"Stereo Framing - Lesson 2" transcript

©2011 Eleanor (Lea) Tesoro / Opal Lei.  All rights reserved.


00:00

Welcome!  My name is Eleanor Tesoro, known in Second Life as Opal Lei.  This video is part of a series of tutorials on Stereomasken.

00:11

In Lesson 2, we will talk about adding and deleting mask points, creating simple curves and complex curves, and manipulating handles.

If you have not viewed Lesson 1, please stop this video and watch that lesson first.

00:28

In Lesson 1, we learned how to create a rectangular frame with straight edges like this one.  In this lesson, we're going to add curves to make the frame more interesting.

In this stereo pair, I'm going to enhance this rectangular frame by rounding the top left corner.  I can move this point lower, then I'll need another point in this area.  The rounded edge will be between the two points.

1:00

ADDING AND DELETING MASK POINTS

First, be sure that you are in the Edit Mask Points mode.

Then, we choose the Shift in Y alignment and move the top left point lower.

To add more points in the mask, we have to select an edge by selecting the two points that the edge connects.  To select this edge, we select this point and this point.

Notice that the first selected point has a thicker frame than the other point.  The first selected point is significant when adding new points.

Next, we can click the Create New Mask Points button, or select Mask > Create New Mask Points.

The selected edge gets a rubber band which switches from one side to the other depending on which side the cursor is in.  And we can click where we want the new point to be.  After setting down the first additional point, the edge between the newest point and the first selected point gets the rubber band.  And we can continue adding mask points this way.

When we're done adding new mask points, we simply click the Edit Mask Points button again.

Now cross your eyes.

Notice that the new mask points are at the same depth as the original stereo window, behind the mountain.  For this tutorial, let's set it to be the same depth as the other points in the mask.

To do that, we simply choose one of the old points as the first selected point, then we hold down Shift and draw a selection box around the new points, then we click this button or choose Align > Adjust Depth to First Selected Point.

To delete unwanted points, simply select them and click the Delete Mask Points button or go to Mask > Delete Mask Points.

We are going to turn this edge into a curve.

3:41

CREATING A SIMPLE CURVE

Let's select the edge by selecting the points on each end.

These two buttons change the shape of the edge.  Convert Curve to Line.  Convert Line to Curve.  This functionality is also available in the Shape menu.  Convert Curve to Line.  Convert Line to Curve.  

Let's choose Convert Line to Curve. And make sure that we can move around in the XY axis.

You will get two handles, each one connected by a broken line to a point, and the point becomes the pivot.  You can control a handle the same way you control points. 

In this mode, deselected handles are light green and selected handles are red.   

With Shift to Stereo Window, you can move the handles in any direction in the XY-plane, just like a regular point.  And, by manipulating each handle, you are directing the curve to go in that direction.  If you stretch the handle away from the point, you're also elongating the curve.

You can also restrict the movement of the handle with the other Shift buttons.

Shift in X only allows you to go left and right. Shift in Y only allows you to go up and down.

This button allows you to stretch or shrink the handle without affecting the angle.  Like this. And it cannot allow you to go in any direction except the direction it's already going.

By manipulating the two handles, you can change the shape of that curve in many ways.

To straighten the curve again, simply select the two points of the edge and click the Convert Curve to Line button or go to Shape > Convert Curve to Line.

6:14

CREATING A COMPLEX CURVE

You can modify several edges at a time, by selecting all the points that define those edges.

Let's set these two edges to be curves.

You can manipulate more than one handle at the same time.  Just like points, the first selected handle has a thicker border around it.  And all selected handles move around together.

When you have two consecutive edges that are curves, the point between them gets two handles, of course.  And you can manipulate these handles separately.

However, in cases where you want the curves to flow naturally from one to the other, Stereomasken also gives you additional tools to manipulate them in tandem.

This group of buttons allows you to set how the handles of a single point behave relative to each other.  Control Point to Vertex.  Even Control Point.  Symmetric Control Point.  The functionality is also available in the Shape menu.  Control Point to Vertex.  Even Control Point.  Symmetric Control Point.

8:05

CHANGING HOW HANDLES AFFECT EACH OTHER

If a point is set to Control Point to Vertex, manipulating one handle does not affect the other.  This is most useful when you want to create an angle at the point.  By default, points have this setting initially.

If a point is set to Even Control Point, the handles become locked so that they are always exactly opposite each other in terms of position, and the curves flow from one edge to the other.  However, each handle is stretched out independent of each other.  With this setting, the deselected handles are light blue, and selected handles are still red.

If a point is set to Symmetric Control Point, stretching one handle will stretch the opposite handle by the same amount.  With this setting, the deselected handles are dark blue.

You can select multiple handles from different control points, but you cannot select both handles of the same control point.

9:40

ALIGNING HANDLES

Just like points, you can align handles.  This group of buttons allows you to align the handle with its own control point.  Horizontally, vertically, or in depth.

This group of buttons allows you to align the handle with other handles.  Horizontally, vertically, or in depth.

The same functionality for both sets of buttons is available in the Align menu.  Align handle horizontally, set handle upright or vertically, set depth of handle to control point's depth.  Align horizontally with reference handle, align with reference handle vertically, align depth with reference handle.

10:30

I want to create a frame that goes from here, then to here, then to here.

So we move this point down and create a right angle at this point.  First we break apart the handles by setting it to Control Point to Vertex.  Then we choose one handle and align it with the control point horizontally by clicking this button or choosing Align > Align Handle Horizontally.  Then we choose the other handle and align it with the control point vertically by clicking this button or choosing Align > Set Handle Upright.

Now, let's choose this handle as the reference handle and choose this handle to align with the first handle horizontally.  Do that either by clicking this button or going to Align > Align Horizontally with Reference Handle.

And we can do the same thing vertically with this handle as the reference handle, and this handle.  We can do that either with this button or Align > Align With Reference Handle Vertically.

Now just a few more fixes....

And voila!

12:34

This concludes Lesson 2 of Stereo Framing with Stereomasken.

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My name is Opal Lei.  Thanks for watching.