The September 2012 Tutorial - All About Drawing & Control Points

All About Drawing and Control Points Episode 1

September is Back to School, and back to some sorely needed basics in Xara, as Gary begins Episode 1, covering drawing tools, control points, control handles and path operations. Get the most out of Xara Designer’s fantastic tools, beginning with a profound understanding of how vector lines and curves are created with exactly what you had in mind.

Talk about it here!

Very interesting! I am beginning to see that the Pen tool is actually pretty intuitive. Here is what I have done with the tutorial :)

Love it!

As usual, Frances, you take a rough idea, and improvise upon it, thus making the artwork your own.

Which is what I encourage. Bravo!

And Pop! Pop! Pop!

:)


—Gary

Let's see those balloons you all are holding!

I do not understand why I am not able to see the videos on the Xara Xone site but I can see them just fine on the Xara Channel on YouTube. I assume they are posted in the same way and same coding on the page but that may not be true.

Anyway, I liked your tutorial Gary. I used the information from your video and then added some of my touches. Here are my balloons:

Attachment 92249

@David—

Nice tutorial work.

Tell me those aren't Corel balloons though, are they?

:)

-g

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Big Frank

Just a little too fast-paced for me, but otherwise entertaining and instructive as ever.

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Thanks, Big Frank—

I wouldn't wish the workflow I had to go through for the past three days on my worst enemy. I originally wanted to cover this topic of control points all in one video. But as the 15th came closer, I realized that this is a much larger subject than could be done in one video, at least with the 10 minute self-imposed time restraint I give myself.

So it was more fast-paced than I would have liked it to be, because I'd intended on it being about a third again as long. When I made the call on the evening of the 14th to split it up into at least two installments, the pace of the editing was already a fait accompli.

I have a few weeks now to make the second installation—in October—more leisurely in presentation. Camtasia has a Quaalude setting, I believe.

And you have the transcript in PDF in case anyone wants the off-line version.

My Best,

Gary

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

So it was more fast-paced than I would have liked it to be

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It was just a comment, at the end of the day the user has the "Pause" button and he can always drag the timeline slider over to the left if he wants a repeat performance.

You make them interesting, and that makes up for the Formula 1 speed ;)

Thanks for the comment. It was fun....... It only took a few minutes to do. I just had to go a step further (I guess you would expect that based on my past performances).

Everything was done in XPGD. I just used a couple of extra tools (in particular the Mould tool) to extend what you showed in the tutorial. I had never tried to use the Contour tool in that way before (setting the edge and then changing the color of the base object). As you probably notice a the contour with a couple of the balloons was not the greatest but it did work.

BTW: I had to add the Pen tool to my toolbar and wondered if there is a way to drag it to the flyout for the other drawing tools? I tried several times but could not accomplish that.

No browser problems, watched yet another great tut. from G.B., hence one balloon drawing :D

Stygg.

Thanks, Steve—

By coincidence, Kate and I corresponded this morning, and just as I was about to start editing new October tutorial revolving around the Shape tool, Kate said, "You covered the Pen tool this month. When will you cover the Shape tool?"

Um, next month, Kate.

:)

Is anyone/everyone getting at least one new thing out of what I was afraid was too simple and basic a documentation of vector paths?

My Best,

Gary

@ stygg—

Another winner, matey! Nice improvisational idea with the fills!

@David—

I'm getting off topic here, but tough darts. The Contour tool, in addition to setting the "end color" by first selecting it and then filling it—can also take any number of Contour Steps. The default I used this month is a little coarse—12 to 18 steps might look nicer.

There's also Profiles on the Infobar when the Contour (and several other) tool is in use. Profiles in this context sort of work like the "brightness" and "contrast" of the Contour's component shapes. I call it "bias" and "gain", but call it what you will to make it make sense in your work. Just play with the sliders to get an idea of what they can provide and also check out the preset drop-down at top left on the palette(s).


Attachment 92263

And actually, within the context of this month's tutorials, the Blend features might be more appropriate than the Contour, but filling wasn't the Big Idea this month.

My Best,

Gary

You're welcome and I'm glad you picked up a trick or two!

