Did this as one of the weekly themes from over at the MMB forums that feature the MediaChance's forums, including RealDraw-Pro. It's a handy program and the author is busy at work on version 4.0 (I think it will be 4.0, considering all the new things he's adding in and bug fixes, ect...!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif )
Any way the theme was 'Shadows', which interested me, so I did my first full blown image in that program. It's got some extras that XaraX does not have but for the most part XaraX's anti-alaising, bevels and speed and selection abilities are far above, IMHO, even the more expensive programs out there.
One thing I really like is the programs ability to allow for "pixel to vector" and back again (similar to PI's ability but unlike PI it takes you into a seperate work area so there is no confusion). I can select the "Paint New Bitmap" icon (7th icon down) go in and paint a tree shape and when I'm finished click on the "Object Selection" button (first icon) and I'm taken back to the main interface and then I can transform into a vector by selecting: Object/Convert To/Polynome (Vectorize) and Wha-la a new tree shape that is totally editable in either area. Really neato!!
It's use of "Packages" is also very good, a step above 'grouping' objects'. The "3D Lights" are totally cool and gives you total control over the light colors, types of lights and intensity. Very easy to figure out. To move a particular light make sure you have the one selected from the "3D Lights" menu and then select the "Edit Lights" icon (3rd from the bottom) and move them around to get things just right.
Other areas like "text" and "bevels", "shadows" and "lines" are all pretty good. I'm not super familiar with them all yet so I can comment too much on these tools!! "Bump maps" and "Transparency" effects are abundant through out the program. "Transparency" can be achieved in 2 areas. In the fill area there are other options to make the fill as user friendly as possilble. These other selections are: "Screen", "F-8" (not sure what that means) but it seems to reverse the fills intensity, "Transparency" and "3-D" with a handy slider. Middle of the slider gives you the default but to the left or right gives the user intensities of 3-D effect in either direction. Pretty darned cool!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Of course there are areas that need work but as I mentioned Oscar is busy working on these areas, so it's nice to see a program with an author that is continuously excited about the program and wants the quality of the program to meet the demands of the user base. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
The "House" image is not perfect. I'm still learning stuff but I thought it was good enough to post. The bushes and shrubs were created using the paint to vector options. Handy!! Not confusing like I found PI to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret purchasing PI, on the contrary, I'm glad to have it in my tool box but for ease of use, for me, I like RealDraw-Pro better!!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Did this as one of the weekly themes from over at the MMB forums that feature the MediaChance's forums, including RealDraw-Pro. It's a handy program and the author is busy at work on version 4.0 (I think it will be 4.0, considering all the new things he's adding in and bug fixes, ect...!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif )
Any way the theme was 'Shadows', which interested me, so I did my first full blown image in that program. It's got some extras that XaraX does not have but for the most part XaraX's anti-alaising, bevels and speed and selection abilities are far above, IMHO, even the more expensive programs out there.
One thing I really like is the programs ability to allow for "pixel to vector" and back again (similar to PI's ability but unlike PI it takes you into a seperate work area so there is no confusion). I can select the "Paint New Bitmap" icon (7th icon down) go in and paint a tree shape and when I'm finished click on the "Object Selection" button (first icon) and I'm taken back to the main interface and then I can transform into a vector by selecting: Object/Convert To/Polynome (Vectorize) and Wha-la a new tree shape that is totally editable in either area. Really neato!!
It's use of "Packages" is also very good, a step above 'grouping' objects'. The "3D Lights" are totally cool and gives you total control over the light colors, types of lights and intensity. Very easy to figure out. To move a particular light make sure you have the one selected from the "3D Lights" menu and then select the "Edit Lights" icon (3rd from the bottom) and move them around to get things just right.
Other areas like "text" and "bevels", "shadows" and "lines" are all pretty good. I'm not super familiar with them all yet so I can comment too much on these tools!! "Bump maps" and "Transparency" effects are abundant through out the program. "Transparency" can be achieved in 2 areas. In the fill area there are other options to make the fill as user friendly as possilble. These other selections are: "Screen", "F-8" (not sure what that means) but it seems to reverse the fills intensity, "Transparency" and "3-D" with a handy slider. Middle of the slider gives you the default but to the left or right gives the user intensities of 3-D effect in either direction. Pretty darned cool!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Of course there are areas that need work but as I mentioned Oscar is busy working on these areas, so it's nice to see a program with an author that is continuously excited about the program and wants the quality of the program to meet the demands of the user base. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
The "House" image is not perfect. I'm still learning stuff but I thought it was good enough to post. The bushes and shrubs were created using the paint to vector options. Handy!! Not confusing like I found PI to be. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret purchasing PI, on the contrary, I'm glad to have it in my tool box but for ease of use, for me, I like RealDraw-Pro better!!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
I think you have a some real goodies there Richard, sounds like your excited too. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Don't be affraid to mix some Xara into this new program. Is that fractal clouds I see, Were not purist over here on this side of the fence.
Yea, I think I'm finally hitting my stride in the vector department. XaraX and RealDraw-Pro are the ones for me. DrawPlus 7 was fun but SO irritating in the speed department when it came to heavy files and the selection of objects was just horrendous.
Example. Say you have 30 objects and some are layered. In XaraX if you can find an edge barely sticking out you can select that object. In DrawPlus you have to go by order of when the objects were created. So if I need to reach that 1st created object, YUP, got to click 30 times to get to it and god forbid you mis click, then you have to start over again. Everyone told me to get used to layers. I'm not a layers kinda guy. I really try but I just can't get my mind to formulate an entire image and work in proper order to create it. If I could, layers would be fine but I don't work that way. So instead I had to give up on using DrawPlus7 for the time being. I WILL invest in the next release, hey it's not like it's over priced or anything and I do love the interface. The dockable galleries ROCK!!
RealDraw has layers but Oscar handles the layers differently than XaraX, DrawPlus or any other program that works with layers. The dialog is called layers but I'm not all together sure if they are layers or not. Maybe he has the program set up to automatically create a new layer for each object so that's why the program can get a hundred objects going and not slow down too noticeably?? Not sure though!! I do know that if you have the objects either named or you can tell what it is and where it is in the order all you have to do it click on that one in the layers list and it's selected and you just pull it out and edit it, so that's good, IMO!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Any way, here is the HouseApart image with all the objects 'un packed' to show all the objects it took to create this scene. Not all are showable, if I remove the perspective on the left side of the house then and only then could I show more of the house in pieces but I like leaving that in tact for effect!! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks