CAD GFX

Free CAD

2010-12-31T04:50:00.001-08:00

I found a decent FREE cad application for those wanting to do CAD work, but can’t or don’t want to spend money on a commercial “dwg” CAD package.

ProgeCAD 2009 is the freeware offering from www.progesoft.com

It’s an intellicad based program that offers DWG read/write capabilities. This is a powerful autoCAD clone, that can be used commercially if you purchase a license to do so. But if you are just wanting to draft up some personal projects, then you’ll find no better deal on the web than this!

What’s the catch? Well, it’s not the latest version of the software. And those of you spoiled by the ribbon, dynmaic UI and other goodies from AutoCAD 2009 and onwards will see that this CAD feels more like autoCAD 2000. That’s not really a bad thing.

The install is small in comparison. It supports reading and writing to DWG format, and you can even run lisp routines as well (something the 1200$ autoCAD LT can’t do!)

ProgeCAD 2009 also supports 3D. it has the basic set of 3d shapes that people using AutoCAD would be familiar with. It also supports editing of those 3D shapes with a very familiar editing toolbar.

It even integrates it’s own “express tools” into the program. Which basically means, all the command found under the express tools can be found in its own menu as well. It’s a nice touch for users who are familiar with AutoCAD.

This is good for AutoCAD users who don’t like to stray from the standard AutoCAD interface. However, I’ve never liked how AutoDesk organized their menu system. So it would have been nice to see an intelliCAD based software break away from completely copying AutoCAD’s layout and make things more intuitive for new users.

Still for free, this is a great product. And if you want something that sports the new ribbon interface, Progesoft has recently released a 2010 version that includes that plus support for DWG 2010 format. Of course that version is not free!

ScriptPro 2.0 for AutoCAD

2010-11-03T18:09:00.001-07:00

Well, i've been waiting forever on this one, and we finally have it... A new version of scriptpro is out for AutoCAD 2008 and later..

So in addition to the cutesy ribbon interface what else is new? Well, the big thing users will notice is the option to run a script on multiple drawings without restarting CAD for every drawing. This was a BIG slow down with the older version of scriptpro. There's a "restart after X" option, so it can clear memory as it gradually gets eaten up by opening multiple drawings. So for you powerusers out there, go grab Scriptpro 2 and test it out yourself.

CADGFX ADDON UPDATE

2010-07-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

I've been getting e-mails about the status of the CADGFX addon.
Is it vaporware? Did i photoshop the early screenshots? When is it being released? Etc, etc.

There's obviously been some delays...

The reason? I was compiling the latest version a few weeks ago when my build tree file went corrupt.
It's basically an index file that tracks all the files that get compiled.
I basically have to restore from an earlier version and update the build tree file with the updates and try again. The problem is my backup file was on a hard drive that crashed a while back. Shame on me for not keeping a good working backup. So it's going to take some time to get it back to the last build I had working.
I bought a dual sata USB drive that will become my main backup for my projects (including CADGFX stuff) In the meantime, I've been reorganizing ALL my files (photos, media, software, music) on separate external hard drives. This should make my workflow more efficient as each drive will be dedicated for a specific purpose.

I expect to be back up and running early August. Work unfortunately is taking a priority until then.

So as for a timeframe, i'll pay homage to a couple of my favorite software houses, 3D realms and ID, when I say, it will be released "W.I.D." At least i'm still doing better than Duke Nukem 4!! ;-)
In the meantime, I offer something a little different:

Go to google.ca and type "French military victories", then click the "I'm feeling lucky" button!

Favorite Free Photo Browser

2010-05-19T21:04:00.001-07:00

I’m always on the lookout for good freeware tools. When I spend time reinstalling windows on someone’s computer, I like to include a variety of freeware that I find useful. Usually some sort of security/anti-virus. A zip utility, and an image browser. Because 99% of people will surf the net, get some kind of archive at some point, and will have images to view or share with others. At first, I was putting on Irfanview, then I migrated to XnView, and then to Faststone Image Viewer.

Each one of these viewers have their own benefits. And I won’t cover that in this post. Instead I’ll focus on an image browser that would be close to the image browsing capabilities of my old favorite, ACDSee. Ok, so after some surfing, I came across this:
Zoner Photo Studio Free

It’s very ACDSee-like in appearance, but offers a few features that even ACDSee lacks! Let’s get on with the mini-review!

