Sunday, July 30, 2006 Filed in:
Personal
Continuing
my mixtape habit.... I invite you to listen to an
iMix (a collection of songs arranged around a
topic). Just click this link to
visit the iTunes music store and you can here
a little part of the soundtrack of my life.
Radio & TV
features
some songs for those who work in the
film/video/broadcast industry. A little
satire, a few good beats, and some nice
instrumentals. Seems that all my iMixes run
with a theme... but I guess all good mix tapes
do.
Friday, July 28, 2006 Filed in:
Windows
Mac
users can now access Windows Media files... for
free. Telestream has updated Flip4Mac,
so it works with the new Intel-based Macs.
Telestream has a series of QuickTime
components that enables Mac OS X users to
play, import and export Windows Media files
using QuickTime-based applications. Mac users
can access the free player from
Microsoft's
website,
while those creating pro vide will want to
check out the different options at
Telestream's
site.
Thursday, July 27, 2006 Filed in:
Motion
Graphics
A brand new
tutorial on building graphics for multiple video
formats just went online. You'll find it on DV
Magazines website in both online and print
formats. Learn how
to work in HD, but also create for multimedia,
DVD, and Podcast distribution. This is useful in
you need to generate multiple animations on a
budget or deadline.
The tutorial uses Adobe After Effects, and is not
version specific. If you'd like some extra
resources, visit the Magazine section
as well.
UPDATE: For PC users
looking for a 10-bit codec... you can either
download the Blackmagic
codecs or
check out SheerVideo.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Camera raw has
several advantages over other file formats.
Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to
open and develop a camera raw image in Photoshop.
Part 2 of 2.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Monday, July 24, 2006 Filed in:
Business
If you
are having a bad creative day working on your
clients latest ad... be sure to try out the
online Advertising Slogan
Generator.
You type in a word and it spits out your
latest soda catch phrase. Don't like the first
result.. click again. It's a good way to waste
some time and still feel like you're working.
Okay its silly.... but I like surreal
items.
They make me think and smile. Be sure to check
it out, then explore the site for other
fun/useful items.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Camera raw has
several advantages over other file formats.
Instructor Richard Harrington shows you how to
open and develop a camera raw image in Photoshop.
Part 1 of 2.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006 Filed in:
Conferences
For
those of who work in Sports media (or if you live
near Las Vegas), you should attend the
C4-Sports
conference.
The event is billed as an explosive vision of
sport. The conference is aimed towards those
working for professional and collegiate sports
teams, sports media experts in production,
editing, content creation, and distribution,
and IT and communication professionals from
sporting arenas, stadiums, and facilities.
They will explore state-of-the-art media
technology solutions designed to improve
performance, create revenue-generating
opportunities, and increase profits
Richard Harrington will be teaching three
conference sessions as well as two free classes
on the trade show floor.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
| Training
Products
Are you
an intermediate to advanced After Effects user?
If so, the coolest book ever is about to ship. I
recently edited a book called After Effects @
Work. It
features top designers like Trish & Chris
Meyer, Mark Coleran, Ken Locsmandi, Rachel Max
and Dave Phillips. Join eleven well -known AE
designers and teachers as they teach you
real-world secrets. You'll get an inside
glimpse at 11 projects and see what an expert
can do using just the tools that come on the
After Effects CD-Rom and a budget of $10,000
or less. This book is a hybrid of case
studies, tutorials, and inspiration. It's like
eleven internships in a box. I'm really proud
of this one and excited that it is to ship the
week of July 16. To order, go
visit Amazon for the lowest
price.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Richard
Harrington shows you how to use the navigator
palette to keep perspective of the entire image
while zooming in to work on a small section of
it.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Saturday, July 08, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
I often
find when I am browsing the Net to select text
and drag it to the Desktop. I often use these
clippings as a way to gather a few notes. The
only problem with this system is that you
can’t modify the clipping. If you open the
clipping in the Finder you can read it, copy the
text to your clipboard, but that’s about
it. But don’t worry, there’s a great
piece of freeware to make tweaks.
Everyday Software has released ClipEdit so you
can modify both text and image clippings. The
program is free and very useful if you collect
bits of knowledge/trivia. For best results try
the following.
