Vector Workshop 2024

[Doska St.]

Hello,

I had no problems with the paths and path points, but with the color fill and border settings.

I think it has something to do with the performance of my PC, because the color selection scale is difficult to open - I have to wait for minutes. Then suddenly the fill color cannot be set... I had to close PSP using Ctrl-Alt-Delete and start again.

 

 

[Jen Brown]

Here is Lesson 1 Heart and Arrow.

[Cristina]

Working with vectors is all about practice, practice, and practice. In the beginning, we hate it; the nodes disappear, and lots of annoying things happen, but after a lot of trying and error, we start to have fun with it.  🙂 

There are a great number of tutorials and masterclasses inside the Diamond Membership.

Here is Lesson 2:

 

Edit: The tip for the corner nodes is genius. I have totally forgotten.

Edited June 18 by Cristina

[Corrie Kinkel]

6 minutes ago, Cristina said:

Working with vectors is all about practice, practice, and practice. In the beginning, we hate it, but after a lot of trying and error, we start to have fun with it.  🙂 

There are a lot of great tutorials and masterclasses inside the Diamond Membership.

Here is Lesson 2:

 

Edit: The tip for the corner nodes is genius. I have totally forgotten.

Yes I forgot that little tip way to often, so I now have made a note in my own list of most useful tips!

[middie]

15 hours ago, Randy said:

Well, I had to try something different. 

(1 - Heart4) (I wasn't sure if this would work with a layer that was not raster which is what I have used it for in the past.)  I ran a script I created to take copies of the layer, decrease the size of the copied layer. Repeat. Then merged the layers.

Then I flood filled with red in some areas.

(2 - Heart3) I then took a copy of Heart4 and applied the Colored Foil. I did not show this.

I then took a copy of this layer and used the blend mode to get Heart3.

(3 - Heart2) Then I used Heart3 layer with blend mode against Heart4 and ended up with Heart2.

(Conclusion) I liked the variations that I was able to produce. 

I like it when it gets to be fun.

 

Show off!!!  Wish I could do that.

[middie]

13 hours ago, Donna Sillia said:

I started to make an arrow, but then began to play with the nodes and ended up with a pencil. I converted the pencil to a raster and filled it in with different textures. The heart was harder than I remembered, but I finally got it to look like a heart using a lot of guide lines. I used a lined stroke, duplicated the stroke and made it smaller to fit inside the bigger heart.

That pencil is adorable!!!

[middie]

5 hours ago, Trevor Andrew said:

Now I have a better understanding, not very intuitive, I mean why select the pen tool.

I draw a shape on a vector layer, the next step I would imagine is modifying the shape, i would have thought the nodes would be available and not having to activate those.

So a new day and I managed to draw the shapes without referring to the video.

Bit of trial and error but I got there, found grid lines helped to keep things uniform

 

Just tried attaching a png but only Jpeg allowed which is larger than the png, 15kb to 65kb.

(post updated typo)

I did the same as I always save as a png for everything. I needed to put a post-it note on my computer to remind me to save a jpg for these lessons.

[middie]

3 hours ago, Daniel Hess said:

Not great getting it actually symmetrical editing cusps...that will take some practice.

That arrow reminds me of one of the "angry birds" from the computer game. It just needs some eyes.

[Anja Pelzer]

I have not signed in, but I can follow the Lessons as a Diamond, this is my 2nd try in this WS.

so here is my new lesson  

and this is the old lesson.

[Julian Adams]

15 minutes ago, Anja Pelzer said:

I have not signed in, but I can follow the Lessons as a Diamond, this is my 2nd try in this WS.

so here is my new lesson  

and this is the old lesson.

Nice!

