Mesh Tool on Irregular Shape

When I add a horizontal mesh line on my non-square object I am left with lines that swoop outside the boundaries of the object. Why does it do this? How can I prevent it? I've tried dragging the handles but they result in drastic changes that cannot be predicted. I've also tried using the convert point tool because all i really want are some perfectly straight horizontal lines that I can manipulate using the add point tool. I don't need beziers and want to rid of them.
Here are some screenshots of what I am experiencing. Notice in the 2nd how the green line curves outside the boundaries of my object.
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/8836/meshcs2.jpg
http://img115.imageshack.us/img115/9564/mesh2ol3.jpg

The mesh tool does a terrible job on many shapes. My rule is any shape with a concavity requires masking. Use a rectangle or oval for your mesh object and mask that with the path you are trying to use.

Similar Messages

I Need Mesh Tool Help!

I want to get my pink piece (left) to have gradient mesh like the piece on the right (use Mesh Tool)
I dont know how to do. Please help me explain how to do
Thank you!!!!!
My vector file here:
https://www.mediafire.com/?qulqval8ij0ll81

Make a copy of your shape and lock it, to use as a template, then direct select and move points, adjusting the shapes to your template by the handles.
In general, for irregular shapes you have better control if you start with a regular one, convert it to a mesh, then reshape to the irregular form. For example, I made square ABCD, then with the Mesh Tool clicked at E, creating a mesh. I laid point A at the upper left point on the template, and moved the others to suitable places, then adjust the handles. Other anchor points can then be added if you need them.

The Mesh Tool

Hi folks!
How would I approach a picture of a person regarding the mesh tool? I have tried creating the basic path around the whole person - but when I add the mesh tool it looks like world war three has broken out....?!
I thought about dividing up the person to arms, legs, hands, etc - but then you have a problem with gradients accross to paths or do you....?
Can anyone give me any tips on this and how to approach such a large project.
bookie56

I have tried creating the basic path around the whole person.
That's the basic problem, and the nearly universal misunderstanding when first dinking around with Mesh Envelopes and Grids.
Generally speaking, don't start with an outline of the shape you ultimately want to end up with; start with a geometrically simple shape that the Mesh tool can make horizontal/vertical sense out of as you add the main divisions; then reshape the outlines and Mesh lines to the desired shapes.
Understand and then always bear in mind: No matter how you eventually distort the Mesh patches, the Mesh tool basically creates patches which are arranged in rows/columns. They even have a stacking order. Think of a Mesh object as a collection of squares which share edges and corners and can't be separated. You certainly don't want to leave the Patches shaped as squares; you want their edges to eventually follow the coloring tones and/or shape contours of what you're drawing. But no matter how you distort them, each patch is still defined by four MeshPoints; the program still "thinks" of them in terms of rows/columns.
As with auto-tracing, you have to bear in mind that the program can't read your mind. It has no shape-recognition intelligence whatsoever. If you, for example, start with an outline shape that you and every other human intuitively recognize as a sillhouette of an arm, the program just sees a meaningless irregular path with a given number of anchorPoints. When you click in the middle of the shape to create two Mesh divisions, expecting the "arm" to be divided along its "length" (for example, from shoulder down to wrist), the program doesn't see any of that. It just tries to make a horizontally/vertically oriented grid of four patches. So you have to start simple, let the program do the simple things it does, and then reshape those simple things into shapes that humans recognize as shape and shading.
JET

Why can't I use the mesh tool? - brand new illustrator user

I am trying to learn to use illustrator - I've been watching the online videos - which are very helpful, but there aren't any that I can find for the mesh tool. I want to add some shading to the body of this acrobat but every time I try to use the mesh tool I get the not available symbol. I can't figure out why or how to change it. I started from a scanned drawing, did a live trace, and converted to live paint to fill in colors. What should I do now to enable the mesh tool? Please help!

