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It's a Vector Thread!

MossMoss Registered User regular
edited December 2006 in Artist's Corner
Vectors are awesome. Let's post some in this thread!

But what's a vector?

A vector is an alternative way of making pretty pictures on your home computer. Instead of drawing with pixels, you make shapes.

Gee Whizz, that sounds complicated. Why would anyone want to do that?

That's easy! Vectors look awesome and can be resized to any spec without loss of quality. AMAZING!

Can I make them in MSPAINT?

No, silly. You have to use a vector program like Adobe Illustrator or Macromedia Freehand.

That sounds like fun. Do you have an example?

Of course! I have a load here:

theslob.gif

dredg.gif

Moss_44c747595ccba_highres.jpg

evil2.gif


But I head vector artists just trace photos. Is that true?


... Go to hell.

Moss on
«13

Posts

  • LlyLly Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    damn tracer

    Lly on
  • Kuro HouKuro Hou Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    I'm not sure I understand. How does one "make shapes" on a computer without using pixels? (Or better yet making shapes "using" a computer).

    I like the B.O. one best personally, and people falling from the sky is pretty cool too.

    Kuro Hou on
    "For a man who looks like a garden gnome, you sure have a lot of demands."

    I dare you to make less sense.
  • misosoupmisosoup Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    what program do you do your vectorrs in?
    I attempted some vector art once.... didnt go so well, is it supposed to be tedious or was it just cause I kinda bumbled through not knowing what to do?

    Kuro: From what I understand you use digital lines to craft your image rather than having resolution based pixel lines, it's truly digital guidelines that can be made any size because.. its magic

    misosoup on
    APTBSsig.jpg
  • MossMoss Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Obviously they are displayed using pixels, but the drawings themselves are based on vectors.

    Moss on
  • MossMoss Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Advice for vectors.

    - Complex vectors are really difficult to do without a tablet.

    - Don't use the pen tool. Use the pencil. It will give your image a more natural feel. Also, try not to use the stroke too much. Draw the shapes of the lines to get the tapering right.

    - If you are working from a photo, don't get too hung up on copying the details exactly. Add them by eye and approximate where possible. This is where traditional art experience is necessary for decent vector work. A good artist will know what to add and what to ommit.

    Moss on
  • LlyLly Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Moss, do you use illustrator? Every time i try to get into that software i end up getting frustrated and run crying back to photoshop or flash.

    Lly on
  • MossMoss Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Yeah, I use illustrator. Just practice with it and take the time to get to know the tools.

    Moss on
  • supergluesuperglue Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Simplified for anyone who doesn't know

    Raster Graphics are put together using pixels. Imagine Sprites from your favorite snes game. Those are very simple raster graphics.

    Vector Graphics are put together using points or vectors. Ever Graph an Image on your TI-83? That's vector graphics.

    Where raster are each individual spots/blocks of color, Vector uses algorithms and paths using math to make the image.

    superglue on
  • KunkohKunkoh Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    another example: http://www.alpha-shade.com/

    They do theirs in flash. From what I've seen they occasionally use PS for some sky scenes or explosions.

    The nifty thing is, since it's vectors you can zoom in as much as you want and keep all the detail; where as if it's raster when you zoom in everything gets pixilated.

    Kunkoh on
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Logos are usually done in vector too, I'll take this moment to share one of my favorite links.

    Brands of the World... beware, this is not clipart!

    MagicToaster on
  • CyberMonkeytron3000CyberMonkeytron3000 Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    There really isnt much of a limit of what you can do with vector art

    ie

    http://basangpanaginip.blogspot.com/2006/07/worlds-most-photorealistic-vector-art.html

    warning- contains images of awesomeness

    CyberMonkeytron3000 on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Wow, those are fuckin insane.

    Those are the highest res ladies I've seen. Like a bazillion times better than that gay beachball xbox game, and all in Illustrator...holy shit!

    earthwormadam on
  • tmccooltmccool Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    are you pooping me?

    how is that possible?

    tmccool on
  • EhmaviscaEhmavisca Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    ..and why would you do that? Pointless.

    Ehmavisca on
  • CyberMonkeytron3000CyberMonkeytron3000 Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    ..and why would you do that? Pointless.

    That debate is actually happening on their message boards- i guess the best answer is "because they can..."

    CyberMonkeytron3000 on
  • EhmaviscaEhmavisca Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    ..and I guess that's good enough. Not hurting me any.

    Ehmavisca on
  • MossMoss Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    It's cool as a challenge, I guess. Not very practical, though.

    Moss on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    I wouldn't mind trying it, but theres no way I'm spending more that 2 hours...

    earthwormadam on
  • EhmaviscaEhmavisca Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Moss wrote:
    It's cool as a challenge, I guess. Not very practical, though.

    True.

    Ehmavisca on
  • KunkohKunkoh Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    It sounds like it might actually BE practical due to the scalability of vector “art” you could take a picture; have one of these guys turn it into a vector image and put it on a billboard or your business card without any loss of quality. That could be useful.

