BioDigital plans to develop the virtual cadaver further on its new medical education Web site, biodigitalhuman.com, with the aim of providing a searchable, customizable map of the human body. Right now, Mr. Qualter said, the site is available only in a beta version. But in the coming months, the company plans to offer its code to, say, health Web sites that want to embed images of the respiratory system, or to doctors who want to show animations of prostate cancer surgery to patients.

Here's the site mentioned in the article: http://www.biodigitalhuman.com/

Stecyk wrote:
In this thread, there were mentions of the human anatomy.

You might be interested in this ...

Wow cool find
Thanks for sharing.

nebulaoperator wrote:
Why I chosen 50% grey and blur? because I want to to make smoother transition in the gradient.

Blurring a d&b mask to improve the transitions is really only a fix for a bad mask and it wont actually improve the transitions within the gradient, but the edges of the adjustment itself. I carve in a very different way to this and I'd like to explain why. The method I'm about to describe is personal to me and you may prefer the alternative - first unifying the low frequency texture, clearing up the transitions, then do the actual carving work, but I seem to end up with more realistic and more polished looking results from doing my gradient cleaning and texture unifying in a way that does the preliminary carving. I would never dodge a large chunk along the highlight because unless you've unified the texture/gradient first you're bound to brighten some areas that were already too light. Instead if I wanted similar results to brightening a large strip of a highlight along a cheekbone, I'd use a small brush and just brighten the darker spots of the highlight until the cheekbone starts to come out while the gradient is being simplified. Using this method, you are carving by only d&b the stuff that needs fixing. This wont give you super dramatic results, so you'll still need to make a second dual curve group where you carve in the more standard way.

The rest of thist post was the copy/pasted bit. The original post was actually about d&b in general including texture, so I've just copied and pasted the relevant stuff and skipped the basics I'm sure you guys all know.

- - -


So let's take a look at an example of a cheekbone/jaw area. You should be able to see light and dark grunge. All you need to do is darken the light spots and lighten the dark spots, right? Well... kind of. It's not quite that simple. There's one final aspect to dodge and burn that I haven't been that clear on until now.

[Link]
You need to have an overall idea of the form you're going for. This will guide whether you dodge the dark spot or burn all the light skin around the dark spot. It's not always in the best interest of the image to just dodge a dark spot. This is difficult to explain in text, so hopefully the image makes it more clear. See in the first image you can clearly see the grunge. In the second image I've painted an overlay of the mental d&b "guide" I'll be using. Any dark spots that fall under the area that I've decided as brighter areas will be dodged, while any light spots that fall under a shadow area will be burned. (I normally don't paint this guide, it's just in my head) I'll keep that in mind and try to make the transitions between the highlights and the shadows as smooth as possible. If you just go in and start dodging and burning without deciding on the form ahead of time, you'll end up with clean and yet not appealing results. The secret is to keep your eye on the transitions. Zoom out to 50% very frequently to see the big picture. I like to make a duplicate window that I keep zoomed out to 50% or 25%. Don't get caught up working on a small zone. Zigzag around the image using d&b on only the grunge that interrupts the transition the most. Transitions transitions transitions!


Here's my take on repairing texture, simplifying gradients, and carving all in one step. If you look closely you should be able to see that although I darkened the area under the cheekbone I didn't actually darken the areas that were already dark. Same goes for dodging highlights. I didn't actually just brighten the whole thing, but very selectively. Maybe towards the end I lightly brightened larger zones, but for the most part I didn't. Now I'd still go back in for some standard carving, but so much of the work is already done. I'd do some more carving and local d&b, but I'd be concentrating on pulling the entire value distribution together. Are certain shadows too light or too dark in a way that distracts from the composition? My final carving would be done almost in an 'Ansel Adams zone system' kind of awareness while earlier my carving was done with a gradient repairing, form enhancing awareness.   

This is also an image I used my method where for the dodge curve I lighten the shadow point slightly and for the burn I darken the highlight point slightly, which imo makes the saturation look better in the end. Now I know the saturation/hue of the areas I dodge and burned is far from perfect and would need a little bit of correction, but it needs much less correction than had I not messed with the end points.

Here's a composite of the d&b masks just so you can see the amount of work that goes into this technique. If you run out of "power" on a curve adjustment layer (meaning you push the mask all the way to 100% white and still need to d&b more), then just create more curve adjustment layers and continue your d&b. This composite was three dodge masks and three burn masks.

More about dodge and burn contributed from Natalia Taffarel here.

