Computer Arts (March 2004)

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IN W

IN P SD HI 00 U RS ,0 LA $26 HO TH SC R N O G W SI DA DE A A AN C

THE WORLD’S BEST–SELLING CREATIVE MAGAZINE

ESSENTIAL TIPS TO MAKE YOU A BETTER AND SMARTER DIGITAL ARTIST ● ● ● ●

PHOTOSHOP CS ILLUSTRATION PHOTO-RETOUCHING 3D, WEB AND MORE

PERFECT POSTERS

How to make your work look great in large format

SPECIAL FX IN 3DS MAX

Create fantastic lightning effects!

25 PRODUCTS ON TEST CorelDRAW 12, iBook G4, iLife ‘04 Director MX 2004, Photoshop plug-ins round-up and much more No CD? Please see your newsagent

Printed in the UK

Outside the UK and Éire £6 C$ 19.95

MARCH 2004

£6

03 9 771360 537024

INTRO I IT’S NOT EVERY DAY WE CAN SHOUT ABOUT A COMPETITION PRIZE WORTH $26,000 – BUT THIS ISSUE WE CAN!

ILLUSTRATORS We take our illustrations seriously here at Computer Arts. And we’re always on the lookout for new talent – so if you’re interested in contributing, contact [email protected]. Below you’ll find a list of the illustrators who helped us out this issue… CAPE ARCONA This issue’s superb guest font is CA Prologue by Cape Arcona, the newly-launched font foundry from upcoming German designers Thomas Schostok and Stefan Claudius. www.cape-arcona.com STUDIO OUTPUT Following the success of its flyer design tutorial in issue 92, the Nottingham-based design studio is now passing on its expert knowledge of poster design. Turn to page 40. www.studio-output.com PETE DRAPER 3D artist and animator Pete Draper boots up 3ds max to show you how to create special lightning effects in the latest version of Discreet’s 3D app. See page 70. www.xenomorphic.co.uk SCOTT HANSEN Check out this US designer’s dynamic Website for more information on his images, music and photography. He illustrated our Photoshop plug-in round-up on page 94. www.iso50.com

t’s not every day we can shout about a competition prize worth $26,000 – but this issue we can. After months in the planning, we’re pleased to announce that this issue, one CA reader will get the chance to win a fantastic scholarship to Canada’s prestigious Vancouver Film School on its 48-week Interactive Media course. You don’t have to be a student or designer to apply, just display loads of talent and buckets of enthusiasm. Turn to page 34 to find out more and check out VFS’s kick-ass showreel on our cover CD. And if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, to celebrate our involvement in Apple’s Driven By Design European tour, Computer Arts is also giving away a shiny new dual G5 1.8GHz to one lucky reader. We expect to see great artwork coming from the winner once this powerful beast is installed under their desk. More life-enhancing pages this issue come in the form of our mammoth 101 tips for Photoshop feature. These snippets of great advice are aimed at new and experienced users alike, and will help you get to grips with Photoshop’s tools for illustration, photo-manipulation, Web images and 3D. Also worth your time: a

COVER ILLUSTRATOR DEREK LEA

This Canadian artist needs no introduction. The versatile illustrator not only created our striking 101 Photoshop tips cover, but also got to grips with Canvas 7 and demonstrated how to make a great vector illustration on page 54. Derek Lea has a vivid imagination and his love of traditional artwork translates perfectly into the digital realm. For our cover feature, the 3D render of the text stands out brilliantly against the rough, swirling background design. Flip through our back issues to see exactly how he creates this style of work. www.dereklea.com

brand new tutorial on poster design by Studio Output, where you’ll find out how these guys design for large format, and how to create some attention-grabbing artwork of your own. Meanwhile, on our cover CD, you’ll find two exciting apps to get your teeth into. After the success of the full version giveaway Canvas 6 with issue 68, we now bring you version 7 with a special reader offer to Canvas 9. We’ve asked illustrator Derek Lea to show us how to make the most of its all-encompassing tools by creating a fantastic robot illustration – it all kicks off on page 54. Next up, Vue 4 Pro was launched last year to answer the growing demand for the popular landscape tool to be better integrated with other major 3D programs. We bring you the exclusive demo of e-on Software’s latest release and reveal how to get started, courtesy of our tutorial by leading Vue D’Esprit artist, Robert Czarny. Keep sending in your thoughts and artwork to [email protected] VICKI ATKINSON EDITOR, THE WORLD’S BEST-SELLING CREATIVE MAGAZINE

EDITORIAL THE CA TEAM VICKI ATKINSON EDITOR [email protected] RODDY LLEWELLYN ART EDITOR [email protected] ROB CARNEY DEPUTY EDITOR [email protected] RACHEL ELLIOTT OPERATIONS EDITOR [email protected] JON ALONGI CD EDITOR [email protected] JEN WAGNER ONLINE EDITOR [email protected]

CONTACT Computer Arts, Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW PHONE 01225 442 244 EMAIL [email protected] SUBSCRIPTIONS 0870 444 8455 OVERSEAS SUBS +44 870 444 8455

Computer Arts_March 2004

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CONTENTS MARCH ISSUE 94

FULL LIST OF CONTENTS

NEWS

FEATURES

TUTORIALS

SHORTCUTS

12 CorelDRAW 12 is here! 13 Adobe against counterfeits 16 A new era in stock imagery? 32 Guest font showcase

20 101 Photoshop tips 34 Inside VFS Interactive Media 48 Crush in profile 68 Eyeport in profile

40 Poster design in FreeHand 61 Dreamweaver 54 Vector illustration in Canvas 7 65 Flash 62 3D landscapes in Vue 4 Pro 67 InDesign 70 Special effects in 3ds max

REVIEWS

77 Full listing 78 CorelDRAW 12 80 Final Cut Express 2 86 Brand new laptops! 94 Photoshop plug-ins on test

REGULARS

08 Your letters and opinion 10 Win an Apple G5 Dual 1.8GHz! 46 Subscribe to Computer Arts and CA Projects to save £71 and get a free gift! 100 Back issues 108 Exposure 114 Retrospective

SUBSCRIBE

TODAY AND GET A FREE GIFT!

THE ONLY DE G N MAG YOU’LL EVER SI NEED!

NEVER MISS AN OT ISSUE –TURN TO HER PAGE 46

ON THE COVER 20 101 ESSENTIAL PHOTOSHOP TIPS

Everything you ever needed to know about Photoshop, and more! Create better images and speed up your workflow with these awesome tips from industry experts

40 PERFECT POSTERS

Discover the secrets of creating large-format designs with our in-depth tutorial from one of the best studios in the business!

70 SPECIAL FX IN 3DS MAX

Everyone wishes they could create the kind of special effects you see in sci-fi flicks - and now you can, thanks to our six-page tutorial

20

54 CANVAS 7 EXPERT TUTORIAL

40

70

Load up the free version of the awesome graphics tool Canvas 7 from your cover CD and create a stunning vector illustration!

WIN

A SCHOLAR WORTH $26SHIP 00 SEE PAGE ,0 34 + A POWER M AC G5 SEE PAGE 11

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

48

Illustration by Mr Huan Tran [email protected] Turn to Exposure on page 108

65

Have your work featured here – email [email protected]

48 CRUSH IN PROFILE

This Brighton-based agency is revitalising the industry with its bold, brash designs

65 SHORTCUTS

77

Check out these 10-minute tutorials on Flash, InDesign and Dreamweaver – guaranteed to improve your design skills!

77 BRAND NEW REVIEWS

CorelDRAW 12, Final Cut Express 2, Director MX 2004, and seven Photoshop plug-in bundles

62 CREATE A 3D LANDSCAPE

62

Create a stunning fantasy 3D landscape with our exclusive Vue 4 Pro demo and in-depth guide

FULL LIST OF CD CONTENTS

^

FULL PROGRAM PC + MAC

CANVAS 7

TURN TO PAGE 54

COMPLETE VERSION Master vector illustration with this superb full app and our new expert tutorial!

H

ow’s this for a generous package? A full copy of all-round design app Canvas 7, accompanied by a 30-day demo of its latest incarnation, Canvas 9 (don’t forget to take advantage of our fantastic upgrade offer on page 58); a top-flight demo of Vue 4 Pro to accompany our how-to starting on page 62; plus impressive showreels from students at the Vancouver Film School, an example chapter from Peachpit’s latest tome – and plenty of tutorial files to help you on your way.

CD94 CONTENTS CANVAS 7 (PC + MAC) FULL PROGRAM WORTH £395 Create a fantastic vector illustration with this superb application and our expert tutorial, starting on page 54. No other magazine gives you this kind of advice!

professional-quality illustrations in no time at all. See page 54 for our expert tutorial from worldfamous illustrator Derek Lea. In addition, Canvas 7’s full-on image-editing toolset will make editing your digital photos a breeze. Page layout is simplicity itself, too, thanks to some intelligent design tools, while repurposing content for the Web is a cinch using the app’s dedicated HTML export feature. See below for details on how to obtain your serial number for Canvas 7 and the demo of version 9. INFO www.deneba.com

HOW TO OBTAIN YOUR SERIAL NUMBER In order to get Canvas up and running, you’ll need a serial number. This will be emailed to you after registering your details at the following URL: www.deneba.com/cv7reg You’ll also need to register your demo of Canvas 9 if you wish to try out the new features. Do this at: http://ecoserv.deneba.com/evalmain2/cv9endl_form.htm

LOOK ON PAGE 62

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CANVAS 9 (PC + MAC)

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anvas 7 is an extremely versatile tool for creating vector-based illustrations, editing bitmap images, creating pagelayouts and designing Websites. In other words, you can use it to do pretty much anything. One of the app’s best features is its Sprite technology, which enables you to apply effects to vector content, bitmap images and text without swapping between tools; the object beneath the sprite effect remains editable at all times, so tweaking effects is always easy. An arsenal of vector-based drawing tools is also available. These make it possible to knock up

DEMO PC + MAC

30-DAY TRIAL After you’ve sampled the many delights of Canvas 7, take the latest release for a spin. Turn to page 58 for our upgrade offer and your chance to save valuable cash.

VUE 4 PRO

VUE 4 PRO (PC + MAC)

FULL DEMO Be the first to try out this brilliant new Pro

EXCLUSIVE DEMO Your chance to be the first to try out the latest release of Vue D’Esprit – discover the power of this landscape and terrain modelling app for yourself on page 62.

FREE BOOK CHAPTER! Flash MX 2004 Applications – the second chapter from this brand new Peachpit title. See your free Macromedia supplement for the first!

SHOWREELS The latest and greatest work from the Vancouver Film School on show. Turn to page 34 for details of how you can win a $26,000 scholarship to this acclaimed institute in Canada. Now there’s an opportunity not to be missed!

TUTORIAL FILES You’ll find all the files you need to complete this month’s tutorials on your cover CD in the following folders: FLASH 3DS MAX CANVAS POSTER DESIGN

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EXCLU SIVE

version of e-on software’s landscape modelling app…

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e’ve teamed up with e-on software to bring you the exclusive chance to try out the company’s brand new professional landscape-modelling and terrainbuilding app, Vue 4 Pro. This new version of the industry-favourite landscape tool now includes plug-ins that work inside all of the major 3D applications – Softimage, 3ds max, Cinema 4D, LightWave and Maya. So if you want to create, animate and render natural scenery – and continue working on it in your favourite 3D app – there’s no better solution.

A huge range of tools are on offer here, making it easy to create all manner of vegetation, towering mountains and grassy plains. If you want to get an idea of just what the app can do, and have a broadband connection, check out the showreels at the following URLs: PC DIVX5 VERSION www.e-onsoftware.com/Products/vue4pro /Images/Vue4ProShowReel_368x208.6.avi MAC QUICKTIME VERSION www.e-onsoftware.com/Products/vue4pro /Images/Vue4ProShowReel_192x108.sv3.mov

REGISTERING YOUR TRIAL In order to get your trial up and running, you need to register your details at the following URL www.e-onsoftware.com/Products/vue4prodemo/ Just enter your details and the serial number will be emailed directly to your Inbox.

LETTERS

HAVE YOU GOT A POINT TO MAKE ABOUT THE MAGAZINE, A CREATIVE PRODUCT, A SHOW OR THE INDUSTRY AT LARGE? EMAIL YOUR THOUGHTS TO THE TEAM AT [email protected], OR JOIN US ONLINE AT FORUM.COMPUTERARTS.CO.UK

STOCK STORY CONTINUED

ILLUSTRATION SECRETS

As a freelance illustrator, I love to look out for what styles are coming up at the moment, just so I can keep that important competitive edge. Stock illustration companies are one of my ports of call every few weeks. I’m represented by a really good agent and have never felt the inclination to do stock work – not because I’m against them, but because I always have enough original commissions (some amazing, some tedious!) rolling in to keep me afloat. Your letters page has made me aware of the negative side of the stock industry (CA Letters, issue 93). I have seen many talented friends take on fulltime jobs because of a lack of work and it’s sad. But how are these stock companies themselves doing? Surely they have felt the knock in previous years? But would they ever admit it? Name and address withheld

I found the Illustration Secrets feature in issue 92 of Computer Arts very helpful indeed. It enabled me to understand some of what it is I have to do in order to make that step from being a student to working with clients in the real world. And also how to approach a professional brief. I lack a lot of the experience needed at the moment, because I’ve had no real clients yet, and will probably be pretty frightened when I do get my first one. However, your feature has helped me to understand in advance what it is I need to focus on. Being a student doesn’t really give you all of the time you need to go out and realise everything by yourself; you do need a helping hand sometimes. Computer Arts does this for me every month. Stevie Marsh

IDENTIKAL COVER Wow! Can I just say it again? Wow! That Identikal cover on issue 93 was an intricate masterpiece, created after the two designers emptied out their drawers – fantastic! And what’s even better is they showed how it was done. More please. Gemma Gray

something, somewhere, isn’t working properly. I’m fed up with it. So I’m thinking of buying my first Macintosh, but I can’t decide which one would be better at this specific time, since I can’t afford to spend too much. I’m torn between the eMac SuperDrive and the Powerbook G4 with the 17-inch display. The eMac has a good price, but I don’t know if it can stand up to my intensive graphical demands. On the other hand, although the PowerBook has a

That’s what we’re here for! Glad to be of service…

MAC ISSUES I’ve been in the field of graphic design and illustration for almost three years now. Most of my work has been designed on a PC, but not a day goes by when

Tough choice – do you go for the budget-friendly eMac or the costlier 17-inch PowerBook?

★ LETTER OF THE MONTH I’VE BEEN ZINIO’D! For a while now, I’ve had trouble getting hold of your magazine from our local bookstores in the Netherlands – they sell out too fast! So, on the one hand, my creativity doesn’t get its essential boost every month, but on the other, I have a little more change in my pocket. While doing my weekly browse of your site when the newsletter appears, I noticed a link for our Zinio e-edition. “Perfect!” I thought. “It’s cheap and it’ll never sell out.” And great it is! The profiles and illustrations look almost as great on the screen as they do on the page and you can take instant advantage of the Photoshop, Flash or FreeHand tutorials by booting up the packages at the same time. The only downside, and I’m sure you’ve had many letters about it, is the lack of CD files. Put them online please! I have broadband, StuffIt

8 Computer Arts_March 2004

and WinZip, I can take any huge Painter file you care to put on your servers and will make good use of it, I promise. When can we expect this to happen? Tom Hertel

Computer Arts was published online with Zinio for the first time last year. Since then, it’s served to bring Computer Arts to new readers and helps existing readers, like you, when issues are sold out! Tutorial CD files are something we really want to include with this service, because they’re so integral to the magazine. We’re working towards having live links within the PDF, to connect direct to a download link. We’re hoping to see this go live in the next few months but, as some files are so huge, it’s taking a while. Not everyone is lucky enough to have ADSL. But we’re really pleased to hear you’re enjoying your e-versions of Computer Arts so much. It’s just one step closer to taking over the creative world… Computer Arts is now available in PDF on Zinio, so it’ll never sell out. See www.zinio.com

higher price, you can take it with you – and it has a 17-inch display. Can you help me make a decision? Bill Pandos Based on our reviews of Macs, we’d go for the 17-inch PowerBook. It has a faster processor, widescreen aspect ratio, plus you can plug it into another monitor when you need to – doubling your desktop space. The eMac is more than sufficient for many non-demanding graphic design and multimedia tasks and is popular with designers on a budget, but the PowerBook has a better graphics card and takes more RAM (up to 2GB). Plus, you can carry it around. How about going onto our forums at forum.computerarts.co.uk to see what other readers are using? Just be careful not to start a Mac vs PC debate. Again.

NEXT MONTH IN COMPUTER ARTS 95

FREE

KEYBOARD SHORTCUT CARDS

ILLUSTRATOR CS INDESIGN CS

Shortcuts to help you make the most of these apps!

FREE WEB MAGAZINE

Macromedia Masterclass MX 2004 – Issue 4. The last issue in our great Web design and development series.

CINEMA HELP PLEASE It’s been my pleasure to have been a regular subscriber to Computer Arts for several years. For some time, I’ve wondered about the potential of Cinema 4D, so it was most gratifying to find this program included on issue 88’s cover CD. With the help of my grandson, a teenage whizz with new technology, I installed the program and set to work with the tutorial, but it was not possible to make out details of the images. Perhaps you might be able and willing to recommend a book that starts at the most elementary level? I’d like one with 3D graphics and animation, using Cinema 4D CE 6, with simple examples using every tool in the kitbag. I appreciate you cater for a broad spectrum of professional and amateur artists, but there are older users out there who weren’t weaned on computing processes, and who are unable to attend college or university and may not have the resources to go to workshops. These people may be impatient to come to grips with making worthwhile art on a computer as an alternative to using traditional tools. Ivor Lewis Where possible, we do include the screenshots for our 3D tutorials on the disc. This month, you’ll find the screenshots for our Special Effects in 3ds max 6 tutorial, on page 70, included on the disc. We’ve heard your plea and emailed these directly to you. If anyone else would like to get the larger versions of the screenshots for this tutorial, please email [email protected] and we’ll send them to you. As for books on this subject, Cinema 4D CE was a special version for magazine covermounts. It may still be possible to buy books for Cinema 4D XL 6, on which CE is based, in secondhand book shops or online auction sites. However, we recently reviewed The Cinema 4D R8 Handbook, by Adam Watkins (Charles River Media, £33.50), which we described as “a comprehensive introduction that will leave you well-equipped to produce good-looking models /animations.” ■

*Supplement available to UK newsstand and subscribers only. To subscribe, please call +44 (0)870 4448 455

INDESIGN MASTERED We take you on an in-depth tour of InDesign for migrating XPress users, with plenty of insight for those who are new to Adobe’s graphic design tool FUTURE FARMERS The cultivators of cool talk about their stylish design, great 3D characters and work they’ve done for such major clients as Nike, Adobe and LucasFilm

CREATE COMIC ART Create dynamic, colourful and authentic illustrations in a graphic novel style with the help of our in-depth tutorial

COMPOSITING APP GROUP TEST Which app rules the roost for animation, compositing and effects? After Effects or combustion? Mirage or Digital Fusion?

REVIEWED SOON

DAZ|Studio

Nikon D70 Digital SLR

Director MX 2004

Studio Artist 3

Toon Boom Studio 2.5

Canon EOS 1D Mark II

LightWave 3D 8

Boris RED 3 GL

DVD Workshop 2

Stitcher 4

Serif PagePlus 9

Dual G5 1.8GHz

New printers from Canon and Epson

ON SALE 18 MARCH All contents correct at time of going to press

Computer Arts_March 2004

9

Test drive the ultimate design studio.

DRIVEN BY DESIGN

Join Apple and Computer Arts at a new series of seminars for designers and experience the power of the Mac platform as a creative tool!

C

omputer Arts is joining Apple to partner its new Driven by Design roadshow, taking place in March 2004. Calling at London and Manchester, as part of its Europe-wide showcase, this roadshow will allow you to get industry insight and experience the most innovative tools available from Apple and industryleading partners. As a creative professional, you need the most advanced platform available today, along with a seamless array of tools that will enable you to communicate your ideas quickly and accurately. These are the tools that will help you stay competitive. The Driven by Design one-day free seminar presents the best solutions for design and publishing professionals. Experience the ultimate creative studio from Apple and other leading partners in the creative industry. It’s more than just an explanation of the next generation of colour, output or fonts – it’s a forum to teach you how to maximise the power of Mac OS X with a

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collection of powerful new products brought together as never before. It’s part of Apple’s continued commitment to providing you with the ultimate creative tools. Taking in 15 cities across Europe, the roadshow stops off in London on 3 March and Manchester on 5 March. With an agenda perfect for independent graphic designers, illustrators, freelancers, graphics and pre-press studios and advertising agencies, the seminars will also be complemented by an exhibition area featuring third-party suppliers and a Computer Arts and MacFormat stand. Big-name partners on the Driven by Design roadshow include Adobe, Quark, Extensis, Gretag Macbeth and Enfocus.

REGISTER NOW Space is limited, so don’t miss out on this great opportunity for designers. Register today for the free seminar at a city near you soon at:

www.apple.com/uk/series/ca

SEMINAR DETAILS Here’s what the Driven by Design roadshow will cover… • Colour management from capture to output • Typography and creativity • Complete PDF workflow • Folder and workflow automation with AppleScript • Adobe CS integration with Version Cue • QuarkXPress pagination and project features • Connectivity and Digital Asset management • Mac OS X Server LONDON The Olympia : 3 MARCH • Mac OS X Server Co Hammersmithnference Centre technologies for Rd, W14 8UX migration MANCHESTE R • iApps for Portfolios: iMax Manches : 5 MARCH ter, Screen 17 DVD Authoring Printwor ,

DATES& VENUES

ks Centre, 6-8 Danzie St, M4 2AD

Put these dat es your diary! in

NEWS

Visit our massive Website for weekly news updates and much more. To contact our news team, email

[email protected]

www.computerarts.co.uk

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS

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ANIMATION Framestore CFC on its latest CG antics

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OPINION Studio Output's Rob Coke bemoans the state of designer spelling

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Want dynamic guides and Snap to Object functionality? Here you go.

COREL ROLLS OUT GRAPHICS SUITE 12 SOFTWARE Corel gets context-sensitive with its ‘intelligent tools’

HARDWARE Four new digital

camcorders from Canon

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COMPETITION The 2004 Graduate Showcase is calling for new entries

NEWS WRITERS

Mark Ramshaw, Vicki Atkinson

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D

esigns completed in half the time – that’s the bold sales pitch accompanying the release of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12, the latest version of Corel’s graphics software, which boasts what Corel is dubbing ‘intelligent design tools’ – tools that work with the user to radically increase productivity. The Suite comprises three apps in all: the main CorelDRAW 12 software, Corel PHOTO-PAINT 12 and Corel R.A.V.E. 3. Between them, they cover everything from page layout, illustration and vector-based work to digital imaging and motion graphics creation. CorelTRACE 12 and Corel CAPTURE 12 are also included. Says Brett Denley, Corel’s Vice President of Marketing: “The app

builds a deeper partnership between designers and their tools, providing software that intelligently interprets and reacts to [their] needs.” In practical terms, this ‘intelligence’ is provided by three key wizard-enhanced features.

CLEVER CLOGS The Smart Drawing tool will actually be familiar to users of Corel’s Grafigo. It uses shape recognition to determine what you’re trying to draw. If it’s a regular form – say, a circle or triangle – then the tool provides appropriate assistance. If it’s a freehand shape, then the software applies symmetry and automatically smoothes curves. Dynamic guides and Snap to Objects functionality further raise the IQ of Graphics Suite 12. The latter offers a

wider range of object snap areas and now gives real-time feedback when drawing and modifying objects. Elsewhere, a variable strength blemish and defect Touch-up tool offers ‘intelligent’ masking of unwanted areas, while Office export options include ‘intelligent’ selection of either PNG, EMF or WPG format. Other welcome additions include Unicode support and accurate text manipulation feedback. The Suite ships with 10,000 clipart images, 1000 photos and objects, plus 1000 TrueType and Type 1 fonts. Video training from Lynda.com also comes bundled. On sale now, CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 is available for the PC and costs £422 (or £210 for the upgrade). INFO www.corel.com/cdgs12/preview

News

SOFTWARE

ADOBE’S STEALTHY CASH FREEZE

The latest releases, updates and software news

SOFTWARE Users discover anti-counterfeiting code hidden in Photoshop CS

A

dobe has found itself mired in controversy over an undocumented ‘feature’ of Photoshop CS. At the request of the Central Bank, anti-counterfeiting technologies have been incorporated into the application which prevent users from importing scans of many

types of currency. The restriction came to light when one disgruntled $20-wielding designer posted to the Adobe forum. Anti-counterfeiting systems are nothing new; they’re already in place in Paint Shop Pro 8, as well as several scanners, copying devices and even

Designers scanning in notes for genuine art purposes were shocked when this dialog popped up.

some HP printers. But the fact Adobe failed to inform users of the addition of a sub-program that monitors and censors user activities has served to amplify the criticism. Many also see the measure as overly restrictive, because it’s not even illegal to use scans of currency. In the UK, permission from the Bank Of England is required, while the US Treasury Department simply requests that designers follow a set of strict usage guidelines. The algorithm in question was developed by the Central Bank’s Counterfeit Deterrence Group, rather than Adobe, which has stressed that it has no plans to implement any other analysis technologies. But it does seem likely that the anti-counterfeiting code will eventually be incorporated by other Adobe products, despite a simple workaround being widely known. Users who legitimately wish to use scans of currency can find out how at www.jaani.net/view/188. INFO www.adobe.co.uk

MEDIA HP gives struggling designers 15 minutes of fame with an interactive gallery event

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Mark Ellis, HP’s Business Manager. “Here they could give the technology a whirl and find out what it can do for their art.” With private viewings for media, plus work featured on the HYPE Website, the scheme offered participants massive exposure. Crucially, there were no selection criteria. Based on the success of the London-based event, HYPE and Hewlett-Packard plan to take the strategy all over the UK and Europe, giving creatives elsewhere the opportunity to showcase their work at this highly original exhibition. The London HYPE Gallery is open until the end of February. Admission is free. INFO www.hypegallery.com

HUGE PRICE CUT FOR 3D S.O.M. Originally £995, Canon’s 3D Software Object Modeller is now selling for just £99. Canon has also made new 3D converter and viewer functionality available for free download. This enables Website visitors to view 3D content created using 3D S.O.M.’s digital camera-based capture system without the need for extra plug-ins. www.cre.canon.co.uk/3dsom FORM.Z 4.1.1 Auto.des.sys has just tweaked its 3D modelling software form•Z 4.1. Changes include several bug fixes, particularly with the Mac edition, along with improvements to the import and export of BMP, EPS and 3DS files, and activation of the Inverse Faces option. form•Z 4.0 also enjoys an upgrade to v4.0.5. Patches for existing users are free to download. www.formz.com

SELF-MADE EXHIBITION hen the HYPE Gallery launched at Brick Lane’s Truman Brewery in January, there was one thing missing: the art. Uniquely, HYPE had opened its doors to the public with not a single work on its bare walls – instead the organisers issued an open invitation for digital artists, designers and filmmakers to submit their best pieces and have them displayed for free – both at the Brewery and online. The project was created with the help of Hewlett Packard, who provided its Designjet, Digital Projector and other technologies to output the submissions. “It’s relatively expensive equipment – certainly beyond what many people have access to,” explains

SKETCHUP 3.1 @Last Software launched the latest edition of 3D design tool SketchUp at the recent MacExpo. New features include a thumbnail viewer and enhanced shadowing. It’s free to owners of SketchUp 3.0, while users of version 2.2 and earlier can upgrade for $95. The full retail price for both Mac and PC editions is $495. www.sketchup.com

Just some of the work featured at the HYPE Gallery.

COMBUSTION 3 FOR MAC The latest version of Discreet’s highend compositor is now available for the Mac. Combustion 3 introduces integrated editing, JavaScript-based expressions and Flash output. RE: Vision Effects’ RE:Flex morphing software is also included. It’ll cost £852 (or £135 for an upgrade). www.discreet.com PRIMATTE CHROMAKEY 2.0 V2.0 of Digital Anarchy’s longestablished still image compositing plug-in is now available. Compatible with Photoshop and Photoshop Elements, it offers both blue and green screen masking for the background replacements and other layering effects. It’s yours for $299 (or $129 for an upgrade). www.digitalanarchy.com

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WEBSITES The hottest sites and services on the Web…

Framestore CFC used Maya to model the ‘cartoon’ ants required for the Post Office TV ads.

CHMORK.NET www.ala.ch/home/ Big fans of the still popular pixellated style, Zurich’s ChMork.net has a homepage offering more than mere retro eye candy. When you’re done admiring the mother site and the team’s designs for other clients, get downloading. There’s a fine stock of online goodies to savour. SOLIARIS www.soliaris.com An object lesson in how an artist can generate extra Web traffic. Take the photography and digital art of Vidas Biveinis, add news, guest albums and freebies, and what was once a regular portfolio becomes a vital online mag. Of course, it helps that Biveinis is a dab hand with Flash… SKY CAPTAIN www.skycaptain.com A site trailing the release of a new movie would normally be of little interest, but Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow is a unique proposition. Written and directed by programmer Kerry Conran, it has the likes of Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow acting within 100 per cent 3D CG environments. Truly inspiring. BOXER www.boxer.uk.com An achingly stylish blend of photography and Flash makes the home site of Birmingham and London-based Boxer Design Consultants a must-see. The client list favours established brands like Marks & Spencer, Aquafresh and McDonald’s, but there’s nothing old-school about Boxer’s packaging and branding work. TRE www.trelink.it The TRE collective hails from Italy, the home of cool, so it comes as little surprise to find its Website filled with ultra-chilled designs. The open invitation for people to offer their services for free may suggest a ragtag approach, but the quality of its portfolio demonstrates anything but. CHARITYEXHIBIT www.charityexhibit.net Not much to see here yet, but certainly a lot to do. The aim of CharityExhibit is to exhibit digital art designs, both online and at museum exhibitions, with prints then sold off each month at $12.99 a pop. 20 per cent of profits goes to charity, and what’s left is ploughed back into the enterprise. All artists with an online portfolio are invited to contribute.

WANT YOUR NEW SITE FEATURED? Send the link to [email protected] with the subject header ‘Websites’.

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POSTAL PRODUCTION MEDIA Framestore CFC scales down with its CG ants

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he Post Office has called on Framestore CFC to give its latest TV ads a fanciful anthropomorphic angle. The first two 30-second spots, Ant In Australia and Ice Cream Van, follow the exploits of a family of ants as they make use of various Post Office services. Framestore CFC spent two months on the project, which, with its focus on diminutive, cartoonish characters, offered something of a contrast to the facility’s usual dinosaur creations. While these ants improbably walk on two legs, chatter incessantly and even wear clothes, integration with the live plate was still a prime concern. HDRI imagebased lighting provided an efficient solution, while the miniature wardrobe

came courtesy of Maya Cloth, with the help of a few proprietary plug-ins. Rendering was achieved in Maya, although Framestore CFC made several separate passes to better render colour, ambient occlusions, keylight shadows, reflections and so forth, assembling the results in shake. “For the macro look, we used periscope lenses to get within millimetres of the ground and so give the ants real world height,” explains CG Lead Animator, David Hulin. “Our only regret is that we weren’t able to get close enough to appreciate all the extra details we built into the models and clothing. But we’re doing a third ad now – and really pushing it for a lot of the plates.” INFO www.framestore-cfc.com

Maya Cloth helped the animators fashion some rather chic ant swimwear.

News

PROMOTE YOURSELF! COMPETITION Get your work printed using the latest MetalFX effects

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ere’s your chance to see your work printed at Drupa, one of the world’s top print and graphics exhibitions, being held in Dusseldorf this May, using MetalFX’s award-winning metallic ink technology. Computer Arts Projects 55 (the self-promotion issue), in conjunction with MetalFX, is calling for entries now. There are four briefs to choose from – create a winning design that makes full use of MetalFX’s

industry-transforming technology (it graced the October 2003 issue of Computer Arts) and you’ll be whisked off to Germany to see your work printed and displayed live at one of the most prestigious events in the 2004 design calendar. To submit your work, see the latest issue of Computer Arts Projects or send an email to [email protected] for the entry requirements. INFO www.computerarts.co.uk, www.metal-fx.com

LEARNING CURVE

WHETHER YOU’RE INTERESTED IN ILLUSTRATION, 3D, WEB DESIGN OR VIDEO, YOU’LL FIND A COURSE HERE TO SUIT HOXTON BIBLIOTECH London A new media company running a wide range of short courses in addition to its business and Learndirect-based training. Bibliotech covers all major illustration, Web design, video editing and other multimedia applications. InDesign, Level 1 10-11 March, £600 Flash MX, Level 1 15-17 March, £900 www.biblio-tech.net

SILICON BEACH TRAINING Brighton Silicon Beach has an impressive course schedule covering almost every Web, design, programming and office application imaginable. A limited £150 discount is available when booking two courses (excluding one-day training). Fireworks 18-19 March, £395 Flash Advanced 13-14 April, £395 www.siliconbeachtraining.co.uk

MERIDIAN TRAINING Henley-On-Thames Run by a dedicated full-time team, Meridian Training covers the most popular illustration, Web creation and publishing applications, and provides a number of programming and office-orientated courses. Illustrator CS Introduction 15-16 March, £495 GoLive CS Introduction 3 March, £395 www.meridiantraining.com

CORPS BUSINESS London This Westminster-based recruitment, design and training outfit runs group courses on all the major packages for print and Web publishing, 3D design and digital video. 3ds max Introduction 26-27 April, £550 Dreamweaver MX 2004: Website Development 5-7 April, £650 www.corps.co.uk

UBIQ London Ubiq’s approach to creative training focuses on small class sizes (typically no more than three), followed by several months of free back-up technical support. The courses listed below benefit from special offer prices. Introduction To Photoshop 7 8-9 March, £360 Advanced Photoshop 9 March, £200 www.ubiq.co.uk

MICROCOMPUTING Washington Although majoring in technical training, the Northeast-based Microcomputing does offer a number of graphics and Webbased courses, including introductory Photoshop classes. Adobe Photoshop Fundamentals 7 April, £200 Adobe Photoshop In More Depth 8 April, £200 www.microcomputing.co.uk

OPINION SMELL CHECK

SUBJECT By spreading errant wordage across the globe, argues Output’s Rob Coke, some designers are unintentionally promoting bad punctuation, spelling and grammar. We must stand and fight!

