See how Frances takes seamless tiles she designed and put editable text on the tiles, that look like someone carefully spilled water on stone, wood, and so on, to spell out words. And you can change the lettering to say anything you like at any time, because this optical illusion Frances came up with uses editable text.
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
It's Frances' tutorial, Maya. All I did was put some Turtle Wax on it here and there and buff it a little in places.
Oh, by the way, the bluejays have decided to stay in our back yard even though we got some dusting for the past week and temps in the 20s, Fahrenheit. Not a nice Autumn, unfair, unfair! And because the seasons were so screwed up, we didn't have as many berries and seeds anywhere in Central NY, so when I put out peanuts, it's not extra food, not really. They're coming here for dinner, not a snack.
Beautiful birds, breathtaking to watch them land. Their cries are awesome, and when I don't put out peanuts in the morning, I'm doing dishes in the kitchen, and they fly up to the nearby deck, screech and give me dirty looks.
Frances, we had a hard time advertising the tutorial, because we were stuck with the words "stone" and "wet", which beg puns of the Laugh-In double-entendre type. I hope we weren't too offensive in the copywriting. Just a little offensive, okay?
Thanks!
Gary
20 November 2014, 05:48 PM
Rik
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
My goodness! =D>
I think I've used most tools and options.
But... I've never used the 'Apply Soft Group' option.
How brilliant is that?!
What a great option.
Thanks, indeed, Frances.
20 November 2014, 06:13 PM
Crow Haven
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gare
It's Frances' tutorial, Maya. All I did was put some Turtle Wax on it here and there and buff it a little in places.
Oh, by the way, the bluejays have decided to stay in our back yard even though we got some dusting for the past week and temps in the 20s, Fahrenheit. Not a nice Autumn, unfair, unfair! And because the seasons were so screwed up, we didn't have as many berries and seeds anywhere in Central NY, so when I put out peanuts, it's not extra food, not really. They're coming here for dinner, not a snack.
Beautiful birds, breathtaking to watch them land. Their cries are awesome, and when I don't put out peanuts in the morning, I'm doing dishes in the kitchen, and they fly up to the nearby deck, screech and give me dirty looks.
Frances, we had a hard time advertising the tutorial, because we were stuck with the words "stone" and "wet", which beg puns of the Laugh-In double-entendre type. I hope we weren't too offensive in the copywriting. Just a little offensive, okay?
Thanks!
Gary
It's an awesome tutorial, Frances!!!=D>
Gare, I've been watching the reports of all the record-breaking snowfall around the country and I really feel for everyone and their struggles with it. The poor birds, too!!! There's just no way they can get to any food unless people put out seed and/or suet feeders...the poor little things. When Paul and I lived at Rosebanks, Staten Is. NY, while in the coast guard, there was a blizzard which socked us indoors and an ice storm on top of it --- brrrrrr! We had those beautiful bluejays and cardinals, plus starlings and crows all struggling to survive that winter. I even boiled pots of rice and added peanut butter to it and put out large quantities on plastic trash can lids over the snow so they could eat and they just fell on it and ate like crazy the warm rice mixture.
20 November 2014, 06:30 PM
Gare
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Let's take the BirdTalk private, okay, Maya? I'll PM you later.
People are going to start beginning to think Bluejays are part of Frances' tutorial. :)
My bad and O/T,
Gary
20 November 2014, 09:23 PM
wizard509
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gare
People are going to start beginning to think Bluejays are part of Frances' tutorial. My bad and O/T,
Gary
I wouldn't think that, nor do I think anyone who reads the tutorial would think so either, at least I hope not. I thought it a cute story Maya.
20 November 2014, 10:58 PM
Crow Haven
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Sorry guys! You know me, I get sidetracked easily and I think being OT is my specialty! :rolleyes:
I did goof around with the tutorial ideas and applied those to some of the stone tiles and created some dripping rivulets per the tute's method of offsets and transparencies, etc. We're getting loads of rain, so here's a little dreary bird graphic (also used the Zootype font for the bird and an Arts & Crafts font for the decoration on the stone).
Thanks Frances for the stone tiles too!:)
20 November 2014, 11:39 PM
angelize
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
I'm glad that the tutorial was useful :) It makes use of the soft group feature in an interesting way. Soft grouping is a Web design feature primarily designed for creating Web buttons so this shows a web design feature that adds something useful to the illustration side of things!
Maya I really like that, it's great to see both the tutorial and the tiles are sparking wonderful ideas!
21 November 2014, 01:34 AM
wizard509
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
:OT Pardon me I should have said Back on topic. OK now back to the topic.
