texts: Should I color my background or keep it transparent?

texts:
I'm creating a flyer and plan on printing on a metallic cardstock (Neenah Metallic in Chalice Silver to be exact).

My issue is that during the creation process, I used a background that was as close to the colored paper as possible, but I don't know if I should print without the background or keep it on?


texts: I have a graphic for my company & I need it to be made larger so that the sign company can grow the image without loosing quality. How do I do that? I downloaded Alien Skin Software because I heard that the software would be able to help. I don't have Photoshop so I am looking for something easy. All help would be appreciated.


texts: Name of illusion phenomenon of bordering colors

texts:
Look at this picture:

All the squares are filled with solid color without any gradient, but at the borders between the colors we see as if gradients were used.

In the past I tried to create similar image by using gradients, but with the time realised that optical illusion gives me the opportunity to create the picture with solid colors without gradients.

I am looking for the name of this phenomenon. Tried to find the name but only "optical illusion" came to results.


texts: How do I create a random grain effect in Illustrator or Photoshop

texts:
I want to create an effect like the image below (the green part):

I have looked at How to create a grain / noise effect in Adobe Illustrator
and gotten this far:

I've tried Texture->Grain and Artisitic->Film Grain.  But both are too even and too fine.  How can it get a more random effect like the upper image?


texts: I have an .xcf with several layer groups, each of which has a background image (from an outside source) and then a blackout layer on top of it which covers up everything from the background that I don't want to see in that layer group. After doing this, I realized what I really wanted was a group-level layer mask. Is there a way to change a layer directly into a clipping mask?


texts: Chop up an image in to blocks of the same color

texts:
I want to chop up an image into blocks of lets say 10x10px (the size is arbitrary). The blocks can only have one color and therefore it is allowed that the image will be slightly changed (its the intention that the blocks are visible).

How is this process called? Is there software or a web service that automates this?


texts: How to create this circular smoke effect in Photoshop?

texts: I need an effect like this, I have smoke brushes but I need something in a cricle shape, so that I can wrap it around a human body. Can it be done using Photoshop or Illustrator?


texts: Rectangle on master footer in InDesign doesn't appear in pdf

texts: I add a rectangle and some text at the footer of a master page. They are all there in InDesign, but when I export it to pdf, the rectangle disappears. I check layer of the rectangle, it's visible. What else do I need to change to ensure that the rectangle appears in pdf and also print-out. Thanks.


texts: As a new tablet user, how can I bring the quality of my writing on a tablet closer to what it is on physical paper?

texts:
I recently bought a Wacom Intuos art, I'm absolutely terrible at it, compared to a mouse I just see a +20% improvement :

Guys on the net are using it and it's so smooth! I trained for about 4 hours, but no significant improvement! 100 bucks wasted?

PS : I'm pretty decent at drawing with a physical pen.


texts: Soft proofing grayscale images in Photoshop

texts:
When printing a grayscale image it's treated exactly like the black channel of a color image. So in order to get a correct preview of how it will look on print it must be soft proofed with the CMYK color profile the printer recommends.
InDesign does this by default. If I place a grayscale image in InDesign the image will be mapped to black ink by default. When I turn on View > Proof Colors set to the correct color profile, I get a realistic (and often slightly depressing) preview of how the image will look on print when printed with black ink:

If I open the grayscale image in Photoshop it's shown as if it were a neutral RGB image:

The darkest point is RGB(0, 0, 0) and the lightest point is RGB(255, 255, 255). So I can't trust that the image will look like this on print.
In Photoshop I can also turn on View > Proof Colors with the same settings as in InDesign, but then the image is shown as if it was converted to CMYK. It is slightly darker and (with this specific color profile) more neutral as it uses all four CMYK inks to create the image:

Photoshop doesn't seem to know that I want to see the grayscale images as it would look if printed in only black ink. Actually the preview looks exactly the same as it would with a neutral RGB image.
I can hack my way to get a proper preview in Photoshop if I create a CMYK image with the correct color profile and paste in the grayscale image in the black channel:

But that isn't a practical way to work for multiple reasons.
Is there a way to properly soft proof grayscale images in Photoshop taking the ICC profile into account?


texts: which way of grouping table elements is better for easy changes update, row or column

texts: while creating table elements in illustrator which way of grouping the table elements is better whether to group it in a row wise or column wise? For Easy changes in table content


texts: What are the best settings to design poster at 2.6m x 3.05m in Photoshop?

texts:
I have to design artwork to go on a sheet 3050mm wide by 2600mm high and placed on a building to be viewed at about 15-20 meters.

The scene will be a living room with pictures of various furnitures cropped and placed in the scene.

I don't really know how to set up my document to make it easier to edit as my PC is finding it difficult to handle such a large file.

I have it currently set at 150dpi. I'm thinking about reducing the scene in half so 1500 x 1300 and setting dpi at 300, so when I double the size it will half the dpi. Not sure if this is how it works or the final result will be the same. Any guidance would be great.


texts: How to insert rectangles into a logo made out of letters in CorelDRAW

texts: I just started to work with CorelDraw and would appreciate your help. I work for a company which is illuminating logos. We are manually inserting little rectangle shapes (these are the LED lights) into a logo made out of letters (I am attaching an example). This is very time consuming. Isn´t there a quicker way for the little rectangle shapes to move and arrange themself automatically inside the logo? The logo´s change in shapes, angles, length and width. Therefore, we are using 3 different sizes of the rectangle shapes. Thank you for your advice. Kind regards, Patricia


texts:
I am working on the design of an app and I am stuck, I believe, due to (bad) color picking.

The app is related to personal performance and I diferentiate the 'state' of the information via colors — red, yellow are bad; grean, teal are good.

The red outline in the picture represents the average per week. I made it it yellow to better contrast on those graphs.

The second green outline, represents specific stats for a certain day in that week. Depending on the exercise, there is a score and a color.

My question is, do you think there is a chance for that average to be misinterpreted as "bad" because it is yellow/orange?

Looking forward to your answers.

Thank you


texts:
I just got a new Macbook Pro with Retina and I'm confused about how to attack my PSD's. If I'm designing a site which has 14px font size, should I be settings it to 28px in Photoshop to get what it will look like in CSS? Or if my website should have a 60px tall header, should I make it 120px in Photoshop?

I guess I'm confused because the CSS stays the same, but should I be doubling up on everything in Photoshop to get what it would look like in CSS?


texts: Is there an easy way to recreate the ACLU modern engraving effect in Photoshop?

texts:
In the ACLU Design Handbook (9.5MB PDF) the use of the so called "modern engraving" effect is detailed on pages 135-137. What would be a good way to achieve this look in Photoshop (or Illustrator, fwiw)?

Ideally, I'd be looking for a way that

does not require the installation of plugins or actions and can be created with the default tools available in Photoshop
produces somewhat smooth lines, see example image #2
allows for the direction of the lines to be adjusted easily (eg, not using a fixed pattern)
is possible to do in a reasonable time, without too much work (or layers)

Example 1

Example 2

The duotone color effect can be added with a simple gradient map layer style, so it's not strictly part of the question.


texts: What CMYK values should I use for the brightest highlights in an image?

texts:
I usually set the whitest part of the image to C5 M4 Y4 K0, but this is making some product shots of glassware (ie wine glasses, glass trophies) look grey.

Does anyone use a different CMYK mix for the highlights? I don't want there to be no colour in the white area as it will look blown out.


texts: At my work I create assets for web. We have been saving images that are 686 x 391 px. I’ve noticed that the quality of images with text isn’t as good. Is there a recommended size for images with text that will allow for the web page to load fast but also produce a good quality image?


texts: Subtract overflowing group of shapes from shape in Sketch

texts:
about a month ago I switched to Sketch for webdesigning and I'm a very happy camper ever since. I really love the program and for me it's a big improvement from webdesigning with Photoshop/Illustrator, especially on a workflow level.

There is one thing where Sketch just keeps giving me a headache though: combining shapes, in a way that goes beyond one time time subtraction/union/etc of two fills. Starting this topic I couldn't finish the following task, but during the writing I did manage it. Even still I would like to post this, since the solutions I found are quite cumbersome, considering this task would be relatively easily done in Illustrator.

So here's the challenge:
I have a shape, i.e. a rectangle, and from this rectangle I would like to subtract a logo, which is a group of simple shapes:

an oval, no fill, 9px stroke
two rectangles, no fill, 9px stroke
one rectangle, filled with a solid color
the group is rotated.

Here's the example:

Let's start with the most likely way to do: subtract the whole group. This doesn't work, but Illustrator doesn't like these kind of actions either, so no hard feelings. Here's a screenshot of the result:

So let's subtract shape by shape.
Let's start with the circle. Subtracting just the stroked circle from the rectangle doesn't work, which is too bad but still in a way forgivable, since it's not outlined. But, after outlining the circle and then subtracting, the result doesn't look OK.

This is where Sketch should do better, imho. I've found a workaround though, which you'll find in the answer underneath this post.

So far, so good. But now the three rectangles.
If you subtract the stroked rectangles, the result is odd. Please see my answer for the workaround.

So after a few cumbersome workarounds it worked, which is good of course. My conclusion is that Sketch has a hard time:

subtracting complete groups (so does Illustrator in my experience)
subtracting stroked circles. Even after outlining.
subtracting stroked rectangles. Even when they are not rotated and outlined.
subtracting one shape that's in a group. Get it out of the group first, or it'll be slightly put on another position.

I hope I revealed the problems I'm having with Sketch. Also I hope these problems can be overcome, other than with the workarounds. I wonder if you are having the same problems and if there are any real solutions. It should work just as neatly as the pathfinder tool in Illustrator imo.
Normally I wouldn't bother to write such a big post, especially not after solving the problem myself, but because I think Sketch is such a good app I put in the effort to state my problems here.


texts: How to get rid of back pages on template for InDesign?

texts: I downloaded a template to use in InDesign, and it looks like it comes with both the front and back pages, like a booklet. (Left and right on the screen, each "side" is 8.5" by 11". How do I get rid of the back page, so that each page I make as you scroll down is independent of each other?


texts: Compositing and creativity with badly cropped/taken photos

texts:
Apologies if this has been asked before and if it's inappropriate in this network.

