Adding an “Impossible Gradient” to Editable Type

Jeff Witchel, an Adobe Certified Instructor for Adobe Illustrator and a frequent contributor to Layers Magazine (which many of you know is one of my favorite resources), has created a video tutorial for the addition of Gradients to type, WHILE keeping the type editable. This is one of those un-obvious Illustrator controls (uses one of my favorite tools – the Appearance Panel) that will help a bunch of you!

http://www.jeffwitchel.net/2012/03/apply-an-impossible-gradient-to-editable-type/

 

Tutorial – Using the History Brush with Filters – 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

Nice InDesign Tutorial on Fitting

My students all know I’m a fan of Layers Magazine. In my general perusing today, I’ve found a nice tutorial on Fitting Images to Frames in InDesign. Last week, my InDesign students were asking for some tips. This may be useful to you. Enjoy!

http://layersmagazine.com/autofit-images-in-indesign-cs5.html

Tutorial on the Painting with the History Paintbrush – Photoshop

Russell Brown (www.russellbrown.com) has created a really good tutorial on how to use the History Paintbrush in Photoshop.

Those of you who’ve taken my Photoshop classes know that I don’t often teach this tool. I actually think it’s an awesome tool – but of course I’m ALL about non-destructive techniques, and this isn’t one of them. This technique changes original pixels permanently (there are work-arounds, but they’re rather indirect). So, I recommend knowing how this tool works, what you can do with it, and then knowing you can use it for more of your “quick and dirty” retouching and repair needs.

[iframe_loader  src=”http://tv.adobe.com/embed/46/11397/” width=”480″ height=”296″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen scrolling=”no”]

A Really Good Explanation of Color for Print Purposes

CreativePro.com has come up with yet another really good article – this time, about a topic that can be really confusing – how color works for print documents, and how to use InDesign’s color management to get accurate color print jobs done (Note: this is for 4-color, process printing – not meant for your inkjet). Check it out at:

http://www.creativepro.com/article/indesign-how-print-colors-correctly

Tutorial by Dave Cross on reducing Gradient Banding

Gradient banding is the effect in which the transition lines in a gradient are too visible. For Photoshop, this is more often an issue for onscreen images than it is in print (it’s rather the opposite in Illustrator)

on KelbyTV (one of my favorite places) Dave Cross has a very interesting tutorial on some anti-banding techniques.

You can watch the video here:

 http://kelbytv.com/askdave/2011/07/11/reduce-banding-in-gradients/

2 Great CSS links from Adobe

Adobe’s posted a couple of great articles on using Dreamweaver for styling your websites using CSS:

The first article (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/css-selectors-pt1.html) is an excellent lesson on CSS Essentials.

The second article (http://www.adobe.com/devnet/dreamweaver/articles/css-selectors-pt2.html) has some REALLY helpful information on what kind of power controls are in CSS3. WOW! CSS is getting stronger and Stronger.

And, with Dreamweaver, we don’t really have to hand-code any of it!