Simple Frames in ACDSee

The goal is to create a simple frame that can be done consistently on several images. The following tutorial is limited to square images.

1. Select a square image and go into "Edit Mode". Click on the "effects" menu item.


2. In the Effects menu, select the "Vignette" Tool


3. Create the first frame of the photo. In this case, i'll make it white. When you have the settings you like, click "Done".

• A = I selected white as my color
• B = I chose the rectangular shape
• C = I set the transition zone to 0 (zero)
• D = I set the clear zone to a size i liked. (332)

4. This is a preview of my white frame. (Note: The black edge you see is the background of my window). If you want a simple white frame, you're done, but i'll repeat the process to create a two color border.

5. Select the Vignette Tool again, and change the settings to the following. Click Done when finished.

• A = Black
• B = Rectangular (same as before)
• C = Transition zone set to "0" (zero, same as before)
• D = Clear zone with a number higher than before. (I chose 335 in this case)
  

6. The final image! (the grey is my window background) Save and you're done.

Better Vignettes with Acdsee Pro 2

Acdsee is an excellent image manager. And for quick photo editing, it's an excellent tool. Pro 2 has added a selection tool to apply various effects to only selected portions of an image. I will be using this new feature to create some custom vignettes for an image. Acdsee has had a vignette tool included with it for some time, but control options are limited. And I've never really liked how the tool works on images that aren't square. So this tutorial is a work-around method I've figured out.

1. I'm using 4x6 photo of the best dog in the world.



2. This is what it looks like with the default vignette tool.


3. Now, we'll start to make a new rectangular vignette.

• Start the selection tool
• Pick the rectangular marquee tool and draw a rectangle around your subject
• Invert the selection. Now the marching ants look like a frame. Click Done.

4. Start the Exposure tool


5. Select the curves tool and grab the curve on the upper right and drag it down to the bottom. This makes all pixels in the selected area go to black.


6. We've made a frame, but it has a harsh edge. Use the feathering option at the top to soften the edges to what you want.


7. Apply the changes and clear the selection. You're done!


Here's what custom vignettes look like compared to the default vignette tool. I used the ellipse selection tool to create the oval shaped effect.

Flash Photo Albums

There's countless ways to share photos online. But i'm all about freeware, so today I offer up two options using Flash to display photos.

1. Simpleviewer




2. Expose

They are both easy to use, and Simpleviewer comes with a variety of plugins to make it work with other graphics programs like Picassa, and Photoshop.

Both are free, both use flash to display photos, but in very different ways. I've been looking for a free viewer that could compile everything into a single SWF file. I have yet to find one. But if you have no restrictions on your website about folder structure, etc. Check out either one. Hooray for freeware!

If anyone does find a free single SWF compiler, please let me know!

Easy DWF sharing

Over the years, I've been patiently waiting for Autodesk to take DWF sharing to a higher level. At first, they were gearing DWF to be the PDF replacement. Now they've taken DWF to be more as part of an information/design workflow tool, and not so much as a publishing format. I have to say DWF has come a long way, but sharing DWF with those that don't have a viewer has always been a bit of pain. Yes, you could send them the link to www.autodesk.com/dwfviewer but for some reason, Autodesk insists on making a user fill out a form to download the dwfviewer. (what's the emoticon for annoyed?)

On the plus side for DWF users, Autodesk has been doing the right moves to promote the file format. First, they enhanced the viewer and made it have more features than the free PDF reader. Then they made the enhanced viewer free (Design Review 2008). Now, they give users a way to share DWF on the web to users that don't want to install the viewer. A smart move, because the need is there. Casual users don't want to download a 30MB viewer to view a 10kb file. In the past, I was looking for a way to convert DWF to SWF. Almost everybody uses flash now. But with the power of AJAX, Autodesk has a neat way to share DWF files to non-technical users. This is what autodesk's new service, FREEWHEEL, is all about. Check out the samples from AutoDesk's site.

Photo Challenge

I've been in a photographic rut as of late, and then I came across this. I saw this on the Martha Stewart show of all places. Anyway, it inspired me to attempt a similar project. So if you're stuck in a photo rut, and need something different, try to do some "letter" hunting. It's not as easy at it seems! Remember, look for letters that aren't letters. Think Pareidolia !

Lightbox 2

Another restless night. But not a complete loss, I've found a great script for web designers who like to post images in a stylish way on their websites. It's called Lightbox!

Click the link to see a sample and details on setup. It's really slick looking. If you're a photoshop user, there's a great tutorial on getting it to work with Photoshop's Web Photo Gallery tool.

For those of you not code savy, there's now a freeware tool that uses Lightbox to generate Web Galleries. Find it here.

Enjoy!

slideshows for blogging..

Using Picasa Web Albums, you can embed a slideshow of images into blogger, just like the example below.

Click on the play button to view the tutorial, if it's not big enough, click on the link "SLIDESHOW NEW PAGE" at the bottom of this post. Remember, you can always stop the slides and manually go forward or backward on the control bar at the bottom of the slideshow.



Or you can have a link that opens a new window to view it fullsize! This only works on Internet Explorer and Firefox based browsers. Doesn't work in Opera for some reason.

SLIDESHOW NEW PAGE

More than one way to make PDFs

AutoCAD 2008 finally has a PDF plotter, but for those still on older versions, what can you do? Here's my offering of PDF tools to use for AutoCAD.

1. CutePDF Writer installed with Ghostscript
This creates a PDF printer that can be used with any application, including AutoCAD. I use this, because it's free, free, free!

2. PrimoPDF installed with Ghostscript

Again, it's another front-end for Ghostscript, like CutePDF.

3. Acroplot Pro

An excellent PDF printer geared for AutoCAD printing. The printing is saved as vector information so the PDFs are small.

4. Adobe Acrobat

The most expensive option, even though they have different versions available, you'll want to spring for the Pro version if you're doing drawings. They also have a 3D version, that support 3D models from many cad applications. Very cool, and very expensive compared to our other PDF products.

Which one is better? If you want the cheapest solution and are uncomfortable with Ghostscript setup and installation, I suggest CutePDF, they have a easy version of a ghostscript install on the same page as CutePDF writer. If you want to manage, merge, split PDFs, create and control them with layer management and digital signatures, then Acrobat still reigns as the main choice.

There are free alternatives for PDF management, and I'll probably post some at a later date. But for now, this should be enough to get you going.

Convert ABR Brushes!

I recently did a Photoshop project using some ABR files. The project turned out fine, but the person wanted to use some of the brushes outside of Photoshop. Thus my hunt began for a way to convert ABR files. You can convert them to PNG files using a freeware utility called ABR Viewer 2.0. Once they are PNG files, you can use them in almost any image program. If you'd like a detailed tutorial on how to convert the ABR files to Photopaint Nibs. There's an excellent tut available HERE.

Enjoy!

Free DWG Viewer

Yes, those in the CAD community know that Autodesk finally released a free dwg viewer a while back. It's a huge download offering "true view" technology. But what if you just want to view thumbnails, and maybe browse some dwg files before opening the behemoth DWG Viewer?

I'll refer you to a great freeware utility for CAD users called AVE (autocad version explorer). It's currently at release 1.9, and i've been using it for a while. With some coding, i've integrated into a standard autocad menu. It's a great small dwg browser. Get it here:

http://www.jmsware.com/

Check out the forums, the author is friendly and open to suggestions.

Welcome Stranger!

This blog is dedicated to CAD & Graphics (just as the title suggests). Any tips, neat utilities, tricks, or information related but not limited to AutoCAD, Photoshop, Illustrator, Coreldraw, Photopaint.