texts: Creating a new object from the fill of an object

texts:
I have some shapes that have a white fill with a black 5pt stroke and I need to separate/create a new object that is the same size as the fill. Duplicating the objects and removing the stroke still leaves the objects 2.5pt too big.

A quick solution I have found is to export the objects into photoshop, select the fill by color-range and cutting to new layer, but this isn't really practical as I lose quality and I need to do this potentially hundreds of times.

I was wondering if there was an easier way to do this, preferably in illustrator? Thanks in advance.


texts:
When I open a RAW NEF (Nikon) image in GIMP, the dialog says:

GIMP Message

Opening '/path/to/file/_DSC0001.NEF' failed: There is no RAW loader installed to open 'Raw Nikon' files.

GIMP currently supports these RAW loaders:
- darktable (http://www.darktable.org/), at least 1.7
- RawTherapee (http://rawtherapee.com/), at least 5.2

Please install one of them in order to load RAW files.

I installed DarkTable with:

brew cask install darktable

and have version 2.6.3.1 installed. Now the user interface does not show that error message, so GIMP detected DarkTable.

If I open an NEF image in GIMP through the command-line,  but it shows Opening /path/to/file/_DSC0001.NEF in the bottom bar and is still responsive. If I open it through the Open file dialog, the dialog remains open and the rest of the dialog is greyed out.

How can I make darktable work with GIMP?


texts: Merging multiple paths in Illustrator CS6

texts: I've got multiple paths which, together, create a single sprite in Illustrator. I'm trying to merge the paths in order to apply a gradient to the whole thing; however, Pathfinder does nothing, and just joining the paths closes open paths and gives me unwanted, and very visible, jagged edges. Is there any other way to combine multiple paths to make them act as a single object, or apply a gradient to multiple paths as if they were a single object?


texts: drawing diecut line for chipboard and wrapping paper to form boxes

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I m working as designer in a printing house. Recently our company starting to venture into the the area of packaging. Our boss brought in a digital cutting machine.

We are require to draw out drawing diecut line for chipboard and wrapping paper. For chipboard there isn't much big issue after 2 to 3 times of testing and the size is pretty much as we wanted.

The main issue was the wrapping paper. I have to at least 6~7 times of adjustment and testing to get the result ....not really near what we were expecting. My boss insist that there should be a program or method in the market that didn't required to a actual product mockup to get the result.

As I has no experience in this area. So anyone that has experience in this field. Is the any program or method in the market to do so?


texts: On Inkscape - Can I take two objects of different color and link their paths such that they would auto smooth like a single path would?

texts:
Normally I would use either Path>Combine or Path>Union to merge two objects in order to make a larger more complex shape. However, in this case I need both objects to keep their individual colors, while still having their paths merged. Is there a way to do this?

Pretty much I'm distorting the object (via it's paths taking advantage of auto smooth) and would like the distortion to affect the whole image but while keeping the distinct colors and characteristics of each area.


texts:
I was looking at some freebies from Orman Clark and i've figured out that he uses Smart Filters to Add Noise to Layers, instead of rasterizing them.

Example of what Orman uses:

Now I have two questions:

Are Smart Filters the best way to add noise and other effects for webdesign purpose?
What's the best way to use this?


texts: Illustrator: Divide tool - Cutting shapes?

texts:
When constructing a logo, I use the Divide tool a lot, in order to cut shapes.
In the following image, I am trying to cut the curve with a straight line.

After using the Divide tool on these two objects, the result looks like this:

Of course, now I want to cut the point off, so I use the Direct-select tool and I click on the anchor points and I press delete.

So, this is the basic shape I am looking for. However, if you can see, it fills in extra areas above the shape. Once I delete that extra area, it deletes part of the shape that I want, creating a mess entirely.
How do I work around this problem?


texts:
The title isn't the best way to describe what I want to do, probably.  I'll try to explain better here.  The relevant selection is below.  You can see that inside the door is a bright white space, but it ends sharply below.  I want to project a gradient light out below the door to hide that sharp edge and create a sort of implied floor, as if the light is shining onto the floor.  This ad has what I'm talking about.

I've tried using the different light features on photoshop with little luck.  If my difficulty getting across what I mean didn't tip you off, I don't have a whole lot of experience in photoshop.  Is there a good way to pull this off and make it look natural?


texts: Pixelling & animation: What is a suitable pen / stylus setup?

texts:
I'm finally thinking of going with a pen- or stylus-based solution for pixel art & animation. This would be the first time I've seriously used a pen for drawing digitally since my 1984 Atari CX77 Touch Tablet.

Software Criteria

I'll be using one of the popular Windows pixelling / animation apps like Cosmigo Pro-Motion or ASEprite on my Windows 7/8 workstation. Maybe some Photoshop too. Because the spriting apps probably don't hook up in any special way to specialised devices, a simple, mouse-emulating type of stylus would probably be best (no drivers, no fuss).

Traction, Accuracy & Responsiveness

The Atari CX77 drawing software I used as a kid didn't use a pointer. You pressed down on the tablet while holding one of two buttons (IIRC) - one to draw, one to erase. So traction on the drawing tablet was a very important part of control. Aside from this I've drawn with pen / pencil / paper for much of my life. So surface traction & immediate response are very important for me to feel more comfortable than using a mouse.

UI control

I don't really mind switching to the mouse where necessary, though it would be nice to use the stylus to do everything -- work in Windows and draw where necessary. In this case maybe a stylus button is necessary, since selection is not based on press, instead movement is. It's crucial that if I move the pen on the surface (whatever that may be), that this moves the mouse pointer. I cannot handle this hovering thing: I tried a Wacom Bamboo some years ago but when I realised I could not move the mouse cursor without lifting the pen off the pad, I was disgusted. It wasn't the UX I expected or desired. I don't need pressure sensitivity, although I guess it wouldn't hurt; I'd be working with limited, opaque palettes anyway, so opacity and gradients won't matter, only solid colour placement.

I'd prefer a device that doesn't require fancy driver installation and that basically operates just as the mouse does, only provides better accuracy (but if I cannot get that without going fancy, not the end of the world). This will allow compatibility with the things I want to do.

Hardware palette

I've seen this on some Wacom tablets. It would be a nice to have, though the apps I'd be using would anyway have their own onscreen palettes and probably wouldn't tie into the hardware.

Alternative Option: Touch

I'm aware that touch devices offer another option, but for now I'm just trying to tell whether there is anything I can use that allows what I've described above, cheaply.

Question: Any idea where I can get such a device as outlined above?


texts: Leading dots with right indent tab in InDesign TOC

texts:
I have a table of content that currently looks like this:

However, I am trying to add leading dots between the title and the corresponding page number. Here's what my Table of Contents... dialog looks like:

But I'm not sure where to define that leading dot. I tried adding a dot in the Between Entry and Page Number field but it didn't help. Any idea?

Update: On Scott's recommendation below, I tried adding the "dot" character to the Tabs dialog of the Paragraph Style option but it didn't yield any difference. This is what I did:


texts: Is there any way to project rays from a point using existing raster opaque areas as the basis?

texts:
Is there any combination of tools in Adobe Photoshop or in any other graphic design software (GIMP, ImageMagick) that would allow me to achieve this kind of image transformation?

The raster layer has opaque areas.
A point is set.
The opaque areas' "exit colors" (or average colors) are then projected outwards from the point, filling the space behind the areas until the end of the canvas is reached.

Simplified, the aim is to make opaque zones drop infinite flat shadows behind them, shadows being of the same color they are projected from. I have attached two images to illustrate the desired transformation:


texts: Editing channels as separate grayscale images in Krita

texts:
I'd like to break down my image into separate channels, modify them and then recombine them back into a full image.

It does work to a degree following this tutorial: https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/dockers/channels_docker.html

First they suggest selecting a layer and then doing Image->Separate Image. This way I can obtain every individual channel as a layer and edit them. It's possible to combine them back using blend modes where every layer is blended with Misc->Copy Red/Blue/Green options. However, this does not work for alpha as there is no option to have Copy Alpha blend mode.

As a workaround they suggest using "inherit alpha" for RGB channels and then edit transparency of the last channel. However, I want to edit that channel as a grayscale image, not a transparency image. In order to do that they suggest 2 options: by splitting alpha into a mask https://docs.krita.org/en/reference_manual/layers_and_masks/split_alpha.html or by converting a grayscale into alpha. First way is very restrictive as it does not allow basic operations such as pasting into mask (or I can't find how to do that). Second way is inconvenient because I have to convert a layer into alpha after every modification.

Is there a way to do what I want by jumping through less hoops?


texts: How to increase saturation or intensity of this printed pattern

texts:
The image on the left is what I see on my monitor ( CMYK Vector )
The image on the right was produced using flexography for a packaging design

The image on the right is dull and murky and doesn't 'pop' as much as it should. I think the yellow is the issue. Is it a possibility that my printer is at fault? Could I ask them to increase the % of yellow?

Would a matte or glossy finishing technique help?

OR is the design itself the issue with too many gradients making it hard to accurately reproduce through print?


texts: In InDesign CS6, how do I get single words in italics into the header by using running headers and character styles

texts:
First, I want to apologize if this question has been asked before, but since I am no native speaker I don't even know what words exactly I have to ask for. Maybe then you can help me by posting the link to the question?

My problem is as follows:

In the document I'm working on in InDesign CS6, I have to make headers for each page containing of the first and second order headlines (e.g. "1. Introduction"; "1.1 How it works"). Now, in the headlines there's one word showing up from time to time that's written in italics, in the middle of the sentence: "1.1 How it really works".

The headlines are defined by paragraph styles, but for the headers I use character styles because some of the headlines are too long: Headline: "1.1 How it really works using the magic InDesign help forums"; header: "1.1 How it really works".

Now my problem is that no matter what I do, the word "really" doesn't show up in italics in the header. Maybe it has to do with nested formats, but I don't understand that very much, and from what I understand, you can't use single expressions to change formats in nested formats, and so saying "Please change from normal to italics when the word 'really' appears" won't work.

