Off topic how-to question

[evolbeagle]

I'm asking this here first because brad and johnie check this board and both seem to know this sort of thing. I can post it elsewhere if you guys don't have time to answer this one.

Here's the question:

How do you make those skeletal line drawings like the one in the graphic on this page:

http://www.onepage.com/

I'm talking about the thing that looks like a solid shape but is only drawn with gray lines. Are those done by hand? Or is there some software that aids in drawing them? I've got some ideas I want to add into a KM movie, but short of drawing the whole thing by hand, I don't really know where to begin.

Thanks.

[johnie]

That is done with a 3-D engine or CAD software. In fact just about any 3-D engine will draw those graphics. It can also be done with a CAD program which is what I suspect was used on that paticular page but I am not 100% sure.

You can also hand draw them.

The Teddy applet will draw Line shapes like that if you want and its free.

http://www.mtl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~takeo/teddy/teddy.htm

Look around there are also some freware cad programs.

http://www.tenlinks.com/CAD/products/free.htm

[BradBradleySL]

Continuing on what Johnie said, you could then import the objects as .dxf format..which thanks to BOB and company, we can now do:-)

You could also draw these lines by hand directly in KOOLMOVES, with better results, because, while the .dxf import is great, they may not appear exactly how you want them too in the program, it isn't a 3d-engine so that is expected.

Brad

[evolbeagle]

Thanks, guys. I've fiddled around with a couple of the freeware cad programs to get the idea. And I've also worked on drawing this sort of thing directly in KoolMoves. Drawing directly sure seems to give a smaller file size than importing stuff -- far fewer points in the drawing.

One thing that takes me time, though (and Brad has gotten on to me about it in the past), is smoothing out curves. What is the best way to smooth out freely drawn curves? I'm currently doing it point by point, just moving things around until they look right. There isn't a smoothing function or trick in KoolMoves that I don't know about, is there?

[johnie]

Use the add curve button Instead opf using straight lines. Its under the subtract point button.