Julieanne shows how to prepare hundreds of images and save them in different file formats at once using Photoshop’s Image Processor script. She demos entering and adjusting Image Processor options such as file location and type, and working with image size.
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Create photo-walks with Lightroom + Photosynth
Andy Trice shows how to prep a series of images, then knit them together into an interactive piece using Microsoft’s new Photosynth technology:
Here’s the kind of thing he produces:
Check out his post for more examples.
[YouTube]
Amazing: Classical paintings put in motion
Photoshop turns moving people into ghosts
Interesting work from Aaron Grimes. Sploid writes,
Aaron Grimes used Photoshop to blend regular footage at a 1/50th shutter speed into a new 24 frames per second with a 1-second shutter speed film. The result is, as he says, eerie.
According to Aaron,
What is done here is taking frames from video captured at 24fps with a 1/50th shutter speed and blending them together using Adobe Photoshop. The final product is a video that’s still played at 24fps but with a 1 second shutter speed.
The effect is eerie, causing things that do not move to remain sharp, but anything with motion to blur. The faster something moves to more faint it becomes. Where this is best shown is when something changes speed such as the shot of the man stopping in the street to check his phone, he almost appears out of nowhere, but when he walks off you can see his shape fade away.
[Vimeo]
Create apps using Photoshop, interactive HTML using InDesign
Kwik lets you design in Photoshop, then “Bring Your Interactive Stories to Life, Without Code.”
[YouTube] [Via Pierre Courtejoie]
Elsewhere, CreativePro reports on In5:
In5, the InDesign plug-in from Ajar Productions, has been updated to version 2 which allows you to use InDesign’s native animation and timing features and export the results to HTML instead of Flash. This means your animations will work on just about any screen, including mobile devices. And you get to work with InDesign’s easy-to-use animation tools instead of code. With in5 v2 you can nest animation and interactivity within groups and Multi-State Objects, and even re-import your animations back into InDesign to use them in Adobe DPS projects.
[YouTube]
Realtime retouching as social commentary
“Dubious Photoshop has never sounded so good,” writes the Verge of musician Boggie performing “Nouveau Parfum,” a commentary on how far we’ll go to change our appearances—maybe even who we are. It’s well worth a look:
I just wish we got a peek at the actual app & process used to make this imaginary one. Here are the Google-translated lyrics. [Vimeo]
Create custom toolbars in Illustrator CC
A click here, a mouse drag there—it adds up quickly. Now Illustrator lets you make your workspace more efficient by organizing your tools into custom panels:
I really like the ability to unbury certain tools (e.g. various shapes), especially as I’ve kinda never forgiven Illustrator for changing the way keyboard shortcuts work circa AI9. (In Photoshop, Shift+letter lets you cycle among tools that share that letter. In Illustrator, you can assign Shift+letter to a specific tool. Some people swear by one approach & some by the other.) I know, it’s been nearly 15 years, and I deeply need to get a life. (How am I not typing this from my parents’ basement?)
As for the inevitable, “So, where’s this feature in Photoshop?,” you can maybe blame me. I didn’t want to do just toolbar customization, or do it in just Photoshop. Rather I wanted to let people remix nearly any UI elements together (tools, menu items, etc.) and do so across apps. That’s where Adobe Configurator came from. Hundreds of thousands of people downloaded it, but only a few used it to create & share toolbars & other custom panels. Maybe I let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and I need to write up a post-mortem on that.
You spin me right 'round, Tokyo edition
Daniel Marcos Perujo has created a dizzying animation from 72 pictures taken in 36 different locations around Tokyo Sky Tree:
[Vimeo]
Lost Susan Kare Mac ad from 1983
I’ve known designer Susan Kare‘s work for 30 years, but I’d never seen the person herself until now.
Original Mac team member Andy Hertzfeld writes,
Here is another unused commercial for Apple’s original Macintosh computer that was produced by Chiat-Day in the fall of 1983. This one features brilliant Macintosh artist Susan Kare, who designed the Mac’s fonts and icons, extolling the virtues of the exciting new medium.
