10 great apps for college students

This article provides links to 10 great applications every college student could use. From Google Docs to help with bibliographies this blog highlights great tools to help you get things done. A favorite from the list is MyNoteIt.com.

There are definitely some good GTD tools and cloud computing tools that allow you to work from anywhere or any computer on the web.

Ustream - stream TV of your events

Ustream TV is an incredibly useful app to stream live TV from your event. It's free accessible and takes care of all of the technical details so that you can concentrate on content. Plus, there are lots of cool live web cam applications to watch. Head over to ustream and check it out.

As always, I would love to hear your ideas and input.
phree

GTD & Web Design Resources

Once again Mashable. com has put together two great lists of resources that are helpful for GTD (getting things done) and web design. So without further ado, I give you two get started sites for increasing your productivity and getting web design tools.

1. GTD toolbox 100+ tools for getting things done,
2. Web design tools: 100+ tools for web design.

Check them out and let me know which are most useful.

Adobe AIR apps worth a look!

Below are two sites that feature cool Adobe AIR applications that take care of small tasks we often farm out to larger pieces of RAM hogging software. The applications run on the adobe AIR runtime platform which you can download for free here. Better yet, most of the applications are free too which means wonderful interfaces, open source design and responsiveness to user requests.

1. The first site is from Mashable and they featured a top 10 list.
2. The second site, Fresh AIR Apps, provides a stream of new tools, most of which are useful utilities you wish you had invented.

As always, feedback on these tools is appreciated.
later,
phree

Windows XP Quick Tip(s): The Status Bar

If you are constantly managing a lot of files, you will find this one small windows feature pretty helpful.

In any open explorer window, navigate to View> [check on] Status Bar.

You'll now see some info about the file size for the contents of the folder or the selected file(s).

That's it!

Scripting... isn't that just for programming geeks?

Silly cg artist. That's why you can't figure out why your software package won't 'work'.

The attitude that artists only make art is NOT embraced by lead cg artists. Maybe you do feel that you don't need to get a basic understanding of scripting (which is just a simpler version of programming) simply because you, "Just want to animate." Maybe that'll get you by. But do you really want to be so clueless about your tools? Every good painter knows how to use their brushes, pigments and surfaces. Can you honestly say you know how to use your software?

There are lots of resources to give you a basic idea of how programing works. That's easy to find. What isn't always so easy is finding out exactly how scripting helps you - the artist. Here's a short list of the benefits:

1. Trouble Shooting: When you understand what's happening 'under the hood', you'll be able to more quickly figure out exactly what's causing your current issue and fix or work around it. Example: You hit the "make pretty" button and nothing happens. You look in the script editor and see an error message that alerts you to the fact that you did not have an object selected to be 'made pretty' (it says something crazy like, "invalid input argument; operation failed"). You select an object, hit the button and now have 'the pretty'.
   
2. Automation: Making the computer do what is was designed for - let you be lazier more efficient. Have the software do more of the boring and/or repetitive tasks while you spend your time improving the mood of your shot. Examples: preparing characters for export to a game engine, building rigging elements you frequently use, creating automated secondary motion for tentacles, etc.
   
3. Consistency: When you script a task, you know you'll get the same result every time. This also helps to reduce human error. Example: You have scripts that build rig setups on the bones/joints you created. You don't have to spend time checking if the 291 controller objects are named correctly before passing the asset off. You can now leave work in time for your hot date AND not have your teammates later punch you in the throat for delaying the last shot for "The Land Before Time 17".
   
4. Extensibility: Sometimes the tool you need hasn't been made yet or doesn't work the way you need it to. You can often make it yourself. Additionally, you have more control and understanding of the tool, so modifying or re-purposing a part of it becomes a very appealing option.
   

