ScuzzBlog: Diaries November 2022 Entry 27th November 2022: Post 1: Sketch-a-Graph - Early image manipulation. Sketch-a-Graph - Early image manipulation. You may recall a few weeks back I featured the Tracey gadget that came free with Amiga Shopper that let you trace images using the mouse direct into your Amiga. Today I feature a tracing gadget that I used in my youth in an attempt to copy pictures. In my early years I had tried many ways to replicate images. The simplest and most successful was tracing paper, or maybe grease proof paper. At school we were forced to take a practical class even if we were not taking the exam. I chose woodwork and the teacher let me build an animation light table which was useful though limited in image size. One Christmas my parents bought me this Sketch-a-Graph which on the face of it was just perfect. Not only would it duplicate but also enlarge and reduce. Problem was that the movement was never smooth and often there was a delay between the tracing tool and the pencil. In catching up the pencil would cut corners and also dither and shake. The results were truly poor. All the same it was a brave attempt at duplication, albeit very clumsy in execution. Sketch-a-Graph was made in Australia. I do know that somewhere I have a stencil of Australia. Using a stencil as in the box image was more successful... but then, who needs a tracing tool when you can simply draw around the stencil. One very successful way of duplication was in the use of newspaper print. Not only could you rub the rear of a picture and create a faint duplicate on paper, but you could also use heavy print on newspapers to act as carbon paper. Simply lay the heavy print of the paper down on a clean sheet of paper and place the subject image above and with a sharp point trace what you need. I used this process to create all my football kits in my 'Make-up Football' league game. I moved from paper copying to film and the epidiascope and became a lot more creative with my duplication processes. Taking crude photographs of basic models and then projecting onto paper was a dream way of creating accurate images. All of this became redundant the minute I moved over to the Amiga. I quickly set up a picture holder and tripod with lights and used my Sony HandyCAM to grab images with VidiAmiga. I never looked back after that and have been using scanners for all my duplication from a short time after. It is interesting that all the processes I did by hand in my youth have been absorbed by the computer. I still draw an awful lot and do tend to dabble each and every day, but for the most part the scanner, camera or internet images have become the predominant way I manipulate images these days. Good old Photoshop. Sketch-a-Graph - Early image manipulation.

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Last updated 27th November 2022

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