CGTalk - Comics Style Lines

Levitateme

07-02-2003, 05:42 PM

im not trying to showcase my art. but every line in this was done using this method

create a layer, use the line tool set it to fill pixels. on your new layer, start tracing over your sketch with the line tool. if you need like really round precision just zoom in. i have always done this , it gets increibley clean results, but if you have a scanner i would just ink it now days. but just exp.

http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=71868&highlight=orc

Quizboy

07-03-2003, 01:13 AM

nice pic...you're the man i need to be speaking to.

although i would still be looking for a little bit more variation between thin and thickness along the line (actually this would be a criticism i would have for you that could probably improve the level of your work into the stratosphere since you're already so talented visually) you're the only person so far who has an idea of what i'm going on about.

could you please clarify how you're using the line tool with fill pixels mode? When i use this it makes only straight lines, which means i would have to simply click from point to point along all my curves, but then i couldn't vary the thickness at all like the way it's done in comics.

Levitateme

07-03-2003, 01:58 AM

hi quizboy, i fyou want to vary the thickness i would reccomend doing a few things.

1. have certain ink layers. exp 1 layer is your ink for your arm. then ctrl+lmb click that layer, it selects everything in the layer, then do like a stroke . you see this effect on a ton of stufff.

if you want like varying widths. like from the elbow to the wrist. at the elbow lets say your line is 4 px, and at the wrist it ends up at 2. then you are just going to have to draw that and fill in with like the brush tool . but in comics, if you look at any of joe madureira's stuff. he does all his pencil drawings with lots of thickiness on almost everything. he is just drawing that, and filling in. its the same thing, except in photoshop its mor etime consuming. does that help. i know its not the answer you watned, but you really cant just get varying thickness, you have to do that manually. same as on paper.

Ciao

bumskee

07-03-2003, 02:05 AM

hello,

yeah same here, I am so crap with my tablet and get all the wiggly lines everywhere if i ever attempt any inking, actually anything in PS.
What Levitateme suggested is like the method used in illustrator, I tried that, too much work !! i guess i just don't have the patience or the skills.
So i use flash, it works well with wacom maybe coz i am used to it. and you can take it directly to illustrator afterwards but even this takes time. I think you just can't avoid the fact it will take long time to ink anything.

BTW nice drawing, he looks in pain.

I would also like to know more about how you go on about it, so tell us!

:beer:

Quizboy

07-03-2003, 02:06 AM

that's cool. thanks...

now at least i know while i'm slaving away to manually adjust every line that at least there's no better way that everybody else in the world uses except for dumbass me.

cheers for the help. i'll heads you up when i've got something done...

Levitateme

07-03-2003, 02:10 AM

hi bumskee, its actually really fast process, i have a time lapse of a image i did recently of my friends step mom its 10 mb, i could zip and send to you guys. wait. its 10 min, im sure the file size is lower then 10 mb. but if you guys want i could send, see how the line stuff works. cause its not slow.

also the wacom stuff depending on your tablet, thebigger the tablet the better control you have. when you have a small tablet , it picks up every little nuance, "cant spell" my 18x12 is like drawing on paper. its because you are drawing in a scaled down size, its not hard to figrue out why. but i rarley sketch on computer anymore anyway.

"I would also like to know more about how you go on about it, so tell us!"????

bumskee

07-03-2003, 02:17 AM

me again,

Now, this thread is interesting, coz as a newbie (me) the inking process has always been a mystery, all those tuts online dun tell you too much! or maybe i missed the big message. :rolleyes:
It's great you are sharing yours with us, thanx!

10 minutes?? wow that's quick, yeah true about the size of wacom, ( i am gonna blam e my wacom!!) yeah mine is like the smallest and cheapest ever, since i am so poor. But planning on getting 9X12 next month, i am alreay excited!~.

I would love to see ur work, but where can you send it to?? my email is crap and can't handle anything above 2megs, crapz. I think i saw ur "stepmom" work at 2d section, comical as I recall.

cheers,

Quizboy

07-03-2003, 02:19 AM

i would definitely like to see that. how would you go about sending it to us?

i could send you an e-mail of my ftp site and you can drop it in there if it's too big for standard e-mail.

