June 2014 Tips and Tricks - Mixing Extrudes and Shapes to Make Molecules

June 2014 Tips and Tricks - Mixing Extrudes and Shapes to Make Molecules

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Some people use the Extrude tool to make Art. Others use the drawing tools in Xara to make art.

Why not use the two together? This month, Gary Bouton takes you through a detailed exploration of what it takes to draw a molecule, specifically a simple water molecule, like the pros do with modeling programs. Except we’re going to do a spectacular illustration right inside our favorite program that will put a lot of techno-scientific-ultra-cranial types’ work to shame!

Read how and then show us how you build your atomic world here.

This was an inspiring tutorial. As I was working on my water molecule it kind of reminded me of little bugs that we used to call water skeeters when I was a kid. The kind you see on ponds that seem to glide across on top of the water.

Oh, that is absolutely wonderful, Angelize! Water floating on top of water.

It's a modern surrealist endeavor worthy of a thumbs up from Magritte!

See waht you can do to "3D" to ammonia and the other molecule, or do an online search for something that doesn't have 290 atoms.

My Best,

Gary

Wow that is high praise Gary thank you. Here is a very simple one. I've gone from wet to very dry :)

I am using Artworks 2 so no extrude tool or some other newer stuff that became later with Xara versions but I had nothing better to do and wanted to try something as an excercise, so here are the early stages of that last one done with old fashioned manual way.

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Originally Posted by angelize

Wow that is high praise Gary thank you. Here is a very simple one. I've gone from wet to very dry :)

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NaCl...salt, right? Actually, Sodium is a little larger than Chloride, but this Art and not Science :)

I'd love to see some shadows on the beach to complete your visualization. If the atom-spheres have highlights and they rest on a surface, the surface must show a shadow.

But ya got the hang of working with Extrudes and drawing tools, that was the tutorial's gist, and you passed with flying colours.

My Best,

Gary

Well, theinonen, I have to say it's a worthy exercise, and it's possible, but a little harder to draw everything when you have the Extrude tool. But as you say, you're using Artworks.

I must say the Tinkertoy sculpture was a joke, not intended to be taken seriously, but it looked like some of the molecules and I had nothing better to do! Let me help you a little if you're up for it. You need perspective because this is not an isometric (orthographic) image. Here is a wireframe of the sculpture as I created it before rendering, lighting or textures:

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If you'd like only a front-facing spline view, let me know.

Do some molecules, too! They're easier! :)

My Best,

Gary

Ok, here is my molecule then.

I think you did great, theinonen. Nice, original posing of the molecule, unlike the simple one I covered, nice use of what is obviously a hand-drawn drop shadow.

Did you use any of the techniques described in the tutorial?

-g

I used techniques on tutorial in a conceptual way modified to suit for the tools I have.

Artworks has no extrude tool and you can not use more than 2 colours in graduated/radial fill, only colour to colour and not possible to add more points for variation. So I cheated and used image composition program for the fine details and as it accepts vector images and even automatically does masking, it actually works very well together with vector software and even extends it.

Those plastic highlights are actually white colour blocks on black background combined with screen blending mode to parts of the molecule. Additional shading can be done with tinting using required blendmode and targeted to right parts of the image using tint-mask. I can not claim credit for the drop shadow either as it is automatically generated with shadow tool and shadow-mask is taken from the blend-mask. If needed that mask can be modified, for example blurred if wanted softer shadows.

Not gone for Science and Technology, more Sci-Fi. If your wondering what the X molecule is really, well it's Fluoboric acid :D

Stygg

Fluobotic acid, stygg? Why... that molecule reminds me of Xarium, a rare and precious material we used to extract from the spice mines of Kessel back when the Empire was looking for us rebels. Xarium gives designers the ability to draw faster without the nasty side effects that amphetamines do, and actually you're not supposed to ingest it at all. You're supposed to sprinkle a little on your monitor and wait 5 seconds for it to sink in.

Unlike my tutorials, which never seem to sink in! :)

Here's another pose I'd like you all to consider for perspective, and where the highlights and shadows are falling. There is a wonderfully unpredictable lattice of shadows due to the rods, isn't there?

I deliberately left out colour because:

1.) I'd like to leave that up to everyone's creativity, and

2.) I left my set of Crayolas upstairs this morning, the Pro version 128 color box with the sharpener in back.

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-g

That looks like a lot of complex freehand shadow drawing Gary but I'll give it ago on the molecules I made. Here's the pic. of Fluobotic acid I based the X molecule on :D

Stygg

Ah, but do you all see what is to be gained by doing an illustration with more-or-less correct shadows? The reference picture there is obviously a rendered model, but for the sake of clarity, the designer left out shadows, lit it from the front, and it looks like fecal matter compared to what you folks have been doing here.

This Tips and Tricks tutorial this month is designed to get you thinking about using all of Xara's tools, not "either/or" to make drawings you and your audience are more pleased with.

Skip Science this month!

I often combine extrusions, bitmaps and vector shapes in my work. While the tutorial focuses on creating molecules, The techniques can be applied to all sorts of things.

@Frances: absolutely. That's why Charles prefers to call Xara a design program rather than a drawing program. It can import a lot of different types of media, the filters are all Adobe Standard so you can add third party filters to modify both bitmaps and vector shapes in a non-destructive way, and if you go to Gary Priester's Xara Xone shareware page:

X marks the spot you can create spirals and color palettes and other neat stuff.

It's quite a complete composition tool, IMPO (In Most People's Opinion).

:)

My Best,

Gary

Here is an image created by mixing extrusions and vector shapes. The cake is actually two extrusions blended via opacity masks. The plate is also an extrusion. The shadows and decorations on the top of the cake and on the plate are vector shapes.

Lovely lighting, very nice detail work, Frances.

-g

I've tried to re-create part of the molecules jpg. image Gary posted in #12, no extrudes, all shapes.

Stygg

Well, you have done such a remarkable job re-illustrating what actually was a rendered model, stygg, you are completely forgiven and exempt from using the extrude tool for the atom connectors.

It's quite beautiful work, really, and I'm glad to see that even though I cover pretty inflexible techniques and "truths" on more than one occasion, you folks are inspired to improvise and find your own solutions that you're comfortable with.

I got a hot video I'm trying to finish to post today, so tah for now,

Gary