Using Photoshop (or Gimp) to "test" van colour schemes

[ghost123uk]

Hi all

Just reading "andythesweeps" post on ideas for contrasting (or not) paint for his van and Hi-Top.

I too am considering "breaking up" the colour of our Hi-Top (Leisuredrive) which is the usual VW white all over except for a rather nice grey stripe (which changes hue depending on viewing angle )

I know it is possible to E D I T suitable pictures with Photoshop or the Free Open Source equivalent called "Gimp" but learning to do this is, I suspect, a bit of a steep curve. I have had a quick look and cannot find a simple "how to", though it does perhaps seem easier in Photoshop using a tool called "color replacer" - except I don't have Photoshop and it certainly ain't free !

iirc, some kind person on here did it to a pic of a classic motorbike a while back.

From



To this



(Nice job eh - the "photochop" as well as the bike !)


So, is there anyone out there that already knows how to do it (pref with Gimp because it is free to all ) ?

A couple of options =
A) = Show us how to do it ourselves.
B) = We post a pic and you do it for us, we then pay a small amount via PayPal either to the "expert" or to a nominated charity.
C) = Just offer to do it for us, because you are super cool nice person

.

[ghost123uk]

OK, just wasted 90 minutes of my life on our Linux box, using Gimp, including lots of "Googling" = "how to swap colors in Gimp" (note = American spelling ) but it ain't easy. My results so far have been poor to say the least and frustratingly the "how to's" are (as is often the case with anything Linux) hard to follow





It's too nice a day for this - off out to feed the water fowl (on lettuce of course NOT bread !) and have a brew etc at Ellesmere

.

[centro]

I recoloured that picture for you in Photoshop. I used the Hue and Saturation option. I adjusted the red colour range and changed it to black. Didn't have to make any time consuming paths or masks. It took no more than 2
Let me know if you want something recolouring.

I've never used Gimp but it seems this option would be a good direction to go in

http://gimp.open-source-solution.org/ma ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[ghost123uk]

Ah, thanks for that (and the help before)

So it seems that "swapping" colours might not be too hard (with practice)

The problem seems to be "outlining" an area to be re-coloured when the whole thing (van in our cases) is one colour

For instance, I will post a pic of our newer van as an example. I was thinking that the area of the roof above the gutter and below the top window, the area that has the shape of the "go faster" strip on the Starsky & Hutch car, would look good in a grey, (same as the grey trim on the vans body) leaving the area above in white.

Harder to write than "imagine"



Here is a crude attempt using simple cut and paste (and the grey is shades too dark ) showing the general idea.



By the way, that grey stripe on the van is trick vinyl that changes "hue" depending on viewing angle and lighting, sometimes appearing pale silver, sometimes almost black

Thought = perhaps I should get some more of it and literally "cut and paste" it onto that roof area

.

[Wychall]

In Gimp, use the color picker (eye drop tool) to 'pick' the existing grey into the color palette. Zoom right in (perhaps 400%) to the area you want and slowly go round selecting it with the lasso tool. Then bucket fill with the 'picked' grey. Laborious but you get there eventually!

[BOXY]

I use Photoshop Elements 4. (Cheap off e-bay) but I think the method in Gimp is the same. Select the magic wand selector. Set the tolerance to 5-10 and click on the area you want to colour. Keep doing this until you've got the whole area selected. You can undo or subtract from the selection if you find the "wand" selects a part of the picture you didn't want. Once you got your selection complete, pick the colour you want, pick the flood fill tool (paint can) and set it to overlay. This should colour the area you want but leave the original shading visible to stop the area being one block of colour.

[ghost123uk]

Thanks for the info and the go at it Boxy

I might have another go when it starts raining It is going to rain because I am about to go out and wash the Van and the Scirocco

Mind you, the "look" you got is making me wonder if my idea was a good one I don't mean your work, I mean my colour scheme. Maybe it needs to be a darker and more silvery grey, like the darker looking bits of the stripe...

[T3 Ben]

here you go

[nevill3]

I thought I might add my simple effort, just embelishing the previous E D I T to add matching silver stripes to the high top. I did these by using the clone stamp in Photoshop.



I also use another free photo editing suite called PAINT.NET....very similar to Gimp but I found it easier to manipulate images, but it still has all the bells and whistles like Photoshop.

[poshbuggers]

Great tutorials here http://www.digimods.co.uk/tutorials/index.htm

A few of mine (done using Paint.Net or Photoshop CS2):

[ghost123uk]

Well big thanks to Boxy, Ben and nevill3 for doing those And to poshbuggers for the heads up re tutorials

Trouble is I am not sure if my idea was so good now after seeing it

What do you reckon folks ?