All-In-One Resource Topic [Tips/Tutorials/Resources]

If you guys have a tutorial that you would like added then please PM it to me and I will add it to the list.
I will try to add to this thread constantly.

Heaps of tutorials can be found at these sites, I was going to list tutorials separately but id be here for weeks and im sure everyone can use search functions.

http://www.planetrenders.net
http://www.thedesignworld.com
http://www.pixel2life.com
http://www.tutorialized.com

 

This thread contains resources for graphics work cush as text, brushes and plug-ins. If there are resources you would like added then please PM them to me.


Renders
www.planetrenders.net
www.gamerenders.com

Fractals
www.planetrenders.net

Fonts
http://www.dafont.com


The Following Are Torrents:

Plug-ins
http://www.mininova.org/tor/991887
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1222104
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1129159

Brushes
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1184196 (That should just about do lol)

Fonts
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1228141
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1126441
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1028139
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1212261

100 Anime Renders
http://www.mininova.org/tor/1090401

 

Heres a quick tut for Cainmasters



heres a link to the render I used.

http://planetrenders.net/renders/displayimage.php?pos=-29601

1. Make a new document 450px wide by 150px high with a transparent BG.
2. Using the gradient too, fill the first layer (BG or Layer 1) with a gradient of your choice.
3. Make a new layer. Using a custom brush pack I added the building effect to layer 2 and set the opac to 50.
4. Make a new layer. Using another custom brush I added the arrows to layer 3 and set the opac to 80
5. Make a new layer. Using the rectangle select tool, select a skinny rectangle near the bottom on layer 4. Using the paintbucket tool fill this with white.
6. Set this layer to 'overlay' and duplicate it. This make the lightish bar that the text sits in.
7. Add your text with the text tool then in blending options add a dropshadow and stoke at 1px in black. you may want to lower the opac of the text.
8. Make a new layer. On this layer select all then stroke at 4px with white, then radial blur (zoom) at 20%
9. On this same layer select all and stroke at 2px with black. I then radial blurred (zoom) at 20% again.
10. Make a new layer. Go to image . apply image.
11. Make a new document, 500px high by 500px wide with a transparent BG.
12. Using the move tool drag the top layer (the applyed layer) from the first document into the new document.
13. you should now have your sig base in a new document. comprising of only one layer.
14. Open your render. Resize it to fit where you would like (ctrl - t)
15. Using the eraser tool, set to a soft brush on 45 opac erase around the bottom of the render to blend it in.
16. Duplicate this layer (your render) twice.
17. on the first layer duplication, to add the simplified effect I went to filter > artistic > water color. Then set this layer to overlay.
18. on the second layer dupe (the topmost layer), I went to filter> artistic > poster edges. Then set this layer to overlay.
19. You can now crop your image to size and save.

The PSD's are availible if you wish to see them, but I cant attach them here because it wont let me.

 

Here are some fractals ive made, I will continue to update this thread as I add more. Sorry links only due to massive image size.

Anyone is welcome to use these for their GFX work

NOTE: Some of these look much better on a black background.

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-220.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-218.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/leakingplanet.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-314.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-411.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-404.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-483.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-495.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-501.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-546.png
http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/ll157/Almo08/Apophysis-080726-503.png

 

The Ultimate Rendering Tut.

http://planetrenders.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=101768

 

There is some GFX sites [tutorials, renders, Resources], and some sites may not work 'cause I made this long time ago and Edited and checked some sites about 3-4 months ago.



