Layers Magazine 2009-07-08

Create Hollywood-style type effects
DISPLAY UNTIL SEPTEMBER 15, 2009
TWEET THINKING FONT MONSTER FLASH FIND

Build brand recognition What is it, how do you create Add Google Maps to your
in a social media world one, and where do you use it? Flash applications
www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com
] J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
[CONTENTS] ] VOL. 5, NO. 4
] WWW.LAYERSMAGAZINE.COM
[ T U T O R I A L S ]
44 ] Digital Photography:
There and Back Again: A Photograph’s Tale
—Seán Duggan
50 ] Adobe Photoshop CS4 :

A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words
—Dave Cross
59 ] Adobe Illustrator CS4:

Create a Vector Font Monster—Jacob Cass
66 ] Adobe InDesign CS4:

Improved Format—Terry White
72 ] Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro:

The Proof Is in the Pages—Taz Tally
76 ] Adobe Dreamweaver CS4:

Add Style to Your Lists—Janine Warner
82 ] Adobe Flash CS4 Professional:

Mapping in Flash—Lee Brimelow
86 ] Adobe After Effects CS4:

The Power of Words—Steve Holmes
32
CHRISTY WINTER
[ C O V E R S T O R Y ]
32 ] Silver Screen Styles
Hollywood can be a great source of inspiration to the graphic designer
and illustrator. It’s everywhere you look: on the big screen, in movie post-
ers, on official movie websites, and the list goes on and on. All you have
to do is keep your eyes open and then have lots of fun playing around in
Photoshop trying to re-create some of your favorite effects—and before
www.layersmagazine.com
you know it, you’ll have a plethora of new techniques in your design
arsenal.—Corey Barker
[ F E A T U R E ]
38 ] To Tweet or Not to Tweet
If you’re a professional designer or photographer and you’ve refused
to jump into the social media scene, it’s time to reconsider. Twitter can
be a great tool for growing your business, and we’ll not only show you
how to get started but we’ll also show you how to build and maintain a
professional, follow-worthy network.—Nancy Massé Page 38
04

05
L AY E R S M A G A Z I N E ] [ j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 0 9
[ D E P A RT M E N T S ]
8 ] Letter from the Editor
12 ] Layers News
16 ] Designer Spotlight
26 ] Instant Inspiration
30 ] The Digital Canvas
98 ] Tips & Tricks
100 ] Creative Suite Q&A
118 ] Design Contest Page 30
[ C O L U M N S ] [ O N T H E C O V E R ]
18 ] Design Makeover: Shortly after Jonas Bergsrtand graduated
Play It Again—Jake Widman from Forsberg’s School of Design, he
was picked up by CIA (Central Illustra-
22 ] Artistic Expressions: tion Agency) in London. Since then he
Creating a 3D Coin—Bert Monroy has worked for well-known clients such
as Chrysler, Hasbro, and MTV. Look for
Jonas’s incredible illustrations through-
64 ] The Art of Type:
Off the Beaten Path—James Felici out this issue of Layers.
[Jonas Bergstrand]
[ R E V I E W S ]
90 ] CINEMA 4D R11 Studio Bundle—Jason Scrivner
91 ] Epson Discproducer PP-100—Rod Harlan
91 ] ProScale ID—Jay Nelson
92 ] Episode Pro—Erik Kuna
92 ] Eos Wireless iPod Speakers—Chris Main
93 ] GroBoto 2.1.8—Bruce Bicknell
94 ] Toon Boom Animate—Marcus Geduld
96 ] NIKKOR AF-S DX 18–105mm
f/3.5–5.6G ED VR—Laurie Excell
96 ] Digital Juice Fonts—Rod Harlan
90
97 ] Toast 10 Titanium Pro—Daniel M. East
97 ] Portraiture 2—Daniel M. East
Whenever you see this symbol at the end of an article, it means there’s either additional material or a download
for that story at www.layersmagazine.com. So be sure to visit the website and check it out.

] J U LY / A U G U S T 2 0 0 9
[ON THE WEB] ] VOL. 5, NO. 4
] WWW.LAYERSMAGAZINE.COM
[TUTORIALS]
We’re always adding new tutorials to the Layers website,
so be sure to visit often. And don’t forget to sign up for our
graphics tip of the day and to read RC’s daily blog, Living
in Layers. Here’s a small sampling of some of the tutorials
that you can find at the site now:
[PHOTOSHOP]
www.layersmagazine.com/category/photoshop
Masking Liquids in Photoshop (Video): If you’re intimi-
dated by the task of masking or selecting liquids in Photo-
shop, then this tutorial is for you.—Corey Barker
[ILLUSTRATOR]
www.layersmagazine.com/category/illustrator
Smart Objects from Illustrator to Photoshop to Dreamweaver
(Video): This tutorial will show you how to take your smart
objects from Illustrator to Photoshop, then from Photoshop
to Dreamweaver. But you probably guessed that from the
title, didn’t you?—Geoff Blake
[INDESIGN]
www.layersmagazine.com/category/indesign
Custom Underlines in InDesign (Video): Learn how to create
and edit custom text options to take your underlined and
highlighted text to new heights.—Jeff Witchel
[FLASH]
www.layersmagazine.com/category/flash
3D Rotation in Flash CS4 (Video): Flash CS4 includes 3D
tools that allow you to rotate perspective around a movie
JONAS BERGSTRAND
16
clip. We’ll show you how to take charge of those controls.
—Tom Green
[DREAMWEAVER]
www.layersmagazine.com/category/dreamweaver
Using Dynamic Web Templates in Dreamweaver, Parts 1 &
2 (Video): Learn how to set up a quick-editing environment
[ LAY E RS TV] for your websites using global templates.—Janine Warner
Hosted by Corey Barker and Rafael “RC” Concepcion
www.layersmagazine.com/tv
Be sure and join Corey and RC in their weekly video podcast. From killer tips
[AFTER EFFECTS]
and tricks to full-blown tutorials, Corey and RC cover all of your favorite print, www.layersmagazine.com/category/aftereffects
Web, and video apps. Metallic Text with After Effects (Video): Did you know that you
can create chrome or metal-looking text directly in After Effects?
[ N E W S L E T T E R ] Well you can, and J. Schuh will show you how.—J. Schuh
Want to keep up to date on the latest tutorials on the Layers website, find out
[PREMIERE PRO]
what’s coming up in the next issue of Layers magazine, and learn about hot www.layersmagazine.com/category/premiere-pro
new products and industry events? Visit the Layers website now and sign up Text Rolls and Crawls (Video): This tutorial shows you how to
for our monthly e-newsletter and the tip of the day. get your text moving in Premiere Pro.—Franklin McMahon
06

[ FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR]
C H R I S { } M A I N
type tricks
SOMETIMES IT’S NOT HOW YOU SAY IT, BUT HOW YOU DESIGN IT
Have you ever looked at a movie poster and said to yourself, “Wow, I wish I could do that,” and then just
walked away without giving it a second thought? Well, what are you doing? You just found a great source
of inspiration and you walked away. You should immediately go home, fire up Photoshop, and try to
re-create that effect. At least that’s what one of our resident Photoshop gurus, Corey Barker, believes. In
this issue’s cover story, “Silver Screen Styles” starting on page 32, Corey not only talks about how to find
inspiration at the movies, but also how to turn that inspiration into fantastic techniques that you can add to your design arsenal.
He walks you through the entire process by re-creating type that’s similar to the logo used for DreamWorks Animation’s hit
movie Monsters vs. Aliens.
In keeping with our type theme, we know how important both type and images are to great design. Sometimes designers
use type to communicate a message and sometimes designers (such as our featured artist Jonas Bergstrand on page 16) use
pictures or illustrations to tell a story. In some cases, they morph the two together. To see what I mean, check out the Photo-
shop and Illustrator tutorials in this issue. Dave Cross shows how to convert an image into text in Photoshop; Jacob Cass shows
how to convert text into an image in Illustrator. Pretty cool, eh? You’ll find the Photoshop story starting
[You should immedi- on page 50 and the Illustrator story on page 59.
Oh yeah, we also carried the type theme to the Layers Back Page Design contest. Flip to page 118
to check it out. I’ll wait. So what do you think? Could you use a whole bunch of really cool fonts from
ately go home, fire up Digital Juice? Then get those designs turned in. We love seeing what our readers can do.
So how many of you out there have heard of Twitter? (You can stop laughing now because I know it
Photoshop, and try to was a silly question. If you’re a designer or photographer, you own a computer, and in recent studies,
100% of all computer owners have heard of Twitter [yeah, I made that last bit up, but if there were a
study done, you’d see that I was right].) And how many of you have sworn never to use Twitter? (Come
re-create that effect.] on, you can fess up—we hear it from people all the time.) Well, we’re here to change your mind. Twitter
really is a great tool for creating a network and growing your design or photography business, and we
think that once you read Nancy Massé’s feature on page 38, you’ll be tweeting within a matter of minutes and taking com-
mand of the social media phenomenon.
If you flipped through this issue of Layers before reading this, you may have noticed that some columns have disap-
peared—in particular, “The Digital Camera,” “Photoshop Lightroom Tutorial,” and “Photoshop for Photographers.” All of
these topics are so closely tied together, it just made sense to combine them all into one über digital photography tutorial, so
we added a new column called, strangely enough, “Digital Photography Tutorial.” This step-by-step article is geared toward
the digital photography workflow. It will cover everything from taking the shot, to managing and editing images in both Light-
room and Photoshop, to output. In some issues, you’ll see more Photoshop than shooting; in others, you’ll see more shooting
than Photoshop. I think you get the idea. Speaking of ideas, if there are any particular topics you’d like to see covered in this
tutorial—or any of our other tutorials—drop us a line at letters@layersmagazine.com. We’re always happy to hear from you.
That’s it for now. Hope you have as much fun reading this issue as we had putting it together. After all, we do all of this
just for you.
www.l ayer smagazine.com
All my best,
Chris Main
Managing Editor
08

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Cross • Seán Duggan • Daniel East
Laurie Excell • James Felici • Marcus
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Bert Monroy • Jay Nelson • Jason
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COVER DESIGN Cover image courtesy of

Jonas Bergstrand
COLOPHON Produced using Adobe InDesign CS4,

Adobe Photoshop CS4, and Adobe
Illustrator CS4. Body copy is set in
Avenir. Headlines are set in Solex.
Come and listen to a story about a dude
named Fred. Poor designer, barely kept
his family fed. Then one day he was layin’
out a page, and from down the hall came
the art director’s rage. Fury that is, bad
leading, ugly text breaks. Well the next
thing you know ol’ Fred’s a flippin’ fries...
Okay, you can pretty much stop reading
this. It ain’t a gonna git any better.
Full Line of Supplies (Call for Catalog)

All contents © COPYRIGHT 2009 Kelby Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Any
use of the contents of this publication without the express written permission of the
FREE shipping on all orders over $99 publisher is strictly prohibited. Layers magazine is an independent journal not affili-
ated with Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe, the Adobe logo, Acrobat, Adobe Premiere,
After Effects, Dreamweaver, Flash, Illustrator, InDesign, Lightroom, and Photoshop are
1.800.771.9665 www.itsupplies.com either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in

the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of
5100 Newport Dr. Suite #6 Rolling Meadows, IL 60008 their respective owners. Some of the views expressed by contributors may not be the
representative views of the Publisher. ISSN 1554-415X

[layers news]
graphics design news • new products • digital video news • other stuff
More content,
more places
Is it possible to have access to too much video? Of course not. That’s why
Adobe, building on the vision of the Open Screen Project (www.open-
screenproject.org), recently announced at the 2009 NAB Show that they’re
extending the Adobe Flash Platform to the digital home. Sometime in the
second half of 2009, we should start seeing televisions, set-top boxes,
Blu-ray players, and other devices that have the ability to connect to the
Internet and play back high-definition (HD) video and rich applications
via the implementation of optimized Flash technology. You can probably
guess why companies such as Disney, Intel, and Netflix are so excited
about the Adobe Flash Platform for the Digital Home; they’ll be able to deliver high-quality content to a wider audience right were we live—
in front of the TV.
Help your clients

help themselves
Are you a Web designer with tons of clients? And do these clients constantly
call you for minor changes that they need on their sites right away, making
you drop everything just to keep one client happy? Well, Adobe has come to
the rescue with a fully hosted online service called Adobe InContext Editing
1.5. Now your clients can perform their own simple website updates without
waking you up in the middle of the night, and more importantly, without
damaging the integrity of your great design and hard work. Simply assign
editable regions in either Dreamweaver CS4 or in a Web browser. (If you use
Dreamweaver CS4, you can also specify editing options or define CSS styles
to be made available to your clients editing the site.) The client can then access the Adobe InContext Editing service via a Web browser, type in
his username and password, click the Edit button, and then go to town—allowing you to sleep in just a little bit longer. He doesn’t even have to install
any software or learn HTML. For more information, visit www.adobe.com/products/incontextediting.
Save time
with Strobe
Adobe recently announced a new open framework for building custom media players, codenamed Strobe. The concept is to offer produc-
www.LAYERSMAGAZINE.COM
tion-ready components to content publishers so they don’t have to waste time creating playback technologies from scratch. Now developers
can use Strobe software components to add rich functionality such as advertising, user measurement tracking, and social network integration
without having to code the functionality directly into the media player. Developers can use only the parts of the framework that they need
and assemble plug-and-play software components from Adobe and third-party providers. Strobe includes media features found in Adobe
Flash Media Server 3.5, such as Dynamic Streaming. You’ll also be able to pause and seek within live video via DVR functionality. According
to Adobe, since Strobe was announced, more than 20 companies already plan to support the Strobe framework. Strobe is expected to be
available in Q3 of 2009 at no charge. For more info, visit www.adobe.com/go/strobe.
12

Universal Type Server, Web Watch
take 2 [more cool sites for creatives]
Every designer uses type. In fact, just take a quick glance through this issue of Layers and you’ll see quite
a few tutorials on the creative uses of type. We even have a feature on creating type Hollywood style. So
if type is so important to the designer, then type management must be just as important. Extensis steps
up to the plate with Universal Type Server 2 Professional and Lite. Universal Type Server stores all fonts
and font metadata—including classifications, keywords, and regrouped families—in a central location for
easy access to all users. From one central easy-to-use interface, an organization can manage users and
fonts while maintaining compliance and consistency for both Mac and Windows users.
One of the coolest new features on the client side is the ability to tear off a font preview and float
it over any open document—a great tool for finding just the right font for any document. Users also
have access to a Glyph View dialog where they can preview all the glyphs for a font and even compare http://tutorialblog.org
Photoshop tutorials, graphic design articles,
multiple font versions of a single glyph. According to Extensis, the new release also provides faster font freelancing tips, and much more
auto-activation for Adobe Illustrator and InDesign CS2 through CS4, and QuarkXPress 7 and 8.
Administrators can also quickly tell if all their fonts are compliant with licenses, and Universal Type
Server can prevent users from installing unlicensed or unapproved fonts directly into the system font fold-
ers of the OS, thereby circumventing the font management system. The Professional version is the only
server-based font management that offers an optional Directory Integration Module for both Microsoft’s
Active Directory and Apple’s Open Directory for a secure way for customers to simplify and automate
user management.
Universal Type Server should be available by the time you read this. The Lite version, which includes
the server and 10 clients, will retail for $1,395 (upgrade: $697.50). The Professional version will retail for
$1,808.95 (upgrade: $1,061.45) and each Client will start at $163.35 (the more clients you buy, the lower
the price). For more information, visit www.extensis.com.
http://delicious.com
A social bookmarking service that many
designers use to save their bookmarks on-
line and share them with other designers
https://sucasa.webassist.com
A place for Web designers to share, sell,
or buy Web templates, layouts, menus,
and more
Easily manage uploads and downloads

on your websites
WebAssist—a company that offers software, solutions, and training for building better websites—has
released Digital File Pro 2 for Dreamweaver. Using the Wizard, it’s easy to enable your website visitors
to upload files to any directory on your server that you choose. Uploaded images can be automatically
reformatted, resized, renamed, and output in multiple versions. Digital File Pro includes a number of
professionally designed progress bars that can be used to indicate that an upload is still in progress.
The Extension also integrates seamlessly with online stores so you can offer digital downloads to your www.layersmagazine.com
customers, all without using any PHP code. Digital File Pro 2 retails for $99.99. For more information, And don’t forget about Layers magazine
online, where you’ll find even more tutori-
visit www.webassist.com.
als on all of your favorite Adobe apps, plus
more reviews, and RC’s daily blog

[ n e ws ]
Control your Canon

Upcoming Events with your iPhone
MAXIMUM PHOTOSHOP CS4 TOUR Recently, onOne Software jumped into the iPhone app frenzy. It’s not often that we cover an
June 22, 2009 iPhone app, but this was just too cool to pass up. The new application is called DSLR Remote,
and here’s how it works: simply install the free companion DSLR Remote Server software on
Nashville Convention Center
your laptop or desktop computer, connect your Canon EOS digital SLR to the computer via
Nashville, TN
a USB cable, and then use a Wi-Fi connection to communicate with the software using your
www.kelbytraininglive.com
iPhone or iPod touch. You can control the camera’s shutter speed, aperture, and white bal-
ance, as well as trigger the shutter. If your Canon supports Live View, you can also get a live
PHOTOSHOP CS4 DOWN & DIRTY stream of your camera’s viewfinder. You can then view your shots with a flick of your finger,
TRICKS TOUR rotate the iPhone for a larger preview, and zoom in to check focus. The app will retail at the
Toronto, ON (June 26, 2009) iTunes App Store for $19.99. For $1.99, you can get a Lite version that will only fire the shutter.
Calgary, AB (June 29, 2009) Hopefully, Nikon, Olympus, Sony, etc. versions aren’t far behind.
Fotolia
HOW DESIGN CONFERENCE
June 24–27, 2009
Austin Convention Center
Austin, TX
www.howconference.com
brings economic relief
Fotolia, a major player in the microstock photography
INDESIGN CS4 PRODUCTIVITY TOUR industry, recently announced the availability of its microstock
July 17, 2009 video collection to supplement their more than five million
images and illustrations that are currently available at
Los Angeles Convention Center
©PHOTOEXPRESS.COM
www.fotolia.com. The library of more than 10,000 videos

Los Angeles, CA
ranges in various sizes and lengths and includes HD clips.
Prices for videos start as low as $10.
But that’s not the surprising news. Less than a month
PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM 2 LIVE TOUR later, Fotolia announced the availability of free, premier-
Chicago, IL (July 20, 2009) quality, royalty-free images. That’s right—free. You can find this collection of nearly
New York, NY (July 22, 2009) 350,000 images at http://photoxpress.com. Members can license up to three images per day,
www.kelbytraininglive.com free of cost (this number increases to ten after you complete your profile). According to
Fotolia, the images were sourced through numerous partnerships around the world. Best
LOCATION LIGHTING TECHNIQUES of all, all images have accompanying model releases and may be used for any personal,
July 31, 2009 commercial, or professional use (just make sure you include the proper photo credit as explained
South San Francisco on their FAQ page). How’s that for an economic stimulus plan?
Conference Center
South San Francisco, CA
Manipulate flat objects in
SIGGRAPH 2009 3D space directly in After Effects
August 3–7, 2009
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Digieffects has released a new plug-in for After Effects
New Orleans, LA that can warp any flat object into almost any shape using a
mesh in 3D space. FreeForm AE makes it easy to create 3D
www.siggraph.org/s2009
effects, which previously required a dedicated 3D program
or high-end workstation, without ever having to leave After
PHOTOSHOP WORLD Effects. According to Digieffects, the new plug-in is
CONFERENCE & EXPO powered by a proprietary, full 3D rendering engine that
October 1–3, 2009 quickly provides beautiful, high-quality renders. FreeForm
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino AE retails for $299 and works with After Effects CS3 and
Las Vegas, NV CS4, and runs on both Mac and Windows. For more infor-
www.photoshopworld.com mation, visit www.digieffects.com.

