sod ipod i tutorial

8/12/2019 Sod iPod i Tutorial

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Get Started With SodipodiA Beginners Tutorial on Creating Graphics

Document Version: 0.1Project: UNESCO/DigiArtsContributed By: Sarai, India. (sarai.net)Author: Niyam Bhushan (niyam.com)Date: 25 February 2004Copyright: Niyam Bhushan 2004License: Free Documentation License FDL (gnu.org)Availability: The latest version of this ongoing document could possiblybe found at the websites of DigiArts, Sarai, Niyam,or via web-search engines.

Software: SodipodiPlatforms: GnuLinux, WindowsCategory: Vector Illustration, SVG-authoringVersion: 0.31.1 or higherWebsite: www.sodipodi.comLevel: Beginner

What Does Sodipodi Do

A free graphics software, Sodipodi provides a playfuland fun-filled interface for creative and non-techiepeople to author stunning graphics, logos, andillustrations. Anything you see drawn in Sodipodi is anindependent and editable object, called a vector shape.You can scale, rotate, or modify every shape, fill it withcolors, stroke and color its outline, and stack it above orbelow other shapes. So let's get started.

For our project, we'll create a music CD cover.

Download the latest version of Sodipodi from the web-address mentioned above, follow the instructions andinstall the software. Finally, launch the application.What do you see? The Sodipodi tools palette. Click onthe 'New' icon, which is marked here by the orangecircle at the top-left.

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First Steps

[Step 01: Left] A white pasteboard, containing a canvassheet instantly pops up on your screen. The canvas sheetis usually A4 or US Letter size, depending on yoursettings. Notice the Little right triangle at the top-left of

the new document, marked in an orange circle. Click andhold down the mouse on this. A menu pops up on thescreen.

[Step 02: Below] Click on the 'View' menu, and then'New Docked Toolbox.'

[Step 03: Below] You guessed it. The tools palette neatlydocks to the document window, for a clean, unclutteredinterface. You can safely close the first tools palette if youwish. Note the palette is divided into the 'File', 'Edit','Object', 'Selection', 'Draw', 'Zoom', and the 'Nodes'section. Click on the '1:1' icon in Zoom for an actual sizeview.



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[Step 04: Left] Change the canvas size to that of a CD. Right-click anywhere onthe pasteboard. The complete Sodipodi menu pops-up instantly under the mousecursor. Click on Dialogs>Document. In the Document settings dialog, chooseCentimeters as the unit, and type both width and height to 120.00. Yourdocument window reflects the change.

[Step 05: Below] Create the semi-transparant green background. Clickthe rectangle tool in the Draw section of the toolbox, and drag across thediagonal of the CD canvas. Click the Fill tool, the one that looks like apaint bucket spilling paint. A dialog box reveals itself, offering colorsettings for the fill, stroke, and stroke style of the rectange. Click the Filltab. Create the greenish tone by adding together lights of Red, Green, andBlue, in the values given below. The level of transparancy is called'Alpha' and enter its value to make the rectangle semi-transparant.

[Step 06: Below] Create the Star. In the Drawsection of the toolbox, click and hold down theRectangle draw tool. A drop-down menu appears,revealing tools to draw ellipses, stars, and spirals.Select the star tool, click in the centre of the CDcanvas and drag in any direction to draw a nice,huge, star. You need to color it into a semi-transparant shade of yellow. Using the BlackArrow tool in the Draw section, click once on thestar. This will select it. Then, just like in Step 5,click on the Fill tool, and this time enter the

following values: Red .90, Blue .85, Green .31,Alpha .36, in the fill tab. For convenience, we canalso write this as R.90+G.85+B.31+A.36.

[Step 07: Right] Let's draw another star, this time even bigger than the previousone, using the same steps as in Step 06. Again, select it with the Black Arrowtool, and this time enter the following values for the Fill color:R.90+G.05+B.31+A.60. This gives us asemi-transparant salmon-pink color. Butthe star is stacked over the previous one,and we wish to send this behind the smaller

star. So keeping the bigger star selected,right-click anywhere on the screen, andclick you mouse sequentially on Selection> Order > Lower. The bigger star isstacked behind the smaller star. Notice howthe transparancies inter-play.



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Scratch Some SVG

[Step 08: Below] The big star needs nine sides. Fortunately for us, Sodipodiremembers each shape as an independent object. So select the big star, right-click anywhere and from the pop-up menu, choose Dialogs > XML Editor. Anew pane displays on the screen. This is how Sodipodi really understands your

graphics: through the left brain. You will find a highlighted entry on the left.That's your big star. On the right, click on the text-entry 'sodipodi:sides 5' whichobviously means this star has five sides. In the bottom right, the number '5' isdisplayed. Select it and just type '9'. Then click the strange, upside-down enterkey button on the right. Your star is reborn with nine sides, at faster than thespeed of light.