Quizboy

07-03-2003, 02:29 AM

bumskee - we're going to get this inking thing down once and for all this week!

as far as i've weaned from playing around with simple lines over here in the meanwhile this will be the process for me:

1. make my rough sketch in Photoshop
2. import the sketch into Illustrator and draw over it to define the important lines with smooth, clean vectors.
3. Back in Photoshop, use my pressure sensitive tablet todraw over the vector lines getting variations thickness.
4. Since these lines won't be all that great, zoom closer in where i have to and use a combination of the eraser tool and the paintbrush to manual make the lines flow from thick to thin where needed. using the vectors as guides
INKING DONE
5. Color, shade, and highlight in Photoshop...

Does this sound right?

Quizboy

07-03-2003, 02:36 AM

ok, 3am here - have to sleep. just e-mail me:

quizboy@xinxang.com

both you levi and bumskee too, that way when i wake up in a few hours i'll send you back the address and password for my ftp site to take a look at levi's step-by-stepmom.

cheers!

bumskee

07-03-2003, 02:47 AM

Thanx Quizboy!

siiiiiiiiik man, so that's how you do it, seems like a long process.
i don't like inking and you can guess why, but if i had to
i do it on flash as i said before and usually end up colouring it in flash! never coloured much in PS, too scared. Or i think i exported it to EPS and then coloured it in PS before, but I was crap so i stuffed that, hehehe.

well here's a something of mine in flash, that's only decent colour work from me, i am just hopeless.:cry:

http://www16.brinkster.com/dl4/pixiee.jpg
( i think del http:// or something should work.)

yeah so no magic with how i work, coz i am crap!! :applause:

I will DEFINATELY be sending you the email, i need to see how Levi work, it will be a great inspiration, i hope.

cheers mate,

Levitateme

07-03-2003, 04:22 AM

i doubt anyone is looking forward to this, but here is the timelapse. i would have put on sooner but i had to finish a animation for work, im still not done! but im online if anyone has questions. i doubt anyone will find this interesting. ciao

Kelly!!!!!!!! (http://home.bresnan.net/~waveofmutilation/KellTimeLapse.rar)

NileshXYZ

07-03-2003, 02:33 PM

i dig u this fine exelent link that no one told u about :)

http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/index.htm

they have lots on drawing and coloring

PhotoShop:
How to color lineart in Photoshop via Channels
Photoshop Effects

*NEW*
Speedlines via Custom Brushes
Displacement Maps
Faking Comic Tones
Getting Realistic SkinTones
Rain
Lens Flares
Metal Objects
Energy Blasts
FireBall / Plasma Ball
Neon Signs
Smoke

just say the magic words "begone"

Levitateme

07-03-2003, 09:54 PM

thanks NileshXYZ, but i think some of the techniques there using there are easier work arounds. like the ink layer using for a mask? one way to get around that is by doing what i have mostly seen done by comic artists. like they set there color layers above the ink layer and multiply. thats just what i do.

bumskee

07-03-2003, 11:35 PM

thanx for the .avi levitateme,
I had a look at ur work or the way you work. pretty fast if u ask me, :rolleyes:
looked hectic, how long did it take all up?
it will be a while before i get to ur level i think, but thanx for sharing it with us.
:beer:

I had a look at polycarbon a while back, but it's a lil different to the what levi posted. i mean there are other sites with similar tuts, maybe polycarbon has changed since then. well thanx anyway.

cheers,

Levitateme

07-03-2003, 11:43 PM

i like this tutorial. it might help someone out here?

http://www.brianbolland.com/gk29/gk29.html

Levitateme

07-03-2003, 11:46 PM

hi bumskee, that pici think took 9 hrs. only becuase when i color, i have a layer for almost every seperate color. if i do this i can have more control later on. also like once i put down my skin color, i can use that as a mask for the dark skin layer. i get benifits from it, but if anyone watches it they might think its to much. but later on when its done im left with like 3 layers. sketch, ink, color. if anyone has any questions just ask im online on icq and all that crap, i use trillian. ciao

Quizboy

07-04-2003, 01:40 PM

Levi - thanks for the time lapse, man. i agree with you that more layers is always better even if more time consuming. that's the whole benefit of doing it in the computer is to have flexibility. One day i'll be like you...

bumskee - your flash cartoon is pretty decent, and you do have thick and thin linework going on there, so how did you do that?

