TECHNOLOGY INSPIRATION
Technology-People-Innovation

January 2014
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January 22, 2014
Palettes are an integral part of working with most of the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite because they contain many of the controls and tools that you use when you're creating or editing a document. The basic functionality of palettes is quite similar across the programs in the Adobe Creative Suite, and the purpose of all palettes is the same. Palettes offer you a lot of flexibility in how you organize the workspace and what parts of it you use. What you use each program for and the level of expertise you have might affect what palettes you have open at a given moment.

Palettes are small windows in a program that contain controls such as sliders, menus, buttons, and text fields that you can use to change the settings or attributes of a selection or of the entire document. Palettes might also include information about a section or about the document itself. You can use this information or change the settings in a palette to modify the selected object or the document you're working on.

Whether you're working on a Windows machine or on a Mac, palettes are very similar in the way they look and work. Here are the basics of working with palettes:

Opening: Open a palette in one of the Creative Suite programs by using the Window menu; choose Window and then select the name of a palette. For example, to open the Swatches palette (which is similar in many programs in the suite), you would choose Window --> Swatches.

Accessing the palette menu:Palettes have a flyout menu called the palette menu. The palette menu opens when you click the arrow in the upper-right corner of the palette. The palette menu contains a bunch of options that you can select that relate to the tab that is currently selected when you click the palette menu. When you select one of the options in the menu, it might execute an action or open a dialog box. Sometimes there are very few options in a palette menu, but particular palettes may have a whole bunch of related functionality and therefore many options in the palette menu.

Closing: If you need to open or close a palette's tab or palette altogether, just choose Window --> Name of Palette's Tab. You can close a palette the same way: All you need to do is select an open palette in the Window menu, and it will close. Sometimes a palette contains a close button (an X button in Windows or the red button on a Mac), which you can click to close the palette.

Minimizing/maximizing: All you need to do to minimize a selected palette is to click the minimize button in the title bar of the palette (if it's available). You can also double-click the tab itself (of an active tab) in the palette. This will either partially or fully minimize the palette. If it only partially minimizes, double-clicking the tab again will fully minimize the palette. Double-clicking the active tab when it's minimized will maximize the palette again.

You might also see what's called thecycle widget when a palette can be partially minimized and maximized. This is a small double-sided arrow that appears to the left of the palette's name on the tab. If you click this arrow, it progressively expands or collapses the palette.

Palettes that partially minimize give you the opportunity to work with palettes that have differing amounts of information. This simplifies the workspace while maximizing your screen real estate.

Most palettes contain tabs, which help organize information and controls in a program into groupings. Palette tabs contain a particular kind of information about a part of the program; a single palette may contain several tabs. The name on the tab usually gives you a hint about the type of function it controls or displays information about, and it is located at the top of the palette (or to the left of the palette when you're using side tabs).

To minimize a side tab (which we discuss further in the following section), you need to click in the gray area that surrounds the tab(s) in a palette. This collapses the side tab into the side of the workspace. To maximize a minimized side tab, click one of the tabs in the palette.

You can also minimize a side tab by clicking the active tab in a palette. If you click an inactive tab, the palette only switches to that tab in the palette so that you can work with it.
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January 22, 2014
Sometimes you want to select an area so uniform in appearance that you want to simply tell Paint Shop Pro, "Go select that red balloon" or whatever it is. To you, with your human perception, the area is an obvious thing of some sort. In software, anything that even slightly mimics human perception is often called magic. The Magic Wand selection tool is no exception. It can identify and select areas of uniform color or brightness, somewhat as your eye does.

One benefit of this tool is that you can select areas with complex edges that would be a pain in the wrist to trace with the Freehand tool. For instance, a selection of blue sky that includes a complex skyline of buildings and trees would be relatively easy with the Magic Wand tool.

The Magic Wand tool doesn't, however, work as well as your eye. In particular, if the color or brightness of the area you're trying to select isn't uniform or doesn't contrast strongly with the surroundings, the selection is likely to be spotty or incomplete or have rough edges.

Making the selection

To make a selection, select the Magic Wand from the Selection toolset. Your cursor takes on the Magic Wand icon. Click the Magic Wand cursor on your image, and it selects all adjacent pixels that match (or nearly match) the pixel you clicked. (Note that the selection does not include isolated pixels — pixels that, even though they match, are separated from the place you clicked by nonmatching pixels.)

To get the selection you want when you use the Magic Wand tool, consult the Tool Options palette. It lets you define (by using the Match mode list) exactly what you mean by match and lets you adjust (by adjusting the Tolerance setting) how closely the selected pixels should match the one you clicked.

If your image uses layers, be sure that the active layer is the one containing the area you want to select. Enable the Sample Merged check box on the Tool Options palette so that the Magic Wand tool examines all layers combined. Otherwise, the Magic Wand tool selects a totally wrong area, and you wonder what's happening!

Choosing Match mode for better results

Click the Match Mode list box and you can choose exactly how you want Paint Shop Pro to select the pixels around the place you clicked.

Some of the choices are shown in this list:

RGB Value: When you choose this option, you tell Paint Shop Pro to "select pixels that match in both color and brightness." Clicking a red apple using this choice may select only the highlighted side where you clicked, for instance. Technically, it selects all adjacent pixels with red (R), green (G), and blue (B) primary color values that match the one you clicked.

Hue: You're telling Paint Shop Pro to "select pixels that match in color" when you choose Hue. Hue, however, is somewhat more independent of brightness than the RGB value. Clicking on a red apple with this choice is more likely to select the entire apple than if you chose RGB Value. Technically, it selects all adjacent pixels with hues (in the Hue/Saturation/Lightness color system, or color wheel) that match the hue of the pixel you clicked.

Brightness: Brightness disregards color and selects all adjacent pixels whose brightness matches the one you clicked. This choice is useful for selecting things that are similarly illuminated, like shadows and highlights, or that are in a notably light or dark color compared with the background.

Opacity: Opacity, if you're not paying attention, is a measure of how transparent your image is. Opacity mode selects anything that's suitably close to the transparency of the selected pixel.