I have a group photo(of people) I have to work with that is poorly taken. The people at the edges are partially cut and so is the top of the heads of others.

It is not official stock photography but is the one they want to use.

I have to now composite it and add it to some branding, text, design elements...etc, like a banner for an event.

Are there any sources of inspiration on how to work with limitations like this?

Or is there any creative advice n how to work with poorly cropped or taken photos?

I did alot of searching, but I think my key words are not descriptive enough to find what I want.

The best I could find was this creative use of different images (possibly intentional) on a cosmetic product.


texts: How can I locate points on a path that are not smooth in Adobe Illustrator?

texts:
I have drawn a number of shapes freehand on a graphics tablet in Adobe Illustrator. Most of these shapes are blob-like and almost all points on the paths are smooth. They'll show handles if selected, but the handles for each point should appear each 180° from each other.

However, some of the points did not render smoothly and will show up as corners if the point is selected, with the two handles for that point forming an angle.

I would like to be able to locate all of these corner points. Is there a way to select only such points? Barring that is there a way to detect them by looking at the svg data?


texts: Have separate page number per master page side spread-sheet in Indesign

texts:
So I have a document with page spreads, let's say left page has master page A set, and right page has master page B. This for all subsequent pages.
A-B, A-B, and so forth.

What I want is to have all pages with Master A to have their own numbering counter like "A-1" "A-2" and so on, same thing for B masters.
I've tried with sections but its quite tedious to have to select every single page and specify "apply this section and start with number 'X' ", since I can't to find a way to bind a section automatically to a Master Page.

Update for better explaination

As of now my situation is this:

placing a page indicator in each master page unfortunately produced page numbers subsequentially every page with something like (consider | as page delimiter):

| A-1 | B-2 |   I  spread
| A-3 | B-4 |   II spread
...

and so on... what I need is to have a separate numbering for every master page like this

| A-1 | B-1 |   I  spread
| A-2 | B-2 |   II spread
...

Any proper way of doing this? I'm using Indesign CS6 on windows 7.


texts: Can we use geogebra as a "drawing software"?

texts:
I am interested in using geogebra, which is a geometry software, as a drawing software. I suppose this would save me a lot of time as a replacement for drawing directly in tikz.
The options I miss most are selection (as in say gimp), and simple copy & paste.
Geogebra allows to make a copy of an object as a reflection/translation/rotation; so changing the copy is not possible.  I would sometimes prefer to make a simple duplicate copy. A work-around I found was to copy from one window to another. This is not working well either (for geogebra, objects have geometrical coordinates).
Is there a way to get a simple duplicate copy (not as auxiliary object) in geogebra? Or should I rather stop trying to use geogebra as a drawing software?


texts: Fireworks States: Does any other layout tool have an equivalent feature?

texts:
I'm dropping Fireworks as my main tool for web layouts. It's just too slow and Adobe isn't supporting it anymore.

Is there another tool that can do something similar to Fireworks' states? Photoshop layer comps don't do it for me. This feature is probably the reason I head over to Fireworks way too often.


texts: Gradient fade a PNG image using Photoshop

texts:
I've searched high and low and finally hit upon alpha channels, but I don't know how to configure an alpha channel to suit my needs. I'm trying take this image...

...And turn it into this. As you can see the top portion is 100% opaque, and the bottom is 0%. So its a kind of "alpha mask". How can I do this with Photoshop or Gimp or whatever, and save it into a 32-bit PNG?

I'm not simply trying to "cover" or "mask" my image like this question. I'm trying an alpha mask which is a whole different ballgame.


texts: How to create a path that starts exactly from the center of an object?

texts:
I am trying to create animation paths to animate the elements of an svg image along paths using some javascript library.
The various objects in the image will have to follow paths, but the animation library aligns the object's center point to the path.
I have made the paths, but I can't find a way to align their to the objects center. The main problem is that the objects must be exactly adjacent because they are slices of a bigger illustration.
So my question is how can I turn the center point of one object into an actual point.


texts:
I'm having trouble specifying a print area for a document in InDesign:

The document size is A1, yet I want to print a specific section in A3 paper. Any ideas how to achieve this?


texts: Adobe Illustrator CS6 Make a texture fit exacly in a custom shape?

texts:
I am trying to make this texture inside the penguin shape like this

Now i know i can use a clip mask like this

But i want to make it so the texture doesn't fall out of the shape, so the object follows the small patterns it now does this

is there anny way i can make this possible ?
Really hope someone can explain this to me.

The shapes are all vectors like


texts:
I am trying to find the font used in this logo:

I received a png of the logo from the English Language Company, but they do not have a vector version of the font. I am trying to reconstruct the logo for a site.

I have tried WhatTheFont! but got nothing useful.

Any ideas?


texts: How to convert .AFBRUSHES files to .ABR files?

texts:
I have brush files with the extension '.AFBRUSHES' And I realized they belong to Affinity.
Is there a way to convert them to .ABR files, or another way I can use them as brushes in Photoshop?
I tried to Google all sorts of phrases, but he insists on bringing me only the opposite results: how to convert a Photoshop brush to an affinity ...


texts: Does Facebook’s 20% rule apply to sharing images on posts?

texts:
I'm the social media designer for the company I work at, and most of our images are just used for posts. I've been asked to follow the 20% rule and have even been asked once or twice to make the text smaller.

Is this a rule I should be following if the images aren't ads? I've even used the text overlay tool to see what Facebook thinks of the images and received an image text: low score. Not the highest score, mind you, but the second best.


texts: Is there a name for illustrations with non-rectangular borders?

texts:
I work on RPG books. In a lot of those books, there are illustrations that do not have rectangular borders:

I know that the process is "text wrapping," but is there a concise way to describe an image without a background designed so that text abuts it on both sides easily?


texts: Photoshop 3d extrusion renders pixelated paths

texts:
I used photoshops cs6 3d extrusion on a path I created with angled lines and the paths are jagged / pixelated. Is there a fix for this that anyone knows of? See the issue here:

pixlated 3d arrow


texts: How to create color Tiled Clone with Inkscape?

texts:
I followed a tutorial and docs. What I have tried is

Create a simple square Object.
Select object and then Clone -> Create Tiles Clone
Select Symmetry : simple translation.
Set shift 10% per row, and per column.
Color and other settings are as shown in below image.

That is not working as shown in tutorials. All created tiles are filled with black as parent.

I am using Inkscape on Windows 64


texts:
Bringhurst writes that small caps need to be designed to visually match the standard capitals of a font, so that the resulting mixed caps look uniform and balanced; and that purely geometrically generated small caps can only be a parody. For a long time it was obvious to me that "faux small caps" are a mistake that would only be made by clueless programmers of consumer software like MS Word, and those of their users which are equally clueless.

Now recently I encountered several examples of – I'd say bad – mixed caps using faux small caps in places where I wouldn't have expected them:

The back entrance of the US embassy in Berlin:

(click to see full size)

The credits of the TV series Hemlock Grove:

In both cases I'd expect the people in charge to have hired a designer that knows his/her business – but in both cases the small caps seem to be just scaled-down versions of the regular caps. What's going on here? Do some typographers / designers actually consider this to be OK?


texts: Shortcut to creating assets in Photoshop

texts:
Does anyone know a shortcut to select a layer in photoshop, open up a new file that automatically is the correct size, or even has the element in it without having to drag in a new document and then crop it to size or guess the size?

For example I made a design comp of a website I"m making. I want to copy the logo layer and save it as a png to use as an asset on the site. Looking for a quick way to do that.

thanks in advance.


texts:
I would like to create an arrow in Krita.
How could I create an arrow (if possible vectorized) in Krita?


texts: Evening lighting on (badly) photographed archive documents

texts:
I'm going slightly mad trying to 'restore' 19th-century maps that were photographed in less-than-ideal lighting conditions. Even before getting to the stain/tear repair, I have to ensure that I have an even paper base to work from, but I can't seem to make it past this point without losing a massive amount of detail.

This is the document as photographed:

If anyone has any pointers on how to go about this, thank you very much.

Link to the full-resolution document: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_LmFeEi93k8OThaM1lVQlI3bzA


texts: Looking for an iPad drawing app where you can do duplication

texts:
Looking for an iPad drawing app where you can make a simple doodle, duplicate it within the same canvas say 5 times, and make alternations to each copy of the doodle. Does anyone know an app that makes such a simple workflow possible?

I have so far tried without success in the following apps: Notability, Penultimate, Pencil, Apple Notes, Goodnotes, and Paper.


texts: Multiple objects spaced evenly around a circle

texts:
I have a project where I am taking 6 different images and placing them on a circle. All of the images have duplicates (anywhere between 3 of the same image to 24). In total, I need the circle to have 75 "shapes/images" that are equally spaced out.

I have tried to use the rotate tool and rotate the images 4.8 degrees (360/75=4.8) but I can never seem to get them to line up perfectly even all the way around.

I have also tried making lines as guides that are rotated on the circle to get the 75 points, but they also don't land evenly.

I am using Illustrator CS5


texts: Making a path transparant on another path, Illustrator

texts:
I looked on this site (and other sites) for my answer but I couldn't find it. If it is here, I am sorry.

My problem is I made something and I want to print it on a bag. It is a city, outlined, and filled with black. And the streets and lakes are filled with white. Both on different layers. But if I am going to print it, the streets and lakes have to be transparant, so the color of the bag will come through it. But I just can't find out how to do it. Any suggestions?

(The streets/lakes are all individual paths, grouped together, the map itself is one path.)

