Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
Just keep in mind when you're retouching over a photo
that you have several clues in plain view for what a shape and
its color should look like. Shadows indicate a light source in a
scene that will be in the opposing direction as highlights. Make
use of the Color Picker (Eyedropper) next to the Color Line
also. It's much better to sample a color in a photo than to guess
the right color for retouching. Colors in photos are usually
duller—containing less saturation—than you imagine.
Creating Signage
Signs on commercial buildings are usually put up last, just
before a store opens—sometimes done to thwart neighborhood
groups from protesting a fast-food chain moving in. Regardless
of why, this just-in-time sign-posting stuff is
good news for the artist who serves as both
a designer and prototyper, because you can
easily sneak a snapshot of a building and
add the store logo you designed by using
Xara. The tutorials in the following sections
make heavy use of Xara's Extrude Tool—
you'll learn how to make a 3D sign within
a scene that looks photographically correct
and practically undetectable from an actual
photographed sign.
Open Add signage.xar. The Object
Gallery shows that the bottom layer with the
photograph is locked and you have a new
layer on top for the sign construction work.
This is going to be both fun and educational.
The photo has been significantly tricked-up to remove signage and put autos on the street. This
has no effect on the tutorial, but topics almost never tell the reader when they're working on a
pre-edited piece of artwork.
Sign Design and Extruding Text
In reality, you
could
put up a “painted” sign in the Add signage
.xar file, but it wouldn't have the impact and drama of building
a 3D extruded sign above the windows. Dimensional creations
are simply the most appropriate for photographic retouching,
because there are subliminal clues all over the place in most