Can you help me with this?

The only solution I have is to use new masters for every time this occurs and write the header by hand, not using text variables. Which is significantly more work, and which is also insecure, because if there's some shifting of text, the headers may end up on the wrong page, which also has to be controlled again and again.

Thanks so much in advance for your help!

Best, Sascha


texts: How to export the anchor points nodes and paths like when your are editing them to a final artwork in illustrator

texts:
I want to export the path, the nodes and the anchor point position to a final artwork, to show how and where are positioning the nodes in a vector form, the only way i know is make an screenshot of them, but i want some script or method for illustrator to do that.
I hear in glyphs there are a plugin to export the nodes position but i dont know the name, i am seaching for the way to do that in illustrator!
Like this example: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_XPdIpBWNi/


texts: What are the pros and cons of Principle vs ProtoPie

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I’d like to elevate the fidelity of the prototypes I create for my clients, to a level where interaction is as natural as possible. To showcase that, I’ve decided to explore the world of micro-interactions, and overall animation of the UI screens I design.

Principle seems to be the industry standard, but ProtoPie is quickly gaining popularity with it’s way simpler and structured approach to animation. I’ve played around briefly with both, and my personal fave is ProtoPie - though my biggest concern is that when talking about skill development, it’s not as popular yet, so I’m not sure if it’s right to perceive it a ‘waste of time’ in that sense.

A little context about me and my situation - I’m a UX/UI designer, working in a design studio. I just got the green light on purchasing such software, and I’d love to hear constructive feedback/pro’s and con’s/general advice on which software to choose, based on your professional experience with it. Mainly a Sketch user, but XD is more and more feeling like the better/cleaner/faster choice recently. My work consists mainly and heavily on creating interactive prototypes of app/web flows, redesigns, etc. Therefore providing the client with a product of high-fidelity is from utter importance for me. (I mean to whom isn’t it? :) )


texts:
Ok, I'm designing a logo that has another logo in it. The reason I have the "extra" logo is because my product promotes the use of another product, let's call it the "master product" for now.

So for legitimation reasons I'm including the master product's logo into my own logo.

What I've tried to do is to "tone down" the master product's logo by making it small and gray, while trying to allow my logotype and mark stand out by color, size and contrast.

I know this is a very weird case and most designers may see this as an incorrect and/or weird approach, but I urge you to be open minded and try to understand the circumstances of my product.

I've made several variations and I would like your opinion on them:


texts:
I have a text layout in Photoshop that is very precisely arranged. Is there a way to recreate this layout in InDesign without too much work?

Tips, tricks, scripts, are appreciated.


texts: What typeface is used on the name of cards in Hearthstone?

texts: What font is used for the card titles/names in Blizzard's Hearthstone game? Link to a sample: https://hearthstone.gamepedia.com/File:Luna%27s_Pocket_Galaxy(89888).png


texts: Opening Adobe Creative assets in Illustrator

texts:
This is how I work: I save a picture on the internet and upload it to my "Creative Cloud Files" located in my C:/users drive.
When I finish this, I expect to be able to open the saved picture in Illustrator. As you may guessed, I am wrong.
This is what Illustrator shows me:

But my Creative Cloud files is not empty, so there must be something wrong right?
The Libraries option in Illustrator itself is showing nothing either:

How can I solve this problem?


texts: Overlay Object With Paint, And Delete Everything Else

texts: I only want the paint that intersects with the black object to be visible (as well as the black object). Better yet, I would like the paint that is not covering the black object to be deleted. I have tried selecting everything, and using pathfinder > divide. The main anchor points are retained but it doesn't even look like a paint brush anymore, just a red line. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Substitute for Avenir (Google webfont or Typekit)

texts:
Question

I'm looking for fonts, available from Google Webfonts or Typekit, that would look similar to Avenir.

Background

I'm building a site using Squarespace

My friend told me to use Avenir for headings and shorter texts. Any of these three:

Avenir 85 Heavy
Avenir 65 Medium
Avenir 55 Roman

Squarespace does not have Avenir though. Squarespace does have support for Google webfonts and typekit.

Should I use Minion for the text body?

Minion Regular
Minion Bold

Squarespace does have Minion so I think I can use that one instead.

PS. Similar question:
What are Google Webfonts or Typekit alternatives to Avenir Next Pro?


texts: How to align text to pie graph in Illustrator?

texts:
I need to align the digits in a pie graph. As usual, I select and clicked center alignment. but it doesn't work. I really want the digits in the center

Do I need to do it manually?


texts: Comparison Between affordable Image Editor (Photoshop) / Creator VS. Free Image Software

texts:
Lately I would like to get involved / to learn in graphics design.

Since holidays are in full swing, I thought I would use this time.

I have used GIMP before, although very minimal and Blender. Both of which seem a bit complicated to me in terms of usage (perhaps this was due to the fact that I didn't really have the interest for this).

But now I do and I would not mind investing money in getting one.

My question here is:

1.)

How do the aforementioned compared to Photoshop?

There are so many different kinds of Photoshop and so:

2.)

Could you please cite the difference between them (i.e. Illustrator? CS6? Photoshop?)

I hope some of you experts can enlighten me on this based upon your personal experience, as I am trying to get my feet wet here.

My primary use with it would be in conjunction with iOS and Android Development.

Happy Holidays.


texts: Software for Creating Yearbook (50+ Pictures/Page) Layout

texts:
I'm trying to create a yearbook with each single page holding 50 to 60 pictures, depending on the class size.

I have Adobe Cloud but I don't even know what program would be best for this project. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I've tried using Photoshop, InDesign, and Lightroom and haven't had much luck getting things the way I want them.

Which of the Adobe Cloud programs has the best tools for what I'm trying to achieve?


texts: Do designers often work in groups on the same task?

texts:
As a designer, I notice that when another designer has to change my work because I'm not there to do it in time for a deadline, it feels wrong. It feels like, even though I know that I technically don't own the design, my employer does, I still kinda own it. The other designer changes it in a way that I don't really approve of and I lose this overall feeling of pride and ownership that I had on the piece.

Design is sort of an opinion thing.. something that you feel. I'm not sure how a team would effectively collaborate on something so subjective.

That being said, it's difficult to imagine that on large-stake big-money projects ( large corporation logo redesign for example), there aren't four or five designers working on that logo. Because otherwise why would the process be so expensive? Or rather, would a company really put that much confidence in any one designer?

So I'm curious: Does this feeling of ownership apply to all designers, or is this a problematic personal view that I need to get rid of? Do designers work on the same task (logo, icon, menu, etc) in groups?

I understand that things like hand animated movie scenes and 3D scene renderings take big teams of people, with different specializations in different areas - that's not what I'm talking about here. I'm asking specifically about things that could effectively be done by a single designer.

If designers do work in groups on the same task, and anyone has some experience that they could share on working in a team on the same task, I would be really interested to know how that works, and what the process is like.


texts: Manipulating XML data in Adobe Illustrator

texts:
I am currently learning how to use Adobe Illustrator and I am trying to find a XML editor in Illustrator so that I can see how the data changes when I manipulate something. I know that in Inkscape there is a XML editor as shown below:

Is there something similar in Illustrator?


texts: Export PDF from Illustrator at a specific resolution

texts:
I want to export my file from Illustrator as High Quality PDF for print with VistaPrint. So I want to export, and select High Quality PDF.
But the PDF quality is 600 x 800 px and I need at least 2517 x 3544 px.
How can I change that?


texts: How do I feather the edges of a geographic border in Inkscape?

texts: I'm brand new to Inkscape and I'm trying to feather the edges, or create a gradient on the border of a geographic area for a map I'm making. The desired effect looks something like this:


texts: When using underlines for emphasis, should spaces be underlined?

texts:
I'm not asking when to underline. There are myriad references for that via a simple internet search. However, this one doesn't seem to appear anywhere...
For print-based projects....
I'm curious if space characters should be included when underlining general text for emphasis?
In other words, which of the below would be the preferred usage for an underline?

Or is this merely a more stylistic preference left to the typesetter/editor/designer?

I realize for web-based projects you want the underline to encompass an entire link, not each word. So, this really doesn't apply to anything web-based. For digital projects, I would honestly never use an underline for emphasis where there is also not an associated link. Any failure to include a space would indicate separate links in digital delivery.


texts: PS CS6: brush/cursor: Can't change from crosshair to precise when too small brush size

texts:
The problem is that when I'm using small enough brush, it seems I can't have anything else than a crosshair. For example, if I'm using brush of size 4px and I'm in 25% zoom. Nothing wrong with crosshairs, but when I'm outlining fine details while zoomed out to get the proportions right the crosshair kind of blocks the part of the image I'm most interested in: the part where I'm drawing (so I guess theres "something" wrong with crosshairs after all..)

CapsLock, funny enough, will change the crosshair.. into another type of crosshair. Ha ha, Adobe, good one. Almost good enough to make me angry.

I have both; "Show Crosshair in Brush Tip" and "Show Only Crosshair While Painting" unchecked.

When painting/drawing with Photoshop I've always liked the "Full Size Brush Tip" the best. Normal Brush Tip is fine as well, and the crosshair works only when the brush is actually bigger than whats shown on the screen.

This has been a problem for long while, so if a solution would take rise, it would be highly appreciated! Thank you.


texts: How to achieve this grain effect in photoshop?

texts: Tried black & white - polarize - add noise but have not achieved the desired effect shown here


texts: How to auto fill dates while doing a calendar?

texts:
I want to make a useful calendar in AI. Thus far I have made 12 columns, which each stand for a month, and around 31 boxes in each with days and weekdays listed. There has to be a box because I want to have a space to write some short notes in them as I'm going to print it and laminate it in dry wipe.

I have managed to create these boxes but I don't have a clue how to efficiently (not typing manually in every single box) fill the dates inside.

Does anybody know a solution?


texts: How to image trace halftones in Illustrator

texts:
This is somewhat of a continuation on the last project I was working on.