    As for the art or not art argument I find it very interesting. Could a photograph be art? If so, why? You are just taking an image that is already there in nature; and you aren’t changing anything. What about a painstakingly detailed still life? Or say if it’s the craftsman vs artist; what about a Katana? After WW2 the Japanese kraftsman/artists were banned from making them along with all other weapons until MacArthur was convinced they were in fact “art”.

    What makes something art? Does it have to be original? Can you do a hand sketch of a picture of a person and still call it art? What if you then do a vector of the handsketch of the picture of a person?

    Kunkoh on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    I think it would be cooler, if they injected some better background designs. The gradients and lensflare don't do it for me.

    earthwormadam on
  • MossMoss Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Except that to work on a vector like that, your photo will be pretty high res to begin with and will easily scale DOWN to a business card. Scaling up shouldn't be a problem wither, since billboards are usually viewed from far away. Scalability would be a benefit, but nowhere near worth the effort over simply shooting a hi res shot to begin with.

    Moss on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    It's also good in your portfolio because you look like a master of Illustrator. Not that I would know...

    earthwormadam on
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Kunkoh wrote:
    It sounds like it might actually BE practical due to the scalability of vector “art” you could take a picture; have one of these guys turn it into a vector image and put it on a billboard or your business card without any loss of quality. That could be useful.

    I think that it would be more practical to pay just one guy to take a high rez photo than adding a secondary guy that will dedicate hours of effort into making something that's gonna be discarded in less than a month.

    When I worked at ad agencies, they'd provide me with ridiculously high quality pictures. I mean, you could literaly zoom in to see their pores. You could scale those to the size of a building, and often times, we did!

    At least in ad making, you have to keep in mind that there is a practical use for bitmap images that can be easily altered by anyone. Vectors always come into play in text and any crazy design you might want to ad... but bitmaps are escential.

    MagicToaster on
  • TaximesTaximes Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Logos are usually done in vector too, I'll take this moment to share one of my favorite links.

    Brands of the World... beware, this is not clipart!

    I love you.

    I used to use this site all the time to take logos and parody-ize them, but then I formatted, lost the bookmark, and forgot what the name of the site was.

    Taximes on
  • The_Indigo_ApocalypseThe_Indigo_Apocalypse Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    You know, I looked at that site with all of those zmzing vector drawings, and I ralize that it took quite a bit of time and effort to get it too look that way, but it just didn't impress me quite as much as other art I've seen which goes along those lines (har har) of looking like photos.

    Case in point: The Superrealists (or Photorealists), like Chuck Close:

    chuckclose3.jpg

    This is a low quality picture of his self-protrait, so you can't quite get the same effect as you would when you see it in person (obviously).

    It's a painting...that he did by hand. Without the use of a vector program. Yes, he had a photo to base his painting off of, but he didn't use a projector or anything, he just had a regular old photo, and then he just painted it.

    Now that is something I find truly amazing.

    (Damn, I wish I could find a better quality picture of it!)

    *EDIT*

    Oh, now Close does work like this (I think it was because of an accident he had, I can't quite remember. I wish I would have written this down while I took that art history class..):

    this is a close-up of one of his works
    close-selfportrait-w.jpg

    and this is one from farther away

    3117480.jpg

    If you walk farther away from it you can get the idea a little better. I think those are so damn cool. <3

    The_Indigo_Apocalypse on
  • DversedDversed Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Well this isn't as cool as those links or Moss's rad pictures , but I made this a while ago

    AkeysDone.jpg

    I admit I traced this but the color matching was all me babee.

    VIVE LA VECTORS!!

    Dversed on
  • earthwormadamearthwormadam ancient crust Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    I beg to differ. I think that is sweet.

    I did this a while ago in illustrator...

    crooked.jpg

    earthwormadam on
  • tmccooltmccool Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Kunkoh wrote:
    It sounds like it might actually BE practical due to the scalability of vector “art” you could take a picture; have one of these guys turn it into a vector image and put it on a billboard or your business card without any loss of quality. That could be useful.

    As for the art or not art argument I find it very interesting. Could a photograph be art? If so, why? You are just taking an image that is already there in nature; and you aren’t changing anything. What about a painstakingly detailed still life? Or say if it’s the craftsman vs artist; what about a Katana? After WW2 the Japanese kraftsman/artists were banned from making them along with all other weapons until MacArthur was convinced they were in fact “art”.

    What makes something art? Does it have to be original? Can you do a hand sketch of a picture of a person and still call it art? What if you then do a vector of the handsketch of the picture of a person?

    It seems to me that whenever there is someone questioning what is and isn't art, photographs are always mentioned. There is a lot that goes into taking a photograph, especially when using a film SLR: composition, lighting, adjusting focus, f/stops and shutter speed. And then there is the work that goes into producing said photo from the negative in the dark room. Making a fine print of a photo you took is obviously art. If you use the argument "it's already there in nature" then why is a landscape art if a photograph of the landscape isn't?


