Xara in space

[a4hire]

Here is a project I have been working on. The Xara spacestation. I have seen some great work here lately and a lot of different styles. I thought I should join the fun. The spacestation was done free hand in Xara X and the planet has a bitmap fill and the background is also a bitmap.

[a4hire]

Here is a project I have been working on. The Xara spacestation. I have seen some great work here lately and a lot of different styles. I thought I should join the fun. The spacestation was done free hand in Xara X and the planet has a bitmap fill and the background is also a bitmap.

[gwpriester]

You have a wonderful imagination Bruce.

I love all the tiny windows. I expect to see the whole Xara crew (I wonder how many people work at Xara?) peering back at us from their lofty position.

One tiny nitsy criticism (you knew that was coming, eh?). If the circular portion of the space station is tipped slightly downward, so we are looking at the top of it, should not the center post portion of the space station also be tipped downward the same amount? Otherwise it looks as if the center has somehow been bent.

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Rarely So Humble...

[a4hire]

Thanks Gary !
I don't mind constructive criticism. I understand what you are saying about the angle. I am not sure how I would draw that. Something for me to work on. It was already a lesson in perspective for me. I will keep practicing. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif[/img]

[gwpriester]

Bruce

Even in space objects have a vanishing point :-)

You might try using some of the centers from toilet paper or paper towels as a tube and cut out some rough circles and build a crude model. Then use the model to give you an idea of how all the ellipses should work.

Or you can do something like the attached image. It is two groups of circles, the top one at eye level scrunched up because at eye level you really don't see much of the ellipse and looking straight down where we see the entire circle.

This help at all?

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

Be It Rarely So Humble...

[a4hire]

Thanks again Gary.
I like your idea about the toilet paper roll model. I might make one of those. Actually I was up late last night working on this thing. From looking at your circles I think I am on the right track. I actually got out the pencil and paper and sketched it so I could see how it should look. Then I went back to change it in Xara. Well this one should look more in perspective.

[pduggan]

Here's a method of checking perspective for flat round objects (tops/bottoms of cylinders, discs, plates etc) I stumbled upon when creating the tower for my colourful places pic. It's probably not new, but it sits well with Gary's demo and I thought it might be worth repeating here.

Draw an ellipse (show and snap to grid) to represent the bottom of a cylinder. The taller the ellipse with relation to 'eye level', the closer the 'viewpoint' (and vice versa). Add two lines as shown in the LH image, and group them with the ellipse. The lines can be any length, but their top ends will be at 'eye level' (the horizontal red line). Now try cloning the group and dragging the handle marked with the red arrow up and down. The top ends of the lines stay put but, as you drag the handle through 'eye level', the ellipse effectively disappears (you're looking across its 'surface') before reappearing as you continue to drag it upwards. So you can have a cylinder with top and bottom below eye level (middle image), bottom below and top above (RH image), both above (no image) and so on. Or ungroup the clone(s) after dragging and ditch the lines to make plates or whatever at different heights.

Hope this makes sense! The possibilities are far too wide-ranging to describe in full...

Peter</p>

Peat Stack or Pete's Tack?</p>

[a4hire]

Thanks Peter
I tried your method for cylinder perspective. It works very well. It does match Gary's circles. This is like a "mini tutorial" you have here. I am sure this will help in my future projects.
Thanks again. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[pduggan]

Glad it made sense, Bruce!

Here's a further example, inspired by Scouse Eric's spray can. Note that any apparent inconsistency in the perspective at the base of the cap is caused by a limitation of the PNG resolution and not the .xar file. And when I say 'the narrower ellipses', I mean any that are less than the full 'can' width.

Peter</p>

Peat Stack or Pete's Tack?</p>

[Eric]

see wot u mean...the [curve ratio?] is not the same all the way down...it's
back to the can for me