texts: Multi-layer asset management in studio environment

texts:
I work with a team of 10 designers, producing product and packaging for stationery, electronics and toys. We pretty much exclusively use Illustrator CC.

We need an elegant and robust system for creating, sharing and updating a range of product warnings across swing tags, sew in labels and printed packaging.

Ideally this would be a localised asset bank that automatically updates across our team when any changes are made.

At first glance, Libraries looked good, but we need layer continuity for dielines and artwork (Libraries currently flattens unless I'm missing something).
Also in a perfect world text would remain live.

We've tried Symbols and found they are not an option due to the number of assets we require. Currently we share a master .ai file, but with new products and warnings on the horizon I'm looking for a better solution...


texts: Small-run or DIY printing solutions for packaging design?

texts:
So, about a year ago, I taught myself Illustrator. I am still bumbling along and experimenting with what it can do.  I recently bought a new book that has templates for packaging design and I am going to try to tackle my first project: a simple box that I will use for a gift.

I started to think through the process of actually making a gift box, and it occurred to me that I had overlooked the whole cutting and printing part of the process. Once I have imported the template and created a design, what is the best way to print it? I'm assuming many of the people who buy books like this are students or professionals who have access to large scale printers and laser cutters. Does anyone have any thoughts for doing it at home? I could throw some 11x17 card stock in the printer and grab an exacto, but I'm thinking it may end up looking crappy. Let me know what has worked for you - kinkos? professional printers? at home laser cutters (if there is such thing)...

Thanks! K


texts: How can I crop everything outside of an art board in Sketch 4?

texts:
I need to cut my layers to be only inside the artboard, these 2 images will show you what I mean:

To be like:

So the layer that has some of it outside the screen got cut off. What is the way or plugin to do this?


texts: PS How to change one shape and effect all of them?

texts:
I have  a personal project in Photoshop, just wonder if I can change a shape (eg. hands of a human or a body or a head) and effect all the shape which have hands but they are in a different layers. Is taking to much time to edit each shapes.Lets say i have 10 layers with a face and i change my mind that i wanna put a smiles on each face, can I change one layer and effect all of the other 9 layers at the same time?
Thanks


texts: is Photoshop PDF any worse/better/different than one created in ID?

texts:
I am designing a 4x6 postcard. It consists of 2 blocks of text (headline and descriptor line) on top of a photo that takes up the entire background. It will be printed by a professional digital printer.

It is currently laid out in Photoshop as a 300 dpi CMYK file. I'm wondering if I can just save as Photoshop PDF and send that to the printer. Or will I get better/different results by doing the following?

save the photograph as a TIFF
Place TIFF in InDesign
Re-create the text in InDesign
Save (or export) as PDF from InDesign

If the end result is the same for both quality-wise, should the Photoshop file be flattened and type layers rasterized before saving as PDF? or again, will that not have any effect on the final product?

And final question: would any of this be different if it were being printed on an offset press?


texts:
I'm trying to understand what makes this Point-of-Sale (POS) screen design look dated.

Is it the 3D buttons, the colours, the layout, the font? And what would you do to make it look current?

Not being a design professional, I can see that it is dated. But I'm not sure why and how to change that.


texts:
I've seen this art style over multiple websites in the past, but just can't seem to identify an underlying style/category for it. It seems to be some geometry based low-poly, but searches don't really match it. Is it maybe a subset of low-poly?

A couple examples:

Source


texts: Turn off Hyphenation in Illustrator globally

texts:
Adobe Illustrator CC likes to force hyphenation on every single piece of text. It used to be possible in earlier versions to switch it off globally for new documents through the Paragraph palette option when no documents were open. In Illustrator CC, this has no effect though.

Is this a bug, or did they hide it even better?


texts: Creating a sharp corner with three thick lines?

texts: I have three thick lines that intersect, and I'd like to make the corner sharp. I've tried the solution here, but since I'm adding the sharp corner and not simply removing stray lines, it's a little messy; is there a more precise way to do this instead of eyeballing the vertical position of the anchor point?


texts: Creating a blurred border in illustrator

texts: I'm trying to recreate this shape(s) in illustrator and am not sure how it was done. I came up with a similar effect using the blend tool and it works fine for the project I'm working on but am really curious to know how this was done.


texts: How to convert normal text to flowed text in Inkscape?

texts:
I have a document with several text boxes. I want to preserve the existing layout but want to replace the text. If I enter text, that exceeds the existing box, the text won't move to the next line, but the box gets larger. I do not want to manually enter line breaks to preserve the layout.

I know, that I need a flowed text to achieve this.

I know how to add a new flowed text.

I know that I can convert flowed text to normal text via the "Convert to Text" menu entry.

But I am missing an option to convert normal text to flowed text.

Background:

I have imported an AI-template in Inkscape. Now I want to replace the dummy texts.


texts:
Can you have 2 Krita windows open on 2 monitors at the same time showing the same file?

Basically i have a windows tablet device that is a monitor in a drawing position and an ultrawide screen monitor in a heads up position just behind it. I want to be able to see some tools on one display those relevant to mouse and keyboard, and some tools relevant to stylus usage on the tablet whilst editing a single file.

I've achieved a similar setup in blender previously, just wondering if anyone knows any way to make this happen in Krita?
thanks


texts: Subtle vs bright GUI design - Is there inherent value in design subtlety beyond user preference?

texts:
I've heard it said that a designer should almost always use subtle, simplistic style in the design of a typical user interface. Is that really the case?

For example, Windows 8 is very bright / loud, and it seems to be popular, but that doesn't necessarily go beyond the current trends.

I'm looking for an example of subtlety being a valuable aspect in all GUI design, rather than just a feature of preference.

As it is, it seems that the balance between GUI subtlety and vibrancy can be ignore or upheld without any consequence beyond the world's current user preference.

What are some of the pros & cons of using subtle style for user-interface design vs those of using bright, loud styling?
Is there an inherent value in GUI color subtlety, or is it's value based purely on user preference?


texts: Do companies/firms usually provide drawing/artist tablets to their designers and artists?


texts: What is the recommended method of creating these icons?

texts:
To learn the fundamentals of interface design, I am trying to replicate some better known app interfaces. The 'flatter' layout of many iOS7 applications makes it relatively straightforward. However the toughest part by far has been the icons.

Deconstructing other PSDs available online, I have been able to reproduce the icons in Photoshop. Most often they seem to use the shape tools (rounded rectangle, line tool etc.) to mimic the shape, then merge them using Layer > Combine Shapes.

This works well for mimicry, but I suspect it is not really suitable for creation. The problem with this method is that it's difficult to get the icons pixel perfect. Also if the icon shape is complex, it requires a silly number of shapes to create the overall effect.

I don't necessarily need a step-by-step guide or link to tutorials. Just a pointer in the direction of which tools / programs are best suited for this job. What's the jist of the workflow?

Many, many thanks in advance.


texts: Blurry AI or EPS previews in the links panel in InDesign

texts: I am using ID CC 2017.1 and have noticed this strange issue when using Illustrator or EPS files. They display fine in the actual document, but in the links panel, the image shows as blurry. My view setting is set to High Quality. So, what would be causing the links panel to show the link image in this way?


texts: Reversing the stacking order of live text in Illustrator

texts:
I'm working on a graphic where I want to overlap the type. I created a text box, typed out a big old heavy font. Alternated Letter colors, put a stroke on the whole thing then pulled in the kerning like crazy. It is overlapping, but my question is can I  switch the overlap order so instead of the first letter being in the back it is in the front? I know that this is possible when you are using the blend tool but wanted to know if anyone knew how to do this using live text.

I know that I can outline it and do this manually, but I wanted to see if I could do it with live text.


texts: Prototyping tool that navigates back more than 1 level?

texts:
I'm currently using Invision to prototype apps/websites. Invision has a handy link that allows you to link back to whatever the previous screen was. However it only lets you do it for 1 level. So say for example I had a profile screen that could be accessed via 2+ levels of screens, this would not be possible to mock in invision. I would have to create a version of that profile screen for each specific branch.

Does anyone know of a better tool that can link back to previous screens past the most recent?


texts: I can't find the physical location where textures are stored within 3DSMax 2014.


texts: Searching custom metadata fields in Adobe Bridge by default

texts:
I have a bunch of metadata embedded into my images in a custom xmp namespace that I've defined. Unfortunately, Bridge does not search the metadata by default when I perform a search. Instead, I have to open up the find window and explicitly tell it to include all metadata fields in its search in order for it to work the way I want it to.

Is there a way to make this the default behavior?


texts: How can I increase the contrast in a color image converted to grayscale?

texts:
The original image is:

And the black white version becomes:

As you can see, the cyan colored cells disappear in the black & white version. How can I modify the original image so that the contrast is maintained in the black and white version?


texts: Problem opening pattern file in photoshop cs5

texts:
Pattern:

Link to pattern.

I downloaded this pattern from the internet but all the included patterns show as blank tiles in preset manager. Any tips on how to get these to show? (I have successfully loaded other patterns before by pasting in the patterns folder, so not sure why this one is not working).


texts: What Font creates blank space exactly the size of text

texts:
A workbook under construction in Word for students needs underlined blank spaces for students to fill in notes.
For Example, Fill in the blanks:
A digit is a _____________ that is used alone or with other symbols to represent a ________________
Filled in:
A digit is a single symbol that is used alone or with other symbols to represent a specific number.
I need a font where everything is just a properly sized underline (including spaces). If that is not available I could use a font that is just blank space and is compatible with underline in Word. Is there a font like this?


texts: How can I use data to drive my decisions as a commercial artist working for a client?

texts:
There are many outlets available to designers to acquire data and drive design decisions.

With the rise of AI in the realm of marketing automation and analysis how can individual designers make use of data to improve their design decisions?

