Oct 2006
Asking for Your Help - American Diabetes Association
Tuesday, October 31 ,2006 Filed in: Personal
I will be walking this weekend to raise money for the American Diabetes Association. If you are able to, would you consider making a small donation to the cause? Every dollar raised goes to help in the fight against diabetes. Someone is diagnosed with diabetes every 21 seconds, this is quickly becoming the leading cause of death in America. America's Walk for Diabetes is my chance to give back (and yours as well). If you find this blog helpful or entertaining, please consider making a $5 donation. Thanks!
-Rich Harrington
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New Audio Tool from Adobe for AE and Flash Users
Saturday, October 28 ,2006 Filed in: Adobe
Continuing their new Labs idea, Adobe has a preview release of yet another new product. This time its Adobe Soundbooth which is an audio editing tool for those who don't need the power of Adobe Audition (or who find all the features just a little confusing.) The program is well suited for:
• Editing audio quickly.
• Cleaning up noisy audio.
• Visually identifying and removing unwanted sounds.
• Recording and polishing voiceovers.
• Adding effects and filters.
Download now before the current Soundbooth beta expires on February 28, 2007.
A great review of Soundbooth can be found on Creative Cow.
New Freebies for Video Pros
• Background Textures from Digital Anarchy
• NTSC Test Image (For use with Photoshop's Video Actions)
• Power Window/Vignette to enhance Film Look
• Over The Shoulder Data Sets Template
I hope you enjoy. If you spot any problems, please let me know.
New Training DVDs Released
Saturday, October 28 ,2006 Filed in: Apple | Training Products
We've also significantly updated two of our best sellers: An Inside Look at the HVX-200 and a guide to working with HD Media. There are these and several more available at VASST.com. We hope you enjoy them!
Conference Notes from NAB New York
Friday, October 27 ,2006 Filed in: Conferences
I've posted conference notes from my sessions at NAB New York. If you attended any of my classes, be sure to have a look. Even if you didn't attend, you might find the resources useful. The two most popular classes were Color Correction for Final Cut Pro and Motion Control 3D. If you couldn't attend (or want to go deeper) both of these have DVDs available from VASST.com.
New Film/Video Group in NYC
While at NAB New York, I had the chance to catch up with some industry pros. I just found at that the New York Final Cut Pro User Group has evolved into a broader focus. The group is now called The Motion Pictures Collective.
"The Moving Pictures Collective fosters our professional filmmaking community to enhance their abilities and broaden their overall knowledge and skills to reach their career goals. With post-production as our core competency, we will share techniques, tools, and best practices in all competencies including editing, directing, writing, producing, and shooting. We will also promote member collaboration by sharing our work in a supportive environment and create opportunities for our members to flourish.”
If you live near New York City, be sure to check out one of their great events.
New Rotoscoping Solution Previewed - Motor from Imagineer Systems
Wednesday, October 25 ,2006 Filed in: Motion Graphics
At NAB New York, I had a chance to take a look at a new rotoscoping product that is truly unique and fast! Imageneer Systems showed off motor, which looks to speed up the tedious process of rotoscoping by 3 times. The tools is designed for both video and film work. It is a standalone product, but it can export matted clips or mask data to other programs. The product works using 2.5D planar tracking technology where the user defines basic objects or planes (like body parts). The system then supports variable edge width and the ability to refine edges with far fewer keyframes. The product is currently in beta testing (but release looks to be soon).
I'm Hitting New York City (for NAB)
Sunday, October 22 ,2006 Filed in: Conferences
Here's my class schedule if you're coming to the conference.
Monday - October 23rd
10:00 - 1:00 Fast Start with Adobe Photoshop CS2
2:00 - 5:00 Fast Start with Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Video
Tuesday - October 24th
9:00 - 10:15 Automating Photoshop CS2 for a Video Workflow
12:30 - 1:30 When Multicam Shoots Go Right (and Wrong)
Wednesday - October 25th
1:45 - 3:00 HD Loops: Creative Looping Backgrounds
4:45 - 6:00 Interfaces in Motion – Bringing Web Pages to Life
Thursday - October 26th
9:00 - 10:15 Essential Color Correction Concepts
12:45 - 2:00 Motion Control 3D: How to Create Movement within a Photo
2:15 - 3:30 Word Play: Title Design Workshop
The Real Reason for Windows Vista Delay
So I went to hear (and see the latest). But it seems that the Microsoft rep couldn't get the system to boot up using Windows Vista. The audience was good natured, but still after multiple reboots and attempts, it just wouldn't work). So, the unaltered photos you see here are what the audience got (at least the demo guy had a sense of humor).
So, has Vegas started taking odds on Apple vs. Windows as to who will get their operating system out the door first? What are your plans about Windows Vista?
Technology for the Masses – K-mart Goes Broadband
Saturday, October 21 ,2006 Filed in: Humor
Tonight, I ended up in a K-mart (I was looking for a bin of Tinker Toys for my son Michael). My eye was caught by the promise of 'free high-speed internet access' (or acceso gratuito de alta velocidad a internet for K-mart's Spanish speaking customers). Naturally, my curiosity got the best of me.
1. Who exactly goes to K-mart with a laptop?
2. While they do have a snack-bar, could you really see yourself sitting down with a big tall ICEE (blue please) and telecommute?
