Episode 090 – Create a CD/DVD Jewel Case

by heathenx

In this episode I’ll draw a simple CD/DVD jewel case in Inkscape 0.46.

I got the inspiration for this screencast from GraphicRiver.net. I cut some corners in this episode in an attempt to reduce my recording time. Feel free to compare my final image with the original and add what I left out or add your own spices to it.

Also, here is the color palette that I used. Use it to get you started but tweak the colors further for your own tastes.

Episode 089 – All That and A Bowl of Soup

by Richard Querin

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to create a semi-realistic looking spoon and bowl using Inkscape 0.46. Using only a few different tools and techniques, you can get some pretty attractive results in a very short time.

Not much to say here except you’ll have to excuse my cat at around the 9 minute mark. He’s normally quite quiet when I record, but this time I guess he had some issues to get off his chest.

Hope you enjoy it.

Episode 088 – Wrap Text Around a Globe

by heathenx

In this episode I will demonstrate how to wrap text around a three-dimensional globe in Inkscape v.046.

I used a fairly new extension from Gerrit Karius (aka G33K) called Bezier Envelope. If you want to follow along or use the Bezier Envelope for whatever future purpose then be sure to download it here. Thanks Gerrit.

Episode 087 – Paint Splatter on Textured Background

by Richard Querin

In this tutorial I show a quick way of creating a fairly realistic looking paint splatter on a textured background. This technique is useful not only for paint splatters but wherever you want to place a text, logo or other graphic on top of a textured background like fabric, concrete, wood etc. and have it look somewhat realistic.

Note that this is a blatant rip-off of Heathenx’s episode 059. But if you the viewer have no problem with that, then neither do I. Whether Heathenx really get’s upset or not is another matter. But is that of utmost importance to me? Not so much.

Note also that in the midst of doing this screencast, I also show a little technique tip for the Gimp related to converting images from colour to Black and White. This tip is likely even more useful for those trying to achieve nice conversions of colour photos to black and white. It gives you much more control than just doing a single click greyscale conversion.

Apologies for any background hum you might hear. I did this one on the new laptop and there is something to do with my Logitech USB headset and the laptop which is causing the humming to kind of go in and out at times. I hope it’s not too annoying.

Episode 086 – Animated Presentations with JessyInk

by heathenx

In this tutorial I will take a look at a brilliant set of extensions for Inkscape called JessyInk, by author Hannes Hochreiner, that allows one to make animated presentations. I used Inkscape version 0.46.

If you would like to see how JessyInk works then check out Hannes’ sample presentation file that he has included with the extensions. Just use your arrow keys to navigate forward and backward in your browser.

On behalf of Inkscape users everywhere, I would like to thank Hannes for these extensions. I love being able to make presentations in Inkscape now. It’s just another excuse to use my favorite application. In addition, I have had a long standing curiousity of javascript in SVG files and this definately helps me understand things a little better.

Update: Hannes has made some improvements and additions recently. One noticeable addition includes a new “Summary” tool that lists information about about your presentation. Pretty handy.

Episode 085 – Create a Blackboard Image

by heathenx

In this episode I’ll attempt to draw a relatively simple blackboard image and simulate a chalk text effect in Inkscape 0.46.

In this screencast I used a couple textures that you may download here. Also, I used a font called “Eraser” by David Rakowski. Please download those if you wish to play along.

Episode 084 – Make Your Digital Image Stand Out

by heathenx

In this screencast I will demonstrate a technique for de-colorizing an unimportant part of a raster image and emphasizing other areas with color in Inkscape v0.46.

This tutorial is basic and quick…perfect for Inkscape novice.

Episode 083 – Torn Paper Effect

by Richard Querin

In this episode I demonstrate one way of creating a torn paper effect using Inkscape 0.46.

I make use of the Freehand tool along with the Add Nodes and Jitter Nodes path effects to achieve a decent looking torn paper edge. Also, in this screencast I use a wallpaper pattern image from the cgtextures.com site which I highly recommend if you’re looking for patterns and textures for your graphics projects.

This was a relatively short one at around 15 minutes. Also, by the time I recorded the intro, I realized that I could have selected all my paths and done the Add Nodes and Jitter Nodes step to all of them at once instead of the silly way I did each one separately. Ah well, you live and learn I guess.

