Rantin Al

I'm not sure if *Andrew* is a single entity.
If he is, he is one heck of a busy bunny.

I bought the Perspective plug-ins a while back. They are fine for rough guides but there is a fault in some aspects of the algorithm used and it does not give true photographic perspective.

But for ?6 it is still handy to have.

I'm considering the No.6 collection. Still checking out the demos.

Al.

Moth

Yep! That's exactly what I ran into.

Rantin Al

Erm? ... I intentionally designed it that way... er.. to differentiate it from someone using the Sinedots, so there would be no confusion. :B

[bustagut]

Al.

MindBender

I've never used "black hole" (or heard of it for that matter, heh) but from the screenshot you posted, you could achive that effect quickly without the use of a filter. Simply make one circle, then a much larger circle to denote the inner and outer diameter of the rings. Then apply a blend to them in specified steps with no fill and a black stroke. Then expand the blend object into it's component pieces (might not even need this step depending on what you're gonna do with it).

Not sure if "black hole" will allow for different shapes or multiple changes in shape throughout the process, but blending will do that fairly elegantly and quickly.

Just thought I'd drop in my $0.02. Carry on. [righton]

p.s. Lookin' good. Being on a mac most of the time myself, this promises to be an interesting thread.

sPECtre

very nice results, Al!
I thinka that a similar result might be attained using repeat transform.. if should work with paths... of course, we are only able to get rotations and scaling...
More info in this tut by Mark: http://photoshopgurus.info/beginners/spirographs.shtml

Rantin Al

MB, the Black Hole filter uses just a circle for its basic shape.
What do you expect for free? A KPT Suite?
It does have a few preset deviations but you do get a very quick way of varying size, stroke, rotation, spacing, colour, concentricity, vanishing point and ovalness.

By all means use any other technique for getting the end result. That's the whole idea, interaction and getting people to explore and develop an idea.

Loopiness is just one possibility, to stir up the brain cells.
The Photoshop Styles and Distortions I've used are not essential.
Just making it look purty.

I was wondering when you'd show up Pierre!
You can smell a vector a mile away on a foggy night, can't you? [bustagut]

Keep 'em coming, folks.

Al.

Ferlin

I don't see how photoshop could compete with illustrator as far as making interesting designs using vector paths. I mean in illustrator you can make incredible slinky toy type blends, and control them and transform them - and then import them into photoshop and turn on the majic. I have to say I've skipped over most of PS vector tools. I'll post an Ill to PS tomorrow when I get the time. Ferlin

Ferlin

I love illustrator to Photoshop.This is something I did with simple illustrator specified steps blends imported to PS. Duplicated layers G. blurs -noise and wind blur - gradient background etc. PS makes illustrator come alive.




[excited] Ferlin

Rantin Al

Ferlin, I think you are missing a couple of points about this thread.

It was an idea for Mac users who cannot use the sinedot plug-in as it is PC only.
I used Illustrator just as an experiment to generate the basic mesh.
I suggested using Photoshop paths as a possible alternative for people who do not have Illustrator.

It is not about Photoshop v Illustrator, just a bit of fun.

Al.