spherizing with the mould tool

**iamtheblues** · 09 July 2007, 10:06 AM

Attached is a comparison between Xara's Mould Tool and the
spherize filter in Paintshop Pro X.
Is there a way of "pushing" the effect in Xara to resemble the PSP effect?
Saludos,
Bob.

**gwpriester** · 09 July 2007, 12:38 PM

The only envelope that works with bitmaps is perspective.

Would be swell if you could use the other envelopes but all that happens if you apply a circular envelope to a square bitmap is the outline changes to a circle. The bitmap itself is unchanged.

Gary

**GeoBen** · 09 July 2007, 01:15 PM

unless....

you trace the bitmap. the resulting vector copy can be molded and will 'flow' with the envelope shape.

**DGehman** · 09 July 2007, 01:19 PM

Possibly the only satisfying way is to create a bitmap fill in a 3D program...

Below, the bitmap fill applied to a Xara circle was done in Web3D, an ancient Asymetrix application.

**masque** · 09 July 2007, 02:56 PM

Trace bitmap and apply mould to trace. I've placed a bitmap with circular transparency over my traced image to emphasise the detail nearest the viewer and of course shading and highlights on top of that.
Derek

**iamtheblues** · 09 July 2007, 03:32 PM

Thanks for the tips guys,
there always seems to be more than
just the one solution to the problem
with Xara. I'll have to try thinking laterally
rather than spherically.

Saludos,
Bob.

**jamesmc** · 09 July 2007, 04:04 PM

I think Masque hit on it the best. I am displaying a 3D image with the sphere submitted here in this thread.

What Masque did was ensured there was a point of light and that light source goes from top to bottom in his image.

You will notice in the 3D image, the light source cuts through from the right like a sun or some star.

I think the key here to making effective spheres is to decide where you want the light source to come from, so that your sphere appears to be 3D.

Note the sphere from this topic has no light source and appears flat.

**Mike S** · 09 July 2007, 04:45 PM

have you tried Sean Sedwards’ spherical filter in the Xara Xone? http://www.xaraxone.com/html/ss_mould.html

**Xhris** · 09 July 2007, 04:55 PM

You could also blend different resolutions of the bitmap together to give a spherical look, and then apply a bump map effect to simulate surface depth with light-casting.