Icon-A-Day, Icon # 74, Scanners & Cameras

So it turns out, I'm not dead. I have just been missing in action for a month.

Tuesday, April 19, 2005 by mormegil | Discussion: Icons

Icon 74 (Scanners & Cameras)

So it turns out, I'm not dead. I have just been missing in action for a month. For those of you who do not know, but were wondering, the reasons why the Icon-A-Day icons came to a screeching halt last month, I will explain. Well at least sum up.

Reason # 1. I just moved, and as it turns out, moving seems to take up some time. Getting my studio set up the way I like, as well as all the piles of boxes and piles of crap ordered and placed in to new boxes of crap took way longer than I thought it would.

Reason # 2. I HAD NO INTERNET. I know it is hard to imagine, but thanks to Charter Cable, those bastards who just sent me a bill for a service that I never actually got, I was without Internet access for 3 weeks. I have Internet at work, but was very busy with the Galactic Civilizations II Beta and so could never make time to get anything else done there.

Reason # 3. (This one I think was subconscious) I was very tired and needed a break. Well I got my break, so I can get my ass cracking and we can finish this pack now.

Now that that's over, lets make an icon.

When I left we had stepped away form the folder icons and were finishing up the "start" icons. Now that I'm back, let us dive back into the folder icons and push on through to the end. Today we will take care of "Scanners & Cameras" or "Imaging" or whatever it is called these days. This is the folder in the control panel that contains all your imaging devices and their preferences. We will do it how windows does; with a picture of a scanner and a camera.

Sadly today's tutorial will be pretty vague since it is about 90% mesh fills, but I will try and be as helpful as possible with my descriptions.
 

Step 1:

First step is to take some mesh rectangles and mockup what we are looking for, keeping in mind the perspective and style of the rest of the pack.


Step 2:

Now we start "sculpting" the meshes to give our scanner some details. If you look close you will see that the top of the scanner is quite simple. Four mesh points on each edge, to give it a bit of a bevel, and two in the center for the glass.

 Step 3:
 
Now I do almost the same thing with the lid, except I make the center white, and give it a bit of a bevel to make it seem like it is coming out of the bottom of the lid.

 
Step 4:

By editing the bottom 2 meshes on the scanner I give it a bottom, making sure the top edge color of both the meshes match the edge color of the top piece. This helps it all look like one. I also give the scanner glass a little gloss.
To top it all off, using our much used texture techniques I give all the exposed grey areas a brush texture.

 Step 5:

Now we move on to the camera. This is done in almost the same way. Each mesh rectangle is given 3 points along the edges and by adding black and white I give it a bit of a rounded edge, making all 3 pieces look like one block of metal.

Step 6:

Now I use 2 more mesh rectangles to make the eye piece and several circles using regular radial gradients fills to make the lens. To polish them off I give them both a bit of gloss.

Step 7:

To make this match our existing style of metal in this pack, I go in with the mesh tool and give the camera a few panels. I also add a button to the top of the camera with one new mesh rectangle.

 

 Step 8:

Now to give us that "Icon-A-Day" look we need to make sure we have the reflections.
Using our "Reflection Techniques" we go in and add a reflection of the camera and the lid to the scanner glass.

 

 Finished Icon Image.

Today we used a lot of mesh fills; make sure you check out the Mesh Fill Tutorials 101 & 201 to get a better idea of how the mesh fill works.

 




Click here to download the finished icon.
 

Tomorrow we will push on through the folders. We only have a few left, then we will get down to polishing up the pack for the final release in about 20 or 30 icons.

Don't worry, I have not forgotten the Recycler icons, but I am saving them for last. So sit tight and enjoy the ride.

Read the other Icon-A-Day Articles: (Icon-A-Day Index)

Check out the CorelDRAW for Skinner Index, for links to all the related Video Tutorials.

And don't forget to check for all the Icon-A-Day icons as they get made, in the Miscellaneous Icons Gallery at Wincustomize.com
All Images and Text in this tutorial are © Paul Boyer, and may not be reused without written permission.

7 Reply 160 Referrals
Halluci
Reply #1 Tuesday, April 19, 2005 6:38 AM
Welcome Back!

Another great icon, the glass effect looks especially realistic what with the reflections and all

btw, the icon doesn't seem to be showing in the misc. icons sections...

PurrBall
Reply #2 Tuesday, April 19, 2005 6:57 AM
Yay! I-A-D's back!

Looks awesome! Too bad I can't half replicate it...

tlb123
Reply #3 Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:11 AM
Looks awesome! Too bad I can't half replicate it...



same here

Gutter Man
Reply #4 Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:24 AM
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!!!!!!!!!

Corky_O
Reply #5 Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:31 AM
Many thanks.

Kinda figured GC2 was taking your work time.

Nice to have you back, Paul.

horiz0n
Reply #6 Wednesday, April 20, 2005 5:27 AM
Well I'm sure you noticed people missed you at least

Pixel8
Reply #7 Sunday, April 24, 2005 8:49 AM
I missed you and I'm happy for you and your success over there at stardock. You give alot back to the skinning community. We are all grateful.

...Now get back to work!!

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