Hello everyone! I'm quite new to Inkscape, but I like it really much.
I am trying to create a stylized lighthouse with lines like a circuit. Here a picture (it is not finished yet): Lighthouse

I want to add a ray of light that start from the lantern and the ray must be composed by bits, so from random 0s and 1s. They should be angled along the direction of the light and scaled from the lantern (small) to infinitum (big) and, maybe have a nice glow, but I have to see it to decide.
Here is a ray of light: Lighthouse with a solid white ray of light
I don't know if I will place the light like in picture, I have to do some tests.

To give an idea, I tryed with a dot filler. The result is horrible. Dots are not scaled and stratched, but just to have an example: Dotted light
Another example (still horrible) could be: Dotted light, but higher than before

Is there someone so kind to help me?

Thank you all,
Andrea

Welcome Andrea!

I have an idea about this, at least my understanding of what you want. Let me do some experimenting, and I'll come back with some suggestions

Ok, I only know one way to get the size of the text larger, the farther away it is, and that's using node sculpting. But exactly how to apply it to a whole section of text, I'm not sure.

What I don't understand, is exactly how you want the text to appear. I can think of these 3 ways. But I can also think of another way or 2, that I don't really want to illustrate, unless necessary. So will there be lines of text rotated around to follow the direction of the light, like on the left? Or columns of text that are individually rotated into a trianglular shape, like in the middle? Or 1s and 0s that are just floating around randomly, like on the right. Or some other way? (The arrow just shows the direction of stretching.)



Ooh....I just thought of something! I wonder if you could use node sculpting on the path of pattern along path? More experiments, and I'll post again

Edit
Ok, well the answer is Yes. You can apply node sculpting the path in a PAP. The problem is that it doesn't scult in the way a regular path is sculpted. Ooorrr....well actually, it does apply the same sculpting. The problem is that node sculpting appears to be behaving differently than it used to. A few years ago, I played around with node sculpting quite a bit. I really liked how it stretched out the nodes, like stretching a rubberband, further apart on the end being dragged, and closer together towards the static end. But now, it seems to make the wider spaces between nodes in the center of the line, and closer spaces between nodes towards both ends of the line. The same effect is created, no matter which end of the path is dragged.

What the heck is up with that?!! I liked it better the other way, and it might have been a pretty cool solution to this problem. I don't remember that it had a bell curve distribution at all, back with 0.46 or maybe 0.47. Off to research what might have changed and why....

(I'll get back to this issue shortly.)

Edit

So with node sculpting apparently off the table now, as a potiential solution, I'm not sure how to proceed. I'm not sure how to make a block of text larger at one end, and small on the other end, without actually typing different sizes of text. Let me give it some thought.....

Hello

I like these kind of challenges



1.- Using Text, and rotate it
2.- Next
3.- Next with option to scale and move objects
4.- A group of 1 and 0 blurred and clipped with a path with the shape of a triangle
5.- Behind the clipped group, a black rectangle, just to see the result

In point 2, you can change the options if you need it

Greetings

nice idea. How about something more along the simple lines, the '1''s make up the outline, and '0''s are the beam, you can add effects and such from there.
I also have a vision in my head of doing a '1' that spirals around downward from the light to the ground, like the outline of a tornado, just don't have the time to try it out.
You could also fill in the '0's inside the ray of light. I think it's best to keep it simple, like the rest of it is. Als, use the 0's instead of circles to ground the lighthouse. The beam of light could emit from a '0' instead of the star, or the star could be around the '0'.
The lighthouse itself could be made with 1's as the outer lines (I can envision the '1's from the light beams standing upward to make the lighthouse walls, I'd probably add a little window made of 1's too.
My first thought was doing the same thing Brynn did, so I won't repeat that, and I love the above design as well, there's many ways to go here.

Oh, nice idea hulf2012! Using Spray tool will be very effective for random arrangements.

Guys, you are awesome T_T
Brynn, probably what I want is the center solution (I say "probably" because I have only seen it in my mind, and other solutions could looks better in the end) but, if i understood, it is not doable because of the node sculpt tool change.
I will try to play around with what you all suggested

Thank you a lot!
Andrea

Hi Crisco.

