More Kitty Cat Screensavers.....

Just scanned a couple of great Cat books, and had to choose the best of the rest, to make a reasonable size for a screensaver. They came out quite nicely, and are free.

I'd give you a link, but I have recently decided to have a registration set up for folks who want the screensavers. They are a lot of work, as you may be starting to notice. So even if they are free, I want to know if someone is interested. I may have to upgrade to the paid version, as the limit of 50 people is coming up really fast. Which delights me to no end, but makes a financial investment decision just over the sunrise. I haven't even checked to see what it cost. Every time I put IN money, I get concerned about how much money is coming back at me. If folks aren't willing to part with a mere 6 bucks for all my work, do I really want to put in more money as well as more work???

What do you all think out there? Is anybody out there?

I suppose you could go here and register (free), and let me know you care...

Gollum, owner of "Precious"

Gollum, owner of "Precious", originally uploaded by collectincat.

Here he is , one of the "villians" of the story. Although this one makes you feel pity. He is such a mess, and show's us all what greediness can do to the mind.

Bilbo, The Hobbit

Bilbo, The Hobbit, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Here he is, Bilbo, thinking life is good and peaceful. Little does he know Gandalf is just down the road and about to knock on his door with a request that will change his life.

The Hobbit screensaver is now ready to go!

Finished 'The Hobbit' Screensaver!!

Finally! I started this one about a year ago. Scanned dozens and dozens of the artwork pictures from this old book that was falling apart.

Had read it to my children when they were young and let them read it themselves when they were able to actually read. They loved the pictures and enjoyed reading the story to make sense of the pictures. So the book was well-loved, and therefore, well used up.

The first thing I had to do was put it back in order. Not all the pages had numbers so I had to guess on a couple of them. Then came the scanning.

If you have ever scanned a picture from a book or magazine, you know it doesn't come out perfectly square or balanced, and depending on size, has left-over edges showing. So the next project was to take each and every picture to the Paint Shop Pro and clean it up, re-size it and clarify and brighten the colors. In some cases, I didn't leave them as I found them. I pulled small ovals or rectangles out of the big page. In others, they were two pages across, so I had to erase and push and clone to get that big page seam out of the middle of the pic.

In making this particular screensaver I felt I couldn't take the easy way out and just make it a slide show. The pics had to be in order of the story, and have captions for those who wanted to be reminded of who was who, and what was happening. Because of the Lord of the Rings trilogy being fresh in everybodies minds, the Hobbit story might be somewhat fuzzy. And I had to do something with the smaller pics to make it more interesting to watch.

It ended up with 61 pics (13 MB) and that was after I cut many from the great stack of possibilities. Rankin and Bass, the artists, did an abundant amount of artwork for the book, as it was meant for children. So you might say there was more picture than words. (Want to know more about Rankin/Bass? Put their name in Google and take your pick...The choices are many)

And after all this work, it's FREE to all those interested. I didn't do the artwork, so I can't take the credit and sell the work. I'm hoping it will draw people to my site and tempt them to check out the other screensavers that ARE mine and for sale.

I'll put in some pics here, tomorrow, to show you a sample.

Fishing with friend

Fishing with friend, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Here is a nice warm sunset terragen that had a peaceful look. I added the boy and his dog fishing and a simple frame. One of the easier ones to do for my Terragen Gallery Screensaver.

The problem with this type of picture is that it is not MINE. I can't claim the copyright. I didn't invent the terragen program, or pay for a license to use it. I didn't paint the boy and dog. I didn't even make the tube of the boy and dog.

So all the fun I have with this program doesn't give me any income. It does give the public FREE screensavers to enjoy. And it gives me free expression with the tools at hand to make a picture that appeals to me, and hopefully to anyone else that may see it.

Many of the free ones out there are under this copyright situation. If the work is totally your own photography or digital art, then it is unique and you are able to sell it under your own name.

Be sure you understand copyright before you consider the selling of any product that is made on the computer.

It's a beautiful day here so I am heading outside to be inspired and get some fresh air. Have a wonderful day in your part of the world, too.

Misty scene

Misty scene, originally uploaded by collectincat.

Finally a chance to show off some fun with Terragen. This scene is one of my better workouts with the program. It can happen very quickly or you can spend quite of bit of time tweaking and starting over to get just the feel you want. I'm still learning more ways to manipulate this cool tool. Tomorrow I will try to get up another pic with some improvements showing. It will come right from the screensaver I made with these fantasy world pictures.

Watch out for EZula screensaver downloads!!!!

I just tried downloading a screensaver yesterday on my brand new computer(so I know it was 'clean' before this)and even said "no" to the programs it wanted to install. I didn't keep the screensaver because it had a trojan virus, and the Ad-Aware program that finds bugs that come in to spy on your computer found 32--- THIRTY-TWO! from just that one attempted download. I'm just so dissapointed in not being able to enjoy these really interesting screensavers I find, when I can't get them direct from the authors site. I hate all the crap that comes with them. I won't screw up my computer just for the pretty pics.

My site is paid for by me, and the screensavers come directly from me, with no added anything!!!

It's frustrating when well-done 'savers are lost to the public or cause trouble for the public because of this added junk.

Sorry, I'm ranting again but I really wanted to see that screensaver.

Terragen has to wait...

I know I was going to get into the Terragen program, but my son from Vt. just moved back home with his lady. We built the apt. over our second garage for him, and he left about three years ago to try Vt. Now they are back!!!!!!!!! I'm obviously pleased to have my kids close by.

Also, my grandson is in a tech school, and chose culinary class as his fav. So off we went yesterday to get his first chef hat, coat, and cute houndstooth pants. I never knew chefs wore houndstooth!! Coool,and so cute on him. He is not quite 15 and almost at tall as his grandpa. He is 6 ft, and getting close to my husband's 6'5"!! I think he might just make it. There is enough growing time left.

Another exciting thing for me is the arrival of my new DELL 'puter. My oldie insisted on freezing at the most inoportune times. I got fed up and now this nice big screen and non-stop machine make working on the 'puter more fun and less stress. Will get back to serious bloging soon!