SunBlind

I've recently been trying to read up on using PHP and GD to create PNG's on the fly. I've been doing so in hopes that I will be able to learn how to compile a script that will output an image of a progress bar with certain attributes based on the url that called it (which will be accessed predominately from a forum, so it must be able to be coded as standard BBC). These attributes would include the bar's title (based on the event mentioned in the url) printed centered and right above the meter, a background image (to hold the meter), the meter (the display of progress), and the total progress in percentage based on two values, supplied again by the url, to be printed in the right end of the meter. An example of the kind of URL that I'm looking for would be http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/, which would return a progress bar labeled "Carwash Fundraiser" with the bar composed of my tiled image stopping at the 50% level with the words "50% Complete" printed in the far right side of the meter. Before I even start my attempt at compiling this script, I would like to know a few things: 1. How would I go about coding an equation to figure out the percentage step that the bar should stop at based on the values inputted in the url? 2. How can I fill in the meter with a tile image rather than a solid color? 3. How would I get the meter positioned so that it sits centered and up #px from the bottom above the background image? 4. How do I specify parts of the title? (ie adding the word "Fundraiser" after the event specified in the url) I would gatefully appreciate any help, thank you in advance.

You're very welcome I just got back from a long vacation, so I haven't posted up the tutorials for the water, earth, or air versions yet... But keep an eye out for them within the week.

You're welcome Glad to hear that my useless tinkering in PS pays off for someone Lol.

Jeez, I don't know what's been up with PicTiger lately... Guess I'll have to reupload them. Sorry about that! I just got back from a month and a half "vacation" so I'll get around to updating the tutorial images within the next couple of days.

Thank you B)I used the Radial Blur, Find Edges, and Wave filters.I'll get the tutorial up as soon as I can.

Oh wow, that's odd... Thanks for letting me know, I'll have to re-upload them."Bluminum" is the original version of this style, instead of looking like gold it was a metalllic blue-like style.I'll get the correct images posted up here in a sec, sorry about that.

Wow, thanks for the great feedback guys, I actually wasn't expecting too many people to like it Lol Cezphus, here's the green one you wanted to see The eye is indeed reminiscent of the Freemason's logo, which is another reason I chose to implement it... being a Dan Brown fan, as well as one of history. It may be a little creepy to some, but as they say, "The eyes are the windows to the soul" so I find them fascinating. I used Photoshop 7.0, zacaroo, and only 3 filters are utilized: Radial Blur, Find Edges, and the Wave generator. Thanks again everyone, I appreciate it. I'll try to put up the tutorial and more variations after I get the rest of my styles for my Elements series finished.

Thanks pyost and HellFire It actually was very simple to make, this one took me about 2 minutes Lol The problem is, since one of the filters needed to produce the effect is a wave generator, the end result isn't always the same. I've made quite a few that went straight to the recycle bin as soon as they were finished... You just have to know how to tweak the wave settings so you don't get something too crazy or too simple. I actually got the idea for the eye from Faith No More... if anyone has ever seen the "Epic" video, you know what I mean I have a green version as well... with a weed leaf in place of the eye (I made it for a friend of mine who's a proud stoner Lol) Hey pyost, here's a 1280x1024 version if you'd really like to use it.

Yes, I'm such a genius at naming my creations... I know. Anywhos, one of these days I'll be putting up a tutorial on how to create a similar effect to this... for now I have to get through the rest of my Elements styles. Whatta ya think?

Did anyone see that one episode of Saturday Night Live where "Steve Jobs" was introducing a new iPod every 3 minutes? They kept getting smaller and smaller, having higher storage capabilities (like 8 million songs), and being able to do crazy things like float in the air because it was so small and lightweight.Lol Sorry, I don't actually have an iPod or follow the technology, but I thought that was relevant to the discussion.

I used to be addicted to Gaia username: SunBlind)... I'm a lunatic for anything allowing customization (which is why I've been away so long... MySpace is a vortex or something)I made graphics for people like signatures, wishlists, ID Cards, etc. Maybe when I get the time I'll stop by one day and reopen my shop.

