Creating a Wiremesh using Inkscape

I stumbled across a really cool technique to create a wiremesh using Inkscape. Here is what I made.

I just created a simple wiremesh and the duplicated it and gave it a horizontal flip to give it a night lamp'ish effect.

Here's how I made the above.

1. First create a simple path, using the bezier path tool.
2. Create another path, or duplicate the original path.to create a second path and and give the second path a displacement.
3. Then select both the paths and perform a Path->Combine.
4. Then choose Path -> Path Effect Editor.
5. From the apply new effect drop down, select "Stitch Sub Paths" and add it. On performing this step, you will see that several lines are drawn between the two paths. You can configure the number of lines drawn by using the options that are available. I used about 100 lines and left the other options to their defaults.
6. Then I simply gave the strokes a red color.
7. Now if you select Inkscape's node edit tool and click on the mesh, you would be able to see the nodes of the path which you can use the modify the shape of the mesh.

Keep playing and you can come up with some pretty interesting patterns. Here's another of mine.

Is that at least slightly similar to the bat symbol? It took just 1 minute to create it.
You can use the tecnhique to create grids by playing with the number of paths that are used to stitch the two paths and then create a duplicate and doing a vertical flip.

Too easy to be so good I'd say? Enjoy!

Signing Off
Ryan

Understanding Linked Offset in Inkscape

I was trying to create some text effects similar to the tutorial here. I did not go as far as the tutorial because my system was behaving annoyingly slow due to the linked offset that I had to do to get the effect. Here's what I ended up making.

I did learn a couple of things.

You can pretty much do anything to text and make it look crazy wazy once you convert it to a path. I simply used the sans format, converted the text to a path, ungrouped them and then modified the text using the path tool.

The important thing about the linked offset is that if you create a path, and then create a linked offset to it, the path and the offset layer are linked such that if you move or modify the path, the linked offset automatically takes the new shape and size. It even relocates if the original path is relocated. That is awesome. BUT, it really slowed down my machine.

Moral of the story 

1. Do a linked offset after you have fidgeted around enough with the original, else you'd be wasting your time. Make only minor tweaks after you've done a linked offset. 
2. Secondly, the linked offset looks pretty good if you want a curvy outline. If a sharp edged outline is what you are looking  for, then you can simply do a duplicate and change the color. That would be less processor intensive.

I also learnt a tiny little thing about kerning, regarding how to rotate characters. Use the alt + [ or alt + ]. I didn't use it in this image, but hell yeah, ye could do that if ye were so inclined!

Signing Off
Ryan

Circular Arrows Using Inkscape

So, here I am again, trying out another of heathenx's tutorial. This one shows you how to create a circular arrow path. But apart from that, there was something in this tutorial that I feel was far cooler that the path itself. That's the perspective effect. I was like whoa! Here's what I made after seeing the screencast.

There were a couple of things that I learnt from this screencast.

1. Shortcut keys : - Ctrl+G to Group, Ctrl+Shift+G to Ungroup. Yea, I know these are readily available when you use the menus, but I've started using the shortcut keys only from this tutorial onwards. Will pick up the other, one tiny step at a time.
2. The perspective tool is AWESOME! To create a perspective, all you need to do is to create a plane using the bezier lines, select the pattern which you want to keep in a perspective ,then select the bezier plane, then go to Extensions -> Modify Path -> Perspective. And voila, you have it! Who would have thought that it would be so frickin easy!  (My inkscape version : 0.48.1)
3. When using pattern along path, ensure that your pattern is above the path. Do that using the page up / page down keys.
4. When you do a union, the color of the resultant path is that of the path that was at the bottom.

Signing Off
Ryan

Chromium Effect In Inkscape

I saw this awesome looking text on another of heathenx's site and decided to work it out. This time, he deals with creating a chromium looking text in Inkscape. I tried to make the same. Here is how mine landed up.

Making this was surprisingly easy. But there were still a few tips that were covered in the screencast that gonna be pretty handy.

