Friday Quick Bits!

Happy Friday Everyone! Just got a few bits of news to hit ya with.

First, GridIron has released a public beta version of their remarkable asset management tool called Flow. With all the various assets and support file we have flowing around our hard drives it can get very frustrating knowing which files are being used where. Flow allows you see the work path of a particular file. Meaning you can view workflow maps that show you how all the the files are connected. For instance of you have logo that you have placed in numerous documents you can see exactly which files contain that specific logo, but it does so much more. Read more about this exciting new product and download the public beta here.

Here’s a cool link I found over at John Nack’s blog. It’s a collection of some really impressive Photoshop advertising work. I have to be honest, I was blown away by some of these pieces. Really inspiring stuff!! It’s always cool to see what others are doing because it helps you to perhaps consider some approaches to your work you hadn’t thought of. Here is the link. Enjoy!

Once again we received an overwhelming number of entries for the second Planet tutorial design contest. We will be judging the entries here soon and will post the winner sometime next week. Thanks to all you who entered and hope you had fun. More importantly, I hope you have sharpened your skills that much more! That’s it for now. Have a good weekend!!

February 20th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (3)

Sweet New Product!!

It’s product review Wednesday! I just recently got my hands on a very cool new product from Digital Juice. It’s called Digital Juice Fonts. Yes, it’s a simple title but this product is pretty darn sweet! Digital Juice is best known for creating some of the coolest stock art around. They also provide sound effects, animations, music, and other products geared toward designers of any discipline. Whether it’s web, print, or video they have got you covered. This new DJ Fonts product is awesome and easy to use. Simply open the Digital Juice app and search the numerous categories of the more than 1300 DJ fonts available. Then input your text in the Juicer interface. The cool thing is that the effect is real time. Meaning the effect is applied as you type so you can immediately see what you are getting. Then you simply render it out for whichever design application you will be finishing in.

If you are a designer who is always looking for that one cool text effect but don;t really have a mountain of time to create, this the obvious alternative. Check out this product among the others offered by Digital Juice by clicking here.

February 18th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (1)

Cool NAPP Offer | Photoshop on SNL

What we do here on Planet Photoshop is merely a fraction of all the cool stuff we have going on for NAPP members. Not only do we have more tutorials, but there are product reviews and discounts, discounts on events like seminars and Photoshop World, and even other training sources like online training and DVDs. Not to mention Photoshop User magazine. All of this and so much more for only $99 a year ($179 for two years). Given these difficult times many people are looking to sharpen their skills or even learn new ones and you want to invest your money wisely. If you sign up for NAPP now you will get a free DVD: The Photoshop CS4 Power Session by Matt Kloskowski. A two-year membership will get you the new DVD by Fay Sirkis: A Celebration of Art: Paint Like Master. Click here for more information on this limited special offer.

Also over the weekend I caught a rather amusing bit on SNL about Photoshop. They cleverly call it Photo Shop with two words but I think we all get it. If you were ever a fan of the classic Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot, then you will get a good chuckle out of this. Be warned, it’s late night SNL so you never know what to expect. Here’s the link.

February 16th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (1)

New Courses at Kelby Training

It’s Friday the 13th! Moowahaha!!!! (Evil laughs just don’t work in text. Do they?)

Anyway just a couple things things today. First Scott Kelby has brand new course over at the Kelby Online Training site: Mastering Camera Raw with Photoshop CS4. This course is for anyone shooting Raw and you wants to get the most out of the software. Scott covers all the new features and discusses workflow scenarios so that you can get the most out Camera Raw in no time. Click here for more.

RC Concepcion, my co-host on Layers TV has posted a new course as well. This one is titled Building A Website with Photoshop CS4 & Dreamweaver CS4. The title pretty much say it all. RC walks you through designing and optimization in Photoshop and then carries it over to Dreamweaver to add functionality and ultimately publish to the web. So if you are looking for a no-nonsense, straightforward approach to getting a site up quickly this course is for you. Find out more here.

Lastly don’t forget about the tutorial contest. Deadline is February 18! I gotta admit. We’re getting some pretty cool entries so far.

February 13th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (2)

History of Studio Logos | Contest

Now this is interesting. I found this over at John Nack’s blog the other day. It’s short article that tells the brief history of the logos of some of the biggest Hollywood movie studios. Of course anyone who has watched a movie in the last 50 years has seen at least one of these logos. For instance, there’s a bit about the famous Dreamworks logo with the boy in the moon. It also shows evolution of the Warner Bros logo among others. It’s really interesting to learn a little more about something you’ve seen your whole life, or most of it anyway, and never know the story behind it. Here’s the link.

Also don’t forget, the next Planet tutorial contest is active now and we are receiving submissions. Better hurry, the deadline is February 18. Click here for more info.

February 11th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

To 3D or Not to 3D?

I can remember working in Photoshop CS2 a few years ago and thinking how cool it would be to be able to work with 3D inside Photoshop. Not so much with 3D objects but rather in 3D space, similar to After Effects. Then CS3 Extended came along and gave us our first 3D tools right inside Photoshop. I was, of course, intrigued and couldn’t wait to experiment. Much to my disappointment, it wasn’t entirely what I had hoped. It was very limited in its capabilities and was kinda slow. It was clearly meant for working 3D artists and the average Photoshop artist or designer.

