Extremely new Photoshop user requests patience and information. :-)
I am brand new at Photoshop, and have been reading a while. I have a potentially really stupid question:
I have Photoshop 7 and it is an OEM version so I don't have a manual. On the CD-rom there is a folder called "goodies" with various stuff in it. For example, one subfolder is called "Textures for Lighting Effects" and is full of .psd files. There are no instructions on what to do with them or how to install them.
Inside the "optional plug-ins" folder there are more subfolders, many with .8bf or .8bi files. I don't know what to do with these either. And lastly, I have a "swatches" folder with .aco files in it.
Can anyone tell me what to do with these things?
Second question:
I have looked online for some tutorials (for weeks now) that make sense to someone who has NO CLUE what the hell this program is about. Most of them assume some level of understanding that seems to fall between "description of function" and "application of function in new ways based on familiarity." I need tutorials that describe how to GET familiar with the basic functions and how they interact. When is a new level necessary? How do you do basic things like add a background to a transparent gif? Stuff like that.
I don't seem to have the requisite instincts required to feel my way through the program and "play" with it to learn things. I'd be thrilled if anyone could even give me an idea how to go about doing *that*. It actually took me quite a while just to find the paint bucket, which was the one tool I ever really used before (years back in like Photoshop 5).
One final thing, which just occurred to me....
Can anyone tell me how I get the "Text box" to come up? When I add text (the one thing I seem to be able to do other than crop and resize) it goes directly onto the icon and not in any sort of text box first.
Thanks, and apologies for being astoundingly ignorant.
I have Photoshop 7 and it is an OEM version so I don't have a manual. On the CD-rom there is a folder called "goodies" with various stuff in it. For example, one subfolder is called "Textures for Lighting Effects" and is full of .psd files. There are no instructions on what to do with them or how to install them.
Inside the "optional plug-ins" folder there are more subfolders, many with .8bf or .8bi files. I don't know what to do with these either. And lastly, I have a "swatches" folder with .aco files in it.
Can anyone tell me what to do with these things?
Second question:
I have looked online for some tutorials (for weeks now) that make sense to someone who has NO CLUE what the hell this program is about. Most of them assume some level of understanding that seems to fall between "description of function" and "application of function in new ways based on familiarity." I need tutorials that describe how to GET familiar with the basic functions and how they interact. When is a new level necessary? How do you do basic things like add a background to a transparent gif? Stuff like that.
I don't seem to have the requisite instincts required to feel my way through the program and "play" with it to learn things. I'd be thrilled if anyone could even give me an idea how to go about doing *that*. It actually took me quite a while just to find the paint bucket, which was the one tool I ever really used before (years back in like Photoshop 5).
One final thing, which just occurred to me....
Can anyone tell me how I get the "Text box" to come up? When I add text (the one thing I seem to be able to do other than crop and resize) it goes directly onto the icon and not in any sort of text box first.
Thanks, and apologies for being astoundingly ignorant.