Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
stygg2003
Dave I think you've been talking about making the shapes as per Gary's file from scratch so I have posted this file for you, hope it helps. I think we all got crossed lines as to what we were talking about, making the shapes or inspecting them in the original Gary file, well I did anyway ;))
Stygg
Thanks Stygg - Before I received this one, I figured out that where I was going wrong before was not cloning in between steps from before. However, this one made it even clearer. I appreciate this feedback. I kept trying to do everything to the first cloned object and one step just wiped out the other one. Think I understand this step now and I can see where it is going to be handy.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
angelize
Hi Dave I don't think I've done anything here that P&GD can't do There is no feathering involved in the lawn at all. here is a breakdown of how it's done. the linear transparency is applied at the end and if you select the lawn before ungrouping it and select the transparency tool you should see the linear transparency (it's quite short so you may need to zoom in) When you take it apart remove the linear transparency first before ungrouping otherwise the linear transparency causes the disappearing act you are seeing. (I think it has to do with the mold)
If there is interest how about we start a new thread to discuss transparencies and fills in more depth?
Thanks Frances - This clarifies some things for me. When I ungroup the lawn I cannot find the small object at all. Also when I click the transparency tool for the lawn, I see Many instead of the fractal-stained glass transparency (is that because of mould tool modification of the original lawn object?). I zoomed to 8000% and still do not see your little short object. I even set the View quality down to 0 to try to find it and do not see it anywhere :confused:
Between you, Stygg and Gary, I have learned some neat tricks here. I am going to mess around with these for a while. Unfortunately, I lost some of my "picture" so I have to try to reconstruct some of it but I would like to see this through to the end (be patient with me Gary). I hope others may be following this thread and learning some things as well.
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Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Hi Dave without ungrouping the lawn click on it and select the transparency tool, you should see the linear fill handle at the top center of the lawn. This is what gives the soft top edge.
If you ungroup the mold the linear transparency is removed and you will have just the mold to ungroup the mold either select the mold tool and click remove or right click the mold and select open mold (this opens an edit inside window and requires at least version 7) you will now have a group of two rectangles ungroup this and you will have two rectangles select just the top rectangle and select the transparency tool and you will see that it has a stained glass bitmap transparency. you should also see the bitmaps used in my file in the bitmap gallery.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dcahall
Thanks Stygg - Before I received this one, I figured out that where I was going wrong before was not cloning in between steps from before. However, this one made it even clearer. I appreciate this feedback. I kept trying to do everything to the first cloned object and one step just wiped out the other one. Think I understand this step now and I can see where it is going to be handy.
Just to clarify Dave, there is only two shapes, the base and the cloned shape, all the fills, starting with the linear fill are done in the one clone, that is the clone gets a linear fill and in the same shape, a transparency as shown, one clone two fills, in that order linear then Fractal transparency
Stygg
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
I've sort of bowed out of this thread, and I think I may have muddied it up instead of clarifying stuff regarding the fills I used in the Hacienda drawing.
Big point here:
A shape can have a fill and a transparency type. What I did was give the ground shape a certain fill type, a linear gradient, and then a fractal transparency type.
-g
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
I've sort of bowed out of this thread, and I think I may have muddied it up instead of clarifying stuff regarding the fills I used in the Hacienda drawing.
Big point here:
A shape can have a fill and a transparency type. What I did was give the ground shape a certain fill type, a linear gradient, and then a fractal transparency type.
-g
I fully understand this now. I do not think you muddied it. I just missed the point of how to achieve certain parts which I now see as very important. I am making a pretty big revision but am not ready to post. I actually want to take my time and hopefully get MUCH closer to what you have been trying to teach. For me, personally, I think it is an important point to be able to put things together in a much more professional/artist approach as a base to build on in the future.
I am asking you to stay tuned because I hope I meet your 300% improvement objectives. I think it is important in the learning process and I appreciate your feedback. I feel that even when I fail in some of these exercises I learn something and try to incorporate these things in the next exercise (if appropriate).
BTW: Do no know if you say another post today about "glow". I am kind of assuming you are still headed in that direction for this month's tutorial.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dcahall
BTW: Do no know if you say another post today about "glow". I am kind of assuming you are still headed in that direction for this month's tutorial.
Yep. I'm targeting Friday, or after the weekend for a new video: "Neon and other noble gases"
-g
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Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Just a bit of fun for a change :D
Stygg
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Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Attachment 95016
Here's another version of the simple Mexican-style house, attached.
I used a "speed drawing" style in the Official Guide's video promo, if you go to about 22 seconds in from the beginning:
on YouTube. I originally created a bitmap brush to "speed draw" the tumbleweeds, and then simplified it.
And, yeah, this probably should go back to Stygg's thread on fractal fills.
My Best,
Gary
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Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
This is my final post of the Interweaving Vines. Even if I have still missed the mark somewhat, I think I have made a ton of improvements and I have learned a lot about using various aspects of XPGD.
Attachment 95046
As always though, your comments/suggestions are welcomed.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Gare
Attachment 95016
Here's another version of the simple Mexican-style house, attached.
I used a "speed drawing" style in the Official Guide's video promo, if you go to about 22 seconds in from the beginning:
on YouTube. I originally created a bitmap brush to "speed draw" the tumbleweeds, and then simplified it.