@Frances, I think that is a great tutorial thank you so much. I am going to do it now. Hopefully I can do it justice, don't know but I'll try.
Maya that looks good.
21 November 2014, 01:44 AM
Crow Haven
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Thanks Frances and Larry!
:D
21 November 2014, 09:56 AM
iamtheblues
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Really good job, Frances, I sure learnt some new tricks today.
Bob.
21 November 2014, 11:44 AM
stygg2003
2 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Excellent tut. Francis as always, here's my two efforts. Will try doing something like Maya using the techniques you have shown.
Stygg
21 November 2014, 07:26 PM
wizard509
3 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
I did 3, some better than others. Thank you Frances. I learned a few things here.
On one I used a different font. the others used your suggested font but altered it plus a few drips.
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Stygg and Larry -- those are really nicely done!=D>
22 November 2014, 11:33 PM
Crow Haven
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
I experimented again on different textures using the font "Rocky Horror Show" this time which also looked kind of drippy... pretty fun!:)
23 November 2014, 06:33 AM
stygg2003
2 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
I like that RHS text Maya, looks wet and creepy, better than "It came from the swamp" text. I've left the Liquidism text in these two, just wanted to see how it would look with two backgrounds :rolleyes:
Stygg
23 November 2014, 12:55 PM
wizard509
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Great work Maya and Stygg. I like them all very much.
23 November 2014, 01:53 PM
Rik
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
I thought I would try it with a different text.
Great tutorial, Frances.
The method ensures that the text is completely editable - change it to read whatever you want.
:-bd
23 November 2014, 02:10 PM
Crow Haven
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Thanks Stygg and Larry! I like yours too, Rik! This method is really fun and useful -- and, as Rik says, it's nice that once you have a font set up like this you can then just type anything you want on and on and on like as if it's become a sort of template file for that font. :)
23 November 2014, 05:10 PM
Rik
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Thanks, Maya.
Having another go at it.
It seems to me, that it works better with a thicker text.
A text that has a lot of body to it.
What do you think?
23 November 2014, 06:05 PM
Crow Haven
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Hey, yeah! I like the way that looks, Rik. The water looks more beaded up (if that's a way to put it?) in this image. :)
I had a chance to play with how editable the text is by putting it to a curved line when starting out the tute -- yep, you can then change the form of the line and the text follows it, you can kern the text or anything you want! Clone the entire text soft group and put it anywhere, then reshape it over and over. It's fantastic to work with! The image I made below uses the font called "Psychedelic Smoke" and though not a really good one for water fx I liked the tilt to it anyway.
24 November 2014, 06:30 AM
angelize
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Great works from all of you, I love to see the experimentation with different fonts etc.
Here is another thing that you can do with this, remember that the enhance transparency allows you to use the photo tools and if you use the hue tool, the photo temperature tool or the saturation tool, or a combination of any of those three you can give the water a coloured tint!
24 November 2014, 06:41 AM
stygg2003
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
@Rik - That looks good using a heavier text Rik, I like that.
@Maya - Like that image alot Maya. I think Francis as come up with a real popular Guest tut. and as many uses, would have looked well I think used in a halloween image.
Stygg
24 November 2014, 06:12 PM
Crow Haven
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Great idea for coloring the watery text, Frances!
Thanks Stygg! After looking at the colored text Frances posted I agree it could have been really fun to use for a Halloween-theme image too. :)
24 November 2014, 06:45 PM
Gare
2 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
First of all Frances, and all—
I really dislike it when someone barges into a tutorial thread and says, "Oh, I didn't do it like the tutorial, but here's my work anyway."
I'm not doing that here. I'd just like to show a tiny enhancement that makes the watery text look more like water. At the point at which the lighting source (let's call it the sun) is strongest, it acts like a reflective magnifying glass and you get a specular reflection (a highlight).
All you need to do in Xara is draw a shape just inside your watery text, and give it a linear transparency so it fades off into the text.
I didn't go get the typeface you recommended, so I did your tutorial by hand and no, the text obviously isn't editable. That's not the point, though. If you add these sort of specular reflections sparingly, you might find the text pops out at you a little more and will get you wet. :)
File's attached, and again, pardon me for crashing your tutorial, Frances. I've studied and been drawing chrome and water since before there were computers. It was called an airbrush :)
My Best,
Gary
24 November 2014, 10:01 PM
Crow Haven
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Good idea Gare!
Well, I experimented with a bird font (thanks Gare!) and used the hummingbird letters to do the tute with this time. Cloned the bird text reversed it, stretched and rotated. Also made some small text with the "Abracadabra" font, stacked it on its side, and ran it through the tute.
