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I would like to create some simple woodgrain vector art that we can use for our logo and subsequently screen print on some shirts. I have been pulling my hair out trying to convert some raster images because of the detail in the grain. We are using Coreldraw and CorelTrace, but also have Illustrator. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks,
-------------------- John Hugentober Blasted! Signs and Tees Lebanon, OH John@BlastedSigns.com Posts: 25 | From: Lebanon, OH | Registered: Oct 2002
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With Illustrator, there are some "actions" that will replicate several woodgrains automatically. In the defaults actions palette is "rosewood", which you may be able to work with. I'm thinking that there are more woodgrains that you can load from the CD. Worth a try. They're pretty good, but I've never use them for more than playing.
Actions are those scripts that you can "play" steps to create different effects. It's located in Windows>Show Actions at the bottom of the windows menu pull down.
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Yeah, the sharpie is great! Another way to build your own backgrounds of woodgrain is to scan wood and convert it to a vector image. You can purchase "Contact" paper in wood grain patterns, scan that and convert it. I don't know how it works with screen printing but I know you can use any of your built up backgrounds in a digital print situation. I have scanned "crackled" finishes to use as an overlay on woodgrains as well. Seems to work pretty good. Just play with it.
-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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If you can find some weathered wood such as barn boards or wood from old sheds and outbuildings, the grain is usually raised from natural aging.
You can then make a rubbing of the grain using a red carpenters crayon ( avail. at hardware stores by the chalklines, etc.). Then you can overlay some clean paper and trace it with black ink pen or fineline marker, then scan into the computer. If you can't locate old wood, you can sandblast some boards with a grain you like and do the same process. You don't have to use expensive 1/4 sawn stuff, just some regular old pine or whitewood. They are usually sawed flat across the log, and often the grain is actually more interesting for your purposes than vertical grain. Watch out though... pretty soon when you go to town... instead of looking at food labels and book covers for layout and color ideas, you'll be looking around for nice wood grains. Oh well, whatever it takes to be a letterhead!!
-------------------- Jeff Ogden 8727 NE 68 Terr. Gainesville FL, 32609 Posts: 2138 | From: 8827 NE 68 Terr Gainesville Fl 32609 | Registered: Aug 2002
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One way I've been thinking about, is using a woodgraining tool (rubber type that you rock back and forth as you drag it) on white aluminum and a dark or black paint, then scan or shoot it, and change the colors to suit the wood color you are looking for. You would get a definate contrasting grain that will be scannable.
-------------------- Rob Thomas 3410 Ketcham Ct Beautiful Springs FL 34134 Posts: 965 | From: Bonita Springs, Florida USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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I've given it a little thought, and this is the way I might do it. This is all done with Illustrator, but placing (importing) a jpg image from a veneer website.
Of course, a 72ppi web pic isn't gonna be much help for you, but a 300ppi scan of some real wood would do the trick. You can even tile the scans for ever better rez. (I tiled this wood scan...two copies of the scan I swiped are splitting the letters...this pic has alotta huge pixels on it. lol)
So, place the pic, convert your lettering or whatever you want to look like wood..to curves. Make a compound path out of all the vector shapes, then select them plus the scan...and make a mask.
If you want to outline any of the elements, you need to make a copy of the vector shapes before making the mask, so you'll have one copy to work with.
I can't believe I drew some d***ed leaves...I gotta get a life!
[ October 13, 2002, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: Don Coplen ]
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But...you since you don't want to use a bitmap, here's the same thing completely vector. Ran the same 72ppi scan of veneer through Streamline, after first resampling to 300ppi for somewhat better effect.
I colored the "streamlined" wood the darkest color of the original pic, and put the lightest color underneath it in a rectangle to fit all the letters and shapes. Other than that, same deal..used the vector lines of the letters and shapes to be wood and to make a mask of the two colors of wood (required making two masks...one for the light and one for the dark brown...with the light brown underneath the dark.)
I'm sure coreltrace will give you the same effect, more or less.
Hope this helps. If not, I had fun figurin out how to make vector wood.
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Thanks to everyone for all of the replies. You gave me a bunch of great suggestions and I am anxious to try them out. Special thanks to Don for all of his work. You guys are the greatest!!
Thanks,
-------------------- John Hugentober Blasted! Signs and Tees Lebanon, OH John@BlastedSigns.com Posts: 25 | From: Lebanon, OH | Registered: Oct 2002
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earlier in the summer we worked on a similar type of job. woodgrained logo with bevels, shadows and highlights. It was a 2-color separation printed on khaki shirts.I started with a high res image of a piece of wood, i think i got it from a Corel disc, used it as a "powerclip" into the image, then exported it as a .tiff. opened it in PhotoPaint, separated it as CMYK. I took the Black plate for the darkest part of the wood grain, and the Magenta plate (which was lighter and had more definition)I used for the "brown".
It was not completely "vector" but it turned out very realistic for screening t-shirts.
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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That is cool! Thanks for the suggestion.... I was pretty vague in my original post about what I am trying to accomplish. I want to fill in an area around the lettering with the simple woodgrain. I tried using the texture fill in CorelDraw, but I couldn't get the desired effect.
Thanks,
-------------------- John Hugentober Blasted! Signs and Tees Lebanon, OH John@BlastedSigns.com Posts: 25 | From: Lebanon, OH | Registered: Oct 2002
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Nice job, Don. That seems as if it would also look good at a distance, nice textures, color combo, and last but not least, good spacial concepts.
-------------------- Deb Fowler
"It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Walt Disney (1901-1966) Posts: 5373 | From: Loves Park, Illinois | Registered: Aug 1999
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John Powerclips are easy to do with a little experimenting. You can select an object(s)then go to the Effects menu, under Powerclip, select "Place inside..." this turns the cursor into a large arrow. select a object that you want to put the Powerclip "into". I had made a rectangle and under fills, selected bitmap pattern, load whatever image and that is what it fills it as. I will try to put together some pics and a step by step.
-------------------- Michael Clanton Clanton Graphics/ Blackberry 19 Studio 1933 Blackberry Conway AR 72034 501-505-6794 clantongraphics@yahoo.com Posts: 1735 | From: Conway Arkansas | Registered: Oct 2001
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-------------------- Jeff Vrstal Main Street Signs 157 E. Main Street Evansville, WI 53536 1-608-882-0322 Posts: 670 | From: Evansville, Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2001
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Jeff: that sign with all it's personality was at the side of the road in Henderson county near Asheville, NC - a real find, in my opinion.
My name, is not pronounced the way it is spelled. The correct way is Mira (Meera) Just one of those German things I have to live with like Canaries, Geraniums, and Sauerkraut.
I was born when the Nazis still had a hair of power right when the war was almost over. They thought the spelling in my birth certificate:Mira, was not sufficiently Aryan. So they made my parents change it. I considered changing it once I permanently settled in this country, but stuck with just correcting people just like I'm doing now.
I tell the story so it may stick in people's mind in how to think of my name, and also to not call me that other thing.
-------------------- Myra A. Grozinger Signs Limited Winston-Salem, NC
signslimited@triad.rr.com Posts: 1244 | From: Winston-Salem, NC USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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