Latest Posts in Creative Notes

Maximize your iMovie editing space

Editing video is a task ideally suited to large monitors and lots of screen real estate. You want to see your video large, but still have plenty of room to view the project’s clips. Unfortunately, most of us don’t own a 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display.

The designers of iMovie were sympathetic, however, and included several options for maximizing the editing environment for any screen size. Whether you want to focus on your project instead of your video library, or just want to recover some elbow room while editing, the following techniques will help.

1. Preset layouts. The standard iMovie ’09 layout balances the main elements of the interface: the Project Editor, the Viewer, and the Event Library. But when you’re looking for clips, you may want to use more of the window to view your Event Library. Choose Window -> Viewer -> Small (or press Command-8) to make the Viewer (and the Project Editor) smaller and increase the size of the Event Library and Event Browser.

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Pro Applications Update tackles Final Cut Studio

Apple rolled out minor updates for the components of the latest version of its Final Cut Studio video-production suite on Thursday, with all five updates included in a single bundle.

Pro Applications Update 2009-01 includes Final Cut Pro 7.0.1, Motion 4.0.1, Soundtrack Pro 3.0.1, Color 1.5.1, and Compressor 3.5.1. The 243MB download is available from Apple’s Support Website as well as through Software Update.

There’s little detail to be had about what’s contained in Pro Applications Update 2009-01. Release notes say that the update addresses general compatibility issues, while improving overall stability, and addressing a number of other minor issues.

Release notes for the individual updates contain more detail. Final Cut Pro 7.0.1 fixes an issue where the video-editing app could quit when using the AJA Io HD and playing mixed format sequences. The update also fixes an issue where a clip would run backward for a short time when using the new Change Speed dialog to add both Curve from Start and Curve to End speed ramps on the same clip with the setting for Ripple Sequence unchecked. Other Final Cut Pro fixes include one where a Desktop Cinema Display Preview would tear the bottom of an image when using a Cinema Display with a MacBook Pro, another involving the Close Gap command, and color shifts for video material at 2048x1080 and 2048x1556 frame sizes. The update adds an .aif extension to audio files created using the Voice Over Tool

The Motion 4.0.1 update increases quality and precision when rendering a scene with an animated focal point, improves rending performance for certain flattened text objects, and improves third-party FXPlug support. The update also fixes an issue which caused Compressor jobs to not complete when they were tasked with processing older Motion projects.

Speaking of Compressor, the release notes for the 3.5.1 update note that the release fixes the ability to inspect surround sound jobs and addresses a transcoding issue with automatic resizing for videos recorded on the iPhone 3GS and iPod nano. Compressor 3.5.1 also fixes issues involving transcodes between Apple ProRes codecs and the redrawing of file names in the Inspector when replacing audio files.

The release notes for Soundtrack Pro 3.0.1 are pretty thin—all the update appears to correct is an issue with the Get Info window for Soundtrack Pro. Color 1.5.1, meanwhile, fixes issues involving live footage showing a luminance mismatch, the difference in aspect ratio between a clip aspect ration and a frame being display as gray instead of black, and Color FX nodes created in the Color FX Room not lading when a project was saved and re-opened.

The updates affect the 2009 version of Final Cut Studio. Apple released the updated video editing and production suite in July

Updated at 5:45 p.m. PT to include more detailed release notes.

Scary fonts

Halloween (October 31) is sometimes accompanied by feelings of fear and dread, but it also can inspire celebration and remembrance.

You can witness these attitudes in the world of fonts, from spooky and threatening to wistful and organic. In modern times, Halloween is generally considered to be a children's holiday, and because of that, some fonts feature childlike drawings of smiling jack o'lanterns and black cats. Others expand on the title fonts used in spooky books and horror films.

Although Halloween is a relatively short season (if a single day can represent a season, which judging by the commercial market, it definitely can), there are a remarkably large number of fonts dedicated to it. Perhaps that's because so many people celebrate it or because the graphic theme is so compelling and well-defined. Or maybe it's simply that designing Halloween fonts is great fun. Whatever the reason, you'll find great Halloween fonts from almost every vendor, and a huge number of free fonts on the Internet. (A lot of those free Internet fonts are truly awful, so you'll need to pick and choose.) The following can be used to decorate posters, cards, invitations, Web sites, or any message you want to send.