MANAGER:

Well this is the Zoner’s manager interface. Zoner offers a dark theme, just like ACDSee. Tree browser and preview pane, with a task list on the right. Let’s compare this to ACDSee 12

As you can see the “manager” mode is very similar, and using them both, I can say that switching back and forth is very easy.

Viewer:

Each viewer mode is configurable, but you can see that once again, they are very similar.

Zoner:

ACDSee 12:

EDITOR:

Let’s compare the editing windows for them.

Zoner:

ACDSee:

Some differences here, but alot of the same basic editing is available. Color, B&W, Sepia Tone, Resizing, etc.

Some really nice features are included in the free zoner software. Batch EXIF editing, keyword application and searching. Which is great for those just starting to learn to manage their photos.

Now for the bells and whistles that’s unique to Zoner.

Sort Photos – Read a group of photos and separate them based on Exif information (like date taken)
Panoramic Stitching – Stitch together photos horizontal, and vertical panos are supported
Create 3D images
Calendar Generator! Really nice feature actually

So, why free? Because Zoner offers 2 other versions of their program, a Home version and a Pro version. You can check out the comparison chart here:

Zoner Comparison Chart

I’ll do a mini-review of the pro version of zoner vs ACDSee Pro at some point. But, if you’re curious, it’s worth checking out.

Largest Photo In the World!

2010-02-24T17:27:00.001-08:00

A little photo goodie for you all... As of Dec 2009, the largest digital photo in the world is available to view online...

http://www.dresden-26-gigapixels.com/dresden26GP

CADGFX Update 10-02-02

2010-02-03T19:01:00.001-08:00

Revised the menu system.. will allow users to create their own command aliases. There was a couple of conflicting commands when running the menu with Civil 3D 2009...
Still recoding some stuff, but it's taking a while.. Work is super busy!

Frosty Day

2010-01-22T04:55:00.001-08:00

Just a photo that I took on my birthday!

Free Renaming – A Second Look

2010-01-14T21:08:00.001-08:00

Sometimes people leave things thinking that they know the limitations of it. Thinking, that because they knew it or used it, or was a part of it for so long, that they knew all about it. The fact is that people make mistakes. Sometimes, if we look again, deeper into things we once knew, we can come away with more than what we expected or hoped. This can be true in many things, including relationships, friendships, or in this case, my old renaming utility Lupas Rename!
I think it’s important to right whatever wrongs we may have caused, so today, I am writing a few corrections for users who may have put Lupas Rename “out to pasture”, so to speak.
Let’s call this a re-review! While looking a bit more in depth at LR2000’s features, I came across a couple things that proved worth sharing.

LR2005 supports renaming files based on a list! Though the option was there, I somehow missed it!

To access the list feature, select the text editor button.

With the editor open, you can import text (file-->open) or use some of the other features to tweak your file list from the Import menu.

I’m just going to type my list as an example. And click the “X” button to close the window and return to the main screen.

Now in the main screen, we have to specify that we want to use the text in the text editor. We select The “replace text” option and RIGHT-CLICK to access a menu of available variables.

This context menu has lots of options, so, explore it! Really, i would like to see access to these options, a little bit more obvious. like a drop down list in the text box field or something. Because, if you don’t use a utility like this all the time, you’ll forget about this functionality.
You can see in this window, my modified list… with the <T> variable showing at the bottom.

With the variables available, you can get really creative options going. Also, using the “flatten folders” option, allows you to work on files stored in multiple folders! (it’s the folder tree symbol left of the text editor button.)
For example, i renamed 1300 PDFs that were separated into 40 different folders with different names in each folder. Each PDF was renamed to match the folder’s name and had a sequential number after the name. Total time to do the operation, just over 1 minute!
So, go check it out, LUPAS RENAME 2000.

Free PDF Management

2010-01-05T10:38:00.000-08:00

Despite the leaps and bounds DWF has made in the CAD community. I'm still seeing PDF as a popular choice for electronic file sharing. The reasons are simple. PDF has been around for ages. Non-technical people know about PDF. And many of us have to submit drawings to non-technical people for a variety of reasons. I still get questions like "What's a DWF file?" from people in the industry. So, let's face the fact that as a CAD user, you will still need to create and manage PDF files.

There are alot of PDF creation tools out there. Some of them are free. (See my earlier post for my choices for that!)

