Darktechsystem

Gary Thompson | Lasseter has last laugh at Disney's expense

2006-06-10T09:36:00.000+08:00

Owen Wilson lends his drawl to the role of Lightning McQueen, a hotshot stock car in 'Cars'. Disney

THEY SAY the best revenge is living well, but I think Pixar honcho John Lasseter has redefined that axiom.

The best revenge is being fired by a company that has to pay $7 billion to get you back.

That, in a nutshell, describes Lasseter's career trajectory with Disney, where he started out as an eager-beaver animator in 1980 before being swatted down and eventually fired by corporate bureaucrats. His initial stint ended with Lasseter trying to explain to tin-eared executives why computer animation could fulfill Walt Disney's dream of fully dimensional animation.

"Disney was an executive-driven studio. They had a concept for what they thought a movie was going to be, they'd assign directors to it, whether they wanted to work on it or not, then give them story notes to use, and you had to use the executive's notes. You couldn't trust your own instincts, and you couldn't even trust the notes, because they were often contradictory," Lasseter recalls.

When he argued for computer animation, his bosses had only one question: Could it save us money? The answer was no, and Lasseter was let go, but as he went on to prove at Pixar, the company he eventually built, computer animation could sure make you money.

Pixar's run of "A Bug's Life," the "Toy Story" movies, "Monsters Inc.," "The Incredibles" and "Finding Nemo" have made, oh, $2 billion worldwide. Meanwhile, while the penny-pinchers at Disney finally achieved the cost savings they desired, they closed their 2-D animation unit, bringing expenses down to zero.

To Disney's embarrassment, it made most of its animation money distributing Pixar's movies. When a new chairman took over last year, he made a trip to Disneyland and realized that all the new characters were Pixar creations. So he approached Pixar and Lasseter with a proposition: How about we buy you, and you come run our company?

Pixar and Disney agreed to a merger, which took effect last month, and Pixar is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

Time magazine described this as Disney paying $7 billion "for Lasseter's brain," but a lot of what's going on in that brain is a reaction to the shortsighted policies he encountered at the old Disney.

"One of the things that's most important about Pixar is that we're a director-driven studio. What I mean by that is, while the director doesn't call all the shots, the movie comes from the heart of the director. We then surround the directors with people to help them make their movie the best it can be. Sometimes we tell them it's not working, and we're honest. Not to put someone down, but to make the story more powerful."

Hollywood looks on Pixar as a closed circle of Northern California mavericks, but the company welcomes directors with vision: Pixar brought in "Iron Giant" director Brad Bird to make "The Incredibles." Bird is working on the company's next release, about a rodent in Paris.

Lasseter wants to bring the same process to Disney, and while all of this may seem like a radical reformation, in truth it is a restoration of Walt Disney's ideals - Bird and Lasseter studied at Cal Arts in the late '70s under all the old Disney animators, learning Walt's technique and also his creed.

In the 1980s Lasseter clashed with Disney execs who wanted "edgy" stories, which loosely translated to cynical. The great Pixar irony is that it uses its advanced technology to render old-fashioned stories about family, community, friendship and, above all, heart.

Lasseter's "Cars" is about a selfish loner of a race car that breaks down in a small town and learns to accept the help of the people there. The movie boasts the company's usual eye-popping animation advances, but it is also, like "Toy Story," strangely sad at times.

"The concept that was taught to me by my mentor, Frank Thomas, the great Disney animator, was pathos. It was handed down from Walt, who believed that for every laugh there should be a tear," Lasseter said.

"You create pathos not by telling an audience it's time to be sad, but by creating characters that people believe in, whether it's a toy or a car, and putting them in situations and predicaments that teach characters the importance of having heart," he said.

Infusing the movie with personal emotion wasn't difficult for Lasseter; his lifelong love of automobiles started in car-crazed California on the floor of the auto dealership where his father was parts manager, and where young John worked as a teenager. He grew up loving cars, and often used a drive on the open road as a way to unwind; never was that more needed than after four straight years of nonstop work on "A Bug's Life" and the "Toy Story" movies.

"At the end of 'Toy Story 2' my wife said to me, 'Be careful, or one day you're going to wake up and your kids will have gone off to college and you'll have missed it,' " he said. "So I bought a motor home, took a summer off. We started out with our feet in the Pacific Ocean, then turned and headed east. For two months we were lost in America, and it wasn't over until we put our feet in the Atlantic Ocean."

Lasseter stayed on back roads virtually the whole way, and his "Cars" is a visual ode to the country's forgotten, bypassed small towns, as powerfully evocative to baby boomers as the retro playthings in "Toy Story."

Given his reverence for the past, can it be long before Lasseter restores the company's defunct 2-D animation division?

"First of all, 2-D animation became the scapegoat for bad storytelling at a number of studios, Disney included. It's wrong to conclude that people don't want to watch it anymore. That's like saying live-action movies should be ended after a couple of duds at the box office," he said. "When has technology ever directly equated to box office? It's ridiculous. People want to watch good movies, period."

So his answer to the possibility of classic 2-D at Disney is a qualified yes.

"We don't have any firm plans. But if there's one studio that should be making 2-D, it's Disney," he said.

Carlos Saldanha, Director of “Ice Age 2: The Meltdown”

2006-05-09T18:39:00.000+08:00

Carlos Saldanha of Blue Sky never had cold feet when he jumped into making “Ice Age: The Meltdown”. Four years after the release of the first “Ice Age”, he is back with the cast of characters plus a few new ones, with some great comic relief scenes from Scrat. Blue Sky’s goal was to create a heart-warming film while pushing the envelope. It was a labor of love every day, for the team that grew to roughly 300 people.

Carlos’s focus was first on the story and script to get the look of the movie. “In the first year of preproduction, we were working with a smaller team, hashing out script writing, storyboarding and concept drawings, plus preparing sequences on the computer, models for the characters and environments, and character development.” He strived to give every character special qualities. Manny was a big guy with a big heart and principles to do the right thing. Ellie added a lot of strength to the plot with a soothing voice, but she knew who she was. “She was a mammoth on the outside and a possum on the inside. And she was very determined.”

“The possums were so much fun to animate, we just fell in love with them,” adds Carlos. “It was a challenge to animate the tail, for the riggers and animators alike. The possums had to hang upside-down, and the tail was required to roll out and whip around. The extreme poses required the fur team and the riggers to push for a highly physical performance. And Scrat with his quest for acorns would always steal the show. Blue Sky came up with key elements to give Scrat time to develop his own story arc. There is a lot of Scrat in everybody, in that we keep going after objectives. Not always succeeding, but never giving up.” Next was the layout, discovering the cameras, and finding the environments. “We did a lot of previs,” says Carlos, “I’m a huge previs fan. I love visualizing the sequences.”

Carlos paid special attention to the storyboarding, and used After Effects to work out the timing. They animated a few of the 2D panels to make it feel real, and worked out the action sequences in 3D before committing to extensive decisions in modeling. “Instead of using NURBS, we used SubD’s, so even though we had the characters from the last movie, we had to remodel them for this one. The fur worked better with the SubD’s. It had to have its own characteristics, and we had to make sure the fur would react properly to the water and the wind”. They created various stages to the fur: dry, wet, and under-water wet, all in pre-production, preparing everything so that when it got to animation, all they had to do was animate.

Carlos found the most challenging sequences were the close-ups. He strove to make the characters eyes appear alive and not mechanical. “You want the facial expressions to work. I wanted it to be so that if you looked into their eyes, you would know what they were thinking.” He often focused more time on the eyes than on a scene where they had 60 animated characters. He found that by finessing a light shift here, or a half a squint there, or slightly dilating the pupil that the global impression delivered the information. He didn’t know if the audience would see the actual changes, but strove to deliver the warmth of the characters through a more instinctive level of perception.

2006-05-09T18:31:00.000+08:00

Dreamworks animation plans a new animated short film to soar with “Over the Hedge” in NY & LA.

DreamWorks Animation will debut a new animated short film entitled “First Flight” on May 19, 2006, exclusively in select New York and Los Angeles theatres, together with the opening of the studio’s upcoming animated comedy “Over the Hedge.”

Written and directed by two longtime DreamWorks Animation veterans, Cameron Hood and Kyle Jefferson, “First Flight” is a computer-animated short film that tells the story of a fastidiously organized businessman, whose perspective on life is forever changed through an unexpected encounter with a tiny fledgling bird.

Hood and Jefferson began working on the project more than three years ago, in between working on various DreamWorks feature films. In late 2004, the duo brought a rough version of the film to the attention of studio executives, who loved what they saw and immediately agreed to support the team in the completion of the project. On March 12th, “First Flight” debuted at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, where it was met by an overwhelmingly positive response. The film is also currently showing at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City.

DreamWorks Animation’s Head of Development and Production Bill Damaschke stated, “The studio is so proud to have two members of our DreamWorks Animation family come forward with their own beautifully original character piece that has such a unique painterly look and style. We are looking forward to sharing Cameron and Kyle’s ‘First Flight’ with moviegoers everywhere. We feel it reflects the independent spirit and creativity that is shared by all of our artists. Over 80 artists from every corner of the studio jumped on board in-between their other projects to work on this film, which makes it even more special.”

“First Flight” was produced by Maryann Garger and co-produced by Pilar Flynn. The score was composed by James Dooley, with sound design by Mark Binder.

Cameron Hood has been working as a professional animator and teacher for more than eight years, and began his career with DreamWorks in 1997. During his tenure, he has worked on such features as “The Prince of Egypt,” “The Road to El Dorado,” “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” and “Shark Tale.” He also contributed to Sony Imageworks’ “Stuart Little 2.” Hood was born and raised in Toronto, Canada, and is a graduate of the Claude Watson High School for the Arts and Sheridan College in Ontario. In addition to his film work, he has been teaching for the past four years at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, where he also aids in the design and curriculum of several of the school’s animation courses and currently hosts their best-selling character animation lecture series.

Kyle Jefferson has been with DreamWorks since 1996, and includes among his film credits “The Prince of Egypt,” “The Road the El Dorado,” “Shrek,” “Spirit:Stallion of the Cimarron,” “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” and “Shark Tale.” Jefferson also did pre-visualization work on Michael Bay’s live-action epic “Pearl Harbor,” and has explored other interests in the field as a commercial producer and music video director. Originally from Toronto, Canada, Jefferson graduated from Sheridan College and the Ontario College of Art. For the past three years, he has also taught classes in storyboarding, pre-visualization development, rough layout and animation at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects.

Related Links
Dreamworks Animation
Over the Hedge

Utopia Station

2006-05-08T12:29:00.000+08:00

Utopia Station - design by anna arbuckle

What is a Station?

Utopia Station is a project in progress - over the next few months more than 160 posters will be uploaded and many new artists added.

During a debate with Theodor Adorno in 1964, Ernst Bloch, pushed to the wall to defend his position on utopia, stood firm. Adorno had begun things by reminding everyone present that certain utopian dreams had actually been fulfilled, that there was now television, the possibility of travelling to other planets and moving faster than sound. And yet these dreams had come shrouded, minds set in traction by a relentless positivism and then their own boredom. “One could perhaps say in general,” he noted, “that the fulfillment of utopia consists largely only in a repetition of the continually same ‘today.’”

Bloch countered. The word utopia had indeed been discredited, he noted, but utopian thinking had not. He pointed to other levels of mind, to removes that were less structured by Western capital. Utopia was passing less auspiciously under other names now , he remarked, for example, “science fiction” and the beginnings of sentences starting with “If only it were so…”

Adorno agreed with him there and went on. “Whatever utopia is,” he said, “whatever can be imagined as utopia, this is the transformation of the totality. And the imagination of such a transformation of the totality is basically very different in all the so-called utopian accomplishments –which, incidentally, are all really like you say: very modest, very narrow. It seems to me that what people have lost subjectively in regard to consciousness is very simply the capability to imagine the totality as something that could be completely different.” How to think utopia then? Adorno saw the only possibility to reside in the notion of an unfettered life freed from death. All at once the discussion of utopia expanded; it became not merely old, but ancient. It seemed to shed ideologies as if they were skins. Adorno declared that there could be no picture of utopia cast in a positive manner, there could be no positive picture of it at all, nor could any picture be complete. He went very far. Bloch only followed him part way. He summoned up a sentence from Brecht . He let it stand as the nutshell that held the incentive for utopia. Brecht had written “Something’s missing.”

“What is this ‘something’?” Bloch asked. “If it is not allowed to be cast in a picture, then I shall portray it as in the process of being. But one should not be allowed to eliminate it as if it really did not exist so that one could say the following about it: ‘It’s about the sausage.’ … I believe utopia cannot be removed from the world in spite of everything, and even the technological, which must definitely emerge and will be in the great realm of the utopian, will form only small sectors. That is a geometrical picture, which does not have any place here, but another picture can be found in the old peasant saying, there is no dance before the meal. People must first fill their stomachs, and then they can dance.”

Utopia Station

Kidrobot presents The Dunny Show

2006-05-08T12:27:00.000+08:00

Kidrobot presents The Dunny Show

Kidrobot is proud to present The Dunny Show, an exhibition which features the work of more than 50 important artists and designers with backgrounds in fine art, graffiti, industrial design, and illustration, in a unique exhibition of customized Dunny toys that will be held at the Visionaire Gallery.
Dunny, which is a 20-inch tall action figure made of soft, smooth vinyl, was conceived and designed by Kidrobot toy designer Tristan Eaton and owner/President Paul Budnitz to be a ?toy with attitude? that could be customized in a broad variety of styles by diverse artists working in different mediums.

Among the artists and designers who will personalize a Dunny for the exhibition are world-famous graffiti artists Doze Green,Tilt and Fafi, and Seen; renowned toy designers Jason Siu and Pete Fowler; illustrators including Disney’s Teacher’s Pet creator Gary Baseman; graphic artists including The Designers Republic; fashion designers Diane von Furstenberg,and Heatherette, and a number of fine artists, including Alexis Rockman and Jessica Stockholder. Design studio participants include artists from PDI/Dreamworks Animation Studios and Steuben Crystal. And many more.
All of the Dunny toys created for this exhibition will be for sale at the Visionaire Gallery. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Hetrick-Martin Institute to help fund a variety of educational and after-school programs.

Kidrobot presents The Dunny Show

Web Design and Development: The Right Tools for the Right Job

2006-04-14T10:19:00.000+08:00

Web Design and Development: The Right Tools for the Right Job

Author: Praveen

As any webmaster knows, designing and developing a website can be a daunting proposition. There are millions of websites out there to compete with, and whether your site's purpose is to promote your business, inform, or entertain; web design is an important consideration if you want traffic. It's tough to attract visitors and even tougher to keep them on your website once they arrive.

Fortunately, there are many tools out there for webmasters to make the tasks of design and development easier. Wading through the sea of web tools can also be a time-consuming process. In designing your website, you should be aware of all the components that go into successful development and how to use them to your best advantage.

href="http://www.webdesign.org/goout.php?to=www.xhtmlandcss.com" onclick="return PopupLink(this)">xhtmlandcss.com for advice and tutorials regarding these components. CSS in particular is an invaluable tool for webmasters; these are the programs that control the set of styles for your fonts, tables and many other attributes of your website. The ability to manipulate CSS allows you to customize sites such as web forums and blogs and create a website that stands out and gets noticed. You can also amplify the attractiveness and user-friendly attributes of your websites with e-mail and forum signature generation tools from needasig.com and brighten your format with free smilies from thesmilies.com . Internet users love extras, and adding customizable interactions such as signatures and smilies will help keep visitors coming back.

Once your site is developed, you must then undertake the task of optimizing your website for search engines. There are many ways to do this. One is to use relevant keywords throughout your content and page tags—without overusing them—that will help visitors find your website when they're looking for information. Using a keyword generator such as the free tool at webmasters-cavern.com is an easy way to find plenty of relevant keywords and phrases. When incorporating keywords into your content, you should make sure the text reads well. The practice of keyword stuffing to boost search engine ranks not only endangers your listings with search engines, it also turns visitors off to your website and will keep them from coming back.

Another component of website optimization is getting your website listed with search engines. If search engines can't find your website, neither can visitors! After you have created great content with relevant keywords and lots of user-friendly extras, you should then begin the process of getting your website out there for people to find. You can submit your website URL and descriptions manually. Major search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo include links to their submission process for manual submission. However, these links can be difficult to find. You may want to consider using a search engine submission service to submit to several search engines at once; there are many good, free submission services that cover multiple search engines. It is important to remember that submitting your website once is not enough to get it noticed on the Internet radar. You should carry out the submission process on a regular basis. However, you also must realize that submitting your website too often can get your URL banned from some search engines. It is a good practice to submit to search engines every 30 days.

