Computer Arts (September 2004)

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EDITORIAL

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Issue 100 of Computer Arts is here! And have we got a bumper pack for you? First up you’ll notice we have two amazing free gifts courtesy of Adobe; the Designer’s Handbook and DVD. One will give you a raft of major software demos and the other offers a collection of some of the best software tips we’ve printed, ever. In addition, we’ve given you a full, free version of the worldrenowned 3D landscaping tool, Vue d’Esprit. Make full use of this software by following the fantastic CD tutorial on page 104. There are also four different covers to collect – each created by a different illustrator or artist. To find out more about our collectable covers turn to page six. If your issue didn’t contain one of the four golden tickets entitling you to a copy of Adobe Creative Suite Premium Edition then don’t fret. You can still enter our competition to win one of three Macromedia software bundles worth over £3000 on page 47. So all it remains for me to say is enjoy this month’s 100th issue. But keep it safely away from sticky fingers because we’re sure it’s destined to be a collector’s item.

EDITORIAL 01225 442 244 GILLIAN CARSON EDITOR [email protected] DOM HALL DEPUTY EDITOR [email protected] RODDY LLEWELLYN ART EDITOR [email protected] VICKY MITCHARD DESIGNER [email protected] SOPHIE EMBLEY PRODUCTION EDITOR [email protected] JOSEPH RUSS NEW MEDIA CONTENT EDITOR [email protected] MATT GALLIMORE SENIOR CD EDITOR [email protected] JON ALONGI CD EDITOR [email protected] JEN WAGNER ONLINE EDITOR [email protected] CD PROBLEMS 01225 822 743 [email protected]

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM Chuck Anderson, Graeme Aymer, Derek Bacon, Dana Brousseau, Christian Darkin, Eran Dinur, Pete Draper, Kalle Everland, Jon Jackson, Chris Kenworthy, Rukkit Kuanhawate, Derek Lea, Ola Madsen, Mark Penfold, Alex Shoukas, Chris Schmidt, The Designers Republic

GILLIAN CARSON EDITOR [email protected]

PHOTOGRAPHY Katherine Lane-Simms, James Wilson PRINT William Gibbons REPRO Radstock Reproductions Ltd

SUBSCRIPTIONS 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 (0) 870 444 8455 EMAIL [email protected]

THE COVERS Four artists take on a CA cover brief – and create four highly distinctive pieces. Find out more about the artists behind these great covers on page six.

ADVERTISING 01225 442 244 ANDREW BRAIN advertising manager [email protected] GEORGE LUCAS senior sales executive [email protected] JAMES BLAXTER classified sales executive [email protected]

DIGITAL DIVISION DOM BEAVEN publishing director KELLEY CORTEN publisher FIONA TULLY marketing manager CLARE TOVEY production manager PAUL MCINTYRE group art editor SARAH WILLIAMS software copyright co-ordinator

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

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

UK DISTRIBUTION Marketforce Ltd 020 7633 3300 Kings Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LS

THE FUTURE NETWORK ROGER PARRY non-executive chairman GREG INGHAM chief executive ROB PRICE managing director UK JOHN BOWMAN group finance director T: +44 (0)1225 442 244 URL: www.thefuturenetwork.plc.uk Computer Arts is a member of the Audit Bureau of Circulations Jan-Dec 2003: 22,888 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.

ILLUSTRATION IN THE MAG DISCOVER HOW PROFESSIONAL DESIGNERS CREATED THIS MONTH’S WORK DEREK BACON

ERAN DINUR

Derek relied on Photoshop to shed appropriate light on this complex photo-montage. INFO: www.derekbacon.co.uk

A landscape created entirely using the epic Vue D’Esprit… INFO: www.skoeter.com/artisrael-erandinur/00.html

SCOTT HANSEN

CHRIS KENWORTHY

Scott delivers the goods yet again with this stylish image to illustrate our Group Test. INFO: www.iso50.com

Chris exploits After Effects’ matchmoving toolset to mad effect! INFO: www.thedream sequence.com

ALEXANDER SHOUKAS

CHUCK ANDERSON

Alexander exploits Flash’s expert toolset to animate some striking typography. INFO: www.d-realm.net

Marvel at Chuck’s mastery of Photoshop’s versatile colour-fixing tools. INFO: www.nopattern.com

Ë NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 2 SEPTEMBER

The Future Network PLC is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FNET).

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SEPTEMBER ISSUE 100

CONTENTS

REVIEWS

ADOBE ENCORE DVD 1.5

Apple DVD Studio 1.0

Sonic DVDit 5

TUTORIALS

P88 GROUP TEST DVD authoring software is now more sophisticated than ever – at a price everyone can afford. But which solution is right for your needs? We testburn five key contenders

Roxio Creator 7

Ahead Nero 6 Suite

P78 SOFTIMAGE XSI 4 The largest ever update of this world-leading 3D app promises incredible value for money

P80 3DS MAX 7 An exclusive first look at Discreet’s seminal software – now with Character Studio!

P50 PHOTOSHOP CS

Add dynamism to your work using the Colour Dodge tool and a range of wild neon effects

P62 AFTER EFFECTS Fancy spicing up some footage with translucent spaceships and stomping robots? Then look no further…

P82 FRAMEFORGE 3D

P58 FLASH EFFECTS

This professional storyboarding app will prove a godsend to any Fincher or Spielberg wannabe

Words don’t have to be static – as www.planetofthedrums.com demonstrates. Find out how to enliven your fonts right here!

P83 AUDITION 1.5 Syntrillium’s former Cool Edit Pro enjoys its first major outing as a reconfigured Adobe app

P84 PORTFOLIO 7 Extensis’ streamlined asset management app now provides direct-to-Web publishing

P32 PHOTOSHOP CS

P85 SKETCHBOOK PRO

Discover how to alter the way objects are lit to create an effective photo montage

Enjoy a traditional approach to art and design with Alias’ tablet-friendly illustrating tool

P86 PFT TRACK 1.6 The professional choice for high quality motion-tracking

TUTORIALS FOR 99P Buy Computer Arts tutorials online for just 99p at www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials

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IN THIS ISSUE

ON THE CD Test the landscapemoulding power of Vue d’Esprit and the audio-splicing capabilities of Audition 1.5, then go traditional with Sketchbook Pro – check CD for details

P6-7 COVERS

To celebrate our 100th issue, we’ve commissioned four distinct cover illos from four designers at the top of their game. Find out more on page 6!

P102 THE DESIGNER’S DVD You’ve heard about Adobe’s astonishing Creative Suite. Now see what all the fuss is about with these five 30-day tryouts, featuring Photoshop CS, Illustrator CS, InDesign CS, GoLive CS and Adobe Acrobat. Simply insert the DVD into your drive and you’re away

VUE D’ESPRIT 3.1 LE Create this atmospheric Eastern-flavoured idyll using the free fullyoperational version of Vue d’Esprit on the cover CD. With the help of our expert 3D tips, fashioning your own world is child’s play.

P102 THE DESIGNER’S HANDBOOK Over 250 tips and tricks for Creative Suite legends Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign

CA INTERVIEW

IMAGESOURCE PHOTOS

FEATURES P24 1OO TODAY Every cover from every issue, plus an in-depth look at the highs and lows of the last nine years in the design industry

P66 LAYOUT BASICS What makes great page design? Book, magazine and newspaper experts reveal their choice tips and techniques

Brighten up your designs with these professionally-shot royaltyfree photographs worth £1000. There are five to choose from, all with a life-affirming theme.

AUDITION 1.5 This 30-day trial brilliantly demonstrates just how much Adobe has reconfigured Syntrillium’s app

COMPUTER ARTS ISSUE ONE! Every page of Computer Arts’ launch issue, available to read in PDF format. Here’s your chance to wallow in design industry nostalgia!

SUBSCRIBE! TURN TO PAGE 56

P40 HOUSE INDUSTRIES

Find out why the Delaware-based darlings of the typographical industry have opened their first shop in London

P114 CV

Graphic designer Dag Henning Brandsaeter talks about what inspires him in the city of Amsterdam

Subscribe today and make sure you get an exclusive collector’s issue delivered straight to your door. Call our subscription hotline: 0870 444 8455 or visit www.computerarts.co.uk

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COVERS

FOUR COVERS TO COLLECT WE ASKED A RAFT OF TOP ILLUSTRATORS TO COME UP WITH INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR OUR ISSUE 100 COVER We wanted issue 100 to represent something ground breaking in terms of design, so we invited some of the top illustrators currently working in the design industry to send in artwork that they felt was worthy of our birthday issue cover. So they delved into their creative cupboards to find images that showcased cutting-edge techniques – the kind of work that you simply love, but your client doesn’t! To fit with our cover style, the image had to have a clear focal point that was easy to cut out against

the white background of our logo. We received a mail bag full of amazing designs. Some of them were visually fantastic, but not suitable for our cover. However, the following four images were perfect. We chose them to be printed on the cover of Computer Arts because of their beauty, relevance and style. They are inspiring, striking and collectable. In short, they’re great cover images. So well done to all those who made it!

THE DESIGNERS REPUBLIC The Designers Republic, one of the best things ngss to come out of Sheffield, is one of the UK’s foremost ost st design agencies of recent years. They entered this vector illustration based on the theme of “brain aided ed d design”. We chose this cover to show how a simple e image, created in Illustratorr, can work ork k well, as long lon ng as you have a strong concept and basi sis is for o an idea. dea www.thedesignersrepublic.co.uk k

RU UKKIT KKIT TK KUAN KUANHAWATE KUANHAWA ANHAWATE HAWAT WATE W E Ba a ased assed s d iin Thailand, Thailand, d, R Rukkit uk k kkitt ssett up Bor B Bored red Des Design ssign witth a group group ro oup up of university unive versity sity ity friends ffriend i ds a and d recen recent recently ntly ap a p ppe ppeared pp peared eared e red ed do on the e CV CV page ge o off Com C Co Computer om omputer omput uter Arts tss (issue (iss 98 8). ). Rukkit Ruk k kkit k says: ssays sa a ays: s: “I “ w wanted d to o repres represent sent th the iic icon con on of am magazine ma agazine e with with h a long lon perio period perio od in publishing pu publishing, ublishin ng ng, so I co ombined bi ed ed llif lifestyle, ifestyle, tyle ccity, and an environmental enviro onmenta objects j a an and n nd d repre re esented ted them in an a Asian Asi si n style. This Th his h is gave gave t e im the mage e an iconic feel.” feel. W We e ch chos chose se Rukk Rukki k kit’s it’s image, m ge nott jjust no ju ust u because be ecause it blew u uss a away, way, way w a , but u a als also so be becau bec ecause cause ause se it repre repr ep p presen resents nts the future of of design des esign es gn and d shows show show wss th that a att design d sign is be ecoming univverrsal al – each eacch h continent co on n ntine ti en ntt re reflectss itss culture throu through ugh h iillustrat illustration ll tion. tio n. www.boredd ww www.b www. ww.bor oreddesign.com d m

COVERS KALLE EVERLAND London-based Swede Kalle Everland has created many technological illustrations. But this time she wanted to achieve something that was more “organic”. She used roots and growth as the basis for the image, which also represented the magazine over the last nine years. We chose this image as we felt it was a perfect example of Kalle’s use of perspective and superior Photoshop skills. www.splsh.com

JON JACKSON Jon Jackson, founder of Los Angeles-based La Graphica, wanted to create an image that reflected the fresh look and feel of the magazine. So he turned to his native LA for inspiration. To give the image a twist, Jon decided to turn the woman’s hair into a nest of beach-related items, which, if you look closely, contains a brilliantly camouflaged range of elements. We chose this cover for its clever use of Photoshop and Illustrator and for showing, once again, how a simple image can be detailed and striking, and give a personal style to the Computer Arts cover. www.lagraphica.com

EXPOSURE

EXPOSURE Send your work to Computer Arts and be seen by thousands!

GEMMA HAYWARD

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JOB Student CONTACT [email protected] SOFTWARE Photoshop 7 1. Midland Hotel Sunset “The Midland was very famous in its time but is now derelict and makes a very interesting subject for photography. It’s also a great place to see the sunset” 2. Pleasureland “There are many arcades along the promenade in Morecambe, but this one has always been the favourite”

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3. The Eric Morecambe Statue “The late, great Eric Morecambe was born in the town and the statue was put there in remembrance of him. People come from miles around to see it” 4 . Taylors Fun Land “I took this shot mainly because of its bright, lively colours, but it was also one of my favourite places as a child, when it was a swimming pool!”

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NEWS

EXPOSURE

To find out more about this section, please go to www.computerarts.co.uk/gallery/ ABOUT GEMMA HAYWARD Gemma Hayward has just completed a degree in Graphic Design BA (Hons) at the University of Leeds. The impressive panoramic images below, entitled “Territory”, formed part of her final year degree show.

The photos, taken in her home town of Morecambe, used 360-degree photography to capture everything about the place. Sixteen photos per image were then stitched together using Photoshop. “What I like most about the images is that they can add so much interest

to a place and make the banal look striking,” explains Hayward. Having recently been nominated for the Stuart Hocknell Student Design Awards, Hayward now hopes to continue her work with other designers and photographers.

Stitcher 3.1 In the last issue of Computer Arts we used Stitcher to create cool panoramic scenes like this. Try out Stitcher 4 on our cover CD this month or go to p94 for back issues.

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EXPOSURE

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IAN NAYLOR JOB Digital Illustrator CONTACT www.aircrew.co.uk or www.illustrationweb.com/IanNaylor/ SOFTWARE Cinema 4D, Photoshop 1-4. Arcade Stills “All the modelling for this animation project was done in Cinema 4D. I rescued a pinball machine, a jaded old Bally table with all the bits missing. But the graphics, from about 1960, were splendid and colourful – a joy! The table was modelled for a still picture, but the temptation to animate was too great, in fact it was the F-Curves in Cinema that drew me in. As an ex-Airbrush illustrator, 3D with a dash of Photoshop is a continuation of my hand-drawn style. You must know how to draw before you even touch a computer though.”

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EXPOSURE

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SELIM CATKIN JOB Artist CONTACT [email protected] SOFTWARE Photoshop, FreeHand 1. On time “I wanted to create an illustration in FreeHand with a gradient background, dark and light colours, diagonal lines and text, which brought some dynamism” 2. Solar Anarchy “Humans expect big disasters from big sources. But even little things can cause disasters. I used butterflies in a symbolic way, tracing my own photos in FreeHand. I wanted this illustration to use warm colours and flat, simple objects” 3. Untitled “This is a different application of the same concept. I associated the sun with sound and a speaker, which after a while can cause damage to human beings”

GET EXPOSED

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Send your work to us, along with an explanation of your techniques and software, the titles of each piece, your Website details and email. Images should be sent as PC or Mac TIFF or JPEG files, on CD 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 print and electronically. Post hi-res files for print to: Exposure, Computer Arts, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW.

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LETTERS…

Write to us at ca.mail@futurenet, or join us online at forum.computerarts.co.uk

STAR LETTER: DODGY DIGITAL DOINGS Regarding last month’s news story entitled “Dodgy Digital Doings” (issue 99), about how you can turn your Canon 300D into a 10D with a firmware update. Well I just wanted to let your readers know that it works! You get most of the features of the 10D, including flash exposure compensation, mirror lock up (adjustable), ISO 3200 and custom functions.

I decided to take the risk because my warranty was nearly up anyway. But I did it and it all worked out fine. FEC works with built-in flash and speedlites and the firmware is very easy to install – just download to file then send it to your memory card, then insert your card into the camera and follow the on-camera instructions. Job done! Paul Scarrott

Thanks for the info, Paul. We haven’t tried it ourselves so it’s great to hear that you can confirm it works. Of course, Canon doesn’t condone such actions and for anyone considering doing the same as Paul it’s useful to remember that tinkering with your 300D in this way will render your warranty invalid. So think before you update your firmware. Some of the photos taken by Paul Scarrott after he upgraded his camera with a firmware update.

PRIZE: free training at Space, London As the Star Letter winner, you can choose a day’s training at Space. Co-founded by Bridget Riley, Space is one of the largest visual arts resources in the Capital, and offers a variety of courses ranging from Photoshop and Final Cut Pro, to how to sell your work, tax and self-employment, and marketing strategies for designers. Space also has a large range of high-end equipment including video-editing facilities, technical support staff and exhibition spaces. For more information go to: www.spacestudios.org.uk

ART OR DESIGN? I was just reading an old issue of Computer Arts that talks about the design of the Adobe Creative Suite packaging. Before reading it, I had never stopped to think why Adobe had chosen those designs. In fact, my innerself automatically assumed that it was just another random design with beautiful visuals but no meaning at all. But then I read the basis for the design and suddenly the whole plan changed. Apparently it’s all about nature and maths – how we can find some beautiful patterns in nature based on mathematical rules – and how Adobe Photoshop translates that maths into an image. Now that I understand why the packaging is designed as it is, I certainly value it more. It now has some meaning for me, which makes me understand it better and like it more. But I can’t imagine anybody making that mathsnature assumption by just looking at the images by themselves.

HAVE YOU WON? If you found a Golden Ticket, you’ve won a copy of Adobe’s Creative Suite

The box art for Adobe’s Creative Suite. Does the concept behind the design need explaining?

1. By entering this competition the entrant is deemed to have read and understood these rules and instructions and is bound by them. 2. Any employee of Future Publishing Ltd or Adobe, any other person directly connected with this competition or their immediate family will be ineligible to enter. Persons under the age of 18 may only enter with the written

But all this leads me to a bigger question: do we need an instruction manual for every piece of design? The logic behind the Adobe packaging might be obvious for some, but this is just an example. I am sure all of us value a piece of art or design when we see it, but would that change if we really understood the intentions of the artists? How many times have we visited a gallery or museum and stood in front of a piece of art not having a clue why it looks that way? Obviously having the artist explaining every single piece she/he produces is out of the question, but I just wanted to know what you guys thought about this issue. Can you really value a logo or image without knowing the full story? Andres Thanks for your letter. This is a big subject that has been debated over and over again. Sometimes it is helpful to have an explanation of the “thinking” behind a design, which is why Computer Arts tries

consent of a parent or legal guardian. 3. All entries must be sent to Golden Ticket, Computer Arts, 30 Monmouth St, Bath, BA1 2BW. 4. All entries must be sent by prepaid post and received by 2 September 2004 irrespective of the date of posting. Proof of posting will not be deemed proof of delivery. 5. Any entry that is incomplete, illegible, late or

to extract as much information from our designers as possible. We find that most designers are willing to talk about the work they have done and why a piece looks the way it does. This was a hot topic at the recent OFFF Festival in Valencia (www.offf.ws) where the theme of the festival was “I am not a digital artist I am a....” We found that virtually everyone who was presenting was happy to share some kind of insight into what they were doing and, most importantly, why. After all, what are festivals for but to get together and listen and learn from others in your industry? But it was interesting to see that when a presenter didn’t share that knowledge or offered no explanation for their designs, this was frowned upon by the audience. We’d love to hear other readers’ thoughts on this topic, so feel free to write to us and tell us your view. Do you think that design requires an explanation, or should we be left to work it out ourselves?

otherwise does not comply with the rules and may be deemed invalid at the discretion of the Editor. 6. No purchase necessary. Should you wish us to open an issue for you, send your name and address on a clearly printed plain piece of paper by 2 September 2004 to the address, left. 7. There is no cash alternative to this prize. 8. The winner will be notified as soon as he or she

has been ascertained. The result will be published in the earliest possible issue of Computer Arts. 9. The Editor's decision on all matters affecting this competition is final. No correspondence will be entered into.

NEWS WEBSITES

The Running Fish Gutter URL: www.therunningfishgutter. com/splash.html This bizarre Japanese site is clearly aiming to confuse the hell out of anyone straying into its quirky html. It tells the story of a “humble Japanese fisherman” attempting to compete in the Olympic games. Go figure.

FIND OUT MORE AT www.computerarts.co.uk IN-DEPTH

Siggraph 2004 Computer Arts pounds the trade floor at this year’s Siggraph

Toggle Magazine URL: www.togglemagazine.com/ A low-tech self-styled “design/art experiment” in which two digital artists explore a random theme. This month’s Stigma issue by Robert Rebotti and Jeremy Pruitt is delivered via PDF and crammed full of dark and intriguing mixed media images.

Barttomie Rozbicki URL: www.thanea.com/ars/ This sleek and impressive site acts as a calling card for Polish designer Barttomie Rozbicki. Warning: includes some pretentious design theory and the sentence: “Design is an idea which has been given form”.

50 coolest sites URL: www.time.com/time/ techtime/200406/ Being Time, the sites featured here are fairly straightforward, but we were pleased to see a link to US media artist Marie Sester’s brilliant, if creepy, www.accessproject.net.

Delve magazine URL: http://delvemagazine.com/ Created to “explore visual culture through experimentation in design, photography, illustration and other visual related visual arts”, this new edition features great work by Ben Olson, Kevin Kestler and Emma Kid.

Mundi Design URL: www.mundidesign.com/ presentation/index2.html Web, 3D and illustration expert Andrew Mundi has developed this great site to explain the principles of graphic design. From colour theory to typography – it’s all here.

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Siggraph 2004, back in its spiritual home of LA, plays host to over 25,000 visitors and 230 exhibitors.

As you read this, Siggraph 3ds max 7, available in the autumn for 2004, the largest gathering of £2,695, boasts a workflow feature called 3D-software giants and Normal Mapping, designed to add detail to designers, will be well under low polygon models, improved character way. Though last year’s exhibition, held in animation workflow and technology to San Diego, was a little more “trade show” increase the speed and ease at which than usual, this year’s show returns to its complex polygonal surfaces can be created. spiritual home of Los Angeles. Elsewhere in the 3D market, Curious Themed around emerging technologies Labs is set to release a long-anticipated enhancing everyday life, Siggraph 2004 English language version of its popular anticipates over 25,000 visitors and 230 Shade modelling and rendering tool, Right companies that will launch new products Hemisphere will be showcasing new and showcase technology. polygon reduction technology and Realite Chair of the Siggraph 2004 conference lighting effects tools, and Kaydara will Dena Slothower says that, it is launch Motionbuilder 6. important for Siggraph to retain Kaydara’s new features include its focus on creativity. enhanced IK and FK Keyframe “One of the challenges faced capabilities; interchangeable by artists and designers in the character set-ups with added age of digital media is how to support for props and a simplified use technology to provide a and customizable user-interface. new range of visual In the graphics card space, ATI opportunities while not will launch FireGL X3-256 – an Dena Slothower, Chair of allowing the technology to update of its FireGL V7100 for the conference. dictate form. Siggraph is a the AGP workstation base. The place where you will find artists and new card promises 256MB of memory, 12 designers who are interested in shaping the pixel pipelines and dual DVI connections. tools of the future,” she says. Other companies showcasing at Siggraph So what can you expect from this year’s include Avid with version 4 of Softimage show? The big news from Discreet is an XSI 3D (reviewed on page 78), upgrade to version 7 for its flagship 3ds max wondertouch with its particleillusion 3.0 modelling, animation and rendering software plug-in for Adobe After Effects, and Cebas (turn to page 80 for Computer Arts’ with a Service Pack 3 upgrade. exclusive preview). INFO http://www.siggraph.org/s2004/

NEWS

OPINION

STUDENT AWARDS

Two scoop top student First ever joint winners of the prestigious D&AD awards For the first time, the judges of the prestigious D&AD Student Awards have selected two winners for the top Student of the Year prize, such was the high standard of entries in the annual competition to find and develop the cream of UK-based creative talent. Entries from John Threlfall, a graduate of Blackpool & the Flyde College, and Marta Lago Arenas from the Royal College of Art, scooped the

top cash prize. Both winners will now embark on work placements with some of D&AD’s highprofile partners and supporters. The winning entries, spanning 29 categories, include typography, Website and graphic design, and can now be seen in the D&AD Student Award Annual, available direct from D&AD. Fill in the downloadable order form or call 0207 840 1111. INFO www.dandad.org/education/student-awards

VISUAL EFFECTS

Arthurian legends King Arthur blockbuster makes an impressive big screen debut Visual effects giant Cinesite has worked its magic on one of this summer’s biggest blockbusters, King Arthur – the first major Bruckheimer film to be post-produced in the UK. Some of the film’s most visually impressive scenes, such as the ice lake battle sequence (right), were filmed against blue and green screens in Dublin and at Pinewood Studios. These scenes were created with Cinesite’s own systems using 2D digital matte paintings and Maxon’s Bodypaint 3D. INFO www.cinesite.co.uk

DAZ promises a new version of Bryce 3D by late 2004.

SOFTWARE

DAZ to deliver Bryce upgrade Prices may drop, say the proud new owners DAZ Productions has promised a new version of the Bryce 3D landscaping and animation package following its recent acquisition from Corel. The US-based company says it plans to release version 5.5 in late 2004. Bryce Product Manager Bryan Brandenburg says: “Look for

faster render times, expanded compatibility with DAZ products, expanded content export capabilities, Open GL display support for realtime display and DAZ content bundled with the product. There are no plans to raise the price, if anything the price will head south.”

ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION THE WORLD WIDE WEB has had a huge effect on the lives of designers over the last nine years, says Jason Arber Over the last nine years, Computer Arts has undergone a number of re-designs and cosmetic changes in response to fluctuations in design trends. And during this time, one of the greatest inventions has taken hold. The Internet. Nine years ago, designers worked in print and the promise of the Web was hazy and indistinct. The previous revolution had been the Mac and the invention of Desktop Publishing. Although the world of print has since seen its own mini-revolution, the real change has been two-fold: digital printing, which for small jobs has replaced the traditional printing press, and the mighty PDF. Thanks to a steady rise in quality, many repro houses have turned into service centres, providing digital printing for everything from menus to reports and business cards. It’s not glamorous, but it has freed the designer to experiment. Printing has become cheaper, easier and faster. The other prong to print’s quiet revolution is Adobe’s PDF, which when properly formatted has always been a favourite with repro houses and printers. No more missing fonts and images. Until recently, this promise has been slightly flawed, but with the latest version of Acrobat and the PDF file format, Adobe has clearly been working hard. But back to the Internet. On a basic level, designers have had to apply their skills to the challenges of designing in RGB, at 72 dpi. By its very nature, designing for the Web has more technical considerations than designing for print, and a new breed of technology-centric designers has emerged. Initially, it was common for designers to jump from Web to print and back again, but these days they are viewed as separate disciplines with their own requirements and skill sets. Thanks to the rise of design portals like K10k, Pixelsurgeon and Linkdup, designers can now see what designers on the other side of the world are doing. Trends can become fashionable or fall out of favour in a matter of weeks. The last nine years have revealed some exciting developments, and I hope that the next nine will be just as thrilling. I’ll report back in 100 issues... Jason Arber is co-founder of www.pixelsurgeon.com

INFO www.daz3d.com

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COMPUTER ARTS WEBSITE

NEWS

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

[email protected]

SOFTWARE 3D MAYA FOR MACS URL www.alias.com 3D graphics specialist Alias says it has bowed to pressure from the Mac community to produce a version of Maya Unlimited 6 for Mac OS X. Available from late summer, the product will cost $1999 and include special effects features such as Maya Hair, Cloth and Fluid Effects.

PLUG-IN TUNE IN URL www.phototune.com Californian developer PhotoTune says it has come up with a Photoshop plug-in that’s capable of automatically correcting skin colour without any unwanted visual shifts. Aimed at the professional digital photography market, Skin Tune is available for both Mac and Windows platforms for $130.

GRAPHICS FREE GRAPHIRE3 URL www.corel.com Those splashing out on a copy of CorelDRAW Graphics Suite 12 before 1 September can claim a free Wacom pen tablet. The Wacom’s smart drawing tool enables users to save time and sketch out ideas quickly. To qualify for the free Graphire3 Classic, customers need to buy the Graphics Suite software from the Corel e-store or any authorised reseller.

VIDEO GREAT FX URL www.bauhaussoftware.com/halofx.php Bauhaus Software’s Halo FX is a set of effects designed to enhance videos, animations and still images created using Mirage, the company’s real-time paint, effects and animation package. Halo FX includes 90 different effects such as backgrounds, borders, text effects, picture-inpicture, mirror images and even something called EarthQuakeFX. The product, divided into four volumes, costs $349.

GRAPHICS XTRA, XTRA URL www.graphicxtras.com/products/ frames.htm GraphicXtras.com has released an update of its frames collection for Mac OS X, Mac and PC platforms that includes 2500 frames and edges, plus some flash-looking star, circular and contoured effects. The frames are for use in frame/border plug-ins as well as applications such as Photoshop and are available for £14.

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ONLINE RESOURCE

BBC opens up image archive You’ll have to pay for it, but the Beeb promises a “living cultural treasure”

The BBC has opened up access to hundreds of thousands of hours of digital archive footage from its own vaults, as well as those of US broadcast giant CBS, through a Web-based service called Motion Gallery. The new initiative, operated under the BBC’s commercial Worldwide arm, will feature a core collection of 10,000 moving images and will enable media and design companies to quickly select and license stock shots and footage from a collection pompously labelled a “living cultural treasure”. Although this may be debatable, Motion Gallery does promise archive material from a huge array of sources, including such favourites as Top of the Pops, Walking with Dinosaurs and the Blue Planet. INFO: www.bbcmotiongallery.com

LEARNING CURVE Corps Business London

This authorised Adobe, Quark, Apple, Extensis and Maxon teaching facility caters for groups of no more than six – and offers excellent post-course support. 3ds max: Fundamentals 26-27 August, £550 Flash: Advanced application development 16-19 August, £850 URL: www.corps.co.uk Parity Leeds

Operating out of 30 offices across the UK, Europe and the US, Parity offers a wide range of creative design courses covering graphic and Web design alongside desktop publishing.

Dreamweaver MX 2004: Dynamic Application Development 31 Aug-2 Sept, £823 Dreamweaver MX 2004: Website Development 23-26 August, £823 URL: www.parity.net Escape Studios London

Offering day, evening and weekend courses, Escape provides a range of training sessions from its central London office. Escape Learning Day: Introduction to Maya Last Saturday of every month, £50 redeemable against the cost of any future courses. URL: www.escape studios.co.uk

QA London and Dublin

QA offers a broad and comprehensive range of courses covering a number of major technology areas. Web Publishing using Dreamweaver 4, 16-18 August, London, £823 Building an Effective Website 16-20 August, Dublin, £1,939 URL: www.qa.com Silicon Beach Brighton

A specialist in Internet and design-focused courses and hands-on workshops. Dreamweaver 19-20 August, £395 Photoshop 26-27 August, £395 URL: www.siliconbeach.co.uk

FLASHFORWARD Worldwide Flash animation award-winners announced in New York Winners of this year’s International Flash Film Festival, an annual event designed to showcase and celebrate the work of Web animation artists using Macromedia Flash, have been announced at the climax of

the 2004 Flashforward festival in New York. The winners in all 16 categories were selected from an impressive array of international entries, and included UK outfit Akqa for its work with clothing brand

Dockers. German-based KLAB won the People’s Choice award for its hugely popular Grafitti-based Website, Bomb The World. Further details are available on the official site. INFO: www.flash conference.com

NEWS

AD DESIGN

Nissan goes 3D The Japanese car manufacturer hits the road with a new ad campaign Nissan’s latest pinball press ad for the Terrano off-road vehicle features some dramatic 3D design. The work, carried out by advertising agency Platinum Studio, makes use of LightWave, Vue 4 Professional and Photoshop. The Himalayas-style mountains, deserts, forests and volcanoes took an incredible amount of work to create – constructed, as they were, from 15 terrains. Designers moulded each one separately and then rendered it to a high quality of 3000x4000 pixels. INFO: www.e-onsoftware.com/Community/ Spotlight.php?Page=1

MACROMEDIA

Web publishing pack Macromedia targets small businesses with its self-contained Web publishing system Macromedia has just launched a Web content management solution aimed at helping small businesses build, manage and publish Websites. The Macromedia Web Publishing System comprises Macromedia Studio MX 2004, updated versions of Contribute 3 (which enables non-technical users to update Web pages) and

INFO: www.macromedia.com

Problems with OpenType and Unicode? Not any more... Font software management specialists DTP Types has stepped in to sort out problems for Mac OS X users fed up with Quark’s lack of support for OpenType and Unicode. The problem occurs because Type1 fonts in Mac OS X rely on the new Apple Quartz system to define a code page for the correct encoding. This, unfortunately, is not performing as expected. So DTP has developed a hybrid font format, called hfont, that performs like a Type1 font for any encoding in QuarkXPress used on Mac OS X. The company claims the system will also work in InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop.

Trojan war Malware exploits graphic file loopholes Until recently, Virus, Trojan and DDoS attacks have seemed somewhat remote from the graphics and computer arts space. But a nasty piece of malware has bought the message home – embedding itself specifically in graphics files. Security group NetSec spotted the latest outbreak after scanning suspicious GIF and JPEG files on a

WORKSTATION SUCH A CAD URL www.hp.com HP has released a new range of workstations aimed at the CAD and digital content creation markets. The IT giant’s dualprocessors xw4200, xw6200 and xw8200 use the Intel E7525 chipset and Xeon processors. Available now, they cost £478, £1259 and £1620, respectively.

The xw8200 priced £1620

GRAPHICS CARD HIGH-END MEMORY URL www.pny.co.uk Memory specialist PNY has produced three graphics cards based on NVIDIA’s Quadro chips, which the company claims offer faster processing power for 2D and 3D apps. The high-end FX 3400 graphics model enables users to plug two FX340 graphics boards into multi-GPU PCI Express-compatible motherboards. Pricing info to come.

PRINTER HIGH-SPEED PRINTING URL www.lexmark.co.uk Lexmark has released a range of desktop laser printers offering small footprints, speeds of up to 22 pages per minute and an all-important time-to-first-page of just 8.5 seconds. The new machines range in price from £109 for the low-end E232 to £339 for the E332tn, which features an impressive 550-sheet drawer.

Flashpaper 2 (for converting documents to Flash and PDF formats), plus a tool that enables Web managers to track and administer pages accessed and updated by multiple users. Available for both Mac and PC, it’s priced on a per-seat licence basis, starting from £1,689 for a ten-seat starter pack.

Fontastic

HARDWARE

number of popular on-line shopping sites. The malicious JavaScript, dubbed “JS.Scoob.Trojan” by NetSec, downloads onto a user’s PC and is capable of causing all sorts of mayhem. “Websites that allow people to upload graphics files need to be made secure with software,” says NetSec consultant Tom Parker. INFO: www.netsec.net

SCANNER SNAP HAPPY URLwww.epson.co.uk Targeted squarely at the home user, Epson’s Perfection 2480 Photo scanner offers 2400x4800 dpi high-resolution, improved photo restoration and fast film scanning. The 2480 Photo includes dust removal features for repairing old and damaged snaps and has a film adapter for digitising and archiving both positive and negative 35mm film. Cost? A respectable £79.

iMAC OUT OF ORDER? URL www.apple.com/uk/imac/ Apple has said it will update its iMac line in September as the company’s UK and US Websites tell those wanting to buy its flagship product that orders for the current model will no longer be taken. The sites give no further details other than a promise of a “transition to an all-new iMac line”. Sounds intriguing. We’ll keep you posted.

INFO: www.dtptypes.com September 2004

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NEWS

Mando Group Student Website Design Awards 2004 Prominent figures from the design industry and British education have joined Mando Group to celebrate with the winners of the 2004 Mando Student Website Design Awards This year’s Awards saw hundreds of design and media students battle it out to become the student Website designer of the year. Students from over 200 colleges and universities from across the UK were invited to submit Websites created during the course of their studies. From the hundreds of entries, a talented judging panel from leading design agencies and the media narrowed down the field to ten impressive finalists and three overall winners. Winners were announced at an Awards party held at FACT (the Foundation for Arts & Creative Technology) in Liverpool on 30 June, where emerging new design talent mixed with guests and representatives from the design industry, universities, national press, competition sponsors and the business community at large.