Opacity is useful only when you're working on layers or images with transparent backgrounds. Even though you can technically paint a low- opacity streak over a white background using the Brush tool, the Magic Wand sees that even though the paint is ghostly and transparent, the background is 100 percent opaque. It then counts the background as part of the selection and goes on to select the entire image.

All Opaque: This option is a special choice for when you're working on an image that has transparent areas — areas of no content whatever — usually displayed with a checkered background. It tells Paint Shop Pro to select the area that has content around the pixel where you clicked. For instance, you may have photos of various air freshener products on a transparent layer, artistically floating over a cow pasture in the background. With this choice, you can just click one of the products to select it in its entirety.

Experiment to get the mode that works best for you! Press Ctrl+D to deselect each failed experiment, change match modes, and click again with the Magic Wand tool.

Setting tolerance to include more or fewer pixels

The Tolerance setting on the Tool Options palette helps you determine how much of an area is selected by the Magic Wand tool. You may have to undo your selection with Ctrl+D, adjust the tolerance, and click again with the Magic Wand tool several times to get the best selection possible.

Tolerance tells Paint Shop Pro how closely the pixels it selects should match the pixel you clicked — in RGB value, hue, or brightness, depending on which match mode you chose. (Tolerance doesn't matter for All Pixels match mode. A pixel either has content or it doesn't.) Here's how it works:

Lower the tolerance value to make a less extensive selection the next time you click.

Raise the tolerance value to make a more extensive selection the next time you click.

In Paint Shop Pro, low tolerance means that the Magic Wand tool tolerates little variation in color or brightness from the pixel you clicked. The tolerance value itself has no particular meaning; it's just a number.

The Tolerance value box on the Magic Wand tool's Tool Options palette has a clever adjustment feature you find in similar boxes throughout Paint Shop Pro. As with these types of boxes in any Windows program, you can type a value (from 0 to 200) in its text box or click its up or down arrow to adjust the value. We find that the best way is to click the down arrow, orClever adjustment feature, and hold your mouse button down. A tiny slider appears that you can drag left or right to set the tolerance value lower or higher.

Tolerance can be a sensitive and picky adjustment. A small change can sometimes make a big difference in what gets selected. Unless you're trying to select an area well differentiated by color, brightness, or content, you probably have to adjust your selected area afterward.
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January 21, 2014

Photoshop can provide magical transformations to images, making them unrecognizable from the original, but sometimes what you really want is simply to make an image look the same as the original — only better. Perhaps the colors are a little too warm, or the shadows a bit inky. Whatever's wrong with the image, the last thing you want is to change it so much that it looks like it's been processed more than a freeze-dried floral arrangement. You'd be happy to have everyone admire your image without a clue that you'd made major corrections in Photoshop.

Photoshop's Variations feature is a variation (so to speak) on the professional photographer's ring around (a set of color prints, each made with slightly different color balance) or test strip (a single print of an image made so that each section is shown using a different color balance). Both tools let you view several renditions of an image and choose the best one visually by comparing them. You might want to use Variations when you're unsure about exactly how the color is biased, and would like to compare several versions of an image to see exactly what the color cast is.

Although not as sophisticated as some color correction techniques, the Variations feature has the advantage of being quick and simple, and it doesn't require a lot of training to use.

Following are the components of the Variations dialog box:

In the upper-left corner is a pair of images — the original image and the image as it will appear when the corrections are applied.Below these thumbnails is a set of six variations on the original image, each with a fixed amount of correction applied using (clockwise from upper-left) green, yellow, red, magenta, blue, and cyan. In the center of this ring is the current version of the image.At the right edge of the dialog box is a stack of three thumbnails showing a lighter version of the image (at top), the current version (in the middle), and a darker rendition (at bottom).In the upper-right corner of the dialog box is a control area that includes radio buttons that let you choose shadows, midtones, or highlights for your correction, as well as saturation. Beneath the buttons is a slider that controls whether your correction will be subtle (Fine) or dramatic (Coarse).Four buttons also let you save the corrections you've made for use with the same or another photo, load settings you've already stored, apply the current corrections (by clicking OK), or forget about the whole thing (by clicking Cancel).

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January 21, 2014

Now wait a minute; don't you call these things "movies" because the pictures are already moving? Why would you need to animate a video clip? You may not need to animate the actual subjects in the video, but you can move the video image across the screen. For example, a small picture-in-picture image can sail across the screen to give a hint of action that will happen later in the movie. You can move a clip across the screen along a fixed path or a zigzag pattern, you can rotate clips, and you can distort them.

To prepare a clip for animation, follow these steps:

1. Click the clip in the timeline that you want to animate to select it, and make sure that the play head appears somewhere over the clip.

You want just about any clip that you animate in track Video 2 or higher.

2. Choose Window --> Properties to open the Properties window for the selected clip.

3. Click the arrow next to the Motion heading to expand the Motion controls.

4. Click the clip's video image in the Monitor.

When you click the clip in the monitor, cross-hairs appear in the middle of the clip and square handles appear on the sides and corners of the video image.

5. Click and drag the square handles to change the size of the image.

6. Click and drag on the middle of the image to move the image to a new location on the screen.

The preceding steps help you only resize a clip, not animate it. If you play the timeline to preview your change, you see that your clip has been resized, but it doesn't go anywhere. To actually animate the clip and make it go somewhere, you just use keyframes. To animate your resized clip, follow these steps:

1. Click the Toggle Animation button next to Motion.

2. Click the Add/Remove Keyframe button next to the Position control.

A keyframe appears at the current video frame for the current size and position of your clip.

3. Move the play head in the timeline to a different location in the clip.

4. Click and drag the resized clip in the monitor to a new location.

This step automatically creates a new keyframe. If you want, you can even drag the clip completely off-screen. This causes the clip to appear to exit, stage left (or right, or up, or . . . ).

Now play the timeline. The resized clip moves across the screen as it plays between the two keyframes that you created. Unhappy with the results? Play around with it! Animation is one of those effects that you really need to fiddle around with to get just the right look.

