Adjusting Photoshop Brush Size

Just a simple tip to speed up productivity. Unlike the traditional way of changing the brush size in Photoshop with the bracket keys, I pass on a shortcut that I learned years back using the "ALT+Right Mouse Click+Dragging" method.  It allows to change the size quickly without reaching over the keyboard (if you are right handed) and adjust the size in faster increments.

Steve

How To Add a Color Wheel to Photoshop

Ever wanted to add a Color Wheel to Photoshop similar to the found in Corel Painter or other painting applications?  In this video I show how to not just add the color wheel but the keyboard short cuts that will help speed up your productivity.

Steve

Digital Painting Programs ...which is the best?

The question of what application is best for digital painting comes up over and over again.  The fact is that there is no so called "best".  Which application you use is based on a variety of things. such as affordability, platform (which OS), capabilities, hardware and personal preference.  Here is the run down on the ones I would suggest.

Krita For Windows

After going through the hassle of adding a dual boot to my laptop and a virtual Linux machine with Virtual Box on my desktop just to try out Krita 2.4, I come across a Windows installer for Krita.

Blender 2.6.4 Test Builds

Blender Test Builds for 2.64 are out.  That means that 2.64 will be released soon.  Download the test builds and check out the list of new features HERE. 

-Steve

Copying Is Good Practice

There are a lot of ways to learn how to perform a task.  In art one of the fundamental ways is to copy other artists work that you admire taking away skills and approaches that you may not otherwise learn. 

Spring Colors

    

Every spring I am amazed at the colors.  Part of it is how gray winter can be and the contrast that spring brings with it.  But I can't get over how brilliant and bright the colors are.  They seem faked.  If I were to see these same values in a photo or in a painting I would find it hard to believe. 

Blender 2.6.3a Update

The Blender Foundation released version 2.6.3a a few weeks back to corrected a few issues prior to the version 2.6.4 that should be out soon.  The Blender Foundation is keeping a greate pace with release dates being about every 10 weeks.  Blender can be found HERE.

-Steve

JDownloader - Download Favorite Videos

Have you ever been in a situation where you wanted to view a video or work with a video tutorial that you saw on YouTube or Vimeo or somewhere else but you didn't have access to the Internet? JDownloader will allow you to download your favorite tutorials and take them on the road with you.

GIMP 2.8 Release

GIMP 2.8 was released recently and as usual I like to use the Partha.com builds   I haven't had a lot of time with the new build so let me know what you think.  The GIMP developers have been making good progress so I am looking forward to working with the newest release..

GIMP can be found HERE.

-Steve

How to Build and Design a CG Workstation

I believe that every digital artist should have a working knowledge of the tools that they use, which also includes the workstation. In this article I will cover the design options and consideration in building my recent workstation.

Blender 2.6.3 BMesh Modeling System

Blender Foundation still working hard. They have just released version 2.6.3. The biggest update this time around is BMeshes Modeling System. Their quick overview can be found HERE and you can download Blender 2.6.3 HERE. I am very happy and proud of these guys. They have been working hard for years to rebuild Blender for 2.4 series into this modern one.

-Steve

New Workstation Build for Digital Artists

Sorry for no post last week but I have been working on building a new workstation. I had an issue with the motherboard that was DOA but it was resolved. I tried to save some money on the board going with a less expensive model but ended up with a "cheaper" one instead. But with that behind me I am quite happy with this workstation. 8 Cores; 32 Gig of DDR3 1600 Mhz running at 4.15 ...COOL!

Blender VSE and Avidemux: How To Rotate Video

  

This is part of the Blender VSE (Video Sequence Editor) series in which I demonstrate how to rotate a video clip. I also add a secondary method using Avidemux since both methods will produce varying results. If the original clip had not been a MOV file I could have used Virtual Dub Mod.

Blender can be found HERE

Avidemux can be found HERE

Bledner VSE - How To Adjust the Speed of a Video

  

This is part of my Blender Video Sequence Editor Series. In this tutorial I show how to change the speed of a video clip using Blender. I used a small video clip that is 640x480 px at 30 FPS running around 4 minutes in length.  By adding an effect I change the snowball fight into a high speed chase sequence ...or something like that.

GIMP 2.7.5 Official and 2.7.6 Unofficial Release

I have been using an "Unofficial" release of GIMP 2.7.5 from Partha.com (which is now hosting the Unofficial 2.7.6 version) but earlier this month the "Official" version was released. It is still in development but there have been a lot of great changes. The change log can be found HERE and the Official release can be found HERE. My Personal preference is to the Partha builds.  They seem to be tweeked in a way that suits me.  Both versions can be installed at the same time, so experimenting between the two is easy. Give it a try and let me know what you like or dislike and remember to report any issues. Steve

Photoshop, CamStudio, Blender VSE Synch Issue

Recently I found an issue when I went to edit a video tutorial on Photoshop in Blender's VSE that I had created with CamStudio 2.6. The problem  arose when I rendered the video after editing in Blender VSE. The resulting video was sped up.  I am not sure why it happens but I was able to find a solution or work-around.

Manual Gamut Mask

In this tutorial I demonstrate how to use a manual gamut mask in Photoshop. I created a psd file that can be used as a manual Gamut Mask Tool that is based on Richard Robertson's On Line Gamut Mask Tool found at Live Paintings Lessons.

The PSD file can be found HERE:

I hope you find this helpful,

Steve

GIMP vs Photoshop

GIMP vs Photoshop? 

There are many reasons to use GIMP even if when we have Photoshop.  Both Photoshop and GIMP are great tools, though GIMP maybe an alternative to Photoshop. it is not an equivalent.

Blender VSE - How to Overlay an Image

Adding watermarks to your video is a great way to promote yourself or your product.  In the fourth part of the Blender Video Sequence Editor series I demonstrate the basic technique in adding an image and transforming the aspect ratio along with the placement of the image.