When it gets to free PDF management though, the choices dwindle considerably. But I found a great utility called PDFSAM (PDF Split And Merge). Well by the name it offers some nice options, including, Merging, splitting, rotating, reordering, etc. It requires Java to run, but I've been testing it out. It works great. Very stable, and you can use an installer version, or a zip version. That's a plus for people that have restricted rights on computers.

So for basic PDF management, it's my choice.

CADGFX 2010

2010-01-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Well, i've been working on releasing the CADGFX addon for AutoCAD. I will be releasing two versions. 2008 version will be for AutoCAD 2008, and CADGFX 2010 will be geared for 2010 users. So far, the beta for 2008 is about 70% complete. Updating it for 2010 will take a bit more work. I'm hoping to release the beta for 2008 by the end of the month. (fingers crossed) But here's a screenshot of the menu for 2008.

Freeware Renaming Utilities

2010-01-01T22:45:00.001-08:00

Everyone at some point has to rename files. But if you have to rename multiple files, a renaming utility can be your best friend. I recommend two utilities.

Option 1

LUPAS RENAME 2000 Lupas Rename was one of those utilities I’ve been using for a long time. It’s small and quick and should serve the needs of most of your renaming chores.
The Good	Free Windows context menu support can be portable easy to learn interface can create bat files
The Bad	No longer being updated since 2005 Using tags for MP3 renaming is not intuitive ~~Cannot rename files based on a list~~

Option 2

ReNamer by Den4b It takes a bit of time to learn the interface, but it’s probably one of the most versatile renaming utilities available. I wanted to find a small simple utility that could rename files based on a list. This is it!
The Good	Free Windows context menu support Can be portable Rename based on custom list! Save and Load “presets” renaming functions Powerful renaming functions using Pascal scripting Still being developed
The Bad	Terrible name (if you don’t know Den4b!) scripting is geared for programmers Interface for selection/filter mode is clunky

They’re both free, and relatively small installs. I use both of these tools on a regular basis. From renaming drawings and PDF files to renaming MP3s.

Context Menu Freeware…

2009-12-13T20:09:00.001-08:00

The first one I use regularly is Firmtools Shellextension. It offers a thumbnail preview of many popular image formats. In addition to that, it gives the chance for quick image conversion and printing. It’s been useful for me.

FIRMTOOLS SHELLEXTENSION

If you want the same functionality for AutoCAD files, you download AutoCAD PVI Extension.
It’s just the thumbnail preview, no printing or any other functions, but I’m looking forward to an update to this.

AutoCAD PVI Extension

Third up for context menu, is a very quick and handy utility to upload images to image hosting sites: Tinypic, Imageshack, and Messyshare. With Tinypic Uploader, just right click on an image and select the service you want to upload the image to. You get a direct link you can copy to clipboard. This is excellent to share images for blogs, forums, etc. It also offers various types of screencapture with direct uploading features. Plus, you can batch upload images as well!

Tinypic Uploader

Freeware File Manager

2009-09-28T17:31:00.001-07:00

My personal choice for a file manager is xplorer2 Lite by Zabkat software. I’ve never been satisfied with the windows default file manager. In the past, I was using Powerdesk, which was an excellent commercial app. Xplorer boasts, tabbed interface, dual pane file management, and a host of other features. The pro version (not free) has some great options for power users, but you can still do alot with the lite version. My only complaint about the software? There’s many features that are buried away under hotkey options and really should be presented in menus. It would also be nice to have icons for all the commands, so it would be easy to add them to the toolbar. Also, the toolbar icons are kinda small on hi-res monitors. I understand, the author is working on updating the interface, but this isn’t a tool that relies on appearance. It’s a powerhouse utility that gets better with each new release. Check it out!

Blog Expansion

2009-09-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Over the coming weeks, I'll be expanding my blog posts to include useful freeware, (NOT just CAD or GFX related!)

Also, in a effort to get organized in a more global manner, i'll be giving updates on my experience using the GTD method. What is the GTD Method? READ ABOUT HERE

Acdsee Pro 3 (Beta)

2009-08-09T15:13:00.001-07:00

Acdsee Pro 3 Beta has been released. Anyone can download the beta and give it a test run.

Some definite interface improvements. I’ve just started testing it. If you’re interesting in trying out one of the top image managers out there, give it a shot and share your thoughts on Acdsee’s forums! They’re a good bunch of people over there.

