texts: InDesign script to make auto-sized frames hold descenders: how to make it work?

texts:
I found the following promising script by Jon S. Winters,
function holdDescenders ( aTextFrame_o , extraHeight_n ) {
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //-- H O L D D E S C E N D E R S
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //-- Generic: Yes.
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //-- Purpose: To increase the height of the passed frame by the amount
 //-- that Adobe InDesign indicates is the height of the largest
 //-- descender of the frame.
 //-- Assumptions: 2
 //-- 1: This function assumes that the frame has already been collapsed
 //--  to the baseline of the last line of text as if you had used
 //--  its 'Fit Frame to Contents' function. Call this function
 //--  _after_ collapseing the frame using your desired method.
 //-- 2: The measurement system is assumed to be points.
 //-- Warning: There is no error checking for text that is not visible.
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //-- Parameters: 2
 //-- aTextFrame_o: A single text frame object. The frame whose height
 //--  you want to increase the height of by adding the maximum
 //--  descender height.
 //-- extraHeight_n: a point value. If not supplied, zero is assumed.
 //-- Returns: Nothing. The passed object is modified.
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 //-- Written by Jon S. Winters on 2008.10.29
 //-- eps@electronicpublishingsupport.com
 //-------------------------------------------------------------------------

 //-- Verify argument 2. If it isn't a number, make it zero.
 extraHeight_n = parseFloat ( extraHeight_n ) ;
 if ( isNaN ( extraHeight_n ) ) { extraHeight_n = 0 } ;

 //-- Get the descender value
 var descenderHeight = aTextFrame_o.parentStory.characters[-1].descent ;

 //-- Increase the frame height
 var currentBounds = aTextFrame_o.geometricBounds ;
 currentBounds[2] = currentBounds[2] + descenderHeight + extraHeight_n ;
 aTextFrame_o.geometricBounds = currentBounds ;
}

(Source: http://extendscript.blogspot.com/2009/09/collapse-indesign-text-frame-to.html)
copied it as holdDescenders.js (I have also tried to change the extension to jsx) to the script directory (on Windows, it is %AppData%\Adobe\InDesign\Version 8.0\en_US\Scripts\Scripts Panel), and now I'm trying to run it in InDesign in different ways, but nothing happens.
Is it an error on my side or the script should be changed somehow so that it will work? I use InDesign CS6.


texts: Why is blend mode not making each line equal in width?

texts:
When applying a blend to two paths the lines in between them are not as wide.

This is what happens

To clarify, I want each line to be of equal length.


texts: How to turn off effects on anchored object that are nested from textbox?

texts:
Adobe Indesign CS6. Take a look on this image:

How to remove shadow under blue shape?
I can't clear effects on this object:


texts: Draw a grid for a Scrabble-like word game

texts:
In Gimp (preferrably) or Photoshop, how would you please draw such a board for a word game?

I wonder how to:

Draw a grid with equidistant lines for a 15 x 15 board?
In the colored rectangles - how to put the strings "3L", "3W", etc. (missing in the above image) - so that they are really in the middle?


texts:
Is there a shortcut for renaming layers in Illustrator CC?
There isn't one listed on Adobe's Default Keyboard Shortcuts


texts:
I want to apply a dash line stroke around shapes. But the dash/dots are not spaced equally. Two dots are overlapping at a certain point (in a circle). For rectangle shape, they are not evenly spaced.
How can I solve this?
Thank you.


texts:
I am trying to fill a selected region using the bucket tool in Gimp. I want everything to have hard edges, no gradual shading unless I do it myself. However, when I fill the region I end up getting gradual shading on the periphery. Here is an example image:

Is there any way to change this behaviour?


texts: What is the highest possible print resolution in book publishing?

texts:
I want to publish an art book with a major publisher. I need to finish my artwork and then approach publishers, so I cannot ask for printer specifications beforehand. My art is digital, and I want to create it with the option to print it at any common unknown printer.

I understand that for normal purposes it is enough to create images at a resolution of 300ppi. But suppose, for the sake of this question, I wanted to print my art at the highest possible resolution that common art book printing allows.

What is the highest possible output/printer resolution (dpi, lpi) in printers that print art books for major mainstream publishers?

And what is the best digital file resolution (ppi) for that output resolution? Identical (bitmap), double (300dpi => 150lpi), quarter (pixel to CMYK), ...

And finally, does the resolution differ for K as opposed to CMY? That is, does black have a higher possible resolution than color, because, I assume, that text is not printed at "300dpi" in books.

I am not talking about PoD, Small Press, or specialized high end single print art print photographic printing, but printers that print illustrated books of artistic photography or museum art such as you find in the coffee table book section of a bookstore.


texts: Fastest way to learn anatomy and proportions?

texts: I'm trying to improve my drawings and 3D sculptures by learning proper anatomy and proportions, but I just can't seem to find any teachers whose method of teaching works for me. In addition, I'm very impatient so I keep getting frustrated quickly and then taking longer than I should to learn what I need. What's the best and fastest way to learn anatomy? I know it takes a lot of practice, but where I should I look for lessons? Preferably somewhere free as I'm a poor college student.


texts: How to vertical center the bounding box to the x-height?


texts: What tool or method will create concentrated dots in Illustrator?

texts:
I need a thick spray of dots. I have tried both the Symbol spray tool and the paint brush to create a spray effect but a tight one. I'm not looking for scatter so much as a "pile-on" effect. Neither tool really works because with the symbol sprayer the dots seem to avoid each other and spread instead of thickening and with the paint brush it only does one line at a time.

Is there a better way to do it?


texts: Where are the light sources located in Material design?

texts:
Google says that Key lights create directional shadows, and Ambient light create soft shadows from all angles.

Referring specifically to the image below, where are the Key & Ambient Light sources located, that have created both directional & soft shadows around the material?

Source:
https://material.google.com/material-design/environment.html#environment-light-shadow


texts: How to re-size images taken with Print Screen while keeping the original aspect ratio?

texts:
Say for instance I have pressed Print Screen and cut the following image:

Now I wish to scale this down to about 338 width and 338 px height. However when I do this in Paint (I know, noob program) I get the following result:

Which looks somewhat compressed and ugly.

So my question is: How would you go around doing stuff like this? Are there any free programs that can help you?


texts: Delete everything beyond the artboard in Illustrator

texts: I am making graphs for a scientific publication.  They must be submitted as EPS vector graphics.  The graphics program that I'm using can output a vector based PDF.  I have made an artboard the exact size of the image requirements, and I select the graph from the PDF and bring it into AI.  Everything I want to include in the graph is on the artboard.  However, when I upload the eps files to the rendering program (to get proofs), the stuff outside of the artboard is also visible.  I tried doing alt-eraser and making a marquee of the stuff I don't want, but it won't delete.  I tried making a rectangle the size of the artboard, aligning it to the artboard, Pathfinder/Crop, but that hides stuff in my original graph.  I'm a beginner with AI, and I'm not sure what else to try.  I tried to attach an EPS file, but am unable.


texts: How would I go about printing on plastic lids?

texts: How would I go about printing my own branding on black PET plastic lids, like in the picture? How is that achieved and what type of printing is that?


texts: Problems with Inkscape's trace bitmap when converting with multiple colors

texts:
I want to apologize ahead of time, for potentially failing to explaining the problem more accurately:

So I'm attempting to smooth/clean up a design I'm making for a greeting card on Inkscape. I started in GIMP, then realized a vector image would be best, and the trace bitmap function does a lot of what I am looking for.

Rather than explain what I think is happening, I'll just show you the before and after.
This is a screenshot of the .png, zoomed in, and I essentially want the picture to remain as it is, just cleaned up by converting it to a vector

What happens when I perform the trace bitmap, is that it smooths out awesome, but all the colors in the card tend to overlap each other, and show up in places they're not wanted (see how the text now has a small layer of green, and beige?)

And this is just a full sized shot of the card

So Basically, I need to smooth and clean things up, and avoid getting every color traced around the whole image, but stay in their perspective places.

How can I achieve this? I'm new to Inkscape, and have had no luck finding an example of this, partly because I don't even really know the terminology to explain what is happening (apologies!).


texts:
working in Illustrator I have multiple layers that I want to retain before bringing into After Effects. Some of my elements have been filled using a Wacom and not filled the traditional way (pictured).

I'm aware of Select > Same > Fill color.

Is there a way of selecting all the same fill colour (yellow for example) and expanding them BUT leaving the objects on their current layer, not grouping that selection together.

There's literally hundreds of layers.

Hoping for a script or something.

Hope someone can help.

Adam

****UPDATE****

Ok. Bringing an element as messy as the screenshot I posted into aftereffects creates a massive amount of paths and slows the performance of the file. This is just one element of a massive illustrator document with hundreds of layers. I can't post that cause the campaign hasn't launched.

Aftereffects recognises the layers from the illustrator document, so merging destroys those layers and combines colour fills of different layers, which I don't want.

Sound like the answer is no for an 'easy' option, which I kinda knew would be the answer. I just need to go through each layer individually.


texts:
I'm trying to model a lens distortion to apply to a vector image. I originally tried to use the Warp > Inflate effect, and I was able to get close in some scenarios to what I was looking for, but the problem is the inflate effect's scale is uniform throughout the x/y axis. The effect I'm looking for is for the effect to be on a logarithmic scale based on distance from the center.

I've got an example of what I'm looking for:

The original image on the left, an approximation of what I'm looking for in the center, and what the inflate effect is doing on the right (note the consistent spacing in between each warped ring).

So I guess the main question is, does anyone know of an effect that can implement the effect I'm looking for? or am I stuck writing a custom plugin or something?


texts: How can I print true b&w with Epson Discproducer PP-100? (no CYM color ink used)

texts: I would like to print a true b&w image on discs using the Epson Discproducer PP-100 but when I select Black in the Discproducer print settings it still uses a bit of color ink (CYM). I was told by Epson it was because the image I made in Photoshop (CS3) grayscale still has color info in it but I was able to save a K only image and still prints a bit of color with he PP-100 (visible in light areas of the image especially). Has anyone had this problem & found a solution? I would be extremely grateful for a solution (if there is one) thanks.


texts: How to generate tint, shade and shadow colors in illustrator?

texts:
I am trying to make an app icon by following the guidelines given here in Adobe Illustrator, but I am unable to figure out how to generate the colors for tint, shade and shadow. Can anyone help me with that?

