Webinar Attendees' Questions

[Merlyn]

Many attendees had questions which were answered by our panelists. I want to share these with you in case you were wondering the same thing...

Q. How do you create shadows?
A. Use either the polygon or close bezier tool to draw a shape starting at the base of the image and angling out. Delete the outline (Line Width > None) and fill with a dark color. Slide the transparency bar down to lighten. Observe how objects cast shadows depending on the light source and time of day, then use this knowledge to replicate the shadow shapes. With some images you can duplicate the image, delete the outline, fill as above, and distort it with the skew/perspective edit points. See plant in attached file.

Q. How do you create the copyright symbol?
A. On desktop computers and laptops with numeric keypad, hold down the ALT key next to the space bar and type 0169 on the locked number keys. For laptops without a separate numeric keypad or Macs, you may have to try different keys depending on the brand and model. Some work with the function key, others need both the function key and the Alt key. See this thread for more info: http://www.minutesmatterstudio.com/f...pyright+symbol

Q. How do you draw a vaulted ceiling?
A. Draw a dimension line from the high point of the ceiling to the baseboard. Use the polygon tool to trace the basic wall size from the ceiling template and extend it upwards to the peak. Delete the wall behind it. Zoom in, click on the Edit Points icon, and hold down the Shift key to reposition edit points if necessary.

Q. How do you add an outdoor scene behind the doors or windows?
A. See this thread for the steps:http://www.minutesmatterstudio.com/f...scene#post7138

Q. How do you add bead fringe to a curved treatment?
A. Select the bead, add color and line color. Zoom within rectangle to get in very close to make positioning easier. Place the first piece of trim at the bottom center of the treatment. Hold down the control key and drag off a second piece of trim and position. Continue this process working your up, until all the image is trimmed or if the image is symmetrical when you have one half completed. Group the trim, duplicate and flip horizontal. For multiple images, duplicate the grouping. Ungroup and reposition if necessary. For designs that you typically use this trim, save to Custom Tab. It can be easily recolored to use in another rendering. For some trims, you may need to use the skew/perspective edit points, but most just hang down straight and require no skewing. For a cleaner look, place the trim behind or beneath the treatment.

Q. How do you duplicate a rendering to change the fabrics or colors?
A. Under the Home tab, select Add New Page down arrow and click on Create a Copy of the Page. Select any part of the image > Properties > Fill > Fabric, and click Load (do not, in this case, select an empty gray box). Add new fabric, and all images filled with the old fabric will now have the new one.

Q. How do you create a mirror image?
A. Duplicate the image and use the Flip Horizontal button in the Rotate tool area. Or, use the Mirror Tool. Select or group desired objects to be mirrored > press the Free Mirror button > click, hold & drag the red center line to the desired half way point > hover over any edit point surrounding the original object, your cursor will change to twin rectangles > press the CTRL key while clicking & dragging the edit point to the side > release the click and the mirrored image will automatically be positioned.

Q. Where is the Snipping Tool that you used to save the fabric on the Calico website?
A. In Vista and Windows 7, look for the tool in your Accessories. Click Start>Program Files> scroll to Accessories, click to open. Right click on Snipping Tool and Add to Quick Launch bar at the bottom of the screen for easy access. If you are using an earlier version of Windows, you can use a screen shot (press Prt Scr button, open Paint program, click Edit and Paste, then save) or other screen capture software such as Jing (free) or Snag-it (purchase) from www.techsmith.com Laptops might require the use of the Function (FN) key and Print Screen (Prt Scr).

I have uploaded the conservatory rendering and office design on a photo I demonstrated yesterday so that you can take them apart and see the outdoor scenes, shadows, trim, and other techniques. They are compressed files due to the size, so you will have to unzip them after you download (be patient when waiting for the files to open).

[Merlyn]

I am piggybacking this June's Q & A onto May because there are answers here to many questions asked again today. I'll focus on the unanswered ones.

Q. Do you have a glossary of Studio terms?
A. Yes, click on the ? question mark at the top right of the Studio program to open the manual. Then click under each category under Contents to expand the listing. View the term or terms you want clarified.