I'm a little sick right now, so pardon me if I don't seem like my usual self... *achoo* Okay, here we go... This style can be used on any color background, but to make it easier to see I'm using a black background (400x150) and the 120px font Bastarda 1. Type your text in any color. The bigger the font, the better the effect looks. 2. Start with a Gradient Overlay - Blend Mode: Normal, Opacity: 100%, Style: Linear (Align With Layer), Angle: 90, Scale 100% | Color Stops - FF6E02 at 0%, FFFF00 at 50%, and FF6E02 at 100% 3. Next, we'll apply an Inner Shadow - Blend Mode: Multiply, Color: FF0000, Opacity: 73%, Angle: 90 (Use Global Light), Distance: 7px, Choke: 5%, Size: 13px, Countour: Cone, Noise: 0% 4. Then the Inner Glow - Blend Mode: Normal, Color: FFF000, Opacity: 100%, Noise: 0%, Solid Color, Technique: Softer, Source: Edge, Choke: 32%, Size: 9px, Countour: Linear, Anti-Aliased: Unchecked, Range: 17%, Jitter: 0% 5a. Now Bevel and Emboss - Style: Inner Bevel, Technique: Smooth, Depth: 870%, Direction: Up, Size: 3px, Soften: 6px, Angle: 90 (Use Global Light) Altitude: 30, Gloss Contour: Linear, Anti-Aliased: Unchecked, Highlight Mode: Screen FFFFFF 100% Opacity, Shadow Mode: Multiply FFCC00 0% Opacity 5b. Contour Settings - Anti-Aliased: Unchecked, Range: 0% 6. Add a Stroke - Size: 1px, Position: Outside, Blend Mode: Normal, Opacity: 100%, Fill Type: Color, Color: FF9C00 7. Add an Outer Glow - Blend Mode: Normal, Color: E10000, Opacity: 100%, Noise: 0%, Solid Color, Technique: Softer, Spread: 12%, Size: 3px, Countour: Linear, Anti-Aliased: Unchecked, Range: 6%, Jitter: 0% 8. Finally, Drop a Shadow - Blend Mode: Normal, Color: FF5B02, Opacity: 100%, Angle: 90 (Use Global Light), Distance: 6px, Spread: 0%, Size: 3px, Countour: Linear, Anti-Aliased: Unchecked, Noise: 0%, Layer Knocks Out Drop Shadow: Checked There ya go! If you are having trouble understanding the settings, or would rather just get the style prepackaged, you candownload it here: SunBlind's Elements: Fiery

I'm baaack! Lol It feels like it's been forever since I've posted one of these things (I got sucked into the world of MySpace profile making) but here I am with part one of my 4 part Elements series. I shall call him... Watery This style can be used on any color background, but to make it easier to seel I will be working on a black background (400x150) and the 120px font "Bastarda." 1. Type your desired text in any color, it doesn't matter because we'll be applying a gradient overlay, and center it. 2. Now it's time for the effects - We'll start with a Gradient Overlay. Click on the "f" icon on your Layers palette, go to Gradient Overlay, and use these settings: Gradient Settings | Example 4. Next, we'll apply an Inner Shadow Example 5. Then the Inner Glow Example 6. Now Bevel and Emboss Example 7. Drop a Shadow Example 8. Add an Outer Glow Example 9. And finish with a Stroke There ya go! If you are having trouble understanding the settings, or would rather just get the style prepackaged, you may download it here: SunBlind's Elements: Watery Good Luck!

That's odd because all of the code is like that... The only thing I did with the file was add in a few lines of code, but when I took it out I think I accidentally took out an extra line or two...Ah oh well, it's been almost 3 weeks and I haven't been able to fix it, so I'll just get a new Post.phpThanks for the reply

You guys gave up on me already, huh Lol

Thanks for checkin it out, guys, I appreciate it However, I don't see how my problem can lay in index.php, since I never changed anything in that file at the time the problem occured. I was solely working in Post.php. I'm not trying to dismiss that possibility, but just for clarification purposes. I don't think it's an SQL error either, as the problem doesn't occur when I attempt to submit the post, it occurs when the post page is first called. Also, I've tried accessing the pages individually and Post.php is the only one returning errors. Here is a link to my Post.php in text format Also, when accessing Post.php directly, this is the outputted error: // --> Fatal error: Call to undefined function: theme_linktree() in /home/sunblind/public_html/tutorials/Sources/Post.php on line 143

Actually, the script comes with a convert.bat file to create the SWF's on the local computer before uploading them. All you do is run the batch file in the same directory as your MP3's, then upload the SWF's, the player, and the 3 PHP scripts to the server.I actually downgraded to a lower version, so it's working a little better now... I guess the problem wasn't with Xisto, but it's still good to know the filesize limits Thanks for the info!