Tutorials

A
-Anime Render
-Absolute Cross

C
-CursedGFX
-ClanTemplates

D
-DeviantART

G
-Good-Tutorials
-GFX-Haven
-Grafx-Design
-Gfxhell

L
Lorelei Web

N
-Nihonomaru Forums

P
-Planet Renders
-Pixel2Life
-Pslover
-PSWorkshop
-PhotoshopCAFE
-The Photoshop Roadmap
-Planet Photshop
-PhotshopStar

R
-Render-World

S
-Sp Renders
-Sketchpad
-Simple Grafix

T
-TutorialFire
-Tutorialized
-Tutorialsdb


Renders

A
-Anime Render
-Anime Render [Gallery]

C
-CursedGFX
-CursedGFX (C4D:t)
-ClanTemplates

G
-GameRenders

N
-Nihonomaru Forums [Anime Renders]
-Nihonomaru Forums [Ecchi Renders]
-Nihonomaru Forums [non-anime]

P
-Planer Renders

R
-Render-World
-Render-Spot

S
-Sp Renders
-Simple Grafix
-Simple Grafix (Game Renders)
-Simple Grafix(2)


Resources

A
-Anime Render ([Brushes,Fonts,PSD's,Stocks])

C
-CursedGFX ([Brushes,Fonts,PSD's,Stocks,Renders,Other])

D
-DeviantART

N
-Nihonomaru Forums [Brushes]

P
-Planet Renders ([Brushes,PSD's,Stocks,Other,Renders])


Tutorial sites: 26
Render sites: 16
Resource sites: 5
sites overall: 47

More coming when boored

 

http://www.wm-studios.com/forums

They have some decent PSD's and tutorials.

 

Gamerenders is preety good for tutorials, they have a section of the forum dedicated for them. I think you need to sign up to see them.

 

i don't think there is a template?

but jevejo777 seems to have made one maybe pm him to see if he will let you have it

i made one for you

 

Tips & Tricks of CS!

A fair few people here seem to have some problems, especially with text.
So I figured I'd share some knowladge.

First thing's first.
Shortcuts:
Duplicate layer, new layer and apply image are the things you should have in the tip of your fingers, I suggest setting them to ctrl+z/x/c/e, simple yet effective.

Text:
Best way to get the text to match your sig is by simply making a new layer, applying the image and then drag that layer just above your text, right click it and select "create cliping mask" then select the move tool and move it around the text until you get the colour you like, after that you can go to the text layer properties and adding such things as stroke(don't make it bigger then 2), colour and setting the blending on soft light etc.

Filters:
They're not all that amazing as everyone would have you think.
A few that are quite great however.

Distort - Ocean Ripple (set the blending to lighten and delete the bits that don't look good)
Blur - Gussian Blur (set it to 3.0 and set the blending to either lighten (for shine), multiply (for focal) etc.)
Liquify - this one's spiffy, use the basic soft brush and toy with the settings until you can do normal stretches (set the blending as above)
Filters > Renders > Lighting effects - Set the style to Soft Omni, place it carefully, and, and you'll have good light. - contributed by Burnedmagix
Sharpen - Sharpen, a must, try using it everytime you're done but have yet to add text(does bad things to text), adds a lovely crisp effect which makes your sig look very well blended.

Tools:
Ah, the big ones...
Smudge tool, make yourself a good scatter grunge brush and go wild, mostly used with 3D renders.
Dodge tool, use it to lighten up the sig or a perticular point.(use the basic soft brush)
Burn tool, same as the above only this one makes things darker.
Shape tool, generally overlooked, I find it quite usefull hovever, espcially the tribal shapes which can become practically anything if you manipulate it enough.
Gradient map - often overlooked due to it's shabby placment, it's at the bottom of your layers panel, the black and white circle, click it and select gradiant map, then set the blending to darken(if the colours on the signature are too intense), leave it as it is for a dark version of the regular gradient, or one of the other blending options, it's quite usefull in all blending possitions.
Photo Filter - it's located at the same place the gradient map above is, hence it's not widely used, this works like gradient map only this adds whole and one colour to your signature rather then two and it does a bang up job of replacing and adding certain colours, a must for colouring and making your sig blend well.

