martinis

The Power of Multiple Martini Transformations in Photoshop

Submitted by deke on 29 September 2010 - 12:15am.

Wouldn't it be great if you had a device that would create martinis for you, each one a suitable replica of the previous, without your having to painstakingly mix each of them separately? Well, when it comes to virtual cocktails---or really anything else of value and deliciousness---you can leverage Photoshop's ability to duplicate, scale, and reposition a layer with the Free Transform command and the judicious application of some modifier keys. And then, amazingly, you can ask Photoshop to do it all over again.

See, a while back, I was creating a graphic for my weekly Martini Hour podcast (using a martini glass image from Gunnar3000 of the Fotolia image library, shown below), and really appreciating this terrific, if largely undocumented, shortcut that allows you to repeat a transformation---including duplicating, scaling and repositioning a layer---without having to tediously reenter values, mouse around your image, or remember how you lined things up the first time. 

Here's how I turned this single refreshing beverage into three, each spaced equidistantly and scaled appropriately, efficiently, and somewhat miraculously. Read more » 

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Martini Hour 031, In Which Colleen (Ahem) Follows Deke and Mordy on a Geek Excursion

Submitted by colleen on 10 September 2009 - 12:59am.

(Thanks to Mhelcor for the correction on the this week's title! ---cw) It's a true sign of my special penchant for total geeks that there is nothing more enjoyable for me than to sit with two notorious experts, and listen to them talk about something I know almost nothing about. Oh, sure, there are martini's involved, so that helps. And eventually I find out I'm learning along the way.

But really, for those of you who love Illustrator adventures, we've got a show for you with  our good friend Mordy Golding. These two could duke it out (or maybe just a friendly thumbwrestle) for World's Most Knowledgable Illustrator Expert, and yet they're both so sweet and helpful. And for those of you who don't care much about Illustrator, really just take the time to listen to the magic of two passionate experts sharing their knowledge, specifically about Illustrator's Transparency palette. By the way this is the episode has the added advantage of hearing Deke state his distinction between computer graphics and digital imaging, which I tell you, is something, after years of working, drinking, and generally hanging about with Deke, I only just found out.

Here's where Deke and Mordy go on their mutual Illustrator love adventure: Read more » 

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It's a Brand New Day

Submitted by colleen on 27 January 2009 - 12:00am.

Whether that phrase conjures up a recent Target commercial, Dr. Horrible's decision to commit Hammer-cide, or (as it does for me) a song someone on the Web aptly referred to as part of "Catholic Folk Mass" in the 70s, it is in fact a brand new day. Here on Earth we've turned our calendars to 2009, here in the States we have inagurated a new president, and here in the United Territories of Deke we are celebrating the arrival of a newest One-on-One book, Photoshop CS4 Channels & Masks One-on-One. The following is my artist's rendition of the book being sworn in:

Damn, that's a sweet graphic. Read more » 

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