design (three stamps)*

iMaginator and Create

Mock up for a MacCORE project on The Jo

I’ve always liked the rough look that printmaking can achieve. It could be through the intaglio process, a contact made with polaroids, or simple rubber stamps. As more impressions are made the result becomes rougher and more faded Here is one way you can create such a look in iMaginator and even take it further in Create.

This work began with some clip art from Dover Cip Art . The image on the far right is the original. After downloading it to iPhoto by Control Clicking on it in Safari, I dragged it straight onto a Create document.

Who needs a file browser , when you can drag and drop? That was one of the first “difficult” things I had to “unlearn” using Create. I was used to File>Open or File>Place, etc,etc...It was “to easy”!

I knew I wanted to apply the Gloom effect (among other effects). The Gloom effect will go beyond the edge of the pixels of the artwork. However, if there isn’t more canvas to work with, you’ll get a cutoff edge - like the second image here. So in Create, I drew a larger box behind the clipart, added a white fill and grouped it with clipart. I then selected the grouped objects and dragged a PNG file from the Create Image Well to iMaginator.

In iMaginator I applied the following effects:

Gloom

Color Invert

Mask To Alpha

Colorize

I also used the crop tool to crop in closer to the artwork.

This resulted in the Red Stamp. I dragged a PNG file from iMaginator to Create. There I rotated the image.

We’re two thirds the way finished.

I went back to iMaginator. I’m still using the same image with the above effects applied. I disabled the Color Invert Effect. I changed the color of my Colorize Effect to black. I clicked the Pointer tool to get rid of my crop. I then dragged it as a PNG file to my Create document. All three stamps are on the Create document now. All that is left to do is make a rough edge for the third image.

For a mask, all you need is a grayscale image. When you you use the Mask To Alpha effect all the black information is removed, leaving transparency. I have some masks I converted from PhotoFrame 2.5, but you could make your own.

I have my masks stored in my iMaginator libraries. So I go to File>New for a new iMaginator window. I go to the appropriate library and drag out the mask onto the active work area.

However the “frame” part is black, and the “picture” part is white. I applied the Color Invert Effect and the Mask To Alpha Effect. I then had a white frame with a transparent interior, which I dragged (as a PNG) onto the third stamp object of the Create document and positioned to taste. Finished!*

*Another way to handle the third object would be to make the object white in iMaginator and just invert the mask without making the mask transparent. Then just place the white stamp in front of the black background. i include this in the download files.

I deselected everything in the Create document and dragged the document as a JPEG to iWeb.

The MacCORE logo is simply the above effects applied to the logo and dragged onto the document.

Sunday, September 24, 2006