The school year is over and it's summertime. I have used two free applications on a computer to work on my summer assignment for next year's digital design course so far. Interspersed between other assignments and activities, I've worked on Photopea and Blender. Photopea, a browser option that doesn't require downloading, is an Adobe Photoshop-esque website. It offers masks, overlays, brush tools, and other things Photoshop also has. However, it isn't as easy to navigate and doesn't have all of the tools Photoshop offers. The reason I used it was to have a free version of Photoshop I can use at home. I learned how to mask and duplicate items in Photopea and that although it is quick to load and fairly straightforward, Photoshop is better. Let's move on to Blender, a free downloadable application available on Mac and Window operating systems. I downloaded it to have a program comparable to 3DS Max without having to get Windows 10 on my family's Apple computer. It's definitely more tedious and harder to find things than 3DS Max. I messed around with Blender for a few hours before really starting to make art, which turned out to be very difficult. I consulted an online manual, which helped me to some extent, but there were still problems. I couldn't find certain tabs and options in the program, and the manual wasn't written for people unfamiliar with it. In Blender, I explored and learned about grouping objects, camera and lamp positioning, and mapping techniques. I learned a lot about Blender's interface and that I prefer 3DS Max to Blender because it's so much easier to navigate and make complex artwork. To sum it all up, the alternative programs I've used so far this summer aren't as good as the applications they imitate.
Summary
0 Comments
Digital badges made in Adobe Illustrator showing levels of progression in two Adobe Photoshop tools During the past few weeks, I have transitioned from Adobe Photoshop into Adobe Illustrator, and I have already written one blog post about which program I prefer. Now that I have more experience with Illustrator, I can plunge further into its pros and cons. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, it is extremely difficult to make something photorealistic with Illustrator. At first, I disliked this, but now I've realized it can be good in its own way. You can make a cartoonish, light, but still great piece of artwork. Logos, cartoons, fonts, fashion design, and video game design include some of Illustrator's uses in the real world. A lot of games that don't have realistic graphics use Illustrator to make the visuals of the game instead of Photoshop. There are many different tools, and some of them are, of course, better than others. The pen tool takes a while to get used to, but it can make a plethora of shapes. It is extraordinarily useful in making things in Illustrator. The mesh tool is also practical, as it easily adds a gradient effect to a shape that can be controlled by the user almost effortlessly. However, I'm not at all fond of the direct selection tool. I get it confused with the normal selection tool, and I'm not sure if it has anything drastically better than its twin tool. I think that the people who work for Adobe should consider changing this tool to make it more applicable and different from the selection tool. I would certainly benefit from it, and I assume other people would as well.
Summary
For most of the first quarter of school and part of the second quarter, I exclusively worked in Adobe Photoshop for school projects. Now, I have begun to use Adobe Illustrator for a couple of projects. They are two similar programs, but they each have their own unique features. In Illustrator, you can't edit online pictures, which is a drawback in my opinion. However, you can easily make shapes and cartoonish artwork, which is fun. In Photoshop, you can't easily make those, but you can edit pictures. Illustrator is more widely used for artwork and logos, while Photoshop is used for photo editing. I can't define one as the superior because they do different things. I prefer working in Photoshop because it seems more magical and realistic. You just can't place your head on the body of Thanos in Adobe Illustrator. Also, Illustrator is a vector program, meaning that there are no pixels, so the program doesn't support JPEG format. If you export it as a JPEG, then the image changes from vector to bitmap, and it can lose some of its original effect. Photoshop naturally converts to JPEG, so no effect is lost in the conversion. Overall, there are some cool things that you can do in Adobe Illustrator, but they don't compare to the fun I have in Adobe Photoshop. There are obviously pros and cons to both programs, so don't go thinking any application is perfect. Nevertheless, I would still almost always choose Photoshop over Illustrator because you can do most of the same things and more things in Photoshop.
Summary
Adobe Photoshop is a magical program that can do everything from distorting images to adding unrealistic elements to a photograph. There are many tools and techniques that can be used to create things in photoshop, but I prefer one in particular. Some tools are the clone stamp, the spot healing brush, the text tool, and the eraser tool. An extremely useful tool is the magic wand tool. It is great for removing backgrounds, transferring images, and much more. However, it is not the most helpful tool. Techniques include a variety of things, including strategies to consider and other tools. The liquify technique is very fun to mess around with, but it is also not my go-to choice for usefulness. In my opinion, the best tool is the brush tool. Although simple, it is magnificently useful and helpful. It can be harder to do certain things with the brush tool than other tools, but you can still do them well. Therefore, if many other tools didn't exist, the brush could potentially take their place instead of having a new tool. The brush tool can paint backgrounds white, color sections a certain way, and even create a whole new vibe of the image. As I mentioned above, the liquify technique is fun to use, although it is not always useful. I would place it as my favorite tool or technique to use because it can distort images so easily and give anyone a good laugh. The brush tool and the liquify technique are definitely great things to use in Adobe Photoshop. They can change an image drastically and help contribute to your final goal.
I have a lot of thoughts on the morality of using Abode Photoshop to enhance appearances of people. Photoshop is used in this way by countless magazines, photographers, and more to make their models look better and I think it is morally wrong. Doing this shows us, citizens of the world, the 'ideal' man or woman, making us depressed and feeling ugly because of these unrealistic and deceiving beauty standards. This method is extremely misleading, but there are times where it is beneficial. For example, many professional photo-shoppers make a living cheering people up by making them look prettier. Also, it's always hilarious to see a face swap with animals or humans; humor is a very widespread way that photoshop is used. I think these two ways are fine as long as they don't go too far. Someone trying to be funny might accidentally offend somebody else, and photoshopping someone to look better so they can post it to social media platforms can hurt others by thinking they aren't pretty enough. This prompts them to hire a photo-shopper and then it happens to someone else. It's a vicious cycle in the world, damaging but also sometimes building up people. A lot of Americans and, really, citizens from all around Earth think this is okay, but I don't. I believe using photoshop to make people appear more attractive is usually wrong and most of the time people should refrain from doing it. Sometimes it can be alright, but most of the time it is malevolent and can make someone very depressed. Summary
|
AuthorHI! I'm a 12th grader and on this page, I will blog about me and what I'm going through, both in Game Design class and in life. There are a mix of required blog posts and personal reflections, which you can sort, among other things, below the disclaimer and archives. DISCLAIMER
The views and opinions expressed in this blog are solely those of the author and do not represent those of Durham School of the Arts or Durham Public Schools. Archives
May 2022
Categories
All
|