Thank You.


texts: in graphic design how would you go about making something informal / open yet professional

texts:
i was told by a client to design a an advertisement banner for an event like ted talks where an industry professional is brought with stories to tell and strong backgrounds in business, to speak to up-and-coming entrepreneurs and professionals looking to grow their knowledge.

The client wants something informal / open yet professional how would ou go about it?


texts: Create pdf from Illustrator and retain scale when printing

texts: I have created a pattern in Illustrator CS6 and need to save as a pdf and retain the correct scale. I'm losing 1/16" of a inch all around. How can I resolve this?


texts: How do I create this mesh type gradient effect in illustrator? (see image)

texts: This is the type of thing I'd like to create in illustrator, I've been playing around with meshes and can't seem to be able to do it. I'can distort the shape using the envelope mesh tool (screenshot attached) but I almost need to be able to convert into separate shapes unless there's a better way of doing it? Can someone give me some pointers on how to do it? Many thanks in advance]2


texts:
I need a brush that is exactly 10x10 pixels.

Here is what I have tried so far:

creating a brush with a radius of 5. This, of course, results in a brush that is more than 10 pixels wide
creating a brush that is 3.5 pixels wide, since looks like radius measures the diagonal of the square (a^2 + a^2 = 25, a ≈ 3.53). This creates a brush that is 9 pixels wide.
use scale to scale up or down the brush size. It stays at 9 pixels square, then jumps to 11 pixels square, without stopping at 10 pixels in between

It seems, to me, a bit crazy that I can't do this. Has anyone successfully created a square brush that is 10x10 pixels in size?


texts: How can I recreate glowing sparks and lighting effect?

texts:
I have always wondered how is this being done and always wanted to learn to be able to do it myself. That orange effect looks so cool and fancy. Does anyone know what technique is used to achieve this effect? I've tried doing something similar myself, I've tried painting some orange circles and then applying a motion blur to it, but I'm not getting anywhere near to what is in the wallpaper, I believe there's some other technique used which I'm not aware of. Also I would like to know how to add those cool sparks. ;)

If anyone knows how to do this I'm excited to learn! ;)


texts:
What are the best tools for producing infographics - attractive displays that combine graphs, diagrams and text to convey a lot of information succinctly. I'm interested in both web-viewable content and posters for printing.

Specifically, I'm asking:

What combinations of tools are used (eg, one tool for making graphs, another for assembling graphs and text into the final infographic)?
Are any vector graphic tools (eg, Illustrator) particularly more or less suited to the task than others?
Are there any online tools which are useful in the assembly process?

(As an example of the kind of thing I'm interested in making [but on much more modest scale], http://xkcd.com/980/)


texts: 3DSMax: bounding box not fitting the model

texts:
Bounding box around this imported landscape model is for some reason looking like this:

How can the model inside the box be rotated so that the bounding box becomes as narrow as the model? Or to put it the other way around: how can the bounding box be resized to fit the model and have as little volume as possible?


texts: Placed Illustrator file (in InDesign) - bottom layer showing despite cover

texts:
I am working on Adobe Creative Suite CS5.5

I am producing a map in Illustrator with multiple layers to place in an InDesign document. The bottom layer of the Illustrator file is an aerial photograph of the area. I have placed a compound path over the aerial photograph to "cut out" the focus area we are working on (I'm an urban planner). The compound path is plain white with 100% opacity, and it is on a different layer than the photograph.

When placing the Illustrator file in InDesign and exporting as PDF, for some reason the bottom layer (the aerial photograph) is still visible at the outer edge of the InDesign content box (see picture). This effect is NOT visible when physically printing the page from the PDF, but it is always visible on screen (at every zoom level).

The Illustrator file is set up specifically to be the exact same size of the content box in InDesign to keep the scale of the map consistent.

Things I have tried:

making the InDesign box a tiny bit smaller so the edge of the Illustrator file is not at the exact edge of the InDesign box. The problem persists.
expanding the compound path so it covers area outside the artboard in Illustrator as well, to cover up the edge properly. The problem persists.
Placing a rectangular path the same size as the artboard on the same layer as the photograph and giving it a 2p contour, plain white, 100% opacity, again to cover up the edge. The problem persists.

Any advice would be appreciated.


texts: How can I modify a GIF that uses "cumulative layers"?

texts:
When you save a GIF in GIMP, you're given the option to use cumulative layers (combine) or one frame per layer (replace).

Choosing cumulative layers causes the GIF's layers to only contain the pixels that changed since the last frame.

Choosing one frame per layer causes each of the GIF's layers to save all of its pixels, not relying on any of the pixels from the last frame.

If a GIF has been previously saved with cumulative layers, and I delete the first few frames, it messes up the rest of the GIF because the later frames were relying on the (now deleted) color information from the first frames.

Here's an example:

Original:

After deleting the first two frames:

How can I save the modified GIF so that it looks correct?


texts: Do most web designers make their own textures?

texts:
I'm a web developer by training who is branching into UI/UX design. One of the things my design work lacks compared to experienced designers is subtle use of texture, such as on these sites: http://www.trendkite.com, http://chartbeat.com

Do designers generally make these patterns from scratch, and if so, what is the best way to go about learning how to create them? The only freely available, subtle patterns I've seen that are as nice as this this are on subtlepatterns.com. I've had an equally difficult time finding tutorials on how to make nice patterns from scratch. Any resources you could point me to would be very helpful.


texts: Aligning objects without them popping over

texts: In Illustrator I can't align an object with a stroke with an object without a stroke. It keeps popping over out of alignment. How can I stop it from popping over?


texts:
I have several images with text on them. I would like to "ONLY" flip the texts in the images. Here is an example:

I want to keep the image intact except the texts where I need to flip them horizontally.
What is the easiest way to achieve that in Gimp? If not, are there any other free tools that could help me achieve that?
Thank you


texts: Maybe icons should represent the action instead of the medium / device?

texts:
I have perused questions about icons becoming outdated. I think the problem is that they usually derive from a physical object rather than the action involved (noun instead of verb). Even the spelling of words can change over time, to say nothing of pronunciations and different languages overall...

Has there been useful research with conclusions about:

Designing icons that do not depict outdated (or soon to be) objects.
Icons that are valid across cultures and time - not based on words.
How many icons people can see and respond to at once (eg: the Ribbon).
Making icons that would be translatable to blind people (this is less important to me, but seems like a consideration).

Yes, it looks like 4 different questions, but really, I am trying to get at the "essence" of what an icon is, apart from what culture it derives from. Please consider these as angles of a single question.

Why this is important to me: If software can be used by people around the world with different languages, and everyone knows (or can be shown) what the "Save" button means, then there is an underlying - wordless - understanding. I would call this "right-brain" knowledge. I think that left-brain methods, concepts and ways of communicating are far overused, at the expense of the faster and more powerful (for some purposes) right side skills. I would like to help move toward using more of the "brain" / human capacity in a more natural way. Thank you.


texts:
I am rather newbish at modeling and noob at texturing. For a few weeks I have been trying to make some buildings inspired from Oblivion (the scify movie) and perhaps Elysium.
What happens is, I start modeling, and at one point or another it gets crappy. At the end I am unhappy with the result, mostly because I would need reference images, not concept art.

What would help me loads would be some models in this nature, preferably textures, so I can study them and form a mental process on how to create new things of this nature.

Thank you!


texts: In Illustrator you can create own colors in the color palette (as you might know :)). Now I want to do the following: create a shape, for example a rectangle, and assign a color from the palette. Is it possible to change the color of every shape I assigned the color the when I change the color in the palette? For example I create a color "myColor", assign it to three rectangles and when I change the "myColor" in the palette, all the three rectangles are updated automatically. Thank you!


texts: How to interpret these PPI numbers in Illustrator?

texts: Illustrator gives me the resolution of 33x74 PPI - I'm used to seeing 300DPI, or something similar where it only displays one number.  What's up with this 'a x b' PPI reading? How should I interpret this?


texts: Make border radius for photos in Photoshop

texts:
I have a list of photos, different sizes and shapes, and I want to give them 10px border radius for everyone.

This is very helpful in every UI, when there are photos with different sizes.

How to perform this?


texts: How can I increase my photoshop skills and be more creative?

texts:
As of right now, I'm a junior in my high school.

I took a photoshop class for a semester in my sophomore year and now I want to increase my skill and creativity in photoshop for many reasons. Such as, doing it for fun, selling some of my art, create things for any future games I might create (since I'm in an programming class in another school), create anything for any websites I might create, etc.

I no longer have that class and they only taught the basics, leaving me feeling empty handed.

When I look at tutorials in photoshop, I see myself wanting to have the skill people have in photoshop and I don't want to copy anyone because I'm not creative or skilled enough to create something on my own. If you have a solution or advice, people tell me, anything will help.

Please and thank you.


texts: Illustrator: Way to align / justify text with left + right in the same text box?

texts: Is there a way to align / justify text with left + right in the same text box, without creating a new text box? It's not too big of a deal, but would save time, if there is a workaround.


texts: How to convert 3D model from .STL or .OBJ to a series of images covering every angle of the model?

texts:
There are a ton of ways to convert images to 3D models, but I'm interested going the other way: from a 3D model to a series of images.

I need many images generated from one 3D model, the more the better, from every possible angle, and every possible scale.

For example, I have a 3D model of a pencil. I need to generate 100,000 images from this 3D pencil model from every angle (x,y,z), including the smallest scale to the largest scale.

I'm using Python and working with Blender at the moment and wondering if there is a simpler approach to solve this.


texts:
Is there a name for this type of material flow chart?

