TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Tools: Inexpensive and fast way to produce illustrations from pho tos!
Subject:Tools: Inexpensive and fast way to produce illustrations from pho tos! From:"Hart, Geoff" <Geoff-H -at- MTL -dot- FERIC -dot- CA> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 3 Jul 2001 14:56:03 -0400
Our graphic artist just came up with an excellent way to create thumbnail
illustrations (i.e., simplistic sketches) for use in storyboarding that I
thought might prove useful for others in future projects--whether creating
multimedia scripts or simple placeholder illustrations until you can produce
the final-quality graphics. In the particular project that we're now working
on, we'll be producing a CD-ROM to train forestry workers on basic
maintenance practices. We've been asked to eventually produce some cartoony
art to accompany the text and narration, but until then, we need clear
visual images of what the reviewers will see. Since creating the actual
sketches takes considerable time, and may not be an option if you don't have
an illustrator available this early in a project, it can be difficult to
produce good thumbnails.
Simon's elegant solution requires an inexpensive digital camera,
photo-editing software, and a willing volunteer. Here's how:
1. Persuade one of your staff to volunteer and get them to pose with the
appropriate props, in the appropriate position.
2. Photograph the model with the digital camera.
3. Use the photo-editing software to "posterize" the photo by reducing its
color depth to (say) 100 colors. Edit as necessary (crop, adjust contrast,
etc.).
The result is a highly stylized representation of the original photo that
appears more like an illustration than the original photo, in not much more
time than it takes to describe the process. By posterizing the photo, you
create enough abstraction that viewers can focus on the overall composition
of the scene rather than on the person in the photo. THis approach can work
quite well, and better still, if the style of the images suits your needs,
you might even be able to use the resulting images as your final graphics.
--Geoff Hart, FERIC, Pointe-Claire, Quebec
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
"User's advocate" online monthly at
www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/usersadvocate.html
"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a
yellow spot into the sun."- -Pablo Picasso (1881-1973)
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
TECH*COMM 2001 Conference, July 15-18 in Washington, DC
The Help Technology Conference, August 21-24 in Boston, MA
Details and online registration at http://www.SolutionsEvents.com
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
