I ain't been around because Adobe Illustrator CS3 has me in the fetal position on the floor

[graywarrior]

sobbing....THE PEN TOOL. THE FUCKING PEN TOOL IS DRIVING ME MAD!

[graywarrior]

1. Waaah, no one remembers me.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[merh]

20. How can we forget you

:hug:

I wish I could help but I don't have a clue.

I'll send out good vibes and wishes and thoughts and stuff. :pals:

[livetohike]

2. Since I have no clue what you are talking about, you have

my sympathy anyway :hug:. I'm sure you will figure it out :-).

[Auggie]

3. What are you trying to do?

I just upgraded to CS4

[graywarrior]

5. I'm supposed to make a a series of curves all lined with the curves on top

And I'm doing it at home with an ancient version of Photoshop. I want to stick pins in my eyes.

[Auggie]

7. I can't quite visualize the exercise

Sorry I can't help. Illustrator can be a real pain.

[graywarrior]

8. I think I figured it out

Must use shift key.

[Auggie]

9. Those sneaky Adobe programmers n/t

[graywarrior]

10. Bastids.

I'll be up til 3 am slamming my head against the desk.

[ThomCat]

4. I am very sorry.

Learning graphic software can be really maddening and frustrating. I'm sure it's eating up all your time too. :(

I hope you are producing some really good stuff for all this effort. :hug:

How is school going overall? :)

[graywarrior]

6. School is great

I love my writing class.

[kentauros]

11. I remember recommending a book on this program

to you. Did you go looking for it yet? ;)

[graywarrior]

13. I got one from school and I've been using online tutorials which have helped

It's really my skill at manipulating the pen tool. I need to practice and I don't have a MAC and I also don't have the cash right now to by Illustrator for my PC.

[City of Mills]

12. I hate the fucking magnetic lasso

I spend 10 minutes in furious concentration clicking around a person's silhouette, and i'm like 90% done and accidentally double-click or someting, and the tool conveniently finishes the lasso job with a neat straight line back to the point of origin, toally cutting off part of the person. Step back, the selection completely disappears...oh well, start over!!!

[graywarrior]

14. Oh god, I hear your pain.

I'm still struggling with the select tools. What a mind fuck those things are.

[kentauros]

15. That's why I use quickmask

for, well, everything :D Then just invert the selection and it's the same effect. I have better control painting a mask than trying to lasso it.

[graywarrior]

16. Gee, I can't wait to learn that I can't do that either.

LOL.

[kentauros]

18. I only assume that Illustrator can do a quickmask.

But I'm referencing Photoshop. Quickmask is just easier and faster for me, not to mention more accurate, when I need to cut, clear or copy a portion of the image :)

[madinmaryland]

17. You got duct taped by the DUCK'S siblings???

:hi:

[graywarrior]

23. The pen is the most dangerous weapon when it's grasped in the clutches of webbed feet.

[velvet]

19. Sympathy, profound sympathy

I've been using and abusing Photoshop for a few years, and Illustrator for a few months, and I am still skeered of the Pen Tool. I know I'm going to have to come to grips with it (apt phrase) in Illustrator some day as it's an integral tool in vector artwork. But I don't like using it in Photoshop at all, for making selections I'd rather paint a QuickMask with my real-life pen.

It might be easier to practise the Pen Tool in a dedicated vector program rather than in Photoshop. You could try Inkscape, it's free. http://www.inkscape.org/ Inkscape has a pen tool, only they call it the Bezier Tool.

[graywarrior]

24. Oouu, thank you!

I figured out today to make an arch, you click, shift key, drag up, release, then click, shift key, drag down, release. That took me two days because my instructor neglected to tell us....lol.

[Skittles]

21. payback for duck abuse, my sweet

SUCK IT UP

[graywarrior]

25. Is it SUCK IT UP or SUCK IT IN????

[kedrys]

22. The pen tool is your friend

Just a slightly fickle one, but still.

The start-stop curves can be a pain.

:hug:

[graywarrior]

26. I finally got it today!!!!!!!

I feel like I won the lottery!

:toast:

[kedrys]

32. I knew you could do it!

:toast: If my students survived that exercise, they pretty much sailed through the rest of the class. :)

Have fun! :)

[mopinko]

27. you wouldn't be the first to die.

i don't touch that son of a bitch, in spite of a 4 hour class of nothing but the pen tool.

[graywarrior]

29. It makes me want to do meth

and then shoot myself in an alley.

[crispini]

28. Hope you have a tablet

I love mine!

[graywarrior]

30. Yes, but I'd need to install it on a MAC as school and I don't think they'd let me to that.

[ChickMagic]

31. It's been known to have that effect

I'm struggling with it too, and it's part of my job!

[DarkTirade]

33. Ah, I developed a bit of a love/hate relationship with Illustrator.

I tried to find a free alternative, someone recommended a program to me called Inkscape. They said it was to Illustrator what GIMP is to Photoshop.

... I couldn't get the damn thing to do half of what I wanted and I ended up going back to Illustrator. :P