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DECEMBER 20, 2002 Inside the Studio Artist Paint Synthesizer
Related to the Boundary settings are the Path Diverge settings. These specify how the strokes will animate in relation to the source image, creating boundaries within the overall boundaries of the image. For example, choose the Path Diverge option "Color" causes paths to stop once they hit a color (other than black or white) in the source image. Strokes that appear on the edges of a color might be swept away in the flow for an interesting effect, but, in general, strokes appearing within the color areas of an image will remain fairly motionless or simply move in tight revolutions. The numeric setting next to the Path Diverge options specifies the threshold of the given object. At 255, for example, the strokes will virtually ignore color in the source image, while at 1 they will be constrained more rigidly. Here's an example right in the middle, where the source image consists of a black background with a red stripe drawn horizontally across the center. [an error occurred while processing this directive]Now, this particular setting is a tricky one to control, and, frankly, I haven't mastered it. But it does provide some good variation on the direction of your strokes and can be keyframed according to option and threshold value. "Color" is actually one of the more simple options to understand. "Texture" and "Orient" simply refer to the texture and orientation of the source image where the stroke is drawn. "Always" causes your strokes to remain approximately at their starting points, with higher and lower numbers causing less or more of a wiggle effect, respectively. Blanking causes the path to be affected (or constrained) by the blanking on your canvas, which is determined in your preset's parameters. "Not White" can cause strokes to remain fixed inside or outside white areas of the source image, depending somewhat on the type of Boundary you've set and the degree of divergence. And, finally, "Boundary" works with the "Ignore" boundary setting to cause paths to switch angles when they reappear on the screen. That covers about half of the parameters available for Time Particles. We'll hit on the rest next week, along with a few tips for creating specific effects. In the meantime, if you have any questions, be sure to visit me in our Synthetik Studio Artist forum here. Or, if you want to learn more about Studio Artist or download a demo, visit http://www.synthetik.com. Contact the author: Dave Nagel is the producer of Creative Mac and Digital Media Designer; host of several World Wide User Groups, including Synthetik Studio Artist, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe LiveMotion, Creative Mac and Digital Media Designer; and executive producer of the Digital Media Net family of publications. You can reach him at dnagel@digitalmedianet.com. Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 Related sites: • Animation Artist • AV Video • Creative Mac • Digital Animators • Digital Media Designer • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Film and Video Magazine • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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