[YouTube] [Via Mischa McLachlan]
Quick demo: How to create animated GIFs in Photoshop
Hughes shows you how in just over 3 minutes:
[YouTube]
Creating the "Revolution" titles in After Effects
Man am I a sucker for title design. In this session at Sundance, Andrew Kramer shows how he used After Effects to create VFX and titles for NBC’s “Revolution” TV show.
Show & discover great design in the new Behance app
Beautifully redesigned for iOS7, the Behance app for iPhone & iPad makes it easy to explore millions of projects by the world’s top creative talent—yours included. You can get inspiration from the various “Served” galleries (typography, fashion, etc.) and access your profile, collections, and statistics on your work.
What’s New in Version 3.0
- Redesigned for iOS7- Updated visual design and added new simplified navigation.
- Behance for iPad – Our app is now universal and optimized for both iPhone and iPad.
- Project Publishing – Create new projects on your iOS device.
- WIP Publishing Updates – Simplified publishing flow and new camera options.
- Improved Notifications – All your notifications, in sync, in one place.
- Improved Project View – Improved loading of images and added sharing of single images.
- Follow Collections – Added the ability to follow collections.
- Made performance improvements
BBC News… via Instagram (?)
Hmm… It’ll be interesting to see whether this catches on, but count me as skeptical for now. Via DesignTaxi:
‘Instafax’ which debuted on 16 January, condenses complex news stories into brief and easily understood summaries for readers on the go. It will also direct them to the full stories on the BBC’s website.
Yes, I could watch news videos on Instagram, in the same way I could drive my car from the back seat—if I really cared enough to do so. But apps are much like channels, and I flip over to the Instagram feed to get a peek into the lives of my friends & people whose visual chops I enjoy. I don’t go there for pre-chewed nuggets about beheadings & car bombs—serious events which seem trivialized by the shrinking & juxtaposition.
I’m also reminded of Wibbitz, an automated tool that turns traditional text-based news stories into videos, ostensibly to make them more consumable on mobile. I dunno; I can’t remember browsing stories on my phone & thinking, “Man, if only these made noise, loaded slower, and burned more of my data plan…”
Photography: High speed, gone slow
Hypnotic footage from an NYC subway car from Adam Magyar:
[Vimeo] [Via Josh Ulm]
Canvas & DrawQuest bite the dust
Maybe it’s good that I never talked Adobe into building a “Photoshop Tennis” app—one centered on enabling iterative, back-and-forth image compositing & remixing among friends & strangers. That’s the vision with which I started the app that became Photoshop Touch, and I was enthusiastic about Mixel (“social collaging for everyone”).
This week the creators of Canvas pulled the plug on it, just like the Mixel creators before them. If people want to mash up images together, no one’s yet found the magic recipe. (I’ve grown similarly skeptical about collaborative drawing and filmmaking. I want to be proven heinously, laughably wrong… but we’ll see.)
Meanwhile the Canvas creators also announced the demise of DrawQuest, a social, gameified drawing tool. DrawQuest actually got more active use than I would have guessed: “Launched a year ago to inspire people to take on daily bouts of creativity through drawing challenges, it reached 1.4 million downloads, 550,000 registered users, 400,000 monthly users, 25,000 daily users, and 8 million drawings.” Pretty impressive for an iPad-only creation app!
It’s hard to make a living here, though. As TechCrunch points out, the creators “found that selling paint brushes in a drawing app is a lot harder than selling extra lives in Candy Crush.” That sucks.
Appin’ ain’t easy, and I salute these guys for taking some swings & at least discerning a pocket of interest. As always I’m eager to hear your thoughts on these developments.
Check out new responsive Web design features in Adobe Edge Reflow
You can download Preview 7 (details) of Adobe’s new Edge Reflow app:
These top requested features are now here: add form elements (buttons, text inputs, selects, checkboxes, radio buttons), links to multipages, view hover, active and focus state and more. Plus, we’ve made visualization easier with our new insertion caret. No more guesswork!
