Figure 8 is double 4. Figure 4? It’s half of 8. If you could skate, it would be GREAT if you could make a figure 8 (that’s a circle that turns ‘round upon itself). If you remember that as fondly and I do, then you’ll enjoy this iTunes Link. (or this one for the video enabled :)

Today, we’re on text in general and quickly examining the benefit we get from converting it to outlines. The figure you see above was built with text objects that were converted to shapes using a technique I described in a prior tutorial, (that example used Intaglio, but other programs can do the same thing). Once you have these shapes in Keynote, one important thing is that now you control the outline of the text (known in iWeb/Keynote as “Stroke”) separately from the fill. This isn’t possible with regular text. You’ll also notice that, as shapes, you can stretch your “text shape” in ways you can’t with text. Finally, you’ll be able to edit the shape point by point, further increasing the flexibility you have when designing. If iWeb is going to convert your non-web text to images anyway, at least you can have complete control over how it appears on the page.

Now, let’s examine how I created the evil Dr. Bleight above. I started with a number eight shaded blue. Then I decided to give him a gradient. I again wished that I could do dual gradients in Keynote, but, since I couldn’t, I made the shape editable, duplicated it, then deleted the top half from one copy and the bottom half from the other by shift-clicking the points and deleting. I aligned the two halves (I LOVE those guide lines) then set the top gradient from white to blue going up and the bottom gradient from white to blue going down.

Then, since figure eight really IS double four, I pulled up a four, stretched it out, duplicated it then flipped the duplicate to mirror the first. Then I selected the 2 halves of eight and grouped them, and selected the 2 fours and grouped them. Then, using Arrange -> Align Objects -> Center, I was able to ensure his evil unibrow was as close to the middle as possible.

Now for more numbers, I used red zeros for the eyes (grouping and lining up like I did with the ‘brows) then brought in a seven for the nose, thickening the line and giving it a drop shadow for... umm, I just like drop shadows? :) The mouth ended up being the toughest part since I’d used all the GOOD numbers already, but I think I made it work. Two number one’s; one red in the back, one black in the front with a white shadow that just looks like it’s GLOWING evil.

I thought I was done, but I then decided I wanted to go for a Mojo JoJo look (sans cape) so I ended up eliminating the blue gradient in the top half of the eight, and went Google searching for a brain. I did find a nice picture of a brain to use as a masked graphic but it turns out that it was a little TOO nice and showed maybe a bit more detail than I’d like. So, I used Keynote 3’s new Adjust controls to distort it so that you have an idea of what it is without being grossed out. I completed the mask and gave the outline of the top a dotted line. I don’t even think most people will notice, but it’s there if you look closely. It’s supposed to signify the brain jar... orr, maybe that he’s just dotty...

Then, as a final touch, I used a yellow diamond shape to hide the fact that I’d placed the brows too low (and didn’t want to redo the whole thing) and realized afterwards that it was probably due to a Mojoish influence as well.

After the main graphic was done, I had to gussy up this plain gray backdrop and came up with what I think is an interesting design to go with an interesting centerpiece. I duplicated and increased the size while decreased the opacity of the duplicates going back. I created a dotted field of dots just because it seemed to want to be there. :) I chose my shade of green, gave him something to say and that was it. Then I started writing this part and eventually got down to the bottom where I was explaining how I’d written this part at the end just to tie things up and bring it to some form of close. I wasn’t really certain on how I could end it other than just to stop writing but I figured there might be 4 or 5 people out there interested in a set of numbers all their own. At that point, I decided to drop in a number (say, a

) and attach a link to it so that anyone can download a Keynote 3 file with not ONLY the number shapes, but also the evil Dr. Bleight himself!!

Or maybe, just maybe, that’s part of his sinister plan. Oooh, he’s so very sinister he is. There was this one time...

Nah, maybe later...