Alias Sketching Tutorial, Draw and render a shaver Rating Options

[ScottieB]

Hey, This is my first go at a tutorial for people wanting to sketch in Alias. Studiotools has many great tools that help with rendering and can also be intergrated with 3D parts. I have created a step by step process of how I created this image. I'm still learning so this is just a guide for you to make your own work. Good luck with it and hope this helps some people!

 Final_Shaver1.jpg ( 95.27K ) Number of downloads: 2131


I used the 'Personnal learning edition' of studiotools 12.0 with my little 4x5 inch wacom tablet.

[ScottieB]

1a) -Upon opening Alias go FILE >NEW.

 1a.jpg ( 76.67K ) Number of downloads: 1233

[ScottieB]

1b) -Change to paint mode PREFERENCES>WORKFLOWS>PAINT
(Alias view ports can be changed from modelling(grey background) to paint which is white. This Also brings up the properties tools on the right to edit brushes and colours etc..)
- Choose any view port and expand it (front, right, top, perspective) it doesn’t matter because wherever you start drawing it creates a plane canvas normal to the view.

 1b.jpg ( 81.77K ) Number of downloads: 834

[ScottieB]

1c) To get Layers up you select WINDOWS>EDITORS>LAYER EDITOR. This layer box is the same as photoshop. When first opened the box may only contain canvas so expand it to see layers within canvas. The menu options in this box have all the layer things like merge, new layer etc..

Also a very important step is to increase the quality of the image by going to PREFERENCES>GENERAL PREFERENCES> then go to paint and select HIGH quality.
I found it really hard without knowing this at first because the lines become jaggy at certain random zooms.

 1c.jpg ( 84.91K ) Number of downloads: 845

[ScottieB]

2) Now here I was being really rough. On a new layer I quickly drew some general lines. You may have done some form exploration on paper and looked at other shaver photos but for this tutorial I just made it up without to much fussing over design.

 2rough.jpg ( 87.86K ) Number of downloads: 996

[ScottieB]

3) On a new layer above the ‘rough lines’ I redrew the shaver and now added some design changes. The layer below is made transparent by 90% via click and dragging the ‘1.0’ number to the right and the layer name.

 3refine.jpg ( 97.62K ) Number of downloads: 877

[ScottieB]

4)Next a third layer is created for final lines. My tactic to making the lines look dynamic is the use calligraphic line weights i.e. thick to thin. Here I rotated the canvas to draw the lines on my tablet. If you want you can erase the lines back but they look cool left for now. To rotate the canvas zoom out (shift +alt+right click) enough to see the canvas edge and marking menus (shift +ctrl+middle mouse) select rotate and click canvas edge and use middle mouse to rotate.

 4final_lines.jpg ( 90.23K ) Number of downloads: 811

[ScottieB]

5) Now to make elipses I used curves and copied and pasted into position. Look at modelling tutorials to find out how. Then with pencil hold ctrl+alt to snap the pencil to curve and draw around elipse.

 5ellipses.jpg ( 96.59K ) Number of downloads: 733

[ScottieB]

6) Added in some more little lines and get rid of rough lines layer. Finished lines!!!

 6finallines.jpg ( 90.85K ) Number of downloads: 737

[ScottieB]

7) Add new layer and with black airbrush get the values right. This is just one way which I found quick.

 7shadebroad.jpg ( 86.68K ) Number of downloads: 675

[ScottieB]

8)After broad strokes I have erased some airbrush.

 8erasedshade.jpg ( 91.18K ) Number of downloads: 691

[ScottieB]

9) I render each surface in a new layer and then merge it down to layer below after all erasing has been done.

 9refinedshade.jpg ( 90.18K ) Number of downloads: 714

[ScottieB]

10) Now erased bits for highlights.

 10shadehighlights.jpg ( 98.52K ) Number of downloads: 648

[ScottieB]

11) Surfaces with black.

 11_blackshades.jpg ( 93.8K ) Number of downloads: 661

[ScottieB]

12)On layer below black I used an orange airbrush to colour in surfaces.

 12_colour.jpg ( 97.65K ) Number of downloads: 792