Lights and more...

[TwidderBird]

the knowledge and methods behind how you are doing these things are far beyond my abilites and tech understanding! but I DO appreciate your explanations

working with transparency I am using simply my understanding of watercolor as a natural media for my 'knowledge transfer' to this digital arena, if you will. the most obvious background color of choice, therefore, would have been white; but as you have created many maps (still trying to get a grasp on this application) and strokes--customized--and held in your personal 'library'...I am attempting to customize my own presets, brushes, etc.. the blue background is just one choice of color that has a good amount of transparency that I thot would blend well with other transparent colors bringing an interesting blend (for light,& sky backgrounds)

what I really need is some good book on the intro to graphic design

(I've noticed some very interesting, fairly current threads in the xaraX gallery that could benefit me as well)

when optimizing to a png format I used alpha channel rather than single color transparency


nance

[molucca]

Everything I do is easy and simple. It isn't beyond anyones ability.

Reflection maps are used in many applications. However, in EGD, maps are applied to vector objects. I applied a few maps to some clipart drawings. It is just selecting an object and adjusting an embossing value. I do have about twenty different styles, and lots of colors. I did discover a unique capability with maps. I'll make some examples.

Rich

[TwidderBird]

thanks for showing the interface--it was helpful


(now that's very encouraging!! perhaps it's the graphics lingo that's still so unfamiliar.......)

[sallybode]

Sorry, Rich, drawing a blank, what is EGD?

BTW, looks wonderful, whatever EGD is. I probably know, just tired today.

[molucca]

Sally,

Expression Graphic Designer. Was Code Name Acrylic. It is the Microsoft influenced Expression. It is in Beta. There is a MS 3.3 version that is available free from MS. Most things I do would work there. I have 3.2 and EGD installed.

Rich

[molucca]

An application of a transparent map. I happened across this method when I was trying to find the essence of how maps work. These only work in Expression. Not something you might notice since the on screen view shows the transparent areas as black. One day, stumbling through things, I happened to turn on paper texture, and the fill came alive. Now the map fills are transparent on screen. I constructed this map in Xara using the mold capabilities.

Rich

[molucca]

EGD- Using grayscale strokes to shade and highlight portions of the leaf. The leaf had a color, a grayscale and an inverted grayscale stroke. I used erasing srtokes to control the effect to different parts of the leaf. Rich

[molucca]

A heart with a gold stroke border. Rich

[TwidderBird]

Rich

For your leaves: did you start with a layer with the leaf and color (green?) and add a layer with the grayscale for shading....or

was all done on one layer-- EGD allows vector and nonvector to occur in one layer....or

was everything applied as vector?


nance

[molucca]

This was on three layers because I erased parts of the grayscale strokes. Erase mode will erase everything below on a specific layer.

Grayscale strokes become transparent. The gray pixels can be colorized, or/and they can be used to erase. PNG strokes can erase, but not colorized. The first green leaf is a PNG into a stroke. The other two are grayscale. I inverted the PNG to make the second grayscale stroke. I wanted the background to remain white, and become transparent.

I have made several fog and cloud strokes that I use as erasers. In erase, it is the transparency and not the color.

So, these are bitmap strokes on a vector layer. EGD has both vector and bitmap layers. You can have both vector and bitmap on a vector layer.

The second set of leaves are leaves as a strokes.

Rich