Help me Oh-bd-ker-wobi. You're my only hope :(

[Pheebs]

Once again... my greeting cards.

I am on the verge of bursting into tears here guys :(

The pootas spec (which I am using to do the cards on):

Graphics Card: ATI 9600
Processor: AMD Athlon
Speed of Processor: 1.25 Ghz (is that the 2600?)
Ram: 1gig


For some stupid reason it is running quite slow (as in *click*..*pause*..*open*). I'm now using Photoshop CS2 to do my drawings in as PSP makes the lines wibberly and is... well... a bit poopy.

I've been trying to draw at 300dpi, but my hand isn't steady enough to do an even line. Not only that, but using my sketch pad (which is an old AIPTEK serial connecting sketch pad) and with the slow jerkiness of the poota I cannot for the life of me get a smooth line. At all.

It's really grating on me now. I have spent ALL day (and I mean ALL day) on trying to redraw my pictures and I haven't got one I am happy with now. I really don't have a clue what to do. If the poota ran smoother... it would be fine I'm sure. But I don't know what's causing the jerkiness. I think I just need to replace the hunk of metal and my sketch pad for something which is able to cope with my drawings.

I've wasted a whole day and I am now really upset and tired. I have no money (this is the whole reason I am doing greeting cards - to make money) and there seems to be no answer available to me without spending loads of it.

*completely heart broken*

Please help :(

Wub a very sad peebee.

[Mark]

Firstly, a question - Did you do the originals as a bitmap layer or a vector layer in PSP? If you have a vector layer you could try a resize as it should keep everything in the right place.

CS2 is unfortunately much more demanding on systems than PSP is (particularly older versions of PSP), and drawing at 300dpi is going to use stacks of memory.

If you can use a vector layer, draw at a lower dpi and then resize, that might get the results you want. It won't give you quite the detail level you'd get from drawing directly at 300dpi, but my guess is you probably don't need that anyway.

[Pheebs]

awww Peebee, I'm sorry i can't help, but have a big snuggly hug anyway. You need to have a warm bath and a session to chill out ;)
*snuggles*

*feels snuggly*

I'm supposed to be going out to the pub quiz tonight. I feel so angry and upset though, my innards are quivering.

A whole day. Wasted. I hate... absolutely HATE... wasting days. I also hate being completely poor as.

*KICKS COMPUTER in the NADS*

*goes off to find nerdy magazine with win-a-poota-competition*

[Pheebs]

Firstly, a question - Did you do the originals as a bitmap layer or a vector layer in PSP? If you have a vector layer you could try a resize as it should keep everything in the right place.

CS2 is unfortunately much more demanding on systems than PSP is (particularly older versions of PSP), and drawing at 300dpi is going to use stacks of memory.

If you can use a vector layer, draw at a lower dpi and then resize, that might get the results you want. It won't give you quite the detail level you'd get from drawing directly at 300dpi, but my guess is you probably don't need that anyway.

Erm. I saved them as PSP's. But the resolution was SUPER poopy when I drew them... meaning I canny resize/reuse them.

Des and Kitten have said that 250dpi - 300dpi is best. At both... it's still create a slight uneven draw. (from where it gets delayed, it draws a bit of a straight edge then jerks up and round again)

[Pheebs]

You know. Next time I need to poop I'm gonna poop riiiight on top of the computer.

[Mark]

OK - it depends a lot on what version of PSP you have.

Newer versions (9 or above certainly - 8 maybe - 7 I don't think so), support 'vector' mode. That is, they store the actual lines you draw not the pixels that make up the lines. If you have the option to use that mode, then do - it'll generally give you far better results.

Vector mode also has the benefit that you can resize without having the problems you generally get with resizing bitmaps (blurry or jagged edges).

[Dymetrie]

After the exhaustive session this evening before you went out I'm gonna have a sleep and see if I can figure out your PC problems.

Not promising anything mind :p

[Mark]

Good on you - if I was more 'with it' this weekend I'd have been about to help out as well as this is something I at least dabble in (and have *cough* evaluated *cough* CS2 at least once). I even own an SFF system as well. :)

I expect I'll be more active tomorrow, but my CB activity level (low as it already was) is likely to go down some from here on. :(

[Pheebs]

I think. We're gonna have to spend out from our savings (not that there's much left now :( ) We do need a media computer and if I am going to take this seriously, then I want to use something that will enhance my work.

Poopy pants. Any ideas of other, cheaper options, then please poke me. Oh and anyone with a large foot, please feel free to kick my poota IN THE PHACE.

Hehehe. GRRry me! :D

Big thank you for the help at the moment though - dym - you managed to make me relax and chill out earlier which was what I was in need of majorly! :) *hugs*

[Mark]

Credit where credit is due - Dym is good at that. :)

As for buying a new PC, how often are you going to be doing this sort of thing? If the answer is lots, then maybe something newer isn't a bad idea. If not much, then looking at alternatives (like Illustrator) might be a better option.

[Pheebs]

I will be doing it lots. And I do want it to be very professional. Not close to or nearly as good as buuuuuut on par and better than that in the shops already.

I've given permission for picky to spend money on a new media computer. Think he will be looking for advice what to go for.

Afterall, you gotta spend money to make money.

*watches money drift away for the mean time* :)

Oh yes - and the thank you was to everyone! I just wanted to thank dym for his help as well as massively for making me come back down to earth (and saving me pooping on the poota) :)

[Mark]

(and saving me pooping on the poota) :)
I have a poota or two you can can poop on if you like. :p :)

[LeperousDust]

Surely some cheap ass Members Market second hand stuff to max out that motherboard processor and ram wise as well as a new *clean* install of windows would do fine? How did people get along in the past? When computers as dual cored as todays are weren't around? 300dpi isn't *that* taxing surely?

Depending on the mobo, (i assume) it can take ye olde athlon 3200+ (400mhz fsb) bang 2gb of 400mhz ram in that machine and you should be pretty much on the way. Even if you threw away your current processor and ram, and just bought new (second hand stuff) its not gonna cost much more than what £120ish? Then you could sell (albeit for buttons) your old processor and mem on the MM. Pick up £30-60 something like that iunno? And if you really need to (but i highly doubt) grab a new graphics card, 9800pro.

//Edit and after a little searching, this (http://forums.ove*************.uk/showthread.php?t=17704137&highlight=full+system) isnt bad but probably already sold...

Im sure the main thing is just a clean decent copy of XP though?

If you want to save money i'd look into that first. Or if you want a whole new PC still look on the MM, for just the base, for instance *here* (http://forums.ove*************.uk/showthread.php?t=17725628) but thats a gaming monster (ie expensive graphics) that you dont really need, but much cheaper than whats out on the market...