Presets:
If you're unable to make your own I suggest www.deviantart.com

Brushes - http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?order=9#catpath=resources/applications/psbrushes&order=9
Shapes - http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?order=9#catpath=resources/applications/customshape&order=9
Patterns - http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/?order=9#catpath=resources/applications/patterns&order=9

Fonts:
www.dafont.com

Renders:
Do not use pre-cuts, use commercial wallpapers or images you find on google, pre cuts should only be used for vectors and 3D abstract.
Background is a very usefull thing, getting rid of it is pointless.

Naturally if you still want here's some good sites to get pre-cuts:

www.planetrenders.com - submited by CloudBoii12

Tutorials:
The following show how to apply the above suggestions, they're steb by step and some can even be used by begginers.
http://browse.deviantart.com/resources/tutorials/appreference/photoshop/?order=9

That's it, you need some basic CS orientation to understand this.
Good luck.(sorry about the bad spelling, it's hot here and my brain is on overload)

 

Re: Tips & Tricks of CS!

Nice, i think you should also mention planetrenders.com, as they've better pictures and many people consider using other Deviant's art (i think that's the correct term lol) stealing... so yea! and i think this should be in tutorials, it technically is one.

EDIT: or at least ask Loony / Almo to sticky it

 

Re: Tips & Tricks of CS!

Presets are quite frankly evil...

The pen tool is something people should look to get the hang of.

Gradient maps and the photo-colour thing are a great way to change the atmosphere of signatures.

 

Re: Tips & Tricks of CS!

Filters > Renders > Lighting effects
Set the style to Soft Omni, place it carefully, and, and you'll have good light.

Another alternative is to get a soft brush with 50-150 px, and brush it somewhere at soft light.

 

Re: Tips & Tricks of CS!

Presets are for everyone's use, I'm not saying taking the actual art...

@Burnedmagix - mentioned it, but I'll add your details, thx.
Also the soft brush is unecessery considering we already have the dodge tool.

 

Re: Tips & Tricks of CS!

Very nice one. In fact I have bookmarked it for later use, thank you very much...

When creating big pictures from smaller ones or editing photos, I often use healing brush tool to cover up some rough edges, faults, or unwanted things. It's also very useful tool to extent the background without losing the resolution, in addition to other techniques. I wonder if this is a common knowledge, just ignore it then if it is.

Oh, I'm also clueless at using the pen tool other than making lines. I'd be happy if someone would explain its other uses.

 

Some links from a forum i'm on
FONTS

www.1001FreeFonts.com
www.FontFreak.com
www.UrbanFonts.com
www.1001fonts.com
www.fonts101.com
www.dafonts.com
www.simplythebest.net/fonts
RENDERS

www.PlanetRenders.net
www.AnimeRender.com
www.Photobucket-Renders.com
www.IPhotoshop C4D Renders
www.Celestial-Star.net
www.Clandtemplates.com' Render Gallery
www.DesignWorld.com
www.SneakBaron.com
www.Xeronix.net
FONTS

www.1001FreeFonts.com
www.FontFreak.com
www.UrbanFonts.com
www.1001fonts.com
www.fonts101.com
www.dafonts.com
www.simplythebest.net/fonts
PATTERNS

www.Squidfingers.com
www.DeviantART.com--[direct linking]
www.Brusheezy.com/Patterns

IMAGE HOSTS

www.Imageshack.us
www.Photobucket.com
www.TinyPic.com
www.FileDen.com

 

Re: Tips & Tricks of CS!

The pen tool is for precision. It allows you to create your own shapes, perfect curves, and precise selections.

 

I wanted to share some of these links to other sites. I am a proud user of GIMP, so I remain
dedicated to all of its features. Some people say it sucks, but I keep on using it. Whatever
as long as it does the job of making siggys.

A ton of explanation is already done here.

Added tutorials:
2nd GIMP tutorial
PhoXo tutorial
StylePix tutorial
Paint.net

 

I wana share my new site for renders

http://bakarenders.com/

 

I made this, and thought I would share.
http://forums.d2jsp.org/topic.php?t=50972641&f=105