attn blue - not a photoshop request. :D

[dragonfrog]

i was curious how you stretch and angle rims like u do. i have photoshop 6, and i'm slowly learning all the features that it has.
there's some 3d feature and after messing with it for a while, i still don't understand it.

[Blue Bomber]

I cut the new rims out of their original pic and paste them into new layers. Then I go to the Edit > Transform menu and use the tools there to stretch them. Usually, I use Skew to get the right effect.

Having the rim on a new layer is a big help, since I can see exactly how the original rim looked and shape the new one to the same size.

Then I usually use the Paintbrush on Darken, with a large soft brush, and with around 10% Opacity to put in shadows on the rims.

[dragonfrog]

sweet. that was really easy. thanks, man.

[dragonfrog]

one more question. i think there was a write up at one time on how to change the color of the entire vehicle. i tried to follow the directions in the write-up and yet again, did a horrible job. i don't suppose that there's a simple way to explain it.

[Blue Bomber]

STEP 1

First, you need to select the paint on the car. There are two ways to do this. You can use one of the selection tools (simple) or you can use the Pen tool (advanced).

Selection Tools
With the selection tools (Marquee, Lasso, Magic Wand, etc.) , you just drag around the object to select it.

Pen Tool
With the Pen tool, you draw and bend lines around the object to create a Path, then you change that into a selection. I usually use the Pen because it is faster and more accurate. If you've ever used Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Flash, they use the same type of Pen tool. Once you have the car outlined, go to the Path palette (in the same window as the Layers palette) and drag the path (called Work Path) onto the dotted circle on the bottom of the pallete. This will change the Path into a Selection.

STEP 2

Once the paint is selected, there are two ways to change the color. One is adjusting the hue and saturation (simple), and the other is using an adjustment layer (advanced).

Hue/Saturation
To just change the color of the original picture, go to Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation. Then just move the Hue and Saturation sliders until you get the color you want.

In some cases, the entire car won't change to the same color (ex. some spots might be yellow while others may be red). You'll need to check the Colorize box and move the Hue and Saturation sliders to get the color you want. The only disadvantange to this is Colorizing the car isn't as realistic.

You might also be able to change each color individually. Instead of using Colorize, open the drop down menu with Master and change each individual color (Red, Yellow, Cyan, etc. ) until it looks right.

Adjustment Layer
An Adjustment Layer puts a Layer above the image that can be constantly changed without effecting or degrading the original picture. To use it, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation (make sure the paint is still selected). When the New Layer box comes up, click OK. Then it will bring up the regular Hue/Saturation box.

The advantage to using the Adjustment Layer is that you can go back and edit it later. Just go to the Layers palette and double click on the little box with the slider called Hue/Saturation and you can re-edit the color easily.