Photoshop CS3

I am running CS3, and frequently get the following error message:

'Could not complete your request because it is not a valid Photoshop document'

And cannot open certain files.

They are Photoshop files, created in Photoshop, and only used in Photoshop, and I am unable to open them - I am losing huge amounts of work and time

First variant you may use if your .psd file was seriously damaged

https://www.repairtoolbox.com/photoshoprepair.html Photoshop Repair Toolbox

Another variant is…

>Open "My Computer" from your desktop. Double-click your hard drive.

>Open "Documents and Settings."

>Open the folder labeled with your user name.

>Open "Local Settings" followed by "Temp."

>Scroll down to the files beginning with "Photoshop" ("PS" for older Photoshop CS builds). This will be followed by a series of letters and numbers.

>Double-click each "Photoshop" ("PS") temp file to open them in Photoshop CS. This is the only way to identify which temp file contains the project you wish to recover. Luckily, because when Photoshop shuts properly it deletes its temp files, there should be no more than three or four.

>Select "Save As" from the "File" menu when you find the temp file you want. This will make the file permanent.

Photoshop people! I am currently attempting to conquer a graphic design degree fully online and IT FUCKIN SUCKS! Most of the time I do ok. But you are essentially teaching yourself and there are a lot of times I give up on rad ideas simply because the internet cannot help me. I am hoping to take said ideas here for help in executing. If people are down, please lmk. Thanks!

On 6/3/2020 at 8:46 PM, NightmareOnElmStreet said:

Photoshop people! I am currently attempting to conquer a graphic design degree fully online and IT FUCKIN SUCKS! Most of the time I do ok. But you are essentially teaching yourself and there are a lot of times I give up on rad ideas simply because the internet cannot help me. I am hoping to take said ideas here for help in executing. If people are down, please lmk. Thanks!

A couple years back I was trying to knock out my last math class for my AA. It’s the last credit I need and I can choose between Calc, Trig, Stats, or “College Algebra”. 
 

man, same damn thing you’re saying- basically teaching myself on the computer using their stupid interface and trying to watch math vids on YouTube to understand what the fuck the teacher wants us to do. Biggest fucking scam. They don’t even teach anymore. 
 

I tried three separate semesters and had to withdraw each time. I haven’t done any arithmetic in easily a decade and now my foundation to be able to tackle the higher math is completely gone and I’m pretty fucked if I want to do it for real. I think my only option are to use one of the service where you pay someone to do your work for you (but then what about tests and finals??) or enroll in one of the “pay to play” for profit universities- Univ of Phoenix, Ashford, DeVry etc etc - where it’s expensive as fuck but they won’t fail you as long as you show up and turn SOMETHING in because they want your money again the next semester. 
 

what a fucking racket.

why am I gonna pay the community college to pay a teacher if they don’t actually teach, and I do every thing online and teach myself?

/rant

On 6/4/2020 at 1:16 PM, NightmareOnElmStreet said:

Photoshop people! I am currently attempting to conquer a graphic design degree fully online and IT FUCKIN SUCKS! Most of the time I do ok. But you are essentially teaching yourself and there are a lot of times I give up on rad ideas simply because the internet cannot help me. I am hoping to take said ideas here for help in executing. If people are down, please lmk. Thanks!

I dabble in Photoshop/illustrator and graphic design.

Not real good at it but if you bring things in I will look and try to help. will be a learnign experieence for me too!

I work as a graphic designer. Been working inhouse for a large company for about 5 years, prior to that, was freelancing for a couple of years. More proficient in Illustrator and Indesign than photoshop... happy to offer advice! 

I might be able to help, too. Maybe... mayyyyybe. 

Brehs! to my surprise I was actually able to conquer the one shit I had been trying to figure out for days. I can tell that there is probably a better way since it seemed to lose resolution after doing what I needed to do though. I think sizing and resolution are going to be one of the biggest learning curves. 

@KILZ FILLZI say go with whichever shit is going to put you in the seat you're after. Before I settled into this online racket I was 2 seconds away from doing flat iron school which is one of those online bootcamp type places that offer job guarantees. Ultimately my decision to go traditional was fuckin whatever, I might as well finish real school and get the stupid piece of paper just to have it. I don't even know if I'll be interested in using the degree. But finally finding a school that would honor my 4/5 years of college credits was a no brainer. Just gotta stick'er out for a 1.5 and I'll have my bachelors......11 years later.