And, yeah, this probably should go back to Stygg's thread on fractal fills.
My Best,
Gary
In particular, I love those Yucca plants.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Quote:
Originally Posted by
dcahall
This is my final post of the Interweaving Vines. ... comments/suggestions are welcomed.
It looks a little "flat", Dave, as though the three dimensional properties are being fought by this 2D "sense". But you know, this is a primitive art style, very common until in the Old World, the concept of perspective was discovered and the style spread.
Problems you might learn from by addressing (or not, because this is getting real old, isn't it?):
• I believe that the reflecting pond would be at a much more severe angle than the one you depict. I realize that you want the reflection to be visible, and also realize you spend well-invested time in figuring this one out. But the reflecting pond needs to cant at a sharper angle, or the arch needs to be in a more forward-rotated perspective to make the two agree visually with one another. Again, and this is for everyone's benefit here: steal three building blocks from your kid's room or your grandkids' collection and build the arch. Then get a shallow dish and put water in it and build the darned scene so you can get a sense of the perspectives.
Now your horizon? Technically and artistically, because there really isn't distinct detail in either the sky or the grass to gather visual detail about where "vanishing points" are to then use these points against your foreground, and this probably makes no sense at the moment, so in PlainSpeak: worry about correcting the perspective shared in the scene by the pond and the arch, and don't care about the sky and grass because they are fine. Hint in the future: all objects in a scene share the same perspective, so if you have vanishing point references set up, a grid or lines, the objects HAVE TO share the same perspective you've defined.
• The shadow cast by the arch on the grass is unrealistic. A shadow HAS to be darker than the surface it casts upon. Suggestion? Make the grass lighter and less saturated.
• Because your shadow is casting as though there's a light at the viewer's point of view casting into the scene, you gotta be true to that setup point in other areas in the illustration. Therefore, the sides of the arches closest to the reflecting pond need to be slightly darker than the front face because they aren't being hit as directly by your light source as the front.
You've made Xara Xone a lovely place to enter! Thanks! Sorry to say the new forthcoming webpage design won't be as pretty!
My Best,
Gary
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Thanks for the feedback. These are excellent points for me to work on in the next "exercise" but in spite of all of that, I feel I did learn a lot about how to use the tool for the future.
In particular, the shadow was the most disappointing to me. I had a lot of trouble trying to create it because of the complexity of the arch, text and vines. I tried a lot of different approaches and was just not happy with the results of any of them. I turned it into a bitmap copy and tried to adjust the color but ran into additional problems.
At one point, I had done a better job of adding the perspective to the pool but in this final version did not do as well. I think I finally got a little tired and just said "that's if for this one, move on to the next challenge and be aware of the short comings for the next time". I think I have learned another valuable lesson as well and that is "KISS". I think I tried to go a little far and should have stayed with some basic things and get them done correctly.
IMHO - it is all part of the learning process.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Agreed: this is a learning room here, not an art gallery!
Don't ever sweat the shadows, Dave. I've discovered by audience feedback that it's important to have a shadow in a drawing where there should be one, but accuracy is of secondary concern. IOW, your audience might look at a wrong shadow in a funny way, but they are more likely to notice when a shadow is missing entirely.
Besides, a shadow on a coarse diffuse surface? The detail in real life is barely discernible.
-g
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Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Could not resist one last post in this thread............
Hope these 2 images show some progress. I have definitely learned some things along the way.
Attachment 95190 Attachment 95191
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
I like what you did A LOT with the Xara Xone arch, Dave. Would it ever be mistaken for a photo? Um, no, but hopefully that was not your intention, and it stands as a fine piece of illustration work.
I don't know why everyone here is hell-bent on interpreting my little shack as a dunny (also see: outhouse, privvy, and ___house)! I originally designed is with a Mexican motif to be a toolshed, a place to park the mower, rake, and other yard tools when your garage is too full of stuff that should go in the basement, which is full because (infinite loop here).
Your perspective is not consistent, Dave, or you used a very wide-angle lens in your drawing. You can barely see the roof, yet with "normal" perspective, you see the ground at nearly a 30 degree angle. I'd say the perspective is "forced" and make the drawing a little cartoonish. If that is your intention, it's fine. Me, I always am very serious about outhouses.
;)
-g
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
Yes, I was just "playing" with the outhouse. You guys had done such a great job with the others, it just struck me as kind of a funny thing to do. In particular, I wanted to mess with kind of a "wood grain" filling and I also wanted to try to make the roof look a little like a tile roof. Then the silly idea of a door with a moon cut in it (outhouse "feature"). I was really using it as a way to continue to learn about that little trick you and Stygg came up with for putting a stained glass fill in an object while allow the fill to also be a linear fill. I struggled with that when you guys first showed it (was kind of dumb mistakes on my part - I just need to do something to apply it).
Glad you liked the updated Xara Xone image. I just had to go back and try to apply some of the things you pointed out. No, it sure is not a photo but was merely a "made up" graphic illustration. The important thing for me is to continue to grow and understand better about how to put some of my "vision" together more realistically.
Re: Interweaving vines with 3D text
No apologies, no defensive posture should go with the arch illustration, David.
It's an...illustration. And a sellable, professional one, at that.
-g