| Here, the drop shadow is not so
wide and that helps make the text look more like it's cut into the stone
surface. It seems that the highlight doesn't fall into position evenly
across the letters. It's almost unnoticeable on the "R" and becomes increasingly
more visible (or wider) across the rest of the letters, being almost too
wide on the "K". Since this highlight was created from a duplicate of the
drop shadow, and that was created from the cutout in the stone surface,
it's hard to think why it would not fit evenly across the lettering.
There are moments when my eye sees
this image as embossed text and moments when it looks recessed. I think
this is because we can either think of the light coming from the upper
left (result is a recessed look), or coming from the lower right (result
is an embossed look). Optical illusions, preconceived notions, and the
artist's failure to make the image completely convincing seem all to be
a factor. I hope to learn, or discover, ways to make these kinds of text
effects completely convincing with enough extra details added to keep the
eye and mind of the viewer believing they see what I intended.
Interesting note: When I move my
head to the left of the image, it's easier to believe the text is recessed.
When I move it to the right, it suddenly appears to be embossed. However,
the illusion isn't repeatable at will an may depend on the time of day
and room light conditions.
Below is a tutorial written for Painter
6 and Painter 7 (translations in parentheses
for Painter 5 and 5.5):
NOTE: There
are a lot of steps in this tutorial and you'll probably try things and
undo them a few times before deciding on which looks best. A few things
will help:
-
Immediately after opening the Canvas,
save the file as a RIFF.
-
Save the file often
to avoid losing any work and always save in the RIFF format. This
is a working file with several Layers and you'll need to keep it
in Painter's native format to be able to work on it again.
-
Set your Undo number higher in
order to allow for many changes of mind. To do this, go to the
Edit
menu, choose
Preferences, then
Undo and type in a number
up to the maximum of 32. Depending on your system resources, this
may be too high as each Undo uses memory so the previous version
can be restored later.
If you've set your Undo number
too high and Painter slows down, save the file and close it, then
lower your Undo number, close
Painter, reopen Painter,
open your RIFF file and continue working.
-
Again, save often and have a
good time!
1.Open
a new Canvas of an appropriate size for your text and use a resolution
of 72 pixels per inch for the Web - or - 300 pixels per
inch for print. (If you intend to use the image later for print, begin
with 300 pixels per inch and later save the file as a JPG at a lower
resolution for the Web.)
2.In
the Art Materials palette,
Colors section, choose a light
grey-brown.
3.In
the Effects menu, choose Fill,
Using: Current Color.
4.In
the Art Materials palette,
Papers section, choose a Paper
texture.
5. In
the Effects menu, choose Surface Control, then Add
Surface Texture,
Using: Paper. Move the sliders and adjust the
other settings to get the look you want.
6. In
the Select
menu, choose All and click the Canvas with
the Layer Adjuster tool to lift the Canvas to a Layer
(double click the new Layer and name it Surface).
7.On
the Surface Layer, click the
Text tool and type some text,
then click the Layer Adjuster tool.
8.In
the Shapes menu, choose Convert to Selection.
9.In
the Select menu, choose Save Selection.
NOTE:The
first saved selection is named New Mask 1, the second New Mask
2, etc. If you want to give them new names, in the
Objects palette,
Masks
section, for instance, double-click New Mask 1 and type a new name.
10.In
the Art Materials palette,
Colors section, choose a darker
grey-brown.
11.In
the Objects palette, Layers section, click the Surface
Layer.
12.In
the Select menu, choose Load Selection and choose New
Mask 1 from the drop down list.
13.In
the Effects menu, choose Fill,
Using: Current Color.
14. In
the Art Materials palette,
Papers section, choose a different
Paper
texture, one that will contrast with that of the Surface Layer (visually,
the surface into which the text will be recessed).
15. In
the Effects menu, choose Surface Control, then Add
Surface Texture, Using: Paper. Move the sliders and adjust the
other settings to get the look you want.
16. Click
the Layer Adjuster tool, then click the text to lift it to a Layer.
The new text Layer is a Sub-Layer of the Surface Layer
because it was created on the Surface Layer. Its name is Layer
Floating Object.
17. In
the Objects palette,
Layers list, click and drag Layer
Floating Object from below the Surface Layer to the top of the
Layers
list., then double-click Layer Floating Object and name it Text.
NOTE: Lifting
the text to the Text Layer has cut a text shaped hole in the Surface
Layer.
18. Click
the Surface Layer and in the Effects menu, choose Objects,
Create
Drop Shadow and use the following settings:
-
X-Offset: 2
-
Y-Offset: 2
-
Opacity: 63%
-
Radius: 2
-
Angle: 114.6 °
-
Thinness: 45%.
19. Click
the small triangle to the left of the
Layers
Group named
Surface and Shadow
to expand the Layers Group.
20. Click
the Shadow Layer, then Alt-Click in the image to duplicate
the Shadow Layer.
21. Double-click
the bottom Shadow Layer and rename it Highlight.
22. In
the Select menu, choose Auto Select,
Using: Image Luminance.
23. Choose
a lighter grey-brown than that of the Surface Layer and Fill
the
Highlight
Layer.
24.
Using
the arrow keys, move (nudge) the Highlight Layer up and to
the left to create a small highlight along the lower and right inner edges
of the Surface Layer's text cutout.
25. If
you need to adjust the Highlight Layer's darkness or lightness,
in the Effects menu, choose Tonal Control,
Adjust Colors
and move the Value slider. Do the same with the Shadow Layer,
Surface Layer and Text Layer if it helps to make the image more
convincing.
NOTE: Similar
adjustments can be made to these Layers by another method. For instance,
click the Text Layer and in the Effects menu, choose Tonal
Control,
Brightness/Contrast then darken the text to make it
appear more recessed. Adjust the Surface Layer as well, using Brightness/Contrast,
until the recessed text image is believable. Or, you might find that the
Shadow
Layer looks better in the overall image if it's not so dark.
26. Save
the file as a RIFF so you'll have the option to continue making
adjustments later.
|