By the way @everyone, Barbara is still running sims of "problem configurations" to get to the bottom of the, "Why some systems and not others?" saga.

I do know that I didn't change anything I did since January when I began posting, so the differences have to be in devices, browsers and the capability to handle Flash and MPEG-4 and for the browser to be able to handle the differences between the two.

I'm also happy to see so many members step right up and get their cursors dirty with a few of the drawing and editing tools. Without a lot of fear of contradiction, I believe that when you grow familiar and comfortable with all of Xara's path creation tools, you then have the option of calling yourself a designer, an artist, or both.

Options are nice!

:)

-g

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dcahall

... wondered if there is a way to drag it to the flyout for the other drawing tools? I tried several times but could not accomplish that.

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Yes, buttons on the Button Palette can be added to a tool flyout. It's not the simplest thing on Earth to do, but it can be done.

1. Expand the tool flyout after you have the tool in clear view on the Button palette that you want to add.

2. Alt+drag the tool to the flyout, and release the mouse button when the tool is on top of any tool. The current tools move out of the way to allow the new tool residence of the flyout.

Or something like that.

-g

I'd really like to solve this video problem. What is infuriating about it is that not everyone has a problem with seeing the videos as posted on XaraXone and I can't reproduce the problem myself. I'd also like to give Gary his thread back.

So I'm splitting this thread - moving all the video problem related posts into a new thread, Video Troubleshooting Discussion

I would greatly appreciate it if you are having problems that you post in the new troubleshooting thread. I'd like you to fill out a form I'm going to post there that I'd like you to copy and paste into your trouble post that gives your browser and system info, etc.

Also, all of the XaraXone.com videos are on YouTube. Here is a link to the playlist of Gary’s Xara Xone 2012 Video Tutorials https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...D&feature=plcp

Thank you all for your help in solving this problem and for your patience.
Now to return you to your regularly scheduled program....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

Yes, buttons on the Button Palette can be added to a tool flyout. It's not the simplest thing on Earth to do, but it can be done.

1. Expand the tool flyout after you have the tool in clear view on the Button palette that you want to add.

2. Alt+drag the tool to the flyout, and release the mouse button when the tool is on top of any tool. The current tools move out of the way to allow the new tool residence of the flyout.

Or something like that.

-g

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I had tried that before and it did not work. I could not do it at first because the "fly outs" are hovers so as soon as you move your mouse they seem to do away. However, what I did a few minutes ago was first drag the pen tool to the toolbar right above the flyout. Then for some reason I was able to get mouse in a position where I could get the fly-out opened and yet still alt-drag the pen tool to the fly-out. All is well now except I lost another tool (that I have never used) from the toolbar. Seems there might be a limit to how many items you can have on the toolbar and t would not allow me to change the size.

Thanks for the feedback and glad I could get all of the drawing tools on a single "fly-out". Would be interesting if you could create your own "fly-out" to group some items and conserve space.

It's do-able.

It's just not easy.

Perhaps a suggestion in the "Dear Xara" thread, or drop a line to Bill Taylor, who is the co-designer of XaReg. There might be an entry point to make the flyout "sticky" so you can do what you will with its list of tools.

My Best,

Gary

I've been practicing using the pen tool and managed to make some shapes, nothing ellaborate but I now have a bit more knowledge of how to apply it, all be it after watching some vids. on the pen tool made for photoshop :o
but learning is learning- yes? The shapes I made had to be finished in the closing of the shape with the shape editor as I could not figure out how to close it with the pen tool in Xara and if you did you get a straight line instead of the curvature as in photoshop but there seems to be a path button in p.s. The point is, I was quite surprised by what you could achieve with the pen tool in Xara and can't believe I ever avoided it. Most tuts. on the pen tool for P.S. say you won't become a Pen Master over night and highly rate this tool but if you look in the help section in Xara and look up the Pen Tool there is very little info. and the words "It is of limited use" :-O
No wonder most avoid it and stick to the shape tool if that's all they have to say about it. I hope you give more Gary on this tool in Part 2 of the Sept. tut.

Stygg

Hi stygg—

Wow, your drawing looks like a year’s supply of guitar picks! Put some thick plastic in your inkjet, Ctrl+P, and then open a music store!

