Paint bucket not conforming to shapes?

[Kululu17]

Hi All,

I have a some vector artwork in a single shade that I am trying to add highlights and shadows to (trying to achieve cel shading effect). I thought that the paint bucket tool would be the way to do this, basically draw an intersecting curve on the main shape to isolate where I want the highlight or shadow, and fill in the desired color. However the resulting fills don't conform to the shapes of the lines that are supposed to define them. (See image below - the fill shape in dark gray has a ton of extra points, and zigzags wildly.) Am I doing something wrong? Is there a way to fix this (aside from manually adjusting all the points to fit within the boundaries I had intended) Is there a better way to add highlights and shadows to a base shape?

Thanks in advance.

BTW Anime Studio Pro 11.2

[synthsin75]

I NEVER use the paint bucket. Just too many points and not intelligently placed. Far better to just close the curve and and use create shape.

[Greenlaw]

Paint bucket doesn't work that way. What it basically does is fill the space with a bitmap and then auto-traces it.

If you need a point accurate fill, select the points that make up the shadow and create a new shape. Then you can fill the new shape.

Three alternative methods:

1. Use the Shade Effect. Set it to have a hard edge. If you set it up correctly, it can appear to cast a shadow along the side. (This one is probably the easiest to set up. It's basically off-setting the shapes alpha channel and using that for 'shading', so there are limitations.)

2. Draw an oversized 'shadow' shape that overlaps the shadow side of the shape. Then use the first shape as a mask. You can use usually use Exclude Strokes on the mask to hold out the edge lines so they draw on top of the shadow layer. If that fails, just copy the mask layer to the top of the stack and disable the fill for the copy. (I use this method if the shadow needs to be more specific than what the above effect offers.)

3. Add the shadow in a compositing program like AE or Fusion. This is what I usually do since it's arguably the easiest and more flexible approach. The topic is too big to go into here but I can try to explain in more detail if there's interest.

I may do any of the above. They're all valid and useful techniques but the one I choose depends on the character design, how often the rig will be used, and the time available to create the scenes. Sometimes the approach may be a combination of the above.

Hope this helps.

[Kululu17]

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the help. It can be a little frustrating, when the software's user manual is showing the wrong way of going about things. You guys are life-savers! Just to make sure I understand method 1:

A. Draw the line segment(s) intersecting the main shape. B. Weld the endpoints of of the intersecting curve to the main shape. C. Select the points from both the original shape and the intersecting line that form the shadow area, and use this to "create shape"

Thanks again!

[Greenlaw]

That sounds like you got it.

Here are some examples for the other methods:



The masking approach over on the right is a little more work but it offers a lot more flexibility for getting the look and shape of the shadow exactly right since it's a fully editable shape. Just rig it the same way as the rest of the leg and it will follow the leg.

(Tip: If the path outline extending outside the leg shape bugs you, you can hide it by disabling Paths in the layer's Quick Settings. Personally, I ignore it for my own rigs but I may hide it in a rig that's meant to be animated by artists.)

With the Shaded FX approach, you're pretty much stuck with the shape of the original limb, which might in some situations create an undesirable effect. Like the way the shadow curls over the top of the leg in the above example. The Shaded FX is probably the easiest method to set up though, and a pretty good one when you can get away with it.

Tip: Make the Shaded FX a custom style. This makes the effect a whole lot easier to apply all over the character. As a custom style, you can set it up to work over any color without repeatedly messing with the fx settings.

[Greenlaw]

Thanks so much for the help. It can be a little frustrating, when the software's user manual is showing the wrong way of going about things.

Sure, no problem. The methods described in the manual aren't necessarily 'wrong', but some of the material in there is a bit dated. It could probably stand a re-write and maybe some fresher examples that better reflect current features and workflow.