I've finally decided to learn how to make my own sigs. Tired of bailing up Commie et al asking for new ones. . . so I'd appreciate advice on the best software (hopefully opensource) to use. I would consider shelling out cash for a program but I'd prefer not to lay down massive amounts of money. Also, anyone got links to some sites with guides to sig making and stuff?
you can always try the demo for Photoshop CS4/CS3 etc.. But if you want free, you can always use Gimp. Gimp is by far the best freeware program that I have seen stand up to PS in a very long time.
gimp yes..also paint.net..its free paint.net has a large base of user made add ons for lots of effects..its free
Too bad GIMP is terrible. Go to the Adobe site, they have a free basic verison of photoshop. They also may have an online version.
PS Elements or the whole shebang? Edit: $699 for PS. . . just for me to make some crappy sigs - looks like it's going to be gimp for me !
paint.net is pretty slick. I liked using it when I was making some personal flags for Pirates of the Burning Sea.
gimp is fine, dont' listen to the naysayers Photoshop is a bit easier, but if your just making sigs, gimp will do the job just fine. The only drawback to gimp is in some cases to something you can do in PS in like 2-3 actions, gimp might take 5-6 actions... but it's free which IMO more then makes up for that. The other downside I almost don't want to mention because people that don't know better will not use it because they think this makes it bad, is that gimp is 8bit instead of 16bit like photoshop. Unless your doing very high quality prints this doesn't make a difference though, and there are ways to get around it in gimp as well to get the same quality, but it requires more work again. If you try the gimp, don't let it's older looking interface fool ya, it's a very powerful tool, and since it's free, if you don't like it, you can always look at other stuff... I tend to always install that and open office on all PCs, even if I have office or PS loaded.
Hey.. hold on now.. I never promoted pirated software.. I said there was other ways of acquiring. I never said that acquiring it other ways was illegal, i.e get it from school if you are in a graphics class, borrowing from a friend etc... But I never said anything illegal...
Well here's my first attempt with Gimp. Haven't really got a clue - but I don't think it's full of fail. (Is it?)
also, when using a render, you don't have to use the full render in the sig. Sometimes its good to enlarge it and only use a certain section of it. But not bad on the start. Check this out (this was from my first sigs ever created when I first joined Xen): And I have gone on to make bigger and better ones over the years.. Takes practice =D
Yeh I cropped that render from the orignal which was a pic of the entire grim reaper dude. . I'm eating up the various tutorials and about to head over to dafont for some new texts. Anyone got links to sites with gimp brushes, tools, effects that don't come as part of the box?
I use planetrenders.net there's some good quality renders there, also on the forums there's plenty of tuts for gimp/ps and you can always post stuff up there for critiques.