3D Rendering Versus Photoshop

Most people know about Adobe Photoshop. In fact, it may even be the most popular PC software ever. People use it for a lot of things-making greeting cards, editing their photos, making websites, distorting pictures for funny effect and much more. Photoshop is also commonly used in designing websites and other graphics applications. However, in recent years another graphic technology is beginning to make noise – 3D rendering.

Many people study Photoshop and soon get jobs as graphic artists. The same thing is true for 3D rendering. So if you plan to become proficient in a graphic software to make some money from your skills, should you study Photoshop or 3D rendering? This article will help you find an answer to that.

Differences between Photoshop and 3D Rendering Software

Photoshop as we know is a photo editing software on steroids. It has too much muscle for an editing software and people love it. With Photoshop, people are able to place their rendered photos on different backgrounds, increase their muscle mass and make themselves look beautiful. However, in the end Photoshop is just photo manipulation software so you can’t create pictures with it – all it does is just change the picture.

On the other hand, 3D rendering software can manipulate photos and create pictures from nothing. If Photoshop is a photo editor on steroids, 3D rendering software is Photoshop on steroids-that’s the difference. 3D rendering is used a lot in construction business and architecture. Architects for example imagine a house design and create that design in a photorealistic fashion on their PC using a 3D rendering software.

Difference in difficulty

Everyone says Photoshop is difficult. The learning curve is quite steep and there are too many buttons and functions to remember. That is true as anyone who has ever tried Photoshop can attest to the fact that it can be frustrating. However, when it comes to 3D rendering, it’s double the difficulty. It has more buttons, more functions, and steeper learning curve. So if it’s difficult why would anyone use it or learn to use it? The answer lies in profitability.

Profitability differences between Photoshop and 3D rendering

People who are good at using Photoshop make money, there’s no denying that. They are in demand specially on the web, graphic design, and advertising industries. But remember there are already too many Photoshop professionals around so the competition may be very steep.

3D rendering, on the other hand, is an emerging technology. There is currently a great demand for 3D rendering professionals because many industries need them-mobile phone companies, car manufacturers, construction, architecture, landscape designing and many more. 3D rendering is used to create and not just edit physical designs of products. The next concept car you see may have been designed using a 3D rendering software.

If you have talent in design and art and want to learn graphics software, should you study Photoshop or 3D rendering? The answers is up to you, but remember, 3D rendering will be around for a long time.

Master Photoshop

How to Master  Photoshop 

Mastering  Photoshop  takes time, discipline, and a great deal of patience. Many newbies attempt to learn  Photoshop  but end up frustrated and angry because they cannot create what they desire. Most of these newbies look up tutorials on popular websites and find a couple of hints and tips that tell them how to achieve a specific effect.

The problem with this approach is that instead of learning how to reach desired outcomes, the users end up learning how to copy and never truly understand the fundamentals and WHY certain buttons and settings will create something.

Instead of learning how and why, newbie Photoshoppers mindlessly imitate, and when it comes time to make something they want to make from scratch, they won’t even know where to start. That is the problem with random tutorials, they may help you reach an outcome immediately, but in the long-run, are you really learning  Photoshop ?

The Solution

In order to completely understand and possess complete freedom in your  Photoshop  learning, it is essential to have a guide that is extensive and comprehensive. With a guide, the  Photoshop  newbie can learn skills from scratch and build on strong fundamentals. Instead of delving in to a complicated tutorial immediately upon purchasing  Photoshop , beginners need to have a solid foundation that teaches them exactly how to use this powerful program.

Beginners, however, are not the only people who can benefit from guides. Many experienced users, strictly using random tutorials, have learned only one side of  Photoshop . With a guide, experienced users can experience  Photoshop  in a new light and have true freedom to create anything you want.

GIMP - The Best FREE Alternative to Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is undeniably the number one choice of professional photographers and image and design professionals when it comes to editing photos. It’s a given that Photoshop will be the program they’re using.

But while Photoshop is the top choice of professionals, it comes at a hefty price tag which leads many non-professional photographers to ask if they really NEED to use it.

While the answer to that question can really only be answered by each person individually, there is a serious alternative to Photoshop that should be concerned. GIMP, despite it’s funny sounding name (which stands for the GNU Image Manipulation Program), is a powerful, full featured, open source photo editing program that can do a lot of what Photoshop can do.

If you’re not familiar with Open Source software, it’s fantastic stuff. Basically it comes from very talented people who donate their time and skills to create software alternatives that are available free of charge. GIMP is a great example of excellent Open Source software that delivers top notch performance.