Share Your Photos More Deeply

2009-08-05T18:50:00.001-07:00

I’m a bit of a panorama photo lover, but the problem with panoramas is sharing those photos with others. Small prints lose details, same as small email attachments, and many free photo sharing sites aren’t geared for panoramics. Well along comes Deep Zoom Technology from Microsoft, to the rescue!

Microsoft recently released Deep Zoom Composer. A desktop application, allowing users to create deep-zoom application that can be uploaded for website viewing. I had a chance to play with Composer, it’s interface is minimal and it’s mostly drag & drop interface allows you to build a deep zoom app pretty quickly.

Check out a shining example of Deep-Zoom being used by the HARD ROCK CAFE.

So let’s say, you like Deep-Zoom, but you don’t have your own website. What can you do? Check out www.deepzoompix.com , with a Windows Live ID, you can upload your high resolution photos or panoramas and share them with the world. All the Deep-zoom work is done on the server. This is really just a technology showcase and the site says they’ll close the service at the end of 2009. So that gives you a few months to share your hi-res photos… For those interested, I’ve uploaded my own panoramas and misc photos. CHECK IT OUT!

Remember, you need the latest Silverlight installed to view these cool pix!

Free Panoramic Software – ICE

2009-08-04T20:27:00.001-07:00

I’ll keep this post short & sweet. Microsoft has released a nice FREE piece of software for photographic users. Microsoft ICE. MS ICE is short for “Image Composite Editor”, a fancy term for photostitching software. What’s nice about this, aside from it being free, is that it offers some interesting outputs for your images. Including, the fun, Deep-Zoom. Deep-Zoom, is something similar to Zoomify, but using Microsoft’s Silverlight technology. (oh, there’s the catch!) Yes, the freebie has a catch, if you want to use some of the “cooler” features of MS ICE, you’ll be using MS technology to showcase that. You also have the option to export your panorama as an HD-View Image. Again, another Microsoft technology. I find it odd that MS is using 2 different technologies that in the end do something similar. You’ll just have to try out the technologies to see what you prefer.

AutoCAD Color Tricks for B/W prints

2009-08-03T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well, most engineering companies plot using CTB files for autoCAD. And typically companies will use a CTB file that will produce prints in black & white. But there are times when a user will want to use color. And yes, you can then create a color CTB, or modify the b/w CTB file being used. But I offer another option for those wanting to use color hatching or linework. How can i get color lines or filled hatches while using a black & white CTB?

METHOD 1... DWF

Here is a sample drawing printed using the monochrome CTB file.. My sample output file could be PDF, or DWF, or a hard copy print sent to a color printer.

I've decided to have a couple lines in color.. i dont want to modify the CTB file for printing. I'll add a couple rev clouds, but it could be any linework you want to stand out. Markup info, etc.
So i threw on a couple rev clouds on a seperate layer and then isolated the layer...

Plot it to DWF making sure you do NOT use a CTB style to print it.

now attach the DWF back into the drawing.

Doesn't look any different except for showing the frame of the DWF.

Funny thing about DWF attachments is that it bahaves alot more like an image attachment then attaching a drawing. So go to the properties of the dwf and make sure that "monochrome" is set to "NO".

now print or publish normaly. You'll see my new print has everything set to black using the monochrome CTB.

But the DWF attached info is printing out in color!

METHOD 2... GRADIENTS!

This method is good for hatches and doesn't require plotting and attaching a DWF file. I've decided to add a red solid hatch at the bottom of the drawing.

You can see the result if I just use a standard autocad layer and plot using the monochrome CTB file.

What i'll do now, is edit the hatch and use a gradient instead.

Open the hatch editor, and select gradient, 2 color mode... when picking the colors, you can either use the true color settings or even pick the same autocad index color to give it a solid color.

I picked color 1 (RED) for both of the colors in the gradient window.

save the changes and go plot to your monochrome CTB file. The result? Color output using the monochrome CTB, without need for adjusting pens, etc.

Viewing Photos In a different way

2009-03-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

I'm constantly on the lookout for different ways to share/view photos, be it through digital means or otherwise. I saw a tech preview for something Microsoft was developing a while back. I thought I'd share it with those who might not have come across it yet... PhotoSynth!

What is PhotoSynth? Well, think of it as a way to dynamically link photos based on metatags. All of the photos can be viewed in a virtual 3d space to see how the different photos relate to each other. Pretty impressive stuff... Impressive enough to be used in a few CSI episodes!

The video shows the initial program called seadragon, but the seadragon technology is now part of MS Photosynth..

