Tuesday, November 28, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Richard
Harrington explains how to use alpha channels in
Photoshop to save selections to preserve
transparency when taking an image into multimedia
applications.
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Books.
Monday, November 27, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
Just read
over at the wonderful blog of John Nack
that I am not
crazy. You see, my MacBook and MacBook Pro
have both gotten much faster lately, and I
thought maybe it was my overactive
imagination. But it turns out that Apple and
Adobe collaborated (BLESS THEM) on the latest
OSX update. John reports that Photoshop is
running 35% faster on Intel machines, After
Effects is up 15% and Flash is a 10%
improvement. Seems Adobe and Apple shared code
and got the Rosetta emulators running Adobe
software significantly better. This is great
news as we anxiously await the next versions
of Mactel-native software.
Sunday, November 26, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
I really enjoy that fact
that Adobe has an active blogging initiative
amongst their employees. These folks really
know their tools and their community. The
problem before has been that I don't have
time to browse ALL of them for those golden
nuggets of Adobe goodness... until
now.
While visiting Adobe Labs, I found them showing
off a new product called Spry.
The whole Ajax and Web 2.0 stuff is a little
beyond me, but they do have a nice
gallery of practical uses. Check out
their
Photo Gallery,
Effects Demo, and the aforementioned
Super
RSS Reader (OK, I added the Super part).
Now in one window you can browse ALL the Adobe
blogs for all applications. This really is
a cool way to keep up on the lesser known
parts of Adobe.
Saturday, November 25, 2006 Filed in:
Adobe
If you're
looking for some great new Photoshop actions, hop
over to
Panos
FX. This site is chock full of
great actions (both free and for sale). Recent
freebies include Rubik’s Cube and Plasma
TV. One of my new favorites is Embossed Label
which makes a great effect for title
treatments. The actions are absolutely amazing
and worth checking out. Be sure to
visit
Panos FX
and browse their
library.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
If you need
to try out different color combinations, be sure
to try
Kuler
from Adobe labs.
This flash-based application lets you browse a
wide variety of designer created color schemes
as well as create your own. It supports all
the major rules from Analogous to Shades. The
controls are beautifully designed and the
entire application really inspires creativity.
In order to access it, you are supposed to
have a live connection to the Internet. You'll
need to be online to take advantage of the
shared and highest rated features, but I've
found a work-around for those times when an
Internet connection isn't an option. I was
able to save a web archive in Safari (File
> Save As) which can then be opened up when
I am not on the Net. Be sure to check
this very cool
application out.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006 Filed in:
Business
| Education
In case you didn't know, the
Sony
Playstation Portable (aka
PSP) is podcast compatible. Just
not right out of the box. Sony sells a
software/cable bundle called the
Sony PSP Media
Manager which lets you manage your
media library (even iTunes) and move things
onto the Playstation Portable. On the Mac
side, there's a great piece of shareware
called
PSPWare
which lets you
mange media on your Mac and move things over.
All in all, pretty dang cool (plus it gave me
a "legitmate" reason to finally pick one up).
Tuesday, November 21, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Richard
Harrington shows you how to use layer masks in
Photoshop to hide part of an image. Superior to
the eraser tools, if you are doing professional
compositing, layer masking is essential.
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Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Sunday, November 19, 2006 Filed in:
Personal
| Windows
There are two
great gift guides for the holiday season (both
published by friends). If you need to find
something for the digital geek in your life (or
even just want something to give others ideas)
then check these two out.
First, you have Scott Kelby's “Gonzo Holiday Gadget
Guide.” This
free PDF features a ton of cool digital
photography and photoshop related goodies. All
the products have been tested by Scott
himself, which is cool as he certainly knows
his stuff. You can download it from
http://www.planetphotoshop.com.
The other guide is from Terry White (who is a
true road warrior who works for Adobe).
The 2006 Holiday Gadget Gift
Guide is an interactive PDF links
to some of the coolest gizmos out there. Terry
covers everything from digital video to
frequent traveler to music lover. His choice
are really very good.
Thursday, November 16, 2006 Filed in:
Motion
Graphics
It's that time
again... we've launched our survey for the month
of November. It's time for you to cast your vote
and have your voice/click heard.