Similar to Photoshop, GIMP has a customizable interface so that the user can set it up the way he or she chooses. GIMP modules can be organized, arranged, opened or closed, to accommodate the users workflow and their individual needs.

GIMP allows for a lot of automatic photo enhancements too. Often a click of a button can yield great results. Tools like the Clone Tool and the Healing Tool allow for advanced editing, similar to what you’ll find in Photoshop.

Files can be saved in a full range of formats including TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PSD, and GIF. Files can also be saved in formats like zip to optimize hard drive space.

GIMP can be run on a range of platforms including Windows, Mac, and Linux.

If you haven’t tried GIMP, and you’re debating about whether or not you need to purchase Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, give GIMP a try. It’s a free download, so you’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The GIMP community is big and very supportive. The software works great, and you may decide you don’t need to spend the money on Photoshop after all!

Become a Photoshop Expert in 10 Steps

After working with Photoshop since version 4 in 1999, I realize that nobody really knows every thing that Photoshop can do. This makes it a great toy and tool, because there’s always something new to discover. But you can learn most of it and keep learning. I recommend the following habits if you want to become a Photoshop Expert.

For this article, I’m defining expertise as being able to:

• imitate something from real life (e.g. how shadows and light really work, how glass and water bend light).


• guess with reasonable accuracy how a particular effect was created by someone else in Photoshop.


• troubleshoot your own errors as well as someone else’s.


• manipulate pixels non-destructively.


• work efficiently through the proper use of shortcuts, panels, actions, and tools.


• know how and when to use most of the features in Photoshop.

Here are the 10 things I recommend you do if you want to be a Photoshop expert.

#1: Own the latest version of Photoshop

It’s pretty hard to really experiment with Photoshop if you don’t have your own copy at home. Having the latest version is important too. Particularly with the last two versions, CS3 and CS4, new features are added all the time. These features usually either make your job easier (like the Adjustments panel), or give you tools that didn’t even exist in prior versions (like some of CS4’s 3D capabilities).

I do recommend you purchase your own copy. Please don’t used pirated stuff. If you are a teacher or student who is not using Photoshop for commercial purposes, you are allowed by Adobe to purchase the educational version at about half-price. It is as fully-featured as the non-educational version. You can usually buy this version at college book stores, or online at sites such as creationengine.com.

You are allowed to run your Photoshop software on two machines. I have one copy on my desktop PC and one on my laptop for travel.

#2: Play and Make Mistakes

Experimentation and play is the key to learning something beyond the basics. Try out all kinds of tools and filters, and see what they do with different settings. You can’t really ruin Photoshop. And if you do, you can reset all the defaults by closing Photoshop, then pressing and holding the Shift+Ctrl+Alt keys (Mac: Shift+Cmd+Opt) while Photoshop restarts.

Take a bunch of photos from your camera (or online) and throw them together. See how blend modes change an overall image as layers are moved around. Try all of the layer adjustments, and every filter combined with another filter. Don’t worry if it’s ugly. You’re learning. And there’s always the History panel to allow you to back up several steps and try something else.

#3: Take a Class

To be honest, I had an awful Photoshop teacher. He did little beyond schedule what we were supposed to complete in the textbook. I stopped going at one point. I had learned how not to teach, and four years later I was teaching Photoshop. What a good teacher can do is give you assignments you never dreamed you could do (and enjoy!) More importantly, a good instructor can give you personal guidance when you don’t even realize you made a mistake, or there’s a typo in the textbook, or you accidentally skipped something, and something goes wrong.

Finally, a good instructor will give you projects to do that give you real-world scenarios and specifications. This prepares you for making real money with Photoshop.

#4: Go to Seminars

Kelby Training provides absolutely fantastic seminars all over the United States. I have had teachers such as the amazing Bert Monroy and Dave Cross. These seminars have increased my creativity and efficiency in Photoshop beyond belief. The day-long seminar is always fun and very inspiring. Go to one of these seminars if you can, or find something comparable in your area.

#5: Read Photoshop Magazines

Photoshop User Magazine from NAPP is the undisputed master when it comes to American Photoshop publications. You can find it for $10 at book stores, or you get an automatic subscription when you become a NAPP member. You will need that NAPP membership to access the tutorial files online. Each issue has a bunch of tutorials at all levels, plus reviews of products and news about the industry. The magazine caters to photographers, designers and hobbyists alike.

