Which Machine Wash?

[Laura_A]

I'm getting ready to invest in Mister Retro's Machine Wash textures, but don't know if I should get #1 or 2. What do ya'll think?

[sweetmindy]

I have both and i can't choose i love them both. I love the linen from 1 and the choketone from 2.

[lbth-mi]

Sounds like both are your best bet.

[KristyAnn]

I think he gives a discount if you buy both at once.. like 10 dollars or 5... it might be worth waiting and getting both. I love hockeyice and distresstone on 2, but that linen from 1 would be nice :)

[c_lyle]

I just checked...you get $4 off if you buy both. One is $32 or two for $60.

[Rynonut Mom]

Silly me - I thought you were washing clothes! LOL!

[Laura_A]

OK, is it just me or does anyone else think this is a rediculous price for a CD? You can buy a whole movie for $20 or less... grrrr. LOL

[Rynonut Mom]

My eyebrows raised at the price, Laura! LOL!

[andreavictoria]

I've got both and I love them, it may just be worth the price.

[c_lyle]

Do you know if we can buy them from somewhere other than Mr. Retro's site?

[Laura_A]

I haven't noticed anywhere else to purchase them... hmmm, that's an idea.

[Vania16]

I'm looking at them too and haven't seen them anywhere else - it would be great if we could find a deal out there though :)

[andreavictoria]

Finding a deal for this would have been great for me, but I haven't found a place other than the site that sells it =(. It is a lot of money for 2 CDs, but if you are thinking about getting into selling your designs, it just might be worth it. But you could always search the web for some good high res textures and get them for free that way.

[paula_duncan]

I would love to get them too but the price is outrageous! For the linen I just did what Sara told me to do and it worked out great. I don't have a scanner but I did get some great linen texture off the internet and I even got some from the rlhome.polo.com. There are some great fabric samples on the site for texture. I think I'm going to try Mr. Retro's test drives and see if I can't do some of the other things myself. I can create actions for whatever I come up with.

[andreavictoria]

And another thing that I have found with Mr. Retro is that I still have to manipulate the filter myself, just to get the look I want.

[Laura_A]

I'm still on the fence about this.

Paula, I tried Sara's tut for linen, but it didn't work so well for me. I'm thinking I didn't have a very good sample or something. I'd love to see what you did with it. Thanks for the tip on fabric samples. I guess I'll give that a shot before I take the $32 plunge. LOL

[UnDecided]

I bought both of them at the ridiculous price of $60 and now wish I wouldn't have. I think they can be a great tool, but now they're almost overused. Whenever I see some papers where all the designer did was throw a machine wash filter on it I am very reluctant to buy -- I mean, a monkey can do that... Okay maybe not, but it's about that easy.

[SweetNSassyMommy]

That's an interesting comment Christie...what about for the people who dont want to spend $60 buying the filters. Don't you think the people at home (a consumer) want the look that the machine wash filters give as for the most part, they wouldnt be able to do it themselves since most digiscrappin consumers arent going to pay $60 just so they can alter a designers paper themselves are they?

I was very seriously considering buying these filters as I think they add the finishing touch to a strong original design. But if people are already thinking they are overused and everywhere, maybe I shouldnt. What do you guys really think of the product and designers who use them??

Robin

[holly]

can they only be used in photoshop? that might be another determining factor on whether to buy or not.

[Laura_A]

That's a good point Kristy... and one I thought about, but then I thought... the majority of digi scrappers don't design their own elements nor do they know anything about designing, so how the texture was applied is really a Mister-y (teehee) to them. OK, I know I'm a dork.. whatever. LOL I ended up buying the 1st one and am hoping it gets here this week so I can try it out. I'll let ya know what I think!

[SweetNSassyMommy]

Yeah they can only be used in Photoshop Holly...is that a reason for or against buying?? LOL : )

[AmyJo]

The Mr. Retro "filter" isn't really a filter at all, it's an ACTION that you PLAY in Photoshop. The only difference between the two CDs (I bought both when I accidentally mistook myself for wealthy) is the TEXTURES on them...and you can EASILY MAKE YOUR OWN TEXTURES to use with the action - it just has to be grayscale EPS, PDF or one other format I can't remember off the top of my head...

Sure, Mr. Retro's textures are overused, but that doesn't have to mean yours have to be...anyone with a scanner or digi cam can make their own textures (gasp) to use with the filters - so no need to buy both (learned this the hard way).

Some great textures you can make on your own are concretes, wood grains, bricks, speaker mesh, any cloth texture (including a wrinkled sheet), cotton balls, feather boas, piles of chips (or buttons, or pine needles, or pins and needles - whatever floats your boat). Be creative...

I keep meaning to go through the action, step by step to figure out what it's doing...because I rarely use them...I usually do everything manually without filters or actions...you have more control that way ;)

[SweetNSassyMommy]

WOW Amy...great information!! I already make my own textures, so thats great info to know they can be used with the MisterR action and that i dont need both. Thanks so much!

Robin

[amert]

I LOVE using concrete and rust photos :D Just play with them and you'll see!
Amy

[UnDecided]

My thoughts exactly... just worded a little better. I didn't mean to sound harsh, I just don't think that what he is selling is worth the money. In essence you are paying for some pics that this guy took, grayscaled and played with the contrast on.