Well, as a podcaster, I guess I should be glad that you can now get my latest episodes at K-mart. Be sure to stop into your “all-new” K-mart (now owned by Sears) and see what joys lie in-store for you.
Video Preview out of Photoshop CS2
This one came up today when a client asked me about previewing Photoshop graphics on a TV monitor. There's a great product called EchoFire, which lets you preview out of Photoshop using virtually any video hardware. But if DV is good enough for you, then Photoshop CS2 has you covered.
1. Hook up a FireWire device that uses the DV protocol like a deck or Analog/Digital converter (I like ones from Canopus).
2. Make sure the hardwire is powered up and connected to a monitor, then launch Photoshop.
3. Work with your current document and design as needed.
4. Choose File > Export Video Preview...
5. Specify your Output Mode and Aspect Ratio and click OK.
Preview away
2. Make sure the hardwire is powered up and connected to a monitor, then launch Photoshop.
3. Work with your current document and design as needed.
4. Choose File > Export Video Preview...
5. Specify your Output Mode and Aspect Ratio and click OK.
Preview away
The History of Photoshop
Tuesday, October 17 ,2006 Filed in: Adobe
Great Tee-Shirts for the Mac Oriented
The Photoshop User Awards
Saturday, October 14 ,2006 Filed in: Adobe
The deadline for entry is December 31, 2006 and you can find the full rules here. There are eleven categories to enter:
1. General Photography (digital or traditional scanned images manipulated or collaged in Photoshop)
2. Illustration (original creations drawn or created in Photoshop)
3. Artistic (artistic creations)
4. Photo Restoration (Restoring or repairing damaged images - die: rips, scratches, tears, faded photos, etc.)
5. Wedding and Portrait Photography (Wedding or Portrait images enhanced using Photoshop.)
6. Landscape & Travel Photography (Outdoor photography enhanced or corrected, or processed in Photoshop)
7. Photo Retouching (Retouching people, landscapes, architectural images, commercial retouching, etc.)
8. Advertising Design (Images used in brochures, annual report collages, advertising, logos, etc.)
9. Composites and Collaging (Collage of images).
10. Student Work (Images created or manipulated by students. NOTE: A valid student ID is required to enter work in this category).
11. General Photoshop Design (Images that don't fit into one of the categories listed above: cartoons, Photoshop graffiti art, tattoo art, medical imagery, astronomy, etc.).
It's a great contest and open to all Photoshop users.
New iMac is Breath-taking
Tuesday, October 10 ,2006 Filed in: Apple
We found ourselves 'hardware-crunched' due to recent project deadlines. To get by, we picked up one of the new iMacs. For the money, these machines are very impressive. Here's the features that matter to pro designers.
Set-up
• Plugged in the power cord and network cable, it was up an running
• In less than 5 minutes the computer was un-boxed and running (sure.. installing the Apple and Adobe collections took longer.... )
System Specs
• 2.16GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (very fast at encoding DVDs!)
• Comes with 1GB memory (more is nice... but this was enough to 'just go')
• A robust and fast 250GB Serial ATA 7200-rpm hard drive
• 8x SuperDrive (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) (yes... does just about everything)
• High-speed 802.11g, Bluetooth, and Ethernet built-in
The Display
• A HUGE 24-inch widescreen LCD (everyone from staff to clients stares and comments on how nice the screen looks... everyone)
• Very bright and crisp with a wide viewing angle
• a reasonably powered NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics processor with 128MB of GDDR3 SDRAM using PCI Express (fast enough for Motion and After Effects).
• Support for external display in extended desktop
Other Nice Things that come in handy
• Built-in iSight camera
• One FireWire 400 and one FireWire 800 port
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Internal 24-watt speakers (not bad sounding.... but use monitors for real audio work)
What's really cool is the system is actually approved for running Final Cut Studio. I highly recommend if you are in a system crunch or need an extra machine to check the iMac out.
New Radio Interview – Photoshop and the Classroom
Monday, October 09 ,2006 Filed in: Adobe
Richard Harrington was recently interviewed by Mac Edition Radio about Photoshop and education.
"An interview with Peachpit Press Author Richard Harrington on writing a book to help teach Photoshop. Rich brings years of teaching experience, expertise with motion graphics, and a longing for the perfect book to teach Photoshop with, and wrote “Understanding Adobe Photoshop: Digital Image Concepts and Techniques.” Recorded at the National Association of Photoshop Professionals Photoshop World Conference, Las Vegas, in September 2006 by Harris Fogel."
Have a listen if you'd like.
iPod Vending Machine – For Real
5GB of Free Online Storage for PC Users (and Very Patient Mac Users)
Sunday, October 01 ,2006 Filed in: Microsoft
“With your 5GB of secure online storage there's plenty of room to keep backup copies of digital photos, all your important documents, e-mail attachments, and other files — and still have space leftover for your music collection. It's the best way to keep computer crashes from becoming disasters. Think of it as hard drive insurance.”
In that vein, it gets even better. When I logged in, they upped it to 50 GB for free. They offer free software for Windows users that lets you mount the Xdrive as a volume on your desktop. But Mac users can still access the service through a slightly more clunky web interface.
iDisk Tip
Sunday, October 01 ,2006 Filed in: Apple
