Comments on: Episode 078

By: Vadim P.

Vadim P. — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:33:20 +0000

thank you!

By: Roberto

Roberto — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 20:42:57 +0000

I did not know that Gnumeric exported to svg … this is great!
Trivia! but is in the repository linus (ubuntu) that program “Key Status”?

By: Zombiebrainz

Zombiebrainz — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:29:08 +0000

Merry Christmas folks!

By: Don W

Don W — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 22:24:51 +0000

@RQ- The O>M>S is the least complicated way to go, maybe the only way to have a product that can be used in various ways (transportable). My demo is too restricting but shows another way if text is used. This method could be used if you needed a background "picture" to be used with other Inkscape effects.

(-: And you don’t have to SKEW IT. .

It will be interesting to see what others have to offer.

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 21:02:47 +0000

@Don – I watched that screencast you sent me. The benefit of using a black-white mask (using Object->Mask->set) is that the reflection is then an opaque-to-transparent one that can be utilized on whatever background you like later on. Even when you export it as a png (which holds transparency). Doing it with a simple black-to-transparent gradient does work – on a black background, but if you wanted to put that text and it’s reflection on a white background later on, the method wouldn’t work. Also, using the black-white mask method lets you create reflections of anything you can group together, such as images, text, paths etc..

The only problem I see with what schrottplatz is suggesting is that the masked object doesn’t hold up very well under the perspective effect. If I could get the perspective effect to work on objects that were masked, I’d do it that way for sure.

By: Don W

Don W — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:22:47 +0000

Ref:schrottplatz
I found when I use perspective after gradient, the effect goes away. You can do it by path>combine first, do the perspective then break apart. But on text you have to go back and do the path>difference to get rid of the solid centers of letters. The only advantage to this is that the skew step is eliminated but several other steps are added and you still have to use the mask.

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:23:39 +0000

@schrottplatz – I’ve always been unable to do it the way you stated. I think it’s because the reflection is a masked object. Even if all the objects are paths (including the gradient used as the mask) it screws up if I try and do the perspective. It runs the effect but you don’t get the required result.

I could be wrong, or it could be just my system. I’d like others to try it the way you describe and see if it works for them. If it does, it might definitely be easier.

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 19:19:35 +0000

@Schnitter

It’s called Shiki Colors I believe. I posted about it in a thread in the Linux Outlaws forum a while back. I really like it. The relevant links are in that post:

http://linuxoutlaws.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1025#p16979

Glad you liked the tutorial.

By: schrottplatz

schrottplatz — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 10:21:37 +0000

your reflection technique is a bit complicated.. you should first make the refelction and after that the perspective thing

By: Schnitter

Schnitter — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:49:47 +0000

Great tutorial, liked it

But…sorry, what theme are you using?(And if you have the link, where can I find it? :>)
I saw it sometime and it looks great.

By: eric

eric — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:38:42 +0000

If you import more than one graph into Inkscape there are some display bug because many objecs share the same name in their xml file.

To prevent this bug, i save the graphs from gnumeric in pdf and import them in Inkscape without any bugs.

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 20:58:16 +0000

At the risk of further diluting this comment thread, here is a neat link that just popped up in my feed reader. It mixes graphic design with Cereal.. I guess…
http://alanvalek.com/blog/2008/12/17/100-cereal-box-covers/

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:53:03 +0000

Dang neon g, I’m learning more in this set of comments than I have in the past month!

I didn’t realize the stroke-to-path thing before doing the perspective effect would do that. I’ve usually created a thin path (no stroke) by various means to get the tapering. As usual, I’ve done something the hard/stupid way for quite a while before finding out there was a much easier/smarter way.

By: neon g

neon g — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:34:56 +0000

Thanks for the tutorial personally I’m a fiend for cornish pasties, I can’t help myself.

One tip I have when using the perspective tool is to do a “Stroke to Path” on all your lines beforehand. This makes sure the width of the line tapers into the distance rather than being uniform.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play with Gnumeric …

By: Richard Querin

Richard Querin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:34:10 +0000

@Jody – Thanks for the great tips. I realized that a lot of adjustments could be made in Gnumeric beforehand, but in the interests of time I thought I’d just give a brief overview of how to create the graph for those unfamiliar with Gnumeric and get right to the Inkscape stuff. No problem doing the screencast.. hopefully it also has the side benefit of making more people aware of Gnumeric too.

