Guru Winners | Planet Contest Deadline Today!

One of the coolest parts of the Photoshop World keynote is the Guru awards. For those of you who don’t know, the Guru awards is a special design contest only for Photoshop World attendees and is a great platform for someone’s work to be shown to thousands of people. Not to mention some really cool prizes to the winners in each category. There are seven categories on everything from photography to illustration to commercial. There were some really remarkable pieces submitted this year and you can see these winners here. It might motivate yourself to jump in and submit something for next time. You never know what could happen. Even I managed to won a couple several years ago.

Speaking of design contests, the latest Planet tutorial contest submission deadline is today. You have until tonight at midnight to get your entries in for this newest challenge. Click here for more info and to submit your entries. A new contest will be starting up soon, but you still have a little time to make it for this one. Good luck!!

April 6th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Friday In 3D!!

Well I thought I would share some new things I learned in the world of 3D in the past couple weeks. First my friend Bert Monroy turned me on to a very cool site that provides 3D models. Like the one pictured here. Not only that, they are actually really good 3D models and even better than that, they’re free! The site is called Archive3D.net and it has an enormous collection of free 3D models in a number of different categories. As I mentioned, it’s totally free. Just choose the model you want, download it, and open it up right in Photoshop. You do need Photoshop CS3 or CS4 Extended of course for the 3D support, but what a great resource. It’s great if you are needing that one little element to add to your work. Take a look around yourself and see what I mean.

Also, last week at Photoshop World I was able to catch up with the folks from Digital Anarchy. They just released a plug-in for Photoshop called 3D Invigorator. Not necessarily a new product. I remember Invigorator being available for After Effects for quite some time but now that they have finally released a version for Photoshop, I think people might take notice. It’s a plug in that allows you to create various 3D objects, text, or effects of all kinds. The familiar 3D interface is very intuitive if you used 3D apps before. The bad part is that it does not return the object back to Photoshop as a 3D layer. However, if you return it as a Smart Object, then you can go back into the Invigorator interface and make changes. This means that this plug in will work in both Standard and Extended versions of Photoshop. Another great way to creep into 3D without breaking the bank. Check it out!

Also one final thing with regard to 3D. If you haven’t gone to see the newest Dreamworks animated movie Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D you are completely missing out. It was my first time seeing a feature film in this new 3D technology and I was completely blown away. It really immerses you in the experience with the help of the new 3D glasses. Which, by the way, make you look like you are witnessing a nuclear detonation. Definitely worth checking out!!

April 3rd, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Wacom Tablet Tips

So we all know that Wacom introduced the Intuous 4 last week at Photoshop World and the response has been overwhelming. The curious thing is that those who have never used a tablet before seem to be the most interested. Veteran users like myself were overjoyed to say the least, but it is encouraging to see that others who were on the fence about getting a tablet are really considering it now. With that, I thought that I would occasionally post some random tip on the tablet. Because there are so many ways and so many configurations, it can be hard to to know how to set up your tablet.

This tip is targeted at you video editors and motion graphics people. Those of you who work with video are familiar with the term scrubbing. This is the process of basically scrolling through video. Some editors will have a special input device with a dial wheel which you turn to run through video frame by frame. This is critical for precision editing. Well with the new touch ring feature on the Intuous 4 you pretty much have a scrubbing wheel built right in. Simply go into your Wacom preferences and click on Functions in the Tool section. Click here to see a larger image of the Preferences. Then just below in the Application section click the plus sign to add an application. When the window opens locate the video app you wish to set up. For instance, I have chosen Quicktime Pro. Next click on the Touch Ring tab. Click on the first menu item and choose Keystroke. You have two fields to input a keystroke for clockwise and counter-clockwise motion. To move forward through frames in Quicktime simply press the right arrow key in the top box. Then click in bottom box and press the left arrow key. Give this function a name at the bottom and click OK. Notice also you can modify the speed at which the keystrokes are activated. There you have it! Now when in Quicktime I can scrub the video nice and easy by simply gliding my finger around the touch ring. Cool!

April 1st, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (4)

Contest Deadline Closing In!

Hey everyone!! Just a quick reminder that the deadline for the latest Planet Photoshop tutorial design contest is coming up April 6. We have some great prizes and it’s a great way to hone those skills as you are learning. Not to mention getting your work seen by others. Don’t wait! It’s time to get creative. Go here to enter.

March 31st, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (0)

Back from Boston!

Well we are back from Photoshop World in Boston and I must say I had a such a blast this time around. True it was cold but the event was not to be missed. I had three sessions on the first day alone and they seemed to be a big hit, especially my Illustrator class. As usual, the keynote was a riot! The crowd really got into it and it set the show off right! Of course the Guru awards were not to be missed. See winners here. I certainly enjoyed reconnecting with friends and fans and I got lot of good feedback for future material. Perhaps one of the most fun events this year was Midnight Madness. It was so much fun and we had such cool games the whole crowd just had a great time. Definitely one of the best one’s yet.

