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What exactly is a stencil? What exactly you get in your mind when you read or hear the word "stencil"? How would you exactly define a "stencil"?
a random geek on the Internet
A stencil is a flat piece of metal or plastic, with shaped holes cut out (typically letters or numbers). By moving a pen around the edge of the holes, you can draw the shape exactly.
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In a wider sense, the material can be anything, even paper or fabric; and the painting does not have to be done only by a pen; in some cases, you can use a spray can instead. This is the most common use in day-to-day life. :-)
Another Random geek from internet
If you cutout pieces from a piece of paper. Would that paper be called a stencil? And what about the cutouts?
a random geek on the Internet
errr.. aren't the little pictures in Visio called 'stencils' in the manual?
muppet
yes, and in the application too....
Throwaway
Incidentally, in realtime 3D graphics a "stencil buffer" is an array of pixels, the same size as the screen, which can be used to perform "cut out" effects. For instance, you could draw a circle into the stencil buffer, and then say "draw a 3D scene on screen, but only where the stencil is NOT set", and you'd get a picture with a circular hole in it.
Adrian
Adrian, isn't it called a mask? Probably, an inverted mask?
a random geek on the Internet
random geek: Yes, the action of selectively drawing based on a separate image that defines the "cutout" is often known as masking. I just wanted to point out that in realtime 3D (OpenGL or Direct3D) the mask is often called a stencil buffer, or stencil.
Adrian
A closely related word for "stencil" is "template". A stencil is a specific kind of template used specifically in drawing, to trace around. i.e. I can use an ashtray as a stencil to draw a circle, if I trace around the ashtray. In visio, template shapes are called stencils, because they are for drawing.
devinmoore.com
When you cutout pieces, those are "patterns". If you use the patterns as an inverted "stencil" (i.e to NOT trace in the part you cut out), then they are "masks". I knew I got a fine art degree for a reason!
devinmoore.com
Sorry to repeat post again, but actually if you assemble cutout pieces into a single "pattern", then the individual pieces are "blocks", even though a single cutout piece can be used as a "pattern" as well. I'll stop now, before silicon valley transforms into the art district.
devinmoore.com
Deven, give us Philistines a link. If you don't know of one keep on explainng and then you can link to this thread in future.
Stephen Jones
Yes, the visio objects are called stencils. I remember using a plastic flowcharting stencil way back when I didn't have grey hair. That's probably where the name comes from.
A.T.
Yes, a 'stencil' is a small flat piece of plastic with various symbol shapes cut in to it. It was intended that you would place it flat on a piece of paper and run your pencil or pen around the shape, to get that shape on the paper.
AllanL5
OK, some art links to help explain it in fine art terms:
devinmoore.com
Re the 3D stuff, stencils are implemented in the GPU which means they're fast. Also they can can have properties additional to 2D surfaces, which differentiates them, partly, from the concept of a "mask."
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I'm old enough to remember mimeograph stencils.
confused
I'm old enough to remember sniffing the old mimeograph copies in grammar school. At least, I think I remember... Mmmm... Mimeographs...
Anonymouse
It used to have to type stencils on an old manual Underwood from the 1930s and then run off the copies from a machine in my bedroom.
Stephen Jones
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