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DESIGNER TALK

Luke Whittaker We talk to this year’s winner, a student at Bournemouth University and creator of the brilliant “A Break in the Road” Computer Arts: You’ve just won this year’s Mando Group Student Website Design Awards. What does this accolade mean to you – and will your prize, a trip for two to New York, courtesy of STA Travel, be the inspiration for further work? Luke Whittaker: I’m delighted with the Award. It’s an honour to be recognised in this way and I’m pleased my work has struck a chord. The trip to New York is a fantastic bonus, and in terms of my creative work I’m really looking forward to it. A Break in the Road evolved through living in the city over here, and it’s exciting to think I’ll soon be able to experience and study another urban landscape. CA: The first thing that struck us about the Website was the superb rotoscoped intro (drawn around real video clips). It was well acted and well scripted. How did you go about creating this effect? LW: Initially there was a lot of consideration put into the script and in getting hold of the right actors (respect to Wale Ojo and James McCartney for their great performances). The dialogue had to be sharp and the acting good to ensure it was as tight as possible before I moved onto animation. The original footage was filmed in a TV studio on DV and then edited using Premiere. Cutting it

down to 12 frames per second and then exporting images allowed me to take them into Flash, where I used a graphics tablet to draw each frame. The backgrounds were hand drawn and coloured using an original woodblock print. CA: The main piece, in which you navigate around the city to find sounds to record, is a neat idea, what was your inspiration? LW: Seeing building work on site, kids kicking cans, anything – the city has its own rhythms, which I find inspiring. The concept also stemmed from developments in my own music making. The method you use in the game – using a mini disc to record sounds from the streets – is pretty much the same low-tech method I use, and I think it’s one of the reasons people find the project accessible. It follows your creative train of thought rather than sitting you in front of a bunch of beats and expecting you to make something without a creative stimulus. CA: The sound sequencer is a great idea and really effective. How did you ensure the sounds would fit together? LW: Sounds recorded on Mini disc were taken into SoundEdit on the Mac and then beat matched or chopped up to compliment a rhythm. Vocals (from friends who can sing

NEWS

TO FIND OUT MORE GO TO: www.mando group.com /competition

better than me!) were recorded to match other sounds – the retro-style computer game music in the arcades was composed using Cubase. It was important to keep a certain beat and key constant, which means you could feasibly use any sound with another and it should match. This allows the player to keep any creative thread alive without needing too much technical knowledge.

“I’m inspired by anything – building work on site, kids kicking cans – the city has its own rhythms” CA: What are your plans for the future? Are you working on anything right now that you can tell us about? LW: I’ve had some interest from Rockstar games, some international advertising agencies, and I’m doing a talk on game design in Nottingham. There’s also a very exciting Flash project in the pipeline, which will allow you to mix animations, film clips and music into your own VJ set.

And in second and third place...

SECOND PRIZE: Neil Skeldon from Sunderland University won a portable home MP3 music system courtesy of Creative.

THIRD PRIZE: Nick Mason of Nottingham University won £200 of clothing courtesy of muchloved designer, Felix Blow.

INFO www.skellaz.co.uk/car/caro3.html

INFO www.thinkwhatyoulike.com

The judges felt this Website, inspired by the book 253 by Geoff Ryman, showed great style and content to form a compelling experience – drawing the viewer in and maintaining interest.

According to the judges, this Website is a complete package, where the design complements and enhances the communication of its message.

People’s Choice Award The People’s Choice Award was presented to the most popular Website from the shortlist of ten, as voted by the public. This reflected public opinion, and not necessarily the opinions of the judging panel. The winning entry was the brainchild of Saman Rahmanian and Roger Whitham from Brunel University. “The site concept came about after many dozens of sketches. The department wanted an “outside the box”, state-of-the-art Website to show off the skills of the multimedia students,” says Rahmanian. “The brief stated that the Website must be user-friendly and easy to maintain. The site features a unique yet intuitive navigation system and is based entirely on an XML-driven content management system so that the staff can update the content easily. Both the department and the University students have embraced the site – we hope you like it, too.” INFO http://ece.brunel.ac.uk/cms/index.php

The best of the rest

TAKE A LOOK AT THE OTHER FINALISTS Ashika Chauhan – www.ashickachauhan.co.uk

David Nickson – www.nicksonstudios.com

David Calvert & Steven Forbes – www.defacegraphicarts.com INFO www.lukewhittaker.co.uk/ breakintheroad/

David Gospel – www.camerasinteractive.com

Ka Key NG – www.moodbuilder.com Shay McCloskey – www.inkypixel.com

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ILLUSTRATION: twelve:ten

NEWS ANALYSIS

IN DEPTH

Quark draws the battle lines QuarkXPress, once the undisputed lord of the DTP realm, is rousing its troops and readying itself to fight back against the ever-growing popularity of InDesign. But does it have the resources to survive? WORDS BY DOM HALL Until recently, Quark seemed quite happy to maintain a low profile while rival Adobe won plaudits and acclaim for the Creative Suite and its ultra-flexible layout software package InDesign. But now the notoriously taciturn company is fighting back. As it gears up for the launch of XPress 7, a highly significant release in terms of industry buying trends (and a make-or-break iteration for Quark itself), the company is transforming the way it looks and operates, from the grass roots up. SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE Although Quark’s UK Marketing Manager Gavin Drake was tight-lipped about specifics, he did claim that XPress 7 would be a “significant upgrade” and that any twitchy users wondering whether to jump ship would be persuaded to keep the faith by a host of new features. Hinting at areas to be addressed, he admitted that Quark had recently joined cross-industry groups dealing with PDF/X and JDF standards, as well as the interoperability-focused Print On Demand initiative. “The market is in such a state of flux at the moment and it’s too early to say what the 20

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conclusion of the current Adobe versus Quark battle will be. There won’t be a clear winner, but the market will segment. The most cost effective thing to do will be to wait for 18 months until things have become clearer. With version 7, Quark will change significantly,” he insisted. While the new iteration is unlikely to see the light of day until next spring, Quark is planning to release a stop-gap of XPress 6.2 in late summer/early autumn. Bug fixes are promised – although details are sketchy – as well as new feature Xtensions. For instance, Quark is already providing access to free downloads of QuarkXClusive 1.0, a variable data publishing tool for QuarkPress 6 that enables page output on HP Indigo digital presses. Later, it will also support PPML for output on any digital printer supporting the standard. Another notable feature Xtension on the horizon is Quark Vista, an image-manipulation module that enables you to tweak colour balance, levels, brightness and contrast, as well as

apply common filters, and scale, crop, angle and skew images within Quark.

BELOW: Quark XPress 6 failed to excite many, prompting a mass defection to InDesign and the Creative Suite. Quark is pinning all its hopes on XPress 7 winning old users back.

A GOOD KICKING Drake readily admits that Quark has received a “good kicking” from Adobe regarding InDesign and XPress, but that the experience has forced the company to get its house in order before the big push for XPress 7. Its release may be some way off, especially considering the company’s strong belief in holding back a product until it is 100 per cent ready, but Drake reckons Quark has a few tricks up its sleeve that will appease many disgruntled customers. “Traditionally, Quark has focused on the technology rather than on the customer. We’ve realised customers expect more than just technology; they expect good service and support and lots of other things too,” he says. This new customer-centric attitude has prompted Quark to increase global staff by 60 per cent and its customer service staff by 40 per cent. To improve visibility, Quark has also opened new offices in London, Hamburg and Paris.

NEWS ANALYSIS

Adds Drake: “We’ve changed internally... The challenge now is to make sure we communicate that externally.” One key change recently unveiled by Quark has been the significant alterations to the way it sells to schools, colleges and students, and a relaxation of its licensing agreements. Within the educational market, the company now gives students and schools a helping hand by slashing the cost of its software to £130 for the full product. Deals are even better for ten or more users. In addition, the company has overhauled its single-user policy, so customers can now install and activate their software on a second

“IN THE PAST, QUARK PUT THE FOCUS ON THE TECHNOLOGY RATHER THAN THE CUSTOMER” computer or laptop at home without being charged for the privilege. Quark has also re-opened the once popular online forums on its Website to provide users with a much-needed space to swap tips and trade information – facilities users missed massively when Quark closed them down around four years ago. TAKE THE INITIATIVE This current slew of initiatives is designed to reposition Quark among its industry peers and underline the fact that it is still a strong player in the professional publishing software

market. Drake acknowledges that much of the momentum within Quark has been driven by the enormous challenge posed by Adobe’s Creative Suite. “InDesign has been good for us because previously we’d had to develop in a vacuum and competition is a good thing,” he said. But John Cunningham, Business Development Director at Adobe, thinks that Quark’s moves are a case of too little, too late. He insists that, among top publishing houses and design agencies, the migration to InDesign is gathering pace. “People are starting to see our Creative Suite as the best entry point, and whatever Quark comes up with is closing the stable door after the horse has bolted,” he said. One user we spoke to at a regional publishing house believed from his own experience that Quark’s moves to turn around its customer service operation and iron out other problems were crucial if the company was to survive in a rapidly changing marketplace. “It needs to pull things back or Adobe is going to continue to jump all over it,” he said. But while Cunningham proudly cites an impressive number of top ten UK publishers who have defected from Quark as proof that the battle between the two companies is still raging, plenty of publishers and agencies have yet to make the transition. At least now it’s clear that Quark has acknowledged the threat posed by rival Adobe and is working on improving its customer service ahead of any launch. One thing is sure, Quark is not beaten yet.

ABOVE: Quark plans to give away Quark Vista free with QuarkXPress 6.2. Quark Vista is an image manipulation tool that enables you to adjust colour balance, brightness, contrast.

INFO: www.adobe.com, www.quark.com

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FONT SHOWCASE

INFO Web: www.guerillafonts.com Price: $50 Other excellent Guerilla fonts include Berserk, Destroy, Polyester, Replicant, Luscious, Structure, Special-k, Inhumane and McGurr Script.

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PHUNK STUDIO

Galactica love Spread the word with this luminous display-type font created by Singapore design house :phunk studio Alvin Tan, Melvin Chee, Jackson Tan and William Chan came together in 1994 to form :phunk (studio) and Guerilla fonts. As a multi-disciplinary collective, :phunk constantly explores new ideas and disciplines. High-profile clients

Ë

include MTV Asia, The Discovery Channel and Diesel and :phunk’s work has already earned rave coverage from respected publications Tokion, XLR8R, Lodown, Emigre, I-D and idN. The studio’s remit is simple: to employ

aesthetic intelligence to communicate a visual idea or emotion. This attitude pervades all of :phunk’s work, from the :Transmission Utopia series to the fashion graphics commissioned by Japanese streetwear label 2K.

ICON FEATURE

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FEATURE

100 TODAY...

We might be 100 issues old, but we're still going strong. In the last nine years we've seen huge changes not only to the magazine, but also to the creative industries we cover. So what follows is a look back, and forward, to where we were, where we are and where we're heading

“We’re a magazine that reports on, encourages, nurtures and facilitates creativity on the PC,” wrote Computer Arts’ first editor, Dan Slingsby, in the editorial column of our first issue back in December 1995. By and large, the biggest developments back then were the CD-ROM and desktop publishing (DTP).

Quark was readying version 4, Apple was on the wane and the Web was so new that it had no design principles whatsoever. If you could code HTML, you were a Web designer. Simple. In terms of 3D, film and broadcast special effects, in order to do any serious animation you needed a nice system from Silicon Graphics. But

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ICON FEATURE

Designer Neville Brody gives a run-down of the state of digital design in Computer Arts issue 2.

people were catching the Windows NT bug; it would soon be possible to have your very own version of 3Dstudio for DOS on Microsoft’s enterprise platform. Then all that changed. Not long before our launch issue, CD-ROM giant MacroMind became Macromedia. The company discontinued or dumped many of its CD-ROM products, developed Shockwave as a means to develop Web content from top-selling Director and then purchased tiny animation outfit FutureWave for a product called FutureSplash Animator. Print was still going strong, despite predictions of its demise, at the beginning of the nineties. QuarkXPress 3 was king of the hill, despite PageMaker’s historic place in the history of DTP. Once version 3 of Photoshop appeared for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1, the sky was the limit. Experts could produce well-designed magazines and posters at a fraction of the cost of previous methods, and once version 4 appeared at the end of 1996, layers made digital creativity a snap. For the rest of us, it was the era of the drop shadow and dreadful font mixing. A brief history As you said hello to a New Labour government and farewell to the Princess of Wales, we marvelled at how MeCompany did what it did, reportedly without the use of computers, while Deepend showed just how great Web design could be. We were forced to get to grips with Netscape Communicator’s palette of dynamic HTML tags, Dreamweaver arrived and we marvelled as Rushes’ Flame operators took Steve McQueen out of his Bullit Mustang and placed him in a Ford Puma. FutureSplash Animator became Flash and

100 EVENTS THAT CHANGED OUR INDUSTRY

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1995 1 January Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex reached the top of the singles chart 2 November The first issue of Computer Arts (December 1995) goes on sale, featuring exposes of Toy Story, image theft and “CD-ROM cutters” 1996 3 Photoshop 4 is launched, hello to adjustment layers 4 April France Telecom introduces the ISP Wanadoo 5 May Trainspotting is released

moved through versions 2 and 3, and Emmanuel Petit received the ball from Patrick Viera, sealing a French victory at the 1998 World Cup. The Remedi project Website proved that Macromedia’s new cash cow was not missing “in the pan” from its registered trademark and we revelled in Poser 3, Infini-D 4.5 and Strato Studio Pro 2.5. And then we heard that Adobe was working on a Quark-killer codenamed K2. By 1999, we were heading down the road to riches. Tech was gold dust. Then folk like Craig Kanarick and Jeff Dachis, Kyle Shannon and Chan Suh arrived in the UK to demonstrate how best to create a

“Macromedia proved that its new cash cow was not missing ‘in the pan’ from its registered trademark” global design business. It was an age of Scients and Viants, Proxicoms and marchFIRSTs. Silicon geography was in: California’s Silicon Valley; New York’s Silicon Alley; Brighton’s Silicon Beach; and Cambridge’s Silicon Fen. There were start-ups, IPOs and money-makers wherever you looked. Macromedia updated Dreamweaver and Adobe updated Photoshop to version 5.5, incorporating ImageReady 2.0. By that summer, we witnessed Flash 4 and the first Computer Arts Live event. And after much ado, Boo. com launched and Softimage showed us Sumatra at Siggraph. Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda: the Ocarina of Time went under the spotlight at the second BAFTA

6 June England beats Holland 4-1 at Wembley 7 June Issue 2 (July/August 1996) of Computer Arts goes on sale. Neville Brody says: “What scares me is the 4GB CD-ROMs on the way. The last thing we need is more storage space, more air and more room to be filled. So much electronic garbage.” 8 August Charles and Diana divorce 9 September Tupac Shakur is killed 10 October In Computer Arts issue 4 we say: “QuickTime 2.5 will play a major role in the development of the

Interactive Awards and Monocrafts, Sodaplay and Praystation set the Web alight with possibility. Doubt: 2000-2001 We steeled ourselves for the Millennium Bug and the Thames wall of fire at the end of 1999, but both failed to impress. The new economy, however, showed its muscle in January 2000. AOL bought Time Warner and Nasdaq soared. Web designers commanded serious fees while broadcast and film post-production hit hard times. Hardware became cheaper and more powerful as Hollywood knocked less frequently at W1’s door. Silicon Graphics was in trouble, as was Intergraph, Avid and Quantel. But Media 100 and Apple were suddenly riding high and After Effects gained popularity, too. Although the PDF came into its own, thanks to increased Internet activity, print seemed, well, pretty old school. The present was the Web, the future was WAP. Flashinspired “skip intros” appeared across the Web, pitting the Hoxton fins against USbased Danish expatriate Jakob Nielsen who pronounced 99 per cent of Flash to be bad. Deepend’s Viaduct and Design Museum sites impressed the folks at D&AD. But by that summer boo.com had gone bust and FastCompany parody FuckedCompany.com carried news of the daily demise of Web-based enterprises. As 2000 became 2001, the party ground to a halt. Offices closed and computers were going cheap. The Razorfishes, iXLs, Scients and Viants retreated from UK shores and MarchFirst went under. Omnicom began pulling strings at large agencies and print became the salvation of many a designer. 11 September 2001

Web as Netscape adopts it as the recommended video player for its popular Navigator Web browser.” 11 November: Bill Clinton beats challenger Bob Dole in the US Presidential election 1997 12 Photoshop 5 arrives and we welcome the History palette and the Magnetic Lasso tool 13 February Computer Arts interviews MeCompany in issue 6 (March/April); the interviewee remains anonymous

14 Jonathan Ive says: “We are going to be able to build desktop computers around flat screens sooner rather than later. I’d be disappointed if we didn’t see this kind of product coming out of Apple within the next couple of years.” 15 May New Labour comes out on top in the UK general election 16 July Gianni Versace is murdered at his front gate 17 August Microsoft buys $150 million of shares in Apple 18 August Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a Paris car crash

FEATURE

HARDWARE

Apple rises from the ashes Nobody doubts the mighty strength of the modern-day Apple Computer Inc, but back in 1995 the company’s future looked less than certain became a date no-one would ever forget and shortly after, London’s Deepend closed. Optimism was long gone. Consolidation and beyond: 2002 In 2002, consolidation and collaboration ruled. For agencies, big was out and small, flexible, collaborative networks were in. Continuing an emerging trend, software updates were not about cool palettes and cluttered interfaces – the likes of Adobe and Macromedia wanted to boost your workflow. After the tech fall, Macromedia’s Flash team went away and thought long and hard about where to go next. In 2002, we got an answer in Flash MX. This was quickly followed by Studio MX. Adobe poured resources into the increasingly attractive InDesign, as well as bolstering its everpopular PDF technology. These days, things are looking up. Broadband has given the Web a new lease of life and where corporations once regarded the Web with suspicion, all are now agreed that it has become part of everyday life. Similarly, things in the CGI and postproduction world have levelled out. Certainly the heady days of the late nineties are over, but the rejuvenated advertising industry, the multi-channel world and the increasing popularity of DVD mean that managed well, there’s more than enough work to go around. Digital design will never repeat the highs and successes of the nineties boom, but with careful management, the possibilities do, once again, seem limitless. 19 August Computer Arts issue 9 (September 1997). We go monthly. Computerarts.co.uk goes online. We say: “The platform preview of Internet Explorer 4.0 has ‘world domination’ written all over it.” 20 October Computer Arts issue 11 (November 1997). There are 1000 new features in 3D Studio Max R2 21 We asked: “Navigator 4.0; what does it offer designers?” and swiftly concluded that Communicator 4.0 was “a Web suite to be reckoned with”

In 1999, Apple’s G3 tower indicated that the company might survive after all. MeCompany, interviewed back in issue 6, revealed the secrets behind the company’s creativity.

22 November Computer Arts issue 12 (December 1997). We announced Dreamweaver, saying: “Macromedia’s entry into Web page layout is via a program with a suitably salubrious name...” 1998 23 January President Clinton swears he did not have sexual relations with “that woman, Monica Lewinsky” 24 February Computer Arts issue 16 (March 1998). Houdini gets NT port and we see stills for

In 1995, most people thought the Apple had as much chance of surviving as Greece winning the European Championships. The company was then headed-up by Gil Amelio, who allowed companies like Umax and Motorola to make computers that ran the Mac OS. While this enabled Apple to compete on price with many Windows systems, time was running out. Intergraph’s range of TDZ towers was poised to soak up the Mac DTP market with snappy, well-priced and powerful Windows NT systems. But Amelio’s masterplan was his undoing. He envisioned a new Mac OS codenamed Rhapsody that would run not only on the Mac, but on Intel-based machines, too. So Apple purchased a well-

Alias/Wavefront’s Maya promo short, Bingo the Clown 25 April Computer Arts issue 18 (May 1998). Onedotzero number two gets some promotion 26 News of Pentium 2 breaks 27 ImageReady and Fireworks launches are announced 28 May Apple announces the launch of the iMac 29 June Windows 98 is released 30 July France beats Brazil 3-0 in the World Cup final 31 August President Clinton admits

regarded operating system from technology firm NeXT. At its helm was Steve Jobs. Jobs joined Apple on a consultancy basis, but after another range of disastrous financial results, we reported in September 1997 that Amelio had gone. Pushed or jumped it’s hard to say, but he received a $7.5 million severance package and enough sour grapes to write a book. Jobs took over as interim CEO and junked the cloning programme shortly after. He then made a deal with Microsoft to bundle Internet Explorer with all new Macs. Microsoft would, in turn, develop Office for the Mac, and invest $150m. Under Steve Jobs, the first G3s appeared and Apple suddenly seemed like it might go the distance. At the end of 1997, Jobs announced the launch of the iMac. Much to our disgust it had no SCSI, no PCI expansion slots and no floppy disk drive. It also used a new plug-andplay technology called the USB.

Apple labelled the G4, “The fastest personal computer in history.”

that his statement in January wasn’t exactly true 32 September Computer Arts issue 23 (October 1998) includes a free version of Bryce 2 33 September ICANN is formed to administer top-level domains like .com, .org and .net 34 October Computer Arts issue 24 (November 1998). Our first Star Awards. Apple’s G3 wins the Best Processor award 35 Freehand 8 beats Illustrator 7 as illustration software

36 LightWave beats Max in the 3D modelling stakes 37 November AOL announces plans to buy Netscape 1999 38 March The Melissa worm infects computers worldwide 39 April The Columbine High School massacre leaves 15 students dead 40 May Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is released at cinemas 41 June Thabo Mbeki becomes president of South Africa

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SOFTWARE

GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

“The iMac captured the world’s imagination. Apple was cool again.”

100 EVENTS (cont’d)

The new iMac captured the world’s imagination. Apple was cool again. For the G3, it was out with beige and in with blue, and we loved it. “In the flesh, Apple’s new super-fast G3s look sensational,” we said in April 1999. “They make you feel proud to be a Mac fan again.” So when at the end of 1999 Apple launched the G4, we knew the company had a chance. “With typical Steve jobs hyperbole, Apple has finally announced its new G4 Macintosh, modestly describing it as ‘the fastest personal computer in history’,” we reported in issue 37. Next, Jobs introduced Final Cut, consumerside applications iTunes, iPhoto and iMovie, and even DVD creation software iDVD and DVD Studio Pro for professionals. What happened to Rhapsody is anyone’s guess, but Jobs had OS plans of his own. In 1998, we read about OS X and by the turn of the century it was here. OS X would enable the Mac to have multi-threading, be built on Unix and be rock steady. It had a slow start, and wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less than 128MB RAM, but it captured our imagination. Revisions were named after big cats – Jaguar, Panther and now Tiger. And of course, what else can we say about the iPod? Really, we should have seen it coming. “As technology becomes increasingly commodity-like, design is more important,” Apple’s now Director of Design Jonathan Ive told us in issue 6. “Apple moves away from general purpose solutions towards solutions for clearly identified markets.” 42 July Computer Arts issue 34 (August). We announce Computer Arts Live in conjunction with Macromedia, Alias|Wavefront, Computers Unlimited and others 43 August A total eclipse is visible from Britain 44 September Computer Arts issue 37 (October 1999). We finally get a load of Softimage’s long-awaited Sumatra at Siggraph. We say: “[It’s not] as impressive as the long waiting time would suggest.” 45 September Napster launches

Adobe Livemotion Did Eric Wittman and Kevin Lynch cower at Macromedia HQ when Adobe’s Flash killer rolled off the production line? Did they heck! The Iomega Clik! It was 40MB storage for today’s creative back in 1998, but we already had CD burners and Zip drives. Can you say “non-starter”? Claris Home Page When it came to a shootout between this happy camper and Adobe PageMill, the latter came out tops every time. Speaking of which... Discreet Plasma Discreet prepared for the 3D revolution online. But it never came, and Discreet is tired of waiting. BeOS It was to be an operating system designed from the ground up, an alternative OS for the Mac. It never was, and Palm bought – and scrapped – it in 2001.

46 November Boo.com launches after a five-month delay 47 December RIAA sues Napster 48 December Computer Arts issue 37 (November 1999). Macromedia begins bundling Dreamweaver 3 and Fireworks 3. We say: “Competition is fierce and in particular from Adobe GoLive. So it’s little surprise to see the software reach its third iteration in just over two years.” 49 The Millennium Bug: We all got a little scared, but it was all to come to nought

Adobe vs Quark Adobe’s desktop publishing dominance began with a simple slip of the tongue that accidentally revealed that InDesign was on its way

By 1995, Adobe knew a thing or two about desktop publishing. The company had invented PostScript, introduced the mighty PDF and Photoshop was well and truly entrenched as the premier image manipulation application. But if you were looking for a print design job in 1995 or 1996, you’d have needed to know QuarkXPress inside and out. When we launched, the program was at version 3 and while PageMaker 6 was clawing back lost share, the impending XPress version 4 promised to preserve Quark’s position. Though Quark 4 speculation had been rife in our first issue, it wasn’t until issue 9 that we got our hands on a copy. But in December 1998 we reported that Apple’s Steve Jobs had let something slip. He revealed at Seybold that Adobe was working on a Quark killer, codenamed K2.

“Quark tried to buy Adobe. Bruce Chizen told them, in corporate terms, to swivel” Quark responded by trying to buy Adobe, but Adobe’s boss Bruce Chizen told them, in corporate terms, to swivel. This was big. “If what we suspect is true, K2 looks like something to shout about,” we concluded.

2000 50 Photoshop 6 delivers vectors 51 January AOL buys TimeWarner for $162 billion 52 April Microsoft found guilty of violating antitrust laws 53 May Tate Modern opens 54 May Boo.com goes bust 55 June Issue 46 of Computer Arts (July 2000) goes on sale. Macromedia releases Dreamweaver UltraDev. 56 Sumatra arrives as Softimage XSI. 57 Ridley Scott’s Gladiator is the talk of the CGI town. We say: “It’s a classy

Quark 4 held the march of PageMaker for a while, but its flaws made it easier for designers to accept the upcoming InDesign.

Adobe, we figured, was plotting. “The industry is moving away from ‘killer apps’ towards ‘killer strategies’,” we stressed in the news section of issue 30 (April 99). Quark made it easy for Adobe. Version 4 had technical faults. Version 5 was urgent. In issue 33, QuarkXPress Product Manager Don Lohse admitted: “We had over 1000 beta testers and we don’t know how things slipped through.” But in the same issue, we saw InDesign in its preview version. Quark had a stay of execution. “Integration with Photoshop and Illustrator is good in InDesign,” we began. “But. But, but, but,” we continued,

DeMille for the new millennium, which pitches a grizzled Russell Crowe into an astonishing real CGI milieu of old Rome..." 58 July Air France Concorde crashes, killing 109 59 September Issue 49 of Computer Arts (October 2000) goes on sale. Apple unveils a new line of desktop units at MacWorld Expo, including multiple coloured iMacs. We add: “While destined somewhat for the front desk of advertising agencies and management consultants the

world over, the G4 cube is far more than just another design statement.” 60 October Issue 50 of Computer Arts (November 2000) goes on sale. Adobe toughens up on Macromedia and announces lawsuit over tabbed palettes. CEO Bruce Chizen says: “We will not be the R&D department of our competitors.” 61 November Netscape 6 launches 2001 62 January George W. Bush becomes the President of the USA

THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW We previewed InDesign back in 1999 and while we thought it had shortcomings, it then evolved into the Quark-killer Adobe had intended.

“there’s just too much PageMaker in the program for XPress users to have an easy time... Adobe appears to have completely missed the point.”

100 EVENTS (cont’d)

Survival of the fittest In February this year (Issue 93) we summed up: “The first version of InDesign was a bit of a false start, being slower than treacle through a pair of tights, but with version 2 Adobe nailed the performance problem and the application became a real alternative for designers tired of QuarkXPress.” While Adobe was on its way to finding its Creative Suite feet, Quark was dragging its heels with a version 5 of XPress that didn’t support OS X. By July 2000, we still hadn’t seen a screenshot of the interface, even though the software was due for release in six months. No OS X support, no manual and no Website management tools. All that and an RRP of over £1000. Oh dear. “Of the two, InDesign feels the more complete package and a great deal more advanced,” we stated before concluding that InDesign 2 offered far greater value for money. “The difference is too big to overlook,” we thought. By July 2003, Quark 6’s pre-release looked a little more promising, “If QuarkXPress 5.0 was a bit of a disappointment, on the basis of this beta we feel that version 6.0 could turn out to be Quark’s triumph.” It wasn’t and we then scheduled a Computer Arts’ changeover from QuarkXPress to InDesign. Now Quark is gearing up for XPress 7. 63 March Kazaa launched 64 April Pentium 4 introduced 65 August So Solid Crew hits number one with 21 Seconds 66 September New York has a day of tragedy and infamy on the 11th 67 October Windows XP released 68 October Issue 63 of Computer Arts (November 2001) goes on sale. InDesign 2.0 arrives. We say: “Previous versions have been criticised for a lick of usability, despite its arguably superior design tools when compared to XPress,

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Value for money is something you'll have craved over the past eight years. But how do today's prices shape up? We make some comparisons... December 1996 Nikon E2N digital camera, 1.3 megapixels, no onboard memory, capacity for 15MB of removable memory. Price: £7310 July 2003: Pentax Optios digital camera, 3.2 megapixel, 11MB built-in, expandable with SD and MMC cards. Price: £350

Following a re-design and the addition of ActionScript, Flash became an essential tool for all Web designers – its latest iteration, Flash MX 2004, showcases even more new features.

October 1997 PowerMac 9600 featuring 350MHz Mach 5 604e processor, 64MB RAM and 4GB hard disk. Price: £3899 November 2002. G4 featuring Dual 1GHz processors, 256 MB RAM, 80GB hard drive. Price: £1999

When Computer Arts emerged at the end of 1995, Macromedia was the king of interactive media. However, it was all about the CD-ROM back then, and Director ruled. But Macromedia knew that the Web was going to be the key to future success. At the end of 1996, it purchased a company called FutureWave in order to get its hands on FutureSplash Animator. Some serious development followed. By issue 8 we reported: “Flash 2? It’s true...” It was a quick release, so much so that the boxes still referred to the product as FutureSplash Animator, but some Flash stickers sorted that. Times were changing. “Documents are now ‘Movies’, Pages are ‘Scenes’ and Interpolation is now ‘Tweening’,” we explained. Macromedia continued to work hard. Not only had Dreamweaver emerged by issue 12 (December 1997), but Macromedia was also busy integrating Flash with its existing product line. Along

October 2000 Director 8. Price: £939 March 2004 Director MX 2004. Price: £959 October 2000 Cinema 4D XL 6. Price: £1395 July 2004. Cinema 4D 8.5. Price: £499 October 2000 Lacie 12x4x32 CD-RW drive. Price: £375 July 2003 Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/+RW drive. Price: £212

but this latest effort will call on Photoshop and Illustrator users’ intuition to make the most of its powerful features.” 69 November Monsters Inc released 70 December Enron goes bankrupt 2002 71 Photoshop 7 has landed – complete with Healing tool 72 January After much debate, the Euro becomes legal tender 73 March Queen Mother dies 74 March Issue 69 of Computer Arts

SOFTWARE

The Flash revolution From a lowly start to the basis of Rich Internet Applications, Macromedia’s Flash has kept a strong hold over Web design during the past eight years

(April 2002). Flash MX is exposed while effects from Ali G In Da House and Ice Age are discussed 75 BT costs halved: “Following months of rumour, BT has confirmed that it is almost halving the cost of wholesale broadband. The result for BT customers will be a monthly fee of £29.99, significantly less than the current ADSL home and small business price of £39.99.” 76 May Issue 71 of Computer Arts (June 2002) goes on sale. Studio MX makes a big entrance.

came the Freehand Animation PowerPack, which allowed you to export Flash animations. “Flash is proving extremely popular and this enables the large base of Freehand users to take advantage of Macromedia technology,” we said. The company employed designer Neville Brody to provide a brand overhaul, and in May 1998 (issue 18), he discussed his work with us. By June, news of Flash 3 arrived. The company had submitted SWF to the W3C for approval. About a year later Flash 4 came along. “We want to establish Flash as standard,” Product Manager Eric Wittman told us. It seemed a successful strategy. The software picked up on the basic scripting introduced in version 3. Now, you could programme interactivity. By the end of the year, Flash was so prevalent as a tool for Web development that we debated in our Winter 1999 issue whether it would be useful to have a static as well as an animated version of your

77 Apple releases new PowerBooks and the eMac 78 Sony Pictures Imageworks visual effects designer John Dykstra says: “We studied Tobey’s posture, movements and how he gestured... and we translated all those highfrequency details into the action and mannerisms of our virtual SpiderMan character.” 79 June Mozilla 1.0 launched 80 October Issue 76 of Computer Arts (November 2002) goes on sale. Avid doesn’t attend IBC 2002

81 Mac ceases to boot from OS9 82 The world’s top ten creatives provide a low-down on the industry. Hillman Curtis says: “Those who succeed will be able to unplug a bit, shift gears and perception and clear out some room to fit in the adoption of new ideas. The adoption of broadband is really helping...” 83 November Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets hits cinemas 2003 84 March Invasion of Iraq begins

FEATURE

Website; after all, a 500K animation was a no go for someone surfing the Web at home. If Wired.com could be innovative without resorting to Flash, surely you could too. Adobe took notice. The company had never embraced the Web as wholeheartedly as Macromedia. Adobe knew that its bread was buttered with Photoshop as well as its digital video line products. However, in our May 2000 issue, we carried news that Adobe had introduced Livemotion, its own vector animation product. Adobe also began banging a gong for W3C’s XML-based vector animation standard, SVG. Unfazed, Macromedia had announced Flash 5 by September 2000 (issue 48). “Flash 5 represents a new standard in the increasing homogenisation of the UI across the Macromedia product line,” we said. But an economic downturn stopped all things Web-oriented in their tracks. How would Flash, an application reliant on the buoyancy of a depressed market, survive? Macromedia answered twice. First, it released the mysteriously monikered Flash MX at the beginning of 2002. It then integrated the product into a full suite of Web development Flash 4 picked up on the basic scripting introduced in version 3. Now you could easily program interactivity.

YOU KNOW YOU’VE BEEN A COMPUTER ARTS READER FOR FAR TOO LONG IF...

We concluded that v5 represented “a new standard in the increasing homogenisation of the UI”.

tools that included recently acquired backend tool ColdFusion. Together, they were Studio MX. “Flash is now the must-have multimedia authoring tool and the ace in this pack,” we summarised in Issue 71 (June 2002). Macromedia had bigger fish to fry. Flash wasn’t just going to be a standalone application that enabled you to create attention-grabbing animations. It was going to be the basis of Internet applications: highly

“A downturn stopped all things Web-oriented in their tracks. How would Flash survive?” functional sites that would enable you to construct server-driven sites using the SWF file format. Flash MX even included enhancements designed to meet accessibility guidelines for assistive technologies, one of the previous version’s major drawbacks given legislation in the US to protect the rights of the disabled online. The most recent update is Flash MX 2004. Combining the application with the rest of the MX 2004 suite, e-learning software Breeze and deployment of handheld devices, Flash looks set to be around for a long time to come.

85 March Issue 83 of Computer Arts (April 2003) goes on sale. Rumours of Photoshop 8 from the Photoshop World event abound 86 Quark sneaks us a preview of Quark XPress 6 87 We show you how to create Broadband Flash sites and remind you that: “We’re dealing with more bandwidth, not unlimited bandwidth.” 88 April iTunes Music Store launches in the United States 89 June Issue 85 of Computer Arts (July 2003) goes on sale

Copenhagen’s Bella Centre devotes a whole day to The Lord of the Rings at its 3D Festival 2003 90 Houdini 6 appears. Tomato reveals the secrets behind designing an interactive menu for London eatery Busaba Eathai. Designer Tom Roope says: “Allowing people to play with information on the street is an underused element of design.” 91 September Issue 88 of Computer Arts (October 2003) goes on sale. The impressive work of design student Yasushi Umibe wins Adobe’s

prestigious international Design Achievement Award 92 Flash MX 2004 previewed. We said: “This latest release of Flash certainly brings the program functionality closer to Director and only adds to the speculation that Macromedia will stop developing the app in the not-too-distant future.“ 93 November Photoshop CS reviewed; we lauded the new Layer Comps, Photomerge, Flash export and Filter Gallery 94 December Saddam captured

1 You’ve ever added fangs and tiger stripes to a picture of a woman because you really admired the cover of issue 2 (see right). 2 The name Kai Krause brings back vivid memories of bushy moustaches and an amazing noholds barred mullet. 3 You've collected the tins from all the Painter releases. 4 You remember the letter in issue 19 (June 1998) from Canadian reader, A Paul. It said: “It seems that every single issue has a female depicted on the cover... Making objects from our mothers and daughters is not what art is about in my humble opinion. I just find that so predictable.” 5 You still have a complete set of beautiful Computer Arts binders. 6 You have a considered view as to whether tape, gum or glue is the best way to adhere the CD to the cover. 7 You can recall former Computer Arts writers Mark Penfold’s and Rob Carney’s job titles. 8 You’re still sore that you didn’t win the Compusys Quazar NT Workstation offered in issue 29 (March 1999). After all, “The Compusys Quazar is a rather special machine, housing not one but two Pentium II Xeon processors – yes that’s worth saying again,” we enticed! 9 You have attended both Computer Arts Live! and Digital Arts World. 10 You can place the following editors in chronological order: Garrick Webster, Gillian Carson, Vicki Pearson, Rob Abbot, Dan Slingsby.

