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