Sparkle Challenge

[Mike S]

well i was going to try the method i posted but after seeing these last few there is no need. Great job everyone.

Su could you go into a little more detail for us newbiess please. i just dont understand how you are getting the effect with that fill. are you using a linear trans? sorry for the dumb questions but you got me all confused

[Judi A]

AND THE WINNERS are!! Michelle and Su both of them are terrific

Those are exactly what I had in mind. Lots of thanks for the rest of the versions too.... it was lots of fun seeing creative minds at work.

Judi

[John Rayner]

Hey Su,

I second Mikey's call for a mini Tut... Mainly on the fireworks.. That is cool!

[stlewis]

And using Michelle's silver fill in X3D...

[Su Lawrence]

Mike - Sure no problems, here's a bit more info...

Although the methods vary a little depending on which sparkly effect I'm trying to do; the basic general object for the sparkles is a flat filled shape to which I applied a bitmap transparency (using culttext.jpg, downloaded from xara.com - misc folder in the fill gallery). Then I adjusted the transparency dpi and profile of this object in the transparency tool infobar.

This is the basic start point and gives you a sharpish, sparkly type effect in the one transparency object. However, bitmap export smoothing means you need to adopt a few other steps to retain the sparkliness (but which can also help to brighten up/define it more).

I'll write down some clearer steps to explain it further when I've got a mo.

Judi - thanks ... what colours do the sparkly pens come in BTW, Like John, I'd also be interested in seeing a scan or something of what the actual pen lines look like.

John - I haven't quite finished messing around with the fireworks stuff yet, but glad you like it - thanks. Hopefully, should be able to add some steps for that too.

Regards

Su

[PhilM]

Folks,

How about a Xara sparkle brush to emulate Judi's real-world glitter gel pen?

The "sparkles" are all aligned the same and have the same size to emulate the view through a camera lens.

I'm sure you folks can improve on this...

Phil 8-)

[PhilM]

Here's the XAR file.

[Terry]

Wow, Phil! That sparkle brush is really cool!

If you download the .xar file, select the elipse like you were going to group it, then drag one of the sizing handles, the "starfield" dances like a kaleidoscope!

I like it!

[PhilM]

Here's Su's sparkley (is that a word?) texture with the sparkle brush worked over the first three letters.

The brush is a little too random to be honest, making the sparkles fall off the edges of the letters, but you get the idea.

Phil 8-)

[mlill]

I just made some bitmap 'Glitter Pen' brushes for you guys. They're not perfect and I'm sure there's a better way to do it. I haven't made very many bitmap brushes, so the experts can have these and fix them up! I've linked to my Xara file again because the file size exceeds the limit for adding an attachment. Have fun!

-Michelle

Glitter Pens