Last week Ralf Berger, co-creator of Photoshop’s Vanishing Point tool (and formerly eng. manager for LiveMotion), asked me whether Photoshop offered a way to clean up files by deleting empty layers.  I knew that the Layers palette fly-out menu contains a command to delete hidden layers, but not one for blowing away those with no pixel content.  After a nudge towards the Photoshop JavaScript guide (installed in the application folder, btw), Ralf whipped up this script for deleting blank layers.  I’m posting it here in case it’s useful. (You may want to right-click/Ctrl-click the link to download the script, then put the file into your Photoshop folder under Presets/Scripts.)

On a related note,
I came across a Trevor Morris’s trove of handy-looking little scripts.  And for more PS scriptiness, including a good discussion forum, check out PS-Scripts.com.

Microsoft & Adobe have been working together on a plug-in that will offer support for HD Photo (née WMP*–Windows Media Photo), the new Microsoft-developed imaging format, in Photoshop.  HD Photo offers advanced compression (both lossless & lossy) and improved dynamic range relative to the standard JPEG format.  Timing won’t permit us to have support into the CS3 box, but we’ll find a way to get it out there.  My manager Kevin Connor noted,

"What’s good about HD Photo is that it was designed specifically for digital photography, with a good understanding of how digital photography usage is evolving," Connor said. "It will certainly take time for HD Photo to be as broadly accessible as JPEG–if it ever is quite that broad–but there can be reasons even today why a consumer might prefer to use HD Photo."

As with JPEG2000, which Photoshop began supporting in 2003, our goal is to ensure that support exists in Adobe apps ahead of customer demand.  That way, as images begin appearing, you’ll be good to go.

*The new name is far nicer, no?

Greetings from snowy Sweden (-9° C & loving it!).  I arrived last night with Caleb Belohlavek, a director on the Suite team, to start a series of visits with the press: nine cities in two weeks (gah!).  I want to keep this blog focused on Photoshop, photography, design, and the like, not making it into "As the Nack Turns."  That said, in case you see posts filed at 3am, or lighter posting until mid-February, you’ll know why. For some personal bits from the trip thus far, read on.

Stockholm is gorgeous ("the Venice of the North," they say), and from the moment we landed I was charmed to see an old Volvo 240 wagon soldiering on down the taxiway.  I’m having fun with the language–because hey, who doesn’t like a nice voiceless dorso-palatal velar fricative, not to mention A’s with stylish headwear?  I especially enjoy the process of inserting the word "kronor" into progressively more absurd contexts ("Oh man, I slept weird on the plane & now my kronor is out of whack…")–but that could be the jetlag talking.  By watching English-language shows with subtitles, I’ve picked up the words "funkinga" (“funky”; thanks, James Brown retrospective), "narko" (“dope,” via Deadwood clip), and "dog" ("dead," via WWII documentary).  Maybe I’ll pick up tips from some local bloggers; er, maybe not.

I got to walk around and take some snaps–at least until my cold camera started throwing an error message.  Not wanting a repeat of last year’s snafu, I stuffed the cam into my jacket, and later at the hotel I let my memory cards warm up at their own pace. Fortunately only one or two shots seem to be MIA, but I continue to doubt the robustness of digital cameras (or at least mine) in the cold.  If you’d like to see the shots (featuring the world’s coldest pizza), they’re here.

Tomorrow is all about work, then off to London and endless city-hopping.  For now, though, take it from me: reindeer is delicious. 🙂

Good news from the plug-in developer front: onOne software has announced that a beta of Geniune Fractals is available in beta form, and that it’s compiled as a universal binary that runs natively inside Photoshop CS3 on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macs. The beta also works with previous Photoshop and Photoshop Elements versions for Mac and Windows.  To try it out, you need to request access via this form.  Additionally, onOne has announced that they’ll be offering free compatibility updates to their other plug-ins (MaskPro, Intellihance, etc.).

If you’re a developer and want to make your Mac plug-ins Intel-compatible, please check out the CS3 mini-SDK.  And please let us know if you need folks to test your new code; we’ll be happy to spread the word.

Apropos of our friends up the road:

• Icons as icons: Greek designer Charis Tsevis has created a Heroes of the Electronic Revolution series, in which he depicts Steve Jobs as a mosaic of icons (Illustrator 10 makes a nice skin tone, evidently).  Check out the full-sized version to see the details.  Maybe we can get icon-Steve together with glyph-John Warnock. 😉
• Apple, via Photoshop: Worth1000 is running a contest to depict the next Apple product.  I’m kinda partial to the iHop ("Jump Around"). [Via]

Apropos of our friends up the road:

• Icons as icons: Greek designer Charis Tsevis has created a Heroes of the Electronic Revolution series, in which he depicts Steve Jobs as a mosaic of icons (Illustrator 10 makes a nice skin tone, evidently).  Check out the full-sized version to see the details.  Maybe we can get icon-Steve together with glyph-John Warnock. 😉
• Apple, via Photoshop: Worth1000 is running a contest to depict the next Apple product.  I’m kinda partial to the iHop ("Jump Around"). [Via]

In case you couldn’t attend last week’s Photoshop User Group meeting in San Jose–or if you did attend but just don’t want the dream to end*–you can check out the session online (recorded with the help of Acrobat Connect–neé Breeze) here.  After an initial two minutes of futzing around with the technical setup, Dr. Brown’s antics run for an hour or so.  Because of the length of the recording (note to self: next time don’t simply shut the laptop, or you will record 10 hours’ worth of silence), it may take a little time to start streaming.

