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Creative Cloud is Adobe’s online service which will bring together many of the leading design and production applications together with a collaborative workspace and online storage facility.

Creative Cloud is a subscription service, membership of which allows access to all of the forthcoming Creative Suite 6 applications plus Adobe Muse (for building web sites without coding), Adobe’s Touch apps (such as Photoshop, Adobe Ideas etc for mobile devices) and 20gb of free storage.

Members will be able to manage and download their software applications from Creative Cloud. Note that this does not mean the apps are streamed over the cloud, InDesign, Photoshop etc are still downloaded and installed on your desktop.

The objective of Creative Cloud is to provide a seamless sharing environment where work can be accessed at any time from any device, desktop, laptop or mobile. Creative Cloud integrates with all Adobe applications allowing immediate uploading of files for previewing, comment or editing.

Though Creative Cloud is web based, a web connection is not required to use desktop applications. A license check will be performed every 30 days for which a web connection is required. Creative Cloud itself is the optional web sharing and online management system.

Additional benefits include:

Access to Windows and Mac versions of the apps, which can be installed on up to two devices.

Public and private sharing of files

Full integration with TypeKit, allowing web designers to work with more specialised fonts.

Use of Adobe’s Business Catalyst service for hosting Web sites

Adobe sees Creative Cloud as roadmap leading to many future developments including, addition of more applications including Lightroom, (image management and editing) DPS single edition (tablet publishing plug-in for InDesign) and Adobe Edge (animation application which outputs HTML 5).

Existing Creative Suite (CS3 and upwards) owners can upgrade to Creative Cloud for around £22 (ex VAT) per month and new subscriptions will be around £33 (ex VAT) . Monthly and annual, subscriptions will be available. A free option is also available with 30 day trials and 2gb storage.

Today Adobe has released an update (7.5.3) for InDesign and InCopy, addressing numerous issues.

John Hawkinson has posted an extensive list here, but notable fixes include:

Stability enhancements due to fixes to apparently random crashes when copying & pasting, exporting to PDF with text variables, file recovery, packaging & preflighting and with certain fonts in balanced text frames.

Performance improvements when moving objects when display is set to High Quality and general redraw performance improvements.

Improved graphics handling including white stitching line in JPEG export with certain placed images scaling percentage and JPEG export resolution and reduced transparency support for TIFF files from Photoshop CS6.

To install the update, go the Help menu in any Adobe application and select Updates.

Just in case you missed part 1, it’s right here, so check it out before returning here ready to finish this tutorial.

Mixing your subject with objects in the scene will help sell the illusion better, so I have placed the subject over the barrel and will now make it look like she is standing next to it. The shadow is causing a problem, but nothing a mask cannot fix.

I added a mask to the folder containing my shadows and then created a path with the pen tool around the offending shadow. This was turned into a selection by Cmd/Ctrl clicking on the path and now I will fill the mask with black from the selection (by ensuring the mask is the active layer before going to Edit -> Fill or Shift + F5)

But… as it turns out, now the shadows look slightly off after that re-adjustment. Well because my shadow layers are in a folder which is masked, I can still select them, shift the shadow around with the distort transform (used earlier) and the mask will not be effected!

Now for final enhancements. Tailor these to your image and fine tune as you need. In my image the subject is way too sharp and detailed to fit in. A higher quality background would help this, but when not available there are things that can be done. Also this is meant to look quite old and wild west in style so it will only aid the photo. I merged the group containing my subject and then added a Dust and Scratches filter to subtly remove some of the detail.

Next I add a little noise by going to Filter -> Add Noise.

And finally I bring this all together with a extremely soft gaussian blur. The blur is not strong enough to make the subject out of focus, it is just enough to blend the effects we just added.

Lastly some more colour balancing with Hue & Saturation to finalise the subject.

That’s it! Finished! Here is the final image – looks like she really is meant to be there!

Oh and I did another using the same subject and a different background so you can see what kind of effects you can get! This image was created by layering filters to create an effect that matched the background.

Enjoy! Now go forth and Photoshop!

If you are wondering what’s new in DreamWeaver CS6, here is a run down of some of the new features in the CS6 version of DreamWeaver. From updated live view to fluid grid layout these make it easier and quicker to produce quality content with particular enhancements for mobile app development.

The new features in the CS6 version of DreamWeaver include:

Fluid grid layout
Create cross-platform and cross-browser-compatible web designs using the CSS3-based fluid grid layout system. Work faster and more efficiently as you develop projects using clean, industry-standard code for a wide range of devices and computers. Visually construct complex web designs and page layouts without getting buried in code.


Enhanced jQuery Mobile support
JQuery mobile is one of the most popular frameworks for developing mobile web applications and in DreamWeaver CS6 the support for JQuery mobile has been upgraded making theming much easier. DreamWeaver CS6 introduces the JQuery mobile swatches panel, which gives easy access to the default themes of JQuery mobile as well as the ability to add your own custom themes, all of which can be applied with the simple click of a button.


Updated PhoneGap support
Updated support for Adobe PhoneGap™ makes it easier to build and package native apps for Android and iOS. Create mobile apps by repurposing existing HTML code. Use PhoneGap emulators to check your designs.


CSS3 transitions
Animate changes to CSS properties as transitions to bring web designs to life. Maintain greater control of web design as you finesse page elements and create captivating effects.


Updated Live View
Test pages before publishing using updated Live View functionality. Live View now uses the latest version of the WebKit rendering engine to provide the ultimate in HTML5 support.


Updated Multiscreen Preview panel
Check the display of projects built for smartphones, tablets, and desktops with the updated Multiscreen Preview panel. This enhanced panel now enables you to check rendering of HTML5 content

Dreamweaver CS6 incorporates a number of new features which together with the ongoing improvements in support for HTML5 and CSS3 make it a nice user friendly environment for developing web content. If you have a current subscription you will be able to jump in and start using it as soon as it’s shipping at no extra charge, if not it’s worth paying the upgrade price just for the improved standards support, let alone the new features.