Are there any tools to automate or partially automate the creation of these charts? Or are these created manually in a program like Adobe Illustrator ?

https://flowcharts.llnl.gov/content/assets/images/energy/us/Energy_US_2018.png


texts: Where to find “LaTeX Formula” in inkscape?

texts: I know It should be on the menu bar -> Extensions -> Render -> LaTeX Formula. But when I use inkscape on windows, there is no "LaTeX Formula" in the above path. It should be hidden somehow. Anyone could let me know how to make "LaTeX Formula" show up? Thanks a lot.


texts: How to practically interpret a specified font weight?

texts:
Designers have provided us with the specification that a font should be rendered with weight 75 Bold.

The software I am using (CSS, WPF) expects font weights in the range of roughly 100 and 900. How do I have to interpret the 75 in practice?

From one question, I figure that the 100 to 900 range is from what is called Linotype system, or TrueType dimensions, as they are called elsewhere. Also, again the aforementioned question indicates the one digit numbers seem to be from the so-called Panose system.

Is it legitimate to simply assume the range from 100–900 proportionally matches the range from 2–9, as is implied in a question? I am also wondering about this as, for instance, the WPF values slightly exceed that range by using value 950 (not that this would be a problem if I assume a linear relationship).


texts: How to determine a typeface's origin and whether I have a license?

texts:
I am currently working on the cover of a book.

I'd really like to include the typeface Rockwell Extra Bold which is installed on my system.
However Rockwell Extra Bold seems not to be installed through OSX nor through the Adobe Suite (CS4).

Is there a way to find out how this typeface ended up on my system and thus whether I am allowed to use it in the context of a printed book?

I definitely did not download any typeface by hand to this system so it must have come through some software I legally purchased and installed.

I do wan't to be sure though before using it in such a context.

Thank you very much for any advice, I appreciate it very much!

Have a nice day!
Tom


texts: Is an eps Illustrator file a full vector file?

texts: If I convert a pdf file to an Illustrator eps file, will it be a full vector file that will resize appropriately?


texts:
Suppose I want to take the dimensions of an object of negligible width on a flat surface from a photograph and am able to calibrate in the sense that I know the distance per pixel of some line drawn on the object via doing real world measurements.

How could I go about getting the other dimensions without manually finding a pixel to distance ratio or measuring each individual desired dimension irl?

Is there some program that can use this photograph to craft a 2D outline of it that I might then use with CAD?


texts:
New to illustrator.

I'm trying to add highlights to a image I'm trying to digitize. The image looks like below

I'd love to be able to replicate the white "rough" coloring approach. Is there an easy way to do this in illustrator?


texts: Photoshop Scripting - applying changes only to selected artboards

texts:
Having trouble specifically with artboards for Photoshop scripting.

What I want it to do:

I have a photoshop file with 8 artboards, and I want to apply changes (name changes) to the selected artboards via scripting.

What it actually does:

So far the script I have (that I found online) will rename ALL of the artboards in my file instead of the ones selected. I've tried editing/using Photoshop scripts that will work on regular layers, but can't figure out how to get it to work for selected artboards.

Is this possible to script?


texts: Restore transparency to a part of an image

texts:
I have this image:

Downloadable here.

I need to isolate the libellula and "restore" the transparency of its wings, the areas highlighted here:

I haven't problems to isolate it but how can I restore the transparency?

The image must be saved as PNG with alpha channel, without the background.

I haven't enough knowledge about GIMP and image manipulation, I already tried with the rubber tool adjusting the opacity but the result is very bad.

Thanks a lot!


texts: remove white-space from blend while maintaining lines as strokes

texts:
I am trying to make a laser cut pattern in illustrator and I want to make the following image etched into wood (red lines etched).

So, here is the rub. Right now those lines are just a blend under a white object. I need to get the image to be just strokes so that the robot can follow them. Somehow I need to get that image to just be simple strokes. I am sure there is some way to make an object, subtract out the white space and then add in a hatch then convert that to primitive line elements. But I have no idea where to begin.

Thoughts?


texts: I guess I'm getting a glitch in the newest version of gimp, when I'm trying to use the clone tool it's not just working fine, it's not cloning at all its just draw other things


texts: Is there an easy way to cut out white background in Illustrator?

texts: I have to process 120 images, I already did it with fireworks but the quality is depressingly low, I see that Illustrator only lets me cut the white background with the Pen tool, it doesn't have Magic Wand, with the Pen tool it will take me two days to cut out the white of 120 images. Is there any other way to do it? The sad thing is that I already had transparent GIFs saved with Fireworks, but each time I import one in Illustrator the background returns white. Any advice please? Thank you..


texts: How to Export fonts, Layer Styles, and other settings of Photoshop CS6 from one machine to another

texts: Well, Let me put it this way, I had a PC on which I use to do all my designing work. It was like a home for me, I had all fonts installed, Layer styles saved, Swatches, and many more things. But recently I bought another PC and now I was wondering if there is a way to export every Photoshop stuff I had on my old PC to my New PC. Any help will be really appreciated.. :)


texts: Prepping graphics to make silk screen for pottery

texts:
First time posting here. Lovely to meet you all!

I'm wanting to learn how to take a graphic I find online, say of a comic character, and do whatever I need to do to it to end up with a single colour silk screen mesh. The mesh will later be used with a kind of clay paint (underglaze) on rice paper to make transfers, so I assume it will be a large-hole mesh that I need to use.

Can people please point me to tutorials etc that I can learn from? and perhaps also suggest PC programs I can use aside from Illustrator?
I've used photoshop to some small extent in the past, so looking to learn the jargon ect.

Essentially I need to prepare the art work to make the screen (I'm having someone else make the screen for me, but not do any printing). I'm hoping to have a number (10-20) small images done on the screen, kinda like a stencile set.

I'm just needing to know where to start. Thank you all so much!!
As an example, how do I get something like the first image into something like the last image? Is there even a name for such a process?


texts: Academic figure components to create an Architecture design

texts:
I want to make a figure that describes the the system architecture, but I am not able to make a figure that looks clean and professional like this  one:

My Question: is there a piece of software that draws the components of the figure with same style (Computers, Hacker icons, and rectangles)?

I tried to make something that looks like this one using Adobe Illustrator, but I didn't find the appropriate icon set to have a clean figure.

Please can you help me to make clean figures like the one in the example.
Thanks,


texts: Illustrator: Can compound paths have multiple colors?

texts:
I have two paths.

A white envelope icon and a red "No" symbol.

I want to combine the two into a compound path.

My question is, is there a way to keep the "No" symbol red and the envelope white?

When combining them into a compound path, they both take on the same color.


texts: Recolour a higher resolution image, when I have a recoloured lower resolution one?

texts:
I have three images; An "original" 16x16 image, a recoloured 16x16 image, and a 32x32 image which is basically the same as the original image, but with a higher resolution. What I want to do, is to obtain a 32x32 recoloured image; it should have the same colours as the recoloured 16x16 image.

In other words, if we call the images I have A, B and C, and the one I want to make D, D should be to C as B is to A. More precisely, I want to map all colours in the original 16x16 image to the colour at the same position in the recoloured 16x16 image, and apply the mapping to the 32x32 image.

Is there any way to do this? I usually use GIMP for image editing.


texts: Change whether an inkscape mask moves with objects

texts:
How do change the behaviour of a mask in Inkscape such that it either moves with the objects it is masking, or not.

It seems to switch between the two at random at the moment. Also, how can I select the mask itself?


texts:
Following this answer to my SuperUser post, I use Sejda to maximize the crop box without cutting any page content. But into which box ought I enter the margins? As I questioned in that post:

I must print  PDFs  over 500 pages and with footnotes. All pages are bordered by white blank space, but the white blank space start at different lengths from the border. To wit,  the cutoff and dimensions of the text and images differ for each  page.

It's too inefficient to measure the cutoff of white blank space on each page. How can I deduce the maximum crop size that'd eliminate the most white space, without cropping the text?

Here's the source for the picture below.


texts: Why is an m not an em wide in all fonts?

texts: M and — are not always equally wide, And I wonder why, I realize that the EM-dash is one EM, but why is a M not one EM?


texts: Changing pixel density from 72 to 300 dpi for print

texts:
So I need to prepare a PSD to print a 250 mm x 250 mm card. 300 dpi and CMYK. I am fairly new to this. This isn't my domain. I am just asked to do this.

Now the problem is, some of the source images are too small. Main image is just 800 px x 600 px, 72 dpi and 24 bit depth.

Should I re-sample the source images to 300 or not? Is there any other way?
At this point, I feel that I should forget about getting the best quality but what can I do to achieve maximum possible quality?

How would the image look in the printed card if I enlarge it 5 times?


texts: Interactively drag constrained 45°/90° line

texts:
I know I can hold down shift to drag a line constrained to 45° or 90° with the pen tool in illustrator. However, I'd like to see the line previewed interactively as I draw. I can get that behavior with the line segment tool, but need multiple segments linked together. Is there a way to do this?

(Obviously one option is to draw all of my segments individually with the line segment tool and then join them together, but then I have to do a lot of post-hoc adjustment to the joins if I didn't line up the ends perfectly in the first place.)


texts: What's the height of the iPhone 6+' navigation bar?

texts:
With the new size and resolution of the iPhone 6+', including the different (CSS) pixel ratio (Retina HD: 3:1), I was wondering if the navigation bar height has changed.

Is it still 88px and thus the content area has grown, or has it adapted and does it have (in ratio) the same height, thus 132px in height?

Or.. Anyway: What's the size of the iPhone 6+' navigation bar?

See also: The iOS 7 design cheat sheet


texts: What type of paper should I use for print outs for a physical portfolio?

texts: I'm creating a physical portfolio for an interview. I've bought a portfolio binder/case. I was wondering on what kind of paper should I take the print outs of my work? For example, would it be fine if I used the regular paper? Like an A4 size or should I use a matte or glossed paper for my work? My work includes posters, brochures, business cards etc.


texts: i apologize if my question is too immature but i just cant figure it out. i'm new to illustrator and i want a black stroke around all my objects but i cant give it to objects that have 3D effects applied to them (like the sphere in the attached image). tried Rasterizing and expanding but no result. thank you.


texts:
Where can I find good a tutorial for creating a simple Flash movie using Adobe Flash CS4?

