Written by Tara: Freelance Designer on Sunday, 20 of April , 2008 at 4:13 pm
Photoshop has to be one of the hardest of the graphic design programs to get a grip of. I remember thinking I would never understand it when I first started. There are just lots of different ways to accomplish the same thing with photoshop, I know personally I have only scratched the surface of what it is capable of. Jennifer over at Laughing Lion Design has created some video photoshop tutorials which are worth taking a look at to improve your photoshop knowledge.
There are loads of other photoshop tutorials out there if you need them too, take a look at Tutorialized which lists 9082 photoshop tutorials, that should keep you busy for a while .
Written by Tara: Freelance Designer on Thursday, 28 of February , 2008 at 12:13 pm
A few weeks ago I mentioned I was looking for some new 3D software to use for character design and modelling. Many of you offered advice on programs you recommended, thank you for that. Programs such as 3ds Max are just too complicated and expensive for my current needs. I had also looked at the other end of the spectrum at free 3D software and although there were some solutions they still weren’t what I was looking for. I dabbled with Animation Master but the interface is quite unusual although I know it gives impressive results.
While googling I came across Cheetah 3D which was a relatively cheap ($129) 3D design and animation software built specifically for the mac. I tried the demo and really liked it. It has a really simple looking interface which doesn’t completely daunt a novice but it seems to be very capable software offering a wide range of modelling options including box (subdivision) modelling which was something I was looking for. The Cheetah 3D manual is a little sparse but I bought some tutorial DVDs (only £15) which were really easy to understand and didn’t make me fall asleep like a lot of tutorial DVDs do.
If you are looking for a very capable but affordable 3D software for the mac try out the Cheetah 3D demo.
Written by Tara: Freelance Designer on Monday, 10 of December , 2007 at 12:46 pm
When I was first looking for a 3D design program several years ago, most of them were very expensive and complicated (far too complicated when I just wanted to use them for print work and packaging visuals).There are now several free 3D options available a couple of which I downloaded to try out.
Google Sketch Up
I had heard of google sketch up but to be honest didn’t really know what it was - the name makes it sound more of a drawing /design program rather than 3D software. What I like about Google Sketch up is that it is fairly intuitive. You click on a tool and a box with al the information about what that tool does and how to use it appears, which is pretty useful when you are trying to learn. You can easily make 3 dimensional squared objects by drawing lines in 3 dimensional space and extruding. You can also create lathe objects - although this is a bit less obvious using a a feature called follow me. Drawing curved lines is not as simple as straight, there is an arc feature but it is not easy to control, a bezier drawing tool would make a great addition. Available for Mac and PC.
Below is a very simple tutorial from Youtube showing how you can build simple objects in Google Sketch up very easily. There are several more video you can find with more complex examples on Youtube too
Art of Illusion Art of Illusion is an opensource 3D modelling and rendering program. I only quickly took a look at this program but I liked how simple the interface is unlike a lot of commercial applications. It looks like this program would be much better for organic forms than Google SketchUp with the use of Triangular meshes. There is also a online/download manual and tutorials available. This is definitely one worth taking a look at if you want a free 3D program. Available for Mac, PC and Linux
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