Alot of people on IRC often ask me how to vector and/or ask me if Flash is
better than Illustrator. Flash is very limited. Somehow, I find the limited
abilities less hassle and easier to work with than Illustrator, which is (in my
opinion) a bit too powerful and sometimes overwhelming. So now I figure I'll let
my secrets out and tell you how to vector in Flash.
First off, we need to outline the picture you wish to vector.
Open up a new flash document, and increase the size of the work area to
2000x2000 pixels (this is roughly the largest workspace Flash will allow you to
use. Illustrator can go much larger apparantly...)
Now you need to import the image you wish to vector into Flash. To do this, go
into File>Import>Import to Stage. Or simply hit ctrl+R. Then browse
through your system for the image you want and open it. The image will be placed
on you work area, normally in the top left hand corner (sometimes in the middle,
don't ask why). Depending on the original image size though, your image may be
scaled down. To check, go into Windows>Design Panel>Transform (ctrl+T) and
make sure that the scale of the image is 100%.
Now you need a new layer to work on. If you work on the same layer as the image,
things will go horribly wrong. If you don't know how to do this, you can either
click on the page with the plus sign in the time line section, or go to
Insert>Timeline>Layer. Once you have done this, lock the layer with the
original image on it by clicking the dot under the padlock in the layer that has
the origal image.
After doing that, select the new layer and choose the line tool (or press N).
The line tool is a lot more effective than the pen tool in Flash, as the pen
tool acts like a brush, but it tries to straighten/smooth things out, resulting
in the line you dont want. However, the line tool is much simpler. First, choose
an easy to see colour which you will probably never use (like Magenta, that
bright pink colour), go into the properties and make sure that the line width is
hairline (I'll explain later), then start at a point on the image and click and
drag to the end point. To make the line curve, simply hold ctrl, click anywhere
along the line and drag it into place. It's that simple. Mind you though, you
may need more than one line to create a smooth curve.
If you find that a curve you are trying to create becomes tighter as it nears
the end, end the first line before the curve tightens, and create a new one at
the end of the first to finish off. The same can be applied to curves that
change direction too.
Try your best to make the line flow smoothly. If you pick the wrong spot to
create a new line, you'll end up with a corner. If this happens, try moving the
corner back and forth and re-adjusting the curves to see if it'll smooth out. If
you try and adjust the curves when you moved corner/curves and everything goes
wobbly and out of shape, that's a sign that it has already lost the corner and
is a smooth curve.
Now you may go and do the rest of the image like that. However, if you want to
maintain the variable line thickness the image already has, you'll have to
"outline the outlines". This is why I said to have an easy to see
colour line with hair line thickness (for those that don't know, hair line
thickness remains the same thickness, no matter how far or close you zoom in).
Outlining outlines is time-consuming, sometimes frustrating, but highly
effective. Simply treat all the lines in the image as another shape/item of
clothing and create an outline of them. Here's part of one I prepared
earlier...
Once you've done that use the fill tool (press K), choose black and fill away
the lines. You may choose to keep the colours of the lines somewhat original,
some people like to have the outlines a greatly darker variation of the colour
it's outlining, but because I can be lazy, old school black lines are for me. If
you can't fill in an area, check to see if some of the lines dont join together.
Flash can be really fidgity about these, and will only fill if it has a line
surrounding the said area. You may have to max your zoom to find the opening
too. Here's the filled version of the outline I showed before,
So you've got you image completly outlined? CONGRATS! Now you can move onto
filling colours and maintaing the shading!!!....
I use the polygon lasso tool in Photoshop, then use the feather brush to help
soften the edges. It's a lot easier that way and it takes half the time of any
'standard' vector programs. They're not technically vectors, fine, but if you
have the patience, they can look better
IMO.
Quote by DayBreak^ wow buddy, your
suppose to use the Pen Tool.
Not the Polygon Lasso Tool @_@
You aren't 'supposed' to use anything but that which you are comfortable with;
guess what? I use the polygon lasso tool. Look at my traces. Tell me that they
look THAT bad. I'll disagree wholeheartedly.
Note to everyone... this isn't a chat, this is a turotial. If you wanna chat, do
it in the userpages. While yes, what you're chatting about is relevant to what I
originally wrote, it's kind of annoying finding I have a reply in this thread
only to find people are chatting to eachother, and not asking for more advice,
having problems or giving new oppinions. Truthfully it's a waste of my time (One
thing I hate wasting most, I even bought a shirt).
With that said, all chat will now be reported as out of context. If you wish to
reply to something but are out of context, do it in the persons
Userpage.
Normally I wouldn't point out names, but by example, I could report just about
everything that DayBreak has wrote in here as Out of Context.
Alot of people on IRC often ask me how to vector and/or ask me if Flash is better than Illustrator. Flash is very limited. Somehow, I find the limited abilities less hassle and easier to work with than Illustrator, which is (in my opinion) a bit too powerful and sometimes overwhelming. So now I figure I'll let my secrets out and tell you how to vector in Flash.
