This is a review of Glass Eye 2000
that appeared in the Winter 2001 issue of Glass Patterns Quarterly,
reprinted with their permission.
ART GLASS MEETS THE MOUSE
Overall Rating: Excellent
Ease of Installation: Excellent
Ease of Use: Very good, some computer knowledge
helpful
Support: Web site tutorial and contact
The best of illustration and computer-aided design
is combined in this program, which is destined to
become one of the more important tools in your studio. |
|
www.glasspatterns.com |
Glass Eye 2000 opens with a virtual drawing board on your
screen, surrounded by blank color chips, which you may fill
with color or glass samples. Clicking on a chip brings up
a Color Selector window. By sliding the white to black arrow
at the right of the color window, you can adjust the lightness
range of the colors available for selection. Clicking with
the mouse pointer in the spectrum area brings up a sample
swatch of the color you’re creating. Any selection may be
further manipulated by the numerical values assigned to
hue, saturation, and luminosity, as well as the basic red,
green, and blue primary color. When combined with white
and black, these achieve any color imaginable.
Switching then to the “Glass” tab brings up actual glass
swatches from makers including Armstrong, Bullseye, Kokomo,
Spectrum, Uroboros, and Youghiogheny. You will see that
glass samples matching the color you chose from the spectrum
are now at the top of your window.
Clicking once upon a preferred swatch selects it. A zoom
button brings it up in a separate window, enlarged, and
you may rotate the swatch to appreciate the color variations
when viewed horizontally or vertically. Back in your drawing
board screen, you will now see a swatch of the glass you
selected on your color palette.
Beginners may want to choose one of the varied designs built
into the program for their first project. Glass Eye 2000
has conveniently organized its pattern library and reference
choices such as title, artist, style, category, shape, folder,
or keyword. A sliding indicator for difficulty of design
is also included. For the purposes of review, we chose “Dolphins.”
When the design opens, you will see the colors used in their
swatch palette to the left side of your screen. Feel free
to experiment a bit. Clicking on one of the colors selects
it, and your pointer becomes a paint bucket that “pours”
the selected color into the confines of any outlined portion
of the artwork.
Then you will come to the fun part. Each line is made up
of “knots” that connect the free path lines that make up
the illustration. Clicking on a path allows you to “grab”
one of these knots and adjust it, dragging it to a new shape
or eliminating it entirely. When a line path is eliminated,
the neighboring lines meet to close the path once again.
Let’s say for a moment that you have a separate design that
has a fish element you’re fond of. Open that design and
select the fish element, choose Edit/Copy, and then going
back to your original drawing board, choose Edit/Paste,
placing the fish into the “Dolphins” work. At this point
you can move it, resize it, colorize it, or any one of several
manipulations that appeal to you. Explore the Modify menu
for options such as stretch, rotate, dimension, offset,
flip, and others. Once you’re satisfied with the added fish,
you may wish to choose all the fish elements simultaneously
and, using the Group command, make them a single unit to
be moved easily.
For those of you who might have an illustrator’s hand, you
can sketch your own element or scan in one to be a basis
for an original design. The program features a number of
drawing tools including a curve, arc, square, rectangle,
circle, ellipse, and polygon or free-form drawing pencil.
Fine tuning is accomplished by means of a menu selection,
“Drawing Properties,” which for example, allows a square
to be drawn from a corner point or center point. This is
helpful when positioning the element precisely, such as
being the exact center of your work. Vertical and horizontal
rules as well as a grid are also available for positioning
purposes. Under this same menu you will find it possible
to set the number of sides, ranging from 3 to 100, for a
desired polygon figure. Rectangular, circular, and elliptical
drawing methods are also determined here.
Piece labeling allows numbering, either manually or automatically,
and for the content to show color codes or numbers. There
is a text tool, which utilizes your system’s installed fonts
and choice of font style, size, color, and effect to add
words to any part of the work. A modification menu allows
universal manipulation of components, including stretching,
rotating, offsetting, and more. For precision drawing you
may enlarge your view to the focus point you desire. Glass
Eye 2000 also carries a library of 161 built-in bevels.
Again selection may be made by scrolling through the designs
or by narrowing the choice using title, shape, and folder
or keyword criteria. As the bevel outline appears, you will
find yourself “designing” with the glass swatches in combinations
to the point of delightful obsession.
A properties window may be brought up and viewed to find
included or new designs. This is where the information for
each design is assigned according to category. One of the
best features here is the ability to determine the construction
cost of a finished design. The program tracks the square
inches of glass and linear inches of lead/foil, and you
assign a price for the glass/materials chosen. There is
even a box where you may enter a desired profit percentage,
allowing you to calculate the finished cost of a proposed
commission. Once your design is completed, output may be
directly to your printer, or as a export with a number of
graphic formats available. Sizing and tiling allow very
large projects to be output and pieced together with precision.
A built-in help option assists in schooling the novice or
explaining a finer point to a seasoned designer. It is detailed
and accessible with a single keystroke.
Our overall impression of Glass Eye 2000 is entirely favorable,
certainly a must-have tool for the beginner to the professional
designer. Its features are comparable to graphic illustration
products costing several times over. Simple navigation and
detailed explanations will take you from “playing” to “working”
in under an hour.
We found Glass Eye 2000 to be of possible interest outside
the art glass community. Uses could include creating miniature
windows for dollhouse or model train enthusiasts, producing
faux windows with a color printer and transparency film,
generating paint-by-number or coloring book projects for
youngsters, or simply creating art glass illustration for
use in books, Web sites, classroom projects and more.
~ Kim Blagg
© 2001 Glass Patterns Quarterly,
Inc.
|
read a follow-up article from GPQ
|