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January 20, 2014

Digital images fall into two camps:vector images, which are created based on mathematical formulas, andraster images, which are made up of pixels. Photoshop allows you to produce both types of images and even to combine both types within a single file.

Table 1 gives you the skinny on vector and raster images. For the details, keep reading.

Table 1: Characteristics of Vector and Raster Graphics

Graphic Type

How It Works

File Size

Image Degradation Possible?

Resolution Dependent?

Vector

Mathematical formulas precisely locate and connect geometric objects and segments

Usually smaller

No

No

Raster

Breaks pieces of an image into a grid made up of pixels

Usually larger

Yes

Yes

Vector images

One cool thing about vector images, also called object-oriented images, is that when you zoom in on them, they don't look blocky. That's because vector images are comprised ofsegments — curved or straight — andanchor points — elements that indicate the endpoints of the segments — that are defined by mathematical objects called vectors. Vectors use a unique mathematical formula to define the specific location of an object as well as its geometric shape.

Vector images are usually the product of drawing programs, such as Adobe Illustrator, but Photoshop is also capable of producing a vector or two. And not to be outdone, its cousin Illustrator can also rasterize (or convert into pixels) vector artwork, thereby providing you with raster images to work with.

Here is some additional information about vector graphics:

A curve is still a curve, even at 20,000 feet. Because they are mathematically defined, vector graphics can be sized and otherwise transformed without an inkling of quality loss. Take that little 2-inch spot illustration and size it up to mural size, and it appears identical. A perfect true curve remains a perfect true curve, whether it's 2 inches or 20 feet long.You can get pretty pictures in small packages. Vector images can be small in file size because the file size depends on the complexity of the vector objects, not the size of the illustration.Graphics that need clean lines, such as logos, typographic illustrations, and line art, work great in vector format. Vector images are independent — resolution independent, that is. Not only can they be transformed and printed without a degradation in quality, but they also have no built-in resolution — they take on the resolution of the output device. For example, print something to an imagesetter (a high-end printing device used for color separations) at 2400 dots per inch (dpi), and the image comes out at 2400 dpi. Print it to a 300 dpi laser printer and what do you get? A 300 dpi image.

Because your monitor can display images only on a grid, vector images display on-screen as pixels. This accounts for the jagged appearance you see when you zoom into a curved vector object. But don't worry; it will print just fine.

Raster images

Raster images are usually the result of the digitizing of continuous-toneimages, such as photographs or original painted or drawn artwork. Raster images are comprised of a grid of squares, which are called pixels. Pixel is short for PICture Element and is the smallest component of a digital image. If you've ever looked at a bathroom wall made up of those small square tiles reminiscent of the 1940s, you're familiar with what a grid of pixels looks like: Each pixel lives in a specific location on that grid and contains a single color. When you edit a bitmap image, you are editing one or more pixels rather than an object-oriented shape.

Although it doesn't seem like it when you're viewing an image that fits inside your computer screen, your entire image can be broken down into a grid of square pixels. But how do you fit a round peg in a square hole? By faking it. Unlike the true mathematical curve possible when drawing vector shapes, raster images must try to approximate a curve by mimicking the overall shape with square pixels.

Fortunately, the mimicry the pixels have to do is indecipherable with high-resolution images viewed at a reasonable distance. But when you zoom in, you can see that a curve in an image is indeed comprised of square pixels. Raster graphics work great for photorealistic or painterly images where subtle gradations of color are necessary. On the downside, because they contain a fixed number of pixels, raster graphics can suffer a degradation of quality when they're enlarged or otherwise transformed. They are also large in file size.

Bitmap images are resolution dependent. Because they contain a fixed number of pixels, the resolution of the device they are being printed to is only one of two factors that influence the quality of the image. The quality of the output also depends heavily on the resolution of the image. For example, an image with 72 dots per inch (dpi) doesn't look any better printed on a 600 dpi printer than it does on a 1200 dpi printer. Likewise, a 300 dpi image doesn't look as good printed on an old 72 dpi dot matrix printer as it does on a 1200 dpi printer.

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January 20, 2014

PDFMaker 5.0 for Windows makes it ridiculously easy to turn any Word, Excel, or PowerPoint document you create or edit with the Office 2000 or Office XP (2002) editions of these programs into the latest and greatest versions of PDF documents — all you have to do is click the Convert to Adobe PDF button on the PDFMaker 5.0 toolbar (automatically added when you install Acrobat 5.0 for Windows on your computer). But before you touch that button, take a gander at these commandments for making perfect PDF conversions.

Check for consistent use of heading styles

Click the Document Map button on the Standard toolbar to display the headings and their hierarchical relationship in the Document Map pane in Word. Because PDFMaker can automatically convert all Word document headings into bookmarks in the resulting PDF document, you should make sure that all the headings in your document use the appropriate Heading style. Word 2002 users can display the Styles and Formatting task pane (choose View --> Task Pane and then click Styles and Formatting on the Task Pane pop-up menu) to check and, if necessary, reapply the Heading styles.

Check the paging of Excel worksheets

Choose View --> Page Break Preview on the Excel menus. Because PDFMaker uses the current paging of the Excel worksheet in constructing the pages in the resulting PDF document, you will want to verify the page breaks before doing the conversion. Remedy bad page breaks that separate columns and rows of data that should appear together on a page by dragging the page break markers in the Page Break Preview mode.

Verify which type of PDF document you're creating

You do this by checking the name that appears in the Conversion Settings combo box on the Settings tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings). When selecting among these presets, keep in mind the major use of the final PDF document: Select eBook for online viewing, Press for professional printing, Print for in-house printing, and Screen for fast downloading and viewing on the Web. Also, keep in mind that you can customize any of these presets by selecting it in the Conversion Settings combo box and then clicking the Edit Conversion Settings button.