Check out this series of quick getting-started videos, or zero in on just the new stuff here:
[Adobe TV]
What annoys people about their photo collections?
Here’s what recently deceased photo-sharing startup Everpix heard from customers they surveyed. (Click for a larger version.)
We think so much about adjusting images, when for most people (who, by the way, overwhelmingly don’t modify images at all) the greater pain is around curation & sharing.
So, how do you actually get Typekit fonts into your CC apps?
In under 3 minutes, Howard Pinsky shows you how to browse Typekit for great typefaces, then sync & use them:
Check out the Typekit team’s blog for more details.
Feedback, please: Do you like the "What's New" videos in Illustrator CC?
“You guys have added 500 features since May?! Man, I just can’t keep up…”
I know: we get that a lot. All the thoughtful, kickass functionality in the world doesn’t matter if you, the customer, don’t find & use it.
That’s why Adobe’s exploring some new ways to help you find & learn new tools. What do you think of the way the latest rev of Illustrator CC highlights & demos key enhancements?
- If you’ve updated Illustrator CC, have you seen the What’s New dialog and videos in the latest update? (screenshot below)
- Do you like this dialog & find it useful? Or do you find it intrusive/annoying?
- If you like it, do you think we should put it in the other apps too?
Thanks!
New HTML5 animation chops come to Creative Cloud
In the latest Edge Animate (ready to install now via your CC app) you can sync audio files, make animations responsive for different screen sizes, and add your favorite JavaScript libraries to extend your projects.
- Audio support: Import and sync audio files with animation playback or user interactions
- Responsive animations: Apply scaling or percentage-based layouts to fit mobile and desktop screens.
- Script loading: Integrate 3rd-party libraries like Greensock or jQuery UI for extended capabilities.
Here Paul Trani shows how to add audio, scripts & responsive scaling:
[YouTube]
Photoshop CC helps you do 3D printing (for real!)
This kinda makes my little 3D-printed head explode, but you can not only import an image into Photoshop CC, but you can beautify it (painting textures), fill in gaps, and send it directly to Shapeways for printing. Check out a 90-second demo:
[YouTube]
Lightroom SF gathering set for Thursday, Jan. 30
Knowledge, nerdery, and pizza; what’s not to like?
Sean Teegarden is a Los Angeles-based freelance photographer, specializing in portraiture, still life, and commercial advertising. […]
Shooting projects for editorial and advertising clients calls for a different set of software demands: different user selects/edits, instant monitoring, multi-platform output and delivery, all of which Lightroom can handle beautifully. Come experience an overview of Lightroom using project based catalogs, tethered shooting requirements, client delivery methods, and archiving for the post-production and portfolio conscience.
Pizza and socializing run 6:30-7:00. Sean’s presentation will start at 7:00 and run until 8:00. Please RSVP here.
Students: Become an Adobe rep
Back in college—in the daaark days for Apple (the lose-$700MM+-in-a-quarter days)—I was an Apple student rep, driving around a minivan full of swag & hipping people to the technologies I loved. It was a bumpy time, but the work experience complemented what I learned in school.
Students these days have a chance to learn while helping fellow students discover new creative power. Check this out:
What you’ll get:
- Serious résumé building, featuring hands-on marketing, event planning, and social media experience with one of the world’s top brands
- Opportunities to develop relationships with campus leaders and expand your network
- Adobe swag and performance-based incentives
- Complimentary Creative Cloud membership
- Top reps will be eligible for additional incentives such as gift cards, portfolio reviews, and features on Adobe Students’ social channels
The ideal Adobe Student Rep:
- Is creative and entrepreneurial, with strong online and offline social networks
- Has a deep knowledge of and passion for Adobe creative applications
- Is able to work independently to meet deadlines and reporting requirements
General responsibilities include:
- Planning and executing at least one Adobe product training workshop
- Promoting workshops through word-of-mouth marketing
- Forming partnerships with relevant campus organizations
- Social media support and amplification
You can apply here. [Update: Evidently the program only exists in the US right now.]
