Sketch effects
Expression Design offers nine different Sketch live effects: Angled Strokes, Chalk and Charcoal, Charcoal, Colored Pencil, Crosshatch, Ink Outlines, Smudge Stick, Graphic Pen and Reticulation. You can apply each of these settings from the Sketch submenu in the Live Effects menu. For more information, see Effects.
For reference below, here are the original three objects (no
effects applied):
a bitmapped image, a rectangle with a
gradient, and a text object.
Angled Strokes
The Angled Strokes live effect creates the appearance that the image was drawn with sharp colored paint strokes. The settings are Direction balance, Stroke length, and Sharpness. Angled Strokes has little to no effect on vector artwork or images with very flat colors.
Chalk and Charcoal
The Chalk and Charcoal live effect creates the appearance that the image or object was sketched using both chalk and charcoal sticks. The settings you can control are Charcoal area, Chalk area, Stroke pressure, Charcoal color, and Chalk color.
The Charcoal live effect creates the appearance that the image was sketched using a charcoal stick. The settings are Charcoal thickness, Detail, Light/Dark balance, Charcoal color, and Paper color. Charcoal has little to no effect on vector artwork or images with very flat colors.
The Colored Pencil live effect creates the appearance that the image was sketched using colored pencils on a white or colored paper. The settings you can control are Pencil width, Stroke pressure, Paper brightness, and Paper color. Colored Pencil has little to no effect on vector artwork or images with very flat colors.
The Crosshatch live effect simulates sketching the image or object with diagonal lines using colored paints. The settings are Stroke length, Sharpness, and Strength.
The Ink Outlines live effect creates an effect similar to outlining the edges of the image with ink pens. The settings you can control are Stroke length, Dark intensity, and Light intensity. Ink Outlines has little to no effect on vector artwork or images with very flat colors.
The Smudge Stick live effect simulates sketching the image or object with pastels or pencil, and then smudging the strokes with a stick or your finger. The settings are Stroke length, Highlight area, and Highlight intensity.
The Graphic Pen live effect simulates sketching the image or object with sharp, short pen lines. The settings you can control are Stroke length, Stroke direction, Light/dark balance, Ink color, and Paper color.
Reticulation
The Reticulation live effect simulates the noisy reticulation of a photographic emulsion. The settings are Density, Black level, White level, Foreground color, and Background color.