Video tutorial with annoying compression artifacting and my very non-sexy raspy voice
Part 1: Part 1
Part 2: Part 2
I accidentally dodged away part of her eyebrow - don't do that

Ronald Nyein Zaw Tan wrote:
Great definition, Michael.


I feel we got to a point where there is a lot of talk, but barely action: an actual carving practice.

Should I whip out some of my practice files for everyone to follow along? Or shall we use our own images and practice on our own files?

I think if you would be generous to share one of your files for this exercise it would be amazing for people learning. I am also interested to see the different way people manipulate form in the same image.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
You need to have an overall idea of the form you're going for. This will guide whether you dodge the dark spot or burn all the light skin around the dark spot.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
...I'll keep that in mind and try to make the transitions between the highlights and the shadows as smooth as possible. If you just go in and start dodging and burning without deciding on the form ahead of time, you'll end up with clean and yet not appealing results.

Have never thought ahead of time when D&B. Never got me into any trouble.
Just following the natural curves and flow of the shadows and highlights. If it's interrupted by a brighter or darker spot, I'll fix it. There's not thinking there

I do think about an image before I start of course, but that's more in terms of, what does it need, what colors and style am I going for etc.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
The secret is to keep your eye on the transitions. Zoom out to 50% occasionally to see the big picture. Don't get caught up working on a small zone. Zigzag around the image using d&b on only the grunge that interrupts the transition the most. Transitions transitions transitions!

I have never heard of anyone that just zoomed in 300% and worked his/her way around without knowing/checking what he or she is doing to the bigger picture.
It's good advice, but isn't this being a bit obvious?

I do jump around the areas all the time. Or zig zag as you describe it. Doing this will ensure you won't get too focussed on one spot and an added bonus of doing this is that it will make your peripheral vision pick up on those transitions you didn't see before.

Another "trick" instead of zig-zagging is to press spacebar (Hand Tool), grap you image and give it a little shake. If something stands out. You fix it

Lanenga wrote:
Have never thought ahead of time when D&B. Never got me into any trouble.
Just following the natural curves and flow of the shadows and highlights. If it's interrupted by a brighter or darker spot, I'll fix it. There's not thinking there

I do think about an image before I start of course, but that's more in terms of, what does it need, what colors and style am I going for etc.

You follow the natural curve and flow of the shadows and highlights. That's thinking. I was talking about someone who just sees a dark spot, dodges it, regardless of whether or not the best option was burning all the lightness around the dark spot. While they might unify the texture, they'll have to go back and do contouring to make problems they might have caused while the person who thought about the carving during the texture-unifying process will create extra time they could spend improving the image further.

Lanenga wrote:
I have never heard of anyone that just zoomed in 300% and worked his/her way around without knowing/checking what he or she is doing to the bigger picture.
It's good advice, but isn't this being a bit obvious?

I noticed you've made comments like this before. Have you ever heard the expression "a thief thinks everyone steals"? Just because you find something obvious doesn't means everyone will. There are so many different ways that people intake information. The person who was retouching mainly at 100% or print size may not realize how vitally important it is to check an smaller zoom frequently, how it let's your brain simplify that tonal information and spot inconsistencies, but he may find other things extremely obvious that you might not have picked up on. Next time when you read something that you think is obvious, remember that there are other non-Lanegas out there that might need that info.

Lanenga wrote:
Another way/trick to get this result is to press spacebar (Hand Tool), grap you image and give it a little shake. If something stands out. You fix it

Haven't heard that trick before, neat. Flipping the image horizontally is my all time favorite for spotting mistakes.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
The post that made me realize it hasn't really been discussed yet was from NebulaOperator:

Blurring a d&b mask to improve the transitions is really only a fix for a bad mask and it wont actually improve the transitions within the gradient, but the edges of the adjustment itself. I carve in a very different way to this and I'd like to explain why. The method I'm about to describe is personal to me and you may prefer the alternative - first unifying the low frequency texture, clearing up the transitions, then do the actual carving work, but I seem to end up with more realistic and more polished looking results from doing my gradient cleaning and texture unifying in a way that does the preliminary carving. I would never dodge a large chunk along the highlight because unless you've unified the texture/gradient first you're bound to brighten some areas that were already too light. Instead if I wanted similar results to brightening a large strip of a highlight along a cheekbone, I'd use a small brush and just brighten the darker spots of the highlight until the cheekbone starts to come out while the gradient is being simplified. Using this method, you are carving by only d&b the stuff that needs fixing. This wont give you super dramatic results, so you'll still need to make a second dual curve group where you carve in the more standard way.