You need to select the shape and then click inside of it with the
tool. I'm not positive but I think it needs to be a solid for it to
work as well.
Some tutorials that I thought were rather helpful on explaining it
were on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ZDViCmo7w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdH2hAUUPbg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDkBAN9XRoo
The person in those videos covers creating the mesh and coloring it,
patching, very nice. Hope those can help you out.

How can I divide a picture into 2 (or more) irregular shapes (i.e., free-hand cropping)?

(The answer to this question might apply to different versions &/or products, so my version -- Photoshop Elements 2 -- may be irrelevant.)
I need to "cut" a JPG photo into two (or more) irregular shapes, for a graphics project I need in my work.
I'd then want to save each shape as a separate JPG, for manipulating separately.
Can I do this with Photoshop Elements? If so, how and with which tool? The "cutting" should be free-form, so being limited to straight lines would not be a full solution.
I guess this is a kind of "cropping"--though maybe there's a better term, since this doesn't involve selecting a rectangular area within a picture.
Thanks.
Brad Burg
[email protected]

Brad, It wasn't clear if you want to cut the picture into pieces jig-saw style so that the whole is the sum of its parts. If so here is one way using Elements 2 (maybe newer versions have ways of doing this more easily). In this example I cut the picture into 3 parts using the Lasso. 1. Select part 1. 2. Select > Save Selection: give the selection a name (e.g., part 1). 3. Copy/paste selection to new layer (Layer 1 in my example). 4. Activate Background layer. 5. Select > Reselect, and invert the selection. 7. Holding down <Alt>, use Lasso to delete all but part 2. 8. Select > Save Selection: give the selection a name (e.g., part 2). 9. Copy/paste selection to new layer (Layer 2 in example). 10. Activate Background layer. 11. Select > Reselect. 12. Select > Load Selection: In the Selection pull-down menu choose part 1 and check the "Add to Selection" box. The selection will now consist of parts 1 & 2. 13. Invert the selection to give part 3 and copy/paste to new layer (Layer 3 in example). The 3 pieces are in separate layers with transparent background. To save each piece turn off visibility of the other layers. http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1Q7SCAqb8IbQhcV6OdIWvj24WkzB5 Note that for just 2 parts it is much easier; you don't need the Save Selection steps: 1. Select part 1 and copy/paste to new layer. 2. Activate Background layer. 3. Select > Reselect, invert the selection, and copy/paste to new layer.

Mapping an irregular shape to represent monitor screen

Hi everyone,
I have captured movements inside an irregular shape and need to map it on the monitor's screen. The input space is a 2D shape with 4 boundaries and these boundaries are not straight lines but irregular and nonlinear. The 2nd space is simply a 2D screen i.e. cursor position on the monitor screen. Maybe, I can use some kind of stretching out or stretching down function or perhaps a combination of both to cover the entire screen. I want this irregular quadrilateral to represent the monitor screen. Another difficulty is that the input space can be different each time and is not unique but I will always have the 4 corners and boundary of the input space.
I appreciate your thoughts on this,
Elnaz

Yeah it seems like what is probably happening is the magnetic fields created by the sensors are interfering with each other, creating the distortion you see. In short, there are some tools available in LabVIEW that can help you do this, but they are only available in separate toolkits (see here). In particular, the IMAQ (Image Acquisition) toolkit has some calibration functions that do what you are trying to do. This page and this page provide some information about using the calibration tools in IMAQ.
If you are trying to do this on your own though, you'll have to use some fairly complex logic. You would have to step through each coordinate data point to eventually develop a transfer function that shifts your coordinates into a rectangle. This forum has some information that may help you develop code for doing this. But the exact algorithm LabVIEW uses for this is proprietary.
Hopefully this will at least give you an idea where to start. Again, probably the easiest thing to do would use a toolkit.
Chris G
Applications Engineer
National Instruments