Specifically when responsible for an ad campaign what metrics and data should I be looking for to inform my design decisions? For a large client should they have this and provide it to me or should I know to ask them for it? For a smaller client when is it feasible to get this type of data or what alternative methods might I suggest to the client to ensure the marketing materials success beyond going off "feeling."

Please be sure to cite any research you may have on the subject as part of your answer.


texts: Cannot create classic Tween in Adobe Animate

texts:
I am trying to do a basic walk cycle in Animate using classic tweens. For the most part, it works. However, when I try to tween the character's muzzle (it just goes up and down with the walk), I get the following message:

"The selected frame span(s) cannot be tweened. You must convert frame content to a symbol in order to tween. Do you want to convert and create a tween?"

The muzzle is already a symbol, however. And just to "humor" Animate, I click "OK" after that message, and it converts it to a symbol (a symbol within a symbol, I guess). And two weird things happen:

The boundaries for the new symbol are suddenly larger than before.
When I create the tween, the muzzle moves side to side instead of up and down-- despite the fact that I never placed a keyframe of the muzzle off to the side!

Any insights?


texts: How to change, in the whole document, the color of one single object of a group?

texts:
I have a pattern made by a group of squares (1st image). Then, I created a pattern copying and pasting it over and over again.

My question is: How to change the color of one single object of the group of squares and change it all over the copies?

See what I want below (I made it by hand editing one by one, I want to make it dynamically):


texts: Illustrator: How do I copy a gradient (including direction) from one object to another?

texts: I know I can copy a gradient (minus direction) from one object to another, but how do I preserve the direction of the gradient?  (I'm using Illustrator CS6)


texts:
I wish to draw a rectangle with no fill, but only a stroke. I would like to erase a certain portion of one side, going out from the middle. I have attached a picture of what I would like to obtain at the end:

I know how to make the box in Inkscape, but I haven't figured out how to remove the part in the middle such that it looks symmetric. Does anyone know if it is possible to achieve this latter feature in Inkscape?


texts: Difference of text and polygon results in hole that is smaller than original text

texts:
I'm trying to make a single path by taking the difference between a polygon and a text letter, but when I perform the Path > Difference the hole that is made in the polygon is much smaller than the original letter.

I have tried converting the text to a path using Stroke to Path and Object to Path to no avail. I also tried creating an intersection of the text and polygon, but the resulting letter-path was larger than the original letter.

How can I punch a hole in this polygon using the outline of a letter?

Here's a picture of the result I'm getting now:


texts: What is a symbol showing support for Gay Rights that makes it clear I am a straight supporter?

texts:
In light of the horrific tragedy that took place in Orlando, FL (Pulse Nightclub Shooting) I would like to design a banner for my balcony to show my support of the LGBTQ community. I know the Gay Pride Flag is the standard but think people assume anyone that flies it is gay.

What would be a symbol that shows I am a straight person that supports the LGBTQ community?

One person suggested the Pink Equal signs but I don't know, I associate that more with marriage equality -- I'm looking for something more universal if it exists

Update for clarification:

This was a message from one of my closest friends about the event:

  Thanks. There is a real lack of support from straight men when it comes to attacks on and issues regarding the LGBT community. I'm glad that you remind me that there are men that care.

I'm not looking for a symbol that says "Gay Pride," and I'm certainly not looking for completely alternative actions to take. I'm looking for a symbol that says or can be incorporated into a larger design to say, "I'm straight but I support you." and in doing so I hope it also shows other straight people that its okay to publicize their support as well.


texts: How Do I make a circle shape of these 2pt lines?

texts:
Hi i Have a group of 2pt lines, and above it I have a circle.

I want to make a Circle out of the lines, heres a rough paint drawing of what i mean:

how Can I cut the lines, so they form a circle like this, and anything outside of the circle is chopped off?

Thanks


texts: Turn image into geometric array of colours

texts: Is there a tool like Poly (iPad app) available for Android or Windows systems? I'd like to  turn images into polygones/triangles like shown on the app site.


texts: How do you a get graphic both in front of and behind text like this?

texts: I hope someone can help me. I know about Object, Arrange and text wrap and all that, but I still cannot figure out how to get an object to go both in front of and behind text at the same time as in this Take Heart logo. Working in InDesign or Illustrator. Can anyone help?


texts: Scribus and Text Filter: Importing page / frame breaks

texts:
I am working on a long Scribus document and want to use a single source text file, which then can be imported through the Scribus Text Filter. I want to include frame breaks in this source file, so I don't have to insert them later manually.

can I include frame breaks in my source file?


texts:
In Illustrator, is it possible to copy formatting? Or, for that matter, redo formatting just made?

I'm thinking of the "format brush" from Microsoft programs, for example, which are very convenient to copy formatting, not content.

Let's say for example I have several single lines. I change the stroke on one of them, even the stroke weight and colour. I select my next line and want to just REDO the same thing. Is that possible?


texts: how can i disable gray shape beside cursor on illustrator cc 2019?

texts:
when working on the illustrator document
this cursor(gray) shape is always emerged

how can i disable it?


texts: In GIMP, I want to be able to scale an image non-linearly on the horizontal axis. The perspective and mapping tools don't work for this because they change the image vertically for the perspective. The image below illustrates what I'm after. I'd appreciate any guidance!


texts:
I know how to Invert Colors but is it possible to swap Colors?
For example from this one:

To this one:

So that I select one Area and then swap Colors (or even the full Layer/Picture)?
By the way I am using Gimp 2.8.10

-Edit:
I found this https://superuser.com/questions/155143/how-can-i-swap-colors-with-gimp
but this is just for one Color and didnt work for me with the different color tones of transparency and it just works with one color at a time, where I need both colors swapped.


texts: Designing a handwritten logo: What are the best initial steps?

texts:
I want to design a logotype which will be basically made of the handwritten name of the brand. The thing is, that I want to stylize and vectorize the curves, and I want to do it properly (I'm not a design professional).

The shape of the letters obviously depends on the handwriting style; I'm rather asking what steps should I follow to get a good design (after I write it in a paper and scan it, how to stylize the design)

Here are some examples of what I want to achieve:


texts: Photoshop Automate Batch - Destination folder (use)

texts:
In Photoshop- I am running a Batch Action over a folder of PNG files.  It opens the PNG makes a selection over some existing text deletes it and writes some other text.

Originally in the action I had a step which exported the PNG file to the new folder.  I tinkered with it a little bit and deleted the export step out of the action.  I found that by just using the Automate Batch dialog window and setting the Destination folder as the folder that the open PNG file was just automatically saved into the detstination folder as a PNG.  Hence why I could remove the Export step.

I have 2 questions:

The export step was taking 4 to 5 seconds and now as part of the Automatic batch it is only taking around 1 second to save it.  Why is the time taken so different?
Is it saving as a PNG because the orignial file is a PNG or is it becuase my default export settings is set to PNG?

Thanks for any answers here


texts: What's the best way to create and manage palettes on Linux?

texts:
I'd like to find a solution to create and manage (edit, save, export) palettes on a Linux laptop.

Ideally I'd like to have functionalities similar to webapps like Coolors, Colormind, Paletton, or to Android apps like the awesome Color Harmony.

In case you wonder, I'd like to manage them locally without having to rely on websites (I don't want to create new accounts just for this) or to Apps on my smartphone, having a Desktop solution would be the perfect way to integrate this kind of task in my workflow.


texts: How to colour a mathematical expression to communicate the relative importance of its terms?

texts:
In a presentation, I have a mathematical expression, say A+B+C, where:

A is the main term, both in magnitude and importance;
B is a correction term, much smaller than A, but important nonetheless;
C is an error term, smaller than the other two and whose faith is that of being neglected most of the times.

In addition, A has been already introduced elsewhere, whereas B and C are new elements.

I want to choose different colours for the three symbols, or sub-expressions, that visually communicate to the audience the relative importance of those terms, as an integration to the speech. The colours should be readable when projected.

I had started with red for A and gray (dimgray of the SVG colors) for B and C, but this does not differentiate between the last two terms.

Then I thought of using black for A and red for C: red would communicate that C is an error, but unfortunately seems to communicate also that C is more important than A, which I don't want.

Do you have any suggestion?

Edit: I removed the example image because I think that at the end it was a bit misleading on the purpose of this question, which is specifically about the choice of colours, rather than the choice of other elements (e.g. size), or on the opportunity of colouring equations.


texts: In an image, I want to shrink the light green ring (outside of the black inner circle) inward, radially, towards the edge of the inner circle (dark green). After the transform, the light green ring should be narrower, but still attached to the dark green edge around the inner black circle. The black circle remains static. Is there a way perform such a transformation in any common 2D graphics software? [edited for more clarity]


texts: Having CTRL+A also select fully transparent pixels in Photoshop

texts:
When working with an image in photoshop which has a transparent background, pressing CTRL + A to select all, then CTRL + C to copy all, the selection only includes pixels that aren't fully transparent.

When working with an image which has a fully transparent border, the selection ends up being smaller than the image you selected (even though you used CTRL + A).

Is there a way to fix this?


texts: what does it mean to compress a layer in photoshop?

texts:
Im trying to follow this tutorial here

http://www.psdvault.com/drawing/create-awesome-abstract-nebula-circle-shape-in-photoshop/

And it says

  Compress this layer to a very thins strip

What does that mean and how do I do it?


texts: Remove invisible data after clipping and resizing page

texts:
I had a huge svg of a pattern that I wanted to "crop" to decrease its file size.

After some googling I found out that there is no direct counterpart to raster cropping when working with svg.

So I did the following

Clip svg
Resize page to selection

Now my svg looks a lot smaller. There is much less visible information in the svg. But the file size is still as huge as before.

How can I remove the data that is now invisible to get the file size down?


texts: How can I modify the width of only the last segment of a path?

texts:
Is it possible to make the last segment a different width?