I want to create an App of a children's picture book. Each page is a single image, so I want a tutorial that walks me through adding images into a movie, with the ability to 'turn the page' to the next page/image.


texts: What's the best way to maintain color customization in Photoshop files

texts:
I have just started designing print templates like brochures and business cards for graphic marketplaces.

As different users has different color requirements for their brand the files must easy to customize the colors. I currently guide the users to manually change the colors of the shapes individually and it somewhat works, but there might be easier way to do that.

I have heard of color swatches in Photoshop, but never tried it. Can I get a hint on using it in commercial products efficiently to achieve that or if there's any other much better technique then it would be great.


texts: How to change the arrowhead size in coreldraw?

texts: I was just adding arrowheads to a line in corldraw x6, and i realized that the arrowheads are too big for the concept i'm working on. But i cannot change the size of the arrowheads. if i try to scale the line, it just increases or decreases the length of the line, the size of the arrowheads remains constant.[]


texts: How to depict mockups longer than the device

texts: just wanted to ask what would be the best way to depict screens that are longer / wider than the device itself. For example a list, that has some kind of important item at the very bottom that is off-screen normally. Should I split it up into two seperate screens, one showing two different "scroll-states"? Or rather make it one long screen? What would be the best way to go about something like that?


texts: How do I automate the creation of this pattern in Adobe Illustrator?

texts:
I want to replicate this pattern in Ai. However, I am unable to replicate the small detail that these lines are not aligned in a straight line and instead point towards a point in the canvas, more like how iron filings align themselves to face a magnet.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated, thanks!


texts: In GIMP, how to completely disable anti-aliasing/interpolation while scaling a selection?

texts:
I'm trying to design something in GIMP that must have no anti-aliasing/interpolation at all. When I scale up, I want sharp edges with no blur.

I can disable anti-aliasing/interpolation while scaling up the entire image, but there is no corresponding way to turn it off while scaling up just a selection.

I want to scale up a selection so that the edges have no blur, no transparency, and no anti-aliasing or interpolation of any kind.


texts: Finding a clean, corporate sans font whose capital "A" has vertical sides / a square-ish top?

texts:
I'm looking for a font for the base of a corporate logo - a clean, fairly geometric, sharp sans-serif (Helvetica-esque, basically).

My specific unusual requirement for one of my ideas is that the capital A has a square or square-ish top and vertical sides, rather than a pointed triangle. So, for example, the lower two-thirds of the A should resemble a H, and the window in the A should be a little similar to that of a P except symmetrical (either rounded or square is fine).

This is fairly unusual, and I know I'm going to have to do quite a lot of modifications, but I'm cautiously optimistic that there's something out there which would serve as a good base and minimise the amount of font-hacking I need to do. If I can't find anything, I'll experiment with hacking something together using a suitable font's H and P.

A great answer would be either:

A font with this sort of A in as close as possible to the above simple, clean, geometrically balanced, corporate style
Or, better still, some reliable steps I can take to filter my font browsing to fonts with this type of A. So far, I've not found any way to do this.

To give one example, Nova Square (thanks PieBie) has the type of A shape I'm looking for - but it's too much of a sci-fi-ish typeface than the clean sharp corporate look I'm aiming for:

Here's a crude example I made earlier:


texts:
I need to make a version of a logo "made of fire" for an ad. Take a look at the images below. The last one is a test I made using Apple's logo using this set of transparent flames. As you can see, IT'S WEIRD.

I know, what I'm trying to accomplish it's not easy. But I consider to have advanced photoshop skills. Still, everything i tried it just stays super weird! Do you think it's possible to make this images only with photoshop? How would you do it? With brushes, maybe?


texts:
Is smart guide in illustrator limited to some certain capacity?

I wonder why i don't see any smart guide line (magenta one) in circled portion. I think i should see one. (pic 2)

When two circles' circumference overlap each other (pic 1) smart guide says 'intersect' but why is that not happening when two edges of separate triangles are intersecting? (pic 2)

When i see smart guide i am sure that the overlapping has taken place so that i dnt have to check it in outline mode and manually drag to make tht happen.
But sometimes checking is tedious when you have so much to do...

Does smart guide have no jurisdiction over triangles?
Or i need to change some preference?


texts: How can I make this GIF's BG transparent in GIMP? I feel like I've tried it all

texts:
Sorry in advance for the anime gif...
So I want to make the below GIF's background transparent, but I feel like I've tried it all, but to no avail.

I am fairly new to GIMP, so after trying everything I could think of, I resorted to the top solution on THIS page, but only produced the three following GIFs.

Though the last one doesn't look far from what I want it to be, it has a white trail everywhere that the character moves, which conflicts terribly with the place I'm trying to put this image (I'm trying to create my first website)
 I've honestly no idea what I could try now, so any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks in advance


texts: Resize a group of objects based on an item in the group

texts:
Is there a way to take a sub-object of a group and resize it, then have the rest of the group follow along with the transformation?

To illustrate my problem:

I have these three groups on the first line of this image, all squares but with different things also included in the group. I'd like the groups resized so that the squares are all the same size (my best attempt at this on the second line, they're actually slightly different because I just dragged them by hand),


texts: Illustrator CC 2018: Turn off align objects to pixel grid

texts:
I can't find the option to turn off the pixel grid in Illustrator CC 2018.

I unchecked the "Snap to Pixel" by clicking on the top right list icon, but I don't see the little magnet icon seen in Illustrator CC 2017.

I don't either see the option to turn it off on the new document settings, even in the advanced and more settings options.

Some screenshots here :

General view

Transform box options

New document pop-up

New document pop-up "More Settings" option


texts: What font does Great Lakes Motorcoach use for their logo?

texts:
I'm looking to find this unique font in this logo:

I can't seem to find it anywhere since most of the letters are unique. I've tried uploading it to the first 5 links on Google for "find font by image" but nothing comes close.


texts: Indesign - how to change the style of the page numbers?

texts:
I am using this template.
I can change everything, however I can't find the right option to change the color of the page numbers. The default is blue.

I tried to read the official adobe guide, but I can't find the answe to my question there. And I am still learning to use Id. Probably there are some functions I am missing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

How can I change the color of those little squares?

Thanks


texts:
This same question was marked as a duplicate, so it never got answered here:
Sketch: How to get a feathered mask?

This is not a duplicate. I'm asking about Sketch, not Photoshop.


texts: Using Photoshop to create cartoonish wood trunk texture

texts:
I ended up to a website that had nice looking cartoonish tree:

I'm looking a way to create something similar looking with Photoshop CS6.

What do I need to do to achieve such a curvy texture?


texts: How can I select an object in Illustrator while using the eyedropper tool?

texts:
While trying to make a low poly vector portrait, I have to select multiple objects (one by one) while using the eyedropper tool.

Is there a keyboard shortcut or trick that may help me speed up the process?


texts: How can I get the closest color word for a hex color?

texts:
Say I have a color like #7B0D40. Are there any tools out there to output the nearest human-understandable word for that color? (Like #7B0D40 ~= Magenta?)

I know there's ways to search the words used in CSS to describe explicit hex values for example, but I'd love to be able to take out an organically selected color and quickly get a descriptive name for the approximate color.

Do any tools exist to quickly estimate a specific, human readable term for a color given an explicit hex/other color value?

Quick human apraisals of what a color are usually result in uselessly vague terms like "blue" or "red" instead of "Azure" or "Magenta", so "just eyeball it" isn't enough IMO.


texts: Save and reuse a design in a different PSD file

texts:
Say I create an arrow with drop shadow and I want to save it and re-use it in another PSD file.

Is there a way to save the arrow in Photoshop to do this?


texts: How to replace a VERY specific color (HEX code) for another one in Photoshop?

texts:
I'm working in doing a map for a 2D game. The image is saved to PNG and loaded by the game. However, the game detects true black (HEX #000000) as background, and makes it transparent in-game. Since I'm adding custom pictures to the map, some of them have this black color, which I would like to replace those pixels with anything just above true black, like HEX #000001.

If this modification is possible to do with a certain image or selection, instead of at the end when saving the whole file, that would be appreciated.

File will be saved as RGB, PNG-8


texts: How does one put a rectangular picture inside a round hole in another picture

texts:
I have a picture where I have already removed an inner oval portion with the Quick Selection tool. (Am using Photoshop Elements 6.0). I'd like to insert another picture, which is a background, into that oval.

Am a rank amateur & have no idea which way to proceed. I have done various searches and also have looked through several YouTube videos, but have been unable to find the info I need. Thanks.


texts: How to put a high metallic shining gradient border like this?

texts:
I m a beginner and also new to this blog. Here is my first question to this awesome and  very helpful forum!
I want to put a metal type shining gradient border around any shape or square box in Photoshop like this below -

Please give the tut with screenshot if possible, as I m new to Photoshop.
Thanks in advance...


texts: Export layer as a file in Adobe Fireworks

texts:
I'm trying to export a layer in fireworks to an image file. When I go to file>export and select layer, it exports everything to one file (no different from saving a fireworks image).

How do I accomplish this easily?

What I'm doing now is create a new image, copy the layer and save it.


texts: Set scale of object by giving distance between two points in 3D?

texts:
Is there any 3D modeling program (Blender, Meshmixer, etc.) that has this function:

Select two points
Give the program a dimension
Program will scale entire model proportionally, so that the distance between those two points is satisfied?


texts: InDesign: alternate version of catalogue with prices removed

texts: I have prepared a catalogue with prices enclosed within a number of tables. For printing I need to prepare a PDF without these prices. Is there a way to quickly resolve this by hiding the prices, or moving to another layer?


texts: What's a fast way to split an icon pack delivered as a psd?

texts:
I have downloaded the Icon Sweets 2 icon pack and I cannot seem to fulfill the seemingly very easy task of exporting individual PNGs for each icon (contained in a separate layer). Using the built-in script takes about 5 minutes/ image which would result in about 33 hours required to export the whole image. I also tried slicing the image, but never managed to fit all the icons comfortably in a slice grid. Also, when trying to split the image into smaller slices, PS acts really strange. It only allows me to split the main slice (the image itself) horizontally or vertically but not both ways. This way I only ever get either 48px rows or columns, but never a grid of 48x48px slices ready to export.

