March 2014 Video Tutorial - 3D Papercrafting in Xara

[Barbara B]

3D Papercrafting in Xara



Embossing and shadows on text is soooo 2013. This month, Gary ran with an observation from Rik Datta on how to make paper look as though it was cut and peeling to make astoundingly eye-catching characters. It’s easier than you’d believe, we’ve done some of the work for you in the download files and before you know it, you’ll be hanging out at the scrapbooking section of WalMart.

Or not.

Watch the video and get the resource files so you too can papercraft in Xara. Then show us your work. And be sure to thank Rik for helping to bring this great technique to Xaraland.

[angelize]

I enjoyed this and learned from it I played around with some different letters and I had a bit of trouble with the c and the e. I went back and looked at the video again and I think I've got it now.

[Rik]

That really is pretty cool, Frances.
I like the paper effect on the lettering.

Unsurprisingly, I'm posting PAPYRUS!

[angelize]

Thanks Rik. This technique was a great find thanks for bringing it to us. The paper texture was done with a seamless fill. Before starting the shading I ungrouped all the letter groups and cloned the letter shapes these clones were filled with the seamless paper texture and sent to the back. I then proceeded with the tutorial and once I was happy with the conical fills I grouped the shaded shapes (but not with the textured clones) a simple stained glass transparency blends the shading shapes with the texture shapes.

[Gare]

Nice improvisation, Frances. You "got" the gist of the tutorial almost immediately!

By the way, the alphabet isn't flawless. I didn't experiment with every character, and was based on a font I created based a little on Milton Glaser's work and some Russian Revolution posters (the 1917 one, not the 2014 one). There are very few ways to mess up the font if you need to customize it for legibility.

And Bonus Lesson # 1,428: There are some effects you'll be able to use in your career lots of times, like when you've perfected a metallic look, and other effects that get tedious and annoying if you use them more than 3 times in your life. I think this paper craft effect falls into the latter category.

It's an effect, it's cool, it enhances some work, but it isn't the heart of your work.

Incidentally, there was a font created by Roger Excoffon in 1958 (he also designed Mistal, Banco, and opther classics) called "Calypso", one of the most elegant, beautiful and illegible fonts I've ever plunked down $50 for. It is based on characters that look as though they're made entirely out of curled paper, sort of like origami, and then to simulate shades of grey, the whole font is halftoned:




At the bottom of the image above, is a very derivative font called Stiletto. It's more legible than Calypso and it's free to download.


Download Stiletto by Rafael Dinner here


UPDATE: I discovered a foundry—Letter Fountain—who were dissatisfied with the quality of the digital version of Calypso; the halftoning was inaccurate (in my copy from Linotype especially!), and the people not only recast the font from the original metal slugs, but they've made it more crisp and even offer a set of extras in a separate file.

Rejoice, 3D text lovers! Get the closest digital thing to Excofon's Calypso here!



Wow! I think I just went O/T! :(

Always trying to encourage diversity,

Gary

[Rik]

Well, Frances.
I thought I would try a bit of a fill as well.
Tried to get the look of parchment.

[stygg2003]

Finally got round to this tut. albeit a bit out of line. When I got the shapes figured out and fills I grouped each letter, cloned it and gave it a Speckle seamless tile fill 96dpi and flat stained glass trans. 30% then a glow shadow.

Stygg

[Gare]

Perfect following of the tute, and then some, stygg.

I'd love to see now what other alphabetical chararacters can be rendered, and perhaps change the colour scheme. When you're paper-cfrating, there's a lot of tetures and tones out there!

My Best,

Gary

[stygg2003]

Cheers for that Gary, yes I'm going to try some of the other letters, I've got plenty of textures and I thought I'd try some of the colours from the Shades tints and tones palette if I think up a composition, but first for the umpteenth time I'm going to try and finish the pie chart

Regards, Stygg

[angelize]

I got to thinking that this technique could be used for more than just letters. The flowers and leaves in this piece use the conical fills shading. The vase and the stems I left as flat pieces of paper.