Photoshop cafe Newsletter

It wasn’t until I started writing this that I realized what a busy month it’s been!
A new book, new video, new shopping cart and fullfilment, a trip to Vegas and Austin. And I started a new blog in my spare time.

I hope you enjoy this newsletter and take the time to read all the news. See you at the cafe!

Is it possible to get quality Royalty free stock photos for $3? Sure is, check out istockphoto - They also have Flash movies and Illustrator files.

My oh my! I had no idea how popular this new title would be! I just released my first new DVD in quite some time.

This one is on CS2 Type effects. What makes it different than other type effects titles? For a start I don’t think there are any other titles out there! Apart from that, the topics are very practical and useable special effects that look great. You’ll learn all the cool effects like fire, neon, graffiti etc, but beyond that, I will show you how to apply type and apply it photo realistically to any surface. Wrap text around cylinders, spheres, textures and even irregular surfaces. This is one title you will want to check out. It’s available for instant download. I’ll let you know when disks are shipping, they are still being manufactured.

Don’t forget the special discount. Save an additional 10% on ANY of my training disks and downloads CODE: PSNL906

PhotoshopCAFE has now teamed up with Element 5.
What this means is better and faster customer service and a ton more options to you.
We now have warehousing and shipping from Germany as well as the United States. Turn around times are dramatically reduced with super fast shipping options. We also offer fast downloads with extended download options that allow you to re-download your order for up to a year!

We now have multiple language ordering options and multi-currency with real-time conversion rates from your currency. There are also a ton of new ways to pay including wire-transfer, solo, switch etc.

What does this mean to you? It means that our customer care and fulfillment is now as good as our products and quality of training. You order, it’s safe, fast and you can track your order right away and receive it much faster than before!

Print a portion of the page

When printing, you may find that you need to tweak the image a bit because it doesn’t print as you expect. Perhaps your like me and have wasted mountains of paper and gallons of ink. Stop the wastage, now! Here is a way to print just a selected portion of the page
1. Using the marquee tool make a selection around the portion of the image that you desire to output.
2. Choose the Print with Preview command from the file menu.
3. Click on the option that says Print Selected Area
4. Click Print and just the selected area will be printed, this is a great way to proof your images before committing to a full page print.

Photoshop World in Las Vegas was a great event. Almost 3,000 Photoshop fans showed up from all around the world. 3 days of training and fun. PhotoshopCAFE was there with the booth. Al Ward, Daz, Phillip Neal and Matt Keefe from the café were there to join in the festivities. Thanks to Philip Neal for designing the cool tshirts. Also to Malachi for helping get them printed.

Check out the photo gallery to see us at the booth and some other Photoshop World images.

The day after Photoshop World I was on a plane heading over to Austin Texas for Flash Forward. Two shows back to back was quite a bit, but well worth it. In Austin I had a blast, 4 days with some of the best Flash Minds in the world. I made a presentation at the Peachpit booth where we unveiled my new book and I taught a few of the projects, which went over really well. I really enjoyed all the sessions and especially the Flash Film Festival where there was some amazing work! A lot of the Nike projects swept the awards and they were well deserving! I got to hang out with Chris Georgenes from mudbubble.com who contributed the chapter on Character animation to my new book. What can I say? I’m looking forward to the next Flash Forward!
See some Photos here

Yippie! My new book is finally out. It was unveiled at Photoshop World and Flash Forward. I’m glad to say that people really like the book and have said this is the book a lot of people have been waiting for. This is for beginners and intermediate Flash users. I follow the same approach that I have with Photoshop training. You will learn how to create all the cool things you have seen with Flash without all the confusing jargon. Make all kinds of animation and transitions, things will sparkle, metal will shimmer and you will even make realistic moving smoke. Learn how to build entire sites in Flash… 2ways! Easily add video, green screen effects and all kinds of video effects to web pages. Want to create an old-time looking video in Flash? No problem. Add sound, music, dynamic scrolling text, email forms, galleries etc. In total there are over 70 fast paced, recipe-style projects. All source files are included on the CD. If you have always wanted to learn Flash or know the basics but looking for some really awesome techniques to make your work look like the pros.. this is the book for you

I have decided to take the plunge and start a blog. Check it out for almost daily updates on news, opinions, resources and other stuff related to design and photography.

http://www.photoshopcafe.com/blog

Reducing the opacity of layers can have both creative and practical uses. You can use the opacity slider to blend images together in interesting ways. You can also reduce the opacity of an image to “ghost” it for practical purposes. For example, suppose you are working on a layer and need to show a hint of the underlying layers to help you position the layer.

I have written a review on the Logitech NuLOOQ. What is a NewLOOQ? Check out the review, it’s cool!