DosLib 8.0

2009-03-13T14:27:00.002-07:00

Doslib v8.0 for AutoCAD 2007 thru 2010 is now available for download.For power users and programmers for autocad, this ARX addon provides many enhancements for programming your own routines. Very stable, very useful. Go grab it and start coding! For those of you wondering what's new in Doslib 8 since the 7.8 release...

dos_imagelist -Returns a list to all raster images in the active document.
dos_olelist - Returns a list to all linked OLE objects in the active document.
dos_plinewinding - Determines whether a closed polyline winds clockwise or counterclockwise.
dos_proxyclean - Removes all of the of proxy objects from the current drawing.
dos_proxycount - Returns the number of proxy objects in the current drawing.
dos_purgexdata - Removes all extended entity data (xdata) that is attached to an entity regardless of the APPNAME.

DOSLIB DOWNLOAD

The Road Ahead Was a Ribbon of Moonlight

2008-09-26T05:07:00.001-07:00

A paraphrased title for today's blog entry dedicated to my elementary grade English teacher Mrs Little. She loved poetry, and she gave me a very very long lecture when I had expressed otherwise. Any ideas of where this phrase comes from?

Like Mrs Little had taught me, there's truth in poetry, it's not just about fanciful stories and ways to woo women. And the truth about the road ahead deals with a ribbon!

Windows 7, the predecessor to windows Vista, has been in development for some time. Expected to be released between the summer of 2009, and first quarter of 2010. It's a Vista that's been refined. Now I could go on about all the features and enhancements that are expected with it, but this is a graphics blog, so today I'll give you an update on MS Paint! Yes, MS Paint, which has been part of windows since version 1 is seeing a makeover in windows 7.

Paint in Windows V1

Paint in windows 95

Paint in windows 7

Notice anything? Yes, MS Paint in windows 7 has now adopted the "ribbon" interface. This interface will show up on other applications too. Like Wordpad. The point is to show you, the current users of AutoCAD and Office, that the ribbon is here to stay. Office 2007 users have less choice of what to do with the Ribbon, yes there are third party utilities to bring back the old menu system. Autodesk was more lenient about what AutoCAD users do. You can disable the ribbon interface completely in AutoCAD 2009, but to help yourself with future upgrades of AutoCAD, learn to work with it now! You will be seeing the ribbon interface showing up in more and more programs on the road ahead. (Ooh, see how that ties into the title!?)

More Power for Powershot Users

2008-09-13T10:57:00.001-07:00

Well, I've come across something that I thought I'd share with other Canon Powershot owners. There's a firmware project called CHDK

CHDK is a firmware enhancement that operates on a number of Canon Cameras. CHDK gets loaded into your camera's memory upon bootup (either manually or automatically). It provides additional functionality beyond that currently provided by the native camera firmware.

CHDK is not a permanent firmware upgrade: you decide how it is loaded (manually or automatically) and you can always easily remove it. The benefits are pretty substantial. Enhancements include:

a. Enhanced ways of recording images - you can capture still pictures in RAW format (as well as JPEG), and for video images you can have increased recording time and length (1 hour or 2 GB)

b. Additional data displays on the LCD screen - histogram, battery life indicator, depth of field, and many more.

c. Additional photographic settings that are not available on the camera by itself

There's more features available but check out the site to see if your specific Powershot Camera is supported. Mine is! :-)

NOTE: The CHDK site can be confusing to go through. So I've assembled here some links to help get new users started. These are the bare essentials. I strongly suggest reading the FAQ thoroughly:

FAQ

CHDK FIRMWARE DOWNLOAD (AllBest version)

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS (VIDEO)

INSTALL FOR S2 IS (linux reference, but it's the same for windows)

AutoCAD 2009 GUI-ing Pains

2008-09-04T18:37:00.001-07:00

If you've been using MS Office for a while and upgraded to Office 2007, you would have noticed the biggest change is the interface. The ribbon is Microsoft's answer to having access to all the tools and functions that their flagship products contain without hunting and searching through pull down menus. Many long time users of Office have complained about the ribbon. I personally found it took a bit of getting used to. But why am I writing about MS Office 2007 in a post about AutoCAD 2009?

ANSWER: Welcome to the new "ribbon" interface of AutoCAD 2009!

Apparently AutoDesk who has always been close partners with Microsoft, has decided to adopt Microsoft's interface enhancement in it's latest release.