1. Since filters are resource hogs, once you apply a filter, your Inkscape is definitely going to slow down. In order to prevent that, you can temporarily turn off the rendering of the filter from View->Display Mode -> No Filters. Really useful. When you are done with all your work, you can always get your filters back from View->Display Mode -> Normal.
2. When you create a chrome effect, you end up getting up the text that is transparent.So, you need to use it like an overlying mask on your original text.
3. Not everything went smoothly. When I tried to align my white text with the chromium filtered text, the chromium text was getting blurred. In order to get it working, i had to open the Edit Filter dialog and uncheck and recheck the Chome filter in the list of filters for the text. I am guessing it is some sort of a bug. The version of inkscape that I am using is 0.48.1.

The Edit Filter options are still a mystery to me!

Oh, and I was just listening to this awesome song after I finished! While at it, you might wana check it out too. Of course, don't listen to it when listening to the screencast :) 

Signing Off
Ryan

Jewel Case Using Inkscape

Back from work, I decided to go about doing another of heathenx's screencasts. I must admit, they are really good. This screencast shows you how to create a jewel case using Inkscape.

I made a little bit of modifications. Here's mine.

There were a few things that I learnt as I worked on my own version

1. By pressing Shift and selecting a color from the color palette, you can change the color of the stroke. By default, when you don't press shift, the fill is the default target of the color selection.
2. Adding radial gradients to the stroke can create a very decent depth effect. Its something I just hadn't realized earlier.
3. I also learnt that there is something called as the 'Dynamic Offset' and 'Linked Offset' in inkscape. The documentation is available here. Such a cool feature that I didnt know about. The Linked offset seems even cooler. Although I still need to figure out where it can be used. Any ideas?
4. I came to know of a new menu option : Object - Rows and Columns. I the tutorial, it is used to layout multiple lines in parallel to each other as the sidebar of the jewel case. I tried to do the same using the Create Tiled Clones that I learnt about a couple of days ago, but I could not make it work. I wonder why. That certainly needs some investigation.

I have a feeling of glee when I look at this image!

Signing Off
Ryan

Ink Splatter Using Inkscape

I just finished doing another vector tutorial from heathenx's site. This time it was the ink splatter tutorial. Its a very simple effect.

Here's what I made.

What did I learn?

1. You have an option in gimp where you can convert yor image into black and white. It is present under Colors->Components->Channel Mixer. Neat effect with a preview.

Signing Off
Ryan

Using A Bezier Envelope In Inkscape

There is an awesome screencast by heathenx that shows you how to create wrap text around a globe.
Inkscape version : 0.48.1

Its not as good as the one in the tutorial, probably because the banner does not have the 3D effect. Well, I didnt follow the tutorial exactly either for making the banner. But still, the globe is pretty good.

I did learn a few things in the making of this world

1. Extensions are installed in inkscape by keeping the .inx or the .py files in the Inkscape\share\extentions directory. And you need to restart Inkscape for the extension to become available. This tutorial makes use of a cool bezier envelope extension, which once installed can be accessed via Extensions->Generate from path->Bezier Envelope.
2. I tried to act smart and create a square, make it a path and then use the bezier envelope on it, but it didnt work. As mentioned in the screencast, only when I used the bezier tool to make the bezier path, using 4 nodes, in a clockwise direction, I got the text to wrap around the banner.
3. You can easily set the stroke width by right clicking on the number that appears in the left bottom corner, right beside the block that says stroke.
4. You can create margins lines by simply dragging the mouse cursor from the side and top margins.
5. When you convert text to path, and there are several characters in the text, then you the conversion results in a group of paths, not one path. You can observe that in the Inkscape status bar. So, once you have converted your text to a path, it can be useful if you ungroup the resultant text and then do a union to get the single path that you were intending to get.
6. There is a lot of good stuff under the Extensions->Render menu.

Signing Off
Ryan