Exploring some possibilities...

[Ross Macintosh]

I've been having fun playing with the bevel tool and text. The image I developed uses a bitmap from the Molecular Expressions website. The result therefore is: a derivative work using a image copyrighted by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University and is used with permission.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Ross Macintosh]

I've been having fun playing with the bevel tool and text. The image I developed uses a bitmap from the Molecular Expressions website. The result therefore is: a derivative work using a image copyrighted by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University and is used with permission.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Egg Bramhill]

The images from the Molecular Expressions website are an excellent source for inspiration. Did you clone the text as well?
Egg

[RTK]

... look way cool, did you post a tut on that? I think you did some really amazing looking stuff in the "xara nova" thread, also.

I would love to buy high resolution images of all the things that Michael W. Davidson and Florida Staye University show at their site.

Risto

Risto

diri@videotron.ca

[Ross Macintosh]

Thanx guys.

I started with a beveled text object and then started cloning. If you are going to clone something why stop with just one copy? Actually I offset a clone for a three-dee effect. I cloned the front one and took off its bevel and gave it a bitmap fill and a linear transparency. At that point I thought about highlights. I took a clone of the bitmap filled one and gave it a solid white fill and eliminated its transparency. To make the 'shape' smaller I applied an inside contour then clicked the contour option button called 'inset path' which resizes the object to the extents of the contour (and makes it a single shape again). [Note the 'inset path' can be very useful -- try it and see what it does if you haven't already]. I cloned and offset the result of the inset path operation. With both selected, I 'subtracted', leaving just the area which appears as the highlight - feathering was applied to it.

At that point all those shapes were grouped and skewing was used to adjust the group. Reason - I had the idea that it could look more 3d if it were more isometric. Once it was adjusted okay I made a bitmap copy (png+alpha) and sent it to back. That bitmap copy was offset slightly and given a little transparency. Successive clones of it were then added, each with a further offsetting and increased transparency. That created the main text.

On a layer behind I created a background using Prof. Davidson's microscopy pic of a fuzzy navel drink (a personal favorite). The bitmap was modified significantly with clones and various transparency effects. To finish up the secondary text was added to give some reason-for-being to the image.

In conclusion, the purpose of the image was to explore creating three-dee effects with the bevel tool. Cloning turned out to be very important in developing the image. I encourage others to just play with xara's tools. As Bill Clegg has pointed out repeatedly - playing with text is always a good starting place for some good ol' xara explorations. The more you do such fool'n around the more you know how to achieve effects you need for more serious images.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[bcdeb]

But I just assumed you'd used a blend. Thanks for the explanation.

[Ross Macintosh]

I avoided the blend tool because of it's limitations working with objects that have bitmap fills. I suppose what I did was create a manual blend.

I increased the 3-dimensionality of the background bitmaps by making a bitmap copy of them, converting that copy to grayscale, offsetting it slightly, and givening it 'darken' transparency. Sort of a bump map effect as it is called in some graphics applications.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>