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+--- Thread: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text (/Thread-Using-Long-Shadow-for-3D-text)
Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - carmen - 10-19-2019
[attachment=3302]
I worked it on these lines:
1. start from 2 layers (background and text) and two separated paths for big/small text (borrowed from another proyect)
2. new transparent layer below the text layer -> fill with black the big text path -> Filters -> Light and Shadow -> Long Shadow, Style = Finite, Angle = 90, Color = Black, and play with Length until it looks right
3. repeat for the small text, but in Filters, instead to 'Repeat Long Shadow', 'Re-show Long Shadow', go to Presets and click on the arrow on right: the first item stores your setting for pass 1; select it and decrease Length to about half:
result is the picture above.
4. Zooming on it, one sees that the fine lines have left gaps in the black: simply duplicating the layer in 3 mends it some
[attachment=3303]
5. A simple example of Long Shadow, Style = Fading
[attachment=3304]
with the shadow layer in mode 'linear burn' and the Long Shadow made from a layer with both texts at once: the fading masks the queer effect one sees here
[attachment=3305]
which shows also some queernes due to very fine vertical stroke in "5th"
6. Instead, one can change also the angle for each text shadow
[attachment=3306]
and color it with a gradient, after having toggled 'Lock alpha channel'.
Here, an added layer on top from 'copy visible', in mode 'soft light', not only improves the colors, but mends the previous point.
7. Of course, instead of working with text from paths, one can begin from an actual text layer, or any other shape on a transparent background, but although there is an option to add the shadow to the layer, in my opinion, it works poorly for text: the edge between text and shadow loses sharpness, so it 's better to make a copy, put it below the original, and apply Long Shadow with the option Composition: Only Shadow, in whatever color.
If useful, enjoy!Note for the board: Why isn't webp supported?
I made a trial with my fourth attachment, exporting to different formats:
jpg -- 28kb -- poor quality
indexed png -- 21kb -- good quality
lossless png -- 170kb -- very good quality
webp -- 16kb -- good quality
so, I uploaded everything as indexed png, because the server insisted on zipping webp...
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - Ofnuts - 10-19-2019
(10-19-2019, 09:38 PM)carmen Wrote: Note for the board: Why isn't webp supported?
I made a trial with my fourth attachment, exporting to different formats:
jpg -- 28kb -- poor quality
indexed png -- 21kb -- good quality
lossless png -- 170kb -- very good quality
webp -- 16kb -- good quality
so, I uploaded everything as indexed png, because the server insisted on zipping webp...
Because the software we use (MyBB) doesn't support it (yet).
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - carmen - 10-19-2019
Thanks!
I am glad it's 'yet'
.
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - Espermaschine - 10-23-2019
Nice texteffects !
Did you warp the 'Polgara' text with ofn-bend-path ?
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - carmen - 10-23-2019
(10-23-2019, 05:20 AM)Espermaschine Wrote: Nice texteffects !Yes, basically, but in 3 steps:
Did you warp the 'Polgara' text with ofn-bend-path ?
- POLGARA aligned center, with enough space left at the sides, P and A removed by 'delete stroke' (or 'extract stroke')
- larger P aligned left
- larger A aligned right
Moreover, the O didn't look right, so I substituted one not bended.
One has to juggle with the letter spacing to get the baseline nicely aligned to the bottom circle, and no overlap--here, one cannot break the text apart and rearrange the bended characteres...
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - Espermaschine - 10-24-2019
So if i understand you correctly, you used three envelope paths.
Came out great !
Theres a cool website im addicted to, with tons of movie titles from old Hollywood films.
Its like the blueprint for all texteffects.
Everything is hand painted, with interesting fonts - pre-Helvetica, lol.
The skill, patience and imagination involved is mind boggling.
http://annyas.com/screenshots/film-noir/
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - carmen - 10-24-2019
(10-24-2019, 02:41 AM)Espermaschine Wrote: So if i understand you correctly, you used three envelope paths.If remember rightly, I managed with a single envelope path + helper guides to adjust the two sizes...
Came out great !
Theres a cool website im addicted to, with tons of movie titles from old Hollywood films.
Its like the blueprint for all texteffects.
Everything is hand painted, with interesting fonts - pre-Helvetica, lol.
The skill, patience and imagination involved is mind boggling.
http://annyas.com/screenshots/film-noir/
Cool, indeed--and much in line of what I do for my e-book covers.
Are the fonts really hand-made? One of my standing troubles is finding fonts to match first edition covers of books more than 30 years old, and once (for two books) I concotted the font myself... fair to pass, if nothing to write home about.
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - Espermaschine - 10-24-2019
(10-24-2019, 08:31 AM)carmen Wrote: Are the fonts really hand-made? One of my standing troubles is finding fonts to match first edition covers of books more than 30 years old, and once (for two books) I concotted the font myself... fair to pass, if nothing to write home about.
Pretty sure there werent that many typefaces in the 40ies. At least compared to today.
Just think about how many new fonts we got in the last ten years, just made by guys with a computer and software.
My dad was a decorator and was trained to paint posters for advertising by hand with a quill.
He had a big A5 cardboard folder with sheets in it that showed how to construct a specific font.
He would draw lines with a pencil, then sketch the letters and later trace with ink and quill.
It took days and one mistake and he had to do it all over again...
Sadly that folder is now in possession of a dragon and when i was younger i wasnt that interested in the subject, so all i have is that memory.
But i remember a big chunk of those typefaces were fraktur typefaces (blackletter/gothic), which didnt impress me very much at that time.
A lot of type from the 60ies to 80ies came from Letraset sheets you had to rub down on paper.
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - carmen - 10-24-2019
(10-24-2019, 09:25 AM)Espermaschine Wrote: Pretty sure there werent that many typefaces in the 40ies. At least compared to today.
Just imagine how many new fonts we got in the last ten years, just made by guys with a computer and software.
My dad was a decorator and was trained to paint posters for advertising by hand with a quill.
He had a big A5 cardboard folder with sheets in it that showed how to construct a specific font.
He would draw lines with a pencil, then sketch the letters and later trace with ink and quill.
It took days and one mistake and he had to do it all over again...
Sadly that folder is now in possession of a dragon and when i was younger i wasnt that interested in the subject, so all i have is that memory.
But i remember a big chunk of those typefaces were fraktur typefaces (blackletter/gothic), which didnt impress me very much at that time.
A lot of type from the 60ies to 80ies came from Letraset sheets you had to rub down on paper.
Well do I remember Letraset!--typewritten text inside + cardboard cover in Letraset rubbed letters... maybe there are some of those still in my shelves, and sheets lost in drawers.
So, the fonts in book covers weren't typeset? Most of the old ones I have seen look like vintage fonts/variants of--and tons of them, especially serif/fancy ones. Trying to keep abreast of them, I usually have some 360 additional fonts in my personal Gimp fonts folder--plus more + variants to be added through addonManager or NexusFont.
RE: Using 'Long Shadow' for 3D text - Espermaschine - 10-24-2019
(10-24-2019, 10:02 AM)carmen Wrote: So, the fonts in book covers weren't typeset ?
I dont know.
I guess both.
For example after the first season of 'Stranger Things', people got into old Stephen King bookcovers.
Pretty sure these were handmade.
https://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/01/23/stranger-things-logo-design/
Or sometimes i research what font was used on an old recordcover, and find answers in dedicated forums, that say it was based on a font but modified.
Without computers that must have been done by hand as well.