Jan 28 2010

flash techniques: inspect detail with a magnifying glass

Does anyone still use Flash? Okay, I admit, I do. I have a little library of useful tools and this is one of them. How many times have you embedded an image on your website and then decided that you needed to have an enlarged version for more detailed views?

This has an obvious drawback–piracy of the enlarged image is one. If a detailed view of a portion of the image is all that is required–for example, for inspection of intricate designs or to focus in on map details–this is a way to accomplish magnification without giving away your work. View an example.

The requirements are Flash (of course) and a little bit of Actionscript know-how. This example uses Actionscript 2.0 so it can be accomplished using venerable versions of Flash, beginning with Macromedia Flash MX and more recent.

The first thing you need is a large version of your image from which a smaller version will be made.

The small image will be sized to fit in your webpage layout. For this example, I wanted the image to be 480 px wide.

The magnification will be 2.5 times, therefore the large image would be 1200 px wide (480 x 2.5 = 1200). The image you choose should be at least 1200 px wide.

In Photoshop (or another image editing application), File > Open > (your large image) Now is a good time to save the image with a new name so that you don’t accidentally ruin the original. I saved the exmaple image as large.jpg (the image can be any format that Flash recognizes: .jpg, .gif, .psd, etc.)

Re-size the image to be 1200 px wide: Image > Image Size… Make sure the resolution is set to 72 ppi (A) and change the pixel dimension to 1200 px wide (B).

Now, save the image as large.jpg.
(File > Save As…)

Once again, re-size the image (Image > Image Size…) but this time the pixel dimensions will be 480 px wide (or 2.5 times smaller than large.jpg). Remember the height dimension— it will be needed in Flash.

Save this as small.jpg.

Open a new Flash file. If using CS4 be sure to specify Actionscript 2.0, not 3.0.

The stage size will need to match the size of small.jpg: Modify > Document…

In the dialogue box enter 480 px wide x the height dimension of small.jpg.

Import small.jpg to the stage: File > Import > Import To Stage…

Position the image so that it completely fills the stage. In the Properties palette, change the position to x: 0.00 and y: 0.00.

Rename the layer: small (A) (Note: rename the layer by double-clicking on the layer name to enter edit mode.)

Create a new layer (B) and rename it: large

At this point you should save the file: File> Save As…

The large image will be loaded into a Symbol: Insert > New Symbol…

Give the symbol the Name: large_mc and the Type: Movie Clip

This will open the new blank movie clip. Into this, import the large image: Import > Import To Stage…

Set the position to x: 0.00 and y: 0.00

Return to the main stage by clicking “Scene 1” in the upper left of the project window:

Click on the keyframe in layer large (A) to make it active.

From the Library panel, drag the Movie Clip, large_mc (B) onto the stage.

The position on the stage is unimportant, however to better see what you are doing, drag it to one side or the other of the main stage.

With large_mc still selected, open the Properties panel and give it an Instance Name: largeView.

Right-click on the Movie Clip to bring up the contextual menu and select Actions.

This will bring up the Actions panel. Enter the following code, exactly as shown (be sure to include the closing bracket on the last line):

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {

_root.largeView._x = (_root._xmouse * -1.5);
_root.largeView._y = (_root._ymouse * -1.5);

}

This code works as long as the large image is 2.5 times larger than the small image. The value “-1.5” controls the positioning of the mouse relative to the large view. If you think of the small view as being 1x and the large image as 2.5x, 1x – 2.5x = 1.5x. -1.5 is the value used in the code. Therefore, if your large image is 3 times larger than the small image, the formula would be 1x – 3x = 2x and -2 would be used instead of -1.5 in the code.

Close the Actions panel.

Create a new layer above large and name it glass. (Note: the order of the layers is important.)

At the bottom of the Tool panel, set the Stroke color (A) to transparent. The Fill color is unimportant.

Using the Oval Tool (B), draw a circle (hold down the SHIFT key as you drag to constrain to a circle shape).

In the Properties panel, make the diameter 140 pixels (C).

Right-click on the circle and select Convert to Symbol…

In the Symbol dialogue box, give the circle a Name of glass_mc and a Type of Movie Clip.

Close the dialogue box.

There should be a circle and small crosshairs in the center of your circle. In the Properties panel, give the Movie Clip an instance name of glassLens.

Right-click on the circle and choose Actions from the contextual menu. In the Actions panel, enter the following code:

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {

_root.glassLens._x = (_root._xmouse);
_root.glassLens._y = (_root._ymouse);

}

Close the Actions panel.

Right-click on the glass layer in the Timeline and choose Mask from the contextual menu.

The layers should appear as shown below and the circle will now be invisible.

Save the file.

Test the movie: Control > Test Movie.

If you want to add a bezel (rim) to the magnifying glass, create a new layer above glass and rename it bezel.

On this layer, draw a circle with a stroke color that will show against the background of your image.

In the Properties panel, change the diameter of the circle to 140 pixels and the stroke size to 2.00 pixels.