I have spent hours trying to dig up a proper solution, and not ever the "export > render video" "hack" worked. Should I just let the slow built-in script run for 33 hours?

Thanks for your time! :)


texts: I have an image and i want to convert it to a pixel image where the pixels are definite in it! I want to it be like this:


texts: Restore correct colour balance after "Colour to Alpha..." using GIMP

texts:
I am running into this problem where removing a green screen using GIMP messes up the colour balance of the elements in the image.

To recreate this simple problem I chose an image with an alpha channel (image on the left) and I added a layer below it with a #00ff00 fill (image in the middle). I then merged the layers and applied "Colour to Alpha..." using #00ff00; the result is the image on the right.

As you can see, the blue and red dice from the original image are quite accurate (perhaps because they have no green component on their colour composition?), but the problem arises for the two green dice: you can see that the one on the top right becomes grey...

Is there a proper way to deal with this? Thanks.


texts: Automatically generate UVs for a given 3D model

texts:
Is there a tool/command that can automatically unwrap/generate UV for a given 3D model?

We have an .obj file that comes from a 3D camera. But it comes without UVs.

I heard that MeshLab can do it.

Is there a command-line command for MeshLab or a similar command-line tool to achieve this?

I also found https://www.instantuv.org/, but it loses a lot of detail in the process.


texts: How can I switch my Wacom tablet to operate left handed on Windows 10?

texts: I finally upgraded computers and had to go with Windows this time around because it was a really good deal.  I don't prefer one OS over the other as long as it gets the job done.  I'm having a problem however with my tablet now on my new set up.  It's running Windows 10 and I don't have a mapping menu to switch the orientation of my tablet around so I can work left handed.  I've tried installing the previous drivers and the most recent drivers from Wacom but that hasn't helped.  Anyone else have this problem?


texts: Do we use web-fonts (for graphics) just like desktop fonts?

texts:
I need to design some graphics to be used on the web, and I need to use some fonts in those graphics.

I am new to this. I read a few articles about the differences between desktop fonts and web fonts. But I am not clear about this:

Shall I simply download some web fonts and use them in the graphics, just like I use desktop fonts? Will they be rendered on the website just like I see them in the designing software (Adobe Illustrator)?


texts:
I'm sometimes giving small adverts that I created in ID CS5 to a local newspaper. They are building their stuff in Corel. They usually want me to either give them an image (as in jpg) or a pdf file. They don't know what to do with the InDesign file. I've got the feeling that they are actually recreating my stuff in their program, which I don't like at all.

Is there a common file format that both programs can read (or that mine can write, at least)? I don't want them to redo my work, which wastes their time and is error-prone.


texts: What are the best practices for dealing with desired line breaks in responsive web design?

texts:
I design a great deal of simple single page web items for sales or email. I often find I run into issues with headlines and my desired line breaks at different media widths.

For example, I could have a headline such as:

  Our New thingamabob is the best thing since sliced bread!

With absolutely no attention to line breaks the line breaks like this:

  Our New thingamabob is the best thing since sliced bread!

At full web size, I'd like to break the line after "the". Creating two lines.

  Our New thingamabob is the best thing since sliced bread!

For a screen with a medium width, I'd break twice:

  Our New thingamabob is the best thing since sliced bread!

For even narrower screens, I'd break after "new", after "thingamabob", and after "thing". Creating four lines.

  Our New thingamabob is the best thing since sliced bread!

I really don't want to use break tags (<br>) because that hard-sets the breaks at all sizes. Up until now I've used media queries and width percentages for the various h1-h5 tags so that the width of the tag forces a break. But this seems "hacky" to me (it is also very temperamental at times based upon the actual text).

What's the best way to control line breaks without hard coding them into the html?


texts:
I would like to define a custom palette from an array of colors (rgb/hsv whatever etc). I can save the array in excel if needed. How can I go about this?
EDIT
say i built a swatch file like this, i would like to color these squares according to an array of rgb values I have already (see second picture). So far I can only do it by hand manually.


texts: Gimp: How to warp an image to take shape of path?

texts:
I am new to Gimp. I would like to warp an image such that it fills the closed path (closed path and imported image is shown in the image below). The given closed path has a shape of truncated pie. The outer diameter of truncated pie is 15 units and inner diameter of it is 5 units, and the angle of that pie is 60 degrees.

The result should be something like image below (created on photopea.com).

Can I achieve this in Gimp?


texts: Setting exact angle between paths in Inkscape

texts:
So I want to draw a line of pseudo-3D boxes with a changing amount of "segments" of constant width (e.g. a box of 3 segments of 60p width, 180p in all, and one of 6 segments of 60p width, 360p in all). The depth of the boxes should be the same, so they align nicely.

Failed example (I want the z-angles of the boxes to be parallel, so I can string up any amount of these boxes in a row without it looking odd):

So far, I can only manage something like this, and my attempts to correct the viewing angle distort more than help.

To be honest, I've colored the first 3D-box and copied the others from it to save me the hassle of deleting unused areas and re-coloring each time, so perhaps the answer is "Use independent boxes and adjust the vanishing points manually", but if there's a way to set the angle between to adjacent segments of a path, it would be a lot more comfortable. Does this exist? Alternatively, am I missing an obvious other way to achieve what I want?


texts: Creating a palette from two *intermediate* colors

texts:
I am given 7 categories and 2 colors: blue (#02A7E3) and orange (#F6A800). There are numerous online tools to interpolate between these two, for instance:

But what if I don't want my given colors to be at the ends? More precisely:

unknown
blue (#02A7E3)
unknown
unknown
unknown
orange (#F6A800)
unknown

I think reasonable to calculate the colors 3 to 5 with the same tool:

So:

unknown
blue (#02A7E3)
#8ba7b5
#bba787
#dba858
orange (#F6A800)
unknown

How could I interpolate the colors at both ends?

Ideally (but I don't know whether these requirements are compatible), I would all the resulting colors to be dark enough to serve as background against a white text (with a bold font).


texts: How can I use Creative Commons-licensed media in print?

texts:
I want to use a CC-BY-SA image in a printed newsletter. What is the most succinct and unobtrusive way I can comply with the license?

It would really clutter up my design to slap the creator's name, the title of the work, the type of license, the URL where I got the file, AND the URL of the license either on the image itself or as a caption, so one of the things I'm wondering is if I can pare down the amount of information I include in a print application or put it on a different page, almost like a works cited.

Most CC information inevitably talks about web use or some other form of computer file that allows clickable links or metadata to handle your attribution. Creativecommons.org handily offers some downloadable logos for use in print publications but not much further direction. Is there an authoritative reference detailing how to comply with these licenses on a non-clickable sheet of paper?

EDIT: Let me make this applicable to my specific use. I'm wanting to use a picture from Wikimedia Commons, which has the option to generate code for web use, but it includes this suggested attribution for the file in question:

By Groupe Canam (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Noticeably absent is the original URL where the file can be found, but this does include the photographer's name, the license, the URL where the license information can be viewed, and the (general) source of the image. Of course, the attribution text may be assuming internet use that involves a clickable link back to the file's original source. But would the above text, by any off chance, be adequate for print?


texts:
I need to draw a paper plane for my game. I have pretty much PS experience but still have  problems with easy tasks. It must be totally 2d , so most examples that can be found on the internet are inappropriate. And all my own works look primitively(at best).

Any advices or examples?


texts: How do I open a .gif in gimp, edit the frames, and save it without the final product being a still image? I alredy know how to make a .gif but I want to be able to take a pre-existing .gif and just edit the frames


texts: How do I select an object that's below another object in Inkscape?

texts:
A common problem in Inkscape is that you want to select an object but another object always gets in the way because it completely obstructs the background object or because the two are too close together.

Well Inkscape has the alt+click for this case. Unfortunately it about only works on Windows.

There are solutions for Linux and Mac OS but at least for me nothing works. I decided to share my workaround here in a Q&A format, mainly because the Inkscape people broke their wiki (yeah, mail to the list to get an account for just one change, as if anybody would) but also because then others can share their maybe better solutions, too.


texts: Select same pixels across all images and delete/make transparent them

texts: I have a bunch of images (they are in-game screenshots) that are "watermarked" with the GUI (there are controls, stats, etc.) and I want to select the pixels consistent accross all of them. I messed with it in Photoshop and managed to somehow separate the GUI by loading the images into stack and setting modes of all layers to "difference". There must be an easy solution to this.


texts: Which font is the basis for "1942 report" by Johan Holmdahl?

texts:
The TrueType Font »1942 report« by Johan Holmdahl is an equidistant typeface. It resembles the »Makina rough« font by representing the individual letters in an eroded form. Particularly noteworthy are the numbers 3, 5, 7 and 9 with descenders and 4, 6 and 8 with ascenders.

I am looking for the character set which forms the basis for this font, that is the "non-eroded" form?

I tried the site What Font Is. There, however, reference is only made to eroded variants.


texts: Rectangle Tool pitched 15 degrees in Illustrator

texts: Whenever I click on the "Rectangle Tool" the resulting rectangle is always pitched 15 degrees up, on the right hand side. The solution I am sure is simple and probably too simple for this forum, but how do I change this back to the normal setting?


texts: Please help me grid this A4 landscape poster

texts:
I'm working on this simple A4 landscape poster basically saying "adobe.com/" (newline) "indesign" with big letters in the middle of the page, and a small lipsum footer at the bottom. But I'm having a hard time coming up with a nice grid for it. Preferably this grid should follow the golden ratio as closely as possible.