Confirm that all Word document headings and styles will be converted into bookmarks

Verify which settings are selected on the Bookmarks tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) in Word. Click the Convert Word Headings to Bookmarks check box to convert all Heading paragraph styles used in the document into bookmarks in the resulting PDF file. Click the Convert Word Styles to Bookmarks check box to convert all the other paragraph styles used in the document to bookmarks as well. To omit certain levels of headings or particular styles from bookmark conversion, click their individual check boxes that appear in the list box below.

Verify which Word features are marked for conversion in the PDF document

Verify which Word Features settings are selected on the Office tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) in Word. To convert document comments to hidden notes in the PDF document, select the Comments --> Notes check box. To add text boxes to the adjoining text using the PDF Articles feature, select the Text Boxes --> Article Threads check box. To retain the page numbers used in the Word document, select the Page Numbers check box. To convert all cross-references and any table of contents generated in the Word document into links in the PDF document, select the Cross References & TOC Links check box. To convert all footnotes and endnotes added to the Word document into links in the resulting PDF file, select the Footnote & Endnote Links check box.

Make sure that you're creating a tagged PDF file

Verify that the Embed Tags in PDF (Accessibility, Reflow) check box option on the Office tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings) has a check mark in it.

Confirm how the converted PDF document is set to open in Acrobat

Verify the Document Open options on the Display Options tab of the Acrobat 5.0 PDFMaker 5.0 dialog box (Acrobat --> Change Conversion Settings). To open the PDF document without displaying the Bookmarks palette in the Navigation pane, click the Page Only radio button. To display a page other than the first page upon opening, enter the page number in the Page Number field. To open the page at a set magnification, click the percentage (200, 400, 800, or 1600) or preset view (Fit in Window, Fit Width, or Fit Visible) in the Open Magnification pop-up menu.

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January 19, 2014

Your Facebook Profile, or Timeline, is the online representation of who you are. Most likely, you have online profiles for various websites. Facebook Timelines tend to be a little more comprehensive and dynamic.

While you're getting started, Facebook asks for only a little bit of Profile Information. Facebook asks for this bio because this is the information that will help your friends find you.

There are five fields that Facebook asks for. You can fill out all or none of them, but it's recommended that you fill them all out:

High School: Enter the high school you attended. If you attended more than one high school, pick just one to enter now; you'll be able to add the rest of them later.

College/University: If you attended college, enter your school. If you attended more than one school, either because you transferred or because you also attended a graduate program, just pick one school for now. You'll be able to add the rest later.

Employer: Enter the name of the company you work for. For now, enter wherever you're currently working or where you worked most recently. You'll be able to enter a full work history later on.

Current City: Enter the city where you currently reside.

Hometown: Enter the place you identify as your hometown. That may be the place you were born or the place you moved to when you were 10 years old. It's up to you.

You may notice that as you type the name of your high school or college, a list of names appears below the field where you're typing. Get used to seeing these autocomplete menus around Facebook. As you type, Facebook tries to guess the rest of the word you're typing. When you see what you're looking for, use the arrow keys to highlight the correct match and press Enter.

Next to each field is a globe icon with an upside-down triangle next to it, shown next to this paragraph. This is one version of the Privacy Menu that appears throughout Facebook. Also known as the Audience Selector, you can click this icon to change who can see the information you just entered.

Privacy on Facebook is important. And complex. For now, decide who can see each of these items. So, for example, if you're choosing privacy for your High School, you would click the globe icon to open the privacy menu and select from the following options:

Public or Everyone: Anyone who visits your Timeline can see where you went to high school. Additionally, anyone who searches for People Who Went to<High School Name> will see you in the search results.

Friends: Only people you add as friends will be able to see where you went to high school.

Only Me: Only you will be able to see where you went to high school. A friend visiting your Timeline won't see this information.

Custom: A specific set of people you choose will or will not be able to see where you went to high school. This option doesn't usually become very useful until people have responded to your Friend Requests.

Lists (Close Friends and Family):Facebook tries to help you sort your friends into categories such as Close Friends or Family. You can choose to allow only people in those lists to see where you went to high school. Much like Custom, this option may not be very useful at this time.

If you don't want to share this information publicly, simply click the globe icon and select with whom you do want to share it. Each privacy setting has its own icon to represent it, so if you choose Friends, the globe icon will be replaced by the icon of two silhouettes.

Because these are the fields that help friends find you, it's recommended that you leave them set to Public. Especially if you have a common name, having some biographical details makes it easier for friends to find and identify you. But if you aren't comfortable with that, you of course can change the privacy setting. Privacy settings aren't set in stone; you can always adjust them later.

When you're done filling out these fields, click the blue Save & Continue button to move on to the next step.

Sometimes Facebook will use the information you just entered to show you some people it thinks you may know. In that case, after you finish Step 2, but before you get to Step 3, you may see an Add People You Know screen. This screen displays the name and photos of people you may want to add as friends.

Click the Add Friend button next to the images of people you know and want to add as friends. You can also choose to skip that part of the step using the Skip link (next to the Save & Continue button).

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January 19, 2014

Drawing with the Pencil tool in Photoshop Elements 4 creates hard edges. You can't get the soft, feathery edges that you can with the Brush tool. In fact, the edges of a pencil stroke can't even be anti-aliased (where edges are softened). So keep in mind that if you draw anything other than vertical or horizontal lines, your lines will have some jaggies when viewed up close. But hey, don't diss the Pencil just yet. Those hard-edged strokes can be perfect for Web graphics. And what's more, the Pencil tool has the ability to erase itself, and it's great for digital sketches, as shown in Figure 1.


Figure 1: The Pencil tool can be used for digital drawings.

The awkwardness of trying to draw with a mouse disappears if you use a pressure-sensitive digital drawing tablet — the Pencil tool will behave much more like a real lead pencil.

Follow these steps to become familiar with the Pencil tool:

1. Select the Pencil tool from the Tools palette.

You can also press the N key. By default, the Pencil tool's brush tip is the 1-pixel brush. (Yes, even though the Pencil tip is hard-edged, it's still referred to as a brush.)

