Lesson 1 :: Design Programs and Graphics on HOL
Welcome
to your very first lesson of Graphics 101! Are you ready to learn more about
making graphics (and beating Cassie in making graphics?) Well hold your horses
because in the following lessons you will learn more about that. But in this
first lesson we will be covering the very basics of making graphics. That would
be the programs one can use to make graphics with.
There are a lot of different programs you can use to make graphics with. I suspect that most of you will know Paint. We WON’T be covering that program during this class. The reason for this is because Paint isn’t an image manipulation program. Instead of that we will be covering three of the most used programs. Those programs are GIMP, Coler PaintShop Pro and Adobe Photoshop.
There are a lot of different programs you can use to make graphics with. I suspect that most of you will know Paint. We WON’T be covering that program during this class. The reason for this is because Paint isn’t an image manipulation program. Instead of that we will be covering three of the most used programs. Those programs are GIMP, Coler PaintShop Pro and Adobe Photoshop.
GIMP
GIMP is a free and open source software that one can use for digital photo editing and designing. GIMP stands for GNU Image Manipulation Program. GIMPis a raster graphics editor. A raster graphics editor is a computer program that allows someone to paint and edit pictures interactively on the computer screen and save them.
GIMP is created by Spencer Kimbal and Peter Mattis and was released in 1996. GIMP is a program that runs in Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.
GIMP will allow you to do image manipulation in numbers of ways such as adjusting light and color, drawing, cropping and resizing images, creating photo-montage and animated Gif images, converting images in different formats among others. For a free and open source software is GIMP a powerful program that one can use for image retouching and web design.
GIMP has two different formats, single window format and multiple window format. In the multiple window format, your workspace is in the centre; layers, brushes, pattern and gradient palette is on the right window and your tool box and tool options are on the left. You can also import and export many image formats in GIMP that are from other programs. One of them are PSD files (photoshop files) and Corel PaintShop Pro images. Like most programs GIMP also has its own native file format, which is XCF.
Just a fun fact about GIMP. GIMP is also available on Android device from the Google Play Store.
GIMP is created by Spencer Kimbal and Peter Mattis and was released in 1996. GIMP is a program that runs in Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows Operating Systems.
GIMP will allow you to do image manipulation in numbers of ways such as adjusting light and color, drawing, cropping and resizing images, creating photo-montage and animated Gif images, converting images in different formats among others. For a free and open source software is GIMP a powerful program that one can use for image retouching and web design.
GIMP has two different formats, single window format and multiple window format. In the multiple window format, your workspace is in the centre; layers, brushes, pattern and gradient palette is on the right window and your tool box and tool options are on the left. You can also import and export many image formats in GIMP that are from other programs. One of them are PSD files (photoshop files) and Corel PaintShop Pro images. Like most programs GIMP also has its own native file format, which is XCF.
Just a fun fact about GIMP. GIMP is also available on Android device from the Google Play Store.
Color PaintShop Pro
Let’s move on to the next program. We will be now covering PaintShop Pro, also called PSP. PSP was originally created to be a raster graphics editor only, just like GIMP. But unlike GIMP, PaintShop Pro is a bit more advanced then GIMP. Later in its series it also became a vector graphics editor for computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. A vector graphics editor is a system that allows someone to make vector (outlines of an image) and save them in the files that accompany them.
PSP was originally published by Jasc Software. In 2004 Corel orporation purchased Jasc Software and with that distribution right to PaintShop Pro. This means that since 2004 PaintShop Pro is called Color PaintShop Pro, but nobody really call PaintShop Pro like that.
Just like GIMP, PSP allows you to do image manipulation in numbers of ways. PSP is more professional then GIMP. You can also adjust your window to your preference. Like putting it on a single window format or a multiple window format. You can also import and export PSD files in PaintShop Pro, but you won’t be able to import or export XCF files in PaintShop Pro. The native file format of PaintShop Pro is PSP.
