Tag: Ellipse

Categories
portfolio

Bokeh by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #vector #tutorial #cc

Bokeh by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #vector #tutorial #cc
Bokeh by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #vector #tutorial #cc
Bokeh by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #vector #tutorial #cc
Bokeh by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #Inkscape #vector #tutorial #cc

Given my recent reminder from Beth about the very cool, powerful, flexible tiled clones tool in Inkscape, I decided to make a little tutorial about how to create this bokeh effect.There are a lot of settings here, but along the way, try playing with my numbers to see what happens.

  1. Make a black background created with the rectangle tool, the same size as your page.
  2. Make a single circle, and “unset the fill” by right clicking on the fill color indicator in the lower left and choosing ‘unset’.
  3. Make the circle about 1/50th of the black rectangle, sort of the proportion of a star on the American flag’s blue field.
  4. The first circle should go to the upper left corner of the black field.
  5. Select the circle and open the tiled clones dialog by going to edit/clones/tiled clones, and use the following settings to replicate the design.
  6. The tiling scale is set to 8 columns by 6 rows (48 clones)
  7. In Symmetry tab: Choose P4M Symmetry, Shift X and Shift Y in both row and column are set to 15% with 6% randomization in both X and Y
  8. In Scale Tab: Scale X and Y in both row and column are set to 5% with 10% randomization in both X and Y.
  9. The Rotation tab is ignored.
  10. In Blur and Opacity tab: Blur is set to 1% per row and 2% per column with 5% randomization. Fade out is set to 10% in both row and column with 25% randomization, and alternate is checked for both row and column.
  11. In Color Tab: An initial color of a slightly yellow off white is chosen. This is why the fill must be unset in the original circle. Each of the settings for Hue, Saturation and Luminance are set to 2% per row and column with 5% randomization, except that Luminance is set to 30% randomization.
  12. The Tracing tab is ignored.
  13. Click on the Create button at any time to see how your settings affect your clones. When you’re satisfied, close the dialog. As long as you have the original selected, you can go back into the dialog and continue experimenting.
  14. Also, any changes you make to the original immediately affect your clones, as you might imagine. My imperfect circle shape for the bokeh was created by finding and selecting the original (shift-d), making it into a path (shift-ctrl-c), and altering its shape with the node tool (n)

Obviously, there are a lot of options with this flexible, powerful tool. However, once you begin to play with the options, as I did here, your experimentation will pay off. You start to see what the shift settings do, how the rotation setting works, how to bring about symmetry or randomization, and so on. First, have fun, then worry about getting the precise effect you want. You may find that your experiments lead to more interesting outcomes than your original idea.

Related articles

 

Categories
portfolio

227 of 365 is a Pomplamoose lyric [illustration] #Inkscape

Fly fly away (Pomplamoose)
Fly fly away (Pomplamoose)
Fly fly away (Pomplamoose)
Fly fly away (Pomplamoose)

This is a lyric from a short Pomplamoose song. A jingle, really. It seemed perfect for a little 30 second commercial for an airline. Really fun, cute stuff from Nataly Dawn’s collaboration with Jack Conte. Check out the YouTube video below to see why I think they’re so great. The jingle is at the end of the video after the song “Another Day”

Categories
portfolio requests

226 of 365 is a glossy button effect [design] #Inkscape #vector

Glossy button effect in Inkscape
Glossy button effect in Inkscape
Glossy button effect in Inkscape
Glossy button effect in Inkscape

So this is a pretty common effect, but it’s easy to master, and works beautifully in Inkscape. Thanks again to the crew on Monday night at Princeton Public Library who came for the fourth installment in the Inkscape Workshop series. To make this image above, do the following:

  1. Using the ellipse tool, create a circle and make it red.
  2. Select and duplicate (ctrl-d) the red circle, make it gray, and send it beneath the first circle using “lower selection to bottom” button in the selection tool’s options bar.
  3. select and duplicate the red circle again, and make it white, then send it above the red circle using “raise selection to top” button in the selection tool’s options bar.
  4. Using the same method, duplicate the white circle and make it orange. Then, move the orange circle so that it’s bottom is at the white circle’s center.
  5. At this point, make all of the circles into paths by selecting all objects (ctrl-a) then making selected objects into paths (ctrl-shift-c).
  6. Select the white and orange circles, using shift-click.
  7. With those two circles selected, use the path/intersection operation. You will have a football shape in white remaining.
  8. With the football shape selected, perform three path/inset operations.
  9. Move the football shape over the red shape. move the gray shape a bit below the red shape.
  10. Using the fill and stroke dialog, apply a blur of 1 or 2 to the gray shape.
  11. Select the white football shape. Using the gradient tool, apply a full white to fully translucent white gradient to the white football shape by clicking and dragging the gradient tool from the middle top of the football shape to just below the football shape. You can play with the gradient to make it just right.
  12. For fun, create a yellow start with the star tool. Place it between the white football shape and the red circle using the raise/lower tools.

That’s it. You can apply the effect to almost any shape as long as you use the instructions set out here.

Categories
portfolio

190 of 365 is a phantom lord in #Inkscape #illustration

Phantom lord
Phantom lord

So, aside from being a reference to Metallica, this is an experiment with a technique. I’ve never quite used the tools in this way before, and I think it could come in handy. So essentially, in order to get this effect in Inkscape, I created each of the volumetric shapes by creating two lines with the Bezier tool, one for the left edge of each shape and one for the right edge, then I combined the paths into a single path, while keeping them clearly seperated visually. Then, I used the stitch paths Live Path Effect in order to create and tweak the intermediary lines you see. Finally, I applied a dotted line setting to the stitching. It’s a fun effect, and once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy. Hope you liked it!

Categories
portfolio

178 of 365 is a #boat ride in #Inkscape

Boat ride
Boat ride

I had a few proper graphic design courses in college, but decided during the first class that I was not cut out for graphic design. This had mostly to do with an exercise involving the abstraction of an idea in lines. I was repeatedly reminded that I was sloppy, uncertain of the Gestalt concepts, and mostly belonged in the fine arts, where sloppiness was not only allowed but expected. As a teacher, the guy was fail. With Inkscape, I have to work to be sloppy, which is fine with me. This is exactly the kind of exercise I failed at in the class — using lines to create an illusion of movement. So, I’m submitting it 15 years late, but consider it submitted. This is my first use of the tweak tool in this series.

Categories
portfolio

Olive branch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #peace

Olive branch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #peace
Olive branch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #peace
Olive branch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #peace
Olive branch by John LeMasney via 365sketches.org #cc #design #peace

This is an olive branch, which in certain religions represents a peace-offering, but I like to think that has become somewhat universally recognized as such. It’s a simple execution in Inkscape — I used the pencil tool set to shape: triangle in to create the branch, and set to shape: ellipse I used it to create the leaves. So, if nothing else, I hope you find some peace today. I just began a two-week vacation on Monday, and so far it’s been quite peaceful. 🙂

Related articles