2. On the Options bar, choose your desired pencil options, beginning with a brush preset.

3. Click the arrow and select your desired brush from the Brush Preset Picker drop-down palette.

To load another preset library, click the Brushes menu at the top of the palette.

Remember, you aren't limited to the standard old brush strokes. Check out the Assorted and Special Effects brushes. You'll be surprised at some of the interesting brushes lurking in these palettes. Use them to create stand-alone images or to enhance your photographic creations.

Access the pop-up menu on the drop-down palette to save, rename, or delete individual brushes and also save, load, and reset brush libraries.

4. Choose your brush size.

A preset brush's pixel diameters are shown as text below a thumbnail image of the brush shape. If you want to change the size of that brush tip, drag the slider or enter a value.

5. Select a blending mode.

6. If you want the background to show through your strokes, adjust the Opacity by dragging the slider or entering an opacity percentage less than 100 percent.

The lower the percentage, the more the background images show through.

Your strokes must be on a separate layer above your images for you to be able to adjust the opacity and blend modes after you've drawn them.

7. Select Auto Erase if you want to enable that option.

This option removes portions of your pencil strokes.

8. Click and drag with the mouse to create your freeform lines.

To draw straight lines, click at a starting point, release the mouse button, and then Shift+click at a second point.

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January 19, 2014

Red eye occurs when the subject of a picture looks directly into the flash, and the unfortunate result is that eerie reddish luminescence in the eyes that says, "Not only didn't I get any sleep last night, but I'm also auditioning for the remake of Michael Jackson'sThriller video."

The flash bouncing off the blood vessels in the retina and right back into the camera's lens causes the red-eye effect. You'll see red eye most often in pictures taken in dim light because the pupils are at their largest in low-light conditions. You may also see red eye if you're using a camera with a flash that's very close to the camera's lens (thereby making it easier for the light to bounce straight back into the lens). The best way to fix red eye is to avoid it completely. That usually means getting a flash camera that can work around it:

Many cameras have a red-eye prevention mode. Usually, this mode triggers a quick, bright preflash just before the actual picture is taken. The preflash causes the subjects' irises to contract, making their pupils smaller when the second flash (that is, the real flash) goes off.Some cameras mount the flash high or to one side of the lens. This simple trick also minimizes the chance of red eye.

However, these preventive measures are of little solace when you have a great picture that features bright red pupils as its most dominating feature.

Here's a quick way to paint out red eye and restore your image to a less zombielike look:

1. Open the original photo with red eye showing.

2. Select the pupil of one of the eyes.

An easy way to avoid changing the color of more than the red part of the eye is by painting the selection by using the Quick Mask tool.

3. Double-click the Quick Mask icon in the Tool palette.

The Quick Mask Options dialog box appears.

Make sure that the Selected Areas option is selected. This tells Photoshop that the area you're painting should be considered a selection.

4. Double-click the Color preview box to produce the Color Picker dialog box. Choose a bright green color as the mask color.

Photoshop uses a red hue by default that would make it difficult to see what part of the image you've already painted, so using a contrasting color eliminates this problem.

5. Click OK to dismiss the Color Picker dialog box, and then click OK to close the Quick Mask Options dialog box and begin painting a mask.

6. Choose a fuzzy-edged brush from the Brushes palette and paint around one iris.

7. Press Q to exit Quick Mask mode.

Only the pupil of the eye is selected, so you can paint without fear of covering up any other parts of the eye.

8. Choose Select --> Save Selection and store the pupil selection. Give it a name, such as "Last Iris."

You can reuse the pupil selection later if you accidentally deselect the area while working.

9. Select the Brush tool and choose a small fuzzy-edged brush.

10. In the Options bar, choose Hard Light as the blending mode from the Mode drop-down list.

11. Choose a color that matches the iris color but is quite a bit darker.

Pupils are ordinarily much darker than the iris that surrounds them.

l2. Paint over the pupil.

You may notice that two catchlights (reflections of light sources such as windows or the flash that made the picture) on the eye, which is unnatural. Of course, having no catchlight at all is even more unnatural! Cover the extraneous left catchlight in each pupil, but try not to obscure the main, right catchlight.

If you must paint over one of the main catchlights to remove the red-eye effect, use some white paint to insert a new one.

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January 18, 2014

The InDesign File menu contains a group of commands — Close, Save, Save As, Save a Copy, Check In, and Revert — that provide options for saving the active (frontmost) document. Here's a rundown of what each command does:

  • Close (Command+W, or Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4) closes the active document. If the document has never been saved or if it has been changed since it was last saved, a dialog box lets you save, close without saving, or cancel and return to the document.
    To close multiple windows at once, use the shortcuts Option+Shift+Command+F4 or Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W.
  • Save (Command+S or Ctrl+S) saves changes you've made to the active document since you last saved. (If you choose Save for a document that hasn't yet been saved, the Save As dialog box is displayed.)
  • Save As (Option+Command+S or Ctrl+Alt+S) lets you save a copy of the active document using a different name (or with the same name in a different folder). When you choose Save As — and when you choose Save for an unsaved document — the Save As dialog box appears. This dialog box lets you create or choose a folder for the document, as well as name the document.
  • Check In saves the current document as a version within a Version Cue project. (Version Cue is Adobe software that helps track different versions of your projects.) This latest save will be considered a version of the previously saved file. (This expert option is available only if Version Cue is enabled. It had been called Save a Version in previous versions of InDesign.)
  • Save a Copy lets you create a copy of the active document in a different (or in the same) folder using a different (or the same) name. When you use the Save a Copy command, the original document remains open and retains its original name. It differs from Save As only in that it keeps the original document open.
  • Revert undoes all changes you've made to a document since you last saved it.
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January 18, 2014


The majority of Flash movies end up on Web sites. To help ensure that your Web site is as attractive and useful as possible, consider these pearls of wisdom, some of which apply to all Web sites and others are specific to those sites using Flash movies.

Set your goal

A general principle of Web design is to know why you have a Web site. Write out one main goal and perhaps one or two secondary goals. For example, the main goal of your site may be to sell used music CDs. A secondary goal may be to provide viewers with music reviews so that they can decide which CDs they want to buy. Avoid putting material on your site that doesn't help you reach your goal.