[j o n a s b e r g s t r and ]
[ DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT]
Layers: On a student blog in the U.K., you mentioned

that illustration is just another form of communication.
What did you mean by that?
Bergstrand: I think illustration is much more than just
decoration. A good illustration/illustrator provides illu-
mination. And this doesn’t happen by chance—it’s not
a byproduct to style. Illustration may not be a science
but it certainly communicates in a precise way.
Layers: A lot of your images use solid colors or various shades of the
same color in the background, which really helps to focus the viewer’s
attention on the subject. Does this occur more in your commercial work, or
Jonas Bergstrand
is this a personal preference?
Bergstrand: It’s a personal preference that luckily works pretty well as a
way to direct focus to what’s important. I can’t pinpoint exactly when
and where I picked up on this way of treating colors. A conceptual color
was born in Stockholm, Sweden, where he still resides today. Jonas treatment is something you’ll find throughout the history of illustration,
knew early on that he wanted a career where he could draw all day I guess. Many of my personal favorites like Paul Rand, Abram Games,
long but had no idea at the time what an illustrator or graphic and Saul Bass used limited palettes.
www.LAYERSMAGAZINE.com
designer was. After graduating from Forsberg’s School of Design Layers: Many of the characters in your illustrations are very two-dimen-
in 1997, Jonas got his start by assisting a former teacher. Three sional—some even have the appearance of jointed cardboard cutouts.
years later, he was picked up by CIA (Central Illustration Agency), How did this style evolve and how do you feel it impacts the viewer?
a critically respected agency in the U.K. According to Jonas, Bergstrand: When I started out, I was very exited about the precision
“Illustration may not be rocket science but to me it’s a blast.” that computer-generated images offered. I was heavily into flat areas
His long list of clients includes Chrysler, Hasbro, MTV, The New of color and perfect shapes without jagged edges. I still like the control
Yorker, Priceline, T-Mobile, and Yahoo! that Illustrator provides when I lay out my images, but over time I’ve
16

backtracked slightly and I enjoy the presence of the hand more and 17
more. I think my current style is something of a hybrid where I try to
l AY E R S M A G A Z I N E ] [ j u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 0 9
pick the best out of two worlds. Control and chance brought together
is what I’m hoping for.
Layers: What applications do you work with regularly? Do you have a favorite?
Bergstrand: I use Illustrator and Photoshop for all my images. I produce
the basic drawing in Illustrator and then apply “makeup” in Photoshop.
Layers: You have a lot of photographic elements in your images that
create a collage effect. How do you decide what should be illustrated
and what should be a photograph? How does the mixture of photo-
graphic elements and illustrations help to convey the message you’re
trying to get across?
Bergstrand: When I plan an image, I have something like a wish list of
what photo material I’d like to feature. Many times though I have to
reconsider because I can’t find what I’m looking for. Sometimes the
clash between photo and drawing helps underline the message but
I also grant myself the luxury to use the effect just for the fun of it.
Layers: What artists have most inspired you? How has that inspira-
tion carried over into your own work?
Bergstrand: Paul Rand is the undisputed king if you ask me. I don’t
want to use “was” because his work is still so fresh. (What was UPS
thinking of when they destroyed their classic logo?) His work proves that
there’s no boundary between illustration and graphic design. In all
things important they’re the same. This is a fundamental and very
inspiring truth—many times sadly forgotten, though. Why are design
schools so keen on separating the two? I don’t see the gain in that,
only loss.
[CONTACT] Jonas Bergstrand www.jonasbergstrand.com ALL IMAGES BY JONAS BERGSTRAND

[ DESIGN MAKEOVER]
J A K E { } W I D M A N
client:
Terry Shaw] [www.musicpotential.com
play it again
before
©2008 DAVE KENNEDY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WWW.DAVEKENNEDYPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
…he’d like to project (the image) of a virtuoso

player who can play multiple instruments.
M usician and music teacher Terry Shaw has an independent

streak. “I like to do things myself if I think I can do them better,”
he says. “I’d rather play solo than with lesser musicians.”
Shaw’s musical career started with playing the trumpet in his
school band. He took up stringed instruments when a friend in the
fifth grade introduced him to the guitar; he has since expanded his
That’s why he plays all the instruments on his latest CD, Instru- repertoire to include the mandolin, banjo, dobro, and fiddle, all of
ment of Choice. On his website, he describes the CD like this: “It’s which appear on Instrument of Choice.
plastic, round, 4¾" in diameter, silver on one side with pictures of me Shaw sells the CD through his website (www.musicpotential.com) and
on the other.” Obviously, Shaw has a sense of humor; however, he also directly at the venues where he performs. When we approached him
describes the songs this way: “They’re original compositions covering about a redesign, he said he likes the current cover, though he’s not fond
many styles—bluegrass, swing, waltz, gypsy jazz, Celtic, Latin, contra, of the lettering. “It’s too common,” he says. “I’d like a font that’s a little
and jazz. And if that isn’t enough, I even include my cat singing on his less pedestrian—maybe even one that looks like hand lettering.” He also
own track.” says he’d like to project the same kind of image as Mark O’Connor: that of
“I don’t have ADD, but I like all types of music,” he says, “Irish to a virtuoso player who can play multiple instruments. But he doesn’t want
Balkan to swing. But it still sounds similar because I wrote it.” to lose the personality and warmth that the current cover captures.
[Jake Widman is a writer and editor who lives in San Francisco. He’s been covering the intersection of computers and graphic design for about 20 years now—since back
when it was all called “desktop publishing.”
]
makeover submissions
We’re looking for product packaging or labels, print advertisements, and magazine covers that are currently in the marketplace for future
“Design Makeovers.” So if you or someone you know has a design that you’d like us to consider making over, or if you’re a designer and
you’d like to be considered for a future “Design Makeover,” drop us a line at letters@layersmagazine.com.
18

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after
DESIGNER: Stephen Woltz (designer), Ben Capozzi (teacher)] [ www.svhed.org
The final design is homemade without being homespun...
E mploying images ranging from mandolins set aflame as a nod

to Jimi Hendrix to collaged bluegrass fantasies, 19 Halifax
County High School students in the graphic arts class at the Southern
ity without pretension. To achieve that look in Photoshop, Woltz built
up layers of marbled paper as a background in warm earthtones
and added coffee stains. An unrehearsed placement of instruments
Virginia Higher Education Center tackled the CD makeover with relish. against the background gives the cover a handmade feel while sug-
We bought and listened to the CD, did a heckuva lot of individual gesting Shaw’s virtuosic range and affinity for craft. The design walks
and group ideation, and looked at Mark O’Connor’s branded material that fine line between country and cornpone and still manages to
before beginning our designs. Unfortunately, the photographer’s capture the jazzy feel of Shaw’s music.
request that we use the photo in its entirety removed from conten- Woltz chose an edgy but strong font, Cracked from www.dafont
tion those designs that relied on isolating Shaw from the background .com, for the CD title. He picked another font from dafont, Joe Hand 2
(and frustrated those who had looked at Shaw’s website and seen his for the signature and the song titles, and tweaked the paths to refine
penchant for inventively placing his photo into improbable settings). the handwritten feel.
Finally, just three choices remained. Two were by outstanding sopho- Woltz simplified the weak layout of the original back cover and
mores, but senior Stephen Woltz’s design is our final answer. focused it on a boldly cropped close-up of a banjo. The final design
Noting that Shaw says his background is primarily in rock, Woltz is homemade without being homespun, a theme that seems to run
wanted a “grunge” feel for his design, and to give it some personal- throughout Shaw’s work and comments.
[ A B O U T T H E D E S I G N E R ]
Stephen Woltz] [Southern Virginia Higher Education Center
Stephen Woltz and his classmates are students in dual-enrollment courses at the Southern Virginia Higher
Education Center’s Business of Art & Design program, an innovative curriculum for Danville Community
College students and Halifax County high schoolers.
In addition to developing his design talents, Woltz writes and directs his own films, competes for top
honors in his graduating class, flings himself at opponents in the Allied Independent Wrestling Federation,
and volunteers with the Ruritan Club.
Digital Art & Design curriculum coordinator Ben Capozzi has a degree in Studio Art from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Vir-
ginia, and worked in the school’s InnovationSpace multimedia center. He’s now pursuing an M.A. in Education & Instructional
Technology and works with Woltz and other students five days a week to develop Virginia’s creative professionals of tomorrow
in a sweet lab outfitted with Adobe CS4 and Mac Pro towers. His job, like each of his students, rocks.
APPLICATIONs USED: Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Adobe Photoshop CS4

[design make o v e r ]
after
DESIGNER: Davin Sanchez][ www.behance.net/DavinSanchez
I…focused on a more reflective and intriguing image

that matches the breadth and depth of the music.
W hen I saw the original CD cover, my first thought was,

“Whoa!” It feels like a rush project, and the generic font
doesn’t live harmoniously with the overall imagery presented on
that this music was far more complex than the cover led his listen-
ers to believe.
I removed Shaw from the cover and focused on a more reflec-
the cover. Certain aspects of the cover are fun—the cat thinking of tive and intriguing image that matches the breadth and depth of
the song titles—but the execution makes the overall effect seem his music. I chose the image of the woods because this image,
silly and hokey, miles away from the fun and intriguing nature of much like the music, wasn’t easily defined—you could get lost in
the music. But I knew that with a little TLC, Instrument of Choice it, and yet it could be your own backyard. In an effort to convey
could be a true eye-grabber. Shaw’s lighthearted nature, I chose to preserve the image of the
I didn’t want to use the existing cover image because it tells cat and the curiosity that cats so readily symbolize.
the viewer nothing about Shaw’s music. I wanted to convey the The cover also needed some organic, hand-wrought imagery to
feeling, emotion, mystery, and storytelling that is Terry Shaw. reflect the individuality of this artist and his music. I handwrote the text
When I listened to his music, read his blogs, and checked out his and drew some illustrations. I thought they would complement the
website in an effort to familiarize myself with the artist, I realized sincerity and uniqueness of Shaw, and I thought they would be fun.
Davin Sanchez ][ www.behance.net/DavinSanchez
Davin has lived from coast to coast but now lays his head primarily in the City of Angels. He started
designing in high school in Florida, laying out fl yers for local bands, silk-screening T-shirts, and
painting and drawing. Davin took his first major corporate job at a well-established company doing
identity branding and Web and print design, as well as working on the side with local bands. The
corporate print world became uninspiring after a few years, and he needed to move on.
Davin then came into contact with an Interactive Agency in L.A. He packed his life in his car and left for the Wild
West a week later. Davin quickly became an Art Director, creating work for Scion, Budweiser, Bud Light, Pepsi, and
Sony Pictures.
Davin has moved on and now does contract work in the Los Angeles area. His most recent work has been (on the Web)
for Ford Models, Battle for Terra, and Bank of America; identity work for SanSu Solutions; and clothing for Maroon 5 and
Sara Bareilles.
APPLICATIONS USED: Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Illustrator CS4, and Adobe Photoshop Lightroom
20

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after
DESIGNER: Laurie Davidsohn-Bienstock ][ www.davidsohngraphics.com
…the lines of the music staff also represent the strings

of Shaw’s repertoire of instruments.
T erry Shaw is a multitalented instrumentalist and composer

with a wide array of music styles. Shaw clearly has a sense
of humor, which adds to his personality and spills over to his music.
Since Shaw lets his cat “sing” on one of the cuts and has a picture
of him on the original cover, I thought it was something personally
important to him. I wanted to keep it in my redesign, so I added the
My vision for the redesign of Shaw’s cover was to create something singing black cat among the instruments.
upbeat, magical, fun, fluid, and full of high energy, with a hint of For Shaw’s name, I chose Adobe’s Voluta Script, and I used Sam
whimsy, all while maintaining a serious side. Wow, that’s not a lot to Wang’s free Harrington font for the CD title. Since Shaw’s music style
ask for, is it? ranges from bluegrass to Celtic to jazz and then some, it seemed
I started with classic music symbols: the treble clef and musical fitting that the fonts would be so different from each other but some-
staff. The treble clef serves as an anchor for the cover, and the lines how still work well together.
of the music staff also represent the strings of Shaw’s repertoire of I toned things down a bit for the back cover. While I do like the
instruments. I built upon these elements with fun, colorful, and ran- photo of Shaw with all of his instruments on the original cover, it
dom string instruments. I created multiple layers in Photoshop with seems to lack a bit of style. I cropped the photo and gave it a sepia
various textures and silhouettes of more instruments and generously tone to blend in with the overall design. Finally, I added an excerpt
included swirls and wavy composition lines for fluidity. from a favorable review on a popular industry website.
Laurie Davidsohn-Bienstock ][ Davidsohn Graphics
Laurie Davidsohn-Bienstock continued her education in graphic design after receiving a Bachelor of Arts
in Journalism in 1985. Over the following decade, Laurie refi ned her talents and professional qualities
while working for some of the most prestigious design firms and advertising agencies on the West Coast.
In 1998, Laurie launched her design firm, Davidsohn Graphics, and in March 2007, along with her husband
Cion, purchased Town and Country Printing in Agoura Hills, California. Sometimes Laurie feels like a kid in
a candy store, only she’s a graphic designer in a print and copy shop.
Laurie has an intense passion for graphic design, and since the purchase of the print shop, a love for different and unique
paper and card stock. While she typically uses all three of the main programs in Adobe Creative Suite, her favorite is Photo-
shop, where she enjoys creating textures using multiple layers, filters, and masks. Laurie and Cion live in Granada Hills with
their two daughters. Laurie also has five indoor cats and several outdoor strays.
APPLICATIONs USED: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign

[ t h e d i g i t a l s t u d io ]
[ ARTISTIC EXPRESSIONS]
B E R T { } M O N R O Y
creating a 3D coin
The new enhanced 3D capabilities built into
Photoshop CS4, coupled with the animation
function, bring new features for you to explore
that you might not have considered before. In
the past, creating a simple animation of a twirling coin required
the use of multiple applications to achieve the effect. One of
those applications was a 3D program that was usually costly and
required a long learning curve to master. Now it can all be done
within that program we all know and love—Photoshop.
Don’t fear change

Perhaps I was a little off in saying all you need is Photoshop. There’s
one other thing you need to create this animation and that’s an
image with some coins.
I M A G E S : © I STO C K P H OTO I L LU ST R AT I O N : TA F F Y O R LO W S K I
STEP ONE: Start by finding or creating an image that shows both

sides of a coin. Using the Elliptical Marquee tool, select one side
of the coin (press-and-hold the Shift key to get a perfect circle;
press-and-hold the Spacebar to reposition the selection as you
drag). Once you’ve made your selection, press Command-C (PC:
Ctrl-C) to copy the selection, choose New from the File menu, and
click OK. This will create a document that matches the size of the
copied selection. Press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste the data
into your new file. Once pasted in, drag the Background layer to
the Trash icon at the bottom of the Layers panel to delete it. This
will leave the coin with transparency around its edges. Repeat for
the other side of the coin then save the two files with the appropri-
ate names for the front and back.
[ The new enhanced 3D
capabilities built into
Photoshop CS4…bring new
features for you to explore STEP TWO: Go to File>New and create a new 8x4" file at the
same resolution as your coin files. Click on the Create a New Layer
that you might not have icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Press Shift-Delete (PC:
Shift-Backspace) to open the Fill dialog, choose 50% Gray from the
Use drop-down menu, and click OK. This layer will be our 3D coin.
considered before. ] Under the 3D menu, choose New Shape from Layer>Cylinder. The
flat, gray layer will turn into a gray cylinder.
22

23
l AY E R S M A G A Z I N E ] [ j u ly / a u g u s t
STEP FOUR: Using the 3D Rotate tool (K), orient the 3D coin so
that it’s facing the same direction as the image of the original
2009
coin. Select the Move tool (V) and drag-and-drop one of the saved
coin images into the 3D coin file. Select the 3D Scale tool (nested
under the 3D Rotate tool in the Toolbox, or go up to the Options
Bar and click on the Scale the 3D Object icon) and resize the
3D coin so that it matches the size of the saved coin image. When
finished, drag the saved coin image layer to the Trash icon at the
bottom of the Layers panel.
STEP FIVE: Now let’s turn

this thin cylinder into a
coin! Make sure your 3D
layer is selected. Call up
the 3D panel from the
Window menu. Click the
Filter By: Materials icon
to access the Materials
STEP THREE: The 3D widget that appears when you’re work- section of the 3D panel.
ing with your 3D tools allows you to control many of the object’s There you’ll find the three
attributes. This is that little object with the three colored arrows you sides of the coin. I know
see located at the upper left of our cylinder. If yours isn’t show- you always hear “there
ing up, select one of the 3D tools from the Toolbox by pressing are always two sides to
N or K (if you still don’t see it, make sure that the Enable OpenGL every coin” but in this case we’re also dealing with the edge.
Drawing option is turned on in the Performance Preferences). Each
color represents a different plane of the object’s axis: red contains STEP SIX: Click on Top_Material to bring you to the section that
the controls for the x-axis, green controls attributes for the y-axis, contains the attributes for that side of the coin. Click the Edit
and blue denotes the z-axis. Passing your cursor over the various the Diffuse Texture icon (to the right of the color swatch next
symbols on the 3D widget, and clicking-and-dragging once the to the word “Diffuse”) and choose Load Texture from the drop-
point you’re hovering over turns yellow, will activate its specific down menu.
control. The small box where the three axes converge will control
the size of the overall object. Traveling up one of the tiny poles,
you’ll come across three symbols. The arrow at the top controls the
placement of the object within the file window on its plane; the arc
rotates the object; and the little box below the arc controls the size
of the object in the direction of the arrow’s plane. Clicking on the
little box on the blue pole will allow you to shrink the height of the
cylinder to resemble an actual coin, as you see here.

[ t h e d i g i t a l s t u d io ]
Navigate to the file that contains the face of the coin and click Open. to open the Pattern Picker. Click the vertical rib pattern that you
The cylinder will now have the face of the coin appear on the top. saved and then click OK. Save the file with the pattern of the rib-
For the bottom part of the coin, choose Bottom_Material and bing with the other faces of your coin.
apply the file with the back of the coin to it the same way you
applied the top part of the coin. STEP EIGHT: Back in the file with the 3D coin, choose Cylinder_
Material in the 3D panel. This time we’ll load the texture in the
Bump Strength section: click the Edit the Bump Texture icon to
the right of the Bump Strength value and choose Load Texture
from the drop-down menu. Find your file with the ribbing pat-
tern and click Open. You can push the Bump Strength number
up to about 10 or whatever value looks best for your coin. Here
we’ve added a spotlight to accent the edge where you can see
the ribbing.
STEP SEVEN: The edge of our coin requires a little more work. A
real quarter has ribbing along its edge. You must create a bump
map that will simulate that ribbing. In a new layer, create a very
narrow, vertical selection with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M).
It should be about the thickness of a single rib on the coin. If you
keep the 3D layer visible and turn the coin to its edge, you’ll be
able to approximate a thickness by comparing the selection to
the 3D coin. Fill the selection with a 50% gray. Don’t deselect the Put your money in motion
rectangle yet. Now that our coin is complete, it’s an actual 3D object that can
Click the Add Layer Style (ƒx) icon and apply a Bevel and be moved around in three-dimensional space with any of the 3D
Emboss. You’ll have to adjust the Size of the bevel so that you get object and 3D camera tools. It can also be animated, so let’s open
an even amount of light and dark along the edge. The default set- the Animation panel from the Window menu.
ting might be too much to actually see a bevel and emboss within The Animation panel will display the various layers that your
the rectangle. file contains. Choosing the layer that contains the 3D coin and
Using the Rectangle Marquee tool with the Option (PC: Alt) key clicking on the small arrow to the left of the layer name will drop
pressed, drag around the top and then the bottom of the rectan- down the parameters for the layer’s movement. Click on the
gular selection to deselect those areas. This will leave you with a Time-Vary Stopwatch next to the 3D Object Position property.
selection that has even tones for the vertical rib (as shown). Choose This will place a diamond-shaped indicator in the Timeline—this
Define Pattern from the Edit menu, name your pattern, and click is called a keyframe. Move the Current Time Indicator (CTI; the
OK. You can now drag this layer to the Trash icon and deselect. small, blue arrow at the top of our Timeline) over to the position
in time where you want the movement to end. Using the adjust-
ment tools for the 3D object, move it, rotate it, or whatever else
you want to do to it. Once you’re done, a second keyframe will
automatically appear at the new place in the Timeline. Photoshop
will now interpolate between the two keyframes, thus generating
the movement.
This is a whole new capability available to the Photoshop user.

It’s powerful and far easier than many of the previous ways of
Create a new file of any size you want, making sure it has the achieving these effects. One small caveat is that to properly view
same resolution as your 3D coin file. Open the Fill dialog again, but the 3D functions requires a video card with enough power to
instead of using 50% gray, choose Pattern from the Use drop-down display it. The world of 3D opens new doors for you to explore
menu. Then, click the preview thumbnail next to Custom Pattern and enjoy. Have fun!
[ ]
Bert Monroy is considered one of the pioneers of digital art. His work has been seen in many magazines and scores of books. He has served on the faculty of many well-known institutions,
written many books, and appeared on hundreds of TV shows around the world.
24

[ i n s p i r a t ion ]
[ INStANt INSpIRAtIoN]
L u c { } L a t u L i p p e
You don’t get what you deserve;

you get
what you
negotiate.”
Instant Inspiration is where we showcase an established
commercial designer and pick their brain in an effort to gain
insights on the creative process and inspiration in general.
Luc Latulippe
[Owner] Freelance Web design and illustration
What’s the “method to [About] Luc began his career in animation working on Saturday morn-
ing cartoon shows before moving more towards illustration. Since 1998,
your madness?” he has produced nearly 1400 illustrations for hundreds of clients around
the globe.
My process is pretty simple: sketch something out on paper (usually
on scrap paper with a ballpoint pen), scan it into Photoshop, import [Website] http://www.luclatulippe.com
into Illustrator, and use the Pen tool to “trace” things out on a very
old (eight years?) Wacom tablet. The finished file is then flattened
and saved as a TIFF in Photoshop, and emailed off to the client. I’m
still using CS2 and have no plans on upgrading anytime soon either.
What has been your
crowning achievement so far?
What inspires you? I don’t know that I’d call anything of mine a “crowning
I’m not much of a traditional artist-type. I don’t carry around achievement,” but one project does stand out, and you’re
a sketchbook or take photos for inspiration. I do carry a note- going to squirm and grimace when I tell you about it. It was
book, but literally to take notes in. As with most people, the a set of illustrated instructions for cancer research at a men’s
fun stuff of my childhood—comics, robots, monsters, science clinic on how to self-collect a rectal swab sample…told you
fiction—always gives me warm feelings, so I suppose you could so. The goal was to produce a set of instructions, which helped
say those things inspire me, but I’m always inspired by seeing patients feel less uncomfortable about the whole procedure.
the work of other illustrators and designers. I’m also a con- The reason I’m so proud of this particular project is that—
tributor to the Drawn! blog (www.drawn.ca), which is just besides being a fun challenge—it turned out to be an incredible
one fabulous place to see what others are up to. success for this clinic’s research. Thanks to my illustrations, their
success rate jumped something like 1200% in less than a year.
What are you working This means my drawings are actually helping people, helping
on now? science, and benefiting public health. That’s pretty awesome!
I can’t usually answer this with anything more than “Oh, some
magazine illustration,” but last week was really interesting for

me. I got to draw Jane Austen getting attacked by zombies Got a personal quote or
for a piece in The Hartford Courant about that new Pride and any advice?
Prejudice and Zombies adaptation of [Jane Austen’s] book. What jumps to mind is: “You don’t get what you deserve; you get
The only downside was that I only had a couple days to make what you negotiate.” It sounds cold and harsh, but it’s the truth.
this rather big illustration and I’d have loved an extra eight or More illustrators need to develop their business and negotiating
nine hours to really finish it they way I had wanted to. I mean, skills better. We tend to be taken advantage of a lot in our field,
it’s Pride and Prejudice… and Zombies. and as such our business suffers.
26

27
Shopping
Party
A spread for BC Business
magazine about stores
that promote sales by
holding cocktail parties.
Barber
Lounge
A promotional card for a
business in San Francisco.
I also designed their logo,
branding, and other print
collateral.
1000 Journals
This was one of a hundred covers for a project
called the 1000 Journals Project. I chose to show
my dog, Totoro, in Stanley Park, Vancouver.
All art depicted © Luc Latulippe 2009.