2004 95 January Lord Hutton delivers the results of his enquiry 96 March Madrid racked by bombing 97 June Issue 98 of Computer Arts (July 2004) goes on sale. Aardman’s BBC3 blobs win a Yellow Pencil at the D&AD awards 98 Honda’s Chain Reaction advert emerges from D&AD with an impressive four awards 99 123 Klan shows you how to create your own Japanese style Animé, while Rathergood’s Joel Veitch

reveals the secret of his success. He says: “You start in Photoshop, get some pictures, chop them about until you’re happy with the characters, disassemble them as PNGs, put them back together in Flash and away you go.” 100 Happy birthday! Computer Arts celebrates its 100th issue!

And here’s to the next 100! | April 2004

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HANDLING LIGHT RIGHT

Photoshop is perfect for photographic montage work. But what do you do when the elements you really want to use look wrong because they’re lit from different directions? Derek Bacon has the answer

Ë

฀

You฀probably฀don’t฀need฀to฀hear฀me฀ banging฀on฀about฀the฀power฀of฀ Photoshop,฀but฀I฀just฀can’t฀help฀myself.฀ Growing฀up฀in฀the฀Seventies,฀I฀fantasized฀ that฀the฀future฀would฀have฀something฀like฀ Photoshop฀in฀it.฀I฀didn’t฀quite฀know฀what฀ form฀it฀would฀take,฀but฀I฀knew฀it฀would฀ somehow฀provide฀the฀ability฀to฀draw฀and฀ paint฀in฀a฀photo-realistic฀way฀via฀computer.฀ Fast-forward฀a฀few฀decades฀and฀–฀bang!฀–฀ that฀fantasy฀is฀now฀staring฀me฀in฀the฀face. With฀Photoshop,฀not฀only฀do฀you฀have฀ the฀binary฀precision฀and฀editing฀power฀of฀a฀ PC฀or฀Mac,฀but฀also฀the฀ability฀to฀hide฀all฀ the฀myriad฀calculations฀it฀took฀to฀create฀ your฀scene.฀On฀top฀of฀this,฀you฀can฀paint฀ and฀draw฀as฀stylistically฀as฀you฀want.฀So฀ use฀Photoshop฀well฀and฀your฀ideas฀can฀ really฀take฀flight. With฀a฀digital฀camera฀(or฀scanner)฀and฀a฀ sneaky฀eye฀for฀detail,฀you฀can฀create฀ distinctive฀montages฀that฀take฀photography฀ into฀fresh฀and฀interesting฀new฀places. It’s฀not฀all฀the฀stuff฀of฀fantasy,฀though.฀ Suppose฀you’ve฀got฀a฀great฀idea฀for฀a฀ montage:฀you’ve฀been฀through฀your฀photo฀ library฀and฀you’ve฀taken฀some฀new฀shots฀฀

to฀supplement฀it,฀but฀there฀are฀still฀a฀few฀ elements฀which,฀although฀they฀work฀ perfectly฀in฀the฀overall฀narrative,฀you฀doubt฀ you’ll฀use฀because฀they฀just฀aren’t฀lit฀in฀ quite฀the฀way฀you฀want.฀What฀can฀you฀do? In฀this฀tutorial,฀you’ll฀take฀over฀a฀ montage฀halfway฀through.฀The฀background฀ design฀is฀in฀place฀and฀the฀main฀element฀–฀ Biker฀Nick฀–฀is฀lit฀more฀or฀less฀from฀top฀ left.฀He฀sets฀the฀scene฀for฀the฀light฀direction฀ overall.฀You’ll฀add฀extra฀elements฀to฀the฀ montage฀and฀look฀at฀ways฀to฀make฀them฀ look฀as฀if฀they฀belong฀to฀the฀rest฀of฀the฀ montage,฀with฀particular฀emphasis฀on฀light. Illustration by Derek Bacon www.derekbacon.com

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TIME LENGTH

4

3 hours

Add an Adjustment Layer for Brightness/ Contrast: setting the Brightness to -20 and the Contrast to +35. You will already see that the lighting is starting to look like it’s shining in from the top left, although it’s still looking a bit washed out at this stage.

INFO Derek Bacon is a freelance illustrator and designer who produces work for the advertising and corporate world, most recently The Independent. Contact him on 020 7720 5202 or via his Website at www.derekbacon.com

1

Open the file john.jpg from the cover CD, make it Greyscale (Image>Mode>Greyscale), then create a Path around the figure using the ever-handy Pen tool. Turn the Path into a Selection (by clicking the dotted circle at the bottom of the Paths palette). Now Copy and Paste the selection, and delete the background layer.

5

To add more convincing tones, zoom right in on the boy’s face (making sure you’re on the “curves” layer). With the Burn Tool set to a brush size of around 40 and Exposure at 20 per cent, you can begin gently darkening the areas of the face that should have a stronger tone.

SLOW DOWN Be subtle with your Photoshop work. One of the tricks with Photoshop (and there are many) is not to overdo it. This is particularly true when using features like the Dodge Tool and the Burn Tool, the heavy-handed use of which will be all too apparent. Keep your pressure settings low, take your time, and the results will pay off.

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2

First off, you need to bring the dark and light tones closer together. Duplicate the layer, name it “curves” and open the Curves box (Image>Adjust>Curves). Pull the top handle down one line and push the bottom handle up one line, as shown.

3

Next, draw an Elliptical Marquee over the front of the face and give this selection a feather of about 65 pixels by choosing Select>Feather. Get the Curves box up again and drag the centre of the line down until you have an Input of 60 per cent and an Output of 40 per cent.

6

Now do the same for the highlights, using the Dodge Tool instead of the Burn Tool. Subtlety is the key here. Don’t overdo the Dodging and Burning – vary your brush sizes and exposure amounts, and always keep in mind where the light should be falling.

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TUTORIAL

PHOTOSHOP CS

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To match the boy’s colour to the biker's, use Colour Balance (Image>Adjust> ColourBalance) to push the sliders to about +90 Red, +30 Green and -25 Yellow. Add extra Saturation via Hue/Saturation (Image>Adjust >Hue/Saturation). Also feel free to adjust specific areas like the lips by Pathing, Selecting and Colour Balancing that area. Experiment to see what works best…

7

Once you’re happy with the face and the way your “fake lighting” has improved the look of the image, merge the Adjustment Layer and the “curves” layer, Select All and Copy it.

BUILD YOUR OWN Essential for montage work is an image bank to plunder. Start photographing everything you see and file according to subject matter: Trees, Walls, Fences, Clouds, Skies, Animals, Buildings, etc. Make particular effort to capture the everyday things you wouldn't consider photogenic and you’ll soon have all the material you need to create realistic environments. Ideally shoot subjects face-on, and with neutral lighting to make adding perspective and lighting later on much easier.

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10

To create a sense of movement within the illustration, as well as a depth of field, give the boy a small motion blur of about five per cent. The angle of the blur should be more or less in line with his eyes. Then add a little Noise (Filter>Noise>AddNoise), choosing Gaussian and Monochromatic.

8

Now open the file Background.psd from the cover CD and paste the figure into the file, positioning it in the bottom right-hand corner, as if looking at the biker, as shown.

11

Now for the other two people. Open Andy.jpg and repeat steps one and two. With the light coming in sharply from the right, you’ll really need to take care when working on the tones.

THE ART OF NOISE

12

Repeat the combination of Dodging/Burning on specific areas until you are happy with the results. Don’t worry if it looks a bit artificial – adding more Brightness/Contrast will make it look punchier, and more in line with the rest of the illustration.

13

Once you’re done, paste the finished Andy into the main montage, behind the “Fence” layer and do the same to match the flesh tones as you did in Step 9. Now Path around the shirt, and, using Colour Balance, push the sliders towards purple. You could add more intensity to this colour by tweaking the Hue/Saturation controls.

When you are bringing together many elements from different photographic sources; enlarging some and shrinking others, it’s common to end up with some bits looking sharp and others less so. To create a smoother, more homogenous finish, add a little Noise (Filter>Noise> Add Noise) to each element as you go along. Used with subtlety, Noise generates the effect of film grain: giving the impression that the elements were shot on the same film, under the same conditions. (Used heavily, Noise generates other great effects, too). For a picture of this print size, Noise at just one or two per cent will suffice. It’s better to add it as you go along rather than to the finished whole, as there are probably some areas, like text, which you won’t want to add anything to.

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Now open the file Lloyd.jpg and repeat the process again: cut out the figure, flatten the overall contrast, manually add tones and highlights, and finally adjust the Brightness/Contrast until it looks good enough to paste into the main montage behind the retouched image of John.

15

As before, push colour into Lloyd's flesh and into his clothing wherever you can, using Colour Balance (Step 9). With the direction of lighting “fixed”, now is the right time to add any stylistic touches you might fancy: lurid clothing, transparent hair – the choice is yours!

16

You can help to reinforce the overall lighting direction by shooting a few extra well-lit elements. Open bag.jpg and bottle.jpg and carefully cut around them using the Pen tool. Make selections of these Paths, and then copy and paste them next to Lloyd in the main montage.

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20

Now employ a similar approach with both the figure of Lloyd and the bottle you positioned earlier. Remember that because these objects are placed closer to the wall, their shadows won’t be as stretched out or as blurred as the Biker’s.

CLONE ZONE In this montage, the areas of flat surface, such as the road and pavement, made heavy use of the Clone Stamp Tool. Rather than just going out and taking a photo of a road, which you then have to enlarge, stretch and distort to fit, it’s better to take a number of good hi-res close-ups, which you can then blend with the Clone Stamp Tool. You should use different brush sizes and 100 per cent Opacity.

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You can now place shadows that all fall in one direction. First, duplicate the “Biker”, layer (but don’t stay on this copy – go straight back to “Biker”). In the Curves box, pull down the top handle so that “Biker” becomes completely black.

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Next, add shadow to the wall on the right. On a new Layer, draw a selection over the left half of the wall and fill it with black. Turn the Layer Opacity to about 30, then with a brush size of about 65, gently erase the right-hand side of the fill.

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To make a shadow with “Biker”, use the Distort option under Transform and stretch it right across the wall, as shown. Give this a Motion Blur of about 125 pixels, reduce the layer opacity to 25 per cent, and with a large soft brush (about 300 at 20 per cent pressure), you can start to erase it, starting from the right.

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Finally, when you’re happy with the placing of all your elements, flatten the layers, convert the file to CMYK and save as a TIFF or an EPS ready for printing.

CUSTOM BRUSHES

Create an individual look by building your own custom brushes in Illustrator

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04

ER ED 20 FF D ST O N GU TE T AU EX 31S

S D EN

Summer

The team: (clockwise from top left) Ken Barber, Adam Cruz, Andy Cruz CA INTERVIEW and Rich Roat.

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CA INTERVIEW

From shaky beginnings to font superstars, House Industries is a fine example of a US design company that has successfully extended its brand. We speak to the brains behind that success and find out how their unique style of back-to basics typography is leading them straight towards the UK WORDS BY GRAEME AYMER PHOTGRAPHY BY JAMES WILSON

September 2004

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CA INTERVIEW

HOUSE INDUSTRIES LEFT: House Industries is renowned for its old-style American fonts, although some, like Chalet and House Gothic, follow a more European font-making tradition. Neutraface is based on the blueprint lettering favoured by American mid-century artist Richard Neutra. Not only can you use the font in type, but stainless-steel versions are also available to buy. There’s something of America’s Eisenhower post-war years to all House Industries’ work – perfectly embodied by its Vegas and Sign Painter fonts.

Designing fonts is no fool’s game… It’s a notoriously painstaking process that requires creativity, patience and bags of design flair. But for House Industries, one of America’s foremost font houses, the transition from design to font creation proved strangely painless. If fact, it seems that, far from following old-fashioned design rules, the company gets away with

Ë

“Right now, the fonts are the core money maker. They fuel us to make furniture, textiles – and this store”

COMPANY INFO Location: USA: House Industries 1145 Yorklyn Road, PO Box 166, Yorklyn, Delaware 19736-0166, USA UK: House 33, 33 Marshall St, London, W1 7ET URL: www.houseindustries.com www.house33.com

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doing what it wants, when it wants, and still manages to make money! “Andy [Cruz] and I started a design company in 1993,” explains House Industries co-founder and Principal, Rich Roat. “To cut a long story short, we weren’t getting as many clients as we needed to pay the bills. So Andy came in one day with this idea. We were going to start a font company.” Demand for that lettering took off immediately, so Roat and Cruz grabbed a copy of Fontographer, read the manual and thought, “That's how you do it!” laughs

Roat. “The first stuff we did was pretty much technically wrong, but it was for display; we weren’t setting a book in it.” Shop talk But, of course, people did start using House fonts to set books and, thankfully, the company went on to get it right. Very right. House Industries’ status in the font world is legendary. Its characteristically, though not exclusively, American Golden Era fonts grace CD artwork, packaging – and are even used in the broadcast world. However, House Industries’ work goes far beyond lettering. The company now designs fabrics and T-shirts, furniture, illustration, makes music, designs books, magazines and catalogues and various merchandising items. There’s even a move to retail in the pipeline. Their new shop in London’s West End is now open. “Right now, the fonts are the core money maker,” sums up co-founder and Art Director Andy Cruz. “They fuel us to make furniture. The fonts fuel us doing textiles. The fonts are fuelling us doing this store. So that’s pretty much the cornerstone.” It’s more than mere whimsy that inspires House Industries to broaden its horizons this way. Written language itself couldn’t exist without the fonts, but it’s perhaps the thing you’re supposed to notice the least. Diversity of work enables House Industries

CA INTERVIEW

to strengthen its brand and prove its mettle in different design fields. “It’s how we survive,” says Roat. “If we don’t do the catalogues, we don’t sell the fonts. They’re not going to sell themselves. We don’t have any big distributors, and we don’t want any. We do it ourselves. We live or

the rubber meets the road. We’re a blue-collar operation. We come here every morning, clock in, work our arses off and then go home. We don’t play that artist thing.” Cruz takes over: “I think the discipline and the craft is definitely what separates our shop from the rest. When people read that we

ABOVE: With drawing such an integral part of House Industries’ work, it's no wonder the team has been reproduced in an in-house illustration showing an alternative reality for the company’s promotional touring party.

“We come here every morning, clock in, work our arses off and then go home. We don’t play the artist thing…” die by our design work, and that’s kind of nice. It forces us to be good designers.” You’d be forgiven for thinking that with such a broad range of interests, the folk at House Industries might spend an awful lot of time searching for the next big idea, or a future creative epiphany, but they do nothing of the sort. In fact, you get the impression that the company’s premises are more of a workshop than a creative agency. “We don’t consciously look for inspiration – like, what will be the next thing to inspire us to do something wonderful,” says House Industries Designer Ken Barber. “That’s where people lose sight of it,” continues Roat. “Everybody thinks, ‘I had this great idea’, but that’s one tenth of one per cent of the battle. It’s execution. We actually have the gumption to sit down and have an idea, and spend the next six or nine months executing it. That’s the hard part; that’s where

start off by hand, or that we have two staff illustrators and that’s what they do – because we think that’s something integral to tell the story of the type and where it’s coming from – they’re kind of surprised that we go to that extreme.” House style Craft is a theme that constantly emerges while in conversation with the boys at House Industries. While many of the company’s designs seem retro or nostalgic at times, it’s no fashion statement. The company genuinely admires the work of sign-makers and typesetters from that period of American history. In actuality, it’s about the way the signs and letters were crafted. “The pinnacle of that craft was probably mid-century in America; a lot of developments happened then,” explains Ken Barber, the company’s Typography

ABOVE: Richard Neutra also designed furniture for his buildings, including the boomerang chair. Inspired by these designs, House Industries has designed its own version of the chair, complete with custom fabric, all endorsed by Neutra’s son Dion. September 2004

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CA INTERVIEW

TECH TALK: WHILE HOUSE INDUSTRIES REMAIN TIGHTLIPPED ABOUT TECHNOLOGY, THERE’S ONE EXCEPTION

HOUSE INDUSTRIES

ABOVE: When it comes to the state of the Union, House Industries has its own take on the map of America. Drawing and illustration is a large part of the company’s day-to-day regime.

The promotional material for the amazing new House Industries book is as lavish as the book itself (see www.houseindustries.com). 44

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Director. “When we were growing up, even though we may not have known that we were being attracted to ‘graphic design’, probably the most memorable pieces were leftovers from those eras, where the newer stuff maybe didn’t make an impression.” Barber continues: “I don’t think it’s the style as such; it’s just the basic level of style and execution and craft and thought, and everything that went into it. We’re definitely working with themes that exemplify things like mid-century Las Vegas, for example, or the Googie architecture of southern California. But I think we’ve only chosen that because those were the things that had the most personality and best highlighted that craft of hand lettering.” “It goes back to that production thing,” adds Cruz. “You get the digital file, but whereas you give the colour house a slice of film, they give that to a separator that knows how to get that colour to work in CMYK. With most designers, they just get it, hit the CMYK conversion button in Photoshop and roll the dice.” Such an approach can lead to beautifully timeless design. In one lecture at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, House Industries was able to combine its font work with images from designs 100 years earlier. Barber explains: “We said: ‘Okay, we didn’t look at Alphonse

When it comes to kit, House Industries is keen to point out that while they’re Mac people, they’re not really techie people. However, the company is an effusive convert to Adobe InDesign. Unsurprising, really, given that InDesign enables fonts that are in keeping with House Industries’ own font-making ideas. “The OpenType stuff, that’s the one thing that we’re doing that’s ‘high tech’,” says Rich Roat. Using InDesign’s ability to handle OpenType, it’s possible to create smart fonts, fonts that can substitute their form in given situations. “Ken has drawn this beautiful font that has interlocking characters, and he has drawn 1000 or 1200 ligatures that automatically substitute as they come up,” Roat continues. “It’s really allowing us to do some of the cool type stuff that we never thought we’d be able to do as a font. I think it’s going to give our stuff a whole new dimension.”

Mucha, and we didn’t look at Art Nouveau from turnof-the-century Europe. But if you put these two things next to one another, we very well could have’.” If all this talk appeals to you but House Industries has passed you by, don’t despair. One of its latest projects has been the production of a 240-page book – a fantastically lush and lavish ten-year retrospective complete with spot colour and special paper. Not only does it feature the company’s work throughout the years, but there are tips, fonts and even a bonus CD, for your money. Call it branding, call it promotion, call it what you like, but it’s imbued with House Industries’ belief in craft. “If you look at the book, there’s a big section on custom papers,” says Roat. “Look at the cars: there were definitely these cars in the seventies, but look at the type that’s attached to the custom lettering that we did. While it kind of looks like it was from that era, it could have been something else. There was nothing else like it. It was unique. It’s definitely got a seventies stigma attached to it, but the colour schemes and the layouts they are not from anywhere. They were original. And, as far as I was concerned, timeless.” Cool Britannia And, of course, you’ve also got House 33, House Industries’ central London shop. It’s a collaboration between House Industries and Level 33, selling everything from T-shirts to real-world versions of

CA INTERVIEW

HOUSE INDUSTRIES Q&A House 33, is at 33 Marshall St, Soho, London and will sell stainless-steel lettering, cushions and other assorted House-inspired objects.

designs from the House Industries collective mind. There will be stainlesssteel letters, custom-designed wallpaper and other fittings designed, again by House, and produced in the real world. “Now everything’s in three dimensions, and it’s so cool,” says Roat. “That’s why we’re willing to endure the pain in the arse and spend all the money. When it’s done, it will be a design project in and of itself. We’re House Industries; we wanted our own product. We wanted our own product that we could take to a big marketplace. Anyone can buy it and it doesn’t have anything to do with fonts. And that’s totally cool with us.” You’ll also be pleased to know that House Industries has faith in us, in we the British people. No, they’re not all about to

Buy the House Industries’ Street Van or House 3009 font collections and you receive the fonts and accompanying T-shirts in some rather remarkable packaging…

don tweed, shoot pheasants and forbid us to walk on their land. But the company did choose London as the site for its first ever retail venture, rather than its US neighbour New York. “People here know what they’re looking at,” explains Roat. “They know value, whereas people in New York are looking to see what people in London are looking at. We thought people here would appreciate what we were doing.” So next time you’re looking at a map of America, forget the giant NYC or the eternal sunshine of California. Remember that between New Jersey and Maryland lies the tiny state of Delaware, where resides House Industries with a devotion to craft, a broad interest in design and a faith in London.

Computer Arts: Did either co-founder train as a font designer? Andy Cruz: Not really. In High School, I had a sign-painting requirement but short of that, it was pretty much just making it up as we went along. CA: How do you manage your workflow? Rich Roat: Everybody knows what to do. We just sit down every couple of weeks and say, ‘This guy needs to be doing this, we need to start doing this, this cropped up and we need to take care of that’. Ken Barber: A lot of time Rich is doing lettering. Adam is usually upstairs painting something. And if he’s not doing something for a client, he’s doing production work or we’re trying to get together a product based on his work. And we have another guy called Chris who just draws all day. We’ve always got work for him. When he runs out of things to do, then we start looking into the next product that we need to sell. CA: Can you divulge any design secrets? RR: There’s a piece of software out there called FontLab and it’s tied-in with a programming language called Python. We can actually automate a lot of the things that we do with Python. CA: Would you recommend any particular Websites or books? KB: Signmuseum.com. They run a place called the American Sign Museum. They’ve been an invaluable resource for us. RR: A lot of our inspiration came from going to the farmers’ market and a guy had like a whole stack of Better Homes and Gardens from 1958 or whatever. The flea market thing is kind of overdone now, but there’s still a lot of good stuff there. CA: Any advice for budding designers? KB: I think if you find something that you’re good at and that you enjoy doing, you should pursue it. And do it well. Then you’ll be happy. September 2004

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COMPETITION

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HOW TO ENTER To enter, visit www.computerarts.co.uk/ competition and answer this simple question: Macromedia Dreamweaver MX introduced rich new CSS features. But do these help to: a. Integrate more tightly with Macromedia Flash b. Ensure consistent visual style across Web pages c. Integrate multiple data sources for dynamic pages Then, impress us with an original answer to this tie-breaker question:

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April 2004

10-PAGE EXCLUSIVE

OS X 10.4 TIGER Everything you need to know about Apple’s grrrrreat new operating system! PLUS! HOW TO... Master the Lasso tool in Photoshop Get tuneful with GarageBand Create huge panoramas in Stitcher Discover iTunes’secret commands Make your own logo with LogoCreator

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PLUS Full version of Stitcher 3.1s& The Logo Creato r wor th over £400!

TUTORIALS IN THIS ISSUE We have three superb tutorials to test your creative mettle this month. First off, we explore image-editing stalwart Photoshop CS – revealing how to enhance colour and light and create vivid neon-like effects that will lift your work to a new plane. Turn to page 50 to find out more. Flash users, meanwhile, could learn a thing or two from www. planetofthedrums.com, whose finely honed typographical

PHOTOSHOP CS 1.5-2 HOURS

ADD A NEW DIMENSION animations are the talk of Flash forums across the globe. Intrigued? Turn to page 58 for the lowdown on how to make your words dance… Last but not least, those with a hankering for CG battles of Return of the King intensity could do worse than try out our After Effects tutorial, where we lay bare every trick to make your CG creation look like it’s really menacing planet Earth… All is revealed on page 62.

Create vibrant effects using glows, the Colour Dodge tool and lashes of pseudoneon – from hot pinks to lemon yellows! ON THE CD Tutorial files on CD

TURN TO PAGE 50

FLASH 3-4 HOURS

ANIMATE TYPOGRAPHY Seen the eye-popping animations over at planetofthedrums.com? With our top techniques, you’ll soon be doing the same! ON THE CD Tutorial files on CD

CR EA TE

AM OV IE

TURN TO PAGE 58

AFTER EFFECTS 1 HOUR

3D MATCHMOVING The alien invasion has begun! Discover how to seamlessly integrate animated CG material with your own handheld footage. ON THE CD Tutorial files on CD

TURN TO PAGE 62

TUTORIALS FOR 99P

Did you know you can buy Computer Arts tutorials for just 99p via our Website at www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials? There’s everything from Photoshop and FreeHand poster design, typography in InDesign and vector drawing in Flash MX, plus more general tutorials on Dreamweaver and Flash. You’ll also find tutorials that make the most of 3ds max 4, Bryce 5 and After Effects. August 2004

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TUTORIAL

PHOTOSHOP CS

ADD ANOTHER DIMENSION

It’s relatively easy to spice up your photos in Photoshop. But how about taking it one step further? The key to success is to fix your colours and enhance them. That way you’ll be sure to achieve eye-catching results DOWNLOAD

TIME LENGTH

1.5-2 hours INFO Chuck Anderson, who works under the name NoPattern, is a freelance artist from Chicago. He has worked with dozens of magazines and a huge range of clients, including Sony and McDonald’s. See more of his work at www.nopattern.com

Ë

฀

Okay,฀so฀you’ve฀grasped฀the฀ techniques,฀but฀you฀need฀more฀than฀ that฀if฀you’re฀to฀produce฀a฀range฀of฀original฀ eye-catching฀work.฀Don’t฀underestimate฀ the฀power฀of฀composition฀or฀the฀ importance฀of฀balance.฀ This฀tutorial฀will฀teach฀you฀to฀create฀ stunning฀effects฀using฀glows,฀loads฀of฀ Colour฀Dodge,฀and฀lots฀and฀lots฀of฀neon฀–฀ hot฀pinks฀and฀lemon฀yellows฀are฀prominent฀ here.฀You’ll฀also฀learn฀how฀to฀utilise฀white฀ in฀all฀the฀right฀places,฀so฀that฀white฀areas฀ look฀less฀like฀negative฀space฀and฀more฀like฀ the฀result฀of฀added฀energy฀and฀light.฀ The฀finer฀details฀are฀very฀important,฀too.฀ The฀small฀glowing฀dots฀used฀throughout฀ this฀image฀may฀be฀small,฀but฀they฀add฀so฀ much.฀Always฀pay฀attention฀to฀detail฀in฀ anything฀you฀create฀–฀simplicity฀is฀good฀ but฀there฀are฀always฀details฀that,฀when฀ added,฀make฀all฀the฀difference. This฀tutorial฀stresses฀the฀importance฀of฀ strong฀colour.฀The฀background฀of฀this฀ piece฀contains฀a฀faint฀floral฀pattern,฀which฀ is฀key,฀but฀very฀subtle.฀It฀does฀not฀call฀your฀ attention฀or฀stand฀out฀on฀its฀own.฀Rather,฀it฀ serves฀its฀purpose฀as฀a฀background฀ correctly.฀In฀addition,฀another฀dimension฀is฀ added฀using฀flowers฀and฀scanned฀imagery,฀ giving฀the฀image฀a฀truly฀organic฀feel.฀So฀ keep฀in฀mind฀the฀importance฀of฀strong฀ colours฀and฀solid฀composition฀in฀all฀your฀ work฀and฀you’ll฀see฀instant฀results.

Photography by Paul&Paul www.paulandpaul.co.uk

1

Open Model1.tif from the cover CD. Adjust the Brightness/Contrast to -50 and +30, respectively. Now go to Filter>Sharpen> Sharpen to ensure that the whole image appears as crisp as possible.

2

Using the Pen tool, draw an outline around the girl’s body. Do not worry about the finer details around the hair, but do make sure that you outline inside the area where her arms bend upwards. Save this Path and label it “Outline”.

3

Create a new layer named Colour Fades. Set the Blending style to Colour Burn. Select the Path you made in step two and click on Load Path as a Selection.

4

Now select a default circle-shaped Brush with soft edges and make the size roughly 550. Using bright pinks, yellows, greens and blues, brush lightly on the girl’s skin using single clicks to add subtle colour to the shadows already present.

Illustration by Chuck Anderson www.nopattern.com

September 2004

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TUTORIAL

PHOTOSHOP CS

5

Make a new layer and label it Colour Fades Background. Again, click on Load Path as a Selection before choosing Select>Inverse. Repeat step four, but add the soft colour to the background, mostly around the girl’s body.

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11

9

12

Next, make a new layer and label it “Diagonal Lines”. Using the Polygonal selection tool, create diagonal lines going from the middle of the left edge to the middle of the top edge. Then, with the Brush tool, paint inside using the same technique as you did on the girl, using pink and yellow.

Using the same brush, make long strokes across the girl’s body, working from the bottom left to the top right to create the wires/lines. Repeat this process until you have dozens. You could change the size of the brush to produce a thicker wire.

6

FOLDER IT If you use the Pen tool to outline a subject within a photo, you can add elements in front of and behind the subject to make your design/illustration appear as though it’s part of the photo. Outline the subject with the Pen tool, then choose Load Path as a Selection in the Paths palette and choose Select>Inverse. Create a new layer and draw/paste into the selected area. Your design will then go on to the background only.

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Open BackgroundDesign.tif from the cover CD, Select All and Copy. Go back to the main image, click on Load Path as a Selection and then choose Select>Inverse and then Edit>PasteInto. Rename this layer “Background Design”.

Create a new layer and label it “Stars, Wires”. Next, choose Layer>LayerStyle >OuterGlow. Set the Blend mode to Colour Dodge, the Opacity to 100 per cent, noise to 0 per cent, and use a solid pink colour (#F19AC2). Ensure that Technique is set to Softer, Spread to 0, and Size to 18.

Create a new layer named “Wires Behind”. Select the Outline path, click Load Path as a Selection and then Select>Inverse. Use the technique used in step 11 to make the wires again, only this time you should make them behind the subject. This adds dimension to the image.

7

Duplicate and move the Background Design layer until you have enough to fill the background. Then merge all of these duplicated layers into one and again label it “Background Design”. Finally, set the Opacity to about 15-20 per cent – whatever looks good to you.

10

Choose a default soft edge circle Brush with the Airbrush turned on at or around size 12. Click randomly all over the background to create a galaxy of stars. Try clicking and holding to utilise the Airbrush feature and create a larger star.

13

Open Design.tif from the cover CD, Select All and then Copy. Paste this into the main image and rotate it to fit accurately into the curve of her arm. Move to her chest, and set the Layer to Screen.

TUTORIAL

LAYER STYLE

14

Duplicate this Layer before choosing Edit>Transform>FlipHorizontal. Move the Layer to her left-hand side so that it aligns correctly with the first and, finally, set this layer to Screen.

15

When you create a new layer, you can immediately set its style. Take Outer Glow, for example – everything done in that Layer will obtain the Outer Glow settings you choose from the start. When on a dark or black background, setting the Blending mode in the Layer style to Color Dodge will provide you with a vibrant, neon glow – the same style used to give the glow effects to the stars and wires in this tutorial.

17

Open Fireworks.tif from the cover CD and Copy and Paste it into the main image. Set the Blending mode to Lighten, the Brightness to -30 and the Contrast to +30. Position the fireworks near her ear.

18

Open Flowers1.tif from the cover CD and then Copy and Paste it into the main image. Set the Blending mode to Screen and place it on the left-hand side, near her right arm, as shown.

Now open Flowers2.tif and again, Copy and Paste into the main image. Set the Blending mode to Screen. Move these flowers to the bottom-middle area near the girl’s hip so that the stems follow the curve of her body.

16

19

Duplicate that Layer. Next, choose Edit>Transform>FlipHorizontal and then Edit>Transform>Scale and make it a little smaller, ensuring that you keep it in proportion. Place this alongside her other arm.

Duplicate this Layer. Choose Edit> Transform>Flip Horizontal and then Edit>Transform>Scale and make the new layer about one-third the size of the first. To balance the composition, place this on the left-hand side, next to her other hip.

20

Go back to the “Stars, Wires” layer, right-click on it and select Copy Layer Style. Create a new layer named “Beauty”. Right-click this new Layer and choose Paste Layer Style. Now, using the default soft-edge Brush tool at size 10, write the word “Beauty”.

21

On the main Layer, the original photo, use the Burn tool on the Shadows at 100 per cent and go over the girl’s face once with a size 100 soft-edge Brush. This adds great shadow and definition to her face.

22

Finally, flatten the image so that you have just one Layer and go to Image> Adjustments>ColorBalance. Set Cyan to -50 to remove the hot colours and give it a crisper feel. You can now adjust any of the other colours until you reach your desired hues.

NEXT ISSUE

UNDERWATER A new technique using water and a colour printer

September 2004

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REVIEW

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TUTORIAL

FLASH ANIMATION

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TIME LENGTH

3-4 hours INFO Dana Brousseau and Alex Shoukas first met while working at Blast Radius Toronto. Their continued relationship has brought them together on projects that explore the possibilities of modern typography and the systematic use of Flash. For more information visit www.d-realm.net.

FLASH MX

TYPOGRAPHIC ANIMATION

From basic font construction to button states, animation and alignment with an XML-driven navigation structure, we take a look at the back-end architecture behind the impressive planetofthedrums.com

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The฀Planet฀of฀the฀Drums฀tour฀brings฀ some฀of฀the฀loudest,฀most฀intense฀ electronic฀music฀to฀over฀25฀North฀ American฀cities.฀Coupled฀with฀imagery฀of฀ damaged/destroyed฀audio฀devices,฀it฀is฀ important฀that฀the฀Website’s฀typography฀ and฀navigation฀brings฀forth฀the฀same฀ loudness฀to฀engage฀users฀into฀the฀ experience.฀The฀solution?฀FontLab’s฀sideprogram,฀FontFlasher,฀and฀the฀development฀ of฀a฀fully฀dynamic฀and฀customisable฀ navigation฀system฀(with฀tricks)฀in฀Flash.฀ 58

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This฀tutorial฀will฀show฀you฀how,฀using฀ typographic฀animations฀in฀Flash,฀we฀came฀ up฀with฀the฀effects฀you฀see฀on฀the฀Website.฀ The฀navigation฀works฀in฀an฀iPod-esque฀ fashion,฀scrolling฀to฀the฀right฀to฀take฀you฀ further฀into฀the฀site,฀and฀to฀the฀left฀to฀bring฀ you฀back.฀To฀maintain฀the฀distortion,฀we฀ gave฀the฀motion฀a฀random฀quality,฀moving฀ at฀different฀increments฀at฀a฀time.฀ In฀order฀to฀better฀distinguish฀the฀white฀ type฀from฀the฀underlying฀white฀image,฀we฀ tried฀to฀almost฀separate฀the฀two฀with฀

resolutions.฀As฀a฀result,฀the฀85pt฀Helvetica฀ Bold฀looks฀as฀though฀it฀could฀be฀8-bit. The฀navigation฀buttons฀were฀also฀ designed฀to฀have฀various฀states,฀which฀ included฀the฀up฀(standard฀white),฀inactive฀ (hashed฀white,฀for฀forthcoming฀sections),฀ mouse฀over฀(solid฀green)฀and฀visited฀ (hashed฀green)฀states.฀We’ll฀show฀you฀ exactly฀how฀these฀elements฀were฀produced฀ both฀in฀FontFlasher฀and฀Flash,฀and฀leave฀ you฀with฀a฀very฀powerful฀resource฀for฀ future฀development.

TUTORIAL

FONT BUILDING

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In FontFlasher, select an installed typeface and the point size you would like to Rasterize. The right-hand preview pane will now show you an aliased preview of your selection.

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Upon export, FontLab will launch and immediately prompt you to save the FontLab (.vfb) file. From here, go to File> GenerateFont. It’s easiest to create a TrueType font, as this will work on both Mac and PC.

FLASH DEVELOPMENT The Flash navigation system consists of three main components: NAV This is the main navigation structure. It loads and stores all the XML data and creates sub-menus as necessary. It slides left and right to display the currently selected menu. MENU The menu structure populates itself with buttons from the Library according to the XML data it receives from the NAV. This Movie Clip is then duplicated to create sub-menus.

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Select the Flash Point size. This is the root formation of the pixels and the point size you will need in Flash for your font to remain as crisp as possible. It’s best to keep this point size similar to the origin point size in the event of a font substitution.

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By overlapping pixels you will make your typeface less complex and maintain a smaller-size font, though you should expect a much longer rendering process (especially when drawing larger point sizes). Check off Open Font in FontLab so that your resource file will open immediately when finished.

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Install the font into your system and move it into Flash. For the chunky/8-bit effect, simply scale up your new font to a larger point size (preferably in multiples of the Flash Point size, to maintain crispness).

FONT FLASHER FontFlasher is a utility/ side application to FontLab that converts almost any format font into a “pixel” TrueType font (which turns on only selected pixels). This gives fine text a much clearer, more legible onscreen appearance. For more details visit http://fontlab.com.

BUTTON Each button contains a text field to display its title, a “textMask” Movie Clip to create a mask in the shape of the title, and an image called Screen that is used to create the crosshatched effect. The button has an Off, Over, and Clicked state, which is controlled by actionScript. This system is mainly code based. The button is the only item that needs to be designed. To give this information some context visit www.planetofthedrums.com, or take a look at the POTD_tutorial.swf file on the cover disc before you start.