Find out what’s new in Illustrator CS6 with our run down on the latest features, from a new modern interface through to a new tracing engine.

New features in Illustrator CS6 include the following:

New efficient, flexible interface
The CS6 UI has been rebuilt from the ground up and as a result there are a lot of user interface enhancements. For starters you can now set the UI brightness settings making Illustrator easier on the eye. Additionally you now have the ability to edit layer names in the layers panel and this can be done for all content bearing panels such as brushes, swatches, and symbols. On the type side of things you can now scroll through and apply fonts using arrow keys, and the color panel has a new adjustable color ramp.


Pattern creation
Easily create seamlessly tiled vector patterns. Experiment freely with different types of repeating patterns that can be edited at any time for maximum design flexibility.


New Image Trace
Image trace is a completely new image tracer that makes the conversion of raster images into editable vector artwork quick and easy. Get clean lines, accurate fitting, and reliable results without using complex controls.


Gradients on strokes
The new gradient on strokes features allows you to easily apply gradients to strokes. What’s very neat is this can be done — along the length, across the width, or within the stroke itself — all with complete control over gradient placement and opacity.


Inline editing in panels
Efficiently edit names in layers, swatches, brushes, artboards, and other panels directly in the panels themselves without using intermediate dialog boxes. This saves time and helps prevent confusion when working with a large number of items.


Gaussian Blur enhancement
See that Gaussian Blur and effects such as Drop Shadows and Glows are applied significantly faster than before. To improve accuracy, preview directly on the artboard rather than in a dialog box.


Color panel enhancements
Sample colors faster and more precisely using an expandable color spectrum in the Color panel. And now, copy and paste hex values into other applications more quickly.


Type panel improvements
Use arrow keys to change fonts in context for selected text. Glyphs for caps, superscripts, and more can now be accessed in one place — from the Character panel.


Workspaces with rooms
Move fluidly from workspace to workspace with support for rooms. Achieve consistency across your work areas and maintain layout changes until you actively reset them.


Control panel enhancements
Quickly find what you need in a more efficient Control panel, now with consistency across options, anchor point controls, clipping masks, envelope distortions, and more.


Transparency panel improvements
Create and work with opacity masks more easily, thanks to the new Make Mask/Release button that now displays the masking functionality in the Transparency panel.

True white canvas color
Set your Illustrator CS6 workspace canvas to white for fast color sampling when you need to quickly grab a pure white.

In addition to the many new features and enhancements you can work with precision, speed, and rock-solid stability on large, complex files thanks to a new performance system that powers Illustrator CS6. With native 64-bit support on Mac OS and Windows® you can access all the RAM on your computer to easily open, save, and export large files and preview demanding designs. Just about everything feels faster and more responsive.

If you have a current subscription you will receive Illustrator CS6 at no charge, alternatively though you can either upgrade from a recent version or purchase the CS6 version of Illustrator.

Find out what’s new in InDesign CS6 with our run down on the latest features that have been introduced.
The chances are these days you are developing content for a variety of different devices and screen sizes and InDesign CS6 makes it easier than ever to make that job simple.

Some of the new features introduced include:

Liquid Layout
Now you can apply liquid page rules to automatically adapt content when you create an alternate layout with a different size or orientation in InDesign. This makes it both quick and easy to design for multiple screen sizes and devices, something which is essential in today’s environment.


Alternate Layout
Now you can efficiently create and design multiple versions of a layout for different devices all within a single InDesign file. This helps you avoid the clutter of maintaining multiple documents just for a single piece of creative work.


Linked content
Link content within or across InDesign documents so that changes (including interactivity) made to the parent text or object are applied to all linked children objects. This is a great time saver helping you avoid hunting down all those instances of a particular item, when applying changes or updates to a document.


Content Collector tools
Grab text and objects from an existing layout using the Content Collector. In a new layout, use the Content Placer to add items in the order you want them to appear. This is a faster way to replicate pieces of copy and graphics across multiple layouts and documents, and a big improvement on the old copy and paste technique.


PDF forms within InDesign
If you have used InDesign to layout pdf forms, you’ll know how you then need to use Acrobat to insert the form fields. Well CS6 makes the job easier and you can now create form fields directly within InDesign before you export to PDF. You can also assign the tab order in InDesign using the Articles panel. Much simpler.


Split window & Pages panel enhancements
With InDesign CS6 you can now view two side-by-side layouts within the same document, to compare the look and feel of the layouts and help ensure consistency throughout. Additionally pages panel enhancements allow you to display alternate layouts in the Pages panel to organize content more efficiently.


Persistent text frame fitting options
Set frames to grow with additional text, based on simple parameters. Expand and shrink frames automatically for headlines, callouts, or other variable content. This is a nice timesaver, and saves having to constantly change the frame size for documents you have to regularly update.


Grayscale preview
Preview your layouts in grayscale to see how they will look on a black-and-white device or when printed in black and white.


Export to PNG
Export your InDesign document to PNG, a lossless format, for use on the web. You can export the entire document, part of the document, or individual items.

Enhanced zoom for linked objects
Zoom in to a linked object from the Links panel to evaluate it more clearly.

Interactive HTML
Include interactive HTML — such as Google Maps and animation developed with Adobe Edge software — in InDesign layouts. Interactivity is retained when exporting to HTML, EPUB3, or .folio for Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.

Live Preflight for digital publications
Preflight digital publications using EPUB and Adobe Digital Publishing Suite preflight profiles. Use Live Preflight to detect and fix any problems before exporting.