Thanks in advance!
Kelly


texts: SVG: Understanding the Translate command

texts:
From what I understand, the SVG Translate transformation offsets the coordinates by a given X and a given Y. So if drawing something at (80,100) and applying a translate(-10,-10) would draw the object at (70,90).

That being said, I have an SVG file that has a page width of 744 by 1052. One of the groups  tag applies a transformation of translate(-5774.2676,3117.0866). What I'm trying to understand is how this is not completely off the entire page (which it isn't). Can someone help me to figure this out?


texts: How to add an outline to a layer that acts as a mask?

texts:
I'm not sure if this is even possible in Photoshop, but thought I'd ask.

So below I have my image that will be exported with a transparent background. For this example though, I've made it black.

What I want to do is add a stroke to the word idea that acts as a mask for anything below it.  The outcome would look like the below, but obviously the black areas should be transparent (for this example I just added a black stroke to show the

What I've been previously doing is selecting the word idea, expanding it by X pixels, rasterizing the layers below, and then deleting the shape of the expanded area.
The problem is that this is destructive, and if i have to change anything, I need to redo it all over again.


texts: Is it possible to resynchronize after effects source name with its corresponding photoshop layer name after renaming the source name in after effects?

texts:
I have an after effects project and a script that exports the after effects animations for use in Unity3D. The animation is complex and uses over 100 layers. Those layers are imported from a psd file created with photoshop. The layers in after effects and the psd correspond 1 to 1.

The layers from the psd are exported as individual png images.
The layer names need to be unique, and the same as the source name in after effects as that is what the export script uses to identify which image is where.

When you import layers from a psd into after effects, it is possible to rename the layers in the psd and after effects source name gets updated automatically. That is until the source name gets renamed in after effects.

Due to a communication mishap, the source names in after effects were all renamed. It is also not desirable to use the backups as that would result in almost a week of lost work.

Some of the psd layer names need to be changed (several of them).

Is it possible to synchronize the names again (psd layer -> after effects source name)?


texts: I'm designing a brand identity guidelines, I've made a change to the "J" letter in the logo, i'm using Museo Sans Rounded and the "J" has a top line that doesn't match with the isotype. There is a page where that change has to be explained but i don't know the technical name of the J top line.


texts: Photoshop: how to completely to fill an outline drawn with a brush?

texts:
I drew an outline and filled the inside of it. But it did't get completely filled: there's a white gap between the stroke and the fill.

How can I implement a full fill without this gap?

Update: add details screen

Update-2
Tolerance 255(max) and 32

I always paint over not fill the seats with a brush, but suddenly there is a faster method.

Update-3

Use magic wand  = 64.

Can I do something not so I do not understand why we have different results.

Layer transparent, nothing is locked. Magic Wand Tool click on the center of the circle, then pour Paint Bucket with a  of 32 or 230.

The result is as follows:

Somehow, on a transparent background  does not work.


texts:
I have an issue I've been struggling with for a long time.

I work as a graphical designer for a publisher in Norway. We basically buy licenses from (primarily) UK publishers like Future Publishing, Carlton, Lonely Planet etc, translate them then release them in Norway.

When downloading the source files, they obviously create a lot of missing links in ID. We've found a solution as to finding them easily because the filenames match. However, primarily with Future we have a problem.

There seems to be some sort of identification or index number in front of the file names, followed by an '@' sign – THEN the file name (see picture for further explanation).

This is only the case with the downloaded image files. The links in ID still have the "original" file name. That leaves me no choice but to manually go through and relink 600-800 pictures per edition.

Of course I could just go through the filenames and delete everything in front of the '@' sign, but another issue arises. For some images with long filenames, the last characters seems to be missing. Perhaps because the file name was too long.

Does anything know if there is something to do about this, or should I contact Future directly?

Thanks!


texts: Making a form in InDesign with boxes to enter your responses

texts:
I need to make a form in InDesign for an application.  The entries need to made so that each letter/number goes into an individual box.  Here's an example I just found on the web:
http://scholarshipsfile.com/scholarships-application

Is there an easy way to do this in InDesign?


texts: I'm trying to bend one long rectangle into a shape similar to this.


texts: Operate on all hidden slides in powerpoint

texts:
Hi I have a large number of hidden slides in my powerpoint presentation.
They are not contiguous, so that I can't select them using just the SHIFT key.    I'd like to color them with the same background color in one operation.      Is there a way of selecting all of my hidden slides and then operating on them?  Even better, but I imagine this is too much to ask, to set things up so that when I "hide" a slide, the background changes automatically


texts: How do I keep file sizes down when editing PDFs?

texts:
I have a set of white label PDF forms that I need to brand for our company. The initial document is 6 pages, 316KB, and already has a full set of fillable fields. In a perfect world, I just open up the first page, replace the header with a header that has our logo, save, and be on my merry way. If the file size jumps a bit, I can just go into Acrobat and "Reduce File Size."

However, the results were really bad. I think I about doubled the file size by doing this on one page alone. I thought the inflated size might have something to do with fonts since I had to "Find Fonts" in Illustrator, so I outlined my company's header (it used a different font) and went through every page to get all of the fonts on the same page. The results were worse: 2.49MB!

PDF file sizes have always felt like a dark art to me, and I want that to change. If my Photoshop file is huge, I know it's because of document dimensions, layers, and such. When my AI file sizes got out of control, I learned that unchecking "save PDF compatible version" would help out a lot. When I'm making my own PDFs and I want to export them, I have a solid grasp on downsampling and such to get a good file size.

But when it comes to editing PDFs, I really don't know how file sizes work. I don't know what "Reduce File Size" means. I don't know why sometimes a file size will double or triple and why it sometimes won't, and if PDFs are embedding duplicate data, I don't know how to get it out.

So, how do I keep file sizes down when editing PDFs?


texts: How do I bind gradient to object so that it doesn't change when I move the object?

texts:
Typical situation.

Make an object in gradient:

Move the object:

Uninstall Inskcape.

My question therefore is, whether I can bind the gradient to the object so that it moves when I move the object, resizes when I resize the object and generally acts as background, not invisible object I cannot control.


texts: Make the logo smaller without being blurry

texts:
How can i get a small version of my logo? Like a favicon. I tryed but it results blurry!

Which is the best way to get my logo really small? Do you have any tutorial for this?

Thanks


texts: Gimp cannot select/move an image but only able to move as layer or grouped images

texts:
I'm struggling with that I cannot move one image anymore but only am able to move grouped images or as a layer. Here is the screen recording video. (sorry for the link but couldn't render video file on stackexhange)
Screenshot of artboard

so, how can I solve this weird issue?


texts: How can I recreate this effect in GIMP? Blue/white color conversion

texts:
Here is the image:

The best way I can describe it is converting the image to a black/white scale (heavy white) and making all instances of black==blue.That was how I approached it when trying to recreate the effect, but had little success. I prefer a solution that is doable in GIMP, since I don't have access to any other power image editing software.

EDIT: Thanks a ton to everyone for the help. There wasn't a single asnwer here that got me exactly where I wanted to be, but they all did help. And since I know what its like to come across threads like this one, I thought I'd show my progress and what I did differently.

First, Here is the raw image I was working with for demonstration purposes.

Then, trying what one answer suggested, I created a second layer of the blue-ish color like in my example, and did a [Right Click Image] Colors-> Map-> Gradient map, but it wasn't exactly what I was looking for:

This lead me to trying the other options in that same submenu, and I came across the Palette Map option. I selected a palette of exactly 2 colors 25408f & f7f7f7 (blue and white), which got much closer to the desired output:

This is VERY close to what I was hoping to get, but I'm still not 100% satisfied. I have been playing with the Posterize/contrast tools and expect I'll find a balance that I like eventually. Again, thanks to everyone that posted.


texts:
I had this error when attempting to upload ads onto Google Ads.

  "We've detected strobing or Flashing effects. Make sure the frame rate of your ad is less than 5 FPS for GIFs. Learn more"

I followed the guidelines and requirements by making the animation with 0.2 fps and under 30 s in length.


texts:
I have a schematic diagram that I would like to show as a process illustration, but would like to hide its details and protect from copying.

Any ideas how to graphically solve this task while keeping the picture looking nice?

It hides but looks terrible:


texts: I was trying to see how it was the gradients in a file I found but I cant see the sliders of one of the figures, why does this happends?


texts: What's the quality difference between 600 DPI & Offset printing?

texts:
I sell calendars online. I print them thousands at a time using offset printing at a local printing company. I'm considering printing them myself using a digital wide format printer - but I'm concerned that the quality won't be "good enough."

I'm looking at buying HP Designjet 1055CM because it's only $1K on craigslist. It says color prints at 600dpi (Black is 1200dpi).

How does 600dpi compare to offset? Where can I find images to compare?

(I'm considering switching to digital because I get lots of requests for custom designs. I'm limited by offset, I have to print 1,000 at a time, it seems. But I often don't sell all 1,000. Therefore I can't afford to offer more designs for sale, unless I print them one at a time)


texts:
I created a gradient in Inkscape, but now no matter where I click, I can't change the colors of the existing gradient. I did check out this question, but it was totally unhelpful and the "documentation" here was not the UI I could summon from any logical place.
Here's a picture of what I see, I can only change the name here, very annoying:

When I try to change it from the bottom bar, either it switches to a constant fill, I can unset the fill/stroke but there's nothing else:

What's the weird place I should be looking at to find a way to change both of the gradient's colors?


texts: How to make something generative / procedural like this? Slint Spiderland Art / FutureNeue

texts:
Pretty new here, but have had stackexchange pop up enough on Google to know that this is probably the right place to ask this.

I've long been intimidated by anything procedural / generative, but have also admired a lot of it. Especially the kinetic stuff nowadays. Anyways - I've loved this Slint Spiderland generative art cover piece for a long time, and have always wondered....

How do you go about making something like that?

The closest reference I have is some Fractal stuff from AE...I know there's dedicated fractal software like Chaotica, Apophysis, etc - is that it? This looks a bit more random and organic though.

