Need a hand with Photoshop/Imageready

[de4dp00l]

Hey guys, I'm making my first custom map for a scenario that I run periodically. Basically, there's an item in the middle of the board, and both team have to try and grab it and hang on to it. I'm making this map 27 squares, in order to make it harder to snag the object on the first turn.

So, I've created the grid, laid out the blocking terrain, and now I'm trying to color it in. Problem the first - it seems like every line I created as blocking got created as a seperate layer. Problem the second - I have no idea how to color in the map. The fill tool won't work, and neither will the airbrush, or several other tools.

Any advice? Keep in mind, I have no idea what I'm doing. I've never used these programs before. So far, I've found Imageready easier to use, but I can't fill in color with either program.

[TheSpirit]

Originally posted by de4dp00l
Problem the first - it seems like every line I created as blocking got created as a seperate layer.
I use Photoshop 7 for MacOSX, so your mileage may vary...

You have to Merge Layers. This will (duh) merge two or more layers together to create one layer. Do this with just the gridline layers, and you'll get one layer of just gridlines, for example. You can merge visible, which will put all the selected layers together, or flatten image which will merge everything. Look under the Layer tab.

Problem the second - I have no idea how to color in the map. The fill tool won't work, and neither will the airbrush, or several other tools.
This is likely an offshoot of your first problem. Fills (actually, all tools) only work in the selected layer. Highlight the layer you want first, and then try the fill tool.

Try that and let me know. I can give you further guidance if you provide me a bit more info.

[ahole_derby]

Imageready is an Adobe Program used to make web-ready images, including animated images, such as GIFs. It's not really meant to create images in. Instead, it's meant to be used to take images you have created in Photoshop and convert those images into sliced and web-ready images, or animated images. By default (and this is unchangeable), Imageready creates a new layer for every drawing action that you do, such as taking the line tool and creating lines. If you have the layer palette open, and draw 3 lines with the line tool, you'll notice that it makes 3 separate layers, 1 for each line. The lines (or rectangles, or whatever other shape you make) are created as vector shapes, which is the reason you can't fill them with the paint bucket, etc. You can merge separate layers all into one layer, using the layer palette or the Layer menu. Again, Imageready is not meant to be an image-editing app, so don't expect to do too much.

Photoshop, however, IS the image-editing app. It has a significantly steeper learning curve than Imageready, though. There are plenty of books you can buy, that can teach you how to use it.

Hope this helps you out somewhat.

[de4dp00l]

Thanks. I figured that was part of the problem (all the layers, I mean), and I was attempting to merge them, but I don't think I was doing it right, and not being sure that it solve anything, I gave up. But knowing that this is indeed I am supposed to do, I'll poke around a little and try to figure out how to do it the right way. Maybe I need to port everything back into Photoshop. I used Photoshop to create the base grid, and it kept everything on a single layer. It wasn't until I started adding the thicker line for elevated and blocking terrain in Imageready that things started going south...

[de4dp00l]

Originally posted by ahole_derby
Imageready is an Adobe Program used to make web-ready images, including animated images, such as GIFs. It's not really meant to create images in. Instead, it's meant to be used to take images you have created in Photoshop and convert those images into sliced and web-ready images, or animated images. By default (and this is unchangeable), Imageready creates a new layer for every drawing action that you do, such as taking the line tool and creating lines. If you have the layer palette open, and draw 3 lines with the line tool, you'll notice that it makes 3 separate layers, 1 for each line. The lines (or rectangles, or whatever other shape you make) are created as vector shapes, which is the reason you can't fill them with the paint bucket, etc. You can merge separate layers all into one layer, using the layer palette or the Layer menu. Again, Imageready is not meant to be an image-editing app, so don't expect to do too much.

Photoshop, however, IS the image-editing app. It has a significantly steeper learning curve than Imageready, though. There are plenty of books you can buy, that can teach you how to use it.

Hope this helps you out somewhat.

Ah... that explains a lot. It was just so much easier to create the basic lines and shapes in Imageready. Oh well, if I can't fix it, I'll just go back to my original Photoshop grid and start again.

Thanks for the help guys. I now know about 10 times as much as I did before I started this thread.

[ahole_derby]

Photoshop will open an Imageready file (actually, they both create a .PSD file, so they are interchangeable), but it will keep the layers intact. You'll have to use the Layer menu or Layer palette to merge the layers in Photoshop, as well. I'd suggest that you create everything in Photoshop, and nit use Imageready at all, unless you are preparing the images for the web. Even then, Photoshop will save out JPEGs, GIFs and PNGs, so unless you need to make an animated image, or create slices for a webpage, then you don't need to open Imageready.

[ahole_derby]

By the way, Photoshop has all of the image-creating tools as Imageready, and much more. There are line tools, rectabgle and other shape tools, airbrush, paintbrush, custom brush shapes, etc. If I sound like a commercial for Photoshop, it's because I'm a designer, and use it every day in my work ;)

[de4dp00l]

I know I can open the file in Photoshop, and I know (now) that I need to combine the layers, but since all the line are vector images, is Photoshop going to give me problems? I know that Photoshop can handle vector images, but does it handle them differently?

[ahole_derby]

You can right-click on any vector layer in the Layer palette and select "Rasterize layer" to convert it from vector to raster format. Also, when you "Merge Down", "Merge Visible", or "Merge Linked", it will "flatten" or rasterize vector layers. Then you can use the bucket tool, or whatever other raster tool you need.

[de4dp00l]

This is so helpful. You'd think I'd have more of a clue about this stuff - I've worked for a printer for 10 years, but I don't work with the graphics stuff at all. I figured I'd take advantage of all the software laying around, and the 40" printer to make some maps, but it's been an exercise in exactly how uneducated I am about all this stuff so far.

[ahole_derby]

No problem. The couple of programs you chose to use are "Professional-level" programs, so they involve a steeper learning curve, that's all. I've been a multimedia designer for 10 years, use Photoshop every day, and still learn new ways to do things, and how to use it.

[TheSpirit]

It took me a bit of tinkering before I caught on to Photoshop, but it really is a wickedly easy program to use (and devilishly hard to master). Get over that first hump and you can have a lot of fun with it very easily. But as ahole hints, there really isn't an end to what you can learn about it.

[Drashia]

another tool you may wish to try is Illustrator, combine both and you can get some really nice results. Illustrator creates clean vector images, you can copy and paste (ctrl c) items from Illustrator directly into Photoshop.

3D studio max can also make some really nice more metallic/realistic images.