photoshop

Mac Keynote Sample – Toyota

Does TLC Creative Services use Keynote? That is a question I hear from many new clients. Of course we do! Presentation design, with any of the available presentation software options, has the same design principles to engage the audience. Some of the technology and visual effects change, but the layout, messaging and use of animation “rules” remain the same.

We have recently added a video of a Keynote presentation project to our portfolio section. TLC Creative Services developed the template, did lots of custom Photoshop work to bring the provided script to life using the unique capabilities of the Apple’s Keynote app. See it here.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T10:25:52-07:00August 14th, 2013|Portfolio, Software/Add-Ins|

PowerPoint Outline – inside/outside/middle ???

A stroke and an outline are the same thing, but called different things based on the program being used. It is a line around the perimeter. The line can be any color, even a gradient of colors and any width. But PowerPoint has a flaw in its outline/stroke feature:

When you apply strokes to shapes in Illustrator or Photoshop, you have the option to align the stroke to the outside, inside, or center of the shape:

In PowerPoint, the stroke is automatically applied to the center of a PowerPoint, or vector, shape:

However, with inserted images, the stroke gets applied to the outside:

And for text, the stroke is applied to the center:

This makes it difficult if you are trying to align shapes with images, the strokes don’t align even if they are the same weight simply because PPT aligns to the edge of the shape/image and now the same size elements with the same width stroke are different sizes, because on one the stroke makes the shape wider than the other. With the text, the actual text starts to disappear (above example is the base text and then a 10pt stroke applied – which almost completely eliminates the black text). There is not a solution for PowerPoint as of PPT 2013, but we can hope for user control over the placement (inside-outside-center) by the designer to improve PowerPoint.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-10T10:33:55-07:00June 24th, 2013|Resource/Misc, Templates/Assets|

Adobe – Which is Better, Subscription or Disc?

The Adobe Creative Suite is the industry standard for design applications: PhotoShop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat, etc. Adobe now provides two purchases options, and determining which is best is based on your needs.

Option 1: Purchase Disc
– The traditional purchase is a serial number, either software download or install disc. This provides a fixed set of applications (depending on which suite is selected). It is OS specific (Windows or Mac) and can be installed on multipled computers (generally two).

TLC Creative has historically purchased the Design Premium suite for its design and show computers. This suite includes:
• Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, Fireworks, Acrobat Pro, Bridge, Media Encoder

Option 2: Subscription
Recently, Adobe has starting offering a new subscription option, called Adobe Creative Cloud. It is based on CS6, the newest version of all Adobe apps. It also has the advantage of being turned on and off. So if you need Adobe software for a short time, it can be paid for in monthly increments. It also has the advantage of getting additional tool features added with the automatic web-based updates (so the subscription install of Adobe CS6 Illustrator has a number of additional tools that the disc install does not).

The subscription option is like purchasing the most robust (ie. costly) creative suite, the Master Collectoin. When looking at the year long subscription rate, the subscription is considerably lower cost than purchasing the Master Collection. But not that far from purchasing one of the other CS options. Currently, the Creative Suite includes:
• Photoshop Extended
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Dreamweaver
• Flash
• Fireworks
• Acrobat X Pro
• Acrobat XI Pro (Not included in any CS)
• Bridge
• Media Encoder
• Lightroom (Not included in any CS)
• Adobe Muse (Not included in any CS)
• Flash Builder
• Edge Tools & Services (Not included in any CS)
• Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Audition
• SpeedGrade
• Prelude
• Encore

It also includes these services: (Not included with any CS)
• Device and PC Sync
• Cloud Storage
• Business Catalyst
• PhoneGap Build
• TypeKit
• Story Plus
• Digital Publishing Suite

For TLC Creative Services, a major advantage of the disc install version is our show computers can inherit the previous version. So all show computers are very capable computers, just not loaded with the “cutting edge” edition. With the subscription, there is no “old” software available for use on other computers. The subscription is more economical over the course of the year than a direct purchase and allows us to have access to many applications that have not been a part of our standard design process. So for us, it is a combination of Disc and Subscription.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T08:50:14-07:00January 9th, 2013|Resource/Misc|

PowerPoint + Photoshop = Visually Dynamic Slides

For a recent project, the presenter described the first mover advantage of Kodak when they developed the first digital camera (and then the fate of not acting on that advantage). Rather than a bullet list of facts, dates and details, we provided a 3 slide sequence to visually support the presenter.

After developing the slide concept, the first task was researching and finding a high enough resolution image of the first Kodak digital camera (and the “camera” is pretty cool):

Using the image as is, we could have developed a slide like this: Insert .jpg, add outline and drop shadow, insert company logo (as a scalable .emf vector graphic of course).

Instead, we spent 40 minutes in Photoshop dropping out the background and saving out the optimized .png image with transparency. The inserted image has a PowerPoint drop shadow a some gradient accent lines emerging from the camera lens.