We have a number of irritating habits at Output, but the one which most bothers our neighbours is our ability to spot spelling mistakes and typos. If we spot them in our own work, we correct them before anyone else notices. If we spot them in someone else’s work, we laugh at their ineptitude. And if we can’t spot them in our colleagues’ work, we pretend we can, just to see their reaction. Recently, I’ve noticed this behaviour increasingly creeping into my private life. I’ve started finding more spelling mistakes in newspapers and grammatical errors in typography books. What to me seems like good working practice has got people worried that I’m developing some kind of compulsive disorder. But now I’ve realised that I’m seeing more errors in the world around me for a reason: there are more errors. The institutional voices we used to take for granted are becoming increasingly inaccurate because, sadly, there’s less interest in getting such details right. Why is the importance of typographic detail being so overlooked? The focus of graphic design has changed even since I was at college. Far from being the humble skill of communicating a client’s message, it’s now seen as a form of self-expression, endlessly referencing its creator as vocally as the message itself. This freedom of expression is often what attracts young designers, while functional, client-led design is regarded as having less merit. The fact is, even the most ‘stylish’ studios know when to create work where the design is so restrained as to be invisible. Design is a discipline that occasionally requires a degree of discipline. So does it matter if standards in typography are slipping? Is correct grammar even relevant in today’s world? Well, yes. Because this deterioration isn’t due to everyone gaining knowledge in other areas, but because less importance is being placed on learning to write properly. I was recently told in all seriousness that the apostrophe in ‘it’s’ is to be removed altogether, because so few people know how to use it properly. The reasoning is that it’s easier to abolish something rather than learn its correct use. While it sounds farcical, the truth is it’s probably an accurate prophecy. But even if no-one else knows how to spell ‘separate’ any more, or that ‘i’ comes before ‘e’ except after ‘c’, it’s important that you, as a guardian of your client’s words, do. Question the copy presented to you. As embarrassing as it may be, it’s your job to correct, or at least offer advice on, any misuse of language that you’re supposed to be typesetting. Remember that any work leaving your desk reflects on you. Make a distinction between formal and informal writing, even if it’s an email. Check your spelling. Twice. I reserve the right not to interview someone who asks me to give them a job based on their ‘exellent typography’ (sic). The modern designer has to be an illustrator, photographer, typographer and sub-editor, so make sure that, as a jack-of-all-trades, you’re master of at least one. As a designer, you’re the last defence against a sea of illiteracy that threatens to engulf the printed word. If you don’t think that typography matters, take a few minutes to try to pose a question visually without using a question mark. Not easy, is it? INFO Rob Coke is Creative Director of Output, www.studio-output.com

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HARDWARE Stay abreast of the latest art-enhancing technology

CANON’S NEW CAMCORDERS HARDWARE Canon’s quartet looks

ahead with industryleading optical zoom

OLYMPUS SHRINKS THE ZOOM Olympus has released the world’s smallest digital camera to feature a 10x zoom lens. The C-760 Ultra Zoom is a 3.2 megapixel model with an f2.83.7 lens system. The camera includes LCD viewfinder, USB2 output and movie mode with audio recording. Its sold only by Jessops, for £349.99. www.olympus.co.uk MORE GEFORCE FROM PNY Veteran video card maker, PNY, has enhanced its range of NVIDIA-based PC graphics cards with the Verto GeForce FX 5900 XT. It has top-of-therange DirectX9-compliant 390MHz GPU, 128MB of DDR memory, plus VGA, DVI and S-Video outputs. The RRP is £179.99. www.pny.com

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anon is launching four new 800K pixel digital camcorders, aimed at new DV users. Based on a lightweight palm design, the fifth generation MV700 offers higher spec, with the highest optical zoom ratios of any in this class. The basic MV700 and MV700i models offer 18x zoom. The MV730i spec is at 20x and the MV750 has impressive magnification of 22x. All boast 11-plus hours of continuous shooting power, a new audio filtering system, image stabilisation and glass-moulded optics for sharpness right across the frame. The top three models provide analogue input/conversion for compatibility with VCRs and older camcorders, while the MV730i and MV750 feature FireWire and USB outputs, PictBridge support, and capture of blur-free stills even while video footage is being taken. The latter includes a Super Night mode, with an LED for zero-light shoots. INFO www.canon.co.uk

LACIE GOES ONE BIGGER The strangely compact LaCie Bigger Disk is an external 1TB capacity drive capable of storing a huge amount of MPEG2 video. USB 2.0, FireWire 400 and dual FireWire 800 make it a far simpler proposition than a full RAID tower. An 800MB/s data transfer rate and 7200rm mechanism provide the muscle. The expected price is £699. www.lacie.com

CUSTOM SERVICE NOW OFFERED BY IMAGE LIBRARIES MEDIA Image collection companies work to

combat art déjà vu

I

RADEON STEPS UP TO G5 Designed for use with the Mac G5, ATI’s new Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Special Edition caters for the digital pro and serious gamer. The 380MHz card ships with 255MB of DDR memory, ADC and DVI connectors and OS X drivers. Its US RRP is $469. www.ati.com SONY’S LATEST NOTEBOOKS Sony has enhanced its VAIO notebook family. The entry-level 2.8GHz Celeronbased FR495EP, and the GRT995MP, are 2.8GHz P4-based; with a 3.2GHz P4 in the latter model. The GRT996VP and GRT996ZP also join the flagship line. They all offer wireless networking. Expect to pay around £1000, £1300, £1800 and £2600, respectively. www.sony-europe.com

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The Canon MV750 – one of a new range of digital camcorders.

Something different: commercial images now sell with Photoshop layers so that buyers can transform them.

mage collections invariably sacrifice flexibility for quality. But one particular title in Digital Vision’s latest DVD collection dares to be different. Transmission Central is the first collection of images for commercial use to provide individual Photoshop layers. It’s a move that enables purchasers to easily customise or transform the images, created by digital artist Enamul Hoque and photographer and Computer Arts contributor, Rod Steele. The entire 22-disc collection costs £649. The DVDs will also be priced individually. Image Source is another company attempting to change the state of play. With a new image licensing system it aims to make its artwork available exclusively for a limited time. Avoiding the usual rights management headaches, Easy Rights works through a simple online shop where purchasers buy image exclusivity for a particular territory and time period. “It’ll be most valuable to advertising and design firms working on high profile projects, where they need to guarantee an image is not being used by other agencies or competitors,” explains Ruth Ritzema, at Image Source. INFO www.digitalvision.com, www.imagesource.com

News

COMING SOON A CALENDAR OF ESSENTIAL RELEASES, EVENTS (AND WISHFUL THINKING) FOR ALL DIGITAL CREATIVES

MARCH

Computer Arts Projects 56 The Perfect Body issue goes on sale 4 March FreeHand MX 2004 Fingers crossed for a powerful upgrade with improved layout and enhanced printing features Computer Arts 95 On sale 18 March LightWave 3D 8 We’ll all be playing with the demo by now

APRIL

Semi-Permanent Second annual design event in Sydney and Auckland from DesignisKinky www.semipermanent.com Cinema 4D R9 Should be in beta testing right now Computer Arts Projects 57 On sale 1 April G5 PowerBooks Next-generation laptops now in early stages of production? Here’s hoping… Computer Arts 96 On sale 15 April

MAY

Painter 9 More brushes, canvases and bundled extras please! The Punisher John Travolta brings the comic hero to life on 7 May Computer Arts 97 On sale 13 May Blockbusting historical epic Troy, starring Brad Pitt and Eric ‘Hulk’ Bana, hits cinemas 21 May Computer Arts Projects 59 In newsagents from 27 May

JUNE

D&AD New design talent goes on show www.dandad.org Computer Arts 98 with free Graduate Showcase supplement – on sale 10 June Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban Goes on general release. CG galore from ILM, MPC and Framestore CFC Computer Arts Projects 60 On sale 24 June Adobe Creative Suite 2 In beta? Should be by now

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GRADUATE SHOWCASE 2004 EXPOSURE Your chance to show the design

world what you’ve got

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reat news for graduating students and course tutors everywhere – Computer Arts is now calling for entries to its eighth annual Graduate Showcase. Each year, we invite finalyear students at colleges and universities in Great Britain to team up with course mates and send in their work, to be featured in this exclusive and industry-renowned publication. The Graduate Showcase is seen by thousands of people inside the creative industry every year. It is not only included with UK newsstand copies of Computer Arts, but also mailed out to thousands of subscribers worldwide. This means your work could be seen on a truly global scale – how’s that for exposure? Entry is simple, with featured work grouped by college rather than individuals. Ask your tutor, or an organised student, to collate the best material produced by the current finalyear designers, animators and artists on your course, then send your submissions to us as carefully-labelled hi-res image files, video, animations, Websites or stills on CD-ROM before the deadline. Animation and video material will also be featured on the Computer Arts coverdisc. All entries will be considered for inclusion by the Computer Arts team and contributions by the 10 best institutions will be featured in detail. Nearly 60,000 people graduate from design-related courses all over the country each year – make sure this is the year you get noticed… ■ INFO Please email Computer Arts’ Editor Vicki Atkinson, on [email protected], for full details of file formats and how to submit your work. Flag ‘Graduate 2004’ as your email subject. The deadline for entries is Friday 16 April 2004.

Helen Silcock of Northumbria University created the illustration for last year’s Graduate Showcase supplement cover.

ILLUSTRATION BY DEREK LEA www.dereklea.com

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101 Photoshop tips

101 PHOTOSHOP TIPS So you want to save time and create better images? Then feast your eyes on our top 101 tips for Photoshop… Millions of people worldwide are using Photoshop for hundreds of reasons. Whether you boot up Adobe’s image-editor to retouch a photo, work on a collage, use its illustration tools, optimise an image for the Web or create a texture for a 3D model, being aware of all the great tools, shortcuts and features at your disposal can transform the way you carry out such tasks. So we asked a handful of experts who boot up Photoshop every single day to come up with a series of tips and tricks that have a direct effect on the quality of images and their workflow. There’s something within the next ten pages for everyone – in-house designers, re-touchers, 3D artists, illustrators, Web designers and home users. Our experts have provided advice on how

to use the app’s main tools, tips on using layers, colours and brushes, and how best to work with Web imagery and 3D models and textures. Readers who’ve upgraded to Photoshop CS will find insight on its new tools and features, but for everyone using version 7, or even 6, there’s plenty of essential advice for you, too. If you’ve got some tips or techniques that regularly save you time or create some interesting effects, then visit the Photoshop and 2D area in our online forums and share your ideas with other users! INFO The Computer Arts forums are at forum.computerarts.co.uk. Keyboard shortcuts are given for the Mac, with PC commands in brackets.

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PART 1 PHOTOSHOP TOOLS Photoshop’s tools are largely to be found on the main Tools palette, sometimes called the Toolbox. Although looking similar to the Tools palette that shipped with the first versions of Photoshop, the modern Toolbox is considerably more advanced. Most tools now pop out with a selection of related tools – the many Bézier manipulation tools that spring out from the Pen tools. for instance. Aside from a new Colour Replacement tool, Photoshop CS hasn’t added any much more functionality. However, cast the net a little wider and you’ll find improvements

have been made to some of the other tools and palettes beyond the Toolbox. For instance, one notable addition to the Filters menu is the Filter Gallery, which provides huge previews to a range of filters, enabling them to be combined before being applied to an image. Of course, for every new feature, such as Text on a path or Layer Comps, there are still the tried and trusted tools and palettes to help you produce amazing results with very little effort. INFO Expertise provided by Jason Arber, designer, illustrator and co-founder of www.pixelsurgeon.com

HISTORY PALETTE 1 The History palette (Window>History) is like the Undo command with bells on. This palette gives you the freedom to experiment safe in the knowledge that you can retrace your steps if you take the wrong creative path. The number of steps is user-defined and is only limited by the hard disk space available.

BLUR TOOL 2 The Blur tool from the Tools palette is invaluable for smoothing out detail and softening the edges of artwork in layers. By adjusting the brush size and strength, it can be used on an image to gradually give the impression of a narrow depth of field. You can selectively blur focused areas of the image for a convincing effect.

VECTOR SHAPES 3 Vector shapes from the Tool palette are ideal when you want to create round-cornered rectangles with a specific radius, polygons and other assorted shapes. The real beauty of vector shapes is that you can scale them up or down without losing edge definition, because they remain vectors. They can be filled with colour, used as masks or have styles applied to them.

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TEXT ON A PATH 4 There’s now no need to use Illustrator to create text on a path effects, since Photoshop CS offers you this ability. Use the Vector tools, such as the Pen tool, to create a work path (Window>Paths). Use the Text tool and position the baseline indicator over the path and click. You can now start typing. Text flows in the direction the points were created, but you can use the Direct Selection tool or the Path Selection tool to move text along the path or flip it.

PALETTE 5 IfNAVIGATOR you spend much of your time zoomed into your Photoshop documents, editing pixels and adjusting the fine detail, then the Navigator palette is the ideal way to move around your document, enabling you to zoom in and out with ease. The palette contains a thumbnail of the whole document, with a red View Box indicating the currently zoomed area. Click and drag the View Box to move to a different part of your document.

ACTIONS 6 The Actions palette (Window>Actions) can take the drudgery out of repetitive tasks by assigning a series of commands to a single button (or Function key) that can be played back on a single file or folder full of files. You can turn just about every Photoshop command into an Action, including modal controls that let you insert values into a dialog box. Actions also form the basis for batch-processing of files (File>Automate>Batch...) and the creation of Droplets, small apps that can be saved from Photoshop that perform batch operations on images dragged onto the relevant icon (File>Automate>Create Droplet...). You can record and save Actions on a test file or create them on a step-by-step basis by inserting menu commands into an Action. Either way, Actions are one of Photoshop’s most powerful features.

CREATING STYLES 7 Styles (Window>Styles) are grouped Layer Effects, such as Bevel and Drop Shadow, that you can save and apply to objects in layers. The default styles that ship with Photoshop and appear in the Styles palette are a mixed bag, but you can easily create your own by applying a variety of layer effects to a single object, to generate the desired effect. You click the New Style icon at the bottom of the Styles palette to create the new style. You can then rename the style for re-use on future layer objects.

101 Photoshop tips

REPLACING COLOURS 8 The one new significant addition to the Photoshop CS toolbox is the Colour Replacement tool. Found in the same tool flyout as the Healing and Patch tools, this offers a great solution for quickly, and interactively, changing the colour of part of your image without making selections and using Photoshop’s standard colour-correction toolset. The tool automatically detects boundaries, and settings can be tweaked in the Options bar.

TOOL PRESETS 9 Tool Presets enable you to save

THE LASSO TOOL 11 The Lasso tool from the Tools palette is a quick and dirty way to make selections. The default enables you to draw a shape which then becomes a ‘marching ants’ selection. More interesting are the Polygon Lasso tool, which creates straight-edged selections, and the Magnetic Lasso tool, which will snap to defined areas of the image, such as sharp changes in tone. The latter tool is great for quickly isolating an object from a plain background.

deceptively simple tool. It reads out several values for the mouse point as it hovers over an image. It can give you the RGB value of any pixel together with the CMYK, LAB or Web value. Usefully, if you’re a designer working in print, it can give you a total ink percentage, so you can ensure your image doesn’t exceed the total ink limit set by your printer.

LAYER COMPS 12 New to Photoshop CS, a Layer Comp is a

regularly used settings for any tool in the Tools palette. For example, if you were designing a Website that featured a lot of text set in 11 px Verdana with no anti-aliasing, you could create a preset that would save you having to manually select those settings each time. For each tool, set the features using the Option bar, then from the Tool Presets’ pop-out menu choose New Tool Preset.

snapshot of the current state of the Layers palette, which is great for saving different combinations of layers within a single document. This can be handy for saving various design concepts to show a client without the need for saving different Photoshop documents. To use it, click the New Layer Comp icon on the Layer Comps palette (Window>Layer Comps) and choose whether to save the visibility, position and appearance of the layers. Usefully, you can also annotate the Layer Comps.

FUN WITH BRUSHES 10 The Brushes palette (Window>Brushes)

MASK FILTER 13 UNSHARP Despite the name, which implies the very

offers a wealth of control over selected brushes and even enables you to create new brushes from scratch via the palette pop-out, or by editing the properties of existing brushes. At the bottom of the palette is a preview of the brush, which is updated dynamically as you edit the brush. Starting with a brush tip shape (which could be any image added via Edit>Define Brush Preset), you can alter the features of the brush, such as Noise, Scattering, Smoothness, Angle and Wet Edges. You can also save collections of brushes to load back in again at a later date or share among your friends.

INFO PALETTE 17 The Info palette (Window>Info) is a

opposite of sharpness, Photoshop’s Unsharp Masking (Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask) is a vital part of every digital artist’s arsenal. By locating pixels that differ in value from surrounding pixels by a specific value, you can increase contrast to sharpen your images.

SPONGE TOOL 14 The Sponge tool, in the Tools palette, is perfect for locally adjusting the saturation of colours in an image. The tool can increase or decrease the saturation of colour, depending on the choices made in the Options bar. You could use it to gradually remove the flush from the cheeks of a photographed model or make the eyes a more intense blue, for instance. In greyscale mode, the tool increases or decreases contrast.

LIQUIFY TOOL 15 Liquify (Filter>Liquify) is a fun group of tools that enable you to push and pull an image around as if it was made of goo. Although it could be perceived as a sledgehammer set of filters with few practical uses, it’s amazingly useful if you can restrain yourself to use it subtly. It can give photographs the appearance of a watery surface, build abstract images and create the effect of glossy, metallic reflections.

ABSTRACT TEXTURES 16 The Clouds and Fiber filters, tucked away in the Render part of the Filters menu (Filter>Render), are handy methods of creating interesting, abstract textures from any image. As the names suggest, Clouds create the wispy effect of clouds, while Fiber creates fur-like or wood grain textures. The filters take little information from the underlying image, using the resolution and Foreground and Background colours to determine the effect.

MEDIAN FILTER 18 The Median filter (Filter>Noise>Median) is a rarely used filter that creates a unique blurring and flattening effect. The Median filter is located in the Noise subcategory, because it reduces noise from an image by discarding pixels that differ too much from adjacent pixels and replacing them with median value pixels. The filter is great for creating a soft abstract feel, as shown. Visually, the effect is similar in some ways to that of the Lens Blur filter.

TRANSFORM 19 IfFREE you’ve ever had to replace an image on a TV screen or poster in a photograph, then you’ll really appreciate the benefits of the Free Transform tool – and, in particular, the Distort tool (Edit>Transform>Distort). This enables you to take an image, grab the corners and move them to match the corners of the image you’re replacing. It distorts the new image to match the perspective of the original. Although not true perspective, it works perfectly in most cases.

NOISE FILTER 20 The Noise Filter (Filter>Noise>Add Noise) has many uses, but is particularly good at solving two very practical problems. Blends, especially when converting from RGB to CMYK, can produce banding of colour. To remove this, apply a small amount of Gaussian Noise, which breaks up the banding, but not any of the detail. A second use is to create the impression of film grain, which is extremely useful when creating montages from a variety of sources. Digital imagery can appear too sharp when matted with a background scanned from a slide or negative, so use Gaussian Noise again to even out the difference and improve the composite.

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PART 2 ILLUSTRATION Photoshop’s beginnings may have been as a simple photo-manipulation tool, but now, thanks to eight increasingly powerful iterations, it enables you to create a wealth of styles from scratch, from pixel to vector to 3D and more. Layers, Brushes and Filters are some of the illustrator’s most used tools, so here’s a collection of tips aimed at improving your control of these essential features. Shortcuts are a staple part of any graphics software, so getting to grips with some of the

OUTSIDE COLOURS 21 Don’t struggle with your light grey background colour (in full-screen mode on the Mac). Simply change it when it is too bright or too dark. Choose Bucket Tool: G (Shift+G) from your Tool palette, then choose a colour, and finally Shift+Click on your background.

MOVING LAYERS 22 Move your layers around. To go up, use Cmd+] (Ctrl+]); to go down, use Cmd+[ (Ctrl+[). This is a useful trick when you have to work with textures, because it involves never-ending layer rotation. It’s great for trying new effects and getting inspiration.

COLOUR FILL 23 To fill layer/selection with foreground colour, use Option+Delete (Alt+Backspace). To fill layer/selection with background colour, use Cmd+Delete (Ctrl+Backspace) or open up the Fill dialog box, using Shift+Delete (Shift+ Backspace) instead of using the Bucket Tool when colouring your artwork.

BRUSH CONTROL 24 There are keyboard controls for your brushes. To size up and down your brushes, press [ or ]. To increase or decrease your brush hardness, Shift+[. For more options, press F5 to see the Brushes Palette. When illustrating using the pen, it’s also handy to use Shape Dynamics.

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keyboard tricks below can save you precious minutes with menus. For Photoshop CS users, all the keyboard shortcuts are fully customisable, so if you don’t like them, just re-configure at your leisure; it’s that simple. Once you’ve got to grips with all these, then keep reading future issues of Computer Arts and test them out on our illustration tutorials. INFO Tips supplied by Tom Arthur Opasinski, digital artist and Adobe Certified Expert, www.tom-arthur-opasinski.com

PERSONAL LIBRARY 25 Create your own library of textures and elements by taking pictures of everything around you, such as trees, water, raindrops, asphalt or whatever. Later, you can use them in your projects by changing blending mode, filters, adjustments, masking, and so on. Some textures may work pretty well with your illustrations, and they can save you time and money.

TIDY PALETTES 26 To organise your palettes more effectively, use Shift+Drag or Shift+Click (on titlebars) to snap them to the screen edge. If your monitor size is restricted, it’s important to keep your working area clean and efficient – organise all palettes and keep your drawing area clear. You can use the Tab key to turn off all palettes – when drawing long lines, for example. A second monitor could be a wise investment if space is proving too tight.

OPACITY 27 WORKAROUND Change the Fill/Flow when you cannot change the opacity of a layer or layer set (because of layer effects, for example). To set Layer Fill or Brush Flow, type: Shift+1 for 10 per cent, Shift+5 for 50 per cent, and so on.

101 Photoshop tips

COMIC COLOURING 28 When colouring a greyscale picture, use Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Gradient Map instead of using a colour-filled layer on Colour Blending Mode, then simply mask unwanted areas. This is useful when colouring comic book art. A few gradients can give a colourful spectrum and can be easily modified.

THROUGH THE LENS 29 Instead of Blur, use Filter>Blur>Lens Blur to achieve more realistic results. This filter becomes handy when illustration requires more depth. In just a few seconds, you can achieve a camera look on your backgrounds or very close foregrounds and keep the focus point where you want it.

MENU VIEWING 30 Don’t you miss your menu bar in fullscreen mode? Just press Shift+F. It’s useful if you don’t know the shortcuts to many options, but want to keep a black background.

USER DISRUPTIONS 31 Save your workspace/palette locations when sharing your computer at home or work. Use Window>Workspace>Save Workspace. Every time somebody messes with your palettes, simply select your own workspace and you’re ready to go in no time.

QUICK EXIT 32 You’re done for today and going home? Close all open documents at once by holding: Cmd+Option+W (Ctrl+Alt+W). Don’t forget to save changes. Type S for Save, C for cancel and D for Don’t Save.

QUICK CAPS 36 Toggle all selected type as uppercase by using Cmd+Shift+K (Ctrl+Shift+K) when you simply don’t want to retype all those words again.

TEXTURES TIP 37 Change Blend Mode, fast – use Shift++ (plus plus) or Shift+- (plus minus) to change Blend Modes. These shortcuts work for Painting Tool [B] and when Move Tool [V] is active. This is a great shortcut when working with textures.

TYPE SELECTION 38 Hide the selection when type is selected by

FAST MOVES 39 To toggle between open documents, use Ctrl+Tab (Ctrl+F6) and Ctrl+Shift+Tab (Ctrl+Shift+F6). You can open sketches, backgrounds and small elements in separate files with this handy shortcut.

CHECKING 40 WEB BUTTONS To flip between Photoshop and ImageReady, hit Cmd+Shift+M (Ctrl+Shift+M) or go to File>Jump to. This is useful when drawing navigation buttons and stylish menus – and means you can check right away how your design looks in the Internet browser.

using Cmd+H (Ctrl+H). Conveniently, this shortcut works with all kinds of selections, too – it’s good to use it with type, when browsing fonts or working on kerning, for example.

LINK TWO LAYERS 33 Group the active layer with the layer below by using Cmd+G (Ctrl+G) From now on, adjustments apply only to this linked layer. To ungroup layers, press Cmd+Shift+G (Ctrl+Shift+G). It’s that simple.

LASSO TRICKS 34 The Lasso is a useful trick to draw any selection beyond your working space (canvas). Hold the Option (Alt) key, if there is something that needs to be selected, without having to move a whole layer back and forth. To activate Lasso, simply hit L.

SOFT EDGES 35 Feather your selection edges by using Cmd+Option+D (Ctrl+Alt+D) to generate soft transitions between selected and unselected areas. You can also apply this effect to selections by going to Select>Feather and choosing a Feather radius.

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COLOUR MATCHING 46 Do you find it hard to match colours?

PART 3 PHOTO-MANIPULATION The digital camera boom of the last two years has brought with it a sudden desire for both enthusiasts and professional photographers to know more than just how to correct red eye or make the best of their digital zoom. This could only be good news for the likes of Adobe, Jasc, Corel and ACD Systems – many improvements to Photoshop, Elements, Paint Shop Pro, PhotoPaint and Canvas have been

aimed at these users as a result. So open up those images on your hard drive that you’ve been meaning to clean up for months and follow a few of the tips below. In addition to giving advice on colour-matching and improving skin tones, we preview the effects of filters and provide some invaluable shortcuts. INFO Tips supplied by Tom Arthur Opasinski, digital artist and Adobe Certified Expert, www.tom-arthur-opasinski.com

BLUR OR SHARPEN? 47 Decide which to use, by switching

ADDING WARMTH 41 Make warmer looking pictures, using

between the two. Hold down the Option (Alt) key while using the Blur or Sharpen tool [R]. This is a useful option when retouching faces. Some elements have to be blurred and some sharpened. Hair, lips and eyes each have different requirements.

Photoshop CS’s new Photo filter. Go to Layer>New Adjustment Layer>Photo Filter. Warming Filter 85, for example, is a useful tool when working with skin tone shades. This filter makes skin look more healthy. Usually, Density in this Adjustment layer stays between 5 and 15 per cent. In unwanted areas, mask it by painting onto the linked Layer mask.

HAIR MASKS 48 When masking hair, use a very small brush with Shape Dynamics and between 5 and 10 per cent opacity, on mask. Press F5 to check Shape Dynamics status.

ADDING WARMTH II 42 You can also make warmer-looking pictures the old school way – i.e. before Photoshop CS. Make a new layer and fill it with a golden orange colour: Edit>Fill>Use>Colour. Then change the layer’s Blending mode to Overlay, using Layer>Layer Style>Blending Options>Blend Mode> Overlay. Set the opacity of this layer to between 5 and 15 per cent.

DIALLING 43 ASPEED few useful Fast Tool switching shortcuts can help you become more efficient – after all, it’s vital to sustaining your workflow. Move tool V Brush tool B Marquee tool M Horizontal Type T Eraser tool E Clone Stamp tool S Gradient tool G

USE LAYER MASKS 49 You can use most of your filters NOISY LAYERS 44 What do 50 per cent Grey Fill and Noise Filter have in common? They’re both often used to add a ‘noisy’ layer (key art, for example). Create a new layer via Cmd+Option+Shift+N (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N). Fill it with 50 per cent Grey using Shift+Delete>Use: 50 per cent Grey (Shift+Backspace> Use: 50 per cent Grey). Go to Filter>Noise>Add Noise. About 3-6 per cent, Uniform, Monochromatic is enough, but try with colour. Change Layer Blending mode to Overlay: Option+Shift+O [Alt+Shift+O]. Now almost every element below this layer has this same gain.

SWITCHING 45 ACOLOUR fast and simple switch for background to foreground colours is to type X. Also, D brings up Default Colours – black and white. This is very useful when you’re masking and unmasking.

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Whether you just want to add your mate’s face to somebody’s body or have problems creating skin tone, here’s how to achieve a realistic look. Open the body picture, make a new layer and paste your friend’s face into it. Resize/rotate it if necessary. Go to Image>Adjustments>Match Colour. Choose a Source – your_file_name.psd (or other file). Choose the layer from where the colour samples will be taken (mostly Background). Hit OK and in most cases you’re done with colour matching. Now you need to mask unwanted elements. You may also select an area from where you want Photoshop to sample colours (source image).

(Sharpen, Blur, Noise, etc) and adjustments (Levels, Curves, etc) on a Layer Mask. Many people forget or don’t realise that filtering a mask may save a lot of time and, more importantly, the picture stays untouched.

101 Photoshop tips

MASK LAYER SETS 50 Use masks on Layer Sets by clicking on the Layer Mask Icon (second left on the bottom of Layer Palette or F7). As with the Layer Mask tip (tip 9 above), you may use some filters and adjustments.

LIGHT AND SHADOW 53 Control the shadows and highlights in your work more effectively by using Image> Adjustments>Shadow/Highlight, new to Photoshop CS. Turn on Preview for better control.

MERGING LAYERS 51 Merge all visible layers into one layer by using Cmd+Option+Shift+E (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) without having to flatten your image.

LIGHTENING FEATURES 52 To lighten the areas around the eyes, lips or nose, just paint white with a big brush size, using between 5 and 10 per cent opacity, on Overlay Layer Blending Mode. You can use Clone Stamp to remove wrinkles, but this effect may give you a ‘ray of light’ on dark elements. This image shows an eye, overdone to illustrate the technique.

LAYER NAMING 54 Yeah, yeah, we say it every time, but name your layers (double-click on Layer Name). This makes it easier and faster to navigate in large or complicated projects, and simpler to select the right layer, via Ctrl+Click (Right+Click) on canvas. It’s also a good habit, appreciated by everybody who has to work with your files after you’re done.

LOST IN LAYERS 55 Get into the habit of showing the only active layer by using the Option+Eye Icon (Alt+Eye Icon). Use it again to show all of them. This will save you time checking and unchecking 1454 layers.

EMERGENCY 56 Use F12 (File>Revert) if something has gone drastically wrong with your masking, retouching or transforming – for example, if your History States, in Preferences, is set very low (perhaps at just ten steps, to preserve memory) and you haven’t taken snapshots in your History Palette.

CLEAN UP 58 Make your files smaller and save some memory for other operations by using Edit>Purge from time to time.

BRUSH EXPERIMENTS 59 To change the opacity of a layer or brush, just type 0 for 100 per cent, 1 for 10 per cent, 2 for 20 per cent, and so on. You can also type numbers in for speed: 11 per cent, 56 per cent, etc… This shortcut improves accuracy when a job has to be done by numbers.

PREVIEW 60 InFILTER Photoshop CS, a fast way to determine which filter is best for a job is to go to Filter>Filter Gallery and preview all kinds of filters in one handy panel. Hit Return to use the chosen filter. If you’re a beginner, this option saves you a lot of time. If you’ve worked with Photoshop for a few years, it’s yet another useful shortcut to speed up your workflow.

VOICE-OVERS 57 Record important notes in your PSD file by using the Audio Annotation tool and a microphone, so that others (finishers, art directors or designers) know what to do with your file afterwards – you can append the notes to particular layers or other parts of the image. Press Shift+N to toggle between the Audio Annotation tool and the Notes tool.

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PART 4 FOR THE WEB Ever since the launch of Photoshop 5.5 way back in 1999, when ImageReady was fully integrated with the app, Adobe’s image-editor has become a fundamental application within the professional Web designer’s toolbox. The ability to effectively optimise and create Web content straight from the Photoshop environment has led to the title being held in high regard from all walks of online design. Although some of the core features found in ImageReady, such as the Slice tool and the essential Save for Web feature, have been adopted by Photoshop itself, Adobe has been intelligent enough to keep the distinction between the

complementary applications. This avoids the over complication of the interface for regular graphic or print designers, who would inevitably find more dedicated features to be redundant. The latest generation of Photoshop certainly holds a few more features for the Web designer, making the creation and preparation of Web graphics easier and more efficient than ever. The following tips should give you some idea of what you can expect. INFO Tips supplied by Chris Schmidt, Web designer and journalist, www.track5.co.uk

PRECISION SLICING 62 To accurately measure dimensions for your layout slices, which determine the way your design is cut into its component graphics, make use of Photoshop guides by dragging these from the ruler via View>Rulers. You can measure their position precisely by specifying dimensions using the Marquee tool options. Choosing Fixed Size from the Style dropdown enables you to specify the width and height dimensions of your marquee before snapping the guides and slices into place.

SELECTING OBJECTS 63 ImageReady now provides a more intuitive method for selecting content. With the Select tool active, you can click directly on an object within your layout to activate the relevant layer. If you also hold down the Shift key, multiple objects become active. This might cause confusion if you’re more familiar with Photoshop’s methods, because you now need to click and drag directly on a layer’s content before it can be moved; otherwise, you simply end up moving the layer beneath the cursor.

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ImageReady, you’ll notice that intelligent guide markings appear automatically on your work. These are very handy – helping you position elements accurately against existing content. They’re also useful for positioning content and designs that rely strongly on HTML tables, without you having to rely on complex guides that may detract from the overall layout. A ghost image of the layer being moved becomes available, so you can compare positions before applying the change.

FLASHTASTIC 68 Another key export option that is

SAVE FOR WEB 61 This popular feature remains largely unchanged in Photoshop CS, although it is now possible to jump straight into ImageReady directly from the Save for Web interface, via the relevant button at the foot of the dialog screen. This considerably improves your workflow, as any settings configured within the Save for Web dialog are automatically transferred to Photoshop’s sister application within a single click action.

SMART GUIDES 67 As you move objects around using

ANTICIPATING 64 DOWNLOAD TIMES With the rise in broadband connectivity, you need to be aware of how long your graphics will take to download over various connection speeds. Make use of the contextual menu within the Save for Web dialogue to gauge this. You’ll see the relevant requirements become available at the foot of the preview pane. You can also have a preview of the optimised results within the browser, by using the dropdown list at the foot of the interface.

EXPORT OPTIONS 65 Exporting artwork from ImageReady CS (File>Export) is now much improved, with separate support for saving layers, animation frames and even data sets as individual files. Each option prompts its own particular dialog settings, making it easier for you to determine the preferences for the exported file, so you can optimise the output to best suit its intended target.

LOSE THE GUIDES 66 Once you’ve made changes in ImageReady, you may need to return to Photoshop to carry out further amendments. To remove slice markings, and so forth, simply use Cmd+H (Ctrl+H). To get rid of guidelines, use Cmd+; (Ctrl+;).

introduced to ImageReady CS is for the Macromedia Flash SWF format. As Flash doesn’t recognise native Photoshop PSD files, the only such artwork that can be introduced into the vector application is via QuickTime, which will automatically flatten the image. Using this export option, which is only found within ImageReady, you can now save your bitmap layout into a format that Flash can easily import, while retaining the independence of each of the layers that can be assigned as individual library symbols.

101 Photoshop tips

ELASTIC TABLES 69 ImageReady CS now enables you to designate individual table cells, using absolute pixel or relative percentage dimensions. This means you can choose to create page layouts that expand or contract dynamically, depending on a user’s browser dimensions, as well as specifying fixed dimensions for more precise layouts. Add to this the ability to determine whether slicing favours colspan or rowspan and you start to see how creating base Web pages directly from your image editor becomes much more efficient.

WEB CONTENT PALETTE 73 This new palette within ImageReady is all set to improve the way you create and edit interactive Web content, such as rollover images and image maps. It should become as indispensable as your layer palette, providing an overview of the individual components that your page comes to rely upon. With a design sliced into individual graphic elements, you can now use the new palette to define actions such as links or rollover behaviours from a central point, as well as grouping related sections into nested tables. This way, you can start to experiment with the elastic table concept – within your layout, for example.

OPTIMISED VIEW 74 ImageReady can be compared to working

ENHANCED ACTIONS 70 Actions have long been a crucial component of both Photoshop and ImageReady for anyone working with batch images and processing – and the Insert Stop Action must be among the most often used command. ImageReady CS takes things one step further with the Insert Conditional command, which you can now use to determine whether specified criteria are met before an Action continues. Expand an action from the palette and highlight the specific command where you want to insert the conditional, and select the command from the Action palettes submenu.

ROLLOVER STATES 71 Thanks to the new Web Content palette, it now becomes much more intuitive to define imagery for use in a button‘s rollover state. With the state created in the palette, you can drag the icon to the left of the state layer onto the corresponding image to associate the Action. It’s an elegant solution.

