I'm totally new to Inkscape, but I'm just wondering if there's a way to turn an image into a realistic button. Like those buttons you can buy at the fabric store that look like little alligators? I have no idea where to even start to play around with this. Any help anyone can give me would be so awesome!

Of course you can, check this out viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1804&p=10936&hilit=herbie#p10936

Whats your graphics background? Do you have that image you want to vectorize?

I don't have much of a graphics background. I'm self taught in PSCS3, but I wouldn't say that I know much. I'm really good at trying things out and following tutorials though, since that's how I've learned what I know. I've just never used an illustrating program like Inkscape. I see what others do with it, and I don't even know where to start.

These buttons were scanned, but they have the effect I'm going for, and I'm just wondering if it's something I can do in Inkscape:


Thanks for your help!

Try reading inkscape floss manual (the link is in my sig), you have to learn about handling objects, as thats the basics you can't do without.

There are also guided examples in the inkscape guide, there are tutorial examples at the beginning of the guide. Maybe when you go through them you'll feel enough confident to try something on your own.

Those scans don't seem difficult to achieve, but you'll maybe need to create a lot of objects for all of the details. You should probably create basic shapes with basic colors, and then create shadows and highlights as objects above the basic shapes. You will probably want to keep shadows and highlights in separate layers above the basic shapes layer.

Here are some nice tutorials to begin with http://inkscapetutorials.wordpress.com/category/orb/

I just grabbed the image you shared and I will look into how to do them in Inkscape. I'll be sure to share my findings.

Thanks so much. I won't have time 'til the weekend to start messing around with it.

prkos wrote:Try reading inkscape floss manual (the link is in my sig), you have to learn about handling objects, as thats the basics you can't do without.

There are also guided examples in the inkscape guide, there are tutorial examples at the beginning of the guide. Maybe when you go through them you'll feel enough confident to try something on your own.

Those scans don't seem difficult to achieve, but you'll maybe need to create a lot of objects for all of the details. You should probably create basic shapes with basic colors, and then create shadows and highlights as objects above the basic shapes. You will probably want to keep shadows and highlights in separate layers above the basic shapes layer.

Here are some nice tutorials to begin with http://inkscapetutorials.wordpress.com/category/orb/

Thanks for your suggestions. I'll keep playing around with it.