video

Although Photoshop has the word "photo" in its title, a remarkably small percentage of Photoshop users identify themselves as photographers. In contrast, more than half call themselves designers. (In case you're wondering who the heck else uses the program, think realtors, medical practitioners, lawyers, law-enforcement professionals, insurance investigators, scientists, and anyone else who makes for good TV drama.) If you fall into this superhuge "designer" bucket---which includes all walks of visual artists, btw---there's nothing better you can do to get a leg up on the competition than learn and eventually master 3D in Photoshop CS5 Extended. Why? Because 3D is exciting, liberating, and outlandishly powerful. Not to mention, no one else in your immediate vicinity has a clue to how it works.

Which is why, just yesterday, I released the Part 3 of my 4-part Photoshop 3D series in the lynda.com Online Training Library. Titled Photoshop CS5 Extended One-on-One: 3D Scenes, this nearly 9-hour video course takes you to the far reaches of 3D, including scene building, lighting, shadow casting, camera manipulation, and stereoscopic imaging. Below you see me introducing 3D lighting. Note that I'm taking the topic so seriously that I'm wearing a jacket, even though the temperature on the set is roughly that of the sun. And I'm so bulging with 3D info that my left arm (the one on right) looks like I borrowed it from the Michelin Man.

I should mention that the live-action illustrations and many of the 3D models hail from Paul Roper, an incredibly talented guy at lynda.com.

Meanwhile, here's an illuminating chapter-by-chapter description of this transformative and, I freely admit, life-affirming course. Read more » 

Well, it's been a busy week. Tuesday, I recorded Chapter 15, "Lighting Your Scene," of my upcoming video course Photoshop CS5 Extended One-on-One: 3D Scenes, which should be out sometime in May for my video publisher lynda.com. In this chapter, we transform this base Maya model, created by a member of lynda.com's rockin' graphics department, Paul Roper:

. . . into the following piece of photo-realistic artwork. (Click the image to let its 3D loveliness consume your screen.)

Read more » 

In case I haven't kept you fully apprised, I've been whiling away the past few months working on a series of video courses that explain the massive (if amazingly intricate) 3D capabilities of Photoshop CS5 Extended. And all I have to say is---while the topic is all very challenging and stuff---I'm having something very closely resembling a blast.

The first course, Photoshop CS5 Extended One-on-One: 3D Fundamentals, is this very minute available for immediate viewing at my 24/7 video publisher lynda.com. The second, 3D Objects, will be out by this month's end. And the third, 3D Scenes, I began recording as recently as yesterday. Pictured below is the outcome of the first project, in which we create a photorealistic camera---altogether from scratch---using a dozen shape layers, Photoshop CS5's Repoussé, and a ginormous spherical panorama. If you currently regard Photoshop as "powerful," put that notion in a tiny vial marked Shrink Me and get ready for something much, much larger.

Click the image for a larger preview. (It's a bit noisy. Although extraordinarily powerful, Photoshop is not the world's fastest rendering engine. Thankfully, you can interrupt a render anytime you like. But noise, as shown here, is the repercussion.) Again, it's 100% Photoshop. Did you know the program could do such things? Back in 2010, me neither. Stay tuned for more. Read more » 

A quick note to let those of you who may be interested know: I just now arrived in Ventura, CA, at the recording studios of my esteemed video publisher lynda.com. Tomorrow I begin work on what promises to be a four-part comprehensive and (more importantly) comprehensible series on 3D in Photoshop, beginning with Photoshop CS5 Extended One-on-One: 3D Fundamentals.

This particular graphic happens to hail from an upcoming Deke's Techniques movie, created in Photoshop CS5 Extended with a little help from Illustrator (as you'll learn in May when that movie goes live). But, hey, it'll do in a pinch.

If you have any 3D trials or tribulations that are troubling you, I invite you to comment here. I'll be working on the various pieces of this series for the next few months, so suggestions are welcome. Read more » 

Greetings, fellow Deke-o-philes!

This issue of dekeSpeak comes from a cool place. As the thermometer dips and layered apparel becomes increasingly conspicuous, I'm enjoying the warm fuzzy feeling I get from sharing the treasure trove of insights available on deke.com. Deke hooked up with Bert Monroy, and got a close look at Bert's most recent masterwork. Read on to get a glimpse of it yourself. Our tip for this installment comes from Deke's Photoshop CS5 One-on-One: Mastery course for lynda.com. And, I bring you good news: we've been able to extend the special (and very popular) Fotolia offer from the previous newsletter.

That's the news for now. As I'm sure you know, Deke sends all his virtual love.

Best regards, and I hope you're having a creative day,
Lou B, Speaker of the Deke, dekeOnline Read more »