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Drop shadow / Design challenge


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Just for something a little different (but similar), here’s another ‘trippy tunnel’ made with strokes instead of fills.
Various effects and other things were also used, but it’s still all vector strokes.
Also included is another card front variant, just by way of experimentation (notice he’s levitating too.)

time-tunnel-wavy-lines2.afdesign

Annotation 2019-12-01 124241.png

Annotation 2019-12-01 131558.png

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This isn’t a particularly innovative idea (just search for “business card magic trick") but, is there a simple trick or quick illusion that you could demonstrate with the business card if it was cut/shaped/printed in a certain way?
I only ask as you could show people the trick when you give them the card and then they will have more of a reason to keep it with them so they can show other people the same trick, and by doing so more people will see your card.
The trick has to be easy to learn, otherwise the other people won’t bother to do it.
Maybe it’s something as simple as folding one or more corner(s)/edge(s) in a particular way to make something look quite different (similar to how we in the UK could fold some old bank notes to make the Queen look a bit strange – can’t remember what that was though).
Something worth thinking about perhaps?

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Yes, Garry, that is a great idea, perhaps I can craft something with the shadow on the back side of the card.

Still working through things with the colors and layout. I have to warp the text, and then add the sleeves, but this little color change in the center at least helped me get some of the blindfold man to be more visible.

I notice when I zoom in, the man has a light fringing around the edge? Is that normal? I attached a screenshot as well as the file.

Thank you for your suggestions!

 

business card shadow-2.afdesign

Screen Shot 2019-12-03 at 9.05.05 AM.png

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Well it's embeded as an image with an applied FX border, thus its raster/bitmap.

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Had a spare half hour so I vectored Agent X: Agent X Vector.SVG Use this file in the card and you will not have that fuzzy edge.

2025451788_ScreenShot2019-12-03at18_22_18.thumb.png.1d06a4092e717d241733ab129a58bc92.png

Oh and I added sleeve cuffs.

 

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1 hour ago, firstdefence said:

...Oh and I added sleeve cuffs.

(?) Some auto tracers already do recognize and apply these automatically ...

tracer.jpg.ad476772e2e0ea2975d94f40abf88d88.jpg

☛ Affinity Designer 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Photo 1.10.8 ◆ Affinity Publisher 1.10.8 ◆ OSX El Capitan
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Hi v_kyr, I didn't realize that an outline effect had been applied. I think I must have done that accidentally. Guess I need to look more carefully next time!

firstdefence, thank you once again for your time and consideration.

It is no wonder that Affinity is Mac's application of the year. You guys make these programs so much fun. I appreciate your sharing your ideas and knowledge.
 

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There are some great suggestions here. One thing that I often see done and disagree with though is the use of grey as a shadow colour. Unless it's for stylistic purposes, shadows are never grey - they are black with an opacity to allow the underlying colours to show through (the result may be grey if they lie over a white surface - which is presumeably why people use grey). Stronger shadows have a higher opacity, softer ones are more transparent. Using grey brings an unrealistic look. Putting a grey shadow across a black background actually lightens the black, something that doesn't happen in real life - shadows should never lighten anything.

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To make an even more realistic shadow you can use Photo to soften the furthest parts of the shadow using Field Blur and setting two nodes within that with one node near the feet and the other at the extremes of the shadow. the node near the feet would have minimal blurring, whereas the furthest one would have more. That mimics the way that shadows are more diffuse when they are further from their source. For the job in hand it's probably better to not do this and keep the sharp edges as stylistically it fits better with the flat graphics.

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5 hours ago, chriscaldwell said:

Hi v_kyr, I didn't realize that an outline effect had been applied. I think I must have done that accidentally. Guess I need to look more carefully next time!

What I showed there wasn't from your usage, instead it was the result/output of a vectorizing/tracing tool after autotracing the blindfolded man silhouette bitmap image. The autotracer generated a bunch of vectors for the supplied image, among those also those sleeve cuffs.

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☛ Affinity V2.3 apps ◆ MacOS Sonoma 14.2 ◆ iPad OS 17.2

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi there again, happy holidays and Merry Christmas.

 I'm back to putting some final touches on this business card project and had a quick question about the shadow color on the front of the card with the tunnel effect. Dazzler made some great points about shadows, and the blur technique for realism was a great point. I got so much good info from everybody, and cannot wait to get these printed for the new year.

So now, I'm down to trying to figure out if the shadow color on the back where it has an email address, should be the same color on the front with the tunnel effect?

Also, any thoughts based on your experience for the type of card stock that might be best for this? matte or shiny, super thick, regular, etc.

Thanks again for this help.

business card shadow-3.afdesign

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5 hours ago, chriscaldwell said:

So now, I'm down to trying to figure out if the shadow color on the back where it has an email address, should be the same color on the front with the tunnel effect?

Usually a more real looking shadow changes slightly in color due to the background area color it's falling on. Just try out for your personal taste (after all those are your cards then) what looks best for you here.

5 hours ago, chriscaldwell said:

Also, any thoughts based on your experience for the type of card stock that might be best for this? matte or shiny, super thick, regular, etc.

Shiny (slick) cards are often less sensitive to dirt and wear and may pronounce colors slightly here, though the later also depends on the material printed on and the printing process of the printing house. Slightly thicker cards instead of very thin basic ones gives them an overall better hand feel, also they don't bend that easy then. Again it's a matter of taste and material price here. - You can make for comparisons some own test prints first, on thin/thick glossy/matte paper in order to see what you like best.

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