the vectorbot's playground

2009-10-05T15:37:00.010+08:00

Creating a neon effect with the blend tool

Difficulty: Beginner

Sometimes a glowing neon effect in your design, illustration or website can really grab some attention. This week, we are going to learn how to do it with the use of the blending tool.

Outline shapes
To create a neon light effect, we need to start by drawing an outline shape with the pen tool ("P" shortcut key) or the pencil tool ("N" shortcut key) for a freehand style. At this tutorial, I've created an outline "neon" word like the sample to the right.
A neon light look best on a dark or black background, so we are going to place the outline shapes we have just created into a black background and make the stroke white (Also remember to group the shapes if there are more then 1 path). In this tutorial we are going to create the neon tubing and the glow differently. We are starting with the tubing.

Neon tubing
1
For the tubing, we need a white thin stroke for the brightest part of it and a thicker stroke in blue color for the outer side. In this example I set the white "neon" word to 0.5 point in weight. With the white "neon word" still in selection, we drag it down with the selection tool ("V" shortcut key) and option (Mac) or alt (Windows) key pressed to make a copy of the word below. The stroke of the second "neon" word is set to blue in color and 8 points in weight in this example. The real neon tubing is rounded in the corners and ends, so we need to change the cap and join to round by clicking the "round cap" and "round join" button at the Stroke palette.

2
Select both the "neon" words with the selection tool and choose the blend tool from the tools palette ("W" shortcut key), click at the starting anchor point of the 1st "neon" word then the same anchor point of the 2nd word to create a smooth blend. To set the blend to a specified steps, click at the starting anchor point of the 1st word then hold down option (Mac) or alt (Windows) and click at the same anchor point of the 2nd word. This will bring out the blend options. By default the spacing is set to smooth color (Illustrator calculates the optimum number of steps to create a smooth color transition.). If we are not going to use the illustration in a very large size we can set it to a lesser steps by selecting "specified steps" at the pull down menu and type in the number of steps we want in the field next to it. The steps are set to 20 in this example.

Tips: It's wiser to use a lesser steps in a blend according to our need, if the computer processor speed is slow or if we are working on a complex illustration.

3
Now we have a blend of 20 steps from the thinnest and brightest "neon" word to the thicker and darker blue word. To make it look like a neon tubing, we need to align the top "neon" word to the bottom one. Select the direct selection tool ("A" shortcut key) from the tools palette and drag a rectangle around the top "neon" word to make a selection of only the top word (If we use the selection tool to make the selection, both the top and bottom "neon" words will be selected together). After that, click and drag on one of the anchor point of the top word to the same anchor point of the bottom word to align both the top and the bottom word as in the example to the right.
Now we are done with our neon tubing.

The glow
1
For the glowing effect of the neon tubing, we are going to create a blend of a darker blue to black color (background color) with a thicker stroke using the same steps as how we create the neon tubing. The top "neon" word here is set to 12 points in weight and a darker blue (slightly thicker and darker then the neon tubing) and the bottom one 40 points in weight and black color which is also the color of the background. Create a blend between these words and align it afterward to create a glowing effect.

2
Now we have a neon tubing and a glowing effect just like the sample to the right. All we need to do now is to align both the words to achieve the neon tubing with a blue glowing effect.

Close-up

That's all for this week's tutorial. This tutorial is with compatibility to legacy format in mind, which means is safe for submitting to royalty-free stock photo site like iStockphoto.com. If not we can actually create the same effect with the use of the Gaussian blur (Effect>blur>Gaussian blur...).

Have fun vectoring.

2009-09-29T10:30:00.023+08:00

Creating a reflection

Difficulty: Beginner

Sometimes we want a modern and clean look to our design. What should we do? The easiest way to achieve that is to add a reflection at the bottom of it as it was placed on a shiny/reflective surface. In this tutorial we are going to learn how to create a reflection like that in Adobe Illustrator.

Look at a real reflection
Before we begin with the tutorial we should 1st study how a real reflection looks like. We can either do it by placing an object on a shiny surface and study it, or we can just Google for reflection images and study the images we found. After that, please take a look at the following images. Which of the objects here are with a correct reflection? If your answer is "All" then please go back to the previous step and take a closer look at those real reflections.