At The Complex Grid I got as far as finding the number of lines I needed. 4 lines would be perfect - lines 2 and 3 could contain my text, and lines 1 and 4 could form the surrounding space. But {4-(2-1)}/2 didn't add up - only {5-(2-1)}/2 did - and I have no idea how to make it work with 5 lines. What to do?

http://home.no/dwaynie/poster.indd

The thing is, this poster is gonna be hung up at a public space where the design standards are very high, I don't want anybody to go "ooh look, he doesn't know how to use grids". Especially not Wim Crouwel, who is known to frequent around these parts.


texts: What aspects of this scene can be changed to improve it?

texts:
This is my first interior rendering in 3ds Max using Arnold. I've been scrutinizing it for days and would like criticism and tips from more trained eyes to make this scene more realistic.

1) I obviously lost my battle with noise reduction, is there a checklist anyone goes through to eliminate noise and fireflies from their scenes?

2) Ideally, how much post-render work would you typically do in Photoshop? (%)

3) What is your favorite way to convey realism that you think a lot of designers miss?


texts: Cant create clipping mask with blend options in AI?

texts:
Ok, fairly new to blend options here and I am having trouble even after watching tutorials on how to make a clipping mask with a shape and a set of lines created with the blend tool.

Here I have my lines made with the specified step blend, and an expanded path which is the shape I want to make the lines fill:

I have tried expanding the blended lines, selecting in different order, everything, however when I make clipping mask everything disappears except a little sliver of a line.

What am I doing wrong here?


texts: How to achieve pixel perfect curves with Photoshop CS6?

texts:
Coming from a mobile development background, I have recently decided to learn how to design for mobile apps. I am not yet decided which tool I should use. I don't hold much knowledge in Illustrator and Photoshop - but am trying to create a screen design using Photoshop.

I was under the impression that version CS6 supported vectors and I could create pixel perfect shapes. As you can see below, one the left hand side is a rectangle in Illustrator and a circle in Photoshop. I am trying to achieve the Illustrator end result in Photoshop.

Is this possible?

I am basically trying to do is a design of a button with that end result.

Thanks


texts: Is there a way to edit the origin point of a brush?

texts:
I was playing around with brushes in photoshop and was wondering if it is possible to adjust the position of the origin point within a brush shape.

As far as I know the origin of a brush tip shape is always in the center of a brush tip shape. However in certain cases it would be useful if you were able to move it to a different position (image 1), for example if you want to use Shape Dynamics with Angle Jitter and set the Control to "Direction".
If I draw a circle with these settings the brush is overlaying itself. However, if I were able to edit the origin point I could avoid this. (see image 2).


texts: How to load the illustrator cc default brushes into brush panel?

texts:
I need to reset the brush panel into the default brushes only i have deleted all unused from a blank illustrator doc. but now have nothing but Basic, and Touch Calligraphic Brush showing. I can't find the default brushes. Is there a library with just those initial brushes.This sounds weird but its for teaching beginner Illustrator class-need to demo and need to start with what they have...
Any advice?


texts: When is mentioning a trademark necessary?

texts:
If I'm making a web site, brochure, flier, etc., when must I have trademark information in the fine print?

Presumably if I mention a product such as "Windows" without mentioning, in the text, the maker of that product (Microsoft), then I have to have some trademark fine print, but how about if I merely mention Microsoft?  It would seem to me that it would be unnecessary, as Microsoft is the entity itself.

(Edit: The Microsoft/Windows example given here is merely hypothetical in nature.  To be more specific, I am not attempting to trick the consumer into believing that my product is endorsed by anyone, but rather attempting to convey the notion that I am using quality components by naming some specific brands.

Perhaps a better example would be that, if I were creating a brochure for a power tool company, and stated in it that, "At Tools'N'Thingamabobs, we sell the best power tools available -- Makita, Hilti, and Milwaukee."  Although a few brands are mentioned, at no point do I mention specific products, claim that my business is endorsed by any of the brands, etc.)


texts: Inconsistent colors when exporting from Illustrator

texts:
I made an image with white text on a black background in Adobe Illustrator and everything looked good.

However, when I wanted to save as JPG, the colors looks washed out, like it is not a strong black anymore, it is more a grey and the white is white, but not a strong white anymore.

The picture on the right is a screen shot from Illustrator, the one to left is how it looks when it is saved as a JPG.

Does anyone know why this is and how I can resolve this issue?


texts: How can I mask out airplane propellers properly?

texts:
I have this image which I wish to mask out the propellers properly. I thought maybe Refine Edge would do the work but it didn't success.

I would like to know what kind of tools I probably should use in order to achieve this.


texts: Convert a photo of a stone wall in basic vector shapes of stone?

texts:
How can i use a this photo for example and transform that into something like the second example ? I only need the basic shapes of the stones in the wall.
I'm working with corel draw but examples anda ideas from different software are welcome to.

Thanks


texts: How do I stop Illustrator from resizing partial screenshots pasted from clipboard?

texts:
So I use a screenshot capture program to capture a part of the screen and copy it to the clipboard.

Whenever I paste it into Illustrator, the captured object is automatically resized to smaller and thus pixelated (zoom level always at 100%). It only becomes clearer when I make it bigger.

This doesn't happen when I use the built-in Print Screen function of Windows or when I paste it into Windows Paint or Photoshop. Also, it is the same with two different popular capture programs (SnagIt and Greenshot) so I suspect it comes from Illustrator.


texts: Why does my banner image (in my email) appear saturated? Below is a screenshot of my email and the original image. I've never had this issue before.


texts: How to show boundary of every layer in Gimp?

texts:
Using Gimp, I am working on a sprite image made of lots of icons, each on a separate layer. I would like to check that there is no overlap by displaying the outline of all layers.

There is an option "Show Layer Boundary" but it only shows the outline of the layer currently selected (and I can select only one layer at a time.

Is there a way to show the outline of all layers, or to select multiple layers at once?


texts: how do make an Archimedean spiral of words decreasing in font size every 3 characters?

texts:
I am attempting to do a logo where the phrase starts at the top of a spiral and continues throughout the spiral decreasing in size until the very middle of the spiral.

Tried the Spiral tool but not close enough and manually decreased font every three characters but the spiral did not continue to the very middle.  I think i need to use an Archimedean spiral?


texts: Illustrator: Cut / Delete circle shapes from multiple layers

texts:
I am trying to cut a circle shape from two layers. The top layer is the circle layer, below a yellow box and background layer black. After the circle is cutted / deleted the background layer will get a red stroke.

My work

Want to do like


texts: I am using dynamic symbols for a bunch of icons and when I create a dynamic symbol in black, color editing for individual symbols(which doesn't affect the master symbol) doesn't work. I would like my master symbol to be in black (as it's the most used version)and change its color here and there. But apparently this individual recolor thing with the direct selection tool doesn't work when the symbol has been created in black. Someone can help? would be awesome!


texts: How to display edges in a 3D file on Facebook

texts:
I'm trying to show a 3D model on Facebook and display its edges and lines.
I found that I could export a 3D model from Sketchup using glTF Export plugin to a glb file that I can drag and drop in a Facebook post.

I tried many ways to set material, width, styles on lines in my model but once imported in Facebook the lines don't appear. It's not a Facebook problem since the gtTF viewer has the same display.

Is there a missing implementation in glTF format?
Is there another freeware to export a 3D model to Facebook (showing edges)?

EDIT

Are there other formats supported by Facebook to support the line rendering?


texts: What should be considered when using very thin lines on a print piece?

texts:
I'm designing a card game and my friend (who is a graphic designer and works at a commercial printing establishment) told me to keep in mind the thinness of my lines when sending the docs to print.

An example of one of the graphics she was concerned about (the front box art):
 (sized at 3.5" x 4" when printed)

The background of the lines are at a .5pt stroke thickness in Illustrator and print fine when I print from a digital printer. I've never had any experience with offset printing yet. Would my graphic be too difficult to get good results? Should I find a different solution for the background?


texts: Importing PDF in Inkscape: Equations are rendered as Chinese characters?

texts: I have followed this tip on how to convert PowerPoint (.pptx) slides to SVG (Save as PDF in PowerPoint > Open in Inkscape > Minor edit and Save as SVG) and had great success except when the slide has math equations in it, the text becomes Chinese characters. Is there a way to solve this issue?


texts: Pros and cons to .AI vs. .EPS file formats in 2017?

texts:
I've heard "EPS is a dying format" so many times my brain completes the sentence every time I hear "EPS"...yet whenever I research the issue, I can only find posts about why it's a dying format in 2012, 2008, 2002, etc. (And yet it seems to have not died yet, imagine that.) I am not using software from 5 years ago and the quirks and limitations of Illustrator CS2 or whatever are irrelevant to me.

As a marketing designer, I often have to deal a lot with sponsor logos that go onto printed collateral. I repeat myself ad nauseam about what kind of file format I want them in, and the short answer I tell people is "EPS with all text converted to outlines." (It never seems to be designers giving specs directly to other designers, but designers giving specs to marketers who are giving specs to other marketers who are MAYBE giving the specs to their designers, and trying to get the message distorted as little as possible in transit while also trying to make it comprehensible to the lowest common denominator.)

I specify EPS because 1. it seems to be the answer most likely to get me an actual vector file with nothing extraneous in it, and 2. when placing an EPS into InDesign, InDesign places the object with the bounds conformed to the edges of the artwork, not the edges of the canvas. As far as I can tell, this has to do with the default settings for saving EPS and AI files and nothing to do with how I'm placing it, but it's important to me for managing spacing and alignment.

So what I'm wondering is if EPS really is inferior to AI for reasons I haven't noticed yet that are still relevant in 2017 and there's some good reason why I shouldn't be asking for EPS, or if all this "EPS is a dying format" dogma is something that was more pertinent in previous versions of the Adobe software?

P.S. I refuse to ask for a PDF, as getting an actual vector in one seems to be a complete coin toss, and trying to explain to marketers how a PDF can be either a vector OR a raster image ("What's a raster image??") is a complete nightmare.


texts: How to create a fishbowl effect in photoshop?

texts:
I have this image, to get this I made a circular gradient from black to white starting from the bottom and going top. So the bottom of the circle is the blackest, and as the radius increases, it gets white.