@Walther – Thanks. And while potato chips are okay (Ripples FTW), I’m an even bigger fan of Cheetohs. To each his own.

By: Walther

Walther — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:12:22 +0000

Great tutorial. The graph looks really great. Thanks

(And potato chips rule!)

By: Jody

Jody — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:45:07 +0000

A few points
1) You can drag the chart directly into inkscape, no need to save and reload.
2) Several of the simpler formatting changes (line widths and such) can be done directly in gnumeric.
3) no need to set the legend to ‘manual position’. Just dragging it in the preview will adjust it.
4) Thanks for doing this screen cast.

Best Wishes, Jody.

By: heathenx

heathenx — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:32:32 +0000

Oh…don’t even get me started on cereal.

By: rfquerin

rfquerin — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 17:51:07 +0000

Okay. I nominate that comment for Comment Of The Year!

First let me say that I had regrets about the ‘I’m a pig;’ Chart title. I really did. But it was the third attempt at recording it and I was getting frustrated. I honestly thought about putting “I Love Donuts” but that was after I had already typed the ‘I’m a Pig’ title. If I had deleted that and changed it I would have looked like a wuss.

All the other crap about the donuts (like the numbers and stuff) are actually factually true. I swear.

So donuts are your thing. My weakness is cereal. I used to be up to 3 bowls of Frosted Flakes before bed every night (no joke). We all have our problems.

By: heathenx

heathenx — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 15:52:38 +0000

Wow! I was nearly speechless for a few moments when I watched this episode. I guess in the back of my mind I knew I had a bit of a donut habit but actually visualizing that habit ala a detailed spreadsheet along with a graph, aptly titled “I’m a Pig”, has really brought attention to my dependence for deep-fried or baked goods. I live in an area where Dutch ancestry runs relatively high and because of this there are many bakeries surrounding me. I gladly and loosely toss my money into the hands of those that run those fine shops. After all, it’s just money and it’s what I work for. But that’s no excuse. Perhaps I’m just a product of my environment. Maybe if I were surrounded by gym’s and organic food then it might have a major impact on my life in the same manner as bakeries. I’m willing to change. I’m not stubborn. Although, I’ll have to start out slow. I cannot quit donuts cold-turkey. Have you ever eaten a Krispy Kreame? Cripes! They’re like potato chips. You can’t eat just one, you know. I’ll need discipline and understanding.

If you noticed at the beginning of episode 078, around the 2:40 minute mark, Richard had collected some data regarding 69 strawberry donuts that I had consumed in the month of July among other irrelevant data. What can I say? The facts don’t lie. I am ashamed of myself. Strawberry donuts are ******* delicious and I will punch anyone in the teeth if they claim differently. Wait! Calm down, heathenx. No one is saying strawberry donuts aren’t delicious and those that do are probably insane. Anyway, this is a problem that I intend to tackle and beat into submission. I plan to reduce that number to just 68 strawberry donuts for the next month of January and 67 to 66 for February. No! I have made up my mind and I’m not turning back. I cannot be talked out of something once my mind is made up. If my calculations are right, and I have no reason to doubt my stellar math skills [startflashback] ‘member that time when you flunked that math test because…never mind…it’s not important [endflashback], it will take me 57.548 years to completely stop eating donuts. When that day comes I’m sure I’ll feel as proud and look as good as Arnold when he won his first Mr. Olympia.

So thank-you Mr. Richard Querin for putting donuts into perspective for me. At first I wanted to do harm to you – like removing the ball from your mouse or smearing my fingers across your monitor after I had eaten pork chops or bar-b-qued ribs. But no, I won’t do those things. I will instead extend my hand in an attempt to shake yours…because we are brothers in this world…(heathenx rambling on and fading out…cue music: National anthem of the United States of America…by the way, I’m not crying…there’s an eyelash in my eye…both eyes).

Oh, before I forget. None of the above is true. I enjoyed episode 078…while eating a donut of course.