Q. I'm in the trial version now. When I purchase the program what will I get?
A. Your program will contain everything you have now with the exception of the Living Room Furniture Module and the Space Planning Module. Those modules along with the Jackie Von Tobel modules are available for an additional fee. Purchasing them together with Studio in a bundle saves $$$.
click here for more info: http://www.minutesmatterstudio.com/index.html?page=1

Q. Is it better to draw my treatment on the straight on view and change it to a perspective view?
A. Yes, if you need to change out a window from the bay, two or three wall template, it's easier to open a new page in the file (Create new page), drag on the window, resize, and then add the treatment. Group all elements together, copy and paste into rendering. Then activate the skew/perspective edit points to follow the angle of the wall or window.

Q. Where is the fabric swatch located?
A. Under Step 4, Paint & Color > Color Cards, top left.

Q. What font did you use?
A. It's called Enview, available to download free here:
http://www.fonts101.com/fonts/view/S...79/Enview.aspx

Q. How do you add a tool (icon) to the Quick Access toolbar?
A. Select the tool by right clicking on the icon in the Home, Format or View tab - choose Add to Quick Access Toolbar. Delete an icon by right clicking on it in the QA Toolbar and choosing Remove. To restore your Toolbar to the default setting, click on the Raspberry icon top left and then Options. Select the Quick Access Tab and choose Reset.

Q. Where did you get the photo corners?
A. I drew them using Studio. You can download the template here by clicking on the zipped file icon below.

Q. Where is Auto Back up located?
A. Under Documents>My Studio Designs

Q. How did you draw the perspective rug?
A. In today's webinar I drew the rugs with the polygon tool, filled them with a texture and then added a second polygon with outline deleted and filled with a color made approximately 50% opaque (transparency bar). In other webinars, I have saved rug images from vendors, opened Photoshop and used Image>Transform>Perspective or Distort to change the shape. Be sure to save as a .png or .gif file to maintain the transparency. Also the file needs to be resized to 800x600 pixels or less, otherwise the background will be black.

Q. Where can I download Irfanview?
A. Click on Solutions on the gray bar above - fabric editing software.

Q. Where can I obtain the patterns of the designs shown in the Toolbox?
A. Some of the companies for which we have designs are:
M'Fay www.mfay.com
Pate Meadows www.patemeadows.com
Patterns Plus www.patternsplus.com
Decorate Now www.decoratenow.net
The designs with the Minutes Matter Instructional System designation are available for purchase through our website under Workroom Products.

Q. Can you explain how to draw the lines for the perspective view - the vanishing point?
A. This website has some good info on one point perspective drawing:
http://www.olejarz.com/arted/perspective/
This is the type of advanced drawing that we teach in our Coaching Program.

Q. When my imported furniture or accessory image has more than one color, how do I use the Photo Knockout tool?
A. You can't use it for more than one color. You'll have to use the Photo Clip tool in this case, after you have imported it into Studio. Carefully trace around the image, then delete the original imported photo.

Q. When the background wall has more than one color, how do I change it?
A. The templates in the Toolbox have a gradient fill to give depth and dimension to the rendering. To change the color to your preferred paint, click on the grouped template, then click again on the wall. Select the eyedropper tool and touch the paint color you want either in Studio's color cards or dots or from the paint vendor's website, or click Color Fill and select a color. If you want to use the gradient fill with a new color, right click Properties>Fill>Gradient and make your two color selections, with the end color lighter or darker than the start color.

Attached is a file containing the bunkbed with bedding and angled wall. Take it apart to see how the various components were drawn and layered. Download the file to your desktop. Open Studio, click on the Raspberry Icon, Open and locate the file.

[Merlyn]

If you haven't already done so (and thanks so much if you have!), please take a minute to answer the questions on our survey. This is totally anonymous, be honest and offer your most constructive criticism. We can take it!

In response to the feedback received from last month's webinar, we revised a few aspects of the June webinar to tailor it to your needs. Let us know what you would like to see!

https://spreadsheets.google.com/view...YxWFE6MQ#gid=0

[Merlyn]

July questions:

Q. How did you get all those photos of the ugly kitchens on one page?
A. I imported all 10 photos, then used the corner edit point and the Shift key to resize them to fit on a legal size page. I changed one photo to approximately 160" wide and then used the shift key to select the remaining photos; click Same Size to change the others. The space apart and align tools came in handy to make sure they were positioned evenly.


