Virtual Framing Tutorial - Part Two -

[Ross Macintosh]

Earlier today I posted a tutorial titled "Frame Tutorial". It focused on creating a somewhat realistic picture frame. I realized after it was posted that I might just as well illustrate the technique of do-it-yourself virtual matting.

These days it is very expensive to send out your pictures for real framing. This virtual method is cheap and is fun. You can do it quickly or take your time. There is really no limit on how detailed you can get. In this example I tried to keep it simple...

Let's get started!

The first step is to put a filled shape behind your illustration. (Mine is a pen&ink sketch of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia). I adjust the size of the shape to establish the overall size of the matting relative to the illustration. I chose a grey colour for my matting at this time. Also I decided I wanted the illustration in the middle of the matting so I used xara's alignment tool to center the two objects vertically and horizontally.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/1.jpg

For step two I had to cut the hole in the matting. I cloned (ctrl k) the "mat" and holding down the shift key I resized it smaller. The shift key constrained the resizing so all objects continued to be centered. I resized it until the size of opening in the mat, as represented by the shape I was adjusting, would be what I wanted.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/2.jpg

Step three involved subtracting the shape created in step two from the larger shape that was behind the illustration. When the two were selected, the menu operation "arrange>combine shapes>subtract shapes" was performed. The result had to be brought to front (ctrl f). At this point there were two objects - the illustration and a shape with a "hole" in it.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/3.jpg

The fourth step saw a bevel and a shadow applied to the matting. I used a "flat" bevel because that is the most common type of cut you see on real matting. I adjusted the contrast - adding more. I applied a small amount of shadow to make it look like the matting was floating slightly above the illustration. I was only concerned with the shadow inside the "hole" because I knew I'd be covering the outer shadow with a frame.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/4.jpg

The fifth step involved changing the matting's "core" colour. Traditional matting board by Bainbridge and others always used to have a light coloured core. These days, coloured cores are available but for my virtual matting I felt a nice cream coloured core would look nice with the grey "paper" surface. As well, a creamy colour would hopefully still be visible against the white background in my illustration. To change the colour of the bevel edge was as easy as dragging a colour from the colour bar and "dropping" it on the beveled edge.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/5.jpg

Step six saw me decide to add a simple red frame. The method used was covered in the previous tutorial mentioned above. I drew a shape over the beveled map and gave that new shape no fill and a thick linewidth. In this case the linewidth was set to the visual thickness I wanted the frame profile to be.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/6.jpg

In step seven the red-lined shape had the arrange menu's "convert line to shape" operation applied to it. That made it possible to apply a bevel giving the frame a 3d look. In this case I just wanted a simple frame and applying a "rounded" bevel type was suitable (If a more complicated frame profile is desired see the other tutorial mentioned above). I also applied a modest shadow to the red frame to enhance the 3d effect and add to the realism.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/7.jpg

For the final image I added a bitmap fill to the background and added a shadow behind the frame. I think the result is reasonably realistic - more importantly it was fun to create. It gives new life to my old sketch too!

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/8.jpg

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Ross Macintosh]

Earlier today I posted a tutorial titled "Frame Tutorial". It focused on creating a somewhat realistic picture frame. I realized after it was posted that I might just as well illustrate the technique of do-it-yourself virtual matting.

These days it is very expensive to send out your pictures for real framing. This virtual method is cheap and is fun. You can do it quickly or take your time. There is really no limit on how detailed you can get. In this example I tried to keep it simple...

Let's get started!