Beyond search engines, you should also list your website in as many relevant directories as you can find to increase your site's exposure. Strive to find directories that don't require linkbacks to your website for listings, because reciprocal links carry far less weight with search engines than strictly inbound links. Two excellent directory service that doesn't require linkbacks can be found at submiturlhere.com and urlshack.com . You can find many directories for your website; just make sure they are relevant to your content. If you have a webmaster site, then kingofurl.com is an ideal choice.

If you have multiple websites or long website URLs, another great tool for you to use is URL redirection. You can get a short, easy to remember and easy to post URL for your website that will sit well with search engines and make it simpler for you to advertise your websites on forums and in e-mail messages and signatures. Free URL redirection tools are available at smoothredirect.com .

Tracking visitors to your website is another important aspect of running a successful site. You should install a web counter that is invisible to visitors, but allows you to find out where your traffic is coming from so you can concentrate your promotion in effective areas. For example, a good web counter will not only tell you how many hits your website receives, but whe.

Web Design Secrets Revealed

2006-04-14T10:12:00.000+08:00

Web Design Secrets Revealed

Author: vbibz

To begin, I would like to personally thank you for taking the time to read Web Design Secrets Revealed. I am very excited to share with you these simple yet incredibly powerful techniques. If you use them properly they will be your new best friend.

What you will be learning here will show you how to generate an incredible amount of profit - in more ways than one. Being an experienced web designer who has worked on many projects I can't help but get excited about this system. Not only am I opening doors for web designers, but also for the average person who has their eyes set on success.

I have put together this 3-step system that is so easy to follow that anyone can use it. You don't need to know anything about computers, technology or web design to achieve success. All you need is a sincere desire to make money and an understanding of the steps outlined in the system.

To kick things off I want to show you exactly what the 3-steps are:

Get a Professionally Designed Website For Under $60 Within Minutes
How To Customize the Site to Fit Your Exact Needs
How To Generate Profits

Basically you're going to learn how to get a site for cheap and make a huge profit off it! This system is dynamic; if you have motivation and creativity you will leverage the power of the first two steps to create endless possibilities for generating massive profits.

What you are about to learn is so valuable because of the incredible amount of time you will be saving. Time is more valuable than money, as Jim Rohn once said, "Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time." Getting a website designed these days is a time consuming process - it can take over a month for your site to start serving its purpose. But with this system you will get a professionally designed website within minutes. Minutes compared to months - wow! Aren't you excited?

This means that you spend less time worrying about the details and more time putting the system to use. After going through it just once you will be equipped with all the tools necessary to start making huge profits all while saving you precious time and money.

I strongly suggest you do whatever it takes to master these techniques and put them to use as often as you can. If you don't learn now no one else is going to teach you; if someone does tell you they're just going to be telling you how much money they've made using it! You've already made the biggest step by purchasing this guide - so get ready to start making money!

The 3-Step System

Step 1

Get a Professionally Designed Website For Under $60 Within Minutes.

Step 1, the secret of the system, shows you how to save that precious time and money. This is what is going to give you the power to start making a ridiculous amount of money. Before you learn how to do this it is very important that you know why it's such a money maker.

To get a basic website designed in today's market is going to cost you anywhere from one to three thousand dollars. Not only are these prices out of control - but the time it takes to complete the process is just as expensive. The funny thing is that people are extremely willing to pay these types of prices. They don't even think twice about it because they have no other options. But here you come along and get a website, the very same day, for only $60. Need I say more? If you can't see the potential in that then you should just stop reading right now.

So, now you might be wondering how you can get a professionally designed website in little or no time at a fraction of the cost - well its simple - Templates. Templates are a very new and hot concept that not a lot of people know about. They are websites that have already been designed for you and are available for immediate download. A template will cost you anywhere from $10 to $60. Once you download a template all you have to do is plug in your content in and you're done. They are completely customizable. There couldn't be an easier and more efficient way to get your hands on a high quality website for so cheap. Not only are you saving precious time not having to wait on a designer, but you're getting a high quality website that will give you the upper hand in anything you're trying to sell or do. If you start a web design company you will be pumping out pages so quickly that your competition can't keep up!

Ok, so that's all good news, but you may be thinking "Where can I get these Templates for such an incredible deal?" I highly suggest Template Monster (click to visit). It is the best place on the internet to get your hands on breathtaking templates. The quality of sites you will find there is absolutely amazing. Just take a look for yourself. Now to think that you almost paid one, two, or even three thousand dollars for something you've downloaded for under $60.

Visit Template Monster and download a template so you can see first hand how much time and money you will save. It's very important that you don't forget to bookmark Template Monster after you've visited so you can go back and get more templates whenever you desire. They have a library of over 5,000 professional websites and add 150-200 new ones each month. You can browse all of these templates and pick exactly what you want! What a bonus. Not only are you saving time and money but you're able to select from over 5,000 sites. Most designers will only offer one or two concepts - but now you have over 5,000 concepts to choose from - simply amazing.

At Template Monster you will also find a huge library of logos, buttons, clip art, and icons at dirt cheap prices. These are also available for immediate download and are a great addition for any website that you are putting together.

Step 2

Customize the Site to Fit Your Exact Needs

Now that you have downloaded your website you're ready to start plugging in content. Templates have sample content in them so it's easy for you to just replace it with your own. If you are going to sell this site to a well-known company you want to make sure that you change certain aspects of the site to give it a unique touch. Templates are available for download to anyone on the internet so you want to avoid clones. If you want to go the extra mile you can purchase the template for a larger price, this guarantees that no one else can use it. If you are going to pay the full price for the template make sure that you purchase a template that has zero downloads. This means that you won't find it floating around anywhere on the internet.

If you have any experience in web design, customizing the template should be a breeze for you (as promised, if you know nothing about web design you should skip to the section called "But I Know Nothing About Computers" where I will show you three methods for getting the job done). Customizing your template is very simple. Once you have downloaded a template you can open it in any HTML editor and just start typing away. Below is a list of free editors that I highly recommend:

Some templates require you to modify the image files, such as a logo or tag line. The source files are usually given to you in .psd (Adobe Photoshop) format. If you're looking to start your own business I highly suggest you invest in a copy of Adobe Photoshop.

You can add pictures, icons, etc to spice up your site. I suggest www.Photos.com for any royalty free photographs that you may need. Please see the resources section at the end of this guide for a list of more valuable websites that you can add to your toolbox.

But I Know Nothing about Computers

As promised, if you know absolutely nothing about computers, technology or web design, I will show you three powerful methods on how to get someone to do all the work for you. Remember, to this point you've needed to know nothing except how to point and click to get your hands on the website.

Method 1 - Template Tuning

Your first option would be hiring the professionals at Template Tuning (click to visit) to customize the template for you. This is the option I would recommend the most because you can monitor the progress of your site - giving you complete control over what's going to be done. Not only that, but they can also change the entire look and feel (colors, images, etc) of the site to give it a unique touch. If you purchased a template that has a lot of downloads you should defiantly use these guys. They will give you that slight change you need to avoid having a clone. Template Tuning is worth every resource spent.

Take a look around at the price list and some of the incredible work they've done in the past. If you let Template Tuning customize the template your clients will think that you've slaved for hours over their site. But they will be confused because you delivered it so quickly. You will start getting respect and create a name for yourself. As you start getting more and more clients you will be put in a situation to start milking every penny out of the Web Design Secrets Revealed System.

Method 2 - Rent a Coder

Method 2 would be to get someone from www.RentACoder.com to take your template and customize it. Think of Rent-A-Coder.com as offshore outsourcing. If you don't know what outsourcing is then check out this link:

Google.com Define: Outsourcing

Here are also a few good news articles about outsourcing and the impact it's having:

http://asia.cnet.com/news/smb/0,39036987,39223982-1,00.htm

http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1209701794

http://informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=160400498

You can find many more articles by searching for "outsourcing" at http://news.google.com

Offshore outsourcing is basically getting someone in a country that has a poor economic system, such as India , to do the work at a much cheaper price. This saves companies such as Hewlett Packard millions of dollars each year. So if the big guys are doing it - so can you!

Renter-A-Coder, which I will call RAC from now on, is a community of talented programmers, designers, and computer experts from around the world that are just waiting for you to give them work.

You will have to signup for an account before you start requesting their services. This is done to protect you and your money. Once you have signed up for an account you can start posting jobs. So you would post a job description saying that you have a template that requires modification. You then set a maximum bid, for example: You don't want to pay over $25 for someone to edit your template, so you set a maximum bid of $25. Then all the "coders" will see your job description and start bidding on the project. Think of this just like eBay - because that's what it really is.

To assure that you get the best job done you can view the coder's profiles. Profiles show a history of all the jobs they did in the past and how they were rated on the work they completed. Ratings work on a scale of 1 to 10 - 10 meaning they did an excellent job. It's very important to pay close attention to the coder's profile to make sure they don't have a shaky history. I would suggest hiring people that don't have many ratings because they will do a better job and charge less so they can build up their reputation.

Almost all the people you will find at RAC are going to do the work for pennies. I know because I once was working there for very little money - and I wasn't even living in a poor country! Don't be surprised if you find someone on there to edit your template for $5 or $10...It happens all the time. This is an excellent option and businesses are saving tons of money by hiring the professionals from RAC.

Method 3 - Site 2 You

Site 2 You is a great option for both experienced and non-experienced individuals. From here you can download a template and edit it though their easy to use editor. I highly suggest you visit their site and try out the demo. Your site will be hosted on their server and they even give you a free domain name. There is a small monthly fee depending on which package you choose but its well worth it because you won't need to dish out additional cash to get a web server or hosting.

Step 3

Generate Profits

After going through the first two steps you now have the power to start generating some serious income. There is no limit to who you can sell your site to or how you use it. Even if you want a website for yourself - you now know how to save a tremendous amount of money getting it!

When we hear the word "profit" we tend to always think in terms of money. But the truth is that profit is anything that is a "benefit" to us. So to conclude I want to share with you how you can profit in more than one way so you get the most out of what you have been taught. Do not limit yourself, but expand your mind and start to think of new ways you can profit off the things I have just shared with you.

Financial Profit

This is the most sought-after profit that humans seek because, well, we all love money. So can you make a quick guess of how you're going to make a profit? If you guessed "Download a template, spice it up, and sell the site for as much as I want" then you guessed right. But I suggest you don't mark up the price so much that no one wants to do business with you. It's very important that you start out slowly until you gain respect and a good client list.

You want to start looking for clients that run small business in, or surrounding your city. Maybe an eye doctor just opened up down the street. Give them a call or visit the office and see if they're interested in a website. Impress them by putting this system to use and getting their site up and running within a few days. Maybe your friend is a DJ and wants a new website, maybe a dance instructor is starting classes in your community and they want a simple site designed quickly. Check out your local newspaper to see what's going on in your community. Don't limit yourself - look at everything as an opportunity to put this system to use and make money.

How to Greatly Increase Profits

Earlier in this guide we talked about using Rent-A-Coder to get your template modified. But, we shouldn't limit how we use Rent-A-Coder. RAC is a great tool to use to greatly increase the value of your site, or a clients site. Hire someone from RAC to add extended functionality. First get them to customize the template. Then have them add a message board or a private section for members only. Perhaps the eye doctor wants a system that lets their clients schedule appointments online. You simply hire a coder from RAC and get it done without doing anything. Doing simple things like this will let you charge much more for your site. There is no limit to what types of functionality you can add. People will do it for you and do it for dirt cheap. This is perhaps the best kept secret on the internet.

Personal Profit

You can greatly benefit from these techniques for your personal needs. What if you created a hot product that you wanted to start selling on the internet - where would you go to get a website? You might have a friend that's a web designer who might be able to put something together for you - but that takes forever! You could pay a company tons of money to create a page for you - but that's even worse - more money and more time! But there is nothing to worry about - you have been enlightened. Now you have knowledge of an effective approach to meet all your needs. Whether it's a site for your pet or family - you know what to do!

More Profits

If you choose not to start your own business and become a millionaire using the strategies I've showed you don't worry - you can still greatly profit from the system.

Maybe you work for a company and your boss has asked you to put together some form of a website. Now is your chance to stun your boss and co-workers. If you use this system your boss will love you because you completed the project way ahead of schedule and it never come close to the expected expenses. Your boss will love you and your co-workers will envy you. Can you say raise?

Even web designers can benefit. You will get the job done quickly so you have more time to relax on the job. You don't have to let anyone know that you've finished three weeks ahead of schedule. Maybe you can start making double the money while at work? Know what I mean? ;)

Conclusion

Whatever it is that you may do - this system will give you the knowledge and resources to have a professional looking website for pennies compared to what companies are charging these days. Then you can turn around and sell it for HUGE profits. But remember, profit is more than just money; it is anything that you will benefit from.

As a quick review, let's take a look at the 3-steps again:

First, visit and bookmark Template Monster. Select a template and download it.

Either edit the template yourself or use one of the three methods taught which are:
1. Hire the professionals at Template Tuning to customize your template.
2. Post a bid at www.RentACoder.com and have someone customize your site for as little as $5.
3. Get the complete package taken care at Site 2 You

Sell it for a huge profit or use it for personal benefits.

You are now equipped with the knowledge to start making some serious cash. Don't hesitate, start putting this system to use as fast as you can and you will start to see the money start pouring in. My last piece of advice for you is to never give up on your dreams. Sometimes things seem hard, but that's only because we make it that way. Everything in life is simple - we just need to find the simplicity in it. The techniques taught here are very simple, don't try to complicate them. Anyone can achieve success from this guide as long as they stay focused and determined.

Resources

I have compiled a list of websites that you can use as tools to increase your efficiently while using this system.

Royalty Free Photographs

Royalty free images can be used to add a more professional look and feel to your site. You can download images and give them to either TemplateTuning or RAC for them to add to your site while customizing it. I highly recommend photos.com

www.Photos.com

www.iStockPhoto.com

www.ClipArt.com

Web Hosting

If you're going to start your own business you might be interested in hosting charging your clients a monthly fee to host their websites. Hosting is a perfect way to bring in that extra cash each month. Below is a list of some very good hosts that will get the job done for a very competitive price.

Quotes

It's very important to stay motivated while trying to reach your goals. I find it very useful to memorize quotes from some very powerful businessmen. Think of the quotes as tools that you can add to your tool box. And every time you face a new challenge you can just grab one and use it. Every situation is different so its important to have an array of tools so you get the job done. Below is a list of some of my favorite quotes.

Jim Rohn

"If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much."

"Time is more value than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time."

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."

"Success is not to be pursued; it is to be attracted by the person you become."

Victor Kiam

"Even if you fall on your face, you're still moving forward."

"What's really important in life? Sitting on a beach? Looking at television eight hours a day? I think we have to appreciate that we're alive for only a limited period of time, and we'll spend most of our lives working."

Zig Ziglar

"If you want to reach a goal, you must 'see the reaching' in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal."

"Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will."

You can do anything you set your mind to. Don't let anyone limit you. Free your mind and stop worrying about the little things in life. I believe that every single one of you who read this system will prosper greatly in more ways than one.

Thank you for taking the time to read this guide. I am glad you made it to the end! If you have any questions or comments please send an email to voice@webdesignsecretsrevealed.com

Unauthorized duplication or distribution of this material in any form is strictly prohibited. Violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author.

The author of this product assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this product, or for any injury, damage and/or financial loss sustained to persons or property as a result of using this system.

While every effort has been made to ensure reliability of the information within, the liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use, misuse or abuse of the operation of any methods, strategies, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein is the sole responsibility of the reader.

Flash, SEO And Optimization - How To Properly Use Flash On Your Websites

2006-04-14T09:52:00.000+08:00

Flash movies can be a great thing. They can help catch eyes that are otherwise bored with static looking pages, and they can help tell a story better than plain text.

However the use of flash must be tempered with the ability to rank in search engines. This article describes some of the considerations and recommendations when using flash on a website.

Disney does it. And so does Oprah. Even my favorite pizza place does it. That is embed their primary navigation and important content inside a flash movie. In fact in all these cases, a good part of the sites home page is flash, rendering that section of the page invisible to search engine crawlers.

Granted these are extreme cases of sites which use flash extensively, but there are other cases where even a little flash can be improperly used. There are also cases where flash is not only appropriate, it is recommended. The question then becomes how to best use flash without affecting search engine rankings.

Much like the early settlers of the Wild Wild West we are the frontiersman (and women) of a new community - the World Wide Web community (notice the WWW analogy) - which has seen its birth in the past couple decades and has really experienced its growth happen in the last 10 years or so.

And throughout that time there have been many ways to display a website and its content. Some were more successful than others. But there is one aspect of web development which has been hotly contested between designers of websites and those who position them. That is the use of Flash.