Is it best done in something like Processing or 3js? Or good old PS/IL/AE?

Really kind of unsure where to begin here but in general am very into this sort of chaotic yet organized type of thing and would love to be able to play with making my own one day.

Thanks for any help!


texts: How do I soften the edges on a scanned crayon drawing?

texts: I have removed the white background on a child's crayon drawing of a butterfly.  I want to layer it over a coloured background on a poster but the edges of the butterfly are very ragged.  How do I soften the edges of the butterfly so the line separating the background from the butterfly is clear and sharp?  I want to retain the texture in the rest of the drawing so that it still feels like a crayon drawing.


texts:
I will probably get some downvotes for this since I asked a similar question here: https://graphicdesign.stackexchange.com/questions/29362/cs-graduate-starting-out-in-graphics-design-what-are-the-main-principles-of-de and it was closed down. The answers/comments I had in that question where mostly concerning UI designing which is NOT what I am looking for. The title was a bit deceiving.

In the linked question, I had an answer that stated I should I read Visual Grammar by Christian LeBorg, which I have just finished.

The other links where mostly concerned with UI design which is not what I am looking for.

What would be a next good book I should read that focuses on design/print media?

I am looking to learn the basic principles behind designing such print media.

I am NOT talking about print requirements(print bleeds, DPI settings etc), I am mostly concerned about "Principles of Design"-style books.

EDIT:

Thanks for all the answers so far, I'm sure most of them are really nice. I can't accept an answer until I have read some of the books here which I plan to do, I have lots of free time on my hands.  For now I am reading Universal Principles of Design


texts: Losing Details when reducing to smaller image

texts:
I am designing icons and elements from an android game using Photoshop CS4. If I am designing a character (512x512) and reduce its size to fit the game screen, lots of details, shades and effects are not visible clearly. How to over come this and create smaller icon with clear and clear details ?
Any suggestion, ideas will be appreciated.


texts: What sizes and units should be used for creating iPhone wallpapers?

texts: I was following the sizes listed here, and I've been creating the artboards with the sizes in points, but should I be creating them with the size for rendered pixels instead? Furthermore, I believe Sketch use points but correct me if I'm wrong.


texts:
I'm looking for a small pixel font that has western, european and cyrillic characters, something similar in look to the SMALL FONTS font found in windows (around 6/7px)

It's for a retro looking videogame so must be small clean pixels.

Any suggestions?


texts:
I've been trying to learn 3d animation. I'm a software developer. I don't have a formal education in animation or about graphics. I found this tool for maya
https://www.animationstudios.com.au/advanced-skeleton
And upon watching the tutorial on the website. I finally found the tool that i need. But the problem is i don't know how to create a model. So my question is what are the requirements in order to create an animation like this?
Something like you can make the model blink. smile or talk


texts: How do I specify the size of my artboard in pixels with Adobe Illustrator?

texts:
I'm creating a graphic for a website. When trying it out, I realized it was a bit blurry.

I asked a graphic designer the reason it was blurry, and she had stated the graphic may need to be larger, and to try the width at 1000 pixels.

How can I set a custom size for my artboard, to a specific number of pixels in Adobe Illustrator?

Thank you for any help.


texts:
I am trying to change the perspective of the following picture so that it appears as if it's taken from the right lane of the road:

What I have achieved so far with Perspective Warp tool is this (dont mind the blank space):

But the problem here is the road looses its sharpness and becomes blurred. However much I tried, sharpness filters do not give good enough results.
Could there be a simpler way, to change the perspective without using the Perspective Warp tool?

This is what I've got so far by following KjP's suggested route:

I have also duplicated the left lane of the road and stretched it with free transform tool so that it increased in size. Needs more editing though.


texts: Who first used three stacked bars as an icon for "menu"?

texts:
The three stacked bars for a menu (known as a “hamburger menu”) seems like a pretty new concept. Is there any canonical information out there about who created this icon?

I’m curious because it has become a pretty famous and widely used icon for “menu” in the past few years.


texts:
I am attempting to create water spraying from a fire sprinkler. I am not having the best time getting the water to look realistic. I have attempted this tutorial but I am not happy with the results. I have also attempted to use multiple rain and water brushes but they just do not have the effect I am looking for which is spraying water. (The rain brushes come the closest but not quite there.)

My question is how do you create realistic spraying water? (Think of a fire sprinkler spraying water)

I am using Photoshop CS6 and if there is a brush that will work great for this I would like to see it.


texts: Is there a solution to running out of undos in Corel X6?

texts:
I have created a bitmap from a vector image. After editing a while, I wanted to scrap the idea and return to the vector image, but my undos have run out.

Is there any way to get the vector back?


texts: Sketch (draw, trace) image at 45º angles

texts:
Hard to explain. But: I am in the process of creating a stylized map of a small country in the North-West of Europe ;-)

So, basically, I want to create the picture on the right from the picture on the left:

Now, I've done this before and it can be done using Illustrators Pen tool, clicking point after point using SHIFT to force 45º angles.

But I wonder:

Can this be automated? Jazzy vector in, straight vector out

or,

Is there any program offering any tool that allows me to do this while using a continuous drawing tool like Illustrators 'pencil' tool?

And, any help in re-formulating this question is also much appreciated :)

EDIT Thanks all for your elaborate answers! I can tell you spend quite some time in composing. But I notice I did not phrase my question question clearly enough. Yes, I can use the pen-tool-with-shift in AI or a grid, in Inkscape. But what I would like to is to draw freely (no pun intended)  — as if holding a pencil — while my hand is being restrained to only draw at 45º angles (0º, 45º, 90º, 135º … 315º). Metaphorically, of course.


texts:
A few years back a member of our group committed suicide. Before he passed he wrote a song with 5 verses, and there are 5 of us remaining. What I am attempting to do here is replace the semi-colon with a verse in the shape of the semi-colon. This is a design concept for a tattoo artist, as we're all going to get the same tattoo, each with a different verse. When we are together, his song will be complete.

I've figured out how to shape the smaller text into the larger text, but I am not getting the option to create a mask for the semi-colon. I am not very familiar with Illustrator, so I am sure I am missing some obvious but fundamental step.

What I did to get to this point:

Created a text outline
Ungrouped the larger text
Copied the semi-colon onto its own layer
Deleted the semi-color from the Background text layer

I've been fiddling with this for a while now, so I may have clicked something I shouldn't have.


texts: Vector shape is different than actual path

texts:
I'm totally perplexed by this. The vector path is at a different location and of a different size than the actual shape seen. I'm using CS6. I got this file from a client.

Under normal circumstances, I could proceed as is. In this case, I'm uniting the 4 shapes and then setting it up for digital gold foil stamping. See what happens when I unite paths:


texts: Automatically resize an object by a percentage when a particular object style is applied to it

texts:
I work for an education company, and we deal with a good number of fractions when writing our publications. We currently use MathType to generate the fractions, which saves each fraction as a separate .eps file so we can place them into InDesign.

However, the fractions generated by MathType are 100% of the font we set within MathType, and we'd like for them to be scaled down a bit...say to 85% of the "base" font size.

Is there any way we can have InDesign scale down these fractions by a percentage?

Not all of the equations brought in by MathType are fractions, so we'd need a way to target just the fractions. One idea I had while writing this was to tag each of the fractions with the object style of "fraction," and then use a script to sniff out all of these and change the size by 85%. Any direction on where to go for a method like this (or another that might work) is greatly appreciated!

Thanks


texts: How to convert selected anchor points to smooth in Adobe Illustrator?

texts:
Is there a shortcut key for converting selected anchor points to smooth? If not, is there a way to set one?

I've looked in the keyboard shortcuts menu, but I can not see an option. Do i have to always click on the button to convert?


texts: Printing full-bleed from Adobe InDesign or Acrobat on Mac

texts:
I'm using a Brother MFC-J6910DW inkjet.  On my PC it's easy enough to print full bleed, there's a borderless option in the printer dialog.  I can't find any such option on the Mac.  Am I not able to print to the edges in Adobe InDesign or Acrobat?

UPDATE: Apparently in Adobe InDesign you print by selecting the paper type with "(borderless)" next to the paper type you want (every supported paper type has 2 versions, 1 with and 1 without (borderless)).  Acrobat doesn't print full bleed, but Mac OS X's built-in preview tool has the same paper type option as Adobe InDesign.


texts: Demonstrating colour theory through these exercises

texts:
Can you please explain how I'm supposed to create these tasks?

• Using coloured paper swatches, give examples of the following 3 Colour Chords: dyad,triad and tetrad.

• Using paint or paper, create 3 examples of colour contrast. Choose 3 from the following
list and illustrate each one in a 3x3 grid. Write a brief description identifying the contrast
presented, as well as how they successfully achieves the effect.
» Contrast of hue
» Contrast of extension
» Contrast of light and dark
» Contrast of saturation
» Contrast of warm/ cold
» Complementary contrast
» Simultaneous contrast


texts: Why would a commercial printer require all text to be outlined?

texts:
I have been working on a 50+ page commercial booklet at work. The InDesign file contains a lot of text and linked psd and ai files.

Since I've finished it and gotten it all approved I was told to get it ready for print. I exported a high quality PDF with all of the fonts subsetted. The lead graphic designer told me it wasn't able to be sent to print because it had fonts in it and that I had to outline all of the text.

I have never had to do this before since the fonts are all embedded. So I had to go through each page, and outline every single text box, and then go into every ai file in the links panel which had text in it, open it in illustrator and outline the text there, too. The whole process took about 2 hours. I have never even heard of having to outline text that is able to be subset in a PDF document. Why would this be required and why does subsetting exist if a commercial printer requires outlined text?


texts: In Illustrator CS6, how do I make my path transparent, but have solid color in the middle?

texts: Basically, I want to have my sketch have a solid color in the inside the path (with live paint), but the path itself that has a stroke, which looks like a border on the image, I want to be completely transparent, so when put on a background you can still see where the border would be, but the background will make it up.


texts: How to create a color tinted black and white effect?

texts: I was wondering how I would go about recreating this look on a photo using Photoshop?


texts:
I am wondering what you guys have a solution for invoice design?