Q: "Hey, I don't do 3d. This is worthless!"
A: Motion graphics artists sometimes need to write expressions for animating certain elements. They also occasionally need to duplicate a layer 243,917 times, change each new layer's overlay mode to something unique, and then derive the name from that overlay mode setting, etc. You can automate both of these silly task lists (as long as your software supports scripting). I'm willing to wager that if you started looking through this glorious world view, you'll find all sorts of ways to make your workload lighter, productivity faster and output quality higher. :D

Q: "But.. PHOTOSHOP doesn't support scripting?!! Oh, nos!"
A: You are not not not correct. Please check the first two links below, dear friend.

Further reading:

• http://www.tutorialized.com/view/tutorial/Photoshop-scripts-An-introduction/12077
  
• http://www.kirupa.com/motiongraphics/ps_scripting.htm
  
• http://www.xsibase.com/forum/index.php?board=26;action=display;threadid=16336;start=0
• http://www.bernardlebel.com/tutorials/learnscriptingxsi.htm

The Pipeline? Yes, the Pipeline.

Pipeline.

For those unfamiliar to the term, I'll describe it this way:
Every asset, chunk of code, or change request that is generated to make a movie or series or commercial can be looked at as data. The 'pipeline' describes all the pathways this data can and will flow until it is eventually mixed to become the final deliverable(s).

Why the term 'pipeline'? Because pipes break... A LOT. They have many twists and turns. They divide and merge. When things go down the pipe, they're usually going where you want them to and when they come back up - you tend to get stuck cleaning up a mess. I can think of no term more appropriate.

You can look at a pipeline in it's basic form as 'development', 'previzualization', 'production' and 'post-production'. From there, it all breaks down into smaller and smaller steps and how they interact. Knowing your production at this level helps to insure that more time is spent on the art - the entertaining, than fixing your tools/workflows.

Here are a few links to give you a little insight into the world of building, using and maintaining a media production pipeline...

Dreamworks CG Pipeline
http://akeigher.wordpress.com/2007/10/16/dreamworks-cg-pipeline/

Interview with Olivier Ozoux
Associate Digital Supervisor on Happy Feet - Animal Logic
http://www.xsibase.com/articles.php?detail=125

Interview with Brett Feeney
Digital Supervisor on Happy Feet - Animal Logic
http://www.xsibase.com/articles.php?detail=126

Meet the Artist: Kenn MacDonald
Animation Supervisor on Beowulf - Sony Pictures Imageworks
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=165&t=566843


I HIGHLY recommend that all students training up to be professional CG artists get a hold of all parts of The Art of Rigging. These training resources do an excellent job of helping the reader to understand the depth of thinking that goes into CG production. You can take a look at it here... http://www.cgtoolkit.com.

Keep up with the latest in design with Design Observer

If you are majoring in any type of design field, it's good to know what the people in the field are writing and thinking about. The Design Observer blog is a good place to start. It contains articles and links to literally thousands of resources posted by persons in the field. To see what's hot and what's not, go to Design Observer.

Online Porttfolios - The essentials

If you are getting ready to graduate and want to think about the basics for an online portfolio that can generate freelance work, then you must read Build a Killer Online Portfolio. The most valuable segment of this article contains information about content organization and the navigation structure of your site to achieve various objectives.

Enjoy!

2 Useful Utilities

If you are a windows user who works with images and attachments, then the following utilities may help you streamline your workflow.

First, XnView is a utility for viewing and converting graphic files. It allows you to batch process many images at once,is a big time saver if you are a Photoshop user.

Second, clip path is one of many utilities that can save time navigating to attach files in email programs like gmail, hotmail or yahoo mail. Visit the lifehacker download of the day site for clip path here. There is a great discussion that lists other path copying programs as well so be sure to read the whole page.

Happy Holidays!

Fix Your Gadgets, MAC XP, ipod, etc

If you own a computer and other gadgets, then you have to visit the following sites for cool fix it and mod advice:

1. Mac Fix It (http://macfixit.com/).
   
2. Fix my XP (http://fixmyxp.com/). Also check out their list of freeware too.
3. Finally for more ipod juice and to fix the Ipod check out crunchgear.com
   

That's it for now...
phree

40+ Excellent Free fonts For Professional Design - Smashing Magazine

Are you a web designer in search of new, professional looking fonts? Look no more. Smashing magazine comes to the rescue with 40 free fonts that actually look good. No more Klingon or kitchy grunge. Check out the fonts @ http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/11/08/40-excellent-freefonts-for-professional-design/.

