A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook Designer 2012 … · A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook...

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A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook Designer 2012 Part 2: Illustration Objectives of this tutorial: We are going to go through my process in creating the illustration of the Knievel Concept, with a focus on the tools in SketchBook Designer. We will also take a look at techniques that can be used when illustrating vehicles and products. Design principles and strategies for painting. Before illustrating the concept, we will look at the following: value change and form; surface language such as position, tangent, and curvature; describing materials visually; the use of color, textures and branding; and the use of 3D underlays. SketchBook Designer focus tools Simplicity in work flow Lock Transparency Layer Masks Gradient Fills, Texture Fills Curve Snap Layer Blending Layer Warping

Transcript of A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook Designer 2012 … · A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook...

A Bentley Design Tutorial: SketchBook Designer 2012 Part 2: Illustration

Objectives of this tutorial: We are going to go through my process in creating the illustration of the Knievel Concept, with a focus on the tools in SketchBook Designer. We will also take a look at techniques that can be used when illustrating vehicles and products.

Design principles and strategies for painting. Before illustrating the concept, we will look at the following: value change and form; surface language such as position, tangent, and curvature; describing materials visually; the use of color, textures and branding; and the use of 3D underlays.

SketchBook Designer focus toolsSimplicity in work flow

Lock TransparencyLayer Masks

Gradient Fills, Texture FillsCurve Snap

Layer BlendingLayer Warping

Surface Language Theory. (Position, Tangent, Curvature).

There are 3 types of basic surface transitions: position, tangent, and curvature. Tangent surfaces do not occur in nature. Position: Hard edges give the sense of precision. Examples: stealth fighters, crystals. Tangent: Man-made and thus comes across as purposeful and industrial. Examples: Jeeps, tools. Curvature: Smooth surfaces and transitions flow organically. Examples: animals, Porsche 911.

Form Describes Function. Surfacing Styles are a Description of the Design. How should the product be seen and understood? Below are some examples of how mixing different combinations of surface languages can communicate different meanings and emotions. Positional + Tangent = Precise Engineering. Conveys precision and purpose building. Examples: Craftsman tools, GMC Trucks. Positional + Curvature = Sculptural, Sport Luxury. Design looks precise, but is also highly organic and free flowing. Examples; Sculpture, Lamborghini. Postitional + Tangent + Curvature = Smart Design Conscious. A precise design which is also organic, but the tangents (rounded edges) give it a more man-made, purpose-built look. Example: Apple's design. Other examples:Military design uses tangential surfacing or positional surfacing for faceted stealth technology. Basic Budget/value products usually are tangent if a plastic product, or positional if wood or folded metal.

Paint Work Flow and Methodology

Above are some painted examples, ranging from a diffuse surface to a polished, reflective surface with color.

Material ChangesIn general, simply changing the spread of the highlight and adjusting the strength of the reflection works well for material changes. Rough surfaces have broad, flat highlights and generally no reflection. Highly polished materials have tight hot white highlights and strong reflections.

Texture Fill ToolTo make wood (or other textures like leather). Import a texture into the Fill Texture Tool, located in the Vector Tool Pallet. Click and drag into a closed network of curves (in this case, simply a circle) scale the texture properly, and warp the texture into place with the handles.

Layer Blending Filters. Use the overlay Layer Blending Filter to maintain highlights and shadowing (for woods, carbon-fiber, etc.). Use the Multiply Layer Filter for diffuse objects like concrete or layering black logos.

Knievel Concept

Concept Description. A futuristic racing aircraft. The nature of the racing is dangerous; thus the given name Knievel. The concept is influenced by Streamline design as well as organic life; manta rays, bats, and insects. The color is taken from Evil Knievel's outrageous red, white, and blue, outfits.

Model Views: final concept views

The Knievel Concept. Surface language is Positional + curvature (an organic model with precise sculptural edges) to convey speed, danger, elegance and sport.

3D Underlays

Occasionally, I will create basic surfaces in a 3D modeling package like Autodesk's Maya or Alias to use as an underlay for multiple tricky perspective shots. This gives me an opportunity to play with different camera lenses and light. For this design, I decided to use my original 2D perspective sketch.