Short film: "Mountains in Motion"
Gorgeous time lapses (just don’t be put off by the opening minute or two of narration from the lost Mumford son):
Mountains in Motion: The Canadian Rockies is an award-winning short film documenting the life of the alpine landscape through time-lapse photography. In an effort to highlight the wildness of these mountain places and how they have inspired explorers of the past, present and future, time-lapse sequences were patiently gathered from exposed summits, by glacial lakes, and under aurora-filled skies.
Hours and even months of change lapses in a matter of seconds, providing the viewer with a rare insight into the ever-changing nature of the landscape. Weaving throughout the film are reflections of an early mountaineer, who is deeply moved by his own encounter with the mountains and the revelations of explorers who have come before him. “What is this power that lures me upwards, into the unknown,” he wonders, “that pulls me deeper, despite snow, wind and exhaustion?”
Made on a shoestring budget and with entirely volunteer hours, the film brought together artists from two vastly different parts of North America – Banff, Alberta, and Atlanta, Georgia. Strangers at the start, the film team developed strong friendships over the course of production and were united by their common goal of capturing the beauty and essence of a place that inspires them every day.
This 100% human-powered film combines advanced time-lapse photography with an original story and musical score to bring the landscape center-stage and offers a thrilling new perspective that re-establishes the Canadian Rockies among the finest mountains in the world.
[Vimeo]
Photoshop talks with a Space Oddity
Col. Chris Hadfield—Space Station commander, orbital Bowie-player, high-tweeting photographer, and more—recently sat down with Photoshop’s Lex van den Berghe for an interesting & varied chat. As you’d expect they nerd out a bit about photography & touch on some interesting details—for instance:
“We keep about eight cameras in the main viewing module—or ‘cupola.’” Hadfield explained. “There are so many high-energy protons coming through the station—things that are usually absorbed by our atmosphere—that they destroy the camera sensor. Pixels start dropping out immediately. On some of my lower light pictures you can see the flaws in the imagery.”
Lex noted later, “Chris was THE MAN… super fun to talk to…fascinating. Killed me that we only had 60 minutes to chat… I could’ve spent all day talking to him, especially if cold beers were also involved.”
Adobe Kuler is up for an Interaction Award
People’s Choice voting is open until February 8. You can vote here and get the app here.
[Vimeo] [Via Gabriel Campbell]
Funky camera ideas: "Frontback" + Heat vision
Frontback is an offbeat app meant to capture images from both of your smartphone’s cameras simultaneously (showing “You, and what you see”). Evidently Canon is now building two sensors into point-and-shoot cameras to enable this sort of “Dual Capture mode.”
Elsewhere the FLIR One camera case promises to give your iPhone Predator-style heat vision:
The company anticipates that homeowners and contractors will use its thermal imaging system to identify energy efficiency problems, like poorly insulated doors or windows, and to find wall studs or ceiling joists.
It also foresees its technology used by hunters, bird watchers, and campers to observe wildlife, to navigate in darkness, to assess whether campfires have really been extinguished, and to determine whether food has been adequately cooked.
And the company claims FLIR One can “detect intruders in total darkness.”
Photoshop Playbook: Removing Red Eye & Whitening Teeth
News you can use, from Hughes:
[YouTube]
"The Sound of Taste"
BOOM!
Several tons of black peppercorns, cardamom, turmeric, paprika, cumin seeds, ginger, chilli and coriander were rigged to explode in perfect sync with a bespoke musical composition. Each explosion represents an individual piano note or chord, which when filmed at high speed, creates a surreal three dimensional sound scape.
Terminators, Flavawagons, Grandfalloons, & more: A podcast with me
“From Kierkegaard to breadsticks…”
I had a ball talking Photoshop development, craftsmanship, the Mac community, and more with developers Brent Simmons & Chris Parrish in their new podcast, The Record.
You can hear about me living in a halfway house, sleeping in a van, imbecile marketroids typing with their fists, and more (my God, look at the length of those show notes!). I hope you have as much fun listening as I did rambling.