For instance I have designed a nice invoice in AI and it seems like software like Xero does not accept SVG logos and you can't use a template backdop with background. So images we spend of time get rasterised.

Since most invoices are sent electronically these days a printed one from printers isnt an option.

I made it in PDF for the meantime but for long term it isnt an option due to the amount of invoices needing to be done.


texts:
Photoshop: How do you pull part of the  shapes border to the right???

I am trying to pull part of a rounded shapes border to the left to make a triangle like effect, I'm sorry if I explained that bad here is a [Video Link][1] to a video of what I am trying to do.


texts: Is it possible to embed an indd file inside another

texts:
I know that it is possible to place pages of another indd inside a parent indesign file as a linked file. But is it possible to embed it? I'm using ID5.5 and the embed option is greyed out for linked indd files, but not for other file types (eg. TIFFs, PDF, etc).

I can understand why it might be unfeasible to embed an indd file, but want to make sure that I'm not missing something obvious.

To clarify my ultimate intention here:

I have a contract template (.indt) that includes my T&Cs at the back. Those T&Cs exist as a separate .indd file, which is 'placed' in the contract .indt. Thus, if my T&Cs get amended/updated the contract template does too.

However, the T&Cs should stop updating in documents derived from that template; i.e., once it moves from being a contract template to being a specific contract document, the T&C should get baked in. Hence I want to embed a file that is already in place, subsequent to its initial placement.


texts: Photoshop: how I can increase the height of a part of my image?

texts:
I would like increase the height of a part of my image.

Here is my current image:

I would like increase the height with 90px here: http://prntscr.com/5viaqk

Not the bottom line.


texts:
I am using the layer comps in photoshop to create different pages of an app display setup. When I change the position of the text for layout "d"  it then makes layouts a,b,c  all the previous comps change. It also happened to an image I re-sized and re-positioned, Would anyone be able to explain why this may happen?

To confirm:
All 3 of the layer options are checked on
I am refreshing the file upon updating


texts:
Could someone help identify what font is used in these screenshots? Thanks.

http://zshthem.es/all/


texts: How to scroll in the layer menu while grabbing a layer?

texts:
My layer list is very big and sometimes when I duplicate a layer, I need to move it far away but I have to bring it near the edge to activate the slow autoscroll.

It would be far more convenient if I could scroll with the mouse wheel while grabbing something.

Is there a way to do it?


texts: Is a 10 point font big enough to use for small descriptions in a cv?

texts:
I am creating my CV on an A4 and I am wondering whether a 10 point font size is big enough. here is  screenshot and I am talking about the content next to the crosses: http://d.pr/i/LDKK.

in fact do e really need to have that kind of description in there?

Thanks


texts:
Can't seem to get the rotation handles to show up and the Transform doesnt' work on an equation object.  Any ideas?
Thanks


texts: I'm using Walkway bold on a project, and am looking for some nice fonts for the titles. Walkway is sort of formal and stylistic to me, and nostalgic of the 1920's. I'm looking for fonts that go well with it for a crowd funding website.


texts: What software can be used to create scientific posters?

texts:
For "political" reasons I used MS PowerPoint to create a scientific poster. Scientific means mainly having formulas, plots(they could be images), text and images. Although I would prefer to use LaTeX, I realize that it's not the most convenient way when someone has to do corrections on the fly. Therefore I am a bit confused on what's the most appropriate software to create scientific posters while at the same time to be able to make on the fly corrections.

I know some packages, but since I've never used them, I am not sure which is the most convenient.

Corel Draw
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop (I know it's a photo editor, but once I used it to create flyers)
In Design
Anything else?


texts: How to save in photoshop image with layer style?

texts:
Hello everyone, I have an issue I can solve and I tried many thing but never succeeded,
so, in the first picture I have a smart object (based on vector file) when I copy it to photoshop it comes with black circles, I put the image on screen to avoid the black circles
But, when I save the image the png image still have the black circles.
I will appreciate any help, I hope any of you guys can help me solve this.

Thank you everyone, And have a great day.


texts: How to make web design pages harmonious?

texts:
I am working on a Pre-School Web Design, and I feel quite stuck on a point where I don't know what else I can do to make it just a little bit polished. I was using a template for base, with a lot of changes, and I feel like it doesn't have an overall harmony in terms of navigating from one page to another.

I got feedback on the same topic, "the parts I designed to the template are doesn't quite fit the overall look" and "it doesn't look harmonious".

Here are the links to the web design's pages with a little bit of description next to it, because the actual web design is in hungarian.

Main Page / guide / header appears on scroll
Listing Page / guide
Profile Page / guide

My last two ideas were giving blue background to the listing and profile page, and to include some of the main page's decoration sitewise (like the balloons and stars on the intro) but these are not improving the overall look that much, according to my feedback source.

Any direction or idea would be helpful.


texts: Illustrator - object placements slightly off

texts:
I'm currently lerning Illustrator and I started building some Lego bricks for learning purposes. Building them worked, but when I try to stack them over each other, they just won't align proberly. Take a look at these screenshots:

This is how it looks when I drag and hold my grouped Lego object to where I want it. As you can see, the paths align perfectly.

But if I let go, that happens. The bricks aren't properly aligned, the blue brick is slightly shifted up and left.

Why does this happen? And how can I fix it?
Thanks in advance!


texts: Photoshop text layout changing after editing - super weird

texts:
I'm using a template, downloaded and installed all the fonts but still this happens.

When I click on the text to edit it, it suddenly turns a lot bigger and more grey, it's hard to still change the text without it turning gray.

Hope someone can help me out


texts:
I would like to perform automated rasterization effects on my graphic, then send the result to a printer. ImageMagick supports the effects I require, and supports CMYK. However, I would need to be able to express the input and receive the output as CMYK bitmaps, and bitmap formats appear generally to limit color support to RGB.
Are any bitmap formats available that I might use in this project?


texts:
I have an SVG (originally made in Adobe Illustrator - AI and exported) which renders properly in browser and photoshop.
But when I load it in sketch (where I really need it for an ios app mockup), it renders svg differently.

Am I hitting a sketch bug or there is an issue with the svg?

File in chrome/photoshop:

Same file in Sketch:


texts: Converting overlapped outlines into a single line

texts:
I am trying to make a animal logo with golden ratio. As it is my first try with golden ratio I am having a problem & I am working on illustrator.

Problem: Basically it looks like a single outline in the fox. In few shapes I overlapped the outlines. Now it became hard to manipulate the outlines. I need a single outline. Is there any way to convert the outline into a single outline.

Hope you understood my problem . Thank you.


texts: Illustrator giving two values for ppi for a linked raster image, only when rotated?

texts:
I am trying to place this raster logo supplied by a client on a large format template (this being a raster logo of some text in Arial is a separate issue).

In Photoshop, the image is showing at 200ppi at original size (third image).

When placed on our Illustrator template, and scaled up to a reasonable size, the image is 85ppi, as shown in the top left corner (second image).

When I rotate this image to fit on the template more appropriately, the resolution seems to change to a multi-dimensional value of 379x19ppi!?

I assumed that this was some sort of horizontal and vertical representation of pixel density, and using pythagoras theorem figured that the square root of 379x19 is approximately 85ppi.

However, does this mean that the pixel density of the image is now somehow inconsistent across its' length and width? Or is this just an inefficiency of using Ai to manipulate raster imagery? At a glance, 379x19 does not represent the actual dimensions of the image either which is about 50x10cm before scaling.

Does anyone have any explanation for this? I have googled this to death and not even found one acknowledgement of multiple values for resolution! I can find plenty of ways round this for the purpose of this job, but it's extremely confusing and I want to make sure Illustrator does not distort the resolution somehow for future reference.

Hope someone can help!


texts: Can I extract shadows from a texture to make a transparent image (png)?

texts:
I have this image:

And I would like to extract the dark parts (shadows) to make a transparency consisting of black pixels at different alpha channel values.  Here is a crude example image of what I am trying to extract:

This way, if I put solid colors behind the image, that texture will show up over the new color and make it look nice and purdy.

I suppose another way I can ask this question is how I can turn a layer working with an "overlay" or "linear burn" blend option selected into a png consisting of black pixels at different alpha channel values.

Tough question to put in words, my apologies for any confusion.


texts: How to fill this pencil shape with gradient in illustrator?

texts: I've been struggling to fill this entire pencil-like shape with this gray gradient. It always stops bluntly at the tip, leaving it empty. How do I get it to fill all the way from the point?


texts: Why the color is falling off from a Bristol cardboard laser printed?

texts:
I think the picture is very explicit of what is the problem I'm facing when the printed cardboard is folded. Whay is that happens?

The cardboard is a Bristol 180 printed in a OKI podwer tonner printer.

What solution can I have for prevent that? What I'm doing wrong?


texts:
I really like writing encouraging letters to my friends every so often. Writing them by hand makes them feel a lot more personal, but I am always hesitant to do so because my handwriting has always been terrible.

I know the only way to get better is to practice, but my problem is that even when I take my time, it's still pretty ugly. As such, it doesn't seem to help because I'm just repeating the same, ugly characters.

How can I improve my handwriting ability? Are there any tools or methods that could help me learn good handwriting better or faster?

Note that I'm referring specifically to body text, not any fancy headlines or characters.


texts: How can I recolor an object to white in Gimp?

texts: Like say I have a picture of a cut orange, and I want the inside pulp to be colored white instead of orange? I want to keep the details of the pulp, similar to how colorizing works. I've tried using colorize, but that only supports colors that are not white or black.


texts: Layouts for website 30% bigger. Could the problem be related to dpi?

texts:
I created multiple layouts for a whole website with 150dpis. I sent the layout to the developer and when I got the site back it was horrible.

