Blame Manuals/Repository/trunk/Identity/Themes/Motifs/Flame.texi

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@subsection Goals
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This section describes the steps we followed to construct the
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@emph{Flame} artistic motif. This section may be useful for anyone
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interested in reproducing the @emph{Flame} artistic motif, or in
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creating new artistic motifs for The CentOS Project corporate visual
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identity (@pxref{trunk Identity}).
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@subsection Description
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The @emph{Flame} artistic motif was built using the flame filter of
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Gimp 2.2 in CentOS 5.5.
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The flame filter of Gimp can produce stunning, randomly generated
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fractal patterns. The flame filter of Gimp gives us a great oportunity
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to reduce the time used to produce new artistic motifs, because of its
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``randomly generated'' nature. Once the artistic motif be created, it
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is propagated through all visual manifestations of CentOS Project
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corporate visual identity using the @file{centos-art.sh} script
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(@pxref{trunk Scripts Bash}) inside the CentOS Artwork Repository.
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To set the time intervals between each new visual style production, we
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could reuse the CentOS distribution major release schema.  I.e., we
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could produce a new visual style, every two years, based on a new
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``randomly generated'' flame pattern, and publish the whole corporate
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visual identity (i.e., distribution stuff, promotion stuff, websites
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stuff, etc.) with the new major release of CentOS distribution all
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together at once.
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Producing a new visual style is not one day's task. Once we have
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defined the artistic motif, we need to propagate it through all visual
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manifestations of The CentOS Project corporate visual identity. When
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we say that we could produce one new visual style every two years we
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really mean: to work two years long in order to propagate a new visual
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style to all visual manifestations of The CentOS Project corporate
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visual identity.
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Obviously, in order to propagate one visual style to all different
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visual manifestations of The CentOS Project corporate visual identity,
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we need first to know which the visual manifestations are.  To define
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which visual manifestations are inside The CentOS Project corporate
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visual identity is one of the goals the CentOS Artwork Repository and
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this documentation manual are both aimed to satisfy.
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Once we define which the visual manifestation are, it is possible to
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define how to produce them, and this way, organize the automation
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process. Such automation process is one of the goals of
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@file{centos-art.sh} script.
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With the combination of both CentOS Artwork Repository and
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@file{centos-art.sh} scripts we define work lines where translators,
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programmers, and graphic designers work together to distribute and
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reduce the amount of time employed to produce The CentOS Project
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monolithic corporate identity.
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From a monolithic corporate visual identity point of view, notice that
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we are producing a new visual style for the same theme (i.e.,
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@emph{Flame}). It would be another flame design but still a flame
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design. This idea is very important to be aware of, because we are
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somehow ``refreshing'' the theme, not changing it at all. 
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This way, as we are ``refreshing'' the theme, we still keep oursleves
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inside the monolithic conception we are trying to be attached to
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(i.e., one unique name, and one unique visual style for all visual
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manifestations).
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Producing artistic motifs is a creative process that may consume long
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time, specially for people without experienced knowledge on graphic
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design land. Using ``randomly generated'' conception to produce
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artistic motifs could be, practically, a way for anyone to follow in
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order to produce maintainable artistic motifs in few steps. 
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Due to the ``randomly generated'' nature of Flame filter, we find that
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@emph{Flame} pattern is not always the same when we use @emph{Flame}
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filter interface.
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Using the same pattern design for each visual manifestation is
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essential in order to maintain the visual connection among all visual
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manifestations inside the same theme.  Occasionally, we may introduce
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pattern variations in opacity, size, or even position but never change
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the pattern design itself, nor the color information used by images
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considered part of the same theme.
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@quotation
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@strong{Important}
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When we design background images, which are considered part of the
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same theme, it is essential to use the same design pattern always.
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This is what makes theme images to be visually connected among
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themeselves, and so, the reason we use to define the word ``theme''
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as: a set of images visually connected among themeselves.
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@end quotation
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In order for us to reproduce the same flame pattern always,
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@emph{Flame} filter interface provides the @samp{Save} and @samp{Open}
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options. The @samp{Save} option brings up a file save dialog that
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allows you to save the current Flame settings for the plug-in, so that
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you can recreate them later.  The @samp{Open} option brings up a file
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selector that allows you to open a previously saved Flame settings
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file.