Now for long time users of AutoCAD there will be some growing pains. But AutoDesk has made sure that the other interface tools from past releases are still there, including palettes, menus, and even the Tablet and Screen Menus are still there for anyone who uses it. (Seriously, who still uses it?)

Autodesk has done a few things better than Microsoft. The big one is that the ribbon interface is very easy to customize thanks to the CUI editor. Also, you can have different modes for the ribbon display.

Simply right click on the arrow shown on the top of the ribbon to access different view modes. This is a handy way to control what panels you see and how much screen space the ribbon will take up. I personally like to have the ribbon collapse to panel titles.

After some testing 2009, I think that the new ribbon interface is a welcome addition to AutoCAD and its vertical products. Considering that Office 2007 is now a standard in Universities and colleges, users who shirk the ribbon interface should give it a try. There's no way of avoiding the ribbon! As with any new feature that AutoDesk introduces, there's a bit of a learning curve, but productivity for veteran users should be the same if not better. And this GUI change is a step in the right direction for users new to AutoCAD.

Take the time to go through the "What's New" workshop included with AutoCAD. There's many enhancements that come with 2009, including significant changes to the new DWFx file format introduced in AutoCAD 2008. Keep an eye on this blog for updated information and tips for AutoCAD 2009!

Picasa 3

2008-09-04T18:30:00.001-07:00

Picasa 3, the free image browser, from Google has been released (as a beta). I personally prefer to use other image browsers, but I've had it installed for one main feature. The Auto collage function! Even though you can duplicate the effect in Photoshop, picasa's collage feature is by far the simplest I've used. Literally, it takes 10 seconds to create a collage. You select the photos you want to collage and then select "photo collage" from the menu. Then save the result. The only issue with it was the ability to fine tune or edit the collage before saving it.

Well, with version 3 of Picasa, the developers have included more collage styles, including mosaics, thumbnail pages (of course), and some interesting ones like the multiple exposure collage.

But what is really great with the new update, is the ability to fine tune the images themselves. For the picture pile collage you can specify borders or the old Polaroid framing they had in v2.7

You can adjust the placement of individual images and change the rotation and scaling, simply by clicking on the image and using the dial to adjust. grab the handle on the dial and move it up or down to alter the rotation or drag it to the left or right to resize the image.

If that wasn't enough, Picasa now includes the ability to make movies from photos with a variety of transition effects. Similar to Microsoft's photo story, but with the ability to upload your finished movie to Youtube within the picasa application.

The only thing I wished they included in the movie tool was a bit more control for the audio. Options to fade out audio or record audio while the movie is playing in draft mode would be handy. Also linking more than one audio file would be nice too. As it is, the audio component is crude and is only meant for background music. If you want a free photo to movie tool with more control, check out Microsoft Photo Story.

Picasa 3 is still in beta, but I've found it stable and worth the upgrade if you're using older versions of Picasa. There are other enhancements for Picasa users including automatic synching to web albums. Well done Google! Find out more about the changes HERE.

You can also give feedback about the beta HERE.

Download Picasa 3

Tinting & Toning in ACDSee

2008-05-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

Everyone has seen dramatic tinted or sepia tones photographs. For users new to ACDSee, this quick tutorial shows you how you can achieve the same effects.

First go into the EDIT mode for your image.

Select "Effects" to find the sepia effect.

The sepia effect is a one click solution that produces acceptable results. (see below)

But we can adjust the effect by going into the "Color" option in the Edit Panel.

Use any of the adjustment options to play around with tint and color of the image. I use the HSL (hue saturation lightness) tab to make small adjustments to the sepia effect. Click Done when you're happy with the changes.

You can further adjust the image by going into the "Exposure" option in the Edit Panel, to change the tone of the image using Levels or the Curves tab. Below are some variations made from the original image.

Remember to always "Save as..." when you're done. Always keep your original. This is a very easy way to make an image artistic. Experiment and enjoy!

Photoshop Express

2008-05-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

An online version of Photoshop is available for free. Browser based photo editing goodness. No, don't expect fancy layers and masking, but some good image enhancement and cropping tools are available. Enjoy! Photoshop Exress

Simple Frames in ACDSee

2007-12-13T11:40:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-08T21:05:00.000-08:00

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

2007-10-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-25T21:09:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-22T20:53:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-18T01:00:00.000-07:00

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..

2007-08-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

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

2007-07-26T17:50:00.001-07:00

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!

2007-06-08T12:28:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

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.