[l u c l a t u l i ppe ]
Coffee
Couple on
The Beach
A cover for Granville
magazine in Vancouver.
The beach depicted is
Kitsilano Beach, and the
shore visible across from
that is the Westend and
Downtown.
Sex Talk
For Philly magazine, about the inappropriateness of certain topics
during a meal. As you can see, I sketched the illustration out using
traditional means—pen, pencils, paper. The sketch was scanned
into Photoshop and imported into Illustrator where I "traced" it
with the Pen tool. At the color stage, I can refine things and change
my mind about small layout decisions. In this case, very little
changed other than making the shot a bit wider and moving the
blonde (bottom right) a bit higher.
28

[ gallery]
[ the digital canvas ]

showcasing the design work of our readers
Design: Fairy Tales

] [ Client: Personal Work
] [ Designer: Bethany Spencer
] [ Software: Adobe Photoshop CS3
] [ http://vacuumslayer.deviantart.com
www.l ayer smagazine.com
Ad Design: Surfer magazine Design: Resplandor

] [ Client: Lassen Hawaii Clothing ] [ Client: Personal Work
] [ Designer: Tom Smith ] [ Designer: Eduardo de la Cruz
] [ Software: Adobe Photoshop ] [ Software: Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Adobe Photoshop CS2
] [ Gallery at www.graphics.com ] [ www.artcreativeimagesgallery.com
30

31
l AYERS MAGA ZINE ][ july / august 2009

Design: Boxing Hall of Fame 2008 ] [ Client: World Boxing Hall of Fame ] [ Designer: Eduardo de la Cruz
] [ Software: Adobe Illustrator CS2 and Adobe Photoshop CS2 ] [ www.artcreativeimagesgallery.com
Design: Z06 Orange Vette

] [ Client: Personal Work
] [ Designer: Edward Eksi
] [ Software: Adobe Illustrator
] [ www.edwardeksi.com
The staff at Layers magazine appreciates the time and effort involved in the creative process, no matter how large or small the
project. With this in mind, we offer you the opportunity to display your work on The Digital Canvas. Please submit your print, Web,
or packaging design (jpeg or eps format) to: cmain@layersmagazine.com. Please include name of piece, client name (if applicable),
applications used, and any website where our readers can view more of your work.

CHRISTY WINTER
By Corey Barker
When I was first approached about this article on Holly- Much of the peripheral visual media for a movie is also
wood type effects, my eyes lit up—as did my imagina- rich with inspiration. Has your attention ever been cap-
tion. Being one of the biggest movie fans in the office, it tured by a really well-designed movie poster, even if
made sense. I’m the one who is always going to midnight you weren’t interested in the movie? Before you know
shows and still showing up for work the next day. It’s it you’re examining the logo, the overall image, the
a passion that has played a major role in my creative colors—and you suddenly find yourself a little inspired.
process. I get so much more than two hours of entertain- This happens to me all the time and it motivates me to
ment; I also get a treasure trove of creative ideas. try and re-create the effect.
32

33
ne of the most visually stunning aspects of these posters is
the overwhelmingly creative use of type. For some movies,
the logo becomes one of the stars of the movie, and it gets
its own star treatment in a way. For instance, let’s consider
Steven Spielberg’s film, Jurassic Park (www.jurassicpark.com). (I assume
we’ve all seen it.) The posters for this movie were nothing more
than the actual Jurassic Park logo on a black background. The logo
had a certain theme park feel to it and that was all that was needed. It
became an easily recognizable icon. Hence the name became one of
the stars. You often see this with big-budget epic films—because these
movies are promoted so heavily, they need eye-catching imagery.
Another Spielberg classic that has a recognizable typeface is Raid-
ers of the Lost Ark (www.indianajones.com). This type style has been
typecast (pardon the pun) as a standard look for conveying action and
adventure, and it’s been mimicked many times. Then there are those
films’ titles that are a bit understated, but the appearance of the text
still plays a critical role. Take The Matrix (http://whatisthematrix.warner-
bros.com), for example. The text treatment on this film used a standard
typeface that was broken up and slightly offset in various places for a
sort of convoluted effect. The result is a very simple graphic look, yet
powerful enough to carry the theme of the movie. Other movies use
simple customized fonts with mild type adjustments for a subtle effect.
One example would be Spider-Man (http://spiderman.sonypictures
.com). This text effect is a line of text in a specially designed typeface
with some careful character spacing, which is very effective.
The font that’s chosen has a critical role, as it needs to invoke
a feeling associated with the film. A common font used in movie Even though the names have been changed, you can probably
titles is Trajan Pro. In fact, this font has been used so much that it guess which movies inspired the artwork above.
TRAJAN
has become sort of an
inside joke with working CREATE YOUR OWN TITLE
professionals (check out Let’s put this into practice. Just recently, DreamWorks Animation
http://typographica.org/001120.php). Why is it so popular? I’m sure released their newest feature Monsters vs. Aliens (www.monstersvs-
different designers have different reasons, but I think it’s because aliens.com). The type treatment for this movie was designed to carry
it’s a classy looking and easily readable font. Still, it seems that it’s the theme of the movie, which portrayed the word “Monsters” with
been overused. My point is this: It’s important that the typeface a more organic look and the word “Aliens” with a more angular,
works with the title it’s portraying. You can see how certain types of hi-tech look. Now, one thing was obvious when I first saw this: It was
movies, especially in specific genres, all have common type effects no doubt done in a 3D application. Does that mean we need a 3D
among them. Big effects movies tend to have really elaborate logos; app to create this look? Not necessarily. After a little experimenting,
sci-fi movies tend to have more angular, modern-looking text; while I discovered a way to get a similar result, all in Photoshop, with no
dramas will have more basic and straightforward text with subtle 3D application at all. We’re going to create our own movie title in
colors. Comedies and animated films tend to be colorful with order to explore the technique, which would be the case anyway,
bolder text, and often have some element of 3D. because you want to use the technique on your own text.
STEP ONE: Start by creating a new file in Photoshop (the one shown
FOR FUTURE REFERENCE here is 12x7" at 150 ppi) and set your text. We’re going make a logo
So with the ubiquity of so many examples on television, on the
for a made-up movie called Human vs. Machine. Of course, the name
Web, and of course, in movie theaters, we seem to have an infinite
isn’t super-important here; it’s the technique we’re playing with. We
database of images from which to gather ideas. If I see a logo or
set the word “HUMAN” in Gill Sans Ultra Bold and “MACHINE” is
title that has a cool effect or captures my imagination in some way,
conveniently set in a font called BN Machine (available from www
I have to try and re-create it. When you’re studying an effect, look
.dafont.com). How nice! Adjust the tracking so the two words are the
at the whole thing but also break it down and look at the parts.
same width as shown here. (Note: To adjust tracking, double-click
You might just see a part of the effect you like. When you do, then
the type thumbnail in the Layers panel to both select the type and
it’s time to reverse-engineer it—not to figure out how the original
switch to the Type tool, hold the Option
designer did it, but rather how you might do it and incorporate
key [PC: Alt key], and use the Left and
these techniques into your own work.
Right Arrow keys on your keyboard.)
While it’s obvious that most of us aren’t creating type treat-
ments for major feature films, by engaging our imagination we
can use existing examples to help us explore how we might create
a certain effect and perhaps come up with a new technique alto-
gether. It’s been proven that you tend to be more creative when
faced with a challenge, so start with something you’ve seen. No,
don’t steal, but rather use it as a springboard from which to sort
out your own technique and style.

STEP TWO: Control-click (PC: Right-click) on the HUMAN text layer STEP FIVE: Double-click directly on the name of the first layer that
in the Layers panel and select Create Work Path from the menu. This you just created in Step Four (Layer 1) and rename it “Human 1.”
will create a vector path for the text. In the Paths panel, double-click Similarly, rename Layer 2 “Machine 1.” Now drag these two layers
on the Work Path, change its name to “Human” in the Save Path to the Create a New Layer icon to duplicate them. Click the Eye
dialog, and click OK. Repeat this step for the MACHINE text layer. icon for these new layers to hide them for now. We’ll come back
You should have two path layers in the Paths panel. to them later.
Select the Human path layer Activate the Rulers by pressing Command-R (PC: Ctrl-R), click
in the Paths panel, grab the Path the Human 1 layer in the Layers panel to make it the active layer,
Selection tool (A), and select all then drag a couple of vertical guides from the ruler and place them
the paths that create the letters at each side of the text. They should snap right to the edge.
on the canvas. Click the Eye
icon next to the HUMAN and
MACHINE layers in the Layers
panel to hide the original text.
STEP SIX: With the Human 1 layer still active, click the Add a Layer
Style icon (ƒx) at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Stroke.
Set the Size to 3 and the Position to Inside. Down in the Fill Type
STEP THREE: Go under the Edit menu to Transform Path and choose
area, choose Gradient from the drop-down menu. Click on the
Warp. In the Options Bar, choose Bulge from the Warp drop-down
gradient preview, choose the Copper preset gradient in the Gradi-
menu. Set the Bend to –15 and the Vertical Distortion setting to 10%
ent Editor dialog, and click
(you may have to experiment with these settings depending on the
OK. Back in the Layer Style
size of your text and resolution of your document). Then press Enter
dialog, set the angle to 140˚.
twice to commit the transforma-
Click OK. This gradient will
tion. Repeat this step for the other
play an important role when
word in the title. You may need to
we make this look 3D.
do some additional scaling of the
text after you apply the warp to
both paths (just select the letters
with the Path Selection tool and
press Command-T [PC: Ctrl-T]).
STEP SEVEN: We need to rasterize this effect by merging it with an

empty layer, so create a new layer and drag it under the Human 1
layer. Reselect the Human 1 layer and press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E)
to merge it down into the empty layer. This will render the layer style
to the text (you’ll need to rename the
merged layers to “Human 1” again).
Then go under the Image menu to
STEP FOUR: In the Layers panel, click the Create a New Layer icon,
Adjustments and select Desaturate.
and then Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) on the Human path layer
in the Paths panel to create a selection. Click the Foreground color
swatch at the bottom of the Toolbox, pick a dark gray color in the
Color Picker, and click OK. Then, press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-
Backspace) to fill your selection with the Foreground color. Press
Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.
Repeat this step for the Machine path and press Command-D
(PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect.

When done, you should
have a result similar to
what you see here with
each word on its own
layer. (Use the Move
tool [V] to reposition
the layers if needed.)
34

35
STEP EIGHT: Now press Command-T (PC: Ctrl-T) to invoke Free STEP ELEVEN: Okay, now that the 3D part is done, let’s finish the
Transform. Grab the center target point, hold down the Shift key, and face of the text. Remember those duplicate layers we created? Go
drag it straight down to the bottom of the canvas. This will be ahead and activate the Human 1 copy layer and make it visible.
the vanishing point for the 3D effect. Go into the Options Bar Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) the layer thumbnail to select that
and click the chain icon to lock the proportions, then enter 90% layer. Set the Foreground color to R:238, G:137, B:5; click OK; and
for the Width; the Height should change accordingly. The graphic set the Background color to white. Using the Gradient tool (G), select
will scale down toward the center target. Press Enter twice to the Foreground to Background gradient in the Gradient Picker
commit the transformation. in the Options Bar, and then Shift-click-and-drag from the bottom
of the word to the top, giving it a gradient of orange to white. Press
Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect. Click on the Human 1 layer in
the Layers panel to make it active and
select Hue/Saturation in the Adjust-
ments panel. Click on the Colorize
checkbox and set the Hue to 220 and
the Saturation to 50. This will apply a
blue tint to the 3D layer.
STEP NINE: Now load this layer as a selection by holding down

the Command key (PC: Ctrl key) and clicking on the layer preview
thumbnail for Human 1 in the Layers panel. Press Option-Command-T
(PC: Alt-Ctrl-T) to start a step-and-repeat move (keeping it selected
will ensure the repeated items stay on one layer). Drag the center
target point to the bottom of the canvas again, just like before. Go
STEP TWELVE: Click back on the Human 1 copy layer to make it active,
into the Options Bar and again click on the chain icon to lock the pro-
then double-click on the layer to open the Layer Style dialog and
portions, and set the Width
choose Bevel and Emboss. Feel free to experiment with these settings
to 100.4%; the Height will
to see how they look but the set-
set automatically. (Yes, this
tings shown here work pretty well
is a small amount but it’s
for what we’re after. (Note: The
important for getting the
Gloss Contour has been changed
3D look in the next step.)
to the Half Round preset and Use
Press Enter twice to commit
Global Light was turned off. Plus,
the transformation.
the Highlight Mode color has
been changed to yellow and set
to Linear Burn and the Shadow
Mode color has been changed
STEP TEN: Press Shift-Option-Command-T (PC: Shift-Alt-Ctrl-T)
to orange.) Don’t click OK yet.
over and over until the edge of the graphic once again touches
the guides. What you’ll get is a cool 3D effect that’s enhanced
with the addition of the gradient stroke we applied in Step Six.
Pretty cool, huh? Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to deselect and
then repeat Steps Six through Ten for the Machine 1 layer (you
may need to reposition the guides to the left and right edge of STEP THIRTEEN: Activate Pattern Overlay in the list of Styles on
the word first). Make sure to create a duplicate layer of any other the left. Click the Pattern thumbnail preview to open the Pattern
layer to which you want to apply this effect. Picker and choose the Clouds pattern. (Note: If you don’t see the
Clouds pattern, click the flyout menu in the Pattern Picker, choose
Texture Fill at the very bottom of the menu, and click Append in
the resulting dialog.) Then change the Blend Mode to Color Burn.
Don’t click OK yet.

STEP FOURTEEN: Now activate Satin in the list of Styles on the left. STEP SEVENTEEN: Double-click on
Change the Blend Mode to Normal and the color from black to white. the Machine 1 copy layer to open
Set the Opacity to 100%, the Angle to 53˚, the Distance to 14 px, the Layer Style dialog and choose
and the Size to 10 px. Change the Contour to Ring and uncheck the Bevel and Emboss. Again, feel free
Invert box. The last Layer Style you’ll turn to experiment with these settings or
on is Stroke. Set the Size to 5 and the Posi- use the settings shown here. (Note:
tion to Inside. Change the Blend Mode to Use Global Light was turned off.)
Overlay and the Opacity to 75%. Click OK. Don’t click OK yet.
Activate the Texture option just

under Bevel and Emboss in the list
of Styles on the left. Click on the Pattern preview to open the Pattern
Picker, locate the pattern you just defined (it should be the last one
in the list), and set the Depth to about 25%. You can also reposition
the pattern by moving the style window to the side and clicking
inside the image and dragging; this allows you to move it around to
where you like. The final layer style to activate is Satin. Set the Blend
Mode to Darken, the Opacity to 51%, the Angle to 23˚, the Distance
to 15 px, and the Size to 13 px. Change the Contour to Linear and
STEP FIFTEEN: Select the Machine 1 copy layer and make it visible. uncheck the Invert box. When done, click OK.
Command-click (PC: Ctrl-click) the layer thumbnail to select that
layer. Set the Foreground color to green (R:57, G:181, B:74), click
OK, press Option-Delete (PC: Alt-Backspace) to fill the layer with
that color, and deselect.
Now drag the Hue/Satura-
tion layer that you created in
Step Eleven to the Create a
New Layer icon at the bottom
of the Layers panel to dupli-
cate it. Drag this duplicate
adjustment layer above the
Machine 1 layer. Hold the
Option key (PC: Alt key)
and click between the two
layers to clip the Hue/Satura-
tion layer to the Machine 1
layer. This will add the blue
shade to the 3D edge of the
MACHINE text.
STEP SIXTEEN: Now we need to create a pattern to use for the

MACHINE text. Press D to set your Foreground/Background colors to
their default black/white. Then create a new layer, fill it with white, and
drag it to the top of the layer stack in the Layers panel. Using a small,
hard-edged brush (B), click a point on the canvas and then Shift-click a
second point to draw a straight brush line. Brush up and down, left to
right, and at various angles all over the canvas. Also change the brush As you can see, we’ve achieved something very close to the original,
size periodically to vary the using some relatively simple techniques right here in Photoshop.
width of the strokes. Once The most exciting part is that I learned some really cool things that
done, go under the Edit I might not have ever discovered if I hadn’t challenged myself to re-
menu and choose Define create an existing logo. What I’ve gained are some new techniques
Pattern. Name your pattern that I can use for whatever projects may come up in the future. So
and click OK. You can either remember, when you’re at the movies, or just about anywhere, pay
hide the pattern layer or close attention to the world of ideas that surround you. They’re out
throw it away. there; you just have to pay attention.
36 [ Corey Barker is an Education and Curriculum Developer for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. His expertise in Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator has earned
him numerous awards in illustration, graphic design, and photography. ]
BY NANCY MASSÉ
Are you a Tweep? Do you belong to the Diggnation or do you prefer to reside in
Plurkistan? Do you know the difference between a Poke and a SuperPoke? Further-
more, do you care whether or not you are linked to a LION?
If any of the above statements make sense to you, congratu-
lations, you’re already at least somewhat familiar with
the world of social media (SocMed), an approach
to Web-based communication that has seeped
into just about every facet of the Internet. These
days, you pretty much can’t go online without being
presented with the opportunity to connect, comment,
friend, link, or share the coolest, most awesome
bits of yourself to the world in a manner that goes way
beyond a standard Web forum or BBS.
Images: iStockphoto.com
Layout Design: Taffy Orlowski
38

39
ut the advent of the SocMed movement has also given So what’s the purpose of this article? Originally, I wanted to give an
rise to a new age of social networking (SocNet) in overview of, and insight into, some of the more popular SocNets out
which transparency is the norm. This new drive for there but as time went on, I decided to focus my efforts on Twitter. The
“realism” online has also opened the doors for indi- goal is to give you my perception on what has worked and what hasn’t
viduals to market themselves like never before. Thanks in the past to help you become “experts” in your own right and save
to blogs and the explosion in popularity of sites such as Twitter, you the trouble of making the mistakes that I and millions of others
Facebook, and LinkedIn, just about anyone can make a name for have already made.
themselves, including the creative set. The question is, “Is SocMed
right for you?” And if so, how does one go about harnessing the
power and influence that it can bring without falling into the nonpro- First thing’s first: If you’re considering using Twitter as a way to
ductive pit of “time suck”? promote your skill sets or your business, before you even start, you
How indeed? I have to admit, when I was first approached to need to ask yourself, “What are my objectives?” Start at the very
write this article, I thought it would be a piece of cake, but social beginning with your UserName. This is how people will come to
media changes at the speed of now. Everything I’d planned to know you from here on out. Are you going to use your real name or
write about is now old news and the thought of giving a “Social your business name? Maybe a pop culture reference or something
Media 101” lesson left me curled up in the corner in a fetal posi- that defines you? No matter your choice, give it some thought first.
tion because social media, in all its forms, is probably the hottest (Hindsight: “NAPP” [the National Association of Photoshop Profes-
topic on the Web these days. There are thousands, if not millions sionals] was taken when I started the “NAPP_News” Twitter account.
of blog posts and articles on that subject, each with its own merits If I could go back, I’d scrap the underscore. It caused a little confu-
and pitfalls, which brings me to my next hurdle… sion at the beginning.)
Now, this is going to be old news for some of you but if you
really want to tell the world more than what you ate for lunch, you
Along with the popularity of SocMed comes a wave of “social need to make yourself “follow-worthy” before you try to engage in
media experts.” Everywhere you look, there’s a social media expert building your network. I get quite a few follow requests and I actu-
dying to share his or her “secrets” to growing a network on Twitter, ally go through every single one and click on the requester’s Twitter
making money off Facebook, or getting a job through LinkedIn—of page. I try to follow back every active and interested designer, photog-
course, you usually need to buy their ebook, DVD, or register for an rapher, or Photoshop user who follows me on Twitter to keep the
e-seminar in order to “unlock” their secrets, but I’m here to tell you communication channels wide open (only mutual follows can DM
that there really is no mystery behind social media. each other). (See “Twictionary” on page 41 for a definition of DM
For the record, I am not a social media expert, nor would I ever or any other Twitter term that you find unfamiliar in this article.)
claim to be. I’m just a person who latched onto the concept early. So how can you tell if a new follower is active and interested
(Confession: It started with MySpace back in ’04 and grew from there.) (i.e., follow-worthy)? I can’t, but there are many clues to look for. If
I became fascinated with end-user, content-driven sites and how you want to make a good Twitter impression, here are some tips
people were sharing the latest information. Suddenly, you didn’t need that I’ve gleaned from observations made over the last year from
to work at the world’s top PR firm to disseminate information; you just thousands of follow requests that I’ve received.
needed to know where to find the cool stuff that no one else in your
1. Put your house in order first—Just like networking in real life,
corner of the “webbyverse” could find, and then spread it out to an
you get only one chance to make a first impression. Furthermore,
ever-growing network of people in an almost Ponzi-like fashion.
when it comes to social networking, the amount of time you have
I joined LinkedIn and then Twitter roughly a year after each one
to make that first impression lasts about two to five seconds. Make
launched. By being immersed in it at relatively early stages, my under-
sure the following points are done well before you start trying to
standing of the concepts of social networking and communicating via
expand your network.
these new channels grew as the sites grew.
Today, I probably have an account on just about every major • Create an avatar. Leaving the default Twitter avatar up tells the
social network there is under various pseudonyms—all just part of my world that you either have no idea what you’re doing or you’re
personal fascination with SocMed as a tool for communication. Heck, spam. While the former is definitely forgivable, the latter will hurt
I even have my own social network about social networks. you. Note: British blogger, Malcom Coles, wrote an excellent post
It wasn’t until I joined Kelby Media Group in July of 2008 that in April about things to consider when creating a Twitter avatar.
I got the chance to put my own ideas into action on how to harness Find it on www.malcolmcoles.co.uk.
SocMed for marketing, brand-building, and customer service, and so • Create a background or at least change the default background.
far, I’d have to say that the results have been pretty successful. What goes for the avatar goes double for the background. Twitter