Flash has been around for some time now and while it is pretty (for lack of a better word) it can seriously hinder a websites ability to position well in the search engines. This is because most search crawlers can not see nor effectively index flash or its contents. Therefore anything contained within the flash, including page content or more importantly site navigation, is invisible to them.

Yet flash does have it's good points as well. As I mentioned above, it can turn an otherwise bland looking site into something unique and refreshing. So the question becomes - where does one balance the need for search engine indexability with the need for impressing customers?

Well here's a rule of thumb for you - less is better.

Less flash occupying the page is better, as well as having as little content embedded within it as possible. Further, where the flash appears on the page can have an impact on its ability to deliver the intended message.

Let's have a quick survey - how many of you, upon coming to a site, tune out the top 1/5 of the page, and even a couple inches on the right of the page - especially if you see flashing or movement?

Just as I suspected, most of you. I do it too. And we do this because these are the places we typically see banner ads, therefore we associate that space on many sites with advertising and tune it out.

But there are cases when sites place important messages, via flash, in these locations. But if many people tune out these locations, they are also tuning out that important message. Hence the reason the flash doesn't do so well on the page.

So there's tip number one: Don't place your flash where it will be ignored - namely those spots on the page normally associated with advertising.

My second flash tip - don' t take up most of the screen with it. Keep the screen real estate it occupies to less than ½ the screen, preferably on the left side. There are many reasons for this:

Too often, as people are orienting themselves to the page, their eyes scan the page and are all over it for a few seconds, and then fixate on the top left of the page. If you have a flash movie running (and especially if its one without controls) they have missed a few seconds of that message. And we all know what good a message is that's incomplete?

Another reason for minimizing flash usage: While more and more people are adopting broadband every day, still close to half of the US uses dial up. Which means everything takes longer to load. And if these users are waiting for a flash movie to load, they could navigate away from your site in frustration because the page is taking so long to load.

Some other recommendations:

Don't use the flash to tell the story, use it to enhance the story. If you are trying to sell a product, leave the important information in the HTML of the page, but use the flash to emphasize the product by either displaying it, or pointing out the benefits. your flash should be complementary and not too overwhelming.

Finally, did you know you can also externalize the code required to display the flash? This is something that can help improve page load times which could improve spiderability.

Using a technique similar to one I described in the externalizing JavaScript article, you can externalize the code used to render the flash. You can use the same code used to create a drop down box via JavaScript to externalize the flash code (using the document.write code and embedding the HTML needed to display the flash there).

As you can see, based on this article, is that flash isn't all that bad, provided its used properly. That means it shouldn't be too overpowering or occupy too much of the page. It should be complementary to the message the page is intending to give, and should be located in places that people will look at, and not in places normally associated with advertising.

If you follow these simple rules, your flash can become an essential selling point to your site. One which could provide your customers the little push they need to move from browsers to buyers.

Photoshop CS3 details emerge, two new Adobe apps set for release

2006-04-04T18:04:00.000+08:00

Photoshop CS3 details emerge, two new Adobe apps set for release

By Ryan Katz

August 24, 2005 - Just months after the release of Adobe Photoshop CS2, Think Secret has obtained several notes regarding Photoshop CS3, as well as word that Adobe may be developing two other yet unannounced products: Adobe Acrobat 3D and Adobe Full Frame.

Adobe is exploring offering two versions of Photoshop CS3, a Standard version and a Premium version. According to one plan under consideration, some principle new features, such as Camera Raw 4, would be available to both versions, while other functionality, such as Vanishing Point 2, would be available with more advanced options in the Premium version. Still other features, such as rotoscoping that was introduced in CS2, would be moved exclusively to the Premium package.

Sources have also disclosed that Photoshop CS3 will include significant improvements to non-destructive image editing and that the software is prepped to receive a rather significant interface overhaul that will better organize tools and options. Tablet users will be pleased to learn that Photoshop CS3 will adopt a number of features Corel currently packs into Painter, including an easily rotatable canvas designed to mimic drawing on paper. Vanishing Point 2 will also improve Photoshop's perspective-based editing, introduced in CS2, by allowing objects to wrap around multiple surfaces, measure distances, and export to CAD applications. Photoshop CS3 will also deliver significant performance improvements to Camera Raw and include new measurement and scale tools.

Details surrounding Acrobat 3D are extremely limited at this point. The software may extend the 3D functionality Adobe introduced with Acrobat 7.0 Professional. Adobe seems likely to target CAD users, such as engineers and architects, with the software. Adobe appears to be considering pricing upwards of $1,000 a copy, with discounts for volume seating.

Information on Adobe Full Frame is even more limited, with little word beyond a potential image of the box falling into Think Secret's hands.

Apple Photo Pro?

Adobe recently solicited feedback from a number of its customers on the direction and potential features of Creative Suite 3. Sources who participated in an online survey passed along word last month that one page specifically compared Photoshop CS3 with what purported to be a yet unannounced Apple product, Photo Pro.

It's not clear whether the Apple Photo Pro identified in the survey is conjectural or based on Adobe's market intelligence. While Think Secret sources said they have heard rumblings of such an Apple product—which would more resemble iPhoto on steroids than a Photoshop competitor—none could confirm the product's development status.

The Adobe survey presented Photo Pro as a product geared towards photographers who handle numerous images regularly, offering extensive batch processing features and several automated features.

Among those listed were one-click importing with automatic backup to a second location, batch processing of metadata on import, rapid image browsing, support for multiple RAW settings per image, integrated high-quality camera raw processing, automated multi-page prints, and flexible contact sheet creation.

Pluginz.com Giving Away 17” Intel iMac in Matte Painting Competition

2006-04-04T18:00:00.000+08:00

Pluginz.com Giving Away 17” Intel iMac in Matte Painting Competition

Site Challenges Artists to Give England’s Lake District an Extreme Makeover

Pluginz.com, the ultimate online source for plugins and other tools for digital artists, is giving away a 17” Intel iMac, valued at $1299.00, as first prize in its inaugural Digital Matte Painting Competition. Prizes also include gift certificates totaling $1000.00 toward the purchase of plugins and other cool tools available through the site.

Additionally, Pluginz.com plans to follow the Digital Matte Painting Competition with a series of contests for visitors to its 3D, Editing, Visual Effects, Graphics, Layout, Audio and Website Development sites. The first one will be 3D modeling and will be launched mid-April.

The Pluginz.com Digital Matte Painting Competition is open to all digital artists. Entrants are challenged to create a matte painting based on a photograph of England’s Lake District posted on the Pluginz.com website. Artists may use any technique—2D, 2.5D or 3D—to create their matte paintings.

“We’re asking artists to improve the view and turn the landscape into something that is truly exciting,” said Robert Lott, President of Pluginz.com. “Maybe it’s a day-for-night conversion, a sky replacement or a change of season. Or perhaps they might turn it into a Martian landscape—wherever their creativity takes them.”

Entries will be rated by members of the Pluginz.com community using a 1-5 star system. The 20 highest rated entries will be subject to final judging by a panel of Pluginz.com professionals who will select 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners. Entries must be posted to the Pluginz.com website by May 12th. Winners will be announced May 26th. Rules and entry form are available at www.Pluginz.com.

About Pluginz.com

Pluginz.com is the ultimate source for plugins and other tools for digital artists and an online resource for information about digital content creation. Pluginz.com is a part of the larger network which includes bedagi.com, editopia.com, 3dplugins.com, audioscout.com and vfxplugins.com. The sites serve as an online community uniting software users and developers, and is an indispensable resource for digital artists seeking the information, service and feedback they need to evaluate and select digital tools and to build their presence in the marketplace.

12 Tips for Creating an Artist Website that Sells

2006-03-20T15:03:00.000+08:00

Here’s the scoop on what you must know when designing a website to showcase your art, impress galleries, and win over collectors. Learn how to avoid the mistakes most emerging artists make when creating their online portfolio.

1. You need an artists website

Any artist who can classify themselves as either “emerging” or “mid-career” will definitely benefit from having their own website to promote their work. At this stage of your career it is important to be able to have a place where anyone in the world can easily access and view your work.

2. Know who you are trying to impress

Are you trying to engage a Soho gallery to sell your $20,000 paintings or sell $5 prints to children in Korea? That Soho gallery might not be impressed when they see your online-store selling prints and art cards – but on the other hand, you could make a very handsome living if you really knew how to market those art cards.

3. Make your website fit with your overall art marketing strategy

A website is most effective when it is part of a larger overall marketing strategy for your art. This includes mailings, lots of in-person gallery visits and presentations, regular (physical) showings of your work, and developing relationships with the art world. An effectively planned website can greatly compliment and simplify your other marketing efforts.

4. There is a real market for art on the internet

The internet is quickly becoming an accepted place to showcase your art to collectors and arts professionals. They might still want to see your work in person before they buy, but the fact remains: they saw it first on your website! Having an online art presence is very important at this time.

5. Have your own website and a website portfolio service

A website portfolio service (e.g. www.absolutearts.com or www.art-exchange.com is like an online slide registry. For a fee you can upload images of your work together with a bio, artist statement, and resume. They have many visitors and are a convenient way to make your work accessible to potential clients. The down side is that they don’t display your work well, and there is little flexibility in how the art is showcased.

Your own website, on the other hand will require more work to promote, but you’ll be able to present the work in the most beautiful way. Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home? That’s how a good artist’s website should showcase your work.

We recommend both options – they are a perfect compliment.

6. Have a website that collectors and art professionals will enjoy

Here are some common elements which most dealers and galleries would agree on for your website design:

• Keep the site simple and elegant with the focus on the art itself and don’t overpower the art with a site that looks too busy
• Avoid advertising such as banner adds or sidebar adds. If you must have them, put them in a separate “resource” section
• Avoid complex effects like flash movies. In the time it takes to play your exotic entry page, your visitor may have moved on.
• Include your bio, artist statement, resume, contact information, gallery(s) of your work, contact information, and a pricelist.

7. Showcase your work beautifully

You need to have visual design skills to create a beautiful artist website. Here are some points to get you started:

• Most Important: Use high-quality, professionally-photographed images. Excellence in, excellence out!
• Keep the website simple and elegant with the focus on the art.
• Create multiple galleries to compliment the work – just as a good physical gallery would do.
• Choose colors that compliment (not overpower) the work. Think of the colors you would use in a physical gallery to showcase your work – neutral colors like crème, white, gray, and good safe choices.
• Think “minimalist” not “busy” for the layout.
• Keep your copy (text) brief. Let the art speak for itself!

8. Bring collectors and galleries to your website

Its no use having that stunning website sitting in hyperspace. Make it work for you! Here are the ways to bring quality visitors:

Search Engines: If your website has been well optimized for search engines, a search on your name or your style of art should bring up your website in the first few pages of results.

Letters of Introduction: A letter of introduction sent to a gallery or dealer is a very effective way to bring a qualified visitor to your website. Better still is to include a brochure or postcard of your work with the letter.

Advertising online or in magazines: For example, if your art is minimalist and modern in style, a banner add on an interior design website focused on the same minimalist ethic could draw a lot of traffic to your site.

9. You need to be able to sell your work on the internet.

But there are many ways to do it. More important than anything is that you have clear and up-to-date contact information on your website. If a buyer likes your work enough to bring out their checkbook, they will normally be happy to call you to close the sale.

It’s also handy to be able to sell directly from your website, especially if you sell lower-cost reproductions. There are simple and cost-effective ways to do this.

10. Think again before designing your own website

Have you really added up the total cost? Here are some questions to consider before you start designing:
• Do you have visual design skills/training?
• Can you wait several months for the site to be ready?
• Can you afford to give up a month or more of your valuable artist time?
• Do you have all the computer software and the relatively-new computer needed to build a high-quality website?
• Are you fully trained in your design software?

Can you answer “Yes” to all of the above? If so, you might think about doing it yourself. Otherwise, hire a designer!

11. Choose your website-designer thoughtfully

The most important thing here is to remember what you are trying to create – a beautiful online gallery space to elegantly show your beautiful work – this is very different from building a high-volume website selling printer ink cartridges and paper rolls!

Look for the ability to design a space to present your work. One way to do this is to find artist websites that you like and then contact the artist to get the name of their designer.

12. Know what you should pay

Artist’s website development prices range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. Typically, bigger design firms have larger overheads and will be significantly more expensive. On the other hand, Joe down the street can probably build you a website for $200 – but you probably don’t want that website!

At Beautiful Artist Websites we have packages ranging from $700 to $2000 for simple elegant artists websites with different levels of functionality. We can also develop fully customized sites to your specifications with prices based on requirements.

Adobe's Project: Lightroom

2006-03-20T14:46:00.000+08:00

Project: Lightroom is Adobe’s effort to engage the professional photography community in a new way, giving you the opportunity to kick the tires and shape the feature set of a new tool being created just for you. Ultimately, we want Lightroom to be truly built from the ground up by photographers, for photographers, helping solve your unique workflow challenges.

We're releasing a preview build now so that you have plenty of time to give us feedback on what’s working for you, and what isn't. Your participation is important. So, don’t delay. Download now and send us your feedback before the Lightroom Beta 2 build expires June 30, 2006.

To learn more, check out the Lightroom Beta 2 Overview and Getting Started with the Develop Module video below which will help get you up and running on Lightroom.

Note: Although initially available as a beta for Macintosh, Lightroom will later support both the Windows and Macintosh platforms. Sign-up to be notified when the Windows version becomes available.

Lightroom Beta Overview Video

In this short 20-minute tutorial, Adobe Pro Photography Evangelist George Jardine walks through the basics of getting up and running with Adobe Lightroom Beta. You'll see Lightroom's import, management, slideshow and printing features in action, and get some great ideas for how you can get started using Lightroom Beta 1 today.

Launch video*

See more videos ›

darktechsystem

Sparkle Beta available now

2006-02-26T18:33:00.000+08:00

Sparkle Beta available now

This week's big buzz was the release of the Beta version of Microsoft Sparkle. What is Sparkle and is it a Flash killer?

We knew it would come - eWeek and other media asked this week "Microsoft Sparkle: is it a Flash Killer?" . From what we've seen of Sparkle, it's not that yet, but it's surely the next big thing in development for the Microsoft Platform. Thus far, technologies such as Flash and Java has had a longer lifespan than the average MS technology. Let's hope WinFX lasts longer than former MS platforms.

Sparkle is based around the WinFX framework. Microsoft has promised to release a limited version of WinFX for Mac and other platforms, but will this give them the ubiquity that Flash has? We don't think so. Microsoft has a poor track record on the Mac platform (with a great exception in their line of Office products) not to mention their near zero track record on platforms such as Linux. When Apple announced Safari as a better and way less buggy browser alternative, Microsoft cancelled all further development of IE for the Mac. Just recently, Microsoft threw in the towel when it comes to Windows Media on the Mac. The Mac version of the player has always suffered from bugs, so it was hardly usable at all. Compare that to Flash video that plays back perfectly across Mac, PC and even Linux.

Microsoft has the money to push technology (and developers). In 3-5 years, Sparkle will be widespread enough for using it for many tasks other than application building (for which it will be great from day 1). During those years, Flex will grow and gain a wider audience as well.

We are certain that Sparkle and WinFX will be a great addition to the Windows toolset, but we just don't see this as a Flash Killer just yet. It's great fun to play with the beta though, so go to Channel9, view the video with former Flash hero Manuel Clemens and play with the beta.

Click to view video/download Sparkle Beta

WildPresenter

2006-02-26T18:31:00.000+08:00

WildPresenter

We wondered what would happen to WildForm now that Flix is sold to On2. They've not been lazy. Now they've brought together several pieces of software into a package called WildPresenter.

Why do we refer to this as "several pieces" of software? WildPresenter is a presentation program that can convert PowerPoint presentations to Flash, but it can also do screen Recording, Video and Audio conversion/capture, Flowcharting and Text effects. How's that for a all-in-one package?

The software looks easy to use, but the demos posted look a little unprofessional with poor design and use of effects. For some reason, none of the tutorials are made using the built in Screen Capture and we find that a bit odd. There's also some oddities in the way the transitions work, but the overall quality looks good. The program can also be extended using plugins to add more text effects or other features.

Click here to read more / Download demo

It's 3am. Do you know where your Flash content is?

2006-02-26T18:29:00.000+08:00

It's 3am. Do you know where your Flash content is?

Viral ads are gaining in popularity and this content is often authored in Flash. MochiBot allows you to track the popularity of your Flash files and also who steals them.

Viral ads are in, but tracking viral content can be hard. If your tool is Flash then you're in luck. Just paste some MochiBot code into your SWF and you can really see how your files are spreading across websites and computers across the globe.

Another great use for MochiBot is to see if people are stealing your Flash files. This is a common problem for game developers using Flash, but now they'll just need to look at the "Hosts"-report to see what sites have posted their games. The best thing about MochiBot? It's free. They'll add Premium Services to it later.

Also: want extra exposure for your games and animation? The creators of MochiBot has just launched mochiland.com - a site that highlights Flash content creators and artists.

Spoono Wallpaper Contest Version 2.0

2006-02-19T11:24:00.000+08:00

Spoono Wallpaper Contest Version 2.0

wall·pa·per (wôppr)
n.

1. paper often colored and printed with designs and pasted to a wall as a decorative covering

2. picture or design covering the background of a display screen

3. name given to stocks, bonds and other securities that have become worthless

4. artistic creation necessary for everlasting Spoono fame
Sponsored by Spoono Host
Attention all ridiculously talented graphic designers, Spoono is having a new contest in order to beautify computer desktops all over the world. Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to create the most amazing Spoono wallpaper humanity has ever seen.

THE PRIZES:

* First Place: Spoono Hooded Sweatshirt and 1 Year of Free Web Hosting
* Second Place: Spoono T-shirt and 6 Months of Free Web Hosting
* Third Place: Spoono T-shirt

* The web hosting will include the standard features offered by Spoono Host hosting accounts including 2GB of web space and 100GB of monthly data transfer. The first place winner may opt to substitute a T-shirt in place of the sweatshirt if he/she desires.

THE RULES:

Wallpaper submissions may be in the image format of your choice (though we would recommend using JPG files). Please use minimum dimensions of 1280x1024 pixels (we recommend working in 1600x1200 pixels so that is may easily be scaled to fit a broad amount of screen resolutions). The maximum file size allowed is 2MB per submission. Multiple submissions are allowed from the same person. Information concerning mailing addresses will be gathered from the winners after the end of the competition.

The wallpapers may include any content of your choice. Please include either the Spoono logo or simply the Spoono name somewhere in your submission. You may download our logo here.

* The deadline for submissions is 11:59 P.M. EST Wednesday March 1, 2006.

for submission pls go to http://www.spoono.com/spoonotap/index.php?idg=13

Genetica 2.5 - Seamless texture editor

2006-02-19T11:06:00.000+08:00

Spiral Graphics Inc. has released Genetica 2.5, a major new update to its flagship seamless texture editor. A freely downloadable demo version has also been made available.

With Genetica 2.5 digital artists can create grayscale effect maps that match their textures faster than ever. These effect maps can be used in any of the channels supported by popular 3D environments, such as bump, specular, reflection, luminance, and others. Rather than forcing artists to paint these channels by hand, Genetica 2.5 offers a time-saving procedural approach that guarantees all effect maps will be automatically updated as edits are made to the original texture. The professional edition of Genetica 2.5 allows artists to create normal maps with similar ease.

Genetica 2.5 is a free upgrade to all licensed users of Genetica 2, while new users are invited to try the program for 30 days. Genetica 2.5 can be downloaded from http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/download_gen.htm

An illustrated guide to Genetica and its latest features can be found at http://www.spiralgraphics.biz/gen2tour/index.htm

Spiral Graphics Inc. is a software development firm based in Fort Collins, CO that creates innovative software tools for the computer graphics community. In addition to Genetica, Spiral Graphics is known for the Wood Workshop, a free texture editor that specializes in the creation of tiling wood textures. Additional information may be obtained by visiting www.spiralgraphics.biz.

-=Thanks CGFolks.com=-

Call for Artists: Art and Human Nature Collection

2006-01-31T19:05:00.000+08:00

Baron Gallery announces that the DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS has been extended to February 23, 2006 as a CALL FOR ARTISTS, WRITERS, POETS to contribute to the prestigious illustrated ART AND HUMAN NATURE COLLECTION, A Literary and Art Book from Sable Publishing for the benefit of the many projects of The Baron Conservancy, a not for profit, private institution with a Publication date of March 2006. Join national and international invited artists for an inspiring Illustrated, Invitational, International exhibition in book form that remains in print and available for viewing and purchase in a broad range of venues long after publication.

The publisher wishes to give artists, authors and poets every opportunity to be invited to contribute while the contributions from an international roster of excellent submissions may prompt a second volume to be published in the Fall of 2006.

Subject matter in all artistic disciplines have been expanded to include Sci-Fi and Fantasy and Digital and Photographic Arts and all mediums are acceptable. Literary contributions will include selected excerpts from published and non published novels and non fiction books, essays, blogs, Exhibition reviews and statements and articles and poetry.

You are invited to:

Submit up to 3 jpg Art Works and/or 3 Written Works and send for review by email attachment to: barongallery@aol.com.

Details and Submission Forms at www.barongallery.com or telephone 760 320 4760 Ed Baron A convenient PAYPAL BUY NOW is available for payment of $25.00 OR Snail mail hard copies of each submitted work with check or money order payments of $25.00 and signed Submission Forms by midnight February 23, 2006.

Join in the Book Publication celebration at The Baron Conservancy, #1 Baron Way in Wonder Valley in March 2006.

ISBN-0975435442
6”x 9” Trade Paperback
$15.00 retail in the U.S.

The Art and Human Nature Collection will receive broad exposure and availability at Barnes and Noble.com and other books stores and online bookseller internet sites as well as libraries, art galleries, university and college bookstores, art dealers and gallery and museum curators, art patrons and collectors, coffee and gift shops sand more.

The book serves as an archival catalog of works which can be presented for book signings and exhibits and seminars and contains biographical information and links to contributors web sites.

The Real Truth About Designers

2006-01-20T21:15:00.000+08:00

The Real Truth About Designers

Have you ever heard this designer joke? "What did St. Peter say to the graphic designer when the designer showed up at the pearly gates?" Or how about this one? "What's the difference between a designer and a hooker?" Or this one? "What do you call a designer buried at sea?" The reason you haven't heard 'em is because they don't exist. Other professions have jokes. Why don't we?

Designers have struggled for decades to gain the recognition we deserve from clients, society and even our own mothers. We work hard and take our work seriously, but if you want to see a deadpan expression instantly appear on someone's face, just tell them you're a graphic designer. Laywers, psychiatrists and even postal-workers are the subject of humor because everyone knows what they do for a living. The establishment of designer jokes would at least validate our existence and maybe even create a basic public understanding of our life's calling.

One of the AIGA's most important charters is to help our industry gain professional stature and public awareness. In addition, regional groups across the country have established graphic-design awareness programs at the elementary-school level and graphic-design scholarship programs at the college level to help foster recognition of our profession. But no one has taken the job of eradicating common perceptions and misperceptions within the profession itself. So HOW asked me to do it.

Myth #1: Designers Can't Read
A few years ago, a client provided text to us for a corporate identity we were designing. She gave us the names, titles, address, phone, fax, e-mails and website URL for the company's business card. Just before the web address in parentheses, it read, "(put on back of card)." A week later, I was reviewing—and reading—the proofs prepared by a staff designer, and right there on the back of the business card—meticulously kerned, in parentheses, above the website address—were the words, "(put on back of card)." I caught it just before it went to press. See? Designers can read. Stereotype dispelled.

Myth #2: Designers Aren't Capable of Following a Budget
Of course we are. It's not that we aren't capable of sticking to a budget, it's that the budgets never seem to expand to meet the amount of work we end up doing. Our studio follows every budget we're given, and we never get paid ore than our clients authorize for any job. Myth dispelled.

Myth #3: Designers Only Drive Black Foreign Cars (or Wish They Did)
I did my own survey and called 876 designers listed in the AIGA Membership Directory. I found two who don't drive black cars. Utah-based designer Don Weller drives a PMS Warm Gray 5U Chevy truck. But he's better known as an illustrator, so maybe he doesn't count. I discovered that Phoenix designer Forrest Richardson drives a white Dodge Durango. I don't even think New York City designer Paula Scher of Pentagram owns a car. So there. Stereotype dispelled.

Myth #4: Designers Hang Out in Cliques
To a newcomer to our field, it may appear as though we veteran designers all hang out in small groups with the grand pooh-bahs of the profession at design conferences and other design-related events. This is a myth created by designers who live and work in small no-name towns and don't have anybody to talk to about what they do for a living.

Myth #5: Designers Always Wear Black
This myth was created by the same small-town designers who created Myth #4. They're just jealous because they can't find stores in those small no-name towns that carry cool designer-labeled black stuff to wear. But I know for a fact that designers don't always wear black, and I can prove it. At TDCTJHTBIPC (The Design Conference That Just Happens To Be In Park City), I was hanging with my very good friends grand pooh-bah designer Michael Cronan and Walking Man clothing-company founder and president Karin Hibma, and Mike was actually wearing a khaki-colored shirt. Honest. And then last spring, I went to a kid's softball game in Manhattan with a very good friend of mine, world-renowned designer James Victore, and he was wearing a white T-shirt. Proof again that designers don't always wear black. Myth dispelled.

Epilogue
As I sat in my studio finishing this article, the light bulb above my desk popped and extinguished itself. Suddenly, I remembered the punchline to perhaps the only designer joke I'd ever heard: "How many designers does it take to change a light bulb?" Answer: "Does it have to be a light bulb?"

Maybe we're making some headway after all.

darktechsystem

Competition

2006-01-20T21:13:00.000+08:00

HOW magazine sponsors three high-profile graphic design competitions annually, and is affiliated with competitions sponsored by sister publications Print and I.D. If you would like to receive occasional updates on deadlines and other design-competition information from all three magazines, subscribe to the Design Competition Email Update. You also may want to view HOW's Competition Calendar for information on all design-industry competitions.

HOW Design Awards Galleries

HOW International Design Awards
The deadline for the HOW International Design Awards has passed. Look for the winning entries in the April 2006 issue of HOW.

Previous winners: HOW April 2005.

HOW Perfect 10 Awards
HOW is now accepting entries into the 3rd annual Perfect 10 Awards. What makes a printed piece perfect? Appropriateness—of the design to the materials to the production values. In other words, a printed piece that is in harmony with itself. The deadline for entering is April 14, 2006. Download rules and an entry form here.

Previous winners: HOW December 2004.

HOW Self-Promotion Competition
The deadline for the 19th annual HOW Self-Promotion Awards is March 20, 2006. So if you have outstanding promotion work—for you, your business or a client's image—HOW wants to see it. Download rules and an entry form here.

Previous winners: 2005 Gallery.

HOW Interactive Design Awards
HOW is no longer accepting entries for the 7th annual Interactive Design Awards. Look for winners in the newly expanded April 2006 issue of HOW and one Best of Show winner will be our guest at the 2006 HOW Design Conference.

Previous winners: 2005 Gallery.

In-House Design Group of the Year Award
Do you work in a corporate design department? If so, you qualify for a unique award from HOW magazine: the In-House Design Group of the Year Award.

Just enter your best work in HOW's design competitions; if several of your entries win—in one competition or in all four—your in-house team is eligible.

The winning team will be prominently featured in the October 2005 HOW Self-Promotion Annual and will get to choose a complete graphic design library (worth $1,500) from the HOW Design Bookstore.

But we won't know you're an in-house designer unless you tell us. To make sure your work is considered for this special award, check the box at the bottom of each competition entry form.

Be sure to check out the October 2004 issue of HOW to find out who will follow Cartoon Network as the In-House Design Group of the Year.

Print's International Business Graphics Review
Print is no longer accepting entries in Business Graphics II.

Print Regional Design Annual
Print is now accepting entries for the 2006 Regional Design Annual. All winning work will be organized by region and featured in the December 2006 issue of Print. Download guidelines and an entry form here.

Print Digital Design Competition: 2006
The entry deadline for Print's Interaction 2006 has passed. Winners will be featured in Print's Digital Design Annual, part of the October 2006 issue.

I.D. Student Design Review
I.D. is now accepting entries into the 2006 Student Design Review. Download guidelines and an entry form here..

I.D. Annual Design Review
I.D. is no longer accepting entries into the 2006 AnnualDesign Review.

3DKingdom Tutorial Competition

2006-01-14T17:13:00.000+08:00

Noticed this over at 3DKingdom a few days ago... "We want you to teach others how to make great artworks. In other words, this is not a competition to see who can make the best scene, but a competition who can write the best tutorial." Full info here...

Art Revolution

2006-01-11T21:18:00.000+08:00

Art: On the Cusp of Revolution or Extinction?

THE NEW FIGHT

A new war is brewing in the distance. Over the horizon emerges from the mist of human genius a force that will stop at nothing short of redefining the culture of humanity itself. Standing their ground in opposition to this new enemy is the ancient traditions and ideals that have for so long stood unchallenged in their supremacy. But this is a war unlike any before seen. The bayonets have been traded in for digital software, the muskets for mouse wheels. And as the ranks of the digital artists stand tall against those of the traditionalist a silence of inevitability sweeps across the battlefield as they wait for the sounds of war to echo through their ears. But which side is justified in this battle remains as clouded as the concepts for which they fight. The following two articles were written in an attempt to get at the heart of the matter of whether digital art is corrupting or restoring art in general, in today’s world. By presenting the biased extremes of the two opposing views, the light can be shone

THE CORRUPTER

But we sit at the crossroads of an uncertain future. On the eve of a digital dawn, the very nature of art is being threatened. Enter stage right - the personal computer. Never before has a single tool of art been so widely embraced and simultaneously so easy to use to create. However, this new medium, as it cleverly hides behind a veneer of usability, brings with it a hidden agenda, namely the potential to transform art from a revered definition of human existence to a foreshadowing of a species at the end of its creative rope. As digital art saturates the public sphere with an excess of lackluster efforts it’s suffocating the traditional arts into death. The twentieth century technological movement has brought with it a multitude of machinations that serve the purpose of improving human life. However, this one movement, digital art, is achieving just the opposite.

The claims the so-called "digital artist" makes to defend his medium are in fact claims that serve only as evidence for the other side. Speed of creation is often cited as a decisive advantage to working with computers to create art, and to their credit it usually is. But the kind of advantage it warrants is hardly of worth when looked at from a pure art perspective. The ability to spew forth art at a rate of incredible speed lends well to the monetary gain of the artist but does nothing for the actual art, except serve to over populate the world with work that lacks any real meaning or quality. Furthermore, it encourages the shoddy workmanship of the artists themselves. A traditional artist won’t likely pursue every urge or idea that comes to his mind for fear of the wasted time and effort necessary to create it. This forces the artists to go through a selection process to determine which idea or concept is worthy of his efforts. The end result is less quantity and better quality. But, digital art being the way it is enables anybody with a computer and an illegal copy of Photoshop™ to pursue any and all whims, in a kind of mental masturbation that results in only increasing quantity and decreasing quality.

The second issue with digital art is one of skill, or rather lack thereof. Traditional art requires knowledge, even an expertise, of the history, tools, and subjects that is not easily achieved. Digital art, however, requires nothing more than a rudimentary knowledge of basic human motor skill, in order to control a mouse attached to a computer. With a single slick of a button a human can put in motion a series of digital events that will result, with no further involvement from the user, in a piece of work that can be passed off as art. These algorithms emulate traditional art in that they can produce in seconds, dry brush, palette knife, water color, or even paint daub techniques. They call this a benefit but the realty of the situation is it will lead to a de-valuation in all art. No longer will distinctions be able to be made between a real artist, who took the time and effort to achieve such results by hand, and a filter-whore, who simply ran a pre-set sequence of zeros and ones. If everyone suddenly has the capacity to emulate Picasso or Da Vinci in any piece of work they create what then become of the actual Picasso’s and Da Vinci’s? They become deemed forgotten relics of a nostalgic era and as such are buried away in the museums basement to make room for the new Grunge Exploitation exhibit, featuring several computer monitors randomly picking clipart and applying filters to them.

The final point runs a similar claim as the previous in that it concerns the ease of reproduction of art. Traditional art gains value as being as singularity, an original, one of kind. Digital art is threatening to take that away and level the entire playing field for all artists. With the ability to duplicate a piece, so that every nuance, every grain (or rather pixel) is perfectly and exactly reproduced, the artists is only hurting himself as he limits the value of his piece. The digital medium has no real existence and as such any art produced therein can never be considered an original. The PSD file on my computer, in that it is the exact replica of the original, is for all intents and purposes just as worthy and valuable as the PSD file on the creator’s computer. Quantity and value are inversely related in art, as the former rises the latter will undoubtedly decline.

Creativity, originality, individuality - these were once the defining features of an artist. They were once the concepts that elevated humans above animals. They were once the noble traits of a noble species. But they don’t exist anymore. These distinctly human characteristics were killed off, ironically, by a human manifestation: the computer. Digital art has begun its hunt as it lurks in the shadows, slowly stalking its prey. But death of traditional art won’t come swiftly. No, it will be killed slowly…just slowly enough to let it see the vanishing traits of human history being swept away before it itself succumbs to the digital spear.