INTERFACE 72 ORGANISATION The Web Content palette (see tip 73) in ImageReady has undergone some minor revisions when it comes to the Slice and Image Map palettes. As the palette is now grouped separately with the new Table tab, the palette uses a more contextual principal for editing content. Simply select a slice and make the necessary amendments through the new palette grouping.

within a much enhanced version of Photoshop’s Save for Web feature, while having many of Photoshop’s core tools and features at your disposal. Use the tabs at the head of the canvas to preview your work in real-time and compare the optimised imagery with the original.

BE SMART WITH 78 SMART GUIDES Image mapping is another ImageReady feature that is particular to the Web designer and not found within Photoshop. Image maps have long been supported by the title, although they now take on Smart Guide behaviours. However, if you’re resizing a shape to match the layout design, be sure to drag the sides that correspond to the guides you hope to match the object to – as the active border will prompt the smart guides and help with your pinpoint placement.

SOFTWARE 79 PREFERENCES Just as Photoshop’s Preference dialog is essential for the way the software operates, so too is the equivalent function within ImageReady. Don’t assume, though, that the Preference options in ImageReady will mirror the main title’s, as these provide important settings that enable you to best control the appearance of slices and image maps. For example, if you find you’re distracted by the default numbers and symbols that are visible with created slices or image maps, then a quick trip here will make things much clearer.

VIEWS 75 AMULTIPLE feature of ImageReady that you may overlook if you’re more familiar with working in Photoshop is the option to preview optimised variations on your original artwork. At the head of the canvas, you’ll find tabs that enable you to view such variations, to give you a real-time display of how any changes you apply to your original artwork may be rendered in the optimised version. If your screen size permits, keep at least the 2-Up view open, so you can anticipate any potential conversion problems at the outset.

BUTTONS AND TABS 76 As the Web becomes more established, certain design elements are finding themselves intrinsically linked as interface objects. Creating the basic round-cornered button or tab shape may have previously required a little modification of the standard shape tool, but ImageReady CS now incorporates dedicated tools, for just such a purpose, within the actual toolbar. This automates their initial creation.

UNIFYING LAYERS 77 One overlooked feature in ImageReady is Unify’s options, found at the head of the Layers palette. Normally, you’ll find any edits apply only to the frame or state currently active. However, by making use of the various Unify options, you can apply changes to, say, all states in a rollover and all frames of an animation.

RIGHT CLICK 80 The act of right-clicking on the canvas provides many more practical functions than in Photoshop. Different variations are available depending on the selected tool. For example, you can quickly create layer-based slices and image maps with the Move tool selected, or take full control over your text formatting through the Type tool.

PALETTE SUBMENUS 81 Although most of the more immediate tools and features are available through the various palettes or menu options, it can be all too easy to forget about the palette submenus. Toward the right-hand side of the head of the palettes, you’ll see a small triangle within a circle. Click this to expand more specific options relating to the individual palettes – you’ll soon discover a few more functions that may have been overlooked previously.

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A 87 TILING PANORAMIC IMAGE To complete this kind of panorama, you need to tile your image horizontally to remove the seam where both sides meet up. To do this, use the Offset filter set to half the image size and 0 Vertical offset so that the edges of the image are centred. Next, paint out (and colour correct if necessary) the seam by using a combination of the Snapshot tool and Healing brush. Offset the image back using a negative amount, if desired.

PART 5 3D DESIGN Not just limited to 2D illustration, Photoshop is a serious aid to the 3D artist, too. With the new panoramic stitching tool, you can save time by letting Photoshop CS do most of the back-breaking work, leaving you to do just a little cleaning up. Then there’s the non-destructive Pixel Aspect Viewer tool, which enables you to view the image as it’s meant to be seen on the target screen. This saves time because you don’t have to pipe the

THE IMAGE 82 AGEING The ability to load in Filmstrips is a most underused feature in Photoshop. (Premiere can output frames as a Filmstrip if your 3D package doesn’t support it.) One great technique is to ‘age film’ by adding scratches to it, by creating marks right down the strip to give the impression of decaying celluloid. Also, try dropping the levels of one channel in a vertical slice of the filmstrip, to suggest weathering, or even use a grunge brush to suggest damaged film.

images/animation to the screen for testing. Advanced colour correction, meanwhile, helps you tweak your CG elements to match your background plate, increasing productivity. So here they are – 20 top tips on tools and processes that’ll benefit 3D artists the most… INFO Expertise provided by Pete Draper, 3D artist and animator, www.xenomorphic.co.uk

PANORAMIC 85 STITCHING IMAGES TOGETHER Next, the resulting images for the panorama can be either manually placed and distorted to fit, or created using Photoshop CS’s new Photomerge feature, which will overlap and stitch the images together. However, this feature is not completely perfect and some fading between images may be apparent. You may, therefore, need to manually cut and paste (or use the Snapshot tool) some of the source images into the new (flattened) image to remove such fading.

83 DEGRADING THE IMAGE Unless you want your renders completely crisp, remove that CG feel by degrading the render a little. This can normally be done in post-production, in your 3D application, but Photoshop handles it better. Double the size of the image, add a little Gaussian Blur to the render... 0.5 to 1 should suffice (depending on the size of the image) and add a slight amount of Gaussian Noise to break up any steep contrast and bring the size back down to its original setting.

PANORAMIC 84 FIXING EXPOSURES If you’ve taken a panorama of, say, a cloud formation, and forgotten to lock the exposure while taking the image, all is not lost. By using the new Match Colour feature (or by tweaking the levels and/or brightness and contrast), you can match up the exposure in Photoshop CS. For best results, work in layers in one large canvas, rather than on separate images.

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MATCHING 88 GRAIN Currently, Photoshop’s grain management is limited to a few simple settings such as Amount and Intensity. Chances are that the grain on the backplate you’re trying to match is of a different size and may have more red, blue or green. Therefore add a new layer (masked using the opacity of the CG layer) and flood fill it with a mid-grey. Change the layer blending type to Overlay or Soft Light (some slight tinting will occur which should be rectified) and apply the Film Grain (or Noise) filter at the right intensity. Now you can adjust the levels for the noise to make it more red, blue or green, and also resize it.

AS 89 PHOTOSHOP A COMPOSITOR If you don’t have access to extra compositing software, such as After Effects or combustion, you can use Photoshop as a ‘poor man’s’ compositor. The entire animation sequence can be composited by recording an Action, then finishing off with a flattened image. Perform a test run on a different frame to ensure all runs smoothly; if not, insert a stop or two in the Action sequence so you can re-record the offending item. Finally, batch-process the entire sequence – not forgetting to output to a new folder, so as not to overwrite the originals!

CORRECTION 90 COLOUR In addition to compositing your

A 86 REMOVING CYLINDRICAL MAP PINCH As you’re likely to apply this kind of panorama to a hemispherical object that encompasses the entire scene, you’d be wise to use cylindrical mapping. But this creates a ‘pinch’ at the very top of the hemisphere. To remove this, apply a Polar Coordinates filter, set to Rectangular to Polar, and paint out the pinch in the middle of the resulting image. Finally, apply a Polar Co-ordinates filter set to Polar to Rectangular, to put the image back and apply the resulting panorama to the hemisphere.

animation onto backplates and adding foreground plates, Photoshop can be used to colour correct an entire sequence, via simple colour replacement. By using the Replace Colour tool (see tip 8), an entire sequence’s colours can be amended should the client change their mind on a colour scheme. You can also adjust the entire range, adding contrast and slight desaturation to match a background layer, record it in an action and apply it to the whole sequence.

101 Photoshop tips

TO A 91 RENDERING SPECIFIC PRINT SIZE Even though many 3D applications will render out to 300dpi, getting the final pixel size for a specific print canvas is more difficult to determine, as there is often no physical canvas size (in mm, for example). Therefore, create a blank canvas in Photoshop at 300dpi to the correct dimensions (including bleed if necessary) and note down the width and height pixel settings to input into your 3D program. Even if you have to render out at 72dpi, you can still drop the image directly into the 300dpi canvas without any tweaking – simply Copy and Paste straight in.

ASPECT RATIOS 92 PIXEL Photoshop CS now includes the ability to display different pixel aspects. This is ideal if you’re a 3D artist who renders for production. Although this is simply a temporary viewing tool (it’s not saved with the image), it does give a good interpretation of what the final image will look like on-screen. This is ideal when using Photoshop as a compositor, as you can constantly check the final image output, instead of having to second-guess the result.

AND 93 TOON EDGE EFFECTS If your 3D application does not have a toon shader, you can create flat toonshaded images by amending the image in Photoshop. Render out a standard shaded image from your 3D application and apply a Poster Edges filter. This works to a certain degree, but if you need finer detailed lines, render out another pass with alternating colours for each object and set them to 100 per cent self-illumination. Drop this render into your composite, set its layer blending type to Multiply and apply a Find Edges filter to ‘draw out’ the lines. Now desaturate the results.

32-BIT TARGA PROBLEMS 95 Some 3D applications enable you to render out 32-bit TGAs (images which contain an alpha channel), which makes for easy compositing. Thing is, Photoshop 7 takes this 32-bit image and makes the transparent alpha parts of the image completely transparent. The alpha channel is ditched, so if you have rendered onto a backplate (which is not included in the alpha channel), this will be lost. Thankfully, Adobe has rectified this problem in Photoshop CS – you can now render out 32-bit TGA files instead of having to use a different format or render off two images (a standard render and an 8-bit alpha image).

DEGRADATION 96 TEXTURE No surface is perfect. Depending on location and usage, surfaces become grimy and damaged over time – especially painted metal. To create a map to reflect this, set your brush’s width setting to pressure (if you’re using a Wacom or equivalent tablet) and add scratches. Use a large patterned brush to add large chips in paintwork. Export the resulting painted black and white mask as a bitmap, so it can be used as a bump map in your 3D program, and it will control reflections and specularity (or simply to mix two different materials together – one with our original (slightly dirtied) surface, and the other with the bare worn-down metal).

It’s been possible to render out 16-bit images for a some time, but only now can you play around with them properly in Photoshop. Due to the high number of colours available, you can get better levels and less banding artefacts when performing colour adjustments for print-resolution images.

100 DEPTH OF FIELD EFFECTS Create attractive depth-of-field effects on your renders by duplicating the original image several times and performing varying degrees of Gaussian Blur on each layer, ranging from, say, 30 to 1. Halve each Gaussian Blur setting (e.g. 30, 15, 7.5). Finally, add a gradient layer mask to each blurred layer so that the less blurred layers are more opaque in the foreground. The best way to arrange these layers would be the most blurred at the bottom of the layer set and the least at the top, so you have an overlaid effect which also gives you more control when designing the layer masks. Instead of using Gaussian Blur, why not try using the new Lens Blur feature?

97 REMOVING COLOUR TINTS When using atmospheric effects such as fogging, or when using Global Illumination or faked GI, your render may be overly tinted. To rectify this, take the render into Photoshop and adjust the levels a little to equal them out. Alternatively, apply Auto Levels and blend it with the original (using Fade Auto Levels after applying), so that some of the original effect and contrast shines through. Alternatively, make a clone of the layer, apply Auto Levels to it and adjust its transparency.

BLOOM 98 SPECULAR We can add specular bloom as a post effect, again completely automated using Actions, by duplicating the layer, changing its blending type to Screen, clamping off the levels of the layer copy so that we have a harsh transition from dark to light (with very little light visible) and blurring the result. Depending on the result, you may want to drop the opacity of the layer a little.

UP 94 CLEANING BAKED TEXTURES

IMAGE 99 16-BIT HANDLING

101 FISH-EYE LENS EFFECTS Open up the image you want to distort, duplicate it, then create a white to black Radial Gradient from the centre (white) to beyond the edges of the canvas (black) so that the edge colours are a mid to dark grey. Save this duplicate as a .psd file and apply the Distort>Glass filter. Load in the saved psd file into this filter to distort the image and, ensuring the scaling is on 100 per cent, crank up the Distortion. You may need to apply the filter another couple of times depending on the size of your image!

If you have baked out textures for real-time 3D (or simply to save render time), you’ll need to clean up some of the resulting textures to rid them of artefacts. The finer details of original (now baked) textures may be occluded, so rebuild these in Photoshop by working on a larger version of the baked texture and resizing it down. Alternatively, bake out a larger version, amend as necessary and resize the tweaked textures to bring them down to a manageable size for the game engine to handle.

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NEXT MONTH

SIX FR E COMMERE CIA FONTS L ON YOUR CD-ROM FR OM CAPE-ARCON A

GUEST FONT SHOWCASE Thomas Schostok and Stefan Claudius, the self-styled King and President of Cape-Arcona, explain the ideas behind their font CA Prologue Cape-Arcona is a nice little spot in the southern part of the northern hemisphere. It once was a poor little country with not much more to offer than beaches, sun and crispy girls. But then it was bought up by

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Thomas Schostok and Stefan Claudius, two fontmillionaires, who declared themselves its King and President and started an exploding font industry. That was a year ago. Now Cape-Arcona fonts are found

across the globe – CA Prologue is one of their latest. “It was intended to be a post-modern typewriter font, great for posters and headlines,” says Schostok. “It was derived from a suggestion for a logo for a software company. It was rejected and they chose another type, but as we believed in the quality of the letters, we made it a font and now you can prove that your taste is better than that software company’s!” INFO www.cape-arcona.com

Evolve >

Your work. Your way. Introducing 3ds max 6. “Crazy and challenging—that’s what the visual effects business is. As a visual effects supervisor, I find 3ds max irreplaceable in our pipeline. It provides a multitude of approaches to our complex challenges, the flexibility to support our own scripts and pipeline tools, and customization capabilities to shape it into whatever we need. 3ds max allows our artist’s to personalize the way they work, yet maintain studio-wide standardization. With 3ds max, we’re able to stay sane and deliver on-time against the high-paced insanity.” ®

Check out Ben’s 3ds max work and sign up to get a free 30-day trial of 3ds max at www.discreet.com/evolve.

3ds max /ben Visual Effects Supervisor, Founder Ben Girard Studio Digital Dimension Awards Four time Emmy Award winner Focus Motion Pictures Visual Effects Elf, November ‘03 The Last Samurai, December ‘03 Freddy vs. Jason Duplex Final Destination II Reign of Fire Mr. Deeds

Broadcast Effects and Design Alias, ABC TBS SuperStation Pepsi World Cup Ad Nascar, FOX NFL, FOX Super Bowl XXXVI Super Bowl XXXIII

Discreet is a division of Autodesk, Inc. Autodesk, Discreet, and 3ds max are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk Inc./Autodesk Canada Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. ©Copyright 2003 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

L

“OUR ULTIMATE GOAL IS TO PREPARE STUDENTS TO SUCCEED IN THE INDUSTRY. WHILE MASTERY OF CUTTING-EDGE SOFTWARE IS NECESSARY, WE PUT AS MUCH EMPHASIS ON PROCESS, PLANNING AND THE FUNDAMENTALS OF GOOD DESIGN”

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ike a shot of tequila, a conversation with Stephen Webster, Head of Interactive Media at Vancouver Film School (VFS), can go straight to your head. His enthusiasm and passion for making this course the best of its kind anywhere in the world is intoxicating. If you can walk away without a dizzy desire to sign up on the dotted line, then you’re tougher than most. The course (full title Interactive Media for Communication and Game Design) encompasses all types of interactive media – Web, DVD, interactive film, games and wireless devices – and follows the general waste-not, want-not philosophy that drives VFS. That is, don’t waste your time on a three-year course when you can learn what you want in one year. All VFS courses – including film production, 3D animation and scriptwriting – are carefully crafted, one-year intensive training programs. “No-one else in the world is doing what we’re doing,” says Webster, “the pace is phenomenal. We take in starters every eight weeks and have people graduating every eight weeks.” For students, this means less time out of the job market and living on beans. It also helps the school keep aligned with developments out in the real world. “VFS is a privately run school, so we can change things on the edge of a knife,” says Webster. After ten years working in the private

sector (see boxout, Talk About The Passion, over the page), he knows that “change is the one constant.” So it’s no surprise that the Interactive Media course has evolved to reflect a decade of twists and turns in industry and technology. Originally launched in 1994 as the school’s Multimedia program, it later became the New Media course before Webster yanked it into the new millennium. It’s not only fair but right to say that its current high profile is down to his vision. After only a year in the job, he’s overhauled the course and shifted its focus from merely learning software to concentrating on processes and practicalities.

INDUSTRY PARTNERS “Our ultimate goal is to prepare students to succeed in the industry,” says Webster. “While mastery of cutting-edge software is necessary, we put as much emphasis on process, planning and the fundamentals of good design. Being able to use software is one thing; being able to use it to your advantage when creating real design solutions is another matter entirely.” To keep it real, VFS works hard to establish meaningful relationships with industry players that go beyond mere handholding. Take Blast Radius, for example. This successful company delivers unique interactive solutions for clients such as Nike, Nintendo and

Feature

RSHIP WIN A SCHOLAilm to Vancouver F 26,000 USD School worth $ Turn to page 37

INSIDE INTERACTIVE MEDIA AT VFS

VFS Interactive Media aims to be always fresh and relevant to the needs of the real world. “Success or failure is not whether the person will get the job but whether they will hire us in five years’ time,” says Department Head Stephen Webster. So why is the course causing such a stir? A scholarship to this exciting and forward-thinking institution will help you find out...

BMW. It was founded by four VFS Multimedia graduates in 1996 and has kept ties with the school ever since. However, the reworked Interactive Media course has sparked a more enthusiastic relationship and brought the two much closer together. The company sets up realistic mock client briefs, teaches students the realities of the industry and provides valuable feedback on the syllabus. “The course offers a great curriculum that’s well-structured and takes a good social, artistic, stylistic and technical approach,“ says Amber Bezahler, Director of User Experience. “Students can go deep into different disciplines in the later stages and are able to focus on specific industries. This tailored approach is amazing – you don’t see it anywhere else.” For example, says Bezahler, someone who is suited to work at Blast Radius is likely to be different from someone who’d work at Electronic Arts. “Our projects typically last between three weeks and four months,” she explains. “At Electronic Arts, you’re more likely to have a project that lasts a year and a half. Sometimes students don’t understand these sort of time-lines.” The industry-centric approach of the Interactive Media course has clearly helped Blast Radius locate the kind of high calibre (and qualified) candidates they were struggling to find before in the local market place. Take

the story of Rodrigo Gomez-Tagle, for instance. This student graduated only last June and started work as an interface developer for Blast Radius in August. Only 22 when he began the course, GomezTagle spent three years Web designing in Mexico before he made the leap of faith and headed north to Vancouver. “It was a risky move because it was a lot of money,” he reflects. “I was afraid I’d be learning things that I knew already.” The VFS course appealed because it meant he’d only be off work for a year. The client group work, where students commit themselves to a real project for a real client, also interested him. “That was the most beneficial thing,” he recalls. He helped develop a kid-friendly interactive exhibition for the Gulf Of Georgia Cannery – a local museum dedicated to showing what life was like in the old heydays of its cannery operation. “It was very intense and a lot of work,” says Gomez-Tagle, “but we delivered a good project that the client was really happy with. The best bit was watching the faces of the kids when they saw it – they were just amazed.”

A still shot from Todd Denis’s Flash project, Grid, an exercise in grid structure and colour play, created using Flash and Photoshop.

ANYONE, ANYTIME Gomez-Tagle graduated with students from Canada, Pakistan, Columbia and Japan – typical of the broad cultural mix to be found at VFS. Similarly, there’s a wide range of ages,

A still from Francisco Outon’s Cachapers Sound System, a Flash site that promotes his band.

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A group of students worked on a site redesign for Gallery Gachet as part of a real-life client project.

with students in their early twenties through to their mid-fifties. The reasons for choosing the course are just as varied. Some creative types want to hone their technical skills. Others are broadening out from backgrounds such as psychology or linguistics and see VFS as a professional finishing school. Some have never had any formal training and recognise the need to master new tools and technologies. Whatever their reasons, each graduate will walk out with a portfolio containing seven to ten strong pieces of work. Somewhat uniquely, EACH GRADUATE WILL WALK OUT WITH A PORTFOLIO CONTAINING SEVEN TO TEN STRONG PIECES OF WORK. SOMEWHAT UNIQUELY, THEY EVEN HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO RETURN TO VFS AND FURTHER THEIR EDUCATION FOR FREE. IT’S A LONG-TERM VISION

A still from Organism, Kevin Hagell’s three screen video installation created in After Effects and Final Cut Pro.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE The software you’ll be mastering on the VFS Interactive Media program VFS is about so much more than simply learning software. But mastering the tools of the trade is still a vital part of the Interactive Media course. “The course is structured to build upon foundation skills in visual art and design,” says Stephen Webster. “We provide collaborative courses during the first half of the program and then stream students in the most appropriate area.” On this course, you can expect to get intensive grounding in the following software and programming languages:

they even have the opportunity to return to VFS and further their education for free, thanks to the Lifelong Learning Program, an opportunity for some graduates to return, refresh their skills and get involved in projects, for free. It’s a longterm vision for a course that promises to have a long, bright future. “Success or failure is not whether the person will get the job but whether they will still get hired in five years’ time,” says Webster. That’s the challenge. And VFS Interactive Media is ensuring it has the muscle to square up to it. ■ INFO Words by Susan Wright, [email protected]. Find out more about VFS at www.vfs.com and Blast Radius at www.blastradius.com. A showreel of VFS student work is included on your cover CD.

Examples of student work: Two screengrabs from Megan McCulloch’s prototype Flash site, idesign (top) and Mitsuaki Yajima’s promo site for the Lumion camera.

The foundations HTML and JavaScript Final Cut Pro and QuickTime Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, ImageReady, After Effects Macromedia Director, Fireworks, Flash 3ds max Digidesign Pro Tools

Visual design Advanced After Effects Interactive 3D graphics in 3ds max and Cult 3D Advanced Flash Advanced Illustrator

Authoring and programming XML-XSL PHP and ASP Advanced Director Flash ActionScript

Audio/video Advanced After Effects Advanced Final Cut Pro DVD Studio Pro QTVR Advanced Digidesign Pro Tools

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TALK ABOUT THE PASSION Meet the Duracell-driven Stephen Webster; a man who won’t stop until his Interactive Media course has taken over the world You can’t talk about the newly revamped Interactive Media course at VFS without mentioning Stephen Webster. A graduate of Fine Art, he has nearly 14 years of multimedia experience under his belt. Before joining VFS, he was Creative Director of Epionet – a highly successful Irish company providing interactive solutions for clients such as Intel, Siemens and Bertelsmann. His skill-set was ideal for shaping a new and significant Interactive Media course. “It was like a light bulb appearing over my head when I realised I could design and build the sort of educational experience that I’d like to have,” he says of his early days in the job, soon after he and his family had upped sticks from his native Dublin to Vancouver in 2003. He’s covered a lot of ground in a short space of time, but then he knows where he’s going. “I want to make this program the best in the world,” he says. “Produce the best graduates, the best work, and have the best curriculum we can.” With goals like that, who needs nets? He must drink a pint of passion a day to fuel his infectious enthusiasm. Or perhaps it’s simpler than that. “I had three great, influential teachers when I was younger,” he says. “My father, my English teacher at school and my photography lecturer at college – Gerry Wall and Anthony Hobbs. They’ve inspired me in everything I’ve done. I want others to have that. I want to instil in others the type of passion they instilled in me.” Just pass the glass when you’ve finished with it...

Win a design scholarship

Prize worth over

02000! ,0 6 2 $ 4, £1 approx

USD,

WIN A SCHOLARSHIP TO VFS! A student gets to grips with Director in the computer labs.

Whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you’re doing – this is your chance to win a year’s scholarship on the Interactive Media course at the prestigious Vancouver Film School. Flights to and from Canada are included

THE FACTS

Course duration 48 weeks

Y

ou’ve read about the Interactive Media course at VFS and here’s your chance to join for free. This leading Canadian institution is offering one Computer Arts reader the chance to spend a year experimenting with major graphics software, studying theory and gaining hands-on experience in the design industry. If you’re passionate about a career in design, this could be your gateway to new and better things. Simply download our application pack, send in a letter of intent and submit your portfolio on disc or provide a Website link – and we’ll do the rest. Work can be submitted as print, Web, video or animation, or a mixture of each. This ground-breaking course begins with intensive grounding in interactive software and disciplines before you branch out into one of three streams. Choose the Programming stream for indepth training in creating cutting-edge solutions and rich Internet applications; logical thinking and technical flair are essential to providing the best solutions. Opt for Visual Design and you’ll be

immersed in motion graphics, usability and interactive marketing. The course offers advanced instruction on typography, interface design, user experience, DV, 3D and the rigours of print production. Finally, there’s the Audio/Video stream, where you’ll generate original sound and powerful visuals with advanced instruction in digital audio production, digital video editing, interactive video deployment, compression and asset delivery. Each stream has close affiliations with industry partners and the employment rate is staggering. Also in development is a Game Design stream that analyses the game-playing experience, working on prototypes of analogue and digital games and training in game theory, mechanics, story-telling and software skills. You’ll also be eligible for the Life Long Learning program, keeping you up to speed for the rest of your career. So what are you waiting for? Get to work on your portfolio and download all the information and admission forms you need from the following Website:

www.vfs.com/computerarts Stills from Bernard Kowalski and Karl Jensen’s Flash action game, entitled Tiger Claw.

Start date Every eight weeks from 25 October 2004 Age Must be 19 years or older Admission requirements Acceptance will be determined by the talent, creativity and commitment demonstrated in the contents of the application package and by the candidate’s potential to succeed in the program. Work experience and/or education in the area of study is recommended, but not required. Basic computer skills are required. The most suited candidate for the course will be selected by the entries. The judges All entries received before the closing date of 30 June 2004 will be carefully considered by a panel of expert judges, listed below. The winner will be announced in July. • Stephen Webster, Head of Interactive Media, Vancouver Film School • Vicki Atkinson, Editor, Computer Arts • Sarah Mowatt, European PR Manager, Macromedia • Amber Bezahler, Director of User Experience, Blast Radius Terms and conditions Full terms and conditions, including application requirements, are available for download at www.vfs.com/computerarts. Closing date for entries is 30 June 2004. Candidates must fulfil all entry requirements, submit the forms provided and hold a valid passport. Flights to and from Canada are included, but not accommodation or transfer to and from airports. Entry and acceptance of prize are at winner’s own risk. Late or incomplete entries will not be accepted.

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©2004 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All rights reserved. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, GoLive, Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, “Tools for the New Work” and Version Cue are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

BABIES

HEARTACHE

When designing a poster it’s easy to get bogged down in detail too early – there’s so much space to fill, you can sometimes wonder when it’s ever going to be finished. The key is to remember that a poster is meant to grab the viewer’s attention from a distance, then hold it long enough to draw them in to read the rest. Strong, simple compositions are often the most effective, especially as the larger a poster is, the further away it usually needs to be seen. In this tutorial you’re going to learn about balance, colour and composition. We’ll show you how to get the most out of enlarged images and

Look in the Tutorial\Poster design folder for layered FreeHand files, graphic elements and an exclusive preview of Output’s font-in-progress, ‘Wimto’. All files are for personal training purposes only, and are not to be reproduced elsewhere. All images © Output

ON THE CD

INFO Words and pictures by Output, www.studio-output.com. Get in touch on 0115 950 7116 or [email protected]

some of FreeHand’s more useful tools. If that’s not enough to whet your appetite, we’ll also show you where to look to learn from some of our favourite poster designers.

Designing for large formats is a different discipline to designing for the screen or page. Here, leading design agency Output takes you through the process of creating successful posters, looking at colour, composition and more

POSTER DESIGN

PHOTOSHOP AND FREEHAND

Tutorial

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^

INSIGHT

PART 1 SKETCHING Start by putting down your mouse!

LOOK AND LEARN

Unsurprisingly, the best way to learn about poster design is to look at the best poster design work. Check out the Russian Constructivist style of the 1920s, the Bauhaus in the 1930s, the wartime posters of Abram Games, Cuban revolutionary propaganda from the 1950s and Swiss Modernist design of the 1960s. From today’s menu, look at the output of experts such as The Designers Republic, Cornel Windlin and Büro Destruct. The key thread in such work is the power of composition and emotive use of colour.

7

To give the impression that the image is being held up to the light, reduce the opacity of this layer to 50 per cent. It may be worth changing the properties of the layer to get the effect you want.

1

First, get away from your computer and do some sketching. It’s easy to get lost in unnecessary detail with the mouse, in the belief that it’s quicker. Even a simple 30-second doodle will give you an overview of your composition that hours of staring at a screen can never do.

2

Next, prepare the images you’ll need in Photoshop. The first step is to create the textured fill for the large hands. Make a CMYK document at the required physical size of 300dpi. Using the CMYK picker, fill the background with a flesh tone, in this case 5 per cent Cyan, 25 per cent Magenta, 55 per cent Yellow and 5 per cent Black.

4

With such a large diameter, you can see clearly how the colour values you chose are represented by different sized CMYK dots. All printing is made up in this way, but the only way you would normally see it with the naked eye is in coarse newspaper printing, or by looking closely at a billboard.

8

Flatten the image and make sure there are no unwanted channels or paths, then save it as a TIFF with no compression. It’s good working practice to always append the file name, which can be set in the Photoshop>Preferences panel.

PART 2 FREEHAND Now on to composition, an essential part of poster design

5 3

To show how a coarser screen affects the print quality, you’re going to use a Photoshop filter to re-create a halftone dot pattern. Select Filter> Pixelate>Colour Halftone and choose a large dot diameter. The screen angles are set for normal CMYK printing as standard, but you can experiment with different dot sizes and screen angles to produce unusual patterns.

To make the inset picture, you’re using some elements already created in FreeHand. You can open FreeHand or Illustrator vector EPS files in Photoshop at any size, so make sure you’re opening them at 300dpi at the size you need as a CMYK image.

6

Either drag, or copy and paste, this artwork into the existing photo you’re using. Photoshop will create a new layer automatically, so you can drag the contents of the layer about, to position the image as you need it.

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9

Identify the basic measurements and areas of your poster. Far from being restrictive, using a grid will help keep your composition tight, and it often makes the difficult decisions for you. The more detailed your grid, the more flexible the composition.

Tutorial

^

INSIGHT BLOWN UP

If you’re creating a poster from artwork that you’ve already used for a flyer or leaflet, you might find that your images will pixelate badly when enlarged. Although as a rule it’s best not to overuse Photoshop filters, they can be useful when you need to disguise a poor image. It can be helpful to add a bit of noise to a photograph; a dirty, grainy image is usually preferable to an insipid, blurry one.

THREE RULES

Remember, posters are intended to be seen from a distance. A good poster works on three levels. First, it has something eye-catching that immediately grabs the attention from afar. Second, it should draw the viewer in closer, to find out more. Finally, there should be enough interest in the detail to hold their attention until all the information has been digested.

10

15

Now select Edit>Paste Inside or use Command+Shift+V to paste the image into the selected shape. The image can now be moved independently of the surrounding box by Alt-clicking the image (the cursor arrow will switch to white).

Next, using your sketch, start drawing in the basic illustration and layout with the Pen tool.

16 13 11

The composition of posters is often about directing the eye and drawing the viewer in closer. This poster employs the technique of placing the viewer behind the subject. We see what they see.

An invaluable tool in FreeHand is the Paste Inside tool, which enables you to paste any object or image into another object. This tool is used extensively in creating the poster, as it saves you having to crop objects endlessly. First, import the image you created earlier, called HoldUp2.tif, and place it roughly where you want it positioned.

Another way to select the image alone is to click on the object containing it. Then, in the Object palette, click once on the Contents option. You will see a set of crosshairs inside the box, and dragging these will move the image without affecting the box containing it.

12

Consider the use of balance to create tension. Imagine what you are drawing as simple shapes – what kind of negative space do they create? Sometimes you might want a calmer, passive composition, or you may wish to create disharmony with a more dynamic approach.

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Try using colours from a limited palette. Largeformat posters are often only cost effective to print in a maximum of two colours anyway, and it can be a good exercise to limit yourself to a range of complementary or contrasting colours.

14

Cut the image (Command+X) and select the shape you want to paste into. It’s important that this shape is not grouped.

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21 18

Use the brightest colours to help draw the eye to the focal point of your poster. When choosing colours for text, try to find a good contrast between this and the background colour.

Select the items to move, and experiment with the 3D Rotate tool using the ‘Easy’ settings. Always keep a copy of the elements you are rotating, as you will rarely get the angles right first time!

24

Import the DotFill.tif you created earlier and paste it inside each hand to create the halftone texture. Then there’s just time for a final paste inside the outer border of the poster. Don’t forget to add bleed, all around!

PART 3 WHAT’S MISSING Some extra text, and a stronger technical feel

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The finishing touch is the instruction text in the borders of the poster. It’s important to use a more legible typeface for the body copy than you’ve used for the header or ‘display’ text.

FINAL STEP

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Exploit the poster format to play with people’s heads. Often you want the typography to be clear and recognisable, but sometimes you can be a bit more challenging in the way you use type. If the viewer looks twice at a poster because something appears odd, it can help to grab their attention.

22

On our final steps, we’ll continue the technical feel of this diagram by creating a cross-hatch fill for the hair. Simply step and repeat the 45-degree line, then group, clone and rotate the selection, and paste it all inside the outline.

20

Although FreeHand has a 3D grid function, you’ll often find that you only want a single element to be given some subtle depth to fit into the composition. The 3D Rotate tool is ideal for this, and after a bit of trial and error it can be used with great control.

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23

Before the last elements are all pasted tidily inside the border, copy the arms and enlarge them, so they become the hands that are gripping the poster.

S

o there’s your final poster. Stand back, admire your handiwork, and soon you could be cluttering up the nation’s roadsides like the rest of us!

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Profile

Brighton-based agency Crush is revitalising an industry starved of innovation with its bold, brash and contemporary design work

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rush’s portfolio is a lip-smacking spread of tasty morsels. It ranges in scope from the beautiful musttouch book CD-ART: Innovation in CD Packaging Design to CD sleeves for Catatonia – not to mention that Heineken Thirst music campaign, for which Crush was awarded a Gold in the ‘Best Global Integrated Advertising Campaign’ at January’s Mobius Awards… Which just goes to show, big ideas can hatch from the smallest of places – in this case, a cramped studio in the hectic centre of Brighton, housing a four-strong design collective known as Crush: founder Carl Rush (hence the company name), along with Simon Slater, Chris Pelling and Tim Diacon. “I’m really lucky to have such a fantastic team,” says Rush. “Everyone is totally committed to design and that passion shines though on all the work we produce.” When you step into Crush’s office, you get an immediate feel for how well blended the team is. The vibe is light and positive; the guys are on seat stools, tapping away on silver G4 laptops, connected to spacious monitors that sit on the bench in front of them. Carl Rush is warm and welcoming beneath his neatly cropped dark hair and goatee, and we’re offered a seat on the visitor sofa, with the visitor’s laptop, where he leaves us to browse the site of one of his favourite artists, Peter Fowler (www.monsterism.net), while he “finishes up some stuff.” Only later, after a chat about Fowler and Rush’s addiction to buying the little Japanese cartoon-like dolls that Fowler creates, and an offer of coffee, does he explain that they’re

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One of three concepts by Crush in answer to a brief for a new kind of spirit-based drink with Indian feel and flavour.

