Enjoy!

ULTIMATE BRUSH PACK NO.4

by Axeraider70

Ultimate Brush Pack No.4 by Axeraider70

Scratch Brushes

by xALIASx

Scratch Brushes by xALIASx

41 Grunge Brushes

by KeepWaiting

41 Grunge Brushes by KeepWaiting

Blurry Light Brushes

by LurkerPatrol

Blurry Light Brushes by LurkerPatrol

Dirt Brushes

by leboef

Dirt Brushes by Leboef

Genisis Brushes

by Axeraider70

Genisis Brushes by Axeraider70

Light Brushes

by Rubina119

Light Brushes by Rubina119

After shooting over 300 or so photos, I figured I had the right shots in there and could use them to create some new graphics for his website. When I got to my studio to start working –and after an hour of updating– I couldn’t load any of the .CR2 raw files from the camera into Adobe Photoshop! Yes, I was surprised since I thought Adobe would already read these files.

After doing some research, I figured out Adobe does support these files, I just needed to update. So I began to download the new RAW plug-in by Adobe. Didn’t work. I tried another plug-in. Didn’t work again! I saw my brother open these files without a problem on his machine, so I was confused.

Doing more research, I found out Adobe Photoshop CS3 does NOT support these new files from Canon. Even after updating the Camera Raw Plug-in 4.6 (the 5.3 plug-in won’t work on CS3, it is only for Lightroom 2  and Photoshop CS4) it wouldn’t load. So I figured out that I had to use the latest DNG converter to convert the RAW file to read in Photoshop CS3.

After spendnig another hour of researching all this, it was a breeze to work with. Just posting this information up hoping that it might help others quicker than taking nearly an hour of testing and googling the web.

Keep up the work!

REI

Why Divano? Because some think comfort, quality and sportiness in a road bike might be a good thing. A little money left over isn't bad either.

Novara Divano Bike – 2009

It had everything I was asking for!

Gift: No

Pros: Comfortable, Good Geometry, Handles Well, Lightweight

Cons: Poor Components

Best Uses: Casual Riding, Exercising, Commuting

Describe Yourself: Casual Cyclist

I’m new to road cycling. I’ve been riding a TREK 7600 (a few years old–I bartered on Craigslist for it) and I’ve been spending a few bucks here and there trying to fix it up. I road it to my office on a daily basis for about 4 months, until I noticed it was too slow.

When I finally decided to buy a new bicycle, I walked into REI and a gentleman by the name Seth, asked me what I wanted to do, how long I had been riding, and what I am looking for.

Well he recommended the Novara Divano, since I am still new, and I’d be able to upgrade any parts on it and save 20% on my purchase if I became an REI member.

The bicycle road well when I test drove it, and since I slapped new pedals and and got used to the tight spandex like gear, it’s been a great ride!

I’ve riden about 50 miles so far and only had it a few days, and I think the only problem I’ve had is getting used to the clip-in pedals and the shifters. The shifting is feeling sticky, put it’s probably just the break-in period.

Has everything I asked for. Could be a bit lighter, maybe some higher end components, but I can’t complain for the price I scored this thing at! I even had cash left to get shorts, jersey, shoes, pedals, and a few other accessories!

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Recently, I ran into a page that was stating that there are some designers that haven’t heard of contrast. (The difference in tonal values between light and dark.) It’s brought up that the new trend of using a softer black on websites for their content is an annoyance, and then they bring up images to compare the contrast of the text from Black (#000000) compared to Grey. It’s also stated and brought up that computer screens emit light, and that browsers were originaly displaying black text with a grey background for a reason–less strain on your eyes.

I’m not going to agree with this completley with the writer of this article, but I can understand their point of view. The new use of what he considers grey text is a softer black in my opinion. (On this site, my opinion is what matters!) I don’t see the softer black as annoying and I do think it helps readers read easier along with applying some basic knowledge of web typography to the content. So I’ll list a few…

1) Body Width: The width of the body content makes a difference on whether your reader will easily read through the content. If you’ve noticed, I’m using a narrow width for the content compared to a wider or full screen width. The reason is that the eyes will move less and the reader won’t feel eye fatigue, making it less strainful for their eyes to read the text.

*Try this out: Compare 3 different widths of your content. Try a wide body, a narrow body, and then a width in between. You’ll notice a difference in trying to read a long article.

