Working on Shapes Tutorials

Hello, I want to thank you much for your skilled and expert comments to help me make it better and do not continue following a wrong way. I like also much your polite and aserive way to tell things. Also have some "art" to say the things in such a good way and I like it.

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Skybase wrote: As far as I'm looking the resulting imagery looks nice but what troubles me is the way these examples are being constructed. It's important to note that some of the methods in the examples above are unconventional and not necessary the best ways to do something. FilterForge is a free-for-all environment, and I understand anything really goes... but you know... I just wanted to make sure people are getting the right ideas about methods here. Many unconventional methods do lead to slower filters with less control and unexpected results. So please... just be very cautious about that, especially when you're making examples.

I am sorry that I have done and shown the examples breaking the authors right and giving a bad example of how to use the shapes, and without respect to the author filter. I totally agree with you and you are right that this is no good to show this in the forum as an example to follow.

Also is true that possibly I am using unconventional ways to do it, and I have confirmed also that my way of doing is is SLOWER than the real filter, and as you say very well it has less control and surprising and unexpected results.

I am sorry that I still do not know which is the difference fr om conventional and unconvential ways when speaking about using the components inside filter editor, I suposse that the conventional use is the one that is already used in many filters available from skilled and well done filters.

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Skybase wrote: Hm... ok well... the fact that you started out by using the free-rectangle component actually breaks some conventions here. There's nothing wrong with it, but it's not a clean construction, especially for what you're doing here. Let me explain further: Particle bombers read in square images, and the free-rectangle (also free-elipse) components break that since values can go above -1 and 1 in both x and y directions. This results in clipping of the particle shape which is generally undesirable.

Well, I started using the rectangle because thought that all the shapes was exactly the same and did not matter which one you choose, and I choose the rectangle because is the one that has more area available and could be better modified.

Thanks for your advice, I did not know that this breaks some conventions and does not make a clean construction.

Is true that it have happened that using the bomber I had some undesirable clipping and did not know why. Now thanks to you I know.

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Skybase wrote: Also, at this point of noisiness, it would be perfectly acceptable to use the noise component directly as a source of the particle. There's no need for a free-rectangle at all. And of course, wh ere it's desired, you can mask shapes out by feeding the noise into a polygon or elipse component (not the ones with "free" on it.) This allows for cleaner, more controllable results.

OH, I see, and is true that is not possibly needed to use the free rectangle and use directly the noise component as the source, and good idea to use the mask shapes using the NON FREE components and so this way I will get a cleaner and more controllable results.

Great to learn all this useful and interesting things.

Thanks very much for your help and sorry for all my errors and have done it wrong before and have it done bad with the examples.

Oh sweet

Thanks CFandM.
Nicely done, and so good of you to share your knowledge with us.

I have seen a filter that is also probably a good lesson and good to learn on how to make complex shapes in FF

Shrooms by Jim Niehues



Also the great work on shape building of the letters on this great filter

TD Europa Sans Caps Proc Font Advanced

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CFandM wrote: Thanks All....Yep always love sharing what I know...

Thanks for very much for this and is good that you love to do it, AND I want to add, that this is not enough sometimes, someone could know very much BUT does not know HOW to share and teach this to others! And the way you do it is very good and very easy to understand and made with good examples.

You love to share it with us, and I love to learn this from you

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CFandM wrote: There are a lot of complex shapes to learn from in the Library...

Yes, is true, the problem is to find them

Also sometimes you do not know if the way shown in the filter is a good one and is the best and optimized way, or a complex way that could be done probably easier and better and getting the same result.

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Gene S Morgan Wrote.. Thanks so much for your PDF CFandM .... It took me awhile to finally download it and study it a bit. I have made a number of filters, but never tried working much with shapes. This does a great job of covering the how-to of shaping. I've already made a couple of really cruddy filters using ideas from your tutorial. It is always great when those of you who actually know what you are doing give us tips on going new directions with our filters .... Thanks again

You are welcome Gene and thanks I was trying to cover the best methods that I have encountered or used. Thats why I am posting this guide..I am kinda focusing more on the methods more then the filter..Ideals seem to flow more from a method then just posting how to put together a filter...

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SpaceRay Wrote.. Thanks for very much for this and is good that you love to do it, AND I want to add, that this is not enough sometimes, someone could know very much BUT does not know HOW to share and teach this to others! And the way you do it is very good and very easy to understand and made with good examples.

Always good to hear Spaceray...Still working on that curves part..
Working on the making shapes with FF2 curves at the moment..

Glad to post it Ghislaine..

Thats alright Morgantao you can grab the updated version now with curves...Well for those still using FF2...But you can use the tutorial and substitute the standard curves for the Bezier curve....
Shape Tutorial Now with Curves

Thanks for the new PDF update CFandM.

I know it's not exactly related to this thread, but itkinda is...
Take a look at the M_Shadows and Highlights. See those two bezier curves in the beginning? How would you go about creating those with FF2.0 components?

It's not exactly proper SHAPES, but you can think of the curves as shapes and combine them too.

WOW!! I did not expect to have the third part so soon. Thanks very much I will see it later.

hehe.. Whoops...I was trying something else and forgot to take out the math and step curve.....You can attach that circular arc to the other math curve op..

I did post a link to an update with some curves tutorials..Its a couple of posts up but here it is again...
3rd Update

WOW!! This is getting more and more interesting and useful each time it updates and is really very useful to learn about all this and never imagined that all this things could be done inside FF in this way.

I will have to pratice with all of this.

Thanks really very much again for this and so well done and explained very well.

Of course that you deserve a break for making filters after so much work doing this tutorials that are very welcomed, useful and great.

Well heres a start....I still need to figure out a good method for random height...I have a couple of methods but not for this one yet..

Lines.ffxml

Glad to help SpaceRay.. I'll come up with some more later.. I have another ideal for making the shapes with the bezier curves also...

Heres the next version of this filter...Still need to work on getting the width to work correctly on those bars..Also some little adjustments here and there..
They now have random height and some other things..

Lines.ffxml

Great and very well done !!!!!

And this is filled with a city aerial view

Good sample SpaceRay..