Platt Portal

A few months ago, Adobe released CS3. The release is one of the biggest one to date, and includes updates to basically all the Adobe applications: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, Acrobat, After Effects, Premiere, etc. It also introduces different version for some of its standard application, such as Photoshop, and bundles. The biggest surprise is probably the survival of Fireworks, which is empowered by new capabilities, and some new products. There are too many new features to list, so check out the Adobe site and find out for yourself.

However, not to worry: everything you have learned in this class, will work fine in CS3, nor you will be totally lost when you launche the new version of the applications.

The final exam is on Wednesday, August 22. If you don’t show up you will miss it.

The exam is comprehensive: everything we talked about in class from the beginning is fair game. Make sure to review all the reading assignments, hand-outs and class notes and exercises. A topics review list has been posted in the Exams Review Page. The topics we covered since the midterm are at the bottom.

We will have a review on Monday, after the POP project critique: however, we may not have the time to review everything. So please, read the list, and let me know if you would like me to spend more time on any topic.

Good luck everyone!

Ryan has found this great mini app, that offers a nice alternative to Photoshop Photomerge command. In certain cases, the results are actually better, because it takes care of lens distortions in one step. The app is called Hugin Photo Stitcher and it is available for Mac, PC and Linux.

Give it a try!

Thank you Ryan for finding it out.

We looked at a few things that may influence the consumer purchase decision. One of the strongest individual factors is motivation, and we looked at the classic Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. If you want to read more, and learn about more about this topic, his revised theory and a comparable theory, check this article

We have talked today of the different generations on the market today, and how baby boomers are influencing a lot of what we see in the mass media. Another poignant example is the collection of stock images launched by Veer to show the new face of older adults. It paints an interesting portrait of baby boomers and beyond. The published statistics are also very interesting. Check it out

Yesterday we saw the amazing Vanishing Point Filter in photoshop. As I mentioned briefly, the filter got a major upgrade in CS3. If you want to see what’s new, check out this tutorial at Informit.com

Informit.com is an exceptional site to “…help you learn about anything remotely related to that screen you’re staring at right now, including programming, networking, web development and design, operating systems, and IT and project management.”(from their home page). It provides articles, learning guyides, tutorials, as well as books.

They publish a great Photoshop Reference Guide, and you can subscribe to their email newsletter or to their RSS feed. Check it out. The link will also be added to the link page in ths portal

Midterm is on Friday, August 3, from 8 am to 9 am. There will be NO MAKE UP. If you don’t show up or if you show up late, you will miss it.
A topics review list is posted in the Exam review section. We will have a full review on Friday, after the lecture. Read the list, and let me know if you would like me to spend more time on any particular topic.

As you starting your DVD project, the Internet Movie Database site can be really helpful. It contains a varity of information about movies, including detailed plot lines, cast info, trivia and nice screen shots.

Thank you Jamie for pointing it out.

I hope all of you guys had a great time at Comic Con. It was really an amazing event, and I am glad so many of you took the chance to experience it to the max. Jamie took a lot of great pictures and posted them for everyone’s enjoyment. So relive the memories, and check them out! Thank you Jamie.