I spent quite a bit of time trying to find a software tool I could use to modify image colors as I had described in my last post. I tried half a dozen different packages and none of them seemed to do what I wanted to do. It seemed like a fairly simple task and yet there was only one tool that held out any promise...
Then, I decided to do some reading and found my answer. I say I did some reading, because I really need to drive home the fact that even though I've been preaching about reading the manual, I failed to do so with a software tool I've been using for years.
When I read the manual again, I found that what I wanted to do was right there!!! What a dork I was - if I had only followed my own advice I could have cut weeks off of this process.
I will be making a screencast soon to illustrate the process.

Tags: Software, tools, design, pattern

I've been working with the software to design patterns... The software can import pictures, graphic elements, clip art, and a lot of other forms of digital artwork. It converts those images into a grayscale format. It does this by taking the pixels and changing them to different levels of white and dark. These differing shades of light and dark are then converted to depth. the darker the pixel, the deeper the depth.
While trying my hand at scanning images and converting them to patterns, I found that I needed to do some manipulations to the scanned images. This especially true of clip art. Clip art is strictly black and white and so the carving would turn out to be very exaggerated. What I need to do is find a way to adjust the images and change or rather swap colors.

Tags: pattern, Software, testing, howto, carvewright

Having a blast putting some of my ideas for patterns into action.
The scanner I was using gave up the ghost and my newest multifunction printer/scanner/copier/fax machine doesn't do a very good job so I had to resurrect an older scanner. I stopped using it when I bought a multifunction machine some time earlier. It's one of those things that end up working for the better cause I forgot how nice a job it did and how good the software worked. I gave up a lot of quality for the sake of convenience with the multi machine.
A good scanner and software doesn't cost much and yields great results. A definite must if you plan on creating your own patterns.

Tags: pattern, scans

I've been working on a number of patterns the last couple of weeks. It's taken me a bit of time to get comfortable with the software (which is to be expected). I think I still have a long way to go, but I feel I'm over the major hurdles. I got a good grasp of the basics and now I can go about trying to learn a new tidbit here and there.
This is the part of software use I like the most; finding those little things that make your project pop! It's like being on a treasure hunt and finding the magic ring.

Tags: pattern, Software