Crush’s Tim Diacon created this illo to accompany a magazine piece about the creation of typefaces. He took images of early computer screens and re-interpreted them to look as if they were being used to create original typefaces.

smack in the middle of meeting a tight deadline for one of their biggest clients. This unexpected admission highlights a distinct lack of tension in the air. You’d never know the pressure was on by measuring the atmosphere. It helps if your boss isn’t the type to switch on the hyper-drive button, of course. Rush maintains a quiet professionalism alongside an easy-going demeanour that matches his red sweatshirt and turned-up jeans. The rest of Crush takes his lead. It’s a sign of quiet assuredness, of a team that works comfortably together and knows what it has to do. And it’s clear that Crush is doing a lot. A hell of a lot. The studio is packed to the rafters with data CDs, design books and files. Around 50 rough logo designs are plastered onto a spare piece of wall above our heads – the beginnings

the promo poster that Crush sliced into individual cards and sent last year to selected clients, and as promos go, it was funkier than most. “Ah, the Crush box,” says Rush. “We made 30 of them by hand, including two Tshirts and the promo poster.” Simon Slater put his carpentry skills to use to create a slim, wooden box reminiscent of a vinyl LP that was then nailed completely shut. “You needed a crowbar to open it,” says Rush, proudly.

STYLOROUGE BEGINNINGS Carl Rush was Senior Art Director at the design company Stylorouge for six years. In

WE WERE UP AGAINST AN AD AGENCY THAT HAS OFFICES ALL OVER THE WORLD. BUT IT WAS A DANCE PROJECT AND WE UNDERSTOOD IT. IT THINK WE WON BECAUSE I WENT IN THERE AND SAID I’D BEEN CLUBBING FOR YEARS AND I KNEW WHAT’S GOING ON

of a youth-orientated music project that Crush is branding for a major drinks company. A pile of tiny children’s T-shirts, boasting remixed Crush designs, are hanging from a small wooden stool – some of the first apparel that Crush is selling on its consumer Website Crush Trade (www.crushtrade.com). Behind a table is

The Heineken Music Thirst tour was a big breakthrough for Crush, with its emphasis on more conceptual and advertising disciplines.

50 Computer Arts_March 2004

September 1998, he decided to go it alone and Crush was born. Once he’d made the decision, several Stylorouge clients decided they’d follow Rush and continue to work with him. That helped keep the wolves from the door for the first few years, but when the bigger clients came he soon needed help. Enter Simon Slater – a rare soul who, by way of Crush, has made the successful jump from the field of magazine design (Maxim, Front, Bizarre) to the wider plains of logos, concepts and a whole lot more. “It took forever to find him,” says Rush. “I needed someone with experience who could

Profile

CRUSH FOR SALE Crush is ready to meet consumer hunger for something that’s a little bit different

The illustrations for the Superfly Soul album covers, for Union Square Records, were drawn by a Crush favourite – the Tokyo-based Satoshi Matsuzawa. “We love his stuff and we’re always impressed,” says Carl Rush.

Crush commissioned artist Steve Wilson to create this illo for the One Love album packaging; Carl Rush did the type. Crush usually provides the record company with at least six visuals to choose from. Once a decision has been made, they’ll do a bunch of sketches to firm up the concept and then commission out any illustration work, if required.

hit the ground running.” Slater’s secret? He didn’t even bother showing Carl his magazine work. Instead he showed him personal pieces he’d worked on over the years. He was up front and honest and knew what was relevant. Natural talent, of course, played its part. Rush had no hesitations in bringing him on board and the two of them went to Amsterdam to pitch for the Heineken work. Success was definitely not assured. “We were up against an ad agency that has offices all over the world,” says Rush. “But it was a dance project and we understood it. I think we won because I went in there and said I’d been clubbing for years and I knew what’s going on. We didn’t try to impress with talk of research and focus groups, we just cut straight to the chase.” The results speak volumes about Crush’s abilities. Success might not have been assured, but it’s certainly deserved. The Heineken Thirst work really shows what the team can do. “Everything starts with us,” says Rush. “We art direct the photo shoots and come up with the concepts.” The logos, fonts, chevrons, teasers, flyers, road signs, posters, T-shirts and almost

everything else that drives the visual look of the campaign have sprung from the minds of Crush. It’s an impressive sight when you browse the special Website the team has created, so that Heineken’s marketing people around the world can choose what to use and download it at will. “Some people send out a style guide,” says Rush, “but we put it on the Web, because it’s constantly changing.” It’s neat little touches like this that stand Crush apart from the crowd. The guys may be able to conjure up striking designs for print, but their technical savvy adds a final streak of polish. Although their roles are by no means strictly demarcated (“We mix it up all the time,” says Rush), Chris Pelling and Tim Diacon are the key Web men. Diacon especially likes pursuing the grittier technical side of things. For the more hardcore moments, honorary fifth Crush member, Rich Ryrko (who shares Crush’s studio space) gets involved.

There are no grand plans to make a fortune and retire on sunny beaches through Crush Trade. This is the company’s consumer Website, selling art, books, toys and more – by Crush, and by artists and designers that Crush works with. It’s a natural evolution in the Crush life cycle. With so much design being created, why not try and sell some of it? Founder Carl Rush sees the move as part of a general trend among designers to create their own products, to be artists. But there are no great expectations. “It’s a real ‘suck it and see’,” he says. “We don’t know what’s going to sell and what’s not.” The site was based closely on the design of the main Crush site, the aim being to keep it as user-friendly as possible. A pop-up window launches the ordering process but, other than that, there are no page changes because the site runs from just one central page. “There are three parts to the site,” says Tim Diacon. “The front-end is all Flash-based and sits on our server. The HTML product database also sits on our server, while the transactions take place remotely on the secure WorldPay server.” When a product is uploaded to the database, a code is generated for that product that can be slotted into Flash. When a user presses the Buy button, it pulls the product from the database and the whole system jumps from Flash into HTML mode for the transaction through WorldPay. The site is easy to update because the Flash front-end has been set up to grab its text from external SimpleText files. “All we need to do is change this copy and the site updates itself,” says Diacon. “This way we get the advantage of a nice interactive interface, combined with a simple updating process.” The site has just launched with the CD-ART book, T-shirts, screen prints and posters. Part with your cash at www.crushtrade.com.

CRUSH MINDSET Crush’s own Website illustrates the way the team thinks. It looks good, it’s sharp and it’s a

Crush’s logo portfolio demonstrates a knack for nailing down an identity – whether it be full of Eastern promise, seriously straight-up clubbing, dazzling soul, or the rambling roads of an early Blues man.

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Crush’s beautiful CD-ART book, designed by Crush’s Simon Slater, reflects the dimensions of a real CD.

The Boutique is a club in Brighton for which, over the course of a year, Crush designed a number of flyers (one-third A4 size). The brief was open – they just had to ensure a mix of cultures and music types, from hip-hop to punk.

One of illustrator Autumn Whitehurst’s CD cover contributions. “We briefed her on the style,” says Rush.

This album artwork for Transatlantic Records features a mix of folk heroes. Simon Slater devised the illustration.

breeze to browse. Page changes have been minimised to nearly nothing, so that when you make a choice, it appears within the page you’re on. Rush hates “the white screen of death” as he calls it – that moment when everything on a page disappears before the relevant data is re-loaded. It’s a feature of Web browsing that Pelling and Diacon had always thought unnecessary when they were studying design at Brighton University (and taught by a Computer Arts stalwart, Lawrence Zeegen). “We came out of college thinking, ‘Why couldn’t information all be drawn into one page?’” says Pelling who, along with Diacon, has been a Crush crewman for a year. And so that’s how the Crush site works. It’s also how the new Crush Trade site will work (see boxout Crush For Sale). The Flash-based design makes it a pleasure to browse a packed portfolio and lots of goods for sale. Pelling and Diacon joined Crush straight from college – two of the lucky ones some might say. When we ask Rush if this is a good time to be working in design, he says, “Not if you’re just coming out of college.” It’s not an uncommon opinion. Simply put, there are too many graduates and not enough jobs to satisfy the demand. The changes in art and design – the growth of the Web, the popularity of motion graphics, and increasingly blurred

This poster mostly comprises clip-art and promoted a series of new media talks held in the south of England.

place at the right time… knowing good design from bad, spending too long talking about typefaces and Pantone colours.” And if that little lot isn’t enough, you need to be willing to learn, experiment and push the boundaries,

IT’S ALL ABOUT HARD WORK, PASSION, TALENT, KNOWING THE RIGHT PEOPLE, DETERMINATION… BEING IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME… KNOWING GOOD DESIGN FROM BAD, SPENDING TOO LONG TALKING ABOUT TYPEFACES AND PANTONE COLOURS

distinctions between job roles, for example – may make the industry ever more exciting but the opportunities to be on the inside are few and far between. There are no secrets to success in the design world, maintains Rush. Rather, he says, it’s all about “hard work, passion, talent, knowing the right people, determination… being in the right

Another Autumn Whitehurst piece, commissioned by Crush – from brief to line drawing to finished artwork.

52 Computer Arts_March 2004

while knowing when it’s appropriate to hold back. Experience goes a long way. “In the last two years, we have been really lucky, with clients coming to us before we have to knock on any doors,” says Rush. “It’s a question of trust built up over a five-year period.” So if you have a notion of going it alone, take heed. “Don’t do anything until you have money in the bank and work lined up for at least three months,” advises Rush. “Get plenty of experience before going alone. Not just computer and design skills, but the skill to take a job to print and, most importantly,

Profile

THE CRUSH TEAM The fab four reveal their favourites CARL RUSH Position: Art Director Favourite designer: Cesar Manrique Favourite Website: www.kidrobot.com

SIMON SLATER Position: Senior Designer Favourite designer: Herb Lubalin/Vaughan Oliver Favourite Website: www.nufc.com/www.ebay.com

CHRIS PELLING Position: Designer

Crush created this Summer 2004 catalogue for fashion designers Simultane. It evokes the tools of the trade, with geometric shapes inspired by pattern designs and a cover made from the same cardboard used to make templates.

Favourite designer: Jonathan Ive Favourite Website: www.pixelsurgeon.com/ www.threadless.com

TIM DIACON Position: Designer Favourite designer: Johnny Hardstaff Favourite Website: www.k10k.net

make sure you have experience of dealing with clients on a day-to-day basis.”

MUST-HAVE DESIGN As with everything else, the design world is in flux. Rush believes that clients are getting tired of the same old, same old approach to design – where large design outfits are charging a fortune for work that lacks creativity. At the same time, everything is becoming more specialised. “Design companies are becoming

believe the packaging of an album or single is more important than ever before. Fans need to feel part of the scene, part of the label or artist… The packaging must feel like a trophy, a must-have, rather than a file on a hard drive or a handwritten CD cover.” Fuelling this hunger for more are inspirations far and wide. They love a lot of the illustrators around today and work regularly with New York City-based Autumn Whitehurst (profiled in issue 69 of Computer Arts, and

IN THE ERA OF MP3s AND CD BURNING, THE PACKAGING OF AN ALBUM OR SINGLE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER BEFORE. FANS NEED TO FEEL A PART OF THE SCENE, PART OF THE LABEL OR ARTIST… THE PACKAGING MUST FEEL LIKE A TROPHY

known for certain work, whether that be specialising in music or dog food,” says Rush. This doesn’t worry anyone at Crush, who have been working on the sorts of musicrelated jobs they love. “We’d like to do more big campaigns that are youth-orientated,” says Rush. “BSkyB asked us last year for ideas for idents. We didn’t get the job and maybe we weren’t ready. But we’re ready now. That’s the sort of thing we want to do.” They’re also keen to carry on their CD work and to take it further. “In the era of MP3s and CD burning, I

our cover illustrator on issue 83) and Satoshi Matsuzawa from Tokyo. “Their skills are amazing,” says Rush. “I’m always wowed with the results.” This respect for the talent of others led to the creation of a Featured Artist section on the Crush Website. This displays the work of a different artist every month. Although it’s a great way of drawing people to the site, Crush simply wanted to showcase some of the great talent that they work with. It also helps the artists, who often get commissions directly from clients who’ve spotted them on Crushed. Some of their work will also be available for sale through Crush Trade. It will also form the basis for an art show that Crush has been asked to collate for a gallery, LAB101, in Santa

Monica. The Crush Collective will be on display in March of this year. All of which leads Carl Rush to state that he’s more excited about the industry than ever before. “In a couple of years, I would love the opportunity to publish a Crush book. Also, there are some fantastic opportunities on the horizon,” he says. These include a project for Greenpeace about the destruction of the Amazonian rainforest, phase three of the Heineken Thirst tour (see heinekenmusic.com) and designing a book about the history of computer gaming. All top ingredients for a big and tasty Crush smoothie. INFO You’ll find Crush at The Depot, 100 North Road, Brighton, BN1 1YE. Get in touch on [email protected], 01273 606 058, or go to www.crushed.co.uk and www.crushtrade.com

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Tutorial

ILLUSTRATION

VECTOR ART WITH CANVAS 7

PART 2 CREATING THE ROBOT Use object creation tools, the Document Layout palette, and custom colours to create the main robot

Free on our CD this issue is the full version of Canvas 7, a superb all-round illustration app from ACD Systems. Here, we provide you with an in-depth guide to the program. Get installed and follow our expert tutorial to create this whimsical vector sci-fi scene Canvas may not the most well-known program in the design arena, but it’s used widely by companies for in-house layout and illustration, and it offers an array of creative possibilities. This broad application has many of the features you’ll find in pixel-based image editing, painting, vector-based drawing and page-layout applications – all in one tool. In this tutorial we’ll focus on the excellent vector art creation tools and editing capabilities that Canvas offers. You’ll learn everything you need to know to create this stunning print illustration and get a sense of how Canvas 7 works. Users of Illustrator and FreeHand will find a certain familiarity with many aspects of the application, and will also be pleasantly surprised by some of the methods and features that are unique to Canvas 7.

As with any commissioned illustration, we’ll start with an approved sketch and bring it into the document file as a template. Then, on various layers (to stay organised and flexible), we’ll create and edit the bits and pieces of this image and watch it take shape as Canvas’ vector tools (and your mouse) work their magic. INFO Text and images by Derek Lea. Lea is based in Toronto, Canada; get in touch on [email protected] or pay a worthwhile visit to www.dereklea.com. Find out more about Canvas from ACD Systems at www.deneba.com

4

Select the Curve (Pen) tool and create a new layer in the Document Layout palette. With this layer selected, draw a closed shape around the head of the main robot and hit Enter. Click on the Frame button in the Inks palette, then adjust the sliders to create a white colour and click Apply. Click on the Fill button, create a blue colour and Apply again.

ON THE CD Use your free, full version of Canvas 7 to follow this tutorial, and look in the Tutorial\Canvas folder on the disc for the file that accompanies it. All CD files are for personal training use only, and are not to be reproduced elsewhere

PART 1 GETTING STARTED First, some preparation: you’ll need to set up your artboard size and specify a colour mode

5 2

In the Strokes palette, select the 2-point stroke from the Pen section. In the Colour section of the Inks palette, select Clear Palette Inks from the Ink menu. Within the Inks palette, drag the swatches for your fill and frame colours into the empty area (where the old swatches were previously) to store them there. Select the Curve tool.

Click in the upper lefthand corner of the canvas to place the image and press Enter. In the Document Layout palette, select the placed image by expanding the sheet and nested layer icon. Reduce the opacity to about 40 per cent in the Transparency palette, because it’s only going to act as a template.

1

Launch Canvas and choose File>New from the menu to create a new document. Leave the document type set to Illustration, create a custom document that is 24.6x29.6cm and click OK. Choose File>Place from the menu, then navigate to the file sketch.pct from the CD and click Place.

3

Lock the placed image in the Document Layout palette; a black dot appears in the appropriate column. Next, expand the Inks palette by clicking the triangle in the lower-right of the palette. In the expanded palette, select CMYK bars from the pulldown menu. We’ll use these to create our colours.

6

Use the Curve tool to draw more of the primary closed shapes that will make up the body. Remember to hit Enter each time you finish an object. Use the Selection tool to select an object, hold down Shift and click on the other new objects to select them as well. With these all selected, apply your saved fill and frame colours, as well as the 2-point stroke.

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^

INSIGHT LAYER OPTIONS

Double-clicking a layer icon in the Document Layout palette opens the Layer Options box. Here you can rename your layer and access functions like Password Locking controls and Greyed Visibility. At the very least, naming your layers will help you stay organised as files grow. Double-clicking an object icon from an expanded layer opens the Object Specs palette, where you’re presented with numerous controls as varied as Style, Trapping, Fill and Frame. In the Data section of the Object specs, you are provided with a field that lets you name individual objects within your layers.

7

Select the main torso shape, and in the Transparency palette reduce the transparency so you can see the sketch underneath. Use the Curve tool to draw the forearm that overlaps the torso, applying the same colour, frame and stroke attributes. Select the Oval tool from the toolbox. Hold down Shift and draw a circle over the one in the sketch.

13

Draw a circle and align it along both axes with the torus. Now have some fun creating new colours with the CMYK sliders, and store their swatches in the Colour section of the Inks palette. Select various objects and apply the new fill and frame colours to them. Give all of the frames a stroke width of 2 points. When you are finished, select Layout>Display>Wireframe from the menu.

PART 3 EMBELLISH THE ROBOT Add detail to the robot using Transfer modes, stroke options and transparency

10

Grab the selected shape icons in the Document Layout window and move them below the oval shapes. Hold down the Shift key and select the oval shapes too. Select Object>Group from the menu. Create a new colour using the CMYK sliders and drag it into the colour swatch area to store it. Apply the fill colour and a white stroke to the group.

8

Create another smaller circle. Select them both and choose Object>Align>Show Palette from the menu. Set the alignment to Each Other, click on the Central alignment option for horizontal and vertical and hit Apply. Use the Curve tool to draw one half of the claw and hit Enter. Choose the Selection tool, then click and drag it while holding down Option/Alt.

14 11

Make a duplicate of the claw group by Alt/ Option-dragging it into the area in the upper right. Use the Freeform function again to rotate it into position. Use the Curve tool and the Oval to draw the rest of the objects for the main robot. Align and arrange objects up and down in the Document Layout palette to send them forward/backward.

Draw some larger circles over circular areas of the robot, like his elbow, ears and antenna. Next, use the Curve tool to draw an outline surrounding the robot to create a shape that is slightly bigger. Select the new circles and the shape, and apply the Add function in the Combine palette. Specify a dark fill colour and a light frame colour, then choose Object>Arrange>Send To Back from the menu.

9

Choose Effects>Flip>Vertical from the menu. Next, choose Effects>Freeform from the menu, then click and drag on a corner point to rotate the object, hitting Enter when the angle looks right. Use the Selection tool to move the object into place. Hold down the Shift key and select the other part of the claw as well.

12

Adjust object transparencies to see the underlying sketch layer, returning them to full opacity when done. Group objects where necessary. For the antenna on top of his head, draw two circles and align them horizontally and vertically, then select the Subtract Front option from the Combine palette and click Apply to create a torus shape.

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15

Select Layout>Display>Wireframe from the menu to disable it. Use all of the Shape Creation, Alignment and Combine options you have employed so far to create some shapes that represent highlight and shadows. Have fun with fill and frame colours, and try using some of the Dash options in the Stroke palette. Group some shapes of similar fill and frame colour.

Tutorial

^

INSIGHT LAYER CONTROLS

In the Document Layout palette, there are columns to the right of your layer icons that enable or disable functions like Visibility and Colour Override functions. To enable a function, click in the appropriate column and a black dot appears beside the layer icon, showing that it is enabled. Click on the black dot to make it disappear, thus disabling the option.

SCALING STROKES

16

Adjust the Transfer modes in the Transparency palette; use Multiply for darker shapes, and Overlay, Screen, Normal, and Soft Light for lighter ones. Also in the Transparency palette, adjust the opacity for each shape or group. Don’t be afraid to create shapes that overlap. Create some shapes that have no fill, and a frame only with a dashed stroke.

When scaling elements like the grouped robot layer, for things to look good you’ll want any stroke widths to scale in proportion to the objects. If you don’t scale the stroke weight, especially when reducing objects, subtle details will appear odd and out of control. To enable scaleable stroke weight, simply choose File>Preferences and enable the Scale Stroke Weight option in the General section.

17

Now create some interesting shapes using the Rectangle, Oval and Curve tools in conjunction with the Align, Freeform and Combine functions you’ve used previously. Create some features, details and buttons on the surface of the robot using interesting combinations of Transfer modes. Group some shapes together and Alt/Option-drag them to make duplicates.

19

PART 4 BRANCHING OUT

FINAL STEP

Now we’ll turn our robot into a small army and build an environment

Hold down the Shift key and drag the corner of the bounding box inwards to scale it proportionately. Choose Effects>Flip Horizontal from the menu, then Effects>Freeform and grab a corner of the bounding box to rotate the robot, hitting Enter to apply it. Option-drag the group to create some more duplicates, and rotate them a little too.

20

Create a new layer and drag it beneath the other layers. Use the Curve tool to draw a rough terrain across the bottom and fill it with a dark blue colour. Draw an orange rectangle and move it to the bottom in the Document Layout palette. Create three yellow ovals and add them in the Combine palette, then change their Transfer mode to overlay and reduce their opacity in the Transparency palette.

21

Using the same method as earlier on, create a series of torus shapes using the Oval, Align and Subtract Front functions. Gradually make each shape bigger than the last, then select all, align them on both axes and group them. Fill them with a yellow colour. Make a series of duplicates with varying fills, frames, strokes, opacity, Transfer modes and sizes.

U

se the Direct Selection tool on the robot copy layer to select individual objects within the grouped robots. Use existing colours and create new ones to introduce a variety of different colour combinations to the duplicated robots. Unlock the robot layer and change the frame colour around his central claw to a dark blue instead of white. Finally, just continue to add circular and torus objects into the background, and your image is complete.

18

Collapse the robot layer in the Document Layout window and lock it. Select the layer and choose Duplicate Layer from the Document Layout palette menu; unlock the duplicate and move it below the original in the Document Layout palette. Now unlock the sketch layer and drag it to the Trash. Select the duplicate layer, go to Edit>Select All, then Object> Group from the menu. Drag the group to the left.

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Q&A

DREAMWEAVER

SHORTCUTS A useful, but rarely used element in Dreamweaver MX is the Local Testing Server capability. This handy feature enables you to view your PHP page as you would see it on your Website, all without leaving Dreamweaver. Ever notice that strange button with the lightning bolt, next to the Show Design View button? It’s called Live Data View, and it’s going to be the focus of this essential Shortcut

you’re not already using Sites, it’s well worth reading the Help Files to learn how, as they enable you to easily FTP your site files, among other things. Select Site> New Site… from the Menu. Choose an appropriate name for Site Name. For Local Root Folder, select the folder icon to browse your hard drive. You’ll need to select your local Apache Web root folder, and this is usually called htdocs or www. You can leave the default settings for the other options.

We’re now ready to test a PHP page. Select File>New from the Menu. On the left side, choose Dynamic Page, and on the right choose PHP. Ensure that ‘Make Document XHTML Compliant’ is checked. We won’t get on top of our soapbox here, but we do want to mention that you should always make your HTML compliant to XHTML 1.0 Transitional standards. If you would like to read more on this, the W3C Markup Validation Service (head to validator.w3.org) is an invaluable tool. Enter this PHP code for testing purposes, into the tag:

Now choose Testing Server from the left menu. Select PHP MySQL for Server Model and Local/Network for Access. As soon as you do that, you’ll notice more options appear. For Testing Server Folder, choose your local Apache Web root folder. For URL Prefix, type http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost (this might be something different, if you’ve modified your Apache settings drastically).

H

ere, we’ll show you how to set up Dreamweaver MX (or MX 2004) so that you can easily test your PHP right inside the Dreamweaver environment. There are a couple of things you’ll need for this to work properly. First, make sure you have Apache (or any other Web server) installed and running on your local machine. This can be done with both Macs and PCs. Secondly, your working directory needs to be the same as the Web root of your local server. For instance, if your Web server has a path of C:/Apache/htdocs/ make sure that you are saving your PHP files into that directory. To make sure your Web server is up and running, open up a Web browser and type http://127.0.0.1 or http://localhost/ and you should see a default Apache Web page. If you need Apache, head to http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi. Or, if you want a complete solution that will install PHP, MySQL, PERL and many other popular Web tools for you (without the headache), get the Tech Platform from NuSphere (www.nusphere.com) – it’s affordable and easy to install. Okay, now that you have Apache up and running, let’s get started. Start off by defining a new Site in Dreamweaver. If

SELECT VIEW> LIVE DATA. YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE THE STRING “WOW, I’M VIEWING PHP RIGHT INSIDE DREAMWEAVER”

You’ll now see Dreamweaver scan the folder you chose for Local Root Folder. Don’t be surprised if there are quite a few files already in that directory – that’s standard for a typical Apache install.

Before we can test it, it needs to be saved into our local Web root folder, so do that now. We’ve named our file test.php. Once you’ve saved it, click the Live Data View button; it has a lightning bolt on it, and sits next to the Show Design View button. You can also select View>Live Data from the Menu. You should be able to see the string “Wow, I’m viewing PHP right inside Dreamweaver” in the Design View. If you can’t, make sure Apache is running (usually started through your Start menu, if you’re on a PC) and that Design View is enabled (select View>Design from the Menu). To toggle back to Code View, press the Live Data View button again, or select View>Live Data from the Menu. A small word of warning: since you are viewing the PHP through Dreamweaver’s proprietary browser, you might not always get exactly the same results as you would in Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Safari or Netscape. However, for quick, general testing, Dreamweaver’s Live Data View just can’t be beaten. INFO Expertise supplied by Ryan Carson, [email protected], www.bd4d.com

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ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT CZARNY www.graphique3d.republika.pl

62 Computer Arts_March 2004

Tutorial

VUE 4 PRO

CREATE A 3D LANDSCAPE

PART 1 SCI-FI WORLD Discover how Robert Czarny uses Vue to create the elements in his work

What exactly does the professional version of Vue D’Esprit offer the creative artist? Find out with our exclusive demo and tutorial… For six years, landscape generator Vue D’Esprit has helped thousands of artists and 3D enthusiasts create their own spectacular environments, complete with realistic renders of trees, mountains, islands and water. Vue 4 Professional is the first iteration of the program to be aimed at pro 3D users, and boasts improved scene export features, synchronisation with major 3D apps, easier compositing and OpenGL previews. And now you can try it out for yourself! Boot up the save-disabled version on your cover CD, then follow the advice of Vue D’Esprit expert Robert Czarny, as he explains the techniques he used to create this striking illustration. When the Polish artist first encountered Vue, he was as a complete novice, picking up the program from a magazine coverdisc (Computer Arts covermounted version 2 with issue 55). “Environment creation is very intuitive,” he says of the software. “You start by creating sky and earth, then landscapes, before adding trees, plants and objects from the app’s large library.” Within three minutes of launching Vue, and with a little help from Cinema 4D and Poser, Czarny was setting his very first scene, one of millions it’s possible to create. Manufacturer, e-on software, believes that Vue 4 Pro’s new-found compatibility with other leading programs will encourage professional 3D users to take it under their wing. “It’s difficult to compare Vue with other pro 3D programs as LightWave or 3ds max,” says Czarny. “But these tools have to learn a lot from Vue, especially in terms of ergonomics, interface, procedural texturing, and object and presets libraries.” So will Vue ever manage to shake its reputation as a purely science-fiction tool? Try it for yourself and find out.

1

“This scene was partially inspired by the works of tse60 at www.renderosity.com,” explains Czarny. Unlike tse60, who uses Bryce’s Double Slice to create his shapes, Czarney uses Vue’s Symmetrical Terrain. The app’s Terrain Editor enables him to directly edit the terrain and import 8-bit greyscale bitmaps. He created these totems by stretching rocks.

2

With the Symmetrical Terrain option set, Vue enables you to create not just simple landscapes, but complete shapes. Use a 2D editor to draw an elevation bitmap – note that greyscale colours are translated into elevations. The bitmap should be in 8-bit greyscale and its size in pixels should match the size of the edited terrain. The best way to import a bitmap is to cut and paste it in via the clipboard.

INFO Words by Polish designer Robert Czarny. Visit his Website at www.graphique3d.republika.pl. For more on Vue 4 Pro, visit www.e-onsoftware.com

ON THE CD You’ll find a full demo (Mac and PC) of Vue 4 Professional on the cover CD. Resolution is limited to 640x480 and animation to five seconds. Online registration is required.

3

For this kind of complex construction, Czarny joined his symmetrical terrain object (in green) with some primitive shapes (in blue) and a few simple meshes (in orange). “I experimented with numerous textures, but I noticed that rusty metal shades give the best results,” he says.

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4

The weathered metal comprises a mixed material with distribution dependent on altitude 30 per cent, slope 70 per cent. First material: grey to very dark blue gradient, with function Noise (smooth) scale 1; Colour set to black and white, with function Chipped at scale 4; Bumps with function Square blobs at Gain -0.3 and scale 5; Highlights yellow with global intensity 70 per cent and global size 25 per cent. Second material: Colour green-black with function Noise (smooth) and Fractal Layer turned on, at scale 1; Bumps at Gain 0.2 and function Noise (smooth) with Fractal Layer turned on; Highlights white with Intensity 15 per cent, Size 0 per cent.

7

The alien animals, or Striders, originate from a 3D model by Dark World Designs that was imported into Vue from a Poser scene. “It’s an original creation,” says Czarny. “However, I was not satisfied with the original texture, so I redesigned it from scratch. I used a mixed texture, composed of several procedural textures applied to the model, based on a simple low-res UV texture projection.”

10

Too much ambient light can flatten a scene, so reduce this parameter to under 15 per cent (i.e. set Light balance to more than 85 per cent). Use one main sun and several additional distant lights to simulate sky dome style lighting. Suggested parameters for these: dark grey-blue colour (Hue 150, Lum 60, Sat 30), no lens flare, enable shadows, and set Softness to 45 degrees. Czarny used the standard atmosphere model here – it renders more quickly than the volumetric one and provides more flexibility. If you don’t need an animated sunset or thick fog, opt for the standard model instead.

8 5

Vue can generate detailed rocks of different shapes. Because these rocks are built from hundreds of polygons, it’s useful to reduce their mesh size when you require smaller or distant rocks. To do this, select the rock, right-click, and choose Edit Object > Decimate. To obtain complex and natural rocky vistas, Czarny used slightly twisted Vue terrains and several rocks, both sharing the same texture.

Procedural textures are always useful, because they’re extremely detailed and look seamless once applied. However, applying them to specific parts of a single mesh can be tricky. While Vue’s Terrain Mapping works well for simple objects – a snow-covered mountain top, for instance – it’s often not enough in the case of, say, an animal. At this stage, it’s always useful to test out your textures using temporary simple colours (such as blue, red, green and yellow), as shown here.

11

Czarny’s methods of modelling his distant village are certainly innovative. “Look at any mesh – a cup or plate, for example – and try to have a broader view of the object; forget about its size, texture and actual positioning. Can you use its shape for other purposes? Tableware doesn’t have to be just used for kitchen scenes,” he explains. “I didn’t want to spend a lot of time modelling the distant alien village, but I needed original looking houses. I used the tableware objects shipped with Vue, applied different textures, changed their size, stretched them a little – et voilà - my alien village was ready!”

9 6

One of Vue 4 Pro’s best features is its Solid Growth Plant editor, which enables you to modify and create plant models with ease. For this example, Czarny merged two species, Red Coral and Cactus, using three views (top, side and front) to attach the corals to the cactus effectively. For smart, bendy branches, set Coral at: Falloff -30, Gnarl between -90 and -40, Droop 20 to 30, and Angle bigger than 0. For Cactus, set Length between 0 and 10, Droop between 20 and 40, and Angle between -40 and -10.

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Czarny created these pod-like feeding devices as a Boolean difference of a mesh, a rock and a terrain. He used a stretched terrain with numerous peaks to simulate the flesh inside the feeder. The brown-khaki organic material was created using the Chipped function in both Colour and Bump.

12

To create the soft sand and pebbles, Czarny initially opted for Vue’s own Sand material, a procedural texture. But he found it too sharp and unnatural looking, so modified it by opening the Bumps component, choosing Edit Function, and changing the filter for the Wave layer from its default linear ramp to a more rounded, squarish look. You could also try to slightly increase Turbulence for both Bumps and the whole texture. ■

Q&A

FLASH

SHORTCUTS

Patience is a virtue rarely possessed by your average Website visitor. So one of the best ways to cater for ever-shortening attention spans is to make your Flash site snappy. We’ll show you how to make your site far more responsive to user interaction, all with some fairly simple ActionScript

F

lash has become a ubiquitous tool for communicating to potential customers. Only a couple of years ago, everyone and their mums had a go at building Websites with Flash. As a result, of course, there was an influx of badly built sites. Thankfully things are starting to get better, and we’ve noticed a pleasant trend in what we call ‘hybrid Flash/HTML experiences’ – basically, a fancy way of saying that a site combines HTML with small touches of Flash. Right now, this is probably the best balance for your average site visitor, as it reduces the sluggish feel that 100 per cent Flash sites can sometimes create. In a strange way, users seem to feel almost comfortable with the clunky way that HTML pages load. You may think that atrocious Flash sites are relics of the past, but only recently we came across a site that would suggest otherwise. This was a site built by a large, experienced design firm for a well-paying client. We viewed it on a Mac, and were almost driven to tear our hair out, because of the sluggish behaviour of the Flash – and this was on a nice little G4 with a good chunk of memory. This is obviously disastrous for potential clients, who may simply leave the site before even coming across a single product. This site was designed beautifully, but it was so painfully slow to interact with that we simply gave up after about three minutes (which is considerably more time than a potential customer would be kind enough to give you). So what’s the answer? Well, God is in the details, as the saying goes. The answer is found by paying attention to all the small pieces of your Flash elements and making sure every single one is user-friendly. The temptation, of course, is

to design your Flash for visitors who are using a fast PC with a fat broadband connection. This is one mistake no one can afford to make. We’re going to show you a simple example of using Flash’s ‘_quality’ attribute to make your movie user friendly. See the files in the Shortcut/Flash folder of the coverdisc as you follow this page. Get started by opening up Flash and creating a new document. We’re going to use a vector illustration of the global map (soon to be used on bd4d.com), with plenty of complex curves. Feel free to use whatever you’d like – but to demonstrate the use of this shortcut, it’s

Now we’ll add the appropriate ActionScript. Go back to the main timeline and select your button. Select Window> Actions from the Menu to reveal the ActionScript window. Next, insert this code: on (press) { this._quality = “LOW”; startDrag(this); } on (release) { this._quality = “BEST”; stopDrag(); } What we’re doing here is changing the overall quality of the Flash movie by using the ‘_quality’ attribute. When the user clicks the button to start dragging, we change the quality to ‘LOW’ and then start dragging, then when they release, we set it back to ‘BEST’ and stop dragging.

best to use something with loads of intricate vector lines or CPU-intensive ActionScript loops. You’ll often notice on Flash sites that dragging or animating a complex graphic can really slow down the user’s machine. We’ll be focusing on dragging, here, although this concept applies just as well to animation. Go ahead and turn your graphic into a button by selecting all of it and choosing Insert>Convert to Symbol from the Menu. Choose a sensible name for your button, select the ‘Button’ radio box and hit OK. Double-click your button to enter its timeframe. Click on the Hit frame, select Insert>Keyframe from the Menu and then draw a box to give it an ample Hit State. If you’re feeling fancy, feel free to give it an Over and Down State, as well.

BY REDUCING THE NUMBER OF LINES THAT FLASH HAS TO DRAW, THE DRAGGING MOTION AND RESPONSIVENESS IS MADE FASTER

By setting the quality to ‘LOW’ we’re reducing the number of lines that Flash has to draw and calculate, which will make the dragging motion more responsive and quicker. And of course, better responsiveness and speed will keep your visitors happy and encourage them to return to your site.

INFO: Expertise supplied by Ryan Carson: [email protected], www.bd4d.com. The files on the CD are for personal training purposes only, and are not to be reproduced or used commercially.