I have this image of the California Bear that I altered in Photoshop:

When I place the picture into Illustrator and use the Color Halftone effect I get a raster version of something I really like:

But, I want this in vector format so I can reuse the image.

When I live trace the image, the absolute best I can get is this:

Which doesn't look horrible, but I would never use it for my personal logo (which I'm planning on doing with this piece) because there's so many dots that are just not circular.

Are there some better image trace methods I don't know about? or is fixing these details just part of the job when using a tool like image trace?

I really don't want to go in an manually make every halftone dot...

EDIT:

I have tried Phantasm CS and the closest I can get it to mimic Illustrator's version is this:

...which is crap.

These are the Phantasm CS settings I used (and I just got the plug in about an hour ago, so I may be missing something):


texts: What changes might be considered offensive when altering a person's profile image?

texts:
I've been editing profile images for a webpage displaying the employees of a company.

The images were not professionally taken, and because of that features like wrinkles and body posture are exaggerated and look bad.

However, it's a sensitive issue, in that some folks may be happy with their image and consider "air-brushing" and heavy edits offensive, and maybe see it as me thinking they're ugly.

I've edited out wrinkles, braces, blemishes, copied left shoulder to the right to improve the slouched and wonky posture and more.

What should I be sensitive to when editing images like this?


texts: How to make Illustrator slice coordinates match HTML coordinates?

texts:
Today I have the problem to slice a map from illustrator CS6 to HTML.
For example i have a map with many states like this
map states

Because I want to make the mouse hover to each state so that i need the area code from HTML to identity each state.

Firstly, I export the map states picture to one image (map.png) -> upload this image to webpage.

Secondary I use the slice tool of illustrator to slice each state and then go to File -> Save for Web and click preview in browser to get the area html code

<area shape="poly" alt="" coords="275,111, 274,112, 272,113, 271,113, 271,112, 270,112, 269,112, 268,111, 267,111, 266,111, 265,111, 265,111, 265,112, 264,113, 263,114, 263,113, 261,112, 259,113, 259,113, 258,113, 256,112, 256,111, 256,110, 255,109, 255,109, 255,108, 254,108, 253,107, 252,107, 251,106,

My problem is the Area of HTML parameter after slice dose not match to the map.png file when I do the hover effect. Because I guess, illustrator slice the image but it changes the coordinate axes to one partial state 0,0 instead of keep the artboard coordinate.

So anyone can help the solution for me. Thanks for your patient to read this question.
I am looking forward to your any suggestion.


texts: Copying the position of a slice or slices from one PSD file to another one

texts:
I hope I'm on the correct site to ask this question, because I'm new here.

Is there a way to copy the position of a slice from a PSD file to another PSD file.

If I select the Slice Select Tool and double click on my slice I see the Dimensions, so I can copy and paste those dimensions, but that takes much time. And using an action is another solution, but you need for each different slice another action.

Surely it must be possible to copy and paste the slice (not the image with the slice), so only the slice position from one PSD file to another PSD file?

I haven't found it yet, can someone help me?


texts: Are there any conventions for pairing tileable patterns for web and print design?

texts:
I'm wondering if there are any rules-of-thumb or conventions for choosing patterns that work well together.

At the moment I just use my best judgement which I've developed over a number of years. However, it's often very difficult to match two patterns together, so I tend to use the same pattern with a different colour, but this can look boring when overdone.

Take for example a mesh pattern and an icon pattern:

In these examples, I think the complexity and detail of the patterns is what creates the disparity. Additionally, I think the mesh pattern looks like a texture and has 3D qualities to it, while the icon pattern is flat and simple.

Based on that, the only feature I can confidently say plays a part in pairing patterns is the level of detail. Can anyone highlight more factors to consider?

What should I consider when pairing patterns?


texts: Is there a clean way to use primary colors as a partial background in a book cover?

texts:
A lot of UI guides advise against using primary colors as a background for text. I'm in the process of designing covers for a series of 4 books, and I thought it would be good to have a band across the top of the cover that was differently colored for each book. Should I proceed with this idea or move to softer earth tones instead? (this is a print book as well as an ebook)

Background:
The plan is to reserve the top 30% of the cover for this color band. I'm thinking of using green for the first book, then red, blue and yellow (I know, green isn't technically a primary color). The front title and the top paragraph of the back cover blurb will reside inside this color band, so the text can't be hard or painful to read. We're planning on using black text on red and yellow, white text on blue and green.

These are technical books, not novels, so I'm not trying to push an overly artistic design, but thought that the bold, primary-esque color choices would establish a strong association between each book and its color. Over time, readers might even look up to the shelf and grab the "red book" or the "green book" rather than think about the title.

I'm not an expert on background colors, text colors or other design issues so I might have come up with a foolish idea here. If so, please show me the error of my ways.


texts: The way it's supposed to work with books in a team in InDesign is not coherent, then how to properly work?

texts:
Imagine this scenario:

User A opens the book
User B opens the book and make important changes
User B saves the book
User A closes the indesign and it's asked if wants to save the changes to the book
Chooses YES

In this case all the changes of User B are lost!

But Indesign "tells us" to never open the document outside the book.

As you can see here they say the following: "Note: If you are sharing book files over a server, make sure that you have a file management system in place so that you don’t save over each other’s changes accidentally."

This is exactly my scenario;

They say "file management system" but how exactly to implement it for this case?
thanks


texts: What questions should I ask when giving interviews to a senior graphic designer?

texts:
Ok, here's a weird issue I'm facing.

My boss (no background in design) has gotten me to interview a graphic/UI design guy the company is hiring. Here's the gist:

The job position in this case is a senior graphic designer. I would say the job scope is pretty close to an art director. The guy is applying for that.
For me, my current level is somewhere in-between junior and senior designer.
I'm slightly past the junior stage but still some way off before I would even consider myself senior designer level.
Looking at the guy's portfolio, I can say his experience, quantity and skill set is broader than mine. However, to be honest, I would say the quality of his work is actually below mine (based on his layouts, color aesthetics etc.)

Anyway, below are the questions I intend to ask him:

How long did you take to complete (insert one of his artwork)?
In that (insert another of his artwork) you did, was it a solo effort or did someone else help you?
What's your process for designing app UIs like? Could you share?

I can't think of what else to ask. If anyone has some insight, I would greatly appreciate it!

This is my 1st time doing this sort of thing. Of course, for this sort of position, I was hoping to see a candidate much stronger than me, but as the company is urgently in need of someone to fill the place, well.....

Btw, assuming this candidate gets hired, he won't be working with me but in a subsidiary company on the other side of the world, so no concern for any future politics whatever.

I just hope assuming he gets in, he performs well, or else I would be in a really bad light for approving him.


texts: How to toggle between Pen Mode and Mouse Mode with Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet

texts:
Using Wacom Intuos Pro Tablets, (Paper in my case):

When editing photos or images using Gimp, Photoshop, etc., I find it helpful to be in "Pen Mode".

But, in vector graphics, I prefer "Mouse Mode", like with Inkscape or Illustrator.

Also, when testing 3D rendering, (like quickly moving a 3D camera in a game), Mouse Mode also seems much more efficient.

Is there a way to toggle between "Pen Mode" and "Mouse Mode" quickly, by binding that function to the eraser, express keys, display keys, or even a keyboard shortcut?

Is there a way to create a custom macro for this - if it isn't supported "out-of-the-box"?

Personal Work-Around:

I have been creating separate application configuration settings using the Wacom Settings control panel, which allows either pen or mouse mode to be set for an application.

Caveat: It is often the case that I want to switch within the SAME application, and this workaround doesn't seem to work for this.


texts: How can I Photoshop Oil into a Water Bottle?

texts:
I've been working on a project where I need to fill in a bottle of water with thick, black crude oil (it's supposed to be a visual metaphor).

I initially found this question, but following its instructions only got to this:

This website makes the bottle look darker than it actually is. When I play with the levels, it either looks too posterized, compromising the image's integrity, or like gray transparent water. Basically, I can't seem to get the black thickness similar to the bottle in the other question. I think it may be because of how the water bottle is lighted, so maybe I need a different starting image.

But I'd like to know if this is possible to do? Or would it be a better idea to just make fake oil from scratch and take a photo over white drape?

Here's a link to the original bottle, the website causes errors on the image http://imgur.com/a/iMbDr

Thanks


texts: How to change dimension without losing quality?

texts:
Is it possible to make a .jpeg photo smaller without losing quality ?

I have an image with 1274px in height I want to change its height to 200px without losing quality.

Because when I zoom in the image I lose the details and the quality.


texts: How do you have a bullet in a bullet list have it's own independent alternate glyps than the paragraph

texts: I want to have my bullet be the 'fancy' alternate Q glyph, but the bullet text have the regular capital glyphs like on the right. Everytime I change the first letter glyph it changes the bullet glyph back to the regular or alternate glyph.


texts: Sketch3: Can you connect two vectors and change their colors by selecting only one?

texts: Let's say I have a line graph with 30 lines, and a legend with 30 circles. Can I link the circle to a line in such a way that when I change the circle color, it'll automatically change the color of the line that is paired with it?


texts: Is it possible to have global color swatches or color styles in Photoshop?

texts:
I'm looking for a way to use one color in multiple different layers, and then be able to change that color in all the layers in one single place.

Lets say that I have four layers using #ffffff. Now I want to know what my design looks like with #ffff00 instead. How can I do this without manually changing all four layers?

I can add that adjustment layer on hue/saturation is not really what I'm looking for. What I need is something like "change all #ffffff to #ffff00."


texts: Fireworks - inner shadow on transparent background

texts: How to get inner shadow inside rectangle with transparent background?


texts: Web Safe Alternative to Myriad Pro Font?

texts: Are there any fonts that I can use in my font stack that are more or less similar to Myriad Pro and web safe?


texts:
Most legal documents like this are just black and white, with some bold and italic thrown in there, as well as indentation and changes in font size. But you don't really see color in there. The same with legal forms like this driver's license form. It's just black and white.