backgrounds have become more popular lately, especially since • Don’t feel as if you have to follow everyone back either. I use the crite-
the social media crowd realized that they were a great way to tell ria I listed under “Put your house in order first” on page 39 to decide
people even more about you. As a designer or a photographer, whether or not to follow people back. You may have your own.
you know how important that is. Think of your Twitter background • Don’t be afraid to “@” reply. Set up a search (if you use TweetDeck
as your own personal billboard and wow your potential network [www.tweetdeck.com], a browser for organizing tweets) for keywords
with your skill sets! that interest you. If someone asks a question or tweets something
• Fill in the About Me section and add a Web link. The more that interests you, answer them. Chances are, they’ll follow you
people know about you, the better. because you actually took the time to get involved.
• Upload your email address book. Start building your network by • Use Web tools such as Less Friends (http://lessfriends.com) to even
using the one you already have. Don’t forget to repeat this process up your following-to-follower ratio. Follow notices come via email.
every few months, as more people are discovering Twitter every day. They can get lost. It’s good to check periodically to see if there are
• Say something. Even if you have no followers, an empty timeline people you want to follow back, or to cut some of the people you
means you have nothing to say, and who wants to follow someone follow loosely.
with nothing to say? This is a great time to get used to updating • Add your profile to sites such as Twellow and WeFollow.
to Twitter and figuring out if this is something you’ll want to do on • If you have the means, and a following of 400–500 people, hold a
a regular basis. Plus, you can get all the “Trying Twitter out for the contest or giveaway. It’s a great way to boost your following, but it’s
first time—not sure if I like it yet” tweets out of the way. still up to you to keep them.
• Fill up your timeline. Take a few days to tweet some interest- • Be patient. Building and sustaining a solid network takes time—unless
ing posts, links, and observations that span over time. Don’t you’re like Drobo. By giving away a DroboPro, they gained more than
just fill it all up at once (the time stamp will give you away). 4,000 interested followers in one day. Yup. They did in one day what
Plus, you can bury those, “Trying Twitter out for the first time…” took me 10 months to do.
tweets. They’re like lunch tweets. Who cares? • Make your Twitter presence known. Add a link to your Twitter page
or a Twidget to your blog, website, email signature, other social sites
2. Make your profile public—I like the fact that Twitter allows people such as Facebook, and yes, your business card.
to keep their profiles private; however, it’s a very rare occasion that • Don’t obsess. It really doesn’t matter if you have 10 or 10,000 followers.
I’ll send a follow request to someone with a private profile. This is What matters is that you add value to whatever field you’re in. Believe
simply because I figure that the person has made their profile private me, if people like what you’re putting out there, they’ll find you.
for a reason. If you intend to use Twitter as something other than
keeping in touch with friends and family (or if you cater to a special
niche market), I strongly suggest that you make your profile public. There’s no easy way to say this but if you get involved in SocMed,
And, if you do choose to keep it private, there will be no “Twhin- you’ll face falling into the dreaded time-suck trap. Building a network
ing” over the fact that you have no followers! takes time and you’ll learn rather quickly whether or not it’s something
that you want to do. Twitter is just like licorice: you either really, really
3. As you go, create balance—If you can, try to create a balanced-look-
like it or you don’t. That’s all there is to it. Building a SocMed presence
ing timeline. When I say “balanced,” I’m referring to your content.
is essentially free but time is money, and the time you spend building
Look at your timeline objectively. Is it filled with nothing but TwitPic
your network does eat into time that could be spent doing your work.
links with no captions, RTs, or “@” replies? If that’s the case, you may
Want to avoid the time suck? Here are a couple of suggestions:
want to rethink your approach. A well-rounded, savvy Tweep has a
balance of links, personal observations (if you’re representing yourself • Once you’ve decided if SocMed is right for you, visit www.TweetStats
and not a group or business), “@” replies, original content, and RTs. .com and enter your UserName. TweetStats will search through your
You want new potential followers to be able to take a quick glance at tweets and graph them for you so you know what time of the day
your timeline and get a sense of who you are, what interests you, and and what days of the week you tweet the most. Use this to plan your
how you use Twitter. The savvier you are about using the tool, the “Twitter Breaks.”
better impression you’ll make. • If you freelance or work from home, get an egg timer—seriously!
Take ten-minute breaks in your day to check your SocMed sites,
answer “@” replies, update your Facebook, etc. When that bell
One of the biggest mistakes you can make when building your network rings, get back to work.
is to follow hundreds or thousands of people at once. It makes you look • Use sites such as http://Ping.FM, www.FriendFeed.com, or
like a spammer when the ratio of people you’re following is much higher www.HootSuite.com, to send your updates if you use more than
than the people who are following you, and you may even get flagged one SocMed site.
as a potential spammer. It screams, “I don’t know what I’m doing,” • TweetDeck, TweetDeck, TweetDeck. I don’t know how
which destroys your credibility as someone follow-worthy. Here are I ever tweeted without it!
some tips that I used to grow my network:
• Try to keep your following-to-follower ratio close to 2:1 when you start.
Want to get more insights on using Twitter? Visit
• Search for peers or folks with like-minded interests using sites such as
www.layersmagazine.com/social-media-twitter.html
www.Twellow.com or http://WeFollow.com.
for a roundtable discussion between NAPP_News and a few of her
• Follow only 10–20 people at a time.
fellow Tweeps. We’ve also included a list of helpful links to some of the
• Give people time to follow you back. People have lives just like you.
best TwitterTools on the Web, plus a list of common TwitterTypes.
Don’t take the lack of an instant response as a slight.
40

What follows are a few definitions
for some common terms used in
the Twitterverse.
“@” reply: Placing the “@” symbol in front of any
Twitter UserName puts it in the user’s “reply”
column and makes it easy for them to find it. (Note: OH: Overheard
Twitter recently changed the name of the Reply tab
to @[your UserName], so now it shows all tweets RT: Stands for ReTweet—a method of spread-
where your UserName appears. It no longer has to be ing someone else’s tweets and citing the source.
at the beginning of a tweet for it to work.) Note: Some people like to use “(via @UserName)”
instead of RT. I like RT because it uses fewer characters.
DM: Direct Message. Anyone you follow can DM
you without you following him or her back; however, SocMed: Social media
you can’t DM someone who isn’t following you—
get it? SocNet: Social networks
FailWhale: A term for when Twitter goes down due THX: Thanks
to a high volume of traffic. Coined for the picture of a
cartoon whale that appears when this happens. Timeline: The window in which all the tweets
from the people in your network appear. Your
#FollowFriday: A TweetMeme that happens every personal timeline can be viewed by clicking on
Friday. Users tweet the names of other users they think your profile page.
everyone should follow too. Works great when they
actually tell you why they think you should follow them. TW+ just about anything: An action taking place
within the Twitterverse. (e.g., Twhining = whining
FTW: For the win! on Twitter).
Hashtag: A keyword with an # in front of it (e.g., Tweeps: Twitter users (a.k.a. Tweeple). See defini-
#PSW = Photoshop World). Hashtags add context to tion for “TW+ just about anything.”
tweets and make entire conversations searchable.
TweetMeme: Any viral social action that happens
IMHO: In my humble opinion on Twitter (e.g., #FollowFriday).
IRL: In real life TweetUp: A meet-up organized via Twitter
JK: Just kidding Twitterverse: Everything that has to do with Twitter
Lunch: Something you should never ever tweet Twoosh: A tweet that’s exactly 140 characters
about unless you’re having it with someone long. Made popular in the earlier days of Twitter by
famous—like Ghandi. @Tweet140.
NSFW: Not safe for work YW: You’re welcome

as if a bunch of people are talking but nobody is listening. It can feel
One of the things I love (and sometimes loathe) about Twitter like that sometimes, too.
is how it’s changing the way we communicate. On the plus But the bottom line is this: Twitter is just a tool for communicating.
side, it’s turning thousands of people into savvy communicators. It’s only what you make of it, and the opportunity does exist for you
My motto: If it can’t be said in 140 characters, it can’t be said. to make something of it. My best advice is to just jump in and swim.
Furthermore, I can’t tell you how many news stories I heard on Twitter offers an excellent opportunity to create one-to-one connec-
Twitter first before they ever made their way near traditional tions if you’re willing to make the commitment. And only you will be
media outlets. On the down side, it can look to a newcomer able to determine if the effort is worth your time.
In March, Ashton Kutcher challenged CNN to see who

could reach a million followers first. Apparently, Ashton won.
WTH? Anyone feel like starting an #UNfollowFriday? JK
Want to read more about anything and everything

Social Media? Go to www.Mashable.com.
• You put an “@” symbol in front of everyone’s name in

everything from blog comments to emails.
• You haven’t updated your blog in ages.
• You have updated your blog—with posts about Twitter.
• You quell the urge to panic when you see the FailWhale.
• You can’t say it in 140 characters, so it ain’t worth saying! Twitter has become a media darling, thanks in part to our Presi-
• Every event that takes place in your life is quickly followed dent and his brilliant leveraging of Twitter during his campaign,
by the thought, “Was that Tweetworthy?” and it’s now becoming an integrated arm of our standard media
• Nonsensical word MashUps with capitalizations, but no outlets. Don’t believe me? Turn on CNN—or better yet, just
spaces, makes perfect sense to you. follow @CNNbrk.
• U cnstntly try 2 make sentnces shrtr & shrtr so u can say
mor w/less rm.
• You absentmindedly add #Hashtags to any given sentence
to help give it #context.
• Think AutoDMs are the devil.
Launched in 2006, Twitter got a nice boost in 2007 thanks to Leo Laporte and
the interactive portion of the South by Southwest festival (anyone remember “Sarah-
Gate”?). Events such as the 2008 Macworld keynote have actually been blamed for causing
the site to go down due to the volume of traffic. By the end of 2008, Twitter had between four
and five million users and that number is still growing. February ’09 heralded a 1,382% year-
over-year growth, and in March 2009 alone, Twitter grew its user base by 78%. [Sources:
HubSpot and Nielsen Online]
Nancy Massé is the marketing copywriter and “social media ninja” for Kelby Media Group. She’s all over the SocMed universe under
various noms de plume but prefers tweeting as @NAPP_News. To see her very first published piece, Google “MyFirstEpicNovel.” Nancy
promises to never, ever tweet about what she had for lunch.
42

JONAS BERGSTRAND
[DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY TUTORIAL]

S E Á N { } D U G G A N
there and back again: a photograph’s tale

I recently returned from a trip to Hawaii with lots of new photos. In this article, I’ll cover how to integrate the images
and Lightroom catalog information from a trip or a location shoot into your main Lightroom catalog back home.
We’ll also take a look at synchronizing Develop settings, launching a panorama merge from Lightroom, and essen-
tial “round-tripping” techniques for moving files between Lightroom and Photoshop.
Location ry storage driv
ma
back-up drives Pri e
ry storage driv
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Location ma
back-up drives Pri e
s
Primary
Lightroom
catalog Location Primary
Lightroom catalog Lightroom
catalog
[CATALOG TRAVEL STRATEGIES, METHOD 1] [CATALOG TRAVEL STRATEGIES, METHOD 2]

There are two ways to work with your images while you’re traveling If your laptop is used only for travel and isn’t your primary imaging
and I’ll cover both in this article. First, if your laptop is your main computer, then an easy way to keep track of your images while
computer, you can add any new images you take on your trip to you’re traveling (or on a location shoot) is to create a new cata-
your main Lightroom catalog. Then once you return home, all you log just for that trip (File>New Catalog). Once you return home,
need to do is transfer the image files to the primary hard drive where this separate catalog can be integrated into your main Lightroom
your image archive is stored (more on that below). To ensure that catalog, and in addition to your images, any work you’ve done in
your files are protected when you’re on the road, you should have Lightroom, such as virtual copies, collections, ratings, keywords,
at least two copies on separate hard drives. Develop module settings, etc., will be preserved.
[If you’d like to download the images used in this tutorial to practice these techniques, visit www.layersmagazine.com and navigate to the Magazine section. All files are for personal use only.]
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[MOVE FOLDERS USING THE LIBRARY MODULE] [UPDATE FOLDER LOCATIONS]
If you’ve used Method 1 as described above, once you return home If you choose to move the image folders outside Lightroom, or have
you need to move the images from the external hard drive to the inadvertently done so, then you’ll see a question mark next to those
primary drive where your image archive is stored. The easiest way to folders, as well as on the thumbnails of the images in that folder.
do this so that Lightroom sees the move and keeps track of where This means that Lightroom can’t locate the folder. Control-click
your images are is to move them within the Library module. To do (PC: Right-click) on the folder icon and choose Find Missing Folder
this, open the Folders section in the left Panels area of the Library to reestablish the link between the catalog and the folder. In the
module and drag the folders to the correct location on the primary subsequent dialog, navigate to the actual location for the folder,
storage drive. You can only move one folder at a time. highlight it, and click Choose.
[IMPORT NEW CATALOG INTO MAIN CATALOG] [CHOOSE LOCATION FOR CATALOG IMPORT]
If you’ve used Method 2 as described above, and have created a In the File Handling section of the Import from Catalog dialog,
separate catalog for all of the photos you created while on your choose Add New Photos to Catalog without Moving if you’ve
trip, then you can import this catalog into your main catalog. From already moved the image folders from the travel hard drive to
the File menu, choose Import from Catalog. Navigate to the loca- the primary storage drive (as described in Step 3). If you want
tion of your Lightroom catalogs, select the one from your trip or Lightroom to move the images for you, choose Copy New Photos
location shoot, and click Choose. to a New Location and Import. Click Choose to specify the folder
where you want the photos copied (in this example, this is my 2009
folder). Click Import and Lightroom will create a copy of the folder
that the images are currently in.

[MAKE TIME ZONE ADJUSTMENT] [ROUND-TRIPPING WITH PHOTOSHOP]
I rarely remember to change the date in my camera to the local Although you can use Lightroom to apply a lot of adjustments
time zone when I’m traveling, and if I do, then I usually forget to to your images, for some tasks you still have to use Photoshop.
change it back to my home time zone when I return. Fortunately, To make this transition easier, Lightroom provides several menu
Lightroom has a fix for this. In the Library module, open a folder of commands that lead to specific Photoshop features. In the rest of
images that need a time zone adjustment. Choose Edit>Select All, this tutorial, I’ll cover a scenario for using Lightroom to launch a
and then Metadata>Edit Capture Time. Select the Shift By a Set panorama process and “round-tripping” the files from Lightroom
Number of Hours (Time Zone Adjust) option, and in the New Time to Photoshop and back again.
drop-down menu, select the correct time difference adjustment.
Before sync
After sync
[PANORAMA PREFLIGHT: GLOBAL ADJUSTMENTS] [PANORAMA PREFLIGHT: SYNC SETTINGS]

Several of the images from my Hawaii trip were photographed specifi- Once the adjustments have been applied to one of the panorama
cally to make panoramas. Before the panorama is assembled, how- source images, they can be applied to others in the series if the
ever, global (overall) adjustments are needed. For this image of the exposure of the different shots is similar, as was the case for the
view taken from Makapu’u Point looking up Oahu’s windward coast, two files in this Hawaii panorama. With the corrected image
the file was brightened with the Exposure slider, Clarity and Vibrance thumbnail selected in the Develop module, Command-click (PC:
were increased, contrast was boosted with a Tone Curve, and changes Ctrl-click) on the second image of the panorama series to add it
were made to the Luminance section of the HSL controls to brighten to the selection, then click the Sync button on the lower right. In
the foliage colors and darken the blues. (Note: You can download the the Synchronize Settings dialog, check all the settings that apply
DNGs from www.layersmagazine.com to follow along. Only one of the (Local Adjustments settings such as the Brush should probably be
images has been adjusted as described above.) unchecked), and click Synchronize.
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Drag with Ruler tool along tilted horizon.
Before
After
[LIGHTROOM TO PHOTOSHOP: MERGE TO PANO] [STRAIGHTEN HORIZON WITH RULER TOOL]

With the source thumbnails for the panorama selected, choose Photo> Once Photomerge has created the panorama, you can decide if
Edit In>Merge to Panorama in Photoshop. When the Photomerge you want to keep it or return to Lightroom for further fine-tuning of
dialog appears you can choose the type of layout for the merge. If the RAW files. In this image, the horizon isn’t straight. To fix it, use
you’re unsure, leave it set to Auto. For scenes with obvious near-to-far the Ruler tool in Photoshop (grouped with the Eyedropper) and
relationships, Perspective works best, and for landscape panoramas draw a line along the tilted horizon. Then choose Image>Image
such as this example, I usually choose Cylindrical. Make sure that Rotation>Arbitrary. The angle measured by the Ruler tool is already
Blend Images Together is selected. Click OK to create the panorama. entered in the Rotate Canvas dialog, along with the correct direction
(Note: Panoramas can also be launched from Bridge by selecting the needed to create a level horizon. Click OK to apply the correction.
thumbnails and choosing Tools>Photoshop>Photomerge.)
Layer mask
Before
After
[APPLY NONDESTRUCTIVE CROPPING] [APPLY ADJUSTMENT LAYERS]

If you want the image shape to be more of a standard rectangle, the Overall, I was pleased with the way the image looked, but it still
next step is to crop the panorama. Use the Crop tool (C) to define a needs some tonal fine-tuning in Photoshop. Select Curves in the
rectangular crop box around the image, then click the Cropped Area: Adjustments panel and set the layer blend mode in the Layers
Hide radio button in the Options Bar, and press Return (PC: Enter). panel to Screen without making any changes to the curve. In the
This will allow you to undo the crop at a later time if you decide to Masks panel, click the Invert button to change the Curves layer
go with the original “organic” Photomerge edges. (This only works mask from white to black. Then use the Brush tool (B) and paint
if your image has layers with no Background and isn’t resized.) To with white at 30% Opacity over the lighter areas of the mountain.
restore the hidden cropped areas, choose Image>Reveal All. At this point, Save and Close the file and return to Lightroom.

[ADD PANORAMA KEYWORDS] [BRING THE PSD FILE BACK TO PHOTOSHOP]
Since this image and the two original files that created it are either The layered PSD file is now a part of your Lightroom catalog. At
a panorama or panorama components, let’s add the keyword “pan- this point you can apply further edits in Lightroom, or reopen the
orama” to these files, as well as any other files in this folder that current file into Photoshop and work on it there. To do this, select
qualify as pano source images. This makes it much easier to find the thumbnail of the PSD file and choose Photo>Edit In>Edit in
potential panorama images in your catalog in the future. To do this, Photoshop CS4 (you can also get this option by Control-clicking
find the Keywording panel in the right Panels area of the Library [PC: Right-clicking] on the image or thumbnail). A dialog will appear
module and enter the keyword “panorama.” giving you three options of what data will be brought into Photo-
shop. Let’s take a closer look at these choices.
Double-click Smart
Object thumbnail
to edit RAW settings
in Camera Raw.
[EDIT IN PHOTOSHOP OPTIONS] [EDIT AS SMART OBJECT]

Edit a Copy with Lightroom Adjustments: Lightroom edits you have A fourth option appears in the Photo>Edit In menu: Open as Smart
made to the PSD file will be applied to a flattened copy (i.e., no Object in Photoshop. This works well for RAW files where you want
Photoshop layers) and opened into Photoshop. Edit a Copy: Does to embed the original RAW file within a layered PSD file. Once the
what it promises—opens a copy of the file into Photoshop with all file is open in Photoshop, you can double-click on the Smart Object
layers preserved (but no Lightroom adjustments are visible). This is layer thumbnail to open the Camera Raw dialog. But for a file that
useful if you want to take the file in a different direction than the origi- already has layers, it doesn’t open an embedded file with all of the
nal PSD file. Edit Original: Preserves all the layers but no Lightroom layers preserved, which is how this would function if you made a group
adjustments are visible. This last option is what I use most of the time. of layers into a smart object in Photoshop.
48
[ Seán Duggan is co-author of The Creative Digital Darkroom and Photoshop Artistry. He teaches regular workshops on Photoshop and Lightroom for photographers. Sign up for his free
digital darkroom newsletter at his website, www.seanduggan.com. ]
ALL IMAGES BY SEÁN DUGGAN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

JONAS BERGSTRAND
[PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL]
D A V E { } C R O S S
a picture’s worth a thousand words

I love Photoshop techniques that offer all kinds of possibilities for experimentation—and the following tutorial
is a perfect example of one of those techniques. In this issue, we’re going to take a portrait and replace the
person’s image with text (think 2009 Grammy posters).
©ISTOCKPHOTO/JOAN VINCENT
[CHOOSE YOUR PHOTO] [CREATE VARIOUS TEXT BRUSHES]

Pick a portrait that offers good contrast—a photo that’s very dra- Create a new document (File>New) in a size that’s smaller than
matic and dark probably won’t work as well. I’ve had the best suc- your photo: the specifics don’t really matter. Press D to set the
cess with straight-on head and shoulder shots, but again, feel free Foreground color to black. Use the Type tool (T) to type several
to experiment with all types of photos. For the best results, choose different words in various fonts and sizes (in this case we used
a photo that has a light background (or select the background a person’s name). One at a time, draw a selection around each
around the person and make it lighter). word with the Rectangular Marquee tool (M), and from the Edit
menu, choose Define Brush Preset. Name each brush in the
Brush Name dialog and click OK.
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51
[SELECT THE SHADOWS AND MAKE A LAYER] [SELECT THE MIDTONES AND MAKE A LAYER]
Switch back to the photograph. From the Select menu, choose Color Go back to the Select menu and choose Color Range again.
Range. From the Select drop-down menu in the Color Range dialog, From the Select drop-down menu in the Color Range dialog,
choose Shadows and click OK. (In our example, nothing in the back- choose Midtones and click OK. If (as in this example) some
ground was selected. If parts of the background are selected in your of the background is selected, use the Lasso tool (L) with the
photo, see the next step for removing those selected areas.) Option key (PC: Alt key) held down to circle the areas you don’t
Press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the selected pixels onto a want selected. Then, press Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to copy the
new layer. Click back on the Background layer in the Layers panel. selected pixels onto a new layer.
[FILL THE LAYERS WITH BLACK AND GRAY] [FINE-TUNE THE RESULTS AND MERGE DOWN]
Click the Eye icon next to the Background layer in the Layers panel If necessary, show the original Background (click where the Eye
to hide that layer from view. Click on the midtones layer and from icon used to be) and use the Brush tool (B) to paint with black on
the Edit menu choose Fill. Use 50% Gray, check the Preserve Trans- the shadow layer, gray on the midtones layer, or use the Eraser
parency box, and click OK. Then, activate the shadow layer and use tool (E) to completely remove areas. (Note: For gray, click on the
the Fill command again, except this time use Black with Preserve Foreground color swatch, enter R:128, G:128, and B:128 in the
Transparency checked. You should have a very basic portrait made Color Picker, and click OK.) In this example, we added a little more
from black and 50% gray. definition to the ears by painting with gray on the midtones layer.
Once you’re satisfied, click on the top layer (the shadow layer) and
press Command-E (PC: Ctrl-E) to merge it with the midtones layer.