1 hour ago, NightmareOnElmStreet said:

Brehs! to my surprise I was actually able to conquer the one shit I had been trying to figure out for days. I can tell that there is probably a better way since it seemed to lose resolution after doing what I needed to do though. I think sizing and resolution are going to be one of the biggest learning curves.

Yeah, I get that for sure... I used to love photoshop. Now I am much more comfortable in illustrator; when working with vector graphics, sizing and resolution aren’t an issue.

OK. Here is one of my main problems. For weeks I've been trying to finish my logo.  I thought I had it figured out until the resolution seemed all pixelated and I ultimately lost the file I was working on. This is what I have been trying to do. Purchased font off a blog. Wanted to do one color for the letters and a separate one for the little squiggly line drop shadow. FUCKIN IMPOSSIBLE! It looks so legit and I figured it would be easy but it is not. At least for my own personal n00bery. There are certain parts of the letters that are actually attached to those lines which causes issues in separation unless you do it manually. Which I had kind of figured out using two layers and the poly lasso cutting said attached parts out leaving the background color exposed. BAM! it worked kind of but the letters got all pixied and then I lost it. Tried to re-create or just try another way all together for hrs today and I fuckin give up. 

I should note, that I also attempted to just magic wand the letters and drop a different color in but that didn't work either. Even after rasterizing the layer type it still won't work. I don't understand why the magic wand works on some portions but not all. 

Please help, brehs!

Sorry this is probably no help but I think starting over in illustrator would solve all your resolution/ pixelation issues.

I've haven't dipped into that program yet. You're probably right though. 

14 hours ago, CLICKCLACKONER said:

Sorry this is probably no help but I think starting over in illustrator would solve all your resolution/ pixelation issues.

This.

Photoshop is obviously great for photo stuff and all things raster-based, but when it comes to logos.. vector format is the way to go.
It makes scaling almost worry-free.

You are right tho, that font is complicated to work with if you want to get more than one color out of it.

This is what I was able to get in Illustrator:
(Type tool > type "Oontz" in Ranger font. With type box selected use "Type > Create Outlines". With outlines selected use "Object > Compound Path > Release". Use Direct Select and the Pathfinder(minus-front) tool to reconnect broken letters. Use Direct Select on all letters then "Object > Group" to separate the letters from the shadow. Change colors.)



I'm sorry if that doesn't help clarify how you can do it yourself - I thought you might benefit from seeing the few steps needed to piece it together in vector.
 

WIth these programs you almost have to practice and do exercises for each tool within the software itself in order to fully understand their capabilities and improve your workflow.
There are growing pains in the short term for sure, but it's worth it.. over having to battle the same frustrations when you're working on something you actually care about.

Anyway, i'm not even sure what i'm saying - wanted to help and now i'm yammering on like a lunatic

 

BRUH! You're the man!!! I will definitely try this. In the meantime I uncovered some info that I think might have something to do with the problem. Seems like in the comments people were experiencing different yet similar issues. The font kit was supposed to come with "a roman, and 2 different shadow styles" but it only downloaded the standard 4 regular, italicized etc. I paid for this so I sent a email asking about it. Wondering if this is the missing link. 

@Lower Than Dirt @Joker thoughts?

Damn, thats wild.

@NightmareOnElmStreet- I agree with what others have said with regards to using Illustrator for a type treatment such as this. I mostly say this because I'm way more comfortable in Illustrator than I am in Photoshop. I mainly use Photoshop as a photo and 3D render post editing tool so my skills with type in Photoshop are little to none. I'm technically not a graphic designer. Technically? Pfft... I'm not a graphic designer. I fake it, and barely get by at that. 

If I need to add type in Photoshop I always do the type in Illustrator and insert it into my Photoshop file as a smart object. That way I can scale the type as needed and not lose any detail. 

My design background is mostly retail environments and custom fixture design so I'm usually adding graphic treatments in my 3D model, rendering it, and then using Photoshop to edit those renders. 

----------------------------------------------------

Yeah, not the typical use of jersey barriers or parking blocks, but that's what I love about it - using everyday objects in a new way. 

Had to remove the image because I just found out I shouldn't be sharing it. LOL!

