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Playing with Illustrator

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 2:04 am
by VenM2
I recently learned of the awesome Live Trace tool in Adobe Illustrator. Basically it takes raster image information (bitmaps) and converts it into a vector image! It has some failings... in fact some kind of failure on some kind of level is guaranteed. However, in any case, it can really help me save time when I scan may line art in. Here are some things I sent through Live Trace:

You know these 2
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These are new ones:

Rosch and Cosch-
A pair of evil villains for my video game idea. These two are loyal followers of the evil Puppy Emperor and enforce the forced-labor-slave-camps. Cosch the rat, though vehemently loyal and dedicated, always ends up unconscious on the job as Rosch uses him as a flail to pound his enemies.
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Krommish-
Another evil and loyal minion of the Puppy Emperor. He originally signed on as head chief but after an infuriating event where a customer bad mouthed his cooking he viciously attacked with knife and fork and soon became a head General in Correction's Army for sheer brutality!
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EDIT: I decided to give our current O&M strip a try with the Live Trace tool. I thought that this tool is very good at black and white drawings like this but apparently my version has its problems:
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This one image has over 2000 anchor points. Most likely because of the text however that is still a lot. I even had to radically adjust the trace values to get this right.

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:30 am
by CameronCN
The problem with LiveTrace is it doesn't do well with low-rez images. Which is too bad, since making a high-rez out of a low-rez is one of the most desirable uses for it...

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 10:18 am
by VenM2
That might be one of the problems, though I can't deny it will be useful to me since I scan my strips in high res.

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 1:22 pm
by Steve the Pocket
Wow, I'd like to see the originals of the first two, because these versions look amazing! Also...
Rosch and Cosch-
A pair of evil villains for my video game idea. These two are loyal followers of the evil Puppy Emperor and enforce the forced-labor-slave-camps. Cosch the rat, though vehemently loyal and dedicated, always ends up unconscious on the job as Rosch uses him as a flail to pound his enemies.
Image
Lol, rat-flail! I think Scott Ramsoomair would be very pleased to see that idea wind up in a real video game some day.

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:44 pm
by VenM2
Wow, I'd like to see the originals of the first two, because these versions look amazing!

I think Scott Ramsoomair would be very pleased to see that idea wind up in a real video game some day.
Two originals coming your way :grin:
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Yes, I DO hand draw my pictures with classic pencil, pens, and eraser.

Though the first has been on my DA or ages and the second was only revealed in the House Rules thread in the Pink Millie topic.

And I certainly hope he is pleased, though I don't know if my ideas are game worthy.

Posted: Thu Oct 25, 2007 9:56 pm
by Chris
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*is stunned :shock: *

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:01 am
by Kyler Thatch
*gasp* Cooooooo... I almost want to see those framed.

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:17 am
by VenM2
My originals? I don't think so, cheap paper.

I got a new traced image. It seems that it has exceeded my expectations! The original inking scanned in at about 1100 pixes wide. The final exported after the trace is over 5000 pixels wide and smooth looking. Here is the smaller finished version:

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Meet Gregory. I haven't developed him that much but he is at the very least a protagonist in the story, just not THE protagonist :/

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:09 am
by Sage
I love it... especially how he walks on his toes. It's epic :D

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:51 am
by The MAZZTer
I think Scott Ramsoomair would be very pleased to see that idea wind up in a real video game some day.
If I had a random off-the-top-of-my-head dumb idea which I put in a comic strip to accentuate the dumbness of one of the characters, and then never thought of again... I might be scared, perhaps HORRIFIED if I saw it being replicated by a fandom.

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:03 am
by Bocaj Claw
He did think about it again though. He revisited the concept in his Bleach spoof and I think he put the raf flail on a tshirt.

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:57 pm
by Steve the Pocket
Yeah, the rat flail is the closest thing that strip has to a running gag, pretty much.

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 2:28 pm
by The MAZZTer
Oh right, forgot about those.

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:18 pm
by Sage
At least it's not a rat morning star

Posted: Fri Oct 26, 2007 3:59 pm
by VenM2
:? Perhaps Cosch should have the ability to transform into one? Super flail!!!