With the Selection Tool, double-click on the circle to enter edit mode.

Click once on the fill region of the circle to select it and press DELETE to erase it, leaving only the stroke.

Click on “Scene 1” at the top of the edit window to return to the stage.

Right click on the bezel and select Convert to Symbol…

In the Symbol dialogue box, give the symbol a Name of bezel_mc and the Type of Movie Clip.

Close the Symbol dialogue box. In the Properties panel, give the Movie Clip and instance name of bezelEdge.

Right-click on the Movie Clip and select Actions.

Enter the following code in the Actions panel:

onClipEvent (enterFrame) {

_root.bezelEdge._x = (_root._xmouse);
_root.bezelEdge._y = (_root._ymouse);

}

Close the Actions panel.

To make the cursor invisible, place your cursor in the keyframe of the bezel layer (A), right-click and select Actions (B).

In the Actions panel, enter the following code:

Mouse.hide();

Close the Actions panel. Save and test the movie.

You should now be able to insert the .swf file to your webpage.


Jan 13 2010

illustrator techniques: use custom brushes to create a custom border or frieze

The technique of making a custom border in Illustrator is similar to specifying a pattern. View the example starting motif and the finished border.

Start with a linear pattern that you wish to repeat seamlessly. I found this albatross motif which I (hand) traced in Illustrator.

And generated at least one instance of a seamless repeat by copying and pasting and filling in the missing segment.

First, make sure all of the elements of the motif are grouped together: Select > All and then Object > Group

This will also place all of the objects on the same layer.

Make sure the rulers are visible: View > Show Rulers

Find the edges of the repeat and drag guide lines from the vertical ruler to align with each of the edges. Try to be precise so there are no gaps or overlaps in the repeated design.

Make sure the guides are locked: View > Guides > Lock Guides. Make sure there is a check mark next to Lock Guides. Click to toggle the lock on or off.

With the Rectangle Tool (1), draw a box with no fill and no border (2) that completely encompasses the area to be repeated.

Select All again and choose Crop (1) from the Pathfinder panel (2).

This should result in a single instance of the repeat.

Note: If the original design includes complex appearances or blends, you may have to expand the appearances (Object > Expand Appearance) or expand strokes and fills (Object > Expand…) before cropping.

Select All again and open the Brushes panel (1). Make a new brush (2) and select New Pattern Brush (3):

Frm the Pattern Brush Options dialogue box, name the brush (1) and click on the Side Tile indicator (2) and click OK:

To test the repeat, use the Pen Tool (1) to draw a straight line (2):

Select the line. From the Brushes Panel (1), choose the new custom brush (2):

To change the size of the border, first select Object > Transform > Scale…

From the Scale dialogue box, make sure Scale Stroke & Effects is checked:

With the line segment selected and holding down the Shift ket, pull the upper corner handles out:


Jan 2 2010

illustrator techniques, part 2: editing colors

This is the second part of a two-part tutorial on creating a repeat pattern. This (much shorter) part explores using the Color Editor features of Illustrator CS3 or CS4 to change the colorway of a pattern swatch. Defining a pattern is covered in Part 1 of this tutorial.

Defining a pattern has been a part of Illustrator for many, many versions, however Color Editing is only available in more recent versions, starting with CS3. If you want to skip Part 1 and move right into color editing with the pattern swatch used for this exercise, it can be downloaded and installed as follows:

Un-zip the downloaded file

Move the file japanese_04b.ai to the Applications folder (or Program Files directory for Windows):

Adobe Illustrator CS3 (or CS4) > Presets > en_US > Swatches > Patterns > Decorative

Quit and restart Illustrator

Note: The colorizing techniques using Color Edit can be used with any pattern.

Open a new document (print or web)

Insert the pattern japanese_04b into a Swatches panel by clicking on the upper right corner of the panel (A) to reveal a flyout menu of options for this panel. Select Open Swatch Library (B), the choose Patterns (C), then Decorative (D), and finally the swatch file japanese_04b.

This will open a new swatches panel with the color swatches and pattern swatch.

With the Rectangle Tool, draw a box.

For the fill color, select the pattern from the Swatches panel.

With the Selection Tool, select the filled box.

Open the Color Guide panel (A) and click on the color wheel icon at the bottom of the panel (B) to open the Recolor Artwork dialogue box.

In the Recolor Artwork dialogue box, click the Edit button (A) to reveal the Color Editor.

The link icon (B) should be ‘connected’ to preserve the same color harmony relationship. If you want to experiment with other relationships, you can ‘unlink’.

To see the results of your color choices, be sure Recolor Artwork (C) is checked.

Rotate the Active Colors (D) by clicking on one of the circles and dragging it around the color wheel to test various hues. You can also change the value by pulling the Active Color toward or away from the center of the color wheel.

Once you have chosen a new colorway, give it a name (E) and create a new group (F).

Click OK to close the Color Editor.

This will result in a new color group and a new pattern swatch being added to your Swatches panel.

A complete explanation of the Color Editor can be found in the Adobe Illustrator help file: