Hi all, I'm new to this stuff, I have Adobe PhotoShop Elements 2.0, and used that to create the basic signature I have below. This seems to be lacking some of the tools that recent PS's have (like the "Pen", although it does have the Magic Wand tool), will that be a problem with creating signatures, abstract and..."regular"?

I also have Solid Works '08 on this computer (4 gigs ), and was wondering if that software would be useful for creating the abstract 3d rendering backgrounds (I'm relatively new to both Adobe PS E 2.0 and Solid Works, so this stuff is hard).

Do you guys render your own 3d backgrounds or get them from sites like planetrenders.net etc?

Last question: When I put a picture ontop of another one and try to blend it in, how do i control how much it fades, I only want the edges to fade, not the entire image to be partially faded, and all screwed up. The wolf picture in my signature had a bit of that problem, but luckily it was quite similar to it's background.

Thanks in advance.