    Also, earth... the thing I love about that picture... look at how Cheney is being such a smug bastard. Like "Yeah we are above the law, hahaha"

    tmccool on
  • KunkohKunkoh Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    That's exactly my point actually. I think what the people did, even if it's "tracing" IS art; or at least could be considered art. Just like a picture or a landscape.

    In some ways it’s like the “inker” in a comic book. Is that art? Hmm I think there is an artform too it; because when you have a bad Inker, my GOD it sucks; and a good inker can make a bad comic look decent. The “anyone can trace so it’s not art” doesn’t work IMO.

    Kunkoh on
  • tmccooltmccool Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    For me though, the main problem with doing these realistic vector drawings is that regardless of whether it is art or not, I can't think of why you would do this.

    So you show someone this photo of Halle Berry and they say "That's a nice photo of Halle Berry." Your response is, "Aha, but that's not a photo, that's a vector drawing I did from a photo, it took me 12.85 hours straight." What are you expecting in return on this. The only two responses I can think of, aside from why, are "Oh, very nice job then" or "What is a vector drawing?"

    The only two things that can make this worthwhile, is something mentioned before here... adding it to your portfolio and impressing people with it, or using this to explore the program and increase your expertise in using it.

    tmccool on
  • TimTheSlothTimTheSloth Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    or if you want it to look good extrememly close up and extremely far away at the same time... though I can't imagine why you ever would. Theoretically you could print it up on the face of the moon and have it look good from earth while at the same time be on the moon one foot away and never see any quality loss or pixilation other than at printing.

    TimTheSloth on
    redtidesig1.jpg
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Theoretically you could print it up on the face of the moon and have it look good from earth while at the same time be on the moon one foot away and never see any quality loss or pixilation other than at printing.

    The computing power required to make those meshs re-size would be astronomical.... astro... cuz... cuz... it would be in space...

    Oh, you guys suck!

    MagicToaster on
  • DeansDeans Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Theoretically you could print it up on the face of the moon and have it look good from earth while at the same time be on the moon one foot away and never see any quality loss or pixilation other than at printing.

    The computing power required to make those meshs re-size would be astronomical.... astro... cuz... cuz... it would be in space...

    Oh, you guys suck!
    ಠ_ಠ

    Deans on
  • JamesJames Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Moss wrote:
    theslob.gif
    Know what would be cool? If there was a shirt with this on it that I could buy and then wear.

    James on
  • BongoBongo Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    One of my very first attempts at using the pen tool in PS from a while back. It was a mockup for a stencil I did, minus the drip lines (I used this as a spray in HL2:DM for a while).

    orangetest.png

    I'm still playing with all the fancy new tools in Illustrator, hopefully become somewhat good at making vectors further down the line. The pen tool always managed to piss me off in PS.

    Bongo on
  • Gotcha ForceGotcha Force Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Kunkoh wrote:
    It sounds like it might actually BE practical due to the scalability of vector “art” you could take a picture; have one of these guys turn it into a vector image and put it on a billboard or your business card without any loss of quality. That could be useful.

    I think that it would be more practical to pay just one guy to take a high rez photo than adding a secondary guy that will dedicate hours of effort into making something that's gonna be discarded in less than a month.

    When I worked at ad agencies, they'd provide me with ridiculously high quality pictures. I mean, you could literaly zoom in to see their pores. You could scale those to the size of a building, and often times, we did!

    At least in ad making, you have to keep in mind that there is a practical use for bitmap images that can be easily altered by anyone. Vectors always come into play in text and any crazy design you might want to ad... but bitmaps are escential.

    srsly, it would cost less to buy the $10000 canon camera that would take a much better picture than to hire the person to do a wire frame mesh gradient vector

    Gotcha Force on
  • M2tMM2tM Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Mr. Chuck uses a grid system, he does not free-form paint it.

    M2tM on
    "We can be richer than industry as long as we know that there are things that we don't really need." -Willy Mason
  • The_Indigo_ApocalypseThe_Indigo_Apocalypse Registered User regular
    edited August 2006
    Close did a few things without a grid actually, like the self-portrait he did in 2000, when he used a scribble/etching technique.

    He is also know for using woodblock and reduction block techniques.

    I did see I was wrong in the fact that he did not use a grid al the time though (sorry) though, but apparently, he made the grids himself (like for that first painting I posted) with things like an airbrush, rags, razor blade, and an eraser mounted on a power drill. he would copy the picture cell by cell, but it was all done by hand.

    Also, his paintings chould take up to two years to make. That's a pretty damn long time.

    The_Indigo_Apocalypse on
  • MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited August 2006
    srsly, it would cost less to buy the $10000 canon camera that would take a much better picture than to hire the person to do a wire frame mesh gradient vector

    Yep.

    I'll say this in a serious tone this time: Ppl like to point out the practicality of having this awesome vector image that can be streched to the size of a building. If you tried to do that, your computer and plotter would run out of virtual memory really quick.

    There is no practical application for a super realistic vector image that a bitmap image can't do at half the effort, speed and price.

    MagicToaster on
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