Levitateme

07-05-2003, 03:30 AM

bumskee, i downloaded your .jpg, but i cant view it. do i have to do soemthing to it?

bumskee

07-05-2003, 05:22 AM

hello,

quizboy, well flash handles wacom really well, have you tried drawing in there<< if not i suggest trying it. it took me a while to get used to it and also refine the lines later on. there is no magic involved.

levi, errr, you downloaded it can't see it?? that's weird it's just a .jpg. it should just pop up in ur browser though just del the http:// bit at the front or something.

:beer:

Levitateme

07-05-2003, 06:27 AM

ahh!, yes that did it . thats realy cool i like.

MasonDoran

07-08-2003, 02:17 PM

i just saw this thread for first time.....

i am still learning how to ink professional.....and i wanted to copy the scallopped effect of old school comic inking....but i found the stylus isnt very good at getting curved thick to thin inkline effects and still maintain a grace ful curve that you could get with real ink

I ended up making an actionscript out of it.....

just create a path.....2 points is best and use the hotkeys to tweak the curvature....then assigned to a hotkey i have the following commands:

stroke path (pencil settings set to a fade)

delete path ....

its pretty easy actually....2 clicks...drag....hotkey....2clicks drag hotkey....the inking goes by pretty fast

Levitateme

07-08-2003, 05:01 PM

that would work but you have to keep guessing the size of the fall off. i guess just time consuming is all.

MasonDoran

07-10-2003, 10:27 AM

the width of the line is dependant on the pencil size....and the falloff is dependant on the length of the curve....the start point is always 100% and the end vertex is always 0% . True...its linear falloff so going from thick to thin to thick is not possbile...but then with custom brushes who knows what u can do

It certainly doesnt replace doing it by hand...but you can get incredibly smooth and graceful lines which are very hard to do on paper if the line is VERY long ...and not only that it is cinch to go back and erase a part of the curve...

bumskee

07-10-2003, 11:46 AM

we are talking PS here right????
someone mentioned actionscript so i am a lil confused but everything else sounds PS, so i assume it is...
2byts, can you explain the procedure in details??please?? i would like to try it out...sounds like it be a great help!

cheers,

Levitateme

07-10-2003, 04:04 PM

hi bumskee,

use the pen tool, draw a spline curve.

go to your paths window ALT click the stroke path button.

before you do that though you have to set up your brush. so click on your brush tools ssettings turn on shape dynamics, under size jitter set it to fade and put like 80 steps. now dow what i said above, it will draw along your curve from the actual size of the brush until the steps run out. i just dont use this cause its to much guessing. i would rather just ink my pic.

MasonDoran

07-10-2003, 06:37 PM

bumskee...its just an "action" in PS....of stroking with a fade to mimick line weight....i also have it delete the path once it is stroked so i just get in a rythm of making paths without having to go back and clean up after myself...

It its applicable when you want really clean and perfect curves that have varied line weight....but wouldnt work if you want it to look "sketched"

Levitateme

07-10-2003, 06:47 PM

2, it could work sketched. just have to use the right brush.

MasonDoran

07-10-2003, 06:59 PM

example....theres a lot of mix between freehand and paths...

http://www.vrspace.org/~mason/inktest2.gif

http://www.vrspace.org/~mason/inktest.gif

Levitateme

07-10-2003, 07:57 PM

2, i like the pic of the guy, is he SS?

MasonDoran

07-10-2003, 08:30 PM

yeah...a concept sketch...unfinished but for pre ww2 game in Vienna....

he is supposed to be pinned to a wall with some knives...didnt get that far though before more work came along

bumskee

07-11-2003, 12:10 AM

thanx guys,
i am still not sure how it goes...not very friendly with pen tool u see.. i guess i better try it out, i am sure it's not rocket science..