The action you can easily replicate yourself and personally I would use my own unique textures just to avoid being "cliche" (for lack of a better word). He does have some great ones on there though that are useful, but you can do something similar for a fraction of the price that he is charging, and it would be different from what everyone else has.

After playing with his CDs, I can spot a Mr. Retro filter (or should I say action...) from a mile away. When I started playing with design I almost felt like I was cheating because you could whip out a paper with about three clicks of the mouse. They do look good, but now that sooooo many designers are using them you can almost just take someone else's papers and recolor them to suit your needs.

Don't get me wrong, you CAN do some really cool things with them, and I hope you find them really useful. These are just my thoughts... :)




The Mr. Retro "filter" isn't really a filter at all, it's an ACTION that you PLAY in Photoshop. The only difference between the two CDs (I bought both when I ally mistook myself for wealthy) is the TEXTURES on them...and you can EASILY MAKE YOUR OWN TEXTURES to use with the action - it just has to be grayscale EPS, PDF or one other format I can't remember off the top of my head...

Sure, Mr. Retro's textures are overused, but that doesn't have to mean yours have to be...anyone with a scanner or digi cam can make their own textures (gasp) to use with the filters - so no need to buy both (learned this the hard way).

Some great textures you can make on your own are concretes, wood grains, bricks, speaker mesh, any cloth texture (including a wrinkled sheet), cotton balls, feather boas, piles of chips (or buttons, or pine needles, or pins and needles - whatever floats your boat). Be creative...

I keep meaning to go through the action, step by step to figure out what it's doing...because I rarely use them...I usually do everything manually without filters or actions...you have more control that way ;)

[AmyJo]

ohhh...I was so naive when i bought them...newbie and all...and then got them, made 1 set of papers and thought - "Oh. This is SO lame! My concrete's better than his!"
LOL - where were you when I needed someone to keep my head on straight Christie?? :D

Learning is a goal and I usually learn from mistakes, isn't there an easier way?? LOL :)

[SweetNSassyMommy]

great info ladies... thanks very much for sharing your thoughts, you just may have saved me $60 :)

[holly]

something else to consider on these....

someone like me doesn't have a ton of time to buy, find, and scan in items for textures. so, the price is worth it for some of those. now mind you i don't always use them as is. i like to just use them at times rather than the complete actions. i combine textures, mess with them, create overlays, and add them, edit them, etc. so, $60 for a butt-load of textures was enough for me and my crazy hectic life and schedule! LOL

[AmyJo]

Good point Holly - I got nothin' but time on my hands - I oughta' sell textures ;)

[holly]

bring it on sister!!! i'd buy!

[SweetNSassyMommy]

LOL Holly...now you've gone and made me rethink it again :D One more question for those of you who have these. Are the textures seamless or can you see lines between the blocks? Just curious...

Robin

[UnDecided]

They're not really patterned, so I guess you would say they are seamless. They're basically pics at a MEGA high res, so his pic MORE than covers any paper you would need to create.

[holly]

most are larger than 12 x 12

[SweetNSassyMommy]

Awesome...thanks for the information ladies!

Robin

[andreavictoria]

and you can resize the images too, make them larger than your image...does that make sense...lol!

[paula_duncan]

Here is a link to the first one I created. I did more and tried different linens but i just downloaded samples from the net cause I don't have a scanner.

http://www.thedigichick.com/showthread.php?t=1572


I'm still on the fence about this.

Paula, I tried Sara's tut for linen, but it didn't work so well for me. I'm thinking I didn't have a very good sample or something. I'd love to see what you did with it. Thanks for the tip on fabric samples. I guess I'll give that a shot before I take the $32 plunge. LOL

[Vania16]

I finally ordered them and they came last week - unfortunately my computer is down again - but I did play with them a little before it crashed and I think they're gonna be fun. I agree that you could definitely do a lot of the same things yourself, but I'm with Holly on the time constraints, so I think they're going to work well for me. I got both, but I think you could easily just pick one and plug your own textures into the action if you wanted any more effects.

[andreavictoria]

Lisa, sorry about your computer! But you will have fun once you get up and running again =)

Yes, for those who don't have time, this may be the way you want to go. Even though a ton of people are using Retro, you can still make it your own by playing around with the adjusments.

[AmyJo]

You know I'd share with you - LOL!
bring it on sister!!! i'd buy!

[Kim2002]

I've had both for a few months now and love them. They are seamless and can be re-sized to anything you want. Some are much grungier than I would ever use, but that's okay. I'm sure someday I will find a good use for them. LOL I think they are rather pricey, but if you plan to design for profit, then they are a worthwhile investment which you can write off on your taxes at the end of the year.

[MariKoegelenberg]

I have a question, I have PSE 3 and was wondering if it will work in this program since he says it has not been tested?

I actually think I made a pretty good textured paper and samples can be viewed on my blog: http://marikcreations.blogspot.com if anybody wants to look and it was all made from textures downloaded on the web. 8 Different Layers! It did not really take that long, about 1/2 hour then I was good to add my patterns and colors.