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The Flame settings we used in our example are saved in the file:
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@verbatim
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trunk/Identity/Themes/Motifs/Flame/Backgrounds/Xcf/800x600.xcf-flame.def
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@end verbatim
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@subsection Construction
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@subsubsection Step 1: Set image size
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Create an empty image and fill the @samp{Background} layer with black
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(@code{000000}) color. Image dimensions depend on the final
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destination you plan to use the image for. For the sake of our
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construction example we used an image of 640x480 pixels and 300 pixels
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per inch (ppi).
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@subsubsection Step 2: Add base color and pattern information 
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Create a new layer named @samp{Base}, place it over @samp{Background}
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layer and fill it with the base color (@code{7800ff}) you want to have
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your background image set in.  Add a mask to @samp{Base} layer using
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radial gradient and blur it.  You may need to repeat this step more
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than once in order to achieve a confortable black radial degradation
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on the right side of your design.
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Duplicate @samp{Base} layer and name it @samp{Paper}. Place
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@samp{Paper} layer over @samp{Base} layer. Remove content of
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@samp{Paper} layer and fill it with @samp{Paper (100x100)} pattern.
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Once you've done with black radial degradation, reduce the
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@samp{Paper} layer opacity to 20%. 
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Notice that when we duplicate one layer, the mask information related
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to layer is preserved from previous to next layer. This saves us some
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of the time required to produce different layers with the same mask
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information on them.
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Duplicate @samp{Paper} layer and rename it @samp{Stripes}. Remove
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paper pattern from @samp{Stripes} layer. Fill @samp{Stripes} layer
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with @samp{Stripes (48x48)} pattern and reduce the @samp{Stripes}
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layer opacity to 15%.
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@subsubsection Step 3: Add flame motif
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Create a new layer named @samp{Flame}. Set the foreground
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(@code{003cff}) and background (@code{0084ff}) colors to the gradient
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you want to build the flame motif. 
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To build flame motif, use the flame filter (@samp{Filters > Render >
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Nature > Flame...}) on @samp{Flame} layer. We used a layer mask, with
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a radial gradient on it to control the boundaries of flame motif on
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@samp{Flame} layer.
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Duplicate @samp{Flame} layer and rename it `Flame Blur'. Place `Flame
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Blur' below @samp{Flame} layer. Apply Gussian blur filter
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(@samp{Filters > Blur > Gussian Blur...}) until reaching the desiered
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effect.
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The opacity value, in @samp{Flame} layers, may vary from one image to
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another based on the place the image will be finally placed on.  For
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example, images used as desktop background have the @samp{Flame} layer
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opacity set at 100% but @samp{Flame Blur} is set to 70%.  However, you
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may find that background images used in anaconda progress slides have
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opacity reduced differently, in order to reduce brightness in a way
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that texts could look clean and readable over it.
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@subsubsection Step 4: Add foreground color
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Create a new layer named @samp{Color}, place it on top of all visible
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layers and fill it with plain color (@code{4c005a}). Reduce
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@samp{Color} layer opacity to 20%. You can use the @samp{Color} layer
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to control the right side color information you want to produce the
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image for.
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Duplicate @samp{Flame} layer and create a new layer named
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@samp{Color#1}. Place @samp{Color#1} layer on top of layer named
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@samp{Color}. Remove the mask information from @samp{Color#1} layer
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and recreate a new one using an inverted alpha channel as reference.
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Remove @samp{Color#1} layer content and fill it back with plain black
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(@code{000000}) color. Reduce @samp{Color#1} opacity to 20%.  In this
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step we created a mask to protect the flame artistic motif from black
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color, so when we decrement or increment the opacity of layer, the
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flame artistic motif wouldn't be affected, just the environment
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suround it.
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When you set color information, remember that the same artistic motif
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needs to be indexed to 14 and 16 colors, in order to produce Grub and
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Syslinux visual manifestations respectively. Using many different
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colors in the artistic motif may reduce the possibility of your design
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to fix all different situations in.  Likewise, using more colors in
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one design, and less colors in another design will reduce the
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connectivity among your designs, since color information is relevant
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to visual identity. 
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When you propagate your artistic motif visual style to different
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visual manifestations of CentOS Project corporate visual identity, it
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is up to you to find out justice and compromise among all possible
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variables you may face.
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@subsection See also
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@menu
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* trunk Identity Themes Motifs::
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* trunk Identity Themes::
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* trunk Identity::
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* trunk::
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@end menu