features

Martini Hour 094, In Which We Hypocritically Mock Some of Adobe's Odd Feature Names

Submitted by colleen on 9 December 2010 - 12:15am.

What's in a name? Does a feature that goes by any other name still function as well? This week we're enjoying making fun of the names of Adobe features that don't really make any sense. And who are we to complain? "Martini Hour" is never really an hour and this week we're drinking Manhattans. So join us on this vaguely hypocritical but otherwise entertaining discussion of goofy names for otherwise highly useful (for the most part) set of features in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Like Martini Hour, you shouldn't be scared off by the names. 

Martini Hour 094: Adobe's strangely named features

Here is a list of cryptically, oxymoronically, or just ridiculously named features that we enjoy making fun of this week: Read more » 

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Photoshop Top 40: The Contest Results

Submitted by deke on 27 December 2009 - 12:28pm.

Myyyy Photoshop, myyyy Photoshop, Top 40! Okay, so actually, it's the Top 3. That is, the Top 3 entries in our recent Photoshop Top 40: The Contest. I asked you to create a magnificent piece of artwork that celebrates no fewer than three of the features from my Photoshop Top 40 podcast. Happily, your response was overwhelming. Sadly, your response was overwhelming on Christmas Eve, while I and my sidekick Colleen were with our children. But eventually, we found time to review all 146 enthusiastically submitted entries. (Thank you, by the way! Nothing gets us going like a hot contest!)  From that, and with great difficulty, we have selected three winners.

I promised our choices would be purely subjective. And they are. But subjected to the things we love: Photoshop craftsmanship and creative ingenuity. And, go figure, we liked pieces that celebrated the theme of the contest, Photoshop Top 40. In other words, good art direction trumped precise execution, although our winners showed some mad skills. Read more » 

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Photoshop CS4 One-on-One Top 10 New Features

Submitted by deke on 9 October 2008 - 6:05am.

I wrote this article for Amazon.com. But then it occurred to me, as if in a dream: Wait, I should make this available to everyone on the site. So here it is, slightly modified to suit the unique needs of the denizens of dekeOnline. In other words, I spiced it up.

I hope to add links and figures soon. Like this one (below). And maybe even fix a few typos. Check back real soon, you hear?

Ye old Photoshoppe

In the meantime, here's the article:

Every upgrade to Photoshop offers up a bounty of labor-saving, time-shaving, and downright inspiring new features. And wouldn’t you just know it? I’m growing more and more convinced that CS4 is more bountiful than most. Here are my Top 10 new features in Photoshop, from semi-lame to absolutely great:

10. Spring-loaded tools. Temporarily select a tool by pressing and holding its shortcut key. For example, when retouching an image with the healing brush: Press and hold Y to temporarily get the history brush, erase part of your modification, and then release Y to return to the healing brush. Sexy name for a run-of-the-mill feature. Might catch on. Time will tell. Read more » 

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Two CS4 Features

Submitted by deke on 1 October 2008 - 3:37am.

I'm am slowly in pursuit of aggregating what videos I can from the various online sources, all in the name of getting you educated.

The players in this video: Me, of course. That voice, right at the beginning of the move, that's Melanie. The guy soon after is Garrick. He and his buddy Larry (of The Jellybricks) did the music to "101 Tips."

I've spent a lot of time with these two. So has the fourth voice you'll hear, Mordy Golding, a frequent contributor to this site.

En masse, the Fantastic 4 of us show you the best features in Photoshop and Illustrator. (Well, two -- content-aware scaling and multiple artboards -- but still, absolutely best features.) Enjoy! Read more » 

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