The beta of Photoshop CS6 is out and it has a few ‘THANK GOD’ updates in it!

Like a DARK interface. This may seem trivial – for but some of us – it’s MONUMENTAL. (Illustrator – please do the same!)

Get it here, now:

http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/photoshopcs6/

For a short preview of what’s new check out

http://www.youtube.com/photoshop

What’s really cool is that you can get all up to date with it by watching Deke’s free video training at Lynda.com

http://www.lynda.com/Photoshop-tutorials/Photoshop-CS6-Beta-Preview/97406-2.html

Absolutely.

Broadening your skills in the area of photography and cinematography are excellent additions to your skillset. You’ll start seeing design, composition, storytelling (advertising/branding) differently. You’ll build an entire new way of approaching things.

So I know I usually talk about design stuff – but I’m a sucker for anything motion-visual. I grew up creating films on a super-8 cam, VHS cams, 8mm, miniDV cams and just about anything that would let me capture images.

Below is Chels with a fully functional hand cranked Bolex 8mm film camera that fellow screen designer Mark Coleran gave me in New Mexico Last year. The design on that thing is amazing!

Enter Canon

Now I have the 5d mark II and it’s the first time I feel I have the power of a true 35mm film camera in a tiny little package. Here’s how I filmed NYC with it – pretty much just a Zacuto Z-finder Pro and the camera.

(Gotta mention the Zacuto Target Shooter is ultra light and portable and also goes with me everywhere I go.)

Films

This camera is such great quality that it’s been reported as being used on the most recent Harry Potter film and also onset for Iron Man II. Entire feature films have been produced with this camera. Check out an excellent short-form filmed entirely on a 5dmk2 by my good friend John Nguyen called ‘Denial’

Travel

The last thing about taking on photography and cinematography is that it’s a great way to see the world. My girlfriend, the rawkin’ Chelsea Nicole, has gotten quite famous for her absolutely stunning couples photography. She specializes in photographing people in love and it’s actually allowed us to pursue our dream of travelling the world together (whilst also getting paid to do something that’s just way too fun to be legal.)

Here’s a compilation of a few shoots from Malibu, LA, Vegas, New Orleans, Brooklyn, New York City.

In a few months we’ll be traveling to Texas, Paris, Lille, France, Amsterdam and possibly London. So you can see how a thing like photography can open doors for you in ways you might not have thought of before. It can open your eyes as well.

Starting Out?

If you’re just starting out – I’d recommend two much cheaper cameras that have VERY comparable quality to the 5d: The 7d (about $1,500) and the T2i (an astounding $799.) The differences are mainly ergonomics – but the quality you’ll get out of any of them will blow you away. (Stay away from the non Canon vSLRs so far – they haven’t quite made it yet.)

In the following series of posts, I’ll do some write ups for tips and techniques I’ve learned the hard way. There’s a lot to learn with this camera, hopefully I can save you some of the pain of trial and error.

Stay tuned!

// jayse

Yes – it is very possible and yes – it works very well. I’ve been doing it for a while and it works great. I absolutely love shooting on the 5dmkii.

I held off on the whole 5d madness because all of my glass – and Chelsea’s glass – is Nikon. Expensive, fast, and beautiful glass. And we don’t plan on going Canon just because of video.

After all – Nikon will soon come out with a great vSLR too right?

Nope. D90, D5000, D300s, D3s – they all pretty much suck video-wise. After the D5000 was announced with such horrible reviews and comments about the quality, jello-cam effect I asked good friend Jim Geduldick ‘can’t we just use our Nikon lenses on the 5d?’. To which he said, “Yes!”

And in fact – some serious filmmakers using the 5dmkii were doing just that. Nikon lenses have aperture rings – Canon lenses don’t. This means they could manually dial in their aperture. With canon you had to half-unturn the lens from it’s mount to break it’s electronic connection and risk dropping your lens in the process.

So adapters. Which are the best? What works and what doesn’t? Well – forget the expensive $100+ ones. They are no better than the cheaper ones. If you have time – order some on ebay from Hong Kong for about $10 and then wait a few weeks. Just be careful that you get a Nikon F mount to Canon EOS. I originally got one that were for a canon EF-S mount (I didn’t know there was a difference, but this is Canon’s cheaper line and the mount won’t fit the mark ii).

Forget the focus confirm versions. My experience with them is that they short out the live view mode and shut it off. I sent it back the same day I got it.

