Creating a gradient opacity mask in Illustrator

Illustrator has great control over gradients and blends but if you want to fade the gradient from color to transparency you have to use Opacity Mask.

The use of opacity masks in Illustrator is not as straightforward as in Photoshop but is just as powerful once you get to know how to use them.

Here is something to get you started.

 

THE PROCESS

Select the object you want to make transparent. Create a rectangle and fill it with black and white gradient. 

(The gradient you use as a mask doesn´t have to be black and white, you can use any color you like).

Make sure the gradient is in front of the object you are working on. And Select both objects.

 

Now open the Transparency panel and choose “Make Opacity Mask”

The lighter color of the gradient makes the object transparent and dark makes it opaque.

If you click on the gradient icon in the Transparency panel, you can play around with the gradient on the artboard, changing the direction and position of the gradient.

Clicking back on the object icon takes you back to the object where you can change it´s color and apply effects.

You can even fill it with a gradient.

 

This technique is very useful when you are creating Highlights or shadows.

 

Designing an arrow based on the golden section

We here at Gogogic have uncovered an anchient information-design mystery, how to design an arrow that is pleasing to the eye and mathematically perfect.

The design is based on the golden ratio or ‘the golden section’ which is defined like this:

The golden section is a line segment sectioned into two according to the golden ratio. The total length a + b is to the longer segment a as a is to the shorter segment b.

And so it is. If you put together an arrow, begin by setting up the tip of the arrow with a 90° angle. From there you can set the length of the stem based on the height of the tip.

Stem_lenght = tip_height *3

And then set the width of the stem, which should be 2 thirds of the width of the tip.

Stem_width = (tip_width/3)*2

And now you’re done! This arrow is very pleasing to the eye , more noticeble and readable. It can be scaled to any size while keeping the proportions intact.

 

Gogogic Receives Grant for “Vikings of Thule”

Last Wednesday, December 10th, Gogogic was formally awarded a grant for 400.000 DKK (about $ 72.000) from the Nordic Game Program.

The grant is specifically tied to the development of Vikings of Thule – a Casual MMOG for Facebook. The game is set to launch in the beginning of summer, 2009. Follow this blog to learn more about the game, as we start leaking some inside stuff on how it will work and what it will be about

Vikings of Thule - early concept art

Gogogic is the first Icelandic company to receive a grant from the Nordic Game Program. This year, 138 grant applications were processed and 18 were accepted.

Of course, we feel extremely proud and happy. We think the grant will allow us to create a great game experience in Vikings of Thule. It also recognizes the basic merit of the game concept itself and where Gogogic is going, as a company.

Iceland Socks Again

Check this out : http://www.bestflashanimationsite.com/vote/

When this is written, Iceland Socks is in first place!  Pretty good. Click the link above and vote!

J#

Iceland Socks – Big Time!

Hi all.

Our latest project just hit the interweb thingy. Talking socks everyone!!! : http://www.icelandsocks.com

J#

Casual Connect : Two Days Down

I thought I’d write a short post before I head over to the MumboJumbo party. Basically, here is my take on what I’ve seen and heard already:

 DAY 1

Welcoming note + Bernie Stolar from Google : The welcoming format was conventional. So was the message. Bernie had a massive presence but unfortunately he wasn’t able to pinpoint what Google is really up to when it comes to the casual games space. It was all pretty vague, like previous messages and news releases from Google.

Life Beyond “Me Too” : I had a lot of fun in this workshop which was based around a brainstorming session, where complete strangers had to sit down together and compete as teams in creating and fleshing out an idea for a new casual game. The experience was pretty interesting and the result was very surprising – especially the quality level of the ideas that came out of the process. And oh… my team won

The Other 80% : John Vechey (PopCap) addressed the problem that the industry has with expanding its audience and growing even further. The potential, according to John, is there but we are failing when it comes to finding new players and new social groups. My comment would be that this is interesting when you consider the fact that the casual games industry already contains companies that have exstensive marketing knowledge and know full well how to market things to a new audience.

Maximise your revenue : See earlier post, where I covered this presentation in detail.

Hype vs. Real Deal : A very successfully moderated panel which judged a number of topics as either “Hype” or “The Real Deal”. The panel was fairly entertaining and their views were well in line with mine, most of the time. The only real exception was their take on Casual MMOs, which most of the panel members associated with the downloadable format and portals and though were a little hyped - ignoring the fact that the growth in Casual MMOS is in browser based and flash based games. There are numerous success stories already out there which are a good indicator of where things are heading.

More later…

J#

Gogogic Website Updated

 We just updated our website to display our latest projects and ideas. Check it out on www.gogogic.com

The Winner of Beard-Survivor 2007!!

Announcing the winner of Gogogic Beard-Survivor 2007: Bárður Bergsson.

The final round of Beard-Survivor is finally over. Exitement had been at the office all day leading up to the final immunity challange which was a test of endurance, holding a coke bottle outward from your body for the longest. Gummi won the immunity challange, going strong for a brilliant 11mins & 30sec. of holding the bottle.

Gummi chose Bárður to go whith him into the final round, and speak in front of the office jury. The first round of voting resulted in a tie, 2-2, so the winner had to be decided by out-of-office-votes. Both of those votes went straight to Bárður, giving the explenation that he had the better trimmed beard.

Congratulations Bárður, you have won the title of Beard-Survivor 2007, a stylish fake beard and free beard trimming at the barber shop on the corner.

Beard Survivor Leads to Office Pranks

One thing Ari most certainly is not, is gracious in defeat. In fact, most of the office fell victim to his mad rage, brought on by his expulsion from Beard Survivor yesterday. These horrible images – which capture Ari at the scene of the “crime”, marveling at his own evil genious – speak for themselves…

J#

Ari voted out of Beard Survivor

Ari was voted out today. He was not happy and left the office shortly after being voted out. Hopefully he will be back tomorrow.

J#

p.s. Pictures will be added soon enough