Illustrating the sketch

Curves/Strokes. For this illustration, I outlined the silhouette of the object with curves. With these curves I was able to use the Fill Tools, Snap to Curve Brush Option and the various Layer Masking Options.

Creating Curves. For me, the Straight Line Tool takes the least amount of time to outline the drawing. I then used the Fillet Curve Tool to create the shape needed. Occasionally, I will select the curve and add handles to manipulate the shape of the curve.

Fill Tools. With the curves created, I used the Gradient Fill Tool. While there are a number of preset options, I simply used a default and added more color bars within the tool itself. Once I was happy with the fill, I selected the edges of the tool's bounding box to deform and distort the shape of the fill until it followed the surface flow of the design.

Masking. I then used the Lock (Preserve) Transparency Layer Option. This tool ensures that color and value changes are only made to painted pixels. To use the Lock Transparency Layer, I needed to convert my Vector Layer to a Paint Layer. I did this by duplicating the layer and merging down onto an empty paint layer to make it paintable. Then I selected Lock (Preserve) Transparency, after which I repainted the surfaces with a hard-edged airbrush (a preset option in the airbrush menu) until I was happy with the shading.

For this illustration, I chose a light source that is high in the sky to help me read the surfaces well. In order for the material to look polished, I tightened the highlights and made them bright. Anytime that surfaces fold or pinch, the highlights should tighten.

Snap to Curve and Snap to Edge of Curve Brush Options. An impossibly cool feature for cut-lines and, in this case, an easy way to mask out areas. To use the Snap to Curve Brush Options, convert all the existing curves to Guide Curves. Select all the curves and under the Brush Menu change them from Pen or Pencil Strokes to Guide Curves.

Masking Layers. I then created a new Paint Mask Layer and used the Curve Snap to Edge Tool to paint out the masks I needed. I generally create Mask Layers for any material changes and major breaks in the surface. The Mask Layers are additive and can be either Paint Masks or Vector Masks.

I continued to tighten the drawing up by drawing curves for cut-lines and material changes. I then used Snap to Edge with white and black pencils, respectively.

Next, I hand painted areas of the illustration in the Paint Layers, then used the Preserve (Lock) Transparency Brush Options. (Each color represented is on its own layer, making it easy to paint out later). Once done, I hand painted each of the layers using the Multiply Blending Layer Filter.

Details

After the additional layers are painted and shaded, it's time to detail the drawing by tightening up the illustration, making color changes, and adding graphics and text.

Tighten highlights and accent edges. I punched up the details by going over the illustration with pencils. I added some dark airbrushing across the tops of surfaces to represent the reflection of the environment as the sky darkens towards the center of the the heavens.

Color. Color changes are quite simple using either the Color Layer Blending Filter or, in this case, the Overlay Blending Layer Filter for more contrast. I used my previously created masks and curves for snapping to speed up the process.

Graphics. Using sharp lines and circles (precise + organic) I quickly created a logo and converted it from vector to paint by merging it onto an empty paint layer.

Warp Tool. I used this to pull the logo like taffy around the aircraft to simulate how it would wrap around the surfaces. Then I used the Overlay Layer Blending Filter to lay the logo onto the surface.

Text. I created some text in Photoshop and copied it to the clipboard. I pasted it as a layer into SketchBook Designer (from clipboard), pressing Ctrl + Shift + V. Then I warped the layer over the surface and used the Multiply Layer Blending Filter to lay it onto the vehicle, and adjusted the transparency of the layer.

Additions and thoughts to consider. After I had reviewed my model sheet, I decided to add wires to give it a more bike-like feel. I painted some simple environmental reflections to give it some interest. I didn't want the image to get too busy so I went with more of an anodized metal look and avoided reflecting the rider onto the body of the aircraft. I also could have broken up the body into metal panels but I liked the clean, streamlined look. I would have to place some more cut lines around the rider and sides of the vehicle to make this vehicle manufacturable. Understanding and implementing elements of the manufacturing process can add realism and believability into a design.

Final Image

David Bentley

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