The first step is to put a filled shape behind your illustration. (Mine is a pen&ink sketch of Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia). I adjust the size of the shape to establish the overall size of the matting relative to the illustration. I chose a grey colour for my matting at this time. Also I decided I wanted the illustration in the middle of the matting so I used xara's alignment tool to center the two objects vertically and horizontally.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/1.jpg

For step two I had to cut the hole in the matting. I cloned (ctrl k) the "mat" and holding down the shift key I resized it smaller. The shift key constrained the resizing so all objects continued to be centered. I resized it until the size of opening in the mat, as represented by the shape I was adjusting, would be what I wanted.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/2.jpg

Step three involved subtracting the shape created in step two from the larger shape that was behind the illustration. When the two were selected, the menu operation "arrange>combine shapes>subtract shapes" was performed. The result had to be brought to front (ctrl f). At this point there were two objects - the illustration and a shape with a "hole" in it.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/3.jpg

The fourth step saw a bevel and a shadow applied to the matting. I used a "flat" bevel because that is the most common type of cut you see on real matting. I adjusted the contrast - adding more. I applied a small amount of shadow to make it look like the matting was floating slightly above the illustration. I was only concerned with the shadow inside the "hole" because I knew I'd be covering the outer shadow with a frame.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/4.jpg

The fifth step involved changing the matting's "core" colour. Traditional matting board by Bainbridge and others always used to have a light coloured core. These days, coloured cores are available but for my virtual matting I felt a nice cream coloured core would look nice with the grey "paper" surface. As well, a creamy colour would hopefully still be visible against the white background in my illustration. To change the colour of the bevel edge was as easy as dragging a colour from the colour bar and "dropping" it on the beveled edge.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/5.jpg

Step six saw me decide to add a simple red frame. The method used was covered in the previous tutorial mentioned above. I drew a shape over the beveled map and gave that new shape no fill and a thick linewidth. In this case the linewidth was set to the visual thickness I wanted the frame profile to be.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/6.jpg

In step seven the red-lined shape had the arrange menu's "convert line to shape" operation applied to it. That made it possible to apply a bevel giving the frame a 3d look. In this case I just wanted a simple frame and applying a "rounded" bevel type was suitable (If a more complicated frame profile is desired see the other tutorial mentioned above). I also applied a modest shadow to the red frame to enhance the 3d effect and add to the realism.

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/7.jpg

For the final image I added a bitmap fill to the background and added a shadow behind the frame. I think the result is reasonably realistic - more importantly it was fun to create. It gives new life to my old sketch too!

http://www.designstop.com/misc/frametutorial2/8.jpg

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[Egg Bramhill]

Great tutorial. I love your pen and ink sketches. They are all so clean and crisp.
One thing that I would do slightly differently is to use the new contour tool (set to one step )to get the hole in the matting. Then arrange convert to edibale shapes and sliced. This guarantees that the matting maintains the exact same width around the frame, which is difficult with selector resizing.
Forgive me if you were just trying to make the tutorial easier.
Egg

[Ross Macintosh]

Egg - I must admit the new contour tool is not one I have my head around yet. Your suggestion seems like a good one to me - provided an equal border is actually desired. With matting, as with page layout margins, that equal border isn't always desirable. Then again, with either technique it isn't hard to edit the "hole" to be exactly where you want it to be.

I will have to play with contours more to take better advantage of them in my drawings. (Similarly I must figure out the names gallery and put it to work).

I'm glad you like the sketch. This particular one was reproduced in porcelain enamel on steel in a series of interpretive panels I designed. Talk about permanence - they should survive 25 years plus outdoors! I'll be lucky to last that long.

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>

[This message was edited by Ross Macintosh on February 24, 2001 at 10:02 PM.]

[panfer]

This is great.Very clear! Love diag/illus.
The only thing is it will get burried in a pile in a day or two.

[JZiehlke]

Ross/Egg,

You gentlemen are definitely creative. I love the effects and the great ideas I'm always getting. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]
Thanks,
Joan

[Ross Macintosh]

Thanks for the comments on the sketch. Although Xara is fun it is still satisfying to put lines to paper and have something develop.

Here's a blowup detail of the sketch. It was a low quality scan and an even lower quality jpg export from xara. Quality setting in xara export was set for 20%. (I don't think I ever exported a jpg with that low a setting before).

Regards, Ross

<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>