Layers Magazine is great too, but does not cater just to Photoshop users. It addresses almost all of the Adobe design products. It only has a couple of Photoshop tutorials per issue. If you work with Illustrator, InDesign, Flash, and Dreamweaver as well, this mag’s for you.

I also like to buy those really expensive ($15) imports from the U.K., such as Advanced Photoshop and Photoshop Creative. These can be found at book stores too. Unlike Photoshop User, they include a CD-Rom with every issue that provides all the resources for the tutorials, plus brushes, textures, and the like. These magazines sound like an awfully big expense at first, but they are so worth it. The tutorials are always very well done, and gorgeous to boot.

#6: Read Photoshop Books

Some Photoshop books out there are not so great, but most of them are really top-drawer. When considering a Photoshop book for purchase, look for three things:

• Are the images really beautiful or interesting? I have a book here I taught from before I really evaluated the images. They are bordering on ugly. Find a book that makes you feel like you can’t wait to create those images.


• Is the book written to your level? It can be really frustrating if the instructions are too easy or too hard for your experience level.


• Does the book match your learning style? Some books use blocks of text and others make each step into a bullet point. Some have more step-by-step images than others. Decide what works best for you and look for books written that way.

I do have three specific book recommendations. Each of the books below contains wonderful tutorials, and is written very well.

“Layers: The Complete Guide to Photoshop’s Most Powerful Feature” by Matt Kloskowski

“Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook: 62 Easy-to-Follow Recipes for Creating the Classic Styles of Great Artists and Photographers” by John Beardsworth

“Adobe Photoshop CS4 One-on-One” by Deke McClelland

#7: Do Online Tutorials

I love doing online tutorials. Some good places to find Photoshop tutorials are psd.tutsplus.com, good-tutorials.com, and tutorialized.com. If you work with online tutorials enough, you find some favorite writers. Look for tutorials writers who provide enough images, proofread their work, and don’t leave steps out. You should be able to create a result that looks much like the one promised by following exactly what they have written. As with books, look for tutorials written to your skill level. But push yourself to do more challenging stuff than you’re used to.

#8: Be a Community Member

This can take many forms. Sometimes I like to check out online Photoshop forums and see if anybody needs a question answered. I often find cool ideas for myself as well. I also hang out on Twitter, and follow a large number of fellow graphic and Web designers. They are always feeding me new links to incredible online resources. I have RSS feeds I read from my favorite design blogs, and I comment on all of the articles that move me. I read everything by smashingmagazine.com and minervity.com.

There are design communities in the offline world too, of course. I am a member of the local group called ADAC. When I had more time a few years ago, I was even a board member. Real-world design clubs are a great opportunity to learn all about design in addition to some of the business aspects of freelancing (ADAC once had a great talk from an intellectual property attorney about copyright law for artists.) More importantly, you can come away inspired with fresh ideas by looking at the works of others.

#9: Learn Other Adobe Programs Too

Photoshop rarely works in a vacuum for most designers. There are many times when a Photoshop project is enhanced by the contributions of artwork done in Illustrator, for example.

Learn how to save your work for the press using Acrobat. Learn how to create vector artwork in Illustrator and import the paths into Photoshop. Learn how to place your Photoshop files into InDesign. Learn how various Photoshop plugins can expand your design horizons or make your work easier. These are but a few examples. A thorough understanding of Photoshop must include an understanding of how well it plays with others.

#10: Teach Photoshop

I wasn’t a Photoshop expert when I started teaching Photoshop. I am now, thanks in part to having taught it. Teaching Photoshop helped me develop my expertise in ways that no other experience can. When you have to communicate how to do something to someone else, you come to understand it in a way that sets it in concrete in your brain.

I often get my students to find something new to learn, and then have them turn around and teach it to another student. And when both students make mistakes during this teaching process, they both learn more. Writing tutorials – and finding out if someone can follow them – takes this concept step further.

Photoshop Benefits to Industries and Professions

One of the most prolific and exponentially valuable Internet tools is Adobe’s Photoshop software. But this software has more far reaching possibilities than the normal industrial uses it sees now. Presently, this software is used in web design and graphic creation business fronts, especially online. But what OTHER industries and professions can benefit from Photoshop?

Well, one of the most obvious ones is businesses that produce graphic designed items. These can be things like tee shirts, coffee mugs and other personalized or gag items. Customers or clients can send in their own photo and ask for it to be “enhanced” in a certain way. That is especially useful since not everyone knows how to use Photoshop that way.

Another one is graphic web design or personalized social networking page templates. Imagine having a picture of yourself or your kids as your MySpace profile page background. In the area of web design, the possibilities are truly endless with Photoshop. These folks can create page templates, buttons or any type of graphic that people are in the market for.