However, I want it so that, it becomes white but converges to a single point at the top of the circle. So the top pixel of the circle is whitest (not exactly white but just a little darker than white like in the image), and then as the radius increases from the top pixel it becomes darker.

So I need a way to have two points, top and bottom, where it is the lightest and darkest, respectively. And then as the radius increases, it gets grayer.

Does anyone know how to do this? I need to do this myself, so if you can also show how to do this.

Thanks

EDIT: Here I am splicing two versions and putting them together, but the center gray is not smooth. I am not sure how to fix it.


texts:
I exported an heatmap from Matlab as PDF. If I view the PDF created by matlab print -painters -dpdf command, I see the correct output:

However if I import into Inkscape (either via Poppler or not) with the image gets interpolated and blurred:

When I re-save as pdf, it also looks interpolated. I have noted the svg xml code for the image is like this:

  <image
     y="172.88283"
     x="136.01956"
     id="image2718"
     xlink:href="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAA4AAAAOCAYAAAAfSC3RAAAABHNCSVQICAgIfAhkiAAAAPZJREFUKJGNkTFuwzAMRZ889SaVoct08G1qIwN9lAwdPPQuhSEfJUOA34GyJScB2g8QEiT+z08SMJGkeubnO9nD5EEWOynr3R+yavIu2JAvUO4HyZoK1ih7JP0cYqZPBZLEuuFYgMHPNPrTOlNR/oCOdYMczyTqcSZB0gfYSHBrf2EAizDNmG5M20y1ahG+SqV+PvPSiLezu9qtpgjT1jo6Y30QYmmtNv39A93rEkOdagsbyboCEMoySbqzhm/qINoVNYI5wgABk2oSL5K9kucsh0AHcKH3AbGQdMd0Kz17G3mMZddV+LBqujKFN1cfgL6twMNK4Bdchqf6VbHBwQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=="
     preserveAspectRatio="none"
     height="198.95876"
     width="185.10374" />

When I export to PDF from Inkscape, it also looks similarly blurred.
Any idea how to make it look like the original PDF above, after editing in inkscape?


texts:
If I have a text that I want to have the same color as an object I can't select the text and then use the eyedropper tool to get the color from a (for example) rectangle. The text will get the Fill correctly, but the text will still be black. This is because the Characters layer is above the Fill layer in Appearance. How can I use the eyedropper to change color on text?

I should add that the eyedropper works sometimes, but not all the time. Sometimes the fill ends upp under "Characters", thus the fill color isn't shown.


texts:
I have a paper in PDF, created using Latex and Tikz. Now I need to produce individual files for the images, one file per image.

Since I have the source, I could manually copy and paste (let me see..) twenty-nine separate pieces of code, add some scaffolding, and then produce the files with Latex. But perhaps there is a simpler way?

I tried pdfimages but it produced nothing.

Any ideas anybody?


texts: Creating a line of dots that goes gradually from 1PPI to 1000PPI (DPI) in Illustrator

texts:
I'm testing a laser cutter and need to make a "graduated" line consisting of tiny dots that goes from 0 or 1 PPI(DPI) to 1000 PPI(DPI) - breaking a line into gradually smaller pieces with same-size room between them will also do the job. The idea is to get a line that goes from visibly "dotted" to "solid".

Any suggestions on how to do this? Preferably in vector graphics and in Illustrator. If it is easier to do in Photoshop, that's also an option.


texts: Make multiple variations from 1 master file

texts:
I'm making business cards in photoshop and want to have multiple variations of the same "base". For example let's assume we have something like this:

We want this to be our Master File.
Child files would be able to for example edit the colour of a pane or edit the IMAGE. But when the position of something is changed in the master file, it's changed in the child files as well. Is something like this possible?


texts: How to go about figure out whether I need licensing for images of a historical character?

texts:
If I'm using an image of Pocahontas for commercial purposes, how do I go about figuring out what license I need to purchase?

She is a historic figure, but with much fictional rendering.

I could use her historic image or a fictional render. How does that work?


texts: I can never settle on an idea- advice needed?

texts:
Do any of you fellow designers ever have the issue of not being able to settle on an idea?? Particularly if it is your own personal portfolio or logo identity.

As a design student going out into the real world in professional practise I find myself scrambling to get together a portflio of ideas and trying to establish some sort of consistent brand identity and logo.

However I just have this deep sense of uneasiness with my work so much so that i find it hard to pick between ideas, and I can never seem to feel at ease with my work. I always feel unsettled, and end up with half finished drawings.

Any advice to get out of this rut?


texts: Illustrator: how to avoid extra white space after export

texts: I am new to Illustrator and need to export artwork to JPG format, but getting some white space around the artwork when exporting.


texts: Using images from print-ready PDF in Illustrator

texts:
I need to update a stand-up banner, which I have in PDF. Can I use images from that PDF in Illustrator?

If so, can somebody suggest a proper way to do this? I really didn't imagine that's could be possible, but now I see that objects from PDF can be editable with AI.


texts: I have just made this in illustrator. I made a path and used gradient across the stroke, but this highlighted area appeared. So, how can I fix it using photoshop or illustrator ?


texts:
I have a simple text layer and a texture layer. I want to use the texture layer to texture the text using blending modes and opacity.

I want the texture to only show through on the text... but I want to be able to move the texture to find the best look.

I believe this is called a track matte.

I want to be able to also change the font though and have everything work without redoing the process(hence, I can't rasterize the font).

e.g., take a very large texture. Create a text layer. Have the texture show only on the actual text and not any where else. Be able to change the text font, size, etc and be able to move the texture, all without having to redo the process.

(I have no problem being able to do this if I want to rasterize stuff, but then I can't change the font or texture position)

Any ideas?

Thanks.


texts: Is there a list of all known national official typefaces?

texts:
Most countries have an 'official' typeface(s) that they use as part of their identity guidelines in promoting the government or typesetting legislation.

For example, all UK statutes are typeset by the Queen's Printer in Book Antiqua (ie Palatino), while gov.uk makes use of a variation of the Transport typeface.  Canada specifies Helvetica as its standard typeface.  The EU (obviously not a country) uses a variant of Albertina in its official journal.

Is there a reasonably comprehensive list of these sort of official typeface choices across different countries? It would be quite interesting to compare if such a thing does exist.


texts: How can I separate Every Number image from this Snake Ladder?

texts:
How to Separate Every number into images from This Snake Ladder Using Photoshop
Like in this photo, number 1 box image, number 2 box image... and so on upto 100


texts: Is it possible to link shapes to a master shape, so that modifications to the master like repositioning, affect all linked shapes?

texts:
I'm using Illustrator CC, and I'd like to link some sub-shapes to a master such that modifying the master also moves the sub-shapes.

Context: Octopus tentacles.  I've got shapes for each tentacle with relatively sparse points.  The details (suckers, edge detail, etc.) are separate shapes.  I'd like to be able to modify the low-point tentacle shapes and have the details "ride" on top.  Something like what Puppet Warp in Photoshop does.  Is this possible?

I should say that I'm open to "standard" ways of achieving the same end.  I'm a 3D artist, not a graphic designer, so I'm used to working hierarchically (or acyclic-graphically, to be precise).  I can't imagine that a 2D person would just layout the arms, add detail, and then either never go back to make adjustments, or do it by manually hauling around giant masses of points, by the same token I don't necessarily know how he would go about something like this, that doesn't naturally lend itself to simple grouping.

I have done a basic layout of the large shapes, but there are some things that are better judged with detail.

It seems like the methods suggested thus far lend themselves to simple repetition of identical shapes.  I think I can clarify what I'm after be restating it:  I'd like to drive high-resolution "geometry" with low-resolution geometry.  This high-resolution detail could be of arbitrary shape.  Basically, I'm asking for a best practices method of laying out a free-form shape with a high number of points, such that I don't have to manually massage hundreds of points in order to make smooth changes in gross shape. Thanks for the suggestions.

Quick mock-up below - imagine that you wanted to add another bend in the middle of that shape, or some such, without taking a million years to adjust the detail.

My hunch is that this may not be possible, and the solution may be to export the curves to a 3D package and rig them with a skeleton.  But there must be a "graphic desingerly" way of approaching this project, no?


texts: Preparing graphics for halftone printers

texts:
If you are preparing graphics for printed materials to be sent to a black and white printer(not a grayscale) that uses halftones to reproduce grayscale, is there anything I can do to optimize the final quality.

Usually I would do the basics, make sure my resolution matches the print resolution and make sure my number of colors and CMYK/RBG matches the printer.  However there's not really a number of colors or number of grayscale increments.

Doing the halftone in advance seems like a bad idea.  I assume that if I apply a halftone effect to the image then that'll make it worse.  I.e. my halftone probably won't match the configured pattern or error haltone algorithm of the printer, and therefore it will be halftone applied to halftone, kind of like dithering twice.

I'm wondering if I should send twice the image resolution, i.e. send 1200dpi for a 600dpi print, to give the printer's halftone algorithm more neighboring pixels to work with when it samples it down to halftones.

Everything I've seen online when searching applies to screenprinting and faking a halftone effect.  I don't think that applies because if I send an image with a halftone effect already applied, then it's just going to get the printer's halftoning applied which will further degrade the image.

It seems like I should be sending the best quality image I can with as little/no dithering(and no halftoning) so that the printer's halftoning algorithm has the best to work with.

What would you recommend as techniques to optimize image quality to maximize output from a printer's halftoning?


texts: How to get this noisy fog or skies effect with a gradient texture in Photoshop?

texts:
I really wanted to get this kind of foggy sort of glowing texture, with also the noise. And it seems it got a little bit of gradient in it's side. I've been tweaking the gradient maps with noise effect and couldn't seem to get that look. I've been trying to edit a layer that consists of fog textures from a brush I've downloaded and edit them using noise effect. can't seem to pull it off either.

Also I've been wanting trying to get this texture from the night skies. It seems the composition of the stars is based out of the noise effect and gradients too, how can I get these results?