The correct answer here is 4 of the objects to the left are with the right reflections. In a normal condition, on a flat surface and a low angle/frontal view, the reflection should be in almost the same height as the object. This is a very common mistake make by a lot of young designers when creating reflection.

The following diagram shows how we see an object with the reflection. At the diagram "a", the red line above the surface is (almost) the same height as the one below the surfaces which means that what we see above the surface (the object) is (almost) the same height as what we see below the surface (the reflection). For the diagram "b" we can see that the red line above the surface is very much longer then the one below. This way the reflection will be shorter then the object as in the sample. This will only happened on a card-like object as in the diagram. And we don't usually draw an object in this angle and position. So it will look awkward if we create a 3d object with a short reflection like this.

2 ways of doing it
There are 2 ways to create a reflection for your object/design. One is with gradient fill and the other one is with opacity mask. There are pros and cons in both ways. The gradient fill way, we can be sure of the compatibility to older version down to version 5, but this will be complicated if your design/object is very complex. The opacity mask way is easier to execute but can only be compatible down to version 9. If your illustration is created in submitting to royalty-free stock images site like istockphoto (which only accept eps version 8) in mind then you can only use the 1st way to do it.

Reflection- The gradient fill way
We are starting the tutorial will the simplest object e.g. object from a straight frontal view (as in the 1st example below) or from a low angle view like the following examples.

Tips: The easiest way to see if the object is from a low angle view is by looking at the vanishing point. If it's at the same level as the bottom of the object then it's from a low angle view. In this case, the bottom of the object will appear to be in a straight horizontal line.

We are going to do it by the following steps with the help of the diagrams below.

We are going to use an object from a straight frontal view like the diagram #1 below.
With the object still in selection, click and hold on the Rotate button and drag down to select the Reflect Tool from the Tools palette. We can also selecting it by pressing the "O" shortcut key. Now with the Reflect Tool click at one of the lower corner point as in the diagram #2 (the lower left corner point is selected here) to set the reflect axis.
Then drag the object down across the reflect axis to the bottom with shift+option(Mac) or shift+alt(Windows) pressed to make a reflect copy of the object to the bottom as in diagram #3.
Now we have a mirrored but solid object below the original object just like the diagram #4.
To achieve the clean shiny reflection effect, we need to lighten and soften the reflected part with the use of the Gradient Palette (Window>gradient or Command+F9 (Mac) or Ctrl+F9 (Windows). So we will fill the reflected part with a gradient starting from white to the object colors. The object in the sample here is in orange and black colors, so we need 2 gradients like this. Now fill the respective gradients to the object.
With the Gradient Tool ("G" shortcut key), hold down shift key and drag from the reflection to the object as in the diagram to set the starting and the ending point of the gradient fill to create a smooth fading effect to the reflection.
Deselect the object by clicking outside of the object with the Selection Tool or with the Shift+Command+A (Mac) or Shift+Ctrl+A (Windows) shortcut key. Now we can see that we have a nice reflection below our design.

This is the simplest way for creating a reflection with the use of the gradient tool, which only need us to reflect the object to the bottom of it with the Reflection Tool, and fill it with the respective gradients for a fading effect. And remember this is only suitable for the objects with a straight frontal view or low angle view.

Tips: Holding down the shift key while we drag, shear, rotate, draw or reflect an object will limit the movement in the closest 45˚ or in a constraining proportions when scaled. Holding down the option key (Mac) or alt key (Windows) when dragging, shearing, rotating or reflecting will make a copy of the original object. These 2 are very useful modifier keys when using Illustrator.

Reflection of a 3d object
So now we have a 3d object from a higher view (around 45˚) like the sample to the right. This is getting a little more complicated then the previous one. As we can see here, the bottom of the object doesn't appear to be in a straight line, so we couldn't just duplicate a mirrored image to the bottom just like what we did previously. We need to make a little adjustment to the reflected part for it to look right.