I'm wondering what would be a good use of color (and why you would use it) in some legal document like the ones above. Wondering what would justify adding color.

It just "seems nice". Kind of vague, you can make plain b+w documents look nice too.
It enhances something. This is kind of vague though, not sure what this would mean.
Branding. But I don't see how you'd decide what elements would need branding, other than say a single logo in the whole document (so there would only be one tiny piece of color in the document).
Figures. But you could just do figures in b+w too.
Etc.


texts: How to reduce file size without losing quality

texts:
I have a TIF image created from a flattened PSD file.  It is presently sized to 20"x 20" image size, resolution is 300 and pixels are 6000 x 6000.  I sized it this big so when I take it to the printer, he won't have to resize (I want it 20 x 20).

However, the file is huge (210 mgs). What can I do to make the file size smaller so I can save it and bring it to him?  Will I lose image quality if I save it as a jpg at the same resolution?  I thought I could do that but not sure how much quality would be lost. Thanks.


texts: How to transition to Gimp as a Photoshop user

texts:
I apologize for the very general nature of this question but I do think it's something a lot of people could use tips on.

I've used Photoshop for about 10 years and don't have access to it now, so I'm trying to get used to Gimp. There are some very common things one would want to do in a graphics editing program, that at this point have very universal and thus intuitive ways of being done, not just specific to Photoshop, that when I try to do in Gimp I feel like I'm being tortured. I was hoping an experienced user who has made the transition might be able to give me some general pointers. I've included below a list of specific issues, but any general ideas like "what on Photoshop is this, is interpreted this way on Gimp," would be very appreciated.

I import a new layer into Gimp. The new layer is smaller than the document. I want to move stuff around, incorporating it into my entire image, but Gimp crops out the image the moment it leaves the frame of the layer it was in. Every time I encounter this, I have to look up again how to change the size of the layer. It seems so counterintuitive and useless for this to be necessary! There must be an easier way.
I want to copy and paste a selection. On every other application I've ever heard of, you can do this with command-C and command-V. Not here. I still have yet to find a straightforward way to just copy and paste. I feel like I have to trick the program into doing something that any user would clearly want to do.
I want to delete a part of a layer, revealing the stuff that's behind it. Before I can do this, I need to control-click the layer, go to layer properties and tell it to add an alpha channel. Of course I want it to have an alpha channel! It's a layer!
I select a layer in the layer window, one that is mostly transparent and has smaller images in it, for example text on a transparent background. I then go to click on it to do something, but if I click on a part that's transparent, it automatically switches me to a layer behind it. Is there any way to tell the program I want to work in the layer I selected, and stay there until I select a different one? Meanwhile it has no problem letting me, say, erase an accidentally selected hidden layer, with no warning.
Every time I switch out of the application and then switch back in, my tools and layers windows are gone, and I have to re-open them. I don't think you can really do anything in the program without at least one of these windows open. Do I need to go into the preferences and set something saying that I have the program open because I intend on continuing to use it or what?
Photoshop has something called "free transform," where you can resize, move, stretch, skew and rotate with various mouse movements, without having to finalize your decision until you're done. In Gimp, it seems you can resize and move via shift-t but otherwise you have to do and finalize each thing separately. Sometimes I don't know how I want it resized, for instance, without seeing how it looks under another change. Is that not possible here?
I want to export an image of my picture. Let's say I want a .jpg. I go into the window for doing that and select my image format from the list. Then I have to manually change the file extension in the file name to the one that matches my choice, or get an error message. !?!

I realize I'm being a little ranty and complainy -- try to understand this post is a result of many long frustrated sessions trying to adapt to the program. I'm just looking for some general guidance and would rather not hang on to my current attitude about Gimp. So maybe you can get an idea of my perspective from the stuff I listed above and help me out ey?

Thanks in advance.


texts: How can I minimize the space between the text and footnote rule?

texts:
I can't seem to figure out how to minimize the space between the bottom of the paragraph and the footnote rule (separator). There seems to be space for at least one more line, which is what I want, so as to avoid a few words at the top of the next page.

Any advice is appreciated!


texts: Slice an image that is 1 layer in Photoshop

texts:
I was given a Photoshop file to use as a basis for creating a website. There are many layers in the Photoshop file, however the footer is 1 layer. It looks as if it was created and merged together.

The footer is a background image with text and logos on top of it. I'm not sure how I can slice this up since it is just one layer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Screenshot:


texts: Is there a way to imitate a pencil or pen in illustrator?

texts: I'm working with illustrations and I realized that it's easier to draw lines in Illustrator and combine them in Photoshop with other effects and textures. The problem is that I cannot find a way to make lines in Illustrator look like a real pen or pencil. Similar to how Graphic design is written on this website. Would be grateful if somebody can help!


texts: What is this design style called in which lots of simple polygons make up an image?

texts:
What is the design style called where they create form with simple shapes, usually triangles like they have done with the ground in the Chrome Maze Experiment

Or like the images below:


texts: How to change alignment of placed ICML file?

texts:
When placing an ICML file into InDesign, it gives me a text frame which is right-aligned. The content is in English and I can't change the alignment of the frame unless I “Check out.” I would like to change the alignment of this frame without “Checking out.”

I have tried changing the Story direction, changing the language from the Character panel, and resetting the Basic Text Frame object style to default.

I have the ME edition of InDesign so I also tried creating a regular text frame and then importing the file into it, but alas, it is still right aligned.

I've read the following without finding a solution:

How to change default text settings in Adobe InDesign?
Adobe Indesign frame converted to text frame right aligns

Here's a screenshot:


texts: How to take an accurate outline (ONLY) of an image PSD

texts:
I would like a technique on how to take only the outline of an image. This image is of a car and would need to be accurate.

I am using Photoshop however do have Illustrator if that program is more useful.

So far I have attempted using this article: How to Trace an Image Using Photoshop

It was a great read, however my image is of a picture filled with content. The picture attached shows the car with a background. I have to find an efficient method of removing the background and taking a very precise outline of the car.

Attached is the image I am attempting to edit from, and an example of what I want to achieve (example has a little too much detail).

Large image size


texts: why does photoshop auto-rotate images when opening?

texts:
I am using scripting in Photoshop to process jpg files that are uploaded through a website. I occasionally get images that are rotated differently when you open them in Photoshop vs. Windows Previewer (or any other basic graphics program).  And today I just came across one that was rotated 90 degrees and mirrored horizontally when you open it with Photoshop.  This throws off the scripting b/c the image is not the expected size and orientation.

Is there a setting in Photoshop preferences to stop it from automatically rotating and mirroring these images? Or a way to strip this extra data that Photoshop is reading?

I am using Photoshop CS4 and in preferences, under Camera Raw Settings, I have it set to "disable JPEG support".


texts: Illustrator blend tool creating unwanted lines

texts: I am attempting to create a long shadow on my icon by using this effect in Illustrator. When I use Object > Blend > Make it leaves white spaces between each shape it creates and looks extremely ugly. How can I fix this?


texts:
This article discusses the vertically centered colon in Apple's San Francisco font.

My webapp uses the Montserrat font, specified in CSS as follows:

@font-face {
    font-family: 'Montserrat-Light';
    src: url('fonts/Montserrat-Light.otf');
}

* {
    font-family: 'Montserrat-Light';
}

I am struggling to get a vertically centered colon to display a time (e.g. 9:41).

How can I do a vertically centered colon with the Montserrat font in the context of a webapp?


texts:
I am making a splash screen for a website I am making, and I want one of the letters to draw itself, then expand out into the whole word. I have the expanding part done, but I need to make the letter draw out first.

Animation:

http://goo.gl/jBFdal

I am aware of the masking technique, but I don't want to manually draw it. When I do this, it results in differently sized segments and appears choppy. I also want it to have an ease, which is difficult to do frame by frame. Is there a good method for doing this?

Here's an idea of what I mean:

http://greensock.com/drawSVG


texts:
In an imaging app I'm working on, I want to enable the user to apply a blur filter to the image. Bit creating an icon for that filter isn't easy. Should I

Draw a white circle and just apply a blur to that and take that image as icon? I'm not too happy with making a modern UI icon that hasn't straight lines and curves, but blurry outsides
Similar to 1., but make one half of the circle without blur and separate them with a line (similar to an average sign
Make a circle / image with an very curved, unclear outline, but all of the image in the same color (white) so I don't have to apply a blur to the image itself which seems like violating the modern UI design princibles

Any help (or reference to some documentation) is appreciated.


texts: How to make 3D Texture Mapping for an image?

texts:
Let's say I have an image like this:

and I want to make a map or something that would allow me to apply different patterns to make images like the following:

.So I have a map and I could easily apply pattern to make images with different patterns.
How should I make that map ?
Thanks


texts:
I have the following exercise:

And here is a demonstration of how to apply those typography rules:

I am not familiar with the term folio leading and cannot find anything useful on it on the Internet. What does it mean? Or can you deduce its meaning from the above?


texts: Is there a standard width for designing web page mockups?

texts: Is there a standard size for the width of a website in a mockup? What is that size? Why?


texts: What is the name for these serif-like features of stereotypical "Old West" lettering?

texts:
Looking at the dedication plaque on the Salt Lake Temple, I was moved to wonder: What's the deal with this stereotypically "American Old West" style of lettering, where almost every letter has sort of "serifs" sticking out of the middle of each stroke?

Is there an accepted name for these seriffy-looking things?

What is the history of this style of lettering? Was it actually common in the Old West? Do the little seriffy things skeuomorphically imitate some inherent quirk of old wood-block type, or have they always been purely decorative?


texts: What is the correct use of quotation marks for very long spoken texts in a novel?

texts:
I am layouting a novel, and while it generally flows like novels do, in two occasions, one person holds extremely long political speeches -- a couple of pages long, several paragraphs each.

