Great info for New Designers...

[Moeluv4u7]

...and this may be helpful for designers who are already well versed in their programs as well-
I have been frustrated in trying to learn the art of design so I have started "researching" things I don't understand as well as things I THOUGHT I did understand but have now found - I don't! I think this will at least help me to use things to design with that will prevent me from receiving so many errors and beeps from my computer- LOL Here is a link- and as I find other things that pertain I will add them as well- This thread is going to assume that everyone who is interested in designing already has some type of design program to use whether it be a program purchased or the one that came on your computer- This info will hopefully help everyone understand the very very basics first- If it is too basic for some I hope others will find as much usefulness to this as I have- Oh! & don't hesitate to explore the sites where I am finding this info- you will find some more things that may be new to you, old to you, or even Wow! to you- but these should help in what to do, what not do, how to do, why to do, etc while learning design by computer-

Links Follow>>>>>

This one explains differences between file types

http://info.eps.surrey.ac.uk/FAQ/standards.html

This explains image noise and how & why to change it in a file but check out the "tutorials" link at the bottom of this one- There is a huge list to help w/ photo shots as well as Photo Shop and other programs as well- a wealth of information here on very basics of editing images

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/image-averaging-noise.htm

This is a PhotoShop Tutorial site- But I liked reading about how to keep certain pieces of s design- not just picture but also shadow or lighting and changing the background to make a new look- many other helps as well

http://www.photoshop911.com/masking_channels/replacing_backgrounds.html

Okay, this one is a Photo Impact Tutorial site- This has been great though even though this lady's focus is PI4 she explains the very basic getting started steps and I have just learned what I am having the most trouble with!! Great for me so I had to post! maybe I will actually get a design together today!

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Valley/1725/

 

[Telynn]

...and this may be helpful for designers who are already well versed in their programs as well-
I have been frustrated in trying to learn the art of design so I have started "researching" things I don't understand as well as things I THOUGHT I did understand but have now found - I don't! I think this will at least help me to use things to design with that will prevent me from receiving so many errors and beeps from my computer- LOL Here is a link- and as I find other things that pertain I will add them as well- This thread is going to assume that everyone who is interested in designing already has some type of design program to use whether it be a program purchased or the one that came on your computer- This info will hopefully help everyone understand the very very basics first- If it is too basic for some I hope others will find as much usefulness to this as I have- Oh! & don't hesitate to explore the sites where I am finding this info- you will find some more things that may be new to you, old to you, or even Wow! to you- but these should help in what to do, what not do, how to do, why to do, etc while learning design by computer-

Links Follow>>>>>

http://info.eps.surrey.ac.uk/FAQ/standards.html

Thank you for the link. Although I'm designing here, I'm learning on the fly. This info was great to know!

 

[chaoscent]

Thank you. In fact, I currently save everything i erase the background from as a "gif". After reading about pngs (which I didn't know the difference) I am thinking I will now save in pngs. Dom, Natalie, Amy - your thoughts? Penny

 

[Dom13]

I'll be checking out the tutorials. Usually learn something from them even if they are for Photoshop & not PSE. Often they pertain to both or if you are familiar enough with PSE you can figure out a work around.

Penny, for t-shirts I'd save those as JPG's at a fairly high quality. I'd maybe use PNG for the autograph pages but a PNG can get to be a very large file. Unless you really feel there's a need for really high quality JPG at 75 to 80 quality should work fine. The only time I'd consider going to PNG would be for archival use. As with many things it's a balancing act. Quality vs. file size.

 

[ms.pinkpixie]

GIF images are smaller in size so they distort a lot more and are a lot more grainy (noise) in the image. PNG formats are bigger but if you are looking to keep the quality of the image go with PNG for images that have no background (transparent).

 

[chaoscent]

How about if you are making something to put on top of something else. For example, a really nice guy (and great DISigner) made the ducks in the raft and the avatars for me. I then added them to the background I had. I never want the avatars to be jpgs as I want to add them to DISigns. So should I save them as gifs or pngs?

Thanks, Penny