How does your Flash movie help you attain your Web site's goal? Perhaps your movie displays the covers of your most widely sold CDs and plays some of the music, giving viewers an instant understanding of your site's purpose. On the other hand, if your Flash movie just displays an animated logo, it may even distract viewers from the important features of your home page.

Keep pages clean and clear

Unlike television, the Web is an interactive medium. Viewers need to understand the purpose of your site and how to navigate it. Clutter and complex structures are counterproductive. You can use Flash to create a simple, compelling navigational system. But you must be careful when mixing and matching HTML and Flash elements in order to avoid confusion. Let all your buttons look similar — don't create five different shapes and colors of Flash buttons just because you can.

By default, the Flash HTML file loops your files. Looped short animations tend to look like the animated GIFs we all know and hate . . . and ignore. Avoid looped animation unless you have a good reason for it, especially if it moves across the Web page in a banner. Viewers may assume it's advertising.

Don't overwhelm viewers with color

Too many colors create a chaotic impression. While your Web site doesn't have to be dull, you don't want it to be overwhelming either. Of course, there's nothing wrong with full-color photographs or graphics, but use a maximum of three colors for the background, text, and navigational aids. Most of your Web content is probably text, which viewers expect to be mostly in one font and one color. Navigational aids, such as buttons and links, should be the same color throughout your site.

Use fewer than four fonts

To create a Web page design with maximum coherence and impact, you should probably restrict your page design to two or three fonts at most. It makes visual sense to use one font for the body of your text and one font for the headlines. You could perhaps use a third font for a logo or for some other special item, but this may look best if it has some kind of strong visual harmony with the other fonts you are using.

Use four fonts and people may start to think that you're designing a ransom note, not a Web page.

Be consistent

Each page on your site should have the same logo. Certain links should go on each page (such as a link to your home page) and be in the same place on each page. If you have other links, such as Search, E-mail, and so on, these should also be consistent throughout your site.

Text color, fonts, hyperlinks, backgrounds, buttons, and so on should all be consistent to avoid confusion and error.

If you're combining HTML and Flash content, use consistent fonts and colors for both.

KISS

As you may know, KISS stands forKeep It Simple, Stupid. Sketch out the map of your site and make sure the lines of navigation are short and simple. Don't use long explanations when a short one will do. Don't use lots of images when one will suffice.

Your Flash movies should also be as simple as possible. Animation goes by fast. If too many objects are moving at once, viewers don't know where to focus their attention.

Know who's watching and how

Many Web site hosts provide you with information on the browsers (including which version) and the resolutions used by your viewers. You may not be able to cater to everything out there, but you should try to create a Web site that the vast majority of people can see.

Many sites that use Flash offer a non-Flash alternative rather than force viewers without the Flash Player to download it. The non-Flash alternative has non-animated graphics in place of the Flash movie.

Remember that viewers on a screen with 640 x 480 resolution can see a lot less than viewers on screens with a higher resolution. Those with lower resolution may miss important parts of your Web page and Flash animation.

Support the Flash Player

You can choose to publish an HTML file that detects whether the Flash Player is installed on the viewer's computer. If not, it displays an image file. (You need to publish to one of the image formats at the same time for this to work.)

The default HTML text doesn't check for the Flash player, but it includes the location to download the player. In some situations, the Flash Player will download automatically when not available or a window will pop up offering the viewer the chance to download it. Many sites include a button that says, Can't see the animation? Download the Flash Player here, or something to that effect. The button links toMacromedia's download center.

Many Web surfers have no idea how Web sites are created and have never heard of Flash. Therefore, giving viewers a choice of Flash and non-Flash sites may not be meaningful. (Of course, if you're a Web site designer and you think potential clients viewing your site may be savvier than most viewers, you may have no problem in this regard.) In most situations, it may be better to use the words animated and non-animated. Of course, feel free to use the word Flash along with some explanation.

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January 18, 2014


Although most game-animation textures are created externally and wrapped onto objects, most 3D software programs also include a separate set of tools for painting directly on the objects themselves. Using these painting tools, you can add details, such as dirt and grime, to the texture applied to the object after the texture image has already been applied.

One helpful way to use these paint tools is to add realistic dirt and grime to objects. Adding these layers of dirt to the texture map can be tricky because you're not always sure where the map will match the folds of the skin or the edges and corners of an object where dirt is likely to accumulate. Painting tools are also helpful for defacing nice textures with spray paint to resemble graffiti.

3D painting tools typically let you select from a selection of brushes that offer different styles. You can also adjust the brushes' size, pressure, and color. In some software, the painting tools work only if the surface has a texture file applied to it.

Follow these steps to use the painting tools:

1. Choose the Create --> Polygon Primitives --> Cube menu command.

A polygon cube is placed in the center of the view.

2. Select the Lighting/Shading --> Assign New Material --> Lambert menu command to create a new material for the cube object.

The Lambert2 node in the Attribute Editor is opened with the material properties for the assigned material displayed.

3. Press the 6 key to enable a Texture view.

In Texture view, you'll be able to see the brush strokes as you paint.

4. Select the Texturing --> 3D Paint Tool menu command to access the painting tool, and then select the Window --> Settings/Preferences --> Tool Settings menu command to open the Tool Settings panel to the right of the view pane.

All the settings for the 3D Paint Tool are displayed within the Tool Settings panel. Initially, there isn't a surface to paint on, so you'll need to create one.

You can also switch among the Attribute Editor, the Tool Settings, and the Channel Box using the three buttons located at the top right of the interface beneath the Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons.

5. In the File Textures section of the Tool Settings panel, click the Assign/Edit Textures button.

The Assign/Edit File Textures dialog box appears.

6. Set the SizeX and SizeY values to 256 and click the Assign/Edit Textures button.

This creates a texture that you can paint on top of that is saved with the scene file.

7. Set the Brush Scale value to 1.0 and the color to light blue, and drag over the top of the image in the view pane.

The color is added to the texture image on all the cube faces.