Nice drawing man,
that's really kewl, lots' of details!
he's pants is down...hehe

do u have a coloured version???

:beer:

Levitateme

07-11-2003, 01:00 AM

BUMSKEE!

what dont you get about the pen tool? if you would like a tutorial after im done working today, ill take a break and whoop up one. its not hard at all. but i have a dead line and i have to get this stupid stupid stupid model done . but after that im free, im also on trillian, just msg me and ill add yous.

bumskee

07-11-2003, 02:06 AM

yo levitateme,

yeah , heheh i want to get friendly but just dun like using all the bezier curves and stuff, reminds me of 3d max too much!!

nah, i dun want to bother you with another tut, the last .avi was a great insight and i thank you for that! i just gotta get used to it i guess...i have lots of work to do today too...:cry: but once i finish all them i might go and try inking with the pen tool..if i get really stuck or lost i will ask you for help!

what's trillian?????i have MSN but never heard of trillian!

anyways, thanx dude! i guess i will post here if it works out good or crawl to u for help! :thumbsup:

Levitateme

07-11-2003, 05:58 AM

trillian just has msn, aim, icq, irc,yahoo in one program its just quicker i think. i only use the pen tool for real smooth lines like if i was drawing a persons leg, its got nice continuity. i only use the pen tool on just curvy stuff. i cant think of a good word to replace curvey? ugh...if someone replies what is the word im thinking of cor curvey? like a females silhouette? ugh...this bothers me.

MasonDoran

07-11-2003, 01:55 PM

for doing inking like this the best effects done when you have only a curve with 2 points....maximum 3.

the first point is arbitrary....when you make the second click.....just click and drag and this will create the flow of the curve you want.

do this for awhile and it should be easy enough learning to use it for more complex things....

GODSPU

07-12-2003, 11:00 AM

k, maybe i'm just lazy or too new at this, but the method i've been using seems quite effective and fast. i still enjoy inking by hand as opposed to the wacom, and by using streamline, you can get immediate vector based ink lines off a scan. it's never going to be exactly what you want, but the vectors are easily edited once produced. i can probably post an example if anyone's interested.

Levitateme

07-12-2003, 05:57 PM

hi GODSPU
could you please post? not like a tweaked image, could you post what scans in and compare it to what you scanned? i would like to see that , my friend a few weeks ago said he got some program at work that was suppose to do what you said, but he said it looked horirble. ill ask him what it was and acall you later today and tell you what the name is.

MasonDoran

07-14-2003, 02:09 PM

i was aware of Streamline....but it vectorizes graphics....where in my case i just want to ink them ie: crosshatching and shading the volume

GODSPU

07-15-2003, 11:49 AM

Levitateme: hi to you too. i have one i'll be doing soon. i'll post it when i get around to it (hopefully this week).

2byts: like i said, i prefer to do the ink by hand ( may just be because i can't do it clean enough with the wacom) cross-hatching would be done in ink, scanned in, and tweaked. and vectorizing the graphics is the way to go for clean "comic style lines". are you saying you'd prefer them raster based?

MasonDoran

07-15-2003, 12:59 PM

i guess its just a question of my mood....sometimes its just faster to ink on paper. Btw/ flash has a really good trace bit map feature...i found it simpler to use then Streamline. Less control probably but still really effective.

I prefer doing the inking in pshop because we have a budget scanner that does a really messy job of scanning and the cleanup is a bit messy. I have no problems using the wacom....but for certian kinds of lines i needed a method that was tighter then what i could do by hand or by using the wacom. I cant say i am a professional with inking....(as the drawing i posted shows it)

after all...the eraser tool is one hell of a nice tool.....you can fix mistakes with it....and even get scratchboard effects with it.

Quizboy

07-15-2003, 01:32 PM

Hey guys,

I've been trying out a lot of these ideas, which are extremely helpful - and then it dawned on me...

Why not paint directly in Maya? I'm working on something 2D in Maya right now. The paint brushes are vector based but also pressure sensitive. I'll post something as soon as I have something that's decent (the ante in this thread has bumped way up within the last page - so i'll have to make it good)... but the power here is that you can make an animation out of it once it's done...2D in the 3D world.