There are a number of other new features in InDesign CS6 all of which make it easier to design documents for multiple devices, saving you time and effort.
Those on a current subscription will get InDesign CS6 at no charge once it is released. If you don’t have a valid subscription you will need to upgrade to InDesign CS6 if your able or buy a new version if not.

If you are using InDesign to produce content for a variety of different platforms and screen sizes, then the CS6 upgrade is a must have. If not however it’s still a worthy upgrade with numerous enhancements and time saving options that have been introduced.

Find out what’s new in InDesign CS6 with our run down on the latest features that have been introduced.
The chances are these days you are developing content for a variety of different devices and screen sizes and InDesign CS6 makes it easier than ever to make that job simple.

Some of the new features introduced include:

Liquid Layout
Now you can apply liquid page rules to automatically adapt content when you create an alternate layout with a different size or orientation in InDesign. This makes it both quick and easy to design for multiple screen sizes and devices, something which is essential in today’s environment.


Alternate Layout
Now you can efficiently create and design multiple versions of a layout for different devices all within a single InDesign file. This helps you avoid the clutter of maintaining multiple documents just for a single piece of creative work.


Linked content
Link content within or across InDesign documents so that changes (including interactivity) made to the parent text or object are applied to all linked children objects. This is a great time saver helping you avoid hunting down all those instances of a particular item, when applying changes or updates to a document.


Content Collector tools
Grab text and objects from an existing layout using the Content Collector. In a new layout, use the Content Placer to add items in the order you want them to appear. This is a faster way to replicate pieces of copy and graphics across multiple layouts and documents, and a big improvement on the old copy and paste technique.


PDF forms within InDesign
If you have used InDesign to layout pdf forms, you’ll know how you then need to use Acrobat to insert the form fields. Well CS6 makes the job easier and you can now create form fields directly within InDesign before you export to PDF. You can also assign the tab order in InDesign using the Articles panel. Much simpler.


Split window & Pages panel enhancements
With InDesign CS6 you can now view two side-by-side layouts within the same document, to compare the look and feel of the layouts and help ensure consistency throughout. Additionally pages panel enhancements allow you to display alternate layouts in the Pages panel to organize content more efficiently.


Persistent text frame fitting options
Set frames to grow with additional text, based on simple parameters. Expand and shrink frames automatically for headlines, callouts, or other variable content. This is a nice timesaver, and saves having to constantly change the frame size for documents you have to regularly update.


Grayscale preview
Preview your layouts in grayscale to see how they will look on a black-and-white device or when printed in black and white.


Export to PNG
Export your InDesign document to PNG, a lossless format, for use on the web. You can export the entire document, part of the document, or individual items.

Enhanced zoom for linked objects
Zoom in to a linked object from the Links panel to evaluate it more clearly.

Interactive HTML
Include interactive HTML — such as Google Maps and animation developed with Adobe Edge software — in InDesign layouts. Interactivity is retained when exporting to HTML, EPUB3, or .folio for Adobe Digital Publishing Suite.

Live Preflight for digital publications
Preflight digital publications using EPUB and Adobe Digital Publishing Suite preflight profiles. Use Live Preflight to detect and fix any problems before exporting.

There are a number of other new features in InDesign CS6 all of which make it easier to design documents for multiple devices, saving you time and effort.
Those on a current subscription will get InDesign CS6 at no charge once it is released. If you don’t have a valid subscription you will need to upgrade to InDesign CS6 if your able or buy a new version if not.

If you are using InDesign to produce content for a variety of different platforms and screen sizes, then the CS6 upgrade is a must have. If not however it’s still a worthy upgrade with numerous enhancements and time saving options that have been introduced.

If you have been wondering what’s new in Photoshop CS6 – wonder no more. Adobe have now announced Photoshop CS6 which includes some nice new features to make life easier and quicker for everybody that uses it.

We have listed some of the newer features below:

Content Aware Patch
If you are looking to remove unwanted content from a photo and then replace it with a precise and seamless patch, then Content Aware patch is the tool for the job. It automatically creates the patch for you, but only after you’ve shown it exactly which area of your image you’d like it to sample from, and it then uses the Content-Aware technology which we have seen in recent versions of Photoshop to blend the patch into the surrounding area.


3D Controls at your finger tips
CS6 allows you to use a vastly simplified user interface to intuitively create and animate 3D artwork. You can use in-context and on-canvas controls to manipulate cages for 3D extrusions, change the orientation of scenes and objects, edit lights, and more.


Performance boosts
The Mercury Graphics engine means you see a significant performance boost which editing imagines with key tools such as liquify or puppet warp. You will also notice performance improvements when using 3D workflows, editing 3D content and rendering final work.


New and reengineered design tools
There are a number of new and reengineered design tools which let you create complex designs faster. Get consistent formatting with type styles, use vector layers to apply strokes and add gradients to vector objects, easily create custom strokes and dashed lines, quickly search layers, and more.


New Blur Gallery
The New Blur Gallery in Photoshop CS6 allows you to quickly create photographic blur effects using a simple new interface with on-image controls. You can create tilt-shift effects, blur everything and then sharpen one focal point, or vary the blurriness between multiple focal points.


All-new Crop tool
Now you can crop images faster and with greater precision using the all-new, nondestructive Crop tool. You can manipulate your images on canvas, and see your adjustments happen live.


New reflections and draggable shadows
Quickly achieve 3D realism by adding and enhancing shadows and reflections on your ground plane. Drag a shadow to reposition the light source, and easily edit ground reflections, shadows, and other effects.


Content-Aware Move
Move or extend a selected object to another area of your image, and then watch as Content-Aware Move magically recomposes and blends the object for a stunning visual result.


Preset migration and sharing
Easily migrate your presets, workspaces, preferences, and settings so you can experience Photoshop in the same way on all your computers, share your setup, and bring your customizations from past versions into Photoshop CS6.