25 November 2014, 06:09 AM
stygg2003
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Thanks for that Gary, what a difference that air brushing makes to the text.
Stygg
25 November 2014, 06:13 AM
stygg2003
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
That's a lovely image Maya, the air brushing works well in it.
Stygg
25 November 2014, 07:12 AM
Veeness
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Hi Angelize)) I loved the watery text tutorial. I' need to practice as I don't see the reflection in the text properly? are they line edges? or shape of whole letter.
I did however manage to make drippy whitish wax raised and rounded and pottery slip sludge sort of style that looks like someone drew it on with a finger it has a slight depression in the middle of text. I think I'm doing a transparency and layer thing wrong as I don't see layers made on my right panel.
25 November 2014, 07:15 PM
wizard509
1 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik
But... I've never used the 'Apply Soft Group' option.
How brilliant is that?!
What a great option.
+1 that is really great option, also when the text is skewed after in trying to give some perspective, so for example on some stone plates, it still stays editable
That geg is nice yet with the voice of the type machine when a text is entered in the video :)
29 November 2014, 10:24 AM
Rik
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
That is really very well put together, csehz. =D>
I like the perspective you've used.
And it looks darn 'wet' to me.
29 November 2014, 11:54 AM
Veeness
2 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Thanks Wizard)) I do know where it is on my UI. I mean while watching Angelizes's tutorial I saw her opening layers on the right panel. I must work all on the base plate paper thinking they all create into the layers palette>? by themselves... I understand layers, but I tend to be get right into a design and forget about it halfway through. I just thought is it possible I'm not doing the tutorial right. Are you making new layers as you work?
On Rik's Wood version I can see clearly the wood right through...back to the tutorial and try again.
29 November 2014, 12:32 PM
Rik
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Quote:
Originally Posted by Veeness
On Rik's Wood version I can see clearly the wood right through...back to the tutorial and try again.
Hi Veeness.
That's because...
Towards the beginning of Frances' tutorial, an Enhance transpareny is applied to the text, and then the Photo tool is used to adjust the Brightness is down, so that the text can be seen.
Well, I didn't do that part on my last post.
I felt that it looked better without that part - on the background I was using.
But, it will depend upon the look you're going for, and which background you're using.
Take a look at csehz's images in Post# 32.
He's gone for a look that absolutely suits the background and the angle and the light.
To me, it looks as though csehz has taken a lot of care on how much light and shadow is shown.
So, play around with the parts that get you the right result.
As for layers?
I don't pretend to have any skill with them.
I just open up the page properties and look for the item by just scrolling up and down!
But, if you do use layers, then it does make things a lot easier.
29 November 2014, 04:58 PM
csehz
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rik
To me, it looks as though csehz has taken a lot of care on how much light and shadow is shown.
Thanks for the opinion, well sure drawing anything in perspective requires surprisingly lot of calculations (or easy for those who are talented :D), from my side have to admit that still often just a luck when it comes out well :)
But fortunately Gare's actual tutorial seems targeting a similiar topic, how to plan a perspective background around the object, so sure would like to jump into that too :)
29 November 2014, 09:08 PM
angelize
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Hi everyone! I've been quite busy these last few days serving behind the counter at my retail job ( I'm sooooo glad Black Friday is over!) Anyway yes in the video I do use the galleries from the right. I keep my galleries pinned open so they are always ready and easy to access. I used the bitmap gallery and the page and layer gallery. In the page and layer gallery I have the layer expanded so while everything is on a single layer I can select individual objects from the gallery.
Veeness: If you post a .xar file I'll take a look and see if I can see what went wrong but I'm guessing it may be either in the photo settings or the transparency settings.
Here is a quick video that shows how I pin the galleries all together as a single easy to navigate window. I learned this technique a few years ago on the forums and I'm not exactly certain any more who originally provided this tip.
30 November 2014, 06:42 PM
Boy
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Thanks for the cool tip, Angelize. Very useful.
30 November 2014, 09:15 PM
Rik
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Excellent video/tip, Frances.
Before I do stuff like that, though.
I would need to know if there's a way of putting things back, the way they were?
01 December 2014, 06:00 PM
stygg2003
2 Attachment(s)
Re: November's Guest Tutorial Video: Making Watery Text
Created water text using the technique Gary posted so then I tried it using a leaf shape to see how it would turn out? Didn't add any highlights to it but it turned out not to bad. You could play around with the settings on the three leaf shapes until you get what you want if you like, even the colors for the three leafs and background.