Inkscape
tutorial: creating a
mirror effect
Preliminary notes:
Basic knowledge of Inkscape
or vector drawing software is required for this tutorial.
Italic_text
refers to the actions,
dialogs
or menus
referenced in the menus
or toolbars.
Bold_text
refers to keyboard shortcuts. A few words about shortcuts: the use of
keyboard shortcuts greatly improves your efficiency. A reminder is
accessible from Help
menu then Keys
and mouse.
The
original tutorial in French
by J. P. Bourgoy is accessible from the excellent
www.linuxgraphic.org
web site.
Updated and translated to English by Matiphas using CVS version of
Inkscape (pre 0.40, october 2004).
Introduction:
Vector drawing is quite often (or has been) considered as a synonym of
flat illustrations, depth less or lacking relief. Wrongly as
this tutorial will show that vector drawing software is really suitable
for the creation of realistic graphics. In this document, we will
focus on the realization of a reflecting effect, similar to what's
obtained with a mirror.
NB : the text "wish you were here" was chosen in reference to the
album from the Pink Floyds issued in
1974 :-)
Here is the final SVG file : final.svg.
Step 1: creating the text
First,
let's enter our text. Select the Create
and edit text objects on the left toolbar
(
or F8),
left-click on the canvas and type the
desired text. Then, select the Text
and font dialog on the top toolbar (
or Shift+Control+T)
and set the attributes (font family, type and size) you want.
You can choose a different color and stroke for your text after
selecting the Fill
and stroke dialog (
or Shift+Control+F).
Set the attributes you want : they have no impact on the method. For
this example, I choosed a color fill and a black stroke. Note that
several methods are available for choosing your colors, strokes,
markers and filling patterns, but this tutorial won't focus on them.
Nice, but why not to bring some relief. For this, we will duplicate the
object (Edit
menu then Duplicate 
or
Control+D), fill it with
black (R=G=B=0 in the Fill
and stroke dialog), move the
duplicated object (here, I moved it slightly to the left Alt+LeftArrow)
and lower it (Object
menu then Lower
## or PageDown).
Finally, select both original and duplicated text, and group them (Object
menu then Group 
or Control+G)
Here is what we get :
Step 2: adding the mirror
Now, let's draw the plane that represents the mirror on which our text
will reflect.
Select the Create
rectangles and squares tool
(
or F4)
and draw your rectangle.
the color or gradient you want, but don't forget to apply a partial
transparency.
Example : radial gradient, centered in the top side of the mirror with
two stops : light blue (R=0, G=1, B=1) and dark blue (R=G=0, B=1), both
with a transparency of 40% (alpha set to 0.6).
Then adjust the position of your mirror (it should partially overlap
the text) and lower it (Object
menu then Lower 
or PageDown)
so that it is placed behind the text.
We get something like that :
Step 3: the reflect
OK, we can focus on the reflect.
First select the text (as it is grouped with its shadow, the shadow
will also be selected), and clone it (Edit
menu then Clone 
or Alt+D).
The clone is now automatically selected. Flip it vertically (Object
menu then Flip
Vertically 
or v),
align its top vertically with the bottom of the original group (Align
and distribute dialog 
or Shift+Control+A,
then Top
of aligned objects to bottom of anchor 
) , and lower it to the bottom (Object
menu then Lower
to bottom 
or End)
Nice, isn't it ?
Step 4: finalizing
The result is acceptable, but we can improve a detail: select the
mirror, clone it and lower the clone to the bottom (Object
menu then Lower
to bottom
or End),
behind the reflect.
This gives the impression of an opaque mirror and enhances the relief
of the illustration.