Halloween font packs

Halloween font packs are available from several vendors. I suggest visiting their Web sites and searching for keywords like "Halloween" or "spooky." For example, Ascender has a Halloween Font Pack for $10:

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Sharing home movies with iWeb

With cameras in the iPod nano and new export options in Snow Leopard’s QuickTime Player, creating and sharing movies with your Mac has never been easier. But the more movies you make, the harder it can be to show them all to friends and family.

The My Albums templates in iWeb aren’t just for pictures––they can hold videos, too. Here’s how to use them to make life easier for you and your audience by organizing your movies in one convenient place online.

1. Share the movies on your Mac. Select File -> New Page to choose a My Albums template for your site from any iWeb theme. Next, select View -> Show Media, and click the Movies button in the Media Browser to see your iMovie projects, iTunes videos, and more.

Drag the files you want to share onto your album’s main page. Notice that iWeb automatically creates a page for each movie, and you can drag the previews to arrange in any order you like. iWeb imports the movie with a cryptic naming convention, but you can change that name in the sidebar at the left of iWeb’s window. However, you must manually change the name on the individual page as well.

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Cartoon you: Photoshop gradients for monotone or duotone effects

Few would deny the classic beauty of a grayscale (black and white) photo. Many ordinary pictures can be rendered more elegant simply by removing their colors, but none more so than portraits. Amidst the kaleidoscope of colors on social media sites, forums, and blogs, a grayscale avatar can stand out as unique and memorable. Even more distinctive is an image in which a single color is used in place of black, or perhaps even a second color is used to replace white.

An image consisting of one color is called a monotone. White isn’t a color, but rather the absence of color—just like paper showing through a printed image indicates the absence of ink. Thus, in a grayscale or black and white photo, black is the only color, and that makes it a monotone. Adding a second color—either by replacing white or in addition to the first color—creates a duotone; third and fourth colors create tritone or quadtone images respectively.

Here’s how to use Photoshop CS4 to create monotones and duotones for your avatar portrait. The following instructions are completely non-destructive and preserve your original image. This technique is intended for users who are comfortable working with layers and creating or editing gradients.

1. With your color avatar image open in Photoshop CS4, check the Layers and Adjustments panels in the Windows menu to display the tools you need.

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[This is the sixth of a series of articles on how to find, build, and create avatars for use on social networking Web sites and chat clients.]

Design basics: The alignment analysis

Good design is within everyone’s reach. Even though you may never have attended an art class, you can still create layouts that are compelling and easy to read. If you can memorize four easy principles, you’ve got what it takes to create an interesting and pleasing poster, brochure, party invite, business card, or any other composition. Last time we talked about proximity and the importance of using space to group related items together within a layout. In this second part of the Design Basics series, we’ll look at another design rule: alignment.

Alignment—Line it up

Alignment gives readers a hard edge for their eyes to follow when scanning or reading a piece. This edge forms an invisible line that connects items on a page. Robin Williams (author of the Non-Designers Design Book, Peachpit Press) wisely notes that the stronger the alignment, the stronger, cleaner, and more dramatic your layout will be.

The basic alignments are left, center, and right; but which one do you use when? For large blocks of text, use left alignment because it’s the easiest to read (think newspapers, books, and magazines). Right alignment is more difficult to read so use it on smaller chunks of text. Centered alignment conveys a feeling of formality and elegance, so reserve it for graduation announcements and wedding invitations.

Another alignment pitfall to avoid is wrapping text around an irregularly shaped object—very few designers can pull this off. Because the text edges become jagged and erratic, the piece becomes difficult to read, as shown below.

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Cartoon you: Quick avatars with Photoshop filters and effects

Used as an avatar for forums and social media, a photograph helps people associate a face with your posts, status updates, and conversations. Of course, like anywhere else you use a photo, you want to put your best face forward. If you’re lucky enough to have a professional photographer ready to snap some great shots of you, that’s probably all you’ll need. If not, Photoshop includes numerous filters and effects that, with only a few minutes of work, can turn a nondescript photograph into a stylish and memorable avatar. The two techniques below—which I'm calling Cartoonish and Color Halftone—are sure to give your photos some kick.

All the methods discussed here are inherently nondestructive, if you make sure to duplicate your original Photoshop layer, and then work only in that layer, leaving the original as is.

Cartoonish

1. Duplicate the layer and then Choose Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur and apply a Gaussian Blur with a setting of 9. Don’t worry: your image will look very blurry.

2. From the Edit menu, immediately select Fade Gaussian Blur. Leave the Opacity at 100 percent, but change the Mode to Darken. Voila! Instant cartoon.