[Susan Ewart]

20 hours ago, middie said:

Second time round for me on this workshop..... vectors are soooo very hard to remember let alone use. I didn't use any special fill or lettering as I am still trying to concentrate on node manipulation so my imges are recognizable. Did try a bit of extra manipulation in getting the heart through the arrow but it looked flat so I grabbed a brush to add some irregular marks around the entrance point of the arrow hoping to create the effect of a bruise. Sometimes additional "play" takes the edge off those pesky nodes. I am no artist so I doubt that I will be drawing many vector images but I really want to master text on a path. As for other members comments on PSP9, I still have my old WXP with PSP9 & AS on it and it is my favourite combination by far. I kept it primarily for the seamless integration with animation shop and for its ability to use all of the older free plugins that hate 64 bit installation. I use PSP 16 & 18 but 22 is waiting for me to stop avoiding installing it. I don't mind them adding new features with each release but I just wish that they would leave the old features alone. Change for the sake of change is so annoying and don't get me started on the fine print online manuals. I still have and use the paper manual that came with PSP9, a copy of a "Paintshop Pro for Dummies" book, and , of couse, Cassels own great publication. 

This looks great Middie.  I agree about the statement "change for the sake of change"....it gets exhausting trying to keep up.

[Susan Ewart]

Lesson 1

Heart and Arrow.  Lots of fiddling around.  I see some very cool hearts and arrows from everyone.  It's pretty inspiring.  I am keeping it simple for this workshop, as others have said, just concentrating on the forms and taming the nodes.  Some of those suckers like to multiply when I accidently click too much.  

[Anja Pelzer]

day 2 

the new lesson, with shadow  

 

and the old one with innerbevel and shadow 

[middie]

Help please!!! I have done something stupid but I don't know what. My rectangle shape has gone wonky in PSPX8. When I click on the preset at left and choose rectangle & try to draw one, I get one with rounded corners. The little mode box at the top says that it is a rectangle but all I get are rounded images. I used the preset choice at the top to get to the corel rectangle to use that but all I get is a black outline & no fill despite the materials palette being set to transparency & a red fill. I tried closing & reopening PSP but the same thing happens. I tried using PSP9 on my old computer and the rectangle shape works fine there, However, the one in PSPX8 on my new computer does not and it was working fine yesterday so something I did between now & then has caused the problem. I have put a screenshot of my PSPX8 workspace below but I am not certain that it is large enough for you to see all the settings. Any ideas? Thanks.

[Anja Pelzer]

Vor 1 Stunde sagte middie:

Bitte helfen Sie mir!!! Ich habe etwas Dummes getan, aber ich weiß nicht, was. Meine Rechteckform ist in PSPX8 schiefgelaufen. Wenn ich auf die vorgegebenen Links klicke und ein Rechteck auswähle und versuche, eines zu zeichnen, erhalte ich eines mit abgerundeten Ecken. Das kleine Modusfeld oben sagt, dass es ein Rechteck ist, aber ich erhalte nur ausgewählte Bilder. Ich habe die Vorlageauswahl oben verwendet, um zum Corel-Rechteck zu gelangen und es zu verwenden, aber ich erhalte nur einen schwarzen Umriss und keine Füllung, obwohl die Materialpalette auf Transparenz und eine rote Füllung eingestellt ist. Ich habe versucht, PSP zu schließen und neu zu öffnen, aber es passiert dasselbe. Ich habe versucht, PSP9 auf meinem alten Computer zu verwenden, und die Rechteckform funktioniert dort einwandfrei. Die PSPX8-Funktion auf meinem neuen Computer funktionierte jedoch nicht und funktionierte gestern einwandfrei, also hat etwas, das ich zwischen jetzt und damals gemacht habe, das Problem verursacht. Ich habe unten einen Screenshot meines PSPX8-Arbeitsbereichs eingefügt, bin mir aber nicht sicher, ob er groß genug ist, damit Sie alle Einstellungen sehen können. Irgendwelche Ideen? Danke.

wenn du dir das Video von Tag 2 anschaust, zeigt Carole es, Psp hat die Einstellungen von Video 1, du kannst den horizontalen und vertikalen Radius auf Null setzen und das Rechteck wird normal, hoffe das hilft

Edited June 18 by Anja Pelzer

[Alice Daniel]

I decided to try to make a character based on the ellipse. I am struggling to alter the shape with the pen tool. It seems that I get knocked off the vector layer I am trying to edit or I just don't have the right tool settings for the pen to easily grab the node and alter the shape or to add a node to alter the shape. Then, when I first tried to save the image after resizing, the version was terribly pixelated. Oh and I see the grey ellipse I put on the image below for a shadow, I forgot to reduce the opacity so that it would look more like a shadow!

[Alice Daniel]

I am impressed with others' creations!

