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Write on behaviour with the writing nib changing shape — is it possible?
I wish to make some calligraphic writing animation. I have found an instructory video with broad info about the write-on behaviour, but there is just one issue – they use a constant-shape, constant-angle nib in the video. In real handwriting, your hand turns and so does the nib — with certain pens, the breadth of the line can be also much influenced by the pressure exerted. I wish to be able to control those two parameters.
For an illustrative example: I want to write a letter G (sans serifs). At the top, beginning the stroke, I want the nib to be posited as / . Then as coming downwards, I want the nib to turn, now into a vertical position, like this |. Going further, it should turn further, at the end of the letter, being like this . Now for the last stroke, going leftward (to make it a G instead of a C), I wish to keep the nib angle constant, but the breadth to decrease so that it tapers off into a more-or-less singular point.
I beg anyone who has an idea how to do it, please enlighten me, since I’ve been trying for hours but the results were laughable at best. An attached file (of a letter G done like above, or any other letter of the authors choice, illustrating changes in angle as well as breadth) would be most welcome.Thank you in advance
Péter Sisák -
8 Replies
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Forgot to mention — Motion 4.
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I don’t see the attached file? The COW will let you post a image right in your post.
Stephen Smith
Utah Video ProductionsCheck out my Motion Training DVD
Check out my Motion Tutorials
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Certainly since there is none — I maybe phrased it badly, but I expected that the people who reply would attach one.
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So you are looking for a good font or how to reveal the font?
Stephen Smith
Utah Video ProductionsCheck out my Motion Training DVD
Check out my Motion Tutorials
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Neither. I am looking for to emulate a writing nib which actually does the writing. Sure enough, I have seen those “use a scribbly font, define a mask, then reveal it gradually” demos on YouTube too, but unfortunately, I need something more — for the fact that I need to design most likely over a thousand individual glyphs, with calligraphed look, for an Indic script for which there is no font yet made whatsoever.
Sure, you could say “yes, why don’t you then take a pen and draw and digitise them?” I’ve been trying to work on that for the past ~6 weeks, but unfortunately, I don’t have a steady-enough hand for to execute such characters properly. Which is why I wish to execute them on the computer, allowing me to tweak until they look like they should, instead of keeping on writing the same glyph the 50th time and still not getting the proportions and angles right. -
Here’s a rough motion 4 project file, using an airbrush and tweaking the size, opacity etc over the duration of the font to achieve a kind of calligraphic letter.
2776_m4writestrokeangles.motn.zip
Cheers
BG
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Here’s how I’d do it based on your description:
Draw your letter as a paint stroke. Change the stroke from Solid to Airbrush or image. Create a thin oval using the circle tool. Use this oval as the shape for the dabs in the paint stroke.
In the stroke section of the shape tab in the inspector, there is a parameter called Angle over stroke. It rotates the dabs over the length of the stroke (like rotating the nib of a pen). You just put keyframes in the angle over stroke graph to tell it where to turn.
There is also a width over stroke parameter if you want to control the falloff at the end and beginning of strokes.
Sorry, no project to share.
Andy
https://www.timesavertutorials.com
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Thank you, that looks excellent — I will try it as soon as I’m back to the machine (on an excursion, and my laptop has nothing productive on it really.)
As a sidenote, if only for the shape of the letters, sans animation, I think I have found another near-perfect solution, which is using MetaPost — a whole different beast =) Still, I believe it is better to tweak with having the results visualised right away, so probably I’ll stick to Motion alright.Once again, thank you for the awesome help — I believe any other computer calligraphers will love it too.
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