Tut: Color Selection, Action, B&W, and Sepia

Posted on | May 30, 2008 | No Comments

Since I wasn’t too happy with the way the video looks, I am adding the Flash version. You need to have Adobe Flash Player, which is free, installed on your computer. Most computers have this already built in. Actually, you’ll probably like this Flash version better than the YouTube/Revver ones. You can resize it and it’ll pretty much keep its clearness. Let me know what you think. I just never did it this way because you have to wait until it downloads fully before you can play it. I might just posting two versions like this until my service space gets full. I think I can fit over 80,000 videos if I make them around this size (6 minutes at 15 megs). Yeah, I have 1,000 gigs of web space. INSANE! I have this site, a personal blog that hasn’t been updated and I donated space to my church and I’ve only use 5,500 megs of space!! My church uses it more than I do for pictures.

So the video… There are a few other things too in the video but if I list them all, my title would be super long {::SMILES}. Some info on the action. The action that you saw will only work AFTER you’ve changed the pen path to the marching ants OR if you use the marquee tool. The reason why was because Photoshop didn’t record my right click when I changed the path into marching ants. That’s also why you might want to create a few actions for the same effect. Maybe you might want to do one for a general image, with nothing selected. Just a picture and change that to a b&w or sepia. Lots of different ways. As usual, contact me if you have any questions. Either leave a comment or use the Contact form that you can find under the Contact menu above.

Some video tuts info: In case you haven’t noticed, my tuts that were uploaded to Revver, they got a little warped after I updated to WordPress 2.5.1. The plugin for Revver was only tested up to 2.3 and after the update an 1/8″ is cut off from the left and the right of the video screen. The height is ok. So, for the most part the tuts are viewable but if there are something that I clicked on that was either to the very left or right, you might not see them well. It seems like no big deal on the video portion but because of the “shrinkage” you now can’t close the ads. The (x) sign is on the bottom top right… on that 1/8″ that’s cut. I’m still messing with it when I have the time. Like I said before, I just like Revver better because my videos still look decent looking even after going through their resizing, decompression, format changing or whatever they do to get the videos posted.

In the mean time, just try to live with it and when I have time, I’ll convert and upload a Flash version of each video. Sorry about that. Besides the video issue, I LOVE my WordPress 2.5.1. If you use the installed version, you should update!

Tut: Digi, From Start to End

Posted on | May 23, 2008 | 1 Comment

Made a quick page using Tara Sroka’s elements, Day by Day and Weather Forecast, lines, some brushes and fonts. I love M’s picture too. I love her look and how she pops against the sephia-ish, almost b/w, background. It was really easy to do too. I’ll show you how later! This layout has no drop shadow effect. For graphic style pages, I don’t use drop shadows. I want it to look flat, magazine style flat.

I created this video based on this layout. I did however edit this layout more after I ended the video — this is the final result. I probably spent no more than 10 minutes adding the journaling and readjusting the different layers just a tad. The video was a 13 minute video but since it’s just a demo, I fast forwarded it and now it’s a six minute-ish video. I added music too, so watch out, turn your speakers down a bit. I found a podsafe site that I like with a great amount of options. I’m trying to be compliant here with the whole copyright thing. I’ve also figured out the best settings for my video output. This 6 min. video with audio is only a tad over 13 megs. Not bad {::SMILES}.

So enjoy. This video might not be considered a tutorial since it is quick but I hope it will give you a good idea on what digital scrapbooking is and a glimpse on how I work Photoshop. Oh, always remember to create a new layer each time you use a new brush style or new angle. It’s easier to delete this way. The guidelines going around the page, that’s to help me see the 1/4″ margin for printing purposes. I use WHCC and I need to give them 1/4″ for cutting. I still get a 12×12 page. If you don’t know them, try them. They are awesome. Super fast (it’s the quick UPS they use), the print quality is great and for less than $4 ($12 min.) you get a printed digi page shipped free. Oh, one of the guys who packs (Brad I think — I can’t find his card that he stuck in there, the packed by …. card), he always puts a sucker in the box for M, so sweet!

Shortcut keys used:

- Alt/Option with scroll button to magnify an area (same as the navigation function)
- Ctrl – T to transform
- Ctrl – C and V to copy and past
- Ctrl – (–) zoom out

Tut: Action 101 and Inking

Posted on | May 15, 2008 | 8 Comments

Two in one tutorial. Since I fail to create one last week, I tried but it just didn’t come out right, here’s a combo video.

Before you create an action, decide what you want to record first and then practice. Write down the exact settings (unlike me who just likes to wing it) and then record your steps/technique. You might find yourself buying less and less actions {::SMILES}.

A little story… yesterday I received a call from the Nielsen ratings folks. I was feeling in the mood for a survey so I went through the process. The first question was:

Nielsen: Have you watched a movie at the movie theatre in the last six months
Savitri: No
N: In the last 12 months?
S: Yes
N: I’m going to go through a list of movies and you say or no on whether or not you’ve seen any of them.
S: Ok
N: Something or something
S: Never heard
N: Something and something again
S: Wow, I don’t know that movie
N: Something, something, and something
S: (thinking: finally a movie I’ve heard of) No
N: Something, something, something, and something
S: N
N: Harry Potter – the last one
S: No
S: Hey look, I’ve only seen one movie in the last 12 months. Can I just give you the title and you look it up and mark it for me?
N: Uhmm, oh yeah, sure

One minute later he came back — wow, must have been a list!

After the call, I think the dude was probably thinking, “Wow, weird family.” We don’t have cable/satellite service, we have no Hi Def anything, we don’t download music/movies, we rarely go to the movies, we mostly rent kids DVDs, and I’m on the Internet A LOT.

Tut: Text in Path

Posted on | April 29, 2008 | 5 Comments

Last tutorial that was similar to this, I used the pen tool. For this one, I use the marquee tools to join, dissect, or remove an area and then creating a path from it so that you can put your text in it. Lots of uses and lots of fun to use.

Here’s a Mother’s Day card that I created last week using digital paper from The DigiChick: Mom’s Collab kit. Isn’t the picture, the moms, cute? I just printed it on card stock paper. Actually everything I used here, pattern paper and the image, were printed the same time as all the other items I used for the gift card holder from last week; printed on an 8.5×11 card stock paper.

To illustrate, check out the image to the left. What I did was created an 8.5×11 page with 300dpi in Photoshop. Then I used my ruler to give me a 1/4″ guideline around my print area to make sure that my images will not be chopped off when I print. Like most printers, my printer will not print to the edges (no bleed printing), it will leave me with a 1/4″ white border around my print area, so the guideline helps me give a visual on how far to the top, bottom, left, and right I can go.

Then I insert the images that I want to use and put them into different layers. I’d adjust the size accordingly (CTRL-T/transform) and then layer the pattern papers on top of each other. After I have everything set up the way I want, I print.

Pretty simple huh?

Some people like to use matte photo paper to print their hybrid elements/paper. I’ve done both and it all depends on the look you want. You do get a better, more crisp print out, with the matte. But, with my cardstock, I’ve been quite happy.

There’s some talk that Stampin’ Up! wants to dip into the digital world but personally, I think they shouldn’t. BUT, if they do, this is one way you can use digital products. There are tons of digital kits, elements, and papers out there that you can buy, like the stuff at The DigiChick’s. But there are many also that you can download for free (check out www.shabbyprincess.com).