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CO Y O G MP UR U L ID ET E E

WIN

ISSUE 55 SELF PROMOTION

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EXPERT ADVICE ON HOW TO GET NOTICED AND MAKE IT BIG IN THE DESIGN WORLD ● BREAKING IN GETTING YOUR FIRST JOB ● PRESENTING YOURSELF HOW TO CREATE THE IDEAL PORTFOLIO ● PROMOTING YOURSELF CREATE AN AMAZING LOGO

ALSO • TOP DESIGNERS REVEAL WHAT GAVE THEM THEIR BIG BREAK • DEALING WITH CLIENTS IN THE REAL WORLD

ON THE CD ● LOGO CREATOR – FULL PRODUCT WORTH $130 ● FLASH AMP – LIP-SYNCING FOR FLASH MX ● 14 FULL PLUG-INS – FOR PHOTOSHOP AND ILLUSTRATOR ● 11 FULL FONTS

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Quick Tutorial Q&A

INDESIGN

SHORTCUTS InDesign’s unique integration with Photoshop provides you with maximum flexibility when working with cut-outs in your layout. This example looks at how you can use Channels to quickly generate a clipping path and ‘break out’ of a graphic frame’s border.

T

he fundamental principle behind this technique is having two copies of an image – one directly on top the other. Have your lower image in a frame with a stroke applied. Your top-most image should then have a clipping path, created in Photoshop and turned on, so the image can ‘break out’ of the confines of the frame. Although you can do this conveniently using a path saved with the image, using Channels often proves quicker, and more editable and flexible. For example, you could selectively apply feathering, ready to go ‘from the off’ in Photoshop. To begin with, create your desired frame in InDesign and drop the image into it. This will be the background shape for the image to break out of, so adjust it as necessary to allow for this. After copying the image, apply a substantial Stroke to enhance the effect. Choose Edit>Paste in Place (Cmd-AltShift-V) to position the unaltered original precisely on top of the ‘stroked’ version, dragging its frame edges out to reveal the hidden part of the image. If you’re working in InDesign CS, you can now use Alt+double-click on the image to open it in Photoshop. (Alternatively, click the Edit Original icon in the Links palette). Next, the plan is to make and save a selection as an alpha channel, to ultimately use as a clipping path in InDesign. In the example shown, using Select>Color Range provides a good place to start, by selecting the sky (ultimately inverting the selection). You may want to do some tidying up of the selection in Quick Mask mode. Next, go to the Channels palette and click the New Channel button, then save the Photoshop document and return to the layout. Back in InDesign, check the image has updated by calling up the Links

palette. If a yellow warning triangle appears next to the image’s name in the list, select it and choose Update Link from the Palette menu. To view the cut-out, first choose Object>Clipping Path (Cmd-Alt-Shift-K). Select Alpha Channel from the Type dropdown menu and click Preview on. If areas within your image also need cutting out, ensure that you have switched on Include Inside Edges. If your original selection was feathered in Photoshop, you could now use the Threshold and Tolerance sliders to finetune the edge of the cut-out. You should be able to see the image breaking free from the confines of its frame, in a similar way to the image shown below. There are plenty of other techniques you can use to tweak your design. To

work through the stacking order of the images, for instance – to adjust the frame’s handles, stroke width, and so on – simply Cmd-click with the Selection tool. You can also Control-click on an image to bring up Display Performance>High Quality Display for any object you fancy, independently of other images on the page. Very handy. If you have two documents open at the same time, you can Cmd-tab to cycle between them both, saving the Photoshop document to update automatically in the InDesign layout. You can also add a feathered edge to a hard-edged Alpha Channel in Photoshop by clicking its name in the Channels palette and applying a Gaussian Blur. INFO Expertise supplied by Chris Gregory, [email protected]

CROPPING AND OPTIMISING

TO WORK THROUGH THE STACKING ORDER OF THE IMAGES – TO ADJUST THE FRAME HANDLES, STROKE WIDTH, AND SO ON – SIMPLY CMDCLICK WITH THE SELECTION TOOL

1

In InDesign, copy an image, add a stroke to the selected frame and choose Edit>Paste in Place, to place the original directly above it in the stacking order. Next, drag out the topmost frame edges to reveal the entire image.

2

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In the Channels palette, select ‘Save selection as channel.’ Double-click to name the new channel, if you so wish. Save the Photoshop document and return to the layout in InDesign.

Now Alt-double-click to open the image you want to cut out in Photoshop, and generate the alpha channel which you’ll later use as a clipping path. We’re using Select>Color Range to start the process here.

Choose Object>Clipping Path and select Alpha Channel from the menu. Click Preview on, and fine-tune using Include Inside Edges and Invert, and by altering Threshold/Tolerance.

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PROFILE

EYEPORT NAME Lee Hasler EMAIL [email protected] WEBSITE www.eyeport.co.uk

A self-confessed Commodore Amiga user, Lee Hasler has developed a fascinating style that mixes vector and pixel art influences. Hasler, who also answers to the name Eyeport (see his site), is both an illustrator and Web designer with a growing interest in typography. Clients have included publications such as Design Week, Fortean Times, The Guardian, Independent, PC Advisor and Time Out. After studying design at university, he decided to become a freelance artist. “After a few retail jobs, I decided I’d better use my degree for more than pointing customers in the direction of the bananas!” he explains. While Photoshop is in the arsenal of many successful illustrators, Personal Paint for the Amiga is less often quoted. While his ownership of the Amiga is partly nostalgic, Hasler also relies on his Mac. “I start work on the Amiga with a tight bitmap drawing, then transfer over to the Mac to add colour and some Eyeport special sauce!” What image is on your desktop?

Nothing but Apple’s Bondi Blue. Images get in the way of the action! Which Website do you visit most?

Kid Robot (www.kidrobot.com). It’s dedicated to urban vinyl action toys. What are you obsessed by?

Music, television and chocolate (Twirl or Chunky Kitkat). Name one brilliant illustrator/designer

Jason Ford (www.aoi.com/directory.html). His drawing seems effortless. What are you working on now?

Right now I’m doing six icons for a US business magazine. I’m also redesigning my Website; it’s looking fun so far – a promotional card with some saucy content! I’m in the process of working up some fonts, too. I have about five that are fully finished and another 40 to go. I plan to get stuck in this year, with a new graphics site and font shop. What do you read in bed?

Mostly boring technical manuals. I never read fiction. Recently I’ve read 6 Chapters in Design, by Philip B. Meggs; Strange Ritual by David Byrne (yes, Talking Heads’ Dave – great photographer); and Do You Remember? Geeks, Gadgets & Gizmos.

1

What is your ultimate ambition?

To keep getting paid for doing something I enjoy. Favourite city?

London – love and hate in equal measures! How do you celebrate completing a project?

A cigar and a good malt whisky. Best album to work to?

Depends what mood I’m in, but at the moment Silver Jews’ Bright Flight, Roxy Music’s Stranded and Bobby Conn’s The Golden Age. If you weren’t busy being a designer, what would you be doing now?

A rockstar! What keeps you awake at night?

Pesky ideas…

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2

Profile

5 3

6 3

3 1. Fast Food was a diary image created for Graphics International (now Grafik). “The diary unfortunately never made it to print,” laments Hasler, “so this image was never seen.” 2. Games Marathon was a self-promotional piece which appeared in The Art Book 2004. 3. The Pixel-tastic Man Versus Machine was created for American arts magazine, Select. 4. UN Model was a self-promotional piece, published in Creative Review. 5. Lee Hasler’s Alien image was another selfpromotional piece, created using his staple tools: Personal Paint and Photoshop.

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6. This was a series of icons for Fortean Times. The logos were used to illustrate the regular news sections: Ufology, Archaeology and Medical Bag. 7. This image was created for The Society of Artists’ Agents, specifically for its Illustration Awards 2004. Based on the theme of eating out by bus, tube and train, it was selected to join 35 other illustrations for an exhibition at the London Transport Museum. The Exhibition runs until 14 March 2004 – head to www.ltmuseum.co.uk for more details.

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ILLUSTRATION BY PETER DRAPER www.xenomorphic.co.uk

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Tutorial

3DS MAX 6

ELECTRIC EFFECTS Lightning effects are usually handled by a plug-in, but with 3ds max 6’s new Particle Flow system, you can do it yourself – just take a look at CG artist Pete Draper’s electrified image here. How was it done? Simply follow our in-depth tutorial using the files on the CD to find out If you’re after lightning or electricity effects in your 3D artwork or illustrations, there are plug-ins available for the task, but they can be quite expensive if you’re only going to this them in a couple of pieces. With the introduction of Particle Flow in 3ds max 6, however, we can generate our own lightning, and what better way to test it out than to blast the living hell out of something? In this tutorial, 3ds max expert Pete Draper produces an effective animation of a lightning gun – purely out of particles – directly onto a background created from a photograph of a hallway. With the 3D environment laid out to match the original background, and the model and the camera positions matched, the process involves generating lightning arcs made from multiple particle systems, or flows. They’re all feeding into shared particle system events so they share similar features, such as generating scorch marks and interaction with the close proximity walls, showering the scene in sparks! Finally, discover how to add an outline to suggest walls, which will be rendered using a mental ray contour shader, then bring it into 3ds max and use the standard Scanline renderer to render the final image. All the files you need are on the CD. INFO Tutorial by Pete Draper, www.xenomorphic.co.uk

ON THE CD Look in the Tutorial\3ds max folder for the file you need to get started, the finished product, plus the assets, rendered animation and full-sized screenshots for each step. These files are for personal training purposes only, and are not to be reproduced elsewhere.

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^

INSIGHT

PART 1 MASTERING PARTICLE FLOW Master the ins and outs of lightning effects – all from within 3ds max 6

BACKGROUND IMAGE

We have used an inverted version of the original image, as dark colours work best with the bright lightning. If the lightning was rendered off onto the original light background, then the majority of it wouldn’t be visible! Producing the outlines is best suited to the mental ray renderer with its Contour shaders; this produces a cleaner outline than the only other Standard Scanline renderer alternative, The Ink n Paint materials Inking, which is lacking in quality.

7

Set its Viewport Quantity Multiplier to 100, Particle Amount Upper Limit to 100000000, and Render Integration Step to 2 Ticks. Press 6 to open Particle View. Rename Event 01 to Arcs-Targeted Generator. Set the Birth Operators Emit Stop to 100 and Amount to 40. Set the Position Icons Location to Pivot.

1

Open the electric_start.max 3ds max 6 file included on the cover CD. This scene mimics an original photograph of a hallway, noting camera placement and using measurements taken from the original environment, so that the CG scene matches it exactly.

2

Select the Hallway object in the scene and make a Reference copy, labelling it Arc Target. Add a Slice modifier and set the Slice Type to Remove Bottom. Rotate and position the Slice Gizmo to cut off the top of the mesh. Add extra Slice modifiers to remove parts of the mesh until you achieve something as illustrated.

4

Back at frame 0, create a Vortex Space Warp in the Top Viewport. Set its Axial Drop Damping to 0, Radial Pull to 5000 and Radial Pull Damping to 100. Enable CCW. Click on the Align tool and align this Space Warp to the Omni light, using the Pivot Point options to position them. Link it to the Omni light and rotate the Omni as necessary, so the Vortex is pointing down the hallway as illustrated.

8

Set the Speed operator’s Speed to 10m with 5m Variation and a Divergence of 20. Remove the Rotation operator and replace the Shape operator with a Shape Facing operator. Set its Size to 0.01 with 100 Variation, and set the Camera as its Look At object. Add a Material Static operator to the event.

5

In the Top Viewport, create a Wind Space Warp. Set Strength to 0, Turbulence to 5000, Frequency to 1 and Scale to 2. Create a new Wind Space Warp, with Strength 0, Turbulence 20, Frequency 1000 and Scale 0.01. Create a Deflector object and position it behind the Omni light as illustrated.

9

At frame 0, add a Spawn test to the event, label it Spawn-Fork and set it to Per Second. Set the Offspring Variation to 100, Speed Divergence to 30, and set the Size Scale Factor to 75 with 25 Variation.

3

Create an Omni light in the Top Viewport and rotate and position it as shown here. Set its colour to RGB 32,94,220, Multiplier to 10 and Decay to Inverse, with its Start at 0.03m. Enable Use And Show Far Attenuation and set the Start to 0m and End to 5m. Set the Contrast to 100. Go to frame 30, enable Auto Key and set the Multiplier to 15. At frame 32 set it to 20 and copy the resulting keyframe to frame 80. At frame 90 set the Multiplier to 0. Turn off Auto Key.

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6

Still in the Top Viewport, create a Gravity Space Warp. Create a UDeflector Space Warp and add the Hallway object to it. Set its Bounce to 0.25, Variation and Chaos to 25. Create a Particle Flow system, label it Arcs-Targeted, set the Icon Type to Circle and align and link it (as before) to the Omni light.

Tutorial

^

INSIGHT MENTAL RAY

10

Add a Find Target test and set it to Control By Time. Set the Control By Time group’s Time setting to 3 with a Variation of 2. Set the Target to Mesh Objects and add the Arc Target object to its list. Set the Point setting to Closest Surface.

We used mental ray to produce the outlines, but had to switch back to the Standard Scanline renderer, as the post-render effect glows and lens flares were not compatible with mental ray. Instead, we rendered the background in one renderer and reloaded it back into 3ds max (with Invert disabled) to use it in the scene with the glows. If mental ray had enabled us to use the Glow effect, we could have rendered out the outlines and the particles in one pass. (Glow does work in mental ray, but a mental ray message is reported contradicting this. The manual also says that Render Effects are not supported, so use at your discretion).

PARTICLE CONSTRUCTION

The driving force behind our electric system comes in the shape of the initial Arc Generator particles – individual particles that are greatly affected by two Wind Space Warps (to greatly randomise their motion). These individual particles, which are exceptionally fast and erratic, leave dense motionless particle trails, thanks to a Spawn test. These trails then have a material assigned, with an Effect ID which tells the Render Effect where to assign the Glow.

15

Drag out a Speed operator to the canvas to create a new event and label the event Sparks Generator. Set the Speed Variation to 0.2m with a Direction of Random 3D. Add a Force operator and add the Gravity Space Warp to it. Copy and Paste Instanced the Material Static from the Impact Core Generator event into this event.

11

Add a Force operator to the event and add both Wind Space Warps to its Force Space Warps list. Set its Influence to 500. Add a Delete operator and set it to By Particle Age with a Life Span of 10 with 5 Variation. Add a Collision test, label it CollisionCharacter and add the Deflector01 object to its list.

16

Add a Delete operator, set it to By Particle Age with a Life Span of 25 and 10 Variation. Copy (not instance) the Collision-Hallway test from the Arcs-Targeted Generator event into this event. Set it to Collided Multiple Times and set the # Times setting to 2. Wire the Output of the Spawn-Sparks test in the Impact Core Generator event to the input of this event.

13

Drag out a Spawn test to the canvas to create a new event, then label the event Impact Core Generator and the Spawn test to Spawn-Sparks. Set its Offspring to 200 with a Variation of 50 and Scale Variation of 50. Wire the input of this event to the Output of the Collision-Hallway test.

12

Add an Age Test to the event, rename it to Age Test-Turn Off Gun and set it to Absolute Age. Set its Test Value to 80 with 0 Variation. Add a Collision test and label it Collision-Hallway. Add the UDeflector Space Warp to its Deflectors list. Add a Spawn test, label it Spawn-Trails and set its By Travel Distance to 0.005m and Inherited Speed to 0.

17

Drag out a Shape Mark operator to the canvas to create a new event, then label the event Scorch Mark Generator. Wire the input of this event to the Output of the Spawn-Scorch Mark test.

14

Add another Spawn test and label it SpawnScorch Mark. Add a Speed operator and set its Speed to 0m. Add a Shape operator and set its Shape to Sphere with a Size of 0.001m. Add a Material Static operator and a Delete operator. Set the Delete operator to By Particle Age with a Life Span of 15 and 0 Variation.

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^

INSIGHT PARTICLE FLOW

You can wire multiple particle systems (the root nodes of each flow) into a single event. This is useful – each multiple systems would generate the same result if a particle from any of the systems should interact with geometry in the scene. A scorch mark would be produced, with a shower of sparks. You can turn the gun off, deleting all particles except the marks and sparks by using a Delete operator instanced across relevant events. Previously, you’d have had to set up each system individually!

18

Set the Hallway object as the Shape Marks Contact Object, enable In Local Space with Inherited to 5000 with 50 Variation, enable Impact Angle Distortion and set to 150, then enable Box Intersection. Set the Surface Offset to 0.001m and Offset Variation to 0.01m. Add a Material Static operator to the event.

24

Copy the Beam root and label the copy ‘Rays’. Instance the Beam Generator event and label the new event Rays Generator. Remove the SpawnFork and Spawn-Trails tests, and the Scale and both Force operators. Wire this new event to the Rays root.

21

Remove the Find Target test. Make the Force operator unique and set its Influence to 1000. Wire its Age Test-Turn Off Gun test to the Killer event, its Collision-Hallway test to the Impact Core Generator event, and the Spawn-Trails event to the Arc Life event.

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Copy and Paste Instanced the Age Test-Turn Off Gun test and the Material Static operator from the Arcs-Targeted Generator event to the canvas, creating a new event and labelling it Arc Life. Instance the Delete operator from the Impact Core Generator to this event, and wire the input of the event to the Output of the Arcs-Targeted Generator’s Spawn-Trails test. Drag out a Delete operator to the canvas and label the resulting event ‘Killer’. Wire all of the Age Test-Turn Off Gun tests and the Sparks Generator’s Collision-Hallway test to this event.

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Make the Birth operator unique and set its Emit Start to 0 and Amount to 2000. Make the Speed operator unique and set its Speed to 1m with 0.5m Variation and a Random 3D Direction. Wire the Age Test-Turn Off Gun and Collision Hallway tests to the Killer event. Select all particle system icons and link them to the Omni light.

22

The timeline isn’t fixed in one view. In fact, there are several View modes to choose from – all tucked away in a sub-menu that you can access by clicking on the top-right corner of the timeline panel. Open it now and you’ll see a series of options. The Normal option is the one most people use.

26

Open the Material Editor, label a material Hallway and assign it to the Hallway object in the scene. Hide the Arc Target object. Set the Self Illumination to 100 and add a Bitmap map to the Diffuse slot. Load in the background.jpg image on the cover CD. In the Bitmap map, enable Environ, set the Mapping to Screen, expand the Output rollout and enable Invert.

20

Copy the Arcs-Targeted root node and label the new copy Arcs-Random. Copy the Arcs Targeted Generator event, Paste Instanced it and wire it to the new root node. Label the instance Arcs-Random Generator. Make the Birth operator unique and set the Amount to 30. Remove the Speed operator.

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23

Remove the Find Target test. Add a Scale operator under the Shape Facing operator, set its Type to Relative First and Scale to 10, with a Variation of 50 for all axis. Add a Force operator and add the Vortex Space Warp to it, then set its Influence to 400. Wire the Age Test-Turn Off Gun, CollisionHallway and Spawn-Trails events to the same events as before.

Tutorial

^

INSIGHT INTEGRATION STEPS

27

Open the Render panel, change the renderer to mental ray, go to the Renderer tab and enable Contours. Expand the Mental Ray Connection rollout at the top of the material and add a Simply (contour) map to the Contour slot, set the colour to white, width to 0.25 and render off the image at 800x600. Now save the image.

28

Change the renderer back to Scanline. Enable Self-illumination, replace the existing bitmap with the one we have just rendered, turn off Invert in its Output rollout and instance the Bitmap map into the Self-illumination slot. Label a new material Arcs, enable Self-illumination and Additive Transparency, set the opacity to 99, and set the Diffuse and Selfillumination colours to RGB 32,94,220. Instance this material to the Material Static in the Arcs-Targeted Generator event.

We have reduced the Integration Step for the particle systems so the interaction with the deflectors is more accurate. Due to the speed of the particles, having a high Integration Step will result in the system not noticing that the particle has passed through the deflector. This also applies to the forked particle spawning – an overly high Integration Step will result in gaps in the trail while the system spawns the new particle. Lower settings result in a more accurate particle interaction, but longer render times due to particle preparation times. However, because of the low number of interacting particles, this will be negligible. As our Viewport has a higher Integration Step than the renderer (set in the particle system), gaps and collision inaccuracies will be visible in the Viewport. These will not occur at render time due to its lower Integration Step.

30

Create a new material, set the Diffuse colour to black, then add a gradient map set to Radial in the Opacity slot. Set its Colour 2 Position to 0.14. Label this material Scorch Mark and instance it into the Material Static operator in the Scorch Mark Generator event.

31

Add a Lens Effects Render Effect and load in the Spotlight preset. Set the Lens Effects Globals Size to 50 and Intensity to 10. Click on the Pick Light button and select the Omni light in the scene. In each Lens Effect element, set the Occlusion setting to 0. Add another Lens Effects effect, add a Glow element and set its Size to 10, Intensity to 40 and Use Source Colour to 100. Click on the Options tab and enable Effects ID (defaulted to 1). Add two other Glow elements with Sizes of 5 and 0.02, and Intensities of 30 and 50, respectively.

FINAL STEP

T

he final electric effect works, with the initial attracted arcs rushing to the nearest surface, and a few random ones thrown in for good measure. The combination of the (inverted) background style, rendered lines and electric effects complement each another well. Try using parts of the particle system to generate other effects, such as a plasma ball or forked lightning travelling across the sky!

29

Set the Arcs material’s Material Effects Channel to 1. Copy the material, label the copy ‘Sparks’ and set the Diffuse and Self-illumination colours to white. Set the opacity to 75 and instance this material into the Material Static operator in the Sparks Generator event.

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REVIEWS ★★★★★ OUR FIVE-STAR RATING EXPLAINED For a piece of software or hardware to make it into Computer Arts’ reviews section, it has to reach a certain standard. Truly dire products will be ignored, which is why you’ll rarely see one-star ratings. Our reviewers are experts in their own fields. We assess tools from the viewpoint of the professional designer. Does the product do what it’s meant to do? Is the interface clean? Is it quick, reliable and useful? And is it good value? Computer Arts Recommended awards are only given to products that are particularly good value, or truly excel in what they do.

SOFTWARE

CorelDRAW 12 P78 Final Cut Express 2 P80 Director MX 2004 P82 iLife ‘04 P83 Mirage P84 HARDWARE

Apple iBook G4 P86 ACI Sovereign Pro P87 Miglia MediaBank HS-R P88 Canon i965 P88 BOOKS

Digital Illustration P92 Foundation Flash MX 2004 Premiere Pro Bible GROUP TEST

PHOTOSHOP PLUG-INS P94 55MM 3.0 Nik Color Efex Pro! Photo Imaging Suite Triple Bundle Mystical Bundle Creative Pack KPT Collection

Does anyone actually use CorelDRAW? Well, yes, as it happens, but mainly, so it seems, businesses wanting a relatively affordable solution to their logo, newsletter and internal design solutions. Can the tool edge closer to Adobe’s creative tools with the twelfth release? Turn the page to find out. We also have Final Cut Express 2 on test – the new, yet as it happens not that revolutionary, release of Apple’s budget non-linear editing tool. Director MX 2004 is here, and we’ve brought you an exclusive preview – look out for the in-depth review coming soon in Computer Arts. iLife ‘04 provides us with some tools for creating great portfolios on a budget, and the freshly revamped Mirage offers a decent video-painting and compositing solution. Hardware-wise this month, we have two new laptops from Apple and ACI, a RAID system from Miglia and a fantastic printer from Canon. To top it all off, we’ve rounded up the best Photoshop plug-in bundles for your perusal. Until next time, enjoy this month’s reviews…

Rob Carney Deputy Editor [email protected]

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CORELDRAW GRAPHICS SUITE 12

PC

£422 (UPGRADE £210)

GRAPHICS Version 12 plays it smart with a batch of new and ‘intelligent’ drawing tools CONTACT Corel 01628 589 800 www.corel.co.uk

SYSTEM PC Pentium II, 200MHz, 250MB HD space, 256MB RAM, Windows 2000 or XP

FOR • Good all-in-one graphics bundle • Intelligent drawing tools • Cheaper than Adobe Creative Suite

AGAINST • Not as powerful as Adobe Creative Suite • Upgrade price is steep • Poor performance on minimum spec machines

VERDICT

★★★★

C

orelDRAW 12 is a fine piece of graphics software, and the overall Graphics Suite bundle that accompanies it is very good value for money. The only real problem is trying to figure out exactly who it’s aimed at. Corel’s marketing team constantly mentions the program’s many ‘professional’ users, but – let’s face it – most professional designers and illustrators are umbilically linked to their copies of Photoshop, Illustrator or FreeHand. No-one’s going to dump Photoshop so that they can use Corel Photo-Paint, even though the entire Corel Graphics Suite – which contains CorelDRAW, Photo-Paint and the criminally overlooked RAVE – costs less than half the price of the rival Adobe Creative Suite. Nothing proves that point more than the fact that the millions of Mac-based designers around the world have completely ignored the Mac version of the Graphics Suite, prompting Corel to cease production of the Mac version altogether. For better or worse, Adobe owns the professional print and publishing market, while the Web graphics market is Macromedia’s private playground. So when Corel talks about ‘professional users’, what it primarily means is ‘business users’. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, though, as the Windows business

INTELLIGENT DRAWING TOOLS

Photo-Paint doesn’t get much of an upgrade, although there’s a new Touch Up brush to help you remove blemishes from photographs.

As always, CorelDRAW remains the most important of the three core programs in the Graphics Suite, and it’s the one that has received the most attention in this upgrade. The most important new features in CorelDRAW 12 fall under the banner of ‘intelligent’ drawing tools. Like most vector graphics programs CorelDRAW has always included a set of tools for drawing standard shapes such as rectangles, triangles and circles, as well as freehand tools for drawing irregular lines and curves. Those tools are still available in CorelDRAW 12, but there’s a new Smart Drawing tool that can recognise whatever you’re trying to draw, then automatically smooth out your freehand drawings to create more polished vector artwork. This is no big deal if you’re just trying to draw an ordinary circle or rectangle, as the program’s existing tools will do this perfectly. It is, however, a real boon if you’re trying to produce hand-drawn sketches or artwork. You no longer have to piece drawings together by constantly switching from one tool to another, or spend time fiddling with Bézier curves to get just the right shape. All you have to do is select the Smart Drawing tool and then sketch out your ideas quickly. As you go along, the program will smooth out your hand-drawn shapes, leaving you with high-quality vector artwork. When you’re drawing with this tool, there’s a brief delay while the program analyses your drawing and then converts it into vector artwork. If you’re not a confident artist you can increase this delay, giving you time to hit the Shift key so that you can go back and erase anything you’re not happy with. You’re also free to edit these ‘smart drawings’ just like any other type of vector graphics. If you draw an object containing mainly straight lines, it will be treated like a simple rectangle or square, with editable node

The new intelligent guides and snapping features will come in handy for technical illustrations where you need precise control.

The rejigged Eyedropper tool now enables you to copy object attributes such as outline and fill, as well as sample colours.

Corel is fighting a losing battle if it thinks it can steal professional designers and illustrators away from Adobe and Macromedia with Graphics Suite – the app simply isn’t as powerful or as polished. However, it does provide a good combination of bitmap, vector and animation tools, and at a price that will appeal to many business users.

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market is worth billions of dollars. It includes millions of people who can use CorelDRAW to produce illustrated marketing materials or presentations graphics. And although it’s not a full-blown CAD program, CorelDRAW is also a good choice for people who need to produce technical illustrations such as blueprints and floor plans.

Review

FEATURES • Bundle includes CorelDRAW, RAVE and Photo-Paint • Additional utilities for font management, bitmap tracing and Visual Basic programming • New Smart Drawing tool in CorelDRAW and RAVE • Dynamic Guides to assist object positioning • Improved snapping controls • New Eyedropper tool copies object attributes • New Export To Microsoft Office option • Improved text alignment and rendering • Insert Character palette displays entire Unicode character set • New Touch Up brush in Photo-Paint

CorelDRAW 12 looks much like previous versions, but its new Smart Drawing tool attempts to change the way you work with the program.

points at the corners. If you draw a more complex curved shape, there will be multiple nodes along the curve, enabling you to edit it like a Bézier curve. This feature isn’t quite as revolutionary as Corel claims, since Flash has provided a ‘smooth’ drawing tool for years, but this is certainly the first general-purpose illustration tool to provide something similar. And, to back up the Smart Drawing tool, Corel has improved the program’s guides and snapping options. When you place the cursor near any object, the cursor automatically jumps to the closest ‘snapping point’. These snapping points can be corners or one of several options that you can specify in the main Options dialog box. This makes it easy to position drawn objects together or draw new objects at a specific point.

DYNAMIC GUIDES There’s also a new Dynamic Guides option to help you when positioning objects. Just place the cursor on any drawn line, or near any snapping point, and CorelDRAW displays guide lines that help you to position and measure your drawings. As with the snapping points, you can specify how the guides work by adjusting various settings in the main Options dialog. For technical drawings, you might want to specify that the guide lines runs at 45-degree angles from any line you select. Another useful option is the ability to display measurements. As you move the cursor along a guide line, it displays the distance between the cursor’s current position and its starting position. The dynamic guides can be a bit distracting if you’re just doing some freehand sketching, but they’re very useful for technical drawings. You’ve also got the option to turn off both snapping and guides if you want to. There are a few other improvements, such as improved text handling and a more intelligent Eyedropper that can sample attributes such as fill and stroke, as well as simple colours, but it’s the Smart Drawing tool and intelligent snapping and guides that lie at the heart of this upgrade. These new drawing tools are also available in the upgraded RAVE 3, which makes this little-known animation tool even more useful. Photo-Paint gets a new Touch Up

brush that enables you to remove blemishes quickly, such as dust and scratches or facial wrinkles. It’s a handy addition, certainly, but hardly a major improvement. If there’s any criticism of this upgrade, it’s the relatively small number of new features. But this misses the point, which is that the Smart Drawing tool in CorelDRAW and RAVE is about quality not quantity. Old hands will appreciate the greater drawing freedom, as well as the increased precision of the snapping and guide options. Less experienced users will like the way CorelDRAW helps them turn their rough sketches into decent quality artwork. The CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 is a good upgrade for existing users, but it’s unlikely that professional designers who are already using Adobe or Macromedia products will be convinced to make the switch. At least not yet.

CorelDRAW 12 provides a new Export dialog box for exporting illustrations for use in Microsoft Office documents.

One of the other utilities included with the Graphics Suite is Trace – a tool for converting bitmap images into vector artwork.

RAVE ON! Corel’s animation tool boasts real power The unsung hero of the CorelDRAW Graphics Suite is RAVE 3. Like Adobe’s now-defunct LiveMotion, RAVE is an easy-to-use Web animation program that in many instances can provide a genuine alternative to the somewhat complex and cumbersome Flash. RAVE 3 includes a wide range of vector graphics tools, such as the new Smart Drawing tool found in CorelDRAW 12, so it’s easy to create text and graphics elements that

you can use in your animation projects. Like Flash, RAVE uses a timeline window to orchestrate the elements within your animation. You can use keyframes to specify the key points within an animation sequence and then just let RAVE’s ‘tweening’ options do all the hard work for you. Admittedly, RAVE can’t match the sheer power of Flash, but it’s easier to use and ideal for routine tasks such as creating animated logos or Web banners.

The Font Navigator utility enables you to view and organise all the fonts installed on your PC.

CorelDRAW’s Dynamic Guides can be customised to display guides at specific angles or with on-screen measurements.

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79

FINAL CUT EXPRESS 2

MAC £199 (UPGRADE £69)

DV Apple’s budget DV-editing tool now features a host of real-time tools CONTACT Apple Buy online www.apple.com/uk

SYSTEM MAC G4 (with AGP) 350MHz • 384MB RAM (512MB required for RT Extreme) • FireWire 400 port • QuickTime 6.4 or later • Mac OS X v10.2.5

FOR Near-pro editing Real-time effects ● Complex animated composites ● ●

AGAINST No keyframing of effects You can’t use it with film ● Not many new features to the upgrade ● ●

VERDICT

★★★★ Final Cut Express 2 is the best low-cost editing solution for DV. If you’re already using the first version, this upgrade marks a pleasing step forwards. Pro users will find the effects frustrating, but the editing is easy and familiar.

F

inal Cut Express 2 is a low-cost editing solution for DV filmmakers – it will be used by both amateurs and pros alike. Although its features are limited compared to those provided by high-end applications, new users will find everything they need to edit video footage, while pros couldn’t ask for a better cutting station. When Final Cut Pro was launched a few years ago, the hype led many people to believe the app was capable of editing everything from a VHS home movie to a 35mm feature. Sadly, the latter wasn’t quite true – at least not without lots of effort and upgrades.

buying, because there is no better way to edit video footage. However, there are some major differences under the canopy that will determine which version you buy.

PRO VS EXPRESS

While Pro enables you to keyframe filters, to change their effect over time, in Express you can only set one per clip. It’s not a problem for simple filters, sure, but for more advanced effects, such as the Blue Screen key, this could be a problem. Unless you’ve lit your blue screen perfectly, the settings you apply to the first frame may not work for the other frames in your clip. Innovative filmmakers have found ways to chop clips up, applying different filters to each, and then merging them to WITH ESSENTIAL EDITING TOOLS THAT WILL settings simulate keyframing. Realistically though, there’s PLEASE THE AMATEUR AND THE PRO, THIS no keyframing of effects in Express. It’s a frustrating omission but then, if it were present, Express APP GIVES INCREDIBLE VALUE FOR MONEY would be so close to Pro that most people wouldn’t Since then, Final Cut Pro has advanced steadily, and now notice a difference. comes with Cinema Tools, so you really can cut a feature Fortunately, you can keyframe the motion attributes of a film on your desktop. Many amateurs and semi-pros have clip, such as distortion, scale and position. Keyframing of been left wanting the Final Cut Pro interface, but without motion is simplified in Express – instead of dealing with the cost. Why pay for the ability to cut film and highindividual keyframe icons, you click the keyframe button, definition video when you’re just using DV? Of course, you then drag and distort the clip as desired. It’s simpler, but could get by with iMovie, but Apple has realised that many less easy to edit the motion if you change your mind. For users want a product pitched squarely between these extra control you can set the placing of an animated layer amateur and pro apps. Final Cut Express is a little more on using Bézier curves. the pro side, admittedly, but still easy enough for users with Express has a decent colour correction filter, but lacks no editing experience to get to grips with. Pro’s Colour Corrector 3-way. It won’t work with film or HD, The interface appears identical to that in Final Cut Pro, but is ideal for DV and DVCPRO. making it easy to drag and drop video clips, then edit them Express 2 lets you Capture footage across timecode with a variety of tools. This alone makes Express worth breaks, and will even load up an entire reel of DV footage

The keying filters in Express 2 are good enough to get powerful results with DV footage, presuming your material has been well shot.

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Review

FEATURES

THE INTERFACE Why Final Cut Express is so simple to use

A variety of filters aid compositing, while Motion Blur and Colour Correction add the final touch.

Perhaps the most overlooked benefit of Final Cut Express is its interface, which is almost identical to Final Cut Pro’s – widely considered the most userfriendly and intuitive in the business. It’s so familiar and easy to use that you barely notice how important it is. The timeline, where clips are laid out like strips of film, appears below the Canvas and Viewer windows. Essentially, with the Canvas you can look at a clip before you put it in the edit, while Viewer enables you to see it in place. Once you’ve memorised the keyboard

shortcuts, navigating, cutting and adjusting footage is incredibly rapid. The editing tools in Express, such as Slip, Slide, Ripple and Roll, are true pro ways to control material. Although they need adjusting to, they provide far greater control over edit points than simple apps like iMovie. In this respect, The interface achieves the ultimate goal for a nonlinear editor – to become almost invisible, so you can concentrate on making smart creative decisions, instead of the complexities of the application itself.