Ugh, I totally forgot that I didn't grant guests posting permissions! I'm sorry, I've been so stressed out these past few weeks between my forum, my site, making MySpace layouts for people, and potty training my 2 year old...Anywhos, I've granted topic creation and post replying permissions for guests, so you should be able to see the post page now.Houdini: When trying to post, some of the forum's template does not display and I get an "invalid foreach argument," or something like that, error.I'm pretty sure there is an extra or missing bracket somewhere, but I don't know which one to take out or where to add another.vujsa: The last mod I installed through the package manager worked fine (the topic solved mod), I added some code that was posted in the package's thread to add and subtract certain features from it. I don't remember exactly why, but I decided to take the new code out and when I did I followed the instructions in reverse in it's entirety... But like I said, either I took out too much or not enough. I just can't seem to sort it out, though.Thanks for the help, BTW

I've been having issues with my Post.php file for 3 weeks, but haven't been able to get any help from the SMF Community. Somewhere during a manual intallation of a package my Post.php file was altered in a bad way, resulting in an error that prevents the post template from being displayed. If you visit this link, you'll see what I mean. the only advice I have gotten in 3 weeks from the SMF Community was 1 person suggesting to reinstall SMF... but because of the amount of mods and packages I have installed, I am trying to avoid replacing my Post.php file with a brand new copy so I don't have to re-add them all, possibly resulting in more errors. If anyone could help me out and take a look at my Post.php file I would be extremely appreciative.

I didn't see anything in the FAQ or with the search about filesizes, so I'll ask about it here:I have a radio.blog (for those of you who don't know what that is, it's a flash player that converts MP3 files into SWF's for faster streaming) and it's been acting up lately. I asked for help on the RB support forums, and someone suggested that it could be my host's filesize limit or non-permittance of certain filetypes.So my question is this - How big is too big for Xisto, and is there a problem with hosting SWF files? I'd say that most of my SWF's are between 1200 and 2000kb each.

Thank you!I'm glad someone else besides me can benefit from my countless hours of messing around in Photoshop

This style actually started off as "Bluminum," or in normal people terms, blue aluminum. I was messing around with some variations and found one that resembled some kind of cartoonish gold, so I gave it a name and saved it. Enjoy! Create a new image with a size to fit your text. In my case, I'm using a 72px font (I think) called Kristen ITC. 1. Type your desired text in any color and try to center it. Color doesn't matter because a Gradient Overlay will be applied. Example 2. Now it's time for the effects - We'll start with a Gradient Overlay. Click on the "f" icon on your Layers palette and go to Gradient Overlay. 3. Use these settings Example 4. Next, we apply an Inner Glow Example 5. Now an Outer Glow Example 7. Apply a Stroke Example 8. Finally, add a Drop Shadow There ya go! If you are having trouble understanding the settings, or would rather just get the style prepackaged, you can get it in the Downloads section of my tutorials site.

I dabbled in Wicca some years ago... It is an interesting religion. But then I got into Satanism (which is totally NOT what people think it is). Now I'm just Agnostic. You should also check out http://wicca.org/ By the way, HTML_GURU, I'm pretty sure that wicca was a bit before Magic's time. But I'm not a genius, so...

Imagine this: You've created an awesome logo for your site and you're ready to add some layer effects or one of my kick *bottom* styles when you notice something: You made your logo too small! No worries, because you can always use Free Transform or Image Size to make it bigger. Right, but how does your logo look after you've resized it? Lemme guess, it looks like crap? Of course it does, because your image wasn't designed to be that size... What's that, you want to know how to fix it? Okay, okay, I'll tell you... but it'll cost ya. Insert $5 to continue -> [|] I'll be demonstrating the steps to smooth out rough edges with the logo for the main DM.Net site because it is the paradigm of the kinds of images that are prone to rough edges after resizing. This was a rough draft of the logo, so it's not perfect, but you get the idea. This image is about 165x140. Now look what happens when I double the size to 330x280 and add a Stroke outline (to show you the edges): Eww! Let's fix that. Activate your layer with your logo (just click on it in the Layers Palette) and clear any blending options or layer styles associated with it. Now go to Layer > Select Transparency or press and hold the Control key while clicking on the logo's layer to select it's transparency. With your selection still active, click on the Channels tab next to Layers in the Layers Palette (or go to Window > Channels) and click on the new channel icon. Your document should now be black with your layer's selection visible and the channel Alpha 1 created and active. Make sure you have white as your foreground and press Alt+Backspace to fill your selection with white. Press Ctrl+D or go to Select > Deselect to deselect your selection (dee dee dee) Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Now, the settings to be used with this filter will vary depending on the image that it will be applied to... You basically want it to smooth out the rough edges of your image without losing too much of the overall composition. For my image, I used a blur radius of 2.5, or 3, somethin like that. Okay, so I was off, it was 5px, but anyway... Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels to bring up the Levels dialog box (This is the part where we get the shape of the logo back) Look at the image below, see those two arrows on that slider at the bottom? LEAVE THEM ALONE. They'll just screw up the image brightness, you don't want that, you want to screw up the contrast, so you use the 3 arrows on the slider indicated below What you want to do is move each arrow little by little toward the middle, and then either left or right until your logo has a defined shape, not too blurry and not too sharp. When you've got your image looking the way you want it to, hit OK. My image isn't exactly as I wanted it to be, but this was just for the tutorial's sake so I don't really care. Anywhos, press Ctrl+Click on your Alpha 1 channel to select it's transparency and go back to the Layers tab. You should already be on your logo's layer with the Alpha Channel's transparency still selected, if not you screwed up, go back and fix it. Now all you have to do is fill in the selection with the color of your logo and deselect. Again, I added a stroke so you can see the edges more clearly: Damn, I'm smooth.

