There's nothing quite like creating art three-dimensionally because, well, life is three dimensional. What if there was an easy way for you to include stunning 3D imagery and artwork — in Photoshop? Take your first step into 3D with the free DAZ Studio 3D Bridge for Photoshop.

Now you can move objects and figures three-dimensionally in Photoshop while observing the scene in real time in both DAZ Studio and Photoshop simultaneously! It doesn't even require a U3D Export. Even better, it's free.

Perhaps you've had the notion that creating 3D art would be too technical. Or that you barely have enough time to create in Photoshop as it is. Well, a new day has dawned.

Simply download the plug-in and you’re off to the races, literally. For starters, you'll spend less overall rendering time since you'll able to see your 3D figure exactly where you want them to be in relation to your 2D scene before you render. Additionally, you can render each model directly to its own layer within Photoshop, ready to enhance and merge. But the best part about it? You don't have to leave Photoshop to create winning 3D art.

And the 3D Bridge Starter Bundle for Photoshop is the perfect way to begin your content library. Featuring stand-alone figures, plus clothing, hairstyles, poses, props, animals, a vehicle and one smiley character, this Starter Bundle offers you an array of content to begin building your 3D scenes. But best of all, it’s free.

The Starter Pack contains our bestselling Aiko 3 Base with several textures, hairstyles, and poses; Millennium dragons, cats, and dogs; a futuristic flying car; and the ever popular Emotiguy!

Also take note that they have a super special right now on their Carrara 6 3D software. Here are some notes on that:

Whether employed as the centerpiece or as the 3D workhorse within the designer's creative suite, the highly-affordable Carrara 6 lavishes speed and power that enables users to create more freely and deliver high-caliber results under even the tightest deadlines.

Finally, there is a single solution for realistic figure posing and animation combined with advanced modeling, terrain-building, physics, and rendering that is readily compatible with such a large array of 3D assets.

You'll soon find that most of what you'll be working with is on the cutting edge of 3D animation. Carrara 6 provides 3D figure posing and animation, modeling, environment creation, and rendering tools within a single application.

Robust, advanced, and easy to use, Carrara 6 is recognized as the complete, all-in-one 3D solution for digital content creators of many industries including magazine, comic book, newspaper, TV and film - to name a few.

Carrara 6 helps you to transform digital photos into breathtaking works of art by making it easy to add new elements or change everyday environments into something truly epic.

Take advantage of mind-blowing, photo-realistic lighting and rendering, image filtering, shadow catching, alpha-channel support, effects and more to create and composite virtual elements, settings, or characters into your real photographs.

Plus, Carrara 6 provides superior Import/Export capabilities with the industry's top creative applications, making it the perfect choice for all your digital content creation.

Find all you need to know and the download links for the free 3D plugin and free starter bundle at the DAZ site. Also have a look at their super special on Carrara 6.

posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments


September 27, 2007

More good stuff from Imaging Insider and swissmiss, BittBox gives you vectors, PSDTuts fires off more high quality Photoshop tutorials, while the wired and inspired John Nack has another Photoshop improvement idea that he'd like your feedback on. And the survey monkey says...

Imaging Insider
The Canon SELPHY ES2 Compact Photo Printer
Digital photographers and scrapbookers now have even more creative options for printing their photographs - Canon U.S.A., Inc., has just announced the SELPHY ES2 Compact Photo Printer, the latest addition to the popular SELPHY line of Canon compact photo printers.

Monique Henegouwen - Taking Direction from the Audience
Monique Henegouwen is taking direction from her blog audience as to how to retouch a photograph of herself. A video clip shows some of the changes thus far.

Derrick Story’s Interviews from Photoshop World
At the recent Photoshop World in Las Vegas, Derrick Story started a new series of interviews for O’Reilly Media where he sat down with imaging experts and asked them about their craft. These chats were recorded and are now available, unedited, on O’Reilly’s Digital Media site. The first three interviews — Stephen Johnson, Mikkel Aaland, and Deke McClelland — are posted now on the Inside Digital Media podcast page. More interviews will go live weekly. Stay tuned!

BittBox
Random Free Vectors - Part 10:
Part 10 of the free vectors is here, and it’s gears! I also included a bonus Illustrator brush set so you can make your own custom gears, if you feel the need. I had to make some brushes in order to make this freebie set, and I wouldn’t feel right with the brushes sitting on my hard drive when they would help you make your own custom gears (easily). Hope you like them, download below, brush installation instructions at the bottom.

Photoshop QuickTips
Episode 57: RAW Creativity
For most people Adobe Camera RAW is simply an image processing engine. However, what these people overlook is ACR's ability to become quite the creative image editor. In this week's episode of Quicktips we'll take a look at how you can creatively use the tools of Adobe Camera RAW to morph your ordinary images into some extraordinary works of art.

PixelPerfect with Bert Monroy
Dr. Brown
Bert invites wacky Dr. Brown, aka Russell Brown, Senior Art Director at Adobe, to demonstrate Photoshop CS 3's auto blend layer tool. For infotainment at its peak, download and ejoy!!

John Nack
Feedback, please: User-powered help inside Photoshop?
I have a very simple idea--one that I think could be very powerful. I'm proposing that Photoshop (and other Adobe apps) become living organisms, platforms that constantly improve as users learn & share. Whether the idea sees the light of day depends largely on what you say about it.
I want to start by addressing a simple problem: Let me preserve what I've learned & keep it at my fingertips. If you're like me, you've probably jotted down a million notes about software over the years, storing them on sticky notes, on legal pads, wherever... most of which are nowhere to be found at the moment you need them. Instead of settling for this, what if you could capture your knowledge about Photoshop inside Photoshop?

Layer Tennis Blog
Match Preview - Heart of Darkness
The great rivalries in sporting history are more than just contests of talent and effort; they're studies in contrast. Please, maintain proper hydration levels throughout the contest — Layer Tennis is a thirsty game.

Creative Guy
Free Photoshop tileable textures
If you like dirty, grimy, grungy backgrounds, or you just need something interesting to add to your Photoshop composition, then look no further than Photoshop Roadmap’s 10 Grung, Rusty and Dirty Tileable Textures. These fantastic textures are absolutely free to download and will make an excellent addition to your Photoshop toolbox.

swissmiss
in progress necklace
in progress necklace, by irina blok

Ideafixa 8 | self-portraits
Ideafixa is an international digital magazine for photography, design and visual arts. Issue #8 is on the topic of self-portraits.

How to Work Like the Masters
Don't let someone else define your creative process. No matter how much the gurus know about the creative process and productivity, they aren't you -- because you are unique. Your muse and creative flow may be found in a completely different place.

Creative Commons Creating Problems?
Virgin Mobile advertising campaign using Flickr photos

Adobe Design Center - Tutorials
Basic photo correction with Photoshop Lightroom - George Jardine
In this podcast, Adobe’s George Jardine walks you through some basic photo corrections with Photoshop Lightroom, from color to cropping to saturation, and everything in between.

Using Vanishing Point to map a 3D environment - Ko Maruyama
Learn how to create and modify grids using the Vanishing Point feature in Photoshop to create a 3D environment in After Effects.

Working with Vanishing Point in Photoshop and After Effects - Ko Maruyama
Learn how to create and modify planes and create grids using Vanishing Point in Photoshop, and then import that data into After Effects.

PSDTuts.com
Photoshop Button Maker
In this simple tutorial we’re going to create a clever little way of making little buttons using a couple of layers and one interchangeable image layer. As always you can download the sample PSD at the bottom of the tutorial to follow along and copy layer styles out of.

Super Slick Dusky Lighting Effects in Photoshop
One of the best sites around for desktops has to be Desktopography. Inspired by their amazing work today we are going to put together a sunset image mixing some vector shapes and dusky lighting effects to produce a slick image that would make a nice album cover for a chillout mix!