You could probably make use of a torn paper effect for lots of web design stuff as well as for scrapbooking and other things – a generally useful method to add to your graphics toolbox.

Hope you like it.

Episode 082 – Vector Tennis Ball

by heathenx

In this episode I will take an excellent tutorial of a vector tennis ball provided to me by Christian of Chrisdesign and recreate that in Inkscape 0.46.

Thank-you, Christian, for providing me with an excellent topic for a screencast. Be sure to check out Chrisdesign blog for some excellent Inkscape tutorials.  I believe Christian will be adding other sports related tutorials to go along with this one so be sure to check out his website often. I have seen some amazing stuff coming from this guy. He’s an exceptional artist.

Grab the Viper Nora font and tennis ball palette if you wish to play along.

Episode 081 – Create a Pencil Icon

by heathenx

In this episode I hope to take a Photoshop tutorial of a classy pencil icon and adapt that to Inkscape 0.46.

I would like to thank Eren Goksel, a fabulous artist, and PSDTUTS.com, a fabulous Photoshop tutorial website for providing the inspiration for this screencast. I am a fan of both. Be sure to visit PSDTUTS and check out their other tutorials as well. The original pencil how-to can be found here.

Episode 080 – Drawing a Light Switch

by Richard Querin

In this episode I create a pseudo-realistic looking lightswitch using Inkscape v0.46.

There are a few valuable tips in this episode including the use of path and node snapping, gradients, creating slotted screwheads, and a couple of other things which could be useful on lots of other projects.

This probably is my longest episode to date. This is partly because I had a separate small idea that didn’t merit it’s own episode and yet wasn’t useful enough for a microsode, so I stuck it in at the end. If you want to see what it was you can either watch through to the end or skip ahead to about the 26min mark if you find yourself falling asleep .

Also, I’d like to thank Heathenx (and his previous episode) for allowing me to finally break out of the closet and show my true musical tastes. Thanks buddy!

Episode 079 – Create a Rolling Stone Magazine Cover

by heathenx

In this episode I’m going to have a little fun by creating a Rolling Stone magazine cover in Inkscape v0.46.

If you would like to play along then you’ll need the Rolling Stone logo. Please be respectful and only use the logo for personal use.

Also note that once you finish your magazine cover and wish to print it for yourself, make sure you export your PNG file as a 300 dpi image so that you get the sharpest image.

Episode 078 – Charts and Graphs

by Richard Querin

In this episode I will demonstrate how to import a graph or chart and tweak it up a bit using Inkscape 0.46.

This episode utilizes the Gnumeric spreadsheet program which can export graphs or charts in SVG format very easily. I’m not sure if other spreadsheet apps (like OpenOffice Calc or MS-Excel) have this capability but I think Gnumeric is a great spreadsheet app anyway. I find it relatively lightweight and capable enough for many of my spreadsheet needs. I use it both on my Linux machine at home and on my Windows XP box at work.

The song in the intro is by Brad Senne under the project name “Beight” and is called “Parallels”. You can find it at http://magnatune.com/artists/beight.

[Update: See rico's comment below on how to do this same thing using OpenOffice Calc - thanks rico! ]

Episode 077 – Desktop Publishing

by heathenx

In this screencast I will illustrate some functionality in Inscape 0.46 for desktop publishing.

Announcement:
I don’t really want to hijack episode 077 with something unrelated but I’m going to anyway. Richard Querin and I have made a new section at the Screencasters called Microsodes. Check it out.

Episode 076 – Grunge Patterned Snowboard

by heathenx

In this episode I will demonstrate how to draw a very simple snowboard and apply a grunge pattern to it in Inkscape v0.46.

The grunge pattern brushes for Gimp used in this episode can be found at Hawksmont Universe. If you like his work then why not give him a small PayPal donation. He’s earned it.

Episode 075 – Vector Wings

by heathenx

In this episode I demonstrate how to create vector wings by tracing over a pencil sketch in Inkscape v0.46.

After scouring the Net for a pleasing wing design to sketch for myself, I stumbled upon Von. R. Glitschka’s excellent tutorial from illustrationclass.com regarding a custom and very unique wing design that he used to make a BMX (MirraCo) illustration. It is absolutely superb. I used the basic shape of the wings for my screencast only making it much simpler for newer users to Inkscape. If you consider yourself an advanced graphic artist then you may want to take note of Von’s additions that make his version of the wings stand out.

