How Important is Learning CAD?

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When you are someone who is interested in graphic design jobs and when you find that the design jobs that you are looking at are competitive, you might wonder what CAD has to do with it.

When you are looking to make sure that the designer careers and the design jobs out there are looking forward to taking you in, you will find that the more you know about CAD and what it can do, the better off you are going to be. If you are ready to really get into the graphic design jobs and the designer careers out there, remember that you should take some time and learn more about the different parts of this field and what goes into it.
 

Improve your Graphics Workflow with Wacom Tablets

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Hosted by Wacom's Dan Johannssen
Monday, October 12, 2009 at 6:00 PM

Dan Johannssen of Wacom will demonstrate how a Wacom tablet and stylus gives you a more natural interface for interacting with your computer, speeding up your work and producing better results. Make detailed drawings and illustrations that accurately simulate paint, pencil, and other mediums. Learn how to retouch your photos like a pro. See how using a tablet and stylus will bring your work to levels your mouse only dreamed of.

We'll be featuring the Wacom Cintiq 21" Interactive LCD Display in this event, but the same techniques apply to all Wacom tablets, including the Bamboo and Intuos. A Wacom tablet extends and enhances the powerful editing tools in Adobe CS4, Quark, and other professional graphics programs, taking them to a new, higher level of performance.

This 90-minute event will be followed by a Q&A session.

Handy Keyboard Shortcuts For Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox

While the mouse is considered one of the greatest and most useful computing technologies ever made, sometimes the redundant point-and-click actions can slow you down. Keyboard shortcuts save time and help you get exactly where you want to be in seconds. Here are some useful keyboard shortcuts you can use while surfing the Web with the Internet Explorer

, Mozilla Firefox or Google's Chrome browser. More Shortcuts>>

Mozilla Firefox Keyboard Shortcuts

Targeting Adjustments in Photoshop Using a Layer Mask

Making overall adjustments to bring out the maximum amount of detail in your images is a common goal, but one of the reasons for using the tonal adjustments within Photoshop in addition to those you already made in ACR is so that you can apply the changes to only certain areas of the image. You may want to do this to help emphasize your subject or to reveal detail in areas of your picture that have different lighting. Doing so requires the use of a layer mask to target the adjustment to a particular area of the image.
 
Every adjustment layer comes with a layer mask. It’s the white box that appears in the adjustment layer next to the icon for the type of adjustment. The shape of the mask matches the shape of your image, as shown below. Try it now>>

Create a Natural Media Brush in Photoshop

Begin By Painting a Brush Tip

There are two types of brushes you can build and use in Photoshop:

• One based on math, i.e., geometry. This sort of brush is created by duplicating a Photoshop preset labeled “Soft Round” or “Hard Round”, and then customizing it as shown in the following sections; you click a brush, click New Brush Preset on the pop-up menu, name the brush in the Brush Name dialog box, and you’re all set to modify it. The limitation to building this type of brush is that it’s always elliptical in shape—you cannot give it an irregular outline as a stroke with a physical paintbrush can produce.
• One based on a bitmap. This is the type of brush you’ll learn to create in this chapter. It’s a mental, not a physical challenge; and the payoff is that a saved bitmap-type brush can be used in scores of design and retouching situations. The strokes it produces can look quite natural and photographic; additionally, all the options on the Brushes Panel are available for customizing the bitmap brush tip. Try it Now>>
  

Five Windows command prompt tips every IT pro should know

The Windows GUI may be easy for the average user to navigate, but power users and IT pros alike still recognize the usefulness of the command prompt. Bill Detwiler shows you five tricks that will help you become a command-prompt ninja.

In the video, I mention a tip from TechRepublic member Kiwi.Dusty and mytmous about using the Function keys from the command prompt. Here’s the complete list Function Key actions as posted in the original article’s discussion post: Read More>>

 

HTML

HTML Goodies intended purpose is to help new and growing website developers learn their trade, and to provide them with tips, guides and reference sets for their use as they become more accomplished. To that end, we have arranged the site into sections that range from a completely non-technical introduction to the concepts involved in developing websites all the way through to keyword references. The following is an overview of these various sections.

HTML Code Tutorial
Welcome to the HTML Code Tutorial. Our goal is to provide the most helpful and complete guide to creating web pages anywhere. If you're just beginning, start learning HTML here.

Creating Grunge Effects in Illustrator

One of the more popular design elements these days isn’t an element at all, it is really destroying the elements you already have in your design! Simply put, grunge.

We have all seen many tutorials on creating grunge elements and grunge brushes in Photoshop, but I would like to show you that it is just as easy to apply grunge elements to your vector art work in Illustrator. Try it Now>>

Avoiding White Outlines in Photoshop

Most Photoshop users build up their own libraries of images that they’ve photographed. If they’re objects, then it makes sense to save them with a clipping path, so that they can be easily lifted from their background at a later date.

The trouble is that when objects are saved as cutout images, with no background, the act of turning a clipping path into a selection will, because of the anti-aliasing process involved, include a thin white border from outside the object within the selection.

This is not a difficult problem to deal with. But wouldn’t it be better if the problem didn’t arise in the first place? Here’s a simple solution that can save a lot of time later. Try it Now>>

How to Make a Seamless Offset Pattern in Illustrator

There are many ways to create seamless patterns in Illustrator, but I’ve found many of them to be too simple and limiting, or even worse, too complicated. Through practice and experimentation, I’ve found a method that gives me the creative flexibility I’m looking for, but is also easy enough to be achieved in minutes instead of hours. Try it Now>>

Effortless Reflections

Create a Reflection in 5 K.I.S.S. Steps

If there is one thing I have learned in my years as a graphic designer, it’s that I need to keep things simple. I always try to keep in mind the old adage, K.I.S.S. (keep it simple silly). Now, I’m aware that normally the word “silly” is replaced by “stupid,” but the word “stupid” is not a very positive thing to be repeating to yourself each day. Try it Now>>

Creating a Vector Face in Illustrator

Let’s take the mystery out of creating a vector face using Illustrator. Although there is no single way of doing it, I will guide you step-by-step from sketch to the finished illustration using the magnificent Pen Tool. No reference photos will be needed, just your vivid imagination and drawing skills combined with a basic knowledge of Adobe Illustrator. Try it Now>>

Mastering Opacity Masks in Illustrator

Behind the Mask, Part 2

In Part 1 of Behind the Mask, we examined how to make masks in Adobe Illustrator. While masking presents a variety of uses, there is still one aspect I have not yet addressed. There's a little something called an opacity mask. Many designers may have never heard of it. Try it Now>>

Mastering Clipping Masks in Illustrator

Behind the Mask, Part 1

One of the more beautiful things about being a designer is the seemingly never-ending thirst for knowledge that permeates throughout the industry. I, for one, absolutely love learning new things that can help me creatively, or can help streamline the production process. However, there has been the odd time I've come across people who don't understand the finer workings of applications or, oddly enough, are afraid of them. In the name of progress, let's see if we can knock a major - and absolutely essential - function of Adobe Illustrator off the list of things to fear: Making a clipping mask. Try it Now>>