As always, a special Batgirl thank you to James Jean
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 Super Deal At Amazon
September 27, 2007

A few readers have alerted me that there's a super digital camera deal at Amazon.com. They're offering the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS 6MP with 12x Image Stabilized Zoom for $281 instead of the normal $449. It's got a solid rating of 4 and a half stars based on 460 customer reviews. Here's some promo info I found:

What's in the Box
PowerShot S3 IS body, AA-size alkaline battery (x 4), SD memory card SDC-16MB, lens cap, neck strap NS-DC4, Digital Camera Solution CD-ROM, USB interface cable IFC-400PCU, stereo video cable STV-250N

Read more about the Canon PowerShot Pro Series S3 IS 6MP with 12x Image Stabilized Zoom at Amazon.com.

READ FULL STORY...

For more about Photoshop Elements see our Photoshop Elements Center.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Free Photoshop Brushes From Stephanie - Grungy Dirty Photoshop Brushes
September 26 2007

Once again here's Stephanie of Obsidian Dawn with details of more beautiful Photoshop brushes (and some patterns) which you can download for free from her site...

One can never have enough grunge textures. These are grungy and dirty and just plain fun to use for any number of things.

I added them to photos to give them a bit of texture and changed the layer style to different blending modes, and they worked great! But you could use them for so many different projects, I can’t even begin to name them all.

They come in either brushes or patterns. The patterns are entirely seamless, and would work best if you think you’ll need to be covering a large area. They’re also in color.

If you’re just more of a brush person, though, don’t fret! I’ve made them available as brushes, too. They can also be seamless... ish.

If you were to repeat the brush over and over just right, then they’d be seamless. Although also, of course, colorless. But, the brushes can be used really well for just giving a texture to something, where you don’t want to alter the colors, adding it to a smaller area, etc. Don’t be afraid to play around with them!

Download Grungy Dirty Photoshop Brushes.
Download Grungy Dirty Photoshop Patterns.

You can find more of Stephanie's original brushes on our Photoshop brushes page.

posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | send comments

Adobe Magazine Volume 1 Issue 3 - September 2007
September 26, 2007

The new issue of Adobe Magazine is available in PDF as a free download at the Adobe Magazine site.



Here's the breakdown of the major feature stories of Volume 1: Issue 3 - September 2007:

COVER STORY - THE INCREDIBLE, SHRINKING SCREEN
Mobile phones are everywhere — and they’re the creative professional’s newest canvas.

PLAYING WITH PRINT
How digital technology brought new life to design’s oldest medium.

NATURAL SYNTHESIS
The coexistence of technology, photography, and earthly creatures.

FONT AND FUNCTION
Meet three type designers with a reverence for history and a passion for creativity.

SCOOP
Make professional connections — and let your creativity shine — with these events and contests.

posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Photoshop Elements 6 Photomerge Tutorial From Mark Galer
September 25, 2007

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Windows is available for immediate download from the Adobe Store. You can also get super discounts if you are a student. We have a free sample chapter, Working With Photomerge In Elements 6, from the soon-to-be-released book, Photoshop Elements 6.0 Maximum Performance by Mark Galer. You can read the intro to the tutorial below.

This is a full lesson on how to work with Photomerge, a greatly improved feature in Elements version 6. This sample chapter will also show you the expertise Mark Galer has when it comes to teaching advanced and powerful tips and tricks to a new user.

Working With Photomerge In Photoshop Elements 6 - Intro
They say that sequels are never as good as the original - try telling that to Adobe. There fully revamped Photomerge now comes in three flavors and is ‘fully fantastic’. You get to explore the greatly improved Photomerge features only in Elements 6 and Photoshop CS3. Photomerge is now capable of aligning and blending images without any signs of struggle - banding in smooth areas of tone. The fully revised Photomerge feature first made its appearance with CS3 but the maths seems to have got even better with the release of
Elements 6 and the stitching is so clever it will really have you amazed at the quality that can be achieved inside this budget program.





The quality will be even better if you capture the component images of your panorama in vertical format (to reduce the effects of converging verticals) with a 50% overlap and you also use a manual exposure, focus and white balance setting on your camera (or process the images identically in camera Raw). The results will now truly be seamless - an excellent way of widening your horizons or turning your humble compact into a 30-megapixel blockbuster.

The Photomerge feature in previous versions of Photoshop Elements (and the full version for that matter) left a lot to be desired. All of the flaws and weaknesses of the original feature are now gone with the release of Elements 6.0.