Thanks,
This should help to tackle my weakness in D&B and carving.
   First I am a bit confused when you call 50% grey layer a mask.  But I think I a way you can call it cos dual layer and 50% grey you can blur both.
   I took a look at my sample again again and where I put a chunk of highlight on the cheekbone highlight it killed it in away I lost my highlight there. Everything became highlight.I kinda ,,smudged,, the transition if you know what I mean.While burning this way i still ended up with darker spots even darker.Though I reshaped the cheek bone after all it wasn't my best attempt or application of technique. I have to be very careful in the future If I want to use this technique at all.. And wall of this without being defensive.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
CARVING   [kahr-ving]
verb
1.
the act of manipulating the shapes of the highlights and shadows or adding/removing highlights and shadows in an image using dodge & burn in a way that deliberately changes the form/enhances the composition
2.
the act of using dodge & burn to manipulate or simplify the gradients/transitions of an image

Dodging existing highlights and burning existing shadows is NOT considered carving. GENERALLY carving is done with painting black or white on a soft white layer or with the dual curves method (one curve to brighten, one to darken, both masked out then painted back locally), not the actual dodge and burn tools.

I understand the relation ship between D&B and Carving : It is set of tolls in this case D&B used for the procedure called D&B and then it can be used for carving. With your explanation of  carving you draw a clear line between two.
Talking about your sample you have a very neat transitions but overall perfection somehow is not very natural to my eye. Sorry to say that. Nevertheless it served as a very good visual material to understand the subject.
So do you ever these days us,,blur mask,, thing?
Thank you again.

Edit: And I don't think you spoon-feeding.You are rather like an open source for people wanting to learn.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
You follow the natural curve and flow of the shadows and highlights. That's thinking.

Okay, arguable it is...

- Unconscious Incompetence
The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage.[2] The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.[3]

- Conscious Incompetence
Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.[4]

- Conscious Competence
The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.[3]

- Unconscious Competence
The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.
(source: Wikipedia)

Now you may say yes, while learning you have to think about what you're doing.

But as you progress and you've seen many different faces you will get familiar with the features. This will result in you eventually not having to think about where curves should go or be. This will allow for just starting on an image and not having to THINK ahead of time every time.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
I noticed you've made comments like this before. Have you ever heard the expression "a thief thinks everyone steals"? Just because you find something obvious doesn't means everyone will. There are so many different ways that people intake information. The person who was retouching mainly at 100% or print size may not realize how vitally important it is to check an smaller zoom frequently, how it let's your brain simplify that tonal information and spot inconsistencies, but he may find other things extremely obvious that you might not have picked up on. Next time when you read something that you think is obvious, remember that there are other non-Lanegas out there that might need that info.

This has nothing to do with my personal workflow and/or the fact that I might have read your text wrong. This has to do with the fact that I think people who get into retouching(and people in general) are smarter than just to attack a spot without keeping an eye on the overal image. For the same reason I don't expect you to talk about head to screen distance, chair distance and tablet positions. I think everyone will figure out what works well for them. And if someone keeps making the mistake of being to focussed on 300% or 100%, they will figure this out sooner or later. I won't be surprised if there is someone out there, who has no problem to visualize the bigger picture while being zoomed in.

That said, I do appreciate your write ups and sharing of information and knowledge and as you've noticed I kept my eye on this thread. But I don't believe in spoon-feeding individuals who are interested in learning a new skill.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
Haven't heard that trick before, neat. Flipping the image horizontally is my all time favorite for spotting mistakes.

Since CS4 (with OpenGL acc. enabled) you can also just flick the image back and forth a bit.

Keep as relaxed as possible while retouching.  Taking short but frequent breaks refreshes the overall view. Moving and zooming in/out frequently helps avoid square-eyes. While retouching skin at 100% or 200%, try pressing the Space Bar, giving the image a 'shake'. This helps draw attention to any remaining irregularities and it refreshes the view of the image.

I suspect those like Garness who teach students have seen students stumble before.