[Trevor Andrew]

1 hour ago, middie said:

Help please!!! I have done something stupid but I don't know what. My rectangle shape has gone wonky in PSPX8. When I click on the preset at left and choose rectangle & try to draw one, I get one with rounded corners. The little mode box at the top says that it is a rectangle but all I get are rounded images. I used the preset choice at the top to get to the corel rectangle to use that but all I get is a black outline & no fill despite the materials palette being set to transparency & a red fill. I tried closing & reopening PSP but the same thing happens. I tried using PSP9 on my old computer and the rectangle shape works fine there, However, the one in PSPX8 on my new computer does not and it was working fine yesterday so something I did between now & then has caused the problem. I have put a screenshot of my PSPX8 workspace below but I am not certain that it is large enough for you to see all the settings. Any ideas? Thanks.

Hi Middie

The round corners are set from the “horizontal radius” and “vertical radius” Your settings show as 115.50 (view your menu bar at the top)

Reset those settings to zero, simply type in a 0 and the corners will be a right angle.

Carole shows how to set the corners as round in the video.

[middie]

26 minutes ago, Anja Pelzer said:

if you watch the video from day 2, Carole shows it, Psp has the settings of video 1, you can set the horizontal and vertical radius to zero and the rectangle will become normal, hope that helps

It worked!! Thank you so much. I had not altered the radii figures on the top before. I guess it does that automatically from the last time used.  Now I have another post-it note on my computer warning me to check for that. My computer screen will soon be covered in them. When I get struck with something I usually open my freezer and take out a box of shortbread to eat (shortbread is so very comforting) but I had eaten up all of my stash so I had to bake some more today. I try the lesson again after I have had some tea and warn shortbread.  Thank you for such a quick and efective response.

[Trevor Andrew]

Lesson 2 I followed the video and saving the shapes worked correctly and now show in the pre-sets.

Thanks Carole

I did start to create a group of arrows all went well until the program decided to do its disappearing act, at the time I was working on layers and grouping, then a silent closure.

Next time it works ok.

Png images are not allowed on the forums so is there any benefit in using a transparent background. For me the squares get in the way, I find it better to use a white background with the grid view, now I find it easier to keep things in proportion. I have also noticed that I can use the arrow keys to move nudge the nodes making positioning much more accurate, need to investigate further I’m sure drawing and using those nodes will get easier with practice, I need to watch that video again.

 

 

[Donna Sillia]

Nothing fancy. I just added some vectortubes. This lesson was very helpful because I had forgotten about the cusp node.

[Corrie Kinkel]

For day 2 I have kept it really simple because I have so much trouble to see those nodes and although I have set the node size bigger you still have to click in the middle otherwise it won't work. Sadly my eyes won't cooperate at the moment. I have not only the shapes of today but also the ones from day 1 exported in one file and everything is in this blue color to distinguish them from the purple ones of last year. When exporting I got a warning that there were already preset shapes with the names Labels so I had to come up with different names or numbers to avoid getting duplicates. I didn't make a screenshot of my preset shapes because the results of the coming lessons are there too and I won't spoil what is to come the next days.

[Julie Magerka]

Didn't have a lot of time today to work on Lesson 2, but wanted to be on time. We have temps in the 100s (F) and my A/C went kaput yesterday. It has been fixed but it knocked me sideways to endure high indoor temps. The poor dogs too were listless.

Just played with a few shapes. I have NOT mastered those (#@^$*) nodes - my shapes are often a bit wonky - but I refuse to let them beat me ultimately! I will prevail! (Ha)

[Julie Magerka]

7 hours ago, Susan Ewart said:

Lesson 1

Heart and Arrow.  Lots of fiddling around.  I see some very cool hearts and arrows from everyone.  It's pretty inspiring.  I am keeping it simple for this workshop, as others have said, just concentrating on the forms and taming the nodes.  Some of those suckers like to multiply when I accidently click too much.  

.

They don't just multiply, they seem to change from one node type to another or be unavailable to work with. They are diabolical!

[Gerry Landreth]

Day 1 - I kept getting turned around with this project, and I'm unsure why. It was likely the distraction of purring cats. Daddy was cornered in his tiny office, and they took full advantage.