Image programs and equipment.

[TheLoneTerran]

I don't about you guys but for things like my desktop, I like to have something different every so often. I've reached that point again and looking on the internet has been a let down. I've been searching for cool looking stuff on the fronts of Terran Republic, BF1942, USMC, WWII equipment including P-51 Mustangs and T-34 Soviet tanks and these have led me up short. I have seen some truly awesome signatures and desktops from other people that are fluent in several graphic and image programs such as Rhonnin with Rangerr's and mine sigs.

What types of programs do you guys use?

Thanks.

[rhonnin]

For most things I use Photoshop cs2, imageready cs2 for the animations and occasionally illustrator and a program called Teragen for landscapes and the like. I have Paintshop pro 8 but I use that pretty much just for quick photo retouching because it has a lot of automated functions designed with that in mind and it's just really good at that sort of thing.
There are a lot of people that use a free program called the Gimp, it's not quite as powerful as PS but it's pretty full featured and has a pretty decent and helpful user community. Of course there are about a million Photoshop community sites out there as well.
Oh, also, for more abstract type of work there is a program called C4D that seems to be popular but expensive.

[TheLoneTerran]

Gimp huh? That came loaded into my laptop from day one and I hadn't bothered to open it. I had heard it was a research paper helping thing, not art. Awesome. Thanks man. Oh, and I can't spend money, this is just for free so I can make my own sigs, avatars, desktops and stuff w/o relying on internet stuff. Thanks man.

[TheLoneTerran]

Ahh, sorry for double post but GIMP 2 is what came loaded. Is it as good as the original? Also, what's free and what's not? Broke College kid.

[rhonnin]

Gimp2 is just the current version I believe.gimp home page
Here's a link to good gimp community board, they have tutorials and such and seem to have some helpful people there.
gimp talk

Oh also, of all the programs I mentioned only the Gimp and terragen are free. The 3d modeling stuff like C4D can run in the hundreds or thousands of dollars range.

[TheLoneTerran]

Holy crap, thousands? Wow...Hmm, I'll just make do w/ GIMP. It looks cool and complicated since I'm a nub nub to graphics.

Also, do you know where I can get models of vehicles and people in PS and BF? Weapons too would be nice.

One thing I'm really looking for is how to get certain items out of a picture. For example, in BigBossMonkey's old sig and HACs old sig there were pictures of MAXes, DC and Burster respectivly. Well, they were able to cut those out and put them onto a background.

What I would like to do that with character models, weapons, and with vehicles. I have some screens of a TR Vanguard that I was able to steal and drive around. I would like to cut that out and put that on a background or something similiar with a weapon.

Thanks.

[rhonnin]

I'm not that familiar with gimp anymore to say for sure how to do it. In photoshop there are multiple ways to make a cut like that and the best way really depends on the image in question. You can google for BF2 or planetside renders to see if someone has already cut out an image you can use.

[TheLoneTerran]

I will try that, I wonder if my laptop or PC already have Paintshop Pro on it. If so, I gotta try and find the CD and get it over to my laptop where I will be doing most of the editing work.

[rhonnin]

If I have some extra time I'll reinstall gimp to mess around with so I can maybe give more useful advice.

[TheLoneTerran]

Sweet, thanks man. I really want to be able to customize my stuff, really make this stuff 'mine'. You know? Thanks man.