Tag Archive for 'productivity'

Adobe Illustrator Video Tip: Quickly Add Smooth Transition Anchor Points

Published on May 15, 2009 in tips and video. 39 Comments Tags: Adobe Illustrator, art, artist, Bezier, cartoonist, Illustration, illustrator, productivity, screencast, technique, tip, tutorial, vector, video.

http://www.vimeo.com/4642671

In this video, I am sharing with you a vector path creation technique to speed up the process of creating curved paths by adding intermediate anchor points after your corners have been created. I used to create my anchor points as I was following the curve of the shape I was tracing. Instead, with this technique the anchor points are added to your vector path after your corners have been created, allowing Illustrator to approximate the length of the curve handles for you with much greater accuracy the first time around.

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by George Coghill
View my cartoon character and logo illustration portfolio
Contact me to get started on your own custom cartoon illustration projects.

Be sure to check out my live and recorded drawing, sketching & vectoring videos.

Photo Keys: Photoshop Toolbars On Your iPhone

Published on February 26, 2009 in software. 3 Comments Tags: App Store, Apple, iPhone, iPod Touch, Photoshop, productivity, software.

iPhone Photo Keys is an interesting iPhone/iPod Touch Photoshop helper application available on the iTunes App Store.

Photo Keys turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a Photoshop companion tool by putting the entire Photoshop toolbar, as well as many useful shortcuts right at your fingertips. If your iPhone or iPod Touch is nearby that is.

After downloading the iPhone app from the Apple app store, you also must install a server app on your computer so that the Photo Keys app can connect to it via wi-fi. The main toolbar screen contains all the tools in the Photoshop toolbar palette. Simple click any tool to select it in Photoshop. For tools that contain multiple tools, such as the Rectangular Marquee tool, you can cycle through the tools by clicking the same tool multiple times.

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Scanned Sketch Prep — Free Photoshop Action

Published on February 12, 2009 in productivity. 7 Comments Tags: Adobe Photoshop, download, free, Photoshop, productivity.

Here’s a freebie for all my loyal readers: a free Photoshop action I created myself to eliminate repetitive tasks I (used to) go through each time I scanned in a new sketch for further work in Photoshop. Boost your productivity with this free Photoshop download.

My custom Sketch Prep action — as you can see from the screenshot — simply resets your color swatches back to the default black/white, does a Select All on the background layer, cuts the image to a new layer (leaving you with a flat white background layer) and then bumps the opacity of the newly-created layer down to 20%. It then adds a fresh new blank layer for you to start drawing in.

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Cursorcerer: Hide Your Cintiq Cursor

Published on January 30, 2009 in software. 0 Comments Tags: Cintiq, customization, Mac, OS X, productivity, software, utility, Wacom.

I don’t own a Wacom Cintiq graphics tablet, but I have heard quite a bit of grumbling from Cintiq owners about the way the cursor is displayed: I guess it’s offset a bit with the idea that your hand would obscure the cursor so Wacom has offset it a bit, which takes some getting used to.

But those Cintiq users are in luck: there’s a utility out there that might just ease your pain.

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6 Photoshop Keyboard Shortcuts For Illustrator Users

Published on January 16, 2009 in productivity, software and tips. 0 Comments Tags: Adobe, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Creative Suite, illustrator, keyboard commands, keyboard shortcuts, Mac, OS X, Photoshop, productivity, tip.

Here are a few handy keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop for those of you out there like me who spend an inordinate amount of time in the Creative Suite primarily using Illustrator. These are not keyboard shortcuts that you can use in Illustrator, but rather are keyboard shortcuts providing methods of doing things in Photoshop that you are used to doing in Illustrator that at first it might seem isn’t possible, like click directly on an object to select it, drag to a new layer, etc.