Lanenga wrote:
- Unconscious Incompetence
The individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit. They may deny the usefulness of the skill. The individual must recognize their own incompetence, and the value of the new skill, before moving on to the next stage.[2] The length of time an individual spends in this stage depends on the strength of the stimulus to learn.[3]

- Conscious Incompetence
Though the individual does not understand or know how to do something, he or she does recognize the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. The making of mistakes can be integral to the learning process at this stage.[4]

- Conscious Competence
The individual understands or knows how to do something. However, demonstrating the skill or knowledge requires concentration. It may be broken down into steps, and there is heavy conscious involvement in executing the new skill.[3]

- Unconscious Competence
The individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and can be performed easily. As a result, the skill can be performed while executing another task. The individual may be able to teach it to others, depending upon how and when it was learned.
(source: Wikipedia)

+1

Learning is not a spectator sport. Best way to learn is... learn new thing try new thing, and repeat the try-new-thing process until you reach Unconscious Competence. Than start the process all over again mastering the new skill. The same off course goes for D&B, or variation of it refereed here as Carving. Repetition is for developing subconscious skill, being creative is for developing conscious skill. You become creative by observation and you make good use of it by practice.

D&B principle is very simple, you dodge an area to make it lighter and you burn an area to make it darker, therefore influencing the perception of shape and dimension that one might have observing the image. Once you master this basic principle trough repetition, the next step is to apply it creatively, and as many have gone about explaining in this now mature thread is to get the inspiration for more creative use by observing works of others, even going so deep to work on understanding human anatomy. Than you repeat that enough times and it becomes second nature. That is the whole concept of learning and a lot of resources is provided in this thread on how to approach the learning of specific techniques themselves. On top of that I have recorded the entire DVD on it so I won't go into details here, I just focused on conceptual learning. My 0.02 cents.

Lanenga wrote:
That said, I do appreciate your write ups and sharing of information and knowledge and as you've noticed I kept my eye on this thread. But I don't believe in spoon-feeding individuals who are interested in learning a new skill.

The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. You cannot teach everybody here carving, but hopefully you can make them think. Besides; A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. Be an inspiration, not a benchmark.

Stecyk wrote:
"Keep as relaxed as possible while retouching.  Taking short but frequent breaks refreshes the overall view. Moving and zooming in/out frequently helps avoid square-eyes. While retouching skin at 100% or 200%, try pressing the Space Bar, giving the image a 'shake'. This helps draw attention to any remaining irregularities and it refreshes the view of the image." - Garness

Haha I had no idea Garness did the shake thing too! I have never seen her dvd's or read her books, but am glad I am not the only weirdo shaking his/her images

Stecyk wrote:
I suspect those like Garness who teach students have seen students stumble before.

Of course there should be zooming in and out, but I am a believer of the stumbling.
Stumbling upon something makes you realize that what you're doing is not getting you the desired result and it encourages you to improvise and/or think about the why and how.

It is for this lack of stumbling that so many out there are still filling their Soft Light layers with 50% grey and telling others that that's how it's done. It's not. It's an option. And if you had stumbled more and tried and experimented more, you would've realized the why and how and not just blindly copied.



This is why I may come across as a smart-ass.
I am a big fan of teaching and sharing, but not of presenting personal preferences like "50% zoom" or "filling 50% grey" as a fact. But if you tried something, stumbled upon something, tried something else and still did not get the desired result, I am more than happy to point you in the right direction. Just not going to hold your hand.

Lanenga wrote:
That said, I do appreciate your write ups and sharing of information and knowledge and as you've noticed I kept my eye on this thread. But I don't believe in spoon-feeding individuals who are interested in learning a new skill.

Krunoslav-Stifter wrote:
The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery. You cannot teach everybody here carving, but hopefully you can make them think. Besides; A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. Be an inspiration, not a benchmark.

Krunoslav-Stifter wrote:
Learning is not a spectator sport. Best way to learn is... learn new thing try new thing, and repeat the try-new-thing process until you reach Unconscious Competence. Than start the process all over again mastering the new skill. The same off course goes for D&B, or variation of it refereed here as Carving. Repetition is for developing subconscious skill, being creative is for developing conscious skill. You become creative by observation and you make good use of it by practice.

It's interesting you mention sports. Canada usually doesn't do well in the Olympics. For a long time, Canadians explained to themselves that they were a small country, insofar as population, thus shouldn't expect to earn a lot of medals. Then, came the Vancouver Olympics. Canadians embraced a program called Own the Podium and Canada suddenly skyrocketed in its medal count. What was the difference?

The difference was funding that allowed the Canadian athletes to hire better coaches and trainers and therapists and other associated personel as well as get better facilities. Even though these athletes are highly motivated and trying their best at all times, it's amazing what others can do to help athletes progress farther, higher, and faster than ever before.

