@subsection Goals

This section describes the steps we followed to construct the

@emph{Flame} artistic motif. This section may be useful for anyone

interested in reproducing the @emph{Flame} artistic motif, or in

creating new artistic motifs for The CentOS Project corporate visual

identity (@pxref{Directories trunk Identity}).

@subsection Description

The @emph{Flame} artistic motif was built using the flame filter of

Gimp 2.2 in CentOS 5.5.

The flame filter of Gimp can produce stunning, randomly generated

fractal patterns. The flame filter of Gimp gives us a great oportunity

to reduce the time used to produce new artistic motifs, because of its

``randomly generated'' nature. Once the artistic motif be created, it

is propagated through all visual manifestations of CentOS Project

corporate visual identity using the @file{centos-art.sh} script

(@pxref{Directories trunk Scripts}) inside the CentOS Artwork

Repository.

To set the time intervals between each new visual style production, we

could reuse the CentOS distribution major release schema.  I.e., we

could produce a new visual style, every two years, based on a new

``randomly generated'' flame pattern, and publish the whole corporate

visual identity (i.e., distribution stuff, promotion stuff, websites

stuff, etc.) with the new major release of CentOS distribution all

together at once.

Producing a new visual style is not one day's task. Once we have

defined the artistic motif, we need to propagate it through all visual

manifestations of The CentOS Project corporate visual identity. When

we say that we could produce one new visual style every two years we

really mean: to work two years long in order to propagate a new visual

style to all visual manifestations of The CentOS Project corporate

visual identity.

Obviously, in order to propagate one visual style to all different

visual manifestations of The CentOS Project corporate visual identity,

we need first to know which the visual manifestations are.  To define

which visual manifestations are inside The CentOS Project corporate

visual identity is one of the goals the CentOS Artwork Repository and

this documentation manual are both aimed to satisfy.

Once we define which the visual manifestation are, it is possible to

define how to produce them, and this way, organize the automation

process. Such automation process is one of the goals of

@file{centos-art.sh} script.

With the combination of both CentOS Artwork Repository and

@file{centos-art.sh} scripts we define work lines where translators,

programmers, and graphic designers work together to distribute and

reduce the amount of time employed to produce The CentOS Project

monolithic corporate identity.

From a monolithic corporate visual identity point of view, notice that

we are producing a new visual style for the same theme (i.e.,

@emph{Flame}). It would be another flame design but still a flame

design. This idea is very important to be aware of, because we are

somehow ``refreshing'' the theme, not changing it at all. 

This way, as we are ``refreshing'' the theme, we still keep oursleves

inside the monolithic conception we are trying to be attached to

(i.e., one unique name, and one unique visual style for all visual

manifestations).

Producing artistic motifs is a creative process that may consume long

time, specially for people without experienced knowledge on graphic

design land. Using ``randomly generated'' conception to produce

artistic motifs could be, practically, a way for anyone to follow in

order to produce maintainable artistic motifs in few steps. 

Due to the ``randomly generated'' nature of Flame filter, we find that

@emph{Flame} pattern is not always the same when we use @emph{Flame}

filter interface.

Using the same pattern design for each visual manifestation is

essential in order to maintain the visual connection among all visual

manifestations inside the same theme.  Occasionally, we may introduce

pattern variations in opacity, size, or even position but never change

the pattern design itself, nor the color information used by images

considered part of the same theme.

@quotation

@strong{Important}

When we design background images, which are considered part of the

same theme, it is essential to use the same design pattern always.

This is what makes theme images to be visually connected among

themeselves, and so, the reason we use to define the word ``theme''

as: a set of images visually connected among themeselves.

@end quotation

In order for us to reproduce the same flame pattern always,

@emph{Flame} filter interface provides the @samp{Save} and @samp{Open}

options. The @samp{Save} option brings up a file save dialog that

allows you to save the current Flame settings for the plug-in, so that

you can recreate them later.  The @samp{Open} option brings up a file

selector that allows you to open a previously saved Flame settings

file.

