Martini Hour 003, In Which Colleen Exposes the Secret Brotherhood

Submitted by colleen on 24 February 2009 - 12:30am.

It's time once again to pour yourself a refreshing cocktail--or in the case of this week's episode, perk up with a restorative cuppa Joe--and join me and Deke for Martini Hour. It's our personal opinion that this is the episode in which we really hit our stride. Or maybe that's just the caffiene talking.

Oh my goodness, can't you just smell the French roast? (Deke says feel free to add some Baileys.)

Here's what's going on in the dekeLounge this week:

Secret Handshake
In the first segment, we discuss the Photoshop Secret Handshake of Option-Delete (or Alt+Backspace) to fill a selection with the foreground color. (Yes, that's "delete" to "fill" folks, which makes sense to only those initiated into the darkest of the Photoshop dark arts.) Deke then goes on to recount all the various and somewhat nonsensical keystroke combinations that allow you to fill a selection with various optional outcomes. By the time we finally get to mash our fists on the keyboard (Cmd-Shift-Option-Delete on the Mac or Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Backspace on the PC) to fill from the active History state while still respecting transparency, I've put down the coffee cup and gone in search of my cocktail again.

He Said She Said
Deke and I have a difference of opinion on how best to apply often-used styles in InDesign (or "style sheets" if you prefer Deke's vernacular; more on that in another episode). Deke likes to create an elaborate set of shortcuts that he then stashes away in his vault-like brain. I like to use Quick Apply whenever I can, because all I have to remember is one keystroke (Cmd-Return or Ctrl-Enter) along with the first letters of the style I want. We both wish InDesign allowed more creativity for style shortcuts. In the end, it basically boils down to the fact that Deke has a compendium-brain while I'm a faster typist, and so we choose our method of repeating oft-used formatting accordingly.

This Week's Toast
This week we raise our coffee mugs, martini glasses, and sundry other beverage containers to David Futato, the intrepid design mastermind behind the One-on-One book series and the co-author of InDesign CS4 One-on-One. David rocks, and we've finally decided we'll let him get a little sleep before we press him right back into service.

Interested? Well, hell yeah, why wouldn't you be? Here's the regular-quality (192kbps) audio file. For best results, right-click and choose Download or Save.

Don't want to miss a single episode of this singular treat for the ears and mind? Subscribe via iTunes. And don't forget, this is a separate subscription from your regular dekePod podcast.

Got a question you'd like us to answer? Write us on the site, or even better, call 1-888-dekepod. (That's 1-888-335-3763.) Practice, be charming, and ask us something meaty.

. Tagged with:

Comments

Secret handshake for animated GIFs

Submitted by flyboy on 28 February 2009 - 4:59pm.
I'm all about secret handshakes. Cause you get to choose who you want to reveal them to. And then you can form a little club where you can all get together and talk about who is cool 'cause they know the 'shake, man! Me important! Anyway, there are times when I stumble upon a feature and can't help but wonder if it was deliberately buried so no one could find it. Recently I saw someone ask (not here) for the ability to open animated GIFs (I know they're supposed to be pronounced "jiffs", but I'm too cool for that) with all the frames available. So get ready, here comes the super-duper-ultra-heavy-weight-master-ninja secret handshake. It's so cool, we actually spit onto our palms before we shake as a rite of passage. Open Photoshop 32-bit (won't work in 64). Go to File/Import/Video Frames to Layers. Navigate to where the file resides Spit onto your palm, here's the secret part: you can't see the file as it's not in the list of recognized files. So just type in the full name and extension in the "File Name" box and hit Enter (Return). Whoa! was that not cool - a dialog box opens allowing you to specify the range. Wipe you palm dry and choose away. Shhh, don't tell anyone. Let's pretend we never spoke, and meet by the water cooler later, where we can stab woven dolls, shaped to look like our bosses, with long needles and poke their eyes out... Me evil. -iVan

Uh, I had no idea

Submitted by deke on 1 March 2009 - 3:29am.
I'll have to try it out. But that just sounds messed up. Is that cross-platform?

Not sure

Submitted by flyboy on 1 March 2009 - 3:49am.
as I don't have a Mac. But on a side note, I found a use for that wacky technique you describe in your Illustrator tutorial. You know, the one where you hold down the tilde key while dragging a line segment tool. It's actually useful. Given that I operated only in Photoshop for a very long time and wished to have such a feature (believe it or not), now that I saw your video - it was a joyous experience that paralleled nirvana. With flowers. And bunnies. And titmice (can I say that here?). And those cute little dung beetles from Oz. Occasionally I'll pretend I'm Bert and I'll create 3D-like elements for Photos to replace the offending stuff in there. OK, it happens VERY rare as I don't shoot ugly people... uhm, I meant to say I prefer to find actual images to work with. But every once in a while I have to draw something from scratch and put it into the shot. Although, for some real ugly ones... ...I better drop this subject while I'm ahead. I digress; I use Photoshop's vector tools to trace lines from vanishing points to have a reference for what I create. As much as I love Photoshop, it's really not cut out for that kind of work, and I have to spend extra time laying down those blasted lines just to be able to match the perspective of my drawing. Not anymore, I don't! Ha! I win! -iVan P.S. Yes, I know - the Vanishing Point filter... It works fine till you find no planes to trace. Or if you have planes that have to extend far outside the canvas. But (can I say but here?) now I'm equipped better than that robot statue of yours.

Do you think.....

Submitted by Carpo on 28 February 2009 - 5:10am.
... it's wise for you and colleen to drink while you work, you both seem unstable as it is :-) although it does make for fun entertainment, keep up the good work, now i think i best go run and hide :-)

Marini time

Submitted by wen on 27 February 2009 - 7:23pm.
Really glad it was audio and I couldn't see you all enjoying martinis while I had coffee - hey it is only 9.45 a.m. here in Oz. BTW Deke I am just loving your Channels and Masks book and finding out different ways of doing things. If I had been doing the hands exercise on my own I just would have used the pen tool. I am going slowly as I like to reread everything. Next project is the crazy hair! Really looking forward to this one. wen

is there a video with this?

Submitted by james on 27 February 2009 - 9:05am.
All I got is sound... good sound but no vid. should I continue to try and get faces or is this how it works? WAIT JUST A MINUTE! I just did this thing I head of once, I read the e-mail!!! yep thats right I read the instructions and guess what, there is no face time on this. OK, still cool. I gotta try this reading first thing more often :O)....

Wait, you didn't get the faces?

Submitted by deke on 27 February 2009 - 5:51pm.
You go to the dekeOnline Flickr group, print out the ones you like, print them on cardboard, and then cut 'em out and paste 'em on popsicle sticks. Then you wiggle the sticks around as we talk. It's very cutting edge, don'cha know. They call 'em "Flickr buddies" -- all the rage. Next time we do one of these, I'll mention it at the outset . .

Score 1 for Colleen

Submitted by MACinTUTOR on 24 February 2009 - 8:11pm.
Love it! Thanks, Thomas Thomas Benner The Art Institute of Austin

Great stuff! Btw, i know

Submitted by Zilla on 24 February 2009 - 2:04pm.
Great stuff! Btw, i know this might sound strange, but... Whats that music in the background? Name(s)/ performer(s) or anything will do :)

They call themselves the Pimms Quartet

Submitted by deke on 24 February 2009 - 4:59pm.
A creation of Budz Saleman, my sound guy. He's got a combo. If you listen carefully, you'll notice that the music and applause goes with our segments. Listen to the credits at the end for the specifics.