Pause. You need to understand that what Sodipodi really does, is create taggedtext. Much like the web's HTML, or its more sophisticated cousin, XML.Creating graphics as a sequence of text commands is quite cool. Browsers candisplay such images, no resolution loss occurs, and graphics can be scaled andtransformed in myriad possible ways with no overhead. This special format iscalled SVG, which stands for Scalable Vector Graphics. These images work on

Pcs running Windows, GnuLinux, on Macintoshes, and even handheld devicesand cellphones. Welcome to the future. Find out more at www.svg.org. Thanksto Sodipodi, as a designer you need not have to know anything about SVG. Justfollow your creative juices and continue working on the CD album cover.Let's add a third star in the centre. It has R.90+G.85+B.31+A.36. Draw a circlethat encompasses this new star, but this time, let us add the RGBA values in theFill tab directly. RGBA=ffe20038. These are called Hex values. Just think ofthem as a shortcut for writing really long sequences of numbers in computers.



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[Step 11: Right] Study the image on theright. Using the Pen tool, just click onpoints 1, 2, and 3, and watch straigh lines

join the dots. Click AND drag point 4 topoint 5. You will notice the birth of a'rubber band.' Remove your finger from

the mouse button, glide the mouse overto point 6, and click. There, you just gotthe first, precisely-created curve in yourgraphic. Don't worry if the sand-duneshape gets filled or has a heavy stroke.We will just adjust the fill and strokecolors in a minute.

Let's adjust the curve between points 3and 4, so that the curve tides and ebbsgently into 4, smoothly rising again tomeet point 6. First, make sure the sand-dune is selected by clicking on it usingthe Black Arrow pointer. Then, armyourself with the Node tool, circled inorange here. The moment you click theNode tool, the sand-dune glistens with

tiny diamond-shapes marking the anchor points you clicked earlier. Justclick in the centre of point 3, and drag to pull out a'rubber band'. Should the point start moving, release themouse immediately, press control+z or undo, and tryagain. Pull the rubber band in the direction and length

indicated in the earlier graphic.

[Step 12: Left] Color the sanddune shape. Open the FillTool, and in the Fill tab, typethe following RGBA value:c9279929. Click the StrokePaint tab of the dialog box,and click on None, which isthe square with a large X sign.



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Colors, Inks, Hues

In the world of graphic design, color is king. Most designers work with colorsfor video displays such as monitors. Colors in this medium are created usingRed, Green, and Blue video light rays, added in various strenghs to form colors.We have been creating colors using RGB. Designs for the print medium need

colors defined as percentages of inks, usually Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, andBlack. Such colors are called CMYK colors. But most of the time, designers justconjure up colors to form interesting combinations. At these moments, choosinga color for its Hue, how deeply or richly saturated it looks, and how bright ordull or soothing it looks, is far more important. This is called the Hue,Saturation, and Brightness model, or just HSB. Some also call it HSV, where Vstands for Value. Do a web-search on the word 'HSB color model' to find outmuch more about HSB than is possible in this tutorial. Let's play with colors.

[Step 13: Above] Choose the rectangle drawing tool. Just drag out the fourhorizontal rectangles and one vertical rectangle. Using the Black Arrow pointer,shift-click on each one to form a group. Click on the Fill tab button. Click andhold down the pointer on the Color Mode pop-up menu in the Fill tab. ChooseHSV. Type in the following values. Hue = 0.01, Saturation = 1.00, Value = .5,Alpha = .14. Deselect the rectangles by clicking anywhere.

[Step 14: Above] Choose the circle drawing tool. Drag out the large, orangecircle. In the Fill tab, choose CMYK. Key in the following value for the selectedcircle: Cyan =0, Magenta = .47, Yellow = .9, Black = .08, Alpha = .36



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Text As An Element of Design

[Step 15: Below] Let's give our imaginary music artists a name. I recommend'Under Ground Chalisa'. In the Draw section, click on the Text tool. Click thelower left of the image and type the name. Don't worry if your text looks toobig or too small. Once done, immediately click on the 'Text and font settings'

button in the Object section of the Toolbox. A Text properties dialog box opensup. Note the text field, marked with a large orange dot. You could type or re-phrase your text here if you wish. Make sure the text is highlighted here. ChooseCourier As the font family, Bold as the style, and 36 points as the size.Typesetting is usually measured in Points, where 72 points make an inch. Donote the options for Alignment as well as for Orientation, which is important forseveral scripts of the world.

Use the Black Arrow pointer to move your text to the correct position. The pinkbackground actually belongs to the 'sand dune' shape we built a few steps ago.Just select the background Green wash and resize it, pushing it up such that ittouches the top of this text. The pink will automatically come into view. The

text is colored black with full opacity.

