I was over at psd tuts+ looking for something and ran into this tutorial on using a mesh to make the Northern Lights. Thought the out come looked cool.

http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/il ... lustrator/
(Also a shorter how to tutorial here with a net looking boot: http://vector.tutsplus.com/tutorials/il ... lustrator/)

I wonder how long before illustrator will automatically generate a mesh vector.

EarlyBlake wrote:I wonder how long before illustrator will automatically generate a mesh vector the out line vector are generated now.\?

I think they are a way off to be honest...
The mesh tool in illustrator although very powerful in concept has been implemented in such a way that i would label it....
(Seriously)..."THE poorest UI design for a vector tool... of all time"......LOL and im serious its an abortion.

Such are the sheer number and gravity of the bottle necks here that one is forced to contemplate whether this may have indeed been deliberate...
i.e it is quickly obvious when one starts playing here that this is a mega powerful tool in concept....and provided you have the stamina and sheer dog determination to manually chissel every object you created out of a square painstakingly editing every single mesh line ETC.... then the results can be stunning.

So stunning in fact that i think someone with only modest artistic talents can produce super photo realistic work that to the lay person 95% of on lookers appears way in advance of work done by people with 5 times the talent....

So i have a conspiracy theory here that adobe deliberately saddled this tool with bottle necks that are so retrograde that they all but kill the tool for 99% of people. And keep there designers happy....

I could go on for hours about the many ways that this tool has been burdened... but i wont bore you..
unless you ask...but suffice to say i was staggered to see how this tool was set up.....
you want to see what the mesh tool can really do... feast your eyes....
http://i-evermind.deviantart.com/art/Angel-Wallpaper-new-ver-27196068
But i have been experimenting with this tool of late and besides the bottlenecks i spoke of (which only really make using the tool super super tedious...and dont really effect its power if your determined enough)....there is an art to it and its not simple to do this type of work...
although it is (with a little practice) possible to do stuff 90% as good as this with only a very little knowledge and allot of determination...
So it is awesome....

P.S i dont want to hi-jack my own post.... does anyone know about the feathering ....is it supported in the svg format or will a raster work around be required for inkscape.?

David Hewitt wrote:The mesh tool in illustrator although very powerful in concept has been implemented in such a way that i would label it....
(Seriously)..."THE poorest UI design for a vector tool... of all time"......LOL and im serious its an abortion.

Such are the sheer number and gravity of the bottle necks here that one is forced to contemplate whether this may have indeed been deliberate...
i.e it is quickly obvious when one starts playing here that this is a mega powerful tool in concept....a

So stunning in fact that i think someone with only modest artistic talents can produce super photo realistic work that to the lay person 95% of on lookers appears way in advance of work done by people with 5 times the talent....

So i have a conspiracy theory here that adobe deliberately saddled this tool with bottle necks that are so retrograde that they all but kill the tool for 99% of people. And keep there designers happy....

It would shift the playing field towards photographers anyways. Take a good picture processes with illustrator done. Can Adobe really be that devious? Dunno. I still bet there is some movie studio high end software out there that is closer than illustrator. I guess it would kill there market if mesh was automated. UI... User Interface?

http://artis.imag.fr/Publications/2008/OBWBTS08/

that looks like the way forward instead of gradient meshes, far simpler setup. Automated output is amazin too...

Simarilius wrote:http://artis.imag.fr/Publications/2008/OBWBTS08/

that looks like the way forward instead of gradient meshes, far simpler setup. Automated output is amazin too...

how possible is it to implement it in Inkscape?

is there a linux version?

Simarilius wrote:http://artis.imag.fr/Publications/2008/OBWBTS08/

that looks like the way forward instead of gradient meshes, far simpler setup. Automated output is amazin{g} too...

Most drawings from Mesh and now Diffusion gradients creep me out, and the Diffusion generated ones are creeper. Which is weird since I like art deco stuff. I know, I shouldn't look a gift technique in the mouth. Reading the paper for @&^# and giggles. It's odd to think that one of the characteristics of Art Deco was the equation for their color gradients.

wow. I'm excited about the possibilities of diffusion curves. Much less intimidating than gradient meshes. Actually seems more similar to what was proposed as the inkscape work-around to developing a gradient mesh-like tool.

I've done a couple of GMesh works in Illustrator, and it's a long and tedious process--much like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Diffusion Curves sounds like the ultimate solution. I expect it's only a matter of time before it becomes a commercial product, like Vector Magic and Recolored did.

Isn't that awesome...
I think the thing is illustrator probably created their mesh tool with simpler stuff in mind... and it was probably the users that realised its potential.
At least thats my theory as the alternative is that they were simply inept... which is hard to believe.

I was thinking that the biggest problem with the mesh tool was that the mesh lines were tied up with the object outlines and not independent definable lines...
but this is a step in advance in that the whole grid thing is out the window....

its a shame really this whole thing...but it is also inevitable...
as it was the limitations of these mediums that fostered the art we have come to know as vectoring.
And with the removal of these limitations vector is about to make a quantum leap...and vectoring as we know it today will be quaint...
but that does not necessarily kill vector as a medium anyway i dont think... come to think of it most of the vector stuff on DA for example is more digitizing than vector as an art medium....I'm a digitizer by trade so go figure....

I will probably do a few gradient mesh designs and a bit of vector trace digitizing to satisfy my self but i will not kid myself as to the artistic merits of this process...the outcomes are no doubt artistic in nature but the process is somewhat dry and mechanical.

The true art of vector is in not tracing a raster image....but drawing directly on a blank canvas and looking at your art with your eyes not superimposed on another layer (tracing)....

(I guess what im saying is that alot of the art up to now has been working around the limitations inherent in the medium....
and as these are removed the romance is sure to be eroded.)
Im not quite there yet but ill figure it all out,,,,,

as for the artistic merits of this new process i think like any tool people will use it artfully and when a critical mass of people understand how the tool works people will appreciate what the artist has done with the tool rather than what the tool can do of itself......
I.E people will realise that photo realism and vector is no longer impressively artistic.....
a shame really because up until recently the best artist were the only ones that could achieve this and so talent was plain to see for the laymen....
This turns all that on its head and the laymen will not be able to rely on this most basic of indicators of artistic merit any longer... perhaps they should learn to appreciate art on a deeper level...

http://artis.imag.fr/Publications/2008/OBWBTS08/

that looks like the way forward instead of gradient meshes, far simpler setup. Automated output is amazin too...

How do you get it to work each time I ran it it crashed.

capnhud wrote:How do you get it to work each time I ran it it crashed.

I'm pretty sure there weren't any programs there last time I looked.

Anyway, I've had a quick go with both sample programs, and they work. Their usability leaves something to be desired.

As for why it doesn't work for you; well, have you got a newish Nvidia Graphics card, and recent drivers? The tools use Nvidia's on-GPU processing. The site says 6800 and later, though I thought the CUDA stuff actually requires 8600 and later...