I was left with two from Fotodiox, ordered from Amazon.com – These work perfectly.

UPDATE 09*23*10: There is a new Pro adapter from fotodiox just came out for about $80 – the benefit of this one is that there’s no ‘play’ between lens and camera. The cheap ones are sometimes hit and miss – Out of three that I have two have a developed some play after a while. So it’s up to you whether to double the amount you spend or not. http://www.amazon.com/Fotodiox-Pro-Adapter-Nikon-Lens/dp/B002JWYAXA/ref=sr_1_1?s=gateway&ie=UTF8&qid=1285274028&sr=8-1

Update 09*28*10: Been using the new Fotodiox adapter for G-series lenses – it’s awesome! You don’t know exactly what f stop you’re on – but for video it’s fine – you’re in live view. The important thing is you can slide the aperture ring to wide open or fully closed and anything in between. The adapter is SOLID. It works with the normal f mount lenses too. Best thing is it makes your Nikon lenses feel like canon lenses as opposed to a nikon lens with an adapter. Highly recommended!

At first you’ll find them a pain to get on and off. (It gets easier once you understand them – and the above Pro version is much a bit easier to mount and dismount) If you’re not sharing lenses – get one for each of your lenses and leave them on. If you are sharing them, as Chels and I do – practice getting them on and off quickly so that you can be quick about it.

Since you’ll be shooting manual focus anyway – you can search e-bay and camera stores and score some very old, very good glass and adapt it to work with the Canon 7d, 5d Mark 2 etc.. Below is my 24mm 2.8. I love it because it’s a rather fast lens – yet is TINY and LIGHT compared to our huge 14-24mm 2.8 G series lens. It’s become an ‘always bring’ lens just because it fits anywhere. Some of the older metal Nikkor lenses may have a now-unnecessary tab that will prevent it from mounting. I simply wrapped the entire lens (VERY WELL) in tape and dremelled it off. Works perfect now.

Special Case: Nikon G Series Lenses

Now – for the awesome g-series lenses – like our faves: 70-200 2.8, the 14-24, 2.8 and the 105mm macro 2.8, you will need yet a different kind of adaptor. It took me a while to track this down – and at $230 it’s a bit pricier than the previous solutions. However, this adaptor is much cheaper than re-buying each $1800 lens.

UPDATE 09*23*10: – Fotodiox has just come out with their version of the G series adapter for much cheaper – about $120 http://amzn.to/b8e1tG

This looks promising – I’ll be picking one up for sure!

I’ve found the best thing is to get an adapter for each lens and keep it on. And that’s about it for tips on Lens adapters. Hope that helps some of you nikon folks get started with quality Canon/Nikon hybrid shooting.

But here’s a few things of interest.

Hardware

Wacom has a new Cintiq – looks and works beautiful.

Just a 3d model at the moment – but Panasonic announced a new hybrid cam that is a cross between a dslr+vid and an actual video camera. It’s called the AG-AF100. It features 60i 1080 for in camera slo mo but the coolest thing is that it features uncompressed HD out. Might be worth checking out the booth for the details.

Zacuto – My favorite gear maker for HDSLRs – check out their latest z-finder jr and their ultra light rigs that I use.

Red Camera… the Scarlet is still… on hold? I still think about it – even tho the 5d has made life easier to live without it.

I followed these guys around a bit while they’re were filming a lot of hdSLR new gear – check out their blog for videos of new gear:

http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/

Software

Definitely check out the Adobe booth for CS5 new featuers.

The Foundry announces a new end-to-end filmmaking program called Storm Looks sexy at first glance!

Red Giant is having a 30% off sale of all it’s products and plugins – definitely cool!

Presentations  - TUESDAY April 13th

Adobe Booth (used on everything)

• 10:30am – AE Cs5 – RotoBrush – top new feature -
• 11:30am - Premiere Pro Cs5 – breakthrough new rendering engine – native 5d editing in realtime
• 4:30pm - CS5 and HDSLRs -
• 5:30pm - Speed Production – Script to Screen workflow

Cinema 4d and Bodypaint Booth (used on Avatar, District 9, Beowulf, Narnia,  Spiderman III etc.) – Maxon

• 10:30am –  Rob Garrott of Bending Pixels will demo the over-the-top show opens he created at Point 360 West for the Spike Network’s Super Dave’s Spike-tacular mockumentary-style series.
• 11:30 – Mike Senften, a motion graphics artist with 4dthieves.com, will use the high-energy, street smart spots he created for Ecko Watches to showcase the Sound Effector feature in CINEMA 4D’s MoGraph module.
• 1:30pm – Nick Campbell of Greyscale Gorilla, a seasoned motion designer (Dexter, the Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, Target, Blackberry), will demonstrate the incredible ease with which CINEMA 4D sparks creativity.
• 2:30pm – Working fast in c4d – John LePore, associate creative director for Perception shows the studio’s latest motion graphics campaigns using CINEMA 4D on behalf of NBC, Powerade and SPEEDtv.