I find it extremely confusing to have simply a quotation mark at the beginning and at the end, however, I also don't know another way. I have seen some older books (1960 and earlier) using an open quotation mark at the beginning of each paragraph while the speech continues, but no closing quotation mark but for the last paragraph -- then there is one.

What would be your suggestion to make this appealing for the reader, logical, and still nice?


texts: Fonts that display in all devices and operating systems

texts:
I would like to know what are the Fonts which are displayed in all devices(Tablet/PC/Mac/Mobile) and platforms(iOS/Windows/Android).

The real problems is, i have designed a Powerpoint presentation with embedded fonts in Windows 7. But the fonts which i embedded are not displaying in Mac and iPad systems. Please provide me a solution for this. I want my Powerpoint be working in all devices and operating systems.


texts: Photoshop: How can I change the layer type?

texts:
I was given a .PSD file from my designer and I'm trying to change a layer from "Curve" to "Hue/Saturation"

However, if I highlight the curve thumbnail (shown by the pink arrow) and press delete it deletes the whole thing.

I also tried creating a new layer of the existing layer using the "Adjustments" tab, but it creates a new layer that is different (notice it's just a quite square, not one with words like the original one:

How would I create an identical layer of the "Cheers to 50 years" and then adjust the hue / saturation?


texts: What typeface is used by MacOS to render unicode glyphs?

texts:
What font is being used in the following screenshot (on a latest MacOS/Safari) to render the unicode glyphs?

The screenshot is taken from the page http://www.alanwood.net/demos/wingdings.html

Is this font available somewhere publicly as an SVG?


texts: How to create a Bitmap Font, with Photoshop?

texts:
I want to create a custom font to use for a game, and it must be a Bitmap font. So the spacing etc between characters must be equal. Now I don't know much of Bitmap fonts.

The font itself will be a black Century Gothic with a white stroke. I could just type in the alphabet and apply a Stroke effect, but this wont ensure equal spacings.

What could be the best way to create such a bitmap font? (Or if any exists already just tell me)


texts: How to clearly see what is process and spot colors in the swatches palette

texts:
How can you clearly see the differences between process and spot colors in the swatches palette in Illustrator?
I have issues seeing which are spot colors and which are process colors. Is there a simple way to see the difference?
Besides these little triangle things.


texts: I lost my Photoshop CS6 default brushes, can I download them?

texts: So it seems like I have accidentally deleted my default brushes some time ago (from the disk), and I would like to get them back. I searched online but didn't find them. It'd be helpful if someone could give me a link to download them. Thanks in advance!


texts: Inkscape - Gradients and saving as vector graphics

texts:
I have a vector eps plot on which I add gradient shade in Inkscape. However, when I save as eps again, the gradient part of the plot is pixelated.

Does anyone has solution for this, that is to save a gradient in vector form?


texts: What is the name of this effect? How is it achieved?

texts:
I was told that this was created using a single image though it looks like two images. How is it possible to create an effect like this?
Posted by Sammy Rawal on Instagram


texts: How to resize icons from the noun project without losing quality

texts: Just joined the noun project and they have some great icons! The only problem is that anytime I try to resize the icons to make them smaller (eg 64x64) they seem to get a bit fuzzy. Doesn't matter if I resize the png or svg file format. I export the files to png and use them for a website.


texts: Which drawing technique should I take when learning to draw?

texts:
I'm a completely beginner who want to learn 3D Modelling. From what I learned from some online document, I at least need basic drawing skill, which could help me a lot for learning 3D Modelling. When decided to learn 3D Modelling, I aim to mostly modelling characters.

So, in order to learn 3D Modelling, I plan to learn drawing first. I can see that there are 2 ways to draw: drawing with pen and drawing with mouse (using software provided straight lines and curves, not moving the mouse itself of course). The question is: Should I learn to draw with pen, or to draw with mouse?

I know that drawing with pen is so good that they developed things like drawing tablet to simulate pen drawing on PC, but I think that's only for people who are already good with pen. I stated that I'm a completely beginner, which mean I have never ever drawn before, I never do doodles, I have struggle just drawing a fork, I don't know how to hold my pen properly, my handwriting is ugly as hell... at that point, where drawing with pen is almost as difficult as drawing with a mouse, maybe I should just skip learning to draw with pen, and learn to draw with mouse instead?

TLDR: I'm a completely beginner who doesn't know anything about drawing and have never drawn anything good with pen before. I want to learn drawing to advance to 3D Modelling. I'm wondering between learning to draw using pen and drawing using mouse and need advice which to choose. Can drawing with mouse achieve as much as a pen can do? What is the advantage and disadvantage of both technique? Is drawing with pen easier to master than drawing with mouse?

I need you guys' advice on this please, any help is appreciated, thanks!


texts: How to recreate a common startup trend — tinted background image

texts:
I'm trying to create a design for a startup I'm involved with where there's a background image that's been tinted by a colour.

Examples of what I'm looking to recreate include the background header for sendtoinc and this image on the acorns blog

I'm struggling to get the correct settings to balance the brand colours and the background image without it looking way too contrasting or looking stupid. Ideally, I'd love to have a little bit of colour come through in the background, but not too much as to affect the brand colour (similar to the image in the sendtoinc header).

Many thanks to you guys in advance!


texts:
I'm in HR and was given the task to define levels for some design related skills. This is for use in performance evaluation sessions. One of the categories is "hand drawing", a basic skill any designer should have. The format is comprised of 5 levels, ranging from low to high aptitude.

Will anyone tell me how the basic level of hand drawing compares to the higher levels please?


texts: Automatically remove underlined whitespace on line-break in InDesign

texts: See the underline continues after each word before a line-break? How can I automatically remove that underlined whitespace?


texts: how to export files from illustrator to dwg

texts: I´m a graphic designer who normally works with printing. I now have to convert an Illustrator CS5.1 file into dwg. When I do that the document size changes completely and most of the drawing is outside the format - I try to alter the document size afterwards, but than I have to save it in illustrator again and then the problem rises again when I export it to dwg.


texts: How to reduce the submenu loading delay in Illustrator?

texts:
If I want to use the Arc Tool, I click & hold the Line Tool icon and then I count,

1 Mississippi ...

2 Mississippi ...

And then the submenu appears.

Is there a way to reduce this lag? Or is there a keyboard shortcut to open submenus?


texts: How can I compare fonts not on my computer?

texts: What is a service where I can perform side by side comparison of all fonts? Not just fonts on my computer, as most services seem to offer.


texts: I'm looking for a simple icon to represent vibration. It can't be too similar to the sound icon because I'm going to put it right below a sound icon (the speaker shape). I was thinking something with waves but I'm not too sure. Maybe you guys would have some ideas?


texts: I'm trying to figure out how to create a couple of PDFs where the basic idea is that there is a salesperson-side form and a customer-side handout. I'm wondering how to create a fillable PDF form that once the fields have been completely filled out by a salesperson and they hit something similar to a Submit button, that the information entered into the fields is then output into a summary format (perhaps into a separate file altogether?), and the new file would include marketing information, coupons and discounts, etc that could be given to a customer. Is this something that can be done?


texts: Intermittently can't copy pie graph from Illustrator to InDesign

texts:
I've created a pie graph in Illustrator using the pie graph tool.
I've selected the pie graph with the black arrow tool, and pressed CMD + C on the keyboard, and selected a blank page in my open InDesign document, and pressed CMD + V on the keyboard, and nothing gets pasted.
In Illustrator, I have tried selecting both the layer and the object in the layers panel to copy from, but both fail to paste into InDesign.
Using v24.2.3 of Illustrator & v15.1.1 of InDesign on an iMac.
The last pie graph I was working on in Illustrator I had problems with, I selected the Layer in the breadcrumbs where the filename is above the canvas, and that solved the problem.
In the new Illustrator document in the same Illustrator session as the last successful copy and paste, I don't see the breadcrumbs when selecting the 2nd pie graph.
Help appreciated.


texts:
so I got a bit of a cartoon wing type situation going on here.

I drew this with just the standard pen tool, and I don't really know anything about how wings are supposed to look like, still I thought it looked okay, but that the blend tool could probably do those repeating lines (I guess they're like.. bones or ligaments or whatever on the underside of the wing? Maybe they're just showing the grain of the feathers or something, I don't even really know) a hell of a lot better.

Sometimes the blend tool is my intuitive friend, but most of the time it makes its own decisions and I end up with different stroke profiles (I'll add an example next time it happens) or something like this next picture. It probably would have worked perfectly, except for some reason it decides a somersault in the middle is the way to go instead of keeping everything somewhat parallel:

Somehow, I actually managed to get it looking like this (I actually have no idea how, bonus points if you do), which is approximately what I was going for. It looks kinda like an onion skin, but it's in the right ballpark at least. But when I try to expand, it turns into this weird blob on the right.

Any suggestions would be very much appreciated, thanks.


texts: Half transparent color on a solid background of the same color how to make it contrast to see like in real life

texts:
Working in Inkscape I have an object that is somewhat transparent. I wanted to put this object on a background of a solid color but the background color is the same too.

So after giving some thought to this question I'm asking what can I do to contrast the object to make it look like a half transparent, like a red balloon or red glass on a red background.

My idea was to make the background somewhat transparent and put white in it, so now I have this somewhat transparent red background with white in the middle and on the outer part of the background gradient.

But then I thought that I really do need a solid color cause even if this background like a spotlight white in the middle red going out back to white at the end cause in real life something has to be behind it.


texts: multiple records on 1 page with InDesign CS6 Data Merge

texts:
I am having troubles with getting data imported with data merge to display on one page.

What I need:

On the left page I have 'static' info that I will customize myself.
On the right page I want a table that is created through data
merge.
When the right page is not sufficiently big enough for all the
values then indesign has to add another set of these 2 pages. (on the
right page the table continues, on the left page my 'static' page is
duplicated)

Now when I merge the date from my .csv file InDesign creates a whole new 'book' per value in my list:

creates book per value:

In the data merge menu I can not select 'multiple records per page' this is just greyed out. I can however achieve what I wan't (multiple records per page) in a seperate document with just a single page.

