my brain hurts....stupid vector art...

[allroy1975]

I'm sure it's not that hard, but it's pretty strange....this Vector Art.  I'm trying to do a picture of Peter Pepper (from burger time) that was the side art of the machine.  There's really not much to it, but I can't find the original Akuma gif, so I couldn't exactly follow along with Frosty's tutorial.  I've got the Chef's Hat done, and I'm trying to get the face and GEEZ!!! it's giving me a headache!

It sure would be nice if I could MOVE a Bezier Anchor Point.  Is there a way to do this?  every time I try it moves the whole Vector.  

I checked the help file..but I don't see it in there.  

I'm sure one of you guys could whip this thing out pretty quickly, but I want to learn how to do it myself and then put one that I made up on that vector library web site!  

I get the impression that doing this (much like everything else in the world) gets easier with practice.  So..that's what I'm doing.

If someone could just tell me how to move a Bezier anchor point.  Just the point..that'd be great.

Allroy

[Nannuu]

You use the Direct Selection Tool (the white arrow).  Click on the vector and it will highlight.  Hold Shift and click on the point you want to move, it will now turn white.  Now you can drag it all you want.  Once you've done this you can pick any point or part of the curve to move.

Experiment with the Shift click, then move different areas of the curve.  You can get some useful results from that sometimes.

[allroy1975]

I swear I'm following your instructions and it's not working....

I'm a bigger idiot than anyone I know.  

Allroy

[allroy1975]

AH HA!!!!

Click on the vector and it will highlight.  Hold Shift and click on the point you want to move, it will now turn white.  LET GO OF THE SHIFT KEY  Now you can drag it all you want.  Once you've done this you can pick any point or part of the curve to move.


See, it's the little things that can make a big difference in talking to idiots like me.  

Thanks a bunch!

Allroy

[Nannuu]

Doh, yep.  Sorry about that.  Vectorizing is really easy once you get the hang of it.  But some things do take a LOT of time to finish though.

[allroy1975]

yeah, the side art on a burger time cab has peter leaning against a pepper shaker.  I don't know how I'm going to do the pepper inside yet....

any ideas anyone?

Allroy

[patrickl]

I'm afraid you'll have to draw the pepper. You might use some fill, but i doubt it will come out looking the same.


BTW, I'm surprised so many people use Illustrator. A program like CorelDRAW is so much easier to use. In Corel the wireframe view still shows the bitmaps and that makes it much easier to trace the edges than with a transparency setting. Corel is also a proper Windows program with context menu's. For adding text you have a lot more options in Corel. etc etc etc

It took me about half the time to vectorize an image in Corel as opposed to using Illustrator. The end result is better too (more closely matched).

[SirPeale]

I'd swear I saw that vectorized somewhere already.

[allroy1975]

well, I hope you didn't see it.  I don't know why though.  I'm just learning on it.  It took me a LONG time to find this picture for my Monitor Bezel when I was designing it for my cab.  and now I can't even find that guy's page.  Anyway, let me know if you did see it.  

Allroy

[SirPeale]

I think it was in the old vector library.  Pretty sure.  What ever happened to that, anyway?

[SirPeale]

Here it is.  Not the image I was thinking of, however.

http://www.mametrixreloaded.com/gallery/Zorg

And you can't download any of the .ai files

[patrickl]

I guess those images are on mahuti's vector library (search for burgertime) It's not the same chef picture as on the sideart though. You can also find them on Zorg's archive (as he drew them all).

[mahuti]

Yeah, we duped all of the content on the mametrixreloaded site. Zorg had been duping his archive for safekeeping, which turned out to be pretty handy, when we needed to set up a new one.

His site went away for the same reason a lot of these things quit getting worked on, time.

He was trying to upgrade his library, and the new version wasn't working the way he wanted it (and the old one had issues). After we all wondered what was happening, I created a new one. I have my own design & hosting business... so I don't have to worry about what my boss thinks when I'm screwing off working on the new vector library. Basically, I really like working on the vector library, seeing it grow. I won't be going away for a long time. Hopefully, I can continue to make it better & better (along with lots of great contributions)

Cn

[Acids]

After we all wondered what was happening, I created a new one. I have my own design & hosting business... so I don't have to worry about what my boss thinks when I'm screwing off working on the new vector library. Basically, I really like working on the vector library, seeing it grow. I won't be going away for a long time. Hopefully, I can continue to make it better & better (along with lots of great contributions)

And we are all so thankfull.  

[mahuti]

Everyone has been very positive. It's  nice to know that the time spent is worth it.

I check stats all the time, but I installed a counter about 4 days ago... it's up to abou 700 unique visitors. That's pretty cool. I've had a few donations to my hosting, and that's really nice, too.

I've just finished some HUGE projects (for paying clients) so hopefully I can get back to my real work

Hoping to have some pooyan sideart done soon for Tutankham.com. That guy has really shown the world some good advice with his bondo repair & stenciling tutorials