Revolutionary erodible brushes
Draw more naturally and realistically using drawing tips that erode as you work. Endlessly wear down and sharpen a charcoal pencil or pastel to create different effects, and save favorite blunted tips as presets.

Brush enhancements
Paint more naturally by manually changing the rotation of your paint brush with your mouse. Dynamically resize your brushes with shortcuts, and take advantage of the Mercury Graphics Engine to fluidly adjust opacity or hardness.

Sharper vector rendering
Get sharper rendering by clicking once to snap the edges of vector objects to pixels.

Accurate 3D object merge
Accurately merge multiple 3D objects in a single scene so they can interact with the same lighting and cameras.

There are a number of other new features in the CS6 version of Photoshop, making it an interesting new release and the performance improvements introduced thanks to the Mercury Graphics Engine will certainly be appreciated by regular users. If you have a current subscription you will be able to upgrade to Photoshop CS6 at no charge once it starts shipping. For those who have a recent previous version of Photoshop with no current subscription there will be upgrade options available.

Adobe recently updated the DPS components for InDesign. Before you rush to upgrade you should take a moment to consider you workflow requirements. DPS works across several systems and suppliers, not all of which update at the same time. Though Adobe updates all of its components simultaneously, Apple can take some time to approve the Content Viewer for iPad. If you upgrade InDesign’s Overlay Creator too soon, you’ll find you have generated publications that can’t be previewed on your iPad. To make sense of all the components and the best time to update, Johannes Henseler has created the Caniupdateadobedps? web page. Keep an eye on this to judge when it’s safe to update.

Apple’s ‘New ipad’ comes with a spectacular, high res retina display. If you want your DPS publications to look good on it, you’ll want to take account of it’s new resolution. Bob Bringhurst has summarised some useful points to consider.

Adobe has launched a new developer centre for all things DPS.

For those still deciding on whether or not to publish on tablets, Craig Morrow and Will Steuber offer some interesting analytics to help you think about it.

And finally Zeke Koch, Adobe’s Director of Product Management, discusses the business implications of tablet pubishing using Adobe DPS.

Adobe recently updated the DPS components for InDesign. Before you rush to upgrade you should take a moment to consider you workflow requirements. DPS works across several systems and suppliers, not all of which update at the same time. Though Adobe updates all of its components simultaneously, Apple can take some time to approve the Content Viewer for iPad. If you upgrade InDesign’s Overlay Creator too soon, you’ll find you have generated publications that can’t be previewed on your iPad. To make sense of all the components and the best time to update, Johannes Henseler has created the Caniupdateadobedps? web page. Keep an eye on this to judge when it’s safe to update.

Apple’s ‘New ipad’ comes with a spectacular, high res retina display. If you want your DPS publications to look good on it, you’ll want to take account of it’s new resolution. Bob Bringhurst has summarised some useful points to consider.

Adobe has launched a new developer centre for all things DPS.

For those still deciding on whether or not to publish on tablets, Craig Morrow and Will Steuber offer some interesting analytics to help you think about it.

And finally Zeke Koch, Adobe’s Director of Product Management, discusses the business implications of tablet pubishing using Adobe DPS.

So in the previous tutorial I showed you how to change the colour of a green screen. Well what about dropping in a new background? Using the rough cutout from a previous tutorial here I will show you how to ‘photoshop in’ a new background and make it look real.

To start I dropped the cutout onto the background and manipulated it into place using Edit -> Free Transform (Or Cmd/Ctrl + T) It is best at this stage to get the proportions right and positions correct as best as possible as this could affect where you place shadows and what other effects you apply later.

The most important thing when dropping things into backgrounds and blending the two images into one is lighting and shadows. There are other things which come into play, and those I will cover soon, but first shadows! To create a shadow, duplicate the subject layer, lock the transparency and fill it with black. Then place it behind the main layer and use Edit -> Transform -> Distort to manipulate it into place. Remember, do not move the two base points as they are where the shadow is anchored to the feet. For more tips on shadows, see this tutorial.

To then refine the shadow I created a second layer, applied a soft gaussian blur and reduced the fill to 0% before applying a gradient overlay to give the faded effect. In this image the other shadows are quite harsh so I did not blue the layers too much. Try to best match the shadows to your image as they really help in selling the image as ‘real’. Alway keep light direction in mind.

Something really useful to think about is relations. In my image the subject is closer to the camera than the barrel, but also almost twice as tall, so this helps me to think where the top of the shadow will fall.

Next is colours. To adjust adjust the colours I put the main subject layer into a folder and changed its blending mode to normal (to prevent adjustment layers within that folder effecting anything outside of the folder.) Use saturation and vibrance along with levels to adjust the subject subtly. I took the saturation down a touch while bringing the vibrance up a little.

Join me for part 2 to finalise the image and mix the subject with the background to really sell the illusion.

In this tutorial I will show you how to use some techniques to change the colour of a green screen to achieve an interesting textured background without having to do a cutout!

To start I added a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer. Then using the colour selector hand in the palette I clicked on the green screen. This automatically selects the greens for me in the palette and will mean only those are changed.

Next I refined the selection by dragging the slider to cover all the greens.

For this background I want a dark, dusty brown to fit in with the theme, so I change the hue to get the brown I want and then bring the lightness and saturation down too.

As you can see though, there are some greens hues left on the subject of the image. These annoying sections can still be removed though. To do that I take the hand selection tool in the palette and click and drag left on effected areas to decrease the saturation.

Better, but not yet perfect. To refine the image further I add a levels adjustment layer and pull the end points in a little to increase the contrast; as well as adding a colour balance to suppress the greens further. Lastly I added another Hue/Saturation layer, filled it with black and carefully painted over the most effected areas with white in the layer mask before pushing the saturation down.