The Foundry Booth – Nuke (used to composite the Iron Man HUD), Mari (awesome new 3d painting system used on Avatar) – The Foundry

• 10:45 ILM – Jason Billington – Transformers II and Avatar – Nuke
• 11:30 ImageWorks – Carey Villegas – Alice in Wonderland – Nuke
• 12:14 Weta – Robin Hollander – Avatar – Nuke and Ocula
• 13:00 Weta – Zoe Lord – Texture artist on Avatar – Mari
• 13:45 ILM – Jason Billington – Transformers II and Avatar – Nuke
• 14:30 Jim Geduldick – AENY/OffHollywood – AE Plugins – MUST SEE
• 15:15 Mike Romey – Zoic – Nuke for Postproduction on ‘V’

If you’re a motion designer, video editor or vfx type you might want to check these out too:

• Monday: (5pm – 8pm) MediaMotion Ball (all video/motion peeps) http://www.mediamotionball.com – after that Adobe Party at Firefly (8:30-1030)
• Tuesday: Free Pinball Party held by Harry Frank (8:00-11:00)  - after or before that – Supermeet (final cut pro and avid users)(4pm-11pm) http://www.supermeet.com
• Wednesday: Red User http://redusernab.info/ – Might go – might just chill instead
• Thursday: see below

I might do the traditional Thursday Monte Carlo Brew Pub gathering.
Carey Dissmore describes is as

“Informal ‘come and go when you want’ nature… everyone is in ‘wind down’ mode and this is a lot of fun!
This is one of the most beloved NAB traditions in our community. A lot of plugin & other software vendors tend to show up and hang out with the gang. Always fun, never boring, and nobody ever leaves hungry or thirsty, LOL.
The NAB show closes at 4pm this day and people generally start gathering at the Pub from about 6pm.”
http://www.montecarlo.com/restaurants/restaurants_the_pub.aspx

I sometimes will twitter things I find interesting or some cool training going on that I’m attending so check @jayse_ for those.

Have fun, see you there!

Didn’t want you guys to miss out on this.

What is Motion? Click the logo for more info. It’s not your standard ‘how to use software’ type of convention. In fact it’s rather more like a disneyland of creative learning and inspiration for motion designers, animators and visual effects artists.

Unlike a lot of training resources, Motion focuses on art direction and creativity first and foremost, and they’ve managed to attract some super amazing people to speak and discuss. I’m lucky enough to be included along side them this year in the Motion Advisory Board.

The MAIN reason for this quick post is – tomorrow (April 6) is Motion 2010′s site launch and to celebrate they’re allowing registrations at a pretty insane rate.

Here’s the details:

Are you a pro with a minimum of two years experience in motion graphics, animation, or visual effects? Tomorrow, 04.06.10 motion is launching their site. To celebrate, experienced pros will be able to register for $99. This is valid for 24 hours only. Simply fill out the registration application. When you are approved, motion will contact you for payment information.

I definitely recommend the experience. I’ve been twice and it’s definitely an uplifting, educational and fantastic networking and friend-making event.

Hope to see you there!

Check out the site launch tomorrow:
http://motion.motion.tv

// jayse

My design:

And Vdara’s new site:

I would have preferred that they not both be for Vegas architects of course but I’ll take the similarities as a nice compliment.

I usually paint in Photoshop. I like the ability to create custom brushes and the tools are familiar. But when I just want to draw – whether storyboards or sketch ideas or just to make a fun mess – Photoshop just doesn’t seem to cut it sometimes.

Enter: Artrage by Ambient Design.

I found this program when it entered version 2.5 and was really impressed with how it was made to work with a tablet – the interface was unique and yet immediately intuitive. It was made to get out of your way and just let you create. You don’t need keyboard shortcuts or long menus to change the most important parts of your painting – everything is immediately available right when you need it.