Illustrator CC update: A lightning tour of all the new stuff
Responsive SVG, interactive rounded corners, improved Pencil, and more; take it away, Rufus:
For a deeper dive just into smart rounded corners, check out this quick video series from Kevin Stohlmeyer.
[Adobe TV]
Optimus Prime gets warped in the new Photoshop CC
Perspective Warp helps fit the big boy into a scene, as Andy Trice shows off new compositing power in PS CC. (Jump ahead to the 3-minute mark if you don’t need a general intro to the feature.)
Check out his post for more details.
[YouTube]
NYC imagined as a giant playground
After filling Buenos Aires with fanciful rides, Fernando Livschitz is back to take on New York City. Just try not to smile:
[Vimeo]
Demo: New hidden gems in Photoshop CC
Julieanne shows off some of those numerous new JDIs I mentioned:
Take a close look at several feature enhancements and refinements made to scripted patterns including placing patterns along a path, rendering unique trees for concept, architectural and fine art images and scripted border designs. Learn how to unlock the background into a layer with a single click, choose recent colors from the swatches panel and add and change color readouts for multiple color samplers at once.
Come try the new CC apps, even if your 30-day trial has ended
We want everyone to experience all the new enhancements just released in Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, and Adobe Muse CC. Therefore even if you’ve already tried these apps via the normal 30-day trial, you can take them for another 30-day spin. To do so, launch the Creative Cloud desktop app, then click “Update” next to the desired app. Enjoy!
Sweating the details: New "JDI" tweaks arrive in Photoshop CC
“I wish Adobe would do a ‘Snow Leopard release’,” I used to hear people say—i.e., instead of building big, shiny features, spend time just tweaking the little things that make all the difference in day-to-day use.
Although we’ve sweated the details in past releases, including making tons of “Just Do It (JDI) tweaks,” I think you’ll find that the move to Creative Cloud makes it more possible & important than ever. CC = continuous, iterative improvement. Here are the tweaks made in just the newest release of Photoshop CC, including some live-coded at Photoshop World.
- Mercury Graphics Engine performance boost (Smart Sharpen on GPU)
- See recent colors in the Swatches panel
- Improved selection of shapes with white arrow tool (clicking in the middle reveals white knots)
- Improved font transformations
- Layer names can now be up to 255 characters*
- Generator now properly rescales Illustrator Smart Objects when exported at 200%
- Set custom background color in New Document dialog
- New option for Narrow Options Bar, for small displays
- On a background layer, one click on the lock icon unlocks the layer
- Enhanced Scripted Patterns and Fills (Trees, previews, and other improvements)
- Added a “Don’t show again” checkbox to the missing fonts dialog
- Enabled “Share on Behance” for more languages
- Improved history states for editing text, editing and applying Character and Paragraph styles
- Generator can export padding in image assets by using layer masks
- Better negative number support in curves adjustments
- Change “Clear” to “Clear All” for the Color Sampler tool
- Increase number of color samplers from 4 to 10
- Change all color samplers in Info palette at the same time
- Generator stability improvements
- Over 200 bugs fixes
The work is never done, and the team will keep rolling on with improvements. You can request & vote on changes (large & small) here.
* Reminds me of an earlier JDI: as of CS6 you can Tab/Shift-Tab among layers to rename them.
Linked Smart Objects, Smart rectangles in AI, and more are here!
I’m delighted to report that big new updates for Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign CC have arrived. To get them, check the Creative Cloud app (Mac menu bar, Windows task tray) If they’re not yet showing up, try this.
Two of the features I’ve wanted & heard designers request the most for years—linked Smart Objects in Photoshop & smart rounded rectangles in Illustrator—are finally here. Check out some of the highlights:
New in Photoshop CC
- Perspective Warp lets you change the perspective of image content for dramatic effect or to aid in photo-compositing.
- Linked Smart Objects make it possible for multiple designers to collaborate on a Photoshop project, saving time and reducing errors.