It is now looking much better. Now to clean up the edges with an incredibly handy tool – content aware fill. Simply select offending areas with the lasso, press Shift + F5 and choose Content Aware in the fill type. (Or Edit -> Fill)

After pressing Cmd/Ctrl + D to deselect you can look at your image with pride. A very nice plain canvas for you to work on and texture further if required!

I further touched up the image below with additional texture layers masked out over the subject and set to Soft Light in the blending mode. The opacity of this texture layer was reduced by 50%. Lastly, gradients which go from black to 100% transparent were added to darken the legs and outside to focus the viewer on the subjects face.

This effect is great for Black & White images or portraits where the shots were taken against a coloured background which you want to change but do not want to go through the effort of a full blown cut out.

Copying objects is one of those tasks we all do all the time. I regularly come across users who aren’t aware that there are many ways to copy beyond the standard copy and paste commend. Duplicating items in precise ways can be one to the most powerful ways to get a job done quickly and InDesign has numerous ways to do it.

I want to make duplicates of my sample logo. I can do it in the following ways:

1) Select the object then Edit>Copy followed by Edit>Paste

The resulting copy is placed in the middle of the page but the location  is not controllable.

Copy and Paste

2) Hold the alt key and drag the object. All Adobe applications will copy the object when dragged in this way. A copy is created where you let go the mouse. This can be constrained by holding shift at the same time. Unfortunately it’s not possible to take a screenshot while holding alt.

Alt drag copy

3) Select the object and choose Edit>Duplicate. A copy will be made in a specific location but there is no obvious control over how this was decided. Duplicate is in fact a kind of repeat instruction. It takes it’s values from the Step and repeat function but, as that comes later in the list, it doesn’t look like the two are related.

Duplicate

4) Select the object and choose Edit>Step and Repeat. This is one of the most powerful ways to copy objects. The dialogue box allows control of both the number of copies and the specific horizontal and vertical locations. Even better is the recent addition of the create as grid check box which allows duplicates in rows and columns. Great if you need to create badges, business cards, tickets etc.

Step and repeat

You can also use this one to make interesting sequences.

Step and repeat 2

5) Duplication isn’t limited to the options in the Edit menu. Several tools can also perform duplications, specifically the Scale, Rotate and Shear tools.

Transform tools

In each case, select an object on the page then double click the tool. A dialogue box appears with settings for that function. Each dialogue box has a preview check box. When you are satisfied with the result, click copy (OK just modifies the original object) to create a new copy.

Scale and copy

6) If you need to repeat the step above but on a sequence of objects, select the Object>Transform>Transform Sequence Again. InDesign will repeat whatever steps it took to reproduce the last transformation you performed. This is especially useful for adjusting multiple objects that can’t be grouped.

Transform sequence again

Fun with shearing

Copying objects is one of those tasks we all do all the time. I regularly come across users who aren’t aware that there are many ways to copy beyond the standard copy and paste commend. Duplicating items in precise ways can be one to the most powerful ways to get a job done quickly and InDesign has numerous ways to do it.

I want to make duplicates of my sample logo. I can do it in the following ways:

1) Select the object then Edit>Copy followed by Edit>Paste

The resulting copy is placed in the middle of the page but the location  is not controllable.

Copy and Paste

2) Hold the alt key and drag the object. All Adobe applications will copy the object when dragged in this way. A copy is created where you let go the mouse. This can be constrained by holding shift at the same time. Unfortunately it’s not possible to take a screenshot while holding alt.

Alt drag copy

3) Select the object and choose Edit>Duplicate. A copy will be made in a specific location but there is no obvious control over how this was decided. Duplicate is in fact a kind of repeat instruction. It takes it’s values from the Step and repeat function but, as that comes later in the list, it doesn’t look like the two are related.

Duplicate

4) Select the object and choose Edit>Step and Repeat. This is one of the most powerful ways to copy objects. The dialogue box allows control of both the number of copies and the specific horizontal and vertical locations. Even better is the recent addition of the create as grid check box which allows duplicates in rows and columns. Great if you need to create badges, business cards, tickets etc.

Step and repeat

You can also use this one to make interesting sequences.

Step and repeat 2

5) Duplication isn’t limited to the options in the Edit menu. Several tools can also perform duplications, specifically the Scale, Rotate and Shear tools.

Transform tools

In each case, select an object on the page then double click the tool. A dialogue box appears with settings for that function. Each dialogue box has a preview check box. When you are satisfied with the result, click copy (OK just modifies the original object) to create a new copy.

Scale and copy

6) If you need to repeat the step above but on a sequence of objects, select the Object>Transform>Transform Sequence Again. InDesign will repeat whatever steps it took to reproduce the last transformation you performed. This is especially useful for adjusting multiple objects that can’t be grouped.

Transform sequence again

Fun with shearing

Welcome to Part 2 of Cut Outs: Background Eraser Tool. In this tutorial we will be cleaning up the rough cutout we made with the background eraser tool. Missed it? Don’t worry, the post is right here.

If you remember, the cutout we made was decent enough; especially for the time we put into it. But for a professional, this is just not up to scratch yet. Now I will take you through some advanced techniques to cleanup the image before we drop it into a background. The image below shows you where we got to – some rough/furry edges, green lines remaining and green hints in the legs and arms.

The white background in this image is a separate layer to help highlight the remaining problems. I suggest you too work with some kind of neutral background layer to help highlight problems. We have taken this as far as we can with the Background Eraser Tool, but what needs to be done now?