I am still very new to the data merge function in indesign and have no idea if what I'm trying to achieve is possible.


texts: (Adobe Illustrator) Pen Tool fills in lines

texts:
I was working in Adobe Illustrator, making some lines around a photo using the Pen Tool. it worked fine, but for some reason, after I created a new layer and pasted in some shapes, the Pen Tool automatically fills in itself when there are more than 2 sides to it. (see drawing below)

This didn't happen before, and no matter how many times I looked it up, there simply wasn't a conclusive answer to how to disable it. All that I know is that it probably has something to do with "Shape Mode"? (which I can't find any mention of anywhere on the internet) The cursor when making lines is red (it was blue I think) for some reason.

(Sorry if this is a dumb question, I've never used Adobe Illustrator and I'm only using it now because I'm working on someone else's project.)

How can I prevent this from happening?


texts: Creating graphics in bulk with minor variances

texts:
I need to make 50-500 copies of a photo with a phone number printed over top of each. Each of the 50-500 copies needs to have a different colored font or font type for the phone number.

I have been using the iPhone app Phonto to create the graphics and have been saving them individually and then changing the font and saving again 500+ times.

Is there any way on any design program that I can change the phone number and save it with each of the 50 colors?

Each image needs to look similar to the one below, each with a different color/font combination. The photos can be saved to JPEG or PNG sized 612x612px.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!


texts:
I have an object, it is a t-shirt which is black. I want to get this t-shirt but brown. I can't just fill it because it is a photo, not homogenous color. It is the pure shape of it, not square -> So I tried to make a brown square, and then clip->set when I had both selected. I get only white space, not brown t-shirt.

In my opinion, the solution is to get only an outline of this t-shirt and then to fill it with brown color. But I don't know how to get an outline of it.

Will you give me an advice, how to do that? I'm very new in Inkscape. Thank you!


texts: What tools do designers use to help envision and plan the design of a parallax site?

texts:
Making a parallax site is something I've always wanted to try and am now getting into. I understand that they range in complexity and so, for sites more on the advanced side with several layers to create depth or imitate story-telling an animation, what do Designers typically use to help envision that sort of process rather than just building a flat PSD/AI file?

I would imagine they'd like to try and layer things over each other and see how things shift or move before making final decisions on the site's design.

Are there any tricks or methods to this?

How would a designer go about conceptualising and planning a parallax design for a website, and what tools could they use?

Here's an example of what I mean by advanced:
http://supportkyoto.org/


texts: How can I create a block shadow effect for text?

texts: I want to recreate this image in illustrator. I'm looking to create two tone 3-d colors with a variety of different fonts.


texts: What is the Font of the word 'BEST' on the magazine cover?

texts: I'm trying to figure out what is the font that the word 'BEST' is. If anybody has any idea that would be helpful. I've tried font recognition, but not coming back with any results. Thanks in advance!


texts: What reputable online resources are there for pairing a specific font?

texts:
I am not a font expert but I do understand that font choice is important and I really want and need to do this properly.

How do I find reliable, quality resources that can tell me exact font or fonts that are appropriate to pair up specifically with either of the following body fonts:

Geogrotesque Condensed by Emtype
Choice Sans by Terminal Design

Those two fonts have been shortlisted because they are not the run-of-the-mill fonts and fit the design brief of fitting technical information into a small space, probably for screen-based viewing more often than in print.

Unfortunately all the guides I've found so far mainly advise either definitely using whatever font your word processor defaults to, or definitely not using typical word processor fonts. Contradictorily, the latter only ever seem to give pairing advice for run-of-the-mill fonts, none of which appear to my untrained eye to be even remotely similar to the two fonts above.

What I need is something to tell me, for the two fonts above, specific companion font choices or at least a highly specific description of appropriate font characteristics.

I understand that asking for recommendations isn't allowed on here, so I hope that asking for help to find resources which give specific recommendations is allowed. If that's not allowed either, I hope that someone can advise me how to rephrase this post so that it becomes acceptable. I want to be a good citizen.

I have read this question and this article it points to.

Unfortunately those resources don't give specific answers to my fonts and they require too much pre-existing font expertise. One day I would love to become a font expert, but for now I just need to know specific fonts or exact font characteristics.

I'm at a loss as to where to look on the internet for reliable information. I've found plenty of advice whose provenance I can't judge. I'm also at a loss where to ask for help from people who genuinely understand font design.


texts:
How to draw crystals like in Bejeweled ?

Is it rendered in 3D and then Photoshop
or vector graphics like Corel Draw


texts: Name and possibly a tutorial for this inset rounded rectangle technique

texts:
I am speaking about the drop-in effect around the round edges. I like the fact that the actual theme seems to be a bit further back and the border is closer to the viewer.

I can gather that a portion of this must be using an inner shadow with black color.  Is this correct? How can I search this? I have spent quite a while now, but my non-existant background in design doesn't help.

I have access to photoshop but could use other tools if needed


texts: Remove white border around image every time you use the brush tool

texts: Every time I use the brush tool in Photoshop, it puts a white border around the image. See video in Reddit question (I thought it was something to do with the tablet but I replicated it my mouse).  Is there a way to disable this?


texts: Bounding-box suddenly way too wide & off-center

texts:
I've been working in an illustrator file for some time now, but today, all of a sudden, all instances of a symbol I've made are 16k pixels wide (img below).

The objects don't appear that large, but when I click them, the bounding box extends far off-screen to the left and right.

What could cause this? I was editing a symbol when it started happening, but I didn't do anything differently than I've done 100 times before.

(edit: forgot to include this behavior)
When switching to outline mode, there are two long horizontal lines I can't explain. They aren't guides, and they aren't selectable (all objects are unlocked).

ETA again: I tried copying into new file, no change. In case anyone's curious, I've uploaded the file in question to Google drive.  Well, it's 2 files:

The one tagged [fresh-file] is a new file w/ the objects-in-question copied/pasted in.
The other file is the original file, just with extraneous (and problem-free) objects deleted

Illustrator 2015.3.0, Win10


texts: How to switch the visibility setting of two layers in a single action in Illustrator?

texts:
I am new to this forum and wanted to just say a quick hello before asking :)

How do I switch the visibility setting of two layers in Illustrator without having to either see both layers visible or none at all as the in-between step? Please see the attached images, hopefully clarifiying the issue.

Sorry if this is trivial, but it's been vexing me a lot!

Thanks

Viktor


texts:
I've been told in the past that Photoshop shapes aren't vectors.  The context was that vectors can be resized without loss of resolution.

Do Photoshop shapes (if saved as psd or psb files) lose resolution when resized like rasterized layers?


texts: Force Photshop to wireframe/outline view

texts:
Is there a way to force photshop  to change its display mode ?

I work with psd files that sometimes get very large(who doesn't) and at times I run out of resources(memory, processing power) on my device.

It takes ages just to nudge a group sometimes that is why I am looking for a display performance reduction to free up resources.

Is there a way to reduce the quality of the preview simmilar to Adobe Illustrator (View > Outline)


texts: Photoshop CS5 - How to assign position and dimensions from one object to another?

texts: I am currently updating an old document that I don't recall how I created the first time around. What I would like to do is to take the size and position of an existing object that underwent a free transform when it was placed in the document originally, and perform the same transformation on the new object I am now adding to the document. I am replacing the old one and I want the new one to be identical in size and position to the original. How can I do this in Photoshop CS5?


texts: Can I freely use the fire exit symbol and similar ISO symbols?

texts:
I've been doing some research into this symbol (part of ISO 7010), which I'd like to use:

but I can't find out whether I'm allowed to or not. Is the glyph in the public domain? What about similar commonly-used symbols?


texts: Gimp - better resolution with less pixelized edge

texts:
I have this low res picture:

I would like to print it, so I need it in higher resolution, but the edge are all 'pixelized':

I tried the gaussian blur, but the result is to 'blur':

I would like the adge to be 'sharp and not pixelized'.

What would be the best way to do it ?


texts: What should be the standard space in between label and an input control?

texts: I have always had this question; what should be the standard and more readable space that we should add when design applications. So would like to know the best sizes for the space


texts: What paper and ink types are better suited for hot weather conditions?

texts:
I am a Realtor in the Phoenix metropolitan area and do all of my own art work in InDesign.  Currently, I am printing flyers for my listings.  These flyers are placed in an outside box for drive by clients to pick up and read about the home.

I am printing these flyers on Hammermill Color Laser Gloss 32 lbs Brightness 94 paper with a Canon BizHub office laser printer. What I am finding is that after a day in hot Phoenix sun, many of these flyers stick together and are damaged.

I went to Kelly paper and tried a heavier semigloss and non-gloss papers. But they, too, will stick together.

What paper and ink should I use so I can avoid the flyers sticking together, even in hot and sunny conditions?


texts: Why do Illustrator files end up larger than InDesign files?

texts:
I just got some labels from a contractor, and they were designed in Illustrator. I started working exclusively in InDesign last year because I noticed the files sizes seem to be smaller and large projects end up being easier to work with.

I'm sure if I were to rebuild these labels in InDesign, using the same links from the Illustrator files, they would be much smaller, but I'm not sure why. Can anyone explain this?


texts: Is there any math formula to identify if a CMYK color is rich black?

texts:
It not need to be so precise, even because it can change depending on color profile, but I would like to know if there is some formula/algorithm that receive the percentage of C, M, Y and K, then return true or false if it is rich black color.
for example C=70 M=60 Y=40 K=80 TRUE and C=10 M=80 Y=100 K=85 FALSE
I need it to create an Illustrator script to replace the color of texts that is almost black (rich black) to only K.


texts:
How do I create a 3D linear shape (like this in figure) in Illustrator?
I try to use mesh tool (but it deformed all lines) and blending tool (but it not works with closed shape).
Can you help me? Thanks!


texts: How to select number of colors when exporting in PNG8?

texts:
Photoshop CC 2019.

