Rendering tutorial continued.

Click the Read More link below for more of the tutorial.





Now it starts to get into the details and adding addition 3D highlight and shadow cues.



To bring out the edge of each upper part and make the rendering look less flat, I copy and paste lineart from the Illustrator artwork into the PS document on a new file. First, I bring in a black outline for each part approx. 2 pixels wide line thickness and add some blur. You can then go at it with the airbrush eraser tool as mentioned earlier to reduce the visibility in highlight areas.



On top of this, I then copy and paste a white outline of equal thickness from Illustrator on top of the black line, with no blur for and edge highlight. Again, use the eraser to take out the impact of the line in key points.



Other details, such as eyelet punched holes can be made using the paths in PS, filled with a solid color (ie. black) and using the layer effects to add emboss and highlight to simulate a quickie 3D look.



Another important detail that contributes to the realistic look of the rendering is stitching.



A stitching effect is quickly made by creating the stitching first in Illustrator (offset path, dashed line), then copying and pasting the stitches into PS. First I bring in a black row of stitches, and add some blur, setting the layer to Multiply and tweaking the opacity.



You can then bring in the same row of stitches in white, slightly offset, adjust the opacity and use the airbrush eraser on either layer to bring out a more dark or light effect depending on the area and curve of the panel.

Continued-

Part 6

Rendering tutorial continued.

Click the Read More link below for more of the tutorial.



To create the toecap texture, I use an easier method. First I make a layer and shade with the airbrush in the area (again, by selecting the path for the part) and set the layer to mutiply. Then I use the Filter > Texturized > Sandstone to make the roughed texture PU look.



To start to add texture to the PU upper I do the same as the mesh texture technique, making a swatch and warping it with Envelope Distort in Illustrator.



This swatch has both black and white lines in the texture.






The artwork is copied into PS as the mesh texture was, and then duplicated onto two layers. One is set to multiuply for the dark edges. The other layer is set to lighten for the highlight edges. Both layers can also be adjusted in opacity and erased by airbrush eraser to add 3D effect and control the highlight and shadow of the texture.



Continued-


Part 5

Part 6

Rendering tutorial continued.

Click the Read More link below for more of the tutorial.



To add texture to areas like mesh and PU, I use a method that combines illustrator and PS.



For this quarter mesh section, for example, what is to be a heavy weave nylon mesh with 3M reflective threads, I make a swatch in illustrator first that approximates the weave. This swatch is then used to make a large rectangular shape with the pattern.



This shape filled by swatch can then be modified to have a more 3D look in a few simple steps. First, expand the filled rectangle you've made, (under Object > Expand). Then, use the Envelope Distort (Object > Envelope Distort > Mesh) to allow you to warp the pattern into a 3D like mesh texture.



This texture can then be copied and pasted back into PS as pixels, blurred and then cropped to your selection (select the path that contains the area, then inverse select it, and delete the parts that fall outside the shape), for a good approximation of mesh. I set the layer with the texture to Multiply and you can further adjust by layer opacity.






This same technique was used on a different illustrator swatch of small white squares, then warped and brought into PS to create the highlight thread reflections. Once the swatch is brought into PS I also use the airbrush eraser to take out bits to leave the highlight only in spots that would be caught by the light.

Continued-


Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Rendering tutorial continued.

Click the read More link below for another edition of the tutorial.


After the solid area is of the upper is made as a base, I then make a new layer (called something like Body Shadow) and use the airbrush tool to lay in some general shadows that help give the idea of form. I do this step early so I can start to picture the shoe 3D and get a feel for where the light is coming from and overall shape and form. This is done with the same body path selected.



Next, I go back to the ALL path and again use the black arrow path modifier tool to cut and paste out another panel of the upper into a new path. This one is a quarter panel. Again, I select this path, and make a new layer to paint a solid fill color into.



I repeat for other parts on the upper and outsole, filling in solid areas in new layers for each part.








To start to add depth and form to the parts (this technique is used for all parts), I make a new layer with a certain area selected (by the path, selection method), and make one layer for highlights, painting white on top,)...



.. and one layer for shade or shadow, airbrushing black and setting the layer to Multiply.



Extra detail (recessed lines, etc.) can be made by cutting and pasting line art as pixels from the illustrator drawing back into PS, then using the airbrush eraser to feather out the lines to make a dynamic shadow. I also use the Gaussian Blue tool to slightly blur the line art I bring from illustrator to make the shadow lines less harsh.



Here you can start to see some of the form taking shape in the heel, outsole and EVA midsole areas.

Continued-


Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

First time at a Champion's League Match! And VIP Champion's Lounge seats, no less!

FC Thun is a small club, from a very small city in Switzerland. Thun, is about 30min. from Bern, and has a population of appox. 41,800. Since qualifying for Champion's League FC Thun has played all "home" games in Bern at the new Stade de Suisse.

The match vs. Ajax on 02 November, 2005 was a great compeition and while defeated in the end, Thun played a strong game with lots of amazingly close shots on goal.

The full capacity crowd was incredible too... approx 31,000 fans, all in red and white. Lots of hummel replica jerseys nice to see too!

The Champion's League Lounge was incredible. Almost 100 tables, buffet, dessert bar, open bar...

Click the Read More link below for more behind the scenes pics of the match and our exclusive FC Thun meeting.



















FC Thun Sportchef Werner Gerber invited us the day after the match to come visit the FC Thun Club and meet with the team (above pic,left. Thanks Mr. Gerber!). We had a great opportunity to discuss the curernt boots and new 2006 boots with the individual members and trainers.







This is the FC Thun home stadium. I'm not sure the official capacity, but if I had to guess I'd say somewhere around 300. Amazing view and location between the mountains and lake, but you can see why they moved the home games to the stadium in Bern!

I know its really been a while since I've posted new content, but its really not for the lack of great things happening. Actually, things have incredibly busy and lots of the great things I have been been happy to have been a part of (and have been happy to share here)are now really starting to take off!

2 weeks ago, I had the amazing opportunity to visit Switzerland along with our Product Development Manager, Michael Pao to check out FC Thun in a Champion's League match vs. Ajax Amsterdam in Bern.

hummel is the proud sponsor of FC Thun, and their story of the amazing road to the Champion's League has been amazing.

FC Thun is a very small club in Switzerland, and has managed some great wins to get them into the series.

Part 1 here has some pics of Bern. Click the Read More link below for more pics and Swiss Hotspots!




Home and away official hummel FC Thun kits.



Bern is a wonderful, small Swiss city with lots of great history and a special Euro charm. This is the Zyglogge, the original bern City gate, dating back to around 1191 when the city was founded. The current population is 127,188.





Certainly the "Swiss Riche" is present in Bern. Some great classic Daimler I think...nice. makes me miss my '69 Mercedes I left in Canada when I moved to Denmark.





Space Invaders.



Cement and rebar LeCorbusier chair along one of the old shopping streets in Bern. Even the outdoor public furniture has class in Switzerland.



Bar Drei Eiogensossen. 15 Rathaugasse in the old city part of town. A really small bar, but with great atmosphere. check it our for a good vibe, swiss beer on tap, and an amazing vintage cash register.



This poster was up at Drei bar and started our search for the artist. Amazing graphics and design! We made it our mission to find the artist and catch up with him/her (?) and buy one of these... stay tuned for the amazing result of our search coming up in an upcoming post!