THE SAVOIR

Art has infused human life since the first hominids became capable of meeting their own survival needs, thus allowing the free time necessary to develop their minds. And develop it they did, producing creations of unimaginable beauty. From the earliest cave drawing, to the Sistine chapel, to the Mona Lisa, art has served as a product of marvel and wonder. But somewhere along the way things went horribly wrong. Art became a social stigma of the high class, practiced in and thought respectable by only the very elite of society. And the divide only widened as time passed, until this very day, where ahead in the near distance sits the one creation that will serve to rectify this grand error, and return art to where it rightfully belongs.

Esthetics has traditionally characterized art as setting its own standard of excellence and as an end in itself. It saw art as requiring taste, sensitivity and cultivation. In seeking a definition of art the traditionalist postulated five principles that would serve as the boundaries to encapsulate all art. The first principle stated that a value hierarchy exists that reflects a determined order in the world, of which the artist finds his own means to express. The second principle is that art ultimately relies on mimesis, which is to say that every artist, whether painter, architect or composer, somehow conveys his own attitude towards the existing sensible world which he then renders for an audience. The third principle claims simply that the artist utilizes a special talent which he has developed into proficiency over time, and is usually expanded to state that his position is recognized, approved and held to some higher degree than those non-artists. The fourth principle states that art manifests an outstanding individuality. And the fifth and final principle holds that all art consists of three distinct factors: the artist, the work of art, and the audience.

These definitions of art were developed by and for the high class intellectuals of their time. They were invented to preserve the value of life they had become accustomed to. They served to differentiate between classes and thus mark a concrete line between them. And for the longest time they have succeeded. Art has long been elitist, serving only the very wealthy and creating a closed circle of people that has resulted in a back slapping, congratulatory system of peers, which in turn stifles outside creativity and diminishes the value of art on a global scale. However, the time has come that the system is finally buckling, the cracks beginning to form, and the ultimate collapse is not far off. And it’s not without a sense irony that the whims of fate have dictated that the collapse should be by the very hands of those who seek to maintain it. The digital age is undoubtedly a by product of a select group of people with too much money and too much time. However, the masses, rather than revolt against it, have embraced it as the weapon by which they will strike down their oppressors. They will harness the power of the personal computer to pierce the sphere of the closed system of art elitists and they will deliver, with fortitude and will, an art that will have no boundaries nor belong to no one group – it will transcend race, religion, culture, age and sex – it will be for the people by the people. It will be pure.

Digital art can be used to rebuke all the claims of the antiquated definition of art as previously detailed and in doing so will render that system outdated and pave the way for the paradigm shift. In today’s world, artist no longer adhere to fixed body of knowledge and truth. The digital world, through the internet, has created a global community and unleashed a world of information accessible to anyone. The once held truths and practices, that were so ingrained in the lives of a society through a process of selective education, are now being put up against the truths and practices from other societies and thus transforming knowledge into a subjective process. The value hierarchy is collapsing as it can no longer maintain itself in a world where no objective value hierarchy for all men exists. Mimesis has been all but completely rebutted as the digital age, through CG, allows for the realization of art that breaks free from the mold of the sensible world. The third claim is rendered all but mute as digital graphic programs now give the ability for any person – man, women, child, professional or amateur – to create works of unimaginable beauty. The computer is bridging the distance between ability and conception as it allows the artist to require only the latter with the former being nothing more than optional. Similarly, the great individuality of the artist has also become an obsolete notion as the artist can now choose to remain as distanced from his work as he so desires. One can create and publish anonymously and hence be free from the shackles of art politics, and allow one to focus on the art specifically and uncorrupted. The fifth principle is rebutted on grounds that the digital world, in any real sense of the word, consist of nothingness. It exists as electricity, transmitted as ones and zeros and is therefore not subject to being able to be defined as any concrete object. Digital art can be created, distributed, modified or erased without ever having to be anything actually tangible. It’s in that sense that the work of art doesn't ever really exist to begin with.

Digital art now has the potential to reach the mass populous, giving everybody, not just a select few, the chance to share, enjoy and participate in this wondrous invention of man. By showing the fallacy of the traditional definition of art and how the digital medium is being used to upend any previous conceptions of it, we’ve taken the first step in returning art from the elitists pedestal that it now stands on to the ground level of all mankind, where it rightfully belongs

THE INEVITABILITY

Thus, the war rages on. Each side is firmly entrenched and sit, weapons poised, with heavy trigger finger. No mans land is scattered with the causalities of a not so innocent society – a society that fuels both sides of the war at once, one nation of humanity against itself. But in the end, perhaps it matters not so much as to what the final outcome of this battle will be so long as art, in some form or another, be it traditional or digital, continues to exist and flourish…because without it, mankind, in its entire splendor, will have been no better than its primate brethren. It’s said that the fastest way to lead a man to the truth is through story and it’s also been said that a picture is worth a thousand words so it’s not without ironic perversion that the one place where we need to be looking to find the truth of this matter is the very place whose truth is being questioned.

Art Show Awards

2006-01-09T22:57:00.000+08:00

The Art Show jury determines most of our awards but convention attendees will vote on a portion of the art awards called the Special Awards. Award categories will include but are not limited to Best In Show, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, 2-D, 3-D, Photography, & Mixed Media for both Professional and Amateur Artists. There are also 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards for student entrees. Art Awards will be given in the prescribed categories on Sunday of the convention (check the schedule for exact time and place). All attending artists determine the Artist Choice Award winner. The categories are as follows:

Best 2-D Piece

Best 3-D Piece

Best Jewelry Art

Best Mixed Media

Best Photography

Best 2-D Piece

Best 3-D Piece

Best Jewelry Art

Best Mixed Media

Best Photography

Special Awards

Best Alien

Best Amazon

Best Dragon

Best Horror

Best Spaceship or Space Scene

Best Warrior

Most Humorous

For more detailed information on the Art Show, please click here.

2006 Adobe Design Achievement Awards

2006-01-07T22:16:00.000+08:00

Submit your entry!

It's time for students to submit their entries for the world's premier higher education design and film competition. Submit by April 28, 2006.

The Adobe Design Achievement Awards celebrate student achievement reflecting the powerful convergence of technology and the creative arts. The competition — which showcases individual and group projects created with industry-leading Adobe creative software — honors the most talented and promising student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, and computer artists from the world's top institutions of higher education.

International prestige and valuable prizes
There are nine categories in the 2006 Adobe Design Achievement Awards competition, open to students at post-secondary institutions in 24 countries throughout the world. First-place winning entries will receive US$5,000, a trip to attend the July 20, 2006, awards ceremony in Toronto, Canada, valuable Adobe software products, and studio tours.

For more info go to http://www.adobe.com/education/adaa/

Virtual reality art: Beyond technology

2006-01-07T11:25:00.000+08:00

The word "virtual" has gotten a bum rap since it appeared a few centuries ago. It means "in effect," or "the same, but not really." It's a simulation, an adjunct to the real deal, like virtual temperature or virtual height.

How times change. Right before our eyes, this thing that we call the world has been irrevocably altered, along with the "reality" we have counted on. Virtual reality is so permeating our lives that one day soon we may find it impossible to distinguish the virtual from the real.

In fact, there are those who are already counting on it. From Peter Jackson's largely computer-based reimagining of the love story between the ape and the blonde to PlayStation's latest interactive bloodbath, producers of entertainment are promulgating the wizardry of the digital.

And millions of people worldwide are now exchanging reality for virtuality. "Massively multiplayer online role-playing games" are challenging movies as the go-to entertainment for the 18- to 35-year-old crowd. (The "King Kong" version was released the same day as the film.) Ever larger numbers of poseurs are inventing alternative virtual personalities in chat rooms. Reality, it seems, is not all it's cracked up to be.

But whatever happened to the good old-fashioned goggles-and-joystick, immersive virtual reality of the mid-1990s? Although the gear was cumbersome and fearsomely expensive, illusory full-body absorption into real and imagined universes through powerful computers, graphics and head devices at one point seemed irresistible. A 1993 show at the SoHo branch of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, optimistically titled "Virtual Reality: An Emerging Medium," sought to jump-start what was thought to be the next big thing.

So why didn't it take off? John Ippolito, the show's curator, said, "V.R.'s original promise, to construct a ghostly realm where consciousness could roam free of the constraints of flesh, became socially obsolete." But there was a bigger, more concrete problem: While cellphones with all the whistles cost as little as $99, virtual reality environments could set you back about $1.5 million.

Until now. Virtual reality is now available to artists for about $3,000. This is the kind of watershed moment that video art enjoyed in 1965, when portable video recording equipment became available at mass-market prices.

Software to create this art can also be secured free of charge from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where researchers at the Integrated Systems Laboratory under the direction of Hank Kaczmarski have created a portable virtual reality set-up developed specifically for artists. The open-source technology, known as Syzygy, is downloadable at www.isl.uiuc.edu. Others are also accessible through the University of Indiana's "John-e-box" system (www.avl.iu.edu) and at Ars Electronica in Linz, Austria (www.aec.at).

It is no accident that the University of Illinois has been the force behind Canvas. In 1992, the virtual reality pioneers Dan Sandin, Tom DeFanti and Carolina Cruz-Neira created the prototypical large-scale virtual environment known as Cave Automatic Virtual Environment, at the university's Chicago campus. Whatever the thrills of Imax or 3-D horror movies, Cave's effects are exponentially greater. When you put on the active stereo glasses and step inside the six-walled cube, it's like diving into an ocean in another galaxy with everything around you crystal clear. Your body is fully engaged as your perceptions and sense of balance are challenged.

Though the effects are slightly less encompassing than those of its forebears, the Canvas experience is nonetheless transforming, at a fraction of the cost. With as few as two projectors ($1,000 each) fitted with polarizing filters ($300 each), an up-to-date desktop computer, three rear projection screens (optional) and the Syzygy program, Canvas is open for business (at www.canvas.uiuc.edu) for artists who want to take that next step into a medium that has been largely commandeered by military strategists and those with commercial backers. All the public needs is a pair of passive stereo glasses ($1) or datagloves ($20).

Rose Marshack, a multimedia artist/musician/programmer, calls Canvas "the missing link I've been waiting for, the opportunity to make new art from hardware." She and the novelist Rick Powers are using it to create what they call a 3-D "emotional travelogue" through the 20th century.

Sandin, the Cave innovator, has developed a transportable virtuality system. With one short computer tower, two laptops, two PowerPoint projectors and a folding rear-projector screen, he travels the world exhibiting his "tele-immersive" artworks, as they are called.

All of Sandin's projects involve multiple users. "EVL: Alive on the Grid" is his name for a series of virtual art-world experiences in which audiences can interact in shared virtual spaces. In "Looking for Water," the participants become emerged in an outer-space environment based on real-time satellite images. As the navigators proceed, they experience themselves falling to Earth and landing on an archipelago whose lakes are fashioned from 3-D images in videos Sandin made on a kayaking trip.

The creation or re-creation of a super photorealist world lies at the heart of most virtual reality artworks to date, which is problematic for some artists - the New York artist John Simon, for example, who creates his own software for non-immersive virtual realities. "Each of my artworks is a small world that evolves and changes with its own rules," he says of his displays, some of which are inspired by Mondrian. "These worlds are not based on real world physics, but rather on color theory, rhythmic motion and automatic composition."

Mimicking the real is generally not what interests artists. Altering perception is. When Bruce Nauman, Michael Snow and Peter Campus turned to video technology in the 1960s, they did so to challenge viewers' expectations by tipping them off balance, providing an ambiguous experience rather than a familiar one.

Nauman's "Spinning Spheres" from 1970 is a large and immersive four-screen projection featuring a spinning steel ball. Its effect is truly dizzying. Experimental film artists of that period shared a similar fascination with perception-bending.

The seductions of virtual reality probably need to be resisted before truly masterly art can emerge from it. Kathleen Harleman, director of the Krannert Art Museum at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, says she hopes that with Canvas, "artistic imaginations will match the technological innovations - artists will not just use the technology, but free it." For the new-media artist Lynn Hershman Leeson, who generated virtual worlds in her films "Conceiving Ada" (1997) and "Teknolust" (2002), "V.R. allows someone to enjoy a second life parallel to one's former reality," she said.

Virtual reality affords incomparable access to light, space, sound, sensation, perception, visualization and disruption, all ingredients in contemporary art. "The secret, however, isn't in the contraption," Ippolito said.

Of course not. It's in the concepts. The technology is available, but is waiting to be freed.

Michael Rush is the director of the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University and the author of "Video Art" (Thames & Hudson, 2003) and "New Media in Art" (Thames & Hudson World of Art, 2005).

Revenge of the Killer Portfolio

2006-01-03T06:14:00.000+08:00

The Artist's Statement

As an artist, you will be required to sum up your theories, ideologies, history, practices and use of materials in a concise statement. This is an opportunity to describe your art and what it means to you. It can include your inspirations and what drives you to create, or the history of your growth as an artist. For example: "When I was a girl, I read The Lord of the Rings and there was no going back". The artist's statement is a personal thing. You can choose to reveal as much or as little about yourself as you like.

A helpful tip when writing your artist's statement is to read the statements of other artists. This can give you a good idea of what is expected, and it is always interesting to see how others view their art. You will come across cheesy one-liners such as "My art is a window to my soul, and right now the window is closed," and in-depth exposés like the influences of the family sitcom on an artist's paintings of leather recliners.

Your statement will probably be re-written a thousand times throughout your career. This is totally normal. Ideas change and artists grow, so the statement should reflect this process. Sometimes, you will be required to write different statements for different things. Whenever you're involved with a specific project, a specialized statement to explain the thoughts behind it becomes necessary.

The Artist Biography (AKA: C.V. or Curriculum Vitae)

The biography is almost the same as a resume, tailored towards your career as an artist. It may include exhibitions, professional credits, job experience, education, articles, reviews and any other pertinent information. Your contact information is also a must. Keep it simple and straightforward. A single page is often all that is necessary.
It is very important to keep the information in your bio current. Always list your accomplishments, starting with the most current. It is not necessary to include everything. However, as your list grows, you can pick and choose a smaller list of credits.

Photographing Your Work

It is very important to produce quality reproductions of your work. Whether you are publishing it to the web or producing slides or prints, your work should be as close to the original as possible.

Unless you are a very experienced photographer yourself, I would recommend hiring a professional photographer. This is an area where it's well worth investing some money. You can buy cheap materials to produce your work, but if your portfolio is full of mediocre reproductions, you're selling yourself short. When you have your photo shoot done, you can ask for slides, prints, and negatives. The negatives are a good thing to have if you need more copies in the future. You can get copies from slides, but these are never as high-quality. Try to get as many slides per piece as you can afford.

For the non-digital artist, scanning your work can be a great asset. The equipment is expensive, but a good scanner and accompanying software is all you need. Once scanned and imported into your computer, you can do a thousand things with your images. Even though the scanner is an easy way to document your work, I would still recommend getting the photos taken, especially for larger pieces which have been scanned in several parts and reassembled.

Putting it all Together

There are many ways to put together a portfolio. It can be fancy or simple. I think that since the artwork is a reflection of you, the packaging should also reflect your aesthetic. A physically strong portfolio is important. You want it to take some punishment and still look good. To keep the pages clean, I like to use plastic sheet covers. Make sure each page has your contact info clearly marked. Any additional paraphernalia included in the portfolio should also be labeled. Never assume that if you send a portfolio it will be sent back. If you want anything returned include a self addressed stamped envelope.

A good heavy duty slide sheet is also a must. Each slide should have the title, size, and date of the piece, as well as an arrow indicating the top. A slide list should always accompany your slides, and the numbers should correspond to a number on the actual slide. Depending on the quality of the slide, or even the position of the image in the slide you may need to tape. Taping is done to get rid of any excess space around the image. The tape to use is specially designed for slides. It is silver in color and will block the light of the projector. When the slide is viewed, all you will see is the image surrounded by black. This helps make the slide look clean and professional.

It is very important to customize your portfolio according to where you are sending it. If you're proposing an exhibition, applying for an illustration gig or entering a contest, make sure your portfolio has all the required elements. If there are any submission guidelines, make sure you follow them to the letter. A personal touch is always a great addition-a cover letter is often all you need to accomplish this.

I hope this simple guide filled out your knowledge base. Being a professional artist is definitely about producing great artwork, but it's also about acting, talking and walking like a pro. If you take yourself seriously, others will too.

Unrefined or Lack of Detail

2006-01-03T05:39:00.000+08:00

In this digital painting, Irene Bressel has come up with a dynamic scene, and spiced it up with some unconventional rendering, less detailed and line-oriented than her usual style. This sort of experimentation is always wonderful to see, and makes this piece stand out from the crowd in many ways. Unfortunately, while it has some very definite strong points, there are also some areas that could be addressed to make a stronger piece.