• Capture across timecode breaks • RT Extreme provides more render-free video layers, effects and transitions • Real-time audio volume and filter adjustment • Customisable interface • Scoring marker export for Soundtrack • Chapter marker export for DVD Studio Pro and iDVD • Optimised for the DV25 format: MiniDV and DVCAM • Integrated compositing and effects • High-quality DV YUV-based effects rendering • Imports layered Photoshop files and other graphic files

Animate a layer with keyframes, then use the Bézier handles to smooth out and edit the motion of your track.

and then split it into appropriate clips automatically. Although Pro editors might be appalled by this approach, it’s a time-saver for those who aren’t used to logging and capturing. If you decide to log and capture in the traditional way, there’s nothing to stop you. RT Extreme is Apple’s way of dealing with long render times. If you’re going to add filters, composite layers and change clip shape and motion, it can take hours to render all the effects. RT Extreme captures your clips in a highly compressed form, enabling a mass of effects to occur in real-time. Even with several filter, layers and lots of motion, you can get real-time playback, especially on a fast system. When your editing and effects work is complete, your clips are re-captured at full res, and a full render must be carried out. This can be left overnight, although the real timesaving occurs while you work. Overall, rendering is faster than before – and re-rendering is required less frequently.

SUBTLE IMPROVEMENTS This version also provides real-time audio volume and filter adjustment, which means you can change levels and effects while listening to a clip. Alternatively, you can use automated audio keyframe recording, so that every change you make is stored as a keyframe. If you’re confident with audio, this can save you hours on a complex project. Dynamic trimming is now available using the J, K and L keys. This won’t impress new users, but editors who’ve worked with the J, K and L keys for years (for shuttling backwards and forwards through footage) use this method to navigate more than any other. For pros using Express as a cutting station, this is a blessing. You can also export markers to Soundtrack (for easy music synching), or as Chapter Markers for DVD Studio Pro and iDVD. Doing this work in your editing timeline can save you fiddling about in the DVD apps. Fortunately, these markers don’t lock you into a decision, and can be edited in the DVD applications. Apple has also cleared up a few minor glitches with this latest iteration. If your scratch disk fills up or goes missing,

you’re now warned and shown how to rectify the problem. Window resizing has been automated, so that when you drag one window, the others resize as required. Unfortunately, you can’t do the same with the timeline, which is an oversight. It is, however, easier to zoom into the timeline, a constant frustration in the earlier version. It’s relatively easier to customise layouts and shortcuts, too. Final Cut Express is incredible value for money, considering it has a Non-Linear Editor, 99 layer composites, a pro interface, real-time effects and does its job so well. The app is similar to Final Cut Pro 1, but better in many respects, with more advanced editing and audio tools. For owners of Express 1, the upgrade is hardly essential, but will eradicate a few headaches and difficulties, making the app feel a little more professional and user-friendly. For pro users, Express is an ideal alternative to Final Cut Pro if you need a cutting station. Some would argue that you shouldn’t try to create effects in your NLE anyway, so you may as well buy Express for cutting, and After Effects or combustion for effects. If you’re in a high-end Pro environment, and need multiple input and output formats, you’ll have to go with Final Cut Pro – but for essential editing work, Final Cut Express won’t disappoint.

Acquiring footage is now much easier (even automatic) – and you can easily capture it over timecode breaks.

By capturing footage as compressed RT Extreme, you can animate huge composites with many effects in realtime.

The more ambitious editor can record changes made to audio levels in real time using automatic keyframes.

Export the project to Soundtrack and markers are exported from the timeline to help you to cue up music.

You can record voice-overs directly into the timeline. This enables you to test the timing of a voice-over or make the final recording.

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81

PREVIEW

DIRECTOR MX 2004

PC AND MAC £959 (UPGRADE £319)

MULTIMEDIA This upgrade finally enables you to create both Mac and PC projectors from one copy CONTACT Macromedia Buy online www.macromedia.com/uk

FEATURES Import Flash MX 2004 content JavaScript syntax support ● Components ● DVD-Video format support ● WMV format support ● Publish to Mac and Windows from one version ● New, customisable workspace ●

●

SYSTEM PC Pentium II 600MHz • 200MB HD • 128MB RAM • Win 2000/XP MAC G3 500MHz • 100MB HD • 128MB RAM • OS X 10.2.6

VERDICT Director MX 2004 looks like being a solid upgrade that could save you cash by enabling you to create Mac and PC projectors from one package. For a full look at features, whether they’ll benefit the multimedia designer and whether or not you should upgrade, check out the in-depth CA review, coming soon.

T

his new upgrade to the 20-year-old app – responsible for around 70 per cent of all multimedia CD-ROM content in the mid-90s, according to Macromedia – doesn’t immediately look and feel like a huge step forwards, yet it adds some wanted features. The most important one is the ability to embed, control and play back the DVD video format inside Director movies. This obviously adds a new authoring slant – you can now trigger events during DVD movie playback (such as going to URLs or swapping cast members) and control DVD navigation. Of course, these Director movies aren’t meant to be played on your TV. Rather, Macromedia wants to exploit the DVD video format to bring high-quality interactive DVD-ROM content to the desktop. A new feature aimed at cutting development time is support for Components. As in Flash MX (and MX 2004), components enable you to quickly knock up ready-made interface elements – radio buttons, scroll bars and such-like – without the need for manual coding. Naturally, Director MX 2004 also enables you to import Flash MX 2004 content (as well as Flash MX content). Lingo, Director’s proprietary scripting language, has undergone many changes in the app’s lifetime, to keep up with new features and provide more efficient debugging tools. MX 2004 updates the programming commands to work with the latest additions, of course, but also adds JavaScript compatibility. Effectively, this means you can begin coding in Director with only some knowledge of JavaScript .This is great for beginners, while enabling the more experienced user to combine JavaScript and Lingo to create more powerful, code-driven applications. A long-standing criticism of Director has been the inability to create Mac and PC projectors from a single app; you always needed a Mac and PC copy of the software. This made it hugely expensive to author dual-platform multimedia content. At last, all this changes. Previously,

Macromedia said it wasn’t possible to author Mac content on the PC and vice-versa, but now Director MX 2004 on the PC can create Mac projectors and vice-versa. There’s one exception, though. The PC version of DMX 2004 cannot create OS 9 projectors – it’s too hard to implement, says Macromedia. Could this be a nudge from Apple to oust all OS 9 compatibility from the app? What else? You can give sprites and channels custom names; enjoy tight integration with Fireworks; get instant help via a new reference pane (à la Flash) and there’s also support for the WMV (Windows Media) format. ■

INTERFACE CHANGES A new interface is at the heart of DMX 2004 With Director MX 2004, Macromedia has once again tweaked the app’s interface. It’s not as radical as the overhaul introduced with the first MX 2004 release, but it still looks like boasting some useful enhancements to help with day-to-day workflow. New workspace management features enable you to dock Movie in a Window (MIAW) tools alongside your other palettes; a dockable stage reduces desktop clutter (which will please users without a super-high resolution display); improved Window Properties enable you to change the boundary shape of a Projector by using a dropdown to select a cast member mask, and expanded Panel sets make it easier to set up the Director interface for different authoring purposes. Finally, a new (and what is becoming incredibly popular) Start Page or Welcome Screen provides easy access to recently opened files and other resources.

It looks familiar, but new workflow-based features and the ability to create Mac and PC projectors from one copy will surely entice upgraders.

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Review

Novelty features and useful photo management tools improve iPhoto, and enable fun slideshows by combining it with iLife’s other applications.

CONTACT Apple UK Buy online www.apple.com/ukstore

SYSTEM MAC 600MHz G3 • 256MB RAM • 4.3GB HD • OS X 10.2.6

ILIFE ’04

MAC £39

SOFTWARE Think Apple’s suite of

consumer-orientated tools are for consumers only? Think again…

FEATURES • iPhoto 4 – image management • iMovie 4 – DV editing • iDVD 4 – DVD authoring • iTunes 4.2 – MP3 encoding and management • GarageBand – music mixing and authoring

FOR • Superb value • Easy to use • Great integration

A

pple’s iLife ’04 may not seem like a toolset for the professional designer – after all, what are Final Cut Pro and DVD Studio Pro for? But anyone who dismisses these tools as redundant in a pro environment is either really cutting costs or truly bonkers. iLife ’04 consists of five apps in all: iTunes 4.2 for digital music management; iPhoto 4 for viewing and sorting digital images and photos; iMovie 4 for basic video editing; iDVD 4 for authoring DVDs; and, finally, a new addition to the tool, GarageBand.

GarageBand comes with the premise of turning your Mac into a professional recording studio. While this is a slight exaggeration, it does prove proficient at creating royalty-free scores for your DV projects or a soundtrack for your portfolio at very little expense. Using a combination of Apple loops and your own instruments, you assemble tracks and mix them together – rather like Apple SoundTrack. A number of software instruments can turn your MIDI keyboard or electric guitar into virtually any instrument you can imagine. Some great guitar amp simulators are also provided. GarageBand proves useful as a score-creation tool for almost every kind of project – and you can export your tracks as MP3 files for importing into other apps. Neat. iLife ’04 works best when its component tools are working together. And, on the whole, it’s fantastic for creating portfolios. For instance, you can use iPhoto to import and manage any digital images or photos that you want to include, sorting them into different albums. You can then, directly from iDVD, create a DVD slideshow for mailing out to clients, complete with soundtrack created in GarageBand. Of course, if you want something a little more professional, you can import other images, custom buttons and video assets created in iMovie. New to iPhoto is the ability to manage up to 25,000 photos, which the app can whip through at an alarming rate. Being able to organise your images by date or rating is handy, too, while enhanced slideshows, which give you the ability to specify individual image time on screen, and video-like transitions prove a welcome novelty. iMovie 4 is undoubtedly a great tool for quickly cutting and editing clips, and the ability to edit multiple clips and transitions at the same time in version 4 is a good enhancement. Equally impressive is the ability to see and edit audio waveforms, and sync video and audio footage easily. It’s a decent update. Similarly, iDVD 4 enjoys an impressive array of new features. Improved themes, better encoding and the ability to add iTunes playlists to your projects are all handy, but the main addition is the DVD Map – this provides a muchneeded diagrammatical view of your DVD (much like those seen in professional authoring apps). Overall, the iLife ‘04 suite is an essential addition to any Mac. If you have no interest in GarageBand, you may be a little hesitant to upgrade, as the new features aren’t that awe-inspiring. However, the speed improvements made in iPhoto 4 are worth the £39 price tag alone – especially if you use it to manage ALL your images. One complaint: the package eats up 4.3GB of your precious hard drive. ■

AGAINST • Not an essential upgrade

VERDICT

★★★★★ iLife ’04 introduces GarageBand, a fun and genuinely useful tool for adding soundtracks to almost any multimedia project, and the rest of the tools get some neat enhancements. Great stuff.

NEW FEATURES RUNDOWN AT A GLANCE – ALL THE NEW FEATURES OF ILIFE ’04 iPhoto 4 • Organise images by date taken • Share photos on a network • Add ratings to images • New Smart Albums • Handles up to 25,000 photos • Enhanced slideshows

GarageBand • Software instruments • Record with USB or MIDI keyboard, guitar or microphone • Thousands of supplied loops • Vintage amplifier simulators • Mix together tracks

iTunes 4.2 • Stream music across a network • Import on-the-go playlists from iPod • Encode in AAC format

iMovie • Edit multiple clips and transitions at once • Trim clips directly on the timeline • Sync video and audio with alignment guides • Edit audio with graphical waveforms • Enhanced transitions and titles

iDVD 4 • 20 new themes • DVD Map overview • Add custom autoplay movies • Record up to two hours on one DVD, thanks to better encoding • Add iTunes playlists to projects • More transitions

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83

MIRAGE

PC AND MAC

$895 (£489)

SPECIAL FX Proving that you can’t keep a good program down, Aura resurfaces with shiny new bits © Matthew Stoehr

CONTACT Bauhaus Software +1 210 212 7530 www.bauhaussoftware.com

SYSTEM PC Pentium III • 128MB RAM • 2GB HD space • Win 2000/XP MAC G3 • 128MB RAM • 2GB HD space • OS X 10.2.6

FOR • Packs in a huge amount of excellent features • Extremely flexible

AGAINST • Controls not always intuitive

VERDICT

★★★★ It may not have the status of Shake or combustion, but Mirage is an amazingly capable set of tools which really doesn’t lack in any area. Its interfaces (and there are quite a few) can be somewhat opaque, but with this amount of flexibility, that’s a small price to pay. Set to be a cult program for sure.

Here you can see the LightWave viewer and particle generator being used to add dust kicked up from a CG animation.

O

nce in a while, a program outlives its humble beginnings and becomes something of a legend among its users, inspiring a plague of imitations. Deluxe Paint was one of those apps. Originally released for the Amiga in the heady 16-bit days, it was praised for its versatility and ahead-of-the-time features. The spirit of Deluxe Paint lived on in NewTek’s Aura, a paint, animation and effects package which quietly carved out its own niche in typical NewTek style. Now Aura itself has gone, but the program lives on as Mirage – essentially Aura 3, taken on and updated by Bauhaus Software. At heart, it’s a painting program for the creation of 2D bitmap effects and animation. But it goes much farther than that. For instance, it can work with pure video sequences for adding special effects; it has natural-media style brushes like Painter; it has lighting, particles, keying, colour correction, point tracking and countless other little goodies which make it versatile, if a little hard to explain. Deluxe Paint’s influence on Mirage is evident as soon as you clock the UI. The app eschews all normal PC and Mac widgets in favour of a customised environment, teeming with dropdown menus and icons. Rather like LightWave 3D in fact (incidentally, another app with Amiga roots). At its simplest, Mirage can help you produce 2D bitmap animations, such as cartoons, logos or special effects, for

84 Computer Arts_March 2004

incorporating with existing footage. Whether you’re starting from scratch or not, the Project window always displays the current frame, including all layers, with basic transport controls for moving through the animation.

GETTING STARTED In Mirage, video painting is achieved using the Main and Tools panels. The Main panel offers the usual slew of drawing modes: freehand, spline, lines and shapes, floodfills, magic wand selection, among others. Meanwhile, Tools enables you to change the current medium. These include airbrush, penbrush, mechanical pencil, oil and ‘water’ paints, and ‘warp’ brushes for special effects. Each tool has its own slew of parameters to alter size, shape, speed, opacity, ‘wetness’, and so on – and, of course, there’s a colour-picker for mixing colours. Custom brush facilities make it reasonably easy to create just about any bitmap shape and store it in a library – even animated brushes. But the amount of options for strokes, drawing modes, steps, paint ‘drying’ and what Mirage calls connections, a method of dynamically varying brush effects as you draw, is quite overwhelming until you familiarise yourself with the app’s often arcane way of doing things. Ultimately, though, this flexibility means you can just as easily use Mirage as a straightforward image editor as a

Review

© Paul Fierlinger

FEATURES • Real-time video paint • Layer-based animation • Keyframing and motion path tools • Colour/luminance/ difference keying • Two and four-point tracking • Comprehensive video tools • Colour correction • Large number of effects • 2D particle generator • Complete support for multiple formats • Open architecture with scripting

Most effects applied through the stack generate a preview and WYSIWYG widgets, as well as more precise numerical inputs.

Using one or two-point tracking, it’s relatively simple to stabilise a piece of shaky footage, or track an object for special effects purposes.

fully-fledged 2D animation studio. The light table alone, which displays preceding and subsequent frames, is stuffed with enough options to satisfy the pickiest animator. Things become yet more complex when you use the Layers palette for compositing. Again, this works much like Photoshop – although the UI controls are rather more obscure, at least at first – with the ability to add and remove layers, shuffle their order, define opacity and Blending modes, set stencil areas (akin to masking), and other such standard tasks. The contents of a layer is pretty much irrelevant, at least to Mirage: it can be imported video footage, pure bitmap animation, or a mixture of both. You can swap between a frame-based display or timecode-based at any point, depending on which makes more sense for your content. Mirage can import and export an enormous number of bitmap and video formats, and sports an extremely useful proxy loading system. This loads footage as an ongoing background task but enables you to start working with it immediately, so there’s no need to wait several minutes or more for hefty sequences to load entirely. A frame counter

and status light let you know just how much of the sequence has been loaded.

GET ‘EM IN… AND OUT Mirage will play just about anything For a 1.0 release, Mirage supports many formats: AVI and QuickTime, FLI/FLC, DEEP, Cineon, Softimage and a rack of static image formats – including PSD, for layers. (Photoshop 5.5compatible plug-ins can also be used directly within the app, in theory). DV is fully covered, and it’s possible to import Flash files into a layer. Five different alpha modes are also available at both import and export time. Tablets are fully supported, with pressure,

tilt, angle and so on available for Wacom hardware, along with decent Twain support for scanners and cameras. Direct PAL and NTSC display can be had with dedicated hardware such as Matrox’s DigiSuite or NewTek’s VideoToaster. One feature not yet covered in the official documentation is the ability to texture LightWave objects directly within Mirage, using a plug-in that communicates with both apps at once. Nice.

VERSATILE EFFECTS Since Mirage is an animation package, the Layer palette obviously goes further than simple static-image tools. Each layer has its own timeline which can be stretched, truncated and so on, much like any video-editing tool, while any special effects and keyframes on the layer are indicated. Like the drawing modes, these effects are more versatile than they first appear, ranging from simple filters to complex motion effects. Most are applied using the FX Stack, an innocuous-looking dialog that enables you to apply multiple effects to your footage, or part of it, and expose each effect’s custom controls. One of the advantages of applying effects en masse is the ability to link the settings of one effect to the next. For example, the direction of a Drop Shadow filter can be drawn from the equivalent setting in a Bevel filter above it in the stack. When the direction setting is keyframed and animated over time, both filters respond in sync. You could use such keyframes to animate movement, but Mirage provides a more effective method: motion paths. These are defined as splines and stored using the Path Manager, yet another rather daunting Mirage gadget. For more fluid hand-drawn effects, AutoPaint can record every aspect of your strokes, including pressure and so on for tablets, as you create them. As usual, such strokes can be played back using a multitude of modes, or even used as sources for entirely different filters, such as Lightning. As if all that weren’t enough, Mirage sports a heap of video processing tools, including several keyers, motiontracking and stabilising, motion fixers and conversion utilities. Then, just in case you were feeling cheated, it throws in a 2D particle generator and full scripting facilities. Such a welcome diversity of tools does make Mirage rather intricate to learn. The controls aren’t complex or badly-designed; there are just so many sub-GUIs to grasp that the learning period is considerably lengthened. Nevertheless, Mirage is a real Swiss Army knife for image processing/creation. The truly remarkable thing is that it does so much and caters to so many different sorts of artist. Nothing here is just thrown in; there’s enormous potential in the open architecture and interoperability (to use a horrible buzzword) of the various components. You never know, it might even stop certain people banging on about Deluxe Paint…

Mirage’s Particle Generator is amazingly comprehensive, and comes with a decent library of presets for the daunted.

Bluescreen and greenscreen removal are possible using the various keyers bundled with Mirage; they also provide advanced spill removal.

Although intended for single light sources, the Volumetric Light effect can look interesting when applied to an entire video.

A couple of advanced video-only effects are provided, such as the motion fixer and a waveform display which you can lay over the source footage.

Computer Arts_March 2004

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iBOOK G4 1GHZ

MAC £1199

LAPTOP The latest incarnation of Apple’s best-selling consumer portable goes G4 CONTACT Apple UK 0800 039 1010 www.apple.com/ukstore

FEATURES 1 GHz G4 processor 14-inch TFT screen ● 1024x768-res display ● 256MB RAM, 60GB HD ● ATI Mobility Radeon 9200 graphics card ● 32MB VRAM ● 2 USB ports ● FireWire 400 port ● 10/100 Base-T Ethernet ● 56K Modem ● ●

FOR Looks great Light and portable ● Very rugged ● ●

AGAINST Poor resolution for 14-inch screen ● 640MB maximum RAM not enough ●

VERDICT

★★★ The 14-inch iBook contradicts itself a little bit. The larger screen doesn’t offer a larger resolution, and the increase in CPU speed over the 12-inch is not significant enough. Our advice if you need an iBook – get a 12-inch model, it offers much more portability at an outstanding £849.

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he Apple iBook has long been a favourite among students, consumers and families, thanks to its convenient size, good looks, neat software and reasonable power. With its latest revision, though, Apple has stepped the processing power up a gear, adding an 800MHz G4 to the base 12-inch model, and 933MHz and 1GHz chips to the more expensive 14-inch machines. The iBook we have on test is the top-of-the-range model – so how does it fare against its costlier PowerBook rival? Well, not bad, actually. For a start, the 1GHz chip is fast enough for day-to-day Photoshop work, although the maximum 640MB RAM capacity is a bit puny; let’s face it, 1GB RAM modules aren’t yet cheap enough, or widely available in the UK, for it to be a sensible upgrade option. The 640MB comes from the iBook having 128MB soldered to the logic board, making it impossible to replace unless you’re an expert in circuitry or so rich you don’t care invalidating the warranty. Or both. Access to the RAM and Airport slots is easy enough, with the keyboard lifting out to reveal all. See the Testing the iBook box for more details of how Photoshop performed. The 60GB hard drive included with this model should be enough for most digital files you need to cart around with you – you could always add an iPod for more storage. The only thing that lets the 14-inch iBook down is its screen. For a creative professional or even a Photoshop enthusiast, the 1024x768 resolution is just plain daft – acceptable on a 12.1-inch screen, but not here. It’s also of noticeably poorer quality than its PowerBook counterpart. Our review unit felt a little washed out. The extra resolution and widescreen aspect ratio is definitely something the 15-inch PowerBook has going for it (although it’ll cost you an extra £400). However, the lack of

DVI-out on the iBook is unimportant – it comes with VGA, S-Video and composite output through a range of adaptors and converters. The lack of a build-to-order SuperDrive is another thing that differentiates the PowerBook and iBook. All three iBooks now come with a Combo drive, though. In terms of connectivity, the iBook comes with a build-toorder option to include a BlueTooth module, but this can only be added at the manufacturing process. It arrives Airport Extreme-ready. This iBook looks and feels great to use. The casing is now solid white rather than translucent, whereas the inner casing around the keyboard is a subtle matte grey. The whole thing feels as though it will last for years, no matter what you chuck at it – unlike the PowerBook. It also feels a lot less prone to scratches than the previous iBook G3. Our advice would be to think very carefully about what exactly you need. Obviously, if you’re crunching graphics at a rate of knots, a PowerBook is the better option. If, however, you want a machine that offers convenience and ruggedness, and at a good price, opt for the iBook. The 14-inch is a little extravagant, though. The 12-inch model offers almost the same power, desktop resolution and maximum RAM, yet is much more portable… ■

TESTING THE IBOOK Although the iBook G4 clearly isn’t meant for heavy-duty Photoshop work, its specs are comparable with that of a Power Mac from a few years back, so you can still use it to successfully crunch graphics on the move. We tested the stock configuration iBook against a stock PowerBook G4 1.25GHz. Photoshop CS on both machines were allocated a 20GB scratch disk. Our tests involved a number of filters and operations on a 300dpi, 600MB image. See the table below for the results; some are closer than you’d expect. iBook G4 1GHz

PowerBook G4 1.25GHz

200 per cent image size

9.12.41

8.49.00

Photo Filter (default)

0.43.12

0.40.18

Gaussian Blur 250.0 Radius

6.03.21

4.22.38

Filter Gallery – Film Grain, Halftone, Photocopy (default settings)

5.08.42

5.04.06

Times in minutes and seconds

86 Computer Arts_March 2004

Review

ACI SOVEREIGN PRO

PC £1527

LAPTOP Despite its limitations, the Sovereign is

an affordable and reliable mobile workstation CONTACT ACi Buy online www.aciplc.com

FEATURES • Pentium 4, 2GHz processor • 60GB 5400rpm HDD • 512MB RAM • Wireless, Bluetooth • ATi 128 MB Mobility Radeon 9600/M10 • CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive • 15.1-inch TFT display

FOR • Solid performance • Good screen quality and size • Price

AGAINST • Poor battery life • Heavy (4kg) • Limited scalability

VERDICT

★★★★ ACi’s desktop replacement still has some ground to make up before it will be suitable for professional use, but its solid performance and affordability recommend it to anyone with less exacting requirements.

Despite poor battery life Ci’s Sovereign Pro is and limited RAM, ACi’s the latest machine to laptop is powerful and portable, if a little lacking try to fill the shoes of in the looks department. the trusty desktop workhorse, and in certain respects it does a pretty good job. While not exceptionally fast, the Sovereign is reliable and can handle some heavy video and 3D processing tasks. Unfortunately, that power has its price in terms of battery life, thus limiting the usefulness of this machine for a busy professional. Perhaps not the best looking laptop ever conceived, the Sovereign’s performance matches and to some extent mitigates its butch proportions. The 2.8GHz Pentium 4 processor, teamed with ATi’s excellent 128MB M10 graphics adaptor, give the system a powerful and reliable base to build on. In terms of storage, the 60GB hard drive looks a little conservative and although this can be upped to 80GB, that space can be eaten up fast by digital video. ACi has chosen to give the basic model a decent complement of RAM at 512MB so that, without intervention, this laptop could be drafted in for most graphics jobs. Despite this wise decision, the maximum capacity of the machine is only 1GB, which, ordinarily, would be fine but when dealing with high-end graphics you can never get enough RAM. As with storage space, ACi missed an opportunity to shine by limiting scalability. Thanks to the M10 graphics adaptor, the top resolution of this machine is a ridiculous 2048x1536. That said, if you want to have everything on screen at the same time, then you’re limited to 1280x1024 – which is still respectable. Whatever the ins and out of resolution, the Sovereign’s display is one of its strong points. Another strong point is the range of ports available, including four USB 2s, SVideo, IEEE and an S/P DIF Digital output. Rendering times using Maya 5 were pleasingly fast, even with large or complex data sets such as fluid dynamics. Not only that but, while rendering an animation in the background and scrubbing through a video edit in the foreground, the Sovereign could still play a music CD through its decent-quality speakers. Photoshop worked well, too, applying filters to files exceeding 300MB without any fuss. Video performance was also first rate. Given these strengths, and the quality of the ACi’s display, it’s unfortunate that the device falls at a couple of important hurdles, namely battery life and portability. It feels as if the various attributes of this laptop are pulling in different directions. The Sovereign is a solid performer, capable of tackling jobs which, only a year ago, would have been reserved exclusively for the desktop. Despite this, the battery life barely extends beyond the onehour mark when you’re doing processor intensive work. RAM capacity may also become an issue. ■

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RUN ALL SUMMARY BENCHMARKING THE SOVEREIGN… The Sovereign Pro is equipped with one of the best mobile graphics cards on the planet: the ATi Radeon 9600 Mobility. Surprising, then, that the machine’s Viewperf results (below) weren’t better. Still, any system is only as good as its slowest component. Comparing scores with other manufacturers (on www.specbench.org) gives you some idea of relative performance but doesn’t tell you how a machine handles; it’s the feeling of reliability that’s the Sovereign’s real strength. The M10 really comes into its own when dealing with large sets of 3D data, so for gamers this could be an interesting proposition. The Sovereign Pro can have its processor bumped up to 3.4GHz, which would certainly improve those scores, but at the cost of additional heat and power drain. As things stand, the laptop’s three fans are on almost all the time, so any gain in speed would come at a cost. ————— SUM_RESULTS\3DSMAX\SUMMARY.TXT 3dsmax-02 Weighted Geometric Mean = 8.500 ————— SUM_RESULTS\DRV\SUMMARY.TXT drv-09 Weighted Geometric Mean = 29.93 ————— SUM_RESULTS\DX\SUMMARY.TXT dx-08 Weighted Geometric Mean = 52.13 ————— SUM_RESULTS\LIGHT\SUMMARY.TXT light-06 Weighted Geometric Mean = 11.35 ————— SUM_RESULTS\PROE\SUMMARY.TXT proe-02 Weighted Geometric Mean = 11.32 ————— SUM_RESULTS\UGS\SUMMARY.TXT ugs-03 Weighted Geometric Mean = 14.97

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CANON i965 BUBBLEJET

PC AND MAC

£255

PRINTER An incredible performer, Canon’s superfast photo printer trounces the competition CONTACT Canon 08705 143 723 www.canon.co.uk

SYSTEM PC Any PC, USB port, 65MB HD (Windows 2000/XP), 30MB HD (Windows ME/98) MAC Any Mac, USB port, 30MB HD (OS 8.6-9.x), 100MB HD (OS X v10.2.1)

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anon has managed to leapfrog most of its competitors in the photo inkjet printer market for three reasons. First, Canon printers are fast. Second, they’re economical to run. Third, print quality is superb – glossy colour photos are virtually indistinguishable from conventional prints. This latest six-colour model incorporates a photo cyan and photo magenta ink cartridge for more life-like skin

VERDICT

★★★★★ The high-speed printhead and USB 2.0 interface make the i965 one of the fastest photo printers on the market. The exceptional quality of its output – especially when using Canon’s Photo Paper Pro media – makes this the best A4 photo printer currently available. The i965 uses six separate ink tanks and can deliver a fullcolour, glossy and borderless A4 print in under two minutes. Impressive.

tones and reduced grain. But even more impressive is the speed at which the i965 can produce a borderless photoquality print: at under two minutes for an A4 ’snap‘, it’s the fastest in its class, and way ahead of the competition. The speed advantage of the i965 is down to the printer’s enormous print head, with its 4800x2400dpi resolution and MicroFine droplet technology. With droplets as small as two picolitres in volume, images produced by the i965 are of exceptionally high quality and almost grain-free. Another technological advantage is the semi-permanent, fully replaceable printhead. Other printers either force you to replace the expensive printhead with each new cartridge you buy, or else rely on fixed printheads for the life of the printer. Separate ink tanks also help Canon reduce running costs. You can replace colours individually as they run out, rather than having to fork out for a new multi-colour cartridge. Like it’s less-expensive, three-colour sibling, the i865, this new printer from Canon also includes a handy 4x6 paper tray for printing postcard-sized photos. A quick turn of the paper tray’s knob and you can easily print snapshots without having to unload the main paper tray. Add to this the special attachment for printing directly on CDs and the i965 looks like being the smart buyer’s choice – and exceptionally good value for money.

MEDIABANK HS-R 200GB RAID

PC AND MAC

£538

DATA STORAGE This high-capacity device could be the ideal way to back up your precious data CONTACT Miglia 0870 747 2988 www.miglia.com

SYSTEM PC Any PC with FireWire, Windows 98SE or later MAC Any Mac with FireWire, Mac OS 9.1, Mac OS X 10.1 or later

VERDICT

★★★★ The MediaBank HS-R 200GB RAID provides increased data integrity while making it easy to take a backup offsite using the third drive module. The performance over FireWire is good, but the lack of USB 2.0 or FireWire 800 support limits its true potential.

88 Computer Arts_March 2004

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igh-speed external solutions are one of the most convenient ways to expand your storage needs when working with video and other large data files. But the MediaBank HS-R isn’t simply a whopping 200GB hard drive. It’s an array of two (or three) 200GB drives, enabling any data written to one to be automatically copied to a second (or third; the three-drive version costs £876). In the event of drive failure, the other drive(s) will always have a backup of your precious data. Each drive, mounted on a tray, can be easily removed through the front of the unit and is hot-swappable; you can even whip out a drive while the unit is still on without affecting the availability of data on the remaining drive(s). An extra drive tray gives you the option to add an extra drive that you can periodically swap with the second in the unit to automatically mirror the contents of the first. Again, this provides you with a crucial offsite backup on the spare. The computer doesn’t even have to be attached for the mirroring process to take place; it’s one of the benefits of a RAID solution. Performance-wise, the MediaBank is comparable with other FireWire drives using the Oxford 911 chipset, with read speeds of up to 34.2MB/sec and write speeds of 31.9MB/sec. Perfectly acceptable for, say, DV editing, but no match for an internal drive, as the FireWire bus is limited to 40MB/sec. Providing USB 2.0 or FireWire 800 ports

would’ve broadened the device’s appeal hugely. Aesthetically speaking, it’s hardly a looker, either: basic and functional, with a brick-like external power supply. The MediaBank provides a seamless way to back up your data without you even being aware of it, with the drives’ status permanently displayed on the LCD panel at the front of the unit. Using the hot-swappable modules, an offsite backup is simplicity itself, and considerably faster than other solutions, such as tape backup.

The MediaBank won’t win any awards for style, but it’s definitely a great way to back up data.

CREATIVE STUFF OUR ROUND-UP OF GREAT GEAR AND GADGETS

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90 Computer Arts_March 2004

Review

IPOD MINI

MATHMOS LIGHTS

CYBER-SHOT DSC-T1

PRICE $249 (£136) COMPANY Apple WEBSITE www.apple.com

PRICE £35-£49 COMPANY Mathmos WEBSITE www.mathmos.co.uk

PRICE Around $600 (£327) COMPANY Sony WEBSITE www.sonystyle.co.uk

You’d have thought the iPod was small enough already, wouldn’t you? But apparently not. At MacWorld San Francisco on January 6 this year, Steve Jobs proudly announced these new 4GB devices. Coming in five attractive flavours (silver, gold, blue, pink and green), the iPod mini features the same software as the iPod and can store up to 1000 songs. At $249, the iPod mini certainly isn’t as cheap as everyone expected (or hoped), especially considering that for $50 more you can get a 15GB iPod. Still, they are deliciously small, measuring 3.6x2.0x0.5 inches – and just as desirable.

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Are the lights in your office or studio looking a little dull? How about putting one of these beauties from lava-lamp supremo Mathmos on your desk? Available in a variety of eye-catching styles, including the seductive Aduki (pictured here), each one cycles through colours in a suitably psychedelic fashion. All models are rechargeable, come in a range of striking colours – and won’t cost you the Earth. Thanks to their ‘go anywhere’ nature, they’ll also prove perfect for illuminating lazy barbeque evenings that stretch out late into the summer night. We’re dreaming of summer already…

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3

NEW XELIBRI RANGE

SENNHEISER PXC 250

BURTON AMP PACK

PRICE From £139 COMPANY Siemens WEBSITE www.xelibri.com

PRICE £90 COMPANY Sennheiser WEBSITE www.sennheiser.co.uk

PRICE $199 (£108) COMPANY Burton WEBSITE www.burton.com

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The latest range of Xelibri phones truly does offer something different for the mobile phone connoisseur: four eye-catching devices with their own very unique style. The Xelibri 5 features the first ‘click-on’ phone design. It looks like a keyring and sports a colour display, user themes, and more. For the vainest of folks, the Xelibri 6 looks exactly like a compact, sporting two mirrors and colour display. Going up the range, Xelibri 7 sports a novel clip design, while Xelibri 8 looks like a necklace adorned by a Star Trek cast member. The phones will work with any network. See the range at www.xelibri.com.

Headphones remain an essential piece of kit for designers, helping us to block out external noise and concentrate on the creative task in hand, forever (and privately) accompanied by our favourite tunes. But the NoiseGuard PXC 250 goes one step further… By picking up the ambient sound around you and then reversing it, Sennheiser’s cans ‘cancel out’ all but the loudest of sonic aggravations, leaving you free to hook into iTunes and groove away in peace. They aren’t too pricey either – and, thanks to a neat foldaway system, they’re genuinely portable, too. Highly recommended.