Something like this? I was thinking endcaps, but I want it to stretch to the second last to the last anchor point. I want something like what I've circled in this picture, but only at the end of my stroke, but I don't think the arrowheads could fulfill this request as I want them bent or curved sometimes. The red arrow thing is suppose to be the end I want.

The yellow part in the image is what I'm trying to achieve with the stroke, not manually drawing it in. But the thing I have circled does it for the whole entire line, not just the end. But again, I don't think the arrowheads could do this either.


texts: Brand Identity Guideline colors not matching

texts:
I have hired a design company to help with our logo colors. I picked the  Pantones we wanted (3165c and 7408c).  When I did a search on Pantones website it gave values for Hex, RBG, and CMYK conversions. Sure enough they match when I use them. This new company gave me a brand identity guideline and their numbers for those values are different.

He keeps telling me his are right and mine are wrong. What am I not understanding? Specifically, for Pantone 3165c it gave me:

RGB: 0-79-89, HEX: 004f59, and CMYK: 100-16-33-66.

Their brand guidelines give

RGB: 0-79-88, HEX: 004f58, and CMYK: 100-53-53-33.

His last email said that photoshop converts the Pantone to the values he gave me and those are accurate. I don't understand why he is going with those values and not the ones I have. What am I missing or not understanding?


texts:
I am not so familiar with Photoshop and would like to ask for help with something that is probably quite easy for many people, I have tried searching around without any exact help to what I want.

What I want to create is the following (without the text and no yellow background color)

If anyone know how to do it or to tell me any link to a web tutorial that would be much appreciated


texts: Keeping colors on an image while setting full transparency

texts:
I would like to create an image from a map, where each country is colored in a different color, where the frontiers are in black, and in which each color except black is fully transparent, while not losing the RGB information.

My tools are The Gimp or anything installable on Linux, and small scale programming (if I need to fully understand the png format, I won't succeed).

My current image is perfect, except for the transparency information. My current experiments with GIMP have always resulted in RGB information being lost when exporting the image to png or gif.

Any pointers? Thanks a lot.


texts:
I had someone design a logo for me and I told him it needed to be in a format that I can resize without losing quality and transparent.

He sent me a transparent PNG file.

If I use a site like pixlr or canva to resize it then I lose the transparency.
If I use the file he sent me then the transparency works but the size is wrong.

How do I use the file he sent me and be able to resize it without losing transparency so I can use it on my website? Thank you for your help.


texts: Illustrator File Format Changes After Saving To A PDF

texts: After I save an Illustrator file to a PDF format and then try to "autosave" the document, Illustrator saves it as a PDF instead of overwriting the .ai file. This causes problems for me because I save PDF's without editing capabilities, I would like to know if there is an automated way for Illustrator to save to an .ai file instead of overwriting the pdf.


texts: What is a good way to make first contact with potential employers?

texts:
I am a graphic designer with a bachelor's degree and 3 years of professional graphic design experience, and I am currently looking for a graphic design job. I am wondering what is an acceptable way to make first contact with potential employers who do not have any job openings posted?

My current plan is to send an email with a cover letter (both in the email body and in PDF form), my resume, and some samples of my work with explanatory text, all as PDFs. My idea is that most design companies won't want to talk with a prospective designer unless they have seen that their work is up to the company's standards.

However, I have the feeling that cold calling is a more proactive way of contacting potential employers.

So my question is: is it better to make first contact with potential employers via email (where they can see my work) or by phone (shows more initiative)?


texts: What are the options for animating a camera sequence with 3D Max files?

texts:
I am working with a freelancer to produce some 3D models of our products.  He has been sending me renderings which for the most part is fine, but I'd now like to receive a model that I can rotate around in a scene or more accurately, rotate the camera around.  I don't have nor am I willing to purchase a 3D max license.  I'm looking for a free 3D viewer - no editing capabilities needed.  I just need to orbit the camera.

The CAD world as the STP format and it's plethora of free viewers available.  I looked into 3D Max to STP and it doesn't sound like a promising option due to the nature of the model construction methods.

What would you suggest I use to accomplish my goal?  I did some googling but it's all a little over my head.  I'm hoping you can point me in the right direction.


texts: Illustrator gradient fill makes jaggies between colors if angle is changed

texts:
I have a 4 color gradient fill angled at 40 degrees (maybe its not the best way to achieve what I want) and the lines where colors meet are having jaggies.

I have attached a screenshot of the gradient settings and the actual result. I would like to know if there is a way to make those edges smooth.


texts:
In "Ming-Jun Lai, Larry L. Schumaker. Spline Functions on Triangulations. Cambridge University Press, 2007, p.64", the author plotted a surface and it's corresponded control net:

For my thesis, i need to plot the same thing. How can i plot an object like this? A shape with it's control net and control point. My platform is GNU/Linux 3.13. I can use python, blender or Matlab.


texts: Indesign Data Merge & Smart Text Reflow- not deleting blank pages

texts:
Apologies if this has already been answered-- I looked and was unable to find anything that addressed my specific issue.

My question will make more sense if I briefly explain what I am trying to accomplish first: I am working on a directory of information about professional licensing requirements for various occupations. It is lengthy and has to be updated regularly, which is why I'm trying to streamline the process as much as possible. To get the updated information I need, I must request it from a large number of different agencies. Some of this information is things like "How many X occurred in year Y?" (which will just be a few numbers-- a fairly consistent number of characters), but some is things like "Describe the process of doing X" (the answers I receive for these might vary wildly in terms of their length).

The plan is to create a form in Acrobat and distribute it to the various agencies that will be providing me updated information. The responses will be compiled into a csv file, which I'll use to do a data merge in InDesign to get the necessary information into the publication layout.

There needs to be at least one page for each individual listing (i.e., each different occupation), but it is fine if listings span multiple pages. So, the page layout is set up for the data merge such that I have an <> field at the top for the heading, then various fields for the other information to be included. I have it set up as facing-page spreads, because it will eventually be distributed both online and in print.

I plan to use smart text reflow to accommodate the fact that some of the fields will contain information that might vary in length pretty dramatically from one listing to the next. This is where I've started encountering a problem.

The data merge works fine, but smart text reflow refuses to delete the extra, blank right-side page for the listings where the text is short enough to fit on just a single page. So I wind up with a bunch of spreads with blank pages. If I delete the right-side page before initiating the merge, then smart text reflow doesn't work, and the longer listings wind up with overset text.

This happens whether I try it from the master page or not. Before anyone asks, I do have smart text reflow enabled, "delete empty pages" turned on, and "limit to primary text frames" turned off. Whether I have "preserve facing-page spreads" turned on or not does not appear to make any difference. Both my master pages and document pages are set to allow shuffling. I've tried messing with a bunch of other settings, too, but those seem like to most obviously relevant ones.

Does any one have any idea what I might be doing wrong, or how to fix this issue? I'd also accept suggestions for other ways to accomplish the same basic goal. (However, my workplace bureaucracy makes purchasing any add-ons basically impossible, and even downloading anything for free is a huge pain since no one in my office has admin privileges, and we have to put in a ticket with the IT folks across town to have anything new installed. So, ideally I'm looking for a solution that doesn't involve anything other than standard Adobe and/or Microsoft Office programs.)

Thanks!


texts: How can I make this footer "more corporate"?

texts:
I created a footer for a dental lab. I was trying to keep it warm and inviting, but now being told it "looks too casual" or "looks too simple". I heard the blues and grays are "too subtle"

So before I put glitter and <blink> tags I was hoping to get some feedback on perhaps color choice, fonts, or maybe I just did make it too boring?

The part in the graph paper is the container that is 960px (using Foundation), the reason for the gap is that there is an aside with content towards the top. The second line in the footer looked better with text-align:right when it was just the year and name of lab, so I am centering that text as well.


texts: Script for exporting to JPEG from Flash CS6?

texts:
Is there a Script for exporting .jpg files from Flash CS6?

Another possible solution would be to add an extra button to Export directly to overjump by going to something like File > Export > Export Image and saving to a location.


texts:
Wikipedia has an extensive set of anatomy SVGs, but I can't highlight different organs or parts dynamically, because there are no source files with layers I can manipulate in Photoshop or GIMP.

How can I edit an .SVG file?


texts: Script to place a circle on the center of of all my strokes

texts:
I have a design I'd like to laser cut and need to put a circle in the center of the red lines.

Is there a way to place a circle in the center of each line without having to do it manually and keeping the thickness editable?

For instance, if I change the thickness of the red line, the thickness of the circle would also change.


texts: Creating a realistic foil effect on black/white images in gimp or photoshop

texts:
I would like to transform images like this one:

Into effect similar to something like here

But the best I could do was this (don't mind picture frame and scenery, irrelevant)

I did it by uploading my own pattern and just using bucket fill, but I feel like there is some better way.

I want to do same thing with silver foil and probably few other colors, and so I am looking for method that is very quick.
It doesn't have to be really amazing but if I could make it better than what I already made then it would be great.

What do you think? I would prefer to use GIMP but if you know way in Photoshop then no problem I will be more than happy to do it there.

ps. All pictures I will edit will be black/white only, I think the easiest ones for such editing.


texts: Why are Apple products so common in mockups?

texts:
Inspired by this question:
Why are Apple Macs used so much in the graphic design industry?

While browsing through the web trying to find device mockups for my website,
I realized that about 90% of all the mockups were of Apple devices.

For example finding a (flat) mockup of a non-Apple laptop computer is like a mission impossible.

On about every website showcasing their applications (unless it's Android/WP-only) on a device, the device is Apple's.

I think there are better designs out there than only Apple.

Why are Apple devices so popular?


texts: Improving the quality of a picture taken at night

texts:
I took this photo at night:

there is a green bush between the two chairs at the right, and green synthetic grass below the chairs, but they are barely visible.

