Preserved Topic: Need info

I just tried the tutorial on making those 3d letters and it said I could get ahold of the main man here. If you read this i was wondering where i went wrong. I got to the part where the blurring occurs, and something just didnt look right. When i did the lighting effects it looked like it was going to turn out real cool, but then it didnt look like what the preview was showing. I was also having trouble with the modify subsection of the dropdown menu for the select item, it isn't lit up like it can be selected when your tutorial says to do the contrast and smoothing part. I am a total moron when it comes to art but I want to develope some remedial skills in something artistic one day so mabey you could help me?
THX for reading this fellow art buffs. Any advice is welcome.

Ok, so you need some help with some 3d Text it appears. I am guessing that you are looking at Handson.nu, but I am not sure which tutorial you are actually working with.

So the basics, step by step.

1. Create the text with the type tool
2. Ctrl - Click the typed layer (you should then hightlight the letters)
3. Save the selection (Select > Save Selection)
4. Go to the Chanels Tab
5. Still having the selection highlighted gausen blur it in increments.
9,6,3,2 or 16,12,8,4,2 The increments depend on the letter size, fool around.
6. Deselect the selection
7. Gausen Blur the selection by 1
8. Ctrl - Alt - L For auto levels, which will make the coloring different.
9. Go back to the layers tab
10. Apply the lighting effects to give it a 3dish look
11. Apply a drop shadow.

I am thinking that you have the main idea about how to do the lighting effects. It shouldn't be that hard.

If you are looking to do some good learning, check one of our brother sites http://www.gurusnetwork.com this is a site founded by many of the asylumites that is dedicated to writing tutorials for all areas of web design.

As for the 3d ish look. There are main ways to get it, many different varieties. The main idea is to spend a lot of time with Photoshop. The more time you spend the better. Once you put in 100 hours you will find your skills will greatly improve. It is about repetition and experiementation. Make sure to under stand why you are doing a specific effect and your skills will grow.

What I gave you above was just some steps to follow. But that does not tell you why you are doing the things you are doing. By simply following what I have written you are cheating yourself. Try to see why. Go to the gurusnetwork and join the forum there. Go through all the tutorials there. And ask many questions both here and there.

Everyone has the potential to be a great artist. You just have to spend time examining the world around you as well as praticing the skills that you wish to learn. There are different levels, some people with pick up are faster than others, this doesn't mean the person who picks it up slow is a bad artist, and has not potential. They may have more potensial than the person who learns fast. Just stick with it and you can do it. Don't cheat yourself. Do it all the hard way. Make mistakes, learn and grow with them. And you can not lose.

hey stick, and welcome!

1st bit of advice:
post this in the photoshop forum.
2nd bit of advice:
post the image of where you ended up, mebbe a screen shot...
3rd bit of advice:
to make life easier for those trying to help, post the url of the tutorial you were doing.
4th bit of advice:
further on number 3 - if you want us to be specific, you be specific. if there are step numbers, say them, otherwise maybe quote from the step. (eg: "im up the the bit that says "Ok, now, if things arent looking how you like, try the filter->distort->petroleum jelly trick."") maybe tell us what photoshop version you are using too!
5th bit of advice:
http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/index.html <-- go there. do a couple of tuts. tell us if you have any problems.
6th bit of advice:
are you following the tutorial step by step? when i do a tutorial for the first time i copy EVERYTHING. down to the font, the level of gaussian blur, if they use textures, i copy them too....

<edit> stupid other helpful people sneaking their grubby little posts in before i submit mine *grumblemumblegrrr*</edit>

[This message has been edited by bunchapixels (edited 01-31-2001).]

http://www.handson.nu/tips_by_others/dl-44/SkyTaffy/

Sorry about the confusion i will post in the appropriate forum next time. I just saw the doc ozone and thought i should post there. Ok im going to try it now thx.

is this how you post a pic in here? http://www.geocities.com/whorzklan/crappic.gif
Edit by F1_error: making image clickable. We usually don't post images that big. Horizontal scrolling bad.

Where i got confused was where you save it and go to the channels, why am i doing that? When i deselect after doing the gaussion blur what am i blurring now? Nothing seems to have changed. And when he refers to layer 1 is that the layer where my text is supposed to be on?

[This message has been edited by stick_figure_artist (edited 01-31-2001).]

[This message has been edited by F1_error (edited 01-31-2001).]

Ok so things started going south at Step 2, from what you said. Make sure that you've got the 'marching ants' showing when doing the G-Blur. And blur in steps, do a blur of 4 click OK, go back to the filter do a blur of 2 click OK, then deselect and do a blur of 1. Lighting Effects is tricky, and it's effects will change depending on the thickness of the selection and what the G-Blur looked like. Try this; Ctrl-Click your type layer, in the layers pallete, to get the 'marching ants' now go to the Lighting Effects filter. Use the settings in the example. Make sure you've get the Texture Channel set to the Alpha Channel you did the G-Blur on. Click OK. If things don't look quite right, Edit>Undo. Then go back to the Lighting Effects and play, the preview sucks I know, but try it a few different ways. Now I can tell you that if a selection is greyed out when the tutorial syas it should be lit, you've done something wrong. Go back a few steps, and try again. I cannot begin to guess what may be wrong here. But my guess is something messed up. Don't worry we all do it, and have done it. Just back up, and try again. I can tell you that in Step 6, I had to re-run brightness and contrast twice, the sceond time using 50% to make it seem right.

This is my Gullwing I did when DL first wrote this tutorial.

It's a fun tutorial with a lot of flexability to it. Never be afraid to play or make mistakes. It's how we all continue to learn. And if you've more questions, feel free to come back and ask.

Thanks for the responces guys, but where the heck did you get that yellow border? did i miss a step? I guess i just need to use photoshop more. . .

yep, what he said

keep trying, if you still have problems coome back and give us some more specific details.

kinda funny, people often miss the line in the tute that says "You may have to repeat this part to get a bright enough highlight and a dark enough shadow -- see how it goes"

Ok, looking at your image I notice that you don't have your Type Tool set to anti-alias. That is why you have that Jagged border / edge. Set your Type Tool to Anti-Alias, that will help.
Another thing to consider is the fact that this effect works best on FAT letters, these letters are very skinny. That does not mean you cannot do this effect, rather this effect is going to be a lot more difficult. You may want to try his first with FAT, THICK type, and get a feel for how it works, then come back to the current typeface and try again.
I can now tell you are very new to Photoshop, and thats great, the Sky-Taffy tutorial is a good one to begin with. Just don't rush, there is a learning curve to Photoshop, if you begin to get frustrated, take a break, go watch some commercials, then come back, and try again. It's gonna take a while, but we'll be here to help.
Now you are wondering about the Yellow / Orange outline, yep if you don't have that, you skipped a step. And that is bad. You skipped the step because the selection area was greyed out and not lit. When you get that right you'll be able to make this work right.