Von’s tutorial was very interesting as he details his process for developing not only the wings but the entire logo used. I encourage everyone to check out his website and then bookmark it because it offers valuable insight on the methods used by professional artists.

I thank Von for giving me his permission to take a stab at simplifying his wing design for subject material in this episode as I know some of you will hopefully find it interesting.

Reference:
illustrationclass.com – BMX Illustration

Episode 074 – Sunset Illustration with Starry Sky

by Richard Querin

In this screencast I demonstrate one way of creating a sunset illustration using Inkscape v0.46.

Part of this also involves creating a starry sky which provides a pretty much half-arsed tutorial on using Tiled Clones to achieve it. I just noticed however that you also can’t see the starry sky in the image above.. but trust me, it’s there. I just got a little too subtle with it I guess.

As always it’s only one way of doing things and likely you viewers out there will have plenty of other, more creative uses for the concepts in it. The sunset effect itself is super-simple, just using a multi-colour gradient and the pencil tool along with a couple of simple path effects. The bulk of this screencast ended up being the starry sky bit, but I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other uses for tiled clones with randomization.

The intro music is a song called “Eyes Closed” by The Seldon Plan, which you can find over at the wonderful Magnatune.com (http://magnatune.com/artists/seldon)

Hope you enjoy it.

Episode 073 – License Plate

by heathenx

In this screencast I will take a stab at creating a vector license plate in Inkscape 0.46.

PSHERO.com once again gets the credit for this screencast. Once I saw his tutorial I immediately made one of my own just to see if I could do it. I’ll try not to duplicate his tutorials too often out of respect for him and his tutorial site…but dog gone it!…his tutorials are so fun to follow. It’s his fault.

Thank-you for the inspiration, PSHERO.

Reference:
PSHERO.com – License Plate

Episode 072 – Glass Panels

by Richard Querin

In this screencast I demonstrate one way of creating a glass panel using Inkscape v0.46.

I got the idea for this screencast from this image on Flickr.

Also, I recorded this one in a single take with no do-overs. And while I think it’s an ok screencast, I twice mentioned a potential problem with the method I was using and how I was going to discuss it “later”. Well of course “later” never came and I completely forgot about it. So in the interest of lazyness I thought I’d just put the explanation here . Here goes:

This method uses the Object->Clip function to “fake” the transparency of the glass. The reason I do this is because it is impossible (somebody prove me wrong – please!) to create that drop shadow under the edges of the glass AND maintain transparency through the glass. In Inkscape I cannot find a way to create a fringe blur so that for instance, there is blur around the outside of a rectangle, but the inside of the rectangle is transparent. You could show only the outline or border of a shape and blur that, but the blur goes inward and outward – not what you want here.

There are workarounds. Such as going to the GIMP and creating the fringe blur at exactly the right size and importing that (as long as the interior of the fringe is transparent). If you can think of other workarounds, by all means post them in the comments.

Why is this a limitation of this method for creating the glass panel. Well, primarily it is because once you create the glass panel, you can’t move it around the image easily. You would have to do the Object->Clip whenever you move it. Not ideal. It means you have to pick your spot and dimensions of the panel pretty much at the beginning. A niggly detail, but annoying to me nonetheless.

So apologies for not explaining it in the screencast. It is an important thing to note when creating these things. And I implore you once again to post any solutions or workarounds you might have for this problem. I have been known to be slow catching on.

Just ask heathenx.

ps. The music in the intro was a song called “Should Be” by Arthur Yoria off of his Handshake Smiles album. You can find his stuff (which is great) over at Magnatune.com (which is great too!)

Cheers!

Episode 071 – Fabric Stitching

by heathenx

In this screencast I will try to simulate fabric stitching in Inkscape v0.46.

The idea for this screencast came from the amazing Photoshop tutorial website PSHERO.com. I don’t use Photoshop but many of their tutorials can be adapted to Inkscape. Be sure to check out their other brilliant tutorials as well. Thank-you PSHERO.

Moreover, there are many websites that offer free textures. Checkout CGTextures.com. The two textures that I used for this tutorial can be downloaded below:

ep071_textures.tar.gz.