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TUTORIAL

FLASH ANIMATION BUILDING THE BUTTON

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Create a new Symbol with Behaviour set to Movie Clip. Create a text field on the first frame of this Movie Clip. Name this text field “display” and then set your parameters (embedded font, html, selectable etc).

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Import or create a graphic for your background texture. In the case of the POTD site, we used a .png image of diagonal pixel lines – transparent so that the background of the site is visible through the texture. Convert your graphic to a Movie Clip and name the instance “screen”.

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7 THE RIGHT CHOICE When deciding on the point size at which you’d like to Rasterize your font, it’s usually best to have a pixel formation that closely represents the real font. We use the characters A, E and S as a gauge, since they are usually the more distinctive letterforms.

Copy that text field and place it on a layer below the original. Make sure that it lines up exactly. Select the new field, and convert it to a Movie Clip. Name this instance of the Movie Clip “textMask”.

Place the “screen” Movie Clip on a layer under “textMask” and set the “textMask” layer to mask the “screen” layer. These two Movie Clips will create the Clicked button. The “textMask” symbol will not be visible, but the text field within it will contain the same text that appears in the Display text field. This will give you a mask shape that matches the Display text. When the button is clicked, the Display text field will be made invisible so that only a text-shaped mask of the background texture remains.

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This button is designed to “know” whether it has been previously clicked. When a user clicks on a button, a unique variable based on the Display text is set at the _root level of the Movie. When a button appears on the stage, its first action is to check whether it has been clicked before. If so, it sets itself to its Clicked state.

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In the Library, right-click on the Button symbol and select Linkage. Give it the identifier name “button” and set it to Export for ActionScript. Now this symbol can be drawn from the Library on demand.

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Place this on a layer above the text mask. Adjust its size so that it covers the area you want to be clickable. Opt for an actual button rather than an onPress function to keep the hit area localised to the x-height of the font rather than the bounds of the Movie Clip. Add the mouseOver/mouseOut actions (found in the .fla file) to this button.

Create an invisible button that contains only a square on its “hit” frame.

TUTORIAL

THE NAVIGATION STRUCTURE

STILL NOT CRISP? If you find that your font isn’t exporting as crisply as it should be, set your Flash document to a lower quality setting. But be careful as this may jeopardise any curved vector illustrations in your file.

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Load the XML data “content.xml”. An XML object will be created and the information passed to the first menu, “menu0”, which is already in place. Based on this information, the first menu will now populate itself with buttons from the Library (one for each node on the XML tree) and name them accordingly.

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This entire Movie Clip will now slide horizontally to the left, so that the sub-menu is visible.

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When a button is clicked, it will check to see if its XML node has any childNodes. If so, it will create a sub-menu (by duplicating “menu0”) and pass its childNode data to the sub-menu.

NAVIGATION/ MOTION/ANIMATION

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To match the lo-tech aesthetic of the site, we wanted the navigation to move in a rough, erratic fashion. Rather than sliding across the screen smoothly, the navigation shuffles across in random increments. To do this, give the navigation a destination position, pick a number between one and 100, and then move the navigation towards its destination by that number of pixels.

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That covers the visual and conceptual side of the navigation system. For all the code, and a more detailed overview of the functions, check out POTD_tutorial.fla on the cover CD.

NEXT ISSUE

FLASH TOONS Synchronize lip movements to audio.

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When the Back button (on the main stage) is pressed, this Movie Clip will slide to the right so that the main menu is visible. Any sub-menus are then removed. You can make your XML structure as deep as you like – the menus will duplicate infinitely.

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The sub-menu will be placed 510px (the maximum width for this layout) to the right of the main menu.

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TUTORIAL

CR EA TE A

DOWNLOAD

M OV IE

AFTER EFFECTS

ADD 3D TO MOVIES

How do you blend moving 3D footage with 2D handheld video? In Hollywood, they take data from the camera’s on-set motion and feed that into the computer. Thankfully, there’s a low-budget alternative

TIME LENGTH

1 hour INFO Christopher Kenworthy writes for several magazines and is the author of two novels. He also writes for film and television, and is the director of awardwinning films.

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Blending฀computer-generated฀ images฀with฀handheld฀video฀to฀ create฀one฀striking฀shot฀requires฀careful฀ use฀of฀a฀technique฀known฀as฀matchmoving฀ –฀basically,฀synchronising฀the฀movements฀ of฀your฀real-world฀camera฀with฀that฀of฀ your฀virtual฀camera฀and฀its฀computergenerated฀subject฀matter.฀You฀can฀replicate฀ this฀effect฀well฀using฀After฀Effects. After฀Effects’฀motion-tracking฀facilities฀ enable฀you฀to฀easily฀attach฀computergenerated฀(CG)฀elements฀to฀background฀ footage,฀add฀a฀logo฀to฀a฀moving฀vehicle,฀or฀ attach฀a฀CG฀city฀to฀the฀horizon.฀But฀it฀all฀ gets฀trickier฀when฀you฀want฀your฀CG฀

images฀to฀move฀through฀the฀environment,฀ at฀the฀same฀speed฀as฀the฀moving฀camera. This฀tutorial฀will฀reveal฀the฀secrets฀ behind฀incorporating฀a฀flying฀3D฀spaceship฀ into฀a฀handheld฀video฀environment,฀and฀ then฀get฀a฀3D฀robot฀to฀walk฀up฀a฀pathway฀ within฀that฀footage.฀If฀the฀camera฀were฀ static,฀this฀would฀be฀simple,฀but฀because฀ the฀camera฀moves฀throughout฀the฀shot,฀ you’ll฀need฀to฀combine฀several฀techniques. Normally,฀when฀tracking฀motion,฀you฀ change฀only฀the฀Position฀of฀a฀layer.฀This฀ locks฀your฀layer฀to฀the฀background฀ environment.฀But฀if฀your฀subject฀is฀meant฀ to฀be฀moving฀against฀that฀background,฀

locking฀a฀layer฀in฀place฀doesn’t฀help.฀The฀ solution฀is฀to฀lock฀the฀layers,฀and฀then฀ animate฀the฀anchor฀point฀of฀your฀3D฀ elements.฀This฀requires฀a฀lot฀of฀skill฀and฀ fine฀judgment฀(as฀well฀as฀artistic฀flair),฀but฀ the฀results฀can฀be฀spectacular. So฀the฀aim฀of฀this฀tutorial฀is฀to฀create฀a฀ convincing฀impression฀of฀reality,฀with฀the฀ minimum฀of฀time฀and฀effort.฀The฀shadows฀ you฀create฀won’t฀be฀completely฀realistic,฀but฀ so฀long฀as฀they฀convince฀the฀viewer฀that฀the฀ robot฀is฀walking฀on฀the฀ground,฀that’s฀all฀ that฀matters.฀Once฀mastered,฀these฀ techniques฀can฀easily฀be฀adapted฀to฀work฀ for฀your฀own฀3D฀models฀and฀video฀footage.

Illustration and movie by Chris Kenworthy

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TUTORIAL

AFTER EFFECTS

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First, watch Future.mp4 to see what you’re trying to achieve. Then open After Effects (6.5 has better tracing capabilities) and choose Create a New Composition. Import BGFootage and Spaceship 3D from the cover CD and drag them to the timeline. Now select the Ship layer, press S, and resize the image by dragging it onto the scale numbers. Go to Layer>BlendingMod>Add.

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Go to the one-second point in the timeline and again drag over the Anchor position numbers until the ship is behind the building. At this point it’s still visible; you need to draw a mask so it vanishes as it touches the edge.

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Drag the right edge of the Spaceship layer to shorten the clip. Drag another copy of the Spaceship clip to the timeline, hit Enter and name it Ship 2. In the BGFootage on the cover CD, the camera pans so smoothly, you only have to “simulate” motion tracking.

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Where the ship nearly touches the building, check the Motion Blur box and make the Blur visible by clicking the M just above. Use the Pen tool to click a mask around the ship, lining it up as shown.

ON SCALING SHAPES Scale changes can help to exaggerate 3D movement. Go to the start of the clip, click the layer and drag the upper frame-line to stretch the layer vertically. Keyframe the scale, move forward to the point where the ship disappears and drag the frame line to squash the ship. This exaggerates the swooping movement and is ideal for clips where the computergenerated element is a static frame or has very little motion.

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Select the BGFootage layer. Go to Window>TrackerControls and click Track Motion. Check the Position Box and drag the target to a sharp edge on the building. Click Options and Choose Process Before Match (Enhance), Luminance, and Track fields. Click OK, then Track Forward.

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Position the ship “behind” the building, Keyframe the position points, move forward a few frames and then drag the spaceship to the right. Watch through to see whether this motion matches the opening of the shot. Use the Pen tool to create and animate a mask so that the ship appears again from behind the building.

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Hit M to reveal the Mask Shape settings before clicking the Keyframe Clock. Move forward a few frames and use the Pointer to drag the mask so that it again covers the building edge. Repeat until the mask is ready.

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As the camera moves to the right, you can leave the ship in roughly the same place on screen and it will appear to fly through the landscape. But to add realism, change the position slightly every second or so to add a realistic wobble.

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Click Apply and then the Comp Window tab at the top left of the Viewer to see the result. Select the Ship layer, press A and drag the Anchor arrows until the ship is positioned just off the screen at the top left. Click the Keyframe Clock to lock it in place.

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Click F and drag the Feather Edges to three pixels. If the mask is well animated, the ship will look as if it’s sliding behind the building. If there are gaps between ship and building, go to the worst point and drag the mask into place to correct the animation.

TUTORIAL

TRACKING POINTS

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To make the ship “warp” away, go to the seven-second point and Keyframe the scale setting at 100 per cent. Move a couple of seconds forward and reduce the scale to 0. You can also drag the ship to the right, so it appears to be flying away rather than just shrinking to a point.

Motion tracking is powerful, but requires some skill because good tracking points are essential if you’re to produce accurate results. The most easily tracked points are sharp edges or distinctive spots. Don’t position the Tracker on the edge of a wall or it will slide up and down the edge. Instead, pick the corner where two wall edges meet. If you’re having difficulty, drag the Tracker box wider, but be prepared for a longer wait while the images are processed.

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Drag the Robot3D clip from the cover CD to the timeline. Then go to Effect>Keying>ColorKey and use the eyedropper to key out the blue. Adjust Tolerance and Edge feathering to create a good matte. Apply the Spill Suppressor filter and the Matt Choker with Gray Level set to 30 per cent. Check Motion Blur on for this layer.

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Go to the end of the timeline, select the BGfootage layer and use your Track Motion skills to track an appropriate point in this scene. Use the Track Backwards arrow, because the most accurate tracking information occurs at this end of the clip, and becomes increasingly less accurate as the walkway disappears.

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Apply the Track to the Robot layer. Go to the point where the walkway appears and drag the Robot’s Scale down until he appears to be in the distance. Delete about ten position points around the time where he appears and place him manually so that he comes into shot as the camera pans down to his imposing figure.

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Add a Gaussian Blur to the shadow, with a blur setting of three. In the timeline, drag the shadow beneath the Robot layer. Adjust the Anchor point each time to ensure shadows and feet meet realistically.

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Use the rectangular Mask tool to drag a Mask box from the mid-point of the shadow. Press F and feather the edges by 20 pixels. This makes the shadow blend in with the shadow from the wall more effectively.

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CREATING GOOD 3D These techniques enable you to take any 3D image or footage and apply it to moving video. It does help, however, if you know your shot before you use 3D. For this example, the video footage was shot first and then I built a ship that turned gently to the left because this would match the footage well. Because the walkway was positioned directly in front of the camera, the robot was animated to walk straight towards it.

You’ll notice that although tracked into position, the robot doesn’t appear to move forwards as fast as he should; he’s almost moonwalking. By changing the anchor points at the beginning and the end of his clip, you can make his steps appear more realistic. Experiment with this until you get the look you’re after.

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If you have After Effects 6.5, add a neat touch by applying the Light Rays filter to the Spaceship layer. Keyframe the intensity to 0, then drag it to 100 as the ship warps, and back down again as it vanishes. Keyframe the Center over the ship throughout the clip.

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Use the Edit menu to Copy and Paste the Robot layer and rename it Shadow. Choose Apple Effects>Brightnessand Contrast and set both at -100. Press T and reduce the opacity to 35 to create a realistic shadow. Drag the edges of the frame to squash it down and improve its look.

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Make sure Motion Blur is on for all layers and then Render the finished product. You’ve now successfully matchmoved computer-generated elements with some difficult background footage.

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FEATURE

LOOK HERE FIRST

G TT NG GETTING OVER HERE!

STA STARTED ARTED W TH . WITH...

LAYO LAYOUT YOUT More design fails for lack of clear purpose than for any other reason, reaso says Mark Penfold. Successful page design requires both a clear vision i i and d a steady t d hand. h d We W go back b k to t the th drawing d i board... b d NOW READ ME

FEATURE David Mackintosh maintains clarity here with careful use of typography and clean lines.

VIEW IMAGE

MAIN BODY COPY

Page layout – where the science of printing meets the art of graphic design. This discipline is a real collision of worlds, complete with a selection of weird technical terms such as slugs, gutters and orphans. The central role of the layout artist is to ensure the effective communication of information. You must not only grapple with the terminology but, more importantly, know exactly how and when to apply it. According to John McWade, author of Before & After Page Design: “The three basics of page design are type, image and space. All are infinitely variable but the golden rule is to understand clearly what you intend to communicate.” Brett Wickens, the man behind the artwork on Adobe’s CS graphics packages highlights the critical point: “Legibility, clarity, visual interest, and the effective balance of image

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and text are all considerations when designing page layouts. However, it’s all about context.”

Making connections “Nothing ever happens in isolation,” says McWade. It sounds like a mystical pronouncement, but he has a point. “Every element in a visual field is related to every other – this line opens into that space, which is like that shape. The mistake is to not realise that everything you see is related and interactive.” Look at the page another way, and consider the all-important blank space. This space encompasses both margins and spaces between lines and columns, around pictures and at the end of text. As Roger Browning, Head of Design at The Guardian points out: “White space helps the layout breathe, the grids are all designed to marshall it. Placed in relation to headlines or a picture, white space draws the Learn the rules, then viewer’s attention. We break them. The constantly have to clean Designers Republic up white space.” relish avoiding the David Carson’s seminal traditional approach. work on Ray Gun defined the graphic design of the nineties. Even though he largely dispensed with any underlying grid structure for his magazine, he couldn’t escape the ultimate fact. As Ian Anderson of The Designers’ Republic discovered: “You’re never

totally free, you’re constrained by the fact that you’ve only got a page to work on.” Visual logic A page will have structure whatever you do to it, that’s unavoidable. The trick is to create an underlying order that works for you and helps you to achieve your goals. Currently designing covers for the Penguin Press, designer Coralie BickfordSmith has developed a healthy respect for the grid: “Before you have lots of fun with a book, get the basic grids down first and work within them as far as you can, otherwise it can turn into a daunting and time consuming project.” Attempting to break down the grid structure may give your layout more variety and allow scope for creativity, but this will inevitably be at the expense of time. Anderson has been working on various incarnations of a book for The Designers’ Republic (TDR) for the last ten years: “There’s a traditional approach, that is to test layouts and define grids. Once you’ve done that, that’s how your book works,” he explains. But in keeping with their principles, TDR defines a very different approach: “Ours is more a book of images so its layout is based on the elements we have. We took bar codes and based our column widths on them. Each page develops organically.” Searching for the holy grail of grid structures requires determination and a commitment to your raw

RECOMMENDED READING Before & After Page Design, John McWade (Peachpit Press, 2003) ISBN 020179537X

Grid Systems in Graphic Design, Josef MüllerBrockmann (Ram Pubns & Dist, 2001) ISBN 3721201450

TURN OVER

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FEATURE

JARGON • Ascender: The part of a lower-case letter that extends above the body of type. • Baseline: The horizontal line on which letters rest. • Bleed: Part of an image that extends beyond the trim marks of a page. • Crosshead: Short headline in the middle of a column explaining the next passage • Display type: Any print above the size of regular body copy. • Dry proof: A colour proof made without ink, eg Chromalin. • Drop cap: A large initial letter. • Gamut: The range of colour produced on a display. • Greeking: The grey lines or dummy stand-in type. • Gutter: The combined margins either side of the spine. • Justification: Type-set aligned to both left and right edges, requiring varied spacing. • Kerning: Adjusting the space between two letters. • Measure: The width of a single line of type. • Orphan(s): Type left at the end of a paragraph less than 1/3 of the column across. • Pica: Unit of type measurement equal to 1/6 inch. • Pull quote: A quote presented in larger type in the middle of the page • RIP: Raster Image Processor for converting images from vector to bitmap. • Slug: A line of type, historically from a Linotype machine. • Tracking: Adjusting the spacing between all letters. • Widow: A single word from the end of a paragraph appearing at the head of a new column. 68

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READ THIS CAPTION

CONTINUED

Your choice of typeface is crucial, reckons Future’s Dylan Channon.

material. “When we set out, we wanted every page to look different, so the underlying structure had to be able to cope with that. What we realised was that the layout is almost what makes a book a book. There has to be a visual logic,” says Anderson. Magazines Overseeing the launch of some of Future Publishing’s most successful recent magazine launches has given Dylan Channon plenty of opportunity to consider what makes for good workable page design. “The biggest factor to consider when designing a layout for a modern consumer magazine is to be realistic about how much you can achieve within your monthly schedule,” he says. For Channon, clarity of vision is the starting point. “It’s easy to reach for the mouse too early in the process. Before you sit down at a Mac, you must have a clear idea of the editorial content and the balance between text and pictures.” Once you have this, start with the basics: “I would say one of the first things to get right is the choice of typeface,” says Channon. Of course this will be heavily influenced by the intended audience. “A magazine aimed at children will have very

different typographic requirements to a publication aimed at the elderly. Get this wrong and the design won’t work at the most practical level.” Because the information magazines carry is usually quite hierarchical it’s important for a layout to make this structure accessible to the reader. “An important and commonly-used term in magazine design is ‘entry points’,” Channon explains. “These are elements you can use to control the way a reader navigates around the page, and can be as simple as using

self-confessed “news junky” has now been Head of Design on the paper for three years: “The Guardian is a modernist European, modular-style paper. It has modern typography and grids. It’s fun to work on,” he says. The Guardian has a relatively small team of designers. “We act as the design police while the actual laying out is done by the subs,” explains Browning. “We do the initial set up of the typographic structure, the grids and come up with the look and feel. Then we watch out for the opportunity

“IT’S EASY TO REACH FOR THE MOUSE TOO EARLY. BEFORE YOU S SIT DOWN AT A MAC, YOU MUST HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF THE EDITORIA AL A CONTENT AND THE BALANCE BETWEEN TEXT AND PICTURES”

sub-headings, pull quotes or crossheads.” It’s these “entry points” that make up your typographic structure, without them the reader won’t know where to start. Read all about it Roger Browning started at The Guardian in 1992. His first role: developing The Guide. Browning, a

to do something different or special.” But what about the nitty gritty? “The Guardian is a ‘set left’ modular paper,” says Browning. “Each story fits into its own box. The page then becomes a jigsaw puzzle of those boxes. You don’t, for example, have stories that wrap.” The modular system helps determine the nature of any layout, but an understanding of

FEATURE

TOP TIPS • 1. Wraparound text in Quark “Always alter the shape of the text box to run around an image, and avoid applying runaround to the image through the Modify box. Then if you only need to output the text separation, the shape will always be applied.” David Mackintosh • 2. The use of colour “Viewers identify colour more quickly than any other attribute. They’re also attracted to or repelled by colour more readily. Repellent colours on an otherwise brilliant layout will ruin it.” John McWade • 3. Temptation “Good design is as much about editing as it is about designing. A carefully chosen and cropped image with simple typography can speak volumes. Resist the temptation to overload the page.” Brett Wickens

the relationship between pictures and words must develop over time. “G2 has a four-column grid and uses big, light typography for feature headlines, while the departmental pages have smaller, blockier headlines and use a five-column grid,” says Browning. As

always, this change in column structure is dictated by the pace of the section: “It’s generally easier to read longer stories on a wider grid, that’s why features work on four columns and the more newsy, departmental pages are signalled with a five-column set up.” Browning reveals some important rules: “If we use big pictures it’s nice to use big type. On the news pages, a picture will never take more space than the text that goes with it.” But, says Browning, “Even then there are exceptions such as picture stories, which will only have a caption.” By the book Book design has its own take on page layout, perhaps because of its marginally more sedate pace. Coralie Bickford-Smith has designed illustrated books on subjects as diverse as interior design and food for clients including Marie Claire and Antonio Carluccio. For her, book design is led more by the designer. “If I come up with an idea for a layout, book editors are more likely to listen as there’s more time to experiment. Deadlines aren’t so hectic.

THE GRID • The grid holds your pages together. It’s the sum of common elements like the number and widths of columns, the position and alignment of headings and the depth of margins. • The layout artist’s dilemma is how to find the correct balance between order imparted by the grid structure and the need to avoid monotony, to inject creativity. John McWade: “A grid imparts order, uniformity and consistency. A page with a grid feels structured and mechanical as opposed to loose, playful, or sloppy.”

THE FONT • According to John McWade typography is “the most common weakness among all designers”. It’s also the foundation stone of good layout and can make or break a design in terms of both aesthetics and usability. • The typographic structure of a page gives readers a way in to the information it contains. Coralie Bickford-Smith explains the typographer’s role: “You have to decide how to differentiate levels of importance within the text using the various type setting tools: bolding, capitals, small caps, font style, size and colour.” • As a general rule, serif fonts are easier to read and so better suited to information-rich stories, while more stylistic elements will use sans serif fonts. “For Comment pages we use a serif font and ragged copy. This denotes a change of pace,” says Browning.

“It’s generally easier to read longer stories on a wider grid,” says The Guardian’s David Browning.

IMAGE HERE

Left: G2 has a four-column grid and uses big, light typography for feature headlines. Above: Departmental pages have smaller headlines and use a five-column grid. September 2004

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S H A R E D H O S T I N G | D E D I C AT E D H O S T I N G MANAGED HOSTING | DOMAIN NAMES

BOOK DESIGN

Striking book jacket design by David Mackintosh (top) and Coralie Bickford-Smith.

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“You will most likely be working with your own grids, whereas on magazines (unless you are very lucky and start on a new magazine or get to re-design) you will be fitting new copy into an already well-established grid,” says Bickford-Smith. But it’s not all plain sailing. Setting type is difficult at the best of times, but it’s even harder when you’re free to produce new grids for each project. “Hyphenation and justification are a killer. All books take hours and hours of tweaking,” admits Bickford-Smith. There’s no alternative, she says: “Get right into the text and make sure everything is consistent.”

will highlight the work of a novice like designing for yourself and ignoring the target audience. The spectrum of page design can be roughly divided according to the frequency of its deadlines, with the two extremes marked out by newspapers and books. While the “rules” of page design can help you establish a structure in any one of these fields, too strict an application will result in failure just as surely as ignorance. There’s no getting away from the fact that “it’s all about context”.

Hit your target Each format uses its own approach to McWade’s basics, but they all share a common purpose. According to Channon, “The ultimate aim of any magazine layout is to communicate the editorial content clearly, appropriately and efficiently based on the target audience. Nothing David Mackintosh demonstrates a keen eye for a simple layout.

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REVIEWS XSI 4.0

WELCOME What a fantastic month for software! With three editions and a host of well-honed features, version 4.0 of Softimage’s capable 3D modeller offers the most up-todate toolset imaginable. Find out what we think on page 78. Other highlights include Audition 1.5 (Adobe’s finally implemented some much-needed changes) and stunning art app Sketchbook Pro. But don’t just read about them; try

The latest iteration of Softimage’s powerful 3D modeller is the best yet. Find out why… them out with the great demo versions on our cover CD. Full reviews on pages 83 and 85. And in a Computer Arts exclusive, enjoy our first response to the breathtaking 3ds max 7, which will come fully integrated with nothing less than Character Studio! Full preview on page 80. All this plus the latest tomes reviewed, a round-up of top DVD authoring apps, and more besides.

3DS MAX 7

TURN TO PAGE 78

SPECIAL PR EVIEW

EXCLUSIVE PREVIEW! Now with Character Studio and a rack of amazing innovations

TURN TO PAGE 80

FRAME FORGE 3D Top storyboarding tool boasts drag-and-drop set building and easy-to-pose figures

TURN TO PAGE 82

AUDITION 1.5

Adobe revitalises its newly acquired audio app ON THE CD Demo version

TURN TO PAGE 83

PORTFOLIO 7

New interface, full-screen previews and EXIF support for top asset management app

TURN TO PAGE 84

SKETCHBOOK PRO Fuss-free paint and drawing software from Alias ON THE CD Demo version

TURN TO PAGE 85

PFTRACK 2

Sophisticated 2D and 3D motion-tracking comes of age with Pixel Farm’s latest

TURN TO PAGE 86

GROUP TEST

DVD AUTHORING SOFTWARE

TURN TO PAGE 88

Which tool best suits your needs?

VERDICT OUR RATING SYSTEM EXPLAINED: All our products go through rigorous testing to get a rating in our verdict 2004 and only truly outstanding and essential pieces of kitSeptember receive five out of five 77

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REVIEW

MAC ■ ✘

✔ PC ■

PRICE: Advanced $8995 Essentials $3995 Foundation $1995 CONTACT: Softimage www.softimage.com (514) 845-1636 (Canada)

3D SOFTWARE

Softimage XSI 4

With a prominent price cut, Rigid Body Dynamics, Syflex cloth simulation, Construction Modes and a new features manual at over 400 pages, it looks like Santa’s come early Main image: Although Mental Ray is deeply integrated in XSI, Softimage has added support, enabling third-party render to be implemented.

FEATURES Construction Modes Rigid Body Dynamics ● Character Development Kit ● Syflex cloth simulator ● UV Unwrapping ● Vector and Raster paint in FX Tree ● Mental Ray v3.3 and a new licensing scheme ● ●

Inset: The Advanced package features the world-leading cloth simulator Syflex, while Essentials and Foundation users can enjoy XSI cloth.

SYSTEM Windows 2000 (SP2+) or XP Pro (SP1+); Red Hat Linux version 7.3, 8.0, 9.0 or Enterprise version 3 ● AMD K7 or Intel Pentium III processor, or higher ● 256MB RAM minimum, 512MB RAM recommended ● 520MB of hard-disk space ● Three-button mouse ● OpenGL accelerated graphics card ●

FOR Construction Modes Rigid Body Dynamics ● Mental Ray 3.3 ● ●

Still very inadequate toolset for the creation and editing of curves and NURBS ● Few example scenes to demonstrate the new features ● There are a few outdated presets ●

VERDICT While the toolset on hand for creating and manipulating curves and NURBS remains inadequate, it’s easily overshadowed by the new features and enhancements. With three editions of the software now available, it will be impossible for anyone to let this pass them by.

★★★★★ 78

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When Softimage brings you the largest ever update of its world-leading 3D software, one might think that should be more than enough for a single release. Fortunately, Softimage doesn’t. By introducing a major price drop, they have also made sure that the software remains available for a broader market. While it might still be considered one of the more pricey alternatives, Softimage has taken additional means to ensure that no artist is left outside alone. With the release of XSI 4 the family now includes Advanced and Essentials as well as new member, Foundation. With a price tag as low as $1995, Foundation is not only cheaper than applications like 3ds MAX, but because it shares a features list with most of it’s larger siblings, it’s bound to give its rivals a run for their money, too. While distributed rendering has

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AGAINST

September 2004

The much longed-for Rigid Body Dynamics has finally made its way into XSI – a welcome and powerful addition to the feature set.

come free of charge in some of the competitor 3D software, it could quickly become a little pricey with XSI. This is significant for small to medium-sized studios comparing applications, so the new licensing scheme offered by Softimage is especially welcomed. The Advanced version is now shipping with 12 rendering licenses, Essentials with six and Foundation with two. And in addition, Softimage

has included its processing and rendering system BatchServe, to provide much-needed control of the management and creation of your rendering jobs. There have been improvements made and new features introduced to just about every area. Changes have been made to improve workflow, spanning from small but sought-after features like the submenus Recent Scenes and Recent Models, to core changes such as the Construction Mode (see box, right). A thumbnail function has also been added to several areas of the interface, such as the Render Tree, Animation Editor and toolbars. The explorer and schematic view now permits you to re-order and sort content, giving you better supervision and overviews of scene data. Furthermore, the search field has been implemented into the explorer and additional, more

REVIEW

FIND YOUR WAY AROUND THE XSI 4 INTERFACE AND MAIN TOOLS 1. XML interface The interface has been overhauled and is now totally XML based, with greater customisation than ever before.

5

2. Non-linear animation Any animation in XSI can be modified, mixed, blended and layered using the Animation Editor. This enables you to manage animations as you would clips within video-editing software. 3. The FX Tree XSI Advanced ships with a fully-fledged built-in compositor, which allows data to be shared and transferred seamlessly between the compositor and the 3D world.

flexible, wildcards have been introduced to the search function. The Texture Layer Editor has made combining and mixing textures much easier. As each texture is given a separate layer they can be individually muted, modified and blended in a manner similar to Photoshop. But the next natural step, placing the textures on the actual geometry, could, without doubt, become time consuming. The new UV tools automate a large part of the process, and to fulfill the material handling, version 4 also features material libraries, allowing automatic updating and easy sharing across a range of objects, scenes and workstations. Rigid Body Dynamics, a much longed-for feature, has finally made it into XSI. But although it’s capable of simulating pretty much anything you throw at it, it still preserves the simplicity and swiftness of setting up and modifying the dynamics – a compelling system that allows the user to continue interacting with the simulation during play back.

4. Render Tree This is where the magic happens, in terms of materials and shaders. The node-based workflow provides a powerful yet straightforward approach.

3

5. Ghosting The new, powerful ghosting tool offers just about everything – Rigid Body Dynamics, Hair, and FK/IK blending.

4 2

Complex simulations can be stored and even blended in the animation mixer just as easily, and a new force has been introduced, named Motor, to drive the motion of an object based on parameters set by the user. Although the Character Development Kit isn’t new to version 4, it’s been revamped with new biped and quadruped guides and rigs and options for the automatic creation of ears, bellies, tails (to name a few) have been added – getting your characters up and running will now

CONSTRUCTION MODE So what’s all the fuss about the Construction Mode? It’s revolutionary. The operator stack of an object has been divided into four different groups, Modeling, Shape Modeling, Animation and Secondary Shape Modeling, which can be modified independently. Simply put, this will enable you to make changes to any previous step at any time while your UVs, shape animation, envelops etc, stay intact. This is a huge time-saver and another move towards a fully non-linear workflow.

take little more than a couple of mouse clicks. XSI Cloth in now included in all three versions. While users of Essentials and Foundations will be delighted, Advanced users get that bit more. Softimage has teamed up with cloth-simulation world leader Syflex, to add highly-developed cloth simulation to the standard toolset. Users of the Advanced version will have the opportunity to enjoy the new features presented in FX Tree. With 2D tracking and stabilising, an extensive library of fullycustomisable brush presets from Avid Matador, 16-bit resolution, independent vector and raster paint, support for Avid Mojo and Avid Express, as well as overall speed improvements, FX Tree is fast becoming a serious alternative to external compositors like After Effects. It’s not the features list that makes the FX Tree stand out from the crowd, but rather the advantage that comes with full integration with XSI. Data sharing with 3D scenes has become seamless.

NEXT ISSUE IN On test: Amapi 7 Pro

September 2004

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PREVIEW

MAC ✘ ■

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: £2695 CONTACT: Discreet www.discreet.com 020 7851 8000

3D SOFTWARE

3ds max 7

SPECIAL P REVIEW

Computer Arts gives you an exclusive preview of Discreet’s upcoming 3D release

FEATURES Normal Mapping generation Integrated Character Studio ● Skin Morph and Skin Wrap ● Additional Poly-editing tools, including Bridging and paint deformation ● Edit Poly modifier ● Projection mapping ● UV Unwrap enhancements ● Preserve UVs when poly editing ● Mental Ray updated to v3.3 ● Three Mental Ray Sub Surface Scattering shaders ● Render to Texture supports Mental Ray ● Adaptive Photon Mapping Distribution ● DirectX 9 features, such as Modular DX Materials, DX9 viewport and Standard material preview ● Flat Shaded Viewport display for baked textures ● ●

You can morph skinned assets progressively through several targets between a joint’s angle limits, which gives you more control over muscle deformation (for example), depending on the rotation of a limb. With the update to Mental Ray 3.3, 3ds max 7 now comes with three Sub Surface Scattering shaders; one for accuracy, one for speed and one to simulate skin.

SYSTEM ●

PC: (minimum spec to be decided)

FOR Stability improved Workflow enhancements and improvements ● “Proven” character software now integrated ● ●

AGAINST No additional PFlow features No new node-based material editor ● Some tools could be consolidated ● ●

VERDICT One of the most stable releases to date, 3ds max 7 dots the i’s and crosses the t’s of previous versions, even in its current alpha stage. The inclusion of character and modelling toolkit Character Studio makes it even more desirable...

N/A PREVIEW ONLY ★★★★★

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August 2004

With the acquisition of Unreal Pictures in May, Discreet underscored its leadership in animation technology innovation. As part of that package, Discreet acquired Character Studio, along with its patents and core technology. The result? A standard integration of Character Studio and 3ds max 7, the company’s latest release. In addition to its already heavy character feature set, improvements have been made to the “native” set – Skin Morph, Skin Wrap deformers and Parameter Collectors to display all desired parameters, notes, URLs and custom attributes in a single interface for each character. The main interface also enjoys a refreshing makeover; you can now resize file dialogs and right-click, copy and paste materials and maps into new slots, although this still isn’t possible with colour swatches. Then there’s the much-requested Edit Poly modifier, complete with – at last! – animatable tools. It’s also possible to paint deformations and soft selections with a full brush

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RESOURCE A well-placed plug-in can transform your experience of 3ds max… For striking volumetric lighting effects, try out finalRender Stage-1. Want virtual fabrics on the move? Then put clothfx to the test. Or how about some fancy particle action with AfterBurn? Check out www. turbosquid.com or www.discreet.com

palette. Tonnes of poly modelling enhancements, such as the Bridge tool, Relax, Turn Edges, Cut and Relax Vertices are also included – even a “stripped down” version of Meshsmooth, called Turbosmooth. This can speed up Viewport redrawing/rendering by a factor of 20. Another significant addition is the Object Display Culling tool. This redraws distant objects with bounding boxes if the redraw update time goes over a user-set time. Snaps have also had a good going over, and are now more accurate. Alignment and Array tools, Camera mapping, DirectX Viewport and material handling have similarly been revamped. Discreet has modified mapping, especially for modelling, too. The new Preserve UVs feature locks the mapping even if the underlying mesh is tweaked and Highlight Seams projects the mapping seam onto the mesh to reduce irregularities. Mental Ray has been updated to v3.3 and now comes with three SubSurface Scattering (SSS) shaders:

one accurate, one fast and one to simulate skin. It’s very effective and works with Render to Texture (RTT), relying on an adaptive Photon Distribution and “Incremental Echo”, to accelerate network rendering deployment over non-3ds max Mental Ray licences. You can now produce Normal maps with RTT, using the handy Projection modifier, view them in the Viewport and also render out lowpoly objects with normal maps applied in a production render. Even though this release is based on feature-locked alpha software, it’s remarkably stable, too – from what we’ve seen, even more stable than version six. Some areas, however, have been overlooked. Particle Flow, for instance, has no additional operators – and there still isn’t a node-based material editor, which is a little disappointing. Obviously, there are many other features we don’t have the space to mention here, but suffice to say 3ds max 7 is looking like a pretty substantial release.

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REVIEW

MAC ■ ✔

✔ PC ■

PRICE: $349 CONTACT: Innoventive Software 858 866 33 99 www.frameforge3d.com

STORYBOARD SOFTWARE

Frame Forge 3D Studio Invent camera moves and plan out your entire movie with this sensational storyboarding software LEFT: Frame Forge allows you to drag sets, cameras, actors and animals into place, and then position them as required.

FEATURES • Posable figures, edited on-set • Import scripts alongside your storyboard • Photo panoramas included • Customizable models and characters • Drag-and-drop set building • Elastic interactions between people and objects • Realistic representation of lenses and aspect ratios • Preset poses and relationships • Easy management of overall storyboard • Output to Flash or print

SYSTEM • MAC: G3, 500MHz or higher, 256MB RAM, 65MB HD space System 9.1 or higher • PC: PIII 350MHz, 128MB RAM, 65MB HD space, Windows 95 or higher

ABOVE: Complex shots can be shown from multiple angles, with lens choices and camera position recorded in your output.

