I've been playing with graphics

[thismaz]

I've never really done that before, although I've had Paintshop Pro 5 on my machine, for years. I don't count my banner, because that is just a load of thumbnails, pasted on top of a filler-in background.

Why? Well, Maggie mentioned wanting a banner that included both of her major fandom obsessions, so I decided to have a go.



So, even if you think the result is okay, please don't take it, because she might want it.

Oh, and Maggie? You can say 'no thanks' with no fear that I'll take offense. *g* Your desire to have a banner was simply an excuse, to encourage me to play. And I liked the image of the Heavy Ion collision in the middle and wanted to use it for something.

I did two versions, one with the stargate



and one without



I know it's a bit rough by the standards of most of the graphics out there, but I am rediculously proud of the result. 19 layers to build one image. Plus, deleting the backgrounds behind the characters, virtually one pixel at a time, has given me a whole new appreciation for the work that goes into the most simple seeming manip.

Back to work next week. *sighs* But I've had a successful holiday. I have caught up on a huge backlog of posts on my flist, although not on all the WIPs I'm reading. I have also done a complete reinstall of Windows and that seems to have fixed my freezing problems. *crosses fingers and reminds self that it's early days yet* I didn't even lose all my files, which I thought I would. Of course, I'm going to have to spend the next few weeks gradually re-customising my toolbars to the way I had them before. *g* But I've already reinstalled YIM, VLC player, Firefox and qlock. Dragon can wait. Then I'll take an image, so it will be easier next time.

The one thing I haven't done, is any writing. But I refuse to feel bad about that. I've been busy. And that's what commuting time is for, isn't it?

I hope you all had a fun and happy New Year. All the best to you, for 2009.

Comments

[smwright.livejournal.com]

Super banners! *g*

And yes, plenty of time for writing while commuting. *winks*

(Now back to my email...)

[kazzy-cee.livejournal.com]

A hearty 'well done' for the graphics! :)

Btw - a little widget you might find handy for Firefox is 'Foxmarks' which synchronises and saves all your bookmarks which is handy if you have to do a reinstall at any time.

Happy new year to you too! :)

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thanks, hon. I enjoyed doing them.
I hope you are feeling better, today.
I will get back into writing, once I've recovered from Christmas induced lethargy. *g*

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

:) Thank you. It was fun.
Thanks for the tip, too. I didn't actually lose my bookmarks (although like every thing else, they are all in the wrong order now. Alphabetical? Who'd invent a crazy system like that? *g*) but I'll make a note for next time. Cheers.

ps - I *love* your icon. I did feel a bit like that, when I first put in the system disc. *g*

[meredevachon]

Good job on the banners!

And sometimes it's not only okay, but good to take a break from the writing. Especially when you know you'll get back to it. ;)

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

Thank you, hon. It was a fun exercise, but my goodness, time consuming. And addictive. *g* I had to post, to stop myself fiddling with them.
I did have big plans to finish my current story while I was on holiday, but... *sighs* You can't do everything, eh. *g* I'll get there.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*grins* Thank you. I'm not sure about 'awesome', but it was fun. The eraser is my friend. *g*
*hugs you back*

[smwright.livejournal.com]

Yes, I understand. I attempted to shake mine off today. *g*

Feeling a little better. It's the same old same old, but we all cope with something.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[mwrgana.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty good first attempt, Kiddo. But be warned - it's addictive!

And clever you reformatting and not losing any files. I invested in some DVDs when I had my HD re-formatted so that my images file would fit on one easily and I wouldn't have to use several CDs. Then I added some images and this, somehow, blocked access to the all the other images. The same thing happened with my documents file.

It's as if the new additions over-wrote the first ones, which isn't possible but the outcome is the same. My computer friend is looking for ways to access them - I didn't copy them properly, apparently. Something to do with sessions...

Actually, he's probably forgotten that he was looking for the whatever it was he was looking for - I'll give him a ring and remind him.

I missed Being Alive on Monday (as I did the pilot, *g*), shall have to look out for it next week.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

*g* It is addictive, isn't it. I kept fiddling and fiddling, until I posted them just to make myself stop. I think the only thing to do, is to avoid the temptation completely, because if I start again, I know I'll end up losing a day or more to it. It is fun playing with new toys though.
Oh, bad luck with archiving. I am always too nervous of doing that to even buy the rewritable discs. It means I throw a lot of discs away, whenever I do an archive back-up, but I have as many coasters as I can humanly use, so in the bin they go. Good luck with getting them back.

[mwrgana.livejournal.com]

The thing is that DVDs I got aren't re-writable! It's just something to do with not finishing a "session" it seems.

I've no idea what a session is - to me it's what a group of musicians have.

[thismaz.livejournal.com]

to me it's what a group of musicians have.
Me too, I'm afraid.