1. Right-click (Control-click) on a clipping file
and choose Get Info.
2. Change the Open with: drop down menu to
ClipEdit
3. Click Change All…
ClipEdit is now set as the default editor for all
clippings… much more useful and all
it’ll cost you is a visit to
Everyday
Software.
Saturday, July 08, 2006 Filed in:
Personal
Continuing
my mixtape habit.... I invite you to listen to an
iMix (a collection of songs arranged around a
topic). Just click this link to
visit the iTunes music store and you can here
a little part of the soundtrack of my life.
"1980's Rewind"
features
Some songs that pulled me through the 1980's.
Some alternative and pop classics as well as a
few 'guilty pleasures.' These are the songs
that don't embarass the decade.
Friday, July 07, 2006 Filed in:
Business
Apple launched
Aperture, then Adobe announced Lightroom. Leave
it to Microsoft to get in on the fray.
iView Multimedia
is now part
of Microsoft. Micrsoft has picked up three
products:
View
MediaPro,
iView
Media,
iView Catalog
Reader. As people
gather more and more photos, movies, and other
digital files, keeping track of them all gets
even harder. Yan
Calotychos, has written a
letter about the
Microsoft deal which you can read
here.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
So,
making a book using iPhoto is still the best. I
sat down and was going to use Aperture, but it
didn't have the theme I wanted (although both use
the same engine and printer service). If you've
never made a book, the process is a snap.
1. Select the photos
you want in the browser (pick more than you think
you'll need)
2. Click the Book icon in the Toolbar
3. Flip from page to page (choosing layout
options from the Toolbar)
4. Drag photos in and scale and position using
intuitive controls.
Mini books start at $4 and larger books range
between $20 -$30 depending on soft or hard
covers. It really makes a nice keepsake for
friends or even a new way to build a portfolio.
But what about 'proofing?' Well you can share the
book before you print it.
1. In iPhoto, choose File > Print.
2. In the Print Window, choose Save as PDF.
3. Pick a destination, then name the file and
click OK.
4. Send the PDF to those who need to review it.
The mini books make great leave behinds for
clients or potential employers.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Filed in:
Motion
Graphics | Education
How good are
your eyes? Sure in the good old days you could
spot the fake dinosaurs and Spiderman was a stunt
man in a suit for every shot, These days we are
inundated with photorealistic CGI on TV and in
cinema. Just how good are your senses? Head over
to Autodesk (makers of 3D Studio Max and Maya) to
take this quiz. I got 8 out
of 10 on my first try... take a
look and stretch
your brain for two minutes. Thanks to
Scott Simmons
for the
story.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
From Germany
comes a very useful site on After Effects and
several 3D animation tools. The site is named for
its creator Mylenium, who is an animator as well
as a forum host over at Creative
Cow.
Be sure to check out his useful site
for a ton of free
resources (as well as a few affordably priced
ones as well). I've personally around
downloaded some of his easy to use
'Looks' to stylize footage in Adobe
After Effects.
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
The resource
site Photoshop For Video
has ben
redesigned and restocked with fresh content.
This site serves as a one-stop shop for
training on Photoshop for Video. You'll find
all of my conference handouts as well as extra
articles and free training movies. There's a
little bit of overlap with Raster|Vector
content, but each site is for a distinct
audience. It appears that I've been renewed
with excitement for the Web (I actually
hand-coded HTML last night). If you work in
the video industry, be sure to check out this
informative site (there are over 150 free
downloads).
Tuesday, July 04, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Your image's
individual color data is represented in the
channels. Instructor Richard Harrington explains
how to read and use the channels palette.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Monday, July 03, 2006 Filed in:
Business
Narrator:
“Raster|Vector:
website. A blog barely
alive.”
Adam Kranitz:
“Gentlemen,
we can rebuild him. We have the
technology. We
have the capability to make the polls more
responsive and interactive. Raster|Vector will
be that site. Better than it was before.
Better…stronger…faster.”
Okay, so if you voted before, you'll need to
revoice your opinion. I've opened up both polls
(just scroll down). Let your voice be heard... or
at least make a really loud click.