FOR • Drag-and-drop set building • Easy-to-pose figures • Designed for film-makers rather than 3D artists

AGAINST • Occasionally unpredictable • Limited Object Library • Output to QuickTime would’ve helped enormously

VERDICT If you can’t draw and need to visualise your film before you shoot, this is a quick, easy and low-cost solution. You can test a few ideas, or plan a feature film down to the last centimetre. It takes about two hours to learn the application inside out, and then it just keeps saving you time.

★★★★★ 82

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September 2004

For years, ambitious directors have used Poser, Maya and Softimage|XSI to test their shots. More recently, Antics has been launched to create complex motion animatics. But there’s never been a good way to create storyboards on your computer. The most popular option, Storyboard Quick, is limited and frustrating to use. But Frame Forge 3D Studio gives non-3D artists a quick and easy way to build sets, place actors and set out all the dynamics of a film. The application is easy to use and can be mastered in no time, even if you have no 3D experience. It’s user-friendly throughout, with just the right level of automation. If you place a figure on top of a horse, you’re asked whether you want it to ride the horse. You can then edit the pose to suit your shot. If two figures are standing next to each other, you can apply preset relationships, to make them hold

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RESOURCE Frame Forge provides a library of free objects for 3D Studio at www. frameforge3d. com/community (just follow the link). Objects include balloons, car parts, musical instruments, houses, facial hair for actors, and extra body parts!

hands, kiss passionately, or run away from each other. Although it’s tempting to start with the actors, it’s more sensible to build your sets first. You can drop panoramic photos into the background for more realism, or build sets from the Object Library, assembling walls, staircases and doors. You can also input the dimensions of a real location. Imagine, for instance, that you want to use a 22mm lens, from the staircase, looking down at your actors. It’s anybody’s guess whether the shot will work, but you can now see exactly what will be in frame and how it will look. This is priceless information for any director and prevents surprises on set. Frame Forge rarely gets in your way, although sometimes figures leap onto tables or vanish into thin air when you least expect it. Overall, though, it’s stable and does what you want it to do quickly. You can even

import scripts. Then, when you’re done, you can export them along with lens settings, overviews and general notes you’ve made. Cameras, figures and poses are all adjusted with dials and sliders, so you need never get bogged down with the complexities of 3D. You can edit poses on set, or in the virtual Green Room, adjusting eye lines, tilts of the head, and so forth. There is no animation in Frame Forge – you create a series of static frames, complete with arrows indicating character and camera movement, which can be printed out, or exported as a Flash presentation. The best way to learn how to direct is to make films for real. Unfortunately, that means mistakes made on set and a hell of a slow learning curve. With Frame Forge 3D Studio, you can put yourself through a virtual film school, and become a better director without having to make your mistakes in public.

REVIEW

MAC ■ ✘

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: £246 (upgrade £58) CONTACT: Adobe 020 8606 1100 www.adobe.co.uk

AUDIO

Adobe Audition 1.5 The Video Collection’s world-famous audio editor gets its first Adobe makeover

FEATURES • Integrated CD burning • VST and ReWire support • Frequency space editing • Improved pitch correction and time stretching • Enhanced video support • Improved vocal/ instrument extraction • Automatic click/pop removal • Royalty-free loops and sample sessions • Bézier envelope editing

Many existing features, such as pitch correction, have been revised, making them much easier to understand.

SYSTEM • 400MHz processor • 64MB RAM • Windows 2000/XP

FOR • Simplified dialogue options • Video integration within timeline • Frequency Space Editor

This is an Adobe app, but not as we know it. Audition’s unusual interface may still baffle new users.

With video support directly from the timeline, your audio will sync perfectly.

When Audition was first released, there was concern as to how well it would integrate with Adobe’s Video Collection. The main problem was that the software, already established by its former developer Syntrillium under the title Cool Edit Pro, had little in common with its new siblings. Unable to make major modifications in time, Adobe effectively launched the application as a re-badged version of Cool Edit Pro. This release marks the first true update under the Adobe banner... The interface remains largely unaltered, but dig a little deeper and you’ll start to appreciate the enhancements that Adobe has introduced. A number of revised features simplify existing controls, making the title easier for the average video editor to understand. Integrated CD burning, sample sessions and royalty-free loops provide instant gratification, while improvements made to existing

track (a stray cough, for instance) without damaging the track at all. Despite retaining its original Cool Edit Pro interface, new ‘integration’friendly features enable Audition to interact with related titles such as a multi-channel encoder that creates 5.1 surround sound ready to export to Premiere Pro. There are also relatively minor enhancements that ensure a smoother workflow with After Effects and Encore DVD, as well as dedicated third-party apps such as Propellerheads’ ReWire. Adobe has its job cut out trying to please both new video and existing audio users, but both will appreciate the simplified revisions made to some key audio tasks. The new Frequency Space Editor is sure to be popular, and although the existing interface skin sits uncomfortably with its related titles, it is at least logical to use. Adobe had better make a decision whether it should stay or go pretty soon before the video boys get too used to it...

AGAINST • No Mac version • Non-standard Adobe interface

VERDICT Although new to the Adobe fold, Audition 1.5 is an established and respected audio editing tool, thanks to its previous Syntrillium identity. The simplification of existing features, plus a general Adobe make-over, will help it appeal to new video enthusiasts, as well as its original audio fans.

★★★★★

Ë

features – pitch correction, clip-time stretching and automated click/pop elimination – have refined actions that previously took a little more experience to achieve. However, VST and ReWire support will be popular among old-school audiophiles as the software expands from a basic audio editor into a more powerful, multi-instrument-friendly sequencer. You can also view video frames via the Audition timeline, to ensure soundtracks sync perfectly with your footage. The Extraction feature also benefits from simplified controls, which effectively strip out specific frequencies, enabling you to create an instant instrumental Karaoke-like track with ease. However, such handy developments pale into insignificance when compared with the dedicated Frequency Space Editor. With aural similarities to the Photoshop Healing brush and Patch tools, this feature intelligently removes any unwanted audio from a

RESOURCE Visit Adobe’s dedicated Audition resource at www. adobe.com/ support/products/ audition.html for troubleshooting or advice on making the most out of the application. Top issues include: how to optimise the input level for recording, the advantages of Normalising files, and much more.

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MAC ✔ ■

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: Full version $200 (approx. £109) Upgrade $100 (approx. £55)

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Extensis Portfolio 7 The leading asset management application expands with direct-to-Web publishing

CONTACT: Extensis 01604 636300 www.extensis.co.uk

Main image: You can now access all the key attributes of your growing image collection from within a single screen.

FEATURES • NetPublish Web-page creation • Redesigned UI • Intelligent galleries • Integrated conversion tools • CD publishing and archiving • Full-screen previews • Contact sheet printing • Low-res previews • Roundtrip Metadata • EXIF support

Inset: NetPublish provides a range of usable templates to create powerful search-capable online galleries.

SYSTEM • PC: Pentium III 400MHz; 256MB RAM; Windows 2000/XP • MAC: Power Mac G3; 256MB RAM; OS X 10.2.8

FOR • NetPublish Web-page creation • Metadata and EXIF recognition • Intelligent Galleries

AGAINST • No support prior to OS X 10.2.8 • Slow initial indexing due to the creation of preview images

VERDICT Portfolio has a long and respected reputation within larger design environments and the new version continues that tradition. With its server, SQL and NetPublish variants supporting the base client application, nothing will touch the power behind this great asset management solution.

★★★★★ 84

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September 2004

Portfolio is one of those apps that can be found quietly doing its thing within the networks of most image libraries, and design agencies. Problem is, when it comes to organising images most computers are actually pretty useless at working out the subject and content of what’s effectively a chaotic mass of coloured pixels. Keyword association has long been the way to organise such files, and Portfolio the database app of choice to carry out such a task. But with Photoshop’s enhanced file browser catering for personal use and Version Cue stepping into the fray in more collaborative environments, how does the future look for the Extensis title? A revised interface is the first noticeable difference. Primary controls are now available through a single-window workspace, which

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RESOURCE Well-known advocates of Portfolio include Ducati Motors (www.ducati.com), Estee Lauder (www.esteelauder. com), Hallmark Cards (www. hallmark.com), Kellogg’s (www. kelloggs.com), Gap (www.gap. com), Rolls-Royce (www.rollsroycemotorcars. com) and FedEx (www.fedex.com).

provides access to your assets, catalogues and the new Galleries concept. Effectively sub-groups, Galleries can be configured to ensure catalogued files are automatically associated with such predefined collections, thereby automating file organisation. You’ll also discover how Portfolio generates low-res JPEG previews of your files, providing speedier access to larger assets, as well as improved distribution methods, whether via email or burning to CD. Such publishing can also now be carried out directly from within Portfolio with its new CD publishing and archiving options. You can collect files, create catalogues and add to your Portfolio Browser before burning to CD/DVD in one simple step. Then there’s support for what Extensis calls Roundtrip Metadata. This enables you to embed

keywords, descriptions and custom field content directly into the files. The advantage? Such data remains independent of Portfolio, ensuring it isn’t lost should files be transferred to another asset-managing package. Conversely, Portfolio is now better at translating existing EXIF data embedded into images through digital cameras. With this facility, image libraries will be able to work out not only what camera was used, but its particular settings as well. Extensis hopes that its latest addition, NetPublish, will attract new users as well as encourage existing customers to upgrade. Rather than simply asking you to define a folder from which the software creates a simple set of pages, though, NetPublish includes a variety of prolevel templates that you can use to create a fully searchable online gallery, with support for batch downloads. This is a huge benefit to the ever-increasing collections hosted by stock image libraries. For existing Portfolio users, a more than impressive upgrade.

REVIEW

MAC ■ ✔

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: $179 (£120) CONTACT: Alias 01494 441 273 www.alias.com

ILLUSTRATION

Alias SketchBook Pro Simplicity is key in this refreshingly fuss-free paint and drawing application from Alias

FEATURES • Interface accommodates natural hand movements • Drawing and paint tools that feel and respond like the real thing • Customisable markers, pens, pencils, and airbrushes • Create your own brush presets • Simple one-button instant screen captures • Drawing layers for preserving original images or backgrounds • Adjustable canvas size • A versatile 30-brushstroke Undo/Redo option • Works with digital photos and TIFF, BMP, GIF, PNG and JPEG file formats • Annotate images on layers and email them with comments intact

Registered users can download over 25MBs of background images to use with SketchBook Pro from the official Alias Website at www.alias.com.

SYSTEM • PC: Pentium II 266MHz; Windows XP or Windows 2000 only • MAC: G4 or G5, 128 MB RAM, OS X 10.3 or greater The Snapshot utility and integrated email functions make it easy to send images to clients or colleagues.

Edit Brush options and settings by double-clicking your Brush preset.

FOR • Simple and easy to use • Intuitive interface design • Excellent pen and tablet support

AGAINST • Lack of even basic layer masking • New file size is set up under Preferences, not each time you create a file • Pan/Zoom tool is a little annoying

VERDICT SketchBook Pro is a refreshingly well-designed app for traditional drawing that focuses on ease of use rather than unnecessary extra features. Intuitive to use and keenly priced, Alias’ simple yet rugged app will please digital artists of all kinds; at last, a digital sketchbook for all your needs!

★★★★★

Graphic designers, art editors, illustrators, Web designers and storyboard artists will certainly put this application to good use… All the tools you need to create and add colour to sketches are here, as well as enough juice to create production-quality digital paintings. Unlike other drawing applications, specifically Painter, SketchBook Pro is quite simple to use. There aren’t dozens of paint styles to choose from; the small Brushes palette is really all you need, and you can easily customise the presets. It’s a lot also less fiddly than Painter – and even Photoshop. It’s more intuitive to use, too. The Tool icons immediately reveal their relevant functions in a circle of buttons surrounding the Tool button – all you have to do is drag your mouse to the preferred option. This simplicity makes drawing a real pleasure. Experienced tablet users

Ë

will marvel at the responsiveness of the tools and exceptional pressuresensitivity. It’s as close to traditional drawing as you could wish for. Layers, an essential tool in almost every creative app these days, are also prominent, and simple enough to use. Clicking and dragging on the Layer icon reveals relevant functions, but don’t expect anything fancy like Blending Modes or Layer Masks. An interesting Layer feature is the ability to draw in the Name Layer window. What you draw in this window is used to identify the Layer in the Layers palette; text isn’t required. It’s another reminder of just how drawing-orientated this application really is. The screen capture function is also useful. With a single click, you can capture what’s on screen, regardless of the app you’re using. The screen capture is then automatically opened up in

RESOURCE There’s a great demonstration of SketchBook Pro’s versatility by respected cartoonist Mike Krahulik at: www.alias. com/eng/ community/ tutorials/ sketchbook/ penny_arcade_ demo.html

SketchBook Pro. This is useful for annotating images on separate layers to indicate revisions or for adding any comments. The interface is a little confusing at first, not because it’s difficult to navigate, but simply because it’s quite different from previous Adobe apps, being built around Alias’ new Marking Menu technology. However, it quickly becomes intuitive. It’s obvious that much effort went into creating a user-interface specifically for tablet and stylus users, which is a welcome change. That said, the interface isn’t without its faults – specifically, the frustrating way the Pan/Zoom tool works. Also, the Layer Opacity is adjusted in a separate floating window that must be closed before you can return to drawing. Still, these faults are minor and will more than likely be addressed as SketchBook Pro matures.

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REVIEW

MAC ✔ ■

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: £3000 CONTACT: The Pixel Farm www.thepixelfarm.co.uk

MOTION-TRACKING

PFTrack 2

Version 2 of this 3D motion-tracking package is no one-trick pony

FEATURES 2D and 3D camera tracking Import of AVI or still image sequences ● Camera calibration ● Support for tracking, zooming, panning and tilting shots ● Masking and keying tools ● Output for 2D compositors ● Output for 3D packages ● Output of optical flow data ● ●

Ignore the daunting interface – you won’t have to use many of the controls.

SYSTEM MAC: G4, 750MHz, 256MB RAM, OS 10.2.1 • PC: PIII, 256MB RAM, Windows 2000/XP ●

FOR Simple to use Optical flow increases functionality ● Accurate tracking ● ●

Export data to After Effects, Shake or most 3D packages, so you can, er, dump dinos in your street!

Tracking takes a while, but you can speed the process up by providing shot and camera information.

PFTrack is a 3D tracking package that enables you to take a video clip – whether it’s tripod mounted, handheld or a dolly shot – and track the motion of the camera in 3D space. By analysing the image, PFTrack can produce a match for the camera’s zoom and focal settings, its position and its motion path, and then export the data in a form compatible with most 3D packages. This means that you can take any video scene, and place 3D elements, models and effects into the shot no matter how the camera was moving during shooting. Trackers found in compositing packages and video editors only work in 2D – so you can work with a shot where the camera moves horizontally or vertically. But this is useless if your camera pans, zooms or rotates. Trackers should be as automated as possible, as fast as possible, and as reliable as possible. There’s no creative element to the task, and nobody really wants to waste their

the camera was zooming or just moving, and whether the principle point remains the same throughout. But how does a tracking package grow from a one-trick pony into a flexible post-production tool? Version 2 answers this question with a new set of optical flow functions. With these tools, you can analyse the motion of pixels over the entire duration of a clip, then use this data with a range of tools currently still in development at Pixel Farm. Other updates include faster tracking algorithms, better control over tracked points, the ability to work with graphics tablets, and superior matting and keying tools. Stylistically, the interface could be improved. The common tools could be larger and more accessible and the hierarchical project window could be simplified. In addition, the new optical flow tools are a little premature, since the products they’re destined to feed into haven’t yet matured.

AGAINST Technology still pricey Manual controls difficult to use ● Automatic tracking needs regular fine-tuning ● ●

VERDICT PFTrack 2 is fast and efficient. It completes what can be a dreadful job simply and quickly (as long as your footage is good), and the package is expanding fast enough to give it the chance of a future – until 3D packages and compositors provide 3D motiontracking for free.

★★★★★ 86

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September 2004

Ë

RESOURCE For more info on upcoming Pixel Farm plug-ins that will make use of optical flow data, visit www. thepixelfarm. co.uk/news/ newsarticles. aspx?NewsID=35. Current plug-ins include PFPlate (to generate clean plates), PFRetime (to speed up/slow down shots) and PFBlur (for quality motion blur).

time doing it. Anything that you have to do, therefore, between loading your video clip and saving out the tracked camera path is an irritation. It’s a little disheartening, then, to load up PFTrack and discover an array of buttons, controls and menus when all you really want is a Track button. However, once you get going, the level of automation is impressive. It’s a simple four-stage process, and most of the time you don’t even need to be there. All those controls and settings are in place purely so that you can rescue a shot if all the automatic procedures fail. Most of the time, you can do most of your work by clicking a single button. Once you start the process, the program goes through your footage frame by frame, tracking dozens of points over the image surface. It uses this data to place each point in 3D and extrapolate the motion and type of the camera. This can take a while, but you can expedite matters by letting it know whether

BOOKS

BOOKS

The best reads this month on Computer Arts

SONIC: VISUALS FOR MUSIC Authors Ronert Klantec, Hendrik Hellige, Tom Hulan Price £26.99 Publisher Die Gestalten Verlag ISBN 3-89955-040-4

Some say that cover art for LPs died a nasty death during the eighties when we stopped buying dusty old vinyl and moved over to the clinical medium of CD. This book sets out to prove otherwise. Featuring over 1000 examples of global CD cover art, promotion posters and artwork, Sonic amply demonstrates how much can be achieved in the 12x12cm space available to modern designers. And if the book tells us anything about the cover art of the past few years, it’s just how eclectic the medium is – ranging here from

sub-Peter Saville minimalism and clever typographic games to the full-on punk graphics currently favoured by many a US indie act. Sonic is certainly an absorbing book that manages to showcase an enormous range of current design, but it left us wanting more in terms of information on the designers themselves and the musicians they worked with. An alphabetical index would have been nice, too. One question: why do the current crop of cover designers avoid using pictures of the bands producing the music? Are they really that ugly?

A GUIDE TO INTERNET FILMMAKING Authors Ana Kronschnabl & Tomas Rawlings Price £9.95 Publisher Marion Boyar ISBN 0-71453-102-2

The authors of this book believe Web films – those “made with the medium of the Internet and its constraints in mind” – are a “unique new form of media” and have produced this very readable work to both examine the cultural implications of the Internet as a filmmaker’s medium and provide a practical guide to basic Internet movie production. Split roughly into two parts – Thinking and Doing – the first section covers Web film technology standards, copyright issues and ways of making money from Web films, while the second offers advice on cameras and software, compression, hosting and streaming. A comprehensive appendix also maps out a standard

Hollywood-format script and storyboard for those aiming high. If you’re after a hands-on guide to the field, this probably isn’t the book for you, but as a well written, intelligent overview, it really works.

SPOON Authors Ron Arad, Giulio Cappellini, Laura Housley and others Price £45 Publisher Phaidon ISBN 0-7148-4251-6

Presenting the work of 100 new designers in a book “curated” by ten leading industry figures such as Ron Arad, Giulio Cappellini and Laura Housely may sound like a recipe for disaster, but within the pages of its innovatively presented contoured steel cover, Spoon just about pulls it off. Covering the full gamut of contemporary product design, encompassing furniture, lighting, tableware, even a particularly attractive wallmounted toilet roll and newspaper holder, Spoon adds enormous

amounts of detail to a wide range of design styles. Despite being tricky to navigate and rather unwieldy with its tin cover, Spoon is an engrossing guide to the latest in product design.

September 2004

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GROUP TEST

88

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September 2004

GROUP TEST

SONIC DVDIT 5 P90

AHEAD NERO 6 SUITE P90

GROUP TEST

DVD AUTHORING SOFTWARE

ROXIO CREATOR 7 P91

Standards are rising, prices are falling and more titles are emerging. But which DVD authoring and design packages would successfully break you into this popular medium? We put five of the best to the CA test Digital media has boom periods as new technologies emerge. We saw DTP, CD-ROM and Web design go through such gold rush phases as designers jumped onto the creative bandwagon. With the monumental increase in DVD consumer sales putting VHS to shame, you can be sure you’ll witness a new trend over the coming years as DVD production and demand reaches new heights. But finding the right tool to help you take full advantage of this new media is tricky. Windows users are spoilt for choice, but when you’re searching for the kind of application that can stretch the limitations of the media, as well as your creativity, that’s another matter. We’ve grouped together a range of titles that offer DVD menu design features for both PC and Mac. All have strengths and weaknesses depending on your requirements. If you want to go for the ultimate package, as always you’ll need to invest both time and money. But if you need a quick DVD fix for an occasional project, you’ll be more suited to the cheaper, entry-level applications. However, although less costly, these will limit your potential. So read on and you may find just the right title for you...

Ë

APPLE DVD STUDIO PRO 3 P91

Illustration by Scott Hansen. www.iso50.com

ADOBE ENCORE DVD 1.5 P92

September 2004

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GROUP TEST

Sonic DVDit 5

Ahead Nero 6 Suite

A mid-priced, mid-level package for the occasional author

It’s cheap as chips but is this application just too basic?

MAC ✗ ■

MAC ✗ ■

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: £171 STREET PRICE: £171 CONTACT: Sonic 020 7437 1100 www.sonic.com

DVDit 5 is a recent upgrade from Sonic that sits between their entry-level MyDVD and more advanced ReelDVD applications. Although not quite in the same league as our preferred packages, this mid-level title has much to offer some users. Getting to grips with DVD design and authoring can be a daunting prospect for new or occasional users and the Wizardbased approach, offered through the primary tabs and employed by the software interface, certainly helps to put things in context as you explore additional, more advanced, features. Despite this, it is still possible to access and configure asset properties that fully stretch the software’s potential and with Photoshop PSD recognition, including layers, there’s no reason why your final project can’t have a professionally polished design.

Ë

VERDICT

The software’s approach certainly helps to establish some of the core considerations of a new project, but these tend to be basic. Chapter points can be defined and recognised through a timeline during subsequent authoring stages and while motion menu and improved navigation support add to the title’s potential, these are all elements you should take for granted at this level. However, Sonic has been developing authoring systems since 1986, so you can rest assured that your final project is reliable even if the overall options don’t quite match your expectations. DVDit may not be as powerful as our preferred applications, but it does well to balance ease of use with a range of essential features. For the ambitious, though, the higher-end ReelDVD title might be worth a look.

★★★★★

Although comparatively limited, DVDit provides a useful introduction to the media for savvy creatives and those who need to create the occasional DVD menu without getting bogged down with technicalities.

90

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September 2004

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: 78.99 Euros (approx. £52.50) STREET PRICE: £35 CONTACT: Koch 01256 707877 www.nero.com

Many Windows users will be familiar with Ahead Nero as the OEM CD burner that’s often bundled with new systems, but the latest Nero 6 Suite has a few more strings to its bow. The package contains a number of related media titles that enhance the original Burning ROM software. If you’re working with DVD content, however, the suite provides NeroVision Express 2 , which, as you might expect, has strong burning capabilities. Unfortunately, as a dedicated DVD authoring and design app this leaves much to be desired. The main problem: its simplified nature. Nero 6 is unashamedly aimed towards a consumer-based audience, with basic tools and features that bear more in common with Windows Movie Maker than anything that would be used to create professional DVD content.

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RESOURCE Sonic’s Knowledge Base support site features a range of online tutorials to help you make the most of DVDit. Visit http://support. sonic.com/ desktop/tutorials.a sp?type=desktop& product=dvdit for further details.

VERDICT

A basic timeline is available, onto which you can add a range of video and text effects, but we suspect that most target users will utilise the Storyboard view. Editing options are available, but again, such elements have been created very much with a less confident audience in mind. The Wizard-based process continues through a range of aided screens that progress through chapter definition and menu creation before completing with preview (complete with virtual remote control) and burn options. There is also access to (relatively) more technical aspects such as the transcoding quality and aspect ratio, but these are buried away within a collapsible section of the interface – no doubt so as not to frighten off the target consumer user. As a professional option NeroVision Express 2 simply isn’t an option.

★★★★★

This is an effective entry-level application, with close ties to related applications within the suite, which provides a consumer-oriented solution to DVD-content creation.

GROUP TEST

Apple DVD Studio Pro 3

Roxio Creator 7 Roxio’s comprehensive tool suite gives it the edge

A Mac application at last, and its totally worth the wait

MAC ✗ ■

MAC ✔ ■

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: £69.99 STREET PRICE: £64.62 CONTACT: Roxio 01908 278100 www.roxio.co.uk

Like Nero, Roxio is probably better known for its Easy CD and Toast burning applications for Windows and Mac. But although Roxio also has similarities to the competition, its Creator 7 suite is much more than a simple spin off. This latest package offers many impressive new features for working with audio, video and photography in addition to the core burning options offered by Nero. Installation is a comparatively slow process, although this can be forgiven once you consider the number of applications that have been squeezed onto the CD. As with the Nero suite, a more simplistic approach marks the difference between consumer and professional-level applications, but the primary application of interest here is the professional authoring component DVD Builder.

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VERDICT

A clean and easy-to-understand interface allows you to explore the available options for importing assets, adding transitions and editing intro titles. And although heavily Wizard and template-based, the options available are pretty good – you can import your own work if you prefer, whether this is background imagery, video or audio. Like the Nero 6 Suite, most of the advanced options are buried away to make things easier for the target audience. But although you have a modest amount of control over such attributes, your end results will never stretch to much more than a basic DVD interface. However, the VideoWave component of the Roxio collection allows video content to be modified with reasonable flexibility, and audio and graphic elements are catered for with dedicated, if basic, tools.

★★★★★

A comprehensive suite of tools that challenges the options of the Nero bundle and manages to win out with a preferable interface and a more effective toolset.

PC ■ ✗

PRICE: £349 STREET PRICE: £306 CONTACT: Apple 0800 0391010 www.apple.com

Unlike PC users who have a proliferation of DVD authoring applications at all levels, Mac creatives remain a little short of options. iDVD is a useful entry-level package that is integrated into the iLife suite, but the mighty DVD Studio Pro 3 makes up for any availability shortfalls for the Apple OS. Given the selection of titles put to the test this month, DVD Studio Pro 3 is one of the clear winners. It lifts itself head and shoulders above the competition, providing the kind of control you would expect from a professional-level application. There’s control over transitions, menus, buttons and sub-pictures that lesser applications gloss over with predefined options, while authoring features include asset management, automatic transcoding and contextual palettes that enhance the fully configurable interface.

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RESOURCE If you’re just getting started with DVD authoring and would like to know more about Apple’s DVD Studio Pro 3, visit www. apple.com/ dvdstudiopro/ quicktour/basic. html and watch the Quick Tour overview.

VERDICT

Pointing out features in the new version 3, such as render-free transition preview, alpha transitions, DTS Audio, Photoshop integration and increased output support, only reflects the professionalism of the title. There’s a Compressor application, for better control of encoding and compressing audio and video, as well as improved integration with the related Final Cut Pro videoediting package. Apple also promises integration with its new title, Motion, which should provide broad-ranging options that extend beyond the authoring of DVD menus. For users new to the software, the ability to work in Basic, Extended or Advanced modes is a great feature that will allow you to discover the more advanced features as you gain confidence. This is an important and welcome consideration for those attempting to master this medium.

★★★★★

If you’re a Mac user and you’re serious about creating DVD content, there is no alternative to the strengths and features provided through Apple’s DVD Studio Pro 3.

September 2004

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GROUP TEST

MAC ■ ✗

PC ✔ ■

PRICE: £452 STREET PRICE: £400 CONTACT: Adobe 020 8606 1100 www.adobe.co.uk

SYSTEM • Pentium III 800MHz or faster • Windows XP • 256MB of RAM • 1GB of available hard-disk space • DVD-ROM drive • Stereo sound card • QuickTime 6.5 recommended

Adobe Encore DVD 1.5

RECOMME NDED

FEATURES • Integrated/background transcoding • QuickTime file support • DV preview of menus • Link verification • Dual-layer disc support • Region coding and copy protection • Square and non-square pixel support • Layer and layer-set support • Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects integration

FOR • Familiar interface and integration • Comprehensive toolset • Output to all recordable DVD formats

AGAINST • No Mac version • Best used with related titles

VERDICT This new version proves to be a usable and fully-featured application that provides a strong range of design and authoring options. A close call with Apple, but this software’s potential when used with related Video Collection titles is enormous.

★★★★★ 92

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September 2004

Adobe’s PC-only DVD application proves that it’s well worth going straight to the top When with its last generational upgrade Adobe made the decision to focus primarily on the Windows platform, many Mac users were up in arms. They lost access to popular video editor Premiere, effectively gaining less potential from the universal motion graphics package After Effects. However, PC-owning video creatives were over the moon when a dedicated audio-editing package joined the fold in the guise of Audition and DVD authoring was finally addressed with the introduction of Encore DVD. With native integration across such leading stable-mates, Encore DVD 1.5 certainly has the upper edge for designing, creating and authoring DVD menu content. But with the recent .5 upgrade, just announced across their entire Video Collection range, such integration has reached an unprecedented scale, allowing the video producer to create the kind of DVD content that is restricted only by individual creativity.

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RESOURCE Adobe is currently offering six professionallydesigned sets of DVD menu templates with every copy of Encore DVD 1.5 registered. These templates include Filmclip, Corporate, Outdoor retail, Vacation, Tech and Wedding. Visit www.adobe.co.uk/ products/encore/ regencoredvd.html for more details.

There are parallels to be drawn here with Apple’s DVD Studio Pro 3. Workflow is improved with integrated transcoding, converting AVI and now QuickTime source files into MPEG-2 video and Dolby Digital audio. It’s also possible to customise the familiar Adobe workspace, arranging elements that can be saved for future use for more specific tasks, while DVD preview of menus and a comprehensive range of output formats offer further high-end features. The creative options raise the bar against the rival OS title with an enhanced Library palette that allows organisation of your assets from background layers to text layers and vector shapes to controlling your project’s buttons, images and menu templates. A Styles palette reflects influences from Photoshop and allows common features such as drop shadows to be applied in seconds. Square and non-square pixel support, another feature seen in Photoshop, finds support within

the DVD package, which proves crucial for those creating anamorphic content. Further integration with the Adobe image editor provides full support for Photoshop CS guides. This ensures accurate and consistent layout against background and artwork created especially within the project. .psd files can be imported to form buttons, text and images and can be stored as layers and layer sets to retain their editability should further changes become necessary. Premiere Pro can also be used to create chapter points from markers in AVI and MPEG-2 files. After Effects allows such a provision as well as allowing PSD menus to be sent directly from within Encore DVD to the motion graphics software. From there you can take full advantage of the advanced feature set in which the title already excels. It has been a close fought battle between Adobe and Apple, but Adobe has just come out on top.

GROUP TEST

CONCLUSION The choice of software titles available for creating DVD menus is undoubtedly growing, although entry-level applications are still driven by consumer requirements. These applications tend to be moulded into a suite of tools that ultimately provide a method of distributing home photographic or video footage into an interface that will no doubt impress the relatives, but leave little to satisfy the professional user. This month’s group test has proved that there’s little to distinguish the two leaders, although ultimately the choice between the Adobe and Apple methods will undoubtedly be determined by your chosen platform. There are high-end alternatives to these options

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PRODUCT

SONIC DVDIT 5

however, most notably through Sonic’s ReelDVD and Ulead’s DVD Workshop titles, although the main factor for us when considering the Apple and Adobe options is the support that both titles enjoy from related applications such as Premiere Pro and After Effects from Adobe and Final Cut Pro and the soon to be released Motion titles from Apple. This emerging media isn’t quite as new as you might expect, although prices are falling and its potential is certainly rising. Consider DVDit 2.1, which we reviewed way back in January 2001 (Computer Arts, issue 53). We struggled to award the title a two-star rating, which isn’t too surprising when you consider the limited

AHEAD NERO 6 SUITE

ROXIO CREATOR 7

feature set offered at the time for just short of £800. Compare this with the vastly superior options available with the Apple or Adobe titles for around half the price and you will get some idea of how software development currently operates. The more basic options are fine for a quick fix, but as we’ve already discovered, they provide nowhere near the kind of results that will be demanded if you’re working in the professional arena. You’d be much better off jumping straight into one of our two preferred titles – Apple’s DVD Studio Pro 3 or Adobe’s Encore 1.5 and developing your skills, which will only improve with time and upgrades.

APPLE DVD STUDIO PRO 3

ADOBE ENCORE DVD 1.5

RECOMMEN DED

Platform

PC

PC

PC

Mac

PC

System requirements

Windows XP Pentium III 800MHz 128MB RAM

Windows 98+ Pentium III 1.6GHz 128MB RAM

Windows XP/2000 Pentium 4 1.6GHz 256MB RAM

OS X v10.3.2 G4 733MHz 256MB RAM

Windows XP Pentium III 800 MHz 256MB RAM

User level

Intermediate

Beginner

Beginner

Advanced

Advanced

Timeline

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Scripting support

No

No

No

Yes

No

Photoshop support

Yes Layers recognised

No Flattened images only

No Flattened images only

Yes Layers recognised

Yes Layers, layer sets and nonsquare pixels recognised

Video editing

No

Integrated

Via Roxio VideoWave 7

Via Final Cut Pro and Motion

Via Premiere Pro and After Effects

Motion menus

Yes

Yes

No

Yes

Yes

PAL/NTSC

Yes

Yes

Yes

Automatic scene detection

Manual

Yes

Yes

Based on chapter markers

Created manually or from Premiere Pro/After Effects marker points

Price

£171

£52.50

£69.99

£349

£452

Score

★★★

★★

★★

Yes

★★★★

Yes

★★★★ September 2004

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94

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April September 2004 2004

BUYER’S GUIDE Graphics and layout software

WELCOME

P96 PHOTOSHOP CS

The industry standard image editor Welcome to the Computer Arts Buyer’s Guide – an indispensable resource that summarises popular products we’ve tried and tested in previous issues. It saves you flicking through your back issues to find out how we scored a particular product; here you can simply see at a glance what we thought of it. Every month, we update the section with our latest reviews, ensuring that you’re always up to date when it comes to making that vital buying decision. Note also that the price we print is the

RRP suggested by the manufacturer, so you could pay less if you shop around. Indeed, when it comes to locating the best bargains, the Internet should always be your first port of call. Whether you buy directly via an e-tailer, or use a dedicated Website’s search facilities to snap up a brilliant deal, there’s no better way to make your money go further. RECOMMENDED URLS: www.ebay.co.uk, www.dabs.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.kelkoo.com

3D software P96 ZBRUSH 2

Truly stunning 3D modeller

Mobile hard drives P97 LACIE MOBILE HARD DRIVE Low price and great features

Digital SLRs P97 CANON EOS 10D

Superbly featured digital SLR

Scanners and printers P97 EPSON PERFECTION 4870 First class scanner

Graphics cards P97 FIREGL X2 256T

Top-end, pro-level performer

Digital video P98 FINAL CUT PRO HD

The latest version hits the mark

Web, animation, CD/DVD P98 DVD STUDIO PRO 3

Creative heaven for DVD writers

Plug-ins P99 NIK COLOR EFEX PRO Terrific set of colour filters

Graphic tablets P99 WACOM INTUOS2 A4 REGULAR PLATINUM A brilliant and versatile tool

VERDICT OUR RATING SYSTEM EXPLAINED: All our products go through rigorous testing to get a rating in our verdict September July 2004 and only truly outstanding and essential pieces of kit receive five out of fi95 ve

|

BUYER’S GUIDE

GRAPHICS AND LAYOUT SOFTWARE NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

STUDIO ARTIST 3

Mac

Image processing and real-time video effects in this, the latest edition of the world’s only “graphics synthesiser”.

Synthetik Software

$379

www.synthetik.com

95

★★★★ Not the easiest graphics package to get to

ILLUSTRATOR CS

Mac PC

Industry standard vector graphics software – a vital tool for anyone who needs to design for print or the Web.

Adobe

£511

www.adobe.co.uk

89

★★★★ Offers smaller improvements across the board, but not exactly what you’d call a huge upgrade.

PHOTOSHOP CS

Mac PC

The design daddy, the creative king, and the industry standard professional image editor.

Adobe

£605

www.adobe.co.uk

89

★★★★ Improvements across the board make this a more versatile tool than ever.

FREEHAND MX

Mac PC

An easy-to-learn graphics environment for designing illustrations and organising data for print/Web or Flash.

Macromedia

£299

www.macromedia. com

82

★★★★★ A rock-solid release that

QUARKXPRESS 6

Mac PC

The tried-and-tested publishing tool of yesteryear plods into the present. Better late than never…

Quark

£1095

http://euro.quark. com

87

★★★ A comfortable and familiar upgrade,

INDESIGN CS

Mac PC

Adobe’s DTP upstart comes of age as QuarkXPresskiller InDesign approaches industry standard status.