Repeat the steps for text entry, to typeset 'Air Pressure' the album-name. 'Air' isset in Helvetica Bold, 72 points. Its alpha transparancy is set at .69. 'Pressure' isset in Helvetica Bold, 56 points. Its transparancy is at .80. To rotate the text,select it with the Black Arrow pointer. In the Object section, click on the Rotatebutton a couple of times to get the correct orientation.



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Finishing Strokes

[Step 16: Below] Take the pen tool and in three smart clicks, draw that thinsharp red line that runs from Air Pressure to Under Ground Chalisa. Click Fillbutton, choose None as the fill color, by clicking on the first box that has that Xsign. Click on Stroke Paint and create a bright Red color. In the Stroke Style tab,

type in a width of .70 points. Ensure the Line pattern is a solid horizontal line.

The design needs some zing! Draw a huge semi-circle curve. You can do this intwo clicks. Click and drag a rubber band towards the horizontal right. Let go ofthe mouse button, find a position exactly vertically underneath the first point.Click and drag a second rubber band horizontally to the left. A curve is formed.

Remove any fill color from this curve. In the Stroke Paint tab, color it toRGBA= 551601ff. Finally, move to the Stroke Style tab. Give it a generouswidth of 6.26 points, and choose the dotted square pattern for the line, which isthe fourth in the pop-up menu. You get neat looking squares on a curved path.

To create a more interesting look, copyand paste this dotted curve. Then rotateit by 90 degrees, change the color.Select the two curves, copy and pastethem. Then rotate them by 180degrees. You soon have the whole CDcover ornamented in an aboriginalstyle of art. Move the curves around toposition the dots so they do not distractfrom the text.



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Importing Photographs and Bitmaps

I can almost hear the music of this imaginary band in my head. The CD albumcover tries to evoke that music. The music is rich with textures of ambientsounds in the background. Here's what I have in mind. I've got this photograph Itook a few months ago of a slab of stone at a temple, with an ancient script

carved on it. Have touched it up in Cinepaint, another free software used forprofessional-quality image-editing, and saved the file as a JPG file.

[Step 17: Below] Remember all the graphic elements in our design are semi-transparant. We are reaching the moment of truth. Let's bring in the above image

and place it right at the back of all these semi-transparant graphic shapes.

Right-click anywhere to bring up the Sodipodi menu. In theFile menu, click on import. Bring in any digital photographinto the CD design. Alternatively, you could create yourown painted textures in software such as GIMP orCinepaint. Right-click the image, and in the pop-up menuuse the option to send the image to the back of all elements.See Step 7 for reference, when we sent the bigger starstacked to the back of the smaller star.

Let the image peek through in some places. Select thegreen wash, and reshape it to pull in towards the album-name and band-name.

Why just JPG files? You can similarly place a PNG file(Portable Network Graphic), such as the alternative GNUhead that goes rather nicely with this design. Our CDalbum cover design is ready at last.

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Much More To Sodipodi

Export PNG: You may want to output your images as simple pixel-basedbitmaps for browsers or backgrounds. Use the File menu's export feature.

Plain SVG: By default, Sodipodi has its own extended specifications for SVG.

For the broadest range of compatibility, use the File menu's Save As feature andchoose 'Plain SVG.'

Gradients: You can fill gradients or tones of colors that move from one to theother, as fills. Unfortunately, there is no way of filling patterns such as leafmotifs or simple geometric shapes, into other larger shapes.

Grids and Guides: To align elements across a canvas, click and drag aguideline from the horizontal or vertical ruler. You get an on-screen, non-printing hairline that you could use as a guideline.

Animated SVG: The specification of SVG allows it to be animated as well asinteractive, much like Flash movie files. However, Sodipodi natively offers nofeature yet. You could type in the code manually into the SVG XML editor, oruse a text editor to add scripts into the SVG data structures.

Hiding Elements: Often, too many design elements make it difficult to selectunderlying elements, or to conveniently transform existing shapes. Right-clickany item, and from the pop-up, choose Item Properties to select how you wish tohide the element.

Tips & Techniques: The sodipodi website mentions some interesting tips andtechniques briefly, including how to issue print commands without running thesoftware in graphics mode.

Clip-Art: The site has a growing collection of clip-art, including national flagsfrom across the world.

Text To Curves: You can easily convert typed text and headlines into editablecurves to further tweak the shapes, or to create custom logotypes.

Nodes: The Nodes section, at the bottom of the Toolbox, offers the mostexhaustive set of tools to further refine and tweak any curve. With the toolshere, you can add or delete anchor points, convert sharp corners into smoothcurves or vice-versa, and do lots more.

Companion Software: I tend to use Sodipodi with atleast two other freegraphics software under GnuLinux. The first is Sketch. This is invaluable fortranslating graphics back and forth into Postscript, EPS, or even PDF throughother software such as Ghostscript, as well as to raster images. Inkscape is a forkof Sodipodi, which means it uses the same code base, but attempts to make theinterface even more intuitive.

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