It’s been a while since Sony wowed us with a new Cyber-shot model, but we all knew it wouldn’t be too far away. The DSC-T1 looks set to impress, with its whopping 5-million-pixel resolution tucked away inside a tiny shell. This release is being touted as the world’s smallest 5-megapixel digital camera at only 0.8x2.6x2.4 inches. With a 2.5-inch LCD taking up most of the back of the camera, and a Carl Zeiss lens with 3x optical zoom occupying the front, it’s definitely worth checking out. As we write this, the model is currently only available in Japan, but it should hit UK shores in the near future.

This is possibly one of the most expensive backpacks we’ve ever seen, but it’s also one of the niftiest. Like the jackets by the same company, the Burton Amp Pack features a padded pocket for your iPod, along with SOFTswitch controls on the strap for easily skipping through your music on the move. It’s primarily aimed at snowboarders, of course, but is big enough to accommodate your 12-inch PowerBook or iBook (you have to pay extra for a protective sleeve), as well as all your other gear. Pricey, sure, but those who love backpacks, iPods, or both, will be tempted.

Computer Arts_March 2004

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BOOKS

GET 20% OFF

THIS TITLE AT

www.ilex-press.co m /computerarts

DIGITAL INSPIRATION AUTHOR Steve Caplin and Adam Banks PRICE £19.95 PUBLISHER Ilex ISBN 1904705006

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he Complete Guide To Digital Illustration is some claim really – after all, how can you cover all genres of digital art in a 193-page title? Well, as it happens, this book doesn’t; rather, it introduces you to software, specific techniques and current working illustrators with the aim of teaching and inspiring. And it does a pretty good job of it, too. It’s certainly great to look at, with an eclectic mix of full-colour illustrations scattered throughout. In fact, it’s as illo-heavy as a book like this should be, although a few examples are a little slap-dash, relying on Photoshop sample files, rather than original pieces. Most, however, are fantastic, and you’ll recognise many of the contributors from the pages of Computer Arts itself – Derek Lea and

FLASHY INTRODUCTION

AND, PRO, IT WAS GOOD

AUTHOR Kristian Besley and Sham Bhangal PRICE £19 PUBLISHER Friends of ED ISBN 1590593030

AUTHOR Adele Droblas and Seth Greenberg PRICE £33.50 PUBLISHER Wiley ISBN 0764542265

he latest Flash title from the friends of ED factory, Foundation Flash MX 2004 looks at the basics of Flash MX 2004, both Standard and Professional versions. Since being taken over by Apress last year, there’s been a

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Daniel Mackie to name but two… They’re accompanied by a who’s who of fellow international design superstars, whose work is equally stunning. The tone is entertaining, and there’s a neat mix of quick and easy walkthroughs and explanations. See something you like? Then it’s not hard to find out how it was done, the suggestion being that, with prodigious talent, you could do the same yourself. And the book gathers momentum quickly, explaining the different types of digital art that all aspiring artists should be aware of. Photoshop, of course, along with digital image manipulation, is covered in-depth, as is vector drawing, pixel art and animation. At the end of each explanatory chapter, a wonderful showcase reiterates all the points made. That said, this is definitely a book for beginners; there’s nothing here the more experienced designer won’t have seen elsewhere. And while the working with clients spread makes a refreshing change, it still lacks the detail you’d need from a daily resource. For an introductory title, however, this is very good indeed. ■

Computer Arts_March 2004

noticeable difference in friends of ED titles – they’re still high quality books, of course, just a little cheaper and less colourful… Which is good news for strapped-for-cash designers still finding their feet in Flash, but a little disappointing for ED aficionados drawn to the kudos and flashier presentation of the older tomes. Still, it’d be unfair to criticise this one simply on the basis of streamlined production values. Foundation Flash MX 2004 certainly explains Flash drawing, animation and coding tools in a friendly and controlled manner. Snippets of code are interspersed with copy and walkthroughs neither patronise or assume too much. Lessons include managing symbols and libraries, basic ActionScript and timeline effects. Diverting case studies are also included. Overall, a neat and inexpensive intro to the latest release of the all-conquering Flash. ■

ver the last few years, the Wiley Bible series has become an invaluable and thorough resource for artists working with all kinds of media and applications. As the bold umbrella title suggests, this series doesn’t just give you the details, it spans the entire topic in question from alpha to omega. And then some… The latest offering, the Adobe Premiere Pro Bible, is a case in point. It covers – and we challenge anyone to gainsay us – everything you need to know to become completely adept with Premiere Pro’s tools and features. Incidentally, it also provides an excellent grounding in DV-editing techniques – being a mixture of indepth walkthroughs, advice and equipment recommendations. Everything from basic DV-editing techniques to motion graphics and real-time colour correction is covered, and frankly too much to

mention here. If you need a reference book to sit on your shelf while you explore the delights of real-time editing in Premiere Pro, there’s no other title we’d rather recommend. Buy it and be saved. ■

ILLUSTRATION BY SCOTT HANSEN www.iso50.com

94 Computer Arts_March 2004

Group Test

P96

55MM 3.0

£81

P96

NIK COLOR EFEX PRO!

£280

P97

PHOTO IMAGING SUITE

£277

P97

TRIPLE BUNDLE

£299

P98

GROUP TEST

MYSTICAL BUNDLE

£166

PHOTOSHOP PLUG-INS You may rely on certain Photoshop plug-ins for almost every job – but blast others as virtually pointless. Time for a rethink? We put some of the best CS-compatible plug-in filter bundles to the Computer Arts test to find out Photoshop plug-ins: the backbone of the creative world or unnecessary, amateurish addons that ridicule digital creativity? Whatever your take on the Photoshop filter, there’s no doubt that they’ve become almost as popular as the app itself. Indeed, some of you wouldn’t survive without your favourite filter or plug-in. We’ve got the biggest names and filters in plug-in-dom for our Group Test this month, with each product tried and tested in the in-depth Computer Arts way. We’ll be looking at overall value, the effects that the filter creates or the kind of workflow it offers, and just what

contribution the filter or plug-in can make to your day-to-day routine. We’ll look at something a little bit different, too: plug-in and filter bundles. These are bundles that combine different filters in special value packages, saving you money. You can buy most of the bundled filters individually, too. So whatever your slant on Photoshop addons, sit back and take a look through our Group Test and see if you agree with us – you can take most of the plug-ins reviewed here for a testdrive using the demos available on the software manufacturers’ Websites.

P98

FLAMING PEAR

£22

P99

KPT COLLECTION

£75

Computer Arts_March 2004

95

55MM 3.0 PC AND MAC $150 (£81)

A great value bundle of filters for the professional digital photographer

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n first impressions, 55MM looks like fantastic value as a bundle for digital photographers. Delve a little deeper and you’re hopes are met: here’s a superb collection of 36 filters costing a very reasonable amount. There are too many features to detail here, but we’ll take a look at a few of the best. For the full list, check out www.digitalfilmtools.com. Light!, previously a standalone plug-in, incorporated with this suite for the first time, is a fantastic filter for adding all manner of complex lighting effects to your images. It differs from Photoshop’s own Lighting Effects command, as it enables you to assign PNG files as shapes for lights. This means you can easily simulate the effect of light shining through a window onto your image. Tools enable you to deform this projection according to the positioning of your subject. It works incredibly well and is simple to use. Another filter that shines is Bleach Bypass. This simulates the traditional film technique of skipping the bleach in the colour processing stage, enabling you to generate striking, half black and white/half colour effects. Once again, the interface is an easy-to-use, slider-based affair. The third filter that stands out is Fog. This will be of use to 3D artists as well as CONTACT digital photographers, given that it Digital Film Tools overlays your image with a subtle and Buy online realistic misty atmosphere. Again, the www.digitalfilmtools.com interface (as with all the filters in this suite) is slider-based and extremely easy SYSTEM to navigate. Other filters of note include Photoshop 5.5 or above and a Fluorescent, which rather neatly system capable of running it eliminates the greenish tint caused by shooting under fluorescent lights. Matte VERDICT Generator, unsurprisingly, generates mattes for selection purpose, while Faux A truly impressive set of Film creates a traditional motion picture filters and great value for look in next to no time. money. All digital Overall, a fantastic value and photographers should cunningly good set of filters that will try out the demo now. come in useful for almost every digital artist and photographer.

★★★★★

NIK COLOR EFEX PRO! PC AND MAC €490 (£280)

Long-awaited colour editing tools are easy to use and even easier on the eye

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ik Multimedia’s Nik Color Efex Pro! Complete Collection is a great-value package that, as the name suggests, brings together all of the company’s 55 superb Color Efex filters. These tools will be high up on every image-tweaker’s top 10, and you can see why. The filters aren’t complex – the interfaces are simple and easy to use – but the results really are beautiful and varied. One of the best in the collection is Sunshine. This enables you to add realistic sunshine to your images, with fantastic results (and it considerably speeds up what would otherwise be a time-consuming process in Photoshop). Midnight is another must-have; you can even control the light, softening it to create a striking shadowy effect. Obviously, we can’t describe all 55 filters in detail here; suffice to say, the strength of Color Efex Pro! lies in using smart filter combinations… For example, Nik Multimedia suggests using the Skylight filter and then rotating the Graduated Warm Yellow filter up towards the subject in a portrait to create a warming light. We tried it and it worked beautifully. Like many of the filters tested throughout this Group Test, Color Efex Pro! is about experimentation – finding a particular combination of filters that work for you, whether at home or in a professional environment. CONTACT Still, there are great filters that work Nik Multimedia happily on their own, too, such as Buy online Infrared and PopArt, found in the www.nikmultimedia.com Abstract section of the plug-in. The former gives an impression of an SYSTEM infrared camera shot, while the latter Photoshop 5 and a system capable of running it simplifies colour gradients, giving a pleasing posterised effect. VERDICT Overall, Color Efex Pro! is a filter bundle that you should at least try out. It has a vast range of uses, from tidying Some wonderful filters are up a dull image to adding realistic skin presented in this package, tones and warm gradients. Sure, as for tweaking colours. You with so many modern plug-ins, you could produce the effects manually in Photoshop, but could create these effects on your own they’d take you a lot longer! in Photoshop, but, trust us, Color Efex Pro! makes everything so much easier.

★★★★

96 Computer Arts_March 2004

Group Test

PHOTO IMAGING SUITE PC AND MAC $495 (£277)

Revitalise your copy of Photoshop with these five powerful Extensis tools

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xtensis has long been a pioneer of the Photoshop plug-in. Some of the most famous have come from its stable. In recent times, Extensis has been a little slow in updating its line-up to work with carbonised versions of Photoshop, but now that’s out of the way the company can concentrate more fully on pushing its product range. The Photo Imaging Suite combines five of Extensis’ best tools: Portfolio 6, pxl SmartScale, PhotoFrame 2.5, Mask Pro 3 and Intellihance Pro 4. The bundle screams value at $495; you’d pay twice as much buying these tools individually. Portfolio 6 is considered by many as the industry standard for managing and archiving digital assets. Although not a Photoshop plug-in as such, the tool offers an incredible number of features for cataloguing images and other digital assets. Next up is an out-and-out Photoshop plug-in, Pxl SmartScale, a tool for resizing images on a grand scale. It claims to be able to scale images up to 1600 per cent with no discernible loss in print quality; a brave claim. Results are good, generally, and edges remain sharp when scaling up. It’s no substitute for artwork that’s the correct size to begin with, though. While PhotoFrame 2.5 has been rather eclipsed by Auto FX’s Photo/Graphic Edges in recent times, it nevertheless provides a decent enough solution for adding all manner of frame effects to your images. Again, CONTACT it’s an easy-to-use tool. Extensis Mask Pro 3 is one of those tools that Buy online photographers and digital artists who www.extensis.com need to make regular selections will find invaluable (which probably explains SYSTEM why they’ve been using it for years). It Photoshop 5 and a system makes cutting out complex objects, such capable of running it as hair and glass, a rudimentary affair. VERDICT New features in version 3 include Chisel and Blur tools for better edge definition and a context-sensitive tool options Some of the biggest palette, which improves the workflow Photoshop-compatible tools of the app. out there. A great value Intellihance is possibly the weakest bundle that should improve plug-in in the package, but provides a your Photoshop workflow quick solution to all your colour and help with day-to-day correction nightmares. image-editing tasks. Overall, then, a great value bundle.

★★★★

ALIEN SKIN TRIPLE BUNDLE PC AND MAC £299

Despite one glitch, a top package from the world-famous plug-in manufacturer

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lien Skin, rather like Extensis, is heavily involved with the development of Photoshop-compatible plug-ins. The Triple Bundle, rather unsurprisingly, consists of three of its most celebrated sets: Xenofex 2, Eye Candy 4000 and the more recently introduced Splat! Splat! is possibly Alien Skin’s worst contribution. The less said about Stamp the better. Fancy framing your images with such risible objects as gumdrops, kitsch flowers or chattering teeth? Thought not. This is something pros and semi-serious designers alike wouldn’t touch with a virtual bargepole. Other filters in Splat!, such as Patchwork, don’t fare much better – although Resurface, which enables you to change the surface of your image by overlaying bump maps, is fun and easy to use, thanks to the standard Alien Skin slider-based interface. Thankfully, the second and third plug-ins in this bundle prove much more practical. Xenofex 2 is a pretty useful collection of filters, for instance. Burnt Edges does a great job of adding an aged effect to your images, while Constellation is superb for adding glistening highlights and Crumple is CONTACT fantastic for replicating screwed up Alien Skin paper. On its own, Xenofex is a touch Buy online expensive, but with this bundle it’s www.alienskin.com definitely good value. Eye Candy 4000, another ‘crazy’ SYSTEM effects suite, provides 23 filters in all. Photoshop 5 and a system Although some effects, like Jiggle and capable of running it Melt, can be re-created using the native VERDICT Liquify tool, others, such as Water Drops, Smoke and Weave, have their uses. Like all Alien Skin tools, each filter interface is Xenofex 2 and Eye Candy easy to use and offers a large preview of 4000 remain solid tools the effect (although this can be a little with an interesting and slow on older machines). diverse range of effects. Such tools are by no means a must However, Splat! doesn’t buy, but they do offer a wide range of add much at all, apart effects for people involved in texturefrom a range of filters creation, Web graphics or who like that you’ll seldom use. messing around in Photoshop.

★★★★

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MYSTICAL BUNDLE PC $299 (£166)

What lies in store for those who spend their silver on the Mystical Bundle?

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his bundle combines two of the company’s more recent offerings: Mystical Lighting and Mystical Tint Tone Colour. Both tools have the premise of changing the overall ‘feel’ of your images, adding soft lights, different photo filter effects and so on. The tools also have nigh-on identical interfaces. Let’s start by looking at Mystical Light, a plug-in for adding subtle lighting effects that don’t take over the image. Admittedly, you could recreate most of these effects in Photoshop without a third-party filter, but at least ML saves you time. And it’s interactive, too – every tweak of the slider, positioning of effect or change of a parameter generates a near enough real-time preview of the effect. This, of course, depends on the processing power of your machine; complex effects will slow things down if you’re PC is a little old in the tooth. Still, you can turn the interactive rendering off, so that’s not a major problem. Effects such as Flare add pretty realistic bursts of light to your images, while intuitive tools such as the Shading Brush give good control over manipulating shadows and highlights. Surface Light is a tool much like Light!, found in Digital Film Tools’ 55MM, giving you the ability to project CONTACT light through shapes onto an image. Auto FX Mystical Lighting doesn’t offer much Buy online that a Photoshop pro couldn’t do with www.autofx.com Photoshop’s own tools, but admittedly it does speed up the process of adding SYSTEM complex lighting and tweaking photos. Photoshop 5 and a system Mystical Tint Tone Colour is a bit of capable of running it an oddity. Tonal Smooth softens VERDICT shadows and balances out images, while Colour Mixer can give your work an almost psychedelic slant. Other filters, A decent enough bundle such as Over Exposed and Washed Out, for digital photographers provide a novel bleaching effect. Again, wanting to take the hassle it’s all do-able in Photoshop itself, but out of changing the colour MTTC makes the process quicker, even if and lighting in their images. you do need a fast machine to take Be warned, though – for advantage of the interactive rendering. interactive rendering you’ll Good value, but not essential. Try the need a fast machine. Website’s demos before you buy.

★★★★

FLAMING PEAR CREATIVE PACK PC AND MAC $39 (£22)

Can plug-in maestro Flaming Pear deliver again with its latest plug-in bundle?

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laming Pear has for some time produced some of the most respected Photoshop plug-ins. Possibly its best known offerings are the superb texture generator, Super Blade Pro, and the fantastic plant creator, Solar Cell. Creative Pack bundles four effects filters: Organic Edges, Boss Emboss, Vibrant Patterns and Wavy Colour. Organic Edges is a tool that creates similar effects to Photoshop’s own Find Edges filter, except via a simple interface with a large preview and easy-to-use sliders and dropdown menus. First, it enables you to illuminate edges; then, using the different blending modes within the filter, you can combine them with your original image. This makes for some interesting hand-drawn and cartoon-style effects. Another filter that plays on one of Photoshop’s own tools is Boss Emboss. It takes the process a little further by generating an almost sculpted look. Again, the interface is easy to use – and by using the glue (or blending mode) reasonably ‘artistic’ results can be achieved. It’s a little limited, though. As with all Flaming Pear plug-ins, you CONTACT can save your settings and use the ‘dice’ Flaming Pear to create a random effect. Buy online The next filter in the Creative Pack is www.flamingpear.com Vibrant Patterns, which creates all kinds of psychedelic and kaleidoscopic VERDICT patterns. It’s not one of the company’s Photoshop 5 and a system more useful offerings, but it’s still fun, capable of running it and the interface is neat. VERDICT Finally, there’s Wavy Colour. This filter produces all manner of amazing colour effects which, with the right app, can Not the best Flaming Pear generate stunning results. The interface filters out there by a long is confusing (thanks to the sliderway, but useful enough in labelling), but use it with selections the right context. And and blending modes in Photoshop and sometimes you do forget you’ll be pleasantly surprised. how inexpensive this On balance, then, Flaming Pear’s company’s plug-ins are in relation to what you get. bundle offers a lot of good fun, but it’s hardly essential.

★★★

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Group Test

WINNER

KPT COLLECTION PC AND MAC £75

The last three generations of Kai’s Power Tools form a winning combination

K

ai’s Power Tools are possibly the most seminal Photoshop plug-ins ever to grace the Filter menu. And if you’ve bought the technology, why not make the most of it? This is exactly what Corel has done by releasing the colossal KPT Collection – a vast bundle containing KPT 5, 6 and KPT Effects. At only £75, and with many of the filters available for Mac OS X for the very first time, this will be snapped up by Photoshop users everywhere. At least, it should be, because it’s nothing short of brilliant. Virtually all the effects here are of high quality and easy to use. And because they’re interactive, you get to see the results pretty much straightaway.Take Fluid, for instance (similar to Photoshop’s Liquify), which enables you to smear your image, creating a water-like effect. You start the fluid simulation by dragging your mouse and stop it when you’re happy with the results. It’s that simple. Frax 4D is similarly appealing, enabling you to interactively map your image to an environment map and warp it accordingly. It’s an extremely interesting (and useful) effect that you couldn’t achieve natively in Photoshop. InkDropper is another scorcher. This, as the name suggests, gives you the ability to splodge watery ink on your page; it’s a lovely, original effect. Another wonderful addition is Radwarp, which enables you to tweak the surface of your image, either radically or subtly, creating some CONTACT interesting faux 3D effects. Corel There are too many filters to mention Buy online here, but all share the same intuitive, if www.corel.co.uk imposing, interface, and all are great fun to use. Photoshop artists should feel free SYSTEM to experiment; that’s half the fun. Sure, Photoshop 5 and a system some may feel a little passé at first, but capable of running it once you’ve mastered the basics, you’ll definitely find a use for them in your VERDICT everyday Photoshop work. For the full list of filters see the Website. A fantastic bundle of some You’d have to be a hard-nosed Luddite of the best Photoshop filters not to love these filters – they’re so of all time. Great to use, ingrained in Photoshop’s heritage. As fun and, more importantly, we’ve said, though, it’s not just nostalgia capable of some great that makes this a fab tool, and our Group results. Every Photoshop Test winner; it’s the fact the KPT Collection user should own this set is a complete bargain and delivers some of seminal filters. revolutionary Photoshop filters.

★★★★★

Ë

CONCLUSION

Why KPT Collection comes out top of the plug-in bundles

We’ve looked at seven filter bundles that are compatible with Photoshop CS, all with different uses and different target audiences. While the Extensis bundle is obviously great value, its tools are geared towards Photoshop workflow, whereas our mission was to find an all-round, awe-inspiring and great value bundle of creative tools. Color Efex Pro! Complete Collection proves itself to be a good contender, offering all manner of creative effects and filters for both digital artists and photographers. Auto FX’s Mystical Bundle is equally effective, although less usable. However, neither offering really provides the Photoshop user with anything he or she couldn’t do just as well with Adobe’s native tools. This brings us to Flaming Pear’s offering – surprisingly weak, considering its formidable reputation, but then it does only cost £22. And while Alien Skin’s bundle boasts some of the world’s favourite tools, the inclusion of Splat! really lets the side down. Thankfully, Xenofex and Eye Candy still feel new and revolutionary; the interfaces are a joy to use and all the well-crafted filters ooze quality. But for sheer power and versatility, the winner has to be Corel’s KPT Collection. The company’s done a great job porting all the old faves to Mac OS X and Windows XP – every Photoshop artist should have a copy. If only we could upgrade from older versions, we’d be ecstatic.

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◗TRAINING SERVICES CORPS BUSINESS Recruitment and Training solutions since 1989. Training available in tailored & scheduled format. Authorised by Adobe, Extensis, Macromedia, Media 100, Maxon and Quark. Recruitment supplies staff on a temporary, permanent, contract and freelance basis. Tel: 020 7222 8484 Email: [email protected] Web: www.corps.co.uk ESCAPE STUDIOS – VISUAL EFFECTS TRAINING As Europe’s only dedicated school of Visual Effects Escape Studios courses provide the necessary skills to enter the Visual Effects and Games Development industries. Escape offer intensive day, evening and weekend courses in Maya, XSI, Shake, Combustion, Photoshop and RenderMan. Escape is a

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EXPOSURE SUBMISSIONS: Exposure, Computer Arts, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW, United Kingdom

GET EXPOSED

1

Send your work to us, along with an explanation of your techniques and software, the titles of each piece, your telephone number and email. Images should be sent as PC or Mac TIFF or JPEG files, on CDROM or Zip disks. A hard copy is a great help. We will endeavour to return all entries that provide an SAE. All contributions are submitted on the basis of a nonexclusive worldwide licence to publish, both in printed and electronic form. Post hi-res files for print to: Exposure, Computer Arts, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath BA1 2BW.

3

1 NAME Derek Bacon JOB Freelance designer CONTACT www.derekbacon.com, 01202 383 357 SOFTWARE Photoshop IMAGE TITLES 1. Safe as houses, 2. Blackpool, 3. Motivated “I find that illustration is about making your own set of rules and sticking to those rules. Most of my material comes from photos I have taken over the years which I have been slowly archiving via my scanner. I create some elements from scratch. I think it’s great to find someone doing something in the background of a picture you took years ago and get them doing something new again.”

108 Computer Arts_March 2004

See Get Exposed, below, for full details

2

Exposure

2 NAME Dwayne Bell JOB Illustrator CONTACT www.dwaynebell.com, 07974 236 941 SOFTWARE Photoshop IMAGE TITLES 1. Kate, 2. Model, 3. Hard bitch

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“When I started using Photoshop, it was a simple colouring tool for drawings. Now I feel I can exploit it with more consideration and thus better results. Adding abstract textures and marks to a piece lets me find interesting visual solutions, that I may not have considered originally. Outside of Photoshop, I draw constantly. I see this as the best way of dealing with any design problem – and it’s fun.”

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Computer Arts_March 2004 109

1

3 NAME Antonio Meazzini JOB Freelance Graphic Designer CONTACT www.relight.net, [email protected] SOFTWARE Photoshop, After Effects, Flash, Vue D’Espirit, Poser, Maya IMAGE TITLES 1. White Planet “Although my work contains mainly Flash and multimedia, my true passion is digital video and special effects. I take inspiration from movies, photos, magazines or my imagination. I like to combine different software tools to create my images.”

4 NAME Pete Milligan JOB Mac operator / Illustrator CONTACT [email protected] SOFTWARE Photoshop, Illustrator, Bryce IMAGE TITLES 2. Fury charge “I do all my creative work in my free time, but I’d rather be earning my bread illustrating than as a Mac operator. The sheer volume of work I produce in my job allows me to complete the more creative stuff at a faster pace and keeps my creativity ticking over, yet I’ve found a lack of opportunity to be frustrating.”

110 Computer Arts_March 2004

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Exposure

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5 NAME Huan Tran JOB Digital artist CONTACT [email protected], www.leakingfaucet.com SOFTWARE Illustrator IMAGE TITLES 1. Argue, 2. Tango, 3. All Sports “I consider the computer as another tool to use in place of a brush. My influences come from traditional painting and I approach work on the computer in the same style.”

6 NAME Lee Davies JOB Graphic artist / Freelance Illustrator CONTACT [email protected] SOFTWARE Photoshop, Illustrator IMAGE TITLES 4. Soldier, 5. Salamander “I am influenced by a life-long love of cult movies, comic art, hip-hop culture and music. Take your lens flare and stick it where the sun don’t shine!”

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7 1 NAME Hieronymous Pi JOB Artist CONTACT www.mindfurnace.co.uk, 01359 244 514 SOFTWARE Photoshop, Painter IMAGE TITLES 1. The room with a million windows, 2. Apothecary of the Insane, 3. Hidden Treasure “The initial idea is sketched onto paper, then I photograph, paint and draw the various items needed to complete the image. These are buried in the ground for a couple of days before being worked on. The elements are composited together in Photoshop and Painter.”

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Exposure

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8 NAME Steve Rees JOB Freelance illustrator CONTACT www.amatrix.co.uk SOFTWARE Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, After Effects, Cinema 4D IMAGE TITLES 1. Speaker, 2. Teengirl, 3. Dandelion “The styles I work in are wide and vary from photo-realistic to abstract. I sometimes take digital photographs and manipulate them beyond all recognition. Other times, I’ll go on a voyages of discovery to create experimental textures and ‘light paintings’. My long-term goal is to create short films and animations.”

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Computer Arts_March 2004 113

RETROSPECTIVE ISSUE 29 MARCH 1999 Blue G3s, 3D explained (badly) – and Maya drops £11k in price

EDITORIAL 01225 442 244 VICKI ATKINSON EDITOR [email protected] RODDY LLEWELLYN ART EDITOR [email protected] ROB CARNEY DEPUTY EDITOR [email protected] RACHEL ELLIOTT OPERATIONS EDITOR [email protected] JON ALONGI CD EDITOR [email protected] MATT GALLIMORE SENIOR CD EDITOR [email protected] JEN WAGNER ONLINE EDITOR [email protected]

CD PROBLEMS 01225 822 743 [email protected]

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eil Taplin’s cheeky chick graced our cover feature about the joys of Illustrator 8 and its spiffy new Gradient Mesh tool. Fireworks 2 and Acrobat 4 took first place in the news features, although squirrelled away in the small type was an announcement that Square was to develop a film version of Final Fantasy. Don’t laugh, now… Those blue G3s were starting to pop up, too – although our attempt to explain 3D technology with two pages and a picture of a wireframe cube was possibly, in retrospect, rather too simple. Discreet had lost its Logic, and we cooed over this upcoming company as it ploughed into the desktop market; while The Mill robustly denied its nickname of The Till in our main profile. That nice Daniel Mackie was also profiled, talking variously of wasps, goldfish and, er, Ernest Hemmingway (sic). Jogging wheezingly through the reviews section, we find missives on After Effects 4 and… well, frankly, a bunch of obscure apps you’ve probably never heard of since. Still, Maya had just enjoyed a significant price cut – from £18,000 to £7000. The next one to moan about the price of software gets a slap… ■

Contributions from Jason Arber, Rob Coke, Robert Czarney, Pete Draper, Dan Goodleff, Chris Gregory, Scott Hansen, Derek Lea, Vicki Mitchard, Alex Morss, Tom Opasinski, Mark Ramshaw, Ed Ricketts, Chris Schmidt, Studio Output, THS (Germany), twelve:ten, Susan Wright PHOTOGRAPHY James Wilson PRINT TPL Printers (UK) Ltd REPRO Radstock Reproductions Ltd

CONTACT Computer Arts magazine, Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW 01225 442 244 ISDN 01225 789 293 Subscription queries 0870 444 8455 Overseas subscriptions +44 870 444 8455 or email [email protected]

ADVERTISING 01225 442244 LEE HAINES key account manager [email protected] GEORGE LUCAS sales executive [email protected] MELISSA WATKINS classified sales executive [email protected]

DIGITAL DIVISION JOHN WEIR publishing director SHEENA PITTAWAY publisher FIONA TULLY marketing manager CLARE TOVEY production manager PAUL MCINTYRE group art editor SARAH WILLIAMS software copyright coordinator

PRODUCTION DAVID MATHEWS ad design point of contact KATTY PIGOTT production coordinator MIKE THORNE commercial print buyer

CIRCULATION & LICENSING RICHARD JEFFERIES circulation manager RICHARD BEAN overseas licensing manager SIMON WEAR overseas licensing director Computer Arts has licences in China, France, Italy, Poland, and Spain

UK DISTRIBUTION Seymour Distribution 020 7396 8000 86 Newman Street, London, W1T 3EX

THE FUTURE NETWORK ROGER PARRY non-executive chairman GREG INGHAM chief executive COLIN MORRISON chief operating officer & managing director UK JOHN BOWMAN group finance director Tel +44 1225 442244 www.thefuturenetwork.plc.uk

FLASHBACK

ABOVE Daniel

Mackie declares himself “really gentle.”

RIGHT Them 3D graphics was coming along nicely, eh?

114 Computer Arts_March 2004

It’s no less than eight years since a small team of digital art enthusiasts at Future Publishing kicked off what we now know and love as Computer Arts, and it’s now the leading title in its field. That field has changed massively in those eight years – DVD is no longer a mystery, and Photoshop is now a household name. We continue our look back with 1999’s issue 29…

Computer Arts is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations Jan-Dec 2002: 30,024 Computer Arts is the registered trademark of Future Publishing Ltd. All Rights Reserved. All trademarks and copyrights in this issue are recognised, and are acknowledged where possible. If we have failed to credit your copyright please contact us – we’re happy to correct any oversight. Material submitted is accepted on the basis of a worldwide right to publish in printed or electronic form. All contents © Future Publishing 2004. Future Publishing is part of The Future Network PLC. The Future Network produces carefully targeted specialist magazines for people who share a passion. We aim to satisfy that passion by creating titles offering value for money, reliable information, smart buying advice, and which are a pleasure to read. Today we publish more than 90 magazines in the UK, US, France and Italy. Over 80 international editions of our magazines are also published in 28 other countries across the world. The Future Network PLC is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FNET).

Your guide to Web development, design & rich Internet applications issue 03

MASTERCLASS MX 2004

IT’S FLASH TIME... Replace your Web pages with powerful Internet applications today

FLASH TIMES TWO

Flash now comes in standard and pro versions – find out which one’s right for you

LET THERE BE LIGHT!

How Lightmaker brings design and business together in Flash MX 2004

MASTERCLASS MX2004

contents

welcome

4 Exploring Flash MX 2004 Now you have even more choice as the premier tool for building rich Internet apps comes in two flavours

D

evelopers working with rich Internet applications have received a boost with the introduction of Flash MX Professional 2004 and the rest of the MX 2004 family. The big difference is the development speed, with programmers and designers able to work together more closely and rapidly. In addition, applications in multiple languages can be authored simultaneously, so developers can create content for multiple devices. And embedded video is slicker and smoother than ever. If all this seems a bit overwhelming, don’t worry. With this third issue of the Macromedia ia d e Join MacromMX Masterclass MX 2004, we hope to steer you in e on the fre y it c the direction of whichever version of Flash a t a 2004 tour — on MX 2004 is right for you. We’ll show you so u near yo 0 1 e g a examples of what can be done with the p Turn to ! re o powerful new features. All this, plus exclusive m r fo excerpts from a great new book from Peachpit, aimed at whetting your appetite for building your own rich Internet applications. Look out for the fourth and final supplement with issue 95 of Computer Arts – and keep mailing!

VICKI ATKINSON EDITOR [email protected] MICHAEL BURNS ASSOCIATE EDITOR [email protected] PAUL MCINTYRE ART EDITOR [email protected] ROB CARNEY DEPUTY EDITOR [email protected] LEE HAINES ADVERTISING MANAGER [email protected] ROB LINDSTROM COVER ILLUSTRATOR www.designchapel.com

CONTACT Computer Arts magazine, Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW PHONE 01225 442 244 EMAIL [email protected] SUBSCRIBE 0870 444 8455

Lightmaker’s tool of choice for creating its interactive toys for Cartoon Network is Flash MX 2004 Pro. We find out why

10 Replacing Web pages with applications Why you should be creating rich Internet applications in Flash MX 2004

16 Win a trip to New York and more Two whole pages of special offers and a great competition

18 Why bother? Hear from top Web designers about why they use Flash MX 2004

Computer Arts [email protected]

EDITORIAL

6 Let there be light!

THE JOY OF FLASH a word from Macromedia

S

ince the term ‘dynamic’ has been associated with the Web, it has given the Internet a bad name and has, in some cases, provided an unacceptable experience for the end user. Thankfully, the days of slow, clunky, uninspiring data applications are over. Macromedia Flash MX 2004 has significant new features which enable developers to easily build and deploy robust rich Internet applications, allowing end users to interact with and access rich content, Web services and streaming data from within a single screen. It’s not rocket science, but does appeal to human nature – a good experience will keep us coming back for more. FIONA COUGHLAN MANAGING DIRECTOR MACROMEDIA UK

Macromedia Masterclass 03 3

overview Designers have even more choice now that Macromedia’s premier tool for building rich Internet applications comes in two new flavours…

Exploring Flash MX 2004 Flash MX 2004 Standard How Large Design created a microsite to promote brand awareness for lighting manufacturer, Leonardo Large Design responded to Leonardo’s request for more international exposure with a designled microsite, built in Flash MX 2004 Standard. The aim was to provide atailored, easilynavigable experience, with a return for the German company of audience segmentation, sales generation and data-harvesting. “We wanted a site that stood out from the crowded Internet market,” explains Creative Director, Lars Hemming Jorgensen. “Flash MX 2004 offered us the opportunity to create compelling light vector graphics, stream audio as well as in-sync animation and forms to register. “Producing the whole site in Flash MX 2004 was faster and easier than in previous Flash versions. The user interface is improved and the ActionScript library is great for good pieces of code that can be applied easily.” For Large, the return was delivering an innovative and high-quality project on time. Leonardo, meanwhile, impressed potential retailers, saw increased awareness of the company’s LED products and increased traffic and sales on its main site.

www.leonardoled.com www.largedesign.com

4 Macromedia Masterclass 03

Screens from the beautifully designed and powerful Leonardo site, all completed in Flash MX 2004 Standard.

