a life on the ocean waves

**Seagull** · 23 May 2006, 10:14 PM

Hello Chuckpa

Still analizing your boat in Xara. Out of curiousity, any idea how long it took? I know it was no 1 / 2 hour job. Everytime I move it a bit, the boat dissappears and then starts reappearing step by step, same with the bow wave, comes back piece by piece, making itlook like the wave is really moving. I have to get past it soon so I can get back to analizing Drifters work. I'll never get as far as you two, have no intentions of even trying, but enjoy being able to disassemble allowing me to see and appreciate both your techniques and skill

**-=Drifter=-** · 23 May 2006, 11:19 PM

How are you analyzing his pic? i see no .xar file......

**chuckpa** · 23 May 2006, 11:59 PM

Seagull: "Out of curiousity, any idea how long it took?"

As I recall, it was a project that evolved over several weeks. The ship was the easy part. Getting the sky, ocean, and waves as realistic lookng as possible in a vector graphics program like XaraX was quite a challenge. However, with the aid of several photographs of ocean scenes, and a little patience, it all came together.

The down side of my work is its complexity and the effect that so many complex graphical components with thousands of nodes has on computer performance. One of these days I'm going to have to work out a simpler method for creating these images. In retrospect, I really should have taken advantage of the layers feature of XaraX.

**jamesmc** · 24 May 2006, 02:01 AM

One of the nice thing about layers is that you can lock an image down to the screen or make it invisible. Invisible is good if you are working on an espescially complex drawing.

Xara Xtreme's Layers work a little differently than what I'm used to, but they are similar to most programs. The attributes and etc. you assign on one layer should not affect the others, especially if that layer is locked down (unchecked.)

You can also export that layer and work on it separately if you need to do so. I would use caution on exporting complicated fills or transparencies though. But, basic line art is fine.

**Seagull** · 24 May 2006, 02:26 AM

Originally Posted by -=Drifter=-

How are you analyzing his pic? i see no .xar file......

Evening Bob

The xara file is on Page 13, message #123. Your machine can probably handle it better than mine. Chuckpa has done a very interesting thing with the sails, using clilp view to creat the shadow or 3d effect. Even knowing how to use cllip view I would never in a thousand years have thought of using it. This is where the xara file makes it fun.

**parahandy** · 24 May 2006, 09:52 AM

Had a go at dissecting your ship picture Chuckpa, I can appreciate why it took so long to assemble it really is a 5 star picture and obviously done by someone who really knows how to draw. Thank you again for the picture, it is one the best on this thread equalled only by Zebtoonz contribution earlier on.
If you can spare the time give us some more of your excellent work.

*****Norman

**Seagull** · 25 May 2006, 01:10 AM

Good news for Chuckpa with one "K" tonight.
This morning I was playing with your fantastic drawing, breaking into layer as suggested by Jamesmc, and it works......as long as you don't look at all the layers at the same time. I didn't realize you had so much detail on the boat itself until the sails were removed. Unfortunatly the old tin box decided to have a nervouse breakdown so the results weren't saved but I will probably redo it. It only took between 15 minutes to 1/2 hour to create the layers so no big lose and it is worth it with this machine for studing your techniques. Thanks for the pleasure and another for posting the xara file.