About Designing Realistic Graphics

[evion 0]

Hi guys, I guess i should write a little of an introduction here since i dont know anyone around here and i can't seem to find the "Introductions" board...

 

So, I'm a former Xisto member (Techocian) and i got hosted by Asta for awhile till glorious summer ended and school schedules came back into full throttle. After the hassle and dazzle of the first month or two, i think I should have enough time to keep up with posts and learn something new through Xisto again. But i found that after coming back, the "design" section of Xisto became vacant and empty. Thus, I've heard Xisto has its own graphics section with tons of professional graphic artists around, and moved here instead. I'm VERY interested in website design. Signatures are fun to make but the true challenge in my opinion, is to actually design an entire site in any way whatsoever.

 

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So back to my question, does anyone know any reference online where i can learn how to design realistic graphics? What i mean by that is something like making water, or a rock, or the sky (err yeah, i know CLOUDS has its own filter ^^). One day, i tried my hand at designing paper. It didn't turn out so well.....

 

 

It actually looks alright, but its way too burry after a bunch of editing trials. So could anyone help out? All help is appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Evion

 

P.S. The paper is supposed to look worn out and ancient =P

Edited October 21, 2006 by evion (see edit history)

[Johnny 1]

That's pretty good paper actually. Doesn't have to be perfect unless that's all that's going to be in the "picture", which I doubt is the case, because paper's pretty boring by itself.Only thing I would point out is that the paper seems to be transparent...when I think of old paper I wouldn't imagine it being see through at all. More solid with a yellowy tinge on the edges, I'd say.Nice job, btw.

[evion 0]

Thanks for the compliment Johnny! About the transparent part, i wanted to at least be able to "see through" to the edges of the back few piecies. And if i didn't tone the opacity a little, the paper's color (in the middle where it overlaps) will become fuller and more solid, which is what i don't want. Also, I'm still working on trying to find a way to make it dog-eared. Then I'll move on to try designing books. It's going to be getting tougher, and i think it would be easier and less of a trial-and-error type situation if i can actually find a tutorial for this.P.S. The more i look at the paper, the more it reminds me of those a-little-wrinkly, see-through wax paper.

Edited October 21, 2006 by evion (see edit history)

[Johnny 1]

Thanks for the compliment Johnny! About the transparent part, i wanted to at least be able to "see through" to the edges of the back few piecies. And if i didn't tone the opacity a little, the paper's color (in the middle where it overlaps) will become fuller and more solid, which is what i don't want.
Also, I'm still working on trying to find a way to make it dog-eared. Then I'll move on to try designing books. It's going to be getting tougher, and i think it would be easier and less of a trial-and-error type situation if i can actually find a tutorial for this.

P.S. The more i look at the paper, the more it reminds me of those a-little-wrinkly, see-through wax paper.

Gotcha. I don't know an exact place to find the right tutorial for you, but I'd suggest searching around http://www.pixel2life.com/ (first choice) or http://www.good-tutorials.com/, they have a large amount of photoshop tuts to look through, and if there's a tutorial you need, they'd probably have it first.

Not sure what you mean by dog-eared... o_o?

Anyway, good luck, hope you find what you're looking for.

(And by the way. Welcome to T17. I'm sure it's really similar to Xisto, so you should feel somewhat at home here, but if you need anything, feel free to pm the best staff member in town. Actually that'd be BuffaloHELP or OpaQue. But they're busy guys, so feel free to pm the next best thing. Actually that'd be jlhaslip or Saint_Michael. Just pm me if you need anything. )

[jlhaslip 4]

Yup. I know the name. Spend a little time at Xisto once in a while myself.
Post your full-blown Introduction in the Intro Topic and stand back to avoid the rush of welcomes.
Good to have you around.

[truefusion 3]

Not sure what you mean by dog-eared... o_o?