The Canadian experience isn't unique. All you need do is look at Australia's Summer Olympics. Again, they poured more money into getting better resources.

Similarly when Michael points out a few extra steps, it's amazing the difference it makes to some others. And for those that already know this information, they can quickly skip over it.

Regarding the Unconscious Competence, I always cringe when I see drivers barreling down the highway at horrific speeds talking or texting on their phones.

I always enjoy your assistance Krunoslav-Stifter. You one of those kind persons who is willing to help others. So this comment is just food for thought.

Ronald Nyein Zaw Tan wrote:
I am also a strong proponent of allowing people to find their own solution...it takes a little longer than being spoon-fed; however the rewards and exuberance far exceeds a generic recipe. "I caught a fish that I am going to fry for tonight" versus "I learnt how to fish and I could eat fish for the rest of my life."

Redacted: I like the "Socratic Method" of teaching, engaging in critical thinking while formulating hypotheses and ideas.



I digress.


Indeed this thread has been an informative read for me. I took town several of my images MM images as well as redacting master files in my archive as far as 2007 just to reflect and exercise tips and tricks gleaned here.

I'm sure I speak for everyone, when I say we appreciate it. I was a bit skeptical at first but I'm glad to be wrong.

Stecyk wrote:
The difference was funding that allowed the Canadian athletes to hire better coaches and trainers and therapists and other associated personel as well as get better facilities. Even though these athletes are highly motivated and trying their best at all times, it's amazing what others can do to help athletes progress farther, higher, and faster than ever before.

The Canadian experience isn't unique. All you need do is look at Australia's Summer Olympics. Again, they poured more money into getting better resources.

[off-topic rambling]
Haha, either this is not a good example or you should be giving MP and Tan something in return. Apparently those helpers around the athletes didn't help out until they got paid

Stecyk wrote:
Regarding the Unconscious Competence, I always cringe when I see drivers barreling down the highway at horrific speeds talking or texting on their phones.

There's a difference between being competent at something and being a hazard to others. But their is probably a bigger chance the competent driver will pull the texting and driving off than a non competent one. Still, don't text and drive! Don't mind if you kill yourself but don't endanger others.

[end of off-topic rambling]

Stecyk wrote:
It's interesting you mention sports. Canada usually doesn't do well in the Olympics. For a long time, Canadians explained to themselves that they were a small country, insofar as population, thus shouldn't expect to earn a lot of medals. Then, came the Vancouver Olympics. Canadians embraced a program called [url=http://ownthepodium.org/]Own the Podium[/i] and Canada suddenly skyrocketed in its medal count. What was the difference?

The difference was funding that allowed the Canadian athletes to hire better coaches and trainers and therapists and other associated personnel as well as get better facilities. Even though these athletes are highly motivated and trying their best at all times, it's amazing what others can do to help athletes progress farther, higher, and faster than ever before.

The Canadian experience isn't unique. All you need do is look at Australia's Summer Olympics. Again, they poured more money into getting better resources.

Similarly when Michael points out a few extra steps, it's amazing the difference it makes to some others. And for those that already know this information, they can quickly skip over it.

This might be off topic but since you mention it.... I follow the sport of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) very closely and being the fastest growing and quickest evolving sport on the planet right now, especially in the Americas you can see this phenomena that you described very often. As a sport it has originated in the US and quickly spread to other countries, by the premier organization UFC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufc

It used to be enough to know only one skill of fighting, but it has now evolved where virtually every fighter posses multiple skills. And when that become a norm now it has come don't to training camps to make the difference. And in particular the Canadian Welterweight champ GSP (Georges St-Pierre) and one of the best fighters on the planet is using so called decentralized training methods. The idea is that he surrounds himself with the best training partners, sparing partners and coaches for every discipline and to raise the bar he also frequently visits various camps around the country and internationally to get new flow of information and get the knowledge he needs as well as get out of the comfort zone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJe0nsJut-8

This is extreme level of commitment and competition of the highest caliber in the world, both physically and mentally and to stay on top he has to approach it from that angle. The same is true for any life endevour you want o be good at, especially if you have Olympian aspirations.

There were some recent problems with Russian fighters who believed that by tradition you stay with only one head coach and the same training camp all the time. The result was that naturally Russian fighters started to fall behind as the sport training methods and competition form overseas grew. Same is true for Japanese and other Asian fighters. The three countries that dominate the sport are all in the Americas. USA, Brazil and Canada. The reason is simply the more open minded approach to sports science and it's application in preparation for competition. It's not that Americas have better generics, it's simply approach to learning. Brains overpower brawn every time.