8. Select the File --> Save Scene As menu command and save the file as Painting tool.mb.

The ability to paint directly on an object's surface is very helpful as you add materials to objects.

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January 18, 2014
By default, Manga Studio has the page display set at a standard quality. However, if you have a strong enough system (and really, you'd need a pretty weak system for this not to work well), you can increase the display quality a bit so that lines don't look quite as jagged as you rotate a page.

On the Page tab of the Preferences dialog box, the first option you see is the Display Quality drop-down list. When you click the list, you see three options (Standard, High, and Maximum). Try each of them out and see how your system likes the adjustments.

You don't see any major difference in quality when the page is in its normal (zero-degree) position. The only time you see any difference is when you use the Rotate tool to turn the page as you work. The differences are slight, but you might find it more comfortable to work at High or Maximum quality than at Standard.
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January 18, 2014
Whether your ISP provides the space for free or you've enlisted a paid host to provide you space for your own domain, you can use your Web space to store and display photos that you want to share with friends, family, customers, and business associates.

Be kind to your Web site visitors: You can save your image recipients' time, hard drive space, and aggravation by creating a single repository for all the images you want to share. You're also making it much easier for yourself to keep an up-to-date selection of images available to all who want to see them, so the Web option is a win-win proposition.

Putting the images online requires a series of simple steps:

1. Prepare your photos for use on the Web by opening them in a photo editing program, such as Photoshop Elements, and saving them in a Web-safe format.

Two formats that all Web browsers can deal with are GIF and JPEG. JPEG is best for photos because it supports the multitude of colors and shading within the images.

2. Set up the Web page where you want to display the images.

You can use a variety of graphical tools to design the page (Microsoft FrontPage, Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe GoLive) or you can create a page by writing HTML code. If you're using an ISP's free Web space, the ISP gives you step-by-step procedures for creating a Web page, and the software does most of the work for you.

3. Upload the Web page and the images.

This is typically done with FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software. If you're using AOL or your ISP, it might provide an Upload page that loads both the Web page you set up and the images you want to display.

4. Visit the page online to see how it looks.

You always want to check your page online (using multiple Web browsers, if possible) to see whether it's okay before you send people there to see your images.

If you want to make changes, open the Web page file on your computer, make the changes, and upload it again.

If you check your page online and you see red Xs (in Internet Explorer) or gray icons with a question mark (in Netscape Navigator) where images should be, this means that the browser can't locate the image that's supposed to be there. Check your Web page settings to make sure that you have the right pictures in the right places, and check to see that you've uploaded all the images to your host's Web server.

Before you share a batch of photos with the world, check the photos for anything you'd regret sharing with the rest of the population. You probably want to avoid sharing identifying features, such as addresses and people's last names, which may enable strangers to make undesired contact with you. Another thing to check for is embarrassing content. Going over the images with a very discriminating eye before you share them will pay off in the long run.
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January 16, 2014


In the past, we have already covered How to Add Google+ Comments, Disqus Commenting system and LiveFyre Commenting system in Blogger. Recently, one of our users asked us how to add Facebook Comments in Blogger? Today in this article, we will show you How to Add Facebook Comments System in Blogger. We will also discuss the Pros and cons of using Facebook Comments on your website, so that you can make an ingenious decision whether to for it or not.


Advantages of Facebook Comments in Blogger

Facebook is the most viral social networking site, so it might be the reason why one should always think about making use of all the features that it provides to the publishers and developers. However, I would not push anyone to start using Facebook comments without knowing its advantage. Every site has their own priorities and concerns but for the sake of an ongoing argument, let us first take a look at the following pros of adding Facebook Comments in Blogger.

Whenever someone likes or reply to their comment, Facebook sent an automatic notification to user.  The author or other users might also receive the same notification if they are following the topic.

Unlike Google+ and others, it provides multiple commenting options. For example, if someone is not a Facebook user then he can use his Yahoo, AOL or Outlook id to comment on your website, so your visitor never gets locked out.

Whenever a registered user is caught spamming, Facebook automatically treats him with a security code while the rest of the loyal visitors keep on commenting without any worry. If that spammer didn't even stop then, Facebook holds the authority to disable him from commenting.

Disadvantages of Facebook Comments in Blogger:

You are totally depending upon Facebook. Though it is a reliable brand, but sometime minor glitches happen. What would you do if Facebook suffers some down time. Since, all the scripts you are using is hosted on Facebook, so you never know when the comments get disappear.

Nonetheless, it is unlikely to happen because Facebook is a well-known site with quality backup server. However,  you never know what would be the next thing to come.

How to Add Facebook Comments in Blogger: 

Step#1: Creating a New Application:
The First thing you need to do is to create a separate App ID for your application and that can be done easily through Facebook Developer. Login to your Facebook account and go toFacebook Developers website. This places allow Developers to manage their apps hosted at Facebook, click onCreate New App button.
A Small pop out will appear which would ask you to insert little information about your application. There are two fields, write the App name and press the continue button.
Now you will land of a new page which would provide you your application details like App ID, App name and etc. You need to copy these keys and enter them later.


Step#2: Installing Facebook Comments in Blogger:
The First thing you need to do is to Login into your Blogger account. Now from the dashboard go to Template >> Edit HTML and search for the following highlighted HTML attribution. (Quick Tip: This code is usually present at the first lines of your template's coding).

<html ...... xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>

Now just next to the highlighted code (as shown above) addxmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#'. Once everything is down, it would somewhat look like this. (Quick Tip: Make sure you leave a space between these two codes). 

<html xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#' ...... xmlns:expr='http://www.google.com/2005/gml/expr'>

Now you need to search for the <body>Tag. After finding it, just below it paste the following code. Make sure to replace the YOUR_APP_ID with your Facebook application id. 