Then came CS4 Extended with its new-and-improved 3D features. Not only did they improve what was already there, but they added even more 3D tools that almost anyone can take advantage of. With the ability to convert layers into 3D planes and even wrapping layers around primitive 3D shapes, now we were talking. Since then I have been going crazy with all kinds of 3D techniques. What I am amazed about is that it doesn’t seem to have caught on with the rest of the Photoshop community out there. Which brings us to the big question: To 3D or Not to 3D? I wanna know what you think. Please post your comments to this blog post and give me your take on 3D in Photoshop. Do you use it? What do you use it for? If not, what is stopping you? What kind of training would you like to see? Or any other thoughts you may have on this subject.

By the way, the above graphic was created entirely in Photoshop CS4 Extended using the native 3D tools.

February 9th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (27)

Photoshop World Classes & Blog

As you know, Photoshop World is creeping up on us and I am especially excited this year as I will be featuring all new courses. I have my Photoshop for Designers class and the Illustrator Down & Dirty Tricks class. I also have a new session called Planet Photoshop Live where we will examine the most popular tutorials right here on Planet Photoshop live right in the class. I am also going to be teaching a special session in the Expo called Exploring 3D with Photoshop CS4 Extended. If you have only ever been curious about the new 3D features in CS3 or CS4, this session will open your eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. Find out more about these classes and others here.

Also to keep you better informed on everything leading up to and during Photoshop World there is now the Photoshop World Blog. This site will keep you in the know with any special events, any questions, and even some fun trivia here and there. It’s a really great way of learning about what is really going on with Photoshop World both past and present. For instance there was just recently a post that showed all the theme posters for the last 10 years. Pretty cool!Check it out here.

February 6th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (5)

New Contest is Live…

Alright here we go again! A new Planet tutorial contest is now live! We had so many entries on the last contest that it only made sense to keep it going. We have selected three new tutorials for you to view and create an original piece of art work. Remember you can use one, a combination of two or even all three techniques in your piece . The piece must reflect some technique used in at least one of the selected tutorials. So go crazy and have fun. Oh, the deadline is February 18th so hurry!! The grand prize this time around is a full one year membership to the National Association of Photoshop Professionals and the Creative Suite 4 Integration dvd by Dave Cross. Click here for more info and to get started or click on that cool contest banner at the top of the page.

February 4th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (4)

Photoshop User Award Winners Announced

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) today announced the winners of its 4th annual Photoshop® User Awards – the first and only worldwide competition for Adobe® Photoshop® users. Winners were selected from more than 700 entries in 11 categories. Finalists in each category also competed for Best of Show to win an all expense paid, five-day trip for two to Barcelona, Spain.

Winning images can be viewed here.

Award winners for 2008:
Best of Show: Ciro Marchetti – Florida – Gypsy Dancer
Advertising Design: Jose Luis Santana – Mexico – Tough Chicken
Composites/Collages: Mike Campau – Michigan – Stay Green. Go Red.
General Photography: Michael Whitson – Pennsylvania – Day in the Life
Artistic: Glenn Karlsen — Norway – Zipperhead
General Photoshop: Steve McGhee – Canada – The Big Swallow
Illustration: Nelsy Adriana Perez Jimenez – Mexico – Dragons
Landscape/Travel: Kajo Merkert – Germany – Coogee Pool
Wedding/Portrait: Paola Jofre – Canada – Strong Boy and Dog Max
Restoration: Janine Smith – Texas – General Worth
Retouching: Steven Cegelski – New York – Believe
Student Work: Romy Yamsuan – Canada – Ultra Badminton

Winners in 11 categories each receive a prize package valued at $2,500 provided by award sponsors – Adobe, NAPP, Layers magazine, Kelby Training, Peachpit, and Mpix. Plus, their winning image will be showcased in a future issue of Photoshop User magazine.

Best of Show winner Ciro Marchetti receives a dream assignment to Barcelona, Spain for him and an assistant of his choice to create a future cover for Photoshop User magazine, the official publication of NAPP. Round trip airfare, hotel accommodations, hotel transfers, and daily expenses for five days are provided by NAPP.

February 2nd, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (3)

Planet Contest Winners

Well I must say I was most impressed with what he work everyone did for the first ‘Learn It. Do It. Win It.’ contest exclusive here on Planet Photoshop. I want to thank all of you who entered and hope you will join us for future contests. Now…the envelope please? (Insert drum roll here)

The Grand Prize Winner is Lisa with the piece titled “Music“. Congratulations Lisa!!!!
The First Runner-Up is Erich Gellert for “Super Nova Surfer“.
The Second Runner-Up is Sara Lipary for “Night Rider“.

You can view all these winning entries here.

As I mentioned earlier, I was so immensely impressed with the work I saw that I picked a handful of my favorites and will be posting them on a special contest gallery right here on Planet. Be sure to check back soon to see the great work. Also check back soon as we will be starting up the next contest in the next few days.

January 29th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (6)