MEME WAR TUTORIAL: LESSON 2 : FILES AND PNGS

posted 1 year ago by Join-or-die 1 year ago by Join-or-die +57 / -2

Credit Reddit user u/Brick_Suit

We want YOU for the coming MEME war!

r/The_Donald is deploying a program to train you how to meme our side to victory in 2020 and to help KEEP AMERICA GREAT!

If you love America, you already have the greatest asset you will need to succeed, the heart of a patriot!

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LAST WEEK RECAP - LAYERS

Last week we looked at LAYERS, and how several layers could be placed over each other to create a finished image. You'll recall that the key advantage of layers is that we can change where and how they appear. We can move them, resize them, edit them, etc. and if we don't like the results we can change them. In that tutorial we also encountered the three most important file types that you will use in Paint(dot)Net. Today we take a closer look at those file types.

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TRAINING SESSION 02: FILE TYPES - .JPG , .PNG , & .PDN

Concepts

The three files you will see the most in Paint(dot)Net are.

.PDN - This is a "project file" that contains the Paint(dot)Net file from which your final image will be created.

.JPG - This is the most common image file you will create.

.PNG - This is a very useful type of image file that has a VERY IMPORTANT difference than a .JPG file. The background layer of a .PNG can be set to be TRANSPARENT so that you can "see" through to the layers below.

Each of these files has different uses and you will need to use all of them to create your projects, your layers, and save your final images.

The first two of the file types listed above are very easy to understand and not much time will be spent on them. But the third file type, the .PNG, will be dealt with in more depth so that you can understand how to use, find, and CREATE them so that you can use them in the memes you create.

And, just so you know where we are heading with this 2nd lesson, the object is to get you up and running with .PNG files. With Layers from last week and file types from this week under your belt, next week will talk about creating text and that will give you the three key skills you need to start memeing with confidence. In the 4th week we will start looking at some of the specialized tools in Paint(dot)Net that you can then use to put polish on your creations.

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Practical application

In this training session we will be making a simple meme that uses a classic template from Toy Story called "X, X EVERYWHERE" (For an explanation of this meme see https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/x-x-everywhere . On this template will replace Woody's head with a picture of Chris "Fredo" Cuomo, and then place two simple text overlays on top of the resulting composite image.

Here is the base Toy Story x-x-everywhere template. http://magaimg.net/img/8qi5.jpg

And here is the image of Fredo that you will use. http://magaimg.net/img/8qi7.jpg

Note that since both of these files are .JPG, neither one will have a transparent background (only the .PNG images can have that). Start by opening up the Toy Story image, make a copy of it by using a right mouse click, and selecting “copy image” (Apple users are your own here but I imagine you know what to do)

Now jump into your Paint(dot)Net app and do the following. Hit the EDIT button located next to FILE on the top left of the menu bar, Select “Paste into New Image” from the drop down menu that appears. Paint(dot)Net will now create a new image of the phone booth scene that you just copied. Note how this is labeled as “Layer 1”.

On top of this layer you want to place Fredo's face over Woody's. You won't be using the entire image. But for now though let's bring the entire image into your project. So open up the Fredo image link to get that image displayed in your browser. Next, simply copy it the same way you did with the Toy Story X-X-Everywhere template by using a right mouse click, and selecting “copy image”.

Then, return to your Paint(dot)Net app, select the EDIT button again, but this time select “Paste into New Layer” from the drop down menu and the image of Fredo will be put on top of your Toy Story template as a new layer. Note how this new layer of Fredo is labeled “Layer 2” and it blocks Layer 1 below it from being seen.

Now save the entire project as a .PDN by using the FILE menu. Pick a name you will recognize and save it as a .PDN file. This is your project file in Paint(dot)net for this meme.

The next step is to modify the .JPG image of Cuomo so that only his face remains. There are two ways to do this. You can get your ERASER tool from the toolbar, go into your Layer 2, and erase all the parts you don't want to keep. Or you could open up just the Fredo image by itself in a DIFFERENT project, erase all the unwanted parts and then save the new image as a .PNG instead of a JPG. This way the new .PNG file you save after erasing all the unneeded parts will have a TRANSPARENT background and you will have converted your .JPG into a .PNG that you can use in your meme (more on this next week). That's the way I used to do it, uphill in the snow both ways.

But there is a better way now, and it's free. There is an extremely useful website named https://www.remove.bg/ that will automagically do most of the work for you most of the time. Open this website up now in a new tab.

You will see options to "Select a photo" or "enter a URL", since you have the URL of the Fredo image handy, http://magaimg.net/img/8qi7.jpg , just hit the "enter a URL" button on the Remove(dot)BG website and paste it in. You should end up with a result that looks like this http://magaimg.net/img/8qie.jpg HOW AWESOME IS THAT! TONS OF WORK SAVED!

Notice how the background of this image is now transparent? When you download this new image, the it will download as a .PNG file with a transparent background that lets the image underneath show through. Download it now, copy it, and then return to your Paint(dot)Net project file and paste this in as a new layer. You now have Layer 3 showing in the upper left. At this point your old Layer 2 image that had the entire shot of Fredo is no longer needed, so go down to the Layers window in the lower right and UNCHECK the box next to Layer 2. Layer 2 is now invisible.

Time to get rid of the suit, shirt, and neck on Fredo in Layer 3 so that only Fredo's face is left. First we will make Layer 3 larger by selecting the "Move selected pixels" tool (Top right on the toolbar, keyboard shortcut "M"), placing the cursor over the lower right corner of the layer (shown by the dotted outline), and then HOLDING DOWN THE SHIFT KEY WHILE YOU DRAG THE CORNER OF THE LAYER DOWN AND TO THE RIGHT. (Holding the shift key down while resizing the Layer keeps the same aspect ratio so the proportions don't change.)

Now select the ERASER tool on the tool bar (keyboard shortcut "E"), change the "brush size" of your eraser to something like 20 or 30 and then begin removing all the parts of Layer 3 you don't want. In this case you will remove everything below Fredo's jawline.

When you have everything but Fredo's face removed, resize, rotate, and move Layer 3 so it covers Woody's face in the way that you want it to.

The final step in this training session will be to add two text layers. But before you can add them, you should DESELECT the Fredo Layer 3 image that you just positioned. To do this go back to the EDIT button and then hit Deselect from the drop down menu. (You will find it all the way at the bottom). The flashing dashed lines around the Fredo layer will now disappear.

If you add new text in at this point you will actually be putting it into the same layer as your Fredo layer (Layer 3) which we don't want, so you next need to create TWO blank text layers. Do this by going to the LAYERS button on the menu bar and selecting the very first option on the drop down menu which is "Add New Layer". At this point a completely blank Layer 4 will appear and this is where you will place your top line of text. We will fill this one in first before creating the second layer of text.

You can select the Text tool by clicking on it on the vertical toolbar or by hitting the "T" key on your keyboard (the shortcut key to the Text tool). Your cursor should now change to a bracket and once you click somewhere on Layer 4 and once it does you can begin to enter your text. Just enter the word "FREDO". You can also change the font and text size using the controls on screen and can also move your text around using the Move Pixels tool (Keyboard shortcut "M"). For this image white text will probably work best and should be sized near 175 depending on the length and placement of the text.

Now repeat the steps above to deselect Layer 4, create a new Layer 5, and enter the text "FREDO EVERYWHERE" on the bottom of the image. Once you have this text where you want it, you are ready to save your final image.

Proper text formatting can be very complicated and will be the subject of our third tutorial, so if you want help on it for now, please visit this link Adding Text to your Memes

This link will also be helpful for some of the other basic concepts mentioned above such as moving layers, selecting and deselecting. Paint.net : The Basics

But BEFORE saving the IMAGE, let's save the PROJECT once again to update it. Go to the FILE button on the menu bar and select Save As from the drop down menu. Note that at this point Paint(dot)Net is giving you a default option to save your entire PROJECT as a .PDN file.

Now to generate the final image, hit File - Save As again, but this time use the drop down menu to change .PDN to .JPG . This will save your entire project as one single image with NO LAYERS. This is the image that you can share, send, and post.

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This same X-X-everywhere template is something you can REUSE in almost any situation. Morning Joe seeing Russians, Russians Everywhere" or Kamala seeing "Pandering, Pandering Everywhere". Use your imagination and go wild with source images of other people that you find using duck-duck go image searches.

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While you are welcome to train with us using your own software, we will be gearing our initial lessons towards the use of a free image editing app named Paint(dot)Net so that everyone can participate before moving into more advanced meme techniques with paid software.

You can download the entire Paint(dot)Net app for free on the page linked below: