Preserved Topic: Image slicing

Hi all, its the new guy again.
Can anyone help me? From looking at all the cool pages you guys have produced it has become clear that I need to get into image slicing. I have been told that Macromedia Fireworks will do the job but is there any way I can do it using Photoshop without having to shell out more cash?
Sorry if this is a simple question.

Just a beginner . . . .

I takes time, but try this. Decide where you want to slice your images. Make your rulers visable (ctrl + r for pc)(cmd + r for mac). Click on the actual ruler and drag "guides" out. Build a template of where you would like to slice your image with the guides. Then use the marquee tool to select each individual area, copy the area, create a new image, paste it into the new area, and save it.

The best tool I have used for image slicing is Adobe Imageready. It comes with Photoshop starting at version 5.5. Got to love the slice tool.....

"There won't be anything we won't say to people to try and convince them that our way is the way to go."
-- Bill Gates

Thanks for the quick responce. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif"> I'll try that. I have Photoshop 5 so I may even consider getting 5.5 so I can use Imageready.


"Just a beginner . . . ."

[This message has been edited by TheTrixter (edited 14-07-2000).]

Yeah, that is the way I dice my images, it take a little bit of time, but it is very concise.

Try it you may like it.


www.warmage.org

I do it manually, myself, also. With more complicated designs, I will print out a B&W copy of the image and use a nice blue pen to map out where all the cuts need to go before I set up my guides.

Incidentally, I took a quick look at the automatic slicing feature in ImageReady 1.0, but it looked as though it just cut along all the guides like a grid. In other words, no row or column spanning. Has this been enhanced at all? Regardless, I like to control the file-type and compression settings for each individual area, anyway. It's time-consuming, but it's the last step in a sleek, quickly loading site.

I never used Imageready 1.0 before. But in 2.0, you just basically slice and dice it any way you want. Pull the slice guides out and use the image slice tool to cut it up. It looks like a little exacto knife.....

"There won't be anything we won't say to people to try and convince them that our way is the way to go."
-- Bill Gates

Hey, thanks for all this good advice, I get the picture, do it manually! I'm going to give it a go later on.Once again, thanks for your time and patience guys, I feel like I belong already.


"Just a beginner . . . ."

Trixter:

What these dudes fail to point out is that the *hard* work that Fireworks and Imageready do for you isn't the slicing, it's the HTML! If you don't have the $$$ for the software, plan to make up for it in personal time. Those softwares don't do anything magic - they do exactly the same thing as you would if you cut apart every slice, named and optimized every slice, and wrote the gnarly table that kept everything in check. Only they do it in 5 minutes instead of 2+ hours! There are some things you should take pride in doing by hand; there are some things you should say "go for it, machine"! If you do one or two sliced pages, it's a toss-up as to whether the $$$ is worth it. If you have PS 5.5 with ImageReady already I'd check it out. If you're doing a Site with lots of sliced pages - the money is well spent I think.

TheTrixter:
The Stevestahs right on that one. Before you go sinking any money into PS 5.5 and Imageready, think how worth while the investments going to be. PS 5 and PS 5.5 are pretty much the same thing. The only real difference is Imageready. You keep posting that your just a beginner, if your a beginner you might want to get used to writing your own code and stuff like that. Im assuming the reason you need to slice up images is for a personal website. If its for a bigger site where you have lots and lots of images that you need to slice up and do whatever with then Imageready might be a good investment. Like Steve said though, theres nothing that the program can do that you couldnt do by hand.

Jestah
Jestah91@aol.com
ICQ - 77252449

Actually steve, I do not use the html that imageready puts out, I slice the images manually, just like in photoshop, everything is the same. I just find it a easier to use imageready's slice tool, rather than the guides in photoshop, they seem very inconsistant to me, snap to guides does not work for me, and I hate trying to line the damn marquee tool up, my eyes are not so good. I do take pride in my work, and I don't think there is any way to go except hand coding, I think I said that in another thread. I have never used a wysiwyg, and probably never will..........

"There won't be anything we won't say to people to try and convince them that our way is the way to go."
-- Bill Gates