Seems ideal. Maybe too good to be true. Anyone else ever tried this and already know the flaw in my grand design?

Levitateme

07-15-2003, 05:46 PM

Quizboy

not everyone has maya you boob. ;)

Quizboy

07-15-2003, 09:03 PM

oh, my bad.

Doogie

07-22-2003, 02:28 PM

I think Maya should just come with Windows. but, Quizboy, I'm guessing your using a mac.

I read through this thread awhile ago and I have the same quarrels. Which is funny, because I know most comics are colored in photoshop now a days.

Back to my point, I thought of this thread when I was browsing around the Cgtalk Award threads and saw some nice tutorials that cover this (one uses Illustrator, the other Photoshop)

http://www.hawkstudios.net/tutorials/

Quizboy

07-22-2003, 03:10 PM

ooh that's a good link, thanks!

Quizboy

07-22-2003, 03:11 PM

no i use pc.

sandcrawler

07-22-2003, 04:21 PM

Hiya

I haven't read all of this thread so I apologise if I'm repeating something other people have said, but I find Adobe Streamline quite handy for getting smooth lines on hand drawn art. It vectorises your hand drawn line-art so you can use it in applications like Adobe Illustrator or you could just import it straight into Photoshop.

I believe Freehand does a similar thing and Flash is good if you're drawing with a wacom.

:)

Doogie

07-22-2003, 08:40 PM

Originally posted by Quizboy
no i use pc.

heh, I just glanced at your sig and saw Chimera (a Mozilla browser for Mac) maybe I shouldn't type so much when im sleepy.

Levitateme

07-22-2003, 10:03 PM

Not everyone has maya.

also i would guaranteeeeee, most inkers do it on paper...i asked one of my favorites a while ago..."name escapes me" he said the only thing they do about inking in photoshop is adjust some levels, and maybe clean up a bit. i think if you want nice nice lines you justneed a scanner and a lightboard. thats how i woulddo it anyway.

gmoran

07-22-2003, 11:11 PM

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but I really love Macromedia Flash as a drawing tool!!

I've scanned in a pencil drawing, brought it into Photoshop to clean it up and then brought it into Flash.
Now I do either two things:

1. To get a REALLY comic book style (Manga-like) I've re-drawn with the tablet on a layer overtop of the imported scanned image in Flash. That way, I've got a set thickness to my lines, or I can opt for the pressure sensitivity that flash supports.

2. Do a trace bitmap operation on the scanned image in Flash and it will in turn be smooth straight lines. This isn't as ideal as the first technique as it really depends on hwo cleaned up your image is.

Then after either method, I can either colour it in Flash, or export it to Photoshop as an EPS or an AI file, and not lose any of the line smoothness as those files are both vector format.

Let me know if that helps!!

Cheers

Doogie

07-23-2003, 12:41 AM

Originally posted by Levitateme
Not everyone has maya. I know, thats why it should come with Windows =) specially freak'n MEL. Since it's been awhile since I've done much programming, I keep thinking of things through MEL. It'd be nice if that was built in to the OS.

Well, I'm not familiar with the process (for comic books) first hand, but I met a couple of serious guys in school. From what I can tell this is the process.

1.) Layout, concept, and rough frames are drawn in pencil.

2.) They're cleaned up and Inked, then scanned

3.) Colored and touched up in Photoshop.

I know not all comics are the same, but looking through the store you can tell when most of them use Photoshop. Cover art is sometimes done in another meduim (they've always been printed with better quality)

Pencil and paper is the quickest method to get things down on paper and photoshop isn't messy and ya don't have to pay for paint supplies.

Quizboy

07-23-2003, 09:16 AM

I know that paper is still the standard for inking in the comics industry, especially since most of the pros in comics today developed their skills traditionally yesterday (if you know what i mean.) Also it is true that you can tell the difference. But I think part of this is because of what this thread shows; that the technology for doing it in the computer is all so new, and takes time to come into its own. Once the best of the best start using the new technology techniques more and that knowledge disseminates outward I believe the standards will change, and we'll start getting product out there where you can't tell the difference.