I disagree with the passage in the Help file that states that the Pen tool is “of limited use.” The Powers That Be at The Xara Group, Ltd. Feel that new users will find the Shape tool more intuitive to work with than the Pen tool, hence the lack of support for the tool I chose to feature in the September tutorial.

To be fair, I’m not a new user, and to be more fair, my affinity for the Pen tool is because I came to Xara from CorelDRAW, which has a Bezier Pen tool that operates exactly like Xara’s Pen tool. I’m going to step outside the box for a moment to explain my view of “ideosyncracy” and how it applies to graphics programs.

You’ll find that most all vector drawing tools, regardless of the program, are unnatural. The idea of click+dragging, and then being surprised to realize you’re not drawing but instead are guiding a control handle which is shaping the curve on the trailing edge of your cursor…is hardly intuitive. And yet I’ve never seen a better implementation for defining and shaping curved path segments, but that’s me. Programmers more or less oblige you to intellectually meet them at least half way to get any work done. So you adopt an idiosyncratic behavior when you work with a tool; it’s not good, it’s not bad, it just is what it is and if you don’t work “the way the tool wants you to work”, you don’t get any work done. Illustrator users work idiosyncratically: I’ve watched master illustrators work and what they’re doing makes no sense to me, but they get results.

To me, only a true brush tool is intuitive in computer graphics, because it mimics what you do with an actual brush on a real canvas.
Next month, I’ll show members how to use the Shape tool to create shapes. The Shape tool obliges a different behavior than the Pen tool does: one of the advantages is that you can edit a control point and its handles as you draw. One of its disadvantages over the Pen tool is that there is no click-drag to guide a curve.

You’ll see and you’ll be able to choose what works best for you. In the meantime, here’s a little gift to encourage you to get started with the Shape tool. Attached is a Xara file that has all the “dance steps” you need all marked out to draw the (horizontal) right side of a water vase. If you can do this in ten minutes, attach your work as a Xara file here, and I’ll make and render a 3D model of your vase. Limit one per member!
If you cannot do anything like the Xara file shows you how to do with the Shape tool, after 10 minutes of honestly trying, use the Pen tool.

Attachment 92344

I don't know how to be more fair to the folks at The Xara Group, Ltd. than to let the Xara artist choose their drawing tool.

My Best,

Gary

Thanks for the feedback Gary and the file. I'm still glad I made the shapes with the pen tool as before I had no idea how it worked and yes they do all look like guitar picks :D maybe it was subconsciously because I do play the guitar :D

Stygg

Fine.

Then here's a page for you to trace, stygg.

They're bitmaps locked on the page of the attached file, so there's no easy way to make them vector art except with a drawing tool!


Attachment 92348

-g

The shape is mightier than the pen ! :D

Stygg

One guitar line drawing using the shape tool and applied contour. The shape tool is excellent and in my last post about the Pen tool, I was not saying the pen tool is better, only that seeing it is part of the Xara programme, not much seemed to be said about it. Anyway, I'm pleased to use both, albeit still trying to master the pen, this morning I made a quick shape using both, working between the two, it worked fine although the shape editor tool is quicker and easier :D

Stygg

I'm glad you're "ahead of the curve", stygg. I'll be showing off other node operations and highlighting the Shape tool and its use in October's video.

I have a typeface for you all, that can provide a good resource for practicing tracing. Because I don't think anyone has a complete education without copying something at some point, and tracing is just copying art.

"Vases" contains several glyphs that are half of a 3D shape: if you lathe any of these shapes, a recognizable object is the result. I'm offering this font for free (Charityware, actually) so you can have a specific goal while you trace. You come up with an original vase shape and my offer still stands: post the Xara file and I'll model and render your design.

Attachment 92375

Attachment 92376

Charityware: If you like and use this typeface, for personal, professional, whatever reason, "give back" a little, to an organization that needs your help. Send whatever you can afford or feel you can contribute to a worthy cause such as Doctors without Borders, or The Salvation Army.

Here's a challenge for you Gary :D Can you model and render this? :D

Stygg

In finer stores, stygg?