PSP was originally published by Jasc Software. In 2004 Corel orporation purchased Jasc Software and with that distribution right to PaintShop Pro. This means that since 2004 PaintShop Pro is called Color PaintShop Pro, but nobody really call PaintShop Pro like that.
Just like GIMP, PSP allows you to do image manipulation in numbers of ways. PSP is more professional then GIMP. You can also adjust your window to your preference. Like putting it on a single window format or a multiple window format. You can also import and export PSD files in PaintShop Pro, but you won’t be able to import or export XCF files in PaintShop Pro. The native file format of PaintShop Pro is PSP.
Adobe Photoshop
The last program we will be covering is Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is created by Thomos Knoll and John Knoll, which was bought by Adobe Systems Inc. in 1995. Photoshop is one of the widely used photo editing programs. Photoshop is a raster and a vector graphics editor. In 2003 Adobe put Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat in one program and released it as Adobe Creative Suite. A year later changed this to Photoshop CS. From 2007 on Photoshop has been releasing different kind of Photoshop versions like Photoshop Lightroom (for photographers), Elements, Creative Suit versions, etc.
Adobe Photoshop is a program that is created for professional designers and photographers. Beside that Adobe created Photoshop Elements which is a photo editing program designed for home users and hobbyists.
You guys can probably guess this, but Photoshop allows you to do image manipulation in numbers of ways. But Photoshop will have advance features, since you will be able to do the basics in GIMP.
One downside with Photoshop is that you can’t import and export files from either PaintShop Pro (PSP files) and GIMP (XCF files), while both programs can import and export the native file from Photoshop. As you may have notice with the previous programs, the native file for Photoshop is PSD.
Adobe Photoshop is a program that is created for professional designers and photographers. Beside that Adobe created Photoshop Elements which is a photo editing program designed for home users and hobbyists.
You guys can probably guess this, but Photoshop allows you to do image manipulation in numbers of ways. But Photoshop will have advance features, since you will be able to do the basics in GIMP.
One downside with Photoshop is that you can’t import and export files from either PaintShop Pro (PSP files) and GIMP (XCF files), while both programs can import and export the native file from Photoshop. As you may have notice with the previous programs, the native file for Photoshop is PSD.
The biggest difference between GIMP, PaintShop Pro and Photoshop is that GIMP is the only free program. But during this class I will mostly focus on Photoshop, because that’s the program I always use. But since I will be covering the basics of making graphics, you will also be able to do it in GIMP. Which means that the things that you learn, you can try them out in GIMP. Another advantage of GIMP is that GIMP is not such a heavy program as PaintShop Pro or Photoshop. Which means it uses less space from your hard drive space.
Graphics on HOL
As you have noticed, HOL also uses Graphics. Graphics are used on the HOL blog and in the forums. Here we will only be covering the most import graphics that are for you. Those are the signature and avatar graphics.
A signature is something which will be used in the forums to sign your post with. A signature can exist out a picture. But if you want to add a picture in your signature, you will have to watch out. Signature can only have a maximum height of 100 pixels and a maximum width of 250 pixels. Avatars can be used as your ‘face’ in the forums. Avatars can have a maximum size of 100 by 100 pixels.
Beside signatures and avatars, within the Art Department Graphics will have a minimum size of 300 by 300 pixels and a maximum size of 600 by 600 pixels.
In the next lesson we will be covering what pixels are. So don’t be afraid to not know what it is! We will get there!
A signature is something which will be used in the forums to sign your post with. A signature can exist out a picture. But if you want to add a picture in your signature, you will have to watch out. Signature can only have a maximum height of 100 pixels and a maximum width of 250 pixels. Avatars can be used as your ‘face’ in the forums. Avatars can have a maximum size of 100 by 100 pixels.
Beside signatures and avatars, within the Art Department Graphics will have a minimum size of 300 by 300 pixels and a maximum size of 600 by 600 pixels.
In the next lesson we will be covering what pixels are. So don’t be afraid to not know what it is! We will get there!