Of all the multimedia programs I use, HyperStudio® has always had the most advanced art tools. Hopefully you’ve tried out many of the new special effects, which you can access by choosing the Effects tool in the lower right of the Tools palette. However, you may have overlooked two powerful art options that are legacies from older HyperStudio versions.
This tip focuses on one of them, Cookie Cutter, that makes it easy to transform a simple sketch into a work of art right inside HyperStudio! To complete this magic, we’ll also need the help of some free texture photos that can be downloaded from a website called, logically, textures.com. Read more about textures.com, a site I use just about daily, here in my post about it.
Cookie Cutter Magic
We begin by loading a simple sketch of a mountain landscape and those texture photos as card backgrounds in a working stack. To save time, I included the sketch as part of the download. With the help of Cookie Cutter, we can extract precisely shaped pieces from the photos and paste them into the corresponding solid areas of the sketch.
The collage of photo parts gets fused together with a few finishing touches, using various painting tools and effects. An important part of this tip is learning how to blend painted accents into a photo. The final realistic scene is a real work of art!
Students can produce excellent original artwork using this technique, and I’m sure they will be delighted by and proud of the results. By choosing specific photos to combine, they also could use Cookie Cutter art to illustrate a story or report.
You start a new stack to work through this tip, but I’ve included a finished example of the working stack to download for reference. Also in the download zip file is a PDF tutorial that explains each step in detail, and the starting sketch. A link on this page leads to an online version of the tutorial, ready to present to a group.
In addition to directions for creating great art, the tutorial includes ten Quick Tips to expand your expertise as a power user of HyperStudio. You’ll also find out how to save the art as a Ready Made Card to quickly pull into other stacks. Alternately, export it as a .png file to use with other applications.
Bonus: Learn To Use The Beveler
When you have finished creating the mountain scene, continue following the tutorial to make a frame for it by using another legacy effect, the Beveler.
Besides making a picture frame, you can use this effect to put a fancy edge right on a picture. I predict you’ll enjoy trying out all the options in the Beveler, and surprise yourself with the fancy borders you make.
Have fun and see what you can make with these two vintage HyperStudio effects!
Applications needed: Acrobat Reader, HyperStudio 5, web browser.
Subject area: Tip.
Level: Author.
Download-HyperStudio Tip
GreatHSArtWithCookieCutter.zip (13.7 MB) Great Art In HyperStudio 5 stack, Cookie Cutter Tip Tutorial pdf, and starting sketch.
Cookie Cutter Tip Tutorial online The Cookie Cutter Tip Tutorial online, ready to present to groups.
