“Live Corners” was introduced in CS5. It is such a cool and useful feature that I thought it was worthy to include a video that demonstrates its usage.
Jul 312015
Jul 092015
There’s more than 5 great features covered in this excellent video!
There’s nothing wrong with using the Pathfinder, but do not dismiss the power of the Shape Builder tool.
Jul 082015
This might be one of the best tutorials I have seen that covers a lot of key Photoshop fundamentals beyond just the “Clone Stamp Tool”.
Jul 072015
This brief video will demonstrate some essential keyboard shortcuts and methods of adjusting your brush size and hardness.
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Jul 072015
The video below touches upon most of blending modes, just in case you do not understand them as much as you would like.
You might have noticed that the presenter in the video above states that he seldom uses the “Difference” blending mode. I disagree with him and use the “Difference” blending mode quite often. This brief video showcases how, when, and why you might want to use the “Difference” blending mode.
Jul 062015
Quite possibly the most useful adjustment dialog in Photoshop to quickly improve upon underexposed images. Or in other words, fix those dark images that lack detail in the shadows.
Jul 052015
The Green Layer action is an easy and helpful tool to use when working on a logo or image that requires the removal of a background in Photoshop. 
The solid color layers produced and layer effects applied by the action make it easily to spot left over pixels that may have been difficult to otherwise see on screen.
Jul 042015
So what do they mean by: “Amount”, “Radius” and “Threshold” within Photoshop’s “Unsharp Mask” filter? Well, this very brief down and dirty website explains the basics and also provides a few pointers on using this essential Photoshop filter.
A good video demonstrating basic Photoshop features that everybody should know.
Jul 032015
Installing Illustrator Scripts
To save the necessary script to your hard drive, it is desirable to keep them in the same place, for example in the Scripts folder. I removed the scripts that shipped with Illustrator and placed all the new items included in the download.
/Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS5/Presets/en_US/Scripts
1-CreateDeleteBackdrop
This script will only work on a Mac since it is an AppleScript.
This is a simple script creates a color backdrop to help you discover any compound shape issues. The orange/red background will extend 200 pts beyond the Artboard and it will be on its own locked layer. Running the script a second time will remove the backdrop.
[jwplayer mediaid=”17687″]
Arc Correction
This script corrects free-hand arc-like paths in the selection. To use, just select the paths and run this script.
Circumcircle
This script draws Circumcircles for each selected path. However, you must understand you cannot draw Circumcircles to all figures.
Method:
The major reason why this was developed was to find the “circumcircle” for a star. (However, this is also very easy using “Smart Guides”. So this script is not that big of a deal in my opinion.
The major reason why this was developed was to find the “circumcircle” for a star. (However, this is also very easy using “Smart Guides”. So this script is not that big of a deal in my opinion.
The rightmost one in the figure above is a case of failure.
Common Tangents
This script draws common tangents to the selected curved lines, if they are detected.
Cut At Selected Anchors
cuts selected paths at each selected anchor
Divide (Length)
This script divides each selected segment into a specified number, based on the length. The length of each segment in each divided segments is equal.
Dup At Selected Anchors
duplicates the foreground object in the selection at the locations of the rest of each selected anchor points.
Extend Handles
extends all handles of selected anchor points with specified rate.
100 : original size
120 : extend 20%
80 : shorten 20%
0 : remove handles
-100 : reverse handles
Generate Handles
This script generates handles for each selected path. Generated handles are extended at right angles to the line connecting the anchor and the center of the path.
Join Reasonably
This script joins the open paths in the selection together with reasonable order.
Merge Overlapped Anchors
This script merges nearly overlapped anchor points And reports how many anchor points had been reduced. In order to understand the importance of this great script, let’s test it. Create a straight line and go to Object > Expand
As a result, we have five anchor points, although there should be only 4 of them, one point is certainly an extra one!
This fact greatly makes the editing of such an object difficult, especially once you are dealing with irregular shapes.
Now let’s run the script – the number of anchor points have dropped to more than half the original number!
I recommend using this script always after Expand, Expand Appearance, and Offset Path commands, especially if you are going to edit the achieved objects.
Metaball (Arc). Metaball
This script may help to create Metaball-like shapes
“Metaball (Arc)” uses arcs to connect. “Metaball” uses suitable bezier curves.
