Hey fabled, if I can buy the latest greatest then I do simply because lower end stuff tends to be a false economy.  You're probably right about the price diff and effectiveness of iMac but the way I see it, this little -hahem, sorry BIG, machine should stand time for a long while.  Given that it has a really thick metal alloy case (its hard to actually lift, seriously) and sounds like a feather falling in another continent (very very quiet - haha) its power and durability ensure that I may not actually ever need another computer.  haha.  (That's rubbish since I can't live without pc's either.  I have two pc's and a laptop as well so that I can test different browsers for web design compatibility.)  But I am sure that if I bought a pc today I could match the power for half the price.  It just wouldn't be built as well.  

 Mairead, you're doing well if you are still on version 7.  etherealepona, checked out your gargoyle.  very cool.  I like your war horse too.  good job.

tinram:

But I am sure that if I bought a pc today I could match the power for half the price.  It just wouldn't be built as well.  

I'm interested. What's a very good brand of PC (well built)? and what would the cost be to buy one with the same power as a Mac Pro? Surely it would be nowhere near half? 

are you serious?  I would have preferred to keep this thread about the differences between photoshop and painter.  Well, I actually saw one from Dell in a magazine add (try a pc related mag) that looked better and was less than half price and looked pretty sleek in black.  Also, unlike the mac pro, it included a rather nice fair sized flat screen monitor.  Good luck.  

 Meanwhile, back on the ranch... could someone advise on how to make the hair brushes as seen in issue 10 Imagine FX page 89 (UK issue). I lost the dvd which included them, although being able to make one myself would be better. Now, I need to get out of here and crack on with the tutorials.

tinram:

 I would have preferred to keep this thread about the differences between photoshop and painter.  

Ok. I was only asking. You were on the subject anyway. 

Mac vs PC debates can be started rather easily with the slightest of comments.

fabledgoat:

here's just an example of where to find the collapse tool for merging layers.

It's also available from the far left icon on the bottom of the layers palette.

tinram:

Meanwhile, back on the ranch... could someone advise on how to make the hair brushes as seen in issue 10 Imagine FX page 89 (UK issue). I lost the dvd which included them, although being able to make one myself would be better. Now, I need to get out of here and crack on with the tutorials.

 

For Painter or Photoshop?

I will win, one day that is certain!

tinram open a new canvas, you only need about an inch square, with either white or transparent background. Take the 'hard round' brush 1 or 2 pixels,  (i think they are in the basic brush set, whichever it defaults to) and make some dots on the canvas, you can add some small dashes for variation, don't do loads though, about 6 or 7 dots/dashes. then take the marquee tool (top left on the side bar) and select the area of dots, go to 'edit' and scroll down to 'define brush preset' name your new brush & ok it. Your brush is now at the bottom of the brush palette. Da daaaaaaaaa

remember to save your brushes before you exit though or all will be lost!  

Heya Kazky, Thanks for that.  2 great things have come from your tutorial.  Firstly, I wasn't aware of the that there was a 'basic set' of brushes.  Somehow I was on Assorted! haha.  Imagine my grief while I worked furiously with just that set of brushes! So, thank you on that one.  Due to that, I was able to create my own brush.  So thanks again .  Now I have another one for you.  The dots for my 'hair' brush are spattering, ie, I am getting a line of dots.  To make the hair, the image of the dots needs to stream from the start of the stroke to the end.  Any advice on that one?  cheers. 

Hey Adam, I've made new brushes on painter but I can't remember how so I will get back to you on that one.  And to the fellow that was interested in mac like pc's, apologies if I sounded kurt.  I hope you find something nice.  That Dell sure looked sweet.

To create a custom brush in Painter you copy an existing variant and alter the settings. So for the same equivalent hair brush that Kaz described you would do the following.

1. Select the scratchboard pen from the pens brushes.
2. Create a small canvas and make some black dabs of paint.
3. Go to the arrow beside the brush selector bar (top right by default). Then click it and choose "Copy Variant" and tell it which category you want it placed in. Then select the copied brush from the list.
   
4. Then select the canvas you painted your blobs on and go back to the menu, this time selecting "Capture Dab".
5. Open the brush creator window and play with the gazillion brush settings (changing spacing etc). Then close the window when you are done.
6. Then if you are happy with the custom brush, go back to the menu again and choose "Save variant". It will ask you to give a name, in this case something like "Hair brush Pen".
7. Then go paint something.

oh i'm on a roll then! well you need to turn down the opacity and flow, take them off 100% start them somewhere near 30% and adjust up or down from there. Now you also need to change some settings in the brushes palette (if it's not a floating palette on the right hand side, click 'window' and scroll to brushes, this will open it up a palette showing the brush presets, you need to get your brush how you like it, for what you want it to do, firstly click on 'brush tip shape' with this you can set the spacing of the brush dots,  i would click 'shape dynamics & other dynamics' this will put a tick in those boxes, you can set the brush to fade etc which can make the line fade out, or pen pressure etc. Have a play with these & see if you can get it right.

if you get stuck i can send you a hair brush & then you can see the settings, that might help too.

glad you found the basic brushes! you must have been tearing your hair out! ha ha.

God i feel so clever! doesn't happen often, 

Hi Tinram, Yes I still use Photopaint 7 [PP7} on my PC. I don't use the Photopaint 11 version as much. The thing with PP7 was that it came with some very powerful programs like Dream and KPT and and heard these were later taken out and sold separately. For a long time it seemed to me that Photoshop did not have the same great qualities as this particular version but it has certainly caught up. I would not trade PP7 for anything, I use my other programs like photoshop, Illustrator and Painter etc as secondary programs but the main work tends to be done on PP7. I feel very lucky to have this version and have heard it turns up now and then on ebay and amazon. When I say work I just mean the artwork i do, I wish I could make a living from it. I have rheumatoid arthritis and had to give up work, [research], but at least now I can paint :)

I started out working on real canvas in a studio but my hands are no longer so good and so I work on my PC with a Wacom tablet Intuos 3. Photopaint 7, I find,  is the nearest thing for me to a real studio though Painter is also great. I am considering buying a mac but will keep a PC on the go as back up.

Mairéad 

tinram:

  And to the fellow that was interested in mac like pc's, apologies if I sounded kurt.  I hope you find something nice.  That Dell sure looked sweet.

It's very good of you to come back. You didn't sound kurt so no apologies necessary. I'm not looking to buy any new equipment, I'm reasonably set up at the moment with all that I need. I was only interested in your views on the prices of PCs and Macs. There is often a mistaken view that any old cheap basic PC is the equivalent of a Mac, which is untrue. A Mac Pro for instance is more like a PC Workstation, specs-wise. These powerful computers can easily set you back $3000 to $5000.

I'm not knocking Macs, but I'm also not knocking PCs, which, chosen carefully, can be quite good.