Is there any way to improve this picture in GIMP such that it looks more lively (e.g. with the appropriate parts green)?


texts: How to add internal fillets in hand drawn shapes in masses?

texts:
I've got this thing I drew using the brush tool that's suppose to be a panel for some project of mine and I'm trying to get some nice defined fillets to each hole:

What would be the easiest way to achieve it as efficiently as possible because I believe there are at least 100 corners there even if there's a way to select it and that's no task for a human.


texts:
I am a rookie at Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator and I just want to know the best courses I can find on the internet to learn.

I've been looking for courses a lot and all good I find is either only essentials for latest versions or complete courses for old versions.

I just need a guide from you experts on where should I look for.

These could either be paid or free. I just need good learning options.

After that, if you have any specific guidelines on where to move forward with that if I want to learn Logo Design, Stationary Design, Brochure Design or Website Design.

Thank you very much


texts: Can anyone confirm that OCR-A is a sans-serif font?  Are the OCR-A capital letters considered to be block-form?  Thank you.


texts: Illustrator svg with screen shot image, large file size

texts:
I am using screen shots to present my web work then building an .svg with some additional layers, the resolution turns out great. I choose to save it as an svg because it maintains clarity, in the future I could animate some layers, so it gives me flexibility.

I am using illustrator for the quality it delivers, but when I place my screen shot and save as an svg some file sizes are 15mb, while others are much less, there is an inconsistency, not sure what the difference is in my process.

In all the folio items I use the same process, using my mac to take a screen shot and place it inside an illustrator template.

For a visual this is an example, I exported it as a .png and there is definitely quality loss, but here I have a subtle background and the screenshot in one.

My question is how can I use a screen shot inside my illustrator canvas while maintaining a relatively low file size saved as preferably .svg format (quality is obviously important).

Is svg even the optimal solution, is it unwise to use that since its kind of arbitrary, there really is no artwork, but quality is a big factor to me that is why I chose it.

So basically how can I use screen shots inside an illustrator to get maximum quality with keeping relatively low file size, is there a better alternative?


texts:
I'm designing a website for a client for which I need to redesign his (same) logo based up on the scanned letter head. I'm not that good at identifying fonts. Can anyone kindly tell what might this font might be?

EDIT: I tried automated font identification but it no fruitful result.


texts: How can I get InDesign CS6 to stop re-apply text from masters when I add a new page?

texts:
This is best explained in picture. Here is the master as set up:

Here is the spread before I add a new page:

And then here's what happens after I try to add a new page (noticed the super-imposed text near the bottom of the image):

I have to add to this document as is and I don't know how to continue without ruining it. Help?


texts: InDesign CS6 - Same weight stroke on different placed images appear different size

texts:
I created an object style to apply to pasted images in my document. The object style has a 6 point white stroke. I then applied this object style to two images and the size of the stroke is visually different.

I'm not resizing the images after applying the stroke. This is the result of applying the style after sizing the images.

This is a visual representation of my problem:

How can the same weight stroke be a different size?


texts:
I have a fair amount of experience working with Illustrator from taking some graphic design classes in high school. I've recently started working in a biomedical research lab that makes all of their figures using PowerPoint. The Principal Investigator (my boss) said that I may use Illustrator to make my figures so long as I can export them to PowerPoint for him to edit.

Is there a way for me to accomplish this roundtrip workflow?

I've tried export from Illustrator to EMF and then importing to PowerPoint. This works to loselessly import the figure, but once it is converted to a PowerPoint object for editing, the text breaks up into individual characters and all the shapes loose their stoke width.

Any ideas how to help me misuse PowerPoint as a vector drawing tool so that I can keep using real drawing software for my side of the work?


texts: Resizing object distorts it (Illustrator CC 2018)

texts:
after resizing

I've tried turning off snap to pixel as suggested by someone in a similar thread but it didn't work.
Does anyone know how I can resize this without messing up all the lines?


texts: Photoshop Oil Paint Filter grayed out (Geforce GTX 1070)

texts: The oil paint filter is not available on my system (grayed out) even though I have a powerful graphic card, the newest Nvidia drivers and walked through all the available troubleshooting steps. Anybody have this issue as well or does the 1070 just not work with the oil paint filter?


texts: Animated GIF with white text and tranparent background look pixelated

texts:
I created a simple animated GIF using some white words in a transparent background. But the words look too pixelated.

The file is generated using Photoshop's Save for web. There is some configuration to avoid this or it's a GIF limitation?

Here is the image: https://codepen.io/marcelo2605/pen/dOZdMx


texts: Trying to punch a hole in the white circle

texts:
I cannot punch a hole in the white circle, even when I create a layer and hide it. What should I do?

See here:


texts: Most reliable automatic mockup-to-HTML tool?

texts:
I like to design using Omnigraffle, which can save files in PDF and several other standardized vector formats.  I realize that "mockup to HTML" paid crowdsourcing services are a dime a dozen, but what about automatic conversion?  Of course it's a very hard problem to solve computationally, but...

What are the most reliable software tools out there for automatically (or semi-automatically) converting a mockup (i.e. a PDF showing rectangular regions of color, text, and graphics) into tidy HTML+assets?

This is not asking about anything interactive like FORM controls, just static visual layout expressed cleanly in HTML.


texts:
There is a usability issue of reaching back button in iOS because it is on the top left. I want to put it at the bottom left for reachability. But my developer says it is against Apple guidelines. Can we put back button at the bottom in iOS app? Are there any apps in App Store like that?

Here is an example:


texts: InDesign document printing in wrong font

texts:
I have an Adobe InDesign CS5 document that I'm trying to print.  It is set in Gill Sans Light.  Here is a snippet of the document:

However, when I print the document it comes out like this:

Does anyone know how I can fix this?

EDIT - I think that this might be a printer driver issue, but I'm not sure.  The printers that I'm using are a HP LaserJet P3005n and a HP LaserJet P3015.


texts: I would like my Memes to have higher Res

texts: I make original memes in Illustrator and save them at the highest possible JPEG res but it still looks grainy when posted in FB. Can you suggest another way?


texts: Selectively Optimizing the Background Image in PDF File

texts:
I am trying to create a PDF document that includes many images. All of them are on the foreground except one, which is a monochromatic background and spans the whole document area. I found that without the background, the PDF file size (single page) is around 10MB, but with the background, the file size can go to 20-30MB.

What I would like to do is to reduce the PDF file size. Since the foreground images need a high resolution (~300dpi), I don't think I can do much about them, so I would like to ask if there is anything I can do to the background image before or after creating the PDF. I tried to reduce the resolution of the source image before adding to the document and converting to PDF, but the reduction in PDF file size is quite minimal. I wonder if I can take any advantage of the monochromatic nature of the background image, or whether I can use some software to selectively optimize the background after the PDF is created. Thanks!


texts: Adobe Illustrator CC 2020 Type on a path tool not working properly

texts:
I'm having an issue with my Adobe Illustrator CC2020 24.3.
Im attempting to create a type on a path logo, with the one layer of text flipped
so it reads the same way on both sides. I am able to create the path with the eclipse tool,
and I am able to get the type on the path.
However, after that, the tool doesn't work properly. I am not able to see the tool handles/tips where the lines to flip and adjust the type.
I have done an experiment where I was able to create the type on a path on illustrator CC2018 version 23.0.1, on another machine, and then opened it in my illustrator, the opened file sees the tools, but if I copy and paste the type into my document, then the tools disappear again.
Please help
see screenshots
Thank you


texts:
I've looked quite a bit for resources demonstrating how to fake spot varnishes and print finition in general (embossing, foil, flocking, etc.) on real mockups (i.e. no Photoshop). I would exclude binding from this since it's a huge topic by itself.

I did find some videos for hand embossing on YouTube, mostly from the scrapbooking crowd but it works and I also found a method for foiling which required a laminator. I would prefer something low-budget that students can apply easily. To my surprise, I couldn't find anything much about faking spot varnishes except hearing of using nail polish before as well as this Yahoo Answer which sounds messy and more appropriate for a big surface:

  rubber cement masking and then apply a shot of clear spray paint, and remove the rubber cement mask.

What are your preffered affordable methods for faking finition on mockups for clients?


texts: Are there any alternatives to Genuine Fractals for seemingly lossless picture enlargement?

texts:
Perhaps many of you have heard of the Photoshop extension called "Genuine Fractals" that can enlarge a bitmap (JPEG) picture without making it look worse.

Are there any alternatives? Ideally free or cheap 32-bit Windows and Linux applications are preferred but I'd like to know about any alternatives, including web-based services.


texts: Cutting intersecting objects into separate objects

texts:
I have many intersecting circles and lines. How can I cut all of these objects and lines into individual shapes for fill/colouring? [I've done this many times before, [weeks ago] but now, I just can't remember.]

{I may have labouriously created each shape separately before - is there a command that will 're-attach' all the line segments into the new smaller shapes?}


texts:
I'm looking to recreate a simple vector image of a globe with meridians in Illustrator CS5. I tried using the Revolve tool and then applying a grid as Map art, but the result was weak.

I know I can just use a wireframe shading option, but I figure there might be another, more effective way. Is there?

Edit: here's the result with CS5. Meh.


texts: Best way to choose a color to display text above a full color background

texts:
I'm trying to create a simple color chooser GUI with a box on the right that displays the chosen color. However, I've noticed that black might not be the best color as it would be invisible with a black background.

So I decided to try inverting the color and displaying it and it works a bit better but is still sometimes not as readable as I'd like.

Is there a convention for choosing a color for text above a color, or does this happen to already be the accepted method of doing so?

TIA

Examples of my old method (first is more readable) :

Edit: This question may be similar to the suggested duplicate, but the answers most definitely are not (and they don't answer my question). One answer to the other question suggests merely to use a lighter/darker shade depending on the color (and then goes on to say that presets may be more reasonable), and the other gives an answer that depends on the asker's original color ("looks like your BG color is about #aa0000"). The two answers on this question, however, do fix my original problem - how to determine a color dynamically based on the background.


texts:
i have been reading the forum in regards to vector art in illustrator appearing pixelated. I have followed many of the different suggestion regarding anti-aliasing, saving it in 72dpi, 300dpi and all other suggestions. There is even info regarding monitor/screen resolution and limitations due to pixel and all that. I have made the artwork bigger to be able to scale it down. I have saved it a png24, jpeg and even pdf.
How come when I saved the artwork as a pdf, I was able to enlarge it as big as I want and the image was crisp.