It's kind of like how everbody used to tell you that that if you're going into graphics you need a Mac since all the professionals use Mac - yeah, but that's because ten years ago Mac was better and many graphics pros kept using it, but that doesn't hold water anymore. Right, Doogie?

OK I'm sort of rambling now, but it's just that for a newbie to 2D like me, paper inking is such a hassle when there are clean in-computer workflows that can do the trick. Brushes and ink bottles and light tables and all that endless art paraphernalia crap just seems so primitive to me - so 20th century. I love the idea of starting and finishing within the box and hope that the techniques for this continue to get better.

I do think we'll see a big leap in total box workflow with the advent of these new notebook tablets which let you draw right on the screen.

Levitateme

07-23-2003, 10:39 AM

inking on paper is a hassle?

MasonDoran

07-23-2003, 11:33 AM

Quizboy, without strong fundamental knowledge of traditional techniques you will not have the foundation necessary to apply and learn advanced digital techniques.

As computers evolve, they come closer and closer to mimicking traditional old school techniques. Those that are educated in the primitive methods, will grow faster and be able to apply thier skills in a more effective manner then someone that thinks the computer is the be all end all art tool.

Studios are more likely to hire an artist that can draw and paint well that lacks any computer knowledge, next to a computer geek that has only limited talent. -learning a computer is easy...its the talent that you cant teach.

Quizboy

07-23-2003, 12:46 PM

Wait a minute 2 bits I think we definitely agree with each other here. Talent backed by solid fundamentals is king, I agree with you on that for sure. Never put me down in the "traditional fundamentals is bad" column, no sir not me.

i'm speaking about inking from the experience of being a current student in a 2D drawing and animation school, so I have done a lot of inking on paper, and i hate it.

Levi - i'm only talking about the hassle of brush inking, not fine lining.

I hate worrying about my brushes drying up while i'm using them. I hate getting black ink all over my fingers. I hate that if i screw up one line the only way to get rid of it is white out or start over. And I REALLY hate all the money that flies out of my pockets and into the cash register at the local art store if i have a motivated week.

My argument is not against learning to sketch fom life, looking at the lines that exist in the world around us, the way the light falls, the effect of perspective, study of proportions, and the discipline of sketching, sketching, sketching, sketching, sketching...

My argument is that paper and the use of a brush and black ink in and of itself is not one of the tools necessary to learn and apply these fundamentals. Knowing where to put the shade lines, that is. Learning where the lines should go thick and thin to enhance depth and sense of light, that is. Using a brush to do it, that is not. Even using a pencil is not. And there are a lot of artists who use brushes, ink, paper, and pencils and are crappy artists because they don't know the fundamentals. Just like you said about the computer they're only tools as well, only older. Cave men used sticks and stones but we don't have to use those to call ourselves good artists.

I see it like the typewriter. It completely unnecesary to learn to be a writer by using a typewriter, even though that was the dominant traditional tool for years. Nowadays word processing is standard across the board, and talent is none the less for it. I see this a perfect example of my point about traditional tools (not traditional fundamentals!) changing with the major bonuses new computer technology is offering us...and I embrace it.

MasonDoran

07-23-2003, 02:20 PM

quite honestly though....for me, and i am sure many artists can speak the same.....natural media provides a spontaneous work flow that can be mimicked but not replicated via the computer.....which is why CG has the trademark CG look that many artists have difficulty in overcoming. It is a very advanced technique to be able to use the computer to achieve a look done in natural media.

alas...to each their own for both have their pros n cons.....

bumskee

07-24-2003, 12:59 AM

i can understand where 2btys comin' from, but i must agree with quizboy.

My art director shares the same opinion, he thinks the computer is somewhat evil and sort of ruins the whole creative business in the industry. In some ways, i agree this being true, the younger and newer generations of this industry do rely heavily on computer to produce anything. ie. me. but he also explained we, are stuck in the phase where things are changing rapidly and noone really knows where the whole things is heading.

well, we gotta try new things right??

Levitateme

07-24-2003, 01:33 AM

its headed towards F-U-N.