They’ve now released version 3.0 – and many are saying that it has finally entered the digital painting race with the ‘big’ guys: Photoshop and Painter. The odd thing is – it costs a fraction of what those programs cost.

In a day where software is barely affordable to mere mortals – Artrage can be bought for $20. The pro version is only $80. And if it sounds like I’m a commercial for them I am. An unpaid one of course – but I really love good products with humble prices and I think they deserve as many users as possible. Not to mention – the program is a pure joy to use (and abuse.)

So – how is it different from Photoshop?

Many, many ways. The first major difference you’ll notice is the interface. It’s made for you to create. With a single right-click everything disappears and leaves you with an empty canvas. Otherwise you have sliders that allow you to dial in colors, opacity, rotating canvas etc. intuitively with your pen.

Below is how I have it set up on my Toshiba Satellite in Tablet mode.

The second thing is how paints work – they work like natural media – they have texture and two colors next to each other will blend and merge in ways that Photoshop can only dream of. Below is an example of orange, yellow and white oils mixed together with various levels of dryness and thinner.

Version 3.0 just added water colors and I must say – they are beautiful for the grungy looks I like to get. Below is an example of chalks (orange) mixed with water colors in orange and yellow.

Stencils can be made from any black and white image – and allow for an incredible range of ideas – from adding textures, scratches etc. to… well… stencil art.

I love the way it handles things all artists need like reference images – just import them in and position them where you want them. Hide them – bring them back – reposition. It’s a fantastic way to work.

One of the greatest things about Artrage is how customizable you can make it. You can have preset brushes you’ve made so that the program becomes truly yours.

Version 3.0 adds a brush called ‘sticker spray’ which sounds a bit childish – and it definitely can be. But there’s huge potential for it. It’s essentially like a pattern brush in Illustrator. It will repeat an image – or even more powerfully – a series of images – randomly across your canvas. This allows for some really complex brushes – like alternating numbers such as below

It also does full color images – but I’m not to into that. I’m more excited by how it can add texture and dimensional patterns to my work.

A few people on Ambient Design’s forum were discussing how to convert Photoshop brushes into sticker brushes in Artrage. It was a bit of a process but doable and very exciting. Then they announced an small update to Artrage that imported the Photoshop abr files directly.

The update also allows pods and interface items to be hidden (something myself and a few other members were creating interesting work arounds for).

This tells me this company is listening – it’s actively improving and making this program even better for artists who just want to have fun creating. And I’ll do all I can to support companies and people like that. So give it a try – I think you’ll have some fun making messes (and even art!) again.

A demo for mac or PC can be downloaded here: http://www.artrage.com/artragedemo.html

// jayse

So the iPad is finally here. I’ve been dreaming of it since the first tablet computers came out. Talking to Wacom a few years ago about why Apple hadn’t tapped them for a tablet they replied, “Believe me – it’s not us that’s not been trying.” It was clear – Apple had their own idea in the works.

But is this the tablet I’ve been dreaming of?

No.

This is more what I was dreaming of:

The ultimate ART TOOL!

But it’s not.

That doesn’t make it bad – it’s just a different beast. I wanted pressure sensitivity and a stylus so I could paint with it. I wanted a camera so I could use the excellent Storyboard app with it. I wanted to be able to use Photoshop and ArtRage with it. I wanted to see websites with it and not worry that they had something Flash (as 90% of all my site designs are).

So – it’s not the tablet I dreamed of. But it still is pretty cool if you think of it in different ways. It will likely become my main ‘away from home’ machine. (when not designing).

It WILL replace my kindle 2 as fast as you can say SOLD.

And I know that I can paint on it. I’d already painted with the iphone (here’s a video of one) – majorly tricky at first – but strangely liberating at the same time. (I often find myself wishing I could use my fingers to paint on my PC Tablet.) The only major problem was actually the tiny size of the screen for details.

Of course – i could always mod a 13″ macbook for a TRUE Apple Tablet

I am actually tempted. But I’ll wait until I play with my new iPad for a while first!

RSA: 0:30 – click below to view

CxO: 2.45 – click below to view

They were both done as 1920×1080, and each includes a long continuous cam move (always fun in AE) with simple-yet-detailed 3d animations.

There were 12 3d icons to make and animate and I profiled some of what goes into creating them in the previous posts:

• The block
• The padlock
• The steering wheel

Super fun project – looking forward to future ones!

// jayse