<div id="fb-root"></div>
<script>
window.fbAsyncInit = function() {
FB.init({
appId : 'YOUR_APP_ID',
status : true, // check login status
cookie : true, // enable cookies to allow the server to access the session
xfbml : true // parse XFBML
});
};
(function() {
var e = document.createElement('script');
e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js';
e.async = true;
document.getElementById('fb-root').appendChild(e);
}());
</script> 

Now you need to add Facebook Open graph Meta Tags, We have written a detail tutorial on it that can be viewed from here. However, search for </head>and just above it paste the following code. Make sure to replace theYOUR_APP_ID with your Facebook application id. 

<meta property="fb:app_id" content="YOUR_APP_ID" />


Step#3: Adding Facebook Comments in Blogger: 
Last step is to implement Facebook Comments using the HTML Code. In the template, search for <b:includable id='comment-form' var='post'> and just below it paste the following HTML Coding. Incase, you are unable to find <b:includable id='comment-form' var='post'> then you can paste it just below <div class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-1'></div> (Make sure you repeat the process because there are more than 1 tags on you theme). 

<b:if
cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
    <div
    style='padding:20px 0px 5px 0px; margin:0px 0px 0px 0px;'>
        <script
        />
        <div>
            <fb:comments
            colorscheme='light'
            expr:href='data:post.url'
            expr:title='data:post.title'
            expr:xid='data:post.id'
            width='550'
            />
        </div> 
                </div>
                </b:if>

Note: You can also customize the widget of the comment box by adjusting 550 the numbers in the below code.

Congratulations: You have successfully learned how to add Facebook Comments  in blogger blog. You can also preview your posts to see everything is working in an order or not. 

We hope this tutorial has helped you in adding Facebook comments in blogger. Are you using Facebook comments in your blog? If yes, then please take few minutes to tell us about your experience in the comments below.
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January 15, 2014
Photographs can be highly prized objects, and everyone involved in a photograph may have some rights in it. Here's a list of the major parties to consider when it comes to photographic rights:

The subjects of the photo. Any people recognizable in the photo have rights to the use of their image, though news organizations have special privileges, and famous people have fewer rights than others. The owners of certain objects and places claim rights to photos of their possessions as well, but these claims are often a matter of controversy.

The photographer. A lot of people make money from taking and selling photographs, or they have non-financial interest in the use of their pictures, so the rights of the photographer always have to be considered before you use a photograph.

The developer. If a creative or artistic process is used in the developing of a photograph from the original image, the developer could possibly claim rights to its use.

The publisher. When a photo is published in any form — online, in print, or on CD-ROM — the publisher has many responsibilities and some rights.

The viewer. The public at large has the right to be protected from certain kinds of images, although there is tremendous legal activity and controversy over the extent of these rights, and laws (and prosecutorial zeal) vary by nation, by state or province, and even by municipality.

You need to understand two concepts in order to use photos without risking legal trouble. The first is that, unlike other items you might buy, you can't just assume that someone who gives or sells a photo to you has all the rights to it that they need to in order to sell it. For example, if someone gives a friend a photo, and that pal gives it to you, then you publish it, the person who handed the photo over to the friend in the first place can sue him and you both for damages — almost no matter what our friend told you when you bought the picture.

The only way to protect yourself from these cascading rights concerns is through a scary-sounding legal principle called indemnification. As the purchaser, you need the seller to indemnify you — to agree to protect you from legal liability — from the subjects or photographer or previous publishers. This is a big burden for sellers to take on, and only a few sellers of images on CD-ROMs and stock image Web sites are willing to do so.

If you can't get indemnification from your seller, you have to get permissions from the models for any people recognizable in the image and from the photographer. (The seller may claim to be the photographer, but this can be hard to verify.)

Well-known people are just a little bit different from the rest of us when it comes to having their pictures taken. You can often use a photo of a public figure without a model release, even in circumstances where you would need one for a private citizen. Of course, the exact legal definition of apublic figure can become the topic of litigation, but you're a lot safer putting a photograph of yourself shaking hands with the mayor on your Web site than of yourself shaking hands with a random passerby.

For casual use, most Web publishers simply ignore these concerns and freely use photographs they copied from another Web site, or that they took themselves but lack model releases for. And this is so common that the odds of having trouble from it are low for personal or hobby Web sites. The problem comes when your Web site becomes popular, or if you use it for commercial purposes. Then anyone with a possible claim against you comes forward to get their share of the resources they assume you have. If you created a site for someone else, both you and your customer or friend could hear from the lawyers. Or a rights owner might contact your Web host and get your site shut down. So be careful — pay attention to rights issues from the start.
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January 15, 2014
Knowing how to use the panels in Adobe CS5 can help boost your creativity and make your job easier. Adobe panels offer information and tools to help you add color, align objects, and generally transform your Adobe files (and yes, there is a Transform panel).

Have some fun by exploring these panels:

Color: Use the Color panel to select or mix colors for use in the current document. Choose different color modes, such as RGB (Red, Green, Blue) and CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black), from the panel menu (the arrow in upper-right corner).

Info: The Info panel shows you information about the document itself or a particular selection you've made. The Info panel includes information on the size, positioning, and rotation of selected objects. You can't enter data into the Info panel. It only displays (not accepts) information, so use the Transform panel to make modifications.

Swatches: You can use the Swatches panel to create a library of color selections, which you can save and import into other documents or other programs. You can store colors and gradients that you use repeatedly in the Swatches panel.

Tools: Though the Tools panel (or toolbar) isn't available in all Creative Suite programs, it's an extremely important panel in the programs it's in. A program's toolbar contains the tools used in that program.

Layers: The Layers panel is used to display and select layers. You can also use it to change the layer order and to help select items on a particular layer.

Align: Use the Align panel to align selected objects to each other or to align them in relation to the document itself. This panel makes it easy to do precise alignment with multiple objects.

Stroke: The Stroke panel allows you to select strokes and change stroke attributes, such as color, width/weight, style, and caps (ends). The program you're using determines which attributes you can change.

Transform: The Transform panel is used to display and change the shear (skew), rotation, position, and size of a selected object in the document. You can enter new values for each of these transformations.

Character: The Character panel is used to select fonts, font size, character spacing, and other settings related to using type in your documents.

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