[ADJUST BRUSH SETTINGS AND PAINT TEXT] [COPY THE PORTRAIT]
Click the Create a New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel. Create a new layer and drag it above the black-and-gray portrait
Press D to set your default colors. Choose one of your custom brushes layer. Press Command-Delete (PC: Ctrl-Backspace) to fill it with
from the Brush Picker in the Options Bar, and in the Brushes panel white. This will provide a white background behind our image. Hide
(Window>Brushes), click on the words “Brush Tip Shape.” Adjust the all the layers except the black-and-gray portrait layer, and then click
Spacing so there’s space between each word. Under Shape Dynamics, on that layer to make it active. Press Command-A (PC: Ctrl-A) to
vary the size and rotation of the brush. As you paint on the new layer, Select All and then Command-C (PC: Ctrl-C) to Copy.
experiment with the Shape Dynamics. Repeat with your other custom
brushes. For now, just get some “text paint” on the layer—we’ll con-
tinue painting in a moment.
[PASTE INTO A LAYER MASK] [CONTINUE PAINTING, VARYING BRUSHES]

Show all layers and activate the layer with the painted words. Activate the painted text layer (not the mask) by clicking on the layer
Click on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the Layers thumbnail, and continue painting using the different custom brushes
panel to add a layer mask. Hold down Option (PC: Alt) and click you created. You can also continue to experiment with the brush
on the layer mask thumbnail (this will hide the painted text and settings for Size, Spacing, and Shape Dynamics. (Although you don’t
show just the mask). Press Command-V (PC: Ctrl-V) to paste the need a pressure-sensitive pen for this technique, it sure helps!)
copied pixels onto the mask. Press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to
Deselect. Press Command-I (PC: Ctrl-I) to Invert the mask (your
mask should look like a negative of the black-and-gray pixel
image that you pasted).
continued on p. 54
52

[ADD A LAYER WITH RANDOM TEXT] [PAINT ON THE MASK IF NECESSARY]
The painted text will only appear inside the white and gray areas If there are areas where you’d like text to appear in the portrait—or
of the mask. To add a bit more randomness to the portrait, add there’s text showing where you don’t want it to show—click on the
a new layer above the painted text layer. Then use the same text layer mask and paint with a round, soft-edged brush: use black to
brushes to add a few words here and there outside the boundar- hide the text, white to show the text, and shades of gray to make
ies of the mask. the text somewhat visible.
[VARIATION: ADD A GRAIDENT OVERLAY] [VARIATION: USE TEXT BLOCKS WITH THE MASK]
Here’s a simple variation: Add a Gradient Overlay layer style to the Use the Type tool to click-and-drag a text box around the entire
painted words layer. Just click on the Add a Layer Style icon (ƒx) at image. Get a large amount of random text (we used www.blindtext-
the bottom of the Layers panel and select Gradient Overlay. In this generator.com) and paste the text into the text block. Hold down
case, we clicked on the Gradient thumbnail, and selected the Blue, Option (PC: Alt) and drag the layer mask from the painted text layer
Red, Yellow gradient in the Gradient Editor. Click OK to close the onto this new type layer to copy the mask. Then, either hide the
Gradient Editor, then select Screen for the Blend Mode and click painted text layer, or use both the painted layer and the new type
OK. Hold down Option (PC: Alt) and drag the word “Effects” in the layer—the possibilities are endless!
Layers panel on top of the “extra words” layer to copy the same
layer style to that layer.
54
[ Dave Cross is Senior Developer, Education and Curriculum, for the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. He is the author of Photoshop Finishing Touches and The Photoshop CS2
Help Desk Book, and is featured on a series of Photoshop training DVDs. ]
JONAS BERGSTRAND
59
[I LLUSTRATOR TUTORIAL]
J A C O B { } C A S S
create a vector font monster

Need a monster to gain world domination? In this tutorial, we’ll teach you how to create a font monster entirely out
of a single typeface. What you do with it after that is entirely up to you! You’ll learn how to use the Glyphs panel and
how to outline, resize, and rotate fonts. And if you’re adventurous, you can try out the Pathfinder panel, as well. Also,
be sure to check out Jonathan Yules’ original Helbotica font monster (www.invdr.com), which inspired this tutorial.
[SET UP YOUR DOCUMENT & SETTINGS] [TYPE THE ALPHABET]

Choose File>New to create a new A4-sized document. For maximum Select the Type tool (T) and choose a typeface in the Control
efficiency when designing our font monster, you’ll want the Pathfinder panel that your font monster will be based on. In this tuto-
panel (Window>Pathfinder), Swatches panel (Window>Swatches), and rial, we’re using the notorious Comic Sans (Bold) just for fun!
Glyphs panel (Window>Type>Glyphs) open and within easy reach. Drag out a big box to the right of your artboard, and type the
Click-and-drag each panel to the left of the artboard and arrange them alphabet in both lowercase and uppercase. Also type all of the
into a single toolbar. (Note: To dock panels together, drag the panel numbers and special characters. Don’t click anywhere just yet.
that you want to appear on the bottom near the base of any panel,
and when you see a blue line appear, release the mouse button.)

[MAKE USE OF THE GLYPHS PANEL] [CONVERT TEXT TO OUTLINES]
Look in the Glyphs panel and you’ll notice a lot of unfamiliar char- Now you need to create outlines of the characters so that you
acters, but you’ll want to use these characters in your design, so can use them as objects rather than as a typeface. Choose the
go ahead and double-click on any characters that you find useful. If Direct Selection tool (A), click once on the type, then Control-click
you’ve clicked outside of the text box, simply use the Type tool and (PC: Right-click) and choose Create Outlines from the list. You’ll
click back in the box, then double-click on the glyph characters. notice that all the objects are in one group. We need to separate
each character, so Control-click (PC: Right-click) again and choose
Ungroup. Each character can now be selected on its own.
[CREATE A BACKGROUND] [LOCK THE BACKGROUND LAYER]

Click the Create New Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers With the background created, you’ll want to leave this layer on
panel to create a new layer. Choose the Rectangle tool (M) and its own so you can create a more complex background at a later
drag out a large rectangle over the whole artboard. This will be
time, if you choose to do so. This is just good practice. Click-and-

the background and mood of your piece, so if you’re creating a drag the background layer to the bottom of the layers stack in the
happy monster, go for a happy color; if you’re doing an angry or Layers panel. It’s also a good idea to rename the layers. Do this
sad monster, try red or blue. The choice is yours. You can change by double-clicking on them and naming them in the dialog that
this color later; it’s only here to set the mood of the piece. To appears. Now click once in the empty square to the right of the
change the color of the rectangle, select it, click on the Fill icon Eye icon to lock the background layer.
in the Toolbox, then choose a color from the Swatches panel.
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©ISTOCKPHOTO/JOE PERAGINO
[GET INSPIRED] [DRAG CHARACTERS ONTO ARTBOARD]
When designing, gathering inspiration from a number of sources With the artboard set up, now comes the fun part—designing
can be beneficial because it helps guide you in the right direction the font monster! Drag some letters onto the artboard to start
and gives you a base for your designs. Go forth and get inspired creating your character. To do this, use the Selection tool (V), hold
by whatever you have nearby. You can even draw your own robot down the Option (PC: Alt) key, and drag a letter from the right side
at this stage; it’s up to you. In this tutorial, we’re continuing with of the artboard. Holding down Option (PC: Alt) as you drag copies
the comic theme (hence Comic Sans), so for inspiration we’re the character, which means you’ll be able to use the character more
using a jester illustration from iStockphoto. For easy reference, put than once. Copy the characters that you think will work to the ap-
the image on your Illustrator artboard. This is also a good time to propriate positions (i.e., match shapes to the body parts).
save your document.
[RESIZE & REPOSITION YOUR CHARACTERS] [ROTATE YOUR CHARACTERS]
In the previous step, we positioned the characters in what we With some of the characters in place, we have a general idea of
thought could work in relation to our font monster. Now let’s resize what position they need to be in, so we can begin to rotate them.
each of the characters to the right proportions. Click once on a Click once on a character with the Selection tool and then press
character, press-and-hold the Option-Shift (PC: Alt-Shift) keys, and the R key to select the Rotate tool. Click-and-drag to rotate the
drag the corner of the character to resize it proportionally from its selected character in a position you think will work. When finished
center outward. To reposition a character, simply click-and-drag with that character, press V to choose the Selection tool, click off
it to the new position. Repeat this for the rest of the characters in the artboard, and click on the next character you’d like to rotate.
sizes you think will work best. Remember to save your document. You may also want to resize the characters while rotating; just
follow the directions in Step 9.

[REFLECT YOUR CHARACTERS] [ADD TO YOUR MONSTER]
Another thing that comes in handy when creating illustrations Repeat Steps 8 through 11 and let your creativity run wild to
is the reflection command. Notice that we’ve used two Ls for create your own font monster. For the advanced users, you
the legs; however, the foot on the left is facing the wrong way. may be interested in using the Pathfinder panel. Try selecting
We can reflect this L shape and make it face the other direction. a combination of letters and experimenting with the Pathfinder
With the Selection tool, click on the character, then Control-click commands. If you need more help with the Pathfinder panel, click
(PC: Right-click) and choose Transform>Reflect. Enter the ap- Help>Illustrator Help and type in “pathfinder.” Keep experiment-
propriate settings and voilà, your shape will be flipped! You can ing and repeating these steps and you’ll have a font monster in
also use the other commands under the Transform function to no time.
manipulate and, strangely enough, transform your shapes.
With Adobe Illustrator and a few interesting characters, you too can have your own robot army.
[ Jacob Cass is a 21-year-old designer from Sydney, Australia, who freelances under his business Just Creative Design, which also doubles as a popular design blog. Jacob’s talent has
brought him numerous awards and his work has been published in books worldwide. To learn more about Jacob, visit http://justcreativedesign.com. ]
62 ALL IMAGES BY JACOB CASS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

[ t y p o g r a phy ]
[ THE ART OF TYPE]

J A M E S { } F E L I C I
off the beaten path

Setting text on curving baselines gets you well
beyond how type was designed to be set. You
don’t often get to use the word “unnatural” when
you’re talking about type, but when it comes to
type set on baselines that aren’t straight (so-called type on a path),
the word is apt.
From the days of the first incised cuneiform tablets, text has been
written—then printed—in straight lines. Our whole system of page
layout, of text composition, of the shapes of the alphabet’s charac-
ters themselves, assumes a straight, horizontal baseline. Computers
may have liberated us from the tyranny of the straight line, but they
haven’t freed us from the laws of legibility and readability. Getting
loopy type to look good isn’t automatic.
The most obvious problem when type goes nonhorizontal—even
I M A G E S : © I STO C K P H OTO I L LU ST R AT I O N : C H R I ST Y W I N T E R
on a straight baseline—is that you have to turn your head to read it.
This turns out to have cultural dimensions, as European readers—who
are accustomed to reading the spine type on books in a library from
bottom to top—are more comfortable reading type going “uphill”
than Americans, whose habit of reading spine type from top to bottom
makes them more comfortable reading type going “downhill.”
The greatest challenge

But that’s really a design issue. From a typographical point of view,
curving baselines mount the greatest challenge, because in addition
to head-craning readability issues, curving baselines wreak havoc
on the spacing between characters. In the InDesign Type>Type on a
Path>Options dialog, you can control how a line of type cleaves to
a path. Here you can do a lot of clever and mostly useless things—
tricks you may use once but that generally don’t bear repeating. These
include all of the choices in the Effect pop-up menu, except for
Rainbow, which is the one we’ll talk about here. When using Rain-
bow, the effect is like bowing a normal baseline, with the stems of
the characters rising from it at right angles.
[ Getting loopy
type to look good
isn’t automatic. ]
For decent character spacing, stick to Align Center.
The most important choices in the Type on a Path Options dialog

are in the Align and To Path drop-down menus. In Align, you can opt
to have your type stand up on the path (the Baseline option), hang
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down below the path (Ascender) or above the path (Descender), or have of points above where the Center command places it can provide
the path pass right through the centerlines of the characters (Center). substantially more natural spacing, even in tight corners.
Characters standing on the path have normal spacing where they meet It’s inevitable that in tight bends, your type will get looser or
the baseline, but their tops get bunched up on concave baselines and tighter, depending on whether the bend is concave or convex. In
spread too far apart on convex baselines. When you choose to have the these places, use your tracking controls to tighten or loosen the
ascenders align with the path, spacing at the baseline of the characters overall spacing of words or phrases to establish an even spacing
closes up on convex baselines and spreads apart on concave baselines. feel throughout the whole text passage. Even after adjusting track-
The results in all of these cases are bad. You’ll get the most natural char- ing, some hand kerning will likely be needed.
acter spacing if you select Center from the Align menu and, if necessary,
Center from the To Path menu. Choosing the typeface
Here, the top sample shows type that’s set base-aligned to an ellip- Lastly, the typeface you choose for arcing type makes a big difference
in its final look. In general, sans-serif faces fare better than serif faces;
tical path. In the sharpest parts of the curve, character spacing is badly
all caps text (because the letters have a consistently blockier profile)
distorted. The middle sample is set top-aligned with the curve, which
fare better than caps and lowercase; and condensed or compressed
badly pinches the bottoms of the characters in the tight convex curves.
faces tend to look better than those with a wide-set width. Script
At the bottom is the happy medium: vertically centering the type on
faces may work on gradual curves, but those with interconnecting
the curved path. Using baseline shift to raise the text a couple of points
letters can either become disconnected or have their connection
relative to the path improves spacing even more.
points overlap—not a pretty thing. Brush faces fare best because
their characters are generally not designed to connect, and their
calligraphic style gives you more flexibility with their spacing—every
little kern isn’t as crucial.
Align: Baseline
Align: Ascender
Align: Center
Note: The To Path menu only comes into play when the path your
type is following has been stroked, that is, given width and color; other-
©ISTOCKPHOTO/KAWISIGN
wise, it has no top, center, or bottom to align to.
Better overall spacing

Even if you use Align: Center, you’ll still have to do some hand kern-
ing—and possibly some tracking adjustments—where the curves of
the path are the sharpest. But there will be far less mopping up to do
Brush faces and nonconnecting scripts work particularly well on
than with any other alignment option. curved baselines, as shown here. Their irregular geometry hides
Another trick to assure better overall spacing is using the Baseline some spacing flaws, and this sample needed only light kerning.
Shift control in the Control panel to make micro adjustments to the Serif faces in particular need more kerning to get character
type’s alignment relative to the path. Just make sure you have all of spacing to look something like normal.
the text selected before adjusting this value. Raising the type a couple
[James Felici is the author of The Complete Manual of Typography (Adobe Press), former managing editor of Publish magazine, and contributor to The Seybold Report, Macworld magazine,
PDFZone.com, and Publish.com. ]
JONAS BERGSTRAND
[ INDESIGN TUTORIAL ]
T E R R Y { } W H I T E
improved format
The most frequently asked questions I get from people who are new to InDesign revolve around Text Wrap;
however, there are also questions about text formatting that don’t get asked. But I know they exist because
when I’m presenting in front of an audience and I start formatting text, I can see the look of amazement on some
folks’ faces as if they’re thinking, “Hey, I didn’t know you could do that!”
[LET’S START WITH A BLANK PAGE] [CREATE A TEXT FRAME WITH THE TYPE TOOL]
In this tutorial, we’re going to create a flier for a nail salon. So that Select the Type tool (T) from the Toolbox and use it to drag out a new
we’re all on the same page, literally, create a new blank 8.5x11" page text frame on the page. Make it as close to 5x7" as you can when
in InDesign by choosing New>Document from the File menu or by you’re dragging it out. Of course it’s difficult to be precise when you’re
pressing Command-N (PC: Ctrl-N) on the keyboard. Uncheck Facing dragging, so switch to the Selection tool, which should automatically
Pages and make your margins .5" all the way around. Click OK. select your frame as an object, and then key in the exact 5x7" mea-
surements in the Width and Height fields in the Control panel.
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67
[ADJUST THE INSET; KEY IN YOUR HEADLINE] [CENTER HEADLINE; BRING UP THE TABS RULER]
We’re going to add a border to our frame a little later and we don’t When you keyed in your headline in Step 3, chances are it was left
want that border to actually touch the text in our frame, so before aligned. So before we go any further, go ahead and insert a couple
we get started putting text in the frame, let’s set an inset. of new paragraphs (press the Return [PC: Enter] key twice) after the
Choose Text Frame Options from the Object menu. Set the Top, headline. Now select the headline and click the Align Center icon in
Bottom, Left, and Right Inset Spacing to .25". If the little chain icon the Paragraph Formatting controls in the Control panel. Once your
is enabled, setting one measurement makes all measurements the headline is centered, adjust the font and size aspects to your taste.
same. Click OK. Now that you’re back to your text frame, double- Now put your cursor on the last new blank paragraph that you created
click on it with the Selection tool to switch to the Type tool and key after your headline and bring up the Tabs ruler from the Type menu.
in your headline.
[SET A RIGHT TAB WITH LEADER DOTS] [TEST IT BY KEYING IN A SAMPLE LIST]
We’re going to create a list with leader dots. When most people do Now you can key in your sample list. On the left side, which is where
this, they usually go about it the hard way. But here’s the easy way: your cursor should be, key in the item name, then press the Tab key
Click the Right-Justified Tab (third one from the left) and then click on on your keyboard, and your cursor should jump over to the right tab
the ruler near the right indent to add a tab stop. While the tab stop that we set. Now when you key in your price, it will be right justified
is still selected, go ahead and key in a period in the Leader field. at the tab stop and there will be leader dots from the item name to
the item description that you just keyed in. Just press Return (PC:
Enter) to create the next paragraph and your tab stop will be carried
down automatically.

[KEY IN PARAGRAPH TEXT] [ADJUST THE INDENTS ON THE CONTROL PANEL]
Now that you’ve created your list, it’s time to create some paragraph For the second paragraph of text, let’s indent it on both sides using
text below the list. First, let’s create a standard paragraph of text and the Indent controls (circled) in the Paragraph Formatting section of
then we’ll add a second paragraph that we’re going to indent in the the Control panel. Set both the Left Indent and Right Indent to 0.25".
next step. You can close the Tabs ruler at this point.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/BVDC
[ADJUST THE FIRST LINE INDENT] [USE “PROPORTIONAL PLACE”]

Many times when I receive Word documents that I need to place Now it’s time to place an image to dress things up a bit. In InDesign
into InDesign, the sender has taken the time to tab in the first line CS4, there’s a wonderful new feature I call “Proportional Place.” This
of each paragraph. If you use Indents especially in your Paragraph means you can use the File>Place command, choose your image,
Styles, this becomes a very unnecessary step. Instead of tabbing and click-and-drag the image onto the page in the exact size you
in the first line of each paragraph, just set a First Line Left Indent want. InDesign will constrain the proportions of the frame to the
image you’re placing. Using this method, place an image over the
in the Control panel. Here, the first line of the first paragraph has
right side of the first paragraph of body text.
been set to 0.25".
continued on p. 70
68

©ISTOCKPHOTO/SPIDERBOX PHOTOGRAPHY INC.
[WRAP YOUR TEXT] [PLACE AN IRREGULARLY SHAPED GRAPHIC]
Of course, the image is now covering part of your text and this is Wrapping text around a square or rectangle is easy; however,
where Text Wrap comes in (Window>Text Wrap). With the image wrapping text around an irregularly shaped object requires a few
still selected, click the second icon, Wrap around Bounding Box, more steps. An irregular object can be a vector graphic such as an
and your text should automatically wrap around your photo. Now Illustrator or EPS logo or a Photoshop file where you’ve removed
you can adjust how close the text will appear around the sides of the background. In this example, we’re using a photograph where
your image by adjusting the Offset measurements (as shown). If you we removed the background and saved it as a layered PSD file. We
like, you can use negative measurements to bring the text closer. also added a third paragraph to the document.
[WRAP TEXT AROUND IRREGULAR SHAPE]

Now go back to the Text Wrap panel and choose the third option,
which wraps around an object shape. But you’ll see that it still looks
like all it did was wrap around the bounding box. This is where you [ADD A FRAME BORDER]
have to choose the correct Contour Options: For a transparent PSD
Now to put the finishing touches on this design, we’ll add a nice
file, use the Alpha Channel option; and for an Illustrator or EPS file,
border to our frame. Select the Frame with the Selection tool and
choose the Detect Edges option. You can adjust how close the text
then choose the weight and style of border that you want from the
will appear around the sides of your image by adjusting the Offset
Control panel (we chose 4 pt, and Thick – Thin). We also changed
measurements (as shown).
the headline color to purple and added a subtle green background
to bring the desin to life.
[ In his current role as Director for North America Creative Pro Core Business for Adobe Systems, Inc., Terry White leads a team of creative professional product specialists. He’s also the
author of Secrets of Adobe Bridge and co-author of InDesign CS/CS2 Killer Tips and The iPhone Book 2nd Edition. ]
70

JONAS BERGSTRAND
[ ACROBAT TUTORIAL ]
T A Z { } T A L L Y
the proof is in the pages

In addition to using PDFs for final print and Web output, PDF and Acrobat are excellent proofing tools, as
well. PDF documents can be used for composite content proofs, color-separated proofs, color-managed soft
proofs, and for printing color-simulation proofs. This issue we cover composite and color-separated proofs.
[composite content proofs]
[EXPORT PAGE LAYOUT TO PDF] [CHOOSE GENERAL OPTIONS]

Composite content proofs are designed to primarily show the content In the General section of the Export Adobe PDF dialog, choose Small-
of a document—the layout of text and graphics. Composite proofs est File Size as a starting point from the Adobe PDF Preset drop-down
are usually viewed at 100% of the final output dimension, but usu- menu. Select Acrobat 5 (PDF 1.4) for Compatibility to provide wide
ally use low-resolution images (for small file size to facilitate rapid compatibility of your PDF proof. For Pages choose All. In the Options
distribution) and may or may not show accurate color. You’ll typically area, check both Optimize for Fast Web View (this provides page-by-
create a content proof from within your page-layout application, such page delivery of a multipage PDF displayed over the Internet) and
as InDesign. To begin, open your page layout in InDesign, choose View PDF after Exporting (to automatically view your PDF in Acrobat).
File>Export, and select Adobe PDF from the Format drop-down Note the designation “(modified)” will be added to the name “Small-
menu in the Export dialog. est File Size” in the Adobe PDF Preset drop-down menu.
72

73
L AY E R S M A G A Z I N E ] [ J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 0 9
[CHOOSE COMPRESSION SETTINGS] [CHOOSE MARKS AND BLEEDS OPTIONS]
In the Compression section, set Bicubic Downsampling to 100 Pixels In the Marks and Bleeds section, check Use Document Bleed
Per Inch for both Color Images and Grayscale Images (this will signifi- Settings (this will ensure that any bleed elements you’ve created
cantly reduce the file size of your PDF by lowering the resolution of in your page layout will display properly at the edge of your
your images). Set the Compression to Automatic (JPEG) for “smart” document in your PDF). You can also check Include Slug Area
JPEG compression. Set the Image Quality to Medium. The default if you’ve added any text to the slug area at the bottom of your
Image Quality for the Smallest File Size preset is Low—experiment document that you want included in your proof. Note: To create
with Low to evaluate image quality. Use the default settings for Mono- a slug area at the bottom of your InDesign document, choose
chrome Images, and then check on Compress Text and Line Art, and File>Document Setup, click on the More Options button in the
Crop Image Data to Frames (both of these will reduce the file size of Document Setup dialog, and enter dimensions in the Slug fields.
your PDF without affecting viewing quality).
[CHOOSE OUTPUT OPTIONS] [SAVE AS PRESET; EXPORT PDF]

In the Output section, set Color Conversion to Convert to Destina- Before you click the Export button to create your PDF, press
tion. Set the Destination to Adobe RGB (1998) (the default sRGB the Save Preset button located in the lower left-hand corner of
is okay for Web output proofs; however, many print-oriented users the Export Adobe PDF dialog. Name your new preset “Comp
have Adobe RGB assigned to their monitors). Make sure the Profile Proof,” and click OK. Your Comp Proof preset will now appear
Inclusion Policy drop-down menu is set to Include Destination as a choice in your Adobe PDF Preset drop-down menu located
Profile (including the profile will help provide more accurate viewing at the top of the Export Adobe PDF dialog. You can now use
on the receiving monitor). If your images are already in an RGB this as a one-step method for creating composition proofs.
color space you may not see much reduction in file size, but CMYK Now click the Export button to create your content-accurate
images will be reduced by a minimum of 25%, along with file size proof of your document that’s small enough to quickly email or
reductions from Step 3. post on the Internet.

