Drawing a 3D cable

The iPod was a pretty easy exercise but drawing that cable from the headphone is another thing! How would you draw it?

thanks

JimR

Hi JimR,

I know there are a lot of ways to do this but this is a simple method.
Draw a line along the curve of the wire about four pixels with. Set it at the darker shade color and then clone it. Change the top color to the lighter white. Feather the bottom color slightly and then feather the top color will more aggressively. Move the top color back to little to give your three-dimensional role. Group the two colors and apply a little shadow.

I attached a picture of how it would look completed. Hope this helps.

another way (with Xara there's always another way) you can do this is to draw an ellipse with a repeating linear fill and make a custom brush with it. With the improvements to the brushes in Version 6 it works great.

Someone made a brush for making cables, but can't remember if it was XXtreme or not. :(

Thanks a lot,the simplest way possible appeals to me ;))

JimR

Hi JimR, here are another two methods I know to draw IIID Look cables, see the attached image please.
Regards BP

Thanks again, I was playing around with highlights (and "lowlights"..) and struggling a bit to make it look natural. I didn't think about Using clipview for the highlights, will try it.

JimR

Some nice examples , Psaumure and Black Panther

Thumbs up, guys, and thanks. :)

Thanks Bruce and Amoore. You are welcome, Glad to help with some Informations I know about DRAWINGS in Xara.
Regards BP

You're off to a good start Jim.

Maybe something from this old thread by Clements, Shading (Rendering) of a bent tube - For Newbies #2, will aid in your cable construction. If not maybe it'll help someone else out.

Looking forward to seeing the finished player,
Harry