Blurring the Lines Between Stills & Motion

There are some truly amazing digital still cameras in the market. But earlier this year, Nikon launched the D90 – the first DSLR to offer video recording, with the ability to record HD 720p videos, with mono sound, at 24 frames per second. Determined to win the race, Canon shot out with its EOS 5D Mark II; with the abilitiy to record 1080p video at 30fps!

Let’s be clear… this is not your average “video mode”. These pro-sumer cameras range from $999 to over $3,000, and allow a photographer/videographer the freedom of using interchangeable (standard 35mm) lenses and capture video images with the same versatility and expanded depth of field they enjoy when shooting stills.

Enjoy this amazing video sequence created by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Vincent Laforet using a pre-production Canon EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR. Amazed…? We’ll check out the making-of.

Photoshop Speed Painting

It’s amazing what you can do with Photoshop…

I think it was 1992 when I first starting working with Photoshop. And while many other design and layout programs have come and gone, Adobe’s Photoshop – now in its 11th iteration – is still the industry standard and by far my software to work with.

So after all these years I thought I had learned my share of tricks and picked up some speed. But surfing through YouTube I found several talented designers using this great program to create truly incredible digital works of art; and doing it in lighting speed.

You must check out this video clip of Martin Missfeldt’s Photoshop-based speed painting of Albert Einstein. Pure Genius!

Do Your Part

Ever seen a design that is just so disturbing to the eye but have no one to share your disgust with??

Say no more! Design Police is answer for you! At last there is a fun-filled way to relieve the urge to criticize that nasty excuse for design! Visit www.design-police.org and download stickers to help bring bad design to justice.

Is Silver light?

MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT CONFERENCE: DAY THREE

Sorry for using a pun/riddle to wrap up the Silverlight feature. Let me clarify, I’m using the title as a way to describe something that is less than what it’s supposed to be. Think Bud light without the drunken side-effects. Not unlike light beer, I wondered if I was partaking in watered down software. Here are a few quotes from my instructor.

“The layout design is — not where it needs to be.”
“That’s unfortunate, they really need to fix that.”
“That’s not a bug it’s a feature.”
“After that, hopefully we can get it working. <clicks button> Nope.”

In all honesty, the possibilities for Silverlight are virtually endless. But at this point in time the software seems unfinished.

The Silverlight Chimera

MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT CONFERENCE: DAY TWO

Allow me to describe my Silverlight experience with this metaphor: If After Effects, Flash, and Illustrator got drunk at the Adobe holiday party and then got it on, the resulting chimera would be Silverlight.

Don’t get me wrong, the application is very powerful. It can create media rich applications that can boggle the mind! Check out how Hard Rock Cafe used Silverlight and a plug-in called Infinite zoom to bring their online memorabilia collection to life.

Pretty impressive, no? My gripe, as a designer, is that the creation of content isn’t all too obvious. How can my creativity be unleashed If I’m in a perpetual state software frustration!

Flashes of Silverlight

MICROSOFT SILVERLIGHT CONFERENCE: DAY ONE

What is Silverlight? Silverlight is Microsoft’s version of flash. Kinda. You see where Flash has come to be synonymous with not only the program but its applications and browser plugins (i.e. Using Flash i created this Flash application. You’ll need to install flash in your browser to see it.) Silverlight is just the plugin.

So if there’s no program called Silverlight, how is Silverlight content created? Enter Microsoft Visual Studio. Basically, it’s an Adobe-esque design suite. If you used any adobe product then you’ll be in familiar territory. However there are some beneficial and annoying differences. 

Here are a few interesting features. The user interface seems very well thought out and easy to control. I particularly like the slider controls. Almost everything that be adjusted with an easy to use slider very similar to after effects. You won’t even have to relearn shortcuts as Microsoft pretty much lifted the tool panels out of the Adobe suite.

Here are a few annoyances. The file systems gets insanely deep. For a simple animation in flash you have one file: swf and maybe an FLV or a javascript or two. In Micosoft Blend (we spend the most time in this app) you have a full blow file system. C sharp files, assett folders, gadgets and gizmos-a-plenty, who-zits and whats-its galore. You want thing-a-ma-bobs Silverlight’s got you covered! Perhaps a deal breaker for many is the fact that producing animation isn’t just a matter of hitting the publish button. If you want something to move you need to know how to code. It’s not optional.

As the resident figure-it-out guy, I pride myself on my abilities to reverse engineer something. Silverlight content is so deep, I seriously doubt i could figure it out if i didn’t have someone holding my hand. 

That’s when it hit me. Microsoft Blend isn’t a design application it’s more like a programming language. Everything, and i do mean everything, is rendered using a programming language called XAML. What’s the significance of this? Just like an HTML page’s source can be lifted from any webpage. The silverlight XAML can be lifted as well. In flash, a red circle is just that, a red circle. In Blend, a red circle is dozens of  lines of code.

Tomorrow we’ll get started on creating content. Stay tuned.

The Top 10 Digital Design Mistakes

Bad design is all over the web like a rotten smell. Craig Grannell from .net magazine counts down the ten biggest online design crimes, and looks at how to avoid them – with a little help from expert industry opinion. Check it out >>

Blog Evangelism: My Blog About Blogs

Before the dawn of social media, content flowed in one direction. Down. Content was created and distributed by the few and then it trickled down to the masses.

The paradigm has shifted.

In today’s shotgun-search engine society we’ve been conditioned to process huge amounts of information in a media-saturated environment. With a swipe of my finger i can unlock my iPhone and watch a video on YouTube, check my email, and post to Facebook in seconds.

For those of you who doubt the impact that social media can have on your business may i remind you of this simple fact: Google has become a verb.

Google is more than a search engine. It is a digital news stand and virtual magazine rack. It is equal parts yellow-pages, 411 operator, and encyclopedia britannica. It is where people go when they crave information and we can be there, standing in the gap, advertising our presence at the very instance they call.

It’s the closet thing to omnipresence a mere mortal can achieve!

Many professionals hold tight to this conviction, “I’m too busy running my business. I don’t have time to blog,” unaware of the opportunities they forfeit. A successful blog can expand your sphere of influence by fostering dialog between consumer and creator. Blogs tear down the fourth wall demystifying the relationship between user and producer.

Blogs provide the catalyst to transform customers into advocates.

Press Check

Envelope sizes? Binding styles? Proof reading marks? Check, check and check. Designers Toolbox offers you the basic information you’re always looking for. Bookmark this now.

PowerPoint to the People

At one point in your professional career you’ve undoubtedly dealt with the necessary evils of PowerPoint. Like a sugar-charged toddler it rarely behaves the way that it’s supposed to. No software has illicted more frustrated growls and senseless mouse abuse than PowerPoint.

Well enough is enough! It’s time to return PowerPoint to the people! Here are a few tips to enhance your presentation experience and add a little flash to your deck.