This should also be a good opportunity to address the Epilogue rejection reason "unrefined or lack of detail", which was given to "Hercules" when it was submitted. This picture doesn't have a lot of detail, and that's perfectly fine here - taken as a whole, the lack of fussy details not only works well, but is one of the main strengths of the piece. The problem is that "Hercules" looks like a strong start that could be further refined (there's the key word!) by more attention to overall consistency.

I'll start by going over some of the things that were most successful. Above all, we begin with a very good composition. The birds form a strong diagonal, which is repeated in the bow, and this diagonal is crossed by one in the other direction, starting with the middle bird's front wing, picked up by the arrow, and continued into the figure and the tree. This dynamic "x" shape helps the sense of motion being conveyed very well. Then, most importantly, the front bird's large dark wing, the tree, and the bow, all frame the central character. The only minor compositional quibble I have is that the color of the blood in the water is stronger than the peach color of Hercules, thus drawing attention away from the center of interest.

Also working well are the three birds. They evidence very strong drawing skills, but the fact that they are mostly rendered with simple shapes and strokes, with only a few well-rendered details here and there, makes them interesting and artistic. All three birds are most successful in this respect.

Problem AreasSo, what are the problems with this piece? Mostly, they are in the area of underlying drawing - things that could be taken to another level of refinement either before or during the rendering phase. When doing a style like this, the SHAPES or silhouettes of objects become far more important than they are when you do more detail. The more detail you give an object, the more "hints" the viewer will have to tell what the object is. Include less of these "hints", and the object becomes defined only by its form. This form then becomes of primary significance.

Thus, as I mentioned previously, the birds succeed because the shapes are very well done. The bird on the right, for instance, has a really nice outline to its head, so we need no details to see what it is. Other items in the picture don't have the same care. While the birds look "realistic" (due to the careful preliminary drawing), some other things look sort of "cartoon"-like, unrealistic and flat.

Let's look at the tree roots, for instance. There is a problem with both their unnatural shapes and the perspective of the roots as they enter the water. The perspective is a problem because several of the roots are clearly in front; yet they hit the water parallel to roots behind them, where they should be lower. This creates a sort of Escher-like optical illusion that is distracting. The shapes of the roots, on the other hand, could benefit from using reference. Compared to the realism of the birds, and the atmosphere in general, they just don't stand up well.

Now, let's look at the armor. We always need to think about what material an object is made of. If this were metal, it would be thinner and the highlights would be sharper. If it were leather, then it wouldn't have such a definite shape, and would still be thinner. Also, we must examine the perspective again, especially the shoulder - the elliptical shapes formed by the edges are entirely too oblique for this angle, which unnaturally flattens the arm.

There are several other problems areas that keep the piece from having a consistent feel throughout; things that with a bit more refinement could be strengths rather than drawbacks.
The Grass on the right - is it detailed or not? It's sort of halfway between the two; I'd be tempted to just lose the individual blades such as under the skull, and make that more blended, like the Birds. The Archer's hand holding the string is a bit unrefined, too. Also, take a look at the size of Hercules' head, and then compare it to the skull directly beneath his feet. They should be about the same size, but since the skull is so much smaller, the perspective again seems off.

Summary:
As we can see in "Hercules", a bold composition, interesting storytelling, and unusual, eye-catching technique get a picture a long way. But it still pays to take some time to fine-tune your shapes and perspective. Keep in mind that this amount of fine-tuning is going to change depending on what type of picture you've created. By making the birds the most prominent visual focus of the picture, the rest of the painting will have to match their level of drawing; any area that falls short can't help but detract.

PhotoshopCAFE.com Design Challenge #6

2005-12-22T07:08:00.000+08:00

These Design Challenges simulate real-world projects and push designers from around the globe to compete for the coveted win.

This year will be no exception. The challenge is to design a cereal box in Photoshop. Prizes top $6,000 in value and include all kinds of goodies including:
the Premium version of Adobe Creative Suite 2
NAPP membership
Plugins from AutoFX
3D and WebDesign software
Credits at Worth1000.com
Books, DVDs and more.

You have until Jan 15th 2006, which is plenty of time to come up with a killer design. Entries are free and you can submit 2 entries each. Judges are Colin Smith (PhotoshopCAFE), Avi Munich
(Worth 1000) and Oliver Ottner (EffectLab/i-service)

For Official Rules, Instructions and Prizes... go to http://photoshopcafe.com/contests/contest-6.htm
Good Luck!,

GOOD HAIR DAY AT MAXON

2005-12-14T15:28:00.000+08:00

3D software developer MAXON is pleased to announce the first completely integrated professional CINEMA 4D module for the creation of hair, fur and feathers.

MAXON, December 6, 2005 - Known simply as "HAIR", this new module lets users quickly and easily add astonishingly realistic hair to objects. The hair can be styled using HAIR's extensive tool palette, and a custom 3D shader gives artists complete control over the appearance of the hair. HAIR is not only easy to use, it's very fast, offers excellent rendering quality, and requires very little memory. An average configuration can easily render millions of hairs.

Much attention was given to achieving a high level of interactivity. An extensive and intuitive toolset was created with over a dozen tools, such as brush, comb, curl and cut. The look of the hair is defined by a special HAIR shader. In addition to such properties as shine, frizz and thickness, a texture can also be loaded to define a color pattern for the hair.

Dynamic forces, including collision detection, can be used while styling and animating the hair. Forces such as gravity, wind, turbulence or twist can be used to create breathtaking animations. HAIR also offers an impressive cache functionality, which makes viewing the effects of dynamics or preparing a file for network rendering a breeze. Artists can even edit individual frames after they've been cached.

I remember using Cinema 4D while creating a 3d design, it was so easy and so fast compered to Maya and 3dSm ( 3d studio max ). So creating an 3d object is not a fuzz at all, but of course nothing beats maya when it comes to 3d... :)

Cinema 4d's new hair object will help lots of designer and hobbiest for a more fast and easy hair rendering.

Dealing with clients..

2005-12-09T18:04:00.000+08:00

Dealing with clients..

What is the best way to compromise when a clients asks for something that you consider to be a bad idea?
justify your ideas to the client. they generally don't see things the way you see them, so of course, they'll often not respond well to your concepts. they may have something else in mind of feel that what you've done doesn't represent them in the right way. So, it's always important to tell a client why you chose to do a certain thing or design something a certain way. If you explain the logic behind a design decision, they'll often begin to see things your way. However, this doesn't always work. A designer has to know when to argue and idea and when not to.

What are some precautions a designer can take to ensure he/she is paid for their work?
get a signed contract up-front. Of course this is the best and most obvious way to ensure that you're paid for your work, but then again, who has the resources to fight a legal battle over a few hundred dollars in many cases? There are other not so sophistocated ways to ensure payment. The main thing I do in my work is hold on to the final files. During the course of the project, the client sees low-resolution preview images. I won't hand over the final print/layout files until payment has been made. You may also require a security deposit. This is something i do 100% of the time. Have your client pay a portion of the total payment up-front and they'll be very unlikely to walk away without paying the rest and getting thier final files.

How can a designer get a client to pay in a timely manner?
Send an invoice. You won't make the impression of someone who is serious and professional about their work if you don't send an invoice. Documents that look "official" often prompt clients to pay up without fail. Be sure there is some fine print in your invoice that states "payment due within 30 days of invoice" and always put the date at the top. Another thing to help ensure timely payment is to offer your clients a discount for payments made within 10 days or something like that.

It seems that the majority of time spent on a design is spent making edits and changes. Is there no way around that?
First off, don't waste time designing something if you're not sure it is what the client wants. Save time by making quick concept sketches and getting feedback before spending any real time in one direction. This will undoubtedly save much time and save you from having your wonderful design flushed down the toilet. As for making edits and changes toward the end of a job, it happens. I have never had anything go to print without a series of edits. This can, however, get out of hand rather quickly. One thing you can do to ensure that you're not going to lose money by spending so much time no edits is to charge money for them. Note in your initial contract that a certain number of edits are included in the main price. Any additional edits will cost a sum of money. This helps your clients to carefully look over their text before they send it to you.

what is the best way to get an overwhelming ammount of work done in a short time?
The best way is to NOT do it. If you try to do too much at one time, all of your work will suffer, and you and your client won't be happy with it. Take your time. If you're running out of time on projects or have too much to handle, contact your clients and explain that you need more time to ensure a quality design. most, if not all of your clients will understand that pushing a project back a few days is a much better alternative to ending up with a sub-par piece of work. If you're not happy with the work you end up with, you'll only burn yourself out. Art takes time. It's a process, not something that happens in a specific timeframe. Take it slow.

Is having a website really that important?
Absolutely. It's your most valuable marketing tool and will allow you to promote yourself in any media. People won't go out of their way to find your work. Make it easy for them. The easier it is to find you, the more likely they are to hire you.

How does a designer attract his/her desired client base?
Well, obvoiusly, you could advertise on specific websites... but who has money to do that? i have done everything from posting on message boards to just directly soliciting people through e-mail. give it a shot. if you see someone you want to work with, send them an e-mail and offer your services. what do you have to lose? once you get a few jobs in your desired market under your belt, word will travel. network with previous clients and get to know their friends/partners/associates. When you complete a job, ALWAYS insist that your name+URL are in the product and that your URL is on the client's website.

Don't have a URL? get one.!!!

Silent Hill: The Official Movie Poster Contest

2005-12-08T14:21:00.000+08:00

Silent Hill: The Official Movie Poster Contest

TriStar Pictures is accepting fan submissions for the official Silent Hill movie poster. Similar to the Resident Evil Contest that was popular awhile back.Check out the movie's website at WelcomeToSilentHill.com where you can download various visual assets from the forthcoming game-to-film adaptation. The deadline given for submissions is January 3, 2006. Entries will be posted on January 4th and online and wireless voting will commence.

On January 17th, TriStar Pictures will review the 50 posters with the most votes for a selection of five finalists. The finalists will be posted on January 20th and fans will cast their votes for the winner. TriStar will unveil the winning poster on February 22, which will then be displayed in theaters across the country prior to the release of Silent Hill.Official Rules;

http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/silenthill/postercontest/guidelines.html

Work For Hire

2005-12-04T22:10:00.000+08:00

Work For Hire

It sounds innocuous, but the term 'Work For Hire' is one that every artist should know backwards and forwards before they sign any contract.

What is Work For Hire?

The easiest and most straightforward kind of Work For Hire is just that - being hired for work. You have an employer, and they employ you, most commonly in exchange for money. They probably give you a desk, and a health plan, and a timecard to punch. Everything you do while acting as an employee belongs to your employer. They tell you to draw a coconut, you draw them a coconut, and it becomes THEIR drawing of a coconut. They can do anything they want with that coconut, and they don't need to credit you, ask you for permission, or even say "thank you". The employer is considered the author of the work.

More often than not, a company isn't large enough to hire a full-time (or even part-time) artist to sit around and draw coconuts all day. They need a drawing of a coconut only once in a blue moon, and when that comes up, rather than hiring someone to come and sit at a desk and be employed, they contract someone to draw their coconut.

As a freelance artist, you would be an independent contractor. The company would hand you a seventeen page contract, which would generally say something to the effect of "This is a Work for Hire contract." Work for Hire is a very specific kind of contract. Any old contract, no matter how much the content resembles the terms of a Work for Hire contract, is NOT a Work for Hire contract unless it specifically says so, and the work being hired is for the kinds of publication that fall into Work for Hire jurisdiction. These publications include multi-author works, illustrated publications or games, calendar plates, et cetera. Manuals that include technical illustrations may also fall in this category, as well as just about any kind of publication where you are a single contributor to a multi-brain end result.

With a Work for Hire contract, you are compensated for creating art to the customer's specifications, for said customer. Just as it would if you were an employee, the resulting work becomes entirely theirs. They don't have to credit you (and can, in fact, credit themselves), ask you for permission to use the artwork in an unexpected way, or compensate you further if they decide to use the artwork for merchandise, et cetera--UNLESS there is some provision to the contrary in the contract.

How is A Work for Hire Contract Different from a Usual Contract?

With all contracts other than Work for Hire, any rights that are not specified in the contract fall to the creator. Unless the contract specifically states otherwise, the artist is the "author," and is recognized as the creator of the work. The person who hired you cannot take automatic credit for your work.

With a Work for Hire, the opposite is true: by default, the person who hired you CAN take credit for your work and CAN claim all copyrights if not otherwise specified.

When the product of a Work for Hire is registered for copyright, the person who hired the work--not the person who actually drew it!--is considered the author; there is even a checkbox for "work-made-for-hire" in copyright registration forms. This is because Work for Hire work is considered the creative property of the employer or contractor.

As with all contracts, the meat of the matter is in the details. A Work for Hire contract that specifically allows the artist to retain particular copyrights and allows for crediting his work and pays a comfortable amount can easily be better than a contract that is not by law a Work for Hire but still has terms that strip away copyright and credit.

When Are You an Employee?

This can be a tricky definition, since there are no legal standards laid out to differentiate an employee from an independent contractor, in any concrete manner. There are, however, a number of legal precedents that can be examined.

Three major factors are considered in making the decision to classify someone as an employee. First, how much control does an employer have over the final product? If you have a boss hanging around over your shoulder pointing out where to put the coconut hairs and you're using his company computer at his company location to create the product, he may claim employment of you unless you have a contract that states otherwise.

The second factor is control over the artist in question. If the employer is able to tell you what hours to work, has the ability to change your schedule to have you work on undiscussed new projects, without a new contract, and can hire you assistants or subcontractors without consulting you, he may claim employment of you.

The third factor revolves around 'status and conduct' of the employer. For example, if he is treating you as an employee, withholding your taxes, providing health insurance or benefits, he may claim employment of you.

What does it mean to be an employee? All of the work that you do for your employer is considered to be Work for Hire. You may receive no credit for authorship, and you will, by default, retain none of the copyrights to the work you created. You usually get a better health plan than a freelance artist does.

The Fine Print

Not all Work for Hire contracts will be so strict as to allow no credit and no control. These would be hideously unpopular contracts, and very few artists with options would accept them. In the contract itself, there are plenty of opportunities to fine tune the details.

The nitty-gritty bits of a contract will lay out all kinds of details about who gets paid, how much, and when, and whether the pay is hourly, a lump sum, royalties, or some combination thereof. It will also state any requirements by either party for credit or print rights. It should also include deadlines for both parties, and any penalties that might be incurred for not meeting them. Only specifics that are not touched on in the contract will default to the strict meaning of the general Work for Hire terms.

A kill fee is a common enough staple in Work for Hire contracts that it deserves a mention. This item is for cases when, despite good intentions on both sides, a project does not go through, but a part or the whole of the work has been completed. The contracted party deserves partial compensation, and will receive it through a specified 'kill fee,' often a low percentage of the original amount agreed upon.

For more details about contract terms, please see this article: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/ellen/archives/00000027.html

Other Common Questions

Can a contract be Work for Hire if they pay nothing in advance?
Sure. Just about any contract can be a Work for Hire contract, as long as it says specifically that it is. Payment details should be spelled out in any contract that you sign.

Should Work for Hire be avoided at all possible costs?
Not necessarily, but do read the contract carefully. If the pay is worth the complete release of copyrights, or if the contract allows some key rights to be retained, then by all means, these can be lucrative, worthwhile contracts to enter into.

Does signing a Work for Hire contract mean I've sold my soul?
No. They do not own any spiritual or non-corporeal part of you. They don't even own any body parts. Moreover, they do not own any of the body of your work, other than that done under their contract.

Where can I find out more about Work for Hire?
http://www.copyright.gov is a fine place to start. I would also recommend "Graphic Artists Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines," an excellent book on the subject. If you are an artist, and do not have this book, go sit in the corner and look guilty. You can buy a used edition for less than the cost of a good paintbrush, and it will be worth much more.

Are you a lawyer?
No. I am much poorer than a lawyer. If you are in need of legal advice, you should consult an attorney. Bring money.

A Step-by-step Guide to Completing a Commissioned Project

2005-12-04T21:56:00.000+08:00

A Step-by-step Guide to Completing a Commissioned Project

So, you've learned how to draw and how to render. You've put together a professional portfolio. You've studied the market and sent your samples to likely clients and now, after all this time, you have landed a professional job. Very cool; I'm proud of you. But now comes the hard part: doing the work, doing it well, and doing it on time.

This time out, I'll go in-depth into the process of working on a job from start to finish. From client contact to the final delivery, I'll give you a look into the thoughts and techniques I use to take a rough idea and turn it into a completed art assignment. To do this, we'll be following the creation of a piece of art for the Game of Thrones Collectible Card Game, from a client I've happily done a lot of work for, Fantasy Flight Games. Since I'm going through MY work process, and not some generic exercise, we'll be following along my particular work path - sketching on paper, working in Photoshop

Creating art for yourself or for a portfolio can be a journey of discovery, a chance to play around with a picture until you get it just right. You can stop and start over, or throw in whole new ideas on the spur of the moment, just because they're cool. And most of all, you can take as long as you like.

