Advice on shading custom shapes?

[The Alien]

Hi all,

After reading the tutorial on Shading bent tubes, I put the technique to practice on some weird closed shapes I made, i.e. creating a sort of shininess and 3D effect for custom shapes.
The first shape in my attachment was relatively easy to do: the copy below it shows the outline of the (closed) shape I used for the blend.
However, I now want to apply the same effect to the lower shape which is way more complex. I could of course follow the same technique, but it would take me a long time for the second shape (and I have more shapes waiting in line for the same effect http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/eek.gif ). Besides, I don't know if it would look OK (the thinner parts of the shape concern me).
Anyone got some advice on this? Is there an easier/faster way for this or do I have to do it the hard way?
I've tried searching the forum but I couldn't find anything useful :
Any help is greatly appreciated http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[The Alien]

Hi all,

After reading the tutorial on Shading bent tubes, I put the technique to practice on some weird closed shapes I made, i.e. creating a sort of shininess and 3D effect for custom shapes.
The first shape in my attachment was relatively easy to do: the copy below it shows the outline of the (closed) shape I used for the blend.
However, I now want to apply the same effect to the lower shape which is way more complex. I could of course follow the same technique, but it would take me a long time for the second shape (and I have more shapes waiting in line for the same effect http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/eek.gif ). Besides, I don't know if it would look OK (the thinner parts of the shape concern me).
Anyone got some advice on this? Is there an easier/faster way for this or do I have to do it the hard way?
I've tried searching the forum but I couldn't find anything useful :
Any help is greatly appreciated http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[molucca]

A different approach using E3. I made a gel reflection map and applied it to the shape. You would have to save to PNG, however. I drew the shape in X1 and exported to AI. This is as simple as adjusting the embossing value. Rich

[Albacore]

What Rich is saying that he uses a plugin which can be used in PhotoShop or Illustrator and it is very expensive.

If you want to achieve the effect that you described I am afriad it is the long process however why not copy it, scale it down,change the colour and then blend it. you may have to go into the shape editor and change certain parts and it might not give you the correct effect that you want but it will be close to it.

The other way could be to make your shape smaller and then put a Rounded2 Bevel on it.

[molucca]

Actually, a free method since Expression 3 was released as freeware by Microsoft. If you used AutoFX Gel, it would be costly. I made the reflection map in Gel, but you could use anything. Rich

[roman]

That shape can be done the same way. The shape stays editable even if Bevel is applied. If you press ALT and click on the shape the vector shape on which the bevel is applied is selected and you can use SHAPE TOOL to adjust it.

In the attached example I've used.

- round bevel2
- adjustest elevation to 90 degrees
- contrast to 100%

if you look for anything else just explain more precisely what thing you need to achieve. Everything can be done in Xara.

roman

[joto]

I hope this is what you're after. I put it in a mini-tut. This is just a guide, so feel free to experiment and show what you've come up with.

Jolande

[joto]

I see that the highlights don't stand out in the bitmapcopy. So here's the Xar-file.

Jolande

[The Alien]

Thanks for the replies. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

Roman and Jolande, that's exactly what I've been looking for! http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif Thanks, I'll experiment a bit to see if I can make the effect better, but it already looks the way I wanted =) Saves me a lot of time too http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
Rich, that's a neat plugin there. Does it work with XaraX too? Cause I don't have Photoshop or Illustrator (I use good ol' Picture Publisher 7 http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif) http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[molucca]

Expression is an application not a plugin. I have had the application a long time. Only recently when Microsoft bought the application form Creaturehouse that Microsoft the application for Mac and PC as freeware. It is about a 60MB download. The working screen shows it as a preview version, but I haven't heard of any limitations. Expression applies the effect to vector objects. It is unique to the application, and I save to PNG and use the result in X1.

AutoFX Gel can run as a standalone or as a plugin to Photoshop. I am not sure what other programs it could be used with.

Reflections maps themselves can be used in three of the KPT plugins. One of these is shapeshifter, and I think it would produce similar results. I haven't tried it, however. KPT doesn't appear to handle the grid type reflection maps I use.

I use Picture Publisher 10, but never tried other plugins.

I would like to know if the plugins could be made to work in X1, also.

Rich