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[This is the fifth of a series of articles on how to find, build, and create avatars for use on social networking Web sites and chat clients. Stay tuned for more tips on how to create a unique online image.]

Xinet unveils updated asset management tools

Xinet has released WebNative Suite 16.0, a new version of its online digital asset management tool. It features a streamlined, Web-based graphical interface, improved tools for administrators, and new features to improve the management of assets and to enhance efficiency. The main new feature, Annotations, speeds the approval process with a method by which authorized local or remote users can add visual comments to documents during the review process.

In addition, the company has released Video 3.0 for WebNative Suite, which, among a slate of improvements, introduces Video Reel Generator, a plug-in that lets users create new reels from different video and document segments.

The WebNative Suite release addresses many feature requests Xinet have received from its customers, according to Xinet CEO Scott Seebass. “The sleek GUI which provides tighter integration of our products, coupled with increased features in the suite such as Annotations, which speeds the review and approval process, gives our customers an unparalleled level of functionality and control over their assets," he said.

The new version of WebNative is an integrated product made up of features that had been previously available in other Xinet products: FullPress, a file server and production engine; WebNative, a server-based digital asset management system; WebNative Venture, an SQL database; and WebNative Portal, a secure multi-server asset management system. The new interface consolidates control of the WebNative server in one place. Accessible via a Web browser, it is designed to provide greater consistency of controls and presentation, especially for sites with many administrators and multiple locations.

Video component

Video 3.0 for WebNative Suite, a companion app, is designed to improve the process by which users manage and incorporate video files with their other assets.

With Video 3.0, users get a secure environment from which to access browser-based video files to search, view, annotate, approve, distribute, and create video reels. The Video product generates key frames by automatically detecting significant scene changes in the video. Users can add comments to key frames with the Annotations feature, streamlining the approval process. The Video product can also create a series of low-resolution versions of high-resolution videos and store them in the WebNative Suite database to be streamed from any Web-enabled device.

The new Video Reel Generator plug-in allows users to create new videos by repurposing segments of existing videos, PDFs, QuarkXPress, or Adobe documents and images. Via a Web browser, users can add files to a WebNative Suite shopping basket in order to build a storyboard from which they can make a new video reel.

WebNative Suite 16.0 is available on all supported server platforms at no additional cost to users with current Maintenance Program memberships who have licensed the full set of WebNative Suite products.

Cartoon you: Illustrator’s Live Trace converts your photo into a drawing

Photo-based avatars that look like paintings or illustrations are very classy and tend to be rare because few people possess the skills to make them without hours of work. But by following the simple steps outlined below, you will gain the skills to turn your photograph into a painted or illustrated avatar in minutes instead of hours.

1. In Adobe Illustrator (), open the raster (pixel-based) image you want to use as the starting point for your avatar. Illustrator can directly open JPEG, TIFF, and many other raster file formats.

2. Select the image on the artboard with the black arrow Selection tool and, on the toolbar-like Control panel at the top of the Illustrator window, click the down arrow beside the Live Trace button. This will reveal the list of Live Trace presets. Select Tracing Options to open the Tracing Options dialog box.

3. In the Tracing Options dialog, activate the Preview option on the right so that you can see the effects, and then try a tracing preset from the Preset menu at the top. Using various presets, you can achieve a number of effects. For instance in my examples below, I used the Simple Trace preset for the black and white drawing effect, the Color 6 preset for the simplified color drawing effect, and the Photo High Fidelity preset to achieve a photorealistic vectorization effect.

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Adios Script: a smart font

When the OpenType font format was announced more than 12 years ago, one of its most promising features was a new level of intelligence built into the font. The idea was that the font could automatically substitute different glyphs (character shapes), depending on nearby characters. For example, an "a" at the beginning of a word could look quite different from one in middle of a word, or at the end of a word. The result is something that looks less "computerized" and more similar to the expert handiwork of typographers.

One of the best examples I've seen recently is Alejandro Paul's Adios Script:

Notice how the same letter looks different when it appears in different locations within a word. For example, the "s" in "Paul's" is different from the one in the next word. Note also the "d" and "s" in "descenders" are different from how they look in other words. The two "l"s in "technically" are also different from the "l"s in other words, such as "allow". (Have fun looking through the text for other examples—being a font geek isn't as embarrasing as it used to be. To see other amazing examples of Adios Script Pro in use, see Veer's Web site, where you can also buy this font for $99.

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