1. Whisps of Green and Background
2. Thin Green Line Running Around the Outside
3. Green Hues on the Body.

How about we tackle the last two at once? Sounds good right? For this we will be using adjustment layers. We need to get rid of the green hues so Hue/Saturation sounds like a great place to start. Go to the bottom of the layers palette an click on the icon fourth from the left. This is your list of Adjustment layers. Now select Hue/Saturation…

If you have come across Adjustment Layers before, you can skip to the next paragraph, if not or you require a little reminder this paragraph should help. An Adjustment layer works just like a standard adjustment made by going through Image -> Adjustments – Except they are non-destructive. Also, they can be changed at any time. They work just like layers and also include a built in layer mask (defaults to all white so the mask has no effect) If the adjustments panel is closed, just double click the layer icon to open it and change the settings. These Adj Layers are incredibly useful, and now we will be taking advantage of their capabilities. In Hue/Saturation, this lets us change the hue of the image, changing all the colours moving them along the spectrum. It also allows us to increase or decrease the saturation in the image.

If your adjustment layer is not above your form in the layers panel, drag it above – they only effect things below them. Now with the adjustments panel open you can see some of the options we have. If you know anything about the Hue/Saturation adjustment, you know it effects the whole image, so how will this help us remove the green? And no; we won’t be using any masks.

Zoom in on an area where you can clearly see the green outline. Now click the little hand icon in the adjustments panel. Next click on an area with the green. You will see a strange slider appears at the bottom of the panel. This acts like a limiter, meaning the Adj Layer will only effect those colours. The two bars at the bottom that are sandwiching the slider show you a before and after – the top bar represents what the colours start at while the bottom shows you what those colours have changed to, while the slider allows you to limit which of the top colours can be changed.

Now fiddle with the Hue Slider at the top and you should see the greens changing colour. Hm… are not all of your greens changing? Or is it effecting too much of the image? Look back at that slider. The darker area show the colours that will change while the lighter area acts as like a fade off. Play around and see what you can do. You can drag the whole slider left and right by dragging in the darker area, or you can extend/shorten it by dragging the lighter area. Of course though, you can also drag the points.

Note that every time you change the slider, your previous Hue and Saturation changes are not reset, experiment and you will see what I mean. This may at first seem like a hinderance, but in fact it means you can at first change different colours within the same Adj Layer – for example, changing the hue of the blues, setting the slider to effect reds then changing the hue of the reds without reseting your blues. If something horribly wrong just delete your Adj Layer and add in a new one – that is one reason why they become so useful.

If you take the saturation temporarily right up you can see which areas the slider is effecting. Once you have got the right areas covered, changes the hues to better match the image and also take the saturation down. This takes the emphasis away from the edges and makes the cutout look smoother.

You should be able to remove most of the remaining green screen using that technique. Furthermore, in the process you have been able to remove green reflections on the skin/ clothing. If you to make it absolutely 100% perfect while retaining all of the original wanted colours you could use multiple Adj Layers with masks for different areas. However, you should be able to not have to resort to such extremes for most images.

Lastly, what about those whispy bits? The best and often fastest way to remove these last bits is grab the selection tool you are most comfortable with (If you can, use the pen tool to create a path which can be used as a selection – you can create more accurate, editable selections faster) Go carefully around the edges of the image where the whisps are particularly bad – doing small sections at a time, and then delete them.

Why did we not just use the pen tool in the first place? Well, this is only a rough cut out so speed is key. Full blown pen tool cut outs are 100% accurate but so time consuming. (In a later tutorial I will cover how to do a proper pen tool cut out for 100% accuracy)

Now you can drop in your own background! Well done, you have just completed your first cutout. In another tutorial coming soon I will show you how to make your cutout look like it belongs in the new background. Part of this is all about getting the shadows right, so check out my previous blog post here about creating accurate shadows.

Before and After

Green Screen Removal is one of the first things you want to learn in Photoshop; after all, that is what it’s all about right? But then you probably got caught up in learning the basic tools and removing background properly and effectively might have dropped off your to-do list. Well, it is time to put it back on as I take you through a series of different ways of skinning the same cat… um… green screen; Photoshop style of course.

In the first tutorial we will be using a special new tool which you can get very excited about.  It is called the background eraser tool and it is as magical as its name suggests. Why have you not heard of this tool before and where does it hide? Read on to find out…

The first thing to do is open up your image in photoshop. Now this particular image has a few different elements to it; folds, changing tones and clutter. Well the clutter is very easy to deal with, so we will not worry about that for now. However, the screen itself is not very bright. I used levels and Hue & Saturation to just push up the contrast and saturation; only a little.

Now for the Background Eraser Tool. This special tool lives under the eraser tool so click and hold on the eraser until you see three options. Then select the Background Eraser Tool. Next set the brush size to a decent size I have mine set to about 150px which shows up as roughly the same diameter as the arm. You will notice a strange crosshair has also appeared in centre of your circle. This crosshair is important. Under default settings the background eraser will erase only the colour (within a certain tolerance) that appears under that crosshair. The crosshair updates the colour it will erase as the curser moves too, so that will help with the change in shades in our green screen. What this means is you can click and drag the eraser around the form very loosely, all you have to do is ensure the circle overlaps the form but the cross hair stays on the background. Give it a try!

As you can see this is a very effective way of quickly removing backgrounds from subjects that are very different colours from the screen behind.

But ah, a problem. On this section of the shirt, the eraser has not only partially removed some of the cuff, but also failed to remove that small bit of green that was inside the circle.

This is because of two things.

Firstly, it removed the shirt because the tolerance is set too high.

Secondly, it did not remove the green between the folds because of a setting called limits (which also appears in tools such as the magic wand.)

Can it be fixed? Of course!

First, a quick Ctrl/Cmd + Z. Now here I changed the tolerance from 50% to 30% (some times it may be trial and error, other times you will just know how much it needs to be changed by)

Secondly I changed the limits option at the top of the screen from Contiguous to Discontiguous. This means that it will look for the colour under the crosshair in the whole circle and erase it – regardless of whether or not it is joined through the green colour under the cross hair. A better example of this is shown below. A single click was made with the cross hair on the green outer circle and the brush size set so that it covers the inner circle.