First off, we need to outline the picture you wish to vector.
Open up a new flash document, and increase the size of the work area to 2000x2000 pixels (this is roughly the largest workspace Flash will allow you to use. Illustrator can go much larger apparantly...)
Now you need to import the image you wish to vector into Flash. To do this, go into File>Import>Import to Stage. Or simply hit ctrl+R. Then browse through your system for the image you want and open it. The image will be placed on you work area, normally in the top left hand corner (sometimes in the middle, don't ask why). Depending on the original image size though, your image may be scaled down. To check, go into Windows>Design Panel>Transform (ctrl+T) and make sure that the scale of the image is 100%.
Now you need a new layer to work on. If you work on the same layer as the image, things will go horribly wrong. If you don't know how to do this, you can either click on the page with the plus sign in the time line section, or go to Insert>Timeline>Layer. Once you have done this, lock the layer with the original image on it by clicking the dot under the padlock in the layer that has the origal image.
After doing that, select the new layer and choose the line tool (or press N). The line tool is a lot more effective than the pen tool in Flash, as the pen tool acts like a brush, but it tries to straighten/smooth things out, resulting in the line you dont want. However, the line tool is much simpler. First, choose an easy to see colour which you will probably never use (like Magenta, that bright pink colour), go into the properties and make sure that the line width is hairline (I'll explain later), then start at a point on the image and click and drag to the end point. To make the line curve, simply hold ctrl, click anywhere along the line and drag it into place. It's that simple. Mind you though, you may need more than one line to create a smooth curve.
If you find that a curve you are trying to create becomes tighter as it nears the end, end the first line before the curve tightens, and create a new one at the end of the first to finish off. The same can be applied to curves that change direction too.
Try your best to make the line flow smoothly. If you pick the wrong spot to create a new line, you'll end up with a corner. If this happens, try moving the corner back and forth and re-adjusting the curves to see if it'll smooth out. If you try and adjust the curves when you moved corner/curves and everything goes wobbly and out of shape, that's a sign that it has already lost the corner and is a smooth curve.
Now you may go and do the rest of the image like that. However, if you want to maintain the variable line thickness the image already has, you'll have to "outline the outlines". This is why I said to have an easy to see colour line with hair line thickness (for those that don't know, hair line thickness remains the same thickness, no matter how far or close you zoom in). Outlining outlines is time-consuming, sometimes frustrating, but highly effective. Simply treat all the lines in the image as another shape/item of clothing and create an outline of them. Here's part of one I prepared earlier...
Once you've done that use the fill tool (press K), choose black and fill away the lines. You may choose to keep the colours of the lines somewhat original, some people like to have the outlines a greatly darker variation of the colour it's outlining, but because I can be lazy, old school black lines are for me. If you can't fill in an area, check to see if some of the lines dont join together. Flash can be really fidgity about these, and will only fill if it has a line surrounding the said area. You may have to max your zoom to find the opening too. Here's the filled version of the outline I showed before,
So you've got you image completly outlined? CONGRATS! Now you can move onto filling colours and maintaing the shading!!!....
YAY! I've finally typed it up, and here it is! http://forum.minitokyo.net/showthread/36518/
Wow. pretty handy tut there Katz. I've been wanting to use Flash to vector cause Illustrator is a RAM hogging monster. Thanx man!
Oh yeah, you made a tsukihime scan as an example!
You have good taste XP
My cousin used Flash all the time to vector. I'm glad to finally see a tutorial on it.
Nice vector by the way.
I use the polygon lasso tool in Photoshop, then use the feather brush to help soften the edges. It's a lot easier that way and it takes half the time of any 'standard' vector programs. They're not technically vectors, fine, but if you have the patience, they can look better IMO.
^ wow buddy, your suppose to use the Pen Tool.
Not the Polygon Lasso Tool @_@
You aren't 'supposed' to use anything but that which you are comfortable with; guess what? I use the polygon lasso tool. Look at my traces. Tell me that they look THAT bad. I'll disagree wholeheartedly.
Hmm, i'll check out your traces.
But you wont like what i have to say about them, which is called "Critisam"
Its always good to have them : O
Note to everyone... this isn't a chat, this is a turotial. If you wanna chat, do it in the userpages. While yes, what you're chatting about is relevant to what I originally wrote, it's kind of annoying finding I have a reply in this thread only to find people are chatting to eachother, and not asking for more advice, having problems or giving new oppinions. Truthfully it's a waste of my time (One thing I hate wasting most, I even bought a shirt).
With that said, all chat will now be reported as out of context. If you wish to reply to something but are out of context, do it in the persons Userpage.
Normally I wouldn't point out names, but by example, I could report just about everything that DayBreak has wrote in here as Out of Context.
you get a cookie for that tutorial
Katz <3
nice tutorial it was.....i will try to get one.....