LiveBrush

[iamtheblues]

Having recently found out about LiveBrush I decided to give the free version a try. I was impressed with its capabilities, but as it didn't include a vector export, I decided to splash out $10 on the full version. I was a little disappointed that the SVG line export exported just that, and not the little floral doodads (Decos) in the attached graphic. I know that importing the .png into Illustrator, XDP, Drawplus, VectorMagic etc. goes some way to resolving this, the vector result isn't perfect using any of them. Perhaps I'm missing something in the export process in LiveBrush which someone could explain to me, as this method of creating this type of vector graphic would be extremely useful. It also produces splats, celtic patterns and all sorts of other useful designs.
Warning:it's a bit of a time-waster, though.
Bob.

[handrawn]

Hi Bob

livebrush is an excellent lineart program, especially when used with a tablet, I really like it

as far as the decorations go:

Livebrush currently only supports vector line exporting. Decorations will not be exported when you export to vector (SVG). This feature is still under development

[iamtheblues]

Thanks for the info, Steve. Could you furnish me with a link, or otherwise point me to the source?
Bob.

[mwenz]

Take a look at the FAQ.

http://www.livebrush.com/faq.html#question11

Mike

[handrawn]

thats the link - seems like the support forum is not active

[mwenz]

I look at LiveBrush--which is not in active development--like a PhotoShop plug-in. It can be used as an enhancement to a composited drawing, but it is not necessarily *the* drawing or illustration. So the lack of vector export to me is not a big deal. However, one can export, use VectorMagic, another trace app, AI or what not to covert it to vector if needed if the LB image is not too complicated, or export it in various layers and go through the tracing.

Take care, Mike

[mwenz]

Hello Bob,

I have attached a screen shot of using LB and exporting as a PNG image, incorporated in a fake business logo. The other is an attachment of taking the plainest of your sample images and converting it to vector and is a XAR file now.

Once the trace is inside Xara, I selected each part of the imported trace, switched to the shape tool (F4), selected all the nodes for the selection, then used the smoothing slider, typically to about 15% or so. Selected the next item, smoothed it etc.

You can export without the background, btw. So I had to first use select color in PS and cut out the low res bitmap from you attachment. I think it did a fair job. Obviously tracing depends on a couple things, one of which is the complexity. Taking an export into PS or another image editing application and changing the color to a solid black will help.

Take care, Mike

[iamtheblues]

Thanks for the heads up on line export and also the hints and tips. Shame that the LiveBrush forums aren't working. Here is something I made using a bunch of different applications.
The spatter was made in LiveBrush and the layers exported as a .png.
The export resolution is quite poor, so I used SmillaEnlarger (free) http://sourceforge.net/projects/imageenlarger/ to enlarge the .png by x900.
I placed the result in Illustrator CS6 and did an automatic trace, then expanded and grouped the result and saved as a .pdf.
I imported the .pdf into XDP 7 re-coloured the shapes to a nice bloody red, and copied them to the clipboard. Cloned the shapes and coloured the duplicate white. Offset the clone slightly over the red shapes and sliced the two objects to create a thin white edge which I clipped to the red shape beneath to give depth and shine to the blood.
Bob.

[wizard509]

Nice work Bob.

[iamtheblues]

Thanks, Larry - the blood would look cool on a T Shirt, I think.
Bob.