advice on my logo

[ryanmorrow]

This is my first attempt at anything paint.net related.

I used many tutorials and plugins and help from this forum.

One thing i cannot achieve is a border around the bird( its a heron ) like an outline where there is solid black bird, then white gap then thin black line.

I have plugins called outline but i cant get it to work how i want.

any help much appreciated

[W@@dy]

I run into this issue A LOT, and the solution tends to change a bit per image.

Would you care if I gave a crack at it myself and posted my results? If this is going to be for something commercial, I'm not going to want any credit or royalty or w/e.

But the way I'd suggest going at it is putting each piece into a different layer.

However, that's assuming you have each of those pieces (the heron, the red sunrise, black circle+text) separate from each other, or are at least able to separate them.

Then place each of those items in this order (lowest layer to highest):

Sunrise>Black Circle+Text>Heron

I would then either stretch the sunrise outwards a bit, or extend it using a line tool. A line tool would give you better quality, and would be the first thing I try.

I would extend it so that the black circle on the layer above is covering the edges of the sunrise.

The Circle+Text will need to have a transparent background so the sunrise can be seen through it. If it doesn't have a transparent background, then you could use the "grim color reaper" effect to remove all white from that layer (the circle+text MUST be separate from the Heron and sunrise for this)

And actually...I'd also use the "grim color reaper" effect on the Heron as well, removing all white. That should work. If it doesn't, I'd probably just manually erase the white using an eraser tool.

Time consuming, but can give good results when done right

Btw I do like the look of it so far

If you do want me to try it myself and there are separate layers, could you send me the .pdn file?

Edited September 23, 2011 by W@@dy

[ryanmorrow]

im not quite sure if i follow you i dont want the sunrise to be seen in the white border with the text all i want is for the heron to have a border.

it all is in layers i attached a jpeg

by all means have a play its just my club logo to be used on training gear, hoodies tshirts etc.

can i attach the pdn file here or email you it?

[W@@dy]

*facepalm*

I jumped to conclusions and misread the post. Entirely my bad.

I have two plugins that can do something like that, ironically they are both named the same exact thing, but give different results.

Both are called "Outline Object" I'm not sure where I got them from though, or how to tell you to find them since they both have the same name.

To outline them, you will Definitely need the heron on a separate layer though

[ryanmorrow]

i also have both those plugins but cant get what i need from them

[pdnnoob]

I'm not sure what exactly you are attempting, but I just put an outline around the heron similar to the ones around the text.

A a bonus, I made the background transparent, cropped it to fit the logo, and removed the little white dots between the red and the black circle

EDIT: Whoops! I didn't notice how much fatter the crane is than the original xD My mistake. I know what I did that caused that, but fixing it would mess up a couple of important things unless I have access to the .pdn file

Edited September 25, 2011 by pdnnoob

[MadJik]

This may help:

http://www.fun-with-pictures.com/image-files/heron-silhouette.jpg

To use the outline effect you must have an object (the black bird surounded by transparent). So the first step is to delete the white area with the magic wand tool. Don't take care of the grey pixels as you will add a white outline they aren't a problem. Set the strenght to max. Then outline again with a black color.

The Red circle and the lightrays haven't the same center point, it gives a strange aspect...

It is important to work with a large image for a logo. Think you could need it for a large ads poster in a stadium...

[ryanmorrow]

thanks pdnoob thats exactly what im after and also thanks madjik for the advice ill give it another whirl and see what i can come up with i do want to learn it myself so will try before i get someone else to do it.

[Schnicka]

Drop Shadow is also a really useful plugin, I use it way more than outline object, and you can do pretty much the same things with it. If you want I'll find the link to it, I can't remember who's plugins it's in.

[W@@dy]

Drop Shadow...that's familiar...I think I had it once, but then it just constantly crashed PDN so I removed it.

Idk if it was a bad download, version of PDN or if the plugin got fixed. I'll give it a try a bit later as well

[ryanmorrow]

im still having trouble doing it using either drop shadow or outline anyone give me some pointers

[pdnnoob]

I just used Outline object (both worked fine, but I preferred pyrochild's version).

If you could give us a better description of the problem you're having, we could help better.

Something to remember: make sure the object to be outlined is on its own separate layer or it won't work.

[ryanmorrow]

using outline i can get a nice outline but cant keep the silohutte aswell am i missing something obvious?

[pdnnoob]

using outline i can get a nice outline but cant keep the silohutte aswell am i missing something obvious?

That is something I have never seen before. Can you get a screenshot? If you upload it to tinypic and post the link here, we could take a look...

[yellowman]

@ryanmorrow, I think, if I am not mistaken, you are using the wrong Outline plugin.

You need to use Outline Object (in Effects > Object> Outline Object) not Outline (in Effects > Stylize > Outline)

Get it from Pyrochild pack :Outline Object

Edited September 29, 2011 by yellowman

[ryanmorrow]

hey guys, been trying to figure this out on my own but still no luck.

i can now get myself an outline using the plug in yellowman suggested but 1 on the slider means the ouline is not thick enough.

if i go up to 2 or 3 i lose the black in the legs of the heron and it doesnt look quite right.

as per pictures

[mountnman]

i would try using the outline object on the heron first in black, then using aa's assistant on it to try to thicken the heron slightly before adding the final outline.. once you have it a bit thicker, nad you cant get it down to size you want, you can try runing feater or guassian blur at 1 then aa'sassit again...

[SAND33P]

If the bird is in its own layer, do a drop shadow without any blur, then do it again in whatever colours. If its not in its own layer, use magic wand to cut and paste it into another layer.

[ryanmorrow]

still having massive trouble!!!!!!!!! i will persist

[SAND33P]

Okay is the heron in its own layer?

[ryanmorrow]

yep heron is on own layer, done one drop shadow in white but the second wont work !!

[SAND33P]

You on the newest version of PDN and effects? Just click drop shadow agin and move some sliders around, ensuring the colour isvisable.

[amandae21]

If you have the plugin yellowman suggested (Pyrochild pack :Outline Object) then do exactly this:

On the Heron layer (and make sure that the Heron is the only thing on the layer, nothing else):

1) Don't select anything. Selecting is what will make the outline go along the inside of your heron (and thus, lose the legs). Go to Effects > Object > Outline Object (using the one that looks like a white circle with a black outline, not the one under Effects > Stylize > Outline)

2) Move the sliders for Radius and Strength around until the line is thick enough. If you set both sliders to 10, that's as thick as it will allow you to go in one shot. If you need it even thicker, set both to 10 and click 'Okay,' then go back to Effects > Object > Outline Object and do it again, playing with the sliders until the line is thick enough.

3) Once your white line is as thick as you want it, use the AA's Assistant plugin (which I think is also in the pyrochild pack, so you should have it) and soften up the edge of your white outline.

4) Now go to Effects > Object > Outline Object again and this time do the black line.

The attached finished product follows these directions.

[MadJik]

It seems the heron is a black hole on which you apply an outline, and this is why the white outline is covering the black legs.

The heron must be a colored object (eventually in black) without anything else outside it (so on a transparent background).

Then the white outline will grow outside the bird...

[ryanmorrow]

On the Heron layer (and make sure that the Heron is the only thing on the layer, nothing else):

1) Don't select anything. Selecting is what will make the outline go along the inside of your heron (and thus, lose the legs). Go to Effects > Object > Outline Object (using the one that looks like a white circle with a black outline, not the one under Effects > Stylize > Outline)

.

this was my problem i got it how i want it now

so thanks for your help guys.