Is it the blending mode that needs to be tweaked? I can't seem to figure it out. Thanks for anyone out there that is answering, really big help.


texts: How do I convert an RGB black and white photograph to just CMYK black

texts: I have a JPG that is part color and part black and white. How do I convert the black and white part to just black on CMYK? Right now the black and white section is made of all the colors. I tried using the threshold and it doesn't look good at all.


texts: Special Characters (InDesign) Total pages marker?

texts:
Is there a special character marker for Total Pages? I can use a marker on my master page for current page where it will say A, but if I want it to say A of 3 (3 being the total number of pages) is there a marker to count all the pages in your document?

I know I could type 3 in there but if I add pages I have to go back and re-edit the master page. Seeing if there is a smarter way to go about this.

Thank you in advance!


texts: Isn't it possible to change a template at moqups.com?

texts:
After creating a template at moqups.com, I cannot change it.

Have not found any documentation about it at it's web-app.

Does anyone know another option like using a "master" or similar that could be modified.


texts: How do you toggle the 'canvas only' mode in inkscape? There seems to be a fullscreen(F11) mode but that doesn't get rid of all the buttons and only keep the drawing area. I don't know if this is a linux specific bug(since I use linux only), but I wanted to keep only the drawing area and get rid of all the buttons and tool areas temporarily(kind of like when you hit Tab in krita.


texts: Photoshop: Adding a 10px margin all around a resized image

texts:
I was given the task to resize images to dimensions of 736 x 475, with a 10px margin all around for a buffer zone in case there's shadow in the image or something else.

I found this tutorial for viewing the margin in inches. What I'm wondering is if there's a way to input 10px of margin (all borders) and have that area left as a blank area, instead of guesstimating what 10px would be in inches, using something like this converter?


texts: How should I approach wrapping objects in composite shapes in Photoshop?

texts:
I'm a mixtape designer, who took a long break to learn and get better. This is one of the last things that i cannot seem to find a decent tutorial for at all. In this image, i imagine the designer who made this, somehow used a distort, of a uzi submachine gun, the wrapper contents itself is obviously custom.

How on earth do you contour something to an uzi?

Second one, he uses dollar bills sort of mummified around what are supposed to be intestines. Its insane. Usually i experiment until i get something if i want to learn something. I dont even know where to start on these.

Any experts out there, any resources with tutorials for these type of effects?


texts: Is fracture voronoi breaking my surface?

texts: when I use fracture voronoi on any round object (sphere, pill, torus...), the surface of the material get fragmented like the image above (phong tag isnt the cause). When I tried to subdiv the fragments are still there, just got smaller, but when tuning subdiv down to zero, the problem is gone (image bellow), I have no clue what happens, please send help, thanks a lot!


texts: There are invisible blue boxes on my artworks that I can't delete them in Illustrator CC 2018!

texts:
EDIT: I figured out what happened. Somehow I got a jpg on my artboard and accidentally hide it. So they are not visible at all. They are duplicated every time I duplicated a artboard, so that's why my file size is so big. Still don't remember when did I got that jpg in.

Somehow I got those blue boxes on my artwork. They are only visible when moving artboard. If I just selected the artworks themselves, the blue boxes won't show up. If I duplicate the artworks, the blue boxes are duplicated too. So they make my illustrator file really big. Does anyone have any idea of how to get rid off those blue boxes? Thanks!


texts: How do I create and check if a PDF is in X/1-a format?

texts:
I've created PDF files with Photoshop, then combined them to create a 16 page PDF. Photoshop's colour profile is set to SWOP (Newsprint), with Total Ink Limit set to 235%.

The file will be printed and needs to be in PDF X/1-a format. Using Adobe Acrobat XI Pro, I tried Preflighting the file to get it into the correct format. Sometimes I get a colour warning, mostly I don't. When I tried uploading the preflighted file to the printers site I got the following: "WARNING Your file is not in PDF X/1-a format."

Assuming there is nothing wrong with the website, how can I create and check that my PDF is in the correct format?


texts: How to keep the text in vector in Photoshop without rasterizing it or flattening the layers when exporting to PDF?

texts:
After many tests in all kind of PDF presets, I couldn't figure out how to keep the text layers as vector and still have the quality of  InDesign without using it. Everything I tried was rasterizing the texts. It seems like PDF/x rasterizes the layers too.

The layout needs to be created in Adobe Photoshop unfortunately, and all I have on hand is a Photoshop file with layers.

Is it possible to keep the vector quality of Photoshop text layers and objects when exporting to PDF, and get the quality of an Illustrator or InDesign file easily?


texts: How can I fit an image onto an iPhone template perfectly?

texts: I made a mock-up for mobile and saved it as a jpeg. Adobe fireworks has a library that contains an iPhone template and I wanted to fit my mock-up to fit perfectly inside it. I used transform and held shift to make it fit without it being squished. The issue is that I can only get the width right and not the height. My projects height is too tall for it to fit as well as the width. Is there any way to fit this?


texts:
I have a layer with a mask that was handed to me by a designer, and I wish to change the colours of it, but I'm having difficulty. Here it is, along with the thumbnail -

...If you look closely, you can see that something else was done to this layer, so there's actually a faded image in the background.

I'd like to retain this image, but basically make the black a light grey colour (same as the font), and the image elements (currently grey) darker/black, so pretty much an inversion of the current colours. Oh, and then the font would be black against the grey, but I can handle that part :)

Is this possible? If so, I'd be very very grateful to know how!

IMAGE WHEN OPACITY WAS RAISED TO 87%, OVERLAY - LUMINOSITY:

UPDATE:

This is how I can get it looking by inverting the image (although it's not the same image file you used - it's the original image with the layer mask applied, as displayed above), adding a levels adjustment to the group and dialing the middle slider all the way over to the LEFT, almost to the very end, at 4.20...

...Not quite as good as yours, unfortunately! (i.e. Couldn't get the grey margin at the bottom to be the same grey as the crowd, just above it), so I'm guessing our methods are still different. Is it because you're using the png file rather than the layer with a mask?

Sorry, I think we're getting there...


texts: Paragraph "space after" shortcut - InDesign

texts:
I'm looking for a keyboard shortcut to change spacing before and after paragraphs in InDesign CS6.

So far I haven't been able to find a default shortcut nor to setup a custom one (couldn't find this item inside the shortcut preferences).

Any ideas that don't involve creating paragraph styles for each spacing value?


texts: Photoshop: how to replicate this text effect?

texts: I need to put these words into another image for a wallpaper with the exact same effect/look. I tried selecting it but the quality is low and the texts look bad.


texts: How to show a gradient within a style guide?

texts:
I'm building a new style guide for a sub-section of my company. I have most things listed and am working on the section talking about branding colors. My problem is that I've followed this design style throughout the guide but am now stumped on how I can show a gradient & the values in the same style/format as I did with colors.

This is what I came up with, but I feel like there might be a better way to show these.

If there are any layout experts who have worked on similar projects and could help explain what they did to show gradients within their style guides would really help me out!


texts: Working with a huge file. Illustrator is super slow. What can I do to ease the load?

texts:
The size of the file is 168mb and it's nearly impossible to work on the file because every action takes like five minutes or so to complete. The artwork is of a scene filled with characters and I so far outlined the entire thing with a brush and afterwards expanded all the strokes thinking it would help ease the load. However, the file is still way too big. Is there something I can do to make it easier to work on the file?

Edit: I flattened transparency and got it reduced to 33mb. Huge difference, but would like it even smaller if possible.


texts: Antialiasing or blurring on Photoshop creates a pale edge between different blocks of colour

texts:
I'm working on some illustrations which are cartoon-style, so thick black lines with blocks of colour filling them in. I've been colouring the images in a non-anti-aliased document to ensure absolutely sharp fills within the lines. However, when I then resize or slightly blur the image to subsequently anti-alias the edges, the borders between each area of colour (including where the black lines separate the colours) have a very thin, grey border separating them. Example below:

Same effect happens with blur and with any type of resampling when resizing. Image has been flattened. Anyone got any ideas why this is happening, and how to stop it?


texts: How do Museums put text directly on the wall?

texts:
Museums usually add text to the wall by a simple label/sign or vinyl cut lettering. But larger well funded museums use a different technique where the text appears to be directly transferred to the wall somehow. This is not using a vinyl sticker and is very high quality even at small text sizes.

Does anyone know how this is done?


texts: I am working on an android game, and I found this image while search for 8 bit graphics. I really like this style of the visuals, specifically the 45 degree perspective mixed with the blockiness of 8 bit graphics. Does anyone know the name of this style, and can someone point me in the right direction of a software application that could help me accomplish something similar to this?


texts: How do I create 1 pixel grids with differing colours on my own? (not with generator)

texts:
How do I create 1 pixel grids with differing colours on my own?

For example this 960px_12_col_grid:


texts:
Maybe once a month I need Photoshop.  Since it is rare, the cost seems like a disproportionate amount of money to spend by my startup.

I think the tasks I need to achieve when I'm converting a design to HTML/CSS/images are:

opening a PSD that a graphic designer sent me
crop some images out of it, generally picking up the layer to have transparent backgrounds
measure distances
measure colors (RGB)
measure font and font sizes
maybe more that I'm not aware since I almost never do this kind of task

Is there some cheaper software for MacOSX that can do all of this so we don't have to buy Photoshop?


texts: How to calculate the best type colour for a random background colour?

texts:
I might need to present content at multiple levels depending on the distance of the observer to a display. Let's say from far away the user perceives a flat colour, but from a close distance the user needs to be able to read some text. The tricky part is the flat background colour is given/can change/I have no control over.

So far I've whipped out a really basic prototype to work out the text colour from the background colour (click to pick a random background). This is a very trivial approach: I take the hue and offset it by 90 degrees (so it's different enough) and invert the brightness in HSB color space so I get a colour that's different enough to be readable/have a decent contrast with the background.

This sometimes works:

sometimes doesn't:

Is this approach good/in the good direction ? If so, how can I make this better ? If not, which direction should I follow ?

Unfortunately I don't know much about type and colour theory so any hints/tips from people with experience are very helpful. This will be displayed on a screen, not printed.

What relationships between background and foreground colours am I looking for ?