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Anonymous
Another trace complete! This time, an ecchi theme. I found it... I'd like to say, but it was a trace request so I don't know the source. Relatively simple source, so it took but one day to finish.
>> sage Anonymous
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Whoops! Eheh, a few mittle mistakes in the trace... here is version 2, with additional 'shop gimmicks to smoothen it out a bit.
>> Anonymous
thanks!
>> Anonymous
Now even properly saging myself... So, if anyone knows the source I'd appreciate the info. The requester had no knowledge beyond 'anime or hgame' and that it has sat on his drive for a while now.
>> The Dude !b6emPXwyqI
Bigger! make a BIGGER VERSION!
C'mon! HR's got a 10000x10000px and 8192Kb limit! USE IT!
>> Anonymous
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Anonymous obliges! Do you have enough pixels, The Dude? I worked in 10000x8000 but had to downscale to meet the 8mb size limit. I guess i could save a few bytes if I dropped the gauchy gradient altogether... I'll check tomorrow if that results in any large gains and post a bigger if it does.
>> Anonymous
>>85328
Drop the background alltogether - give it transparency instead.
>> Anonymous
>>85333
or u/l the vector to somewhere
>> Anonymous
Nice Vector OP.
What software to you use and where can I find good tutorials to learn how to Vector. Google gives me too general stuff.
>> Anonymous
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Dropping the gradient did make a HUEG difference in filesize... so here we go, 10000x8000 and transparency, I guess that's decent enough even for printing. :D
>> Anonymous
>>85370
Photoshop CS is my weapon of choice. Others use Illustrator or Inkscape. I guess Coreldraw could be a choice too, but I haven't heard of anyone using that. Beyond that, it is getting familiar with the program's vectoring tools and practise, practise, practise. Check out for example NegativeZero's Simoun traces for some really good stuff made by a talented person.

Read through those generic guides and learn hot to do vectors. If you for example use Photoshop, get familiar with the pen tool. Learn how to make S-curves between two points bend just like you need them. Take some simple anime screenshots, like a face closeup, and practise on them. Blow the original shot to larger size, though vectors being vectors you can always blow them up more later (this particular image was done at 3000 pixels wide originally). Remember, layers are your friend, don't pack all the vectors onto single layer; makes editing them later easier too.
>> Anonymous
Also, coloring. Although it might be tempting to just make selections and fill them, that might screw things up when you resize the vector later. Myself, I always use vector layers to color, putting them beneath the black outline layers so I don't need to obsess over getting their edges just so.

Using this trace as an example again, I have three black outline layers (body, face detail, hair) and 13 color layers (as each color needs its own layer). You need to spare some though to their order so colors won't obstruct each other - here the hair color layers are above body color layers, ditto for mouth's color layers.
>> Anonymous
While tracing, use add to layer function on the pen. That way, you don't have to put each vector polygon on its own layer. Trace each side of a black line separately instead of just drawing a vector and then stroking along the line (besides, stroke is bitmap effect, not a true vector).

Also learn to remove areas from layer. In the trace here, I have cut three holes into the hair color layer so background shows through in some areas - above right shoulder, and inside the curls on both sides of the head. I guess one also could just bend the vector to make the approppriate shape, but to me it comes more naturally to first outline the entire color region, then cut holes where necessary.
>> The Dude !b6emPXwyqI
The Dude is extremely pleased with Anonymous!
The dude has plenty of pixels now!
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!

I just don't understand why anyone would post a vector that doesn't max out /hr/'s file sizes
>> Anonymous
>>85399
Dude, Photoshop is NOT for vectors. That's why they have Illustrator (which has hell of a lot more features, btw)
>> Anonymous
>>85426
Indeed, I've noticed this. While Photoshop's vector tools appear to be all that I really require (I've never had a feeling of "I wish there was feature X in here") PS has a bunch curiosities you need to watch out for or you might mess up. For example, if you have a bunch of control points selected and change the pen tool from add to remove, it actually goes and reverses the region those points bound. If you don't notice this (working at 0% opacity for example) you'll have lot of work ahead to rectify the mistake. Handle selection can also be a pain.

I hesitate moving to Illustrator, as I don't knwo how it operates, and because frankly I can't imagine it has any tools on offer that I'd actually need.
>> Anonymous
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>>85428

You want to upload a small psd file somewhere like on rapidshare or something? You see I'm also fairly new to the whole vector thing also. I have also yet to find a good reason to move over Illustrator. IMO, it's more complicated to use the tools there than Photoshop. What I'm really concerned about are the way I do my lines. Yes I use the pen tool but somehow it just ends up looking different than other vectors and aren't usually straight or even in width. I'm just curious if I'm doing things the right way or not because all I use is the pen tool and layers. Just need a file to compare.

Here's one I did a very long time ago.
>> boon
>>85443
ttp://pinkubentobox.com/blog/index.php/archives/author/negativezero/ the .ai files are of course adobe illustrator files. illustrator has useful tools like grouping and locking, and more automation for the pen tool. but illustrator can only export to png at 1499 dpi. i've tried going higher using negativezero's traces but it says it reaches its limit. you need to open the .ai files in photoshop and then photoshop can render it to a regular png which takes forever on a sample image at ttp://moe.imouto.org/post/view/1997
>> Anonymous
CTRL+S > vectoring.html

I shall practice. Thank you Anonymous.
>> Anonymous
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>>85398

Crush!
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
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>>85443
Crush!
>> Anonymous
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>>85686
Crush More!
>> Anonymous
>>85399
>>Check out for example NegativeZero's Simoun traces for some really good stuff made by a talented person.

Could someone post this, I really like Simoun.
>> Doppelganger !.97.to9elc
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>>85729
Reveal your secrets!
>> Anonymous
>>85738
He's probably using pngout with some tweaked options. Regular pngout gave me:

Input size: 480483 bytes
Output size: 507943 bytes
>> Anonymous
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<-- PNGOUTWin result
>> Anonymous
>>85733
He has some at least some posted on his blog at:

http://pinkubentobox.com/blog/

...and I guess you can find more by spelunking through blog archives... as for a centralized at-a-glance resource, no idea.
>> Anonymous
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>>85472

Crush ^^