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Using textures - how to import?

divamumdivamum Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
edited February 12, 2009 in Finishing School
So I found myself a whole bunch of nifty textures but now have no clue how to

1. get them into PS CS3
2. Use them once they're there.

Some are .png, some are .jpg.

I've been googling for half an hour to try and find loading/use instructions with no success. :bash

Help?

Tx!
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    ilbcnuilbcnu Registered Users Posts: 311 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    divamum,
    I used the info in this thread
    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=105621
    I have all textures/backgrounds saved in a file in my computer/my documents/pictures - from there I just bring them in to CS3 as I would any photo.
    Hope that helps!!
    Amanda
    It is never to late to become what you might have been.
    www.behindthezoom.com
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    Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    divamum wrote:
    So I found myself a whole bunch of nifty textures but now have no clue how to

    1. get them into PS CS3
    2. Use them once they're there.

    Some are .png, some are .jpg.

    I've been googling for half an hour to try and find loading/use instructions with no success. :bash

    Help?

    Tx!

    Where did you buy them?

    maybe these are not supposed to be dropped in the filters (plug in) folder....all I have went into the filters folder all except for a couple that were standalones.

    Might want to scan the packages for trojans and viruses......I bought 1500 a couple of years ago and had to do a charge back due to malicious content and the company was refusing a refund...............I now only deal with companies like OnOne, Alien Skin and such..............
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

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    richterslrichtersl Registered Users Posts: 3,322 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    Are they stored in a folder on your PC? I have all mine stored in a single folder.

    Maybe there's an easier way to do this, but here's what I do to incorporate a texture into a photo I'm working on:
    1. Have the photo that requires the texture open.
    2. Open the JPG or PNG that has the texture you need. Now you have two photos open.
    3. Click on the texture photo so that it has the focus, but make sure that it's not covering your photo.
    4. Click on the background layer of the texture photo and drag it onto the photo to which you want to apply the texture.
    5. Close the texture photo after you've dragged it over.
    You may need to resize/transform that texture layer so that it covers your photo. Once you have it properly sized, move the layer to where you want it and change the Layer style to Multiply.
    Linda

    http://lrichters.smugmug.com
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    divamumdivamum Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    ilbcnu wrote:
    divamum,
    I used the info in this thread
    http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=105621
    I have all textures/backgrounds saved in a file in my computer/my documents/pictures - from there I just bring them in to CS3 as I would any photo.
    Hope that helps!!

    Thanks!
    Art Scott wrote:
    maybe these are not supposed to be dropped in the filters (plug in) folder....all I have went into the filters folder all except for a couple that were standalones.

    Might want to scan the packages for trojans and viruses......I

    These were from deviantart.com. I'm pretty aggressively protected on both computers (not that that has stopped stuff getting through in the past - GEEZ but some people have too much time on their hand to create nasties!), but I'll definitely keep an eye open for anything that seems unscrupulous - very good point.

    Oh, and i tend to download "manually", so stuff DOESN'T install automatically - precisely for security reasons. I like to have a look at things before I install thumb.gif
    richtersl wrote:
    Are they stored in a folder on your PC? I have all mine stored in a single folder.

    Maybe there's an easier way to do this, but here's what I do to incorporate a texture into a photo I'm working on:
    1. Have the photo that requires the texture open.
    2. Open the JPG or PNG that has the texture you need. Now you have two photos open.
    3. Click on the texture photo so that it has the focus, but make sure that it's not covering your photo.
    4. Click on the background layer of the texture photo and drag it onto the photo to which you want to apply the texture.
    5. Close the texture photo after you've dragged it over.
    You may need to resize/transform that texture layer so that it covers your photo. Once you have it properly sized, move the layer to where you want it and change the Layer style to Multiply.

    And here I was thinking that was too easy. For some reason, I thought they were supposed to get embedded within either the "pattern" or "texture" menus, and could'nt figure out why neither "load pattern" or "load texture" could read them. Now I get it! It's basically just using that image to copy onto a fresh layer and then tweak from there. Simple is always good... thumb.gif

    ETA (after attempting again): I still think something's not quite right - the ones I downloaded are WAY too small to do the job - they're tiny little swatches rather than a big enough image to use in the way described. headscratch.gif.

    Any other suggestions? FWIW, here's one of the batches I'm trying to work with http://crazymegan.deviantart.com/art/Textures02-Vintage-Floral-50139645
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    richterslrichtersl Registered Users Posts: 3,322 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    Here's the problem:

    "Zip file contains 24 textures, each 100 x 100 pixels, perfect for icons."

    At that size, they won't be much use to you for photos. ne_nau.gif
    Linda

    http://lrichters.smugmug.com
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    ilbcnuilbcnu Registered Users Posts: 311 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    some of the ones I downloaded from there were also small. I resized them after downloading them and then saved the new size only to my texture/background folder.
    I never purchased a set so not sure about that.
    Amanda
    It is never to late to become what you might have been.
    www.behindthezoom.com
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    divamumdivamum Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    richtersl wrote:
    Here's the problem:

    "Zip file contains 24 textures, each 100 x 100 pixels, perfect for icons."

    At that size, they won't be much use to you for photos. ne_nau.gif

    Yeah, I only saw that once I linked it in my post. Whoops! (Duh.)eek7.gif

    I think ilbcnu's resizing sounds like a possibility. I will continue to play with this... Learning curve, as always!
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    divamumdivamum Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    ilbcnu wrote:
    some of the ones I downloaded from there were also small. I resized them after downloading them and then saved the new size only to my texture/background folder.
    I never purchased a set so not sure about that.

    How does one resize - just using the command under the image menu? Does it resample if you do that so it doesn't get all gritty and icky looking?

    Tx!
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    ilbcnuilbcnu Registered Users Posts: 311 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    I go Image then Image size and increase it there.
    I haven't gone up in size as much as it seems you may be ...icon to full size so not sure about what will work.
    There are also some great free backgrounds/textures on dreamstime.com - go to free images then download from there-they are usually all larger workable size.

    I save some of my images that may be tad out of focus and use them also shoot things good for background/textures like brick walls, dirt, wood, flowers anything really then you have your own.
    Amanda
    It is never to late to become what you might have been.
    www.behindthezoom.com
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    ilbcnuilbcnu Registered Users Posts: 311 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    Once you get the texture on let us see what you are working on!!mwink.gif I am so curious now!!
    Amanda
    It is never to late to become what you might have been.
    www.behindthezoom.com
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    divamumdivamum Registered Users Posts: 9,021 Major grins
    edited January 21, 2009
    ilbcnu wrote:
    Once you get the texture on let us see what you are working on!!mwink.gif I am so curious now!!

    Oh, I'm just playing around with this "fairy princess" series I did of my (longsuffering!) daughter - the background is so blah (gotta love old curtains and tablecloths for neutral and FREE, but not so much for glamour :giggle) and it suddenly occurred to me that a different background or texture might be able to juice it up a bit. If I could turn those small swatches into "patterns" chips that might work too - I want it to be very translucent, so I'd be turning the opacity WAY down..... ::muses::

    458593069_4B6n7-L.jpg

    458593407_7Aikw-L.jpg
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    inHisimageinHisimage Registered Users Posts: 4 Beginner grinner
    edited February 12, 2009
    Better textures- & free!
    Try coffeeteaphotography.com. She las lots of links to free textures. I use PSE6, but also open 2 pics (texture & photo). Drag on top. Resize. Overlay or multiply. Adjust opacity. Just learned 2 days ago & reedited some pics yesterday. HUGE difference in quality of editing! The textures are large enough to utilize & mostly come from flikr.com
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