Modified Fan

by | Jun 24, 2009 | Fan Shape Tool, Free Videos, Guidelines, Polyarc

runjump




Rachel in New Zealand contacted me yesterday with a design request. She wanted to recreate a slightly unusual welded word title she had found on a card. The above screen shot shows the image based on the design she sent to me. So, how do you create it easily? Well, maybe you would like to give it a shot yourself first in KNK Studio before watching the video. Hint… I started with the Fan Shape.


Modified Fan Video



If you are interested in learning more about welded lettering, be sure to check out two videos I sell in my store: Creating Welded Letter Titles and Creating Monograms. I now sell directly via Paypal and my videos can also be purchased at Scrapbook Die Cutter via credit card and Paypal.

Round Corner and Fillet Round Corner

by | May 14, 2009 | Filet Round Corner, Free Videos, KNK, Polyarc, Round Corner

roundcorner

Today’s video is for Lisa S who was having some issues with the Round Corner and Fillet Round Corner functions in KNK Studio. Round corner can be a little finicky… the default setting of 0.2 for corner radius is way too high. I recommend immediately resetting that to 0.02. That will give you a lot more control over the look of your rounding. Also, you have to do the outer corners and inner corners separately. Fillet Round Corner is more straight-forward. It appears that it picks up the settings from Round Corner automatically. And you can individually click on inner and outer corners without leaving the window and re-entering.

Here’s the video: Round Corner and Fillet Round Corner

Also, I covered Fillet Round Corner in a previous post here for those who missed it. In this video I show how to design a file folder shape using this handy function: Designing a File Folder

As always, post if you have any questions!

More Designing Tips in Klic-N-Kut Studio

by | Mar 31, 2009 | Easter Eggs - Designing, Hot Keys, Polyarc, Shortcuts, Transformation, Welding



The main purpose of this video is not so much about the Easter egg, but rather to illustrate a great assortment of tools and hot keys available in KNK Studio… functions you will be able to use elsewhere in your design work with this wonderful software. Some of these have been covered in other videos and the usage of them in this video will be a reminder. But there are also a couple of new things I show.

While watching the video, take note of the following functions:

  • Tranformations: used to distort images -I use it to convert an oval to an egg shape. As a reminder when using the functions in this window, you get different results if you also hold the Ctrl key versus the Shift key versus no key. Try it out!
  • In Polygon editing mode, select any two nodes and then press “I” on the keyboard to insert nodes
  • Similarly, in Polyarc editing mode, there is a Divide icon in the Smart Bar which allows you to insert a specific number of nodes along the path between any two existing nodes.
  • Use the Stroke and Fill tools to thicken any open path and then use the Basic Weld tool to convert to a closed path.
  • Select an image and place the cursor over the center. Hold down both Alt and Ctrl keys on your keyboard and drag the center. A copy of the image will be created and you can only drag the image horizontally or vertically to keep it aligned with the original.
  • When Object A is on top of and extends beyond Object B, use the AND Weld tool to trim the excess from Object A to fit Object B.
  • When moving an object on the screen, hold down the Shift key while using the arrow keys on the keyboard and the object will move much faster than if you only use the arrow keys alone.

    If you have ANY questions about the use of these functions, be sure to post. And here’s the link to the Easter Egg Video!

    • Hot Air Balloon for Lynn G

    by | Feb 5, 2009 | Designing, Free Videos, Hot Air Balloons - Designing, Polyarc


    I have another GREAT designing challenge to show you today! Thanks to Lynn G who posted a request on the KNK Studio GE Yahoo Group for help with desiging a hot air balloon. Once again, I had to play around for a bit, walk outside and think about it for a bit, and then it hit me that the secret was, once again, in the power of polyarc editing.

    Here’s a link to the video:
    Designing a Hot Air Balloon

    A couple of things I discovered after making the video:

  • If you’d like to expand the balloon to include two more colors for the complete range of a rainbow, then just make your circle 3.5″ instead of 2.5″ and you can add two more circles/colors: see below.
  • When I tested 3.5″, it seemed that I needed to tweak the top node more, plus you’ll have two nodes on the left side to delete, rather than just one. But otherwise, it works the same.
  • You might want to flatten your balloon a bit after creating it. I just shortened the height without changing the width: again see below.
  • You might not want the circles spaced perfectly at 0.25″ each. To get a more realistic 3D look, try making the outer segments thinner and gradually increasing in size towards the middle. For the sake of time, I didn’t do this, but you can experiment with it yourself after you make your first one.

    • Once again, Klic-N-Kut Studio comes through for us with flying colors! (Pardon the pun! :P)


    Let’s Grow Some Grass!

    by | Dec 17, 2008 | Free Videos, Grass - Designing, Polyarc

    Carol B contacted me last night and was interested in designing her own grass. I just LOVE these designing requests, although I’m still muddling over how to create a simply mud puddle for CeCe! lol But I’ll figure it out one of these days.

    The video shows how to design the type of grass I show above. If anyone has an example of a different look, then send it to me and I’ll possibly come up with an alternate method. Definitely play with this one, though, as it’s simple, quick, and may just provide some ideas for other designs. Let me know!

    Designing Grass Video