If all the variables that were talked about including the limitation of screens, how come pdf format is flawless and not the others?


texts: Is the word-space width equal to some letter width?

texts:
I imagine that the width of the space between words is set by a font specifics. Somewhere in there it states how big it should be.

Is the space width equal to some letter width or is this some custom number the font designer chooses?


texts: how to import a mathematical equation in Corel Draw X5

texts:
I have a problem I could not solve. I am doing a poster in Corel Draw X5, and as it is a physics poster, I need to put mathematical equations in it. The Corel built in text editor is just completely not enough for that, and as far as I tried I couldnt' find any way to transport (graphically!) a mathematical equation created in word 2007, into Corel Draw, other than making a JPEG file of it!

And to do that, I need to do a full zoom of a pdf file created from the word file, and then do print screen many times, and put them together, to at last have my equation in 4000x300 pixels resolution. Lower resolution and it's REALLY poor quality, because it's all in length, so characters are small! Even acrobat pro cannot do me a 1200dpi jpeg file when saving as jpeg, it's even worse than print screen!

A clean solution would be to use postscript or EPS...but I couldn't make Corel accept ANY .ps or EPS file I gave it to import! Nothing at all! Always errors...if anyone has a way to at least make corel accept ONE .ps file completely without errors, even with a simple "Hello world" inside, it would be great! A mess with fonts or something as always, and even when the pdf page contains only Times New Roman, at the opening of the .PS file in Corel, Corel will see some Helvetica somewhere, say that it tries to replace it with another font, but the final output is just blank, everytime! Or sometimes instead of the text I was waiting, there will be some warning about a PPD file incorrect or printer not supporting postscript level 3, or something...and the text of the warning will indeed be converted to curves! I'm just lost here...

So for now I will just take a lot of time to obtain High res JPG versions of my equations...by putting together several screenshots...because no matter how much you zoom in adobe reader, the equation is perfect, it IS postscript inside, GSVIEW can see it, but Corel just refuses everything!

Thank you very much, you would really help me on this!


texts: What are some examples of Flowlines in a design

texts:
Been trying to understand the concpet of "Flowline" but cannot find examples of it. I know once I get to see it clearly, I won't be able to unsee it.
This is the concept I've found everywhere:

Flowlines are horizontal lines that break the space into horizontal
bands. They can be used to help guide the eye across the page and can
be used to impose starting and stopping points for text and images to
be aligned

But no examples on designs.


texts: What font type was used in "Kevin O'Malley" found at the bottom of the cover of the How They Croaked book?

texts:
At the bottom-right of the cover of this book, it shows the Illustrator's name like this:

I found a similar font to this called ITC Anima Black, and it looks like this:

Unfortunately, this font isn't free. Is there a similar font to this for web use that is free?


texts: Choose white or black letters over color

texts:
Given a background color, what is the best way to determine if I should use black or white for the foreground color?

For example, could I use a formula based on the HSB values of the color?

It's for an app in which the background color is dynamic.


texts: How to extract in batch images from one file in Illustrator?

texts:
I have a huge amount of seamless patterns. There is anywhere from 1-25 patterns per file.

I want to extract each pattern to a separate file.

Is there any automated or semi-automated way to do this?

I'd like to output is as .AI, as I want to make one more batch operation.

Update:

(with requests from comments)

Version: CC 2018.
Every pattern is on it's own layer (and numbers are on a different layer)
Solutions which appear in suggested question do not allow to save as AI.


texts: Inkscape text on a circle always right to left

texts:
I am trying to make a text follow a curve on a circle. But whenever I click "set text to path" the text shows up written from right to left.
I have tried just drawing a simple line (from left to right or frome right to left) always the text is written from right to left.
I tried flipping horizontaly, vertically, turning the object, under no circumstances I can get the text to show up right. Can anybody help me ?


texts: what process do you follow while designing a ui for mobile app or website?

texts:
how do you start designing a mobile app.
what is your process.

i had lot of confusion and finally it led to be frustrated about my workflow.
i use sketch for designing but before coming to sketch what is the process that you follow.

like getting idea from client-working on a idea-prototype-testing-user research-then wireframe-build-test.

so when i come into sketch what are tips and tricks that a designer should follow to make life easy and make it more productive.


texts: Extract still picture from moving background

texts:
I have many computer-synthesized GIF pictures which have different backgrounds but the same sprite on foreground. I would like to extract this sprite using Adobe Photoshop CS3 without having to do a laborious task manually pixel-by-pixel.

Could you suggest some techniques to do so?


texts: How Do You Present Wireframes & Designs For Long One-Page Website?

texts:
everyone! This is a problem that I've been struggling with for a minute and I thought I'd just write to see what everyone else is doing.

Back in the day when we presented wireframes, we always tucked them into a nice .PDF with a frame around it for our company that looked nice and sexy. But that was before we were making so many super-long one-page wireframes and designs.

How are you guys doing it now? Are you wireframing and designing as one really long .sketch file, then exporting it in one piece to .pdf to present? Or are you slicing it up and showing the different sections of the one-pager on different pages of a .pdf?

I'd like to show it all in one piece, but I also want so retain the company branding, so I'm stuck. I'm super keen to hear how you're doing it.

Thanks!


texts:
I need to edit this photo so the two women's faces are visible. Mostly, I'm trying to get rid of the lens flare over the left woman's face, and sharpen the features for both.
I've messed with adjustments and levels and the clone brush and all that and I cannot seem to figure it out

Here is the image I've edited

And here is the original

Any help is GREATLY APPRECIATED and thanks in advance :)


texts: Is there any way to shrink a picture size & keep the same pixels of the original?

texts:
there is this option on YouTube channels to make yourself a cover photo (banner) but since YouTube has modified the channels layout to fit both TV's PC's & mobiles this thing became quite tricky. the maximum size should be 2560 - 1440 & the minimum should be 2048 - 1152. in the maximum option there is an option to do some adjustment, even though you don't have enough freedom to crop it however you like & it's not applied on all the territory of the pic. in the minimum size you cant edit the picture after the upload. for me, obviously, the minimum size is better since you can see more of the original photo. but, there are still MAJOR parts that are missing from the original and I want people to expose to the same photo that it "only" took me hours to find. my question is (at last) is there any way to shrink a photo size without changing the pixels?

I'm new so i couldn't add 2 links for example :(

Thank you guys


texts:
I'm more of an artist who just knows enough about coding to be dangerous, so I'm not sure if this is even possible to accomplish, BUT I'm working on a children's book for a client which we created in Photoshop. The client plans to sell the book on-demand as a PDF, fully customized to each customer. ie Changing the cover to [child's name]'s Book and changing the names of characters to the names of the kid and parents buying the book.

I'm trying to figure out if there's any easy bulk way to tell Photoshop to go through each page and change "Mom Name" to "Susan" so we can automate the process and I don't have to manually change the document every time my client gets an order. Bonus points if this process can be streamlined enough that he can update his own PDFs without my help.


texts: Illustrator - Text to SVG paths without fill

texts:
When I create text in illustrator and export it to SVG with the option Convert to Outlines, I get the following:

This is fine, except in the generated svg file there is inline CSS with the following:

<style>.cls-1{fill:#231f20;}</style>

If I change that to .cls-1{fill: none; stroke: #231f20;}, I then get the following:

This proves that the generated SVG is actually an outline around the letters, instead of the path through the letters. How can I get illustrator to generate the latter option?

Edit: Since no answers so far, here's more detail on what I'm trying to do. If I convert text to outlines, I get the following:

What I'm not clear is on the next step. Suppose I want to create "inner" paths that are lines and curves halfway between the inner and outer lines. Here's an example for the letter A:

In this case, 3 line paths are needed for the letter A.

Is there a way to generate these inner paths using a command or set of commands in illustrator?


texts: Is it possible to break up a PDF in to a grid for security?

texts: I want to break up a pdf into a grid so it can not be copied. I want each page broken up into say 20 rectangles so the image on the page can not be copied when opened?


texts: How to get the right toolbar back on Inkscape? It's disappeared

texts: Stupid question really. But I accidentally clicked the [x] on the toolbar on the right (not the one with the snapping functions on it, the one to the left of it) and it closed, and now I have no idea how to get it back? I use it for coloring, line width etc. Help please!


texts: Bad corners after using Unite from Illustrator's Pathfinder

texts: Very new to Illustrator, trying to sort it out, created a few shapes, ellipse and rectangle, and then tried to join them together through Illustrator's Pathfinder > Unite effect and ended up with rough jagged corners where the two meet together. How can I clean this up? or use the same effect without the flaws?


texts: Macbook Pro Retina Photoshop Pixelated Results?

texts:
I'm a web designer, and my old (non retina) Macbook, Photoshop used to produce clear images and text both in Photoshop and out of Photoshop when the final images had been saved as a png or jpg.

However, ever since moving to the retina MacBook i've been completely stumped by the fact that my text and everything else in the images are coming out pixellated, which doesn't help at all.

So, for example i'm creating a logo which is just text in a font, i'm editing at 200% which is the real size of the image i believe for the Macbook retina, the text appears blurry or pixelated and I can never seem to get it to sharpen up? This is not a case of changing the text to sharp/smooth etc because even then no matter what I choose the text is still pixellated. So when I go to save the image as a png or jpg the image, of course is still pixellated. The issue is it's not like it can go unnoticed either, it's that bad.

Am I missing some settings here? Surely graphic designers aren't putting up with this?