S

ince its beginnings, Macromedia Flash has offered rich user experiences over the narrowest of Internet connections. It has evolved into a tool for delivering content to 515 million installed clients, running on desktops, handhelds, mobile phones and a host of consumer appliances such as Sony PS2, Leapfrog toys and TV set-top boxes. The content has changed, too. Its original Web drawing and animation role has been superseded by more sophisticated tools and a complete Web application development environment. The major features of Flash MX 2004 include a timeline for sequencing elements and controlling their behaviour and support for rich media, such as MP3 audio and full-motion video. There is the powerful ActionScript programming language for adding programme control and logic, as well as database connectivity capabilities and reuseable components and templates. As well as authoring capabilities, a major factor in the success of Flash is the rapid adoption of the Flash Player, now in version 7. The small file size of the player and efficient file structure of Flash content are ideal for delivery on even the slowest connections. The high-quality vector-based graphics of Flash let users create a consistent, scaleable viewing experience for Web content and applications. With Studio MX 2004, Flash became two applications – Standard and

Flash MX 2004 Professional How design agency, Mook, used Flash MX 2004 Professional to present content on The Month CD-ROM, for The Sunday Times The Month CD-ROM interface consists of a Director MX shell which presents a wide range of video and interactive content, authored using Flash MX 2004 Professional as well as other Studio MX 2004 products. “In many ways, the newest version of Flash is a ‘mature’ technology that allows us to develop interfaces that have scaleable and robust architectures, “ says Bruce Collier, head of development at Mook. “For projects like this that require large amounts of ActionScript work and content delivery, Flash MX 2004 Professional offers a robust and easy-to-use development environment. The project-oriented file management features enable seamless, organised development when multiple team members are working on the same files. “We can also offer our client a wider range of features in a shorter time frame. The tighter integration between MX products has allowed us to build projects more cheaply, and offer a much faster turn-around when design or interfaces changes are needed.”

www.mook.co.uk Professional – each with the user’s workflow in mind. Traditionally, users of Flash fall into two groups. Some create design elements to add that ‘wow’ factor to content on Websites and other platforms. A greater number design applications in forms as diverse as games, instructional e-learning presentations, product prototypes and simulations, entire immersive Flash Websites and highly-functional rich Internet applications. Flash MX 2004 brings productivity and performance improvement features to the party. It uses Timeline Effects to add common timeline animations in one step, and adds predefined behaviours to reduce the need to script simple tasks such as common navigation and media controls. Powerful built-in drawing tools can create graphics within the application and allow direct import of EPS and PDF assets. The enhanced ActionScript 2.0 scripting language enables the creation of sophisticated interactivity and superior user interfaces, while the new Extensibility API means the Flash developer community can implement graph and charting functionality, text effects and many other design and

Introduced in 2003, The Month is an interactive CD-ROM included with The Sunday Times. Working within a Director MX shell, Mook creates the content in Flash MX 2004 Professional.

development enhancements. Designers can achieve better consistency and workflow thanks to increased task automation and the addition of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for Flash MX content. Integration has also been strengthened with Dreamweaver MX 2004, Director MX 2004 and the other design tools in the Macromedia MX family. Government demands for accessible content receive further attention in this release. ActionScript can place accessible tags during run time, thanks to support for dynamic accessibility scripting. New Microsoft Access Accessibility-compliant components, for screen readers and keyboard access systems, allow designers to create content that is open to all users.

GOING FURTHER WITH FLASH MX 2004 PROFESSIONAL Flash MX 2004 Professional adds enhancements for a growing set of designers and programmers. It is aimed at those who demand the most flexible authoring options and who need integration with data sources, as well as a platform suited to team-based development. Desktop application developers are well served by a

forms-based development environment, similar to those in tools such as Microsoft Visual Studio or Borland Delphi. This makes Flash Professional more open to developers unused to the timeline and stage metaphor. Data-driven applications are easy to build, using data connection and updater components for data sources such as Web services, XML and relational databases. Developers can connect applications to data without writing a line of code, enhanced through ActionScript programming. A new Project Panel improves team-based development, with a project view to manage all related files. Video professionals can add interactivity and customised interfaces to high-quality video, and fully deliver their professional content using Flash Player 7 and specialised Streaming Media Components. Once in Macromedia Flash Video format, work can be viewed alone or within a customised interface on one of the numerous Flashsupported devices. The Professional version also features support for MIDI ring tones, templates, and device simulators. New device profiles can be added as they become available from third parties. ■

Macromedia Masterclass 03 5

case study

Some of the views of Virtual Townsville, an online world for Cartoon Network, built from scratch by Lightmaker using Flash MX 2004 and the proprietary TMT platform.

Rob Noble, Managing Director of Lightmaker. Find out more about the company at:

www.lightmaker.com

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Flash MX 2004 in action Right: Virtual Townsville lets users direct avatars, based on the Powerpuff Girls, for some character-driven interaction, with each avatar possessing three distinct animated moves. Far right: Lightmaker used the Flash Communication Server to create a one-toone fighting game, as part of the Virtual Townsville user experience.

LET THERE BE LIGHT The Lightmaker team live, breathe and talk Studio MX 2004 – with a passion. Their tool of choice is undoubtedly Flash MX 2004 Professional. We take a look at how the company is moving with the times to create a virtual world for Cartoon Network…

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ccording to Rob Noble, Managing Director of Lightmaker, Flash MX 2004 marks the change from Flash being purely a designer’s tool into a product that enables users to rapidly create client applications. “It allows for the creation of graphical interfaces which are dynamic, engaging and interactive,” he explains. “What we can create with these tools is purely up to our imagination.” Flash MX 2004 Professional has also changed Lightmaker’s approach to working methods and other aspects of its business. “From a technology perspective, Flash MX 2004 lets you start to apply design and development methodologies,” suggests Noble. “Before this, you really couldn’t apply these concepts with ease. Being able to separate business logic from design

allows us, as developers, to quickly create testable, re-usable and robust logic.” Lightmaker is responsible for a successful run of e-solutions for clients across a spectrum of industries, including government organisations, banks, retailers and entertainment companies. Formed in 1996, its impressive client list features Disney, Nintendo, NHS National Blood Service and The London Stock Exchange. To get a handle on the latest technologies, Lightmaker works as a Macromedia Alliance Partner – so the team can deliver best-ofbreed rich Internet applications (RIA). “An effective user interface is one of the main factors in a client’s online success,” recognises Andy Rogers, Lightmaker’s Sales and Marketing Manager. “We want to push the delivery of user interface experiences to new levels and ensure a maximum return on investment for clients.”

Lightmaker doesn’t just use Flash as a tool; it seems that the technology is central to the company ethos. The introduction of the Project Panel in Flash MX 2004 Professional saw Lightmaker switch its own internal file structure over, to suit. Now all projects are managed via the conventions of the Project Panel naming and filing system. This makes a lot of sense in the case of Lightmaker – the company is totally devoted to Studio MX 2004, creating all graphics and content using Macromedia’s suite. The restructuring of the project management system does seem like a logical move when all your software speaks a common language. It also considerably speeds up project development. The company specialises in the development and deployment of userfriendly, content-managed Web Channels. The key component, here, is the proprietary

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Macromedia Masterclass 03 7

Flash MX 2004 in action >

TotalMediaTechnology (TMT) platform, an integrated framework which has been using Flash as a rich client interface since version 5. This is a prime example of a rich Internet application. It enables Lightmaker’s clients to provide immersive environments, backed up by a content management system with a very high response time. The original premise for the application, when it was first developed four years ago, was to be able to run multi-user servers through firewalls. “We didn’t have the technology we have today, but Flash Communication Server and ColdFusion were used,” recalls Noble. “We have developed our own protocols using SOAP and HTTP headers so that we can run the interaction through firewalls. “Using Flash MX was a natural progression. It allowed us to create new and exciting features with TMT,” adds Rob Noble. As an example, prior to Flash MX, the majority of the technology that ran the TMT

platform used XML Sockets for transferring data. The new support for Flash Remoting now offers Lightmaker the ability to quickly send and receive data between its backend servers. “With this data, features could be created that are truly engaging,” says Noble. “Flash MX also allowed us to create new socket-based systems to create highly responsive gaming features.”

Seamless interaction One of the major benefits the company has seen is the ability of Flash MX 2004 to interact with Lightmaker’s server-side business logic. “The TotalMediaTechnology 2004 (TMT 2004) platform has been completely built using ColdFusion MX Components,” explains Noble. “The integration between Flash MX and ColdFusion MX is seamless. Data can be retrieved from a database and sent immediately to the client. The client can

Interact in a virtual world Flash drives pop boy band Busted’s live community

Rich Internet animation

Lightmaker’s TotalMediaTechnology 2004 platform is, in simple terms, a polling engine. It’s a client-to-server request that is polled every two seconds. “When you move your character around an environment the client requests the server to see if anyone else has moved in two seconds,” explains Rob Noble. “That’s how you create an interaction.” In Web channels built with

The popular Busted Live community site invites users to choose their personal character, make her dance, change her clothes, upload audio and video, use animated emoticons and decorate a venue.

TMT 2004, you can invite users into your online apartments

Users can upload graphics from

concept, because finding

and edit the environments to

their desktop to their profile,

out who is in your buddy’s

suit their taste – all in Flash. On

using an Upload Media

Buddy List is a good way to

sites like Virtual Townsville and

command. They can also

create a community,” explains

Busted Live, character-driven

upload video snapshots as

Noble.

chat is the key.

messages in chat rooms.

Character avatars can be

TMT worlds can feature an

It’s not all fun and games, though. Mako, one of the

customised by the user.

in-built email system and

leading stock derivatives

Various looks are available,

buddy list for seeing who’s

companies in the world, uses

while each character has at

online, for instant messaging.

TMT 2004 for displaying live

least three dedicated actions.

“Buddy networks are built on a

share price feeds on its site.

Every user can edit their profile.

‘six degrees of separation’

The possibilities seem endless.

8 Macromedia Masterclass 03

react immediately and display the information. This is all due to the technologies speaking virtually the same language – you never have to worry about how to integrate this feature with the frontend. The two products working together are extremely powerful.” As a beta site for Flash MX 2004, Lightmaker rapidly implemented the new features that this latest incarnation offered. From a design perspective, the change to Flash MX 2004 offered no problems. “The same standard tools were there, with the addition of some powerful new features such as Bé zier curves,” adds Noble. “It only took about a week before our designers were developing at the same speed as before the product was released.” Lightmaker took particular advantage of the new features in Flash MX 2004 in the work it recently completed for a new site for The Cartoon Network. It used TMT 2004 to increase the registered user base and increase traffic to the TV company’s Nordic site. The aim was to use it as a business case for deploying a virtual world experience across the whole brand.

Lightmaker met the challenge by creating Virtual Townsville. A fully immersive, interactive branding experience for the Cartoon Network’s Powerpuff Girls, it provides multilingual, canned chat for safe communication between children from different countries. It also includes branded environments, embedded Shockwave games, ongoing scoring and unique identification complete with a full data mining and statistical analysis package. Virtual Townsville is the first multi-user, interactive and immersive Cartoon Network brand experience. During its early development stages, concepts and interactive experiences were envisaged – and almost all of them were possible with the use of Flash MX, ColdFusion MX and the Flash Communication Server. With avatars in the shape of characters from the show, users can navigate through the site, walk, talk, drop weapons, view brand material and play games. Users have their own ‘rooms’ in Townsville and gain points by completing and winning the games featured on the site.

case study Points equal Townsville dollars, with which users can go shopping in Downtown, for wallpapers, screensavers and so on. The site even allows users to pick fights with each other online. The one-to-one fighting game uses the Flash Communication Server, seamlessly integrating with Flash as part of the user experience. “For Virtual Townsville, the Flash Communication Server allowed us to create server-side applications that could send information directly to the client without requests,” says Noble. “We’ve used Flash Communication Server before for streaming video, but this time it was decided to stream only data which worked extremely well. All the fights on Cartoon Network use the software – responsiveness is impressive.” When the developers were working on later parts of the project, Flash MX 2004 enabled the team to import video directly into the interface, displaying clips of Cartoon Network shows that were integrated directly into the Townsville environments.

Mario Kart Double Dash Online gaming gets underway in Flash MX2004 Lightmaker has used Flash MX 2004 for a variety of sites and projects – among them is Mario Kart Double Dash, developed for Nintendo. This online gaming experience can display eight languages, with all the content created from scratch in Flash MX 2004 and Studio MX. Lightmaker wasn’t allowed to use Nintendo’s in-house graphics, but still managed to create a user interface in the style of the brand. In the game, the user must drive their kart around a race track, picking up content, such as video, tips,

Developed using Macromedia Flash MX 2004, Mario Kart Double Dash is a fun and colourful online experience, designed to encourage users to search for game content.

tricks and images. Finding more

enhancements to Flash MX

context-sensitive icon to

content gives the user bonus

2004 in the game. The

control the video playback.

speed. Once all content has

embedded video features

Richer interfaces

been found, the user unlocks a

continuous streaming, rather

being so successful, Lightmaker

“The product offers great compression features which in turn allow us to develop richer interfaces without huge bandwidth costs,” adds Noble. “All of these features really impact on all projects that we develop for clients. We can produce richer, more interactive Web experiences faster and more robustly and, as a company, we can organise and maintain our logic and design assets more effectively.” Flash MX 2004 also introduces the concept of components for rich user interfaces. “Using components has allowed us to separate the technology from the design,” explains Noble. “Designers only had to worry about creating the beautiful Townsville world, while the technologists were dreaming up exciting interactions.” Unable to use the Powerpuff Girls animation due to rights issues, Lightmaker replicated the brand: “From the front end design to the interrogator pages, each character from the series was animated in Flash with incredible attention to detail. Each environment was created from strict brand guidelines, with polished animation making the environments come to life.” A development team of six took 12 weeks to complete Phase 1, which was

secret password that gives

than the ‘stream and stall’

is about to take on another

them access to a downloadable

behaviour seen in previous

Nintendo promotional site,

screensaver.

technologies. The video is an

which this time will be

There are particularly good implementations of the new

With the Mario Kart project

integrated part of the interface,

authored in Flash MX

which also includes a floating

Professional 2004.

created with four language options for the Nordic regions. It’s obviously been worth it, as a preview of Virtual Townsville has already won the People’s Choice Award at the Macromedia MAX Awards, in Utah. It has also been nominated for the Best Entertainment and Gaming site at this year’s BAFTA Interactive Awards. The clients are pleased, too. In terms of a return on investment, Cartoon Network Nordic registered 200,000 new users to the TMT 2004 database within six weeks. The registered user base for Cartoon Network Nordic tripled in less than two months – a 98 per cent increase in site users. “Working with the team at Lightmaker is a consistently rewarding and enjoyable experience,” testifies Peter Drake, Creative Director for Cartoon Network Europe. “Using their unique expertise in building virtual worlds we have been able to bring to life the world of the Powerpuff Girls for our users in an entirely groundbreaking way.”

This month, Lightmaker is launching the site for the UK, taking advantage of the new features of Flash MX Professional 2004. Phase 2 enhancements will include a Top 100 feature, rewarding players who gain the most points with a golden joystick in their Townsville room, a trophy and a gold star under their character name. Planned new environments include snowy and rainy scenes, a fairground and a scoreboard. “Using MX 2004 for Phase 2 has really sped up the development process,” says Noble. “That, for me, is its attraction in a nutshell – a greater speed of development and a greater speed of delivery.” Today, 75 per cent of development at Lightmaker centres on the immersive environments based on TMT. “Statistics show there will be 3,000 virtual worlds on the Web in five years,” says Noble. The builder of the majority of these worlds, Lightmaker, seems set to play God for some time to come. ■

Macromedia Masterclass 03 9

Peachpit books SIGN UP TODAY FOR FREE MX 2004 WORKSHOPS AT A CITY NEAR YOU! An exclusive series of seminars held by Macromedia’s experts To accompany this four-part Masterclass MX 2004 series, Macromedia is running free workshops all over the UK. New and experienced designers will be able to see how they can use Studio MX 2004 to create cutting-edge Internet experiences. Register today to find out more and beat the rush. www.macromedia.com/uk/ macromedia/events/ masterclass/workshops

Choose one or all of the following seminars at the events below:

EXPERIENCE MATTERS • An introduction to the customer experience

DYNAMIC MOVES • How to build dynamic sites quickly and effectively

BUILDING THE NEXT GENERATION OF RICH INTERNET APPLICATIONS • What Studio MX 2004 can do for you

When and where? 24 February – London 3 March – Glasgow 9 March – Belfast 11 March – Brighton

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Rich Internet applications MASTERCLASS MX 2004 Read on to find out why you should be creating Rich Internet applications in Flash MX 2004

REPLACING WEB PAGES WITH APPLICATIONS

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hat’s the difference between a Web page and a Web application? Put simply, a Web page is a presentation, whereas an application is a tool. Don’t let that distinction diminish your respect for the value of Web pages, though. As anyone in Web development knows, it is definitely a challenge (albeit a worthy one) to present ideas clearly. Macromedia Flash MX 2004 enables you to build engaging applications that you can deliver via the Web, once you have the know-how. It’s not as though some line has been crossed and only now is it finally possible to make rich Internet applications. However, the demand has grown recently.

On the Computer Arts CD The extract presented here is from Flash MX 2004 for Rich Internet Applications by Phillip Kerman. On the Computer Arts CD, we provide chapter two in full (see the Peachpit folder on the root of the disc). Turn to page 16 to get 30% off this great book.

Flash and the Flash Communications server were used by agency Odopod, to create this interactive, streaming video experience for Red Bull. It features top Supermoto athlete, Jeremy McGrath. Visitors to www.redbullcopilot.com can co-pilot the race, controlling seven camera angles, four audio tracks and four data feeds.

Reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as New Riders Publishing. All rights reserved. ISBN: 0735713669

Flash’s standing Flash has been typecast as an animation tool. Although it is great for that, with more and more sophisticated functionality being added, it’s trying to break away from that reputation. Attempting to become the rich Internet application (RIA) standard is more than just a marketing ploy. It’s really just a matter of letting developers see what’s possible. This section examines where Flash stands in comparison to its apparent competition.

Not Java The one technology that’s similar to Flash in both capability and penetration is Java. First, realise that there’s Java the language (used behind the scenes on the server) and then there’s client-side Java (running in the browser). As a language, it’s perfectly suited for many uses. On the client side, however, it’s lacking. Although Java can achieve great tasks, its

significance is hindered by its limitations. Problems include the fact that it can take an enormous amount of work to build a client-side Java app, it takes a long time to get up and running when a user loads a Java app, it can quickly use up your computer’s resources, and it often behaves differently on different operating systems. That’s not to say bury client-side Java, but the fact is that Flash has delivered on promises that Java never could. (Flash is easy to build, lightweight, relatively fast performing, and consistent).

Not Director Macromedia has a confusingly similar product to Flash, called Director. Director has been around much longer, and therefore its roots are in producing applications that run on the desktop or CD-ROM. The Director browser plug-in is called Shockwave. In many ways, the capabilities of Flash and Director

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Macromedia Masterclass 03 11

Rich Internet applications >

When you design a good application, it’s possible to make Flash even more bandwidth friendly than HTML

overlap. However, Director excels in several key areas: performance, media support and features useful in applications made for the desktop. The fact that people’s computers continue to improve reduces the significance of Director’s performance advantage. Also, the new Flash Players continue to get faster. In the area of media support, Director can display (at run time) nearly any native media format. Flash can display only JPG and play only MP3 audio or FLV video. In addition, Director can display true 3D graphics while tapping into a computer’s 3D video acceleration. Not only can you display 3D models and animations, but you can also use script to change camera angles, object placement or even lighting. Finally, Director is made for desktop applications. Director includes several built-in features and ways to extend Director native functionality through thirdparty extras. Pretty much anything any application can do, Director can too. For instance, you can make applications that print high-resolution catalogues or automatically update themselves via the Internet. That said, Flash does have some advantages over Director, including the following: ● Support to both read and write XML (whereas Director can only read it). ● A younger and more streamlined language (though Director’s Lingo is perfectly capable, it’s hindered by a patchwork of changes). ● The Flash plug-in is at about 98 per cent of the market, whereas Director Shockwave is at roughly 63 per cent. The thing is, you can embed Flash SWFs inside Director and effectively get the best of both tools. However with the new arrival of Director MX 2004 integration between the two can only improve. You can find more comparisons between Flash and Director at www.macromedia.com/software/ director/resources/understanding.

Not HTML or JavaScript Obviously, Flash isn’t HTML. There’s no point comparing Flash applications to static HTML (that is, individual HTML pages coded by hand). However, an application server can dynamically generate HTML on-the-fly. That is, based on user input or timely data, the application server will produce a custom-looking HTML file in a fraction of a second. To users, it looks like a page created just for them. In many ways, this is a Flash application’s real competition. Nearly all Internet applications use an application server behind the scenes (that is, on the server side). When you investigate flight schedules, purchase a

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book or bid at an auction, the chances are that your request is being sent to an application server, which then triggers a follow-up action and generates a response in the form of a new page that you view. It can be a bit complicated to build, but the worst part (in which Flash may be able help) is that the user experience may be lacking. For example, you might fill in a form with 10 different options and click Submit only to find that nothing matches your request. You then go back to make another try – each time sending a request to an application server, which then generates a complete HTML page that must download. Although Flash has the reputation of being a bandwidth hog, when you design an effective application, it’s actually possible to make Flash more bandwidth friendly than HTML! For example, it’s easy to send requests to an application directly from Flash. When the response arrives, Flash needs only to redraw the appropriate parts of the screen. It doesn’t need to reload the whole page (meaning a lessdisruptive experience and less bandwidth). JavaScript can prove quite effective. However, don’t try to make full-fledged applications entirely in JavaScript. Basically, JavaScript is a client-side scripting language because it downloads with your HTML. Flash also runs on the client side, but Flash can reach out to download additional media or data. In the case of JavaScript, the language is nearly identical to Flash ActionScript – so it’s quite powerful. However, the capabilities of JavaScript are limited to affecting the browser. As for Flash, it can do ‘Flash’ things such as animate, play sounds and so on. For the most part, Flash can do anything JavaScript can, but better. The notable exception is directly controlling the browser. With JavaScript, for instance, it’s easy to open a new window with no browser buttons. For these situations, you’ll want to mix Flash and JavaScript. That is, Flash can easily trigger functions you’ve defined in your JavaScript by using getURL.

Flash’s coming of age When Flash 5 came out, programmers went wild with the new full-fledged scripting language, ActionScript. Then Flash MX came out, exceeding everyone’s expectations as to how many features could get crammed into a single upgrade. Now Flash 2004 introduces so many advances it boggles the mind. If nothing else, this progression proves that Macromedia is targeting application developers. It doesn’t sound like an attempt to alienate graphic designers and animators, but because they’ve already adopted Flash there’s less potential growth in

that area. In any event, Flash MX 2004 and the Flash Player 7 are an application developer’s dream.

What’s new? The inclusion of ActionScript 2 will surely attract hard-core programmers. Other features especially geared toward application development include the following: ● Forced text aliasing enables you, by turning off antialiasing, to ensure that smaller text looks crisp. ● Version 2 components sport the new Halo skin, as well as offering improved performance and additional features. This all means you don’t have to spend time developing common interface elements – they’re already built. Countless other improvements are covered in detail in Chapter 12 of Phillip Kerman’s book, Rich Internet Applications. ● Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) support means you have greater text layout control using a standard format. ● Improved array sorting speed and features help you manage large quantities of data. ● You can customise the context menu (right-click) and trap changes in the mouse wheel to give the user just one more way to interact. ● It offers the ability to respond to the user’s mouse wheel. For example, you can scroll a display when they scroll their mouse wheel. ● Text metrics give you more information about where text appears. ● A MovieClip Loader object simplifies the process of displaying external media. ● The addition of the tag can be used to embed images or SWFs within your text displays. ● Native support for Flash Video files (FLV) and the ability to produce video using nearly any video editor (if you buy Flash MX 2004 Pro). ● Countless other features that, although cool, may not apply directly to applications.

Where Flash fits in Flash can make complex data more digestible. Giving users access to advanced features and infinite sets of data is fine, but it must be presented in a way that makes it easy for them to find what they want. This is where Flash fits in. Flash is appropriate for any application where images, sounds or animation can support and enhance a message. Again, it’s not as though you’re spicing up something that’s otherwise boring.

In fact, if a piece of multimedia is not supplementing a message, it is most certainly distracting from it. Chapter 2 of Kerman’s book looks at many such considerations. If a media element can help a message, however, you should include it. Flash is great at supporting media such as audio, video, animation and text. One overly simple definition of a Flash application is when Flash appears by itself in its own window. It’s actually possible to integrate Flash into HTML frames or tables. That is, Flash doesn’t have to take up the whole screen. This approach can be a bit more work, and, frankly, there are fewer and fewer reasons to consider it. Nearly every previously justifiable reason to avoid Flash has been addressed. For example, HTML will automatically ‘flow’ as you change your margins. Although Flash can be set to scale, it’s not terribly useful as text gets tiny when the window shrinks. People tend to design their Flash apps to a fixed window size (which is certainly easiest). However, Flash has an onResize event for which you can write code that re-arranges the screen, effectively behaving like HTML. Other show-stopper limits of Flash have been addressed, such as making content accessible to people with a variety of disabilities (covered briefly in Chapter 2, on your CD-ROM). The point here is that before you avoid Flash for a specific reason, check whether that issue has been addressed. Finally, one of the most subtle solutions Flash can deliver is putting content in a branded display. If all you want to display is a video clip, for example, you can choose from a variety of solutions. However, only

The Nike golf site was recently redesigned in Flash by Summit Projects, to provide easier access to product information. The redesign of the site, at www.nike.com/nikegolf, took only 30 days, included twice as many products and reduced page sizes from 65100k to 15-45k per page.

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Rich Internet applications >

And now there’s a new home for your Flash applications called Macromedia Central

Flash makes it possible to completely control the look and feel of the interface. Actually, users will always see “About Macromedia Flash Player” if they rightclick, but that’s it. Every other attribute of the viewing experience can include your branded look. Branding is a subconscious way to emphasise your message. One last note about where Flash fits in – there’s a new home for your Flash applications called Macromedia Central. This browser just plays Flash movies. There are additional features and capabilities that you don’t get in browser-based Flash movies when they run in the Central desktop player. Extra features are supported, such as background tasks (for instance, check a stock price even when the user isn’t actively using your app) and the ability to deliver a compelling experience even while offline. Finally, Central provides an easy way for you to distribute your applications (and charge for them if you want). The reason is that a Central app is really just a Flash app that was designed for and deployed using Central. Anyway, check it out, Kerman predicts it will be the next big thing, provided someone makes a killer app for it.

Movie Finder was one of the first Macromedia Central applications in existence, developed by Beau Amber. As a powerful example of what the technology is capable of, users can find cinema listings, check availability of DVDs for rent, send information to friends direct from the site, find a nearby restaurant and much more, all from within one Flash-driven application.

MAKEOVERS The following section walks you through two examples of rich Internet apps, and considers both where they succeed and where they leave a bit to be desired.

1) Broadmoor Hotel This example gets a lot of airtime from Macromedia, even though it’s not exactly state of the art (it came out in 2001). In any event, it’s useful as an example

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of an RIA because, for one thing, people can identify with the problem it solves – namely, making a hotel reservation efficiently. If you visit the site at www.broadmoor.com and follow links to make a reservation, you’ll see a single-screen reservation tool, as shown in the image below.

A simple but effective example of an RIA. In one screen, you can view your options and book a room at the Broadmoor Hotel.

One key feature is that you’ll never make a request only to discover, later on in the process, that the dates aren’t available, because everything is updated while you make selections. When you click Date Ranges in the calendar on the left, for example, any room types unavailable for those dates are removed from the list in the centre, immediately. Similarly, when you select a room type, the dates for which that room is unavailable are removed from the calendar. Another cool feature is that you’re given a photo of the room right inside this interface. The icons provide another subtle but useful visual clue (status options such as available, unavailable or available for a checkout date only). Finally, you can pay for the room and complete the reservation from the column on the right. Unlike some particularly frustrating sites, you won’t fill in a form only to be told you’re missing key information (and then have to fill it in again). You never leave this “oneScreen” interface (as it’s called by the developer, iHotelier.com). It saves you wasting time and it avoids confuson and disappointment. Although this example doesn’t include a ‘before and after,’ if you’ve ever made any sort of reservation online, you’ll appreciate some of the advantages of this interface. Note, however, a legitimate criticism of the Broadmoor example – the text is hard to read. If only they’d had the Flash MX 2004 Alias text option when it was originally developed, the result could have looked a lot better.

Glossary

Rich Internet application terms explained

PLACES OR TIMES Client side Code that executes on the user’s machine. Flash SWFs and JavaScript both run on the client side. Server side Code that executes on your Web server computer. Application server code (such as ColdFusion) is server side, as is the Flash Communication Server. Author time or design time Edits you make while building an application. Runtime When an app is running for the user. THINGS Killer app A piece of software so useful that it attracts people to adopt the underlying system needed to run it. Rich media Audio, video or graphics. Really just the new word for multimedia. IDE (Integrated Development Environment) A software tool that gives you complete access to create and edit source files, ie. the Flash authoring tool.

API (Application Programming Interface) The set of commands and functions that, through programming, give you access to an underlying system. For example, Flash has a Drawing API that enables you to draw lines and curves effectively, giving you access to the drawing tools built into Flash. SDK (Software Development Kit) The documentation, samples and tools that get you started using a system. For example, you can download and study the SDK for Macromedia Central. TECHNOLOGIES Application server Software that runs on the server side that produces custom HTML on-the-fly. Also, servers that can access local or remote databases. Plug-ins Add-on software tools that extend the functionality of your browser.

HOT WORDS Scalable Two meanings. A graphic can scale to different dimensions. Also, if you plan for your application to grow, it will be considered scalable if it can handle more and more users (without collapsing). Parse The way you can go through a set of data and extract just the elements that match the objective for which you’re looking. Also used to explain the process of translating a set of data to some other format. For instance, going through and capitalising each word involves a parsing process. Collaboration Often used to describe how an application can help a group of people work together. Legacy An existing system. Usually companies expect your new application to work with their legacy systems.

Shockwave Director’s plug-in technology. The .swf extension in Flash movies used to stand for Shockwave Flash, now it stands for Small Web Format.

Mission critical Overused term, meaning ‘really really – no I mean really – important.’ The idea is that if you fail to deliver the mission-critical objective, the project is doomed.

Thin client The player or client-side component that runs Flash movies. Small enough to download quickly.

Populate Used as a verb to mean ‘fill in’ or put content in a site or application.

2) Stampede cattle The following example highlights an application built by Phillip Kerman to extend an existing HTML-based cattle auction site with a real-time auction component. That is, they had and still have an auction site similar to eBay’s. Buyers can explore the catalogue of available cattle, place bids in advance and, eventually, the cows will go to the highest bidder. Naturally, this can take several days. The client had planned the real-time auction long before the Flash Communication Server (FCS) was available. It was like a product made for their application. What Kerman built with the server-side developer was a Flash app to serve as a virtual sales ring. You’re welcome to attend a live auction at www.stampedecattle.com. Bidders still place bids in advance using the existing HTML site (the highest pre-bid shows up during the live auction). Then on the day of an auction you can enter the Flash interface and see each lot go up for sale. The auctioneer makes a few last-minute announcements and JPGs of the cattle show up in the ring. Then the clock starts ticking. Buyers can place bids, and everyone sees the state from which the bid arrives. It feels like a real auction because you’ll often see a buyer from one state trying to outbid another. There are other features, including an auditing feature that archives every auction. The auctioneer has a different view of the app, with more details, such as a list of connected buyers. It’s a kick to watch

While keeping the look and excitement of a real auction, Stampede Cattle can move $3 million worth of cattle in a matter of hours (without getting their hands dirty).

(you can log on as a spectator). The sheer volume of cattle involved is amazing – each sale that lasts about one hour involves about $3 million in cattle! No attempt was made to replace an existing site – the app was integrated with what the client already had. Kerman used Flash where it could do something unique to specifically enable bidders to connect to the same set of data and be notified of changes, in real time. There was a fair bit of audio and animation, too. Although these may seem gratuitous, the goal is to engage the user. It’s no secret that the objective is to encourage bids. A live auction has a lot of emotion, so adding a sense of urgency with sound effects and timing made this application effective. ■

Read more of this book The extract presented here is from Flash MX 2004 for Rich Internet Applications, by Phillip Kerman. On the Computer Arts CD, we provide chapter two in full (see the Peachpit folder on the root of the disc). Turn to page 16 to get 30% off this great book!

*Some of the supporting screenshots featured in this article were added by Computer Arts and do not appear in Flash MX 2004 for Rich Internet Applications.

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why bother? Is Flash MX 2004 really all that it’s cracked up to be? To find out, we asked the troops on the frontline of design – the agencies using Flash for their everyday work. Here’s what they said… GOOD INVESTMENT RETURNS Name: Chris Edwards Company: Interdirect www.interdirect.co.uk

“Flash has jumped several steps with MX 2004, to enable developers to create fully-interactive, rich Internet applications, which can increase return on investment and improve usability. RIAs can be embraced easily and without the user or the client being made aware. As a small implementation of a Flash RIA, we recently implemented a couple of Flash applets for a customer’s extranet, which allowed the display of reporting information, but all the client saw was some pretty graphs.”

video files, which was ideal for development on our game, Photo Safari Challenge. This is a brand promotion for a client that projects high-quality safari video footage onto a plasma screen. With a camera hooked up to the mouse controls, players point and shoot at the streaming videos for the optimum safari photos. “Previous versions of Flash would not have achieved the required results in video speed and quality, as the videos would have needed to be embedded into .SWF files. Flash MX 2004 was a great tool and saved us having to invest in more expensive video application development software.” FLEXIBLE OPTIONS, AT MANY LEVELS Name: Pete Barr-Watson

FILE STREAMING GIVES GREAT VIDEO QUALITY

Company: Pixelfury www.pixelfury.com

Name: Nick Kuh Company: Edition Interactive www.editioninteractive.co.uk

“We’ve found the new video capabilities to be one of the coolest additions in Flash MX Professional 2004. Flash 7 Player can now stream .FLV Edition Interactive’s work in Flash MX Professional 2004, shown on the National Asthma Campaign Website, at www.asthma.org.uk

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“Flash MX 2004 brings so many options for connecting to data sources that, whatever technology your Web application is built on, you can be pretty sure it will offer you a solution. It’s hard to find a situation where Flash wouldn’t

be a viable choice when considering client proposals these days, such as bringing a user-centric, good looking GUI to an external data source such as XML, Remoting or Web services. “In addition, the combined authoring environment in Studio MX 2004 can be tailored to meet your level of expertise, helping you work more efficiently when building rich media applications.”

content can be changed by the client. The result is better value for clients, as they can edit content in-house, and happier designers, as they no longer get phone calls to edit punctuation or change an image. Any serious creative agency should be using Flash MX 2004.”

MORE CLIENT CONTROL IS BETTER FOR EVERYONE

“MX 2004 Pro’s vastly improved data handling capabilities, and the ease with which images and video can be imported and integrated, perfectly match our vision of how things will develop in the future. “It has already allowed us to develop two prototype RIAs: one for a major retailer which we feel will revolutionise the way people shop online; the other for a leading event company, showcasing its services through a unique and highly usable interface. “Developments such as the revised component architecture are key time savers which will allow us to complete these projects on time, in budget.”

Name: Lars Hemming Jorgensen Company: Large Design ltd www.largedesign.com

“We all know the benefits of Flash - it’s perfect for creating rich content sites quickly and efficiently. The drawback has always been keeping Flash-built sites updated. In order to edit complex .SWF files, even within an agency, you often need the person who created them. “Obviously this is not a professional solution – customers want sites they can maintain themselves. This is possible with Flash MX 2004. We create templates and the

KEY TIME SAVERS Name: Chris Park Company: Bumblebee Design www.bumblebeedesign.net