If you have suggestions or requests for future PUG meetings, feel free to post them here or drop me a line directly.
[* Results may not be typical. No warranties expressed or implied. Your viewing pleasure may vary.]

• Put down the gat, pick up a brush: Rappers now battle with Photoshop, not guns.  (More Healing Brush than Slice Tool–I can dig it.)
• Liberty rocks on in this statue-remixing contest on Worth1000.com [Via]
• The Hard Rock Cafe had a similar, if slightly edgier, idea.
• Speaking of remixing, Pioneer has introduced the DVJ-1000, a turntable that lets DJs scratch with video DVDs just as they would with music on vinyl.  "Digital video scratches, loops and instant cues are all possible," they proclaim. I’d love to see a video demo of this thing in action. (Maybe it’ll pop up at a future Flashforward or the like.) [Via Jody Rodgers]

Photoshop’s Contact Sheet plug-in is, to be charitable, a little long in the tooth.  Therefore scripter X Bytor has stepped into the breach with ContactSheetX, a script that’s freely downloadable from SourceForge & that works in CS2/3.  Among other things, the script supports page numbering, more flexible font selection, and the ability to use templates. Features, screenshots, and other details are in this PDF, and there’s a forum for asking questions & requesting enhancements. X thanks the photographers at The Icon and Warner Bros. for support and funding of this project.

Fresh off his jam-packed presentations at Macworld last week, Adobe’s own Russell Brown will be presenting the Photoshop CS3 beta tomorrow night, Jan. 16, at Adobe (map). As usual with these Photoshop User Group meetings, Pizza and drinks kick off at 6:30pm, and the presentation is due to start at 7pm.

If you plan to attend, please shoot an RSVP mail to Dan Clark (dan at weinberg-clark com) so that we can order the right amount of chow.
To park
underneath the Adobe building, use the Almaden Avenue entrance, under
the East Tower. If the security guard at the parking entrance asks for
an Adobe contact, use my name. Hope to see you there!

//na*//

• "To what question is the answer a £68,000 Volkswagen?," quipped British journalist Jeremy Clarkson.  I have similar thoughts about the Mathmos Airswitch–a light that can be turned on/off and dimmed/brightened by the proximity of your hand.  Then again, it’s kind of cool for its own sake. [Via]
• Designed by the same folks at two create, the 3D drawing pad looks pretty fly (tough to tell without using it, of course).
• Nanda’s Clocky is an alarm clock that not only rings, but also runs and hides to force you to get up. [Via]
• Forget Dogs Playing Poker; how about fish playing horns?   (And apparently someone decided that a fish does need a bicycle.)
• Ten bucks gets you a set of plastic spoons that change color in your microwave when your food reaches 120F–kinda great, although Gizmodo foresees dire results. [Via]   The invention made me think of that unfortunate Genera Hypercolor clothing from the ’80s; Googling for it led me to discover temperature-sensitive Eclipse wall paint. (How does $349 per gallon grab you?)
• Geostationary Banana Over Texas is, if nothing else, aptly named. The site’s navigation sucks, so here’s a photo.  (Speaking of bananas, how great are these Japanese juice boxes?) A bit closer to earth, if only in terms of practicality, C|NET talks about proposals for flying power generators; see images.

[* Non-Adobe. Some folks like the non-Adobe-heavy bits I post here, while others couldn’t care less.  Others, you’ll certainly want to skip this one. 🙂 For the record, I do think this stuff is relevant for this blog, as I view design+technology as inherently Adobe-related.]

//na*//

• "To what question is the answer a £68,000 Volkswagen?," quipped British journalist Jeremy Clarkson.  I have similar thoughts about the Mathmos Airswitch–a light that can be turned on/off and dimmed/brightened by the proximity of your hand.  Then again, it’s kind of cool for its own sake. [Via]
• Designed by the same folks at two create, the 3D drawing pad looks pretty fly (tough to tell without using it, of course).
• Nanda’s Clocky is an alarm clock that not only rings, but also runs and hides to force you to get up. [Via]
• Forget Dogs Playing Poker; how about fish playing horns?   (And apparently someone decided that a fish does need a bicycle.)
• Ten bucks gets you a set of plastic spoons that change color in your microwave when your food reaches 120F–kinda great, although Gizmodo foresees dire results. [Via]   The invention made me think of that unfortunate Genera Hypercolor clothing from the ’80s; Googling for it led me to discover temperature-sensitive Eclipse wall paint. (How does $349 per gallon grab you?)
• Geostationary Banana Over Texas is, if nothing else, aptly named. The site’s navigation sucks, so here’s a photo.  (Speaking of bananas, how great are these Japanese juice boxes?) A bit closer to earth, if only in terms of practicality, C|NET talks about proposals for flying power generators; see images.