[color-separated proofs]
[USE PRINT DIALOG INSTEAD OF EXPORT] [CHOOSE ADOBE PDF 9.0 FOR PRINTER DRIVER]
Creating color-separated PDFs is a quick-and-easy way to make Print dialogs vary depending upon application version and operating
sure you’ve assigned your print colors properly. High-quality PDFs system. Here you see InDesign CS4 with Mac OS 10.5. In your print
can be created either directly from InDesign or through Distiller, dialog, choose Adobe PDF 9.0 as your printer driver (in this example,
a standalone application used specifically for creating PDFs from we selected the driver from the Printer drop-down menu). Note: If
PostScript. If you’re creating multiple PDFs from large documents, you decide to use Distiller, you’d typically choose a PostScript printer
Distiller is a better option than working through InDesign. Here driver rather than a PDF printer driver.
we’re going to use InDesign to create a color-separated PDF.
Instead of using the Export function as we did for the composite
proof, let’s go to the Print dialog (File>Print), which provides ready
access to controlling separations.
[SELECT PAPER SIZE] [MARKS AND BLEEDS OPTIONS]

In the General section, choose All to view color separations for all In the Marks and Bleeds section, check on the settings based on
document pages. In the Setup section, designate the Paper Size whether or not you want to include marks and bleeds. Remem-
for your PDF. Your choice here depends upon whether or not you ber, if you choose to add marks and bleeds, you need to make
include marks and bleeds. If you don’t include marks and bleeds, sure you’ve chosen Custom for the Paper Size in the Setup
your PDF will have the same dimensions as your page layout docu- section; the paper dimensions will automatically increase to
ment (here 8.5x11"). If you do include marks and bleeds, choose accommodate your marks and bleeds. And just as we did in the
Custom from the Paper Size drop-down menu. When you select to comp proof above, you can choose to include the slug area if
include marks and bleeds (see next step), InDesign will automati- you included one in your document with messages or notes.
cally enter the proper dimensions to accommodate the additional
space required.
74

75
L AY E R S M A G A Z I N E ] [ J u ly / a u g u s t 2 0 0 9
[CHOOSE SEPARATIONS FROM COLOR MENU] [CHOOSE PDF PRESET]
The Output section is where you designate whether your output will Click the Printer button located near the lower-left corner of
be composite or separations. Click on the Color drop-down menu the Print dialog. This will activate a second Print dialog in which
and choose Separations. Notice you have a variety of composite you can choose the PDF Preset you’d like to use. Choose PDF
outputs, as well as an In-RIP Separations choice. Choose Separations Options from the unnamed drop-down menu located near the
because you want the colors to separate in the PDF prior to the doc- middle of the dialog. From the Adobe PDF Settings drop-down
ument information going to the RIP. Also note under the Inks section menu, choose the PDF preset you want to use (here High Qual-
there’s a list of all the assigned colors in this document. This example ity Print), and the application you’d like to use to view the PDF
shows four process and one spot color available for separation. after creation (here Adobe Acrobat Pro). Click the Print button
to activate a Save dialog, name your PDF, and select a location
to save it.
PHOTO JULIEN
PHOTO/S
©ISTOCK
OW
EEZSN
HOTO/L KP
©ISTOC
[VIEW COLOR SEPARATIONS IN ACROBAT]

After clicking the Save button, you’ll be returned to the original
Print dialog. Click the Print button to initiate the creation of your
PDF. If you monitor your print queue you’ll notice that Distiller is
automatically launched to create the PDF. A color-separated version
of the PDF will appear in Acrobat. Navigate through the PDF file
to view each color-separated page (here the cyan and spot color
pages are shown). Note your specific dialogs may vary somewhat
from those shown throughout this tutorial, but the basic steps are
the same. The most important setting is to locate the Composite
and Separations choices.
[ Taz Tally is the author of Acrobat and PDF Solutions from Wiley Press, as well as numerous other digital imaging books on Photoshop, scanning, digital photography, and prepress.
Visit Taz’s websites www.taztallyphotography.com and www.tazseminars.com.
ALL IMAGES BY TAZ TALLY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
]
JONAS BERGSTRAND
[ DREAMWEAVER TUTORIAL ]
J A N I N E { } W A R N E R
add style to your lists

There are many good reasons to format text with the unordered list tag, but that doesn’t mean you have to set-
tle for the vanilla bulleted-list style you get from plain old HTML. Add a little CSS to your lists and you can create
accessible, versatile designs that fit the look and feel of any website—and follow Web standards. Here are a few
CSS tricks for formatting lists. (This tutorial works for both Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 and CS4.)
[START WITH A SIMPLE BULLETED LIST]

Enter the text you want to use in your list and make sure to
separate each item with a paragraph <p> tag, not a break <br />
tag. The Unordered List feature (Format>List>Unordered List)
in Dreamweaver only works properly if it’s applied to elements
separated by paragraph tags. If you try to format text with the

unordered list and the bullets don’t appear before every item, it’s
probably because they weren’t separated by paragraph tags. To
fix the list, just delete any space between list items and press the
Return or Enter key before each item in the list. Next, convert your
list items to links (Modify>Make Link).
76

77
[CREATE NEW STYLE FOR LIST ITEMS] [CHANGE THE BULLET STYLE]
To create a new style that will alter the look of each list item, In the CSS Rule Definition dialog, choose the List Category on the
you’ll want to create a style for the <li> tag. Choose Format>CSS left. Here you can change the style of the bullet by selecting any of
Styles>New to create a new CSS rule. Under Selector Type, choose the options in the List-Style-Type drop-down menu. If you prefer, you
Tag and then select li from the drop-down list to the right of the can replace the bullet with your own image by clicking on the Browse
Selector Name field (or type li into the field). Click OK to continue to button next to the List-Style-Image field and selecting the image you
the CSS Rule Definition dialog. want to use in place of the bullets. You can also remove the bullet
completely by choosing None (as we did in this example). Click OK.
[STYLE LINKS IN AN UNORDERED LIST] [ADD SPACE BETWEEN BULLETED ITEMS]

You can alter the way links display in an unordered list in much the The default HTML style for unordered lists places list items too close
same way you’d alter any other links on the page, and you can use together for most designers, but it’s easy to add a little breathing
compound styles (by choosing Compound for the Selector Type room. Just create a new style for the li tag (as you did in Step 2), or
in the New CSS Rule dialog) to create link styles that only affect edit your existing li style by double-clicking on the style name in the
links within an unordered list. For instance, you can create a style CSS Styles panel. In the CSS Rule Definition dialog, choose the Box
named ul a, which will only affect the link tag when it appears Category and use the Margin and Padding settings to increase the
within the unordered list tag. So you could remove the underline space around the list items. In our example, we added 10 pixels of
from all links that appear within unordered lists by choosing the space to the Bottom of each list item.
Type category in the CSS Rule Definition dialog, and under Text-
Decoration, click on the None checkbox.

[USE COLOR AND PADDING FOR BUTTONS] [DEFINE DIFFERENT LINK STYLES]
You can create colored boxes around your links by defining a CSS A great way to create a rollover effect is to create a second link
rule for the active link, or a:link tag, that combines a Background- style for the hover link state, a:hover. And here’s another trick:
Color (such as the light blue shown here) with a Width (ours is set to Duplicate the a:link style you created in Step 6 by Control-clicking
100 px) and Padding (5 pixels Top and Bottom and 10 pixels on the (PC: Right-clicking) on the style name, then choose Duplicate,
Left) in the Box Category. And here’s the trick that makes it work: In and name the new style ul a:hover. You want all of the elements
the Block Category, you need to set the Display option to Block. In of the style to be the same (same Padding, Width, etc.) except, in
this case, we used a compound style ul a:link so that links will only this case, for the background color (see next step). Starting with
display this way if they’re contained within an unordered list. a copy of the a:link style means all you need to change are the
formatting options you want for the hover style.
[DEFINE THE A:HOVER STYLE] [PREVIEW TO TEST ROLLOVER EFFECTS]

This time, we changed the Background-Color in the a:hover In order to test any styles you create that are triggered by a rollover,
style to yellow so that when visitors to the site roll their you’ll need to preview the page in a Web browser (File>Preview
cursor over a link, the only effect will be that the background in Browser). As you can see here, when a cursor rolls over the light
color changes from light blue to yellow. For more complex blue links, they turn yellow, because that’s the background color we
rollover effects, use different background images in the Active defined in the a:hover style.
link and Hover link styles. You can also change the font color,
font face, and other formatting options to alter the text style.
continued on p. 80
78

[REMOVE INDENTING BY STYLING UL TAG] [USE BORDERS TO CREATE DIVIDING LINES]
You can increase, decrease, or remove the amount of indenting To add a line between each list item, define or edit the li
by defining a style rule for the ul tag. Remember, the HTML for tag and set only the Bottom options in the Border Category.
an unordered list includes the <ul> and close </ul> tag, which Similarly, you can use borders only on the Left, Right, or Top
surrounds the entire list, and the <li> tag, which sets off each list to create dividing lines. Make sure that Margins and Padding
item. Thus, if you define a style for the ul tag (just as you did for in the Box Category are set to 0 to remove any space between
the li tag in Step 2), you can use the Box category to set the Pad- the list items, and set the Width to 110 px (as shown here).
ding to 0 and the default indenting will be removed. Similarly, you
can add indenting by adding Padding to the Left.
[TURN LIST HORIZONTAL] [USE COMPOUND STYLES]

The trick to making an unordered list display horizontally across If you want to use different formatting options for lists of links on
a page is to create or edit a style for the list item <li> tag and the same page, consider surrounding each list with a div tag that
in the Block Category of the CSS Rule Definition, set Display to includes an ID style, and then use that ID style as part of the com-
Inline. Note: If you’ve set Display to Block in the style for the link pound list. For example, you could use a div with ID style #navbar
tag, you’ll need to remove the block setting (i.e., the Display field around your main navigation links and then a div with an ID style
should be empty) for the links to appear horizontally. You can alter #sidebar around another list you want formatted differently on the
the space between links, background, etc. by changing the Pad- page. In this case, you’d create compound styles, such as #navbar
ding and color settings. ul and #sidebar ul, respectively.
[ Janine Warner has authored more than a dozen books about the Internet, including Dreamweaver CS4 for Dummies. She’s also the host of more than 50 hours of Web
design video training for Total Training. A popular speaker, she has been working online since 1995. To learn more, visit www.JCWarner.com. ]
80

JONAS BERGSTRAND
[F LASH PROFESSIONAL TUTORIAL]

L E E { } B R I M E L O W
mapping in Flash
One of the most important skills for Flash developers to learn is how to utilize the vast collections of Web APIs that are
available for services such as Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and mapping using either Google or Yahoo! In this tutorial you’ll
learn how to integrate Google Maps into your Flash application using just a few lines of code. The Google API is incred-
ibly easy to use and it’s extremely powerful.
[DOWNLOAD THE GOOGLE MAPS API] [INSTALLING THE API]

The first step in adding Google Maps to your Flash application is to In the sdk/lib folder of the SDK you’ll find a file named “map_1_9.swc.”
first download the necessary files. Go to http://code.google.com/ Copy (Command-C [PC: Ctrl-C]) this file to the clipboard. If you’re
apis/maps/documentation/flash in your browser. This site is where on a Mac navigate to [user folder]/Library/Application Support/
you can find all of the information on using Google Maps inside Adobe/Flash CS4/language/Configuration/Components (create a
of Flash, so be sure to bookmark it. Find the section on the right new folder named “Components” if you don’t already have one). If
called “How do I start?” and download the Software Development you’re on a PC navigate to [user folder]\Local Settings\Application
Kit (SDK) using the link posted in the second item in the list. Unzip Data\Adobe\Flash CS4\language\Configuration\Components (create
the downloaded file to your desktop. a new folder named “Components” if you don’t already have one).
Create a new folder named “Google” and paste (Command-V [PC:
Ctrl-V]) the SWC file into this new directory. If you had Flash open
you’ll need to restart it before trying to work with the API.
82
[If you’d like to download the file used in this tutorial to practice these techniques, visit www.layersmagazine.com and navigate to the Magazine section. All files are for personal use only.]

83
[OPEN THE FLA FILE] [ADD THE GOOGLE MAPS COMPONENT]
Download the tutorial files for this article at www.layersmagazine Before you can start using Google Maps you first need to add the
.com. Open the map.fla file in Flash CS4. In the Library there’s a component to your application. Open the Components panel by
movie clip of the Adobe logo that you’ll be placing on the map selecting it from the Window menu. You should see the Google
at the Adobe offices in San Francisco. There’s a single layer in folder that you created earlier. Twirl down the folder and you
the Timeline named “actions.” The actions layer is where you’ll should see the GoogleMapsLibrary component. Drag the compo-
be placing all the ActionScript code for this project. This project nent into the Library to add it to your project. You’ll now be able
will be built entirely using ActionScript and you won’t be adding to access all of the Google Maps APIs.
anything to the Stage.
[CREATE A BASIC MAP] [GET AN API KEY]

Select the first keyframe of the actions layer and open the Actions One of the things that you have to do when using Google Maps
panel (Window>Actions). Enter in the code shown in the image is to get an API key. Even though it works without one, you need
above. The first three lines import the Google Maps libraries. to get one to prevent breaking the license agreement. Go back
Line 5 creates a new instance of the Map class, which is the main to the API website and click on the link in the first item in the list.
object that creates the map. Line 6 is where you’ll need to add Agree to the terms and then enter in the website that you’ll be
your API key, which we’ll get to in the next step. Line 7 sets the using the map on. If you don’t know, just enter http://localhost.
size of the map to the same size as the Flash stage. Finally, line 8 Click the Generate API Key button and then copy the resulting
adds the map to the display list so we can see it. key to the clipboard (it will ask you to sign into your Google Ac-
count if you’re not already signed in). Now replace MY_API_KEY
in the code with your key.

[TESTING THE MAP] [ADD SOME CONTROLS]
Go ahead and test your application (Control>Test Movie) to make Now you’re ready to begin adding some controls to the map
sure that you’re seeing the basic map. You should see a zoomed so users can manipulate it. Add the highlighted code into the
out map of the world but without any of the controls, such as a Actions panel as shown above. The first line of code adds a
zoom slider or map type selector, that you’re used to seeing on new ZoomControl to the map. This adds a slider that the user
Internet maps. These will be added in the next step. You must can use to zoom in and out on the map. The second line adds
wait until the map ready event fires before adding any controls a MapTypeControl that allows users to select between the
to the map. Enter in the highlighted code shown above into the different map types available such as satellite or hybrid. Press
Actions panel. The onMapReady function is where you’ll begin Command-Return (PC: Ctrl-Enter) to test the movie and try out
manipulating the map. the map controls.
[CENTER THE MAP] [HOW TO FIND LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE]

At this point the map is centered on the world map and is zoomed You may be wondering how I found the coordinates for the Adobe
all the way out. Now you’ll reposition the map so that it’s centered office. There are numerous ways to get this information. The easiest
at the Adobe offices in San Francisco. Enter in the above highlighted is to first search for an address on the Google Maps site (http://
code into the Actions panel. To the setCenter method we send in maps.google.com). Once the map is centered on the address,
three items: the latitude and longitude of the Adobe office, the simply type javascript:void(prompt(‘’,gApplication
desired zoom level, and the type of map. The user can, of course, .getMap().getCenter())); in your browser’s address bar and
change these things, but this is how we want the map to show at hit Return (PC: Enter). You’ll see a pop-up with the coordinates that
the start. Test your application to see the new center. you can paste into Flash. The Google Maps API has the ability to do
this directly from Flash, but that’s out of the scope of this tutorial.
84

85
[ADD A MARKER] [CUSTOMIZE THE MARKER]
Enter the above highlighted code into the Actions panel. The first In the Library panel you’ll see a movie clip named “marker.” Dou-
line creates a new Marker object at the Adobe offices. There are ble-click on it to enter edit mode. You’ll see an image of the Adobe
many different options available for how the marker will look and logo surrounded by a custom marker graphic. It’s important that
behave. For now we’ll just keep everything at their default values. the point of the marker is on the crosshairs of the registration point.
The second line of code adds the new marker to the map. Test the This movie clip has been set up with a class name of “marker” so
application to see the default marker. Now wherever you move we can attach it at runtime. Click on Scene 1 at the top left of the
the map, the marker will always be visible at the Adobe office. In the Stage to exit edit mode. Add the highlighted code to the Marker
next step we’ll customize this marker with the Adobe logo. object to tell it to use the custom marker (note the changes made at
the end of line 16). Test your application.
[OTHER MARKER OPTIONS] [WHERE TO GO FROM HERE]

In the last step you customized the look of the marker but there’s In this tutorial you’ve created a very simple mapping application
much more that you can do. Since the marker is just a regular movie in Flash but have only scratched the surface of what’s possible
clip, it can contain animation, video, or any other type of interactive with the Google API. There’s a full geocoding API that allows
content that’s supported in Flash. Markers are not the only types of you to get latitude and longitude coordinates for points on the
overlays either. You can draw lines and shapes and add them to the map or from addresses. You can also get directions between two
map to create rich, interactive mapping applications. points or addresses on the map. You can find the full API refer-
ence by clicking on the link in item 4 on the API website that you
downloaded the SDK from.
[ Lee Brimelow is a Platform Evangelist with Adobe and an award-winning interactive designer. Lee runs the free tutorial site at www.gotoandlearn.com and a Flash-related blog at
www.theflashblog.com. He is also the author of several titles for Lynda.com dealing with Flash and After Effects. ]
ALL IMAGES BY LEE BRIMELOW UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

JONAS BERGSTRAND
[ AFTER EFFECTS TUTORIAL]

S T E V E { } H O L M E S
the power of words

Typography is one of the qualities upon which we base most of our design work, and the type animation engine
in After Effects offers a gamut of ways to express typographic flair. One of my favorites is the ability to control the 3D
motion and position of text characters. When combined with simple camera moves, depth of field, and some real-
world studio tricks we use every day, the results can be—literally—powerful. Let’s get started.
©ISTOCKPHOTO/YHLOON
[CREATE PROJECT; ADD BACKGROUND, TYPE] [ADD AND EDIT 3D CAMERA]

Create a New Composition, named “Power of Words,” at HDTV Now, go to Layer>New>Camera, choose 15mm from the Preset
1280x720 resolution with a 6-second duration, and then double- drop-down menu in the dialog, and click OK (if you get a 2D warn-
click the Project panel to import an image to use as a background. ing dialog, just ignore it for now). Press P on your keyboard to reveal
For this example, I purchased a vector illustration of blurry lights the camera’s Position properties, and adjust the Z position value to
(#4292586 from www.istockphoto.com). Drag the image into the –600 for the time being. Now go to Layer>Transform>Auto-Orient,
Timeline at 0 seconds and use any effects to adjust color or con- choose Off, and click OK.
trast, as well as an Effect>Blur & Sharpen>Fast Blur to soften focus.
Go to Layer>New>Text, and enter the main text. We’ve styled ours
using Helvetica Neue (85 Heavy and 35 Thin), 30-px size, Optical
kerning, Tracking 10, black, and centered.
86
[If you’d like to download a finished movie for this tutorial, visit www.layersmagazine.com and navigate to the Magazine section. All files are for personal use only.]

87
[ADJUST 3D POSITIONS] [DUPLICATE AND ADJUST TEXT]
Click the 3D Layer switch next to both the text and background Twirl up the background image layer’s properties, select the
image layers in the Timeline, then select the background image text layer, and press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to duplicate it.
layer, hit P, and set the Z position to 3000 in the far distance. Now, Click the Solo box on the left of the Timeline for that layer and
press Shift-S to show the Scale property also, and scale the back- in the Character panel, change its color to white. (Note: Go to
ground image until it touches the edges of the full composition. Composition>Background Color and change the color to black
so you can see your white text.) Now, change the Font family to
be the same throughout—in this case Helvetica Neue 45 Light,
the Size to 24 px, and the Tracking to 100.
[EDIT TEXT; RENAME LAYER] [ADD FIRST TEXT ANIMATOR]

Now, double-click the T icon next to the layer’s name, then type Now for the animators! Twirl down the Long line of type layer, twirl
in a series of words or sentences of your choice. The longer the down Text, then click the arrow to the right of the word “Animate”
line, the better the finished 3D strings of text will be, so feel free to and choose Anchor Point to add your first Animator. Click on the
type and copy-and-paste to extend the lines. You’ll notice that the name of the Animator, press Return (PC: Enter), and rename it “Ani-
layer’s name becomes rather awkward to work with, so when finished, mator 1 – Anchor Point” for easy recognition. Go back to Animate
click on the name of the layer, press Return (PC: Enter), and rename and choose Enable Per-Character 3D from the menu, then adjust
it to “Long line of type” or something short to that effect. the Anchor Point Animator’s Y value to sit in the vertical middle of
the type—in our example, around –9. This enables rotators we add
later to spin from the center of the letters, not their baseline.

