Ok, still working on some stuff for the cubicle to round out the design.

What i'm looking to do next is going to be time consuming, and i know roughly how to do it but I wanted to see if any of you photo-chop pros out there have a better way to do it.

What i want is for the content part of the page to be bordered with trunks of catV cables (do a google image search for "structured cabling" if you need examples).

it will span 800 pixels wide at the top of the page where the nav buttons will sit on top of it. from there it will run down wither side of the page where the adverts and other banners and links will sit. at the bottom of the side collums the cables will all be severed and kind of splayed out.

now, as for doing this, i know i can use the brush tool with a gradient fill that will more or less give me the desired effect. the problem is that will take for-freakin'-ever and to make that many cables bound together and all the lines and curves look smooth and fluent.

Anyone got a tutorial or know of a way to make multiple gradient filled lines or am I just pretty much going to have to do them one at a time?

as far as the pics go, you didn't find the pics cause i was hording all of them: http://www.75west.com/images2/cables/

as far as makingthe cables, make one good cable that follows all the turns you want, then copy the layer over and over again..

Quote: Originally Posted by NapalmStixToKidz as far as the pics go, you didn't find the pics cause i was hording all of them: http://www.75west.com/images2/cables/ as far as makingthe cables, make one good cable that follows all the turns you want, then copy the layer over and over again..

nice portfolio, wish i had more pics of some of the systems i put in, especially the BIG ones. Those always looked nice once all was said and terminated.

Anywho, the only problem with making just one cable and duplicating it is you don't get that "real" look. As you are obviously well aware, there are many a twist and turn and interweaving of a lrage trunk of cables.

I think that making the same cable over and over and over would take away from the desired effect. That and it would probably look like i threw it together as quickly as i could.

I guess i could make like 8-10 different ones and mix them all together, then detail it out with the brush tool. going to be really time consuming though.

Quote: Originally Posted by 0v3rki11 nice portfolio, wish i had more pics of some of the systems i put in, especially the BIG ones. Those always looked nice once all was said and terminated. Anywho, the only problem with making just one cable and duplicating it is you don't get that "real" look. As you are obviously well aware, there are many a twist and turn and interweaving of a lrage trunk of cables. I think that making the same cable over and over and over would take away from the desired effect. That and it would probably look like i threw it together as quickly as i could. I guess i could make like 8-10 different ones and mix them all together, then detail it out with the brush tool. going to be really time consuming though.

what kind of twists and turns are you trying to achieve??

edit: this was a quick 2min thing before i went to work..one "cable", copied 5 or 6 times, then "bundled together"

edit edit: another one with different color "cables"

Attached Thumbnails

   

Quote: Originally Posted by NapalmStixToKidz what kind of twists and turns are you trying to achieve?? edit: this was a quick 2min thing before i went to work..one "cable", copied 5 or 6 times, then "bundled together" edit edit: another one with different color "cables"

Looks nice to me! I like how all the wires aren't exactly uniform (some overlap more); makes them look more realisic, like some are turned and some are flat.

If you're going for the messy look, you might be able to do several sets like that and have a couple stray wires criscrossing over them.

http://www.75west.com/images2/cables/100_0734.JPG
http://www.75west.com/images2/cables/100_0739.JPG
http://www.75west.com/images2/cables/100_0740.JPG
http://www.75west.com/images2/cables/100_0869.JPG

all of the above are good examples of what i'm trying to get close to. I don't want al the cables to be perfectly uniform. even in a well managed trunk of cables they interweave between each other and twist around like a bunch of wet noodles.

along wih the mass of cables for the content border i plan to pop in random components peeking out of the mess like monitors or printers and other various related equipment.

the proposed method you guys are talking about will most likely work, it will just take ALOT of time to get it all aranged. was hoping to find a way or a program that can randomly generate an image close to what i have in mind then put it al together in photoshop/dreamweaver.

may turn this into a group project to speed up the progress, lol

Quote: Originally Posted by 0v3rki11 the proposed method you guys are talking about will most likely work, it will just take ALOT of time to get it all aranged. was hoping to find a way or a program that can randomly generate an image close to what i have in mind then put it al together in photoshop/dreamweaver. may turn this into a group project to speed up the progress, lol

Photoshop allows for actions to be "recorded" and then "played back" to duplicate an effect multiple times..This is something i am not 100% familiar with, so funky fresh may be able to pick up the slack on explaining it better..

I will be more than willing to help formulate an image for your site..

If you don't have it done soon, I can probably get my sup to email me the pics he will be taking next week or 2 when we get finished with the floor we are on now. We should have all cbles into the comm room and dressed by next week, then on to the terminating (my fingers will be hating me after this job is done).

ok, i ripped off a couple of Napalm's pics and chopped them up.

here is an idea of what i'm trying to do. this is just a mock up until i can get some real time to sit down and work on it. this would be the image that sits behind the navigation buttons at the top of cubicle101.

on either side it will curve down and the cables will continue down the length of the page. once again on the sides, adverts, banners and such will sit on top of the cables image.

Attached Thumbnails