For those of you who don't already know, Photoshop has these nifty little features called Actions. Now, these actions can be used for many things, including the creation of beautiful and eye catching effects, maximizing your productivity, or simply to carry out the tedious and mundane tasks that your lazy *bottom* just doesn't feel like doing. I recently had the pleasure of turning .diplomat.'s beautiful "Daze" theme for SMF into something of my own, and being the genius that I am, I used these wonderful actions and a little thing called Batch Processing. I'm a dedicated designer, but there was no way I was gonna sit in front of my computer for hours changing the Hue/Saturation for every single image for my forum with my 2 year old taking his diaper off and discovering that the stuff inside it could substitute for paint (that's a story for a later date) What is Batch Processing, you say? Well, it's something that processes a batch, you idiot, and now I'm going to show you how to do it. When you're creating an action you need it to do one thing: Something. In my case, I needed to change the Hue/Saturation for 75+ images from blue to my "trademark" teal. Maybe you need an action for a different purpose, but humor me and tell yourself, "Hey, I need to make my image the same color as hers!" Next, you'll need something to work on. Get a small image, like an icon, preferrably the one I'm using for this tutorial. Now go to Window > Actions and make sure it is checked. If it is, you should see a tab in the Layers Palette labeled, surprise, Actions. Click on the arrow button to open the Actions menu and go to "new Set." This will create a folder for your action (you don't really need the folder, it just helps with organization.) Go back to the Actions menu and select "New Action." I'll give you three guesses as to what this does. Now, before recording an action you need to figure out the steps you'll need to take and the order in which you'll need to take them. Since this is a pretty simple action and I can do this is my sleep, I don't have to... but just keep that in mind. Okie dokes, here's the fun part: Recording. See that little circle icon in between the square and the triangle at the bottom of the palette? Push it. Now everything you do in Photoshop will be recorded until the end of action. Don't worry, if you screw up, just stop the action by clicking the square icon and go back to your last step. For my action, the first thing I need to do is change the Mode of the image to RGB, since .gif files are saved in Index mode which don't take too kindly to colorization. So with the action recording, go to Image > Mode > RGB. Now take a look at your Actions palette, it should look like this: Next, we'll have to strip the image of it's current color to make adding our (my) own color easier to apply, so go to Image > Adjustment > Desaturate. Now that we have a naked grey image, we need to add some color. Make sure your action is still recording and go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation. I have the settings for my teal color saved in a .ahu (Hue/Saturation) file already so all I have to do is click Load and select Teal.ahu, but since you don't have that you'll have to use the sliders. Use these settings for my color: Woo, we've now SunBlinded the icon! All that's left to do now is save it for the web. Is your action still recording? Good. Go to File > Save For The Web and set your file type and optimization settings. I use the standard GIF settings, but whatever floats your boat, dude. Select your destination directory and save. If your Actions palette looks like this: Stop recording and say "Yay, I made an action!" because you're finished. Now to put your newly born action into... ahem... action, we'll do a Batch Process. What this will do is take all the images in a specified directory and apply whatever changes were recorded in the action. Just for the sake of the tutorial, create a directory and drop some images into it, or just duplicate one that you already have. Go to File > Automate > Batch and make sure the name of the Action Set you just created is in the first dropdown list and the name of the Action is in the second. Set the third dropdown box (next to Source) to Folder and use the Choose button to find your duplicated or created folder of images. For destination, you can either leave it set to it's default "None" to have the action applied and saved in the source folder, or save the "actionized" images into a separate folder. Once you have everything configured to your liking, click OK. Now sit back and watch your images color themselves because you're using Actions and Batch Processing to do your dirty work