AYM 4 Training – Online and Onsite Computer Training – Cool Stuff

I just received this announcement. Not only are there links to purchase the software, but also some information on upgrade pricing and date limitations. Take a look!
NEWS: Adobe® Creative Suite® 6 is Now Shipping 

Two weeks after its official introduction, Adobe this morning has released Creative Suite 6 in twelve languages, with major upgrades across the product line…  

All CS6 suites and individual tools are available immediately for Windows and Mac, with delivery via boxed shipment or instant download.  Discounted upgrades are offered from earlier versions, including CS3 and CS4 until the end of the year.

One big change: Starting with CS6, upgrades are only available direct from Adobe in most major geographies.

The company has also released all CS6 free trials for download and installation.  These trials are fully-functional and will work side-by-side with any previous version(s) of the Creative Suite, including CS5 and CS5.5.  We’ve got a complete list of trial direct download links for easy access. 

The CS6 Student & Teacher Editions are now shipping as well.  These offer up to 80% off the regular prices for education customers including students, teachers, and staff. 

Today, I got an email from a rep from JourneyEd.com, one of my vendors. Her message states:
Adobe has a current promotion with the release of  CS6. Adobe is giving a free copy of CS6 to anyone that purchases CS 5.5 now until May 6! Please see attached promotion and contact me today for pricing!

Here’s her contact info:

Last year, I made a tutorial on how to use Adjustment layers and masks to Create Green Beer for St. Patrick’s Day.

I thought this would be a good time to pull that one out again! Check it out at:

http://aym4training.com/coolstuff/2011/make-green-beer-for-st-patricks-day-using-photoshop/

When I don’t get a chance to make my own tutorials, I still appreciate the work of others. Graphics.com has posted a nice tutorial on using the History Brush to control where Filter Effects…um… affect your image. Check it out!

http://www.graphics.com/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=1007

Great workflow app for anyone who does digital photography. New version released today.

$149, or upgrade for $79, Educational Price is the same as the upgrade price.

http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/201203/030612AdobeLightroom4Available.html

Today, Dealfind.com is offering a Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch Tablet for $70!

As my graphics students know, I’m a big advocate of using a pressure-sensitive tablet for precision masking, vector drawing control and tons of other functions. This is the smaller version of their tablet – which makes it quite portable as well. check it out at:
http://www.dealfind.com/products/los-angeles/brightlightbusiness2?a=16589f8ddd39

Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch

My students know that one of my Photoshop class mantras is that “Ain’t Nuthin’ Real Anymore”. Well, this excellent video by Jesse Rosten spoofs the use of Photoshop in a hilarious manner. I highly recommend viewing this one!

http://vimeo.com/34813864 

Demo image made in 4 minutes with Fumy and Photoshop

Here’s a little program I love! I bought a program named Smoke some time ago, at a discounted price. I thought it looked like a cool, fun toy of a program, but it’s so much more! Smoke underwent a name change. It’s new name is Fumy, and the newly released version is  Fumy 2.0.

Painting in Fumy is like painting with smoke, or waves, or patterns or light. Version 1, with all it’s point updates was very cool – choose a style and some colors and then paint. You could place the end results into Photoshop documents (or simply create a stand-alone graphic). The only “real” limitation was that the end-result image was opaque. You could use any color background, but you created an opaque image for which you might have to use Blending Modes in Photoshop to influence the result.

Now, with version 2.0, we have layers! This means that not only can we create images with transparent backgrounds, but we also have some limited blending modes inside the program, and we also have the ability to export individual layers of our image.

The names of the controls present a bit of a learning curve: names like “Flow”, “Range”, “Intensity”, “Density”, “Fluency”, “Gravity”, and “Quality” may not make immediate sense, but that’s part of the idea of working in this Fumy. It’s all about experimentation (you all know that’s a BIG teaching point of mine anyway, right?)

Version 2.0 just came out a few days ago, so there’re still a few “issues” to resolve. For example, the tooltip names don’t align and so you have to trust the icon more than the name of the tool. Also, there seems to be a bit of a problem with the function of exporting individual layers, but you should also be aware that the developer is extremely responsive. I’ve had a few questions over the past couple of versions, and I received response emails the same day!

On top of all this coolness and fun, here’s the real kicker – I’d originally bought this program for $6 via Maczot.com. It was also included in a software bundle I’d purchased at MacLegion.com. But I never needed the new version. Every update has been free – and the recent UPGRADE was ALSO FREE! Any developer with such a cool product, who is so responsive, and has such generous upgrade policies should be commended! I encounter so many programs with ridiculous and draconian upgrade costs, I’m especially impressed by this (see Adobe’s new upgrade policies, for example!)

Despite the few bugs in this new version, I highly recommend it – and the developer. If the regular $19.99 seems a bit much, wait… you’ll see it in a bundle, I’m sure. Also, Neatberry (the developer) seems to have a slew of other cool programs. I’m looking forward to checking them out.

Oh, and the image you see in this post  was done using a stock image from stock.xchng, and a quick image from Fumy 2.0, created and composited in about 4 minutes using Photoshop.

Check out Fumy 2.0. Let me know what you think!

Okay – so many of you who have taken my design classes have seen me “pick on” the Helvetica font. As you know, although I consider it a classic, beautiful, clean and highly versatile, I have some issues with it’s built-in kerning at large sizes, so I usually use it for my kerning lessons.

So, today, Graphics.com posted a Facebook link to a great page with 40 great logos designed using Helvetica. Now, I don’t personally agree that all of these do, in fact, use Helvetica (eg: Nestlé, even if it started as Helvetica, didn’t remain Helvetica, IMO), but if you check these out, you’ll gain some great inspiration as to the effects of tracking and kerning, color, use of space, and all things typography and design. Check it out!

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2009/03/40-excellent-logos-created-with-helvetica/

Scott Kelby, the President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and the most prolific Photoshop author has written an open letter to Adobe regarding their impossible, draconian upgrade policies and plans for CS6. I completely agree with him and hope that Adobe pays attention.

http://www.scottkelby.com/blog/2011/archives/22903