I do Export As..., select PNG, select Smaller File. And then I'm unable to set color number. Probably, Photoshop uses 256 colors. Is there any way to set the value to 16 or 32? Looks like this export dialog was designed for instagram users :(

I'd love to use good old Save For Web option, but it doesn't work for me anymore. When I press Save it throws:

  Could not complete this operation. An unknown error has occurred.


texts: Photoshop: how to resize multiple artboards?

texts:
Is there a way / script / workaround to re-scale multiple artboards including their contents (not just the canvas size)?

Ie.  I have a PSB with 10-15 artboards. Each artboard is 1242 x 2208 and need to scale each one up to 1440 x 2560.

When I press ctrl+alt+i I get the Image size panel, but this shows me the whole master document size (size of all the artboards and the spaces between them combined).

I've seen many variations of this questions across many boards but haven't found a decent answer.


texts: Is it possible to create 3D red/cyan anaglyphs in a hand drawing?

texts:
There are plenty tutorials online on how to create 3D red/cyan anaglyphs from existing photos in Photoshop or similar software.
However, I'm wondering if it is possible to draw a 3D image by hand on for example a whiteboard using markers.

My plan is to tape together a red and blue marker and draw with it using the same rotation/inclination of the marker across the drawing.
Will this give a 3D effect when viewed through red/cyan glasses? Or is the 3D anaglyph method more complex than just offsetting red and cyan lines?


texts: How to prevent constrained text from disappearing after too many characters?

texts:
I am trying to get a long string of 1's and 0's to line break within a simple rectangular path created in Photoshop CS6 (Extended 13.0.1 64Bit).  However, when I reach an unknown number of characters ALL of them disappear!  Is this a known issue or am I doing something wrong?

Steps to recreate:

Create a new canvas 600px X 600px
Put any picture in there as a new BG layer (not sure if this is required)
Create a rectangular path over the entire image
Change your font to 8px Fixedsys (or other mono-spaced font, i.e. Consolas)
Paste a ton of 1's and 0's with NO line-breaks in it - OR - if you want to actually see it happen, type out a couple of lines of 1's & 0's then copy and paste those until they all magically disappear!

Why is this happening and what can I do about it?

Edit: I just checked and the magic number it's pooping out on is 3613.


texts: Photoshop scripting. Get image dimensions to clipboard

texts:
Often I save lots of versions of the same image with different dimensions so I usually include them in filename. It pisses me off to go and check dimensions for every document before saving it so I'd love to automate this. I need a script that gets document dimensions and copies them to clipboard in 000x000 format so I can paste them in "Save as" dialog. Two scripts: In pixels or millimeters.
I'm in the process of learning to script myself but it takes time. And I badly want this script right now :) Please help!
Thanks a lot!


texts: Photoshohp 2019 Merge to HDR - Manual Set EV?

texts:
How does one manually set EV in creating a Photoshop HDR? (32bit)

I've searched and also read the manual multiple times but can't seem to figure out how to manually set EV in the Photoshop 2019 Merge to HDR feature.

  If images lack exposure metadata, enter values in the Manually Set EV dialog box.

Where is the Set EV dialog box? Or how does one access this?


texts: How can I make this graphic more like a spark?

texts:
Can anyone suggest what I can add to this graphic to make it suggest a spark? At the moment it looks more like a star to me. Thanks!

EDIT Thanks very much for the suggestions, think it's looking better...


texts: Making a Shape Edge Vertical in Illustrator

texts: I'm making a letter M in Illustrator by using the pen tool and drawing half of the letter and then mirroring it with a transform effect. I noticed that when I zoom in there is a hairline space due to the fact that the edge is not 100% vertical. I've tried moving the anchor point around but I can't get it completely vertical even when holding shift.


texts: Pathfinder result sightly different from expected!

texts:
I'm making this icon with a base vector and white strokes with variable profiles (right image) and I wanted to unify them as a single object, so I expanded the strokes and used Pathfinder's difference (left image)

They appear identical, and they should, I guess... But when I zoom out, the one I used pathfinding look like it bled or something like that.

How can I make it look like the original?


texts: How to replace a grey scaled image with a varied color?

texts:
I've been using GIMP for years, but am hardly its master.

I am trying to use this photo:

As you can see, it has a number of shades of grey as well as black. I have a particular color that I'd like to replace the black letters with and then the greys with the same color but changed to be that same value.

Is there a way to make GIMP do this for me?


texts: How can I do this distorted ring text in illustrator? Or is it manually done with circle, lines, etc?


texts: Conventions for indenting subsections in a document? (Word)

texts:
I've often see technical documents created in Microsoft Word which use the Header styles with Header 1 sections as 1. Section Title, Header 2 as 1.1. Subsection Title, Header 3 as 1.1.1. Subsubsection Title, etc. I find this very useful for document navigation.

Occasionally I've seen documents with this same convention, but subsections are indented (both header and text). The deeper the nesting, the further the indentation. (e.g. Level 2 indent 0.5", Level 3 indent 1.0", etc.)

Are there any conventions regarding such indentation? Are there any style guides which say whether it's a good idea and why?


texts: PSD file memory techniques in relation to file size

texts:
I'm familiar with the usual advice on how to reduce PSD file sizes but haven't seen any addressing knowledge of some of what Photoshop itself does in regards to storing various layer types.

I have a 7000 x 7000px PSD file with some regular, nested and adjustment layers. The majority are adjustment layers (curves and gradients). It was hovering at around 220mb which was nothing unexpected.

After adding some more gradient adjustment layers and saving, the file is 550mb, which is confusing. I do have some masks added to layers but haven't created any for the new adjustment layers. I had two assumptions which I would appreciate being confirmed or not:

I reuse (duplicate) a layer about 5 times. I made the original a    smart object
and duplicated this layer 4 times with the understanding that
Photoshop recognises the 4 duplicates as instances. This should be
hugely benefitial to file sizes.
Gradient adjustment layers are easy to store as a short
mathematical string (e.g. angle, point of each colour, point of each
opacity change, etc.) As the file sizes have more than doubled, am I
to understand that Photoshop - for some reason - is storing Gradient
adjustment layers as pixel arrays? Which would create huge files.
I'm sure I'm wrong on this one being pixel arrays but need to check.
I believe that Capture One does this for its own gradient adjustment
layers and was very surprised.

Updates on findings:

I made a copy of the file to test what changes made a difference. Please note that I'm not interested in widely published techniques that limit what's editable or remove previews.

I deleted the later added gradient and curve adjustment layers that
appeared (can't 100% be certain) to be the moment when the file
jumped from 220mb to 550mb. This didn't alter the size significantly.
I deleted all of the blank layer masks automatically added to
adjustment layers. I expected no significant difference as it's easy
to compress an entire screen of a single colour (the blank mask) and
I assumed the automatic addition of one was implemented for this
reason. No significant difference in file size on saving.
I deleted all the layer instances (duplicates of a smart object) and
their accompanying gradient and curve adjustment layers. This brought
the file size back down to 265mb. Which begs the question, is it a
myth that duplicating a smart object creates an instance of it?
Photoshop appears to be storing each duplicate uniquely in the file.


texts: Strange halo around the Gaussian blur under different viewing angles

texts:
I made a shadow under the box with a Gaussian blur.
When you look on your mobile it looks good.
But if you look from the computer monitor at a certain angle, an ugly frame like a halo appears around the shadow.

What is the matter and how to solve such a problem?


texts: Hi everyone I was just wondering if anyone knows of any stock image sites or apps or programs for getting images in the same colours of our logo or a program in which we can edit pictures. Thank you


texts: A color gradient app replicating Microsoft Office's features

texts: I'm fascinated by how you can choose which direction the gradient follows in Microsoft Office apps. For example, in the image I've attached, the one in the middle grows in an outward direction.


texts:
I have a rounded square with some stroke. I want some inner color.

Similar to this. How can I achieve that effect in illustrator?


texts: Easiest way to wrap label around an existing bottle / can

texts:
I'm trying to add a label to a can in Adobe Illustrator CS6. I've seen tutorials on how to create the bottle using 3D revolve and then map the art (using a symbol) to the 3D object. The problem is, I cannot do this because the bottle already exists and is in the hand of a Lego minifigure that I vectorised using Image Trace, High Fidelity Photo. As illustrated below:

I would like to wrap a beer label around the can in this image. Something like this:

What is the easiest way to do this in Illustrator?

Thanks,
Amy


texts: How to export to pdf from indesign retaining existing image compression?

texts:
I have a document with images. I need the best quality/size ratio. Now I use the "save for web" feature from photoshop because it allows exactly that.

When I place my images in indesign it looks great, and I sure know my images are small, but when I export I can't seem to choose "retain existing compression", so it wants to recode my already lossy png/jpg's to jpg again which really isn't helpful.

Any solutions?


texts: Photoshop: Crop tool displays CM and not Inches?

texts:
Just been using the crop tool and selecting "W x H x Resolution" but the resolution box is displaying px/cm and not px/inches.

I did a RESET tool but still it displays in px/cm.

I also noticed in the preferences under Units it was set to Centimeter, I am based in europe, is this why by default it is set to centimeter as a tutorial I was following did the exact same but their default was px/inches in the crop tool.

Would it be recommended to change this unit measure under the preferences ?


texts: Issues with PDF image downsampling in export from InDesign or display in Acrobat

texts:
I'm having issues rasterizing images for inclusion in PDFs. I currently rasterize in Illustrator, import to InDesign, and downsample from roughly 300 ppi to 150 ppi, or thereabouts. I would prefer to rasterize to 150 ppi in InDesign instead but that doesn't seem to be possible. The resulting images are always "crunchy" regardless of the Illustrator output resolution. I've tried going as high as 600 with PNGs. The images look okay coming out of Illustrator.
Also, when I then view these PDFs in Acrobat, there are often small image errors that only appear at certain zoom levels.
Images below:
Crunchy

Error


texts: How to Export "only" the illustration in Illustrator CS3?

texts:
I am using Illustrator CS3 and trying to export my illustration. Problem is, I wanted to only export the illustration, no the background canvas area, how I can achieve that?

