Soft edge ghost

Nucleus · Post by **Nucleus** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:51 pm

I'm in a bit of a pickle with soft edge. I had previously created this model in the "spur of the moment" as most of us artists do without taking into account that it may not have been proportionally correct (eyes, jawline, eyebrows ect.) upon attempting to fix the eyebrows via copy paste mirror, I wound up with this unpleasant surprise. no matter how much i try, i just cant seem to get rid of this faded look on the corners when i had no trouble prior. my question is, is there a way to fix these artifacts without having to take my model apart?
Thanks.

PS: all but the eyes and mouth are in one layer.

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:03 am

It's very difficult to determine what is causing the trouble. Any chance of getting hold of the actual file?

Are you talking about the "white" ghosted edge around the eyes? You said you copied and pasted the eyebrows?

-vern

Nucleus · Post by **Nucleus** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:16 am

heyvern wrote:It's very difficult to determine what is causing the trouble. Any chance of getting hold of the actual file?

Are you talking about the "white" ghosted edge around the eyes? You said you copied and pasted the eyebrows?

-vern

the shadows around the eyes. the version to the left is the intended way the shadows looked initially. upon doing copy/paste, the effect was lost. now i get that inverted look. the shadows are hollowed-out shapes embedded into the face shape with soft edge applied to them to blend into the surrounding skin. I chose this method to better adjust lighting changes by shifting or compressing the shape without need of a mask. same effect applied to the lower lip and neck. push comes to shove, I'll paste the shadows over the eyes via another layer. just wanted to keep it less cumbersome for manageability.

dueyftw · Post by **dueyftw** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:09 am

Try removing all the color from the layer, then place only one color in the layer. Done by 'select all connected'. It looks like you have a white layer under the eyes.

Dale

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 7:11 am

Are you using a soft edge effect on the fill or are you using a soft edge stroke? It looks like a white fuzzy "halo" around the eye shapes. If you use a soft edge effect on the eye shapes it would blend seamlessly into the face.

Are you using a mask on the face? A mask with a soft edge to let the eyes show through? Maybe the white of the back ground is shown through causing the halo. There is a strange dark line on the right side of the eye. It looks like part of a stroke from a mask?

If you are using a mask layer for the face or using the eye layer as a mask the soft edge is revealing a bit of the white (or grey) back ground. Don't set the eyes as a mask or don't have a soft edge on the eye mask if that is what you are doing.

Those are my guesses. I know this will work because I use this exact technique all the time. Somewhere along the line you got some funky masking going on... I think... possibly?

-vern

Nucleus · Post by **Nucleus** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:04 am

not using a mask. the way i did it was to draw out the head shape, the draw eye holes, then draw shadows over that. while they where still unpainted shapes, I filled in my face, hid edges, then painted my shadows. i was able to get it, but lost the technique as i moved over to the other eye. i believe it had to do with the order i paint the face. when i painted it one way, it produce the effect i wanted, but when approaching it another way it seems, it gives me a halo effect in the shading.

Edit:

heyvern · Post by **heyvern** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 5:00 am

There's the problem!

The "blue" eye areas have a soft edge. They are connected to the face area which is a shape with "holes" where the blue eye areas are.

The soft edge on the eye are is against the background. The holes in the face are showing through the edges where the eye areas and the face "join".

To make this work just include the eye area as part of the filled face color. What i mean is to use the INNER eye shape to form the holes instead of the OUTER eye shape. Now when you create the EYE shapes (blue area) the soft edge is against the skin color instead of the back ground.

I find it is much safer to "extend" fill shapes that are underneath as long as you know they will be "covered" by another shape. This prevents "seams" or halos when shapes share the same path.

Don't worry about overlapping shapes. this works fine. I even will have multiple fill shapes on the exact same mesh. That is another option for this case but is tricky to do since AS doesn't all for the easy creation of multiple shapes like that.

-vern

Nucleus · Post by **Nucleus** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 8:51 am

You are Awesome! thats exactly what was wrong. now, If only I can figure out how to bring those underlying layers up front without pushing the top ones back (Ctrl click doesn't seem to select it), I'll be one happy camper. just when I thought I had most of AS beat, this little problem proved me wrong. I am humbled.

Thanks Vern!