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The Photoshop Blog offers the latest Photoshop news and software updates, Photoshop tips and tutorials, and random thoughts from graphic artist and Photoshop expert Jennifer Apple.



THURSDAY - FEBRUARY 9 2006

Proxy Volume 2, Number 1 Now Available

Adobe's quarterly online magazine covers software tips, troubleshooting advice, design trends, and more.

In the Download It Now section they have "Photoshop styles - CSP Titanium - Some designers can never get enough metallic styles. This one, made by featured designer Christopher Potter, offers three titanium styles for use on 300 ppi documents."

In the Schoolin' section there's a Russell Brown QuickTime movie on using Vanishing Point for persepctive work.

In the Ask A. Pixel section there's a Photoshop question: "I need to make the same changes to hundreds of photographs in Photoshop. Is there any easy way to do this without burning the midnight oil?" The answer includes instructions on how to execute batch processing using actions.

To view this issue you'll have to signup at the Proxy site. At the signup page you'll find the four previous issues that you can download instantly.
Signup at the Proxy site.

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Digital Film Tools Releases Snap For Photoshop

Digital Film Tools, an L.A. visual effects shop specializing in film and TV special effects, has announced the release of Snap for Photoshop. Snap is an easy-to-use interactive image cut-out tool.

Image cut-out is the process of removing or isolating an object in a picture. Using a coarse-to-fine editing approach, an area of the image is cut-out by first marking the object and then refining the boundary. Object marking occurs at a coarse level, which roughly defines an object by marking a few lines. Next, boundary editing works at a finer scale by either clicking and dragging polygon points to edit the object boundary or drawing a stroke along the object's edge.

The extracted object can then be combined with another image or individually filtered in Photoshop. The challenge becomes defining which parts of the image are foreground, the portion to be cutout, and those which belong to the background. Snap provides instant visual feedback by snapping an editable curve to an object's boundary even if it has vague or low contrast edges. This is made possible by utilizing unique graph-cutting and segmentation algorithms. More accurate results are achieved in a shorter amount of time than using existing tools and techniques. Snap is available for download or purchase for $50.

For more plugins, see our Photoshop Plugins Page.
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Photoshop Tip: Blend Mode Power Tip

Once you understand layer blend modes, you wind up using them all the time. Chances are by now you know which individual modes you want to use (such as Overlay, Multiply, Soft Light, Hard Light, Screen) and which ones you'll probably never use (such as Dissolve). If you know which ones you want to use, you can use a keyboard shortcut to jump right to the blend mode you want.

For example, to jump to the Overlay mode for a layer, press Option-Shift (PC: Alt-Shift) and the first letter of the mode you want, in this case, the letter O (making the shortcut Option-Shift-O [PC: Alt-Shift-O]). For Screen mode, you'd press Option-Shift-S (PC: Alt-Shift-S), and so on. (Note: If you have a tool selected that has a blend mode in its Options Bar, such as the Brush tool [B], the keyboard shortcut will change that tool's blend mode instead of the layer blend mode.)

reprinted by permission and sponsored by the NAPP
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Photoshop CS3 Upgrade Options And Bundles From The Adobe Store

Photoshop CS3 Extended is ideal for film, video, and multimedia pros and for graphic and web designers using 3D and motion. Get the full version for US $999, or upgrade for US $349. The standard version of Photoshop CS3 is available for US $649, or as an upgrade for US $199. See all upgrade options at the Adobe Store. See our CS3 Resource Center for free Photoshop CS3 tutorials.

Photoshop Extended is also available as part of Adobe Creative Suite 3 Design Premium, which combines all-new CS3 versions of Photoshop, Flash Pro, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, InDesign and Acrobat 8 Pro. Upgrade options for customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can be found at the Adobe International Store.

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Available At The Adobe Store

There are tons of new features in Adobe Lightroom 1.0 that you won't find in the beta version. From Clone and Healing functionality to metadata browsing, you'll be able to free-up post-processing time like never before. Get it now at the Adobe Store. Customers in Europe, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Asia can find special pricing and offers at the Adobe International Store. For free Lightroom tutorials see our Lightroom tutorials page.



Special Offer - Fluid Mask - Photoshop Masking Plugin

Fluid Mask is based on breakthrough segmentation technology inspired by the way the eye, optic nerve and brain perform visual processing. When an image is loaded, Fluid Mask's segmentation engine analyses the distribution of colors, finding the natural groups within the image. Together with information calculated about edges, gradients and textures, a model is constructed which divides the images into objects.

Vertus Software is offering Fluid Mask at the special 'friends and partner' discounted rate. This is an exclusive offer to visitors of PhotoshopSupport.com. To qualify, visit the Fluid Mask Discount Price page. Find out more about Fluid Mask on our special Fluid Mask Page.

SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly

There often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.

Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.

Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.

Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.

Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. SiteGrinder can be ordered from Media Lab's online store.

Photoshop CS3 Book - CS3 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews

Brimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS3. If you are an aspiring professional, enthusiastic amateur photographer, or a student learning photography, digital imaging, art and design, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.