[* Non-Adobe. Some folks like the non-Adobe-heavy bits I post here, while others couldn’t care less.  Others, you’ll certainly want to skip this one. 🙂 For the record, I do think this stuff is relevant for this blog, as I view design+technology as inherently Adobe-related.]

From Victor Allen at Juxt Interactive: "I’m going to wait for the iPhone Shuffle. You just clip it to your ear and call people at random."  Hah!

Hopefully I’ll get to walk the floor at Macworld today. I’m excited that the new AirPort base station can hook up to a hard drive to enable wireless backup, though I’m annoyed that it evidently doesn’t support the Apple-developed (and JNack-purchased) Firewire standard. Adobe-wise at the show,

• Russell Brown is showing good bits from Photoshop CS3 in the Adobe theater
• Tim Brook notes that the company is now shipping Flex Builder for the Mac
• Chad Siegel and I will be showing Photoshop CS3 beta and giving an InDesign CS3 sneak at the Apple store at 3pm today
• Finally, I don’t know what all will be shown from the upcoming video Production Studio, but I caught a 20-minute demo from Bob Donlon yesterday, and I can tell you hands-down it was stupid cool. Apparently there will be some demos at the Adobe booth; I’ll try to post details on timing if possible. If you care about digital video at all, or just about beautifully integrated Mac software, you’ll want to check ’em out.

If you’ll be in San Francisco this week, we’d love to see you at the Adobe booth at Macworld (starting tomorrow).  I’ll be booth-babing Thursday and Friday afternoons 1-4pm ("Does this tradeshow shirt make my app look big?"), and on Wednesday afternoon from 3-4pm I’ll be presenting the Photoshop CS3 beta at the Apple Store in SF.  I’ll be joined by InDesign PM Chad Siegel, who just may have some Intel-native page-layout kickassery to show.  (Okay, it’s more than "may.")  Hope to see you one place or the other.

[Update: Whether at home or in person, you can play the Macworld Drinking Game.]

Photographer Stephen Johnson has created BruceFraserLegacy.com, a Web site for gathering info about our departed friend.  Bruce’s wife Angela writes, "This site is a work in progress, so keep checking for new additions. If you feel you’d like to add something, please let Steve know (steve at sjphoto dot com)."  The site links to numerous photos, including some sparkling eclipses that Bruce captured.

If you happen to be attending MacWorld this week, you’re invited to attend a celebration Bruce’s legacy at an upbeat, inspirational multimedia event on Wednesday Jan. 10 (full details at PhotoshopNews.com).  Graham Nash and single-malt Scotch will be on hand.  I think Bruce would raise a glass in approval. 🙂

It’s alternately funny, sad, or both when companies struggle to play against type & redefine their brands.  During my first month at Adobe, I got a horrible sunburn as I stood for hours on a pier in San Francisco, passing out Razor scooters and "Splatterpunk" temporary tats to 13-year-olds at the X Games.  "And this will help LiveMotion succeed… how, exactly??," I thought as I slowly carbonized like a pig on a spit.  While Macromedia was releasing killer ads, Adobe was buying magazine spreads featuring a dude snowboarding down a volcano. Yeesh…

Microsoft is now making some interesting efforts to redefine its image.  Last year saw the hilarious and dead-on "Microsoft iPod" self-parody video, and now they’re getting way out there with Clearification, a site chiefly featuring the brilliantly stony ramblings of Demitri Martin. Somehow, on some level, the site is theoretically related to Vista.  Somehow.  Anyway… [Via]  Elsewhere they’ve posted the slightly incomprehensible MsDewey.com (hey, the world loves attractive women) [Via], not to mention an online comic book about Office. [Via]

And now Kodak–evidently mad as hell & not going to take it anymore–has released "Winds of Change." In it a distinguished looking gentleman proceeds to flip out Howard Beale-style, going off about how the company isn’t "playing grab-ass anymore."  It’s kind of great, and judging from the number of times I’ve seen the link sent around this week, it’s doing that whole viral thing.
[Via Ben Long, Katrin Eismann, and others]

Slightly related: Slate ad critic Seth Stevenson slags the Intel Core 2 Duo ads: "[They] feature perhaps the least-hip hipsters I’ve ever seen. What are these people wearing? Denim culottes? Green velvet suit vests? A snap-brim hat with a feather in the band? They look like they’re in a high school ska band. Word of advice, Intel: Do not attempt to make computer processing chips cool. It’s a losing battle." (Hey now; you just need some toasted bunny suits…)

Ah, well; no one gets out alive. :-)  At the end of the day, at least none of us have assaulted U2 in the name of celebrating banking services.  (Excuse me while I go wash my brain…)