Using gradients with the gradient mesh tool

So I have a basic knowledge of using the gradient mesh tool, but in my current project I need the gradients within the object to fade from black to transparent (it will be used for a one-color tshirt). I've tried to do this a couple different ways. First, I created a solid white rectangle (no stroke) then created a 1 row 1 column flat gradient mesh on it. Added the points I needed, even added the color, and the fade is exactly the shape I need, but I can't figure out how to get rid of the white, and just have the black fade to transparent. I also tried creating a rectangle with a linear gradient fill, clicked expand and selected gradient mesh, but as soon as I press ok it changes it to solid black. I included a cropped picture of what I'm talking about. All the tail feathers need to have that black fade but without the white, it needs to fade out to transparent like the other gradients around it. I put a color background behind the image to make these areas easier to see. It seems like there should be an easy solution, but I'm not sure how to do it. Any help would be really appreciated.

Edit: set all mesh point to black.
Assuming that your version of Illustrator allows it, you can get what you want by adjusting the opacity of the mesh points, something like this:

Need Help with the Mesh Tool

I'm having trouble adding a gradient mesh to this image:
http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture1xi9.png
I would like to make it look a little more 3D or shiny with a white gradient. When I click inside the shape with the mesh tool, it creates some crazy mesh lines.. I'm pretty new to this and would really, really appreciate some help. Thanks! :)

I see the problem as well you may have to make an clipping mask of a rectangle or other shape that is more regular using this shape as the mask and grouping them.
 
 
<a href="http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1wekWFXbGiN7ixwI4ulbOLsAZQRp0k" /></a>
<img alt="Picture hosted by Pixentral" src="http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1wekWFXbGiN7ixwI4ulbOLsAZQRp0k_thumb.png" border="0" />

How to use the mesh tool

I am not sure how to use the mesh tool

it can be tricky! it's best to use with geometric shapes and not random figures that you create with the pen or brush tools.
so lets say you wanted to make an apple using a real picture for reference. first off, you'd place the picture of the real apple in the background. next, you would choose the circle tool to create a circle around the apple. then, you would use the mesh tool and press the center anchor to create a simple grid looking form onto the circle. grab the selection tool to move around the anchor points surrounding the apple to make a more accurate outline. after this step, it's easier to add more anchor points for the actual apple! all you must do is grab the pen tool and add more anchor points along the path and use the selection tool to move the anchor points around the apple; eventually it'll look somewhat like a 3D graph of an apple. important tip to remember, the less lines the better. but a few are okay.
so after you've graphed/mapped out your apple you're going to want to press the selection tool and use your eyedropper tool to get an accurate color of the spot/anchor you selected. the basic point of the mesh tool is to outline a picture,@ and with the eyedropper tool you can use the exact colors from the original picture you're working from. i learned this technique from class. here's my example it can be a really useful tool if it's what you're looking for.

Mesh tool - Fish

Hi!
I going through a tutorial where I am going to make a... fish!
Step 3 on: http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/How-to-Create-a-Vector-Goldfish-in-Six-Steps/551 93
I have just made a Clipping Mask of a rectangel and the fishbody, I don't know why actually because the only thing that happend when I made a Clipping Mask of the fish and the orange rectangle, was that the fishbody got orange.
After that I got a description how to add a light on the body, and they are telling me (in the text under) that I am going to use mesh tool and click in fishbody.
"Create the specks of light on the body of the fish. Add a point to the mesh by using the Mesh Tool (U) and clicking anywhere in the shape’s area (picture 3c). After converting a shape into a mesh, you can select points with three tools: Mesh Tool, Direct Selection Tool, and the Lasso Tool.
All you have to do now is to add color to the mesh by selecting a color from the swatches palette. I took colors from the Swatch library > Metal. Get creative with color in this stage to get an excellent result."
The problem is When I got the Mesh Tool(U) activated (If I point at the fishbody, there's a border around the fish) and click on the orange fishbody... Nothing is happening, I not sure what is supposed happend but nothing is happening.
What can I do?
Thanks!

Thanks that was the problem

Mesh Tool distorting artwork.