- New 3D printing features enable you to print 3D objects or send to a 3D service bureau for output.
New in Illustrator CC
- Create perfect, editable rounded corners with the new Live Corners controls.
- Draw more intuitively with the rebuilt Pencil Tool, and use the Path Segment Reshape feature to quickly modify existing objects.
- Change the view of perspective drawings, and export responsive SVG code and graphics that resize when viewed on multiple screens.
New in InDesign CC
- Support for the EPUB 3.0 specification provides new ways to add interactivity to eBooks.
- Enhancements to hyperlink creation and editing speed up the creation of EPUBs, PDFs, and iPad apps.
- Pop-up footnotes streamline the EPUB reading experience, and support for Japanese, Hebrew and Arabic text allows you to reach new audiences.
InDesign CC and Illustrator CC integration with Typekit desktop fonts
- Adobe Creative Cloud includes a new way to access and implement fonts in your creative work—Typekit desktop fonts. You can now use fonts across your applications and keep your design vision consistent across projects by syncing fonts to your desktop and using them locally in any application.
- This latest release of InDesign CC and Illustrator CC will include tighter integration with the Typekit service.
- Offers a convenient new way to browse for fonts during the design process,
- Quickly obtain a missing font when working with a collaborator. (InDesign CC only)
Nokia introduces DNG color profiles for Lightroom, Camera Raw
I’m excited to see the passionate photographers at Nokia helping people not only capture full-fidelity raw files & support open standards, but also use those images efficiently in their photo workflows. Nokia’s Tiina Jaatinen writes,
The DNG format gives you access to pure and untouched visual information, allowing you to do more with your images using the professional workflow you can use with SLRs. […]
A raw DNG image file contains a lot of information about the image such as camera details, exposure settings, date, and so forth. A color profile tells even more information about the image – specifically how Adobe Lightroom should convert the colors of the raw image file.
Check out her chat with Juha Alakarhu, the head of imaging technologies at Nokia, for more details plus download links.
Short film: "The Ox"
“What’s the film about… and then, what’s the film really about?”
I find myself touched by Ben Proudfoot’s “THE OX… a portrait of master woodworker Eric Hollenbeck.” It’s about much more, though—about the kids & veterans whose lives he touches, about how he got “bent,” about the virtual island he built.
[Vimeo]
[Via]
Like converting Flash to HTML? Hang your shingle here.
After a good run of 5+ years, Flash panel extensions will soon be retired from Photoshop CC & other Adobe apps. They’re being replaced by HTML extensions, and many developers I know are working to port their Flash/Flex-based work over to HTML.
Change brings opportunity, so if you’re a developer who likes doing this kind of work, you’re welcome to list your name & contact info here so that other developers (e.g. those who don’t have the same skills & who might want to hire someone for the job) can get in touch with you.
Demo: Top 5 Tips for Working with Vectors in Photoshop CC
Great stuff from Julieanne Kost, showing off path creation improvements, isolation mode, drag-selecting paths, path operation shortcuts, and more.
If you skipped CS6 (in which case, boy, you missed a ton of enhancements for designers), you might want to take a look at the re-engineered shape tools in “What’s New in Adobe Photoshop CS6” (vector layers begin at @ 44:45). And, you can learn about rounded rectangles and Live Shape Properties in this video: “Adobe Photoshop: Favorite Features for Photographers.”
Oh, and keep your eyes open later this week for more vector goodness from Adobe. I think you’ll be happy.
"Frames of Life"
Behold… "Tiger Train"
I had no idea that this is what my morning needed (how could I??)—but it so did. Brilliant madness from Liam Lynch:
[YouTube]
Ron Burgundy by way of After Effects
Todd A. Marks & Jeb Johenning share some insights into how they made Anchorman 2 feel authentic, including building “a functioning 1980 style cable news style studio.” Adobe tools got into the mix:
We used PHYX on almost every composite to separate the “newscaster” from the “scene” he was reporting on, such as standing in front of the Taj Mahal. We used the PHYX filters with After Effects and Premiere Pro.