So with those new settings I was able to remove the green screen a little more effectively.

Ok, so we have a rough cut out but what do we do about the clutter and the rest of the screen? Put down that normal eraser, we can do it faster. If you are comfortable with the pen tool, use that. Otherwise use something like the lasso or polygonal lasso tool to make a rough selection of the form. Now invert the selection using Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + I (or Select -> Inverse) and hit backspace/delete! Lastly deselect the image using Ctrl/Cmd + D (Select -> Deselect)

So the final result? Hm… not bad but not amazing… yet. You can probably see a small line of green running around the edges of the image. Also in some parts there are whisps of the screen. (To highlight the problems I have placed a filled layer of blue behind the image layer.)

What do we do about those? Well… stick with me tomorrow for part 2 and find out!

In this tutorial I will show you how to create realistic shadows in photoshop using one technique (as always in Photoshop, there is more than one way to skin a photo)

I will be using the same shape I was using in the Illustrator tutorial to demonstrate the techniques in this one. To get it into Photoshop I just copied and pasted it in as a Smart Object. (For more on Smart Objects, check out this previous tutorial)

Ah, but wait, it still has that previous dummy shadow. Let’s remove that by double clicking on the layer icon to open it up in Illustrator, delete the shadow and save. Done! The shape auto updates in Photoshop without its shadow.

Now for the shadow. Woah! Don’t go reach for the shadow effect in layer styles; we will not be using that for a poor replacement of a 3D shadow. Instead duplicate the layer you would like a shadow of. To duplicate a layer with speed, drag and drop the layer over the new layer button. Before I can use my shadow layer I need to rasterize it as Photoshop cannot apply the deformations we will be making to smart objects. To do this I right-click the layer and select Rasterize Layer.

Now to make it look a little like a shadow before moving it into place. Cmd/Ctrl click the layer icon on your shadow layer. This selects the contents. Now go to Edit -> Fill (or Shift + F5) and fill the layer with black. Finally use Cmd/Ctrl + D to deselect everything.

Now go to Edit -> Free Transform -> Distort. You will see your familiar transform hangers appear – but these are special. Try grabbing and moving the corner points. You will see Photoshop lets you deform like never before! Once you have finished experimenting press Esc to cancel the tool, and then load it again from the edit menu.

You need to think carefully from where the light is coming from as this can make or break the effect. My abstract background offers no clues to the location of the light, but the highlight on the shape itself suggests the main light source is in front of the shape and to the right. This would send the shadow backwards (into the picture) and slightly to the left. I grabbed the top hangers and moved the into the background like so.

In most situations you will want to ensure that the top two points are sitting horizontally, and the bottom two points are also horizontally. Also, do not move the points that connect the shadow with the object. Think about a real life shadow, the close it is to the object it is, the less distorted it is.

Once you have your shadow in the correct place, press enter to accept the deformation. It is good, but still not quite right. Lets start by blurring the edges of the shadow. Go to Filter -> Blur -> Guassian Blur. You probably want a Radius of about 4 pixels, but see what works for you.

Ok it is getting there, but still not right. Most shadows fade as they get further from the object casting them. Take the layer Fill of your shadow to 0%, it can be found below the layer opacity in the layers palette. Now double click on your shadow layer to open up the Layer Styles. Now select the Gradient Overlay row. Next click on the gradient to open the Gradient Editor. If your Foreground colour was set to black you will be able to select the second preset gradient, otherwise quickly create one that goes from solid black to 100% transparent black.Then press OK to close the Gradient Editor.

Now we don’t want our shadow to fade completely away, so change the scale to 150%. You may also need to change the angle of the gradient to fit with your shadow. Now press OK to close the Layer Styles panel.

It is almost there! Lastly we need to replicate the increased fade you get in the parts of the shadow that are most distant. For that we need to convert it for Smart Filters. Go to Edit -> Convert For Smart Filters. This allows us mask off parts of a filter using layer masks that will now come with any filters we apply. We are going to be sing our friend the Gaussian Blur again so press Cmd/Ctrl + F (This applies the last used filter again) or go up to Filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur. You probably want similar settings to last time.

Your Shadow layer in the palette probably looks something like this now.

You will notice the Layer mask which can be hidden or shown, but also an eye next to the gaussian blur. Yep, your filter is still editable much like Layer Styles were. Just double click the filter to re-open its settings box and edit it. But we don’t need that so click on the filter’s layer mask so select it. Now grab the gradient tool and ensure it is set to a simple black to white gradient. Lastly, drag from the base of the shadow to the end.

This will mask off the gaussian blur gradually so it mostly effects the furthest parts of the shadow – replicating a real shadow. The effect is subtle but useful.

Lastly, I made some small changes to the original vector shape to enhance the shadow effect.

Well done! You’ve have just created your own realistic shadow.

Another often overlooked aspect of most Creative Suite apps is their ability to store preset panel combinations. Adobe call these workspaces and they can be extremely useful for rapidly loading specific panel sets or just carrying out general tidying up.

Workspaces can be found in two locations: under the View>Workspaces drop down menu or, in the Application bar on the right hand side.

InDesign workspace switcher

I this example I’m using InDesign. The current workspace (Essentials) is displayed in the application bar next to the search field. Click on the downward triangle to see a list of preset workspaces (this is known as the workspace switcher).

InDesign Essentials workspace panels

The essentials workspace doesn’t really have enough panels for even basic work with InDesign. Try selecting Advanced from the list, this causes InDesign to refresh and show some new panels.

InDesign Advanced workspace panels

The Advanced workspace contains more useful panels for general InDesign work and I recommend using this one as a default rather than Essentials.

Adobe supplies various preset workspaces to get you started. Their names should tell you all you need to know about what to expect. When you try a new workspace, be sure to check the menus as well as many Adobe workspaces make use of menu highlighting and some actually hide certain menu options.