Q. I have trouble understanding the drawing scale, 1/2" or 1/4", etc.
A. The elevation drawing scale is 1:20 in world distance or 1" = 20" in real life; 1/2" drawing scale would be 1:24. In space planning, the drawing scale is 1/4 inch, or 1" = 48" in real life. This allows you to fit larger "footprints" on the workspace. Change the drawing scale by clicking on the View tab, then Drawing Scale. Use the set scale tool to help you match your drawing scale to a blueprint or photo.


Q. I don't understand pattern repeats and how to edit them.
A. Patterned fabrics such as floral prints, plaids, stripes, checks and geometric designs have a vertical and/or horizontal repeats. That means that the pattern is duplicated across the width of the fabric and down the bolt. Measure from one motif to the next matching one to determine the distance length or width of the repeat.

For prints with vertical repeats, crop the fabric sample and save to your client's folder. When editing, look at the sample that you have loaded and determine if you see only one repeat or more than one. Multiply the number of repeats displayed in the sample by the repeat inches. For striped fabric, uncheck the Keep Aspect Ratio box, and enter the width as the horizontal repeat times the number of repeats shown in the sample and the height as the tallest or longest image you will fill with the stripe fabric.

Some vendors do not display full repeats. In that case, you will have to judge the size of the motif to edit it and accept that it will not tile properly. Use the sample off to the side of the rendering, and fill the treatment with a solid color matching the background of the fabric.
For more information on working with fabrics, please read our Fabric Primer Design Challenge:
http://www.minutesmatterstudio.com/f...ghlight=primer

Q. When will the Jackie Von Tobel Bedding Modules be released?
A. They are in production now; watch your emails and our blog for release dates.

Q. What font did you use?
A. Jayne Print, download for free here:
http://www.dafont.com/jayne-print.font

Q: I have done a few renderings recently involving layers of treatments and fringe trims; however, when I did the photo clip tool to bring the photo to the back, I lost some of the treatment layers or fringes. I have to move the photo, then bring the treatment to the front and that took away lots of time.
A: After you have finished adding your trim, group it. Then group the entire window treatment. You can also protect it from moving by using the Padlock icon. Then be sure to click on an area of the photo that has no other images near it. Send to Back. Alternately, delete the photo by clicking on Image in the Image List; then import it again (just make sure it's the same size as the original and in the same position).

Q. Can I move an entire rendering from one file to another?
A. Yes just copy and paste it to the new file. Open the existing file, touch the Control key + A on your keyboard, touch Control/C to copy, then open new file, and use Control/V to paste. Save As. Just remember that the fabrics will not travel with the file. If you want to keep the fabrics associated with that file, you must do a Save As, rename the file, and then delete the parts you don't want. Then you will have two files with the same rendering and fabrics, but with different names.

Q. How do you change the color of the rods and hardware?
A. Before ungrouping anything, select the window treatment with hardware (complete design), then right click on Image Components. Select Hardware, then fill, and choose your texture or color of wood finish.

[Merlyn]

August questions:

Q. How do you change the order of the Quick Access toolbar icons?
A. In order to do this, you'd have to delete all the icons and start adding them in the opposite order you'd like them to appear.

Q. What is the wood color on the furniture images from the Living Room Furniture module?
A. The pieces are filled with different shades of taupe. The custom colors appear in the attachment below. Click on the image, click Color Fill>Custom and type in the RGB color values.

Q. When do you use the Layer icon?
A. It can be useful if you'd like to show a client a treatment with trim and then the plain version. Click on the Question Mark in your Studio program, select Search and then type in Layer for detailed explanation of the steps.

Q. Will the white workspace appear in the jpeg version of the rendering?
A. Yes, it will.

Q. Do you have to save a photo first before exporting it?
A. Whether you are creating an elevation rendering from scratch or working directly on a photo of a client's room, save the file to the client's folder. When you are done designing, export the rendering to create a jpeg version and save that also. Use that in your emails, or when adding it to your logo template.

Q. How do you create shadows?
A. See previous month's Q/A for detailed answer -- May 20 posting.

Q. Is the Space Planning Webinar still available?
A. Yes, you may purchase the recording. https://minutes.infusionsoft.com/car...=41&navicat=11

Q. How did you cover up the shadow on the sofa and chairs that the Photo Knockout tool left behind?
A. See the attached file. Take it apart and note the two different polygon shapes under the furniture: one filled with the carpet material and the other is the shadow - black made somewhat transparent. Look for additional tips in this file on outdoor scene and perspective.