[Via Todd Kopriva]
Tangentially related: Sifl & Olly creator Liam Lynch does his own Photoshop & After Effects work on projects like the new Sarah Silverman special.
Photoshop Photography Program extended through Feb. 28
In case you didn’t see the news earlier, I’m happy to say that anyone who owns a CS3 or later Adobe product can get Photoshop, Lightroom, 20GB of online storage, and a Behance ProSite for $9.99/month until the end of February. You can sign up here.
Question: What if *all* we did was make apps faster?
After Effects Steve Forde asks a provocative question:
What if we did NOTHING else in After Effects during 2014 other than make it faster? I mean MUCH faster. I mean much faster without a specific hardware requirement (new CPU, GPU, disk, machine, etc., etc.)?
To be frank, that’s not what’s in the works currently for 2014. A lot of our developer resources are going to focus on performance, but also on workflow and creative capability. I am curious though what your reaction would be if we ditched the workflow and creative stuff for 2014, and put ALL of our resources on nothing but making After Effects killer fast. Great!, good, bad, ugly?
What do you think?
My knee-jerk reaction is, “Of course, make everything faster!” How important that is, however, varies case by case. Do I need my iPhone to be faster—or would I trade away additional speed to get better battery life? And of course “faster” depends on much more than operations per second: I’d generally prefer an app that asks me to perform fewer steps en route to a result, even if those steps are a bit slower to calculate. Net performance depends on computer efficiency plus operator efficiency.
What are your thoughts & needs, app by app?
Dreamworks tablet for kids teaches animation
I would have gone so friggin’ bananas for this as a kid*—bananas, I tell you. Via Fast Company:
In a feature called “Be An Artist,” DreamWorks animators lead a video tutorial, teaching kids how to draw characters from its movies and shows. The lesson can play in a small window as the child sketches, or on a larger separate display screen. […]
Celebrity chefs share their recipes, chart-topping musicians their chord progressions. Here, some of Hollywood’s top animators teach kids how to draw their creations–Shrek, Po, the star of Kung Fu Panda, various animals from Madagascar–using the same pressure-sensitive tablet stylus that the professionals use on the job. […]
The project resonated with Jeffrey Katzenberg, the studio’s CEO and co-founder. “He sees it as an opportunity to teach kids how to tell stories and how to draw,” says Mitchell. “It’s not what they all get in school.”
*I slummed with an Etch-A-Sketch Animator and drove myself insane making too-ambitious flipbook animations with index cards.
Cubism
The SwatchMate Cube helps you sample color inspiration from the world. Mashable writes,
Utilizing an inner sphere with a light source and a color sensor, the Cube functions as a swatch grabber, recording the color of virtually any object placed underneath it. The Cube then sends the swatch via Bluetooth Low Energy directly to any smartphone into Photoshop; or if the Cube cannot connect to any device, it will store up to a maximum of 20 swatches locally.
[Via Jeff Tranberry]
Meanwhile Polaroid (which is evidently still a thing) has unveiled the rather adorable, GoPro-y C³ camera. CreativePro writes,
For a suggested retail price of $99, the C³ offers a 5MP CMOS Sensor and 120° wide angle lens. It can capture video in 1280 x720 and 640×480, and still images up to 5.0 MP. It’s even waterproof up to 2M. No wireless, though. Images are stored on a micro SD card. Still, don’t you just want to hold one? Or maybe a handful?
Track your time automatically inside Adobe apps
Oh God did I hate filling out time sheets at my old design agency. CreativeWorx TimeTracker was built by Adobe veterans to help take the drudgery out of that process:
The basic extension (for individual use) is completely free & runs inside Photoshop, InDesign, InCopy, Illustrator, and Flash Pro. Other features (e.g. support for teams) start at $7.95/mo.
[Vimeo]
"Ladibird" iPhone case is a cam that promises "DSLR quality"
I share PetaPixel’s healthy wait-and-see attitude, but if this thing works as advertised, right on.