Attachment 92384

-g

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dcahall

I do not understand why I am not able to see the videos on the Xara Xone site but I can see them just fine on the Xara Channel on YouTube.

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I came to the forum because I cannot see the videos on the Xara Xone site. More specifically, when I go to http://www.xaraxone.com/tutorials/dr...nts-episode-1/ I see a big black box where the video should be. I've tried three different browsers, and all show the same ugly black box. I have Adobe Flash Player, and I have flash enabled for this site, so I can't imagine what the problem is. Does anyone have any idea? From the posting I quoted, it looks as if I'm not the only one with this problem. I suppose I could track down the videos on YouTube, but I'd really prefer to figure out why I can't see them on XaraXone.

Thanks in advance.

Hi cyberqueen—

If you go back one page to post #15, the Administrator has already set up an area and a questionnaire to help her and TalkGraphics figure out what is wrong. This has been going on for almost 5 days now, and the main goal at the moment is to let members watch the video, and the anomoly is being addressed as a secondary, but very real consideration.

There is nothing so devilishly irritating as a problem for some but not for all. Some members have no problem at all with the video, and the Administrator is trying very diligently to find out what the bad chemistry is.

To watch the video, >>>click here<<<

My Best,

Gary

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

In finer stores, stygg?

Attachment 92384

-g

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That is a great drawing Gary, smell like a sailor hey! I was all ways covered in grease and oil being an engineer at sea, could have done with some of that Sea Breeze for when we docked!! ;) All the nice girls love a ..... as the song goes :D

Stygg

I wouldn't know about "nice girls", stygg.

;)

-g

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

I wouldn't know about "nice girls", stygg.

;)

-g

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Can you ellaborate more while I sit here with my note book and pencil :D

Stygg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

Hi cyberqueen—

If you go back one page to post #15, the Administrator has already set up an area and a questionnaire to help her and TalkGraphics figure out what is wrong. This has been going on for almost 5 days now, and the main goal at the moment is to let members watch the video, and the anomoly is being addressed as a secondary, but very real consideration.

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Thanks very much, Gary! I didn't read far enough to see post #15. I'm relieved to know that the problem isn't just mine (relief probably not shared by tech support ;) ), and I'm very grateful to the Administrator for her efforts to deal with the problem and help those of us affected see the video.

What I meant, stygg, is that I never had any experience with girls, nice or otherwise, before I met my wife.

Do I still have to sleep on the sofa now, Barb?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++


By the way, the rendered model wasn't really hard to do.

1. Export your 2 shapes (plus I added one for liquid) as Illustrator (*.ai) files.

2. Import them to a modeling program (I used Cinema 4D).

3. Perform a "Potter's wheel" operation to make the 2D shape a 3D object. This is the "magic" step where the drawing becomes realized as a 3D shape.

4. Add lighting, apply the appropriate materials, render to PNG or TIF file format.

You'll notice that I used a Mould on the lettering on the bottle. I could have mapped a bitmap copy of the text to the bottle itself in the modeling program, but it would have taken too much time when it's easily "faked" in Xara.

-g

I've just looked at the price of Cinema 4D and also at a five day course in Machester to get to grips with 4D.....£995! :-O: plus buying 4D as well :eek: I think it will have to go on the back burner for a while, I need to upgrade Xara first :D

Stygg

@stygg—

You have absolutely no reason to want or need for Cinema 4D, my friend. Yeah, the results can be "sexy graphics", especially when you can render photorealistic glass and other reflective items, but let it be known that a Xara GrandMaster such as Ron Duke and the late, great Alan Burns could draw real world objects that look better than a 3D modeling program can render if operated by an inexperienced user.

I always get thrills out of looking at the wireframe view quality mode and some of the clip art Xara provides over the years. A lot of spectacular stuff is accomplished using very few shapes, you know?

Drawing and modeling are two entirely different disciplines. And the price tag is a business expense. I took up modeling almost 20 years ago when I was laid up after hip replacement surgery, and had a lot of spare time. What you use to express a graphical idea all depends on what the idea is, stygg. I use Xara a LOT, but there are times when I have a specialized need and a modeling program is appropriate. This is particularly true when I need an animated segment for the monthly tutorial and I have a client or two who are interested in animation and not my drawing work.