Read the full sample chapter, Working With Photomerge In Elements 6.

For more about Photoshop Elements see our Photoshop Elements Center.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Photoshop Tutorial For Pen-And-Ink Drawing Effect
September 25, 2007

creativepro.com has a Photoshop tutorial, Photoshop How-To: Brushstroke Bonanza, from Sara Frances. Her technique gives photos a realistic pen-and-ink drawings look. The tutorial is really quite remarkable.

READ FULL STORY...

For more tutorials see our Photoshop Tutorials Page.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Top Reasons To Upgrade To Adobe Photoshop Elements 6
September 24, 2007

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Windows is available for immediate download from the Adobe Store. You can also get super discounts if you are a student. Here are the top reasons to upgrade to this new version, and for those who don't own it, there's also a list of top reasons to buy it.

READ FULL STORY...

For more about Photoshop Elements see our Photoshop Elements Center.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Photoshop Elements 6.0 For Windows Released
September 24, 2007

Adobe today announced two major upgrades to its digital photo and video software for consumers: Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 for Windows & Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows. Tight integration and a shared Organizer, with a common database accessible from either application, allow users to do more with their photos and videos. Available separately or together in a single retail package, Photoshop Elements & Adobe Premiere Elements software give photo and video enthusiasts more creative ways to organize, edit, create and share digital photos and home movies.

Pricing and Availability
Adobe’s digital imaging and digital video products are available immediately at at the Adobe Store. Students can get super savings at the Adobe Academic Store. Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 & Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows is available as a bundle at an estimated street price of US$149.99. Photoshop Elements 6 and Adobe Premiere Elements 4 for Windows are available separately for an estimated street price of US$99.99 each. Photoshop Elements for the Macintosh platform is expected in early 2008.

READ FULL STORY...

For more about Photoshop Elements see our Photoshop Elements Center.
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments


September 22, 2007

Download those PSDs from PSDTuts, go get more free scripts from the bizarre Dr. Brown, read what Martin Evening has to say about healing brush strategies, stock up on some grunge textures from Urban Dirty, and give John Nack some feedback.

READ FULL STORY...

As always, a special Batgirl thank you to James Jean
posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Liquid Resize - Content Aware Image Resizing Software
September 21, 2007

Do you believe in synchronicity? I've been reading the Einstein biography lately and thinking I should really work harder at trying to be a genius — when all of a sudden I received an E-mail from Irmgard Sabet-Wasinger, a physicist in Vienna. Hmmm.

The E-mail was in response to a post we had about an amazing video that showed a way to resize images using "seam carving" to reduce distortion when manipulating pixels. Seems that there is software available, called Liquid Resize, that can do a lot of what's in that video. I asked Irmgard for more details and here's what she wrote back:

Read full post...

posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

Traveling Photographer Tips From Ben Long
September 17, 2007

Ben Long has an interesting article at creativepro.com, Tips for the Traveling Photographer - Lenses, Power, and Storage in a Faraway Land.

posted by Jennifer Apple | permalink | subscribe to our feed | send comments

SEE MORE POSTS FROM THE SEPTEMBER 2007 BLOG...

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.

The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.

Read 2 free sample chapters:
Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range

Special book offer - save 24%
Photoshop CS3: Essential Skills (Amazon.com - $28.08 - save 24%)

Exclusive 20% Discount On Select Total Training Products & Bundles

To redeem our exclusive discount coupon, use promotion code save20pss in your shopping cart. You could save hundreds of dollars. Use this special link to see the full offer.

Total Training for Adobe Photoshop
Learn Adobe Photoshop with 21 hours of interactive Adobe Photoshop tutorials. This is training for real-world situations and includes additional tips and techniques used by the pros.

View Sample Photoshop, Dreamweaver and Flash Pro Video Tutorials
Free Adobe Photoshop CS3 video tutorials
Free Adobe Photoshop CS2 video tutorials
Free Adobe Dreamweaver video tutorials
Free Adobe Flash Pro video tutorials


PHOTO CREDIT: Apollo 11 Images — Earthrise sequence - Earth emerges over lunar horizon.
© NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Scanning credit to Kipp Teague.