We are going to start by reflecting a copy of the object down as the reflection like what we see in the diagram #1 below. But it still look kind of "floating" like with only one corner touching the floor/surface.
To make it look right, we are going to remove the top part of the reflection (the lowest part now since it has been flipped down) as we are not going to see it in an angle like this. Now select the front panel of the reflection (the one with an A).
Select the Shear Tool and click on the point where the object and the reflection touches to set a user-defined reference point as in the 3rd diagram.
Now click and drag the upper left point of the reflection to the lower left point of the object with the shift key pressed.
We can now see the reflection of the front panel looks correct.
We are going to shear the side of the object as the previous steps. We select the side of the reflection like the 6th diagram, and click on the the upper left of the selection (the point where the object and the reflection touches) to set the user-defined reference point.
Now drag the upper right point of the reflection up to the lower right corner of the object like the diagram.
The reflection below our 3d object is now look right.

We can now fill the reflection with the respective gradient fill as what we did in the previous tutorial for a nice fading reflection effect.

Reflection- The Opacity Mask way
We have already learned the way to create a reflection with the use of the gradient tool. Now lets do it with the Opacity Mask way. The reflecting and shearing part to create the mirrored image to the bottom of your object is the same as the previous tutorial. The only different here is we are going to make the fading effect of the reflection with the use of the Opacity Mask.

To create an opacity mask, 1st we need a masking object. This masking object defines the areas, the opacity and the degree of transparency. The opacity mask is fully visible when the masking object is in white and is hidden when it's in black. We are going to draw a rectangle (as the masking object) a little bigger then the object we want to apply the opacity mask to as in the 1st diagram. In this case, the reflection.
Now fill the masking object with a gradient from black to white. After that, we select the gradient tool ("G" shortcut key) and drag from the bottom of the reflection to somewhere in the object with the shift key pressed, to set the starting and the ending point of the gradient fill.
Now with the selection tool ("V" shortcut key) we drag from outside to the center of the masking object to select both the masking object and the reflection as in the 3rd diagram. Open the transparency palette (Window>Transparency or Shift+Command+F10 (Mac) or Shift+Ctrl+F10 (Windows)), click and drag the palette menu at the top right corner of the transparency palette to select "Make Opacity Mask" from the pulldown menu.
Now we have a nice fading reflection effect just like the one we created in the previous tutorial.

This is a simpler way compare to the previous one, because we don't need to change each individual color into a gradient fill. Which is more obvious if we are working on a complicated design with many different colors.

Tips: After the opacity mask is created we can see this 2 square in the transparency palette as in the following diagram. The left side will be the original object we applied the opacity mask to. The right side will be the masking object. In order to edit the masking object we need to click at the square with the masking object (right side). We can change the size, gradient or color of the masking object now. But remember to click back to the square with the object (left side) to continue working with your illustration.

This conclude our tutorial this week. The tutorial is not very hard but I think this is a very useful trick to learn. Just remember, if we are not sure of the look of certain thing, go find the real thing and study. Never create any weird looking reflection anymore.

Once again, hopefully this is useful to you.

2009-09-22T15:35:00.004+08:00

Creating a wood grain texture with the gradient tool

Difficulty: Intermediate

Many people have asked me how to create a wood grain like this before. So this is a guide to show how it is done in Adobe Illustrator (CS3 is the version I'm using).

First, we will need 2 shades of brown to create the effect of a wood grain. Let's add these 2 brown colors into the swatches palette. We can use other shades of brown depending on which type of wood texture we are trying to achieve here, like a lighter shades for pine or darker shades for walnut or mahogany.

Tips: It'll be easier and more flexible if the colors are saved as swatches. This way you don't need to remember the percentage of the colors if you are going to use it multiple of times. It'll also be easier to change the colors if the colors are used in a gradient.

Now open the gradient palette (Window>Gradient or Command+F9 on Mac and Ctrl+F9 on Windows.). Drag the 1st brown color from the swatches palette to the 0% or the left most of the Gradient Slider in the gradient palette. Then the 2nd brown to somewhere around 2-3% of the slider. We don't need to be very accurate here, as this is an organic texture we are trying to create. In the example here I'm placing it at 2.5%.

We can now duplicate the 1st color to somewhere around 5% by holding down option on Mac/alt on Windows and drag the 1st gradient stop (The one located at 0%) to somewhere around 5% (2.5% after the 2nd gradient stop). Then we do the same to the 2nd gradient stop and keeps on repeating, creating an alternate light and dark colors along the gradient slider with the gaps around 2-4%. As I've said before we don't need to do it accurately. The gradient stops can be closer to or further away between each stops.