The fonts were very big. The images too. The sizes are 30% bigger than what I had designed.

A friend told me this was related to dpi. Now I have to redo the whole site so that the developer can redo his work.

Does anyone have a solution so I can automatically adapt the layout I created to the actual sizes?


texts: Using the rectangular marquee tool with custom measurement scale

texts: Can one use the rectangular marquee tool in photoshop and specify a size based on the custom "measurement scale" specified in the "Analysis" tool.  I want to use it exactly like using the ruler tool when the "use measurement scale" box is checked.   Thank you


texts: How to overlap multiple objects in Illustrator

texts: Let say I have 3 shapes in illustrator: A, B and C. I would like A to overlap B, B to overlap C and C to overlap A. How can I do that?


texts: Changing stroke color after live trace using a sketch

texts:
I am a beginner trying to learn Illustrator and this is really driving me crazy.

I have a picture of a caricature of my grandmother.  I want to make it editable and change the colors so I can put it on a t-shirt.

I have already cleaned up the image in Photoshop and filled the lines onto an empty layer. I placed the PSD into Illustrator, live traced the image, expanded it, and ungrouped it.

Everything goes fine until I try to change the stroke color. No matter what I do, it will only change to shades of gray.

I think what I want to do is called "converting hand-drawn sketch to vector" but I'm not sure.


texts: My text looks different on different documents although I've used the same paragraph styles

texts: I have a document of 27 pages. I've used the same paragraph styles for all of them. When I export it to a PDF, the text on some of the pages look stroked although I haven't used a stroke. I took a print out and they look the same but when I look at the PDF files the difference is visible. How do I fix this?


texts:
I have the following situation:
I have a tool that spits out a number of SVGs¹. I need a script that will convert these into a single Inkscape file such the contents of each original SVG go into a single layer in the final SVG.

I could go to Python and try to parse the SVG structure, but I suspect an easier method exists.

For example: I have 3 SVG files, A.svg, B.svg and C.svg
The result should be one SVG file with three layers, first layer containing A.svg, second with B.svg, and so on. Naming and stack of layers is not critical

¹ For some context, the source SVGs are the drawings for the multiple layers of a printed circuit board: I will be adding annotations and using the resulting circuit board in a classroom. The annotations are few but the task has to be repeated for a number of different boards.


texts: Change the color of an image in a website

texts:
I have this image in my website, is a png:

I want to know if there is any way with HTML5, javascript or css to change the color of the image. Or at least make the image change to white (invert color black to white, not the transparency).


texts: Looking for books that teach how to use Photoshop to add depth, effects, and perspective to synthetic objects and icons

texts:
Are there any books that teach the theory and process required to create icons like the Chrome logo below using Photoshop?

I know the basics of Photoshop and its tools but are there any books that teach how to combine them to create stunning icons, etc.?

Source: Dribbble.


texts: This is probably obvious, but I haven't found my answer yet. When designing for ios, do I absolutely have to use their "settings page" design or can I make my own? This is my first go at designing for ios and I have a lot to learn.


texts: Is Google fonts a good choice to choose fonts for our company Brand Book? What are the other affordable sources if not free?

texts: We are rebranding our business and our design team suggests to go for a standard typography style. So we are looking for best and affordable fonts and stumbled across Google Fonts. Those are very good options and we need to choose Open sans & Rubik for our Brand guidelines book. Is this a good choice? It says open source license, what does it mean?


texts: No matter how I move multiple paths from one image to another (dragging, copy-pasting), they keep collapsing into single path (see pic). Is there a way to copy/move them and keep the original structure?


texts: How to simulate a better lens blur, i.e. in linear space, with Gimp?

texts:
Human perception of intensity is proportional to the logarithm of the physical intensity. When light from an image enters our eyes, we do not perceive the changes in brightness proportionally, but rather proportionally to their logarithm. However, the real physical process of dispersion of light by a lens does not care about how our eyes and brain work. Which means that computer algorithms trying to simulate the effect of blurring a sharp contour should operate after translating first the intensity values to linear space. However, it seems they don't, and that is the origin of the fake dark stripe that appears after doing, e.g., a "photo blur" with Gimp on an image like this one:

This effect is explained by this youtuber here. And, while this usually goes unnoticed unless you are blurring a picture of the flag of Portugal, I wonder how to do a less unrealistic lens blur using Gimp. The stress is on the words "less unrealistic" because the subject seems to be quite complex, but at least a quadratic average of the RGB values seems to give better results in the examples shown on the YouTube video referenced above.

Remark

I am using GIMP 2.8.18 which is somewhat outdated.


texts: What is the name of this sans-serif typeface?

texts:
I want to use font in image "attached" but don't know what is it's name so that I can search over internet.
Tell me if anybody knows the answer.


texts: Advice for setup working room (colour management)?

texts:
I'm newbie graphic designer (for iOS app, Android app and prints). I have watched color management course. They suggest me to use the calibration machine like X-Rite ColorMunki Display or Spyder5 Pro. (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2414919,00.asp)

I already understand that part. But I have few more question about color management. In some video it says that I need 5K color temperature light bulb and have to wear black or grey shirt to see the accurate color. My room is quite yellowish. Should I buy some Grey or Black paper and cover the wall? What color should I buy Grey or Black? or I do not have to go that far?

I make design on my computer and send file to print company. and Use those design on my iOS app and Android App.

I have attached the photo of my room, you can see the yellowish and it become even more yellowish when the sun fully shine. It is because the color of the wall is quite yellow.


texts: Applying Blending Options to group doesn’t work as expected

texts:
When applying my Gradient Overlay to a group of layers, the gradient doesn’t size to fit the minimum frame of the layers in that group. So for example, a green to red gradient shows up on the group as just a block green colour. However, when I apply the same blending options to each layer individually, the gradient works as expected.

Group Blending Options:

Individual layers:

The group contains just a text layer and a smart object. I’ve checked the smart object (it’s from Illustrator) and the art board is sized to fit the contents.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.


texts: Inkscape is breaking Pattern Object before distributing it Along Path

texts:
Using the Extension Pattern Along Path from Inkscape, I am trying to have a scatter plot effect by distributing small rectangles along a path. Inkscape is achieving this except that the rectangle is broken at the upper left corner as shown in the attached figure:

Is there a way to overcome this?


texts: Why do my photoshop designs turn neon when I upload them online?

texts: I am confused with what colour profiles I should be using where, as when I upload any of my designs online or try emailing them over to clients sometimes they are fine, but a lot of the time they show up fluorescent or oddly coloured:


texts: Frosted glass effect/texture/filter/pattern in Adobe Fireworks?

texts:
Is there a way to do this with Adobe Fireworks?

I know its possible using Photoshop with this tutorial.


texts:
So a client of mine is making repeated requests for things that were "cool" when her website originally launched in the late nineties. One feature is a scrolling marquee that just says "welcome to {domain name}" (client and domain withheld because of NDA).

I have repeatedly advised the client that this is a negative design element because a scrolling ticker is only useful for constantly updating data, and all she wants to put is a welcome message. Can you think of anything contemporary as far as subtle animations that would substitute for a scrolling marquee? The text would again just say "Welcome to {Domain Name}"

UPDATE

Some people have asked for clarification, so here's some more info about the site. I'd share the design, but again, NDA. : (

The design is the following themes: Patriotic, Clean, Slightly Textured. The concept that was given to me was a stock image that contained an old American flag and a copy of the constitution with a quill laid across it. I used that as a background and put the content on a paper-textured center container. The colors are red white and blue (white background with red headers and blue links). A flag waving might actually be perfect for that, as @Scott suggested. I'd love to see a suggestion of how to implement that.

UPDATE 2

In the interest of proposing solutions and not just creating problems, here's a jsfiddle of a jquery plugin to make a wave. Suggestions? Improvements? http://jsfiddle.net/yPZVy/

CLARIFICATION

I may or may not have explained this part well enough, she's not simply using the "marquee" tag but rather a flash animation that does the same thing. This is obvioulsy a problem for a lot of reasons.


texts: How do people get those gorgeous, high-resolution UI screenshots without using Retina display?

texts:
I'm talking about screenshots like these:

These images appear completely non-pixelated and in high resolution. The first one is a a vanilla, operating-system level menu bar in Mac OS, and the second one is in Blender, which does all its own menus.

Is there a trick to getting screenshots like this?


texts: Combining black and white drawings on one InDesign page

texts: I'm trying to combine a number of black and white pencil and ink drawings onto one page but the separate images keep ending up with slightly different tints from each other and from the white space. Is there some easy way to fix that? Thanks!


texts:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90769238@N04/8244823596/
Please help me either identify this font from the Genz-Ryan logo.


texts: What's the term for the emphasis on the first words in a body of text?

texts:
Is there a formal term for when the first word(s) or line of an article are emphasized?

For example, on Wired, the first three words are set in small caps for emphasis, and I've seen similar things in print too. Is there a name for this?


texts: How to mock up a phone case to appear as if it has been printed?

texts:
I want to make a good mock-up case in Photoshop, with these two different images (design & print).

What are the steps to make a design image appear as if it has been printed on a phone case? (in color context and brightness/contrast).

Design Image

Print Image Example (want design onto a phone case in mock-up to look like this)


texts: Illustrator won't remember layer collapse state

texts:
Running Illustrator CS5 on Mac OS 10.7

Reopening an Illustrator document expands all layers

For files containing a large amount of layers, this is very irritating.

Is this a general problem or just my version/me?


texts: Gap in the middle of type on double truck ad

texts: I collect old car advertising and noticed on a double truck ad for a 1968 VW Bus the headline when laid flat reads-" New Impr oved Box "- I assume this is to remain readable in the middle of a magazine with a huge page count(I bet publishers would love this problem in today's market)What is the gap in the word improved referred to as? I am not a graphics professional so forgive my ignorance


texts: How to slide a text, to position it, along a path?

texts:
There's a way to slide a text along a path to position it in the wished place?
In the image bellow GIMP has inserted the text at the middle of the ellipse, and the text asymmetric going toward its left.