Dog-eared, you know how people fold the edge of the page in their books so they can remember where they left off. It shouldn't be that hard to get that effect. Just cut off a piece, and rotate. Unless you're planning on adding some shadow to it. Then you'd have to pick a spot for the light, and use the blur tool for the tip/edges of the shadow.[hr=noshade] Oh, and welcome, Evion.[/hr]

[randomdood 0]

welcome, i have no idea how to make rocks and things like that, i do know how to make planets though. if your interested just say so and i'll PM you the tutorial. the paper looks too blurred at the edges, also try going for a different bg color.

[evion 0]

Thanks for the welcomes guys, but I think I'll hold back on the full intro thing.

Dog-eared, you know how people fold the edge of the page in their books so they can remember where they left off. It shouldn't be that hard to get that effect. Just cut off a piece, and rotate. Unless you're planning on adding some shadow to it. Then you'd have to pick a spot for the light, and use the blur tool for the tip/edges of the shadow.[hr=noshade] Oh, and welcome, Evion.[/hr]

Well, i wanted my dog-ear to look a little more real. I want it to actually curve into the front of the paper. So far, I've managed to curve it, but it doesn't look like a dog-ear at all. Thanks for the tutorial sites Johnny, been looking through them. I'm more interested in the textures section and I've found a couple decent ones. There were a couple that looked horrible though .

Anyway, I'm not the type to stick with Photoshop all day long, seriously, it gets boring. So I'm off for some quick PvP in Guild Wars. Thanks again!

And if you manage to find a specific tutorial on making anything that looks realistic, I'm all for it.

[Saint_Michael 3]

welcome tech long time no see what I recommend is search around gamerenders.com and pixel2life.com and good-tutorials those would be some good places to start with.Think the next step for the paper design would be burn holes and give it that old fashion look to it.

[Johnny 1]

Dog-eared, you know how people fold the edge of the page in their books so they can remember where they left off.

Oh...I didn't know there was a name for that. I'm more of a "folded-sticky-note" kinda guy.

Thanks for the tutorial sites Johnny, been looking through them. I'm more interested in the textures section and I've found a couple decent ones. There were a couple that looked horrible though .
Anyway, I'm not the type to stick with Photoshop all day long, seriously, it gets boring. So I'm off for some quick PvP in Guild Wars. Thanks again!

Not a problem friend. Just avoid those lame ones...some people think they're hot stuff when they find out how to make a circle without using the ellipse tool. Sure it's different...doesn't mean it's better/faster/easier though.

And yeah...I know how it is. I get sick of Photoshop really quickly...I think you have to be a photographer to enjoy messing with photoshop for hours and hours on end. I don't get photographers. o_o

Think the next step for the paper design would be burn holes and give it that old fashion look to it.

Mike, you do know that most people usually don't run around holding flames to paper, right? <3

[randomdood 0]

i love photography maybe thats why i do spend quite a bit of time in PS, i don't think we're weird we just like Graphics like a salesperson would be looking at the prices of everything and how it would compare to theirs i look at my graphics and others and tall myself "they suck" or "wow i could do that", i guess you could call it passionate or an obsessoin, but at the end of the day it's just a load of fun!

[garbage 0]

I think what you are talking baout is using a 3D modeling design software. If you want to make realistic looking designs such as rocks clouds etc.. use programs like Blender, Maya 3d, and C4D. and just to let you know Maya 3D and C4D will be the best there is out there but Blender is just as good in my opinion and the best part about Blender it is free its an Open Source Software...So check the Gallery out on some of these program sites so you can see the results of some of the things you can create

[evion 0]

Hmmm...interesting. I've heard of Blender before. But it looks very complex and i never went ahead and tried it out. I played around with 3D Studio Max before though, and i managed to make a pretty realistic house with lighting and stuff. I think paper rolling should be one of those "basic" parts of 3D design. Hopefully, i can find a way to integrate Blender into photoshop. Thanks, I'm downloading Blender right now.