the plague of the lighthouse keepers

[Lazur]

Had this old concept from two years ago.
Started out as the 80th and 83th weekly challenge on the facebook group.

After browsing through lighthouse images drew this heavily filtered mess of an svg:

deviantart page



As an update, recently posted a followup in that other topic of colouring books.

Felt it'd be highjacking the topic so instead posting image of the evolved drawing in this fresh topic.


Here is a sketch on how I'd think of the overall tones of the scene (used gimp for the colouring):

k14IIII.png
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Was a challenge to balance the shades right and to dumb down the contrast to be less corny.
Still not sure of the chroma values. Or the inkscape implementation.
Intentionally I'd be using linear gradients on every tile.
But to keep it simple, to use the least amount of definitions similar areas would have the same gradient fills.

On the other hand some variance would be also welcomed to make the texture stand out more and to get back from the heavy monochrome-like appearance.
Maybe it'd worth adding dropshadows too so that part could be added with filtering? My pc melts away just by thinking of it.
Will see.

[Lazur]

Some inspiration:



random painting sold on amazon:

-seems similar to this lighthouse in Porto:


Mouro Island Lighthouse


Other classics, semi related:

[brynn]

What was the fb challenge?  Was is just draw a lighthouse?  Or something more involved?

[Lazur]

Challenge 83 was explicitely about lighthouses:

I know you will draw a lot of Christmas related things this month, so here is a challenge to ease it up a bit Draw a LIGHTHOUSE! Use Inkscape, have fun! Deadline is December 14th! #inkscapechallenge83

-although the original challenge was a bit before, #challenge80 which was announced in the 7th of September 2017:

#inkscapechallenge80 is ALONE. A bit more poetic topic than usual, feel free to explore, create your drawing with Inkscape until September 14th!

[Lazur]

Some colour variants -not sure if it works yet.

[Lazur]

OK, finally getting the middle term with the Porto lighthouse. Something similar should look decent as far as the overall colouring goes.


p7.png
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By the way, here is that lighthouse located:
Playa de los Ingleses en Oporto

[brynn]

That's amazing work!  Gorgeous!

Geez, over 80 drawing challenges, and I had no idea.  I wish they had been announcing them for the whole project.

How many people are participating each time?

Not that anyone will probably pay much attention, but I am planning to post a drawing challenge in the new forum, as soon as it opens (less than 2 weeks away now).  Thinking of something simple - draw some kind of Inkscape container or product, and using a couple of examples I've made in the past.

[Lazur]

Thank's!


Not much participants usually, maybe 10-15 the most out of the 11000+ members.
Mostly less if that wasn't inkscape project related.

In addition we lost the track of the series and it's definitely not weekly now by any means.
Also facebook makes it hard to look up previous challenges.

[Lazur]

Tried to use gradients to fill the svg.

Took 20 s to adjust a single one.

After about two dozen gradients and an hour in got crashed with no backups.

Seriously? That'd approximate 1100 hours to finish this as sloppy as it can get.
Without any gradients on the strokes or any additional filters.
Need something more robust as this is a mess.

[brynn]

What was your original goal?  Did you want to reproduce the image with only those rectangle strokes filtered?

[Lazur]

Preferably? These would be the best:

diamond tiles 1
-using dither filters-

diamond tiles 2
-using filters added by gimp because live rendering doesn't work-


But at least something along these lines:


px.png
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[brynn]

Oh yes, I can see how that would be beautiful!  Of course I don't understand dithering (or maybe the filters either).  But I can see how pretty it would be.

It would be interesting, if someone had access to a state of the art machine, to install Inkscape and try something like that.  Just to see how far you could get.

When you apply the gradients, and you mentioned having a couple of dozen gradients, do you apply them manually or visually choosing the right place for each one?  Or do you use some kind of script or automatic way to apply them to the best rectangle?

For the one "at least" with px.png screenshot, I'm curious about the shadows behind each rectangle.  When I extrapolate that small sample to the large lighthouse image, I wonder would those shadows even be noticable?  Because of how our eyes work when looking at very small things, I guess it might be possible to give the effect of those shadows, in some other way.  Maybe save some resources?