@NightmareOnElmStreetnot to beat a dead horse and I am late to the party. Illustrator for anything based on letter structure. @Joker and @ClownPrince nailed it with the cross platform smart object conversion as well as the how to in illustrator. Sorry I didn't get in here sooner, not that my answer would have been any better or different.

Perhaps lame but idgaf. Teaching my damn self how to do shit in ps for school is a huge bitch but I think

I'm getting the hang of it. I know it ain't that Ralph but im hyped to be learning. Ended up staying in ps to fuck around with 

that font. The fresh paint shit I will definitely take over to illustrator but this part was just for a school assignment. 

LOL. this looks like such TRASH in jpeg here. One thing I know I'll have a hard time with is learning what res and size to save things as. 

@NightmareOnElmStreet

This looks wayyyy better than my first attempts at PS. My first attempts - you would have thought I did them in MS Paint. 

There's tons of free PS brushes online, so there has to be a free paint brush one you can download that'll look more realistic that the one you have. Maybe one of these will work?

On your shadows, I would set that layer to "Multiply" and lower the opacity a bit, then give the layer a slight Gaussian Blur to soften the edges of the shadow. Play with how much blur and shadow opacity to see what feels right. In reality the shadows won't sit in front of the bag or the ladder, so you may have to manipulate the shadows a bit to get them to look right. See image below for how shadows would look.

As for brick texture, search for seamless white brick texture so that you can tile your bricks without seams. It'll look more real. If you can find one that is white bricks, you can use that as your whole background and then layer color stripes over that. I think you can download free versions of textures here, but the resolution on the free ones might be low (Click on "Textures", then toggle through the folders on the left). Should work for what you're doing, though. Or just Google "Seamless white brick texture". 

I'm sure there's a way to get the birds to have the brick texture showing through as well - probably using a layer mask (someone else probably knows).

For a first pass that's pretty solid man, especially since you're learning to use photos, layer effects, digital painting AND type treatment all in one assignment; that's no small task, especially to teach yourself.

Joker brings up some good points about layer masks and opacity; they're based on the methods used in a dark room that produce different effects on "traditional" film-based photography.
If you want to get familiar with adding textures and different lighting effects, play around with the opacity settings(multiply and overlay for shadows, screen for highlights).

Res. sizing too can be confusing even when starting a file - I find a good rule of thumb is if you're working with something intended for digital use then it should be rendered at 72dpi, while anything for print should be 300dpi.
To be safe, start big; it's always easier to scale down the final image-quality than it is to scale up.

This thread is the business... I started typing a reply a couple of days ago, but didn’t have time to finish it. Came back and others have chimed in, with advice, examples and all. Awesome.

Have not figured out yet. Shit is hard. I follow all the steps pretty good but I'm getting lost after compound path/release and the direct selection tool to reconnect. Fuckin a. 

@ClownPrince

Seems so much crispier here in illustrator but I'm still fuckin trash at the part I need to not be trash at. If the magnetic poly tool was on deck I'd be golden lol. How tf!!!?? do I change these shadow lines to match the orange..!? You can seen the blue ones connected on all the letters here. Is there no easy way to change this for n00bs?!

Shit.

AHHH FUCK sorry @clownprince !!! lol. I was just figuring it out when you were laying down all that extra detail! Hope that didn't take you forever! Now im struggling with the after effects. In my photoshop head from the little I do know it seems like I need to "merge" all the layer back together but it doesn't look like that is the case. Nothing is connected and when I try fucking with the warp with what I think is everything selected, the previews won't work and everything is all out of whack. Same with the grain effect when it takes me to a different window. There is one letter selected and its microscopic. If I blow it up it gets so pixelated its unrecognizable...the fuck is goin on now. GAHHHD DAMN THIS SHIT IS THE DEVIL. LOL

And fuck all that. I resurrected this thread to share and exchange help or ideas just because why not. So what if its only me struggling for help lol. 

Lmao
No worries - I'm glad you have it (mostly) figured out.
Trial and error is pretty much par for the course with this stuff.

I guess just try to be mindful of how things are connected or merged; groups and compound paths tend to help organize loose shapes, and while "merge" is great, it can be a bit permanent/destructive if not everything is cleanly separated.

Excited to see what you come up with, it's inspiring