But there are some industries that can benefit that you may not have thought of. The add-ons that exist for Photoshop make it a widely versatile tool for manufacturers of machinery parts and service repair manuals. Since the graphics are loaded into Photoshop as a non-graphic format, the possibilities are limitless as to what can be done with them.

For instance, using Adobe’s Fireworks add on, graphics can be given life and become animated at a level not seen before. Images can be loaded from CAD software, brought into the Photoshop program and then turned in a real time environment. This essentially gives the item a 3 dimensional feel and view. In the area of parts and repair manuals, this can be extremely helpful since the finished pages can be saved as an Internet file and posted for repair technicians to view online from anywhere in the world.

Some of the software add ons even allow you to create a moving real time animation of a repair procedure, step by step. This is a huge benefit to companies that run service personnel overseas when questions come up. Time, money and prestige are saved as a result.

Photoshop can even be a benefit to video game walk through writers. A screen shot can be taken of progressive screens and captioned with instructions or helpful information. Novice players can suddenly play like world-class pros in a fraction of the time without the frustration of the learning curve. For this, they are willing to pay and pay handsomely.

As you can see, Photoshop can be used in many industries and the uses are only limited by the user’s imagination. Many Internet marketers have used Adobe’s PDF format for many years to display information to customers. It really is surprising that so few of those people took advantage of Photoshop’s full capabilities. Animations, colored fonts and hyperlinked text or graphics are all possible inside the Photoshop software and it can be a benefit to YOUR business. All you have to do is try it and see.

Copyright (c) 2010 Mandi Pralle

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Removal - How to Uninstall Photoshop CS3

Do you encounter problem when uninstalling Photoshop CS3? Do you want to uninstall the program and download a new one? No problem. This article is just right for you to remove Photoshop CS3 completely from your computer.

First of all you can try windows add/remove program to uninstall Photoshop CS3 as following:

Windows 7 and Windows Vista users: Click Uninstall a Program.

Windows XP users: Click Add or Remove Programs.

If you fail to uninstall Photoshop CS3, you may ask why you can’t remove Adobe Photoshop successfully. Common problems are as following:

1. You do not close all the components of the program

2. The program has been corrupted.

3. The program is infected by a virus

After reviewing those causes, I think you may have a little idea about how to uninstall Photoshop CS3. If you have no problem with running the program now, you can take my uninstall tips here.

1. Run your antivirus program which has an updated signature database. This step is to make sure your Photoshop CS3 is free of virus. If it is infected by virus, you can remove the program with your antivirus program. Of course, it may not clear up all components of Photoshop CS3. So go forward to the next tip.

2. You should equip your computer with a third part uninstall tool. A third party uninstall tool can remove corrupted program, while a corrupted program will not appear on the list of windows add/remove program. Moreover, an advantage of a third party program over windows add/remove program or a built-in installer is that it can remove registry entries completely and no component will remain on your computer.

Perfect Uninstall Tool is highly recommended to uninstall Photoshop CS3. Free download Perfect Uninstall Tool now and it will take care of all uninstall task for you. You computer will not have any corrupted file that can not be removed from now on.

Precise Photo Editing Is Made Easy With Photoshop"s Grow Tool

If you have been learning to do digital photo editing in Photoshop and have been going crazy trying to do precise object selection the following information is going to be music to your ears. Just about everything you do in Photoshop seems to involve selecting objects or people for purposes such as copying, color correction, special effects, and more. Have you ever wanted to cut an irregular shaped object out of the photo for use with another background? It can be difficult if not darned near impossible to perfectly select the object using your mouse and the selection tool.

Let me introduce you to the “grow” tool. The grow tool give you the ability to easily select an object with a photograph with almost perfection. What used to be an enormous source of frustration is now a breeze. In fact, the “grow” tool makes what was previously often considered impossible possible.

Here is how the grow tool works. Let’s say you have an irregularly shaped object that you need to select for the purpose of extracting it from the original image for use in digital photo collage. Without the grow tool you would have to increase the size of the image and slow move your curser around the object until you had selected the entire object and even then your selection would probably be off quite a bit. Another option might be to use he magic wand tool but the grow tool works wonderfully for this purpose.

When you select an area within an object the grow tool makes the selection grow or expand to the areas adjacent that are similar in color. Using the grow tool you don’t need to worry about selecting your object perfectly to the edge. Just select the best you can and let the grow tool expand your selection to the edge of the object.