After we filled up the whole gradient slider, remember to change the gradient type to "radial" and we can see now we have a circular pattern similar to the pattern on a tree rings. Now we can save the gradient as a swatch by dragging it into the swatches palette.

Tips: We should always save a gradient as complicated as this as a swatch so that we don't need to redo it later on.

But wait, this look a little too geometrical to be a real wood grain. So what we can do now is to set the center point of the gradient pattern to anywhere off-centered for an organic look. 1st we fill a square with the gradient we have just created, then with the square is still selected we select the Gradient tool from the Tools palette or press "G" to select it with a shortcut key. Now as in the 2nd diagram at the bottom, we drag a line in the square to somewhere out of the square with the gradient tool. This is going to set the starting and the end of the gradient fill. Now with the gradient tool still selected we click somewhere in the square to set the center point of the gradient as in the 3rd diagram at the bottom. Now we have a wood rings pattern. We can experiment with different starting, ending and center point for a different result. We have created our 1st wood rings pattern, but what if we want it to look like a plank. It's easy, we just need to scale down the square vertically as in the 4th diagram at the bottom to achieve the result.

Tips: When you expand or compress a shape with a radial gradient fill, the gradient will be scaled together with the shape. This is very useful to created an effect like this.

We are now able to create a wood grain with gradient, let's go a little further to create a wood planks texture with what we have learned here.

Let's start by drawing a square with the Rectangle Tool (press "M" for shortcut), then continue with the 4 sides like the 2nd diagram at the bottom to create a beveled look. I'm not going to cover the way to draw the shapes here as I presume you have already know the basic of using Illustrator. As we can see here, the top and the bottom of the beveled sides are made bigger then the left and the right sides because we are going to compress vertically later on for the 3D wood plank effect. Now filled it with the radial gradient we have created as in the 3rd diagram, drag with the gradient tool to set the starting and the end point of the gradient from the center to slightly out side of the shapes, and click somewhere in the shapes to set the off-centered center point (starting point) like the 5th diagram at the bottom.

Now compress the shapes down vertically to something similar to the top diagram to the right. The shapes and the wood grain are now look right, but it still look flat. In order to create a 3D feel to it, we are going to lighten the paths at the top and the right sides as in the 2nd diagram to the right and darken the bottom and the left sides to something similar to the 3rd diagram.

If we are using Adobe Illustrator CS3 or later we can use the "Recolor Artwork/Live Color" function to make the adjustment (Edit>Edit Colors>Recolor Artwork... or the button in the red circle at the following diagram found in the "Control Palette" located below the menu bar.)
After the "Live Color" palette popped up, click the "Edit" button and we will see a color wheel. Click the "Link harmony colors" button at the lower right of the color wheel so that both the lighter and the darker shades of brown will be adjusted together. Now drag the brightness slider to the left to darken or to the right to lighten the selected paths. Click ok when we are satisfied with the result. For a more realistic 3D look, we can adjust all the 4 sides separately. For example brightest for the top then 2nd brightest for the right path and darkest for the bottom and 2nd brightest for the right path.

What if we are using Adobe Illustrator CS2 or older? Then we will need to create a lighter and a darker wood grain gradient separately for the lighter and the darker paths. Or we can achieve the same result by copying the paths which need to be adjusted and place it on top (Command+C for Mac or Ctrl+C for Windows to copy then Comand+F/Ctrl+F to place in front) and fill the top paths with a brown color then choose "Screen" for lighter or "Multiply" for darker color in the "transparency" palette. We can also lower the opacity percentage for a more subtle effect.

After we get the result we want, group the paths together (Command+G on Mac or Ctrl+G on Windows) and duplicate it by option+drag on Mac or alt+drag on Windows to create a series of planks similar to the diagram to the right. This can be used as a wooden floor or crate or something like that. Happy with the result? but wait, the planks are identical to each other now. We have to make the planks to look different by setting the starting and end points of each plank separately. Now select the 2nd plank and choose the gradient tool and drag and click as we did previously and repeat it for the rest of the planks.

That's all for this tutorial and hopefully it's clear enough and I wish that you like it. Stay tune and happy vectoring.