2) Font Size: For a while web designers were using tiny the tiny font size of 11 pixels or even 10 pixels! I admit I’ve been guilty of that myself a few times, but over time I’ve realized that tiny font isn’t awesome. Larger fonts above 12 pixels are easier to read, even on a published project. Even though we sometimes reduce the font size on paper to try and fit as much infomation as possible, the web is much more flexible!

If you’re creating a site with a tremendous amount of content or large articles, I suggest implementing a tool on your site to adjust the font size for your viewers to read at their preffered text size. If you need help with creating a script for this, you can visit Dynamic Drive for a Text Sizer script.

3) Font Treatment: Try using different fonts or font treatments for headlines or navigation. You can even use a different font for links, or important information. Don’t over do this though, I wouldn’t use more than two fonts at a time on a web site, unless you can fit a third without making it look horendous.

You can also work with the font size and line height to make your text more legible. Don’t be afraid to work with the letter spacing either, or with the alignment. Even though you might notice I have a Justified alignment on my blog, I usually try to use Justify on a web site for clients but make sure there aren’t any rivers or gaps through out the content. (Not so much yet on the blog, I’m too busy!)

4) Colors: Applying colors in a manner to make your text stand out if it’s a URL, Visited URL, or even when you hover, or something of importance, is something a few web designers might get carried away with. (Here’s an example of what not to do.) Use your intuitive designer’s eye and understanding of color theory to make your text stand out. Also try different background colors to contrast your text in different area to seperate the content from the rest of the page. For instance, a white page using a soft black might have a navigation with colorful imagery, so you might want to use dark black or darker colors for the navigation.

In conclusion, soft black text (or grey text) isn’t horrible. Black text without any smoothing applied is really annoying to read when it’s bunched up. It sometimes has a wierd glow coming from behind it because of the screens light being emitted. So too much contrast could be a bad thing, and if grey text were so annoying, then why is it used so much now through out the web?

Have a good weekend!

Cheers.

To be honest, I expect some cheesy results, but I’m excited over these images! They’ve gathered some neat photography to use with this interactive page, and it’s amazed me! If you haven’t got a pair of 3D specs (those red and blue ones, not the Michael Jackson “Captain EO” glasses,  then I suggest just using your imagination of how awesome they are! (Or get some red and blue plastic and cover your eyes. Also check out the “Captain EO” video for fun!)

There are also some other overlay style scripts to use, but we’ve been comfortable with this one. You might also want to check out Light Box which is another great script.

Check them out, and remember to give some thanks if you’re using them.

Just wanted to let all the MAC users out there, that the Microsoft Wireless Keyboard and Mouse set being sold at Apple stores does the system justice.

I’ve been using it for quite some time now, and a few people have been asking what keyboard I use and if I’ve bought the new flat keyboard Apple sells.

No, I haven’t switched over to that. As a designer and a developer, I need ergonomic tools to reduce the stress of typing and mousing throughout the day. A lot of people don’t really look much into ergonomics of their desk setting since they don’t work at a computer nearly as much as they would compared to designers or developers, but even for those who work 9 to 5’s at a desk need proper office ergonomics too.

Well, the Microsoft Comfort Keyboard was the answer to alleviating the stress on my wrists from the older MAC keyboard, and all though I love the Mighty Mouse, the Microsoft Mouse included with the keyboard is very comforable.

A few drawbacks are that it’s an RF signal, and a Bluetooth set would be much more efficient, but this will do for now. I haven’t seen any other keyboard that is as comfortable, so I’ll be sticking with it for now and also using my Tablet.

The set does use 2 AA batteries per unit, and you need to keep a clear area for the wireless receiver. I say use it and save your wrists from carpral tunnel.

I suggest you make a note of who you know uses Apple Mail (or works on a Mac) and make a back-up signature for everyone else. It’s really neat to use for those who use Mac.

Here’s an image of what I’ll be producing:

Fancy isn’t it! Yes it is! That’s why I have made it and I use it with my friends on a MAC!  The great part is I’ve made the text in HTML and it’s still viewable, clickable, and they can copy and paste it into their contacts programs.

