Hey there from Nor Cal

[GoldCylon]

Stop by to see if anyone can give me a hand with editing a image. I have a image of a dial face, and would like to have it shaped into a oval. I have tried the pinch tool, but no luck. I am new to my Apple Mac Mini, and don't have any editing software except online tools. Any ideas, or a helping hand. Many thanks in advance.

 

[Steve]

Welcome to PSG GoldCylon, hopefully someone will come along and help you out with this.

 

[GoldCylon]

Thanks Steve for the greetings.

 

[ibclare]

Hi GoldCylon, you can use the warp tool. I've done a quick start oval (in other words not very good :} ) and you can work that way. You may have to extend the lines in some places if you want to keep the integrity of the dial. Might be easier to recreate it.

 

[GoldCylon]

Hi, and thank you. I am starting to think a free hand drawing might be best. I am trying for a 1950's style retro look speedometer look. I thought the oval idea would be a easier image to find, but no such luck. Thanks again.

 

[ibclare]

I wish I could be of more help. Not being a vector art wiz, I would consider the hand-drawn myself but I would try to set it up manually in Photoshop. For me personally it would turn out a lot cleaner and more precise in PS.

As long as you have your central point identified, all you need to do is space your lines and direct them to that convergence. And you'd only have to do half the design since you would copy the first half and flip horizontal.

The way I'd go about it would be to make three layers. On the first would be the focal point and the arc shape, and the oval outline.

On the second would be the large set of dial marks and on the thired would be the short ones. The I would mark the spacings for the longer lines. I would draw each line to the focal point, going around the oval as needed. Then I'd create an inside oval selection making it as wide as the longest line should protrude inward. Then delete inside the oval and you have that set of markings. Same thing for the short marks on the third layer.

If you want to give this a try and aren't following what I wrote, let me know and I can make a rough guide for you.
:mrgreen:

 

[GoldCylon]

Well that is a bit above my pay grade....aka skill level. Overly stupid rookie here that never really achieved much more than Microsoft Paint. A whiz at that so I never moved up with the exception a few times on other software, and never really spent much time learning it. Thanks anyway.

 

[ibclare]

Hey! stupid is the wrong word, lol. Besides, if you do want to learn Photoshop, it is a process. But you know, we were all beginners once. What's your deadline on this? I might have time to take a stab at doing it. And finding out if my instructions would work anyway, ;}

 

[GoldCylon]

I am going to be using two of these on a 1950's retro style cockpit prop for a small fan film production around April. So there isn't a big hurry, and thank you very much for your help, and comments.

 

[ibclare]

Hi, I'm giving it a go right now, while my fiance gets a massage! sigh ...

It's proving harder than I thought, being that I am not a mathematician :mrgreen:

 

[GoldCylon]

Well I am not a math whiz either, but I am not sure how far a long I would have made on the math level since I didn't understand about half the instruction you gave me. That math part would have been the least of my concern. Thanks for looking into it.

 

[ibclare]

Here's an effort. I seriously think a mathematician is needed here to figure the spacing. :banghead: :mrgreen:

I didn't do the lines, short or long, as precisely as could be done with a lot of time.

 

[sam123]

GoldCylon welcome mate