Thanks.


texts: Do I need to create my images at twice the pixel dimensions on a retina display?

texts:
I just got a new Macbook Pro with Retina and I'm confused about how to attack my PSD's.

If I'm designing a site which has 14px font size, should I be creating it at 28px in Photoshop to see what it will look like in CSS on a standard display?

Or if my website should have a 60px tall header, should I make it 120px in Photoshop?

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


texts:
I have a few documents that have legal lines for 4 different countries (Japan, China, Macau, and Arabic) The legal line is composed for the most part of english and then the japanese characters, chinese characters etc. For example: chinese-characters TM and © My company. All rights reserved.

I have followed some tutorial for dual fonts using GREP styles. For each country, I’ve made 4 different character styles. Each with its own designated font. The text box on the document is linked to a paragraph style that contains the English font that I would like to use (Arial). I’m using unicode ranges for each language. For example, china CJK ranges is 4E00–9FD5

My GREP styles is as follows:

Apply Style: Macau
To Text: [\x{4E00}-\x{9FD5}\x{3000}-\x{303F}]+

Apply Style: China
To Text: [\x{3000}-\x{efff}\x{4E00}-\x{9FD5}\x{3300}-\x{33FF}][^.,;:?!\d]+

Apply Style: Japan
To Text: [\x{3040}-\x{309F}\x{30A0}-\x{30FF}\x{FF00}-\x{FFEF}\x{3000}-\x{303F}\x{4E00}-\x{9FD5}]+

Apply Style: Arabic
To Text:[\x{0600}-\x{06FF}\x{0750}-\x{077F}][^.,;:?!\d]+

The above GREP style works well for Japanese documents but it doesn’t work for the Chinese or Macau documents. If I change the order of the GREP styles in order for the Chinese or Macau files to work, then the japanese document stops working.

My dilemma is that I can’t have different documents for each country and load their own grep style since the documents share with each other contents.

I was wondering if there’s a specific GREP styles order that I should follow or am I missing something so fundamental for it work properly across all 4 languages.


texts:
I know that you can tint a color to white and shade it to black but this is not always good enough to me as it can produce very desaturated results.

Also will you take in consideration to have a color scale from red to orange to yellow for instance? It means that the hue of the color will change but as we perceive these colors darker or lighter it kinda makes sense to me.

Since I'm building an app that allows exactly that I'm looking for references regarding this.


texts: How to reduce screenshot dimensions for putting in a macbook mockup?

texts:
I need to put a screenshot of a desktop application into a macbook mockup.
My problem is that the mockup I have needs a screenshot of 2880x1800px but my system screen is not big enough.

I have another macbook frame where I can place the screenshot but in this frame I have to reduce the size of it which makes it very blurry.

Is there anyway I can reduce the size of the screenshot or should I use some other approach?
Thanks


texts: Presenting a large number of items in one slide – too crowded or not?

texts:
I am creating a presentation and I have to list the following items
(personal information you should take care of):

Full name
Address
Social Security number
Date of birth
Mother’s maiden name
PIN
Usernames
Passwords
E-mail address
Credit score

But I don’t want to just list it; instead I created this:

My worry is that it seems too crowded. Is this right way to do this or should I just list them? New ideas are utmost welcome. Any help is appreciated.

(I just want to add that what if the list contains 11 items instead 10, how to make it as aesthetically pleasing also.)

EDIT: To clarify the purpose, this is just a run-down of items. The next slides doesn't explain the items and my main purpose is just to show examples of the subject.

Removed the circles:


texts: I've been following a tutorial but I can't figure out how to create the shadow effect on the lower curve. Does it have to be a path? Right now it's a filled object.


texts: Is it possible to copy my selection editor into a layer? (Gimp)

texts:
I am currently trying to outline a picture of my buddies car, and fill it with a solid color and put it onto a shirt for him. My selection editor has exactly what I want inside of it, but I go to fill the selection and its all fuzzy, but I want a hard outline. I deleted the background within the photo, used select by color and have what I want selected. So is there any way I can directly put whats in my selection editor onto a layer? Or is there a work-around? I've got very little gimp experience so there's probably something i'm completely missing.

Thanks for your time, G.


texts: What sort of structure does the slice tool generate when exported as HTML?

texts: When I used the slice tool on each part and export as HTML, does it generate a skeletal HTML code where it consists of frame layouts? I would like to know for both Photoshop CS4 and GIMP.


texts: Sketch/Figma: Using JSON as a color/typography library

texts: I have JSON with typography/color data. Is there any way to use this data in a Figma or Sketch so that I could've corrected it and then override it?


texts: How do I delete one image from another for transparent background in Illustrator 2019?

texts: I have created this image and would like to to be able to have a transparent outline of the state (filament) for one-color applications. The bulb part has a black fill. Any suggestions on how I can "delete" the state outline?


texts: How can I export a PNG8 image with alpha transparency from Adobe Illustrator?

texts:
Coming from the mighty Fireworks, I'm used to exporting PNG-8 files with alpha transparency - for many graphics, it's PNG24 quality using less bytes.

But I can't see how to do this in Illustrator. There's only a checkbox for Transparency, not the None/Index/Alpha options present in Fireworks. See below:

Is it possible to export a PNG-8 with alpha transparency from Illustrator, or can only Fireworks do this?


texts: In Adobe Photoshop I always use the default brush, but then I clicked something by accident and now it has changed with no easy way to change back. Can someone help me?


texts: Why are my corners "inside-out" in Illustrator?

texts:
There are 2 big things I don't get about this image (two identical paths in Illustrator, one of which is reflected, with a pretty simple brush applied to them both in order to highlight the issue)

What are these "inside out" corners, and how can I get rid of them? It is nothing to do with the brush because I've seen this happen with very simply shaped paths (i.e. a basic 1-2pt stroke on a triangle) as well.
I'm also curious how the exact same shape has a stroke applied in a completely different way. The above shapes are identical except for (obviously) being reflections of one another (this is the above shape deconstructed.

Some notes:
* These are two identical paths (as noted above) with a stroke applied to each simultaneously.
* To make the shape, I merged a circle with a triangle, then adjusted the points manually.
* One is a reflection of the other, so they should be completely (symmetrically) identical.


texts: Illustrator makes bad quality outlines when exporting to SVG

texts:
I've recently noticed a problem when using the export to SVG feature of Adobe Illustrator. (CC 2015.3)

I import into my document some stuff (For example from a PDF), but when I export them into SVG and reopen it, the outlines look like they've been "drafted"...

Here you have an example:

These are the original SVG shapes when I'm editing them:

This is the output upon exporting it to a SVG file...

What could be the problem?


texts: Change Illustrators "native" SVG resolution

texts:
Even if only containing fully vectorized content, SVG files contain a resolution (in pixels). If saving as SVG from Illustrator (CS5), my Illustrator always sets this resolution to 72 dpi. That's what I mean with "native SVG resolution".

This is a problem with our Inkscape-based-lasercutter, that assumes 96 dpi. When I open the Illustrator-SVGs in Inkscape, all artworks are scaled down to 67%. A line that I create in Illustrator with 10 mm will only have 6.7 mm in Inkscape (and the lasercut).

Rescaling the whole artwork by factor 1.3333 will fix that problem, however I'm doing this OFTEN and it is tedious, so being able to rightaway save with 96 dpi would be much more convenient than reopening and rescaling before sending to the lasercutter.

Is there a way to change the "native/assumed" resolution (from the default of 72 dpi), when exporting from Illustrator (save as SVG)?

Unlike this thread here indicates, changing Effects > Document Raster Effects Settingshas no effect on my SVGs. My SVGs contain no raster-effects whatsoever, only paths.


texts: Is it possible to do smooth color transition between 2 paths in Inkscape?

texts:
I have 2 closed paths, one inside another:

I want to get a smooth color gradient between their outlines. Something like this, but smooth:

(done with path interpolation an manual coloring)

Is there any simple operation, gradient type, filter or extension to achieve this?


texts: Independent sidenotes for each paragraph in InDesign

texts:
I want to find a way to create a table-like layout like this:

As you can see, this example actually made in word-like application. I want to make it in InDesign, but I don't know what is a best way to do it.

From my point of view, there are two ways, both very ugly.

The first way is just to use a table. But as I understand, that may bring some problems in the future. Why? Because, as I think, the document is not intented to be a large table, and so, there are may be some problems with images, nested tables, references and TOC. Since I'm novice in InDesign, I'm not sure, but I think it's true.

Another way is to use anchored frames, together with auto-resize height of frames. Here is the image. For better understandability, I colored frames into different colors:

The beige and blue are frames which are anchored to the red frame. (I should also note that beige and blue frames are not inline frames). The second red frame is also anchored to the first red frame. So we have 3 frames anchored to the first red:

beige frame
blue frame
second red frame

This second (anchored-based) approach is also ugly, because:

we have a lot of anchored frames (it looks like something very unstable)
it also hard to insert text (I want to insert text into blue frame, but when I click it, the text is entered into the red one)
I don't know a way to make red frame automatically resize it's height to match both heights of beige and blue. In other words, if I add or remove text into the beige or blue, as the next step, I must manually (not automatically) change the height of the red one.

Maybe someone know what is the way to make such layout without all this ugliness?

Cheers, John


texts: My Screenshoots are "too light" for printing

texts:
(Completely rewritten version.)

I'm a writer doing a book for an overseas publisher. My deliverables for them are .doc files for the text and .png files for the graphics. I have no control over print production processes.

The publisher tells me that my .png files are "too light" and will cause problems during printing. (I've been told this doesn't make sense; nothing I can do about that.) They've asked me to do darker versions. Since these are screen captures of web applications, the only way to make them darker is to edit the files. I've tried editing them using the Brightness/Contrast tool in GIMP, but this introduces weird color distortions. There's presumably some simple adjustment that will make these images look darker, but I lack the expertise to find it.

Simple example: