Xara 2D drawings to 3D modeling program

[Psaumure]

Hey, I was only following your advice. You asked me to trust you and that you believed in me. Isn't that right Dad? I will be posting it in the art gallery after I do a few finishing touches. I just wanted to see if I could seek one past you. I have not drawn in a while. That's why I have been drawing all the logos and other things. I needed to get familiar with the tools again. A little prodding from you didn't hurt.

Yes, Journeyman. Once you thing you know something, you stop growing. I an student.

Thanks for the advice Gary.

Paul

[stygg2003]

That is absolutely stunning work Paul.

Stygg

[Psaumure]

Thank you Stygg. I appreciate your comments and support.

[Gare]

I think we can have a Grand Xara Convergence here.

Stygg, you've created a beautiful chess piece, Paul, you're on your way to Master Photorealist, and this Blend thing deserves more investigation. As does tracing, the Jan 2015 tutorial.

To that end, to keep everyone happy (or to please no on at all!) I've done a chess scene, in one of the attached Xara files. Yup, I traced off the gross subjects and then got to the detail work.




You'll be able to get into the file and see how Bouton used some blends and other shapes. And you can have a laff at the cast shadow of the pawn, which makes it look as though the pieces is floating and needs to come a tinch and be darker.

I also did a reference file in the second of two attached Xara files:




There: you got two different types of glass (and one has a faint reflection of the chess board in it) some shiny metal and two different types of rooks.

Immerse yourself in Xara and see if you can't fool me like Paul did. And Paul, as D. Vader said, "I am your father. And no, you can't have the keys to the Death Star Friday night."

My Best,

Gary

[Psaumure]

Thank you Gary. I'm going to have a look at those files. I'm interested in learning more how to use the blend tool. Thank you for sharing,

Here is the updated and finished piece that I'm submitting to the art gallery. Also, I told our tail.

Thanks again for all the encouragement.

Paul

[Gare]

You're welcome, Paul.

May I ask: did you use named colors in this piece, to quickly change its main color?

As far as a Blend tutorial goes, I think August might just find the time for one. This is coming from a user of early CorelDRAW, before we had multi-stage gradients, so the artist was obliged to use Blends for drop-shadows and a lot of other things/

My Best,

Gary

[Psaumure]

Yes, I used named colors while making this one to quickly change the colors. I made the mistake of not doing that in past work. You want to kick your self. Depending on the complexity of the project, it can be a real pain adding named colors afterwards.

Blend tool: Gary, that's exactly what I'm looking for. How the Artist used to use a blend tool. Give me the basics my friend. I like to know how all the tools work and like the 3D tool, this one has been over looked.

I opened your files and the chess piece you did. The blend were converted to edible shape. So you can't unblend them. It's nice when you can see how someone used the blend tool. Thanks for sharing.

Paul

[Gare]

Well,. oops, my bad on simplifying the Blend, Paul. I think I did that to make an Illustrator copy (Illustrator can't read as lot of Xara effects); the kludge, and again I apologize is to remove all the in-between shapes, count them as you "scribble" delete them (hold Alt while you scribble with the Selector tool over the shapes), and them make a new Blend. I will try to re-do it myself and post it, time allowing today.

Named colors are a tedious process, but it pays off big-time when a client wants instant changes. It's like the graphics version of the Text styles we now have in, what, 9 and later?


The Blend tool, yes, and the Profile thingy that becomes available, but has not label on the sliders! I talked this one through with Charles Moir a while ago, and we sort of agreed on Bias and Gain, but a little like Brightness and contrast if that makes any sense. I will endeavor to get a reasonable explanation going when I cover this feature!

My Best,

Gary

[csehz]

I took your advice and I am sticking with Xara. Yes this was 100 % Xara. A Pure Vector illustration.

That is awesome looking Paul, you swept away TG with your talent In series such a quality of drawings..

How many artists on tg do you know who can pull off that degree of photorealism straight out of their head?

Good question I was also thinking on that Paul is so good like Igor, however totally different style

[Psaumure]

Thank you Gary. I look forward to it. There are just so many of the tools that I don't know how to use properly. I end up missing out on a lot of possibilities.

Csehz. Thank you for your kind words. I certainly enjoyed the accolades. I just want to say that this isn't about how good or talented that I am, but rather the amazing things that can be accomplished by using Xara. I'm hoping that others will push the envelope and release the potential that is in them.

I'm not sure where I mentioned it, but an artist here on Xara had done this same piece but with a colored ball. I did not pull this out of my head. We were all re-creating objects such as cars, cameras, phones, logos, compasses... I tried looking up the Artist here on TG but I don't remember his name. But I know that he drew it off a 3D wallpaper that I found later. To be honest, I never thought that I would be able to draw this. Although mine looks better than the original. Lol