To bring this back to relevance, you learn how to draw shapes in Xara and you're that much closer to being able to do basic stuff in programs such as Blender (which is free at Blender.org). Modeling programs use vectors, almost exactly like Xara does, except the environment is 3 dimensional instead of 2. The cologne bottle is a collection of shapes in Xara and in the modeling program. It doesn't become "real" until you tell the modeling program to execute a final bitmap render of the scene:

Attachment 92396

stygg, I'm not sure I'd ever start learning about modeling and animation if I was starting at my age today. If you like what you see that I do, understand that I began 20 years ago when I was 39, okay?

My Best,

gary

From the 3D Graphics forum, a few doors down. Blender is used by several here.

http://www.talkgraphics.com/search.php?searchid=1218338

Take care, Mike

Here is an example of a project that started out with a curved line drawn with the pen tool. I used Xara's 3D extrude tool, and added a custom effect in filter forge, Then back to Xara for a few extra details.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gare

I'm not sure I'd ever start learning about modeling and animation if I was starting at my age today. If you like what you see that I do, understand that I began 20 years ago when I was 39, okay?

My Best,

gary

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I'm evidently much older than you gare so maybe that's why it's been so difficult for me to learn Blender, but now and again I still try.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stygg2003

I've just looked at the price of Cinema 4D and also at a five day course in Machester to get to grips with 4D.....£995! :-O: plus buying 4D as well :eek:

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Download and play with Caligari TrueSpace. Last I heard it was still free and available. A fairly steep learning curve, but a lot of creative fun to be had, and for a highly professional and mature 3D software package, the price is very attractive!

We're going O/T again...and I'm going to help.

>>trueSpace 7 as of 9/26/2012 at FreewareFiles<<

Microsoft bought a very financially troubled Caligari Corporation about 3 years ago, and mothballed trueSpace. This version has a good rendering engine, it's much harder to use than version 3 (the best version IMO), and because it's based around volume modeling (solids) instead of parametric modeling (surfaces, not solid), you will have a really un-fun time trying to import Xara shapes as Illustrator files.

Trivia, to get us back to control points and paths: did you know that you can apply both an arrowhead and a dashed line to a path segment? And if you then choose Arrange>Convert Line to Shape, the line becomes a shape with a fill but no outline width (although you can add a new one now), and this new shape (which is no longer a path) can be filled, and also extruded. I'm using an open path in the attached file, although you can do the same with a closed path, but the arrowhead gets a little funky in its positioning.

Attachment 92408

@Larry—modeling is a mature area of computer graphics, and actually it was growing at the same time or even before pure vector graphics illustration. I recall experiments in 3D animation from 1976 that James Blinn at the University of Utah was doing. Back then, you had to film a video monitor if you wanted to keep and share an animation!

There is absolutely no reason not to be overall satisfied with Xara's Extrude tool. It does only one function of modeling, but the results can be accomplished in seconds.

My point is that any "age barrier" to accomplishing modeling artwork has to do with the sheer volume of information, options, and learning one has to go through. It's massive, not hard. It helps to be able to "see" a 3D scene in your head—you can compose it onscreen more quickly.

The biggest discouragement might be that you can only really see 2 out of the three dimensions on a monitor at one tome, and this is why many modeling programs offer a 4 view heads-up display. It's sort of like the stereograms that Gary Priester makes—some people can intuitively adjust their vision and their brains and immediately see stuff popping off the page. I'm in the minority: I have a lot of difficulty orienting my eye-brain responses to "see" the stereogram stuff.

But I sort of intuitively picked up how to work in simulated 3D space starting in 1992 with as product called Macromedia MacroModel. It made sense to me, so I was able to get right to the tools. I think this was because I'd watched Star Trek re-runs for many years.

Again, it's not hard to learn. It's just a lot to learn.

-g

Anybody with plenty of time and patience can learn how to use a 3D app. I have little of either, hence my mastery of the genre is severely limited.

I also do not use the pen tool (I use it so infrequently that I had to switch to Xara to look up the name of the tool), so my mastery of that little feller is also extremely limited. I think you're right, you either like one or the other, the shape editor probably being my most-used tool.