Short question; am I better off making my stretchable borders in 4 layers, or 1 while working on my PSD? 

The whole stretching thing kind of eludes my understanding so far.  I mean, when I looked at my stretchable PNGs imported in SKS, the center 1/3 of each piece stretched vertically, but not the outer 1/3 on either side of it.  I'm sure there must be a way to adjust that, but I haven't found it.

peace,

Mally

RedneckDude;

Wow, I get to answer a question for a change!  It's not too new, but Stardock Office Desktop (the pro version you often find reference to in Google searches merged into the standard version, at the standard version's price of $US 50 in early December, 2009) contains all these tools:

Just be careful you don't fiddle with the wrong thing or..... Poof! Zap! Zowie and hmmm... left over parts?

I have a couple of new questions.  I want to include an animation in my start menu.  In it, the steam will be the animated bit.  Is this done by creating an AVI?  How do I photograph the background so that there isn't solid color around the steam.  In this image, it was photographed in front of a white background.

Here is the start menu so far.  I created the 3D bits in Second Life.  I created the rest of the graphics in Photoshop.

As always, I welcome your comments as much as your answers.

peace,

Mally

Edit:  I just got a idea about the steam.  I could make a brush, and vary the density, size and shade of grey I use when I use it.  Anyone see any problems with that?  How many images would I need to make by hand with the tweens being made by PS?

Thanks, Xiandi; Tried a batch of drawings, tweened between each consecutive pair of them, the result was, to say the least, disappointing.  In my head, ideas always sound so much easier to execute than they turn out to be.  I'm on the right track with the brushes I've made, though.  I didn't like including so much of the locomotive in the image. It's a start menu, I thought, not a wall paper, and it was really only the stack and steam I wanted.

Yes, there is a question; at what point do I add the animation?  Is that part of the original cutting of the image, or is that added at a later time?

peace,

Mally

This thread alone is a good tutorial. We should refer folks here.

Mally, if might want to dissect Xiandi's "Pressurized" Windowblind https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/windowblinds/6928/  and my Steampunk Windowblind https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/windowblinds/6961/ for examples of steam on the start menu.

The grunge version doesn't have steam, just the original.

Like you said, it's a genre that hasn't evolved much, so I wouldn't worry too much about the influence.  The only twist I've seen on classic Steampunk is in a game my son plays, called BioShock, where it's all underwater, so rather than the warm colors of orange and brown, it's in shades of blue and green.  I watch him play for hours, and I'm thinking the entire time of how I could develop that into a windowblind. 

Karen...what would a 21st. century Steampunk look like? All digital as opposed to gears, pullies and such. Check it out...maybe a variation on a Cray Supercomputer. Maybe an AI (artificial intelligence). Attribute it to my warped imagination.

Oh, gosh.  I'm really good at making faux pas; I'm sorry I assumed you were a dad, and I hope you'll forgive me, Karen.

Uvah; Steampunk is supposed to be a mix of Victorian era mechanical stuff along side of futuristic high tech stuff.  The latter isn't common place in Steampunk, though I've seen images of computers (PCs and notepads) in beautiful Steampunk cases, finely detailed jewelry, USB thumb drives, but even those things rely on old gauges, gears, watch bits, plumbing parts, etc.  Finding an idea from the future isn't easy, but it's been done.  The communicator became the cell phone, so there's hope for a transporter, an accurate universal translator requiring no gadgetry, and a replicator.

peace,

Mally

Alright, and this is a stupid question, but WindowBlinds isn't listed in my add and remove programs list, and I can't find anything like an uninstall.exe in the software's directory.  So, how do I go about installing the trial version of it before installing the full retail version?

peace,

Dave

Well, I wish it were that easy.  Adobe, and Microsoft have both figured out ways to keep their products secured from the hands of pirates and still use the trial with a key sent to you by email after payment, but you can't upgrade the trial to the full version of WindowBlinds or the other Stardock products.  Neither will CCleaner uninstall WB.  Stardock developed a piece of software called Impulse in it's later years.  It's required, it appears, to use Impulse to uninstall the WB trial. 

In April of this year, Stardock surprised a lot of the gaming world when they sold it to GameStop, a giant gaming distributor who now own a way to distribute their games and game updates, but also to help make those games more secure on the web.  GameStop users are up in arms; they're worried that small independent games will be smothered out of the market & that GameStop can raise the price of game distribution to new all time highs.  I'm not saying it's all as simple as that synopsis, but after several hours of trying to find out how to uninstall WB, that's the gist of what I learned.  I have yet to learn where I can download it.  It's still freeware, I hear.

When I find that link if someone hasn't already posted it, I'll post that link here to make it easier for someone else to find.

peace,

Mally