Adobe

£716

www.adobe.co.uk/ products/indesign

67

★★★★ InDesign now simply amazes – and utterly trounces QuarkXPress.

COREL PAINTER 8

Mac PC

The ultimate digital sketching and painting app, with over 400 brushes and over 30 mediums to paint with.

Corel

£367

www.corel.co.uk/ painter8

84

★★★★★ A stunning tool that’s more

GRAPHICS SUITE 12

Mac PC

Education-tailored vector graphics package with sketching capabilities and intelligent drawing tools.

Corel

£422

www.corel.co.uk

94

★★★ A good combination of bitmap, vector and animation tools at a decent price.

FIREWORKS MX 2004

Mac PC

Create, optimise and integrate great Web graphics, from simple buttons to sophisticated rollover animations.

Macromedia

£249

www.macromedia. com

71

★★★★ No crass effects and gizmos; just smart changes to improve an already praiseworthy app.

PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2.0

Mac PC

Share your photos as prints, by email or via the Web. Great fixing tools, too, streamlined for easier use.

Adobe

£77

www.adobe.co.uk

73

★★★★ Don’t dismiss Elements as a cut-down version of its big brother – it’s much more than that!

grips with, but persevere and it comes into its own.

DED RECOMMEN

offers a plethora of invaluable tools . DED RECOMMEN

but InDesign still has the edge, design-wise.

powerful and more intuitive than ever.

DED RECOMMEN

3D SOFTWARE NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

POSER 5

Mac PC

Leading 3D character design and animation tool for artists and animators, with ready-to-use models.

Curious Labs

289 euros

www.curiouslabs. com

76

★★★ Despite shortfalls, Poser proves handy for

SHAKE 3.5

Mac PC

Small but effective update for Apple’s industry-standard compositing and visual effects application.

Apple

£2099

www.apple.com/uk/ shake

99

3DS MAX 6

Mac PC

Acclaimed modelling, animation and rendering solution used by 3D artists worldwide.

Discreet

£2814

www.discreet.com

92

MAYA 6

Mac PC

Academy Award®-winning 3D animation and effects software that’s become the film industry’s favourite tool.

Alias

£1645

www.alias.com

97

VUE 4 PROFESSIONAL

Mac PC

Natural 3D scenery rendering package that enables you to generate lush landscapes at the click of a button.

E-On Software

£419

www.e-onsoftware. com

91

★★★★ A cut above other 3D packages – and

BRYCE 5

Mac PC

Create ultra-realistic 3D landscapes and animations. Boasts network rendering, and new light and tree tabs.

Corel

$80

www.corel.com

61

★★★★ Great for creating lush yet believable

TRUESPACE 6.6

Mac PC

Popular and powerful 3D animation and rendering package. Features an enhanced particle system.

Caligari

$595

www.caligari.com

85

★★★ A worthy 3D program, rich in features,

SILO

PC

Affordable polygon-modelling program that aims to be a cheap yet powerful alternative to its pricier peers.

Nevercenter

$109

www.nevercenter. com

93

★★★★ Professional-level modelling tools at your fingertips for a fraction of the cost. Great value.

CINEMA 4D 8.5

Mac PC

Powerful yet accessible 3D modelling and animation application, widely used in the film industry.

Maxon

£499

www.maxon.net

97

★★★★ Create realistic images with ease. New

MOJOPACK

Mac PC

Compendium of planets, plug-ins, terrain maps and tutorials for planet/landscape-generator MojoWorld.

Pandromeda

$99

www.pandromeda. com

97

★★★ An interesting collection, but hardly a

ZBRUSH 2

PC

V2 of this innovative 2D painting/3D modelling hybrid is faster than ever and boasts hi-res mesh support.

Pixologic

$489

www.pixologic.com

98

★★★★★ A stunning 3D package that sets

A long-awaited upgrade of this competitive 3D modelling and animation package.

NewTek

LIGHTWAVE 3D 8

96

|

September 2004

Mac PC

scene visualisation and quick character set-ups.

★★★★★ Excellent colour correction tools from Apple’s pricey but powerful app.

DED RECOMMEN

★★★★ Vertex Painting should keep 3ds max popular in the games industry.

★★★★ Alias has made major improvements, although the app remains as tricky to master. soon-to-be leader in its field. landscapes and spectacular architecture.

but poor workflow makes using it a chore.

features include extra shaders and better Booleans. substitute for a full-on MojoWorld update. a new standard for detailed polygon modelling. £699

www.newtek.com

93

N/A Brand new bones and dynamics systems make LightWave 8 a force to be reckoned with.

DED RECOMMEN

BUYER’S GUIDE

MOBILE HARD DRIVES NAME

MAC PC?

SHORT DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

LACIE BIG DISK EXTREME 500

Mac PC

500GB FireWire hard drive

LaCie

£420

www.lacie.com

97

★★ A stylish, powerful and versatile drive – let down by potentially

MOBILE HARD DRIVE

Mac PC

20GB, 40GB, 80GB hard drive

LaCie

£85£200

www.lacie.com

97

★★★★★ Swift auto-installation (without drivers), top

disastrous reliability issues. DED RECOMMEN

transfer rates, and a great low price!

DIGITAL SLRS NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

NIKON D70

Mac PC

An upgrade of Nikon’s D100, but at half the price – and a capable answer to Canon’s 300D.

Nikon

£800

www.nikon.co.uk

97

★★★★ Superbly kitted out and built to tough specifications, the

OLYMPUS CAMEDIA E-1

Mac PC

Smart design enables Olympus’ first foray into the digital SLR world to accommodate smaller lenses.

Olympus

£1400

www.olympus.co.uk

97

★★★★ A cracking build and a vast array of features make the E-1 a highly attractive proposition.

FUJIFILM FINEPIX S2 PRO

Mac PC

Competent digital shutterbug with Super CCD that can capture 12MP images (with interpolation).

Fujifilm

£1500

www.fuji.co.uk

97

★★★★ A bulky, weighty SLR that delivers crisp, clear, colour-

CANON EOS 300D

Mac PC

The first genuinely budget SLR to hit the market – with easy-to-use controls and limited functions.

Canon

£900

www.canon.co.uk

97

★★★ An average SLR that’s unfortunately showing its age – now

CANON EOS 10D

Mac PC

Critically acclaimed digital SLR that’s exceptionally well put together.

Canon

£1400

www.canon.co.uk

97

★★★★★ First class images, superb magnesium

D70 betters the D100.

accurate images every time. superseded by Nikon's D70. DED RECOMMEN

alloy body and great features.

SCANNERS AND PRINTERS NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

HP SCANJET 4600

Mac PC

Wallet-friendly USB 2 scanner that lacks a lid, so you can see exactly what you’re scanning.

HP

£149

www.hp.com/uk

93

★★ Too many teething problems need ironing out. Interesting concept, let down by execution.

CANON I990 BUBBLE JET

Mac PC

Colour photo printing with the world’s first six-colour printer. An additional red greatly enhances quality.

Canon

£299

www.canon.co.uk

95

★★★★ This superb printer earns its place in any graphic or

CANON I965 BUBBLE JET

Mac PC

Fast (full A4 photo in under a minute) and economical printer with borderless photo printing facility.

Canon

£255

www.canon.co.uk

96

★★★★ Superfast photo printer that simply trounces the

HP DESKJET 9670

Mac PC

An attractive A3 device aimed at the graphics professional – and at a decent price, too.

HP

£399

www.hp/com/uk

93

★★★★ Admittedly, not as fast as one of Canon’s devices, but it easily holds its own in terms of print quality.

CANOSCAN 8000F

Mac PC

Entry-level scanner with FARE Level 1 auto-correction technology. Can scan up to the edge of the bed.

Canon

£175

www.canon.co.uk

98

★★★ Good capabilities at a very good price, but none of its

HP SCANJET 8200

Mac PC

4800x4800dpi resolution A4 scanner with 48-bit colour sensitivity and good software package.

HP

£449

www.hp.com/uk

98

★★ Specs-wise, this sounds a dream; in practice, it's a

CANOSCAN 9900F

Mac PC

Professional scanner offering 2400x4800dpi resolution and FARE Level 2 technology.

Canon

£299

www.canon.co.uk

98

★★★★ A competent performer at a great price. It can scan all

MICROTEK ARTIXSCAN 1100

Mac PC

Showing its age, but this faithful stalwart's colour fidelity is second to none.

Microtek

£938

www.microtek.co.uk

98

★★★ Valuable as part of a colour-critical environment, but slow

PERFECTION 4870 PHOTO

Mac PC

Proficient scanner with Digital ICE image-cleaning technology.

Epson

£349

www.epson.co.uk

98

photo studio. Great quality prints thanks to the extra red ink. competition. Another winner from Canon.

features are market-leading or particularly state of the art. nightmare... The poorly conceived drivers really impair workflow. media types and is easy to operate with its programmable buttons. and expensive, considering its age.

★★★★ So slick, this wouldn't look out of place in a pro environment, let alone a home studio or small office.

DED RECOMMEN

GRAPHICS CARDS NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

FIREGL X2 256T

PC

Top-end, pro-level graphics card tailored for power-hungry users (engineers, architects, etc.).

ATI

$899

www.ati.com

98

★★★ An amazing performer, but it comes at a prohibitive price that may put off many prospective buyers.

September 2004

| 97

BUYER’S GUIDE

DIGITAL VIDEO NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

VIDEOTOASTER 3

PC

A complete post-production and video mixing suite. Supports live Internet streaming.

Computers Unlimited

£2500

www.newtekeurope.com

95

★★★★ Budget studios will find VideoToaster 3 an ideal all-in-one solution for their production needs.

FINAL CUT PRO 4

Mac

Emmy Award-winning tool for editing and finishing in SD and HD formats. Used to produce many TV shows.

Apple

£699

www.apple.com/uk/ finalcutpro/

86

★★★★★ Final Cut Pro 4 is nothing short of superb. Excellent bundled applications, too.

AVID XPRESS PRO

Yes

Sophisticated video editing tool aimed at the higher end of the mid-range market.

AVID

£1527

www.avid.com/ xpresspro

91

DED RECOMMEN

★★★★ Twice as expensive as Premiere – but a not particularly different to warrant the difference.

ENCORE DVD

PC

Windows-only DVD authoring package, where you can create and edit menus in a Photoshop-style format.

Adobe

£399

www.adobe.com/ products/encore/

87

N/A A fine addition to Adobe’s digital video range. If you’re used to Photoshop, it’s a breeze to pick up.

AUDITION 1.5

PC

Pro audio editing/mixing environment that delivers advanced mastering and effects-processing features.

Adobe

£246

www.adobe.co.uk/ products/audition

N/A

N/A An excellent tool for home users serious about audio. Superb features and easy to use, too.

FINAL CUT EXPRESS 2.0

Mac

Apple’s flagship consumer video-editing app strikes a careful balance between features and affordability.

Apple

£199

www.apple.com/uk/ finalcut express

94

★★★★ The best low-cost editing solution for DV,

AFTER EFFECTS

PC

Adobe’s industry standard tool for adding visual effects and motion graphics to film footage.

Adobe

£664

www.adobe.co.uk/ products/aftereffects

95

★★★★ Well-designed app with many features not

DVD WORKSHOP 2

PC

Consumer-friendly DVD authoring software with many professional features, including real-time previews.

Ulead

£259

www.ulead.co.uk

97

★★★ Easy to use, but much of the (cheaper)

MATCHMOVER PRO 3.0

PC

A sophisticated yet simple-to-operate solution that will meet all your camera-tracking requirements.

RealViz

11,280 euros

www.realviz.com

97

★★★★ RealViz’s incredibly flexible app delivers

VEGAS 5

PC

Capable audio-visual editor with real-time effects rendering and 3D clip animation.

Sony

$699

www.sony.com

98

★★★ The most powerful audio editor on the market now sports compositing tools.

FINAL CUT PRO HD

Mac

The professional editing application with broadcast quality credentials is now HD compatible.

Apple

£699

www.apple.com/uk

98

★★★★★ Pro features and top interface

although effects may frustrate Pro users. available in rival software sold at the same price. competition has caught up since the release of v1. accurate results time after time. But it ain’t cheap.

DED RECOMMEN

ensure this pro-level app always delivers.

AFTER EFFECTS 6.5

Mac PC

Adobe’s industry standard app now includes better motion tracking and grain management tools.

Adobe

£1075/ £664

www.adobe.co.uk

99

★★★★ A number of new and improved features make this an indispensable tool for the video pro.

PREMIERE PRO 1.5

PC

Video-editing app with improved project management and broader support for industry formats.

Adobe

£616

www.adobe.co.uk

99

★★★★ Premiere’s allegiance to Windows ensures superior integration with related titles.

WEB, ANIMATION, CD/DVD

98

|

NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

DIRECTOR MX

Mac PC

Build rich content featuring video, interactive audio, bitmaps, vectors, text, fonts and more.

Macromedia

£959

www.macromedia. com

80

★★★★ Director now has the power to deliver

DVD STUDIO PRO 3

Mac

Create a complete DVD in under 15 minutes with the latest iteration of Apple’s pro DVD creation tool.

Apple

£349

www.apple.com/uk

99

★★★★ Stacks of creative features,

many different types of content, on and offline. perfect for a professional environment.

DED RECOMMEN

GO LIVE CS

Mac PC

Adobe’s Website design application is sometimes hailed as the Pepsi to Dreamweaver’s Coke.

Adobe

£394

www.adobe.com

89

DREAMWEAVER MX 2004

Mac PC

Build and maintain Websites and applications with this powerful set of tools.

Macromedia

£339

www.macromedia. co.uk

91

TOON BOOM EXPRESS

Mac PC

This complete 2D animation software is a cut-down version of Toon Boom Studio 2.

Toon Boom

$144

www.toonboom.com

92

★★★★ Great introduction to 2D animation:

STITCHER 4

Mac PC

Create high quality panoramas and 360-degree QuickTime VR animations in minutes.

RealViz

499 euros

www.realviz.com

95

★★★★ Not the cheapest ‘sticking together’ app

JUGGLOR V2

PC

Builds standalone applications that deliver interactive Flash content with a professional look and feel.

3rd Eye Solutions

$249

www.flashjester.com

97

★★★★ A great step forwards in terms of offering

TOON BOOM STUDIO 2.5

Mac

2D animation package that covers everything from scene-planning to preparing output for delivery.

Toon Boom

$374

www.toonboom.com

98

★★★★ A fantastic all-round package for anyone

OPUS PRO 04

PC

Tempted by multimedia, but daunted by Director’s complexity? Then try this out!.

Digital Workshop

£300

www. digitalworkshop.com

98

September 2004

★★★★ A competent Web authoring tool. Adobe has refined both the look and the feel of the app.

★★★★ Good integration with Contribute; fully embraces Cascading Style Sheets. excellent scene-planning and drawing tools. around, but anything else would be a false economy. developers a way of distributing content effectively. interested in 2D animation.

★★★ If you’re only looking for occasional access to multimedia tools, Opus Pro 04 is up to the task.

BUYER’S GUIDE

PLUG-INS NAME

MAC PC?

DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

NIK COLOR EFEX PRO

PC

Fantastic set of digital photographic filters for Photoshop and Paintshop Pro.

Nik Multimedia

£280

www.nikmultimedia .com

94

★★★★ Great colour filters. You could create the

MODELSHOP

Mac PC

Enables you to add one of thousands of 3D models to your Photoshop document.

Digital Element

$149

www.digi-element.com

92

★★★★ Plenty of potential as a tool for compositing 3D

LUNARCELL

Mac PC

Instantly create strikingly detailed planets in humble Photoshop. They can be fractal or reality-based!

Flaming Pear

$40

www.flamingpear.com

N/A

N/A An excellent plug-in that integrates brilliantly with Photoshop – some of the effects will blow you away.

XENOFEX

Mac PC

A selection of 14 powerful effects to trigger within Photoshop, Elements or Fireworks.

Alien Skin Software

$129

www.alienskin.com

84

★★★ A filter set in the traditional mould – so a little clichéd

SYMMETRY WORKS

Mac PC

Adobe Illustrator plug-in for creating eye-catching surface pattern designs in seconds.

Artlandia

$241

www.artlandia.com

N/A

N/A Fast and effective way to create patterns. Could prove to be an effective time-saver when up against a deadline..

PRIMATTE 2.0

Mac PC

Photoshop plug-in dedicated to ultra-clean, blue-screen compositing.

Digital Anarchy

$299

www.digitalanarchy.com

97

★★★ More powerful than Cinematte and cheaper than

SAPPHIRE

Mac PC

Generate superb effects with this 175+-strong suite of movie-quality plug-ins.

GenArts

$1699

www.genarts.com

98

★★★★ Without a doubt, the best plug-ins money can buy – but

PARTICULAR

Mac PC

Neatly integrated After Effects plug-in suite, comprising natural and technical effects.

Trapcode

£199

www.trapcode.com

99

★★★★★ Stunning, beautifully put together and boasting

effects manually in Photoshop, but they’d take longer!

DED RECOMMEN

elements in 2D scenes in Photoshop..

and gimmicky – but useful all the same.

Multimatte. Results are impressive every time. they come at a price only professional designers can afford. endless creative possibilities. Buy this as soon as you can.

GRAPHICS TABLETS NAME

MAC PC?

SHORT DESCRIPTION

MANUFACTURER

PRICE

WEBSITE

ISSUE

VERDICT

NISIS EASYPEN G3

Mac PC

USB-friendly tablet: active area 152 x 114mm; tablet dimensions: 234 x 232 x 10mm

Nisis

£30

www.nisis.com

99

★★ More of a consumer toy than a professional device, but that’s reflected in the price.

NISIS EASYPEN G6

Mac PC

USB-friendly tablet: active area 304 x 228mm; tablet dimensions: 385 x 347 x 12mm

Nisis

£90

www.nisis.com

99

★★★ Nearly there in terms of features and usability, but there

GRAPHIRE3 CLASSIC XL

Mac PC

USB-friendly A5 tablet: active area 209 x 159mm; tablet dimensions: 276 x 257 x 18mm

Wacom

£200

www.wacom.com

99

★★★★ A great all-round performer from Wacom, although

INTUOS2 A5 PLATINUM

Mac PC

USB-friendly A5 tablet: active area 203 x 162mm; tablet dimensions: 334 x 258 x 14mm

Wacom

£300

www.wacom.com

99

★★★★ An incredible, feature-rich tablet that’s hard to fault.

INTUOS2 A4 REGULAR PLAT

Mac PC

USB-friendly A4 tablet: active area 305 x 241mm; tablet dimensions: 456 x 361 x 14mm

Wacom

£400

www.wacom.com

99

are irritating signal issues. not quite yet in the Intuos league. A5 tablets don’t get better than this.

★★★★★ Totally customisable and easy to use, this is everything you could want it to be.

September 2004

DED RECOMMEN

| 99

ON O N THE CD

Vue d’Esprit is great for adding striking atmosphere to your scenes.

WELCOME For our 100th issue, we not only bring you a packed CD-ROM, but also a bonus in the form of an exclusive Adobe CS DVD, which includes all the trial versions of Adobe’s powerful Creative Suite. Heading up our CD-ROM is the full version of Vue d’Esprit 3.1 LE, a stunning 3D landscape creation tool, which you can use to create your own 3D environments. Check out 3D artist Eran Dinur’s expert tutorial starting on page 104. We also have stock imagery worth £1000 from ImageSource. Enjoy!

Joe Russ [email protected] NEW MEDIA CONTENT EDITOR

SEE PAGE 10 4 Buil

FULL SOFTWARE PC

Vue d’Esprit 3.1 LE

d an temple scOriental e Vue d’Espne with rit 3.1 LE

Landscape your world! Create spectacular 3D scenery with Vue d’Esprit One of the biggest challenges in 3D modelling work is creating realistic natural environments. Largely concerned with moulding simple geometric primitives, typical modelling tools don’t lend themselves well to the subtle curves of a landscape, the delicate branches of a tree or the ragged odd shapes of a You can recreate all manner of striking skies and cloud formations.

rockface. This is where Vue d’Esprit, an application dedicated to creating 3D high-quality natural environments, comes in. E-on software’s prestigious app, a professional level application accessible to both amateurs and experienced users alike, enables you to animate and render near photo-realistic landscapes with a range of powerful tools. With these, you can animate your scenes to create wonderful effects, such as flowing water or drifting clouds… It’s up to you! Better still, the app comes with a collection of over 100 atmosphere presets, so you can create stunning pictures right from the start. All types of atmospheres are provided, including sunny days, bad weather, sunsets, night time and unusual effects. A set of readyanimated skies is also provided. And if you already work with a particular 3D application to create your own models, Vue d’Esprit complements many of the major applications by enabling you to import fully textured models from LightWave and 3ds max. REGISTER

To activate your copy of Vue d’Esprit you’ll need to register online at www.e-onsoftware.com/products/ vue3/limitededition. UPGRADE

The Limited Edition software on our CD is limited to render scenes of 1024x768 pixels in size. But for just £19.99 (EUR30/$30), plus shipping (£5/EUR7.5/$10), you can upgrade to the original commercial version, with no restrictions! This version also comes complete with a full, printed manual.

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VIDEO TOOLKIT MAC AND PC

ON THE CD

11 ESSENTIAL VIDEO UTILITIES

Compress, mix and create DVDs from your own DV footage

ROYALTY-FREE STOCK IMAGES

ImageSource photos PROFESSIONAL IMAGES Use them in your work for free! ImageSource is an independent producer and distributor of royalty-free imagery for creative professionals worldwide. You can search and download images online from a collection of thousands of individual images or via a selection of themed CDs. Photographs are arranged under such titles as Lifestyle, Business, Health, Science or Nature. On our cover CD this month, you’ll find five images (pictured below) worth £1000 to use freely in your own projects. For more information, visit www.imagesource.com.

FULL LISTING VUE D’ESPRIT 3.1 LE ( PC) FULL PRODUCT Add vivid atmosphere to your 3D landscapes.

IMAGESOURCE IMAGES (MAC + PC) ROYALTY-FREE STOCK IMAGES WORTH £1000 Be creative with five professional-quality stock photographs from ImageSource.

COMPUTER ARTS ISSUE ONE (MAC + PC) COMPLETE DIGITAL MAGAZINE Travel back to the splendour of pre-Christmas 1995 – and read Computer Arts’ very first issue.

VUE D’ESPRIT 4 (MAC + PC) 30-DAY TRIAL Try out the latest version of Vue d’Esprit. STITCHER 4

(MAC + PC) 30-DAY TRIAL Create effective panoramas with the latest version of this easy-to-learn image-stitching app.

AUDITION 1.5 (PC) 30-DAY TRIAL Try out this professional audio editing software aimed at digital video professionals.

SKETCHBOOK PRO (MAC + PC) 30-DAY TRIAL SketchBook Pro is a paint and drawing tool application designed specifically for use with graphics tablets. Why not give it a go?

TUTORIAL FILES (MAC + PC)

FULL MAGAZINE MAC AND PC

You’ll find all the relevant supporting files for this month’s tutorials here. Navigate the interface to the “In The Mag” section and select Tutorials.

COMPUTER ARTS ISSUE ONE Take a trip back to where it all began in December 1995 As a special treat for issue 100, we’ve unearthed the very first issue of Computer Arts from way back in December of 1995 and painstakingly converted it to electronic format for you to peruse. Time hasn’t been kind to issue one (or some of the Computer Arts team), so the issue is a little rough around the ages, but it serves as a perfect snapshot of the world of multimedia as it was all those years ago. A lot has changed in the last 99 issues. In our launch issue, we reviewed Photoshop 3 and previewed the first release of 3ds max (while we preview version 7 of 3ds max in issue 100). Marvel, too, at our Group Test of some of the first consumer digital cameras, which look more suited to Bond-style espionage than carefree snapping.

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ON THE CD

FREE DVD

The Designer’s DVD To celebrate our 100th issue, Computer Arts has teamed up with Adobe to bring you five fully working 30-day tryout versions of Adobe software on a single DVD. So now there’s no excuse. Give it a go and see what Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and GoLive can do for you!

ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR is the next best thing

to pen and paper for sketching and creating illustrations. The program’s vector tools enable you to manipulate individual elements, without degrading their quality and scale, to almost any size. IMAGE-EDITING application Photoshop is designed for imaging professionals in print and new media to manipulate and retouch photos for creative means. INDESIGN is Adobe’s page layout application

– useful if you’re building complex documents that combine text and images. All Adobe applications are capable of outputting in ADOBE’S PDF format, a form of “digital-paper” for preparing rich documents for print and distribution on a variety of platforms. Acrobat Professional 6 enables you to directly edit Adobe’s PDF, add annotations and prepare documents for print.

ADOBE GOLIVE CS is a Web publishing solution that enables you to design and publish Web pages with the same content as documents destined for print from InDesign, Photoshop or Illustrator. Adobe GoLive enables you to build Web pages using Adobe’s page layout tools. For the more technically minded, you can also get your hands dirty with HTML code.

Alongside these demos is a wealth of additional material from Adobe that includes video tutorials, animated demonstrations and testimonials from creative experts. These demonstrations reveal the advantages of the Adobe Creative Suite and how the software can help you to take images from conception to final delivery in print or other media with exceptional results. Simply insert the DVD and follow the on-screen prompts. It’s that easy!

The Creative Suite in all its glory – five demo apps give you a handson feel for Adobe’s acclaimed multimedia solution.

FREE BOOK

The Designer’s Handbook Over 250 tips and tricks at your fingertips! Welcome to The Designer’s Handbook – a vital resource for professional and amateur designers eager to learn more about Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and ImageReady – free with issue 100 of Computer Arts In a nutshell, The Designer’s Handbook features over 250 tips and tricks specially tailored for Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and ImageReady. We reveal top techniques to help you master Photoshop’s extensive toolset. Learn how to manipulate photos like a pro, use filters for creative effects, unleash the power of masks and use layers to create composite images. With our guide to ImageReady, you’ll learn how to make your Photoshop images work for the Web by saving and exporting in the most appropriate formats. Plus, get ahead on the Web – how to slice

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up your page layouts to create HTML pages. You’ll also learn how to master Bézier curves for more creative illustrations, create graduated fills and make use of transparency effects with Adobe Illustrator CS, as well as take your skills to another dimension with a selection of tips for creating 3D images using Photoshop. Afterwards, you can put pen to paper and master comic design with the Creative Suite and use our A-Z reference of film editing terms to get ahead in this ever-popular medium. Finally, get handy with our extensive keyboard shortcut guides and you’ll work faster and smarter in Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign.

CD TUTORIAL

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CD TUTORIAL

VUE D’ESPRIT 3.1

ON THE CD You’ll find all the files you need to complete this tutorial in the folder named Tutorial\3D.

TIME LENGTH

1.5 hours INFO Freelance musician, 3D artist and animator, Eran Dinur, has created many of the sample scenes for Vue3, Vue4 and Vue Pro. See more of his work at www.skoeter. com/art-israelerandinur/00.html.

3D LANDSCAPES Vue d’Esprit’s 3D-scene generating capabilities go far beyond simple environment construction and can create some spectacular results. Expert 3D artist Eran Dinur puts this month’s free CD software through its paces On the surface, Vue d’Esprit is an easy to use 3D landscape program, loaded with great looking atmospheres, vegetation and materials. You can happily spend hours dropping plants over the ground, applying preset atmospheres and watching the effects. But go a little deeper and you’ll discover a great deal of sophistication and flexibility. Vue d’Esprit is a specialised 3D landscape program that can handle polygon-heavy scenes with ease. Realistic trees and plants are notoriously difficult to model, and expensive to purchase, but Vue d’Esprit comes with its own expandable library of preset vegetation. The program can import complete, textured models in various formats, making it an excellent tool for architectural and environmental visualisation and above all, the Raytracing Renderer is capable of producing some truly beautiful results. This short tutorial will explain how you can create a temple scene using Vue d’Esprit 3.1. You’ll start by importing a fully textured model of a temple. Then you’ll create the surrounding scenery by generating a terrain mesh, adding water and vegetation, tuning the atmosphere, editing materials and setting render options. This tutorial will introduce you to Vue d’Esprit’s features and give you a starting point from which you can further explore the program and its possibilities. But before you start, you’ll need to copy the tutorial files from the CD into their matching folders located inside the Vue3 root folder (Typically: C:\program files\ vue desprit\).

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Press Ctrl+O, go to File and load the Tutorial Start scene from the Landscapes folder on the cover CD. To the right of the four view panels, the World Browser displays a list of all the objects in the scene. Click on a name to Select or click twice to rename.

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Now press Shift+W to create an Infinite water plane. In the Aspect tab above the World Browser a large swatch displays the water’s current material. Press the Arrow button below the swatch to open the material browser. Select the Liquids category and load the Dirty Water material.

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In the Top, Side and Front views, you can right-click on your mouse to Pan or use Ctrl+right-click to Zoom in and out. Since the camera has already been set and aimed for this tutorial, do not Pan or Zoom in the main camera view.

Now open the Objects browser by pressing Ctrl+L, then press File and load the Temple object from the Objects folder on the cover CD. Switch to the Numerics tab (Ruler icon, next to the Aspect tab). Press the Position button and enter the values X = 127.4, Y = 173.2 and Z = 96.56.

Main illustration by Eran Dinur

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CD TUTORIAL

VUE D’ESPRIT 3.1

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Next, render the scene again. You’ll see that the ambient light is now as bright as the sun. In the Aspect tab, change this by double-clicking on the light’s colour swatch and changing the colour to bluegrey (R117, G117, B133). Uncheck the Shadow option, too, as you don’t want the ambient light to cast shadows.

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Place the terrain behind the temple and to the left (X = -47.6, Y = 619). Now use the same technique you used in step one to load a new material. Select Grass and Rock from the Landscapes category. In this mixed material, grass appears mostly on flat surfaces. Render the scene to see the effect.

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Click once in any Viewport and press F9 to render the scene. The sun currently lights the back of the temple. Now open the Sun and Light Editor (F2), select the Sun tab and set Azimuth to -204 and Pitch to 174. This places the sun low on the horizon, and will light the scene from the left.

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Now press Shift+T to create a new terrain. Open the Terrain Editor by pressing Ctrl+E. Next, select Reset and raise the resolution of the terrain to 512 by clicking on the x2 button twice. Now press Mountain.

A HAZY VUE Because haze accumulates with distance, it is a valuable tool for adding depth to your scenes. However, excessive amounts can easily wash your image and ruin the contrast between shadow and light. In this particular scene, both fog and haze (F4 to open the editor) are off completely. When a clear, sharp render is more important than a feeling of distance, you should use minimum amounts of haze and fog.

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Switch to the Light tab and set Light Balance to 100 per cent sunlight. You can now render the scene. The side of the temple is too dark at this stage, so you’ll need to create an ambient light. Select the sun and press Ctrl+D to duplicate it. Position the new “sun” at X = 118, Y = -310 and Z = 42.4.

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Select the Erode tab, move the Rock Hardness slider fully to the left (Soft) and click the Fluvial button several times. This will add deep cracks, similar to the erosion created by flowing water. Press OK to close the Editor and then in the Numerics tab, set the size to X = 1.3, Y = 1.3 and Z = 3.2.

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Now press Shift+Ctrl+V to open the Vegetation Browser and load a Plum Tree. Re-size it to three times its current size by dragging one of the larger corner points around it. Place it over the edge of the terrain, just behind the temple. Moving an object is easy, simply click and drag it into any window.

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Repeat step 11 and place two more Plum Trees to the left of the first one. Now create a second row of trees above, and a little behind, the first row. It doesn’t matter if the trees are actually in the air, as long as you create a dense “wall” of vegetation.

CD TUTORIAL

TERRAIN POWER

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Now complete the background by adding a Winter Pear Tree and a Fir Tree. You’ll need to re-size both. Render the scene before checking that none of these trees “float” in the air. Change the size and position where necessary.

Vue terrains can use a grayscale picture as an elevation map. This means that they are not limited to just geological features. In fact, you can easily use this function to create brick and stonewall surfaces, pavements and cobblestones – even water wakes and waves. This method is superior to regular bump mapping as it is, in fact, true 3D geometry. You can create highly-detailed meshes that would be very hard to achieve using traditional modelling techniques.

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Now you’ll need to make the Dirty Water material a little less dirty. Double-click on it, and then in the Material Editor select the Transparency tab. Make the water clearer by changing the Fading Out value to 60 per cent. In the Reflections tab, change Global Reflectivity to 50 per cent.

To frame the image and crop the far-left section, go to Picture>Select RenderArea. In the main camera view, draw a rectangle that starts from the top, roughly one-third from the left, and moves down to the bottom right-hand corner. Vue will render the selected area automatically.

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You’ll see that the Plum leaves look a little pale and dull. This can be changed if you edit the leaf material. Open the Material Summary (F6), locate the Plum Leaves material and double-click on it to open the Material Editor.

Press Ctrl+L and then load the Japanese Conifer tree model from the Objects folder. Scale it to about 0.3. Move the tree up so that its base is roughly at water level and place it over the terrain at the bottom right-hand side of the image.

Open the Render Options panel (Ctrl+F9). For the best render quality, use the Broadcast settings. Select Render to Screen, choose the desired picture resolution and press OK. When the render is finished, use the small buttons at the top of the frame to save the image, as well as its alpha and Z-depth versions.

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In the Colors tab, switch the Coloring Mode to Procedural Colors. Doubleclick on the Gradient swatch, select the Rock and Grass category and load the Foliage gradient. Next, switch to the Effects tab, and set the Diffuse Lighting slider to 100 per cent. Press OK to close the Editor.

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Load a Reeds plant, move it up so that only its base is in the water and place it near the edge of the terrain. Then add a few more Reeds to fill the bottom right-hand corner of the image. You can add some patches of grass at this stage, too. For a final touch, load the two butterfly models and place them in the foreground, to the left of the protruding rock.

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Although you’ve used most of Vue’s main functions, you’ve only skimmed the surface. The Material Editor, for example, has enough features for a tutorial of its own. You can change the look and mood of this scene by experimenting with other materials and atmospheric elements.

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You could be designing computer games, not just playing them. LCC is currently recruiting students for its two year Foundation Degree in Interactive Games Production – a cutting edge award with an industry-orientated approach to Gaming. The London College of Communication (formerly LCP) has well established links with the printing, publishing, ‘new media’ and games sectors of the industry and these will enable you to examine your career goals and progress to a strategic position in this rapidly developing environment. For further details, please contact the LCC Information Centre on 020 7514 6569.

