March 2014 Giveaway - Wisps of Smoke and Steam

[theinonen]

Instead of using those files directly as PNG images with an alpha mask, there is another possibility to get rid of the alpha channel and then use them itself as a mask.

It opens up many interesting paths to experiment with.

[csehz]

This thread is great! There are so many different ways and inspirations, thanks for everyone. On the weekend would like to give a go for some tries

and Grid master.

Stygg the others I knew but what is that Grid master? Those fishes are really very creative ones

[theinonen]

Here is quick example with one of my all time favourite programs, Compo.

If the smoke trails need to pop out more, then would have been as simple as sharpening the blend mask.

[handrawn]

josephine baker [from the 'cleopatra' wisp]

bitmap trace and vibrations filter [mehdi]

[just to keep Gary happy I did the bitmap trace in xara - although for this sort of tracing inkscape is less messing about - xara tend to give you either too many objects [program crawls or sleeps] or too few]

[Gare]

[just to keep Gary happy I did the bitmap trace in xara

Keeping me happy is beyond the capability and time constrains of most people, but I'm glad you made the effort, Steve. ;)

Me, I use Vector Magic when I need a critically accurate trace. My approach to these tutorials and giveaways is I make the presumption that everyone is not rich, and therefore let's hunker down and try to find an artistically acceptable (if not excellent) solution to a graphics challenge within Xara. So I recommend the Bitmap Tracer in Xara, which is at least as good as Corel's and the other programs that include a tracer within the program, essentially for free. "Free", I've discovered, is a popular motivational point here in tg.

At worst, you're obliged to look somewhere for the solution you seek, but often bring that solution (such as the Chaoscope wisps above the Xara drawing I did and offer in the Bonus files) into Xara for finally composting work.

At best, you might not find what you need in Xara, however you stumble across something else that's interesting and usable for a different project.

I believe the solution to a visual idea you have in your head shouldn't be limited to brand loyalty. I was loyal to the Ford Motor Company for decades until they burned me (no, not in a Pinto, but figuratively), and this loyalty, or business relationship, or whatever you call being loyal to a company who could care less about you as an individual...was over.

That said, I don't use Xara daily to draw artwork; I do perhaps once a month, but it's really the hub of my design projects because Xara is more than a vector drawing program. I can export splines to modeling programs which have notoriously crappy drawing tools compared to Xara, I've used Xara in the field as a book production tool—the acid test for this program because not one Macintosh-based Illustrator person in Production at Macmillan or McGraw-Hill has ever complained about colour accuracy or the ease with which they insert a Xara-generated EPS file into an InDesign document. And I use Xara exclusively to create logos and labels for materials I map in modeling programs:



The point of the Giveaway this month was to provide folks with a quick way to add an effect to a drawing, a time-saver, if you will.

If you extend your art toolbox to include other programs that "play nice" with Xara, it's all good, and I get to keep my job as host of XaraXone for the foreseeable future. :)

My Best,

Gary

[wizard509]

I wanted to get in on the action too. Well I tried anyway and I hope you like it. I thought about tinting the smoke but decided against it.

[Gare]

That's terrific, Larry. I owned that incense burner until it got lost in my transit back up North from Manhattan in 1991. It meant a lot to me, the ornate claw feet and the slightly flying saucer look of the body, and mostly because it was a gift from my parents.

In later years, they confessed that it was what they considered a piece of garbage they discovered in the basement of their first house, and had the space to pack it away.

Needs more work as a model, but that's not your problem. I love the Middle East motif and what you've done with the shadows!

Three thumbs up!

-g

[handrawn]

one more for the road then, before work consumes again my aching waking hours

'you looking at me... pal ?'

[Gare]

Hah!

Love it!

[stygg2003]

All the wisps and smoke files Gary have been great and very useful for lots of objects as members have shown and tinting them via contone excellent, however I could not resist as handrawn didn't but see a shape in some of the wisps I was using. I saw this sort of dennison of the deep here, wouldn't like this coming at me.

Stygg