Conversely, working for a client on a specific job is the opposite. You must plan in advance, get approval for your ideas, and most importantly MEET YOUR DEADLINES. This involves planning rather than experimenting, and focusing on your process. Each step needs to build logically into the next so that there's no backtracking or dithering.

OK, now that I've scared you, I think we're ready to start!

Job Description
{mosgoogle left}Also known as the "brief", this is the request that comes from the client. It may be very short and simple, or quite expansive and filled with details. Sometimes the clients are absolutely sure of what they want, and sometimes they want you to fill in the blanks for them.

Usually a particular style will be called for: painterly, line art, grayscale, etc. Don't deviate from that without explicitly asking for an OK from the client. If they want a painting and you deliver a scratchboard piece, you are just asking for a rejection.

Additionally, you will be given instructions on what size the final piece of artwork will need to be, what format to deliver it in, and any other important physical characteristics required. In this case, the delivery was to be an electronic file, 800 pixels wide x 600 pixels high (yes, that's pretty small!), in CMYK color. It is always vitally important to follow these sorts of instructions exactly, and if you are unsure of details or terminology, ASK the client to make sure. Believe me, I know from experience that nothing makes you look dumber than to mess up on this sort of thing.

Now, the client knew that I had worked within the Game of Thrones world before; I didn't need to catch up on the feel or the setting. Also, the designer had sent out a note to the artists that on this set of cards they were looking for a bold, iconic look to bring the cards together thematically.

With this background already in place, the brief was then fairly short:
Card name: Eviscerate
An "Unsullied" draws his blade out of his victim's gut.

Sometimes you'll get a very long detailed description, and sometimes even less than this. Here, I was dealing with a good, economical, yet complete request. Not too much, but plenty to get me started.

Research & reference
When doing an illustration based on a book, it's usually a good idea to try to read at least some of the source material. This isn't always possible, especially with a book that hasn't been published yet. Fortunately, when I first started doing the Game of Thrones art last year, I went out and bought a couple of books in that acclaimed fantasy series and read through them, to get a working familiarity with the characters and their world.

Also, the Web is obviously a great place for reference. There happen to be several sites specializing in this series, so rather than thumb my way through the books to find the passages describing the "Unsullied", I just Googled to find them. You never can tell when a small detail from a book, or a description from a fan online will suddenly give you a great idea to bring your illustration to life.

This time out, several details were important: the "Unsullied" are master fighters, eunuchs, and have some resemblance to Roman infantry. A large and bulky soldier came to mind, a professional warrior who would show no mercy. Great stuff. I also thought of a wonderful picture from a 1950's movie that I had in a book, with a costume that I could use as a starting point for my character. Reference complete! Some jobs require a bit more work in this area, finding obscure pieces of weaponry, or animals, or buildings or whatever. This one was pretty easy.

Concept development
On high-end jobs, with a long time provided to complete the project, it may be your duty to provide several alternative layout ideas for consideration. For faster or lower-paying jobs, it is often acceptable to provide only one sketch idea, especially if the client already knows your work. In fact, on rare occasions if the client is particularly well-acquainted with your style, you may sometimes be asked to skip the sketch and go straight to the finished piece, if the deadline is very tight.

As I mentioned previously, this would be a merciless professional warrior; big (a eunuch), mean and tough. From the brief, I knew there would be two characters: the Unsullied warrior, and his victim. At this point, I just started to doodle some ideas on paper.

I try to keep my first ideas very simple - really little more than stick figures. This way I spend as little time as possible on potential dead-ends. As soon as I can, I try to come up with a little "story"; some sort of narrative that will imply things that happened before and after the picture, even if the action being illustrated is very straightforward, like this one.

{mosgoogle left}By doing this, I can establish a link with the viewers - I pull them into the world I'm creating, and make them think about more than just what they see. If I succeed, then I've created more than just a simple snap-shot of action; I've told a tale that will make it seem as though my picture can tell a whole tale.

My idea in this case is to think of what it would be like to BE this fighter, gutting a victim with my short sword. The blade would go in, sure, but I'd want to get it out. Perhaps contemptuous of this delay in my killing, I'd want to push my prey away as I pulled out the sword. The still dying man might flail a bit, not realizing that he was already as good as dead, while I was already starting to look around for my next foe.

It's not much of a story, but by extending the time of my picture to include before, during, and after, it builds what could be a simple drawing into a full-fledged illustration. It also gives me a few visual "hooks":

-pushing the victim away while pulling the sword out
-a contemptuous look on the warrior's face as he starts to look elsewhere (maybe over the victim's shoulder
-the victim flailing while dying

You need some sort of "hook" in each picture you do. It might be a striking visual, like a clever layout or wild juxtaposition. It might be a fun bit of storytelling. It might even be a particularly pretty rendering of some central object in the picture. But something needs to stand out in each piece, or you'll be reduced to just painting some guy standing there. Don't let this happen!

Think of it this way: an illustrator is in the entertainment business. Remember to entertain your audience!

Sketch development
With these ideas in place, I try some actual drawings. Try to work small - a "thumbnail sketch" it's called - to save time. You can do several tiny sketches in the amount of time it would take you to do one big one, and it's easier to see the overall composition at a small size, too.

Photo Session
Some artists skip this step, and don't miss it at all. Some should do it and don't. Others rely so much on photographs that the life is sucked screaming from their pictures. As for myself, I take reference photos about half the time. Whether or not to take them depends on a combination of things: the level of realistic lighting and detail you wish to reach, your own ability to "fake" reality, personal style, and the requirements of the scene you've designed.

For me, the most important part of reference photography is getting interesting lighting effects. Also important are details like facial wrinkles, drapery, etc. Finally, using your photograph as a model for getting your figures just right is very useful.

Just remember two things about photographic reference, whether it's your own or found: First, the camera WILL distort the perspective, so look out for places where it does that (mostly around the edges). Second, the camera WILL exaggerate contrasts, so watch out for that too! Also, don't forget that YOU are allowed to exaggerate and distort things that you feel need more or less emphasis.

Once you make the decision to take photos, you need to round up a model or two. I have seldom used professional models, though high-end book covers truly call for them. Usually, I can get a friend or family member to come over and do the job for me - I try to make it quick and painless for them, and it's usually a fun time. This is important if you use volunteers; you want them to come back and do it again some time!

I just use my bedroom. Sometimes I'll go to the trouble of tacking up sheets to get a good smooth background, but this time I didn't bother. You should have some good bright lights that you can adjust to the position you need, and the ability to block off most of the outside light so your lighting is controlled. Also, a digital camera is a must - you don't want the delay or cost of getting prints every time you want some reference.

Here are the photographs I took for this picture. My biggest mistake was forgetting to ask my model to tuck in his shirt. The BEST part of the whole thing was that fantastic expression he gave the stabber… I knew I'd want to capture that in the final painting!

Final Drawing
This is the most straightforward part… just use your model photos and any other reference material, as well as your rough sketch, an draw your final picture.

It's vital to work out all the problems you can think of at this point - anatomy, costume, lighting, background - make sure it's all drawn in to the point of being a good guide for your final painting. Surprises in the rendering phase can slow you down or even stop you completely. This process is all about building one step on another, so take the time to make your drawing into the solid foundation you'll need later.

Scanning and file creation
OK, if you've done your sketch on the computer, good for you! Personally, I haven't gotten the hang of that yet, so I do my sketches on paper and scan them in. After scanning (in Grayscale mode), I use Levels in PhotoShop to darken the darks and get rid of the worst of the smudges and light construction lines.

Next, the picture is cropped to the correct aspect ratio that you'll need, then resize to the pixel size you want to work at. You'll usually want to work at the same size you'll be delivering in, or larger. Sometimes, however, if a client needs a very high-resolution piece, you may want to work at half-size at first, then size it up towards the end when you get to the final details. This can save a lot of time in some situations.

Now, change your file to RGB color, and you're ready to begin. What? Didn't the job spec call for a CMYK delivery? Well, yes, but it's always best to work in RGB - there are more filters available, and the color blending is easier in RGB. As long as you are careful to stay away from colors that don't reproduce well in CMYK, you'll be fine.

Background
I almost always start with a background first - at least the far background "haze" of color that will be the bed for the whole picture. There are two important reasons for this.
1. By putting in the background first you won't have to paint around the foreground elements later, which is a drag will make your background look stiff.
2. By having all the background and environmental colors in place, you achieve a more unified color effect with the foreground characters and their surroundings.

One thing you'll need to learn is that often you'll make some nice little bit of business in the background (a bush or tree or cloud or something) that will get covered later by a foreground element. Try not to be too sentimental about these things, and certainly don't move your characters around to save a piece of background. You'll be able to paint a nice cloud again, after all!

Finished!
Now I make a copy of the finished picture.You should save the layered work-file in case the client needs you to make changes later. Flatten this copy, and delete any extra things like alpha-channels and Paths. This is just a courtesy to the client, to make the file smaller.

Use Image>mode to CMYK color. If you were careful about staying in a CMYK-friendly range, it should look almost exactly the same. Be sure to change to CMYK only AFTER you've flattened - you may get very different results otherwise! If you worked larger than the final delivery size, you might want to shrink it now. You may want to leave it larger - some clients don't mind if you send in a larger file, but check first!

See you all next tutorials :)

What kinds of art schools are there?

2005-12-04T19:06:00.000+08:00

What kinds of art schools are there?

There are different types of art schools, each with varying degrees of quality, time requirements, degree options, and price ranges. We will discuss the various types and give you an idea of what degree options are available.

Colleges and Universities:
Many state and private colleges and universities offer art degrees. While these schools offer the most in terms of community diversity, subject variety and extra-curricular activities, it is important to research the quality of their art department and art instructors. The quality level of the art departments at various schools varies widely. Colleges and universities also allow you to minor in other subjects, such as business administration, communications, or marketing, which are great additions to an art degree.

Art Degree options:
Undergraduate (ie, Bachelor of Arts Degree, Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree)
Graduate (ie, Master of Arts Degree, Master of Fine Arts Degree)

4-Year Art-Focused Schools:
These are what most people associate with art school. Art-focused schools are very competitive and can be difficult to get accepted to. But, for the most part, the level of instruction at these schools is among the best you can get. Of course the price tag is at a matching level.

Art Degree options:
Undergraduate (ie, Bachelor of Arts Degree, Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree)
Graduate (ie, Master of Arts Degree, Master of Fine Arts Degree)
Vocational Schools and Technical Schools
Vo-Tech schools generally offer very specialized courses and education paths, and run from 1 to 2 years. Again, the range of quality between schools can be dramatic, so be sure to do lots of research into both the curriculum and instructor staff. Depending on the course, Vocational Schools and Technical Schools can also be very expensive.

Art Degree options:
Associate of Arts Degree
Associate of Science Degree
*Some may offer Bachelor and Master Degrees
Community Colleges
Community colleges are by far the most inexpensive option, and can be a great option for young (or young-at-heart) students. Community colleges offer basic-level or foundation art courses that every student will need. Graduating from a community college guarantees acceptance at most state colleges.

Art Degree options:
Associate of Arts Degree
Associate of Science Degree
Art Academies and Art Workshops

Art Academies usually offer a wide variety of different hands-on drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, fine crafts and home decorating classes and workshops; for the experienced and novice artist alike. Usually no previous art experience is necessary. Taught by local, professional artists, art academies and workshops can provide you with a creative learning experience at a smaller price and shorter time commitment. Classes will vary in length from a 1 day workshops to months-long classes. Art Degree options:
Certificate of completion, or nothing

More sex please, we're artists

2005-12-04T15:53:00.000+08:00

More sex please, we're artists

People have historically linked the bohemian life of artists with promiscuity and a new British study says there's no coincidence about it.

Psychology researchers at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and at Open University found that professional artists and poets have more sexual partners than "those who do not indulge in these creative activities."

However, researchers also found that artists and poets tend to suffer from high rates of depression.

The findings were published Tuesday in the academic journal The Proceedings of the Royal Society.

For the study, Daniel Nettle, a psychologist at Newcastle University's School of Biology, and his colleague Helen Clegg questioned 425 British men and women, including a selection of visual artists, poets and schizophrenic patients, about their creative pursuits, sexual history and mental health.

They found that professional artists and poets had between four and 10 sexual partners, while non-creative types had an average of three. "We found it in both the men and women, which was quite a surprise to us," Nettle, the lead author of the study, told Reuters.

Researchers also found that a subject's average number of sexual partners "rose in line with an increase in the amount of creative activity a person took part in."

"Creative people are often considered to be very attractive and get lots of attention as a result. They tend to be charismatic and produce art and poetry that grabs people's interest," Nettle said in a statement.

"It could also be that very creative types lead a bohemian lifestyle and tend to act on more sexual impulses and opportunities, often purely for experience's sake, than the average person."

Furthermore, "this sexual behaviour is tolerated in creative people," Nettle added. "Partners, even long-term ones, are less likely to expect loyalty and fidelity from them."

Though a reputation for active sex lives has long been associated with some of the world's most famous artists – including painters Pablo Picasso and Amedeo Modigliani or poets Lord Byron and Dylan Thomas – the researchers believe this to be the first time that the link has been proven by research.

Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial 2005

2005-12-03T00:00:00.000+08:00

Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial 2005

My friend invited me to attend an event yesterday, Darn this event was in Japan :( wish I was there.

The Tokyo International Mini-Print Triennial of 2005 will mark the 4th exhibition of the series. This open competition, to which artists can submit entries by mail, aims to gather together and show the latest contemporary prints from around the world, and to collect scholarly data on the materials, techniques, and expressions of printmaking. To celebrate the 70th anniversary of its foundation, Tama Art University will hold the 4th triennial as invitational competition for 918 selected artists from all the entrants of the past 3 triennials and other artists recommended by the jury. The exhibition will show around 3,700 prints from 81 countries/regions, including prize winner's works from the past triennials.

Schedule
From 2005-11-02 To 2006-01-22

Website
http://www.tamabi.ac.jp/timpt/info.htm

Fee
Depends on each event.

Venue Hours
From 10:00 To 18:00Closed on tuesdays
Note:On a Public Holiday Tuesday, the museum is open but closed on the following Wednesday.

Maps
Yahoo (Japanese)
Mobile Map (Japanese)

Access
5 minutes walk from Tama Center station on Keio Sagamihara line, Odakyu Tama line and Tama Monorail.

Address
1-33-1 Ochiai, Tama-shi, Tokyo 206-0033
Phone: 042-357-1251
Fax: 042-357-1252

2005-12-01T22:17:00.000+08:00

Unleash the Artist Within!

Whether you're just getting started in 3D, or are an avid 3D artist and enthusiast, DAZStudio will allow you to express yourself in 3D like never before. Imagine being able to easily create your own convincing 3d artwork. You don't need to take any special courses or read any complicated books. Perhaps you have a scene in your mind that you'd like to create. Choose your 3D subjects and their virtual environment, and then let DAZStudio fill in the rest for you. Or, perhaps you've found an interesting 3D character that you enjoy and would like to build a scene around it. Either way, DAZStudio can be the means to bring everything together into a stunning representation of your limitless imagination.

DAZStudio is a free software application that allows you to easily create beautiful digital art. You can use this software to load in people, animals, vehicles, buildings, props, and accessories to create digital scenes. DAZStudio includes two pre-configured scenes ready for you to Load & Render within DAZStudio. Just double-click on the scene thumbnails inside of DAZStudio, and everything will come on screen posed, lit, and ready for you to create a stunning digital image. Click here to view a sample scene render from DAZStudio using the included content.

for more information visit DAZStudio

2005-11-30T05:04:00.000+08:00

Talent... What do you have?

I am sure you have heard the lament before; "artwork made by using a computer requires less talent than artwork made by traditional means".

Most of you probably already know the inherent falseness of this statement but should you find yourself in need of an analogy, I offer the following:

Talent is not merely resigned to technique, seductive as it may be.
I would say that seeing any of the Abstract Expressionist works done by Jackson Pollock made using not paint and canvas but instead, light and silver halide is very talented. This is not to say photography of existing paintings but rather abstract expressionist work done using a camera. To most people familiar with both Pollock's work and photography in general, this is would be an obvious feat of some skill. But there are reason we use the medium we do. Superficially it can be said that cameras are good at making photographs and pencils are good at making pencil drawings. What we should say is, people are the ones who are actually good at making these things, the camera or the pencil are just tools available to the artist. All that can be successfully argued is that there are different techniques. There are those who say it takes more talent to render a pencil drawing, presumable of the same scene as it does to render that scene with a camera. I ask, does writing a novel by hand using a pen require more talent than writing a novel using a computer keyboard or is it really just more fascinating to wonder why someone, with modern tools available would choose to spend more time using traditional means to do something the traditional way?