Monday, July 03, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
Okay... this might
seem trivial... but hopefully it will help some
of you. I frequently fly or train with two
things, a laptop and an iPod. Invariably, I
forget to charge my iPod before the trip. No
problem, right? Just plug it into your laptop...
except then it goes into 'sync mode' and you
can't access controls. Sure you could just launch
iTunes and listen, but then you are tying up your
laptop screen (you see my traveling companion/son
often watches Dora and
Little Einstein's
on the
video iPod). The solution, use a FireWire
cable.
Old iPods used FireWire to both charge and sync
the iPod. Then came the Windows users and Apple
gave into USB2. Now, in the latest iPods and
Nanos, they took the FireWire chipset out all
together to make the iPod thinner/cheaper.
Plugging in a FireWire cable only passes power
through (no data). As such, you can charge your
iPod, while still having access to the controls.
If you don't have any of the old cables lying
around, try out this one (or one like it). A
retractable cable that is affordable and
easily fits into your laptop bag.
Monday, July 03, 2006 Filed in:
Windows
I've
caught up on my sleep and appear to be a glutton
for punishment again. I have been asked to
co-author a new book on PowerPoint (more details
soon). Essentially, I will be putting together a
new book on design principles and techniques for
effective screen graphics. The book is going to
focus on all versions of PowerPoint, including
the recently announced PowerPoint 2007. I am
starting to wade into this latest version (its a
public beta). If you are a cutting-edge, risk
taking technocrat, feel free to join me. You can
download the beta (legally) from Microsoft by
clicking here. It's a Windows
only program (though its running just fine on
both my MacBook and MacBook Pro). I welcome
your comments as I work on the
new book. Requests and suggestions are
welcome.
Monday, July 03, 2006 Filed in:
Business
After catching Pixar's
latest triumph, Cars, I felt the desire to poke
around the web for some behind the scenes info.
While there's lots out there, I found a great
blog that goes in depth on the people and
technology behind the films. If you enjoy Pixar's
animation, be sure to check out
Luxo (named after the
lamp in the logo and in this
great
short). The blog
features a ton of stories of its own, as well
as video clips and a wealth of external links.
Whether your into the films or the business
side of computer graphics, you should check
this one out.
Sunday, July 02, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
I got a chance to
appear on the July 1 edition of Inside Mac
Radio. I was on to promote the new book on
iWork ’06 and to offer some tips on
using iWork and iLife. It was a quick
interview, but I think we got some good
information out for the loyal listeners. If
you'd like to hear the episode (it's free),
just click here. Inside Mac Radio
offers both a daily version that's a short
news blast on all things Mac and a two-hour
Saturday program that airs live in some
markets and is ready to download in
others.
Sunday, July 02, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
A
lot of new laptops (such as those from Apple and
Dell) are shipping with the newer ExpressCard
port. The good news is that the port is very fast
and allows for much better performance than the
older PC card slots. The bad news is that the
peripheral manufacturers are more than a bit
behind. When I switched laptops to a MacBook Pro,
I had to give up on my wireless
EVDO card
that
allowed me to access a broadband connection
from almost anywhere. Well it looks like the
drought is almost over. According to
EVDOinfo.com, Verizon is in the process of
sending Novatel XV620 ExpressCards to their
warehouses. This means customers will be able
to start placing orders soon.
To
sign up for an email notification click
here.
• MacBook Pro and
EVDO
• ExpressCard/34 &
ExpressCard/54 For EVDO
Sunday, July 02, 2006 Filed in:
Business
It's
that time again... we've launched our survey for
July. This time its all about hardware. For your
next computer purchase will it be Mac or PC?
Desktop or Laptop? Be sure to vote for your next
credit card bill... inquiring minds want to know.
Saturday, July 01, 2006 Filed in:
Personal
OK,
I used to make mix tapes all the time for
friends.... If you're on this site you're at
least an acquaintance. I invite you to listen to
an iMix (a collection of songs arranged around a
topic). Just click this link to visit the iTunes
music store and you can here a little part of
the soundtrack of my life. "Socially Aware"
is a
collection of newer songs that remind me that
music with a message can motivate and move you
at the same time. Visit iTunes to listen to
the tracks, pick up the ones you want, and
vote for the iMix in the rankings.
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