Fill in the (Bottle Cap) Blank

[HayTay]

We've all seen 'em, I hope. I'm talking about those glass bottles with the metal bottle caps that are both functional and decorative. This challenge focuses on the 'decorative' part.

Imagine, for a moment, that you're starting a new home brew business or about to offer a line of uniquely flavored sodas to the local marketplace. Since today's focus is on 'going green' you've decided to use returnable/recyclable glass bottles for your product(s). Plus, you've always secretly liked the look and feel of glass bottles. Everything is going smoothly and production is about to ramp up when you suddenly realize that you can no longer use boring, unadorned bottle caps for your product line.

Thus, the challenge is to create bottle cap artwork for your unique line of beer and/or sodas with a focus on your target market, all before production begins. For those that want an additional challenge, try to incorporate the 'Blend along a curve' or 'Fit text to curve' features of Xara Xtreme into your design. I used both features to create my 'Xtreme Cream Soda' bottle cap in order to get things rolling (see attachment).

I whipped up a vector bottle cap blank that you can use as your canvas (download the XAR file below). While one of Xara's fine products is the preferred software for this challenge, you're more than welcome to use any software at your disposal to design the bottle cap artwork for your new beverage line.

Don't limit yourself to just one!,
Harry

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[HayTay]

Thanks for your help, Peter and Steve!

Here's another bottle cap I did to get things a-goin'. Trippin' Ale, the name says it all. This design incorporates the Blend tool, the 'Fit text to curve' feature, and the Mould tool with a Circular Envelope. This is the first time I used a Circular Envelope but I definitely liked the results on the 'Trippin' Ale' text.

What's in your sippy cup?,
Harry

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[Seagull]

Hello Harry

I downloaded your silly bottle cap, expecting nothing more than a quick shape, Multiple star shape with rounded corners. But when I tried to move it, it started coming apart. My God, layer after layer, transparency after transparency, quick shape after quick shape, clip views, everything there but the kitchen sink.......totally amazing. Me, I see life as black and white, I have absolutly no idea how you come up with something so complex for something so simple. I offer my sincere congratulations, but take this with a grain of salt cause there is a lot of jealousy hidden behind it..................frank

[Burpee]

Hey Harry, what a cool challenge, and it is a challenge for me. I would not have a clue how to go about making a bottle cap, so I'm glad you included one. As for the blend and text on curve, etc., that will test me for sure. I look forward to it.

[HayTay]

Frank > I read your post earlier today and it's been cracking me up ever since. I guess this was a mini-tutorial disguised as a challenge for you. I'm glad I could help expand your horizons. You need to wean yourself off of that 'black and white' vision thing and start playing with at least the 254 shades of gray in between. In another decade or two maybe we can convince you to start throwing a bit of color into your mix. Oh, and if you've been around TG for a while and read a few of my other posts you'll know that I'm a big, big fan of the Clipview tool.

On the other hand, I've seen some splendid bottle caps that were done using only 'black and white'. That said, I'd like to see a submission or two from you for this challenge.

Nancy > This is, hopefully, something relatively easy that everyone, new users to seasoned Xtreme-ists', can do. When you get stuck at something in one of your amazingly realistic and complex scenes you can take a break and relax with a simple task. I look forward to your bottle cap(s). I know they'll be great.

[HayTay]

Alrighty then, here's another bottle cap of mine. Another quick shape, some text on a curve and some creative shading give, what I hope is, a subtle 3D looking effect to what is essentially a flat topped bottle cap. The background tiger image is from one of my favorite and mostly free stock photo sites (stock.xchng vi).

Havin' too much fun,
Harry

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[HayTay]

Please don't let me have all the fun. It appears that I'm a lone man running a bottle cap factory. I need some more bottle cap artists on the payroll.

As Frank (Seagull) says, and I paraphrase, never underestimate the power of black & white.

Nothing earth shattering on this one; text on a curve, custom made arrows, and hand tweaked 6 & 9 letters using the Shape editor tool.

Cheers,
Harry

[neodeist]

Right ... finished the beer, you can have the cap now

[HayTay]

Nice cap, John. Catchy tag line for your brewery, too. I like the way you think! Since you already admitted to drinking the beer I guess there's no need for me to look under the cap.

Thanks for adding to the collection,
Harry

[neodeist]

No more hangovers anyway