USAGE : Draw some circles and select them, then run this script.
Adjust the values in the dialog. Then click OK.
(it doesn’t check in the script whether each path is really a circle)
# Combining the shapes using Pathfinder may results several overlapping
anchor points on the path. if it occurs, it may help to solve it to
use my another script “Merge Overlapped Anchors.js”.
This is a simple sample script that merges overlapping anchors on the path.
Ovalize (Add Anchor Points to a circle)
for turning every selected path into an oval which fits the width and the height of the path.
If the width and the height are equal, it turns into a circle.
If the width and the height are equal, it turns into a circle.
You can specify the number of the anchor points before the script modifies the paths.
You can use this script in the case if you want to draw a circle or an oval which has the number of the anchor points other than four.
Draw a circle with the ellipse tool, select it, run this script, input the number and you are done.
Draw a circle with the ellipse tool, select it, run this script, input the number and you are done.
Please notice the case 3 of the above image. This is a slight bug.
This video will demonstrate the use of two scripts to achieve an otherwise difficult effect.
[jwplayer mediaid=”17659″]
Remove Anchors
removes selected anchor points. Why this doesn’t ship with Illustrator, I have no idea. It is extremely useful, especially cleaning up logos after Live Trace.
[jwplayer mediaid=”17664″]
Round Any Corner
This script rounds selected corners of Path Items. Especially for the corners at the intersection point of curves, this script may work better than the “Round Corners” filter (but slower).
How To Use: 1. Select the anchor(s) or whole path(es) to round. 2. Run this script. A prompt box appears to set the rounding radius. Input the radius in point, then click OK.
What is nice about this script is that you can select a single anchor point of a corner object of a shape.
## How To Use
1. Select the anchor(s) or whole path(s) to round.
2. Run this script. Adjust the values in the dialog. Then click OK.
1. Select the anchor(s) or whole path(s) to round.
2. Run this script. Adjust the values in the dialog. Then click OK.
## Rounding Method
Basically, the rounding method is compatible with the “Round Corners” filter. It is to add two anchors instead of the original anchor, at the points of specified line length from each selected corner. So if there’re too many anchors on original path, this script can not round nicely.
## Radius
Actually, the specified “radius” is not for a radius of arcs which drawn. It is for the line length from each selected corner and is for the base to compute the length of handles. The reason calling it “radius” is for compatibility with the “Round Corners” filter.
## Max TextBox
You can change the max value of the slider by the the “max” textbox. Input the value and click “apply”.
Inputed number of digits after decimal point is reflected to the slider value. If the max value is “10.00”, you can set the value like 8.23 with the slider. If it is “10”, you can set the value as integer.
This script does not round the corners which already rounded.
(for example, select a circle and run this script does nothing)
### notice
In the rounding process, the script merges anchors which nearly overlapped (when the distance between anchors is less than 0.05 points).
This script does not work for some part of compound paths. When this occurs, please select part of the compound path or release the compound path and select them, then run script again.
I still have not figured out how to get properties from grouped paths inside a compound path.
Tangents From A Point
draws tangent lines from a selected anchor point to selected curved segments.
This script tries to find a path with only 1 anchor selected,
from foreground to background. And specifies the selected point
of the path as starting point of tangents.
“the selected curved segments” means rest of the selected paths.
You can use an isolated point as the starting point.
In this case, starting isolated point is removed after drawing tangents.
Drawn tangents have handles at ends.
So you can move the starting side of anchor point with keeping tangency.
Jul 032015
In this video tutorial from Adobe, Russel Brown explains how the History Brush in Photoshop works and how to use it.
Jul 032015
This tool can be tricky, but it is worth learning and using.
Jul 032015
Basically more clone tool maneuvers
This video touches upon some basic tips using Photoshop and then Illustrator, such as “Live Trace”, “Simplify”, and using the “Smooth Tool” to create a nice vector logo from a relatively poor quality JPEG logo.
[jwplayer mediaid=”17753″]
Please make sure you first watch the video called “Creating A Logo From a JPEG (Part 1) before watching this video. This video utilizes a trick of taking a font preview from a website called “What The Font”.
IMPORTANT: This video is using the same look of the logo as Part 1, but it is MUCH worse in terms of its quality.
[jwplayer mediaid=”17936″]