May 26, 2012

Demo: Making HTML5 animation for iPad apps

What’s new in Edge Preview 6? Check it out:

Here’s a tutorial specifically on putting HTML animation into tablet publications Adobe’s Digital Publishing System.

On a related note, here’s how to convert a multilayer Illustrator document to SVG format for use by Edge:

And if you’re new to all this, see also a demo on getting started with Edge.

May 25, 2012

Creative Cloud subscriptions: Cross-language, cross-platform

Jeff Tranberry notes some differences between Creative Cloud membership & traditional Adobe software licenses:

Cross-Platform License: Access to both the Mac OS and Windows versions of the desktop applications and the ability to install them on your primary computer and one backup computer.

Multi-Language License: Access to any language version in which the CS6 and other desktop applications are available. Unlike owning the traditional licensed version of a Creative Suite product, Creative Cloud membership gives you the freedom and flexibility to choose whichever language works best for you in any given application.

Both of these are changes many of us have wanted to make for a long time, and I’m glad to see that they’ve arrived.

Accessing multi-language support is simple, but the UI isn’t obvious.  In the new Adobe Application Manager (AAM), install whatever apps you want in your primary language, then go into Preferences (upper left corner) and switch to a different language. App links that had said “Installed” will revert back to “Install,” though you may need to restart AAM for that to happen.  You can then install apps in the newly chosen language.

After installing multiple language versions Photoshop, you can go into its preferences, switch the UI language, and apply it via app restart.  (There’s just one copy of the app on disk, plus multiple language packs.)  It appears that not all apps support this switching capability, but at least reinstalling in a different language is fairly painless (and can be done as often as needed).

Touching—sort of—across time & space

In high school I had my first long-distance girlfriend. My dad would roll his eyes at our pre-Net attempts to connect. “Oh, you’re probably eating a cheese sandwich as 6pm, because Jeanne said she’d eat a cheese sandwich at 6pm…”  He was kidding (and wrong), but there’s much to be said for synchronicity across space.

Enter Marco Triverio’s concept “Feel Me.” As Fast Company puts it,

When a friend is typing, you can see where they’re touching on your own screen. And when your fingers match up, from halfway across the world, haptic feedback can allow you to serendipitously touch. In a text-me-later culture, Feel Me enables communication that’s transient and visceral.

I think it’s rather brilliant. And as for Jeanne, sometimes I now see her across space, hobnobbing with Mitt Romney. Funny old world.

May 24, 2012

Configurator arrives for CS6

After more than 125,000 downloads (!) of versions 1 & 2, Configurator 3.0–Adobe’s drag-and-drop tool for creating custom panels–is available for download from Adobe Labs.  Enhancements include:

• Support for the new tools & commands in Photoshop CS6 & InDesign CS6
• Color theme support for Photoshop CS6
• Watermarking and panel personalization
• Ability to target both CS5 and CS6
• Custom panel icons
• Improved welcome screen
• Faster launch time
• Improved text widget
• Sample panels
• DPS panels

What do you think?  Is your team creating and/or using panels made by Configurator?

A Brief History of John Baldessari

I’m a little chagrined to admit that I didn’t know about artist John Baldessari prior to seeing this short film narrated by Tom Waits. Now I’d like to know more:

[Via Sam Potts]

May 23, 2012

Photosmith 2 enhances Lightroom-iPad integration

I’m delighted to see that Photosmith has released version 2, enabling multi-image tagging, bidirectional sync with Lightroom, native Eye-Fi support, and more.

According to their site, new features of the $20 app include:

• Wirelessly sync your unsorted backlog from Lightroom with our free plugin
• Sort and filter your photos
• Organize them into collections
• Apply star ratings and color labels
• Apply keywords and IPTC metadata individually, in groups, or with presets
• Share highlights and rough selections to Facebook, Flickr or by e-mail
• Support for RAW, JPG, or RAW+JPG
• Support for 100% zoom for many cameras
• Native support for Export and Publish Services in Adobe Lightroom
• Directly receive from Eye-Fi cards
• Very powerful sync options, allowing workflow customization

I can’t wait to try it out when I get home. If you’re using the app, what do you think of it?

LEAP Motion promises object-tracking UI breakthroughs

If this thing ($70?!) works even remotely as advertised, we’re in for an exciting future:

[Reader Pierre-Etienne Courtejoie quips, "I just shudder about the possible single-finger gestures to force quit software." (Hmm, seems very John Gruber-positive.)]