Smashing Magazine is also quite cool for everything graphic!

Happy Veteran's Day!
phree

Join the AIGA - Design Professionals

If you are a design major, then check out the resources offered by the AIGA (the professional association for design). Per our recent lectures in logic class, here's a link to a sample intellectual property agreement that you may want to tailor for clients or subcontractors: http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/standard-agreement. It's a very thorough document with tons of good information and I highly recommend it for those of you engaged in freelance/independent projects.

Ciao!
phree

Learn PHP for Web Design

If you are a budding web designer looking to build your ajax skill set, then PHP should be part of your creative arsenal. This site contains helpful tutorials to get you started: http://devzone.zend.com/node/view/id/627.

Get some Freeware

PC Magazine does an annual roundup of useful freeware. There are lots of goodies in the 2007 list so click here and explore.

Enjoy!

Get an authentic job

This is a site for designers and developers containing opportunities to work from anywhere. Ideal for those just starting out or freelancing through college, authentic jobs may be just the resume builder you need.

Check out the opportunities available here: http://www.authenticjobs.com/

Ciao!

Quicktime Player Quickness

As a media artist (especially animators) you often find yourself scrubbing through sections of movies many, many times to review your work. Quicktime works very well for this purpose and is my current player of choice (I also dig the VLC player, since it can play DVDs and is free to the masses).

The shortcuts/features I find myself using most...

Drag the in and out points to the area of a movie to review and use these shortcuts to quickly replay the footage:
Enter or spacebar : Plays if paused; pauses if playing
Ctrl + Alt + right arrow key : Jumps to end of movie or end of selection
Ctrl + Alt + left arrow key : Jumps to beginning of movie or beginning of selection
Left or right arrow keys : Step back or advance one frame

More shortcuts...

http://images.apple.com/quicktime/pdf/QuickTime7_User_Guide.pdf

Windows OS Shortcuts

When I was interning, I used to get flak all the time because I wasn't as up to speed on Windows as the rest of the crew (all of which had done IT work for years). Part of the reason they wanted me to learn all the little tricks they knew was to be able to work as quickly as possible. You also tend to wow a client when you can blaze through the Windows interface without using the mouse.

For the same reasons 3D artists learn shortcuts, it helped to learn those available for Windows.

Here are a few of my most used...

• TAB: jump to next text field.
  
• SHIFT+TAB: jump to previous text field.
• Windows Logo: Open Start menu
• Windows Logo+D: Minimizes all open windows and displays the desktop
• Windows Logo+E: Windows Explorer
• ALT+TAB: Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window)
• CTRL+C: Copy
• CTRL+X: Cut
• CTRL+V: Paste
• CTRL+Z: Undo
• CTRL+B: Bold
• CTRL+U: Underline
• CTRL+I: Italic

A more complete list...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

Learn CSS and Web Design from two great sites

Ever wish you could access a comprehensive resource on web design with many links in one place? Well here are two sites that should keep you busy:

1. The Web Developer's Handbook contains a comprehensive list of sources for everything from coding to design. The nice thing about this site is that all sites are listed topically so that you can focus on the elements of coding/design that you really need.
2. CSS Zen Garden: This site contains everything for CSS bliss and enlightenment. Detailed explanations/illustrations of how your page designs can be streamlined using CSS.
   

Design proficiency is just around the corner...

Take your office on the road

This post is productivity oriented in that it links to an article, Rolling Your Own Online Office, that shows you how to keep all of your information handy when you are on the road. The best feature of the article is that it addresses all sorts of project/workplace needs and gives links to freeware for each and every application. Need IM, flowcharting or documents on the road? If so, Josh Catone provides an all-in-one resource center with links for getting things done (GTD). If you find a tool that is particularly useful, please leave a comment below so that others can benefit from your experience.