Trying to mkae my own again

[dirtrider73068]

I got a image I am trying to turn into a pattern for  friend as a surprise she lost her baby think before it was born, I have made one pattern already for her and she loved it and am trying to make another this one is a good one, so far I have got the letters done they look ok, the feet are good but am not happy with how the feathers are looking or the size of the whole pattern, I printed it off and its small and offset on the paper it does not fill the whole page up, if make fit to paper its too big. I am using gimp and trying my best I want to get better with gimp to make my own, I have the original image to go by I am making the patter from. Can I get some tips on what to do and what my mistakes are. I would love to do this myself.

[thewoodartist]

I can give you an idea as far as the scale/size. I would cut the image and image only and then click the file button in gimp and then create from clipboard. Once you done that, click the image button and then click the scale image and change the measurements to inches and then type in your size which for a standard paper I use the size 8x10" and it will scale it. If you have a question about this feel free to ask. As far as the pattern itself I'm no help there as the way one is designed is up to the designer every designer has a different eye. On a side note, I also use inkscape for scaling and for adding things to a pattern before using gimp to edit them to the finish pattern. Hope this helps.

[dirtrider73068]

Ok tried that but when I scaled it bigger all my lines there clean ended up being not clean I have to go back and clean them up if that makes sense, it could also be the way I am saveing it in gimp, I save it as a jpg and have to use the export option.

[thewoodartist]

You are doing it right. I have to clean it also that's why I use inkscape to scale it. It's b/c your original is a vector and gimp is the other one that I can't think of right now or it's the other way around. Can't remember but yes when I scale with gimp I do have to do a clean up also. There are other free programs to scale with before printing. I use rapidresizer a lot to make my patterns bigger when doing bigger patterns. Mine is an older version that I purchased. There is one online not sure if it's free or not though. You may try saving it as a .gif or something like that to get it cleaned and able to rescale it. You may also do a google search for "using gimp to make scrollsaw patterns" and you'll find a bunch of videos on it. I done that a long time ago and was able to make my own then just started expierimenting to better use gimp as well as inkscape. Sorry I'm not much more help.

[dirtrider73068]

Gimp is bitmap uses pixels, the others use vector gives more clean lines. Being most images are bitmap gimp is best to use, said from scrollsaw village on there classes for useing gimp.

[Tomsunnu]

Hi Dirtrider,
Like the wood artist mentioned each designer has a different eye but the tool remains the same, for resizing, the methods mentioned are good  . In cleaning up or smoothining the lines , in Inkscape I do the trace option- You will have more expert comments and tips form our senior designers. In the mean time I took the liberty of making a pattern with your image for you- I hope it is okay This is made with combination of GIMP,Inkscape and Corel draw.
Mahendra

[dirtrider73068]

Thanks Mahendra, I was getting frustrated with it last night so I said heck with it and walked away, once I get more calm I will step back into it and try again, see what I can do. Hopefully I can start catching on with it.

[Joleet]

Great pattern Mahendra.

[thewoodartist]

Great job on the pattern. I was going to work on it for him today while I had a little down time. Thanks for helping out. Dirtrider, I'm going to tell you what everyone else told me when I started making patterns "Stay calm and practice, practice, and more practice." I'm finding that everytime I make a pattern I learn something new. This is one thing that you will keep learning something everytime.

[EIEIO]

I agree with all the suggestions above. Just wanted to add that the bitmap editing in GIMP (jpg, gif) is fine, but the vector Trace in Inkscape is what lets you scale the size without creating those messy jaggies. You probably know that you can save the jpg, gif, bmp, etc. from GIMP, load it into Inkscape, create the vector trace, save as SVG from Inkscape, load the svg into GIMP, and go back and forth as needed.

When resizing, it's best to do in Inkscape to keep the smooth edges.

But note that you don't follow the jaggies with the scroll saw blade - it acts like a filter to remove that high frequency noise when you make the cutting.

BTW - nice one, Mahendra.

[dirtrider73068]

I need to dive into inkscape then I haven't tried it yet, I like his pattern its simpler than what I was trying after, I wanted to keep the wings like they are, but add some veining to inner part of the wings to give it more detail of the feathers if that makes sense. I will keep working it, since don't have time frame for this one, just wanted to start getting more into pattern making now.

[Tomsunnu]

Thank you guys for your kind comments ,it is appreciated . My mentor and a good friend Don Rob gave me a mantra and I quote "Practice,practice and some more practice" that is the key word and like woodartist mentioned stay calm, if it is not happening the way you want it, stop! and have a go at it again after a while. You will get it right! this is no rocket science but do keep posting your work so that each designers on this site can help you with useful tips.
All the best and looking forward to see more attempts from you
Mahendra

[dirtrider73068]

Thats why I stopped it was getting to me so I shut it down and walked away, will step back into it after thinking on it for a bit and try again. I will get it eventually.

[dirtrider73068]

Well I tried some more going into inkscape it was more confusing make more mad than gimp, said heck with it, here is the look I am after,you can see the difference between the two wings, the veining in the inner part of the wings is what I want to give a detail look of feathers in the wing, I am giving up on it its getting way to frustrating I will stick to cutting patterns instead of trying to make them and maybe try again to make patterns but doubt it, if somebody wants the original I started with it I have it as well.

[frankorona]

Excellent patterns guys, thanks for your help.