Reverse Path Tutorial

The following tutorial was written by deebs, a regular contributor on our Expression Design newsgroup. Thanks, deebs! If you haven't already done so, grab a copy of Microsoft Expression Design and follow along. You'll also want to download the .design file deebs provided for this tutorial.

This tutorial will use a frame object already created for you so you can explore effects like these:

to

to

and these

in about 11 steps in the following walk through.

0 – Open the .design file file that accompanies this tutorial (Reverse path.design). Expand Layer 1 and select Frame object in the layer list.

1 – Remove the Stroke and apply a radial gradient fill:

Radial gradient Left stop colour: 19FFF5 Right stop colour: 0042FF to obtain something like this:

2 – Apply a bevel live effect:

Width: 2 Contrast: 0.3 Softness: 0.3 Profile: Curve out Light Angle: 135

3 – Apply a Drop Shadow live effect:

Softness: 1 Offset: 5 Opacity: 0.6 Shadow Colour: Black Light Angle: 315 Noise: 0 to obtain:

4 – Apply Razor Flames stroke (usually located in Graphics category in the stroke listing) at 10 points width:

5 – Change stroke colour to 230FD2

6 – Click Object > Reverse Path to obtain:

This is the completed frame. For other effects, continue on:

7 – Remove gradient fill:

8 – Click Object > Reverse Path:

9 – CTRL+C > CTRL+B to position a pixel perfect copy behind the original object. Then, on the copied object:

Remove Stroke Apply gradient fill (as described in Step 1 above) Remove Drop Shadow Adjust Fill opacity to 60%

10 – Select upper frame object in the layer list then click Object > Reverse Path:

11 – With upper Frame object selected change object blend mode from Normal to Multiply:

Have fun exploring different blend modes and strokes…

[Editor's note: Thanks again, deebs, for another great tutorial!]