A Red Hydrant. Rich
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A Red Hydrant. Rich
Yellow. Rich
With grid map overlays. rich
This is a method of applying a stroke to a selected part of the path, and using erase blending to soften the edge. I separated the path between the head and antenna and the wings and body. There is a function to vary the stroke width along the path, also. Rich
Lighthouse. Rich
I have been making fog and steam strokes for atmospheric effects. The light shaft was a similar stroke. Rich
I just love the somber mood that this picture creates. The steam just oozes out.
Steam in another form. Rich
With a fog stroke in Erase. Rich
A study to see how things look. Rich
Thanks for sharing, Rich!
I took the liberty and merged a couple of your threads. I'm sure you don't mind.
Thanks Risto,
A different way of making a transparent graphic. I made this mask to shape images for light strokes. This is erase blending in E4. I have made erasing strokes and maps. Rich
A rainbow in ExprGD (Acrylic) and a Stained Glass Transparency in Xtreme.
Rich
Both Very Pretty Rich - I hope to be as Good some day.Quote:
Originally Posted by molucca
Thanks for Posting - Tom
Thanks Tom,
I made several strokes from the moisture on windows. A variable width function allows the shaping along the path.
Rich
A bamboo leaf with a green beach glass reflection map fill. The center was from an ice plant image at winter. I was trying this as a brush. Rich
The strokes I have been making. Rich
A few beam variations. Rich
A flower with light strokes in EGD. Rich
Lots of pretty nice stuff here, Rich. I've been out of town over a month, so if I've asked you this already--sorry. What application is EGD?
I see these strokes you've displayed are probably what you explained to me awhile ago. Is there a way to view them at a greater size?
nance
Twidder,
Expression Graphic Designer (EGD) Expression was developed by Creature House and was up to version 3.2 when the application was bought by Microsoft. Microsoft released a 3.3 non expiring version before continuine development. EGD is currently in beta and available for download. I remember reading something about March, maybe.
As strokes, the only way to view them is with the application. Just not a viewable format. Most of these are bitmap images into strokes. You can have bitmap and vector. They can be viewed as images or drawings.
You can also use fringes. I added a fringed drawing. I have about 100 fringes to do various things. EGD can read some EPS files, but not the flavor I have. I have resaving the files from Xtreme for use. I found the I could open AI format in EGD. I just isn't in the file open dialog.
Rich
My coutinued efforts to make drops.
A ring set using maps.
Rich
Thanks for the helpful explanation on EGD, Rich. I got confused with seeing E4 and EGD; but really they are the same except the version--
These drops I really like becuz of what appears to be transparency. How do the two seperate images connect? The 'olympic'-looking rings don't appear flat like the drops in the top image--so are they vector drops used in different ways, or completely different 'strokes' you've made? (sorry I'm still learning graphics jargon)
With the top image drops it seems to me it would be fun to try those with lily pads
nance
Twidder,
I made a seamless transparent drops tile. I use a full size image for the flower image (about 1.7MB).
The rings were from Reflection maps in EGD. I have over 500 maps to chose from. I saw Bob Hahn's rings in the Xara forum and tried his method. The rings were PNG format, and I used linear transparency in Xtreme. Reflection maps that are designed spherical will gaive shaping when applied.
Rich
well I've been trying the lilly pad idea--desiring to get that transparent raindrop effect with the pads, but finding it much more difficult than expected!
this seemless transparent drop tile you made...is that the same thing as creating a background image with a vector shape?--or are reflection maps in Expression something very different? (I can see where the light/bright part in the rings could help create a transparent effect)
this Bob Hahn's using xara, does he go by that name or a user name. need to check out his rings
oh, did you combine E with Xtreme?
nance
Twidder,
A ompainon thread.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=20002
The drops were from a spider web in the back garden. I used Eliminate Black plugin to remove the black pixels. There was still too much shade component to use the image on anything except black.
I did a color replacement in PSCS to get the shade in the drop itself. There was still a foggy background of dark pixels. I did an auto select in PSCS of the areas around the drops, and cleared those to transparent.
I did another trial by drawing objects around the drops and clipping them in Xtreme.