Using rotate tool the thing get worse, the text rotates, but not along the path:


texts: Photoshop CS6: Using text to cut through a white block to reveal pic?

texts:
I'd like to cut through a white layer with text to reveal a pic underneath, in effect filling the text with the pic but still be able to preserve full text editing i.e. not rasterise?

So far I have two pics, one as the background layer and one as a clipping mask for the text.

Can anyone help? Sorry if this has already been answered I'n not sure what this technique is called so wasn't sure what to search for.

Sample:


texts: Illustrator: how to insert image into shape

texts: I downloaded a template and trying to add a picture into the shape. I can place it over the top but not into the curve. I have tried to select the picture and the outline and then "Clipping mask", but doesn't seem to work.


texts: GIMP Histogram display is very dim / low-contrast

texts:
I am getting older and my mark-I eyeballs dynamic range is decreasing.
While I can adjust gamma (xgamma -gamma 0.4) and LCD brightness, GIMP's histogram display is very dim and difficult to see.
(GIMP 2.10.18)
What I see:

What I would prefer to see:

Any suggestions ?


texts: Tilted 2PT Perspective Cube - Eye Level Line Placement?

texts:
When drawing a cube in 2 point perspective you would normally have the horizon line flat, a horizontal line going across the page.
But if I was to rotate the current cube and tilt it 45 degrees clockwise. Would that mean I have to draw the horizon line tilted?
Just trying to figure out how to draw 2 point perspective cubes that are tilted and which is the correct way to go about it.
Please help, thanks.


texts: Inkscape: How to overlay objects with transparent fill?

texts:
I'm trying to create a spherical triangle with 3 circles placed on top of it in Inkscape. The fill of the circles and the triangle should be transparent. Here's my progress so far:

How do I cut the path of the triangle that goes inside the circle? I've tried the options in the Path menu such as Union, Difference, Intersection, etc. but none of them seem to do what I want.


texts: Photoshop - contract selection doesn't work for the whole document

texts: Select -> Modify -> Contract works as intended whenever I select an area within the bounds of the document, but for some reason it doesn't work for the whole document, i.e. after selecting all (Ctrl + A). Selecting all seems to be a selection like any other, so why can't I modify it as I wish? It's strange especially since I just want to contract it, so it doesn't involve anything outside the document bounds.


texts: InDesign script to alternate text color every other line in a text box

texts:
I have a very long list of names that I need to alternate the CMYK color value every other line.

I found this script online that changes the tint every 3rd line:

var i, p;
for (i=0; i<app.selection[0].paragraphs.length; i++) {
  p = app.selection[0].lines[i];
  if (i%3 === 2) { p.fillTint = 50; }

}

I tried changing the script to change the CMYK value doing this:

var i, p;
for (i=0; i<app.selection[0].paragraphs.length; i++) {
  p = app.selection[0].lines[i];
  if (i%2 === 1) { p.colorValue=[0,100,100,0]; }

}

But using "colorValue" is not supported. How can I change the script to make every other line in a text box change the color value?


texts: How fill a text colormap as invert of its background

texts:
As the title says I want to fill a text with an inverse of its background colormap in Inkscape. I know how to do this in Gimp:

Right click on the text layer and select Text to Path:

Go to the path tab and select the path which was just created:

Make sure the main layer your want to use as back ground is selected, the text layer is hidden, and then use the path as selection tool by going to menu > select > From Path or shift+v
now you can go to menu > Colors > Invert:

I would appreciate if you could help me know how I can do this in Inkscape?


texts:
Years ago, it was always strongly recommended that web designers should only use web-safe colors.

Have studies been done to see if this is still the case? If so, what's the answer?

Does anyone know of or have a reference to a study or report that covers this?


texts: When to use a QR code on a business card?

texts:
The client suggested putting QR code that leads on his website (domain name is 10 symbols). I think there is no reason to do that as it is not that long and can be typed manually. Also, QR codes are used primarily for payment or to redirect on the page that has a really long address.

On top of that business card will be given to clients from Europe and The USA where as opposed to Asia QR codes are not as widely used.

When should I use QR code on the business card?

Is it a common practice to put QR codes on business cards in Europe and The USA?


texts: Making overlay text visible on a "chaotic" background

texts:
I am trying to create a fullscreen map with some overlaying menus above it as you can see in the screenshot above. I have tried to make the overlaying text visible by applying an inner glow on a fullscreen, no-fill rectangle shape that is on top of the map image layer. However as you can see, it's not really doing a good or a neat job when it comes to presenting the image visually.

Any ideas or tips on how I could get the text above to show up against the map background. The text should preferably remain white.

If you need more information, do let me know. Appreciate any help. Thank you in advance.


texts: Is there a name for this type of line-art illustration?

texts: I'm trying to find out the correct term for this form of art:


texts:
I want to select multiple layers within a marquee selection.

For example, I want to select, copy and paste the tan background and black squiggle which are on two separate layers:


texts: Finding a suggestion or real name for the new illustration style

texts:
It is common knowledge that Flat Design is getting outdated, the new illustrators are opening doors to several options that have been underestimated in recent years. While Flat Design appeared as a reaction to Skeuomorphism, where practically nullified all the techniques that this revealed, little by little the design is moving away from this rigidity, and, without going back, find a review of the techniques recently passed.

Following a scheme of these styles, and reviewing works of more avant-garde illustrators, the sequence could be the following:

Skeuomorphism

https://www.loungelizard.com/

Flat Design

Jan Kallwejt

Flat Design 2.0

Malika Favre

New?

Michal Sawtyruk

In this question I answered naming the new design Flat 3.0, which obviously is not the right name. The new style is a consequence, renewal and advancement of flat design, but it almost has little or anything from Flat Design, beyond the exaltation of the vector images and the negation of bitmap effects (Despite being made in Photoshop ).

Michal Sawtyruk

Matthew Lyons

Hey Studio

This new style has no name, in Internet there are pages with descriptions or qualifying adjectives but there is no name that identifies it despite having a common technical and stylistic basis. I see parallelism in composition, colors and form with impressionism. I choose Vector impressionism.

Le Suicidé, Édouard Manet

Last Dream, Leonid Afremov

Although the evolution of Skeuom, Flat and Flat 2.0 was marked by the interface design, sure soon we will find web designs with this new style, or maybe there are already, any link?

Does anyone have an idea of the real name or knowing a place to find a suggestion for the name of this new illustration style?


texts: Do the illustrations I do for a company belong to me, or to the company?

texts:
I'm doing a new website for a business and it's going to involve some original graphics: a large drawing that will get used for various background elements, and two medium-sized looping Flash or GIF animations that will be used on a splash screen and a product page, respectively. I've already completed a lot of the coding backend, but now that I'm up to the graphics, I'm trying to work out what terms I should set with the client.

They are paying me at an hourly rate, as an employee, and I was wondering if I should charge extra for the rights to the images I create, but I don't know if being an employee makes the rights company property (again, NZ, not US.).

I've had a look at similar questions on here, and formed some consensus of good general practice, but my situation differs by one critical point: I am actually working for the client in question as an employee, rather than contracting as a designer (I interviewed for a workshop/manufacturing position, but when they saw some web work on my CV they took me on to build them a new website instead, as they were in dire need of an update.)

The hourly rate they're giving me is slightly more than my current
qualifications/experience (i.e: basically zilch) would otherwise justify, so I don't want to stiff them too much by charging heaps - but, as others have said in the questions I've found, I don't want to undercut other people in the industry either. I also don't know what will happen RE: copyright.

If it helps: I'm living/working in New Zealand, so some of the relevant legalities may differ from the US-based terms discussed in the other posts.


texts: where does black come from in CMYK color mode?

texts: I don't understand how black can be added in CMYK color mode. So green is made up of 85% cyan, 14% magenta, 100% yellow and 2% black. But I thought black is created by combining 100% of cyan, magenta and yellow, so where does the 2% come from?


texts:
How can a person create a style of graphics that uniquely identifies that person?

I've often heard of many forms of art the importance of creating a style, how does this apply to graphic design?


texts: Layer transparency slider in GIMP isn't working

texts:
I've got two layers in a gimp file. I want to be able to slide the top layer in and out of transparency so I can use it as a guide for the image below. When I select the layer in the layers box and then scale the opacity bar at the top the image remains opaque until the slider hits 50% at which point the image underneath is fully visible with the top layer entirely transparent.

Is there a solution that will let me slide the layer in and out of transparency?


texts:
Is there a way, using the Scissors tool, to cut type into pieces within InDesign? I've converted said type to outlines, but when I use the Scissors tool I'm only able to bend existing points. Below is a video that shows the process I'm taking.

Thanks for any help.

https://vimeo.com/108160992


texts: How do I add another layer to an Arnold material on Maya 2020?

texts:
I'm working with Maya 2020 modeling an inkwell. The first part was really straight forwarded, I created the model and added a Arnold standard surface to make it look like glass. I also made some ink spots on Surface Painter. My plan was to add the ink blot over my glass material
I know I can add another layer to the Arnold material with the hypershade window but I'm not sure how and I'm stuck blindly changing setting.
Can anyone help me out?


texts: Illustrator - Inner shadow/glow to only one side?

texts: How can I get an inner glow but only approached from one side like on the image, and not around the whole object?


texts: How can I round the corners on multiple InDesign frames?

texts: I am doing a photo collage layout as part of a re-creation of some older creative for a client. I'm rounding the corners in InDesign by clicking the yellow box below the upper-right handle and then dragging the corners to around 5p0. This is exactly what I'm looking for, but I want to know if there is a shortcut to apply the same effect to all 20+ photos?


texts: Suitable font for Japanese-language text in comic?

texts:
What's a suitable font for Japanese-language text in a western-style comic?

