Stroke Path 3D Effect

[Espermaschine]

Gave this effect a try (theres also a similar (and clueless) tutorial by he-who-shall-not-be-named on youtube).

Now i need to clean up the effect, but im lost with the choice of ca. 3000 different G'MIC filters.....any ideas ?

XCF attached below.

[Ofnuts]

Nice... Have to be careful with the order of path strokes...

PS: Instead of posting an XCF in a ZIP, you can post an xcf.gz (create directly in Gimp and open directly from browser).

[Espermaschine]

Yeah the order is a difficult one, the overlap of letters doesnt always work.

I also experimented with different Brush Dynamics (Tilt and Direction), but it seems to work best with no dynamics.

Maybe the brush isnt optimal, i dont know....

[Espermaschine]

So nobody has a G'MIC filter idea for cleaning up the "artifacts" on the letter G ???

[Ofnuts]

I assume you have used the smalled spacing available... Perhaps make a selection on the text and blur it a bit?

[rich2005]

You could try something like remove hot pixels in the repair section.

The filter constrained by a selection (might / might not be necessary)

before https://i.imgur.com/YtbACPT.jpg
after https://i.imgur.com/iHeEtJ6.jpg

[Espermaschine]

Remove Hot Pixels was one of my first idea (as its one of the few filters where i actually know whats its good for).

Just tried a Selective Gaussian Blur with a Radius of 30 and Delta the default 50. That helps but makes it look a bit dull...not sure if i like that.
I think selective Blur is the filter that a lot of smartphone users apply and can make you look like Odo from 'Deep Space 9' when overdone

Also tried the G'MIC variant Smooth [bilateral] but that smeared the contours into blobby territory.
Smooth [anisotropic], my default filter for improving texteffects, doesnt bring it either

(02-09-2018, 08:27 AM)rich2005 Wrote: before https://i.imgur.com/YtbACPT.jpg
after https://i.imgur.com/iHeEtJ6.jpg

did you use centerline tracing ?
i tried that too, but it doesnt produce the kind of paths that are optimal for this effect, so i had to do it manually, and there is still room for improvement.


P.S: congrats on your 1000st post  ! 

[rich2005]

Yes - Autotrace centerline trace. Just for speed and convenience.

That can be modified deleting unwanted paths and nodes + Ofnuts path tools to (re)join any separate nodes.

I think for any good effect a hand trace will be as quick as messing about with tracing tools.

Same with the brush, it was a quick make. Even with spacing=1 there is that overlap. Maybe 2 brushes one solid base colour followed by an overlay with transparency?

[Espermaschine]

(02-09-2018, 10:10 AM)rich2005 Wrote: Same with the brush, it was a quick make. Even with spacing=1 there is that overlap. Maybe 2 brushes one solid base colour followed by an overlay with transparency?

Agreed, even at 1% Spacing, its not optimal.
Tbh, i dont fully understand the effect - why it looks so different on the letter p for example. I guess its the angle ?

EDIT: its because of the direction of the path...

I also gave the Photoshop brush-tip a try, but the result isnt great.

   

[rich2005]

A quick try with 2 brushes and a hand draw path.

No banding but suffering from overlap at the ends/breaks in the path.

https://i.imgur.com/9ezhNcB.jpg

There is no hope