The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

I have tried and failed (temporarily). I am trying to make a background, avatar, flash video or something to commemorate Sean Taylor. I have the software (adobe CS3 master suite) but I'd be darned if I knew how to use it. I tried creating "layers" and cutting out pictures and putting them on a background but I can't figure it. Heck, I don't even know what half the tools are called when a help topic says to use them.

If anyone on here can help guide me in the right direction I would appreciate it.

These programs are not things that are learned quickly on a message board.

Try this link to a good comprehensive online video tutorial for all sorts of software. You can pay for a month or year and it's pretty reasonable.

I think I gave you the wrong name when you PM'd me, sorry.

http://lynda.com/

Was this helpful at all Cappster?

Layers, tons and tons of layers!!!

It looks like a nice site but I was wanting something that was free. I did learn how to edit a video on my own for someone. I guess I will have to buy something but not right now. I am "buying a house" poor right now. Thanks for the info though

$25 for a month - not a bad investment, but I get feel your pain.

All the tools and software in the world won't teach you how to do it unfortunately.

Having said that... surely there are alternatives... can't you use the Movie Maker that comes with XP to make 'slideshow videos'? (Pretty sure you can, but I have never done it)

I would suggest that you get all of the images that you want to use READY first... make them the right size (whatever you choose)... use auto levels in photoshop... it could literally be just those two things and you could 'batch' an entire bunch of photos if you knew how to do so. You could even skip the above all together, but you might find that some of the images weren't 'suitable' when you tried to use them in your movie.

Once you have the images ready... put them in Movie Maker.

That option would at least be free.

There are lots of ways to make slideshows in Flash, some templated and easier than others, but they ALWAYS require a pretty decent understanding of using Flash.

Using photoshop is also something that requires a rudimentary understanding of what you're doing.

To make a background... you just need to create a 'new file' in photoshop and make it whatever size you want it... in the case of a background for yourself... you would want to make the image whatever size your monitor resolution was set to.

Once you have a new image created that is the right size... then you just drop in whatever you want to... images... text... there are lots of tools in photoshop to 'do things' to the images and text too, but they would require knowing how to do them and consequently more 'learning' if you didn't already know.

Movie maker is for a regular chaps (I guess that could be me ). I want to be able to use all of the customization tools that are in adobe cs3. Its just trying to discover how to do things like inserting pictures and organizing layers and yada yada yada. I am sure a more simplistic program would be a little more suited for me at the moment but I like to take the difficult road when they payoff is higher.

You have to take the crunchy with the smooth. If you want to do 'cool things' then you have to learn how to do them.

If you want to do it with the software that you have now (which would be the 'proper way' anyway), then I would suggest that you just jump in with both feet. Learn photoshop. Learn Flash. Simple.

There are online resources to learn from that are free, you just have to look for them. Go to google and type 'name of software free tutorial' and you'll surely find a bunch. The software comes with extensive information built in, in the form of both help files and tutorials.

Take any open source native flash file (.fla) and open it in Flash and 'deconstruct' it... check out what's there and work backwards... sometimes a good way to learn flash stuff. See if you can find an open source file that is 'like' what you're trying to accomplish.

Just saying that you want to figure it out isn't enough, and I don't know of a software package that allows you to just tell it what to do and it does it, but if you find one, let me know.

If you want to do it with what you have, then I suggest you figure out how to use what you have.

I've never taken a computer course. I own a few computer books but not many... I can use virtually every software package in existence... because I jump in and just use them. They ALL have enough built in info to facilitate doing so... or have online resources to do the same.

... otherwise, I'd have a lot more books and have taken a lot more courses.

I might try the reverse engineering way of doing things. I didn't think about that. I have spent a few ours with both photoshop and flash but I am not much of a graphic software editor. I can learn anything as far as discovering how to use it. I would like to learn some of the basics and build off of that. I enjoy working with hardware a lot more than software. I learned how to build custom PC's on my own. I just think that something software related that has sooo many different options will take a little longer and press my patience a little bit more. Good insight BTW.

CS3 does come with some video training, not much, but may be enough for you to get your feet wet. I learn much more from doing a "PROJECT", rather than just piddling around. Video tutorials work better for me as they relate to REAL WORK. Having said that, most of this software is not nearly as intuitive as it was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago, so it will require you putting in the time to learn.

NC43Hog wrote:CS3 does come with some video training, not much, but may be enough for you to get your feet wet. I learn much more from doing a "PROJECT", rather than just piddling around. Video tutorials work better for me as they relate to REAL WORK. Having said that, most of this software is not nearly as intuitive as it was 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago, so it will require you putting in the time to learn.

I'll have to check into that and see what is on there. Knowing just what each tool does and what it looks like would be helpful for when the help contents say"use the crop tool to cut out the picture." Very vague instructions if you ask me.