EtG Vector Marks

[Drake_XIV]

Neither Pixlr or GIMP can open .psd files.

I though gIMP was able to open PSD...

[ddevans96]

Just tried, it isn't.

[RavingRabbid]

Doesn't work even with Paint.NET with the right plugin installed. :\

[Kamietsu]

Well that is problematic. Didn't know Paint.NET had a PSD plugin. I will see what I can do. If nothing else, I'll just remake them with what is available in Paint.NET. It was my first true image editing program so i am still familiar enough with it. Give me a few days to see what I can do.

[shadow303]

Well that is problematic. Didn't know Paint.NET had a PSD plugin. I will see what I can do. If nothing else, I'll just remake them with what is available in Paint.NET. It was my first true image editing program so i am still familiar enough with it. Give me a few days to see what I can do.

First of all, thanks for these great vectors Kamietsu, it's fun and easy to create custom marks with these.. I just created my first custom mark

Spoiler for Hidden:

But why I'm writing in first place:
I just tried with Paint.Net (v3.5.10) with PSD Plugin and opening the file works without problems.
The only strange thing is that there seems to be a layer that hides part of the mark with white blocks when imported.
(It's the layer highlighted in the list in this screenshot.) But I presume that is probably some limitation of the plugin.

Spoiler for Hidden:

[Kamietsu]

Well that is problematic. Didn't know Paint.NET had a PSD plugin. I will see what I can do. If nothing else, I'll just remake them with what is available in Paint.NET. It was my first true image editing program so i am still familiar enough with it. Give me a few days to see what I can do.

First of all, thanks for these great vectors Kamietsu, it's fun and easy to create custom marks with these.. I just created my first custom mark

Spoiler for Hidden:

But why I'm writing in first place:
I just tried with Paint.Net (v3.5.10) with PSD Plugin and opening the file works without problems.
The only strange thing is that there seems to be a layer that hides part of the mark with white blocks when imported.
(It's the layer highlighted in the list in this screenshot.) But I presume that is probably some limitation of the plugin.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Thank you very much for that information. When you hide or delete that layer that is blocking the image, does it still look like the original marks? Or is part of it missing or gone now?

Also, i am having a very difficult time trying to even open up my Elements mark PSDs in paint.NET. It keeps giving me an error. Are there any other plugins you may be using to help with the reading of the PSD file other than just the basic filetype plugin?

As far as I can tell, since Paint.NET doesn't have a pen tool, and all of my marks are using shape and path components(to keep them easily scalable without degradation). But seeing that you are able to open them leaves me at a loss for what the problem could be.

[shadow303]

Thank you very much for that information. When you hide or delete that layer that is blocking the image, does it still look like the original marks? Or is part of it missing or gone now?

Yes, I compared them and the layer with the problem is the first layer in the "Highlight" group, which adds that spotlight-effect in a specific point of the upper-left and lower-right corner. It's the same layer (Shape 7) and problem in all mark psds.

Also, i am having a very difficult time trying to even open up my Elements mark PSDs in paint.NET. It keeps giving me an error. Are there any other plugins you may be using to help with the reading of the PSD file other than just the basic filetype plugin?

No, using nothing special - I disinstalled everything and installed the psd plugin only on a new Paint.Net installation. (Downloaded here: Paint.Net and PSD Plugin; just for reference - those are German versions)

As far as I can tell, since Paint.NET doesn't have a pen tool, and all of my marks are using shape and path components(to keep them easily scalable without degradation). But seeing that you are able to open them leaves me at a loss for what the problem could be.

Not sure how you created that two spotlight? Maybe the plugin does not support that?
Maybe I can do some more tests tomorrow and give some more feedback.

For your error: what does it say exactly?

[Kamietsu]

No, using nothing special - I disinstalled everything and installed the psd plugin only on a new Paint.Net installation. (Downloaded here: Paint.Net and PSD Plugin; just for reference - those are German versions)

Yeah, that's how I went about it, though english version. I can't imagine there is some difference in the language of the program that is causing a problem for me.

Not sure how you created that two spotlight? Maybe the plugin does not support that?
Maybe I can do some more tests tomorrow and give some more feedback.

For your error: what does it say exactly?

I didn't do anything fancy for the spot light effects. They are just a plain white shape with a layer mask. It is no different from the colors on the mark itself. I could try rasterizing those parts, but that defeats the purpose of vectors then.

For the error all it says is "an unspecified error has occurred". Nice and vague. haha.

I am putting up a poll to include a layered version of all the marks(and the make your own mark) that is not vectored or scalable but still completely customizable for custom marks.

[shadow303]

Yeah, that's how I went about it, though english version. I can't imagine there is some difference in the language of the program that is causing a problem for me. I didn't do anything fancy for the spot light effects. They are just a plain white shape with a layer mask. It is no different from the colors on the mark itself. I could try rasterizing those parts, but that defeats the purpose of vectors then.

I would presume if the plugin is able to load all the other shapes there must be something special with that layer.
But I wouldn't rasterize it, as you said, it would compromize the original idea of vector marks.

For the error all it says is "an unspecified error has occurred". Nice and vague. haha.

Haha, yeah that's how you do good and clear error messages

But I anyway was able to reproduce the problem. I downloaded the latest version of the plugin here PSD Plugin and I got the same error ("Ein unbekannter Fehler ist aufgetreten" -> hey.. even though it gives no information.. at least it's localized )
Basically I fould out that previously I had the version of April 2012 (2.1.0) installed and not the version of Nov 2012 (2.2.0) which seems to have this error.

You can get the previous version on the page I linked too, in the list "Other downloads".

If I have the time I may debug Paint.Net with Visual Studio .Net to check what this error is.

I am putting up a poll to include a layered version of all the marks(and the make your own mark) that is not vectored or scalable but still completely customizable for custom marks.

Maybe not a bad idea, so at least everybody can create custom marks, regardless of which graphics program they use.

EDIT:
I debugged the code to find that error - seems the autor of the plugin messed up something with the file decoder algorithms in his checkin of 29 July 2012 where he removed the original RleHelper class and added a RleReader with improved performance, but different reader-algorithm. I tried to replace the method with the original method and it worked, but since this stuff is recursive and works with unsafe pointers I didn't identify the bug itself with a quick look at the code, sorry. In the meanwhile, just don't use the last version of the plugin that should work

[Kamietsu]

Thank you so very much, Shadow. You are like a godsend haha.

Ok, so everyone with Paint.Net go ahead and download the not newest version of the photoshop plugin and it should work!

[shadow303]

Thank you so very much, Shadow. You are like a godsend haha.

Haha.. thanks and no problem, I'm just trying to help where I can

I did a few more tests to find out why that layer that I mentioned doesn't show correctly in Paint.Net, but I guess it's too long to explain here. I'll PN you with a possible workaround that fixes the problem and lets also the layer with the two spotlights show correctly in Paint.Net

[russianspy1234]

How do you make a good looking multicolor gradient?  I made a few marks for the Hybrids project, and basically resorted to layering two of the gradients over each other, rasterizing, and erasing parts.  This does not work well for more complicated things.