Just like hulf2012 I like this challenge.
My method:
1. Get a bit pattern as text. I used a "homemade" python program to convert some text to a binary pattern.
2. Input the text in Inkscape ( Copy - Ctrl-C - Paste - Ctrl-V )
3. Convert the text to path - Shift-Ctrl-C
4. Draw a four node box using the Bezier tool, Important - Start in the lower left corner and go clockwise.
5. Select the text and the box (In that order)
6. Apply the - Extensions - Modify Path - Perspective

If everything went smooth you will now have this:


To get rid of the box set stroke to "None" - or just delete the box if it's not needed anymore.

Bit pattern for you to use: ( Your Choice - )
01110100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100010
01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01110011 01110100 01110010 01101001 01101110
01100111 00100000 01100100 01110010 01100001 01110111 01101110 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000
01001001 01101110 01101011 01110011 01100011 01100001 01110000 01100101 00100000 00100000 00100000

Don't worry - if you convert it back to text: "this is a binary string drawn in Inkscape "

Good Luck
RGDS Ragnar

Ragstian,
That's pretty cool! and it's giving me lots of ideas running through my mind. hmm.
One idea is to write some actual company related text, mission statement, whatever, in binary code, instead of random code.
I just love that every artist has a different 'perspective' (pun intended). : )

Ah yes, ragstian!
I was thinking of trying something with perspective, when my idea about node sculpting fizzled out! But I didn't have time to try it. I have the impression that Andrea needs the text going in a different direction. But easy enough to flip it around. I was also wondering if "bits" might mean sections of 8 characters (of 1 and 0) but I wasn't sure.

Anyway, nice work, and this will be a great solution!

Hi Brynn & Crisco.

brynn - thanks for reminding me on the "right" perspective.
Yours and the others "solutions" are much more creative than mine - I am more an engineer than an artist!
(thanks to flamingolady for calling me an artist )
brynn - one "zero" or "one" is a bit - a group of eight is a byte - half of a byte is a nibble!
Crisco - to get the perspective "right" for your image draw the box starting in the lower right corner and go clockwise.
The upper two nodes have to be on a horizontal line to avoid "distortion" of the perspective - (Use the node alignment tool!)
You will end up with something like this:


Good Luck
RGDS Ragnar

Thank you everyone, you helped me a lot.
What ragstian did is exactly what I wanted. This method is simple and fast to realize, and the result is really nice. I have to do some experiment with that and with other ideas I have had about the concept

Here is what I have tried recently.
What do you think about it?



Any suggestion will be appreciated

Hi.

Great Work!! Nice to see you got the perspective "beam" working!!
What's the "message" in the bit-stream? I have not decoded it yet!

You are asking for suggestions. The following are suggestions only - I realize that you are a much better artist than I will ever be!
Since the image relies on the perspective it might be an idea to go the "whole nine yards" with perspective.
Get the top and bottom edges to share a common vanishing points (on the horizon) as in my quick sketch;
I would also let the PCB traces follow same perspective.
(To get the strokes to follow perspective; convert stroke to path and snap the stroke corners to the guidelines. This is not done in the sketch)
(To rotate guidelines: First move guide line rotation point - the little red circle, then hover mouse pointer over the guide and press the shift key - move mouse and guide will rotate around rotation point.)
The PCB pads to have a hole to resemble a "real" PCB?

Click image to enlarge.

Good Luck
RGDS
Ragnar

Thank you, Ragnar
The "message" is not easy to understand because it is not in the correct order, it is repeated and truncated... I wrote an easy python script to have it in 7 columns, but I have to modify it to give the sequence in the correct order.
However the correct binary string I used is the following:



Your idea to use common vanishing points is brilliant! Also, I didn't know about guidelines, so I did some research and now I understood how to create and manage them. Thank you a lot.
I'm reluctant to let everything to follow perspective, because I want to give the illusion of a 3D shape but keeping everything (excluded the top) consistent with a 2D PCB.
I already did some experiment to use perspective with PCB traces, using the same tecnique you suggested for the beam. The result was good, but I still have to think about that
Also I don't know if I want to change the global shape of the lighthouse, because it is inscribed within a golden rectangle. However your solution with the middle vertical edge longer than others to follow perspective, is so nice to look at...
I will do some experiment with all of that

Really thank you for all your effort in that!
And... you ARE and artist ^^

PS: forgive me for my english, I hope it is at least partially understandable...

Hi.
I like your message - it's almost the same I used (when writing my python code) before making it "Safe for work"!!
Your English is as good (or bad) as mine, I understand it all!
RGDS
Ragnar