This time we want to know which technology two
things. First, What are your plans in regard to
High Definition DVDs? Are you an early adopter.
sitting on the fence, or just don't believe the
"hype?" Our second question, when do you finally
expect to see the Adobe Creative Suite CS3
finally shipping?
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Thursday, November 16, 2006 Filed in:
Video
| Education
If you
attended our classes at DV Expo in LA, you'll
want to check out the
PhotoshopforVideo.com Conference Handouts
section. We had four great classes
including the hot topic of podcasting. We
shared our experiences of creating video
podcasts with the crowd and tried to educate
and inspire the audience to try it for
themselves. Check out the handouts for
yourself.
Thursday, November 16, 2006 Filed in:
Education
| Windows
I’m
still reading this comic, but it is absolutely
amazing.
Bound by Law
is absolutely
amazing, it analyzes the murky world of
copyright law in a clear way. It is an
excellent source on information for film and
video pros as well as other creative
professions. Published by the
Duke University Center for the
Study of the Public
Domain, this comic covers the
essential information in the most creative and
entertaining way possible. It’s totally
free and should not be missed.
Thursday, November 16, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
Our
new video
podcast on Final Cut
Pro has
been shown some love from iTunes. It's always
a great night when you log in and see your
podcast featured in the New and Notable
section on the front page. We’re really
proud of this one as it features five great
trainers, Abba Shapiro, Gary Adcock, Chris
Phrommayon, Mason Dixon, and Richard
Harrington. A new episode airs each week and
we hope you find the tips truly useful. Thanks
Apple for the kind plug... be sure to
subscribe today (it’s totally free). You
can get it at iTunes
(the preferred
method) or manually visit our
web
feed.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006 Filed in:
Business
I was talking with some
software developers over a great dinner last
night and we got on a favorite topic,
collaboration. I brought up one of my favorite
tools, SubEthaEdit ($35 from www.codingmonkeys.de).
You can collaborate
on one open document across your network. It's
also Apple Rendezvous (aka Bonjour under OS
10.4)-enabled, so it's easy for other Mac users
to join in. Nice features such as color-coding
for each user and time stamping make this a
flexible tool. If you need some group-think
without the use of a projector, this is a perfect
tool.
For more on great shareware,
see this useful
article.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006 Filed in:
Podcast
| Adobe
Instructor Rich
Harrington shows you how to create and tweak your
own brushes in Photoshop to create unique looks.
Part 2 of 2.
Like the podcast?
Subscribe for FREE.
Want more training? Check out our
Books.
Sunday, November 12, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
| Education
| Motion
Graphics
I've just
posted an old article of mine that I really like.
It’s called “The Director’s
Cut – Digital Video and
the Power of the Macintosh.” It’s
a fun article that shares a bunch of ideas on
pre-production, production, and post. It was
originally published in MacDesign Magazine
(now called Layers). The article is totally
free and showcases a lot of products and
techniques that we use to save time and money
over at RHED
Pixel. I hope you enjoy.
Thursday, November 09, 2006 Filed in:
Personal
I’ve
found a great tool for rescuing photos from your
digital camera. Accidentally delete an
image? Picture Rescue
can
save the day. In fact it can even work with
reformatted or damaged cards. It works with
all types of camera media, compact flash,
memory sticks, SD cards, and more. It really
works well and I used it to recover 3GB of
data recently with no hitches. The best thing
is the try before you buy. You can download
the demo and scan your cards... if the demo
version sees the pictures it can recover
them. Be sure to give it a
shot.
Sunday, November 05, 2006 Filed in:
Apple
| Education
Looking for a
great screen capture tool? I’ve got a new
favorite for grabbing video on a Mac. Be sure to
check out iShowU
from
shinywhitebox. This tool is much more stable
then others I've tried and it is a true
universal application that runs great on both
Intel and PowerPC Macs. What’s truly
unique is that the video files are captured
and encoded in real time. This means as soon
as the capture is stopped, the file is ready
to use. You can create screen captures for web
tutorials, DVDs, or even HD. What will all
this power set you back? A whopping $20. Be
sure to check it
out.
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