The result is a great image that works with any template background and visually pops.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T08:59:34-07:00November 5th, 2012|Portfolio|

PowerPoint vs. Photoshop Opacity Settings

PowerPoint and Photoshop each have their own way of changing the opacity of an element. The most confusing aspect is that each app defines 0% transparency different.

In PowerPoint, 0% Transparency means the shape is fully opaque/solid.

In PowerPoint, 100% Transparency means the shape is fully transparent/invisible.

On the other hand, Photoshop does the exact opposite.

In PhotoShop with 0% Transparency the shape is fully transparent/invisible.

In PhotoShop, 100% with Transparency the shape is fully opaque/solid.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:06:52-07:00September 24th, 2012|Tutorial|

Adobe CS6 – Disc or Subscription?

TLC Creative Services is a long time user of Adobe apps – all the way back to Photoshop 2 (not CS2, just “2”). For the last few CS (Creative Suite) versions, we have purchased the Design Premium suite, which includes:
– Photoshop Extended
– Illustrator
– InDesign
– Acrobat
– Flash Professional
– Dreamweaver
– Fireworks
– Bridge
– Media Encoder

With CS6, the staff designers have the Design Premium Suite and we are testing Adobe’s new subscription option of CS 6 this year. The subscription plan is a monthly fee vs. the big upfront cost. Adobe is also adding features to applications that are available only to subscription users. The CS6 Subscription is like getting the CS Master Suite and includes:
– Photoshop Extended
– Illustrator
– InDesign
– Dreamweaver
– Flash Professional
– Adobe Premiere Pro
– After Effects
– Audition
– SpeedGrade
– Muse

It would seem the subscription is the way to go. It costs a lot less at the end of the year vs. the disc install. But a major advantage of disc version is still owning the previous version when you upgrade. The TLC show computers inherit the previous version, so they have a full software suite for all design needs.

Every situation is different, but the disc install is going to remain a part of our use for several years because we have an ongoing use for the “old” Adobe software.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T09:07:33-07:00September 21st, 2012|Resource/Misc|

Open PhotoShop File as Flat Composite

Unfortunately, in general, Microsoft does not work well with layered Photoshop (.psd) files. This includes Windows Explorer previewing them or PowerPoint being able to insert them. I do a lot of work in Photoshop, so I have a lot of Photoshop files for each presentation project. Sometimes, it is a time trap waiting for Photoshop to open the files just to identify if it is a needed file for the presentation. This is especially true when I receive 1-2-30GB files from a graphic department. It takes even a fast computer some time to process a 30GB file with upwards of 50 layers.

Here is a quick way to open, view and identify what those large files are.

1. In Photoshop, go to FILE>>OPEN and select the .psd file

2. If the OPEN button is clicked, the full file opens, including all of the layers

3. But if the SHIFT and ALT keys are held down, then the OPEN button the file opens as a flattened composite image

The advantage is the file, any size, opens instantly. The disadvantage is if layers are turned off they are not visible. I generally create a small .jpg with the same file name for easy reference in Windows explorer.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:24:25-07:00March 16th, 2011|Tutorial|

Create a Panoramic Image in Photoshop

Sometimes presentations need specialty images that are beyond the capabilities of PowerPoint. Here is my process for creating panoramic images:

1. Take a series of photos, aligning as close as possible. Here are my sample images – 4 photos taken from the 11,000′ elevation peak at BrianHead ski resort in Utah.

2. Open PhotoShop and import all images as separate layers. Be sure the layers are in order of what will be the side-by-side order.

3. With all 4 layers selected go to EDIT >> AUTO-ALIGN LAYERS.

4. In the Auto-Align Layers dialog there are a number of options, for this one I am going to use AUTO.

5. The result is (1) a super wide image, that is (2) made up of the layers, each repositioned side-by-side.

6. Then use the cropping tool to remove excess areas and create a clean rectangle.

7. Because my images have slightly different exposures, the individual images can still be seen. First I quickly apply an AUTO TONE, AUTO CONTRAST, AUTO COLOR to each layer. Then I use the eraser tool to blend the edges – which is easy because the AUTO ALIGN tool overlaps the images.

8. Now with the edges blended I have a super wide panoramic image ready to be saved as a .jpg and inserted into a presentation.

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T10:39:49-07:00January 9th, 2011|Tutorial|

Mac – Windows – It’s Doesn’t Matter To Me

When the client does image research and finds the perfect image – great! But when the perfect image has a Windows PC vs. a Mac it is time for some Photoshop work.

Here is the original image with the “windows” monitor.

And after a quick photoshoot of an iMac and some Photoshop work, the new version:

– Troy @ TLC

By |2016-08-16T11:01:17-07:00October 17th, 2010|Portfolio|
Go to Top