Printable View
After a bit of fun playing around with the Blend and Mould tools I came up with String Text, a rather cool text effect. It's probably been done before, but, since I haven't seen it anywhere, I thought I'd share it with everyone.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/picture....&pictureid=477
Don't be shy, give it a try,
Harry
Cool effect Harry. I don't remember seeing that before.
Yes,never seen before,Harry.
Might i ever see it,don't know
As I don't see anything ,besides your written text, in this post :(:eek:
Hans
Cool Harry. You might need to reveal your secret ;)
Hans, Harry's image show's fine here? Refresh this page maybe?
You can also see it in his member album here:
http://www.talkgraphics.com/album.ph...&pictureid=476
well I don`t see it either.
and the links gives
"Invalid Album specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator"
This is what i see Steve,cleared cache and refreshed window and all.
Hans
I moved it to another album, please try again haakoo, ankhor and others.
I hope that helps,
Harry
Very cool text indeed....looks like fun. I'd give it a try too but I don't know how.
Thank you Lord,I can see the light :O
Nice effect Harry,
Hans
How'd you recognize me without my robe and sandals? No reply is needed or necessary. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by haakoo
Just, F A N T A S T I C
Nancy (yep, that's right) I'll see what I can do to bring you up to speed. I don't want you missing out on anything. You'll have to give me a while though as it's time to go feed and water all of the critters and the family. I might even try to catch a movie during dinner.Quote:
Originally Posted by Burpee
> Thanks all, for the positive comments!
Well, you did say to give it a try....and I want to. Just thought you might have missed putting the link in to how you did it.
I'm working on a tutorial for anyone who'd like to give this a go. I just like to give everyone a chance to try and figure it out for themselves, first. Plus, it takes oodles more time to write up a tutorial (even a mini one) than it does to create the actual effect. Bear with me though, as I have a habit of getting side-tracked.
'Til then,
Harry
Tried with blended lines turned into shapes and the letters added ... am I close?
This looks very cool can't wait for the tutorial!!
John,
Yep! You're on the right track. Use an odd number of steps in your blend, convert to shapes, ungroup, then create two groups from the ungrouped shapes, one of odd numbered blend shapes and one from the even numbered blend shapes. Convert your text to shapes, then mould each letter to the shape of the top and bottom curved lines/shapes. Then either subtract or intersect the text with the 'even number' line/shape group. Color to suit and add a background to make the 'String Text' stand out.
IHTH,
Harry
Neat idea! I shall have a bash at that later. Thanks Harry :D
A few more lines needed methinks! :D The idea's there though.
Right on! Yes, you've definitely got the concept. I'd say either use more lines or try it with lines that are a bit thicker. Just for reference, not a magic number or anything, I used a 41 step blend for the 'HARRY' string text graphic.
Nicely done,
Harry
This could be a cool effect for a logo for those rainbow colored computer cables.
Good observation, Gary.
Here's a less complicated example of this technique. This one is done using only straight lines thereby eliminating the need to apply the Mould Tool to the individual letters in order to make them follow the curves of the outer lines. I think this example shows what's going on a little more clearly.
- Create two lines separated by an appropriate distance
- Create an odd numbered step blend between the two lines
- Convert blend to shapes (Ctrl+Shift+S) and ungroup (Ctrl+U)
- Shift select odd numbered lines/shapes and group (Ctrl+G)
- Shift select the even numbered lines/shapes and group (Ctrl+G)
- Create your text and/or shapes and position them over the lines
- Select your text and convert to shapes (Ctrl+Shift+S)
- Shift select your text shapes and any other shapes (if you have any), excluding the two line groups, and group them together (Ctrl+G)
- With the shapes selected, shift select the even number lines group and perform an intersect shapes operation (Ctrl+3)
- Change the color(s) of the different groups any way that pleases you
TIP1: If you keep copies of the even and/or odd line groups you can perform other intersect shapes (Ctrl+3) or subtract shapes (Ctrl+2) operations using different overlay shapes for added effect(s).
TIP2: After creating the String Text/Shapes you can select that group and perform a break shapes operation (Arrange > Break Shapes). The group can then be ungrouped (Ctrl+U) and individual sections can be grouped and colored, deleted, or further manipulated. WARNING: This may take a long time depending on the number of shapes involved and may cause Xara Xtreme to generate errors and/or crash. SAVE YOUR WORK OFTEN AND MOST DEFINITELY BEFORE ANY BREAK SHAPES OPERATION INVOLVING A LARGE NUMBER OF SHAPES IS ATTEMPTED.
Both of these tips were used to create the image shown below.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/picture....&pictureid=479
This is just a quick rundown for anyone wanting to give this a go before I finish the tutorial.
Simple, like me,
Harry
very cool, it would make a very good Birthday or Xmas banner
regards Jon
Thanks, Harry, for sharing.........very effective
Thank you Harry. This was very creative and interesting. I appreciate you sharing how you did it.
That's very effective and the first time I've seen that.
and another THANK YOU !
it really is a neat effect and very nice of you to share how it's done :cool:
Yvonne