1,000's of Files to Rename - 1 Easy Solution

Surprisingly, one of the biggest time savers for a 3d artist working with lots of image sequences doesn't actually have anything to do with the tools in 3d package the files are rendered from. A simple task like renaming a file becomes quite a pain when the exact same thing needs to be done to hundreds or even thousands of his brothers and sisters - doubly so as the project progresses and names need to change again and again to accommodate all the different software requirements and users' needs.

There are various renaming utilities out (for free or a fee) from several different developers. For content creation related renaming on Windows, I recommend Denis Kozlov's ReNamer, which you can find here...

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/denrenamer.html

I've been using this for about a year and haven't had renaming task that it couldn't handle or come across any bugs whatsoever. For being extremely functional, stable and costing a whole lot of nothing, I have yet to find a better deal.

Happy Holidays!

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!

Best CSS of 2007

Check out Web Design Wall's Best CSS of 2007 page with lots of inspiring design ideas. One of my favorites is the typography blog because it conveys a strong interest in - well, typography.

If you are an up and coming web designer, you can't afford to ignore this list.

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

Animation Previews, QT Player 7.2 and... Frame Numbers?

As an animator/vfx artist/motion graphics artist working on film projects, there is a very good reason to render your animation previews as .mov.

It can display frames (not just hh:mm:ss).

Why should you care about this seemingly small detail? Because when you're getting your work reviewed by your client (or instructor), you need to know exactly what they are looking at and very often this is communicated to you over the phone or through email. There are 24-30 places between each second marker for your client to be talking (ranting) about and it can really help speed up the review process to know exactly what they're pointing out.

How to use it?

Simply click on the timecode area and select frames.

Use File Hippo to get cool utilities

File Hippo is a cool download site that allows you to get updates for quality utilities. You can filter for freeware or non beta items only. If you're into system maintenance (especially for PC), this is the site for you.

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!

Declutter Your Life

A less cluttered life will result in inner peace. This is the mantra of the getting things done (GTD) crowd. According to many studies on hoarding, clutter creates stress, tension and in the extreme, depression. So today's tip comes from the practical blog entitled, "dumb little man."

Read 10 Ways to Declutter Your Life and become an ocean of serenity.

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...

Who Owns That Website?!

Ever wonder who owns a website?

Stop wondering.

http://whois.domaintools.com/

Your IP Address - Fast

Occasionally, you will need your IP address for networking or software-related purposes. The true IT in you knows to dig through the command prompt window, but that feels like it takes forever.

It doesn't have to...

http://whatismyip.com

Done.

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.

Forget about Forgetting: Hello to File Syncing

It is a fact that your computer will have issues and lose data when you need it the very most. Saying good bye to that data (countless hours of laboring) is never an easy thing to do. It is much easier to say hello to file syncing.


Unison is one example: http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~bcpierce/unison/ (caution - this program is for people who enjoy command line, Linux style operations)

Syncback Freeware is another: http://www.2brightsparks.com/assets/software/SyncBack_Setup.zip The Syncback downloads page is here and the free version of the software is located at the bottom of the page.

Cheers!

Lookslikematt

Lookslikematt! Another POV

Hi!

My name is Matthew Kapfhammer - a recent AiP Media Arts and Animation grad now working at as an Animation Director/Motion Capture Coordinator at a small visual effects studio in Cranberry Township, PA. I spend most of my time working with teams of artists in production, practicing 3d character animation/rigging set-ups and learning/teaching/testing software.

This has forced me to learn new technology and use it efficiently on a daily basis. In turn, I share this information with my team, so they can do their work faster and create continually higher quality content. At least half of what I've learned during my experiences at school and "on the job" are applicable to any field in which people work in teams and have access to computers.

It is with great, geeky joy I announce that I will be joining the ranks here at Tech Tips & Lifehacks as a contributer. Look for a lot of graphics, productivity and management oriented posts from me.

Cheers!

Lookslikematt

Learn Linux with Ubuntu Studio

For those in technical fields who want to learn Linux, I am recommending Ubuntu Studio. It is a Linux GUI distribution that includes tools for audio and visual creativity. I think there are lots of good reasons to learn Linux. Chief among them is the fact that most web servers run on Linux technologies and applications seem to be shifting towards web-based solutions. Another reason is that companies and countries are switching to Linux to avoid the onerous licensing costs associated with keeping Microsoft installations legal.

Here are three "learn Linux" resources to help you get started:

1. Take free Linux classes on Moodle and study with others.
   
2. Get answers to your Linux questions on Just Linux
3. Here's a Linux site for beginners
   

Loan Basics 101: How much are you paying in interest?

It's good to know how much you'll be paying in interest on fixed rate loans. The amortization calculator is the answer. The calculator is especially useful for car loans, mortgages and student loans as it can show you the breakdown of your payment (i.e., how much is being credited to interest and principle).
The cost of borrowing is sobering, but necessary. Remember all of the interest you pay means extra hours in the office or on the screen. I hope you find the new info interesting...

Learn everything with MIT's Opencourseware

Ever wish you'd taken a class that wasn't offered or convenient during your college career? Well MIT has the ultimate answer in that it publishes over 600 courses offered at its posh Boston campus. Want a course in programming or algorithms, check out the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department or the Science and Technology courses. For the record, MIT publishes the syllabus, assignments, exercises, etc., but you would still have to buy the books required to learn the material. Since it is all accessed free, you won't receive credit, but it's all about the knowledge anyway. So get out there and have fun!

How to Study Sites

Here are a few study tips sites for those of you wondering how to study for midterm or final exams:

• Hacking Knowledge: 77 Ways to Learn Faster, Deeper, and Better

• Study guides and strategies

• CalPoly: study guides library
  

Get a lifehack

This one is posted for all students who have too much to do and too little time to do it.

Lifehacker.com is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn about cool new downloads and efficient methods for getting things done (GTD). GTD strategists are obsessed with increasing productivity and eliminating wasted time. Thus, the site always presents interesting tools to help with time management skills and technology tasks.

Learn C++ & Java from the Master

My programming gurus led me to this source a few years back and I heartily recommend the following resource for anyone who wants to learn C++ or Java. Bruce Eckel's "Thinking in ..." series is by far the best resource I've found for someone who wants to learn to think like a programmer.

Check out his site @ http://mindview.net where he gives free PDFs of Thinking In C++ & Thinking in Java

What is Tech Tips & Lifehacks?

This is Dr. Bowser's way of posting links and reviews of cool downloads, productivity tools, tech gadgets/news. By trade I am a philosopher and teach @ the college level. I also design networks for education and small business clients. Thus, the tech recommendations herein come from friends, students and surfing to find the stuff that can make life more enjoyable and less complex. Enjoy...