[ADD SECOND TEXT ANIMATOR] [ADJUST POSITION AND WIGGLE VALUES]
Twirl up and deselect Animator 1, then go back to the Animate In the Position value within the animator, adjust the XYZ values to 400,
menu and choose Position, which adds a second animator. Rename 600, 400, respectively. As you can see, this blows the characters
it “Animator 2 – Position Wiggle,” then next to the new name, click far apart easily. And if you scrub the Timeline, it looks crazy too—
Add and choose Selector>Wiggly. This is where the fun and creativ- but this is easy to control. Twirl down Wiggly Selector 1, set the
ity really begin! Wiggles/Second to 0.05 (it will show 0.1 when you press Return
[PC: Enter]), and most importantly, set the Correlation to 96%. This
causes the letters to remain more in line with each other, forming a
gently rippling line of type.
[ADD THIRD TEXT ANIMATOR] [ADD FINAL ANIMATOR]

Deselect all, go back to the Animate menu, select Rotation, and Deselect all, go back to the Animate menu, choose Character Offset,
next to the new animator, click Add and choose Selector>Wiggly. and then add a Wiggly Selector into that new animator. Rename
Rename this animator “Animator 3 – Rotation Wiggle,” then adjust this animator “Animator 4 – Character Offset,” then go to the newly
the X, Y, and Z Rotation selectors to 1x, 2x, 1x, respectively. Now added Character Offset value and set it to 10, and the Character
twirl down Wiggly Selector 1 and adjust the Wiggles/Second to 0.35 Alignment to Center. Now adjust its Wiggles/Second to 2 and its
and the Correlation to 0%, and scrub the Timeline. This correlation Correlation to 0%, then view the results. Looking pretty cool!
value allows the random rotation to apply to the characters individu-
ally, which looks very cool.
88

89
[ADD RANDOM LAYER ORIENTATION] [DUPLICATE, DUPLICATE, DUPLICATE]
Now to adjust the entire layer’s rotation in anticipation of the next Everything we’ve created so far is referencing Wiggle values, which
step, twirl up the entire text layer, then hit R to reveal its Rotation are created randomly in After Effects on a layer-by-layer basis, so if
property. Hold down Option (PC: Alt), click on the Stopwatch for we duplicate this layer, we’ll get wildly different results. Twirl up the
X Rotation to add an expression field, and type in wiggle(0,180), text layer, select it, then press Command-D (PC: Ctrl-D) to duplicate
then hit Enter to confirm. This will randomly rotate the layer up to it. Not only do you see a new spread of text characters in completely
180° on the x-axis, but with no motion. Now repeat this process to different positions, but the layer name has added “2” to the end,
add expressions to both the y- and z-axes, using wiggle(0,360) and which is why we renamed it. Now, duplicate as many times as you
wiggle(0,180), respectively. like to suit your design.
[ADJUST AND ANIMATE CAMERA] [ADD DEPTH OF FIELD; MOTION BLUR]

Turn off the Solo icon for all of the type layers, then select the Finally, press AA to reveal the Camera Options, then turn Depth
Camera 1 layer and change its Z Position value to –900. At 00:00 of Field to On. Change the Focus Distance to 300 and the Aper-
seconds, click the Position Stopwatch to add a keyframe, then ture to 80 pixels—this gives us perfect focus on the final wording
scrub to 04:00 seconds and change the Z position value to –300. line at 04:00. Feel free to turn on the Motion Blur switch for all of
Select that second keyframe and go to Animation>Keyframe the text layers, then render your final movie.
Assistant>Easy Ease In (PC: Shift-F9), or adjust the velocity to suit A really powerful, and even slightly disturbing, motion piece
your own design. created easily and quickly thanks to some careful planning,
animators, wigglers, and expressions, and of course some good
“Energi.” Enjoy!
[ Steve Holmes is the creative director at Energi Design in Sausalito, California, the award-winning motion graphics and Web design house. He also speaks at various design conferences
on the subjects of After Effects, motion graphics, and typography. Steve races as a professional cyclist in the U.S. and Europe, and can be reached at steve@clickenergi.com. ]
ALL IMAGES BY STEVE HOLMES UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

[layers reviews]
the straight scoop on all the latest graphics gear
CINEMA 4D R11 Studio Bundle

3D ANIMATION STUDIO TAKES GIANT LEAP
MAXON Computer recently released the newest version of their
3D animation toolbox, CINEMA 4D R11 Studio Bundle. The Studio
Bundle includes the following modules: Advanced Render, MOCCA,
MoGraph, Thinking Particles, HAIR, Dynamics, Sketch and Toon, and
NET Render. A few years ago, I jumped from R9 to R10 and thought it
was a pretty significant update. Well that jump was pretty minuscule
compared to the changes and additions in R11.
Expanded integration brings new workflow tools and boosts perfor-
mance for both Mac and PC users. If you’re running Mac OS X Leopard,
the Cocoa-based application takes advantage of the 64-bit processing,
but what does that mean? Well, if you’re running the latest and greatest
in Apple’s collection of workstations, then you can work with up to 32 GB
of RAM! This is all due to the fact that CINEMA 4D R11 is now completely
Cocoa-native. In short, rendering large, complex scenes can easily be
done in a single pass more quickly and with hardly any hiccups.
The newly revised Advanced Render 3 module takes rendering
to the next level. Of course, the standard renderer is much faster
but the Advanced Render brings great improvements to Global
Illumination and Caustics, which make renderings much more
realistic. Global Illumination was rewritten to bring faster speeds
Some other new features worth mentioning are the Doodle tool for
and reduce artifacting.
in-frame note-taking, CineMan for compliance with Pixar’s RenderMan,
On the animation side, there are many new features for true nonlinear
and the COLLADA plug-in for interchangeable file formats.
editing. Motion Clips allows you to create multiple object animations—
CINEMA 4D R11 is definitely a significant release and seems to be
sort of presets, if you will—that can be inserted and moved around
more solid than ever. It brings great features and yet still keeps the learn-
without breaking the overall animation. Essentially, you can record a
ing curve to a minimum for ease of use. Even though it’s really geared
title flying in while the letters rotate separately from left to right. If you
toward TV and film, it comes with a hefty price tag, especially after add-
needed to reverse the rotation, however, you can set up the rotation as a
ing the extra modules. But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth the extra cost.
Motion Clip and manipulate it how you’d like without affecting the fly-in.
The bottom line is if you’re heavily into motion graphics with After Effects
CINEMA 4D R11, and the now-included BodyPaint 3D, brings tight
and Photoshop and want to transition into 3D animation, CINEMA 4D R11
integration with Adobe Photoshop. This means a much simpler workflow
Studio Bundle is definitely the way to go.—Jason Scrivner
for editing digital mattes and full 3D environments. Wacom support
is now available, and Photoshop ABR brushes can now be imported.

Integration doesn’t stop with Photoshop. I like the fact that I can transfer Company: MAXON Computer Price: $3,695
cameras, lights, and null objects (with coordinates for syncing) that have Web: www.maxon.net Rating: ● ● ● ●
been animated in CINEMA 4D into After Effects. This way I can do the
Hot: Faster rendering; 64-bit processing; Adobe integration
bulk of the 3D elements in CINEMA 4D and carry the project over to
After Effects for finishing. Not: Cost; minimal online training compared to other software
90

91
Before
Epson Discproducer
After
PP-100 ProScale ID
INDUSTRIAL-STRENGTH SCALING PLUG-IN FOR INDESIGN
CD AND DVD DUPLICATOR AND PRINTER
The Scale tool in InDesign is fine for resizing selected objects on a page.
I’ve used a number of disc publishers (machines that integrate disc duplica- But when you need to resize an entire document, especially one with
multiple pages or to a vastly different shape, you need an industrial-
tion with disc printing) throughout the years. While not perfect, the Epson
strength tool—one that has some intelligence built in. That’s the pur-
Discproducer PP-100 is the best disc publisher I’ve used to date.
pose of ProScale ID, a plug-in for InDesign CS–CS4 that lets you resize
Discproducer is a PC-only product that runs fine under Apple’s
a multipage document with control over what gets scaled, and how.
Boot Camp. It’s made up of two Pioneer burners that are capable of ProScale ID allows you to nonproportionally scale all the pages
write speeds of 40x for CDs, 12x for DVD±R, and 8x for DVD±R DL of a document, including the text, while maintaining line and stroke
(dual-layer). The unit connects to your PC using a single USB 2.0 cable widths. In many cases, you can use it to resize an ad to a new shape,
(included). While not the speediest of burners in this class, they do burn and the result is 90% done. I used it to resize a multipage book chap-
simultaneously which can speed up the overall workflow. Underneath ter to a new page size with a different aspect ratio than the original.
the two burners, Epson added the technology that makes this unit The result required some resizing of the text, but all the frames were
stand out: a six-color, single-disc inkjet printer capable of printing up in perfect position.
to 1440x1440 dpi on regular-sized discs only. The six cartridges (cyan, There’s a useful Fit To menu for common sizes such as A4, A5, busi-
ness card, CD cover, banner ad, 1/3 page, ½ page, letter size, tabloid
light cyan, magenta, light magenta, yellow, and black) have an aston-
size, etc. It’s great for converting letter-size to A4, and its Bleed preset
ishingly long life and can be replaced individually, unlike the integrated
is useful when you suddenly need to include the bleed area inside the
cartridges used by all other systems.
document page. If you often resize documents to the same dimensions,
The unit can duplicate and print up to 100 discs unattended. It does you can save your settings as a preset.
this by using a series of stacker trays and an automated robotic arm Now for the problems: ProScale adds a tool to the Toolbox that
that grabs a disc, inserts it into one of the burners, then moves it to the I couldn’t make work, but it duplicates the InDesign Scale tool, so you
printer, and finally to an output tray. The whole system is managed by can ignore it. Also, saving a preset can be a challenge because the
the Epson Total Disc Maker software that has three main sections: Disc, Save button is grayed out until you temporarily click the Default button.
Label, and Publish. If you need to resize a book, ProScale will pay for itself in the first use.
All the specs in the world don’t mean much if the final product isn’t If you often resize ads and other collateral material, it will save you lots of
up to par, so here’s the bottom line: Every disc printed and copied time and energy.—Jay Nelson
without any errors. Discproducer is a capable disc duplicator with
impressive print quality on both watershield and glossy media. As a
Company: GLUON, Inc. Price: $149
complete package, it’s the unit to beat in its price range for ease of
use and print quality.—Rod Harlan Web: www.gluon.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
Hot: Saves time when resizing complex or multipage documents
Not: Toolbox tool is useless; saving presets has interface glitch
Company: Epson America, Inc. Price: $2,695
Web: http://discproducer.epson.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
Hot: 6-color ink printer; excellent print quality
Not: Disc burners could be faster; Windows only

Episode Pro
ALL-IN-ONE CROSS-PLATFORM MEDIA ENCODER
I was apprehensive about adding Episode Pro to my growing list of
Eos Wireless
compression applications; however, I’m glad I did. It’s truly an all-in-
IPOD SPEAKERS THAT PACK A LOT OF PUNCH
one solution for encoding on the Mac and PC.
The Eos Wireless core system (available in black or white) ships with a
The first thing that stands out about Episode Pro is the depth of
base station transmitter and one satellite speaker. The base station has
the software. You can encode in literally every format and, even if
two built-in tweeters and a ported down-firing subwoofer for 2.1 stereo
you’re not an expert with compression, it includes numerous presets
surround sound, and can support up to four satellite speakers. The unit
for different workflows and formats. If you have a deeper understand-
is very simple to use. Just plug in the unit, dock your iPod (or use the aux-
ing of compression, you can customize virtually every setting possible
iliary audio input for other devices), press play, and pump up the volume.
in a compression job, which comes in handy when you need to fine-
With the help of SRS WOW! sound-enhancement technology, the base
tune compression to create the desired results.
unit delivers nice, clean, much-better-than-average sound and bass than
Episode Pro allows you to set up watched folders that it will moni-
you’d expect from an iPod system.
tor, and when you drop a finished project into the designated folder, it
The best part of the system is the satellite speakers. The compact
automatically starts encoding with your desired settings. In addition,
speakers have their own built-in power supply and can be plugged
Episode Pro has intelligent monitoring that allows you to monitor sub-
directly into any outlet to hang solidly from the wall. The plug can also be
folders, specify the file types you want to encode or ignore, and filter
disconnected from the back of the speaker for shelf or countertop place-
files to encode automatically. Plus, the software allows you to specify
ment. The base station automatically locates the speaker almost instantly.
delivery destinations to automatically deliver files after encoding. One
Each satellite speaker is also a self-contained 2.1 stereo system (two
of the best features is a plug-in for Apple’s Compressor that allows you
tweeters and a ported back-firing subwoofer). The speakers deliver even
to encode in all formats available in Episode Pro from one convenient
better sound and bass than the base station. Each speaker has its own
and familiar interface inside Compressor.
independent volume control and delivers plenty of volume before distor-
Episode Pro is a sequential encoder, meaning it will encode files in
tion kicks in. We set up four speakers in four different rooms, plus the base
order and needs to finish each file before moving on to the next. Also,
station in a fifth room, and it filled the entire house with music. The only
it doesn’t allow for distributed rendering between multiple machines
problem we encountered was with the speaker in the kitchen; anytime the
on a network, even when using the Apple Compressor plug-in. If these
microwave was in use, the signal to the speaker was completely lost.
features are important to your workflow, Telestream offers a product
Overall, the system is impressive. Keep in mind, however, that
that does both called Episode Engine; however, it’s four times the cost
depending on the number of speakers you need, it can become quite
of Episode Pro.—Erik Kuna
expensive. A core system with three additional speakers will run you
almost $640.—Chris Main
Company: Telestream, Inc. Price: $995

Web: www.telestream.net Rating: ● ● ● ● Company: IntelliTouch Price: Core system: $249.99;
Hot: Automation; customization; ease of use; Compressor plug-in Additional speaker: $129.99
Not: No distributed rendering; sequential encoding Web: www.eoswireless.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
Hot: Better-than-average sound and bass
Not: Price for speakers adds up quickly
92

93
GroBoto 2.1.8
3D MODELING APP THAT
YOU CAN’T PUT DOWN
Now this is a program that will get your creativity
flowing and get you out of any modeling rut that
you may be in. GroBoto 2.1.8 is like a breath of
fresh air as it’s unlike the majority of 3D programs
out there that are complicated and expensive. This
program is fun, easy to use, and best of all it’s very
inexpensive! That’s almost unheard of these days
because most users suffer before they can actually
enjoy the 3D programs.
Why is GroBoto so cool? Well, GroBoto is
designed to give the user organic 3D shapes quickly
with very few modeling hassles. As a matter of fact,
some of the standard 3D tools that you’re used to
seeing aren’t even present. What you get here is
something called a Bot, which is a preset 3D object
in GroBoto derived from a collection of 3D primi-
tives. Once you place a Bot into your scene, you use
an abundant set of tools and options to customize the shape and tex-
tures that your Bot is made up of. While the ability to import your own
3D models isn’t available, there are more than 110 Bot types to inspire
your creativity, and you can create some very cool stills and movies much
quicker than you could in some of the other 3D programs.
GroBoto has to be one of the most enjoyable, visually stimulating
Company: Braid Art Labs LLP Price: $79
software programs that I’ve reviewed. Although it isn’t a full-featured Web: www.groboto.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
3D program, it is a creative outlet to get the juices flowing again. I’ll Hot: Unlimited creativity; 3D creation tools; render time; fun
definitely keep this one on my desktop! GroBoto is a great product to
Not: Can’t import 3D models
expand your creativity without spending a fortune.—Bruce Bicknell

[ reviews]
Toon Boom Animate

POWERFUL VECTOR-BASED ANIMATION SOFTWARE
Ask Web animators what application they use, and the majority will
tell you it’s Adobe Flash. That’s too bad. Although Flash CS4 has
made great strides by adding 3D and inverse kinematics (bones) to
its toolset, it’s a limited animation program when compared to Toon
Boom Animate.
Toon Boom Animate includes the following features that Flash
lacks: lip-syncing, 3D multiplane cameras, cell swapping, multiple
brush tools, and motion blur. Like Flash, Animate includes onion skin-
ning, animateable effects, path editing, gradients, inverse kinematics,
masks, reusable symbols, sound support, layers, vector shape tools,
and multiple color palettes.
Animate’s palette support is much more complex and fully fea-
tured than that in Flash. For instance, each drawing tool in Animate
can have its own color. In Flash, if you chose stroke and fill colors,
all drawing tools will use those colors. Morphing in Animate is also
much more feature-rich than it is in Flash (where it’s called Shape
Tweening). Animate contains a suite of tools and controls to allow you
to get exactly the morph you want, and it can import most standard
formats, including MOV, SWF, PSD, AI, and PDF. It can export Quick-
Time movies, FLV, and SWF (Flash) files.
As a long-time Flash animator, I most enjoyed using Animate’s lip-
synching tools, as this task has always been arduous in Flash. Animate
lets you draw mouth shapes for each common sound. It then analyzes
the audio and automatically maps mouth shapes to the soundtrack. You
can override its analysis if necessary, manually choosing which mouth
shape to use at a specific time.
Traditional animators will love the fact that Animate includes Xsheets to code interactive movies or games, but Animate does include a
(exposure sheets), which are spreadsheet-like charts used to plot out scripting language that allows you to automate repetitive tasks in the
animations in a standard film and video workflow. Animate’s Xsheets application itself.
are more than just charts; you can plot keyframes on them instead One thing missing from Animate is a Type tool. If I had to choose
of on the Timeline if you prefer that workflow. I find it best to use both between animating text in Animate or Flash, I would choose Flash.
the Timeline and the Xsheet. The Xsheet gives you many more details Although Flash has a Type tool, its text-animation features are sorely
about what’s going on in each frame; the Timeline gives you a quicker, lacking. I usually animate text in After Effects, which includes the
more-compact overview. most advanced text-animation tool I’ve found.
A strong point for Flash is also one of its weak points: its small Available for both Mac and PC, Animate retails for $999.99 Com-
number of tools. The smaller the tool set, the easier the application pare that with Flash, which is few hundred dollars cheaper, retailing at
is to learn. New users can be up and running with Flash within a few $699. Those prices seem about right, given the animation features of
hours. On the other hand, Animate’s complexity means a steeper the two applications.—Marcus Geduld
learning curve without the plethora of books, courses, and online
training videos you can find for Flash. To help new users, Toon
Boom has loaded their website with training videos and “getting Company: Toon Boom Animation Inc. Price: $999.99
started” documents.
Web: www.toonboom.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
Another strong point in Flash is ActionScript. Flash isn’t just an ani-
Hot: Full-featured; powerful tool for professional animators
mation tool, it’s also a computer-programming platform. Toon Boom
has wisely chosen to focus only on animation, so you can’t use Animate Not: Pricey compared to Flash; no Type tool
94

NIKKOR AF-S DX 18–
105mm f/3.5–5.6G ED VR
COMPACT, VERSATILE ZOOM LENS Digital Juice Fonts
Nikon has crammed a lot of features and zoom range into a compact, A COLLECTION OF VERSATILE, GREAT-LOOKING FONTS
lightweight, and inexpensive little powerhouse, the AF-S 18–105mm
f/3.5–5.6G ED VR lens. This dynamo packs a 5.8x zoom in a body Digital Juice Fonts is a new multivolume collection of layered
that weighs less than a pound and is a mere 3.5" long. As if size graphic fonts that can be endlessly customized and used in all of
and weight aren’t enough, the lens includes an alphabet of Nikon your print, video, and Web projects. Currently, there are three col-
features that’s longer than the lens itself. lections containing more than 4,000 individual graphic presets and
Incorporating Vibration Reduction (VR) technology, I found Nikon’s community fonts (see below): Collection 1 contains 35 font families
claim of being able to handhold the lens at shutter speeds up to three (2,500+ fonts), Collection 2 has 10 font families (1,000+ fonts), and
stops slower than normal to be right on, if not a bit modest. The light- Collection 3 has 12 font families (850+ fonts). An illustrator has drawn
gathering ability (maximum aperture) is about what you’d expect from each graphic font, and the results for some are absolutely gorgeous.
a compact, lightweight lens at f/3.5–5.6, but the VR technology helps And each font is separated into 5 to 12 layers so you can easily turn
to make up for the lack of aperture speed in low-light situations. on and off layers, as well as add effects to each layer, using the
Not only does the lens have an ED (extra-low dispersion) element, included Juicer software.
there’s an aspherical element as well—which is optimized for digital SLRs— My favorite part of the whole collection is that Digital Juice has
rendering a tack-sharp image. Exclusively designed for digital SLR cameras built a community aspect into the product that allows users to design
with a DX sensor, the zoom range of 18–105mm (27–157.5mm equivalent) is and share their own presets. This means you can collect even more
great for photographing subjects from landscapes to portraits. And with a graphic fonts for absolutely free. What’s more, many of the community
minimum focus distance of 1.5', it works reasonably well as a close-up lens, fonts are so good they’re actually worth paying for!
offering up a 1:5 reproduction ratio. The Digital Juice website has also added a number of much-
In actual use, the AF-S Silent Wave Motor was very quick and accurate needed training videos that extends the life of the product. Training
to acquire and lock focus. The nonrotating front element makes it a breeze includes using Juicer, as well as using DJ Fonts in Adobe Premiere,
to use a polarizing filter without having to fine-tune it once it’s adjusted. After Effects, and Photoshop; Apple Motion and Final Cut Pro; and
Who is this lens for? Anyone who wants a small, lightweight, Sony Vegas. With output options from Juicer that includes PNG,
affordable lens that covers a wide range. I consider this the “every- JPEG, Targa, TIFF, BMP, and PSD, you’re pretty much guaranteed
day” lens for owners of DX-format digital SLR bodies.—Laurie Excell compatibility with most video, animation, Web, or print applica-
tions. Both Mac and Windows OS are fully supported.
All in all, this is a terrific collection for anyone who’s tired of the
Company: Nikon USA Price: $399.95 same old Photoshop layer styles and wants to put a little “art” back
into their typography.—Rod Harlan

Web: www.nikonusa.com Rating: ● ● ● ● ●
Hot: High-resolution, compact lens with Vibration Reduction
Not: Company: Digital Juice, Inc. Price: $149.95–499.95
Web: www.digitaljuice.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
Hot: Quality selection of graphic fonts
Not: Additional activation
96

97
Toast 10 Titanium Pro
CD/DVD MEDIA AND AUTHORING STUDIO FOR MAC
Burning CDs and DVDs is built into most operating systems, so it
amazes me that the value for this product remains. But with the tenth
version of Toast sporting tremendous updates, improvements, and
revisions, Roxio continues to provide more than just a better burning
option. Having reviewed every version over the years, I’m still impressed
Portraiture 2
because with each version Roxio bundles even more tools for a very
well-rounded suite for burning and archiving your media.
Roxio is moving forward and responding to the new formats,
technologies, and the demands of their customers. According to Vito
Salvaggio, Sonic Solutions V.P. of Consumer Products, “We want to MUCH-IMPROVED SKIN RETOUCHING
make sure that, as consumer usage patterns change and evolve, our PHOTOSHOP PLUG-IN
product evolves with [them].” It was an expected pleasure to find sup-
There are quite a few plug-ins, tricks, and techniques for creating
port for the newer AVCHD video archive type (used by newer models
smoother skin in portrait images, but finding that “just-right” method
of HD camcorders) and that things such as Disc Cover and CD Spin
Doctor are still there, too. for your most-frequent corrections can become a time-consuming and
The Toast 10 Titanium Pro package includes versions of SoundSoap costly endeavor if it’s all trial and error. With Imagenomic Portraiture 2,
(noise-reduction audio software); FotoMagico (HD image presenta- there’s a balance of smoothness and color to the output. While it can do
tions); LightZone (image editing); Streamer (content streaming to iPods, more than just correct images, it can be overkill if not used judiciously.
iPhones, and other mobile devices); and Sonicfire Pro (soundtrack There’s a lot of improvement in the new version that jumps right out
editing for video), plus support for Blu-ray and high-definition authoring. at you, starting with a vastly improved user interface. The performance
Salvaggio continues, “We asked ourselves, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we was also appreciably improved over version 1, and the addition of
could move the entire contents of the camcorder to a pristine archive?’ unlimited user presets saves a lot of time in the fine-tuning. The factory
so you can archive and back up your [video] in its original high-def qual-
presets, however, should really be a jumping off point—particularly
ity.” The answer is, indeed, yes.
when used with smaller and lower-resolution images—and seem to
Is Toast a necessity? If you find yourself doing a lot of archiving,
have a cooler colorcast. Another wonderful, yet simple improvement is
video, and duplication of media (including iPods, iPhones, and exter-
nal drives), then the answer is, again, yes. Toast 10 will save you a lot of that Portraiture 2 now generates a new layer in Photoshop, saving steps.
steps and expenses with great results.—Daniel M. East Clearly, Imagenomic has taken note of what their end users are ask-
ing for and made some major enhancements to an already fine product.
As always, the results tell the story, but Portraiture 2 is now more intuitive,
Company: Roxio Price: $149.99 easier to navigate, and better performing than ever.—Daniel M. East
Web: www.roxio.com Rating: ● ● ● ● ●

Hot: Full-featured; easy to use; superior to OS disc burning Company: Imagenomic, LLC Price: $199.95
Not: Web: www.imagenomic.com Rating: ● ● ● ●
Hot: Great results; big improvements; performance
Not: Presets can be harsh for certain image sizes

JONAS BERGSTR AND
[ TIPS & TRICKS]
more hot tips for the coolest applications

[Adobe Photoshop CS4] channel to make your selection. After your selection is complete,
go to Selection>Save Selection, name your new alpha channel,
B Y P E T E R B A U E R
and click OK. Once you’ve completed your alpha channel, you
FAUX SHORTCUTS can return to the original image and use Select>Load Selection
Strange but true: You can’t assign custom keyboard short- to load an alpha channel from any open document of exactly the
cuts to the commands in the Character panel flyout menu or same pixel dimensions.
the faux styles at the bottom of the panel. No shortcut for
Faux Bold; no shortcut for Faux Italics; no shortcut for Small
Caps. But rather than having to open the Character panel to [Adobe Illustrator CS4]
access these features, make them available as tool presets B Y D A V I D C R E A M E R
in the Options Bar. Just click the tool preset thumbnail at
the far left of the Options Bar to open the Tool Preset Picker, ALIGN THOSE GUIDES
select New Tool Preset from the flyout menu, name your new You can use the Align panel (Window>Align) on your
preset, and then click OK. When you’re ready to use your ruler guides. Actually, you would only use the Distribute
preset, select it from the Tool Preset Picker, then set the font options, as it doesn’t make sense to align guides. First,
and font size in the Options Bar—all without having to clutter make sure your guides aren’t locked (View>Guides>Lock
the screen with the Character panel. Guides) and then select the desired guides with the
Selection tool (V). Use either the Distribute Objects or
ALPHA SELECTIONS the Distribute Spacing options.
A great way to make a complex selection is to fi nd the
color channel that has the best contrast between the UPDATE YOUR APPEARANCE
edges of the subject and the background, and use that One of my favorite Illustrator CS4 features is the updated
www.LAYERSMAGAZINE.COM
channel as the basis for an alpha channel. Did you know Appearance panel. Not only can you turn effects on and
that you have ten color channels from which to choose? Use off by clicking the visibility Eye icon, but you can also
the Image>Duplicate command then, depending on the change the Fill color, alter the Stroke color and weight,
current color mode of your image, use the Image>Mode and add effects directly from the panel by clicking on the
menu to convert to RGB, CMYK, or Lab mode. Look for the Add New Effect icon (ƒx) at the bottom—no more visit-
channel that contains the greatest contrast, and use that ing three or four other panels or menus to make changes.
98

99
[Adobe InDesign CS4] [Adobe Dreamweaver CS4]
B Y D A V I D C R E A M E R B Y R A F A E L “ R C ” C O N C E P C I O N
BREAK STYLE LINK VALIDATE YOUR CODE BEFORE YOU PUBLISH

If you ever want to use a style but don’t actually want Code that’s not validated runs a greater chance of having prob-
to stay connected to the style (removing the option of lems in different browsers. You can eliminate this problem by
future updates), you can use the Break Link to Style option validating the code inside of Dreamweaver. Click on the Validate
found in the flyout menu of the Paragraph Styles panel Markup icon at the top of your document and select Validate
(Window>Type & Tables>Paragraph Styles). In fact, all the Current Document from the drop-down menu to check your
style panels—Paragraph Styles, Character Styles, Table code against a variety of formats. (Note: If you don’t see a
Styles, Cell Styles, and Object Styles—have a break link series of icons just below the title bar at the very top of your
option. Personally, I usually prefer to make a new style, document window, click the little button at the far right of
but it can be useful for a one-time-only format. the title bar to toggle those icons on.) If you select the Set-
tings option from the drop-down menu, you’ll be taken to the
UPDATE STYLE Dreamweaver Preferences dialog, where you can change what
If you like to use the Control panel (or the Character and
languages and technologies you want to validate against.
Paragraph panels) to apply formatting directly to text—or if
you receive a file with format overrides on every style—the USE YOUR FAVORITES
Redefine Style option in the Paragraph Styles flyout menu The Insert panel in Dreamweaver has a ton of different
is for you. It updates the style definition to match whatever things you can use—but how can you keep track of the
the selected text is set to—removing the format override ones you use most frequently? Go to the Favorites panel
warning (the little plus sign next to the style name). To (select Favorites from the drop-down menu at the top of
make sure you don’t select multiple, nonmatching formats, the Insert panel) and Control-click (PC: Right-click) any-
it’s often better to simply place your cursor in the text rather where in the panel. A pop-up window will appear allowing
than make an actual selection. you to add your favorite components from each section,
creating a panel with all of the stuff you need and none
of the stuff you don’t. (Note: If you’re using the Classic
workspace and you have the Insert Bar at the top of your
screen, click the Favorites tab above the Insert Bar.)
[Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro]
B Y D A V I D C R E A M E R
CUT THE CROP

If you crop your document with the Crop tool (Tools> [Adobe Flash CS4 Professional]
Advanced Editing>Crop Tool), you can use the Document> B Y C Y N D Y C A S H M A N , P H . D .
Examine Document menu command to remove data that
was outside the crop box. Just click the Remove button at the COMMENTS IN TIME
bottom of the Examine Document Navigation Panel. How- You can easily add comments to your Timelines in your Flash
ever, if an object, including invisible compound boxes, over- documents. Select a layer’s keyframe, type a comment in the
laps inside and outside the crop box, the object isn’t deleted. Property Inspector’s Label name field, and then choose Com-
ment from the Type drop-down menu.
RESIZING A DOCUMENT
Speaking of cropping, everyone knows you can use the CLEAN UP YOUR DOCUMENT’S LIBRARY
Crop tool to make a document page smaller (in appear- Choose Select Unused Items from the Library panel’s flyout
ance, anyway). But did you know you can use the Crop menu to highlight symbols not used in your movie. Then, click
tool or the Document>Crop Pages menu command to the Trash icon at the bottom of the Library panel to delete all
enlarge a document’s size? For example, you can change the unused symbols at once.
a smaller document to a letter-size page. Just select one
of the options from the Page Sizes drop-down menu in the
TRANSFORM UNDO
You can use the Transform panel (Window>Transform) to quickly
Change Page Size section of the Crop Pages dialog. This
remove all of the transformation values from an object. Select
doesn’t scale the content, it just changes the page size, also
the object and click the Remove Transform icon at the bottom
known as the media box. Also, you can’t make a page size
right of the panel.
truly smaller than it was originally created. To do these last
two items, you would need a third-party plug-in, such as
Enfocus PitStop Professional (www.enfocus.com) or Callas
pdfToolbox (www.callassoftware.com).

JONAS BERGSTR AND
[CREATIVE SUITE Q & A]
sweet answers for suite questions

[Adobe Photoshop CS4] [Adobe Illustrator CS4]
B Y P E T E R B A U E R B Y D A V I D C R E A M E R
[Q] What happened to Extract in Adobe Photoshop CS4? [Q] Can I create a multicolumn text box like I can in InDesign?
Yes. First, you need to create a text block by clicking-

Extract is now an optional install for Photoshop CS4, along
and-dragging with the Type tool (T). Another option is to
with several other plug-ins, including Picture Package, Web create a shape and click on it with the Area Type tool. (The
Photo Gallery, and Pattern Maker. You can download the interesting thing about the latter option is that any shape
optional features from the following links: can be used, not just a rectangular shape.) With the text
block selected, use the Type>Area Type Options menu
Mac: command and choose the number of Columns and the
www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4047 column Gutter space. As you’ll notice, you can also divide
the shape into rows—and with the Text Flow Options you
PC: can auto-flow text going left-to-right/top-to-bottom
www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4048 or top-to-bottom/left-to-right. I suggest turning on the
Preview to make sure you’re getting the columns and or
[Q] I know how to restrict an adjustment layer to one layer

(Option-click [PC: Alt-click] on the line between the
rows just the way you want.
adjustment layer and the layer immediately below it in

the Layers panel), but how do I apply an adjustment layer to [Q] How can I lock some guides and not others?
www.L AYERSMAGA ZINE.COM
some but not all layers? You can select individual guides and use the Object>
Lock>Selection menu command, but I prefer to use a master
Create a new layer group by clicking the fifth icon from the left layer for my guides, with the guides themselves on sublayers.
at the bottom of the Layers panel. Drag those layers on which Guides are created on the active layer (but can be moved
you want to show the effects of the adjustment layer into the between layers like any other object), so with some attention
group. At the top of the Layers panel, change the group’s to detail up front, the guide sublayers can be locked or hidden
blend mode from Pass Through to Normal (this is the key to as needed.
restricting the adjustment layer). You can now add the adjust-
ment layer in the group, and it will only apply to those layers
that are both within the group and below the adjustment layer.
100

101
[Adobe InDesign CS4] [Adobe dreamweaver cs4]
L AYERS MAGA ZINE ][ july / august 2009

B Y D A V I D C R E A M E R B Y R A F A E L “ R C ” C O N C E P C I O N
[Q] What is InCopy? Someone suggested I look into it for

our editing process? [Q] If I’m designing something in a table, I don’t like the
fact that the outlines of the table and the dimensions of
the table are visible. Can I block that from appearing?
InCopy is like an editing-only version of InDesign with a few
Microsoft Word features added in. Basically, the InDesign Yes. Those items are considered visual aids, which can be
user exports the stories as assignments to different editors. turned on and off. At the top of the page, you should see a
Using InCopy, the editors can edit the stories (and possibly series of icons. (Note: If you don’t see a series of icons just
photos) while the InDesign user is working on the layout below the title bar at the very top of your document window,
(generally not the same layout that the editor is editing, but click the little button at the far right of the title bar to toggle
it could happen). Everyone has to check the assigned stories them on.) One of these icons allows you to toggle your
out and back in, preventing two people from editing the visual aids on and off on a page. You can toggle widths and
same story at the same time. borders, CSS layout elements, and editable regions, among
InCopy costs about a third of the retail price of InDesign, other things. This is a great feature if you want to see your
but isn’t available in any of the Creative Suite packages. If page as it will be rendered.
your current workflow requires that edits be done by the
designer (creating a bottleneck in the workflow) or the bud-
get is being blown purchasing InDesign for all the editors,
InCopy is definitely worth checking out.
[Q] In the Box Category in the CSS Rule Definition dialog,
there are settings for both Padding and Margin. Aren’t
these essentially the same things?
[Q] Is there any way to have InDesign automatically

add captions from separate text files when photos
Though Padding and Margin both provide distance, they’re
not necessarily the same thing. Usually used when creating div
tag elements for a page, the Padding refers to the space on
are placed?
the top, left, right, and bottom from within the container. The
There’s nothing built into InDesign for doing this with the Margin refers to the top, left, right, and bottom on the outside
possible exception of writing a custom script. Assuming you’re of the container, pushing other elements around in a layout.
asking because you’re not familiar with writing scripts, there’s Keep in mind, however, that both Padding and Margin both
another possibility: Woodwing Smart Image. It can take the affect the overall size of a container. If you need a div container
caption and credit, entered in XMP or IPTC metadata, and that’s 800 pixels wide with a Left and Right Margin of 10, and
place it on the page when the photo is placed. Text and object a Left and Right Padding of 10, then you would set the overall
styles can be applied to the caption during placement. More width of the container to 760 pixels
info and a 30-day trial can be obtained at www.woodwing.com.
[Adobe Flash CS4 Professional]

[Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro] B Y C Y N D Y C A S H M A N , P H . D .
B Y D A V I D C R E A M E R
[Q] I get a periodic warning that certain actions can’t be

undone when working in Acrobat. I end up making a
[Q] Can I use Flash video on my website even though I don’t
have a streaming server?
Yes, you can; however, the video will be progressively

copy of the file just in case I mess up. Is there a better
downloaded from the server rather than streamed. Video
way to keep from having all these dupe files?
that’s progressively downloaded begins playing as soon as
Yes. If you really don’t need to keep the file, but are just part of the video has been downloaded. If the video file is
experimenting with the tools or just want to print the resul- large or the connection is slow, the video will stop playing
tant document, simply don’t save the file. I run into this all the until more is downloaded. To add progressively down-
time and after I get the warning, I use the File>Revert menu loaded video to your Flash document, open the Import
to go back to my last saved version. Video dialog (File>Import>Import Video). After selecting
the video you want to import, click the radio button next
to Load External Video with Playback Component, then
[Q] My form won’t work on a Mac system—it works great on
Windows. What’s the problem?
click the Continue button.
Most likely, the Mac user is using Preview—the default

program for viewing many files including PDFs. Have the Mac
user change the default to open PDFs in Adobe Reader or
[Q] After completing a tween, my object disappears on
the Stage. How do I keep it visible after the tween
has finished?
Acrobat (whichever they have). To change the default, they just
need to click on a PDF, press Command-I for Get Info, choose Use this shortcut to extend the time an object remains on
either Adobe Acrobat Pro or Adobe Reader from the Open the Stage after it has completed a tween: Press the Shift
With drop-down menu, and then click the Change All button. key and click-and-drag the last frame of the tween to the
Alternatively, if it’s just a one-time thing, simply drag the PDF right in the Timeline. Release the mouse button on the
on top of the Adobe Reader icon on the Dock. last frame you want the object to appear on the Stage.

103
For advertising information, please contact Kevin Agren,
VP, Sales at 813-433-2370 Fax: 813-433-5013
Email: kagren@kelbymediagroup.com
I N D E X O F A D V E R T I S E R S
4 Over, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104–105

www.4over.com
[G] [P]
Peachpit Publishing Group . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
[A] GridIron Software, Inc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
www.gridironsoftware.com www.peachpit.com
Adorama Camera, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 Photoshop CS4 Down & Dirty Tricks. . . . . 102
www.adorama.com
[I] www.kelbytraining.com
AMC Colorgrafix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106 Photoshop World Conference & Expo. . . 55–58

iStockphoto.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC–3
www.amc-color.com www.photoshopworld.com
www.istockphoto.com
Artistic Photo Canvas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 Print Factory, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

I.T. Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
www.artisticphotocanvas.com www.GoPrintFactory.com
www.itsupplies.com
Axiotron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 PrintRunner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114

www.axiotron.com
[K] www.printrunner.com
[B] Kelby Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95, 108 [R]

www.kelbytraining.com
B&H Photo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117 Really Right Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

www.bhphotovideo.com [L] www.reallyrightstuff.com
BlackRapid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93 Layers Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116 [S]

www.blackrapid.com www.layersmagazine.com
Shutterstock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .IBC
Boss Logo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109 [M] www.shutterstock.com
www.bosslogo.com
MacMall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC Smith Micro Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
www.mysmithmicro.com
[C] www.macmall.com
Softpress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
CDW. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 Markzware Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
www.softpress.com
www.cdw.com www.markzware.com
[U]
Copy Craft Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 Media Graphix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
www.copycraft.com www.mediagraphix.com
UPrinting.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110–111
www.uprinting.com
Corel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11 Media Lab, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
www.corel.com www.medialab.com
[W]
cPanel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116 Mpix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Wacom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7
www.cpanel.com www.mpix.com www.wacom.com/americas
[F] [O] [Z]

Fotolia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29 onOne Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53 Zoo Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .116
www.fotolia.com www.ononesoftware.com www.zooprinting.com
Every attempt has been made to make this listing as complete as possible. However, its accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

[DESIGN ] LAY E R S B A C K P A G E
CONTEST] ] WIN ALL THREE COLLECTIONS

OF DIGITAL JUICE FONTS
HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO WIN COLLECTION ONE, TWO,

AND THREE OF DIGITAL JUICE FONTS!
The Mission ] In this issue of Layers magazine, Jacob Cass teaches us
how to make a font monster in Illustrator (p. 59) and Dave Cross shows us
how to replace an image with words in Photoshop (p. 50). Your mission is
to use these techniques to create your very own font creations. And since
our cover story is “Silver Screen Styles,” you must incorporate your font
creations into a fictitious movie poster of your own design.
The Judging ] The judges will be looking at the creative use of fonts and
the quality of the overall design of the movie poster. Keep in mind that we
have to be able to clearly tell what object the fonts represent (whether it’s
your very own font monster, a car, a tree, etc.) and that you don’t want to use
any copyrighted material from actual movies. (Note: Please proofread your
designs, or have someone proofread them for you. Typos have a negative
impact on the judging.)
The Prize ] The grand prize winner will receive Collection One, Two, and
Three of Digital Juice Fonts. That’s a retail value of nearly $500! The three
collections offer 57 font families with access to more than 4,350 stunning
fonts created by the artists at Digital Juice. These fonts contain lots of layers
and effects that make it easy to create new fonts; are compatible with video,
animation, Web, and print; and come in super-high resolution. Think of the
font monsters you can create with that! (Check out page 96 for a review of
Digital Juice Fonts.) FOR COMPLETE DETAILS, VISIT
The Deadline ] September 14, 2009. The winner will be announced in WWW.LAYERSMAGAZINE.COM/
the November/December 2009 issue of Layers magazine. DESIGNCONTEST.HTML.
“FOURTH ANNUAL LAYERS 100 WICKED

TIPS” MUSIC CD DESIGN WINNER
(Layers March/April 2009)
Title ] The Drip Drop Caps Prize ] SiteGrinder 2 Pro and a two-year
Designer ] Angela Lawrence subscription to Kelby Training Online
118


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Create Hollywood-style type effects

DISPLAY UNTIL SEPTEMBER 15, 2009

TWEET THINKING FONT MONSTER FLASH FIND

50 ] Adobe Photoshop CS4 :

59 ] Adobe Illustrator CS4:

66 ] Adobe InDesign CS4:

72 ] Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro:

76 ] Adobe Dreamweaver CS4:

82 ] Adobe Flash CS4 Professional:

86 ] Adobe After Effects CS4:

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

30 ] The Digital Canvas

98 ] Tips & Tricks

100 ] Creative Suite Q&A

118 ] Design Contest Page 30

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

MANAGING EDITOR Chris Main

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Felix Nelson

DIRECTOR OF CIRCULATION Ronni O’Neil

PUBLISHER Scott Kelby

PUBLISHED BIMONTHLY BY Kelby Media Group

SUBSCRIPTIONS $29.95 (U.S.) Call (toll-free)

COVER DESIGN Cover image courtesy of

COLOPHON Produced using Adobe InDesign CS4,

Full Line of Supplies (Call for Catalog)

1.800.771.9665 www.itsupplies.com either registered trademarks or trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated in

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Help your clients

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Easily manage uploads and downloads

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Control your Canon

www.fotolia.com. The library of more than 10,000 videos

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

Layers: On a student blog in the U.K., you mentioned

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[CONTACT] Jonas Bergstrand www.jonasbergstrand.com ALL IMAGES BY JONAS BERGSTRAND

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

…he’d like to project (the image) of a virtuoso

M usician and music teacher Terry Shaw has an independent

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

The final design is homemade without being homespun...

E mploying images ranging from mandolins set aflame as a nod

APPLICATIONs USED: Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Adobe Photoshop CS4

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

I…focused on a more reflective and intriguing image

W hen I saw the original CD cover, my first thought was,

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

…the lines of the music staff also represent the strings

T erry Shaw is a multitalented instrumentalist and composer

APPLICATIONs USED: Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign

www.storemags.com & www.fantamag.com

Don’t fear change

STEP ONE: Start by finding or creating an image that shows both

[ The new enhanced 3D

capabilities built into

Photoshop CS4…bring new

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STEP FIVE: Now let’s turn

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This is a whole new capability available to the Photoshop user.