Line Drawings

[Leerwerker]

Hi there,

I just finished a full tutorial for doing line drawings from photographs in the simplest possible way on your computer.

BUT I really need feed back on this to make it complete - if there is something not clear, please let me know and I can fix it.

To can find it at http://sites.google.com/site/leatherlearn/

Edited May 26, 2009 by Leerwerker

[rustyriggin]

That looks pretty clear to me, and thanks for posting that. It'll really help the drawing challenged like myself! That should help take carving to a new level.

[cybertracy]

thank you! Can't wait to try this technique.

[HallisChalmers]

Coming from a background of using Microsoft VISIO for my architectural and mechanical drawings at work, I found the Inkscape program pretty simple and intuitive to use.

Your instructions are icing on the cake and will really help those folks that don't use drawing programs on a regular basis.

Thank you!

[Regis]

Looks like you did pretty good to me. Playing with number of colors & passes should get you both a cutting drawing and a tooling reference image.

Inkscape is a good tool, especially because it is free. A lot of individual sign maker use it to cleanup graphics. Trace in CorelDraw X3 is also good and I think a little easier to use but expensive. Vector Magic has a new "background remover" that looks interesting but, also expensive.

[Leerwerker]

Hallis, and everybody else who uses Inkscape,

Are there any quick and simply procedures/tricks that you know on Inkscape that I can add to the instructions? Is there a way for example, to have it detect edges automatically and turn them into a line drawing?

Coming from a background of using Microsoft VISIO for my architectural and mechanical drawings at work, I found the Inkscape program pretty simple and intuitive to use.

Your instructions are icing on the cake and will really help those folks that don't use drawing programs on a regular basis.

Thank you!

[CitizenKate]

Great tutorial! That is precisely the technique I use in Illustrator. One thing I might add here, Johann... if Inkscape has a feature that allows you to select and move individual anchor points, you don't have to start a line over if you don't get the anchors exactly where you want them. Just finish the line with the mis-placed anchors, then go back later and nudge them around where you need them. That might save you some time.

Kate

[CitizenKate]

Are there any quick and simply procedures/tricks that you know on Inkscape that I can add to the instructions? Is there a way for example, to have it detect edges automatically and turn them into a line drawing?

I'm not an Inkscape user (I might become one, though, I'm fairly impressed with what I've seen of it so far), but I checked on their web site, and found that Inkscape has a feature similar to Illustrator's "Live Trace" feature. Sometimes, I've been able to take an image and use it to extract the line art in one action. It doesn't always work perfectly, so in those cases I fall back on the technique you have documented in your tutorial. But when you can use it, it saves you a TON of time. Here is a link to a tutorial on that feature:

http://www.inkscape.org/doc/tracing/tutorial-tracing.html

There is also a feature that is becoming more common in photo editing programs. It's a filter which highlights the edges of non-vector images. (In PhotoShop, it's called the "Find Edges" filter.) You can then load them into your vector imaging software and convert them to vector paths.

Kate

[HallisChalmers]

Hallis, and everybody else who uses Inkscape,

Are there any quick and simply procedures/tricks that you know on Inkscape that I can add to the instructions? Is there a way for example, to have it detect edges automatically and turn them into a line drawing?

Leerwerker: I need to play with this program a bit more - this is the first time I've been exposed to Inkscape so let me work on it a bit. If I find anything that needs clarification or streamlining, I'll send you a PM.

Your tutorial actually came just in time as I was trying to figure out a way to copy an illustration without tracing it by hand. I figure that with this program I'll be able to trace "cleaner" lines and then print the image on clear acetate on my laser printer.

Anybody know of a good brand of acetate sheets to use on a laser printer - or are they all basically the same?

[funnygirl62221]

Hi there,

I just finished a full tutorial for doing line drawings from photographs in the simplest possible way on your computer.

BUT I really need feed back on this to make it complete - if there is something not clear, please let me know and I can fix it.

To can find it at http://sites.google....e/leatherlearn/

Thanks so much for this tutorial. It was a huge help

[Leerwerker]

I am glad! Let me know if there are any improvements I can make...

Thanks so much for this tutorial. It was a huge help

[joquarter]

Wish I knew this a little bit earlier, would be much easier for the pattern I made last month ( still carving on it)

I printed a photo , took a peace of tracing paper and was 3days busy to get it as I wanted , but still not exactly what I espected from it.

Next time, I start behind the pc.