This is *not* your father’s Adobe installer

It used to be that Adobe’s installers were… well, to be charitable, not a source of pride.  A bunch of hardworking people have been listening, engaging with customers, and cranking away–and with Creative Cloud you can see the results. To grab any CS6 app,

1. Download & install the App Manager (less than 1MB), then log in with your Adobe ID.
2. Click the links for the apps you want to install.
3. “There’s no step 3!”

Right–no typing/copying/pasting serials (and potentially losing them later), no running installer after installer. Here’s a two-minute demo (though honestly you can probably try it yourself just as fast):

I’m sorry that installers were such a sore point in the past. Hats off to the installer team for buckling down & hugely improving the user experience.

PS–Engineering manager Eric Wilde says, “Please ask people to reach out to us on the forums if they have trouble. There’s lots of engineering folk reading our forums daily.”

May 22, 2012

New HTML5 gallery options for Photoshop & Lightroom

I’ve long admired the work of Felix Turner, and now he’s debuted a new HTML5 gallery called Juicebox:

Juicebox makes it incredibly easy to build beautiful image galleries that work on all devices from IE6 to iOS and Android. We offer a fully functional free version and a pro version which allows advanced customization. Check out sample galleries.

It’s available for download in both free & paid forms. You can create galleries via a free desktop app, or better yet you can export them through Lightroom & Photoshop plug-ins.

View to an eclipse

Photographer Cory Poole captured 700 images from a telescope with “a very narrow bandpass allowing you to see the chromosphere and not the much brighter photosphere below it,” then used them to create this video:

Or, as my Photoshop-centric brain saw it, “He’s moving two overlapping paths with a Boolean operation & red stroke/inner shadow layer style applied.” Because, yes, I need to get out a lot more.

Elsewhere, the Atlantic features a gorgeous gallery of images that capture the event from points all around the world.

[Via]

May 21, 2012

How to get Adobe Touch apps for free via Creative Cloud

Subscribing to Creative Cloud entitles you to free copies of the Adobe Touch apps. Here’s what you do:

• Buy the touch apps via the App Store or Android Market.
• Log into Creative Cloud from within each app.
• Once you’ve logged into at least three touch apps, we’ll credit your account with a free month of service, offsetting the price you paid for the touch apps*.
• Result: You get the touch apps for no cost beyond your Creative Cloud membership.

Is it a slightly strange approach? Maybe, but it works. (See terms & conditions if you want the fine print.) Please let us know if anything remains confusing.

* I suppose someone will point out that if one buys 5 touch apps and is paying $30/mo., a free month doesn’t cover the cost of the touch apps. It’s equally true, however, that if one buys 3 touch apps and is paying $50/mo., a free month covers nearly twice the cost of the touch apps.

Adobe CS6 Film & Video Road Show

Adobe’s doing a series of free demo events around the US throughout June, as well as offering in-depth training (paid), all showcasing the new power in Premiere Pro, After Effects, Speed Grade, and the other CS6 video/audio apps:

May 20, 2012

“The 112-Megapixel Camera You’ll Never Get to Shoot With”

Check out this $100,000 bad boy. PopPhoto writes,

They are looking to create a one-off version of the 1110 series, a black and white only camera with a 95x95mm sensor (medium format sensors are typically 48x36mm). That massive sensor is cooled down to -100 degrees Celsius, which means it can take exposures that last for hours without overheating, which can lead to noise. The 112-megapixel CCD has no Bayer mask or AA fliter so the images will come out super sharp.

Yeah, but does it work with Instagram?

May 19, 2012

Adobe MAX moves from fall to spring

The next show will be hosted on May 4-8 in Los Angeles, writes CTO Kevin Lynch. According to Kevin, it’ll focus on

• Design and creativity
• Web sites, including the latest on HTML5, JavaScript and CSS
• Digital publishing, video, and gaming, including the latest on Flash
• Applications, particularly for mobile platforms

More details will come out in the months ahead.

Vinyl-tossing trick shots

Does this have anything to do with this blog’s focus? No, it does not. Will you dig it? If you’re not dead inside, I think so. :-)

I plan to show it to our boys–but first I’ll have to explain what “records” were. [Via]