Custom Mesh Request

[Hana]

Does Gimp have a Cloud render filter? Might look better...just a suggestion.

[Conner]

Hmm, that sounds almost easy enough for even my lack of talent to accomplish.

[Arthmoor]

Coming back to this.... GIMP sucks. I can't for the life of me figure out how to do what you're saying to do, and blasted Paint.NET apparently can't (or I can't find how to) do it.

Short version' date=' assuming GIMP:1. Make a 512x512 image. Give it an alpha channel.[/quote']Got that. Although that seems small, we'll go with it for now.

2. I've stuck a TGA on the server that has the outline of the mesh. You'll want to convert the white part to transparency, then paste it as a new layer in your main image.

I think I managed to figure that out too. At least when I used "color to alpha" everything that was white turned transparent. Pasting that into the main image left a black outline visible, but otherwise normal, I think. I can't really tell anymore.

3. You'll want to select everything outside the outline, then delete it. Fuzzy select the area with the outline layer selected, then switch to the main image layer and delete.

Here's where I'm stuck. GIMP is a piece of shit with a UI from the late 1990s or something because IT WILL NOT DELETE WHAT I'M SELECTING!I mean seriously, how freakin hard is it for a program to know I selected a region of the image and want it GONE when I tell it to cut? Needless to say, with this roadblock, step 4 is a pipe dream.

[Dwip]

1, Right.2. Yeah, color to alpha is the way to go. Black outline is what you should have.3. What this sounds like from your description is that you missed the part about switching layers. Let me break it down further:- Make sure the outline layer (NOT the main image layer) is selected.- Fuzzy select the area outside the outline.- Switch layers to the main image layer.- Delete.The layer switching bits are highly important. What it sounds like is you were trying to delete an already transparent part of the outline layer, which won't get you anywhere.Also, I left you a message in the AFK_Weye thread.

[Arthmoor]

It would have been highly helpful if you had also mentioned that GIMP is so 1990 that it doesn't leave it's layer menu open where you can get at it, and it's not at all obvious it even has one.So I'm down to fuzzing up the border on this thing and can't seem to find a balance that works. Isn't there some magical fu that can be used to gradually fade the edge? Trying to hack it with progressively lesser opaqueness isn't really working.EDIT: Well I guess it works. Sort of bleh though because it came out looking like ass around the edges and that whole arcing thing is making it look terrible all around regardless.

[Conner]

As if you didn't already know that Gimp was biggest back in the BBS era...

[Arthmoor]

No, I wasn't aware Gimp was that old actually. It explains much.

[Dwip]

Yeah, there's gotta be a way to make it work, but it would work a whole lot better with a solid frame to hide the awkward edges. Alas.And I continually forget that not everyone has that thing open.

[Hana]

It would have been highly helpful if you had also mentioned that GIMP is so 1990 that it doesn't leave it's layer menu open where you can get at it' date=' and it's not at all obvious it even has one.[/quote']This. +100.PS ftw.

[Dwip]

So I did some digging, because I'm that guy.- GIMP apparently dates from 1996.- Too, the Layers/Channels/Paths/Undo dock is apparently open by default. If you close it, it lives in a place or two under the Windows menu.Which is partially to say that while I have my issues with the GIMP interface, or features of GIMP, its method of window management does take on the feel of being very much a feature not a bug the more I use it.OTOH, line and shape tools.

[Dwip]

Also OTOH, this commentary about Blender appears to be one of those things that's true in its time, just as it's true today.

[Arthmoor]

Holy crap, what a glorious rant. Worthy of the ages. Better than any rant I could have come up with

[Conner]

No' date=' I wasn't aware Gimp was that old actually. It explains much.[/quote']Yup, it's almost as old as TheDraw. For a long time it was the best you could get, especially for the price. These days, I have no idea anymore.

PS ftw.

Photoshop? Seriously? Does it have a free version?

- GIMP apparently dates from 1996.

Really? Only from '96? In that case' date=' I guess TheDraw is considerably older because I was using it for my BBS' ANSI screens back in '92 and it wasn't a new product then' date=' but I do remember Gimp being considered a really hot item back in the BBS world when I was also working on my MUD, I just hadn't realized, I guess, that it was also a brand new item at the time..

Holy crap, what a glorious rant. Worthy of the ages. Better than any rant I could have come up with

With a reaction like that, I guess I better check it out myself...Alrighty then! After reading that, I'm thoroughly reassured that I've made the right decision all along by firmly refusing to even consider touching Blender for any reason, ever.

[Hana]

Photoshop? Seriously? Does it have a free version?

Photoshop. Seriously. Um... no...

[Conner]

You're not comparing apples to apples in that case.

[Arthmoor]

So, after considerable delay, here's the two final products in their final placement:http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/5031/screenshot723.jpghttp://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3669/screenshot722.jpgI think they came out alright in the end. It would have been nice if GIMP's fuzzy border filter didn't insist on only working on the outer edge of the entire image. Far more useful if it works on the actual visible portion, but hey.

[Hana]

Those are pretty sweet. And that tent looks familiar.Fuzzy border = outer edge. Seems pretty obvious to me, heh. Did you try filters like gaussian blur or motion blur if you didn't want the image so .. sharp?

[Conner]

I think those came out really nice looking. But I agree with Hana, if you're trying to fuzzy up the interior a bit more you probably wanted a different filter than fuzzy borders and a general blur sounds pretty reasonable.

[Arthmoor]

The closest thing I could find was the smudge tool, but it wasn't producing results that looked good, and you couldn't control the consistency of it. All of the filters act on the entire image, blank space included, so they all failed to do anything with the visible contents. So it looks like crude hand fading with the eraser tool is as good as it gets with GIMP.

[Dwip]

Bummer about the fading, but yeah, those did come out pretty decently.

[Conner]

Hmm, you'd think this can't be the first time someone's come across the problem of needing a way to just blur the interior of an image some.. what do they do when they want to blur out faces for interviews and pictures and such?