I also take pride in my work .....for me coding is irrelevant, i look for and purchase the product that will handle the coding in the quickest , most convenient way, nothing comes close to PS5.5 and Imageready 2, I have never had any problems with the image slicing capabilities of imageready , it works for me every time, fast precise (well to be honest sometimes it lacks precision if you resize the document in imageready after importing from PS) the solution is to resize before import )
From my experience imageready 2 sometimes struggles to convert detail, espescially when using transparency or opacity, nothing that can't be fixed with a few tweaks..... (soon to be fixed with the release of IR 3 )
I suppose it depends what you want to do with the produced code when it is complete..if you use Dreamweaver 3, and intend to load your sliced image into it ....you'll have no problems whatsoever, the 2 (or 3 if you include PS5.5) products, integrate seamlessly.
There's no written rule or law that states you "should" use a certain technique to achieve your desired result.
One thing i must say about Dreamweaver 3, that is a real time saver and lets you get on with the designing, is the ability to arrange your page in layers......you can use the library option for repetative tasks (i.e copyright info / navigation) load them into individual layers....rearrange align etc , ....when your happy with the layout, simply convert the layers to tables, and delete or merge the excess tables that Dreamweaver seems to produce.
Personally I dislike Fireworks, for me it's over complex and limiting with it's user interface, and jargon or lingo (a macromedia speciallity)
My software arsenal consists of PS5.5 & Imageready 2, Dreamweaver 3, Flash 4, Swift 3D (vector prog) and 3DStudio Max 3.1.
There's no limits as to what i can produce with these programs (only my imagination) )
As far as writing your own code goes ...i disagree , understand the code and what it does...you'll only learn that from experience... imho.
3rd party or WYSIWYG editors are developing at an advanced rate , each release simplifies the process of developing your site or pages.....they cut out the crap, in a nutshell )

[This message has been edited by r@m (edited 15-07-2000).]

i personally like hand-coding and i use image ready 2.0 to slice the stuff and create the code and take the code and put it where i need
for coding i thing homesite rulz because it's pure joy to work with it and it's good <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/biggrin.gif">

There is no spoon...sort of speaking

try picture dicer @ http://www.sharewarejunkies.com/8p3/picture_dicer.htm its a freeware program to slice pictures in pieces

Photoshop Junkie: Thanks for the tip, I'm off to try out the freeware.


r@m: I agree with you. When I first began learning web site creation I started by hand coding using Notepad. I just do not have the time any more so any software that speeds up the process is okay by me. Any time saved by not hand coding can be spent on doing the more enjoyable part of creating the cool graphics which is the part I enjoy.

I don't think there are many lumberjacks out there who still use an axe; I don't think there are many builders who still use a rip saw; I don't think there are many seamstresses who still seam by hand; I don't think there are many photographers who mix their own emulsion. If you do it for hire and you get paid by output, you invest in power tools. BUT the CRAFTSMAN repects the craft and the tools, and makes conscious decisions based on experience, and an understanding of when finesse is called for and when machine work is more efficient. Most people here agree that writing your own JavaScript beats the pants off what even the best wyswig editors can do. But really - if ImageReady can optimize slices and throw together a table that I can slap into my page in no time, I will (and HAVE) gratefully accept that gift!

Phew!! That certainly sparked off an interesting debate. I'm really starting to enjoy this forum.
Enjoyment and learning together at the same site! Wonders will never cease. <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">




[This message has been edited by TheTrixter (edited 17-07-2000).]

Ditto on the HomeSite. It has great features that all stay out of the way unless I need them. I hand-code all my HTML as well because I like to have strict control over it. I want to know exactly what it is doing and want it to behave exactly as I need it to. I'm not sure the builder/rip saw analogy quite applies in this situation since the tools used in construction now are faster AND more accurate. I haven't seen an automatic HTML writer do a great job yet in taking into consideration cross-browser compatibility and content accommodation (i.e. stretching in the right places to make room for variable content while maintaining the integrity of the layout). I figure taking the time to to do it by hand will save me time in the long run, not having to tweak and fix what a program spit out for me.

Keep in mind, I'm not denouncing anyone's practices here. This is just my opinion. I think a person should use whatever tool he feels comfortable with in getting the job done.

I've always agreed with that philosophy, Wes, and that's what the great thing about Dreamweaver is. The fact that you can see what you get as you make it is just an added bonus, since you can edit the source directly or use the commands to speed up the process. Laying out tables for example is greatly sped up by the dialogue box that lets you enter in # of columns/rows, padding, spacing, border, and width. Then you can tab your way through the table adding the sliced images. Tweaks that need to be done within the table are quick to accomplish by editing the source, or if it's a complex nexted table you can get right to the tag you want to edit thanks to the nifty tag selection feature (shows every tag you are nested in at the bottom of the window, which you can click to select).

Okay, enough ranting about how much time I save with Dreamweaver. For image slicing I haven't tried Imageready or any other program yet, but I developed my own method years ago. Simply create a new layer on top, and draw one-pixel contrasting lines where the cuts should go. I have become quite adept at merge-copying, pasting into new doc, flattening, and saving over the past couple years. Plus, I have developed my own naming scheme for complex tables, so I have a feeling any program I used would probably do something that i didn't like. Still, if my experience with switching to Dreamweaver is any guide, I should definitely check out ImageReady <img border=0 align=absmiddle src="http://www.ozones.com/forum/smile.gif">