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthread.php?t=20125
Bob's thread
Rich
here's my first jab at rain drops...these are each 'hand-drawn' with a background and foreground color for the drops and merged with the blue color but not flattened. Each layer has its own tansparency. Then I tried the virtual painter pastel plug-in that comes w/ psp
any feedback would be welcome
aaah, what's PSCS?
thanks for the threads, I'll look into that hopefully tomorrow
nance
oops, didn't give out the info quite right: I used the virtual painter just on the blue layer; then I used a texture effect on the drops--combined the two without flattening
nance
(I'm thinking the PSCS is creative suite...but I only know about adobe)
Twidder,
Photoshop CS (version 8)
I made an image of the alpha channel from the drops PNG.
I think it would be better to avoid using black to shade. The alpha channel shows a variation in transparency for the drops I made. I think the combination of colors and transparency get those drops to work. Not sure how you would go about drawing them.
I didn't understand the blue background.
Rich
the knowledge and methods behind how you are doing these things are far beyond my abilites and tech understanding! but I DO appreciate your explanations
working with transparency I am using simply my understanding of watercolor as a natural media for my 'knowledge transfer' to this digital arena, if you will. the most obvious background color of choice, therefore, would have been white; but as you have created many maps (still trying to get a grasp on this application) and strokes--customized--and held in your personal 'library'...I am attempting to customize my own presets, brushes, etc.. the blue background is just one choice of color that has a good amount of transparency that I thot would blend well with other transparent colors bringing an interesting blend (for light,& sky backgrounds)
what I really need is some good book on the intro to graphic design
(I've noticed some very interesting, fairly current threads in the xaraX gallery that could benefit me as well)
when optimizing to a png format I used alpha channel rather than single color transparency
nance
Everything I do is easy and simple. It isn't beyond anyones ability.
Reflection maps are used in many applications. However, in EGD, maps are applied to vector objects. I applied a few maps to some clipart drawings. It is just selecting an object and adjusting an embossing value. I do have about twenty different styles, and lots of colors. I did discover a unique capability with maps. I'll make some examples.
Rich
thanks for showing the interface--it was helpful
(now that's very encouraging!! perhaps it's the graphics lingo that's still so unfamiliar.......)
Sorry, Rich, drawing a blank, what is EGD?
BTW, looks wonderful, whatever EGD is. I probably know, just tired today.
Sally,
Expression Graphic Designer. Was Code Name Acrylic. It is the Microsoft influenced Expression. It is in Beta. There is a MS 3.3 version that is available free from MS. Most things I do would work there. I have 3.2 and EGD installed.
Rich
An application of a transparent map. I happened across this method when I was trying to find the essence of how maps work. These only work in Expression. Not something you might notice since the on screen view shows the transparent areas as black. One day, stumbling through things, I happened to turn on paper texture, and the fill came alive. Now the map fills are transparent on screen. I constructed this map in Xara using the mold capabilities.
Rich
EGD- Using grayscale strokes to shade and highlight portions of the leaf. The leaf had a color, a grayscale and an inverted grayscale stroke. I used erasing srtokes to control the effect to different parts of the leaf. Rich
A heart with a gold stroke border. Rich
Rich
For your leaves: did you start with a layer with the leaf and color (green?) and add a layer with the grayscale for shading....or
was all done on one layer-- EGD allows vector and nonvector to occur in one layer....or
was everything applied as vector?
nance
This was on three layers because I erased parts of the grayscale strokes. Erase mode will erase everything below on a specific layer.
Grayscale strokes become transparent. The gray pixels can be colorized, or/and they can be used to erase. PNG strokes can erase, but not colorized. The first green leaf is a PNG into a stroke. The other two are grayscale. I inverted the PNG to make the second grayscale stroke. I wanted the background to remain white, and become transparent.
I have made several fog and cloud strokes that I use as erasers. In erase, it is the transparency and not the color.
So, these are bitmap strokes on a vector layer. EGD has both vector and bitmap layers. You can have both vector and bitmap on a vector layer.
The second set of leaves are leaves as a strokes.
Rich