In retouching the same applies. The more resources and people who are better then you associate the more likely you will raise your level of skill especially if you a devoted to the learning process. Learn for three months one set of skills, master it and try something completely new. Repeat the process and keep at it until you reach plateau than find new challenge.

Here is another example of the same principle.

P90X includes 12 sweat-inducing, muscle-pumping workouts, designed to transform your body from regular to ripped in just 90 days. The secret is an advanced training technique called Muscle Confusion, which accelerates your results by constantly introducing new moves and routines so your body never plateaus.

What is Muscle Confusion? - P90X Philosophy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eneUuLfco18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo8Hi2S0MhM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9HBc_v7 … re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyuvujYB … re=related

Weather you confuse you muscles or your mind the result is the same.
Challenge = Adaptation = Change = Progress (growth).

Stecyk wrote:
Regarding the Unconscious Competence, I always cringe when I see drivers barreling down the highway at horrific speeds talking or texting on their phones.

Me to, but that can be contributed to the irresponsibility of the individual. You compensate by buying a handsfree set for the phone. Taht way you get to show of your Unconscious Competence while displaying safe driving skills.

Stecyk wrote:
I always enjoy your assistance Krunoslav-Stifter. You one of those kind persons who is willing to help others. So this comment is just food for thought.

Thank you. Always glad to help. I believe that in this day and age of information overload if you don't share you are left behind. Simple as that. Quality of information has surpass the quantity of information. If you offer information of value that is worth talking about people will share benefiting you in the precess as well. It's a win-win situation.

Michael C Pearson wrote:
Okay I found a good image for carving practice that you can get for free on

Ok I don't have the software or know-how to make those fancy rollover images so I've posted the before and after so you can view them in separate tabs and switch between the two. EDIT: I now know how to!

Based on MP's advice, I tried to burn more than normal but I still think I under-burnt but was hesitant to burn for the sake of it because I didn't think it looked too bad.

I didn't address any fine detail as you can see...just larger scale carving.  It was interesting seeing the slight desaturation that occurred after only carving.  I'm not sure if it will show up on the web but it does on my monitor.

Lanenga wrote:
If you have Photoshop Extended you can use that for making animated gif's.

Ronald Nyein Zaw Tan wrote:
Is it as easy as the nifty generator I found? :-)

Yes.
No need to visit a site. Upload 2 shots. Download 1 gif. Upload gif again.

Just layer, layer, click click save , upload

besides... what happens to the shots you upload? you get a gif back, but are they storing the images? Selling them? etc.

Lanenga wrote:

Yes.
No need to visit a site. Upload 2 shots. Download 1 gif. Upload gif again.

Just layer, layer, click click save , upload

besides... what happens to the shots you upload? you get a gif back, but are they storing the images? Selling them? etc.

Ronald Nyein Zaw Tan wrote:
@Sterling

Please upload the carving layer, remember, the MAX WIDTH prior to forum deformation is 640 px.

width is 599:

Lanenga wrote:
If you have Photoshop Extended you can use that for making animated gif's.

I do and am searching on Google for the right tutorial...

SterlingHein wrote:
I do and am searching on Google for the right tutorial...

Create 2 layers (make sure not of them are locked).
1 with the before
1 with the after

Open animation palette. Window > Animation
Both layers will show up on the timeline.

Drag corresponding timeline to start later than the other.

Optionally change overall durration by draggin main timeline.

File > Save for web

Change to GIF

Bottom right corner turn looping on.

Save

nebulaoperator wrote:
...
following  Stecyk  and Lanenga animate gif conversion tips I made it but! if we want   to make sure that no website will ever use them in any way  how do we get gif file on here  without using external service ( link )?

Get yourself a proper hosting provider

Kidding, just make sure you find yourself a reliable image hoster. You can never stop people from stealing your work, but you also don't have to make it easier for them.

Lanenga wrote:
Get yourself a proper hosting provider

...Sigh...

nebulaoperator wrote:

...Sigh...

Ronald Nyein Zaw Tan wrote:
Why the sigh Tomas? You could have your own and proper (might I add) a retoucher's portfolio. Since you're paying for hosting, you could have a "temp" directory where you could upload your images. You could even have a password-protected directory for client files.

I have one at smugmug but still haven't work out if I can do it there.In fact I have tried to upload gif yesterday but somehow it would not display it as gif. Not sure why.
I know what Carlos meant. blink