The Flame settings we used in our example are saved in the file:

@verbatim

trunk/Identity/Themes/Motifs/Flame/Backgrounds/Xcf/800x600.xcf-flame.def

@end verbatim

@subsection Construction

@subsubsection Step 1: Set image size

Create an empty image and fill the @samp{Background} layer with black

(@code{000000}) color. Image dimensions depend on the final

destination you plan to use the image for. For the sake of our

construction example we used an image of 640x480 pixels and 300 pixels

per inch (ppi).

@subsubsection Step 2: Add base color and pattern information 

Create a new layer named @samp{Base}, place it over @samp{Background}

layer and fill it with the base color (@code{7800ff}) you want to have

your background image set in.  Add a mask to @samp{Base} layer using

radial gradient and blur it.  You may need to repeat this step more

than once in order to achieve a confortable black radial degradation

on the right side of your design.

Duplicate @samp{Base} layer and name it @samp{Paper}. Place

@samp{Paper} layer over @samp{Base} layer. Remove content of

@samp{Paper} layer and fill it with @samp{Paper (100x100)} pattern.

Once you've done with black radial degradation, reduce the

@samp{Paper} layer opacity to 20%. 

Notice that when we duplicate one layer, the mask information related

to layer is preserved from previous to next layer. This saves us some

of the time required to produce different layers with the same mask

information on them.

Duplicate @samp{Paper} layer and rename it @samp{Stripes}. Remove

paper pattern from @samp{Stripes} layer. Fill @samp{Stripes} layer

with @samp{Stripes (48x48)} pattern and reduce the @samp{Stripes}

layer opacity to 15%.

@subsubsection Step 3: Add flame motif

Create a new layer named @samp{Flame}. Set the foreground

(@code{003cff}) and background (@code{0084ff}) colors to the gradient

you want to build the flame motif. 

To build flame motif, use the flame filter (@samp{Filters > Render >

Nature > Flame...}) on @samp{Flame} layer. We used a layer mask, with

a radial gradient on it to control the boundaries of flame motif on

@samp{Flame} layer.

Duplicate @samp{Flame} layer and rename it `Flame Blur'. Place `Flame

Blur' below @samp{Flame} layer. Apply Gussian blur filter

(@samp{Filters > Blur > Gussian Blur...}) until reaching the desiered

effect.

The opacity value, in @samp{Flame} layers, may vary from one image to

another based on the place the image will be finally placed on.  For

example, images used as desktop background have the @samp{Flame} layer

opacity set at 100% but @samp{Flame Blur} is set to 70%.  However, you

may find that background images used in anaconda progress slides have

opacity reduced differently, in order to reduce brightness in a way

that texts could look clean and readable over it.

@subsubsection Step 4: Add foreground color

Create a new layer named @samp{Color}, place it on top of all visible

layers and fill it with plain color (@code{4c005a}). Reduce

@samp{Color} layer opacity to 20%. You can use the @samp{Color} layer

to control the right side color information you want to produce the

image for.

Duplicate @samp{Flame} layer and create a new layer named

@samp{Color#1}. Place @samp{Color#1} layer on top of layer named

@samp{Color}. Remove the mask information from @samp{Color#1} layer

and recreate a new one using an inverted alpha channel as reference.

Remove @samp{Color#1} layer content and fill it back with plain black

(@code{000000}) color. Reduce @samp{Color#1} opacity to 20%.  In this

step we created a mask to protect the flame artistic motif from black

color, so when we decrement or increment the opacity of layer, the

flame artistic motif wouldn't be affected, just the environment

suround it.

When you set color information, remember that the same artistic motif

needs to be indexed to 14 and 16 colors, in order to produce Grub and

Syslinux visual manifestations respectively. Using many different

colors in the artistic motif may reduce the possibility of your design

to fix all different situations in.  Likewise, using more colors in

one design, and less colors in another design will reduce the

connectivity among your designs, since color information is relevant

to visual identity. 

When you propagate your artistic motif visual style to different

visual manifestations of CentOS Project corporate visual identity, it

is up to you to find out justice and compromise among all possible

variables you may face.

@subsection See also

@menu

* Directories trunk Identity Themes Motifs::

* Directories trunk Identity Themes::

* Directories trunk Identity::

* Directories trunk::

@end menu