Download: Texture Generators for Adobe Photoshop By Dave Nagel In our last article on displacement effects in Adobe Photoshop, I mentioned that I'd try my darnedest to come up with an automated method for you to produce your own texture files. Well, gum if I haven't done it. Better yet, I'm not just going to tell you how to automate this sort of texture creation. Instead, I'm going to give you a set of fully automated generators--free for you to download and use as you see fit. ...Read More »

Adobe Illustrator Tip: On Screen Pixelization By Dave Nagel When you work in Adobe Illustrator, you will occasionally encounter problems where elements appear to be tremendously pixelated on screen--that is, the objects' strokes and/or fills appear to be jagged. This is generally a display problem only, and one that shouldn't trouble you too much, though the problems will sometimes make themselves apparent in your prints as well. There is a simple solution for this. (And if you actually want to create pixelization effects, there's a simple solution for that too.) ...Read More »

Students Who Shine: The Winning Projects of the 2006 Adobe Design Achievement Awards Adobe recently announced the winners of its annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards. Now in its sixth year, the premier student design competition honors the world’s most talented student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers and computer artists from the top design, film and broadcast institutions. ...Read More »

Drawing Conclusions: This Pen-and-Tablet is a Good Value By Esther Schindler Graphics professionals easily can justify devices to draw on the computer. For ordinary office workers, a tablet might be a gratuitous toy. Yet, this pen and tablet combo is inexpensive enough use for occasional graphics use — and perhaps even as your everyday desktop interface. ...Read More »

Download: Displacement Maps for Adobe Photoshop, Series 1 By Dave Nagel Displacement maps can be used to create a wide variety of 3D or quasi-3D effects in Adobe Photoshop. The basic idea is that the luminance values of one image are used to define the bending and warping of another image. So, for example, you can use displacement to create crumpled paper, billowing fabric and other types of illusions of depth. ...Read More »

Waving the Flag in Adobe Photoshop By Dave Nagel We've looked at displacement effects in Adobe Photoshop for creating effects like crumpled paper and water reflections. This time around, we'll look at it from another angle: creating billowing fabric, like a flag waving in the wind. And we'll also take a look at some compositing tricks to make the effect a bit more convincing. ...Read More »

Convince Safari to Download PDFs By Tiffany LeFarge Older versions of the Mac browser gave you a choice of viewing a PDF or saving it to the Mac's hard drive. With its various updates, that's no longer Safari's default behavior. We'll show you how to get Safari to do what you want. ...Read More »

The Art of RAW Conversion By John Virata The RAW file format is the preferred format for professional digital photographers because it serves just like a digital negative, enabling photographers to tweak the file without changing the makeup of the file. There are several RAW converters on the market or in development. Apple's Aperture, RawShooter, and Adobe Lightroom are some of the products available or in pre-release. ...Read More »

FAKE LIQUID IN C4D By Ko Maruyama While there are other ways to create this same look, there aren't any that are easier to comprehend for the novice C4D user. In this movie tutorial, I'll demonstrate a simple way to create some fake looking watery liquid stuff. An object, a spline and Path Deformer Pro will get you on your way. ...Read More »

Alien Skin Blow Up By Dave Nagel Alien Skin is known for its effects filters for Adobe Photoshop, but the company's latest software release falls into a different category altogether. "Blow Up," as the software is called, is designed for a single purpose: to enlarge images using alternative methods to Photoshop's built-in algorithms. Is it worth the $200 price tag? We shall see.... ...Read More »

CINEMA 4D GRADIENT By Ko Maruyama Sometimes the best way to learn something is to deconstruct a completed project. While the materials are mostly based on simple parameters, it may help you to understand how a texture is made. You can check out the tutorial here to create your own gradient, but also check out the presets that Will and Emerson have begun. There are already over 50 different presets available. ...Read More »

MAXON PRESETS 011 By Emerson Velazquez Sometimes the best way to learn something is to deconstruct a completed project. In this series of presets, a team of DMN readers got together to make some CINEMA4D textures. While the materials are mostly based on simple parameters, it may help you to understand how a texture is made. This week I've put together a tutorial on creating a simple texture that I've added to Emerson's BEACH materials. Download the materials here, then check out the tutorial to make your own. ...Read More »

Lost Minds Vectoraster 1.0 By Dave Nagel There's no shortage of tools out there for making halftone and other line-screen effects on still images. But there are two things that make Lost Minds' Vectoraster 1.0 stand out from the crowd. First, this software gives you a tremendous amount of control over the effects you create. And, second, it allows you to export your effect as an EPS file, making it fully editable in vector illustration programs like Adobe Illustrator. ...Read More »

Taking Smilies to New Heights By Esther Schindler Don't blink. The Emotion Incubator Group will investigate a language to represent the emotional states of users and the emotional states simulated by user interfaces. ...Read More »

MAXON PRESETS 010 By Will Goodan Sometimes the best way to learn something is to deconstruct a completed project. In this series of presets, a team of DMN readers got together to make some CINEMA4D textures. While the materials are mostly based on simple parameters, it may help you to understand how a texture is made. This week Will Goodan put together another spin supplying preset #10: FRESH MEAT ...Read More »

MAXON PRESETS 009 By Will Goodan Sometimes the best way to learn something is to deconstruct a completed project. In this series of presets, a team of DMN readers got together to make some CINEMA4D textures. While the materials are mostly based on simple parameters, it may help you to understand how a texture is made. This week Will Goodan put together another spin supplying preset #09 ...Read More »

"Director Is Not Dead" By Kevin Schmitt Long-time Director users have been wondering where the product has been heading even before Macromedia was swallowed up by Adobe, so who better than Adobe's Product Manager for Director and the Shockwave Player himself, Tom Higgins, to bring us up-to-date on the latest goings-on in the world of Director? The bottom line seems to be that the Director faithful can breathe a little easier, as Adobe appears not to have forgotten about you. ...Read More »

Adobe's Mike Downey Talks Flash By Kevin Schmitt Being a big Flash guy, as well as a somewhat big After Effects guy, I'm more than a little curious about how the two products will influence each other now that they're both living under the Adobe roof. But I'm also curious about where Flash is going in general, so I was quite pleased to be able to pose a few questions recently to Mike Downey, Adobe's Senior Product manager for Flash. ...Read More »

TOOLFARM PREMIUM TUTORIALS By Ko Maruyama Toolfarm, a portal known historically for its collection of plugin sales for motion graphic and design software, has started offering a collection of tutorials. Authored by long-time After Effects pro, John Dickinson, the walkthroughs are more than simple steps to producing a project. Creative Background Design tutorials are premium online lessons. ...Read More »

Reduce Death-By-PowerPoint to a Harsh Beating By Esther Schindler Within minutes of installing Serious Magic's Ovation, without cracking open a manual, the quality of my presentations improved tenfold. And I never felt as though I had to commit myself to an intensive study course. ...Read More »