As well as using the preset workspaces, you can make your own. Make visible any panels you wish to use. Drag and organise them on the screen to the location and order you find most useful. Remember that the toolbar and control panels can also be moved by dragging the double row of tiny dots.

Random arrangement of InDesign panels

Go to the workspace switcher and select New Workspace.

InDesign save workspace dialogue box

Type in a name.

Any custom workspaces you have created will appear at the top of the switcher list.

When you reselect Essentials this time, you may find it retains the customisations you made for your custom workspace. This is because you started with this workspace in the first place. To revert this, go back to the workspace switcher and select Reset Essentials (or whatever your starting workspace was). InDesign will now reload the panels in their default arrangement.

All the major Creative Suite apps are extremely complex and feature far too many functions to display at once. Workspaces give you complete control over what is displayed and when. You only need to see the panels you need right now.

Another often overlooked aspect of most Creative Suite apps is their ability to store preset panel combinations. Adobe call these workspaces and they can be extremely useful for rapidly loading specific panel sets or just carrying out general tidying up.

Workspaces can be found in two locations: under the View>Workspaces drop down menu or, in the Application bar on the right hand side.

InDesign workspace switcher

I this example I’m using InDesign. The current workspace (Essentials) is displayed in the application bar next to the search field. Click on the downward triangle to see a list of preset workspaces (this is known as the workspace switcher).

InDesign Essentials workspace panels

The essentials workspace doesn’t really have enough panels for even basic work with InDesign. Try selecting Advanced from the list, this causes InDesign to refresh and show some new panels.

InDesign Advanced workspace panels

The Advanced workspace contains more useful panels for general InDesign work and I recommend using this one as a default rather than Essentials.

Adobe supplies various preset workspaces to get you started. Their names should tell you all you need to know about what to expect. When you try a new workspace, be sure to check the menus as well as many Adobe workspaces make use of menu highlighting and some actually hide certain menu options.

As well as using the preset workspaces, you can make your own. Make visible any panels you wish to use. Drag and organise them on the screen to the location and order you find most useful. Remember that the toolbar and control panels can also be moved by dragging the double row of tiny dots.

Random arrangement of InDesign panels

Go to the workspace switcher and select New Workspace.

InDesign save workspace dialogue box

Type in a name.

Any custom workspaces you have created will appear at the top of the switcher list.

When you reselect Essentials this time, you may find it retains the customisations you made for your custom workspace. This is because you started with this workspace in the first place. To revert this, go back to the workspace switcher and select Reset Essentials (or whatever your starting workspace was). InDesign will now reload the panels in their default arrangement.

All the major Creative Suite apps are extremely complex and feature far too many functions to display at once. Workspaces give you complete control over what is displayed and when. You only need to see the panels you need right now.

Let’s start at the end; or even the middle. You might be working on a piece of artwork in Adobe Illustrator but then decide the colours need to be changed. Perhaps something is the wrong tone; perhaps all the places a certain colour appears need to be changed to a completely different colour; or maybe the entire artwork needs to be changed! Do not fret and don’t go reaching for your swatches! We will not be needing those. Instead we will be making use of Illustrator’s ‘Re-colour Artwork’ tool.

As an example for this tutorial I will be using this shape. Changing its colours would be simple enough, it is just a case of selecting the parts and then selecting a new colour from the swatch. However, the re-colour artwork tool is incredibly powerful and much faster.

I do not like the pink colour in this flowing shape, and would rather it be green. So to begin I select everything using ctrl/cmd + A. Next I press the Re-colour Artwork button in the main panel at the top of Illustrator.

The recolour artwork panel will appear. It shows all the colours that were in the shapes we selected. The main section of the panel (with the list of colours) is split into two parts. The current part shows the current colours on the left and the new colours on the right. You can drag and drop colours from the left onto the right and Illustrator will show you a preview. This is useful for swapping colours around and experimenting a little.

Below is an example of what happens when you do this. However, for this tutorial we are going to leave the colours untouched and click on the ‘Edit’ tab. (If you did experiement, just click the button with the eyedropper and paper – it is at the top of the panel. This resets the colours.)

You should see something like this (below) A classic colour wheel with some spots and lines.

The spots represent each colour in your artwork and where it sits on the wheel. By default, the lines connecting the spots to the centre of the wheel should be dotted (unlinked); if they are solid click the unlink button (which looks like a chain). Now you can click and drag the spots around. Re-colour artwork is truly a powerful and fast way of adjusting your artwork.

By clicking and dragging colours around you can recolour all selected parts of the artwork! The ‘recolor’ tick box at the bottom of the page acts like a preview button – but if you want to commit changes ensure it is ticked before you press OK.

Something else to try is dragging while the colours are linked. Press the Link button (should currently be a broken chain icon) Now when you drag the spots they will all move together. This enables your to change the hue of the whole artwork at once. Also you will notice a brightness slider directly below the wheel. This is very useful lightening or darkening the artwork all at once. The sliders at the bottom are used for fine tuning the currently selected colour spot.

Now I have my flowing shape the colours I want, I press OK and the changes are commited! The image below demonstrates just how the Re-colour artwork tool can be used to adjust your artwork. Creating the image below from the shape above took no more than 30 seconds.

I created many copies of the shape and arranged them in an interesting scene; but I don’t want them all the same colour. Each shape is one group and so I only have to click on the shape to select all its components. Then I click the Re-colour artwork button.

Illustrator knows what colours work well together and it generates a colour guide with ‘harmony colours’ based on the colours of the currently selected artwork. These can be found under the drop-down at the top of the panel. To change the colours, just select a new set from the drop down. The new colours can then be fine tuned with the re-colour artwork tool.

Enjoy your new found Illustrator skills; now go and recolour the world!