Winding road effect ... is there a better way?

[Contours]

For the umpteenth time, I find myself trying to illustrate a winding road going into the distance. Invariably, I look at the result and don't feel the curves and perceived depth are quite right. (It's a simplistic version of the uncanny valley phenomenon.) And all the while, I know it's just geometry, which the computer should be able to solve.

Here are examples of the kind of "scene" I'm working on: http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/winding_road.html
(And, yes, I've tried tracing. The problem, there, is finding the right traceable roadway.)

I've attached a method I've used for lines going straight into the distance. But nothing I've tried can give me the "to the right" ones I'm after. And, of course, I'd like to produce both edges of the roadway in a single operation.

Is there a better way with Xara?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[angelize]

Carapace is a nifty free tool you can get to produce a perspective grid with up to nine vanishing points http://epicgames.com/community/2012/...o-epic-friday/ Just copy and paste the image into your Xara program and lock it by right clicking it and select lock photo from the context menu.

to turn a single line into a shape simply right click it and select convert line to shape from the context menu. You can then adjust the curves on both sides of the road as needed.

[stygg2003]

Don't know if this helps Contours, I used this method on a winter scene, only one edge it looked better than two and gave it a little depth, looks as if the snow is banked and you would not see the left road edge as the snow would hide it, it depends on how you want to depict the road. It's far from perfect but seems to work

Stygg

[handrawn]

In the shape [editor] tool you could try marquee selecting the nodes for the upper curve and nudging them to one side.. bit seat of the pants maybe when it comes to true perspective but it should give you a closer effect

what you want does not just have perspective into the distance, it also has lateral displacement [very few roads that curve have a 'dead-straight-ahead' axis on a totally flat level terrain]

rough example attached

[Albacore]

Stygg way of doing it is the way I would do though I might just clone the path a few times and vary the line width. Let's say once you're happy with your line including the taper towards the horizon give your line width a good heavy weight, 72pt, then clone the path 3 times. Pick from the the Layer Gallery, 2nd line and give this weight of 75pt and give this line colour of dark grey, go to the 3rd change wt. to 78 to 80pt and give line colour of a lighter shade of grey. The with the last clone give this line a wt. of 6pt change to white, go to Line Gallery and change stroke to dashed pattern. The front of the line has to be finished to give its horizontal edge by clipping path (clipView).

[handrawn]

well stygg hasn't actualy said what he did [in respect of perspective] - other than 'just drew it' - often the best way if you can see it in your head up-front I'll admit...

[Michael]

The mould tool works best for me. Draw a line, convert line to shape and apply the mould tool (Shft+F6)

Now, why do i hear Sir McCartney ringing somewhere in the back of my head ...?

[handrawn]

Now, why do i hear Sir McCartney ringing somewhere ...?

I'd let that be if I were you....

[Contours]

Thanks, everybody.

@Micheal: the mould tool gave me an excellent result on the very first try.

Unfortunately, I stepped right through your instructions and didn't record the precise shape/dimensions I was using — and then found I couldn't duplicate my result on a second try. Undoing step by step didn't display the mould tool shape. It only changed the shape. So, if anyone tries this, watch each step closely. I'll keep trying, now that I have the method.

But the bigger problem is in trying to work toward a road with edges, centerline, etc. Would you have a suggestion of how to construct 3 lines(shapes) in parallel and then use the mould tool to get the completed results? It's the "in parallel" part that's the problem. Every time I get back to shaping the lines with the drag handles, I think "there's got to be a better way".

Thanks for your help.

[wizard509]

I think if I were doing it I would draw the line and using the freehand tool select one of the profile tools and use something like fallout or iron or something.
Then after I had drawn one line clone it and set the rotation cross hairs at the narrow tip then rotate it untill a suitable distance from the large end. If you wanted to draw two lines with a center line maybe clone both the previous two lines and again duplicate the previous step and rotate aligning the center lines. Then you could delete one of the center lines giving you 3 lines one of which would be the center and all would be editable. It would be easiest to change the line colors of the clone so you could see the alignment, then you could change one of them back and delete the other aligned line.