Another aspect of Photoshop World that never disappoints is the Tech Expo. When I wasn’t teaching a session, I was in the Expo. There were so many vendors like Adobe, Nikon, and Wacom who announced their newest line of tablets; the Intuous 4. They even had a hands on lab set up so you could test drive the tablet yourself. Scott Kelby has some great pics of the vent over on his blog. Check them out here.

Here’sanother piece of interesting news. Last week the MacWorld website posted a story titled: What Photoshop World can teach other trade shows. It’s an interesting perspective on how the Photoshop World Expo compares to others. Read it here. Anyway it’s back to grind here at NAPP HQ. Stay tuned…

March 30th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (3)

Wacom Intuous 4 Is Here!!!

That’s right! The wait is over. Today at the Photoshop World keynote Wacom introduced the new line of pressure sensitive tablets. The new Intuous 4 boasts a host of awesome new features. Like the new LED displays which indicate what express keys are programmed for. This is especially nice because before I would program the keys and never remember what they did. Also they have added a touch ring which is programmable in four modes. You can set it to scroll, zoom, scrub video, or whatever. Other nice enhancements include twice the pressure in the grip pen. Where previous models would register 1024 levels of pressure the Intuous 4 has 2048 levels of pressure. The new design is very slick and has all of these controls on one side of the tablet for easy access. There is also a detachable USB cord and two USB ports on the tablet which makes it easy to flip it around for right handed or left handed users. I am super excited about this new product and hope you find these new features as exciting as I do. You can find out more about this tablet and other Wacom products at the Wacom site. Also, I have a brand new course over at Kelby Training site called Getting Up To Speed With Intuous 4. Click here for more info.

March 25th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (6)

It’s Pre-Con Day | Joe McNally at Photoshop Insider

Well, we’re here in Boston for Photoshop World and it is freakin’ cold!!! However that will not stop us on our quest for awesomeness today. I will be helping Matt Kloskowski with his new HDR pre-con. Which will be a bit of a learning experience for me as I am wanting to sharpen my HDR skills as well. It hopes to be a blast. It all leads up to tomorrow which is the big day. I still get super excited for the keynote. It is always fun and no matter how much we prepare there is always something unexpected bound to happen. There might even be some surprise announcements. If you are here, prepare yourself!!!

Check out Scott Kelby’s blog tomorrow as the incomparable Joe McNally will be featured as the guest blogger. Joe is arguably one of the best photographers working today and just recently released his newest book: “The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flash which was recently rated in the top ten best selling books of all books on Amazon. With the combination of Joe’s hilarious teaching style and unmatched brilliance there aren’t many reasons for you not to grab it. Check it out here.

March 24th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (1)

Photoshop Insider Panel | Ready for Boston!!

Scott Kelby has posted something rather interesting on his blog today. So most of us are familiar with the cool new Flash enabled panels in Photoshop CS4 which allows you to use apps like Configurator to create your own custom panels for Photoshop. Well Scott has developed a cool custom panel that channels his Photoshop Insider blog right into a Photoshop panel. This means you can get up to date with his blog without leaving Photoshop. Which is great because you can read the blog and it still looks like your working. Seriously, it’s a clever and convenient feature and is a totally free download. Simply go here and enjoy!!

It’s almost time! Photoshop World Boston is right around the corner and I am super excited. We have a got a lot of cool training courses we are rolling out and a few surprises. Big surprises. If you are there I hope to see you in my sessions or at the very least stop me and say hi!!!

March 20th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (1)

Free Expo Passes & My New DVD Is In

Well if you find yourself in the Boston area next week and just happen to be hanging around the convention center. You can come and check out the Tech Expo for free. That’s right the Expo will be open to the public on March 26 & 27 for you to check out all the cool vendors, product demos, and special expo classes. All you need to do is go here and register for your Expo pass. Hope to see you there!!!

Also I am very excited that my newest DVD training course: Design Effects with Photoshop CS4 is available now over at the Kelby Training site. This is course is all about making your design better because there are all kinds of mini techniques right in there with the big ones. My hope is that this course will bring your designs to a whole new level of awesome!!!! Plus the cover design is very cool. Big props to Jessica Maldonado for her great work on the cover art. Find out more here!

March 18th, 2009 | Corey Barker | Blog | Comments (2)

New Planet Contest is Live | Nikon Classes at PSW

Here we go!!! The third Planet tutorial contest is now under way and accepting submissions. We have been getting some amazing entries and they just keep getting better. I have a selected an exciting collection of tutorials this time around and hope you have fun with them. Remember you can use any one of these tutorials or a combination of them to create a new image. Use the techniques but be as original as possible with what you create. That is the fun part! All I am giving you here is some of the ingredients. It is up to you what you make out of it. The most important thing is to have fun. Click here to get started and have fun!!!

Nikon just recently announced they will have special sessions at the Expo hall at Photoshop World next week. These sessions will be all three days of the event with presenters like Matt Kloskowski, Joe McNally, and Moose Peterson among others. They will covering numerous subjects on general photography tips and Nikon specific techniques as well. Click here for a detailed class listing.

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