Lets get started. Don’t make things too complicated, as you might not get the turn out you want, but here’s what you need to do:

• Open Apple Mail.
• Create a new signature and name it what you’d like.
• Close Apple Mail.
• Design out your HTML signature. (I used Dreamweaver.)
•  Once you’re done building it, make sure everything is referenced online. (All your images/graphics.)
• Save your HTML file.
• Open your HTML file in Safari.
• Save the page as a Web Archive.
• Open your Finder and go to your home folder. Navigate to: Library -> Mail -> Signatures  (If you can’t find it, you might of not been inside your home folder. Thats the one that says your name on it.)
• Organize your files by date, and you’ll see the new .webarchive file you’ve just created in Mail.
• Copy that name.   (Something like: A793483C-2620-40C8-9732-9D082B06399B)
• Rename the .webarchive file you just made of your signature to the one from your Signatures folder.
• Go ahead and drop that file into your Signatures folder and replace it.
• Start Apple Mail, and SHAZAM!

It should be that easy. If not, you might be doing something wrong. If so, let me know.

Have fun impressing your friends and family!

IE 7 does not support z-index in css. What the crap?!
Yes this sucks, because I was recently making a Flash template for a client’s MySpace layout and now it works on all browsers except IE7. I’m going to try and find a way around it though, maybe like those Flash Templates people are using on MySpace. I’ll have to rip one off probably…why? Click thrus in Flash don’t work on MySpace. I can’t use a getURL command to navigate. How crappy is that!!!

Every designer and programmer I know supports Firefox. I’m recently changing to Opera because of some reviews I read that it’s the only browser that can pass the Acid2 test–the New Firefox 3 also passed the test–so I’m going to give Opera a shot. I’ve also been reading around that a lot of user have issues with loading MySpace on their browsers on a MAC, not sure why though. I fly through MySpace on a windows computer–testing purposes only–but I have the hardest time on my MacPro.

What a pain in the ass styling issues can be.
I’m going to try and help spread some good by posting up some good hacks and ways to work around most of the styling issues through different browsers, hopefully they can be some solution to you as I’ve applied them.

First off, I went browsing on iStockPhoto for a good stock image to use on this project. I wanted a girl with headphones on, and after a few searches I found an image that I thought would perfect for the wallpaper.

I first started by masking the image in quick mask mode and since I had just bought my new Wacom tablet, I went in depth with getting the details of the hair with the brush tool. You can also use the pen tool without being in quick mask mode to do this, but I’ll be using this method.

I went in an touched up some of the details from the hair and her body before I imposed her into the background I am going to begin building. I’ve adjusted any highlights that I won’t want, added or erased some hair, and so on.

Here I’ve placed her into my background which I’ve made black and added an oval shape which I end up rasterizing and blurring until I get a nice glow effect from it.

In Photoshop, I end up using some textured brushes to erase some of her body. I did this by first creating a layer on top of the image, using the Brush to paint on top so I can see what I was going to erase, then selecting everything I painted and erasing away some of her skin.

I then threw this image into Illustrator and began to draw out some skin as if it’s melting away, and added some splattered effects. After I created enough details to where I’m happy, I then drag the layer where I’ve created all my vector shapes, I drag this into Photoshop as a Vector Object.

So I’ve begun finalizing the image, the effects I used were created by first adding a Pattern Overlay to the glow behind her of thick bidiagonal stripes, then painting some splatter over that layer using some vector objects from Illustrator.

The colorful smears flying out were made by first creating a layer behind her and painting some white blobs which I end up smearing using the Smudge tool at about 96%. I used liked the effect I got from this using the Wacom tablet, and after enough smeared lines exploding out, adjusted the fading smears by desaturating the white and adjusting the levels until I got a nice clean fade into black and then slapping a Gradient Overlay.

To get the white glows from her arms, I painted some white spots with the Brush and Blurred them out. You can get a nice effect after blurring them, by using the Rectangle Marquee tool to select half of the circle, then using the Motion Blur effect to stretch out some blurry lines. Apply a few to them for a nice effect, and then add more paint on top while continuing to blur until you get a nice blur.

After I’m done with all that, I create a layer on top of everything and then fill it in with black. Once it’s filled in, apply a Lens Flare and make sure it’s centered. You can use this Lens Flare, set the Blending Mode to Screen, adjust the levels until you reach a desired level of flare, and place them over the image where desired. I’ll end up merging these flares and then painting white at about 7% or 10% to adjust the brightness of them, or use black to lower their brightness while still using the Screen Blending Mode.

I’ve added a few more details, adjusted colors and levels, and touched up the image before my final. So now I’ve canvas to the dimension I want, and since I started out using a huge image, I can resize it down to any dimension I want.

Give it a shot, might take some time, and next time I’ll take a few more snapshots so you can follow along better. Maybe I’ll do video too, but we’ll see what you all think.