Polygonal graphics are a special kind of graphics that is created using flat polygons. Polygons are defined by a set of points, consist of polylines and are called polygons. The simplest option is a triangular polygon. With it, most often draw polygonal portraits in various programs. Creating an image from triangles is called triangulation.
Image Triangulation Software
A similar technology appeared a long time ago and was used to create the first video games with the 3D effect. But now polygonal graphics are undergoing a rebirth and are again becoming popular with designers and photographers. Most often polygons are used when processing photos. But since the triangulation process is rather laborious, special programs for polygonal portraits were created that accelerate image processing. Most often, designers use two Adobe products for this - Photoshop and Illustrator.
Using polygons in Photoshop
Consider one of the fastest ways to create a polygon portrait in Photoshop - without using special plugins. First you need to prepare a photo and process it with special tools:
- Open the program and create a new A4 file with a resolution of 300 pixels.
- Drag the photo and scale it to the size of the new file, holding the Shift key so as not to distort the proportions.
- Selecting the “Straight Lasso” tool on the panel, select the person’s face along the contour. No need to strive to do everything perfectly the first time, as in the subsequent stages we will correct the contour.
- Using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + J, duplicate the path to a new layer, and then turn off the visibility at the bottom.
- If the lighting in the photo is not too high quality, to give the image volume, increase the contrast using the Curves tool.
- Draw on colors and shadows. First, copy the layer and turn off the visibility of the lower one, and then select the lightening tool on the panel, select in the window with the “Light Tones” range and set the exposure value to 10%.
- We adjust the brush and process the face of the model. We try not to hold the tool in the same place several times - this can cause too much lightening.
- Using the Dimming tool, draw shadows. In the settings we set the “Shadow” range, and the exposure - 10%.
- Correct the lighting flaws with the Stamp tool.
- Create another copy of the layer and add color using the Brush tool. Set the opacity to 15% and add a few yellow spots from the side of the light source, and blue from the side of the shadow.
- Change the layer blending mode to “Soft Light” and apply some more color spots pointwise to give the image more volume.
- Hold down the Alt key and click on the dividing line between the layers to create a clipping mask for the color layer.
- Select three layers where color and lighting were added, and using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Alt + E, clone their contents into one layer.
- Turn off the visibility of the lower layers. Just in case, you can make a copy of the layer by dragging it down with the Alt key pressed.
How to set up the grid correctly
Now we proceed directly to the creation of a polygonal portrait in Photoshop. First, set up the grid. We enable its visibility using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + H. Select the menu item "Editing", then - "Settings" and "Guides". In the appeared window with the settings, select the grid style - “Points”, the distance between them is 10 pixels, change the color to light gray. Now turn on the snap to the grid: go to the "View" menu, then - "Snap to ..." and select "Grid Lines". Now, when using the “Straight Lasso”, the cursor itself will “stick” to the grid, which facilitates the creation of polygons.
Creating a portrait from polygons
We begin to draw polygons - put a point, then another one and close the outline by double-clicking on the third point. We have created a triangle. Go to the “Filter” tab, select the “Blur” item and set the value to “Medium”. Now, to create a polygonal portrait, you can use a special key combination that applies the last filter used - Ctrl + F. We continue to process the entire image in the same way, creating triangles of various sizes. We try to create polygons in shape, repeating natural bends. Then we correct the contour and remove the unnecessary details of our polygonal portrait, highlighting it with a straight lasso, and press Ctrl + Shift + Alt to invert the stroke. It remains only to press the Del key to remove unnecessary parts.
Polygonal portrait in Illustrator
Illustrator and Photoshop were created for various purposes, because the image processing process in them is different. At the beginning of the work, in both cases we create a new document and drag the image onto it. Then, in Illustrator, you need to lock the layer with the photo so that it does not move. We will draw polygons using the Line Segment tool. You can change the thickness of the outline, 4 pixels will be enough. First, we outline the outline of the object, and then we begin to highlight areas with highlights and shadows. You can start drawing with polygons - then it will be easy to split them into triangles, connecting the vertices with lines. Thus, we create a grid of polygons throughout the image.
Center Cross Points
It is important that the lines converge at one point, and all the polygons are divided into triangles. To facilitate the work, we write down all further actions. Select the "Operation" item in the "Window" menu, create a new operation and click the "Record" item.
In the next step, we center the points:
- Using the "Partial Selection" tool, select any intersection from the lines.
- In the alignment options, select "Align to selected area."
- Click on the panel buttons "Horizontal alignment" and "Vertical alignment."
We stop recording.
This operation must be repeated at all places with construction errors. To search for errors, press the key combination Ctrl + Y and, guided by the grid, look for problem areas. Then select the whole image and go to the menu "Pathfinder" and click on the item "Separation". Again, fill the path, changing its thickness by 2 pixels. The last step is to fill the path. To do this, use the hot key for the selection tool - Y and the letter I for the Eyedropper tool. And alternating these tools, fill the triangles with color. Now the polygonal portrait is ready.