MasonDoran

07-24-2003, 01:30 PM

true...computers are still evolving -simply because they need to.

Thats what i love about them....but there are times when a pencil can achieve things that would be very painful to do via a computer.

My job relies on being able to create digital arwork, but reality is....i wouldnt be able to get this job without having traditional art skills.

ninjacore

07-26-2003, 01:51 AM

great thread.

i found this thread becuase i was looking for Illustrator techniques. i like how everyone has a diffrent way of working. what i started of doing was pencil sketching and inking on papaer, then scanning in and fixing up in photoshop. the thing is tho, its annoying trying to get the scan looking good. any small detailed lines end up being lost.

i also use Flash for drawing too. its brush tools are very limited, but i like how easy it is to manipulate a line. also, colouring in is very quick.

i tried streamline. hated it.

today, i installed illustrator.again. evrytime i use this peice of sotware i get frustrated because you just cant draw in it. for example, i draw a nose shape, then immediatly draw the top part of the lip, but the line i drew for the nose dissappears! why the hell does this happen? i asked my freind but he was no help! i do understand illustrator is to be used more "detailed" tho, like the use of precise paths etc...

ANYWAY. my main query was Levitateme mentioned about Stroking with the Pen Tool. i'm just trying this just now, but for some damn reason, i am not allowed to press the Stroke Path With Brush button. if you could tell me what the hell this is about, i'd be very happy.

keep this thread alive!

MasonDoran

07-27-2003, 09:52 PM

use the hotkey ctrl y to view just the curves withought any stroke or color info(if it has none it wont be visible)...this mode is for the precision editing of the curves....if the curves exists...u will see it in this mode

then....with the curve selected...make sure its the curve as an object that u see the bounding box of the transform handles...

there is a pallete window that will have some spinners to change the line weight to whatever u want....and even the kind of line

ninjacore

07-28-2003, 02:30 PM

thanks 2byts. that will help anytime i use illustrator. but do u know what Levi meant for using the stroke pen function in Photoshop? i've looked at photoshops Help, found a description of this function, but i'm still not allowed to select the button.

Levitateme

07-28-2003, 04:26 PM

ninja, can you explain what your doing? i could walk you through it.

ninjacore

07-28-2003, 06:30 PM

Originally posted by Levitateme
hi bumskee,

use the pen tool, draw a spline curve.

go to your paths window ALT click the stroke path button.

before you do that though you have to set up your brush. so click on your brush tools ssettings turn on shape dynamics, under size jitter set it to fade and put like 80 steps. now dow what i said above, it will draw along your curve from the actual size of the brush until the steps run out. i just dont use this cause its to much guessing. i would rather just ink my pic.

this is what you mentioned, which i found highly intresting. so what i did was, create a jittered brush, drew a simple spline curve with the pen tool, opened my paths pallete window, but i cant moove on from here. i've tried pressing ALT , but nothing happens. i just would like to see this technique for myself really!

Levitateme

07-28-2003, 07:45 PM

well
i dont have adobe on this computer im at. i read taht quote, that is exaclty waht you do. instead of clicking on the make stroke button"or whatever its called" you press alt and you get options, for your casei would use current brush or something liket that if that dont work reply back. ill get adobe going.

MasonDoran

07-28-2003, 08:41 PM

should be enough to just RMB when u have the path selected....and choose stroke path....whatever settings you brush is on will determine the kind of stroke....

ninjacore

07-28-2003, 09:36 PM

this is very werid. i make a curve, then when i RMB click, the stroke pen options is greyed out. i have NO idea why this is happning. also, ALT seems to do nothing!.

i'm using PS7. and thanks for helping me out here! i'm determined to solve this!