I don't know how the shadows are made.  But if they are also little rectangles blurred, it might be possible to use a simple, 2-node blurred stroke, to represent the rectangle.  At least save a couple of nodes for each shadow, would cut that much number of nodes in half.  Or are they made with drop shadow filter?

Well, I know I only have simple ideas.  I wish more advanced Inkscape users would participate and give you better feedback.  But I hope they won't be so afraid of the new forum, and maybe will visit more.

(Changing the subject, I'm worried about your cache of filters on Open ClipArt.  And I'm starting to doubt their claim about being under ddos attack.  Because after all, any good webhost can block ddos attacks.  Have they told how long before they can restore the site?  I thought they had some connection to Inkscape project, but I don't remember who.  I don't understand why the Inkscape project has not investigated more.)

(Maybe you could host your filters on your website?)

Edit
Just tried to visit OCA.  They're asking for donations for "protection" which just seems strange.  I certainly would like to hear the truth....

[Lazur]

Adding the gradient fills one after another adjusting their handles so the gradient stretches along those "strokes".

The example image "px" was a sort-of quick mockup, something that could be used in the already assembled composition.
Because if the dropshadows were drawn with separate object the'd require to be placed in the right z-order -which, with an already set composition is hardly possible with a one click solution. Duplicating objects would make a copy on the top of the z-order so that approach would rather take groups as a starting point and within each group the shadow could be a result of duplicating.

So it was drawn by a set of paths with gradiented strokes&fills atop eachother as a start, grouped together.
Then, on a layer above, there was a copy of the group with random solid colour fills and the layer blending mode was changed and opacity lowered.
Atop that comes another layer where the objects within the group had the exact same layout as before but each having a white fill, a black stroke, and each of the paths having a shadow filter applied. This layer was set to multiply blending mode and the layer opacity was lowered as well.

The shadow filter can be adjusted/can be fine-tuned once the rest is set. It's not that noticeable at this example but can add alot of "realism" to such a pattern if done right.



About openclipart?
Rejon posts now and then on twitter without any release date announced.
Should consider that a lost case and a lesson on not to rely on sources you don't have the access to. Others may not think it won't ever be up although even if it will be at a point -the trust is already damaged beyond repair. It won't be the "best" open source of svg-s anymore. Not that there are webpages of a better svg library but surely most pages have better management and loyalty to their members who build up the content gaining public traffic the advertisers are paying for.

[Lazur]

Some more experience.

My pc is so full that after editing some gradients it can shut the whole system just by the amount of data in the undo history.
It says there is 1,15 GB free space on (C:) but got a popup message during editing and crashing that there is only 24 MB left? Not good.

How can the undo history be removed entirely? I don't want to undo anything just let me forward without those burdens of the past leading nowhere.

[flamingolady]

Nice work Lazur.  I have always loved lighthouses, esp living on the east coast.  Cape Hatteras is one of my favs (North Carolina), as a kid got to climb up to the top where the light lives, pretty cool, and no longer allowed).
Off topic - FB page?  what FB page?  could you elaborate, is it an Inkscape group? I'd love to check it out if you could post a link.  I am so far far behind the curve, lol. 

[Lazur]

Thank you!

Looking at that lighthouse and see how it's one of your favorite, it looks so chill!
Probably wouldn't have started with this kind of lighthouse in mind though. It'd fit a brighter image so much better.



It's a few years old facebook group with some 11000+ members. Unfortunately the group is not/was not set up public so you'll have to register at facebook and apply for a group membership.

Tim Jones is one of the most active moderators there.

On a side note there are several related groups with a smaller member base, like inkscape fro crafters for example.
Most users are at a beginner level and posts are about basic questions.
There are a few quality works posted amongst the rest.

[brynn]

If you have the portal blocks and panels visible on the index page of the forum, in the Links section is a link to the FB group.  But like Lazur said, you have to join FB, to be able to see it.

Geez, 1.15 GB is not very much free space.  Sounds like it might be time to either purge a lot of files, or get new computer.  Oh, or maybe defrag would help?

I think the only way to get rid of Undo History, is close file and re-open.