Comic sans serif doesn't seem to handle Japanese. (I deliberately chose it in part to be contrarian, and in part because it is a cartoon, but please don't flag this question as "offensive content!")

I'm currently looking at Hiragino Maru Gothic Pro, as it seems more rounded than the other Hiragino fonts available in my program (Acorn).


texts: Adobe Illustrator - Pen tool problem (isometric design)

texts:
I am following a tutorial for isometric design. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFHxknDs4Mk&t=208s)

My problem is when I finished the first path as in the tutorial I can not start a new one which continues the old one.

It shows me "delete anchor point" even I set normal pen tool. And when I set the "add anchor point tool" it shows me "Please use the add anchor point tool on segment of a path".

I will post here the screenshot for better understanding.


texts:
Briefly

I don't know, how I can to make shadow effect for animated GIF. For me good solution in any open source/free program, not Photoshop.

Detail

For PNG images I make shadow effect. Example:

But how I can to make similar effect for animated GIF? Example GIF:

I don't need to edit GIF, I only need add shadow in borders of animated GIF. Perhaps, correct its effect not named «shadow».

Did not help

For PNG I use ShareX and Greenshot programs, but if I try add shadow for GIF like for PNG, output black image for me. I not find answer for my question in Google.


texts: How do I do the circular wipe movement on Photoshop, Premiere or AfterEffects?

texts:
Watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAJn3CD2atU

See the circular movement "pizza-style" that rotates anti-clockwise? How do I do that, filling the whole screen, using Photoshop, Premiere or After Effects?

The screen starts all white, every second the dark gray wipe rotates the screen. At the beginning of each second the screen is white again.

thanks


texts: Justification and hyphenation without proper time and tools?

texts:
In my computer science studies we are being forced to write a report every now and then. I have a background in web development and have worked closely with both print and web designers for many years so I know the importance of setting type and communicating messages in either good or bad ways.

When we hand in our reports to teachers and professors they usually want the text to be justified with "single line-height". They do not mention anything about the lengths of each line and how many characters it should contain. This means that all the students hand in 120 chars per line in 12pt Times New Roman with 14pt leading, justified. Of course these reports are unreadable for several reasons, the length of the lines and the rivers (seas more like it) of whitespace floating around in the text are just a few.

Since I have a background working with designers and I love nice typography I refuse to hand in a report looking like that. A problem that I have though is that I do not own a copy of InDesign, nor do I have the time to kern, change and space out characters and words if I would own a copy.

I could of course, use Google Drive's or Word's "justify" feature and use 60-70 chars at each line but to me it still doesn't feel right when looking at all the whitespace in the body of text. Since I've been doing a lot of web development I've also learned to avoid the CSS attribute that handles justification of text.

Until now I have simply used Google Drive with line length at 70-80 chars with 11pt Cambria as body with 14pt leading. My headers are in 14pt and 18pt Droid Sans  with 16pt and 22pt leading. I've kept my text left aligned and tried to get rid of the worst jaggedness on the right side using hyphenation and I've been pretty happy with it. I've started reading more about justified text though to be able to defend my type setting choices against the evil computer science professors.

I've read through some other posts and as always it "depends" on which type of text you have and how much time you have:

Does hyphenation increase readability?

Readability and appeal of justified text

http://designinstruct.com/web-design/typography-common-myths-and-mistakes/

What would be your professional advice on making this text be as
readable as possible without having to spend $$$ on InDesign?
Justify in word/drive or keep it left aligned as is?
What are your thoughts on the general problem of justification and hyphenation of
there is not enough time nor tools available?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/14mjNuMbDHtomWiwtRYR9duLC8Ug8nHDmt2g3p2Tn3mM/edit?usp=sharing


texts:
In Photoshop, I accidentally painted some brush strokes on the wrong layer. The thing is, the brush stokes are all captured in the history. Is there some way of restoring those brush stokes to a different layer?

I've seen some methods based on the difference in colours between what you've just painted and the rest of that layer, but I'd prefer a method based on the history states if that's possible.


texts: Output colour is different between file types [Illustrator File]

texts:
I'm designing a logo and have exported it in multiple formats for the clients use, however the red is appearing different in them.  The PNG and PDF [left in the image below] are the same colour, and the JPG and SVG are a different colour.  The file is in CMYK format and I'm using the Export for Screens option in Illustrator.

Here is it when using a RGB file and web save RGB colours:


texts: InDesign: Adding space before the first paragraph

texts: I'm creating styles for my book (to print) in InDesign. I'd like my "chapter title" to be somewhere lower on the page, not on the top, but can't do it. How do I set the paragraph style, in this case for the first paragraph – the chapter title – to add space before, since InDesign does not allow that?


texts: Learning web design with limited options

texts: I need some guidelines as to where to start, what to learn (everything I need to learn to do the job of web design). I'm having quite a bit of free time at my current job and I've finished with codecademy's HTML & CSS course. What should I learn next? I would prefer something I could learn at my workplace, but that would mean no YouTube videos (can't plug in headphones and can't install software as I'm using the company's PC). I need as many suggestions as I can possibly get as I really want to learn this properly.


texts: Weird bookmarks with random string reference in InDesign generated PDF?

texts:
I have a document in InDesign with some headings and a table of contents generated from them. In the exported PDF file I get lots of bookmarks with weird names starting with "h", followed by period, then a random string of varied length (11-13 characters from my experience), for example: "h.f3wy1wqelkasj".

I was thinking this had to do with the table of contents, but no. There are bookmarks from heading levels not in the table of contents. And the only exists in the last chapter of the document. Everything is in the same document.

What can I do to remove these unwanted bookmarks?

When I go into the story editor I notice a weird symbol I have not seen before.


texts: How can I quickly turn all objects of a layer to independent layers in Inkscape?

texts:
I have a single layer with many objects on it. I would like to get each one of them in a separate layer (in order to run a Processing sketch on them afterwords), how can I achieve it?

From this question I see that in Illustrator there is "Release to layer" function, but apparently there is not something like this in Inkscape. Maybe a Python script is the solution. I don't know how to implement it though.


texts: How heavy should ink coverage be for a custom CMYK rich black?

texts:
In recent jobs, I have skewed away from pre-mixed rich black formulas in favour of making a black that fits dominant colours in the publication. For example, in a publication with a dominant full magenta colour scheme, I used a pure magenta rich black (C0 M100 Y0 K100) and the results came out great.

In a current job, I have a dominant green that is C50 M0 Y100 K15. To create a fitting rich black for this identity, my first impulse was to add half the cyan and Yellow values to the existing 100% black. That yields C25 M0 Y50 K100. Is that too light?

My question is: how much ink, in percentages, should I add to the 100% to at least have a satisfying rich black? How 'wet' should a good rich black be?

Edit: I understand all that is said in What kind of black should I use when designing for CMYK print? and I'm applying most of it. None of the answers to that question specify how much ink a rich black should have at minimum to be a rich black; to avoid the pale, translucent black of 100K.


texts:
I'm making a little flyer in Adobe InDesign based on an nice flyer I've found. I'm used to use only 2 different types of fonts. But my example has 3 different fonts. One for main title, one for smaller title and one for the plain text.

I want to use fonts like Segoe UI, Bebas and Myriad. But I don't know which font I need to use for my title, smaller title and body text. Can someone give advice?

Thanks!


texts:
I'm reasonably familiar with design trends and movements of architecture and, to a lesser extent, art; and i've been interested that many of the asthetic considerations and philosophies loosly lumped as 'modernism' in those fields are often branded 'minimalism' when it comes to graphic design. I also find it interesting, that i don't hear of many other graphic design trends, even though they must surely be documented.

Hence the question: What are the major design trends in graphic design history?

An ideal answer to this question would be a short overview of graphic design history and the major trends in design up to this point, a bit of speculation as to the direction the current design asthetic is heading, as well as resources to find out more.


texts: Change speckly black background of screen photo to solid black

texts:
Is there any way to change the speckly black background of this screen photo to solid black?

This is a photo of a rectangular selection of a black screen that appears when a computer is booting. To the eye this screen has only three colors. OK is bright green, the other text is white and the background is black, however in this screen photo the background is mottled black and gray instead of solid black. In order to see the speckly background more clearly click anywhere on the image with the mouse.

I want to change the speckly black and gray background to solid black without losing image resolution. I tried using the Colors -> Threshold option in GIMP, but it results in losing too much resolution.

I have several different image editors, among them Photoshop, GIMP and Darktable, so the choice of software is not important to me as long as I can obtain a higher quality image. A general solution that works with other colors is not important to me either. If black, white or green is off color I can correct it myself, so for the purpose of answering this question you can assume that the image has already been color corrected to be similar to the image in this question.

I've already tried OCR, but it doesn't work for this situation because OCR introduces small errors into the boot screens which I'm not always able to catch. The boot screens can't have any errors because their purpose is to troubleshoot boot problems, and small errors in the boot screen can result in big problems with booting the computer, so all of the text has to be exactly the same as in the original images.


texts: I've had this problem for a while. When I import a vector object to Photoshop, it doesn't have the smooth curve that's needed. I believe this is a feature that can be controlled, but I can't find anything to help me. Could someone tell me how I can fix this?


texts:
I tried to apply an effect to a composition, but the effect had been applied to the whole composition and not to the contents of the composition. This composition consisted of animated shape layers, an adjustment layer and a rectangle background layer. When I removed this background layer, the effect had been applied to the composition contents.

What is the role of the alpha channel in applying the effects, and why hadn't the effect been applied until I removed this layer?

(Click images to enlarge)


texts:
How do I add a watermark to one A4 page of text?
You know, the standard image-as-a-watermark.
I tried doing it in MS Word, the text ended up forming a blanket over the image. Photoshop CS5 was not a success for me either.

I eventually had to resort to printing the image first and then the text, but how can I avoid having to do this in future?