Sorry if this seems like a really stupid question, but I really can't get this working, so if anyone can help then it'd be really appreciated!


texts: Positioning vertical watch dial numeric markers in Illustrator?

texts:
I never use Adobe Illustrator much so this might be a fairly easy question, but I can't seem to find any answers in my searching.

I am designing a watch dial which has numeric hour markers. It is extremely easy to add them if they are aligned to the circle.  I just add my 12 where I want then use the rotate tool to copy at 30 degree increments. Such as this picture where due to the rotation they are aligned out from the center:

But, I can't seem to figure out a way to do the same alignment with vertical hours. You can rotate each hour individually from the previous step so it is vertically aligned, but they lose the correct position on the dial (both vertically and horizontally) when all have been made vertical.  I believe that has to do with the bounding box.

Here is an example of the vertical hour markers I am talking about:

How can one do this while still keeping the correct spacing and alignment?  Manually placing each one is not an option - this needs to be precise and uniform around the circle - the correct spacing from the outside as well as the correct degree placement on the circle.


texts: How to merge objects with background in Illustrator and export them as PNG

texts:
I am new to Illustrator and learning it for my graphic needs. I am working to create buttons for an app so I grabbed some free resources from the internet. I found and eps file for different states of button and I want to extract buttons from that and export them to png (with transparent background for the round corners) but I cannot figure it out how to do that.
Here is the preview of the eps file with 3 buttons

But the problem is that background too contributes to the object effects and if I remove background this happens.

So what I need is to:

merge the background so that objects have that background effects.
copy the object (one button with background) to photoshop.
export it then from photoshop.

I can copy and export from photoshop but how to merge the background.


texts: How to manually blur more layers at once in Photoshop

texts:
I am working on a map exported from GIS software. It is on a white background and has very sharp edges. When I try to automatically blur the edge it is not working well because it is curved a lot. I am doing it with 'refine edge' tool (there might be a better one?).

Best for me is to manually blur the edge on the whole image. It will take time but I am willing to do it. Problem is that I have more similar maps. All of them are the same spatially, just with different colors.

It will be great to be able to blur the edges on all of them together. Or maybe to make some kind of manually blurred mask which I would later apply on the other maps.

Is there such an option?
Thanks a lot.


texts: Techniques to dramatically scale an image

texts:
I have been given an impossible task:

Take a picture image (jpg) at 1422 x 1067 px with 100 dpi and scale it to 86400 x 29376 px (that's equivalent to 34ft x 100ft or 30.5 meters x 10.36 meters)

Unfortunately there are times when a boss requests the impossible from their employee. This is one of those times.

More specifically it was requested that "there be no pixelation (at a viewing distance of 2 feet (0.6 meters)."

The easy (and right) answer is: It can't be done.

But that doesn't mean you can't make the best of an awful situation. So what I'm looking for are techniques, or software solutions that specialize in this sort of huge scaling.

I have heard of something in the past that blows up and image using circles. Granted, it doesn't look great from close up but from a greater viewing distance it looks more held together (like pointillism).

I don't think there is a clear answer, which is why I was hesitant asking here. So I was wondering if this could be transformed into a wiki, because I'm sure I'm not the first or last to be looking up information regarding this sort of scaling.


texts: How can I perform high precision drawing on a one-time canvas?

texts:
Apologies for the confusing question title. Read on and you will see what I mean.

I work for a large general hospital. We are attempting to go fully digital.

One of our biggest stumbling blocks is that clinicians sometimes need to make medical illustrations and put them in people's casenote folder. At the moment, they do this and the casenotes go to the other side of the hospital to get scanned. The paper copy is then destroyed.

This creates a tremendous amount of work and is horrendously inefficient. However, it is better than the current alternative, which is getting the clinician to scan the drawing locally. If they do this, we can't rely on them to destroy the paper copy, which is sometimes added to or notes are written on it, creating a clinically dangerous double-entry problem.

Because we're a general hospital, solutions designed for eye specialist, heart specialists and so on will not work. We need something as context-agnostic as a pencil and a piece of paper.

High-quality drawing tablets won't work, because it isn't possible to draw into our medical software. I was thinking about some kind of captive whiteboard under a visualiser, but AFAIK whiteboards are not ever used for precise drawings.

I think the answer is some kind of photograph of a drawing. They can't draw something and scan it in later; it needs to be done in the patient context: i.e., you open the patient's record and then you make the drawing.


texts: I've tried a variety of methods of getting the same style of type, setting it on a path, skewing the text after setting it on a path, setting each individual letter, but none are quite right. Is there a relatively more efficient method?


texts: Is there any fast way to create multiple copies of the same image with a different number on every single image?

texts: I have to create a lottery "ticket" design and generate 1000 print cards with a different number on every single picture. Is there any quick way of doing that using Photoshop?


texts:
I'm trying to convert a letter "A" to a shape using the Type -> Create Outline function. However, the converted shape does not maintain the straight lines in the letter.

Here is the original letter (before outline)

and zoomed in to the bottom right corner.

After being outlined, it looks like this

If you look closely at the bottom right corner (red arrow). The base of the letter is not horizontal (see red line for reference).

Could anyone reproduce this / explain why this is going on? I'm using the Helvetica Neue (Bold) font.

Thanks!


texts: How do I avoid lines at top and left borders of png files exported from Illustrator

texts:
When I export Illustrator artwork as a png file, I get a one pixel grey border at the top and left edges.

There is no background object, but I export (Save for Web and Devices) with matte white background and no transparency.  I also tried with a white background object, with it snapped to the artboard and also larger than the artboard by 10 pixels in each direction.  I still got the lines at the top and left of the exported image.

I also tried making a new file, with the artboard in pixel units, and selected the option to have objects snap to pixel grid, and then copying and pasting the artwork from the original file.  I still got the lines.


texts: Reducing the frame rate of an animated GIF in Photoshop

texts: I'm doing an animated GIF logo for a client and would like to know if there is a way to reduce the frame rate in Photoshop? I know I can delete frames one by one, but that's not a great solution for 30 fps animation. Is there a trick to automatically reduce the frame rate?


texts: When designing an Android app, will the "default" theme be different on different devices?

texts:
I am currently designing the UI for my first Android app. Android (obviously) lets you design any and every element in your app using XML.

On any elements where you leave the "default" (holo) theme on, will that element appear different on different devices. Certain widgets (such as the spinner) match my theme perfectly but I was curious as to whether they will appear different on different versions of Android.

I am designing for Android 4.4.2.


texts: All my swatches and collors got darker, duller (not RGB > CMYK issue)

texts:
I was designing a custom RGB document for a power point presentation, a rather large document with pictures. Suddenly (if I recall) after saving the document to PDF > Smallest File Size, I notice that ALL MY SWATCHES changed, from bright to dark. I figured it was a RGB > CMYK issue so I went and check, but the document was still RGB. I will post a screenshot with some comments.

Please let me know if you need anything else. Thank you]1


texts: CorelDraw: How do I insert dynamic text for the document path?

texts:
This should be simple to do, but I'm having no luck figuring it out.

In Coreldraw, I want to out the document path on my titleblock, similar to what you'd see on the gutter of an engineering drawing.

An example would be C:\users\jmac\121121_figure1.cdr, and I'd like it to update itself when the document opens.

Any help appreciated.


texts: Representing Workflow Decision Tree Nodes

texts:
I have a workflow tree end users can build to:

Define conditions for execution
Perform action on condition met

Currently the UI looks like:

with blue being 'condition' and green being 'action' and root is orange.

Viso and other tools often represent the condition as a triangle, in order to represent the text correctly, that triangle might have to be pretty big.

I was thinking about just adding some sort of icon on the left of the words to represent but i dont feel that conveys the difference enough.

Any suggestions on how to accomplish the difference in the most effective way?


texts: How to save a 32 bit png with alpha channel (transparency) in Photoshop?

texts:
I want to use an image as an application launcher icon for my android application.

The android guidelines specify an image for the launcher icon must be a 32 bit PNG image.

Please explain the steps necessary to create a 32 bit png file with alpha.

Or share a video link showing these steps, if any.


texts: Create automatic low & high res pdf, png with inDesign for multiple user

texts:
I am working on a platform, which should create from an inDesign file a low and high-res pdf, a png and maybe a new indesign file with the new data.

These steps are in my mind.

User logins or create a new login with his personal data, for
example: firstname, lastname, address, telephone and web.
There is an indesign file for example a business card, with
placeholders for firstname etc.
The script / plugin / addon should open the file with the xml,csv
and create these files and save it automatically in a dir.
I can work with these files

When you guys know a software, plugin, ... which can handle it, it would be awesome when you could help me.


texts: Is this design considered public domain?

texts:
Recently I was contacted by a local church who needs a logo, what they want is simple enough, I'm just not well-versed in the copyrights of DC comics/marvel, etc.

He basically said he wants his logo to look like the "Clark Kent ripping off his shirt to reveal Superman S" With a few changes such as "No head, no arms, no lower torso, and of course the iconic 'S' will be swapped for either some text or a symbol, the design will stay with the blue suit, white shirt, and gold icon however.

I did some research on whether this image is considered copyrighted or free domain, but every site only talks about the 'S' and the slogan: "Up Up and Away!"

I personally think this is pretty common imagery for superheroes so the idea isn't copyrighted, but just want to make sure. No use dealing with that kind of drama. I would also be re drawing it in my own style.

I appreciate any help you have to point me in the right direction, thanks!


texts:
I am doing a packaging for a client and when I received the shape of the container I found out that it should be bent by 25° and I want to know how to do that please.

One solution is to bend the final image in Photoshop, but I believe there is a way working with perspectives.


texts: How to turn a stacked bar chart into a stacked  chart?

texts:
I have some stacked bar charts that sum to 100%, as shown below:

Each stacked bar represents a region in a state. I would like to take vectors of each region and fill them with their respective stacked "bar" chart, so you'd have horizontal "stripes" of all 7 stacked values serving as the fill for each region. The goal would be to turn this into an infographic map.