What if you could train here? Authorised training

Authorised training

Media Training in association with 2KO are offering the following three week intensive training courses in Cape Town: • Passport to Graphic Design - commencing 30th August 2004 • Passport to Web Design - commencing 9th October 2004 • Passport to Video and Animation - commencing 7th November 04 Adobe, Macromedia and Quark authorised training Each three-week course includes: Accommodation in Cape Town 5 minutes from the beach Gym and Pool - Airport transfer - Free surf course

Substantial savings compared to UK prices www.i2KO.com

media training

020 7359 9855 [email protected]

THE CREATIVE DIRECTORY CD DUPLICATION DB Masters

• Short and long runs • Competitive prices • Fast turnaround • A-Grade CDR • Thermal or screen print Tel: 01795 597 755 Fax: 01795 597 766 Email: [email protected] Website: www.dbmasters. co.uk

ILLUSTRATION, 3D ANIMATION & VISUALISATION Arcana Digital Animation, imaging and post production for broadcasting, interactive and print. Folio available online or call for a CD sampler. Studio 15 minutes from Victoria. Clients include: Bray Leino, Citigate.A.F, DDB, Grey, JWT, Lowe, Masius, Ogilvy, OWN&P, Proximity, Publicis, RKCRY&R, Saatchi, TBWA, WTCS, WWAV. Tel: 0208 466 0655 Email: [email protected] Website: www.arcanadigital. com Contact: John Fox

PRINTING SERVICES ist Printing Services ist Printing Services specialises in quality stationery using the foil blocking method of printing. If you need an unusual business card or letterhead, we can also incorporate die-cutting and embossing to make your stationery stand out from the crowd, using only the best

paper and boards from all over the world. We also supply presentation folders, invitations, plastic cards and acetate report covers. Visit our Website for more details and information about foil blocking. Tel: 01655 331196 Fax: 01655 331515 Email: info@istprintingservices. co.uk Website: www. istprintingservices.co.uk Contact: Ian Stopford

Wellington Press The Wellington Press Group has been established for over 70 years, offering a complete design, printing and finishing service encompassing all forms of printed and electronic communication. The Group has expanded and kept pace with the rapid developments in graphic communication and printing technology, and now leads the industry in many new techniques. From conventional to digital offset to large format printing and finishing, through pre-press, design and studio work, to electronic media and the internet, the Wellington Press Group are your complete solution providers. Tel: 0800 7833241 Fax: 0208 5583722 Website: www.wpdigital.co.uk

LARGE FORMAT PRINTING Display Print Services Ltd (dps) It’s a big world out there and competition is fierce, so how do you create super-strong

visual impact and really get noticed? By thinking big. Big graphics, big messages –and big pictures. As a specialist in large-format print and display, dps has all the know-how to transform your ideas into high quality reality. We can produce anything from point-of-sale items up to posters, banners, exhibition stands or even wrap up whole buildings. Call us for more details of how we can help you to make a big impression. Tel: 01373 225555 Email: [email protected] Web: www.dps.eu.com Contact: David Wooster

RECRUITMENT Corps Business

Corps Business is the most established and professional recruitment agency in the design, advertising and media industries. Since 1989, we have been recruiting the top freelance and permanent creatives and developers. Our strict testing and screening procedure ensures that the people we supply can do what you want, when you want. Tel: 020 7222 8484 Email: [email protected] Website: www.corps.co.uk

TRAINING SERVICE Corps Business Corps Business is the leading UK authorised training centre for the top software houses, including Adobe, Macromedia, Apple, Maxon, Media 100, Extensis and Quark Systems. You can choose either a group

or a tailored course, depending on your needs and abilities. Our consultants are all very knowledgeable in the software and can advise you on which course would suit you best. Tel: 020 7222 8484 Email: [email protected] Website: www.corps.co.uk

Falmouth College of Arts Are you passionate about the future of digital interactivity? The MA in Interactive Art & Design at Falmouth College of Arts, taught by renowned net artist Kate Southworth (www. gloriousninth.com), offers radical new ways of working in Web design, digital sound art, net art and interactive installation art and design. Tel: 01362 211077 Fax: 01362 213880 Email: admissions@falmouth. ac.uk

Metro New Media London’s leading training centre for Web design, 3D, animation, multimedia, project management and programming • All trainers are professionals in their field • State-of-the-art studios • All levels from beginner to advanced • Specialists in customised training • Discreet accredited

WEB HOSTING Dedicated Servers

The UK’s leading hosting company provides: • FREE and UNLIMITED phone & email support (24/7/365) • Service level agreement • State-of-the-art data centres • Dedicated Control Panel • Partner Programme • Windows, Linux, Sun, Cobalt and Co-location available • Host up to 200 Websites per server from £74.99 per month Tel: 0870 3339738 Fax: 0115 9195514 Email: [email protected] Website: www.dedicatedservers.co.uk

Netcetera Formed in 1996, Netcetera is one of Europe’s leading Web hosting service providers. Our services are biased towards Microsoft-based Internet Technologies – Microsoft Certified Partner since 1999. Netcetera provides complete solutions for Web hosting, Domain Name registration, ecommerce, e-mail, dedicated server hosting, server-based applications hosting (ASP) and .NETppliance.

Tel: 01624 612948 Fax: 01624 623385 Email: [email protected] Website: www.inetc.net

Tel: 0207 729 9992 Email: training@metronew media.com Website: www. metronewmedia.com

TO FEATURE IN THE CREATIVE DIRECTORY, EMAIL [email protected]

MAKE MUSIC NOW

■ EXCLUSIVE SOFTWARE Create crazy vocal effects with the awesome CM Vocoder. Plus, the pick of the latest demos and 361 royalty-free samples that you won’t find anywhere else!

■ BUILD THE STUDIO OF YOUR DREAMS It doesn’t cost much to turn your bedroom into a full-on recording facility

■ PLUS! Sound like Prince 3Master your step sequencer 3NI Guitar Rig and Arturia Storm 3 reviewed 3Get creative with your drum loops

ON SALE JULY 20 Featuring a FREE virtual music studio on the CD every month, Computer Music is all you need to make incredible music on your PC and Mac

CV

“This is a project that I worked on for the Spring 2003 issue of M. I was asked to create an editorial around Chester Reynold’s creation, Buddy Lee, with the theme ‘Buddy Lee travelling the world’.”

CURRICULUM VITAE

DAG HENNING BRANDSAETER LOCATION: Amsterdam JOB TITLE: Graphic Designer DATE OF BIRTH: 28 December 1982 TRAINING: Studied design at Hyper Island, in Karlskrona, Sweden from 2001-2003

“These graphics will be presented on the LCD screens of monitors suspended like chandeliers from the ceiling of the Grolsch Music Café .”

SOFTWARE: Adobe Illustrator CS, InDesign 2, Photoshop CS, After Effects 5.5 and Final Cut Pro. HARDWARE: Mac G4 Powerbook, 1GHZ, 1GB RAM. INFLUENCES: I couldn’t live without my friends. I also take inspiration from things I see and like – anything from modern art to clothing, or a poster on a wall. In Amsterdam I go to exhibitions, or walk around the city. The work of Dali also has a big influence on me. I admire, Erik Hedberg, Hilde Mork, Folkert Gorter, and the guys at Commando Group in Oslo. They all love what they do, it’s not a job – it’s a lifestyle. STYLE: My style is kind of surreal. I like to play around with soft and playful shapes and warm colours. CONTACT: View more of Dag’s work at www.cheapandnasty.net or email him at [email protected].

“This piece formed part of my proposals for graphics to be used in the interior of the Grolsch Music Café in Amsterdam (see main image). The main work could be printed on the bar, while the golden drops could hang from the ceiling. But it’s also for printed matter – where the gold is foil and the graphical elements are UV-coated on a matte background.”

EMAIL WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! “Trafo is an organisation initiated by the Norwegian Culture fund. Its goal is to support young Norwegian artists between 16 and 22 years of age. I wanted to create something that would put the work of the members in the spotlight – to help young artists get their work seen, and reviewed, by others.”

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Send us your CV, in the format shown, to ca.mail@futurenet. co.uk, with the subject line “CV”.

ÓTHE DESIGNER’S HANDBOOK

TIPS & TRICKS All the quick and easy shortcuts you need to make it easier to work in...

Adobe® Photoshop® CS Adobe® Illustrator® CS Adobe® InDesign® CS PLUS The CA jargon buster & essential keyboard shortcuts

> OVER 250 FANTASTIC TIPS > 11 PAGES OF EASY SHORTCUTS

DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

The Designer’s Handbook

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Future Publishing is part of the 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 100 magazines in the UK, US, France and Italy. Over 100 international editions of our magazines are also published in 30 other countries across the world.

The Future Network plc is a public company quoted on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FNET). Non-executive Chairman: Roger Parry Chief Executive: Greg Ingham Managing Director UK: Rob Price Group Finance Director: John Bowman Tel +44 (0) 1225 442244 www.thefuturenetwork.plc.uk

© Future Publishing 2004, all rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission. Not be sold seperately.

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

“See first that the design is wise and just: that ascertained, pursue it resolutely; do not for one repulse forego the purpose that you resolved to effect” William Shakespeare

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

COMPUTER ARTS Computer Arts is one of the industry’s longest-standing and most respected magazines dedicated to the art and craft of computer design. Published by Future Publishing every month, it features interviews with leading designers, profiles upand-coming talent and provides expert step-by-step tutorials on a range of topics, from illustration to 3D design. All this plus the latest industry news, competitions, software and hardware reviews – and a cover-mounted CD packed with fresh full software, demos and vital arts resources. For more information, visit www.computerarts.co.uk

ADOBE Founded in 1982, Adobe is now a multi-billion dollar global software giant responsible for some of the key software innovations of the last 20 years. Adobe’s all-in-one design and DTP solution, the Creative Suite – comprising Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, GoLive and Acrobat Professional – continues to redefine the way artists and designers create and distribute their work, both on and offline. For more information, visit www.adobe.com

Cover illustration by Scott Hansen http://iso50.com

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

CONTENTS Photoshop CS tips

P7 A total guide to tricks in Photoshop CS – from the user interface to photo manipulation, the Median filter to pixel explosion – it's all here

Illustrator CS tips P19 Learn how to toggle between documents, use transparency effects, graduate your fills, and more, with our guide to Adobe's Illustrator CS ImageReady CS tips

P25

Prepare your Web graphics more quickly, easily and efficiently with these ImageReady tips and tricks

Creating 3D images

P31 Ageing, degrading, stitching, tiling, colour correcting, rendering – it's all made easy with this guide to 3D image creation

Creating comics

P37 You'll be in comic book heaven with this introduction to the skills and techniques you need to get your ideas into print

A-Z of film editing

P47 Be inspired by our beginners guide to film editing – 30 expert definitions of the terms you'll need to know

SHORTCUT KEYS The Designer's DVD, free with this month's issue, gives you five fully working 30-day tryouts of Adobe software. So try out these shortcuts...

Illustrator CS The industry-standard vector graphics software

P54

InDesign CS Setting new standards for professional layout and design

P56

Photoshop CS The professional standard in desktop digital imaging

P62

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

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PHOTOSHOP CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Photoshop CS – TIPS

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • PHOTOSHOP CS

Photoshop CS – TIPS 1 THE TOOLBOX The only addition to the main Photoshop toolbox in this latest iteration is the Colour Replacement Brush, found in the same tool flyout as the Healing Brush and Patch tool. This tool enables you to selectively replace colours in your image using brushes, and options in the Tool Options bar help you to define edges with great accuracy.

2 LAYER COMPS The new Layer Comps palette, docked by default in the palette well, enables you to quickly create and jump between different iterations of your image by turning layers on and off in the Layers palette.

3 WELCOME SCREEN A feature becoming common in almost all professional design applications (and borrowed from consumer tools) is the ‘welcome screen’. Photoshop CS' incarnation of this points you to tutorials, tips and tricks, and gives you an overview of what's new in the app.

4 HISTOGRAM The Histogram palette, found under the Window>Histogram menu, generates a live histogram and enables you to see the changes you make as you work.

5 MATCH COLOUR The Match Colour feature, under the Image>Adjustments menu, enables

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you to match the colour scheme of one image to another, helping you to achieve consistency between shots taken at different times of the day.

6 FILTER GALLERY The Filter menu has been updated in Photoshop CS and now features a Filter Gallery in which you can apply filters on top of one another using a layer-esque stacking dialog. You can rearrange the order as you see fit, and the live preview updates accordingly.

7 PIXEL ASPECT RATIO One for DV artists and DVD authors, the Pixel Aspect ratio correction tool under the Image menu enables you to view non-square pixel documents as they'd appear on an external video monitor. In addition, you can now preview title-safe areas in Photoshop – very handy for creating DVD menus and so forth.

8 SHADOW/HIGHLIGHT Found under the Image>Adjustments menu, the new Shadow/Highlight tool enables you to quickly correct under or overexposed images.

9 PHOTO FILTER The Photo Filter tool isn't actually a filter, more an image-adjustment tool. Residing in the Image>Adjustments menu, it replicates the effect of a traditional photographic lens filter. Again, digital photographers will find this feature particularly useful.

PHOTOSHOP CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

10 FILE BROWSER The heavily tweaked File Browser is now more of an all-out imagemanagement tool. New features include the ability to customise thumbnail sizes, add searchable keywords and perform batch operations from the File Browser.

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 five and 15 per cent.

11 CROP AND STRAIGHTEN

Speed dialling

Found in the File>Automate menu, the Crop and Straighten tool is great for those often scanning in more than one image at a time. It automatically detects the edges of your image and places them in individual documents.

A few useful Fast Tool switching shortcuts can help you become more efficient – after all, it's vital to sustaining your workflow:

12 PHOTOMERGE Photomerge is Photoshop's new tool for creating panoramic images. Found in the Automate menu, it features a simple and easy-to-see dialog that enables you to stitch images together.

Move tool Brush tool Marquee tool Horizontal Type Eraser tool Clone Stamp tool Gradient tool

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Noisy layers PHOTO-MANIPULATION Adding warmth Make warmer looking pictures using 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 much healthier. Usually, Density in this Adjustment layer stays between five and 15 per cent. In unwanted areas, mask it by painting onto the linked Layer mask.

Adding warmth II You can also make warmer-looking pictures the old school way – ie, before Photoshop CS was around. Make a

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 three to six 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 degree of gain.

Layer naming Yeah, yeah, we say it every time, but

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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 to get into, appreciated by everybody who has to work with your files after you’re done.

Colour switching A 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 hard at work, masking and unmasking.

Colour matching Do you find it hard to match colours? 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).

Blur or Sharpen? Decide which to use, by switching between the two. Hold down the Option (Alt) key while using the Blur or

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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.

Hair masks When masking hair, use a very small brush with Shape Dynamics and between five and 10 per cent opacity, on mask. Press F5 to check Shape Dynamics status.

Use Layer Masks You can use most of your filters (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 them a lot of time and, more importantly, the original picture stays completely untouched.

Mask Layer Sets 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 (see above for more details), you may use some filters and adjustments.

Merging layers 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 To lighten the areas around the eyes, lips or nose, just paint white with a big brush size, using between five and ten per cent opacity, on Overlay Layer Blending Mode. You can use Clone

PHOTOSHOP CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Stamp to remove wrinkles, but this effect may give you an unattractive ‘ray of light’ on dark elements.

memory for other operations by using Edit>Purge from time to time.

Brush experiments Light and shadow Control the shadows and highlights in your work more effectively by using Image>Adjustments>Shadow/ Highlight, which is new to Photoshop CS. Turn on Preview for better control.

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.

Lost in layers 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 at once. This will save you time checking and unchecking a huge number of layers.

Emergency 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.

Voice-overs 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.

Clean up Make your files smaller and save some

Filter preview In 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.

Smart Blurs Use the Smart Blur filter in Photoshop to create simple pixelated line-drawing effects from an image. In the Smart Blur dialog box, select High from the Quality pop-up menu and Edge Only from the Mode pop-up menu. Then set the Radius and Threshold options until you get the right amount of detail from the effect. Finally, invert the image. The results will certainly impress…

Retro effects The Trace Contour filter enables you to produce a brightly coloured retrolooking computer-drawing effect. The filter only picks out the colour detail in certain areas of your image, so you need to apply it to several duplicated

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layers with different settings on each to get the full effect. Merge the layers into one and apply the filter again to thicken up the lines.

PDF format If you combine vector-based shapes or text with photographic imagery, try saving your illustration as a PDF instead of the usual JPEG or TIFF formats. A PDF retains the PostScript information, enabling you to resize the illustration in other programs that support PDFs without the shape's edges becoming pixelated.

Brighter images Use the Cutout filter in the Artistic sub-menu to create a quick vectorstyle illustration effect from a photograph. The filter is best applied to at least two duplicate image layers with different settings and blended together using either Overlay or Soft Light. This method picks out the most detail and keeps the colours in the image bright and attractive.

Changing history If you tend to experiment a great deal with different effects, consider using non-linear history states. Click on the triangle at the top of the History palette and choose History Options, then select Allow Non-Linear History. Now when you select an earlier state in the History palette, the other history states in front of the selected one won't be deleted. Very useful.

Quick colours There are bound to be times when you've completed an illustration, only

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to decide at the eleventh hour that you're not happy with the colours. To change the hues quickly, add a Hue/ Saturation adjustment layer to the top of the stack of layers to help you choose the right colour scheme. You can dramatically change the look and atmosphere of an illustration in an instant using this simple technique.

Making noise Adding noise or grain to an image increases the sense of realism in an illustration. Many 3D artists finish off their illustrations in Photoshop and add a little noise in the final stage. You should generally aim for about ten per cent or more in the Noise filter because some of the effect will be lost in the printing process. Noise added to drop shadows works particularly well for extra texture.

Natural media effects The best filter in Photoshop for producing a quick realistic painting effect is the Underpainting filter in the Artistic sub-menu. This transforms a photograph into a painting, complete with a canvas texture coming through in the most detailed areas of your image. It also adds a directional lighting effect. Try it out!

Grouping layers It's always good working practice to group several layers together in a Layer Set when building up a complex component in an illustration. This way, the layers can be moved up and down in the stack easily and duplicated in one go by simply Right/Ctrl-clicking next to the Layer Set icon. You also

PHOTOSHOP CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

have the extra blending mode of the set as a whole.

Light painting Exploring some of the painting filters in Photoshop can result in finding some very interesting effects. The Paint Daubs filter in the Artistic submenu, for instance, can create an unusual stylised painting effect that looks like an image has been painted with lines of coloured light.

Abstract effects The Displace filter in Photoshop isn't one of the usual filters associated with creating spectacular illustrations. However, it can be useful for creating abstract effects by combining two images into one using a .PSD file as a displacement map. You can get some great effects with this filter, so it's worth spending time experimenting.

Halftone patterns Should you want to create a degraded retro-scan effect in Photoshop, duplicate your image layer and go to Filter> Sketch>Halftone Pattern. Set the Pattern Type to Line and adjust the Size and Contrast options accordingly. Then apply the Add Noise with the Amount set to about 40 per cent, and set the layer to Hard Light or Luminosity. The impressive results speak for themselves.

Separate layers In Photoshop, you can create a composite image layer from a multi-layered document by keeping the layers separate. Here’s how… Add a new layer to the top of the stack

and hold down the Alt key as you select Merge Visible from the Layers pop-up menu. This action pastes all the visible contents of the document into one layer. Easy!

Taking snapshots If you're creating an illustration that changes drastically throughout its production, it's a good idea to take regular Snapshots in the History palette at crucial stages of your design. This enables you to go back to a previous state that would otherwise have been lost once the number of History states had gone past the designated limit. Protecting your hard work in this way makes design sense, so try to incorporate it into your everyday working practice.

Adjusting gradients We've already shown you how to change colours quickly by using the Hue/Saturation adjustment layers, but another method of completely changing the colour of an illustration in the final stages is to add a Gradient Map adjustment layer. Click inside the Gradient preview window to edit the gradient. Change the Gradient Type to Noise and increase the Roughness option to add grain to the effect.

Custom brushes If you use brushes regularly when working in Photoshop, it's worth taking a few minutes to create your own set of brushes in the Preset Manager. You can do this by loading in all the preset brushes first, then selecting the ones you want and clicking on the Save Set button. Give your set a unique name

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and save it in the Photoshop>Presets >Brushes folder.

Pixel explosion To create an effect that looks like an explosion of pixels, first run Photoshop's Stylise>Extrude filter over your image with the Type set to Blocks and the Depth set to Random. Then apply the Other>Maximum filter on a low setting to add squares of light to the effect and soften the detail.

Make it sketchy Fancy turning your colour image into a dramatic black-and-white picture? Use the Stamp or Torn Edges filters in the Sketch sub-menu to create a highcontrast black-and-white line-drawing effect from your colour image. The filters use the foreground and background colours, so changing them results in the image becoming just two colours.

RGB mode There are pros and cons to the RGB and CMYK formats. Working in RGB mode gives you access to all the filters and keeps the file size down by 25 per cent compared to a weightier CMYK file. However, if your illustration is to appear in print, you'll need to select View>Proof Colours to give you a true representation of how your illustration will look on the page.

Bleed and trim If your illustration is going to be bled off the edges of the page or run over a double-page spread, make sure you plan for this when you set up the document in Photoshop. Take into

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account that you might lose some of the image in the gutter of the pages, and allow for at least a 3mm bleed – you can add trim marks to your document or grid by dragging out guides from the ruler.

History palette The History palette (accessible via Window>History) is similar to the Undo command, but with a few extra 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 userdefined and is only limited by the hard disk space available.

Text on a path You no longer have 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 of the points, but at any time you can use the Direct Selection tool or the Path Selection tool to move text along the path or flip it.

Blur tool The Blur tool from the Tools palette is invaluable for smoothing out detail and subtly 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 also, if you like,

PHOTOSHOP CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

selectively blur focused areas of the image for a convincing effect.

Vector shapes 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 then be filled with colour, used as masks or have styles applied to them.

Navigator palette If 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 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 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.

Replacing colours A 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 changing the colour of part of your image – without making selections and using Photoshop's standard colour-correction toolset. The tool auto-detects boundaries, and you can tweak settings in Options.

Tool Presets Tool Presets enable you to save regularly used settings for any tool in

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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.

Fun with brushes The Brushes palette (Window> Brushes) 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.

quickly isolating an object (or objects) from a plain background.

Layer Comps New to Photoshop CS, a Layer Comp is effectively a 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.

Unsharp Mask filter Despite the name, which implies the very 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 and really tighten your compositions.

The Lasso tool 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

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Sponge tool 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.

PHOTOSHOP CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

In greyscale mode, the tool increases or decreases contrast.

Liquify tool 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 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 realistic 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.

Noise filter 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.

Info palette The Info palette (Window>Info) is a 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.

Median filter 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.

Free Transform If 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>

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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.

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ILLUSTRATOR CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Illustrator CS – TIPS

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Illustrator CS – TIPS Brush control

Personal library

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.

Create your own library of textures and elements by taking pictures of everything around you, such as trees, water, raindrops, asphalt… basically anything with distinctive or intriguing surface properties. Later, you can use these materials 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.

Outside colours 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 to implement the change.

Moving layers 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.

Tidy palettes 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 workaround Colour fill 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.

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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.

User disruptions Save your workspace/palette locations when sharing your computer at home

ILLUSTRATOR CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

or work. Use Window>Workspace> Save Workspace. Then, every time somebody messes with your palettes, simply select your own workspace and you’re ready to go in no time.

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.

Comic colouring

Lasso tricks

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.

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.

Through the lens 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 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.

Quick exit 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.

Link two layers Group the active layer with the layer

Soft edges 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.

Quick caps 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 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 Hide the selection when type is selected by using Cmd+H (Ctrl+H). Conveniently, this shortcut works with all kinds of selections, too – it's good to

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use it with type, when browsing fonts or working on kerning, for example.

with sharp angles; click and drag to create smooth curves.

Fast moves

Joining points

To toggle between open document, 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.

Connect two points together with the handy Join command (Object>Path> Join), which is great for completing shapes or linking two paths with a straight line. Joining two points on top of each other replaces them with a single anchor point.

Handy guides Snapping to existing lines and anchor points by eye can be difficult, but Illustrator CS’ Smart Guides (View>Smart Guides) can help. When turned on, the cursor looks for objects, page boundaries, and path intersections to snap to with handy visual feedback.

Cutting tools Illustrator CS includes tools for cutting paths: its Knife tool creates closed objects from sliced paths. For simply cutting paths, Illustrator also has a Scissor tool, which must be clicked on the path, rather than simply dragged through it.

Random spray effects It's possible to 'spray' graphics onto the page to create a dense effect of random layered images. As well as creating dense patterns for use in your illustrations, the Symbol Sprayer enables you to create complex postspray modification for grouping, colour and transparency.

Accurate paths The main tool for creating accurate paths in Illustrator is the Pen tool. Click from point to point to create shapes

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Unusual tools There are many other ways (besides using the Pen tool) to create paths in Illustrator, such as the Pencil, Spiral and Arc tools, which appear in both applications. Illustrator CS offers some unique tools of its own, including Rectangular Grid and Polar Grid tools, and paintbrushes.

Transparency options Illustrator makes it easy to implement transparency effects, thanks to the dedicated Transparency palette, which has a wide range of transparency modes, such as Multiply and Overlay and a handy slider for adjusting the opacity of an object (or group of objects) in real time.

Convert text to outlines All major vector applications enable you to convert text into outlines. This can be useful when using letterforms as the basis of a design in Illustrator. Once converted to paths, the type behaves just like any other drawn vector object, and at least you won't have any problems with missing fonts when sending artwork to clients or the printers.

ILLUSTRATOR CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Pen tool feedback

pre-school toddler (it's also great for eschewing that clean vector look).

With Illustrator CS’ Pen tool, you get a great deal of feedback. For example, when you hover the Pen tool over an unjoined anchor point, it offers you the option of joining the path. The tool also enables you to remove an anchor point if it’s situated in the middle of a path. Once you completely master the Pen tool, Illustrator becomes child's play, particularly if you like using a tablet and stylus for that ‘traditional’ drawing experience.

Complex graduated fills can be achieved with Illustrator CS' Gradient Mesh tool. It’s almost like finger painting, with pools of colour creating highlights and shadows. Although daunting at first, Gradient Meshes are simply nets of colour that can be pushed and pulled to create fantastic subtle shaded effects.

Styling your paths

Envelope distortions

Illustrator enables you to modify your paths with particular styles. Use the Graphic Styles palette to do this. Adding new styles from modified artwork in both instances is a simple matter of selecting New... from the pop-out menu in the relevant palette. These styles can then be used in all your future projects.

It's possible to modify paths further with Envelope distortions. Illustrator's offerings – Make with Warp, Make with Mesh and Make With Top Object (Object>Envelope Distort) – have great options, more versatility and more intelligent warping.

Bending Bézier paths If you’re new to Bézier paths, Illustrator offers a comparable Warp tool, part of a family of extremely handy distortion tools, which can modify artwork in many pleasantly surprising ways – bloating, stretching and squashing objects. Used carefully, they can add a real spin to your work. Don’t go mad, though!

Scribbling and stitching Illustrator CS has a handy fill feature called the Scribble effect, which makes fills look like they've been coloured in with felt-tip markers. A wide range of options can make the result look like stitching or even the scribblings of a

Colour meshes

Intelligent brushes For the ultimate modification of paths, Illustrator offers four kinds of brushes to apply to lines: Calligraphic brushes, Art brushes, Scatter brushes and Pattern brushes, all accessed via the Brushes palette. All the brushes intelligently cope with curves and corners to produce stunning results.

Tiled fills Creating custom-tiled fills in Illustrator is simplicity itself: just create the artwork you want as your tile, then drag it into the Swatches palette (or Edit>Define Pattern...).

Path distortion tools Illustrator enables you to distort paths in three dimensions! The app offers a

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comprehensive suite of 3D tools, based on Adobe Dimension software, that even enables you to map artwork onto extruded or rotated surfaces.

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IMAGEREADY CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

ImageReady CS – TIPS

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • IMAGEREADY CS

ImageReady CS – TIPS Save for Web

Export options

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 with a single-click action.

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.

Checking Web buttons

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.

Selecting objects 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 without having to boot each application separately.

Precision slicing 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 exact 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.

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Anticipating 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

IMAGEREADY CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

browser, by using the dropdown list at the foot of the interface.

each of the layers that can be assigned as individual library symbols.

Lose the guides

Elastic tables

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+;).

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.

Smart guides As you move objects around using ImageReady, you'll notice that intelligent guide markings appear automatically on your work. These are extremely useful – helping you position elements accurately against existing content. They're also handy 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 Another key export option that’s been 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

Enhanced actions 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 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

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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.

of the canvas to preview your work in real-time and compare the optimised imagery with the original.

Multiple views Web Content palette 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.

Interface organisation ImageReady’s Web Content palette (see above) 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, it uses a more contextual principal for editing content. Simply select a slice and make the necessary amendments through the new palette grouping.

Optimised view ImageReady can be compared to working 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

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A 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 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 once have required a little modification of the standard shape tool, but ImageReady CS now incorporates tools dedicated for just such a purpose within the actual toolbar. How’s that for progress?

Unifying layers 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.

IMAGEREADY CS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Be smart with Smart Guides Image mapping is another ImageReady feature that is particularly important 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.

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.

Right click 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 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 functions you would’ve otherwise overlooked…

Software preferences Just as Photoshop’s Preference dialog is essential for the way the software

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CREATING 3D IMAGES • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Creating 3D images – TIPS

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Creating 3D images – TIPS Ageing the Image 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.

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 postproduction 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.

Fixing panoramic 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

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in layers in one large canvas, rather than on separate images.

Stitching panoramic images together You can stitch your images into a panorama manually – or distort them to fit using Photoshop CS’ useful Photomerge feature, which will overlap and stitch the images together. for you automatically However, this feature is not completely fool-proof 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.

Removing a cylindrical map pinch Cylindrical mapping is ideal when you want to apply a 360-degree scenic panorama to a hemispherical object. Unfortunately, this method will create a ‘pinch’ at the very top of the hemisphere. To remove this, apply a Polar Co-ordinates filter, set to Rectangular to Polar, and paint out the pinch in the middle of the resulting image. Finally, apply a Polar Coordinates filter set to Polar to Rectangular, to put the image back and apply the resulting panorama to the hemisphere.

Tiling a panoramic image To complete a typical 360-degree panorama, you may need to tile your

CREATING 3D IMAGES • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

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.

Grain Matching 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 midgrey. 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.

Photoshop as a compositor Did you know you can use Photoshop as an entry-level compositor? You can composite an entire animation sequence, for instance, by recording an Action, then finishing it 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 rerecord the offending item. Finally, batch-process the entire sequence – not forgetting to output to a new folder,

so as not to overwrite the originals (not a good idea, obviously)!

Colour Correction In addition to compositing your 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, you can amend an entire sequence's colours should your client or boss 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.

Rendering to a 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 type 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.

Pixel aspect ratios 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

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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.

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).

Texture degradation Toon and 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.

Cleaning up baked textures 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.

32-bit TGA problems Some 3D applications enable you to render, Adobe has rectified this

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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.

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.

Specular bloom 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

CREATING 3D IMAGES • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

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.

16-bit image handling It's been possible to render out 16-bit images for some time, but only now can you play around with them 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.

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!

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?

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

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Creating comics – TIPS

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Creating comics – TIPS Scan your drawings Whether you’ve created your drawings in ink, pencil or with paint, editors will need you to scan them at a high resolution before colourisation or inking. Scan your page at 1200dpi in Bitmap mode; this will provide you with a high-res scan in a manageable size. This file will serve as a basis for the rest of your work.

Scan your texts If you write your texts by hand, scan them separately from the original drawing. If they are already on the original page, create two separate files; you will have to clean them up so that one has the text and the other just the drawing. You'll also work at 1200dpi in Bitmap mode. The editor will bring the two files back together at printing time.

Touching-up the scans Most scans require a little bit of contrast adjustment. Use the Levels tool (Ctrl+L) to ensure that your blacks are really black and your whites are really white. Be careful not to lose part of the line drawing.

Think big! To avoid disappointment at the printers, it’s wise to make your document slightly larger than the printing size – say, a few millimetres (known as ‘bleed’). This is because, in most cases, images usually lose a few millimetres at printing time. This is not

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a problem if a white border surrounds your page, but it has to be a consideration if you're working with border-free images. Discuss this issue with your printer.

Organise your files Your comic book may have up to 50 pages, and each one of them will consist of several individual plates – such as the scans of your line drawings, the colours, the texts, the onomatopoeias... Be sure to design an effective method for naming your files so that the colour plates get associated with the appropriate line drawings. Don’t forget that if your comic book is printed, it’s the printer who will have to re-assemble your pages, so make sure that he or she can immediately understand your file system. Our suggestion: keep it simple, like page01-colour, page01-linedrawing, and so on.

Set up your pages Several editors request that artists work in very high definition (600 or even 1200dpi). However, most of the artists we speak to tell us they work in 300dpi without encountering any problems. Only the line drawings should be scanned and saved in very high definition. To prepare the multilayered document in which you will do colouring and special effects, open your 1200dpi scan in Photoshop and change the mode from Bitmap to Greyscale, setting the Greyscale Size

CREATING COMICS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Ratio to 1. Then bring the file down to 300dpi using the Image Size function. Be sure to check the Bicubic Resampling box.

Alpha line drawing Printing will be done in CMYK mode. For best results, there must be absolutely no black in your colours. Some of the artists we’ve spoken to suggest the following method: Use Selection>Colour Range to select the white areas of your line drawings. At the bottom of the Channels palette, click on the second icon from the left: the selection becomes a new alpha channel. Deselect (Ctrl+D) and fill the page with white. Double-click on the Quick Mask icon at the bottom of the Tools palette. In the Quick Mask option, set the opacity to 100 per cent and choose the Black colour. In the Layers palette, click on the eye next to the alpha channel to activate it. Your black line drawing reappears, but it is now completely independent from the rest of your work.

CMYK or RGB? Some editors will ask you to work in CMYK, because that will be the printing mode. However, the disadvantage here is that this mode prevents you from using many Photoshop filters. Some comic illustrators find the differences minimal, and the results can also depend on the printer used for the job. You could choose to work in RGB and convert to CMYK at the end, then see if it makes a significant difference.

Full colour You’ve converted your black line

drawings to an alpha channel but your file is still in greyscale. Use Image>Mode>RGB to convert your document to colour. By keeping the alpha channel visible, you will be able to colourise your drawing by working on the RGB channel without ever touching the black line drawing. Save your work as a PSD file. You will be working in this document until the end. If you should run into a problem, your greyscale line drawing TIFF file will serve as a back-up.

One or several layers? If you’re only doing the colourisation of your pages, working in RGB with the alpha channel will result in very reasonable file sizes, since you'll only need one layer. However, if you're compositing various elements your documents will have several layers. Be careful, as a comic book file at 300dpi can rapidly become very heavy.

Additional black If you want to add more black elements on top of your original line drawing, you should do this on a new layer, which you'll then convert to a new alpha channel (using the process described in ‘Alpha line drawing’, above). You can create as many alpha channels as you wish in Photoshop.

Alpha intervention Remember that alpha channels can be altered just like any other layers. You can therefore modify your line drawing during the colourisation phase if needed. You can paint, erase, select and more on this alpha channel. However, be sure to use 100 per cent

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black for any touch-up work that needs to be done. And don’t forget that you've saved your line drawing as a 1200dpi bitmap file; since that’s the file the editors require for the black channel, you will have to transfer your modifications into that bitmap file.

A perfect black To be sure you achieve a nice deep black in print, the blacks need to be ‘supported’ by a background colour, which will help ensure that absolutely no white areas appear under the line drawing. In your page, select everything that will remain white: dialogue balloons, page borders, frame borders, some onomatopoeias... Now invert the selection (Shift+I) and fill it with a neutral colour. This colour will not show in the final print, so its hue doesn't matter.

Your first colours You are now ready to colourise your masterpiece. Contrary to what you're probably used to, you won't work in the Layers palette, but in the Channel palette. Activate the alpha channel and with the Magic Wand select the area you want to colour. Use Shift or Altclick to add or subtract areas to your selection. If your line drawing is very rough and some areas are not closed, you will have to touch-up the selections to be able to select only the desired areas.

Under the line Once more, to prevent alignment problems at the press, it is mandatory that your colours reach well under the black line drawing. To do so, use

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Selection>Modify>Expand and expand the selection by 1 or 2 pixels so that it runs a bit under the black line.

Shortcuts The main part of the colourisation process begins here. Pick a colour and fill the selection. Since you'll be repeating this process many (many!) more times, it's useful to know the various keyboard shortcuts. Press Alt+Backspace to fill with the foreground colour, and Ctrl+Backspace to fill with the background colour; press X to toggle between those two colours; press I to activate the Eyedropper tool.

First pass Using the techniques from the previous tip, colourise the entire page. This first pass will have flat colours without shadows or highlights, and will give you a first idea of where your colour page is heading. For certain types of comics, the work stops here.

Picking colours Colour is a narrative element that helps you tell your story. Intense colours give punch to your images, and soft colours tend to bring out a more soothing atmosphere. Keep in mind that your reader gets a first global vision of your page before he or she starts reading it frame per frame. This means that it's preferable to use a limited colour scheme to keep your page together and avoid a messy look.

Colour swatches A practical way to apply the previous tip is to create colour swatches in which

CREATING COMICS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

you will record the main tones used in your page. Although many professional colourists create their colours as they go along, colour swatches will help you see the kind of mood you're trying to evoke more clearly.

opacity to check that your colours reach under the black line. However, it is crucial that you remember to remove this layer prior to sending your finished work to the printer.

Rough drawing A personalised swatch Find an image with a colour scheme you like, then convert it to Indexed Colours (Image>Mode>Indexed Colours). You will instantly get a 256colour palette that will be more than sufficient to colourise your page. Go to Image>Mode>Colour Table>Save. Next, go to Window and make sure that Swatches is selected. Click on the little black arrow on the top-right corner of the Swatches palette and choose Replace Swatches. In the dialog box, make sure to choose Colour Table (*.ACT) instead of Swatches (*.ACO) in the File Type dropdown menu.

If your drawing style is very rough, with most areas not closed off, it may be more efficient for you to colourise your drawing by painting directly with a brush without using selections. In this case, be sure that your colours always reach under the black line.

Dark side It’s now time to give some contrast to your page. With the Magic Wand, select a flat colour area and paint a shadow with a brush. Most of the time, this shadow will be a darker variation of the main colour, but it could also be a completely different hue, depending on the lighting set-up of the scene.

Colour variations After this first pass, your page will contain a limited number of colours. This is a good time to try other colour schemes if you're not completely pleased with this first draft. Duplicate your colour layer and play with the Hue/Saturation command (Ctrl+U). For example, you can select all the blue tones and change them to green or purple if you like. You'll be surprised how such a simple change can alter the mood of a page.