Really, all that you can say definitively is that it comes down to a matter of choice, and available resources. While it is true that not everyone has access to a computer and there are even those who find that using a pen to write is, for them, more efficient, this in no way equates causally, to an inconsistency of the content. Differences result from the intent of the novelist making the work, and therein lies the real estimation of talent. Ultimately, regardless of the methods and mechanics of writing, the goal is to read the novel. How it was made and how it will be reprinted or distributed are incidental compared to the content that it contains. The message that it sends, the story that it tells, these are the actual factors we are interested in dedicating time to considering. There are novels written in many different languages, many unintelligible to ourselves because we have never had the benefit of learning those particular languages. Should we dismiss these works in tongues foreign to us simply because we do not know the letterforms of the languages in which they were originally written? And, is it wiser to base our estimation of the talent of the author upon what language the novel is written in or upon the meaning of content?

2005-11-24T19:27:00.000+08:00

Professional Step-by-step Guide To Web Designing.

In this article, we are going to learn professional steps in web designing which is a series of 4 articles. Professional steps of web designing articles explains the practical techniques involved in understanding the client requirements, designing a layout in Adobe Photoshop*, Optimizing, slicing and HTML Conversion of the layout in Adobe ImageReady* and developing HTML Pages, making the website compatible in 800 X 600 pixels, 1024 X 768 pixels resolution compatible through Macromedia Dreamweaver*.
The current article explains the expectations of a client in the web design industry, the steps to undertsand and implement the client requirement.

Client's Requirement
" Website should look and feel different " " The website must project a business image " " Corporate colors should be used prominently " " Launch is in a week. Seven days flat " " Above all, it should download fast " These are the requirements a client usually expects before placing an order.

Well friends . . . speed kills . . . but in today's competitive web-design scenario, speed and creative concepts are the only vehicles that can help one race ahead of others. Having an innovative layout ready - hot and quick - is what will make a winner in this demanding industry.
So, first study your client. A smart way of doing this would be to summarize his expectations into a 'mission statement' or goal to challenge your creative stamina.
Why A Step-wise Approach?
Come to think of it, it's really simple designing a website. Just open Macromedia Dreamweaver*, MS FrontPage* or MS Word* select your stuff and save as HTML thus the Web Page is ready!
By using web authoring tools like Macromedia Dreamweaver* or saving HTML from MS Word*, anybody can create a 'quickie' web-site, but what about the Design Part ?...the Aesthetics ?
It is here that the question for a step-wise approach to professional web designing arises. There must be some path for a web-designer to follow, which gives his client the best-designed website in the shortest possible time.

Step-wise approach facilitates:
Designing a website, that keeps in mind all the basic elements like the client's corporate colors, logos & symbols, product gallery, etc.
Optimization of graphic images so as to reduce the size of a page and thus enable it to download fast.
Converting a graphically designed page to web format (HTML), so it can be uploaded on the Internet.

What Are these Steps?
Design the Home Page and Inside Pages, using Photo Editing software like Corel Draw*, Adobe Photoshop*, Macromedia Firework*, Corel Photopaint* etc.

Optimize & Slice the pages using software like Adobe Image Ready* or Macromedia Fireworks*.
Save as HTML through the Photo Editing software and provide links using web-authoring tools like Microsoft Frontpage*, Macromedia Dreamweaver*.

Internet became popular very fast, especially after invention of browsers, which made it possible to view pictures along with text information. That made many users get connected to Internet.

The point here is graphics plays very important role in web design. Pictures or images if presented in the right way can communicate and drive the message better than words. If a web page is created using HTML without graphics then the power of the Internet is under- utilized.
An Image cannot be created using HTML and thus comes the need for an appropriate Photo

Editing Software.
The first step is to design a home page using a good Photo Editing software.
A Photo Editing software gives the flexibility of placing an image, and creating a collage of different images, changing color combinations, adding effects to make the site look attractive.

Points To Remember While Designing A Home Page

I. Page Size

In Photo Editing software, the size of the page should be 779 x 434 pixels.
There are three commonly used monitor resolutions 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768. In web designing, designers generally prefer 800 x 600 resolution.

Why 779 x 434 pixels ?
In professional web designing, scroll bars should not be visible on the home page specially horizontal scroll bar. Home page should fit the screen.
In a browser the upper area is occupied by the default buttons, address bar & bottom area is occupied by Windows task bar, hence the actual area which web designers get to display the Home page is 779 x 434 pixels.

II. Relevant Colors

Be very careful in choosing colors. for, e.g. green color cannot be used for a blood bank site & red color for garden - related products.

Before designing a website, it is recommended to study and understand the client's product & services.

For most of corporate web sites, white color background looks great. If the client's company has defined guidelines of corporate colors, then it is always advisable to use their corporate color.

III. Main products & services should be reflected on the home page :

A visitor who visits your client's web site to get information related to your client's product & services must see it at first instance on the Home Page.

Otherwise, the visitor will probably press stop & back button and leave the site which would be a great loss for your client. REMEMBER .. Home page is the client's first impression on the mind of the visitors.

If it generates interest, the visitor will stick around and surf further and if not, he will move out without getting any information.

In case the client deals in a large number of products and services then it may not always be possible to display them on the Home page. In such situation, a collage of the products and services can be displayed on the homepage. The individual photos can be displayed on the respective inside pages.

With the help of different layouting techniques, a designer can display the product very well. It is possible to display a wide variety of products in an attractive, systematic and well -charted outway.

Optimize & Dice Using Software

In a Photo-editing software the homepage occupies a lot of space and stores the file in its native format, which is not web-compatible.

The homepage must be saved in web formats like, .GIF or .JPEG. One simple way is to save the full layout in a single image as .GIF, this will make image web-compatible, but when it loads - it will load from top to bottom slowly depending upon the modem speed. In such case, a visitor might not wait & he will turn back as he fails to see anything for few seconds.

To avoid this the home page should be sliced into small images & then save it as .GIF or .JPEG depending on the image color requirement. This enables the page to download in parts and the visitor can view the layout being downloaded in parts and will wait for the full page to load.

Photo Editing softwares has in-built 'optimize & save as HTML' facility. Optimization will reduce the home page size between 50 KB - 80 KB, which enables fast downloading of the page on an ordinary telephone line connection.

Web design softwares :
There are different Photo Editing softwares available. The most popular one is Adobe Photoshop*, Adobe ImageReady*. Others are Macromedia Fireworks*, Corel Photo Paint,* and Jasc's Paintshop Pro*.

Photo Editing software which gives the facility to Design, Optimize, Save image as .GIF or .JPEG and Save the layout as HTML can be used for designing.

For creating and editing HTML pages Macromedia Dreamweaver* is a very user friendly software.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Phtoshop* is the best photo editing software used globally by web designers.
Macromedia Fireworks*, Corel Photopaint*, Jasc's Paintshop Pro* any of these software can be used for designing and they have their own advantages & disadvantages.

Adobe ImageReady*

Adobe ImageReady* is part of Adobe PhotoShop* and very useful to dice & optimize a layout to make it lighter in size & convert graphic work into HTML format for the web.

Macromedia Dreamweaver *

Optimize & Dice Using Software
In a Photo-editing software the homepage occupies a lot of space and stores the file in its native format, which is not web-compatible.
The homepage must be saved in web formats like, .GIF or .JPEG. One simple way is to save the full layout in a single image as .GIF, this will make image web-compatible, but when it loads - it will load from top to bottom slowly depending upon the modem speed. In such case, a visitor might not wait & he will turn back as he fails to see anything for few seconds.
To avoid this the home page should be sliced into small images & then save it as .GIF or .JPEG depending on the image color requirement. This enables the page to download in parts and the visitor can view the layout being downloaded in parts and will wait for the full page to load.
Photo Editing softwares has in-built 'optimize & save as HTML' facility. Optimization will reduce the home page size between 50 KB - 80 KB, which enables fast downloading of the page on an ordinary telephone line connection.
Web design softwares :
There are different Photo Editing softwares available. The most popular one is Adobe Photoshop*, Adobe ImageReady*. Others are Macromedia Fireworks*, Corel Photo Paint,* and Jasc's Paintshop Pro*.
Photo Editing software which gives the facility to Design, Optimize, Save image as .GIF or .JPEG and Save the layout as HTML can be used for designing.
For creating and editing HTML pages Macromedia Dreamweaver* is a very user friendly software.
Adobe Photoshop*

Adobe Phtoshop* is the best photo editing software used globally by web designers.
Macromedia Fireworks*, Corel Photopaint*, Jasc's Paintshop Pro* any of these software can be used for designing and they have their own advantages & disadvantages.
Adobe ImageReady*
Adobe ImageReady* is part of Adobe PhotoShop* and very useful to dice & optimize a layout to make it lighter in size & convert graphic work into HTML format for the web.
Macromedia Dreamweaver *
After conversion of the layout into HTML, web authoring software like Macromedia Dreamweaver* is required to insert text content and for providing links to other pages on the site.
Microsoft FrontPage* can also be used instead of Maromedia Dreamweaver* as it serves the same purpose.

2005-11-24T19:23:00.000+08:00

Digital Manipulation

Navigating the Slippery Slope of Digital Manipulation With Eyes Wide Shut

The moment a photojournalist releases the shutter a sacred threshold is crossed. The instant after the shutter blinks open and closes, whether it is for a thousandth-of-a-second to freeze the impact of a baseball bat on a ball, or several hours to soak up the faint glow of a passing comet, the door also shuts for a photojournalist to manipulate that captured representation of reality. Any technical choices made before that moment - whether a choice of cameras, light, lenses, filters, exposure settings, or simply where to stand - are generally accepted as tools for achieving the photographer’s vision. Any digital post-processing beyond the accepted darkroom techniques of yore, such as burning or dodging, are usually considered a prohibited manipulation of that sacrosanct moment of exposure.

2005-11-19T06:23:00.000+08:00

King Kong is Back

The latest installment on the ongoing kongisking.net set diaries, a must-view, is harrowing, showing what a marathon these musicians go through at the end of post-production.

King Kong is back. In 2005, writer/director Peter Jackson, the man responsible for "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy, will direct a new, large-scale remake featuring a monstrous computer generated ape to be created by Jackson's special effects company, WETA Digital.

When Peter Jackson replaced LOTR composer Howard Shore (over the usual creative differences, but we still don't know why) it meant that new composer James Newton Howard ("Batman Begins," "The Sixth Sense") had to do in five weeks what would ordinarily take five months. The latest installment on the ongoing kongisking.net set diaries, a must-view, is harrowing, showing what a marathon these musicians go through at the end of post-production. Music is always the last thing added to a movie. And this one is three hours long. The L.A. press corps gets to see the dripping wet print of the movie at one of three screenings on December 5.

This is a must see movie, specialy king kong. Peter Jackson is a great director, he made LOTR a splash. I bet you all that KONG will be astonishing, specially this remake.

see you at the Kong movie, rrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrr!!!

2005-11-15T09:49:00.000+08:00

Pieces Fall into Place for Intel-Apple
Source: eWeek

Apple Computer Inc.’s plan to move to Intel Corp.’s processors appears to be coming together.
New Intel platforms are just around the corner, while Apple’s Mac OS X for Intel processor machines has been brought up to speed, according to developers.

Apple has even moved to trademark Rosetta, the company’s software solution for running existing PowerPC-based applications on Intel-based Macs, according to an application filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Thus, with all of the components it needs to offer the machines apparently at its fingertips, the Cupertino, Calif. company should be on track to begin offering its first Intel-based systems as soon as early 2006.

The company said last June that it would begin the transition away from its current PowerPC processors to Intel’s x86 chips by June 2006 and complete it by June 2007.

Many took the statement to mean it would begin moving over its consumer products and notebooks first, followed later by its Power Mac desktop line for professionals.

HHHHhhhhhhmmmmmm cant wait to have one :)

2005-11-15T09:17:00.000+08:00

Ever wonder how Adobe System Inc. Office look likes?

Last night I had the same question running on my head. How does Adobe System Inc. Office look likes? Then I search the internet about it, and atlast I found out here it is...

A Visit to Adobe

When you visit Adobe Systems, Inc. visitors are allowed to park in the underground parking lots. The image on the left is the main door from the garage to the lobby. If you get off on the first floor, you’ll be on the ground floor with the main entry doors. As is fitting for a company built largely upon type, type is a reoccuring theme in the decor.

The shot above is looking North at the 345 Park Avenue address. On the left is the West Tower and on the right is the East Tower. Just barely visible between the two towers is the newest 3rd tower called the Almaden Tower–where the “suits” (executives) work.

First time visitors might be surprised to learn that the Adobe Towers are in a direct line with the runways of San Jose airport. On most days, planes fly directly overhead–and I mean DIRECTLY OVERHEAD– on their way to land.

Back inside and up the staircase (or elevator) you’ll find the main second floor reception.

Working in that kind of office is really neat. I wish I have that kind of office. :)

2005-11-11T13:05:00.000+08:00

Intuos3 6x11

Includes: Intuos3 Grip Pen, Five-button Mouse Bundled with: Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2, nik Color Efex™ Pro 2 IE from nik multimedia® & Wacom Brushes 2.0 System requirements:PC or Macintosh computer running Windows 98SE, 2000, Me, XP or Mac OS 10.2.6 & higher with powered USB port, CD-ROM drive & color monitor. nik Color Efex Pro 2 IE requires Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 (included) or Photoshop 7 & higher. Corel Painter Essentials 2 requires Windows 2000, XP, or Mac OS 10.2 & higher.

Other info on this baby? Just click here

I love this baby, the bigger the better, I hope the bugget is not that high.

2005-11-11T12:41:00.000+08:00

10k in Art Scholarships from Massive Black - competition

The 2d competition is as simple as this. If you are competing, the info is below. The 3d contest info can also be sought in the ConceptArt.org Forums.
2D competitors- Design the biggest toughest, most BAD-ASS boss monster ever to be seen in a video game or movie. The subject matter is up to you. Who is this boss? Who is this final enemy? Who is this adversary? That is what we want to see!
1. two pages of thumbnail sketches. Black and white.2. one polished black and white front view design. 3. one page action/movement studies/sketches. Black and white.4. Black and white orthographs- (front, side, back)5. Full color image of boss with background environment.

The time has come to get started on the scholarship Thunderdome competition. Final Images are due December 15th. In this thread you wil find the info for the 2d competition only. We will be announcing the 3d contest info shortly.
The 2d competition is as simple as this. If you are competing, the info is below.
2D competitors- Design the biggest toughest, most BAD-ASS boss monster ever to be seen in a video game or movie. The subject matter is up to you. Who is this boss? Who is this final enemy? Who is this adversary? That is what we want to see!
1. two pages of thumbnail sketches. Black and white.2. one polished black and white front view design. 3. one page action/movement studies/sketches. Black and white.4. Black and white orthographs- (front, side, back)5. Full color image of boss with background environment.
For those of you doing 2d, this is exactly the kind of thing your portfolio will need in order to secure a job as a concept artist. You need to not just be able to paint and illustrate, but also think, show process work, show production art (ortho's) and even show your thumbnail phase. Your goal is to create the badass boss monster/enemy for a film or game. Our goal is to be sure you have what you need in your portfolio to secure a job after school. Are you ready? we will find out soon!
Points will be tallied in these categories:
1-media handling-technique2-idea development-this is the big one...50 percent of the points awarded will come from this category.3.- presentation

DO NOT POST YOUR IMAGES UNTIL DECEMBER 15th's DEADLINE!!!!!
watch this thread for more info.....

2005-11-05T04:38:00.000+08:00

4x6 is pleased to present its release for November called...

Lust

To have an intense or obsessive desire, especially one that is sexual.An overwhelming desire or craving: a lust for power.Intense eagerness or enthusiasm: a lust for life.

4x6 is a global group of photographers that originated on deviantArt from a wide range of backgrounds who share theaim of creating innovative, interesting, and sometimes beautiful, images - and learning from each other.

You will not find 4x6 snapshots, images that would normally be classified as wildlife, landscapes, portraits, or images of record. Nor will you find images that have been manipulated beyond the equivalent of normal darkroom processing. The core activity is to take pictures on the basis of a given "theme". These are first shared with other members, who provide constructive criticism, before the complete set of images is released for public view.

To view other pictures done by 4x6 just go to http://fourbysix.com/

2005-11-03T21:42:00.000+08:00

Carrara 5

Carrara 5 offers a wealth of tools for all types of users – from 3D animators, modelers and industrial designers to illustrators and creative professionals, from motion media aficionados and still photographers to fledgling 3D enthusiasts. The friendly and approachable interface will help you get started quickly, and the rich feature set will keep you satisfied throughout your projects.