I have the region data, and I have this stacked bar chart for each region and I can bring both into Illustrator CC 2018 as vectors.

How can I go about this in a way that's not entirely manual? Are there some Adobe CC tools that can easily do this? I figured it'd be in Illustrator but I have most of the other programs as well.


texts: How to create the effect shown in the attached picture in Photoshop?

texts:
How can I create the effect illustrated in the attached picture? If a box of a given width (say 300px) and of the same height and color as in the picture is inserted in the middle, the resulting picture will look bent with shadow at both the right and left hand side.

I highly appreciate it if the instructions are given in more details as I am new to Photoshop.

I am using Photoshop CS6.


texts: How to simulate ink-on-paper texture/feeling in line diagrams I make

texts:
How can I turn crisp/clean diagrams I create on my computer, into diagrams that look like these:

Notice how the lines are "coarse", they look like ink which has been soaked into grainy paper, they are quite imperfect lots of variability.

How do I apply such an effect to the lines over an entire diagram I may have created using straight-line, "perfect" rectangles, arrows etc.?

I don't know what the vocabulary for this is so it's been hard for me to research (and I am also lost now as to what tags to add to this question haha).

The only image processing program I have installed right now is ImageMagick, and I should have access to Affinity Photo. A solution using these would be the best for me.


texts: Apply a threshold to the transparency of a smart object layer

texts:
I have a smart object layer whose content is partly transparent. How can I create an effect such that pixels with alpha greater than some value become opaque, and other pixels become fully transparent?
I know that I could stack up 15-20 copies of the SO to get an opaque version, but I can't figure any useful way to mask the result.
Note: I'm looking for a way to set up a PSD such that the results of this threshold effect get applied dynamically, without manual steps. I know that it's possible to manually extract a layer's transparency, edit it, and then reapply it as a mask, but I'm looking for a setup where I won't have to re-execute manual steps every time the content of the smart object changes.
Example image:

Update:
Long story short, what I was going for here isn't possible. Photoshop does let you manipulate a layer's transparency, but only if you manually extract it into a color layer and later re-apply the colors as a mask. It's not possible to get similar results with layer adjustments and built-in filters, so there's no way to get the effect without executing manual steps or saved actions every time the source layer changes.
I'll go ahead and mark @AAGD's answer as correct since it's the best manual way of getting the effect I hoped for.


texts: InDesign FindChangeByList Search for Text in a Style

texts:
Simple question:

What is the Javascript syntax for adding a Paragraph or Character Style to a search in the FindChangeByList.txt file?

As in: grep {findWhat:"Anything", findStyle"Bolder"}

Thank you.


texts:
I know nothing of graphic design.

I've started developing for Android, and I want my interface to be beautiful, and for that I know it needs to be designed by hand, but I also know that means knowing how to do design work.

Is Illustrator the right program to start learning? Is that used for this? To my surprise I actually didn't see any information on the subject after some googling. Everything you look up about "interface design for Android" tells you how to arrange buttons and menus and things like that, but not literally how to make the visual elements.


texts: Photoshop CS3 animation opacity problems

texts: Here is my dilemma. I am making a scrolling text gif. I need the background on this gif to be transparent with a white box centered in the middle with the text showing ONLY in the white box. This means that the text needs to only show up on the box and not the transparent background.


texts: 3D like effect on text - reverse engineering

texts:
I have a text (see picture below) with the "Adobe Caslon Pro" font type, and some sort of slight 3D effect added to it.
I would like to ask you for help to identify how this 3D effect on the text was made.
Please suggest a method to recreate it.


texts: When saving as a PSD, have a PNG also saved automatically

texts:
On Photoshop CS5, I had it set up so that whenever I saved a .psd, whether it were through cmd-s or the file menu, it would also save a file as a .png with the same name.

I upgraded to CS6 and now I have no idea how to recreate this. Sadly, or stupidly, I uninstalled CS5 so I can't attempt to troubleshoot that way.

Does anyone know how to do this? I don't want to have to run an action every time I want to save a psd as a png, I want it to happen automatically, every time I save.

I appreciate all and any help here.

Thank you, Jacob


texts: Why won't my RGB file print as RGB in InDesign?

texts: In InDesign, I have a file that's RGB (and I set the 'intent' as web, so the program is reading it as an RGB document-I could see it), but it's printing CYMK. what printer settings do i have to change?


texts: Do browsers really only display images at 72 pixels per inch?

texts:
In the book HTML and CSS, I came across the following quote:

  The web browsers on most desktop computers display images at a resolution of 72 pixels per inch (ppi).

So is it really useless to create an image larger than 72 ppi if the browser will only render it at 72 ppi? After all, the larger the file, the slower it is to load and don't want to slow load time for nothing.

My monitor has a resolution of 1680 x 1050 yet according to this book, when I open up Firefox and view images, they will only be viewed at 72 ppi.


texts: When I import this SVG into Photoshop it looks zoom pixelated, which didn't before

texts:
I'm trying to import this SVG; which I imported before earlier but now it seems to don't work that well anymore? The original SVG file has not been modified, so I don't know where the issue could be, closing Photoshop didn't help. Illustrator doesn't have this issue.

It is supposed to look like this:

When you drag and drop the SVG inside you can choose a height and width and I choosed 1080 and it gave me that pixelated one. How can I fix it?


texts:
I bought a Pixma ip8750 to try and make my first steps in printing. It does print in hexachromy, so it has a grey, a dye black and a pigmented black. However the results I am getting in b&w prints are far from good. Just the glossy photo paper had a decent result, while matte coated paper (300gr) were greenish or with a touch of magenta, depending on if I choose common paper or matte photo paper in the printing menu.

Could this depend just on the paper type? Just glossy paper has good blacks, or am I doing something wrong?


texts:
Is there a way to make text perpendicular to a circle? Something like (not manifesto or I enjoy staying inspired but the other text):

I tried rotating the text block 90 degrees then putting it on path of a circle but that displayed as normal.
I've looked into text flow but the text remains horizontal as opposed to rotating around the origin.
I also know I can move the transform point, but I'm looking for a way to do this for multiple text objects or one large text block.


texts: Gradient with Blend tool becomes fragmented, when Opacity is applied

texts:
I've created two strokes with gradients and connected them with blend tool.
Once i make one of the strokes 0% opacity the gradient stops looking smooth and starts to look fragmented.

I'm following an Illustrator tutorial. So i know it shouldn't look like that at all and i can't figure what's causing it to look like that.

How to fix it?

edit: When the Illustrator piece is exported it looks fine


texts: Help me decide the artboard size in illustrator

texts:
I use Adobe Illustrator for my work and I am in the process of designing an infographic which needs to be printed and also put on the web.

I understand that I would be needing a 300ppi and 72ppi resolution respectively. For printing, the size should be A4.

Would it be wise if i create a 595px by 842px artboard and save it in 72ppi and 300ppi. Or, should i create a 2480px by 3508px artboard and save it in 72ppi and 300ppi.


texts: How to create specific spiral/swirl effect

texts:
Looking for tutorial on how to create the 'spiral' effect used for the lions mane in the picture of the right. I've tried using dashed line and then swirl feature but this makes the lines go from small to big in width and I'm looking for how to create them all a single length, as it if they were pen strokes

Here is the design but as you can see in the red circle some of the curves haven't 'curved' properly and are buckled, how do you get rid of this and make them all properly curved


texts: Turning point text into text along path in Illustrator

texts: I have a lot of text objects in point format and would like to convert these to text paths (see images). Is this possible?


texts: Is there any typographic mark for chapter?

texts:
Typographic marks allows to quickly visualize the organization of a structured text and help the readers to navigate through a document. This technic is especially useful in scientific literature to support author's statement, to point to related topics elsewhere and to build a logical argumentation/demonstration.
Typographic (or other graphical design strategy) can be an excellent support to the understanding of dense text and complex thinking.

§2 Minimal example of typographic marks usage
       ¶1 Section sign (§) are typographic marks for sections. Pilcrow (¶) are sometime used to highlight paragraphs. This kind of marks may be useful for further references.
       ¶2  In this paragraph, we refer to the content of §1 which is the last section. You can find in §1.3 a discussion about subsection usages and §1.5 is about meta or chapters-like usage. Unfortunately, this last section is not written yet!

My question is:
Is there any mark specific for chapters?
I did not find any. But most of books or other big document are split in chapters. A typographic mark would be nice to replace things like:

see chap. 1 §1.3

If this kind of mark do not exist, what are the most commonly used conventions to refer to chapters? What are the pros and cons of these methods? Where could I find more information about intra-document referencing methods?


texts: How to resize a layer in GIMP keeping the layer transparent while resizing?

texts:
For some reason every time I start resizing a layer gimp turns the opacity back to 100, how can I resize a layer so that it stays at it's opacity while I'm in resizing mode?

Actually the same question applies to Perspective tool as well, it too resets the opacity which makes using it to align to images rather impossible.


texts:
I'm new to inDesign and trying to design a diary, which will be OTA bound (ie. like a book; no wiro-binding or spiral).

How do I need to setup the document? shall I create individual A5 pages, which will then be merged into 16-pages 'booklets' when creating a Printable PDF?
Or do I need to create a Spread (like 2 A5s side by side)?

Hope the question makes sense!


texts:
I'd like to make sound waves in curved shapes rather than staples. I have the staples already. Which is the best way to do it?

So - from this:

to this (but with only one line and no horizontal line):

Does anyone know how to do it?


texts: how to view/print all the characters in a font (mac ox10.12)?

texts:
I'm trying to find a simple way to be able to view all the characters that are available in a font, and to possibly create a PDF sheet of those characters for reference.