MasonDoran

07-29-2003, 03:57 PM

make sure you have the path selected....the entire path and not just the CVS....use the black arrow tool

Levitateme

07-29-2003, 07:12 PM

ninja. are you pressing ALT on the pen window? like you have channels, brushes layers. pen...stuff? i am to tired to open adobe and look right now. but its in your pen window. there is a button called stroke path ...soemthing like that. you press ALT on that and click. sory i been up all night working for work...so its in there. you can alot of neat strokes taht way.

bumskee

07-30-2003, 12:26 AM

hey guys,

a stupid question, what's CVS and RMB??? i got everything else, but dun know what dat is.

also, i tried what levi mentioned, it didn't work for me too. all the options were grayed out when i right mouse click, obviously the path options in path palette was grayed out too. but i sort of got it working after few attempts, it's just drawing path and storking it with the brush tool, which i use quite often. :surprised

anyways, what's ALT click suppose to do anyway?? it didn't do anything, i tried with path selection tool and pen tool, which i used to troke the path.

i attached what i stroked, with brush fade setting to 80. it's a lil short, how do i make it long???? i played with the fade setting, but not really what i am after, plus it looks to be a annoying procedure even with custom actions. Have i missed something???

cheers,

ninjacore

07-30-2003, 01:13 AM

hey guys. i've been trying it, STILL no luck! i tried pressing ALT everywhere.

i'll figure this out tho. its so silly!

bumskee

07-30-2003, 01:24 AM

ooops, forgot to attach the image...

Levitateme

07-30-2003, 03:48 AM

i dont know what you guys are doing haha. dont right click with pen splines. im going to make a simple tutorial in flash in 1 second then ill post on here then you guys can see what needs to be done. im going to post on photoshop home page as a little tutorial.

MasonDoran

07-30-2003, 02:17 PM

RMB=right mouse button

CV =control vertex that is used create a spline or path

alt click on the paths layer that u want to select the entire path

or select path using the black arrow tool

if u want the stroke to fade along the entire path....make sure simulate pressure is checked when the stroke path dialog box pops up. It will take everything from the current brush or pencil settings.

Bumskee, Dont use any fade on the brush just make sure the simulate pressure is on

ninjacore

07-30-2003, 09:15 PM

this is getting rediculous. honeslty i've tried every possible way of going around this, but still, i'm not allowed to select it.

its so annoying. just to let you know, i've been using photoshop for about 4 years, and i never be able to NOT do something.

:thumbsdow

bumskee

07-31-2003, 12:39 AM

hey,

levi, i hadn't had time to look at ur flashy thingie but i will soon.
, thanx.

2byts, i realised what RMB stands for as soon as i posted the msg. and i attached what i did after ur advice. simulate pressure. with the brush setting>shape dynamic setting to off and pen pressure. am i on the right track now??
also the alt+click?? i still dun know what dat does besides it switching to convert point tool. i thought it was just right click>stroke path with either pen or path selection tool, or alt+click does something else??? anyway, thanx

ninjacore, i been using PS since 2000, at least you know what u are doing. i am lost half the time. :p

cheers,

ninjacore

07-31-2003, 01:19 AM

ok, i watched levis handy video tut (thanks by the way). i get what your doing but i just keep getting that damn black circle cursor meaning i cant press it.

i did notice when you made your curves, there was no fill colour. how do you just get the curves without the fill? i think thats where am gone wrong!

EDIT: HAHA, guess what! Mr DUMBSHIT ninja didnt notice the tiny button on the top menu for the pen tool. now everything works a treat.

Apologies to all. but thanks for the guidance. Ha!:thumbsup:

Levitateme

07-31-2003, 02:46 AM

ninja,
that is a option at the top of your screen. like there is a hollow box, two hollow boxes...and i solid box i think change your options there. i dont have photoshp open, but im sure thats easy enough to find.

MasonDoran

07-31-2003, 03:44 PM

bumskee? have u ever did alt+click on a layer that has transparency? and then tried shift+alt+click or ctrl+alt+click on a second layer with transparency...the effect is like using your layers as if they were alpha channels.

same concept applies with your paths and channels layers.....
now if u do this with a paths layer....you can select the path...and i belive ctrl+click the paths layer will convert it to a selection (cannot verify cuz maya is doing a 7 hour exporting job)

and yes...thats exactly what i am doing with my stroke path to get comic lines....exectp i have an action script that will automat it for me. I draw the path, and while it is still selected i ht F7 and it will stroke the path and then delete it. It goes by very quickly actually....