Pen Tut for Jack

[Steve Newport]

Jack, I know you asked not to, but this is how I best express my techniques! Here's a tut for you on the basics of making shapes, it really shouldn't be hard if you keep trying at it! This is something that I've done a lot so it's all habit, point being, if I've left a whole bunch of stuff out that you're still in the dark about, or need to know anything else, just ask!

Another great person to ask about shapes is Risto, his entire collection revolves around precise and accurate shapes. Not being him I wouldn't know if it's a technique or a set of mind, but either way that's one thing I've noticed about his works since the first I saw of him. Any xara cartoonist would work too.

Again, anything you'd like to know, just ask, I'll do my best to explain. I don't believe shapes are my forte, I'm more knowledgeable in shading, lighting, etc., but I believe the more you copy (Pictures, objects, etc.) the better you'll understand both shapes and shading

Hope this help

Steve Newport

[Mickie]

Dale — a clarification — when you have the same number of nodes Xara preserves the section that contains the start point not the largest section.

We had a discussion a while ago about cropping that you might find interesting. You can read it here.

Mickie

[JF Slater]

I am sure you're right! And now I think I know why I keep getting that problem when I use combine shapes - several points are being introduced close together!

Seems I didn't look closely enough! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Old Dog]

Steve's Drifter piece is in the Xara Gallery on page 4. Posted Jan. 14, 2002 and titled "Drifters - Final (I think?)"

The (I think?) is part of the title, not an inference from me that I wasn't sure! Ha Ha!

Anyway, go check it out..... You will be impressed!

Jack

[Bob C.]

Ramwolff,

I can post the .xar file of the feather I made in the recent thread "Not exactly a bird" but I suspect you don't want that kind of detail for an entire set of wings.

Maya's little feather tut might be better for that application, but let me know I'd be happy to post it.

Bob C.

[Steve Newport]

It's funny how one little bit of ignorance in your mind can take so much away from your drawings.
A little while back while working on a logo for a Vocal Jazz Ensemble 'The Drifters' I got one little tip from Volv about highlighting some edges in this pile of liquid and it made ALL the difference. I now have a much better understanding of liquid and other shiny stuff, a much better logo, and it was all because of one person.
In every piece of art YOU create, the radiantness of a thousand others beam throug

Steve Newport

[JF Slater]

I think I had your problem and finally figured this out a couple of days ago!

Jess

[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[dalel]

I tried this with a simple connected curve:

I made a simple curve, then connected it together with another.

I tried several ways of modifying the connected line using the ~'s, and noticed a tendency for Xara to preserve the area with the greater number of nodes (also called points or anchor points).

I added quite a few additional nodes with the Shape Editor tool.

It seemed that if I used the ~ to attempt to modify the connected line, the area with the most nodes took precedence, and was preserved.

If the number of nodes between the ~'s was the same, Xara preserved the largest segment.

My conclusion: to prevent losing the area you are trying to preserve, make sure it has more nodes than the area you are trying to modify.

Pretty smart, those Xara X programmers! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

In the following example, the smaller, bottom segment of the shape will be preserved, because it has 3 more nodes than the upper part.

http://www.eyesitewebdesign.com/nodes2.gif

Dale

[Old Dog]

thanks a million. Your tut helps a whole lot. Sometimes, what's easy for one is so difficult for another, until someone shows you how it's done. I can see, it just takes a lot of practice, which is what I plan to give it.

I know you are a master of light, shadow and shading, it's what truly transforms your images into such believable works.

Thanks again for all your unselfish help. You've at least pointed me in the right direction. I've got to get to work now!

Jack

[RAMWolff44]

WOW Steve, don't know how I missed that one. Great piece you did there [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

Thanks for the explanation on splicing. Yea, I know how to do all that, but the thing I was curious about is that if I have an object that I am doing that with, seems that there have been some times when I am doing the splicing with the freehand tool and when I get that little ~ I do the connect thing and then the whole image dissapears except for the line I just spliced. I can't explain it any better with out showing you an example but I really don't know how to show you that sort of an example.

The NODE tutoiral is very helpful I thank you for that very much [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

RAMWolff [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]