Is there a way to do this these on MacOS? I used to use something called FontBook (not the Mac Fontbook, but a different one!). I'm using Suitcase Fusion to manage my fonts, by the way.

I also used to use PopChar, but I find it doesn't work that well and is expensive.

Thanks in advance!


texts: Illustrator: how to ensure equal distance between 2 objects and outer edge?

texts:
Let's say you have an oval shape, like a face. You draw one cartoon eye and want to duplicate it, but you want the eyes to be symmetrical on the oval - that is, the distance between the oval edge and the left eye is equal to the distance between the oval edge and right eye.

Instead of doing this by eye, how can you ensure symmetry? I was initially aligning them to center and moving each eye left/right with an equal number of spaces. But that is clearly tedious and was hoping there is a quicker way.


texts: Photoshop feathers selections even though I turned it off

texts:
This is what happens when I try to fill the selection with black.

It's super janky! What I want is to turn off all feathering to have a perfect crisp edge, but I can't figure out how to do that. Sorry for German interface, I would set it to English if I could. The option bar at the top for the selection tool says "Weiche Kante: 0px", which means feathering I think. "Glätten" means "anti-aliasing" and it's grayed out.
The paint bucket tool also doesn't seem to have any helpful options.

I'm using CS6 btw.

Edit: I think I know what's going on. The selection is essentially an alpha mask and isn't binary. The outline is just trying to give me an idea what the mask really looks like. It would be nice if there were just a button to make the selection binary without jumping through hoops.


texts: Should highlighted quotes in an article be aligned with the body text?

texts:
I am wondering whether quotes need to be included in text positioning.

See example below:

Is this correct?
Or should the quotes be disregarded when positioning the text?

What's the best way to align a highlighted quote in an article, in relation to the positioning of the body text?


texts: How to apply a brush transparency over itself in Photoshop?

texts:
How to set a brush in Photoshop that have a slightly degree of opacity over itself without lifting the pen, or reaching the same effect in a single path?
what I need is to simulate a ballpoint pen stroke.


texts: Deleting white space after using offset path in Illustrator cc 2020

texts:
I am currently creating a logo in illustrator cc 2020 and have used offset path to create space between overlapping lines.

If I put any kind of background under this then the white offset path shows. Is there a way of deleting these whilst keeping the gaps?
Any help is much appreciated!


texts:
Humana Sans is out of my price range for App licensing, I'm hoping to find something similar that's open source:

https://www.linotype.com/169295/itc-humana-sans-medium-product.html?licenseAvlType=4&format=ot-cff&branding=std


texts: Exporting from Adobe CS to a format the client can easily update?

texts: I have a client for whom I've designed a newsletter. I did this in Photoshop, since it's the program I'm the must accustomized to (I know InDesign would've been the "right" choice). And now I need to hand over a file that can be used by my client as a template for writing these newsletters. How do I do this in a way so that anyone with just basic computer knowledge can make them? In Microsoft Word/OpenOffice for example. The file is a bit image-heavy so it needs to be versatile.


texts: How do I control the fidelity on the 'image trace' function in illustrator 2020?

texts:
I was previously using illustrator 2016  on my MacBook... I recently upgraded to the 2020 version and I'm trying to find a way to adjust the image trace tool 'fidelity' I think.
If I recall correctly, previously there was an adjustable percentage meter that would make the image less opaque or more opaque, and keeping it at the 95-99 percent range seemed to be my sweet spot for creating an image trace that would smooth out my scanned drawings, but not oversimplify them.
In the new illustrator I've found the image trace function, but its just a button to be clicked without a way to specify the amount. The resulting image trace is a little oversimplified, or low-fidelity if you will, for the effect I'm trying to achieve.
How can I manipulate the level of fidelity, (assumedly by way of adjusting opacity, like I did on previous versions) for the image trace tool on adobe illustrator 2020? Again I'm using a MacBook Pro.
Thanks so much for any assistance!


texts: Crop canvas to unique outline of image in Photoshop

texts:
I have unique shapes for my menu background, the problem is that the .png's are linked in the transparent area. I am looking to crop the canvases of these images in Photoshop to their exact unique outline.  I need to remove the transparent area.

Here is a link to my image to help illustrate.


texts: How to smooth jagged edges on vector corel draw

texts: I'm using Corel Draw X6. I have drawn a vector curve facing to the left.  When I rotate it to the right, reangle and resize, it becomes jagged.  How can I fix this.


texts: In search of simple color position correction for comic books

texts:
Is there a very simple and basic program that will separate colors and let me shift the position of one or another?  I'm looking at correcting old comic book panels which sometimes have a color way out of position.

Thank you.


texts: Why do applications need to make changes for Retina displays?

texts: From what I understand, Retina displays are simply a screen with a high PPI (higher than that of your eye at "optimum viewing distance"). Why, then, do applications need to fix their interface to specially support Retina displays? How is this any different from normal displays with a high PPI? Screen resolution is screen resolution, so why would it be different with Retina displays?


texts:
How can I create fake reflections easily like the one here:

Any online or easy open source tools out there?


texts: Will a non-printable layer in InDesign still export?

texts: Per a similar question asked, Can I Put my logo on an outputted PDF?, I was familiar with the Acrobat process to create watermarks.  However, I was curious if you created a non-printable layer within InDesign (and we have a question on creating non-printable layers in InDesign, How do I make non-printable template instructions in InDesign?) will that non printable layer still export to a .pdf file and will the .pdf file in Acrobat preserve the non-printable layer?  I find it hard to test this based on the printer settings but I dont want to test this on a plate maker.  On an Epson printer it appears to work but I am curious to know if anyone has experienced this when plate making or during a burn for a screen.


texts: Can Illustrator's Pencil or Brush tool snap to lines and curves while drawing?

texts:
I'm using Adobe Illustrator CC 2017.

Is there a way to make Pencil or Brush tool snap to its lines and curves while drawing? I'm trying to draw a flower made of petals, and it's very annoying to manually ensure that starting and ending points of each petal lie exactly on the curves of underlying ones.

Maybe there are better tools in Illustrator to draw this kind of picture? What is the best one for this case - pen, pencil, brush (I'm on Wacom Intuos Pro)?


texts: Is it possible to have multiple blend modes on a single layer in Photoshop?

texts: Lighten does a good job of removing a background from one of my images since it's transparent on a black background, but I want to apply another blend mode to make it match my overall image better. Can I apply two blend modes in any way?


texts: Problems converting PDF with transparency to EPS

texts:
I'm having a problem converting PDF files to EPS. I have to do it with three PDF files, each of which has a single-page image. Such image was composed by figures and images on PowerPoint. I did it well with one of the PDFs, but I can not get the same results for the 2 remaining.

The problem is that the only one that was sucessful does not have transparent images. The remaining have transparent images that are really blurry in the generated EPS files.

I originally did it through Inkscape but also tried through the command line:

pdftops -eps filename.pdf

Do you know any other option or library I should check for transparent images to work?

I really need the EPS to be editable, not a single image.


texts: Can't get my cursive font to connect fluidly (FontForge)

texts:
I've made a cursive, Arabic-esque font in FontForge and everything works great, but the letters don't quite connect right, there's almost always a little gap.

I've tried messing with kerning and spacing both in the program and externally but nothing seems to work :/


texts: How can I left-align the text in a table of divs so that the rows are evenly distributed?

texts:
I'm trying to arrange some names. I changed them out before posting using generatedata.com but the real ones are in alphabetical order from left to right each row.

I'm trying to figure out how to get the "columns" evenly spaced, as you can see the right column has extraneous space on the right side of it. I'd like in this example Tincidunt Nibh Phasellus Company to be the same distance from the edge of the parent container as the left side of the first column (ie: Ut Quam Vel Company).

Relevant code on Codepen.io

Screenshot:

HTML Markup:

Egestas Nunc Sed Company

Hendrerit A Arcu Institute

Molestie Sed Id Incorporated

Ut Quam Vel Company

Donec Egestas Duis LLC

Tincidunt Nibh Phasellus Company

Praesent Luctus Company

Curae; Donec Consulting

Magna A LLC

Malesuada Ut Corporation

Sit Amet Consectetuer Incorporated

Cum Sociis Foundation

Rutrum Fusce Inc.

Iaculis Odio Nam Limited

Interdum Libero Dui Institute

Eget Laoreet LLC

Elit Fermentum Risus Institute

Aliquet Proin Velit Company

CSS Formatting:

body {
background-color: #eee;
background-image: url(../images/patterns/light_toast.png);
color: rgba(102, 102, 102, 1);
font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif;
font-size: 16px;
margin:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.inner {
margin: 0 auto;
max-width: 940px;
padding: 0 40px;
}
.distributor-left {
float: left;
width: 33%;
margin: none;
text-align: left;
}
.distributor-middle {
float: left;
width: 33%;
margin: none;
text-align: left;
}
.distributor-right {
float: left;
width: 33%;
margin-left: none;
text-align: left;
}
.round-border {
border: 1px solid #eee;
border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05);
-webkit-border-radius: 4px;
-moz-border-radius: 4px;
border-radius: 4px;
padding: 10px;
margin-bottom: 5px;
clear: both;
}
.round-border:after {
content: "";
display: block;
clear: both;
}
#wrap {
margin: 0 auto;
}

I've tried a few different things but most don't solve the issue. They're more for horizontal navigation menus which doesn't apply here. I tried adjusting the margin-left for the .distributor-right class but once it became margin-left: 10px it drops to the next line, while at margin-left: 9px it still isn't well distributed.

The end result should have this spacing, where those red areas are exactly the same automatically from the text:


texts: If a photographer wants to sell product image of a shampoo bottle, does he need to take permission from shampoo brand?

texts: I want to understand the copyright situation when it comes to selling stock images of products. Are they supposed to be editorial use only? Let's say if there is an image of a particular brand shampoo, a photographer wants to sell it. Does he have to take permission from the shampoo brand? ( that shapoo was bought by him for example )