May 28, 2008
The complete works of Charles Darwin are online.
Images from Darwin’s notebooks are taken from microfilms. Unfortunately there was not enough money to scan in colour and these images are provided in the interim. That said it is a valuable resource online.
May 27, 2008
When I encountered SocialRank I once again had my attention directed to the importance of being linked to as this service “monitors thousands of blogs in popular categories and identifies the hottest stories and bloggers every day. We do this democratically by measuring what stories users link to, talk about and pay attention to.”
This video clearly explains what it is and you will find a list of topic areas if you scroll further down their index page.
May 26, 2008
Peachpit often provide sample chapters of their books. The site houses such items as a sample chapter on using the Bridge in CS3 and the Photoshop Reference Guide by Matt Kloskowski houses a number of video tutorials. Unlock the True Power of Illustrator by Mastering Vectors written by Mordy Golding focuses on the pen tool. These are a few of the resources to be found at Peachpit so do explore a little particularly the blog
May 14, 2008
Over on Bittbox there is a great Freebie roundup for texture lovers with 12 Places To Download Free Textures
April 7, 2008
Adobe has released a free web based image manipulation tool Photoshop Express which allows users a simple way to enhance, share, and store photos. This is a beta product so I imagine there will be more features and functionality developed.
You join and upload your JPEG images both of which I found quick and easy. Phtotoshop express just supports JPEG files so your images must be saved int hat format. It’s all fairly obvious but you can also Test Drive Photoshop Express using that feature on the home page.
The crop and rotate tool in action
Once photos are loaded via the edit button you will discover the basic tools used for image manipulation.
Autocorrect option
These include basic manipulation tools such as crop and rotate, autocorrect red-eye removal, touch up and saturation.
You can fine tune the image with white balance, highlight, fill light , sharpen, and soft focus.
People will enjoy the Effects options pop color, hue, black and white, tint, sketch and distort options are avalable.
You can preview what the image will look like and feel free to experiment as at anytime you can undo what you have done by clicking the cross on the right hand side of the image.
Popcolor options
Hue options
Black and white options
Tint options
Sketch Options
Distort in action
If you want to apply the effect to this image click the green tick on the right hand side of the screen.
You can also ‘zoom in’ on the image using the plus and minus icons found at the bottom left hand of the screen
Photos uploaded are not automatically made public. If you want to share them click Albums in the left column, then choose the checkbox labeled Share under the albums you want to make public.
You will need Flash Player 9 but that is free to download.
There is free storage space of up to 2 gigabytes and you can easily connect to Facebook, Google’s Picasa, and Photobucket. This means you can open your Facebook photos from within Photoshop Express, edit them, and save them back.
It is not in any way an online replacement for your desktop Photoshop CS3 but then it is not meant to be. At times it’s a bit slow but for a beta product I think its a great online editor with the exception that I could not find a way to change the size of an image or rename a photo.
April 3, 2008
Ponoko is a new online service that many studio based designers and artists will interested in. Ponoko allows designers to make and trade individualized products on demand and it is an online space for a community of creators and consumers.
As a designer you can create the design, submit the eps files to Ponoko and they can laser cut them for you. Rather than print on demand its a ‘make on demand’ service. You can also sell your products form their site via your own shop front.
Check out the Make and sell section of the site for more information and they have blog you can follow too. Check out their product of the week.
Thanks to Allie for dropping me an email and giving me the link
April 1, 2008
ArtandCulture.com, provides information on the visual arts, performing arts, design, literature, music and film.
The site is a linked guide to all the arts which means much of the content is set in context which enables users to discover and make connections between artists, movements, schools, styles, genres etc.
March 20, 2008
Sitepoint CSS Reference is a new reference collection of articles. What is CSS? Is particularly well done and since it answers the question so well I will be pointing my students to it. They have recently released their Sitepoint HTML reference too
I am off for a the easter weekend break and a few days after that too. I wil be back here mid next week.
March 19, 2008
Over on Mashable there is a comprehensible list of 120 various blogging tools, resources and links to articles that offer advice, tips and tricks. These resources are worth exploring for anyone new to blogging or even old hands will find the list useful
March 7, 2008
ArtCloud is a free service which aims to bring the benefits of online social networking to artists. You can put your folio online, explore and discover art and artists that interest you, share what you find with friends, add art events to your personal calendar and you can also create interest groups to share information and work.
It is free, browser based and the site is easy to use. You can release your work at what level copyright you choose and provides access to Creative Commons license.
