I'm sure I'll have here.  |
Posted on 11/11/07 4:45:16 PM |
|
katew
Virtual Virtuoso Posts: 681 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Hi Daniel! Good to 'meet' you. You'll find a really helpful friendly bunch of people here. I have a friend who plays WoW - I'll have to find out what her character name is. If you go to the forum 'Welcome to the Forum', you'll find a few posts by Steve on image sizes, avatars, etc. HTH Looking forward to seeing you on the Friday Challenge! |
Posted on 11/11/07 4:58:42 PM |
|
Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Hi Daniel Welcome mate Im also a newbie (well actually i think im offically 2nd in line to you) i joined a couple of weeks ago with virtually no photoshop experience at all. I have also just bought CS3 and im working my way through several different books and dvd training courses. I have steves book of course, i have also bought martin evenings book simply because i am more of a photographer than anything else. Im finding the dvd training course very very useful (CS3 one on one, which can be found at lynda.com) every friday steve sets a bit of a challenge for us all to join in with, which is good fun. anyway welcome Johnny |
Posted on 11/11/07 6:43:58 PM |
|
vibeke
Kreative Kiwi Posts: 2166 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Hi Daniel, Welcome to the forum, and thanks for the introduction, cool, great to find out a little about the people we meet in this great forum. Welcome to Johnny too. Vibeke New Zealand |
Posted on 12/11/07 04:18:36 AM |
|
Neil O
Cartoon Contractor Posts: 389 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Hello Daniel and welcome. I'm sure you will find Steve and all the people here are an immence help in learning photoshop. I knew virtually nothing about photoshop when I bought Steve's book(s) and I have come a long way with the help of HTCIPS and this forum. So join in and have fun. We'll be looking for your work in the Friday Challenges. Neil _________________ "I haven't failed.... I've found 10,000 ways that don't work!" Thomas Edison |
Posted on 12/11/07 08:44:10 AM |
|
David Asch
Tech Support Posts: 1913 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Welcome to the forum Daniel. _________________ Leap and the net will appear |
Posted on 12/11/07 4:09:19 PM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7047 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Welcome, Daniel. To answer your questions: the avatars are used here at 70 pixels because that's what the forum software handles. You can make larger ones, but they'll be reduced to this size. As for submitting files: I have to impose a limit of 100K for files uploaded to the forum, but you can always link to larger files if you prefer - check the Help button next to the reply section for details on how to phrase the link. Enjoy the book! Steve |
Posted on 12/11/07 5:29:34 PM |
|
DanielCoffey
* Posts: 19 Reply |
Re: Introducing myself...
Thanks for the welcomes, folks. I appreciate the clarification on Avatar size. I spotted that the majority were 70x70 so I created one specifically that size (just over 2Kb too!). I have my own webhost so that should help with linking to my images. I am looking forward to seeing the book, Steve. Despite it being dispatched the other day it has not yet arrived. Mind you, neither has CS3. |
Posted on 04/12/07 10:07:51 PM |
|
Markey
* Posts: 7 Reply  |
Re: Introducing myself...
Hi, it appears that I must be the newest 'newbie'. I am new to Photoshop and bought CS3 just a couple of weeks ago. I came across Steve's book at the book store and RAN to the register. It is great. This is the first time I have decided to join any online forum. I am glad all of you aren't all old hats so I won't feel so far behind.  |
Posted on 04/12/07 10:20:04 PM |
|
Progenic
** Posts: 104 Reply |
Re: Introducing myself...
Markey There is a big mixture in here from day oners (like me) to full on pro's and everything in between. So dont panic about having to be an experienced user or anything (though i have found that it would have helped alot if i had a basic grasp of the programme before attempting steves book). Luckily im a reasonably quick learner and im finding my way around photoshop pretty well now, which is surprising because i never thought i would even get close to getting used to it. |
Posted on 05/12/07 08:32:30 AM |
|
Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7047 Reply |
Re: Introducing myself...
Markey, The best way to learn Photoshop is to use it. Join in the Friday Challenge, at whatever level you're at - it's about improving your own skills, rather than competing with others. Welcome! Steve |