Of Bottle Caps and Water Droplets

[ernie-f]

Hi Frank!
I found Your Work excelent. The shadow is a think that comes with the light, it's direction and intensity. And then, it's a ambi-light, spot or what the hell we know?

An other think is optical physics. A waterdrop is like a little magnifying glass. Objects under the drops should be displayed larger. I have quick tried to do it within Xara.
Here my result.

Greets from Old Germany

Ernie

[Big Frank]

hehehe i like this
we're all talking about end results which is what its all about
ernie you are definitely right
but i'm not doing that because its just too much work
but you are right
rik your shadow is more intense and realistic than mine coming from a spot
but its also wider than the bottle cap which isn't possible unless the spot is a strip
but i get your point
also youre comparing to my first red cap, not the second, posted just after the coors image
boy, your shadow hits the spot too
kudos to us all, we're all flippin xartists to the core
the point is its all good discussion
at least were not arguing about the bloody pen tool, lol!

[gray]

Great looking bottle caps BF, especially with the added water drops.

[Rik]

...at least were not arguing about the bloody pen tool, lol!

This is one tool I never use.
In fact, if it wasn't for the Shape Tool, I doubt I would have produced much in Xara.

Also, just received my XDP-X9 disk in the post.
And the Pen Tool is not listed on the quick tips and shortcuts card. Maybe it's on its way out!

[ernie-f]

hehehe i like this
we're all talking about end results which is what its all about
ernie you are definitely right
but i'm not doing that because its just too much work
but you are right
rik your shadow is more intense and realistic than mine coming from a spot
but its also wider than the bottle cap which isn't possible unless the spot is a strip
but i get your point
also youre comparing to my first red cap, not the second, posted just after the coors image
boy, your shadow hits the spot too
kudos to us all, we're all flippin xartists to the core
the point is its all good discussion
at least were not arguing about the bloody pen tool, lol!

Yes Frank, within Xara is this a bloody work. Just a click and You achive this efect in CorelDraw with it's lens tool (see screenshot).

I find the shape tool in Xara has its authority. It is, assuming exercise, quickly trace shapes with this tool.
With XaraReg2 you can insert the pen tool in the flyout permanently.

Greetings from the Bavarian heat

Ernie

[Ron Duke]

I think it depends NOT JUST where the dominate light source is coming from, but how much light is produced from other
areas in and around the object being drawn.
In the real world, there are often more than one light source. Sometimes the light sources coming from different directions are of equal strength
but more often there is one that is dominant.
So, for me, to say that one shadow is correct over another is not accurate. It depends on the artists intention.
You, however, may for aesthetic reasons, prefer a certain shadow over another. Neither is wrong or more correct or more natural.
Here's a couple of actual photos showing just how different shadows can actually be in the real world.
http://anthonyryder.fineaw.com/produ...5_Untitled.jpg http://maverick.inria.fr/Publication...bresDouces.jpg
Notice this photo has numerous shadows coming from single objects, all shadows varying in degree of intensity. (multiple)

I'm not saying mine is perfect, but, hopefully I can show what I mean!

Mine:
Attachment 97834

Yours:
Attachment 97835

Hopefull you can see the difference between my shadow and your shadow.
With respect, your shadow looks very unnatural.

Also, you can see that Boy is trying to point out the same thing.

[Big Frank]

you're absolutely right ron
light sources and shadows is a huge topic of its own
getting it right is often a matter of interpretation

[Rik]

The only point I'm trying to make is that irrespective of light source, intensity, or the number of light sources, it's not likely that the shadow is going to be of the same darkness at point 1 and point 2.

[Big Frank]

if you say so

[wizard509]

Rik is right. right next to the object casting, the shadow the shadow would be darkest. But, not so dark as to obscure the details of the casting object, well that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.