Alpha channel alternative If you don't want to work with the alpha channel, you can always create a layer that will contain your line drawing. By doing so, you can easily change its

Into the light Bring some light touches to simulate highlights and reflections by hand painting inside the selection you made in the previous tip. You don’t have to limit yourself to just one colour tonality for shadows and another one for highlights. The more colour variations you use, the more defined your image will be.

Hard and soft borders There are many ways to apply your shadows and highlights. Remember to play about with your brushes’ Blending modes and opacity. You may prefer the softness of the airbrush, or the roughness of small

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brushes that will give your objects a textured look. Experiment and find your own style.

From background to foreground You'll find the colourisation process easier if you follow some kind of routine. For example, there are artists who work from the background to foreground; the background colours tend to be softer, desaturated by the atmosphere effect. You may prefer to work with another technique, such as character by character. It's really down to taste, but choosing one will improve your workflow.

the gradient will follow the shape of the selection exactly.

Advanced colour Basic principle If you plan to use complex colourisation with many layered effects, the method outlined in the previous tips may narrow your options. After the first flat colourisation, it may help to create new layers to isolate certain parts of the images or apply overall effects. This way, you will be able to use all of Photoshop's options – especially its many Blending modes.

Go for trash Brushes galore Digital colourists usually build up a personal brush library as they work, so that they can quickly paint elements like clouds in the sky, leaves on the trees or bricks on the wall - basically, anything that they paint regularly to speed up workflow. This way, you can quickly create, say, a pouring rain effect using a brush with several vertical lines. Draw your desired brush pattern on a white background, then circle it with a selection and choose Edit>Define Brush.

Gradient colourisation Using Photoshop's Gradient tool is an effective way of simultaneously creating the flat colour along with its shadow and highlight. The tool's numerous options (Linear, Radial, Angle, Reflected, Diamond) offer varied effects. You can also create more complex gradients by using the Layer Styles Effects, such as Bevel and Emboss or Inner Glow. In this case,

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Artists like Ashley Wood and Ben Templesmith use a mixture of techniques related to collage. Their starting point is not a line drawing, but several graphical elements that are mixed and superimposed. Constructing the page becomes more like compositing. If you want to emulate this style, create each frame separately, then bring them back into your main page and combine them with all kinds of textures and effects.

Narrative style Your graphic style should match the mood and environment of your narrative. The Red Star is influenced by Russian constructivism, a style that lends itself well to sharp edges and 3D-rendered flat colours. HellSpawn tells a gothic and morbid story, well served by earth-coloured tones and a chaotic, dirty composition. Your story and environment will therefore partially determine your choice of techniques.

CREATING COMICS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Go beyond digital If you enjoy highly textured compositions, remember that natural media and real-world textures offer you unlimited resources. For example, grab a sheet of paper, a paintbrush and watercolours, and create splotches, stains and all kinds of doodles. Scan these in and use them in different ways to give punch and a natural feel to your work.

Special effects Many comic books use Photoshop to create lighting effects, flames and smoke. Filters like Lighting, Lens Flare or the Dodge tool can be particularly useful here. A negative effect (Ctrl+I) can suggest an intense light projected on the characters during an explosion, so experiment with this option, too.

Texture library If you often work with textures, you'll have to scan many elements at a minimum of 300dpi, and you'll quickly end up with tons of CDs full of files bearing the evocative names of splotch01, splotch02, splotch03 and so on. To save time, use the Contact Sheet function from Photoshop or ACDSee to print, and make an easy-to-browse paper catalogue.

Sets Working with complex perspectives is never easy, even for experienced artists. 3D software can help you build the main shapes of your sets with only a few primitives. If you’re not a 3D artist, Adobe Dimensions can help you easily construct the same kind of thing. Since your set will be in three

dimensions, you can change lighting and points of view at will much more easily. You can also enhance this model with 2D techniques.

Characters Poser can be a choice ally for the comic artist who can't draw. This software will help you set up very dynamic character poses and facial expressions. It also offers a wide range of render styles, from flat cartoon renders to sketch renders that can be exported as scripts to Painter. Finally, you can depend on the Web for countless resources – new characters, lighting sets, accessories and costumes.

Volume Just like Masanume Shirow (of Ghost in the Shell fame), you can use Bryce to give volume and texture to your drawings. Open your work in Photoshop. Resize it to a square with a resolution of 72dpi. Add a black background layer, then on a new layer on top of your drawing, begin to paint volumes (such as the muscles of a character) in greyscale with a soft brush. Keep in mind that this isn't about shading the drawing but representing volumes more effectively, with darker greys for sunken areas and lighter greys for raised ones. Turn off the layer with the original drawing and save the file as a flattened TIFF.

More volume Create a new terrain in Bryce. In the Terrain Editor, go to Editing Tools>Pictures and click on Load just above the left thumbnail. Load your

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TIFF image. Click on Copy on the left thumbnail and Paste on the middle one, then Apply. If required, use the Smoothing option several times, or lower then raise the terrain resolution to get rid of the aliasing effect. Leave the Terrain Editor and choose the Top view. All that's left is lighting and texturing with procedurals or images, to get a 3D render that you will mix with your drawing in Photoshop.

Sketch The Poser sketch render can help you achieve a believable sketch effect on a 3D character. Go to Window>Sketch Designer to open the Sketch Renderer interface. Many settings are available. When you’re happy with the preview, go to Render>Sketch Style Renderer. You can also export this setting by choosing File>Export>Painter Script, then play it back in Painter, but this time using Painter's Natural Media brushes.

Let's talk The font you choose and the design of your dialogue balloons can contribute hugely to your story. Beyond simple effects like bold or italics, a font can go a long way to suggest the sound or tone of a voice – a square font for a robot voice, for instance. In the same vein, the shape and colour of dialogue balloons is important. In HellSpawn, the main character's balloons are black with white text, evoking a suitably beyond-the-grave voice.

The death of dialogue balloons European comics still use white dialogue balloons massively, but in the

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States, comics like Sam and Twitch (Image Comics) simply do away with the balloons; the text is white with a light dropshadow. This frees up space and tends to create a less 'cartoonish' mood.

Digital handwriting Most comics use a handwritten style of lettering, but in many cases it's actually a digital font, recreated in a font-editing program from scanned handwritten text. The key word here is readability. The lettering will most often be in capital letters, unless a more standard font is used, such as Arial or Impact.

Kaboom!!! Onomatopoeias (sound effects such as BANG!) are key graphic elements in comics, and Photoshop is the ideal tool to generate them. By associating the Text tool and the Transformation functionality to create perspective effects, you can create expressive sounds, such as footsteps closing in or the subterranean growl of some monstrous unseen entity. You can also add other effects to make your 'soundtrack' more expressive; you're only limited by your imagination.

Finding fonts Even if you want to give personality to your comic’s dialogue, you may not want to create a brand new font by yourself. There are plenty of free font sites on the Web – take a look at www.1001freefonts.com or www.fontface.com to get started. Alternatively, if money’s not an issue, browse the comprehensive

CREATING COMICS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

collections at sites like www.t26.com and www.fontfont.com.

Cartoon render Most often, comic drawings are characterised by black outlines and flat colours with little texture, so there's usually no reason to bother adding bump and specular effects. One of the easiest ways to get a comic render is to use a cartoon shader, and most 3D applications now have one. The result is usually a flat render with an outline that can be used as it is or improved in Photoshop.

Stylised modelling Contrary to most standard 3D work, what you're aiming for in comics is non-realism. Your characters and objects must fit your story, not the other way around. The modelling could be very angular for a thriller and very round for comedies. Don't hesitate to exaggerate a bit – your readers need to grasp your characters and their personalities at first glance.

2D texturing To lessen the all-too-recognisable look of 3D, you can render your scenes with a simple flat grey material. Next, import the rendered image in Photoshop and apply texture effects using various Blending modes. This way, you can paint your textures by hand and apply them to your 3D image, which will only be used to add volume and provide the lighting effects.

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

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A-Z OF FILM EDITING • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

A-Z of film editing

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • A-Z OF FILM EDITING

A-Z of film editing ADR Automatic Dialogue Replacement is also known incorrectly as dubbing, and affectionately as looping. To replace the poor ‘wild’ sound shot on set, actors' original lines are looped in the studio. The actor listens with headphones and tries to replicate the exact intonation of the line, which is then mixed into the final film.

Angle reverse Also known as ‘shot, reverse shot’, angle reverse is commonly used for shooting dialogue. You show two actors talking, often from over the shoulder of one actor, and then you switch to the reverse angle of the same shot. As long as the actors are reasonably consistent, this is easy to edit together.

does the work. This is much faster than loading one clip at a time.

Broadcast legal This is a loose term with no firm definition, but it's widely accepted that most TV companies have certain requirements for audio and video output. These don’t refer to the sharpness of the image, but the various luminosity and audio levels. A file can be made broadcast legal by applying a filter that ‘clips’ the illegal levels down.

Capture Capturing means to record video clips to the hard drive of your computer, for editing in NLE software.

Continuity editing Aspect ratio This is the ratio between the width of an image and its height. A standard TV has an aspect ratio of 4:3, while a widescreen TV is 16:9. To confuse things, aspect ratio is often expressed in decimals, so 16:9 would be 1.178. To keep it simple, think in terms of square-screen and widescreen.

Batch capture In high-end software such as Final Cut Pro HD, you don’t capture one clip at a time but move through your tape logging clips. Once you've logged all the in and out points, you set the computer to 'batch capture' everything at once, then go and have a rest while it

48

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Continuity editing is the opposite of a jump cut, in that you see the action of the scene progress smoothly in real time. When this is done well, the viewer shouldn’t notice the cuts at all, only what’s happening in the scene.

Contrast Contrast is the difference between the bright and dark parts of an image. A high contrast image shows a large difference between the light and dark areas; a low-contrast image shows less of a difference between the darkest and brightest parts.

Coverage When you shoot ‘coverage’, you shoot a

A-Z OF FILM EDITING • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

A-Z of film editing wide master shot, several medium shots from different angles, and a few close-ups. With this much coverage, you should have no problems editing the scene together. The best directors get good coverage from a minimal number of shots and takes.

Cross-cutting This is when you cut back and forth between two different scenes, to show that they're happening at the same time. The sequence when Faramir attacks and Pippin sings in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is a legendary example of cross-cutting.

Cut A cut is the most basic transition between two clips; one ends and the other begins.

Cutaway When you cut to something in a shot that isn’t the main action, this ‘cutaway’ is used to cover an otherwise difficult edit. It’s frequently essential to use cutaways to prevent making a jump cut – that is, an abrupt cut between similar shots.

Dissolve Dissolves occur when one scene fades into the next, and the effect usually implies that some time has passed. You can dissolve between scenes that take place in the same location, and an audience will always understand that time has passed.

Establishing shot Until recently, establishing shots were used widely in film and TV to set the scene. You'd see an external, distant shot of the house or office, before seeing the characters inside. Nowadays, unless it has dramatic value, the establishing shot is usually dispensed with, because it distances us from the characters and doesn’t really tell us anything we need to know.

Fine cut Also known as final cut (somewhat incorrectly), the fine cut is the point in production when all your editing decisions have been made and the film is ready for final output.

IEEE-1394 This is the techie name for what Apple calls FireWire and what Sony calls iLink, so be prepared to see all these names from time to time. IEEE-1394 cables can be used to load everything from DV to high-definition video footage into your computer.

Jump cut A jump cut is a jarring switch between shots that are similar, but not quite the same – and can prove very striking. There are two main ways to create a jump cut. One is to cut between shots taken from slightly different angles. The second is to shoot from one angle only, but to cut out chunks of time. Jump cuts were popular in French New Wave filmmaking.

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK A-Z OF FILM EDITING

A-Z of film editing Montage Many brief clips are edited together, creating an impression of the scene that couldn’t be achieved by showing the scene in full. Often used for dreams, murders and flashbacks.

NLE (Non Linear Editor) In the bad old days, film and video were assembled in a linear fashion – you attached one strip of film, then the next, and so on, until you were done. With NLE software, you can move clips around at will, until you’re completely happy with your edit.

rendering, and is one of the most time-consuming parts of editing, which is why real-time (render-free) effects are so popular with editors.

Rough cut When you first assemble your clips in the timeline, you make a rough approximation of the final film; most of the clips are in order, and you can tell what happens, but the editing is far from precise. The rough cut is used to tell whether the basic structure of the edit is working.

Rushes NTSC NTSC stands for National Television Standards Committee. It's the TV standard for the USA and Japan, with a peculiar framerate of 29.97 frames per second. This unusual figure leads to all sorts of editing difficulties. Many DV filmmakers in the US use PAL cameras, due to their higher quality, and because they are better for creating a 'film look'.

After a day’s shooting, the director watches the day’s work to see how everything is looking. In the film-world, these 'rushes' or 'dailies' are copies of the original negative, but with DV you're using the master tape, which is why you should watch the rushes once without rewinding or fast forwarding. If necessary, make a copy of the rushes on VHS as you watch, and use the VHS copy if you need to review clips again.

PAL

Scene

PAL stand for Phase Alternate by Line, which is a TV standard for Europe, Asia and Australia, using 25 frames per second. A higher quality than NTSC, it is ideal for digital video work.

A scene is a series of shots that take place in the same location.

Rendering Effects and transitions require extra computer processing before they can be output. This processing is called

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Sequence shot The sequence shot is usually one long take, with the camera travelling around and following the action. Robert Altman's The Player opened with an exceptionally long tracking shot. Famously, in 2002 the feature

A-Z OF FILM EDITING • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

A-Z of film editing film Russian Ark, by respected director Aleksandr Sokurov, was shot as one enormous sequence.

Shot Each scene is made of one or more shots, which together tell the story. When you set up the camera in a new place, it's a new shot.

Take Every shot is taken at least once, and that is Take 1. On feature films, a shot may be taken ten times or more, although good directors get what they want in fewer takes. Many takes make editing time-consuming, but too few can make it almost impossible.

Timeline The timeline is the place where you arrange your video clips, and works from left to right.

Trim Trimming means to cut frames from a clip to make it shorter.

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

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SHORTCUT KEYS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Shortcut keys

| 53

DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • SHORTCUT KEYS

Illustrator CS Tools

Transform Again

Cmd+D

Selection

V

Move

Direct Selection

A

Transform Each

Magic Wand

Y

Bring to Front

Shift+Cmd+]

Lasso

Q

Bring Forward

Cmd+]

Pen

P

Send Backward

Add Anchor Point

=

Send to Back

-

Group

Delete Anchor Point Convert Anchor Point

Shift+C

Shift+Cmd+M Opt+Shift+Cmd+D

Cmd+[ Shift+Cmd+[ Cmd+G

Ungroup

Shift+Cmd+G

Type

T

Unlock All

Opt+Cmd+2

Line Segment

\

Show All

Opt+Cmd+3

Rectangle

M

Ellipse

L

Object Menu

Paintbrush

B

Path Sub-menu: Join

Pencil

N

Path Sub-menu: Average

Opt+Cmd+J

Rotate

R

Blend Sub-menu: Make

Opt+Cmd+B

Reflect

O

Blend Sub-menu: Release Opt+Shift+Cmd+B

Scale

S

Warp

Shift+R

Cmd+J

Envelope Distort sub-menu

Free Transform

E

Make with Warp

Opt+Shift+Cmd+W

Symbol Sprayer

Shift+S

Make with Mesh

Opt+Cmd+M

Column Graph

J

Make with Top Object

Mesh

U

Edit Contents

Gradient

G

Eyedropper

I

Paint Bucket

K

Slice

Shift+K

Clipping Mask sub-menu Make

Cmd+7

Release

Scissors

C

Hand

H

Compound Path sub-menu

Zoom

Z

Make

Toggle Fill/Stroke

X

Release

Swap Fill/Stroke

Opt+Cmd+C Shift+Cmd+V

Cmd+8 Opt+Cmd+8

Shift+X

Type menu Edit Menu

Create Outlines

Paste in Front

Cmd+F

Paste in Back

Cmd+B

Check Spelling Color Settings Keyboard Shortcuts

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Cmd+I Shift+Cmd+K Opt+Shift+Cmd+K

Show Hidden Characters

Shift+Cmd+O Opt+Cmd+I

Select Menu All Deselect

Cmd+A Shift+Cmd+A

SHORTCUT KEYS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Illustrator CS Reselect

Cmd+6

Color

Next Object Above

Opt+Cmd+]

Gradient

Next Object Below

Opt+Cmd+[

Graphic Styles Info

Filter Menu Apply Last Filter Last Filter

Layers Cmd+E Opt+Cmd+E

Pathfinder Stroke Symbols

View Menu Preview Overprint Preview Pixel Preview

Transform Cmd+Y

Transparency

F8 F7 Shift+F9 F10 Shift+F11 Shift+F8 Shift+F10

Character

Cmd+T

Opt+Cmd+Y

OpenType

Opt+Shift+Cmd+T

Cmd+=

Paragraph

Zoom Out

Cmd+-

Tabs

Fit in Window

Cmd+0

Actual Size

Cmd+1

Type shortcuts

Hide Edges

Cmd+H

Point Size Up

Show Rulers

F9 Shift+F5

Opt+Shift+Cmd+Y

Zoom In

Show Template

F6

Shift+Cmd+W Cmd+R

Point Size Down

Opt+Cmd+T Shift+Cmd+T

Shift+Cmd+. Shift+Cmd+,

Font Size Step Up

Opt+Shift+Cmd+. Opt+Shift+Cmd+,

Hide Bounding Box

Shift+Cmd+B

Font Size Step Down

Show Transparency Grid

Shift+Cmd+D

Kern Looser

Shift+Cmd+]

Show Text Threads

Shift+Cmd+Y

Kern Tighter

Shift+Cmd+[

Tracking

Opt+Cmd+K

Guides sub-menu

Clear Tracking

Opt+Cmd+Q

Spacing

Opt+Cmd+O

Hide Guides

Cmd+;

Lock Guides

Opt+Cmd+;

Uniform Type

Shift+Cmd+X

Make Guides

Cmd+5

Highlight Font

Opt+Shift+Cmd+F

Release Guides Smart Guides Show Grid

Opt+Cmd+5 Cmd+U Cmd+’

Highlight Font (Secondary) Opt+Shift+Cmd+M Left Align Text

Shift+Cmd+L

Center Text

Shift+Cmd+C Shift+Cmd+R

Snap to Grid

Shift+Cmd+’

Right Align Text

Snap to Point

Opt+Cmd+’

Justify All Lines Toggle Auto Hyphen

Shift+Cmd+F Opt+Shift+Cmd+H

Window menu Minimize Window

Cmd+M

Object shortcuts

Align

Shift+F7

Lock Others

Opt+Shift+Cmd+2

Appearance

Shift+F6

Hide Others

Opt+Shift+Cmd+3

Attributes

F11

Brushes

F5

Repeat Pathfinder Average & Join

Cmd+4 Opt+Shift+Cmd+J

| 55

DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • SHORTCUT KEYS

InDesign CS Edit Menu

Nudge left x10 dup

Check Spelling... Clear – Delete

- Cmd+I Cmd+Delete, Del, Cmd+Del

Duplicate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+D

Edit in Story Editor

Opt+Shift+Left Arrow

Nudge right Nudge right 1/10

Right Arrow Shift+Cmd+Right Arrow

Nudge right 1/10 dup

Opt+Shift+Cmd+

Nudge right duplicate

Opt+Right Arrow

Right Arrow

Cmd+Y

Find Next

Opt+Cmd+F

Find/Change...

- Cmd+F

Paste in Place

Opt+Shift+Cmd+V

Paste Into

Opt+Cmd+V

Step and Repeat...

Shift+Cmd+V

Nudge right x10 Nudge right x10 dup

Shift+Right Arrow Opt+Shift+Right Arrow

Nudge up Nudge up 1/10

Up Arrow Shift+Cmd+Up Arrow

Nudge up 1/10 dup Opt+Shift+Cmd+Up Arrow

Layout Menu

Nudge up duplicate

First Page

Shift+Cmd+Page Up

Go Back

Cmd+Page Up

Go Forward

Cmd+Page Down

Last Page

Shift+Cmd+Page Down

Next Page

Shift+Page Down,

Nudge up x10 dup

Opt+Shift+Up Arrow

Select all guides

Opt+Cmd+G

Object Menu Arrange: Bring Forward

Cmd+]

Shift+Page Up, Text-

Arrange: Bring to Front

Shift+Cmd+]

Shift+Page Up Previous Spread

Opt+Page Up

Arrange: Send Backward

Cmd+[

Arrange: Send to Back Clipping Path...

Object Editing

Shift+Cmd+[ Opt+Shift+Cmd+K

Compound: Make

Decrease size / scale by 5% Increase size / scale by 5% Nudge down Nudge down 1/10

Shift+Up Arrow

Opt+Page Down

Next Spread Previous Page

Opt+Up Arrow

Nudge up x10

Cmd+8

Opt+Cmd+,

Drop Shadow...

Opt+Cmd+M

Opt+Cmd+.

Fitting: Center Content

Shift+Cmd+E

Down Arrow

Fitting: Fit Content Proportionally Opt+Shift+Cmd+E

Shift+Cmd+Down Arrow

Nudge down 1/10 duplicate Opt+Shift+Cmd+

Fitting: Fit Content to Frame

Opt+Cmd+E

Down Arrow

Fitting: Fit Frame to Content

Opt+Cmd+C

Nudge down duplicate

Opt+Down Arrow

Nudge down x10

Shift+Down Arrow

Select: Last Object Below

Opt+Shift+Cmd+[

Left Arrow

Select: Next Object Above

Opt+Cmd+]

Shift+Cmd+Left Arrow

Select: Next Object Below

Opt+Cmd+[

Opt+Shift+Cmd+ Left Arrow

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Cmd+L

Opt+Shift+Down Arrow

Nudge left 1/10 duplicate

Nudge left x10

Cmd+G Opt+Shift+Cmd+]

Nudge left

Nudge left duplicate

Lock Position Select: First Object Above

Nudge down x10 duplicate

Nudge left 1/10

Group

Opt+Left Arrow Shift+Left Arrow

Text Frame Options...

Cmd+B

Transform: Move...

Shift+Cmd+M

Ungroup

Shift+Cmd+G

Unlock Position

Opt+Cmd+L

SHORTCUT KEYS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

InDesign CS Tables Menu Cell Options: Text...

Tables-Opt+Cmd+B

Delete: Column

Tables-Shift+Delete

Delete: Row Insert Table... Insert: Column... Insert: Row... Select: Cell Select: Column Select: Row Select: Table Table Options: Table Setup...

Tables-Cmd+Delete Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+T Tables-Opt+Cmd+9 Tables-Cmd+9 Tables-Cmd+/ Tables-Opt+Cmd+3 Tables-Cmd+3 Tables-Opt+Cmd+A Opt+Shift+Cmd+B

Text and Tables Align center

Shift+Cmd+C

Align force justify

Shift+Cmd+F

Align justify Align left/right Align to baseline grid Apply bold

Shift+Cmd+J Shift+Cmd+L, Shift+Cmd+R Opt+Shift+Cmd+G Shift+Cmd+B

Apply italic

Shift+Cmd+I

Apply normal

Shift+Cmd+Y

Auto leading

Opt+Shift+Cmd+A

Auto-hyphenate on/off

Opt+Shift+Cmd+H

Clear Delete Find Next Increase baseline shift Increase baseline shift x 5 Increase kerning/tracking Increase kerning/tracking x 5 Increase leading Increase leading x 5 Increase point size Increase point size x 5 Increase word space Increase word space x 5 Load Find and Find Next instance Load Find/Replace with selected text

Tables-Delete Tables-Del Text-Shift+F2 Text-Opt+Shift+Up Arrow Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+Up Arrow Text-Opt+Right Arrow Text-Opt+Cmd+Right Arrow Text-Opt+Down Arrow Text-Opt+Cmd+Down Arrow Shift+Cmd+. Opt+Shift+Cmd+. Opt+Cmd+\ Opt+Shift+Cmd+\ Text-Shift+F1 Text-Cmd+F1, Text-Cmd+F2

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • SHORTCUT KEYS

InDesign CS Move down

Tables-Down Arrow

Move down one line

Text-Down Arrow

Move left

Tables-Left Arrow

Move right Move to beginning of story Move to end of story Move to first cell in Column Move to first Cell in row

Tables-Right Arrow Text-Cmd+Home Text-Cmd+End Tables-Opt+Page Up Tables-Opt+Home

Move to first Row in frame

Tables-Page Up

Move to last cell in column

Tables-Opt+Page Down

Move to last cell in row Move to last row in frame Move to next cell Move to previous cell Move to the end of the line Move to the left one character Move to the left one word Move to the next paragraph Move to the previous paragraph Move to the right one character Move to the right one word Move to the start of the line Move Up Move up one line Normal horizontal text scale Normal vertical text scale Recompose all stories Replace with Change To text Replace with Change To text and Find Next Reset kerning and tracking

Tables-Opt+End Tables-Page Down Tables-Tab Tables-Shift+Tab Text-End Text-Left Arrow Text-Cmd+Left Arrow Text-Cmd+Down Arrow Text-Cmd+Up Arrow Text-Right Arrow Text-Cmd+Right Arrow Text-Home Tables-Up Arrow Text-Up Arrow Shift+Cmd+X Opt+Shift+Cmd+X Opt+Cmd+/ Text-Cmd+F3 Text-Shift+F3 Text-Opt+Cmd+Q

Select cells above

Tables-Shift+Up Arrow

Select cells below

Tables-Shift+Down Arrow

Select cells to the left Select cells to the right Select line Select one character to the left Select one character to the right

Tables-Shift+Left Arrow Tables-Shift+Right Arrow Text-Shift+Cmd+\ Text-Shift+Left Arrow Text-Shift+Right Arrow

Select one line above

Text-Shift+Up Arrow

Select one line below

Text-Shift+Down Arrow

Select one paragraph before

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Text-Shift+Cmd+Up Arrow

SHORTCUT KEYS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

InDesign CS Select one paragraph forward

Text-Shift+Cmd+Down Arrow

Select one word to the left

Text-Shift+Cmd+Left Arrow

Select one word to the right

Text-Shift+Cmd+Right Arrow

Select to beginning of story

Text-Shift+Cmd+Home

Select to end of story

Text-Shift+Cmd+End

Select to the end of the line

Text-Shift+End

Select to the start of the line

Text-Shift+Home

Start Row on Next Column

Tables-Enter

Start Row on Next Frame

Tables-Shift+Enter

Update missing font list

Opt+Shift+Cmd+/

Tools

Swap fill and stroke colors

Shift+X

Add Anchor Point Tool

=

Toggle Text and Object Control

Apply color

,

Toggle view setting between

Apply default fill and stroke colors Apply gradient

D

default and preview

W

.

Type on a Path Tool

Shift+T

Apply None

/, Num /

Button Tool

B

Convert Direction Point Tool

Type Tool

T

Zoom Tool

Z

Shift+C

Delete Anchor Point Tool

-

Type Menu

Direct Selection Tool

A

Character Styles

Ellipse Tool

L

Character

Erase Tool Eyedropper Tool

[none defined] I

Shift+F11 Cmd+T

Create Outlines

Shift+Cmd+O

Insert break character:

Free Transform Tool

E

column break

Gradient Tool

G

Insert break character:

Hand Tool

H

forced line break

Line Tool

\

Insert break character:

Measure Tool

K

frame break

Pen Tool

P

Insert break character:

Pencil Tool

N

page break

Rectangle Frame Tool

F

Insert special character:

Rectangle Tool

M

auto-page number

Rotate Tool

R

Insert special character:

Scale Tool

S

discretionary hyphen

Scissors Tool

C

Insert special character:

Selection Tool

V

Indent to here

Shear Tool

O

Insert special character:

Smooth Tool Swap fill and stroke activation

J

[none defined]

next page number

Text-Enter Text-Shift+Return Text-Shift+Enter Text-Cmd+Enter Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+N Text-Shift+Cmd+Text-Cmd+\ Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+]

X

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • SHORTCUT KEYS

InDesign CS Insert special character: non-breaking hyphen

Text-Opt+Cmd+-

Insert special character: previous page number

Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+[

Insert special character: right indent tab

Text-Shift+Tab

Insert white space: em space

Text-Shift+Cmd+M

Insert white space: en space

Text-Shift+Cmd+N

Insert white space: hair space

Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+I

Insert white space: non-breaking space

Text-Opt+Cmd+X

Insert white space: thin space

Text-Opt+Shift+Cmd+M

Paragraph styles

F11

Paragraph

Opt+Cmd+T

Show hidden characters

Opt+Cmd+I

Tabs

Shift+Cmd+T

View Menu Actual Size Entire Pasteboard Fit Page in Window Fit Spread in Window Hide Frame Edges

50% size Cmd+1 Opt+Shift+Cmd+0 Cmd+0 Opt+Cmd+0 Cmd+H

Hide Guides

Cmd+;

Hide Rulers

Cmd+R

High Quality Display Lock Guides

Opt+Cmd+H Opt+Cmd+;

Optimized Display

Opt+Cmd+O

Overprint Preview

Opt+Shift+Cmd+Y

Show Baseline Grid Show Document Grid

Opt+Cmd+’ Cmd+’

Cmd+5

Access page number box

First Spread

Home, Opt+Shift+Page Up

Fit Selection in Window

Shift+F5

Go to first frame

Opt+Shift+Cmd+Page Up

Go to last frame Opt+Shift+Cmd+Page Down Go to next frame

Opt+Cmd+Page Down

Go to previous frame Last Spread

Opt+Cmd+Page Up

End, Opt+Shift+Page Down

Next window

Cmd+F6

Open/Close all palettes in side tabs Opt+Cmd+Tab

Opt+Cmd+1 Opt+Cmd+Y

Previous window

Snap to Document Grid

Shift+Cmd+’

Scroll down one screen

Snap to Guides

Shift+Cmd+;

Typical Display

Opt+Cmd+Z Cmd+=, Cmd+Num + Cmd+-, Cmd+Num -

Views, Navigation

Opt+Cmd+=

Force redraw

Show Text Threads

Zoom Out

Opt+Cmd+5

Activate last-used field in palette Opt+Cmd+`

Show Structure

Zoom In

Cmd+J

Access zoom percentage box

Shift+Cmd+F6 Page Down, Text-Page Down

Scroll up one screen Page Up, Text-Page Up Show 1st spot plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+5

Show 2nd spot plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+6

Show 3rd spot plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+7

200% size

Cmd+2

Show 4th spot plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+8

400% size

Cmd+4

Show 5th spot plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+9

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SHORTCUT KEYS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

InDesign CS Show all plates

Opt+Shift+Cmd+`

Window Menu

Show Black plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+4

Align

Show Cyan plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+1

Color

Show Magenta plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+2

Control

Show Yellow plate

Opt+Shift+Cmd+3

Index

Show/Hide all palettes

Tab

Suppress overrides (view optimized) Toggle all palettes except toolbox

Cmd+. Shift+Tab

Toggle between current and previous views Opt+Cmd+2

Info Layers Links

Opt+Shift+Cmd+U

F7 Shift+Cmd+D Cmd+M

Swatches

Cmd+6

F8

Shift+F6

Stroke

Toggle Measurement System

Shift+F8

Separations

Control Panel

Toggle Keyboard Focus in Control Palette

F6 Opt+Cmd+6

Minimize

Toggle Character and Paragraph Modes in Opt+Cmd+7

Shift+F7

Table Text Wrap Transform Transparency

F10 F5 Shift+F9 Opt+Cmd+W F9 Shift+F10

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DESIGNERS HANDBOOK • SHORTCUT KEYS

Photoshop CS Edit Menu Undo/Redo Cmd+Z Step Forward Shift+Cmd+Z Step Backward Opt+Cmd+Z Fade... Shift+Cmd+F Copy Merged Shift+Cmd+C Paste Cmd+V Paste Into Shift+Cmd+V Fill Shift+F5 Free Transform Cmd+T Transform Again Shift+Cmd+T Keyboard Shortcuts... Opt+Shift+Cmd+K

Image>Adjustments sub-menu Levels... Auto Levels Auto Contrast Auto Color Curves... Color Balance...

Cmd+L Shift+Cmd+L Opt+Shift+Cmd+L Shift+Cmd+B Cmd+M Cmd+B

Bring Forward Send Backward Send to Back

Align Linked sub-menu Merge Layers Merge Visible

All Deselect Reselect Inverse Feather...

Last Filter Extract... Liquify... Pattern Maker...

View menu Proof Colors Gamut Warning Zoom In

Layer... Layer via Copy Layer via Cut

Shift+Cmd+N Cmd+J Shift+Cmd+J

Cmd+A Cmd+D Shift+Cmd+D Shift+Cmd+I Opt+Cmd+D

Filter menu

Hue/Saturation... Desaturate Invert

Layer menu

Cmd+E Shift+Cmd+E

Select menu

Brightness/Contrast... Cmd+U Shift+Cmd+U Cmd+I

Cmd+] Cmd+[ Shift+Cmd+[

Zoom Out Fit on Screen Actual Pixels

Cmd+F Opt+Cmd+X Shift+Cmd+X Opt+Shift+Cmd+X

Cmd+Y Shift+Cmd+Y Cmd++ Cmd+= Cmd+Cmd+0 Opt+Cmd+0

Show sub-menu Layer Mask sub menu Create Clipping Mask Release Clipping Mask

Cmd+G Shift+Cmd+G

Arrange sub-menu Bring to Front

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Shift+Cmd+]

Target Path Grid Guides Rulers Snap Lock Guides

Shift+Cmd+H Cmd+’ Cmd+; Cmd+R Shift+Cmd+; Opt+Cmd+;

SHORTCUT KEYS • DESIGNERS HANDBOOK

Photoshop CS Window menu Actions Brushes Color Info Layers Photoshop Help...

Opt+F9 F5 F6 F8 F7 Cmd+/ Shift+Cmd+/

Palettes/History palette Step Forward Step Backward

Shift+Cmd+Z Opt+Cmd+Z

Layers New Layer... Merge Layers Merge Visible

Shift+Cmd+N Cmd+E Shift+Cmd+E

Tools Rectangular Marquee Tool Elliptical Marquee Tool Move Tool Lasso Tool Polygonal Lasso Tool Magnetic Lasso Tool Magic Wand Tool Crop Tool Slice Tool Slice Select Tool Healing Brush Tool Patch Tool Color Replacement Tool Brush Tool Pencil Tool Clone Stamp Tool Pattern Stamp Tool History Brush Tool Art History Brush Eraser Tool

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Published by Future Publishing and magazine (Not to be sold seperately) www.computer arts.co.uk

mini. The next big thing.

It’s finally here, the world’s smallest 1,000 song player. For Mac and Windows Introducing iPod mini and iTunes 4.6

iTunes Music Store

Everything you love about iPod just got tinier. iPod mini lets you bring along enough music for a three-day weekend getaway in a package so small you’ll forget you’re carrying it. Until people ask you about it, that is.

The iTunes Music Store features thousands of songs from a massive variety of artists, all ready to download with just one click. Search the entire music store to instantly locate any song by title, artist or album, or browse the entire collection of songs by genre. Listen to a free 30-second high-quality preview of any song in the store, then purchase and download your favourite songs or complete albums in pristine digital quality.

Apple engineers squeezed all the best features of iPod into a case weighing just 103g and smaller than most mobile phones. iPod mini features an anodised aluminium case that resists stains and scratches. The case weighs practically nothing, but protects iPod mini in your pocket, handbag or backpack. Recessed in the case to keep its surface pristine wherever you lay it, the backlit screen displays full song names and more. Tunes 4.6 lets you organise your music on your Mac or Windows PC and automatically transfer it to iPod mini. Whether you’ve ripped your CD collection, bought music from the iTunes Music Store or made your own track with GarageBand, you can take it with you wherever you go. Your iPod mini includes both a FireWire and a USB 2.0 cable for high-speed transfer from your Mac or PC. In fact, you can move an entire album from your computer to your iPod mini in seconds flat.

John Lewis – All under one roof John Lewis department stores stock the complete range of Apple products including the iBook, iMac, PowerBook and Power Mac G5 series. You’ll also find a huge choice of software, monitors, compatible printers, scanners and other accessories.

Knowledgeable service Customers return to John Lewis time and again because they know the sales assistants are fully trained by Apple. This means that you, the customer, can rest assured that you will get the best product to suit your needs.

Want to know more? Visit your nearest John Lewis.

BRAND NEW iTUNES 4.6 INCLUDED

Features include: Party Shuffle, Direct CD cover printing, Automatic iPod Sync, CD or DVD Playlist burning, Power Search and Smart Playlists.