After I finished doing my design using the "Mesh Tool" and reduced the size of the hole piece, the Mesh is converted from organic shapes into straight lines. Which makes all my work useless.
Does any one knows how to fixe that?

I sure wish they'd FIX THIS BUG!
Only solutions I know of... use the scale tool rather than free transform. Use the Effect > transform in some cases. Go back to CS2.
It was presented quite some time ago... immediately after the 13.0.0 release. 3 updates later.. no help. *sigh*
Teri Pettit, "Please please please a CS3.x release" #1, 5 Jun 2007 1:34 pm

Mesh tool - crazy lines

Hi,
I used mesh tool on a non square or circle shape. The shape looks a bit as a dinausore.
I got some crazy lines. Some of them are even outside the shape!
So, it doesn't make nice color spot.
I tried to change the crazy lines in moving the anchor line, but it doesn't work.
Is there a way to modified the crazy lines?
thanks

Use the Crazy Lines Tool to fix the problem
Seriously though, how about a screenshot so we can see what crazy lines look like.

How do I import an irregular shape into pages to wrap text around?

I see in the lovely demo how pages can wrap text around an image that is an irregular shape, but they never tell us how to actually get one onto the iPad. As far as I can tell jpg's and tff's are all that the iPad will work with and those are all square. How do I import an irregularly shaped graphic such as a butterfly or logo into my document? Thanks.

You must need a PNG with transparent background. I just made one in iDraw and it flows great in Pages.

Please help me! I am struggling with the mesh tool!

So I want to make this chair look like it does in the picture, but I cant! There is a chapter in my Illustrator CS3 book explaining how to use gradient mesh and mesh tool, but it doesnt help me at all. I am clueless! The tutorial says that I can create points in the mesh simply by clicking with the mesh tool within an object, but when I try to do that, the pointer is "crossed out". I can only add extra points on lines or edges, but not on empty space within an object. What gives? Why is it that others can do it an I cant? Forgive me if I sound a little too upset, but I've been struggling with this for days and I cannot find an answer.
In this tutorial right here: http://www.layersmagazine.com/illustrator-gradient-mesh-tool.html the guy just clicks in empty spaces creating intersections. In my case it is impossible.
PS: Please look at an attached file and tell me what would be the best way to go about coloring this chair. Maybe I am doing this completely wrong? (I only started learning illustrator about 5 weeks ago)
Sorry for the background template being of poor quality, but this was taken from a book and scanned, so it's the best I could do.

You know something I think there should be a behavioral change in this case. To my way of thinking this option should automatically be disabled if you select the Mesh tool. If for some reason you want the mesh tool not to behave the way there might be a toggle or a double click to get the preferences for the tool 's behavior itself. I can see where this behavior can be useful but there needs to be a toggle.
Selecting the anchors for adding color with out accidentally creating a new mesh division is good thing but you need to be able to work both ways.
What do you think Scott Weichert you use the tool extensively, am i wrong?

Mesh tool appears inactive?!

Hi,
I did not find any other similar questions.
I am trying to use the Mesh Tool, but it appears to be inactive. The cursor looks like a cross with a small crossed circle nets to it (like a "do not pass" road sign). I do not know what I did wrong. In Preferences I have "Object selection by path only" deselected, so it can't be it.

Thank you for your reply.
I am following a tutorial:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/10/03/gradients-galore-reviewing-illustrators-extensi ve-toolset-video-tutorial/#more-140468
I don't think the image is a Compound Image. I used the Ellipse Tool and the Pen Tool to build it. I am working in Outline Mode (just like the person in the tutorial).
Now I think it might be the problem. I probably have to switch between Outline and Preview constantly to make it work. I am working on the 7:45-12:00 part of the tutorial. (if you have the time to check this out)
Message was edited by: august_kat
I tried to add the image, but something went wrong. Isn`t Illustrator native format allowed

Mesh Tool on Irregular Shape

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for